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THE 


CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


COLONIAL   DAYS. 


THE     THIRTEEN     COLONIES— THE     OTTAWA    AND     ILLINOIS 

COUNTRY— LOUISIANA— FLORIDA— TEXAS— NEW 

MEXICO  AND  ARIZONA. 


1521-1763. 


WITH  PORTRAITS,    VIEWS,  MAPS,  AND  FAC-SIMILES, 


JOHN    GILMARY    SHEA. 


NEW    YORK: 
JOHN     G.     S  H  E  A. 

1886. 


FEB  2  8  195? 


COPYRIGHT,  1886,  BY 
JOHN   G1LMAKY   SHEA. 


The  illustrations  in  this  work  is  copyrightid,  and  reproduction  is  forbidden. 


KDWARD  o.  JENKINS'  SON, 
/'rinter,  Stereotyper,  and  Etectrotyfler, 
20  North  William  ?t.,  New  York. 
3 


TO  THE   PATRONS 

His  EMINENCE,  JOHN  CARDINAL  MCCLOSKEY  ;  His  EMINENCE, 
JAMES  CARDINAL  GIBBONS;  THEIR  GRACES,  THE  MOST  REV.  M.  A. 
CORRIGAN,  D.D. ;  JOHN  J.  WILLIAMS,  D.D. ;  PATRICK  J.  RYAN, 
D.D. ;  WILLIAM  H.  ELDER,  D.D. ;  THE  RT.  REVS.  JOHN  LOUGH- 
LIN,  D.D.  ;  WlNAND  M.  WlGGER,  D.D.  ;  B.  J.  McQUAID,  D.D.  ; 

JOHN  CONROY,  D.D. ;  JOHN  IRELAND,  D.D. ;  JOHN  L.  SPALDING, 
D.D. ;  JAMES  AUGUSTINE  HEALY,  D.D. ;  P.  T.  O'REILLY,  D.D. ; 
RICHARD  GILMOUR,  D.D. ;  STEPHEN  V.  RYAN,  D.D. ;  HENRY 
COSGROVE,  D.D. ;  T.  F.  HENDRICKEN,  D.D. ;  M.  J.  O'FARRELL, 
D.D. ;  JOHN  J.  KEANE,  D.D.;  DENIS  M.  BRADLEY,  D.D. ; 
BONIFACE  WIMMER,  D.D. ;  RT.  REV.  MGRS.  WM.  QUINN;  T.  S. 
PRESTON  ;  JOHN  M.  FARLEY  ;  JAMES  A.  CORCORAN  ;  VERY  REVS. 
I.  T.  HECKER;  MICHAEL  D.  LILLY,  O.P. ;  ROBERT  FULTON,  S.J.; 
T.  STEFANINL  C.  P. ;  REVS.  A.  J .  DONNELLY  ;  E.  AND  P.  MCSWEENY, 
D.D. ;  R.  L.  BURTSELL,  D.D. ;  JOHN  EDWARDS;  C.  MCCREADY; 
JAMES  H.  McGEAN;  J.  J.  DOUGHERTY;  W.  EVERETT;  THOMAS 
S.  LEE;  J.  B.  SALTER;  J.  F.  KEARNEY;  J.  J.  HUGHES;  THOMAS 
TAAFFE;  CHARLES  P.  O'CONNOR,  D.D. ;  P.  CORRIGAN;  WILLIAM 

MCDONALD;     PATRICK  HENNESSEY;     LAURENCE    MORRIS;     JOHN 

MCKENNA;  M.  J.  BROPHY;  ST.  JOSEPH'S  SEMINARY,  TROY;  ST. 
JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  FORDHAM;  THE  CONGREGATION  OF  THE  MOST 
HOLY  REDEEMER,  NEW  YORK;  ST.  Louis  UNIVERSITY;  ST. 
XAVIER'S  COLLEGE,  CINCINNATI;  MESSRS.  PATRICK  FARRELLY; 
BRYAN  LAURENCE  ;  DAVID  LEDWITH  ;  JOSE  F.  NAVARRO  ; 
ANTHONY  KELLY  ;  HENRY  L.  HOGUET  ;  EUGENE  KELLY  ; 
EDWARD  C.  DONNELLY;  JOHN  JOHNSON;  WILLIAM  R.  GRACE; 
CHARLES  DONAHOE;  W.  J.  ONAHAN;  PUSTET  &  Co.:  BENZIGER 
BROS.  ;  LAWRENCE  KEHOE  ;  BURNS,  OATES  &  Co. ;  HARDY  & 
MAHONY, 

BY  WHOSE  REQUEST  AND  AID  THIS  WORK  HAS  BEEN  UNDERTAKEN, 
THE  PRESENT  VOLUME  IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 


PREFACE. 


THE  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States 
from  the  earliest  period  is  a  topic  which  was  planned  and 
laid  out  by  abler  hands  than  his  who,  yielding  to  the  wishes 
of  friends  throughout  the  country,  now  presents  the  first  of 
a  series  of  volumes. 

The  earliest  project,  that  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Simon  Brute,  the 
great  Bishop  of  Yincennes,  "  Catholic  America,"  a  work  in 
tended  to  consist  of  400  pages  octavo,  was  to  give  an  outline 
of  the  history  of  the  Church  in  South  America,  Mexico, 
Central  America,  and  Canada,  before  taking  up  the  annals  of 
religion  in  the  Thirteen  Colonies,  and  under  the  Republic. 
The  sketch  would  have  been  necessarily  very  brief,  and  from 
the  heads  of  chapters,  as  given  by  him,  would  have  been 
mainly  contemporary.  Unfortunately  Bishop  Brute  seems 
never  to  have  begun  the  work. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  I.  White,  author  of  the  elegantly 
written  Life  of  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Seton,  had  also  proposed  to 
write  a  History  of  the  Church  in  this  country,  and  with 
Colonel  Bernard  U.  Campbell  collected  much  relating  to  the 
early  history  of  religion  in  Maryland,  and  drew  a  rich  fund 
of  material  from  the  archives  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  and  of 
the  See  of  Baltimore.  His  library  contained  many  volumes 
to  aid  him  in  his  work,  especially  for  the  French  missions  at 
the  North,  but  not  for  the  Spanish  territory  at  the  South. 
It  would  seem,  however,  that  he  never  actually  wrote  any 

(i) 


ii  PREFACE. 

part  of  his  projected   work,  nothing  having  been   found 
among  his  papers,  except  a  sketch  of  his  plan. 

While  the  labors  of  the  learned  bishop  and  priest  never 
appeared  for  the  instruction  and  encouragement  of  the  Cath 
olic  body  in  this  country,  a  contribution  to  the  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  the  United  States  was  made  by  a  French  gentle 
man  sojourning  in  our  land.  Henri  de  Courcy  de  ia 
Roche  Heron,  one  of  the  collaborators  under  Louis  Yeuillot 
in  the  Paris  "  Univers,"  an  excellent  Catholic,  noble,  talented, 
and  gifted  with  keen  appreciation  and  judgment,  became  en 
gaged  in  mercantile  affairs  in  New  York.  He  continued  his 
contributions  to  the  "Univers,"  and  finding  that  the  ideas 
he  had  imbibed  in  France  as  to  the  history  of  the  Church  in 
this  country  were  very  incorrect,  he  set  to  work  in  his  leisure 
moments  to  obtain  from  the  best  sources  accessible  a  clearer 
and  more  accurate  view.  He  was  encouraged  by  many  high 
in  position  in  the  Church.  Bishop  Brute's  papers  were 
opened  to  him  ;  he  received  important  aid  from  Archbishop 
Kenrick  and  from  bishops  and  priests  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  T  placed  at  his  disposal  the  books  and  collections  I 
had  made.  In  time  he  began  a  series  of  articles  in  the 
"  Univers."  They  attracted  attention,  and  I  translated  them 
for  some  of  our  Catholic  papers.  When  his  articles  had 
treated  of  the  history  of  the  Church  in  Maryland,  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  New  York  in  part,  declining  health  compelled 
him  to  return  to  Europe,  where  he  soon  after  died.  His 
articles  were  never  collected  in  book  form  in  French,  but 
the  English  translation  was  issued  here,  and  has  been  for 
some  thirty  years  the  most  comprehensive  account  accessible 
of  the  history  of  the  Church  in  this  country.  He  treated  the 
subject  from  his  point  of  view  as  a  French  Legitimist,  and 
while  I  respected  him,  in  many  cases  I  could  not  share 
his  ideas ;  I  simply  translated  his  words.  It  is  a  stigma  on 


PREFACE.  iii 

us  that  the  memory  of  this  gallant  Christian  gentleman  has 
been  more  than  once  cruelly  assailed.  He  had  not  assumed 
to  instruct  American  Catholics  in  the  history  of  their  Church, 
and  did  not  write  for  them,  or  seek  to  press  his  work  on  their 
notice.  He  wrote  honestly,  and  in  good  faith,  after  greater 
research  than  any  of  our  own  writers  had  given  to  the  subject. 
That  his  work,  abruptly  closed  by  death,  has  done  service,  is 
evident  from  the  constant  references  to  it  by  all  who  have 
since  written  on  the  history  of  the  Church  in  this  republic, 
although  it  treated  only  of  a  very  limited  part  of  the  subject. 

No  other  general  work  has  appeared  on  the  history  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  but  local  histories  and 
biographies  have  gathered  and  preserved  much  to  interest 
and  edify.  These  works  bear  especially  on  New  England, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Oregon,  and 
California,  the  members  of  the  Hierarchy  in  general,  and 
especially  Lives  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  Archbishops  Hughes, 
Spalding,  Bishops  Cheverus,  Flaget,  England,  Neumann, 
Prince  Galitzin,  Father  Jogues,  Rev.  Mr.  Nerinckx,  Mother 
Seton,  etc.  As  a  rule  they  treat  of  a  period  more  recent 
than  that  embraced  in  this  volume. 

In  preparing  the  work  I  have  used  a  collection  of  printed 
books  and  unpublished  manuscripts,  made  patiently  and 
laboriously  by  many  years  of  search  and  enquiry  ;  and  em 
bracing  much  gathered  by  my  deceased  friends,  Buckingham 
Smith,  Esq.,  Col.  B.  U.  Campbell,  Rev.  Charles  I.  White, 
D.D.,  Rev.  J.  A.  Ferlaud,  and  by  Father  Felix  Martin,  S.J. 
I  have  been  aided  in  an  especial  manner  by  access  to  the 
archives  of  the  diocese  of  Baltimore,  afforded  me  by  His 
Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons  ;  to  those  of  the  diocese  and 
Seminary  of  Quebec  by  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Taschereau, 
who  has  enabled  me  also  to  profit  by  his  own  researches  ;  to 
those  of  the  Maryland  and  New  York  Province  of  the  Soci- 


iv  PREFACE. 


ety  of  Jesus,  afforded  by  the  Very  Eev.  Kobert  Fulton,  and 
for  documents  obtained  from  Eome  by  the  kindness  of  the 
Most  Rev.  Michael  A.  Corrigan,  D.D.,  Archbishop  of  Xew 
York,  and  Very  Eev.  H.  Van  den  Sanden  ;  from  the  Et.  Eev. 
Bishop  of  Havana  through  Bishop  Moore,  of  St.  Augustine, 
and  Mr.  William  C.  Preston.  Great  assistance  was  afforded 
by  the  early  registers  of  St.  Augustine,  Mobile,  Pensacola, 
Detroit,  Kaskaskia,  Vincennes,  San  Antonio,  and  other  Tex 
an  missions,  for  which  I  was  indebted  to  Et.  Eev.  Bishops 
Moore,  O'Sullivan,  Borgess,  Chatard,  Neraz,  and  the  Very 
Eev.  Administrator  of  Alton.  Besides  the  material  thus 
obtained,  the  colonial  newspapers  down  to  1763  were  ex 
amined  as  far  as  possible,  with  very  scanty  result  indeed, 
to  obtain  what  scattered  notices  of  Catholic  life  might  be 
found  in  the  columns  of  those  early  journals.  I  am  also 
indebted  to  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  History,  Madrid,  for  im 
portant  papers,  and  to  Mr.  Sainsbury  and  Eev.  J.  H.  Pollen, 
S.J.,  for  documents  from  the  British  archives.  To  Senor 
Bachiller  y  Morales,  the  Lenox  Library,  the  Xew  York.  Mary 
land,  and  Wisconsin  Historical  Societies,  I  owe  much. 

The  work  which  I  have  endeavored  to  do  carefully  and 
conscientiously,  has  cost  me  more  labor  and  anxiety  than  any 
book  I  ever  wrote  ;  it  has  caused  me  not  seldom  to  regret  that 
I  had  undertaken  a  task  of  such  magnitude.  To  my  fellow- 
students  of  American  History,  from  whom  I  have  for  so  many 
long  years  received  encouragement,  sympathy,  and  aid,  I  sub 
mit  my  work  with  some  confidence,  trusting  to  their  past 
courtesy  and  kindness.  New  light  is  to  some  extent  thrown 
on  the  voyages  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  Captain  Weymouth, 
on  Ayllon's  voyage,  and  the  general  history  of  Virginia, 
Georgia,  and  Florida,  on  the  Capuchins  in  Maine,  the  jSTew 
Mexico  missions,  and  the  development  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  Texas. 


PREFACE.  v 

From  those  of  my  own  faith  I  ask  forbearance,  hoping 
that  the  volume  may  prove  of  some  service  till  a  writer 
with  a  clearer  head  for  research,  more  patience  in  acquiring 
the  necessary  books  and  documents,  and  greater  knowledge 
and  skill  in  presenting  the  results  affords  the  Catholics  of  the 
United  States  a  book  adequate  to  the  subject. 

The  worthies  of  the  early  American  Church  and  its  monu 
ments  are,  as  a  rule,  overlooked  in  the  general  and  local  his 
tories  of  the  country.  For  this  reason  no  expense  has  been 
spared  to  obtain  and  present  fittingly  portraits  of  the  most 
distinguished  personages,  views  of  the  oldest  chapels,  institu 
tions,  and  sites  connected  with  the  Church,  relics  of  the  last 
centuries,  fac-similes  of  Registers,  and  of  the  signatures  of 
bishops,  priests,  and  religious,  whose  labors  are  recorded  in 
these  pages. 

At  the  solicitation  of  a  venerated  friend,  I  have  given 
the  authorities  in  my  notes,,  although  scholars  generally  have 
been  compelled  to  abandon  the  plan  by  the  dishonesty  of 
those  who  copy  the  references  and  pretend  to  have  consulted 
books  and  documents  they  never  saw,  and  frequently  could 
not  read. 

For  aid  in  obtaining  illustrations  I  am  indebted  to  Rev. 
Father  Macias,  of  Zacatecas,  the  venerable  Father  Felix 
Martin,  the  Jesuit  Fathers  in  Maryland,  George  Alfred 
Townsend,  Esq.,  Professor  Butler,  Justin  Winsor,  Esq.,  and 
others,  to  all  of  whom  I  express  my  sincere  thanks,  as  I  do 
to  Gen.  John  S.  Clark  for  his  invaluable  topographical  guid 
ance,  and  the  clear  and  accurate  mission  map  of  Xew  York. 

JOHN  GILMARY  SHEA. 
ELIZABETH,  N.  J.,  October,  1886. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION.  .  9 


BOOK  I. 

THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH    IN   THE    ENGLISH    COLONIES. 
CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY   PROJECTS   OP   SETTLEMENT. 

Position  of  Catholics  in  England— Sir  George  Peckham  and  Sir 
Thomas  Gerard  plan  a  Catholic  Settlement  in  Norumbega 
under  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert — Queen  Elizabeth  sanctions  it — 
Winslade's  Project — Lord  Arundell  of  Wardour — Opposed  by 
Father  Persons — Sir  George  Calvert  proposes  a  Settlement  in 
Newfoundland — Visits  Virginia — Repulsed— Obtains  a  Charter 
for  Maryland 17 

CHAPTER  II. 

CATHOLICITY  PLANTED  IN  MARYLAND,    1634-1646. 

The  Ark  and  Dove — The  Society  of  Jesus  undertakes  the  Mission — 
Fathers  Andrew  White  and  Altham — First  Mass  on  St.  Cle 
ment's  Isle — City  of  St.  Mary's  founded — A  Chapel — Indian 
Missions  begun — Lands  taken  up  by  Father  Copley — Catholic 
Preponderance — Questions  raised  by  Missionaries — Conversion 
of  Indian  Chief  Chilomacon — Labors  of  Missionaries — Death 
of  Father  Brock — Lord  Baltimore  solicits  Secular  Priests  from 
Rome — Is  reconciled  to  the  Jesuits — Puritans  take  possession 
— Missionaries  arrested  and  sent  to  England — Father  Andrew 
White — Fathers  Rigbie  and  Cooper  die  in  Virginia 37 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  MARYLAND   MISSION   RESTORED,    1648-1668. 

The  Act  of  Toleration — The  Puritans  overthrow  the  Government 
— Missionaries  escape  to  Virginia — Lord  Baltimore's  Authority 
restored — Father  Fitzherbert's  Case — Bretton's  Chapel 68 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   JESUITS   AND   FRANCISCANS   IN   MARYLAND,    1669-1690. 

Mgr.  Agretti's  Report  to  the  Propaganda — A  Franciscan  Mission — 
Father  Massseus  Massey — Catholic  Classical  School — First 
Protestant  Ministers — Sir  Edmund  Plowdcn  and  New  Albion 
—  Catholics  in  New  Jersey — Dongan,  Catholic  Governor  of 
New  York — Jesuit  Mission  and  School — Catholics  in  othei 
Colonies — The  Vicars-Apostolic  in  England— Fall  of  James  II. 
—State  of  Catholicity  in  1690 7? 


BOOK  II. 

THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH    IN   THE    SPANISH    COLONIES. 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE   CHURCH   IN   FLORIDA,    1513-1561. 

Ponce  de  Leon  discovers  Florida — Attempted  Settlement  in  1521 
with  Priests  and  Religious — Ayllon's  discovery — Settlement  at 
San  Miguel  de  Guandape  on  James  River,  Virginia  —  The 
Dominican  Father  Anthony  de  Montesinos  at  San  Miguel — 
Death  of  Ayllon — Expedition  of  Narvaez — The  Franciscan 
Father  John  Xuarez  and  other  Priests — Soto's  Expedition  ac 
companied  by  secular  and  regular  Priests — The  Franciscan 
Father  Mark  of  Nice  penetrates  to  New  Mexico — Coronado's 
Expedition— In  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi— Death  of  the 
Franciscan  Father  Padilla — Heroic  attempt  of  the  Dominican 
Father  Cancer— Tristan  de  Luna  attempts  a  Settlement — Do 
minicans  with  him  —  Peter  Menendez  undertakes  to  settle 
Florida— St.  Augustine  founded— Place  of  the  first  Mass— The 
Parish  founded — Jesuit  Missions — Father  Segura  and  his  Com 
panions  put  to  Death  in  Virginia— Franciscan  Missions — In 
dian  Revolt — Fathers  put  to  Death — Books  in  the  Timuquan 
Language — Florida  visited  by  Bishop  Cabezas — Religious  con 
dition—Bishop  Calderon — Synod  held  by  Bishop  Palacios— Ex 
tent  of  Missions— First  attack  from  Carolina. . ,  ...  100 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  MEXICO,    1580-1680. 

Brother  Augustine  Rodriguez — Mission  at  Puaray — Missionaries 
put  to  Death—  Espejo's  Expedition — Ofiate  conquers  New  Mex 
ico — Missions  established — Their  success— V.  Mother  Mary  de 
Agreda — Father  Benavides — Indian  Revolt — Missionaries  put 
to  Death — Spaniards  expelled 183 


BOOK  III. 

THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH    IN    FRENCH    TERRITORY. 
CHAPTER  I. 

FIRST  WORK   OP    THE    CHURCH    IN    MAINE,   MICHIGAN,   AND  NEW  YORK, 

1611-1652. 

First  Church  on  De  Monts  or  Neutral  Island,  Maine — Jesuit  Mission 
at  Mount  Desert — Its  destruction  by  the  Virginians— Canada 
founded— Father  Jogues  plants  the  Cross  at  Sault  St.  Marie — 
Taken  Prisoner  by  the  Mohawks — His  escape — Father  Bressani 
a  Captive — Father  Jogues  undertakes  a  Mohawk  Mission — His 
Death — His  Canonization  solicited — French  Capuchins  in  Maine 
— The  Jesuit  Father  Druillettes  founds  an  Abnaki  Mission  on 
the  Kennebec — Visits  New  England — Father  Poncet's  captiv 
ity  216 

.CHAPTER  II. 

THE   ARCHBISHOPS  OP   ROUEN — ONONDAGA   MISSION   FOUNDED. 

Our  Lady  of  Ganentaa — Its  close — Mgr.  Francis  de  Laval,  Bishop 
of  Petraea  and  Vicar- Apostolic  of  New  France— Father  Menard 
founds  a  Mission  on  Lake  Superior— His  Death 246 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE   OTTAWA   MISSION,    1662-1675. 

Father  Claude  Allouez — Bishop  Laval  makes  him  Vicar-General — 
Pastoral  against  attending  Idolatrous  Rites — Sault  St.  Marie — 
Green  Bay 267 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   CHURCH   AMONG   THE   IROQUOIS,    1660-1680. 

Garaconthii':  effects  Peace — Missions  restored — Father  Fremin  on 
the  Mohawk — Bruyas  at  Oneida — Carlieil  at  Cayuga — Lamber- 
ville  at  Onondaga— The  Great  Mohawk  and  other  Converts- 
Catharine  Tegakouita— Veneration  for  her — The  Mission  Vil 
lage  at  La  Prairie — Sault  St.  Louis 280 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   CHURCH   FROM   THE   PENOBSCOT   TO   THE    MISSISSIPPI,    1680-1690. 

Chapel  at  Pentagoet — Sulpitian  Mission  to  the  West — Father  Mar- 
quette  with  Joliet  descends  the  Mississippi — Mission  at  Sault 
St.  Marie  destroyed — Illinois  Mission — Death  of  Marquette— 
La  Salle  establishes  house  at  Niagara — Recollect  Chapel — 
Chapel  on  the  St.  Joseph's — On  the  Illinois— Father  Hennepin 
on  the  Upper  Mississippi  —  Recollect  Missions  in  the  West 
cease — Death  of  Father  de  la  Ribourde — Milet  at  Niagara — 
Father  Lamberville  at  Onondaga — Father  Milet  a  Prisoner  at 
Oneida— Priests  with  La  Salle  in  Texas — Resignation  of  Bishop 
Laval..  310 


BOOK  IV. 

THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH    IN   THE   ENGLISH    COLONIES. 
CHAPTER  I. 

CATHOLICITY  IN  MARYLAND,    1690-1708. 

Calumnies  against  Catholics — A  Royal  Governor  of  Maryland — 
Catholics  excluded  from  the  Assembly — Anglican  Church  es 
tablished  by  Law — Tax  for  Ministers — Catholics  disfranchised 
— Zeal  of  Catholic  Priests  —  Fathers  Hunter  and  Brooke 
arraigned — Governor  Seymour's  outrageous  conduct — Chapel 
at  St.  Mary's  taken  from  Catholics— Penal  Laws  in  New  York 
and  Massachusetts— In  Maryland— Queen  Anne  saves  the  Cath 
olics — Mass  permitted  in  private  Houses — How  Religion  was 
maintained 344 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  II. 

CATHOLICITY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  MARYLAND,    1708-1741. 

Catholicity  in  Philadelphia  and  Pennsylvania— Converts— Jesuits 
at  Bohemia  Manor,  Md. — Apostasy  of  Lord  Baltimore — Ad 
ditional  Penal  Laws — Catholics  appeal  to  the  King  of  England 
—Chapel  near  Nicetown,  Pa. — Sir  John  James— First  Penn 
sylvania  Priest — St.  Joseph's,  Philadelphia— Fathers  Wapeler 
and  Schneider— Mission  Work  in  New  Jersey — A  Protestant 
Clergyman  in  New  York  hanged  •  on  suspicion  of  being  a 
Priest— Public  Service  of  Father  Molyneux 365 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE   CHURCH  IN   THE   COLONIES,    1745-1755. 

Rev.  Hugh  Jones'  Protest  against  Popery— Gov.  Bladen's  Procla 
mation — Gov.  Gooch's  Proclamation — Virginia  Penal  Laws — 
Attempts  in  Maryland  to  pass  still  more  cruel  Laws — St. 
Joseph's  Chapel,  Deer  Creek— Petition  of  Roman  Catholics  to 
the  King— Fathers  Greaton  and  Harding  in  Philadelphia 403 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  ACADIAN  CATHOLICS  IN  THE   COLONIES,    1755-1763. 

The  Acadian  Catholics— Deprived  of  Priest  and  Sacrament— Seven 
thousand  seized  as  Popish  Recusants — A  pretended  Law — 
Treatment  in  Massachusetts— In  New  York— In  Pennsylvania 
—In  Maryland— First  Chapel  in  Baltimore— In  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia— Many  reach  Louisiana—A  few  in  Madawaska, 
Maine 421 

CHAPTER  V. 

CATHOLICITY  IN  THE  BRITISH  COLONIES,    1755-1763. 

Constant  attempts  in  Maryland  against  Catholics— Arrest  of  Father 
Beadnall— Of  another  Jesuit— The  Missions  in  Pennsylvania 
and  New  Jersey 440 


xii  CONTENTS. 

BOOK  V. 

THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH    IN    THE    SPANISH    COLONIES. 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CHUHCH  IN   FLORIDA,    1690-1763. 

St.  Augustine — The  learned  Florida  Jesuit  Father  Florencia — Pen- 
sacola  and  Father  Siguenza —  New  Missions  under  Father 
Lopez — Missions  as  portrayed  by  Dickenson — Catholic  Mis 
sions  ravaged  from  Carolina— St.  Augustine  burnt  by  Gov. 
Moore — Ayubale  destroyed  and  Missionaries  slain  by  Gov. 
Moore — Bishop  Conipostela — Auxiliary  Bishops  for  Florida — 
Bishop  Rezino— Shrine  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Leche  pro 
faned — St.  Mark — Pensacola  taken,  retaken,  and  destroyed — 
Church  on  Santa  Rosa  Island — Bishop  Tejada — His  labors  in 
Florida — Missions  in  Southern  Florida — Siege  of  St.  Augus 
tine — Bishop  Morell  de  Santa  Cruz  sent  to  Florida  by  the 
English 454 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE   CHURCH  IN   TEXAS,    1690-1763. 

Missions  founded  by  Father  Damian  Mazauet — Missions  near  the 
Rio  Grande — The  Ven.  Father  Anthony  Margil  and  his  Mis 
sions—Friar  Joseph  Pita  killed — City  of  San  Fernando  (San 
Antonio)  founded — Holidays  of  Obligation— Fathers  Ganzabal 
and  Terreros  and  others  killed — Visitation  by  Bishop  Tejada 
— Apache  Missions  —Father  Garcia  and  his  work 479 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  MEXICO,    1692-1763. 

Catholicity  restored  —  Revolt  at  Santa  Fe  —  Remains  of  Father 
John  of  Jesus — Vargas  doubts  the  Indian  plot — Missionaries 
massacred— Zuni — Alburquerque — Bishops  Crespo  and  Eliza- 
cochea.  510 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   CHURCH   IN   ARIZONA,    1690-1763. 

Missions  founded  by  Father  Kuhn— San  Xavier  del  Bac— Missions 
revived  by  Bishop  Crespo— Fathers  Keler  and  Sedelmayr— 
Jesuits  carried  off  by  order  of  the  King  of  Spain 526 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

BOOK  VI. 

THE    CHUKCH    IN    FRENCH    TEEEITOEY. 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY,    1690-1763. 

Bishop  St.  Vallier — Synods — Founds  Mission  of  the  Seminary  of 
Quebec  in  the  Mississippi  Valley — Jesuits  at  the  Mouth  of  the 
River — Questions  raised — Rev.  M.  Foucault  killed — Mobile,  a 
Parish — Rev.  H.  Roulleaux  de  la  Vente^The  Register — Rev. 
Mr.  Gervaise's  Project — Indian  Missions — Death  of  Rev.  Mr. 
de  Saint  Cosme — The  Seminary  Priests  at  Tamarois — Apala- 
ches — Very  Rev.  Dominic  M.  Varlet,  V.G. — Father  Charle- 
voix's  visit — Fort  Chartres — Bishop  St.  Vallier's  Pastoral — The 
Company  of  the  West — The  Capuchins  in  Louisiana — New 
Orleans  founded— A  Carmelite— The  Jesuits — The  Ursulines — 
Indian  Mission — Priests  massacred  by  Natchez  and  Yazoos — 
Cahokia  —  Rev.  Mr.  Gaston  killed  —  Ouiatenon — Vinceunes— 
The  Register — Bishop's  right  to  appoint  a  Vicar-General  con 
tested—Irreligious  spirit — The  Jesuits  suppressed  in  France — 
Unchristian  conduct  of  Superior  Council  of  Louisiana — Jesuits 
from  Vincennes  to  New  Orleans  seized — Churches  profaned 
and  destroyed— The  Seminary  Mission  closed 533 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CHURCH  IX  MAINE,    1690-1763. 

False  Position  of  Missionaries  —  Jesuits  and  Quebec  Seminary 
Priests— Father  Rale — Churches  destroyed  by  New  England- 
ers— Father  Rale's  Dictionary— His  Death— The  Penobscots. . .  592 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE   FRENCH   CLERGY  IN   NEW  YORK,    1690-1763. 

Father  Milet  at  Oneida— Iroquois  Martyrs — Missions  restored — 
Their  close— Chaplains  at  French  Forts — Rev.  Francis  Piquet 
and  the  Mission  of  the  Presentation — Visitation  by  Bishop  de 
Pontbriand— St.  Regis.  606 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    CHURCH    IN    MICHIGAN,     INDIANA,    WISCONSIN,     AND    MINNESOTA, 

1690-1763. 

Detroit—  A  Church  erected—  Recollect  Father  Delhalle—  Michili 
mackinac—  Green  Bay—  St.  Joseph's  River—  Ouiatenou—  Fa 
ther  Delhalle  killed—  A  Priest  on  Lake  Pepin—  Father  Mesaiger 
nears  the  Rocky  Mountains—  The  Hurons  at  Detroit  and  San- 
dusky—  Bishop  de  Pontbriand  at  Detroit—  Relics  at  Michili- 


mackinac 


CONCLUSION  ...................................  ............... 

IKDEX..  ......................................  648 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Map  of  the  United  States  show 
ing  Episcopal  Jurisdiction, 
1521-1763 16 

Ancient  Pewter  Chalice  and 
Altar  Stone 36 

View  of  St.  Clement's  Island. .     42 

Site  of  St.  Mary's,  Md 44 

Map  of  Maryland 45 

Baptism  of  King  Chilomacon. .     53 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Rigbie 
and  Cooper 66 

Bretton's  House,  Newtown 
Manor,  Md 77 

Signature  of  Father  Penning  - 
ton 96 

Fort  at  Xew  York  where  Mass 
was  said 90 

Portrait  of  Father  Juan  Xua- 
rez ...  109 

Seal  of  Father  Mark  of  Nice. .  11G 

Signature  of  Father  Mark  of 
Xice 116 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Louis 
Cancer  and  Gregory  de  Be- 
teta 123 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Diego  de 
Tolosa  and  Juan  Garcia 124 

Signature  of  Father  Pedro  de 
Feria 128 

Signature  of  Rev.  Francisco  de 
Mendoza,  first  Parish  Priest 
of  St.  Augustine 136 


St.  Augustine  and  its  Environs.  137 

Death  of  Father  Peter  Marti 
nez,  facing 141 

Signature  of  Father  John  Ro- 
gel 142 

Death  of  Father  Segura,  fac 
ing 145 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Segura 
and  Quiros 148 

Signature  of  Father  Francis 
Pareja 156 

Signature  of  Father  Alonzo  de 
Penaranda 159 

Signature  of  Bishop  Calderon.   168 

Fort  and  Church  at  St.  Augus 
tine 169 

Signatures  of  Catholic  Chiefs 
of  Apalache  and  Timuqua. .  180 

Portrait  of  Vc-o.  Maria  de  Jesus 
de  Agreda 196 

Signature  of  Ven.  Maria  de 
Agreda 197 

Island  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Me. .  217 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Isaac 
Jogues  and  Charles  Raym- 
baut 228 

Signature  of  Father  Bressani.  .  232 

Portrait  of  Father  Isaac  Jogues, 
to  face 233 

Chapel  near  Auriesville,  N.  Y., 
to  commemorate  Death  of 

Father  Jogues 235 

(xv) 


XVI 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Copperplate  from  Chapel  of 
Our  Lady  of  Holy  Hope, 
Peiitagoet  237 

Signature  of  Father  Druillettes.  239 

Signature  of  Father  Joseph 
Poncet 244 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Le  Moyne, 
Ragueneau,  le  Mercier,  and 
Garreau 245 

Father  Chaumonot's  Wampum 
Belt 250 

Ancient  Missionary  Belt 250 

The  Jesuit  Well,  Ganentaa 254 

Portrait  of  Bishop  Laval,  fac 
ing 257 

Signature  of  Father  Rene  Me- 
nard 262 

Signature  of  Father  Claude  Al- 
louez 269 

Signature  of  Father  Marquette.  271 

Signature  of  Father  Claude 
Dablon 273 

Signature  of  Father  Ant.  Silvy    279 

Map  of  the  Sites  of  the  Jesuit 
and  Sulpitian  Missions  among 
the  Iroquois,  facing 281 

Signature  of  Father  Fremin. .  .  284 

Signature  of  Father  Julian 
Gamier 292 

Signature  of  Father  Raffeix. .  .  294 

Signature  of  Father  John  de 
Lamberville 297 

Portrait  of  Catharine  Tega- 
kouita 301 

Signature  of  Father  Chaumo- 
not 302 

Site  of  Father  Marquette's 
Chapel  and  Grave 319 

Signature  of  Father  John  En- 
jalran 326 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Albanel, 
Bailloquet.  Gravier,  and  Ma- 
rest .328 


PAGE 

Perrot's  Monstrance  and  Base 
showing  Inscription 329 

Inscription  on  Father  Milet's 
Cross  at  Niagara 334 

Signature  of  Father  James 
Bigot 337 

Signature  of  Bishop  Laval.  .  .  .  343 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Peter 
Attwood  and  George  Thor- 
old 370 

Portrait  of  Bishop  Bonaventura 
Giffard,  facing 375 

Signature  of  Father  James  Had 
dock 377 

Title  of  Father  Schneider's 
Register 393 

Geiger's  House,  Salem  Co., 
N.  J 395 

First  entry  in  Father  Schnei 
der's  Register 402 

St.  Joseph's  Chapel  House, 
Deer  Creek,  Md 414 

Fotteral's  House,  Baltimore, 
where  Mass  was  first  said  . .  435 

Signature  of  Father  John  Ash- 
ton 435 

Signatures  of  Fathers  George 
Hunter  and  James  Beadnall.  444 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Schnei 
der  and  Ferdinand  Farmer. .  446 

Church  at  Goshenhopen 447 

Map  of  Spanish  Florida,  facing.  455 

Portrait  of  Bishop  Tejada,  to 
face 465 

View  of  Pensacola  on  Santa 
Rosa  Island  in  1743.  From 
the  Drawing  by  Dom.  Serres.  467 

Ancient  Silver  Crucifix  in  the 
Church  at  Pensacola 468 

Map  of  St  Augustine  in  1763. .  478 

Signature  of  Father  Francis 
Hidalgo 481 

Signature  of  Father  Olivares. .  482 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


xvn 


Signature  of  the  Ven.  Anthony 
Margil 484 

Portrait  of  Ven.  Anthony  Mar- 
gil,  to  face 489 

Signature  of  Rev.  Joseph  de  la 
Garza  .  498 

Signature  of  Father  Ganzabal .  501 

Signature  of  Father  Terreros . .  503 

Signature  of  Bishop  Tejada . . .  505 

Signature  of  Father  Diego 
Ximenez 508 

Signature  of  Father  Garcia. . . .  509 

Record  of  Bishop  Elizacochea's 
Visitation  on  Inscription 
Rock 525 

Signature  of  Bishop  St.  Val- 
lier 533 

Portrait  of  Bishop  St.  Vallier, 
to  face 537 

Signature  of  Rev.  Henry  Roul- 
leaux  de  la  Vente 546  j 

Fac-simile  of  the  first  entry 
in  the  Parish  Register  of 
Mobile 547 

Signature  of  Rev.  F.  Le  Maire.  549 

Signature  of  Rev.  Alexander 
Huve 552 

Portrait  and  Signature  of  Very 
Rev.  Dominic  Mary  Varlet, 
Vicar  -  General,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Babylon 555 

Title  of  the  Kaskaskia  Register.  558 

Portrait  of  Father  P.  F.  X. 
Charlevoix 561 

Signature  of  Father  John  Mat 
thew 564 

Signature  of  Father  Matthew 
as  Vicar- Apostolic 564 

Signature  of  the  Carmelite  Fa 
ther  Charles 566 

Signature  of  F.  -de  Beaubois  . .  568 

Signature  of  Mother  de  Tran- 
chepain 569 


Ursuline  Convent,  New  Or 
leans,  begun  in  1727,  now 
residence  of  the  Archbishop.  571 

Signatures  of  the  Jesuit  Father 
Mathurin  Le  Petit,  and  the 
Recollect  Father  Victoriu. . .  573 

Signature  of  Rev.  Mr.  Forget 
Duverger 577 

First  entry  in  the  Parish  Regis 
ter  of  Vincennes 579 

Signature  of  Father  Vivier ....  579 

Signature  of  Father  John  Fran 
cis.  ..'. 580 

Signatures  of  Fathers  Bau- 
douin  and  Vitry 583 

Signatures  of  Fathers  le  Boul- 
lenger,  Guymonneau,  and 
Tartarin 584 

Signature  of  Father  Vincent 
Bigot 596 

Fac-simile  of  opening  words  of 
Father  Rale's  Dictionary  and 
of  his  Signature 602 

Portrait  and  Signature  of  Rev. 
Francis  Piquet 615 

Fort  Presentation,  Ogdensburg, 
with  Abbe  Piquet's  Chapel. .  616 

Corner-Stone  of  Abbe  Piquet's 
Chapel 618 

First  entry  in  the  Detroit  Reg 
ister 624 

Signatures  of  Priests 626,  637 

Signature  of  Father  Simplicius 
Bocquet 632 

Portrait  of  Rt.  Rev.  Henry 
Mary  Du  Breuil  de  Pont- 
briand,  6th  Bishop  of  Que 
bec 633 

Signature  of  Father  Julian  De- 
vernai 635 

Bread-Iron  preserved  at  Mich- 
ilimackinac 636 

Signature  of  Father  du  Jaunay  637 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  Catholic  Church  is  the  oldest  organization  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  only  one  that  has  retained  the  same 
life  and  polity  and  forms  through  each  succeeding  age.  Her 
history  is  interwoven  in  the  whole  fabric  of  the  country's 
annals.  Guiding  the  explorers,  she  left  her  stamp  in  the 
names  given  to  the  natural  features  of  the  land.  She  an 
nounced  Christ  to  almost  every  native  tribe  from  one  ocean- 
washed  shore  to  the  other,  and  first  to  raise  altars  to  worship 
the  living  God,  her  ministry  edified  in  a  remarkable  degree 
by  blameless  lives  and  often  by  heroic  deaths,  alike  the  early 
settlers,  the  converted  Indians,  and  those  who  refused  to 
enter  her  fold.  At  this  day  she  is  the  moral  guide,  the  spirit 
ual  mother  of  ten  millions  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  republic, 
people  of  all  races  and  kindreds,  all  tongues  and  all  countries, 
blended  in  one  vast  brotherhood  of  faith.  In  this  she  has  no 
parallel.  No  other  institution  in  the  land  can  trace  back  an 
origin  in  all  the  nationalities  that  once  controlled  the  portions 
of  North  America  now  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  republic. 
All  others  are  recent,  local,  and  variable.  She  alone  can 
everywhere  claim  to  rank  as  the  oldest. 

The  Church  is  a  great  fact  and  a  great  factor  in  the  life  of 
the  country.  Every  man  of  thought  will  concede  that  the 
study  of  the  history  of  that  Church  in  its  past  growth  and 
vicissitudes,  and  of  her  present  position,  is  absolutely  neces 
sary  in  order  to  solve  the  problems  of  the  present  and  the 

(9) 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

future  in  the  republic,  for  the  influence  of  an  organization 
fixed  and  unwavering  in  doctrine,  polity,  and  worship,  must 
be  a  potent  element,  and  cannot  be  ignored  or  slighted. 

But  while  from  the  student  and  the  statesman  the  history 
of  the  Church  claims  serious  consideration,  to  the  Catholic 
that  history  is  a  record  full  of  the  deepest  interest  and  con 
solation,  a  volume  to  which  he  can  appeal  with  pride.  The 
pages  teem  with  examples  of  the  noblest  and  most  heroic 
devotedness  in  the  priesthood,  of  the  beneficent  action  of  the 
Church  where  she  was  free  to  do  her  work,  of  self-sacrifice 
in  the  laity,  in  generous  adherence  to  the  faith  by  the  flock 
amid  active  persecution,  insidious  attacks,  open  violence,  and 
constant  prejudice,  wrhere  Catholics  were  few  amid  a  popu 
lation  trained  in  unreasoning  animosity. 

The  Catholic  Church  in  this  country  does  not  begin  her 
history  after  colonies  were  formed,  and  men  had  looked 
to  their  temporal  well  being.  Her  priests  were  among  the 
explorers  of  the  coast,  were  the  pioneers  of  the  vast  interior ; 
with  Catholic  settlers  came  the  minister  of  God,  and  mass 
was  said  to  hallow  the  land  and  draw  down  the  blessing  of 
heaven  before  the  first  step  was  taken  to  rear  a  human  habi 
tation.  The  altar  was  older  than  the  hearth. 

The  entrance  of  the  Catholic  Church  was  not  the  erratic 
work  of  a  few.  It  was  part  of  her  work  begun  at  the  fiery 
Pentecost,  carried  on  from  age  to  age  with  unswerving 
course,  while  all  human  institutions  were  changing  and  mod 
ifying  around  her.  The  command  of  our  Lord  to  His  apos 
tles  to  go  and  teach  all  nations,  rested  as  an  injunction  on 
the  bishops  of  the  Church  in  whom  the  missionary  spirit 
became  inherent.  The  Church  was  constantly  pushing  for 
ward  into  new  lands,  priests  commissioned  by  bishops  bearing 
the  faith,  ministering  to  those  who  accompanied  them,  re 
maining  to  convert  those  whom  they  found. 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

Priests  sent  out  from  Ireland,  and  subsequently  from 
Scandinavia  reached  Iceland,  and  in  time  a  clmrcli  grew  up 
in  that  northern  island  with  bishops,  churches,  convents.  Ad 
vancing  still  onward  in  the  unknown  seas  the  Northmen 

o  * 

landed  in  Greenland,  and  Catholicity  was  planted  on  the 
American  continent  by  priests  from  Iceland,  and  in  1112  the 
See  of  G-ardar  was  erected  by  Pope  Paschal  II.,  and  Eric  was 
appointed  the  first  bishop.  Full  of  missionary  zeal,  this  prel 
ate  accompanied  the  ships  of  his  seafaring  flock,  and  reached 
the  land  known  in  the  Sagas  of  the  North  by  the  name  of 
Yinland,  as  an  Irish  bishop,  John  of  Skalholt  in  Iceland,  had 
already  done.  How  far  southward  the  navigators  of  the 
north  and  their  spiritual  teachers  carried  the  cross  and  the 
worship  of  the  Catholic  Church,  it  is  not  our  province  to 
decide. 

When  Columbus  revealed  to  Europe  the  existence  of  rich 
and  fertile  islands  accessible  from  Spain,  the  ministers  of  the 
Church  came.  Priests  accompanied  the  vessels  with  faculties 
from  the  bishop  in  whose  diocese  the  port  of  departure  lay, 
and  where  they  remained  in  the  new  land  the  bishop's  juris 
diction  continued  till  a  local  ecclesiastical  government  was 
formed.  Thus  the  See  of  Seville  acquired  a  jurisdiction  in 
the  New  World  where  the  standard  of  Spain  was  planted, 
and  she  became  the  mother  of  the  earliest  churches  in  America. 
Not  inaptly,  the  Cathedral  of  Seville  preserves  in  her  treasury 
the  chalice  made  of  the  first  gold  taken  to  Europe  by  Co 
lumbus,  for  the  first-fruits  of  the  precious  metals  of  the  New 
World  were  dedicated  to  the  service  of  Almighty  God  in  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  See  of  Santo  Domingo  was  erected 
by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  in  1512,  that  of  Santiago  de  Cuba 
in  1522,  that  of  Carolensis  in  Yucatan  in  1519,  and  of  Mexico 
in  1530.  These  followed  up  the  work  of  Seville,  the  bishops 
of  the  new  Sees  sending  priests  commissioned  by  them  to 


1 -2  INTROD  UCTION. 

bear  the  faith  northward  till  the  territory  over  which  our 
flag  now  floats  was  reached  and  the  cross  planted. 

The  Church  of  Spain  with  her  array  of  doctors  and  saints 
from  an  Isidore  and  a  Leander,  a  Hosius,  a  Thomas  of  Yilla- 
nova,  was  thus  extended  to  our  soil,  and  her  priests  offered 
the  first  worship  of  Almighty  God  on  the  shores  of  Florida, 
of  the  Chesapeake,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Kio  Grande.  The  work  was  followed  up,  and  though  the 
soil  was  reddened  with  the  blood  of  many  a  priest  who  won 
the  martyr's  crown,  there  was  no  faltering,  the  work  went  on 
till  in  time  bishops  came  and  every  sacrament  of  the  Church 
was  duly  administered  in  that  portion  of  our  territory.1 

Our  alliance  with  the  Catholic  Church  in  Spain  is  not  a 
mere  episode.  The  first  bishops  of  Louisiana  and  Mobile 
were  suffragans  of  Santo  Domingo  and  of  Santiago  de  Cuba ; 
the  first  bishop  of  California  a  suffragan  of  Mexico,  while 
Texas,  !N"ew  Mexico,  and  Arizona  were  in  our  time  detached 
from  dioceses  which  trace  their  origin  to  the  glorious  Church 
in  Spain. 

Soon  after  the  vessels  of  Columbus  bore  back  the  startling 
news  of  great  discovery,  a  ship  from  Bristol,  under  Cabot,  in 
1497,  bore  to  the  northern  shores  of  our  continent  the  first 
band  of  English-speaking  Catholics,  and  within  five  years, 
a  priest,  we  know,  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  administer  the  rites 
of  religion  to  his  countrymen  in  America,  offer  the  holy 
sacrifice  and  announce  the  gospel  in  our  tongue.2  Thus 
Catholicity  came  from  the  land  of  a  St.  Anselrn,  a  St. 
Thomas  of  Canterbury,  a  St.  John  of  Beverly,  whose  Church 
in  the  next  century,  while  crushed  like  the  primitive  church 
by  the  State  power  of  unbelieving  rulers,  extended  her  limits 

1  Gams,  Series  Episcoporum,  Ratisbonne,  1873,  pp.  334,  336  ;  Torfaeus, 
Historia  Vinlandiae,  p.  71. 

2  Harrisse,  "  Jeanet  Sebastian  Cabot,"  Paris,  1882,  p.  270. 


INTROD  UCTION.  1 3 

to  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  the  Church  of  Catholic 
England  reviving  the  work  of  the  earlier  Spanish  pioneers 
of  the  faith. 

Close  on  Cabot  came  French  explorers.  Carder  sailed 
with  the  blessing  of  the  Bishop  of  St.  Malo,  and  with  priests 
to  whom  he  gave  faculties,  and  in  after  years  Champlain 
founded  Quebec,  where  altars  were  raised,  and  priests 
began  their  ministry,  acknowledging  as  their  ecclesiastical 
Superior  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  who  for  years  governed 
Canada  as  part  of  his  diocese,  through  Vicars-General  ap 
pointed  by  him,  and  even  towards  the  close  of  the  century 
gave  powers  to  priests  under  which  they  offered  the  sacrifice 
of  the  mass  and  ministered  to  colonists  in  Texas. 

The  Church  knew  no  limits  to  her  conquests.  Her  juris 
diction  was  extended  as  by  a  natural  instinct  over  the  whole 
land.  It  was  never  bounded  by  the  mere  limits  of  white 
settlements.  Father  Padilla,  dying  alone  near  the  banks  of 
the  Missouri,  to  which  he  had  penetrated,  was  still  in  the 
diocese  of  Mexico ;  Hennepin  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony, 
Marquette  at  the  Arkansas,  Douay  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  were  in  the  diocese  of  Quebec.  The  first  Catholic 
settlers  in  Oregon  were  from  Canada,  and  the  priest  sent  to 
minister  to  them  went  as  Vicar-General  of  Quebec,  to 
become  in  time  Bishop  and  Archbishop  of  the  distant  flock 
he  crossed  the  continent  to  serve. 

The  Church  has  thus  a  continuous  existence  in  this  coun 
try,  continuous  in  episcopal  jurisdiction,  in  priestly  work,  in 
the  faithful  who  clung  to  her  altars. 

In  the  earlier  period,  where  three  great  European  nations 
laid  claim  to  different  portions  of  our  territory,  the  history 
of  the  Church  is  to  be  trace^  in  three  different  channels, 
descending  from  England,  France,  and  Spain.  Xo  greater 
contrast  could  be  found  than  that  of  the  colonial  spirit  of 


1 4  INTRO D  UCTION. 

the  three  nations.  Spain,  by  her  government  under  the  vast 
system  inaugurated  by  Philip  II.,  planned,  directed,  controlled 
every  department  of  colonial  administration.  Every  new 
colonization  was  settled  in  detail  in  Spain.  The  bulls  of 
the  Sovereign  Pontiffs  made  the  King  of  Spain  their  Yicar 
in  America,  the  tithes  were  assigned  to  him,  the  nomination 
of  bishops  was  in  his  hands,  the  support  of  the  ministry  and 
the  missions  was  devolved  upon  him.  Portions  of  the  royal 
revenue  were  then  assigned  by  him  to  great  religious  works, 
and  churches,  convents,  universities  and  schools  arose  with 
out  direct  contribution  by  the  people. 

France  was  Catholic,  but  the  Church  and  the  missions  in 
the  territory  she  controlled  in  America  were  not  supported 
by  any  governmental  plan.  The  zeal  and  piety  of  individu 
als  contributed  far  more  than  the  monarch  to  maintain  and 
carry  on  the  work,  and  the  colonists  shared  the  feeling  of  the 
mother  country  and  willingly  paid  their  tithes,  and  aided 
to  support  the  religious  bodies  which  had  been  active  agents 
in  bringing  in  settlers  and  clearing  the  land  for  cultivation. 

In  the  English  colonies,  except  for  two  brief  seasons,  Cath 
olics  were  oppressed  by  laws  copied  from  the  appalling 
penal  code  of  England.  The  Church  was  proscribed,  her 
worship  forbidden,  her  adherents  visited  with  every  form  of 
degradation,  insult,  and  extortion. 

Thus  strangely  different  were  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  Church  grew  in  Florida,  in  Michigan,  in  Mary- 
laud.  Yet  in  the  designs  of  God  it  was  that  which  seem 
ed  least  favored  that  was  to  develop  most  wonderfully, 
till  the  episcopate  starting  from  a  threefold  source  and 
blending  into  the  hierarchy  of  the  United  States  with  the  faith 
ful  sprung  from  those  lands,  and  from  Ireland,  Germany, 
Switzerland,  Poland,  Italy,  Portugal,  and  from  the  native 
tribes,  presents  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  a 


BOOK  I. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CHUECH  IN  THE   ENGLISH 
COLONIES. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

EARLY   PROJECTS    OF   SETTLEMENT. 

THE  revolt  of  Henry  VIII.  against  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
See  and  his  suppression  of  the  religious  houses  had  greatly  im 
paired  the  spirit  of  faith  in  the  people  of  England,  but 
still  the  new  ideas,  set  up  by  Luther  and  Calvin  on  the  Conti 
nent,  found  few  proselytes,  even  after  his  death  ;  the  establish 
ment  of  a  Calvinistic  church  by  those  who  assumed  the  regency 
for  Edward  VI.  failed  to  win  the  mass  of  the  English  people 
from  the  faith  of  their  forefathers.  It  was  restored  for  a 
brief  term  by  Mary,  but  Elizabeth,  on  her  accession,  revived 
the  acts  of  the  reigns  of  Henry  and  Edward.  The  mass  was 
abolished,  an  act  of  supremacy  passed,  the  images  of  our 
Lord  and  His  Saints  were  ordered  to  be  broken  or  burned. 
The  churches  were  filled  with  a  new  set  of  clergy  who  were 
to  perform  a  new  religious  service. 

The  Catholics  could  not  join  in  this.  The  mass  was  and 
is  the  only  divine  worship  to  be  offered  by  a  duly  ordained 
priest.  With  the  churches  built  by  their  ancestors  diverted 
to  unhallowed  rites,  they  had  no  alternative  but  to  hear  mass 
in  secret  said  by  some  lawful  priest.  Protestantism  is  essen 
tially  intolerant.  Nowhere,  on  obtaining  power,  did  it  permit 
the  Catholic  portion  of  a  nation  to  enjoy  the  exercise  of 
religion,  even  in  private.  Elizabeth  began  a  series  of  laws 
3  (17) 


18  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

to  crush  the  Catholics,  to  deprive  them  of  all  opportunity  of 
enjoying  the  services  of  religion  and  forcing  them  to  enter 
the  Church  her  Parliament  had  set  up.  The  penal  laws  of 
this  woman,  one  of  the  most  savagely  bloody  in  the  annals 
of  history,  though  enforced  during  her  long  reign,  failed  to 
secure  even  half  the  population  of  England  to  the  Church 
of  which  she  was  the  head. 

To  defend  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope  was  punished  by  a 
heavy  fine  ;  the  universities,  the  professions,  the  public  offices 
were  closed  to  all  who  would  not  take  an  oath  of  supremacy ; 
a  second  offence  or  a  refusal  of  the  oath  was  punishable  with 
death.1  Priests  who  adhered  faithfully  to  God  were  kept  hid 
den,  for  the  consolation  of  the  faithful,  but  as  their  ranks 
thinned  by  death,  some  means  was  needed  to  maintain  a  succes 
sion  of  clergymen.  A  seminary  was  established  at  Douay  for 
the  education  of  priests.  To  prevent  the  success  of  this  plau 
Elizabeth,  by  a  new  series  of  laws,  made  it  high  treason  to 
declare  her  a  heretic,  to  bring  from  Rome  any  instrument 
whatever  emanating  from  the  Pope,  to  use  any  such  docu 
ment,  to  give  or  receive  absolution.  Perpetual  imprisonment 
was  the  penalty  for  possessing  an  Agnus  Dei,  a  rosary,  cross 
or  picture  blessed  by  the  Pope  or  any  of  his  missionaries. 
Any  Catholic  who  fled  from  England  to  evade  the  laws  was 
required  to  return  within  six  months,  under  penalty  of  con 
fiscation  of  all  property  belonging  to  him."  These  laws 
were  soon  enforced.  In  15YY  Roland  Jenks,  an  Oxford 
bookseller,  for  having  Catholic  books,  was  sentenced  to  be 
nailed  to  the  pillory,  his  sentence  being  attended  by  the  sud 
den  death  of  many  of  the  officials.  Then  the  Rev.  Cuthbert 
Maine,  the  protomartyr  of  Douay  College,  was  convicted  of 
high  treason,  in  having  a  bull  of  the  Pope  granting  a  jubilee 

1  5Eliz.,  c.  1.  2  13  Eliz.,  c.  1,  2,  3. 


PROPOSED  SETTLEMENT  IN  MAINE.     19 

and  in  having  brought  an  Agnus  Dei  into  the  kingdom. 
For  this  he  was  hanged  on  the  29th  of  November,  1577. 
Then  the  gallows  was  kept  busy  with  its  bloody  work.  Two 
other  priests  were  hanged  the  next  year,  four  in  1581,  eleven 
in  1582. 

While  the  government  thus  thought  to  keep  priests  from 
ministering  to  the  English  Catholics  by  fear  of  death,  the 
laity  were  oppressed  with  fines  and  imprisonment  for  not 
attending  Protestant  worship,  for  hearing  mass,  for  keeping 
Catholic  books  or  objects  of  devotion. 

Flight  to  the  Continent  had  been  made  a  crime,  and  was 
always  a  pretext  for  a  charge  of  treason.  Under  these  cir 
cumstances  it  occurred  to  leading  men  among  the  Catholic 
body,  who  had  still  friends  at  court,  to  seek  a  refuge  for 
their  oppressed  countrymen  out  of  England,  but  yet  within 
her  Majesty's  dominions. 

The  foremost  in  this  project  was  Sir  George  Peckham,  of 
Dinand,  in  Buckinghamshire ;  but,  of  course,  care  and  pru 
dence  were  required.  The  application  made  by  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert  to  Queen  Elizabeth  for  a  patent  to  authorize  him  to 
explore  and  colonize  the  northern  parts  of  America  would 
seem  to  have  been  inspired  by  Sir  George.  As  early  as 
March  22,  1574,  we  find  them  both  with  Mr.  Carlile,  Sir 
Richard  Green  vdlle  and  others  petitioning  her  to  allow  of  an 
enterprise  for  discovery  of  sundry  rich  and  unknown  lands, 
"  fatefully  reserved  for  England  and  for  the  honor  of  your 
Majestic."  Although  Sir  George's  name  does  not  appear  in 
the  patent  actually  issued  June  11,  1578,  it  seems  framed  to 
meet  the  case  of  the  Catholics,  and  an  interest  under  it 
was  very  soon  transferred  to  Sir  George  Peckham  and  a  fellow 
Catholic,  Sir  Thomas  Gerard.  By  its  terms  Sir  Humphrey 

1  Domest.  Corresp.  Elizabeth,  vol.  95,  No.  65,  Col.  p.  475. 


20  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Gilbert  and  his  assigns  are  authorized  from  time  to  time  to 
go  and  remain,  to  do  so  freely,  "  the  statutes  or  actes  of  par 
liament  made  against  fugitives,  or  against  such  as  shall 
depart,  remaine  or  continue  out  of  our  realm  of  England 
without  license,  or  any  other  acte,  statute,  lawe  or  matter 
whatsoever  to  the  contrary  in  any  wise  notwithstanding." 
He  was  authorized  to  take  any  of  the  Queen's  subjects  "  as 
shall  willingly  accompany  him,"  "  so  that  none  of  the  same 
persons,  nor  any  of  them  be  such  as  hereafter  shall  be  spec 
ially  restrained  by  us,  our  heires  and  successors."  The  only 
restriction  on  his  power  to  make  laws  was  that  they  should 
not  "  be  against  the  true  Christian  faith,  or  religion  now 
professed  in  the  Church  of  England,"  or  such  as  would 
withdraw  men  from  their  allegiance  to  the  crown.1 

This  would  authorize  Catholics  to  go  and  remain  there 
under  the  protection  of  the  laws  that  might  be  established, 
so  long  as  no  law  was  passed  against  the  Church  of  England. 
Haies,  one  of  the  historians  of  Gilbert's  undertaking,  men 
tions  the  discouragement  that  befel  him,  and  says  :  "  In 
furtherance  of  his  determination,  amongst  others  Sir  George 
Peckham,  knight,  showed  himself  very  zealous  to  the  action, 
greatly  aided  him,  both  by  his  advice  and  in  the  charge. 
Other  gentlemen  to  their  ability  joined  unto  him,  resolving 
to  adventure  their  substance  and  lives  in  the  same  cause." 

Two  years  were  spent  in  gathering  artisans  and  supplies 
for  the  projected  settlement,  but  the  Catholic  projectors  felt 
the  necessity  of  some  definite  sanction  of  their  undertaking. 
They  applied  openly  and  without  disguise  as  the  following 
petition  shows : 

"  Articles  of  peticion  to  the  righte  Hormorable  Sr  Fraun- 
cis  Wallsinghame  Knighte  Principall  Secretairie  unto  the 

1  Hakluyt,  i.,  p.  677 ;  iii.,  174.      Hazard's  Collection,  i.,  pp.  24-28. 


PROPOSED  SETTLEMENT  IN  MAINE.  21 

Quens  Matie  by  Sr  Thomas  Gerrarde  and  Sr  George  Pecke- 
ham  Kniglites  as  followeth  viz 

"  Tliat  where  Sr  Humferie  Gylberte  Knighte  hath  granted 
and  assigned  to  the  saide  Sr  Thomas  and  Sr  George  authori- 
tie  by  virtue  of  the  Quens  Matie  Ires  Patents  to  discover  and 
pocesse  (fee  certain  heathen  Lands  &c 

"  Their  humble  peticion  is — 

"  Firste  that  it  wolde  please  her  Matie  that  all  souche  par 
sons  whose  names  shall  be  sett  downe  in  a  booke  Indented 
made  for  that  purpose  th'one  pte  remayninge  with  some  one 
of  her  Matie  pryvie  Councell  th'other  wth  the  said  Sr  Thomas 
and  Sr  George  maye  have  lycens  to  travell  into  those  coun- 
teris  at  the  nexte  viaige  for  conqueste  wlh  all  manner  of 
necessarie  provission  for  themselves  and  their  families  their 
to  remaine  or  retorns  backe  to  Englande  at  their  will  and 
pleasure  when  and  as  often  as  nede  shall  require. 

"  Item  the  recusantes  of  abillitie  that  will  travell  as  afore- 
saide  maie  have  libertie  uppon  discharge  of  the  penallties 
dewe  to  her  Mat'e  in  that  behallffe  to  prepare  themselves  for 
the  said  voiage. 

"Item  that  other  recusantes  not  havinge  to  satisfie  the 
saide  penaltie  maie  not  wthstandinge  have  lyke  libertie  to 
provide  as  aforesaide  and  to  stand  charged  for  the  paiement 
of  the  saide  penallties  untill  suche  tyme  as  God  shall  make 
them  able  to  paie  the  same. 

"  Item  that  none  under  color  of  the  saide  Lycence  shall 
departe  owte  of  this  realme  unto  any  other  foren  Christian 
Realme. 

"  Item  that  they  nor  anye  of  them  shall  doo  anye  acte  tend 
ing  to  the  breache  of  the  leage  betwene  her  Matie  and  anye 
other  Prince  in  amytie  wth  her  higlmes  neither  to  the  pre 
judice  of  her  Mat16  or  this  Realme. 

"  Item  that  the  xth  pson  wch  they  shall  carrie  wth  them 


22  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

shalbe  souche  as  have  not  any  certainetie  whereuppon  to 
lyve  or  maintaine  themselves  in  Englande." 

That  Queen  Elizabeth  consented  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  of  Peckham's  continued  interest ;  but  her  policy  required 
silence,  and  a  government  detective  or  spy  discovered  the 
real  nature  of  the  voyage,  and  in  a  report  made  known  the 
connection  of  Sir  George  Peckham  and  Sir  Thomas  Gerard 
with  the  intended  expedition. 

"  I  have  heard  it  said  among  the  Papists,"  writes  this  spy, 
"  that  they  hope  it  will  prove  the  best  journey  for  England 
that  was  made  this  forty  years."  "  I  do  not  hear  of  any 
further  cause  of  the  departure  of  Sir  George  Peckham  and 
Sir  Thomas  Gerard  than  that  every  Papist  doth  like  very 
well  thereof,  and  do  most  earnestly  pray  their  good  suc 
cess."  a 

The  place  of  the  intended  settlement  was  Norumbega,  a 
district  described  in  the  then  recently  published  Cosmog- 
raphie  of  Thevet,  a  Franciscan  priest  who  claims  to  have 
visited  it.  This  province  is  generally  regarded  as  being  the 
present  State  of  Maine.3 

The  fleet  that  finally  sailed  from  England,  June  11,  1583, 
consisted  of  the  Delight  or  George,  of  120  tons ;  the  bark 
Raleigh,  of  200  tons ;  the  Golden  Hind  and  Swallow,  each 
of  40  tons,  and  the  Squirrel,  of  10  tons,  carrying  in  all  260 
persons.  Sighting  land  on  the  30th  of  July,  they  entered 
the  harbor  of  St.  John,  Newfoundland,  where  Sir  Hum- 

1  Public  Record  Office  Copy.  State  Papers.  Domestic.  Eliz.  1580, 
(1583.)  Vol.  146.  No.  40. 

"  Letter  from  P.  H.  W.  (There  is  reason  to  believe  his  real  name 
was  Tichbourne  alias  Benjamin  Beard)  dated  April  19,  1582.  Vol.  153, 
No.  14.  I  am  indebted  for  the  reference  to  J.  II.  Pollen,  S.  J. 

3  Prof.  Horsford  in  a  recent  tract  claims  Massachusetts  as  Xorum- 
bega. 


PROPOSED  SETTLEMENT  IN  MAINE.     23 

phrey  took  possession  in  the  name  of  the  queen.  lie  then 
issued  some  laws.  "  The  first  for  religion,  which  in  publique 
exercise  should  be  according  to  the  Church  of  England."  ' 

This  while  ostensibly  setting  up  the  Established  Church  so 
as  to  avoid  all  cavil,  really  allowed  the  Catholic  service  in 
private.  Gilbert  wrote  from  this  port  to  Sir  George  Peck- 
ham,*  from  which  it  is  evident  that  the  Catholic  knight 
did  not  accompany  the  expedition,  and  we  are  left  entirely 
in  the  dark  as  to  the  Catholics  who  really  came  out. 

Sailing  thence  to  select  a  place  for  settlement  in  JS"orum- 
bega,  Gilbert  passed  Cape  Race.  Soon  after,  his  best  vessel, 
loaded  with  all  the  supplies  for  his  colonists,  was  lost,  only 
a  few  who  clung  to  the  wreck  surviving,  when  it  was  driven 
by  the  tides  on  the  coast  of  Newfoundland. 

Thoroughly  discouraged,  Gilbert  abandoned  the  projected 
settlement,  and  attempted  to  reach  .Europe,  sailing  himself 
in  the  frailest  of  his  fleet.  In  a  storm  that  wrould  have 
tried  stauncher  ships,  his  voice  was  heard,  from  time  to 
time,  calling  to  the  vessel  near  him :  "  We  are  as  neere 
heaven  by  sea  as  by  land."  Then  the  voice  was  silent ;  the 
wail  of  the  waves  alone  was  heard.  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert, 
with  his  hopes  and  his  projects,  had  disappeared,  meeting 
his  fate  with  a  courage  the  world  has  never  ceased  to 
admire.3 

The  other  vessels  reached  England,  and  the  survivors  of 
the  Delight,  taken  to  Spain  and  saved  by  the  kindly  captain 
who  rescued  them,  also  regained  their  native  land.4 

1  Haies,  "A  Report  of  the  Voyage,"   etc.     Hakluyt,   iii.,   p.   151. 
"  First,  that  Religion  publiquely  exercised  should  be  such  and  none 
other,  then  is  vsed  in  the  Church  of  England."    "A  True  Report,"  etc., 
Ib.,  p.  166. 

2  See  letter  in  Purchas,  iii.,  p.  808 ;   Hazard's  Collection,  i.,  p.  32. 

3  Haies  in  Hakluyt,  i.,  pp.  677-9  ;  iii.,  p.  159. 

4  A  Relation  of  Richard  Clarke.     Hakluyt,  iii. ,  p.  163. 


24  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Sir  George  Peckham  was  not  dismayed  by  this  unfor 
tunate  result  of  the  attempt.  He  is  the  first  English  Catho 
lic  whose  writings  call  for  our  notice,  so  far  as  they  regard 
the  exploration,  colonization,  and  Christianizing  of  this  con 
tinent.  His  little  work,  "  A  true  Keport  of  the  late  Dis 
coveries  and  possession  taken  in  the  right  of  the  Crowne  of 
England  of  the  Newfound  Lands  by  that  valiant  and  worthy 
gentleman,  Sir  Ilumfrey  Gilbert,  Knight,"  is  preserved  to 
us  in  Hakluyt,  and  breathes  a  truly  Christian  spirit.  That 
he  hoped  to  organize  a  new  expedition  is  evident.  "  Now 
where  I  doe  understand  that  Sir  Humfrey  Gilbert,  his 
adherents,  associates  and  friends,  doe  meane  with  a  conue- 
nient  supply  (with  as  much  speed  as  may  be)  to  maintaine, 
pursue  and  follow  this  intended  voyage,  already  in  part  per 
formed,  and  (by  the  assistance  of  Almighty  God)  to  plant 
themselves  and  their  people  in  the  continent  of  the  hither 
part  of  America,  between  the  degrees  of  30  and  60  of  sep- 
tentrionall  latitude,"  he  writes ;  then  he  proceeds  to  expatiate 
on  the  benefit  England  would  derive  from  colonies,  and  the 
necessity  of  endeavoring  to  rescue  the  Indians  from  their 
ignorance  and  idolatry. 

But  if  Sir  George  Peckham  was  sanguine,  the  Catholics  in 
England  were  apparently  in  general  opposed  to  any  scheme 
of  colonization.  Speaking  of  a  later  project  the  famous 
Jesuit  Father  Persons  wrote :  "  The  Hereticks  also  would 
laughe-and  exprobrate  the  same  unto  them,  as  they  did  when 
Sr.  George  Peckhame  and  Sr.  Thomas  Gerrarde  about  xx 
years  gone  should  have  made  the  same  viage  to  Nerembrage 
by  the  Queen  and  Councells  consente,  with  some  evacuations 
of  Papists,  as  then  they  called  them,  which  attempte  became 
presently  then  most  odious  to  the  Catholicke  party." 

1  Persons,  "  My  Judgement  about  transfering  Englishe  Catholiques  to 
the  northern  partes  of  America."  1605. 


PROPOSED  SETTLEMENT  IN  MAINE.  25 

For  some  years  no  further  steps  were  taken  in  regard  to  a 
Catholic  colony,  but  in  1605  one  Wiuslade,  who  had  served 
in  the  Spanish  Armada,  formed  a  project  for  gathering  the 
scattered  English  Catholic  exiles  on  the  continent,  and  with 
them  establishing  a  settlement  in  America.  The  scheme  evi 
dently  found  men  to  approve  and  men  to  condemn  it. 

The  expedition  sent  out  in  the  Archangel,  Capt.  "Wey- 
mouth,  March  5,  1605,  by  the  gallant  Sir  Thomas  Lord 
Arundell  of  Wardour,  and  Henry  TVriothesley,  second  Earl 
of  Southampton,  his  relative,  who  had  conformed  to  the 
State  Church,  was  probably  connected  with  this  project. 
An  air  of  mystery  was  preserved  with  regard  to  this  expedi 
tion,  and  the  only  published  account  of  it  leaves  everything 
vague,  yet  the  religious  tone  of  the  writer,  James  Eosier, 
indicates  a  higher  motive  than  trade  or  discovery.  "  We," 
he  says,  "  supposing  not  a  little  present  private  profit,  but  a 
publique  good  and  true  zeale  of  promulgating  God's  holy 
church,  by  planting  Christianity  to  be  the  sole  intent  of  the 
Honourable  setters  forth  of  this  discovery." 

1  "A  True  Relation  of  most  prosperous  voyage  made  this  present  yeere, 
1605,  By  Captaine  George  Weymouth  in  the  discovery  of  the  land  of  Vir 
ginia  :  Where  he  discouered  60  miles  vp,  a  most  excellent  Riuer,  to 
gether  with  a  most  fertile  land.  Written  by  lames  Rosier,  a  Gentleman 
employed  on  the  voyage."  Londini,  Impensis  Geo.  Bishop,  1605,  p.  34. 
The  pious  tone  of  Rosier's  narrative  would  lead  one  to  suppose  him  a 
clergyman  :  policy  would  require  adapting  the  tone  of  his  remarks  to 
Protestant  ears.  If  he  were  the  Protestant  minister  sent  by  Southampton, 
he  would  have  no  motive  for  concealing  his  character  and  not  speaking 
openly,  and  he  would  not  ignore  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  refer  only 
to  Lord  Arundell,  as  Rosier  does  :  while  if  he  were  the  priest  sent  by  the 
Catholic  nobleman,  it  would  be  natural.  He  begins  his  Preface  : 
"Being  employed  in  this  voyage  by  the  Right  Honorable  Thomas 
Arundell,  Baron  of  Warder,  to  take  due  notice  and  make  true  report  of 
the  discovery  therein  performed."  He  collected  an  Indian  vocabulary  of 
400  or  500  words,  of  which  a  part  is  given  in  Purchas'  Pilgrims,  iv,  pp. 
1659-1667.  He  concludes  the  Preface  :  "So  with  my  prayers  to  God  for 


26  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

He  notes  that  they  sailed  on  Easter  day,  reached  the  coast 
on  Whitsunday,  from  which  circumstance  they  named  the 
place  Pentecost  Harbour ;  he  tells  us  too  that  they  set  up 
crosses  at  various  points.1 

The  Archangel  made  the  coast  near  Cape  Cod  in  May, 
and  running  northward  reached  Monhegan,  to  which 
TVeymouth  gave  the  name  of  St.  George's,  planting  a 
cross  which  remained  there  for  years.  He  erected  another 
at  Booth  Bay,  which  he  named  Pentecost  Harbour,  and 
ascended  the  Kennebec  Kiver.  Mgr.  Urban  Cerri,  in  a 
report  of  the  Propaganda  to  Pope  Innocent  XL,  seems  to 
refer  to  this  expedition  where  he  writes :  "  Soon  after  Vir 
ginia  was  discovered,  the  King  of  England  sent  thither  a 
Catholic  Earl,3  and  another  nobleman  who  was  a  Heretick, 
Those  two  Lords  were  attended  by  Protestants  and  Catholicks, 
and  two  priests ;  so  that  the  Catholicks  and  Hereticks  per 
formed  for  a  long  time  the  exercise  of  religion  under  the 
same  roof."  : 

the  conversion  of  so  ingenious  and  well  disposed  people,  I  rest  your 
friend  J.  R." 

1  pp.  13,  31,  etc.  Ballard,  in  his  "  George  Weymouth  and  the  Kenne 
bec,"  maintains  the  Kennebec  to  be  the  river.  Prince,  in  his  reprint  of 
Rosier  (Bath,  1860)  the  George's. 

*  Lord  Arundell  was  a  Count  or  Earl  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire 
and  of  course  was  spoken  of  at  Rome  by  that  title. 

3  "  Instructions  for  our  Holy  Father  Innocent  XI.  concerning  the  Pres 
ent  State  of  Religion  in  the  Several  Parts  of  the  World,  By  Monsignor 
Urbano  Cerri,  Secretary  to  the  Congregation  de  Propaganda  Fide,"  in 
Steele,  "An  Account  of  the  State  of  the  Roman  Catholick  Religion 
throughout  the  World."  London,  1715.  See  page  168. 

Lord  Arundell  of  Wardour  kindly  informs  me  that  owing  to  the 
destruction  of  papers  during  the  siege  of  Wardour  Castle  in  1643  noth 
ing  remains  in  the  archives  of  that  ancient  Catholic  house  to  give  full 
light  on  this  early  Catholic  expedition  to  our  shores.  The  Earl  of  South 
ampton  engaged  with  Lord  Thomas  Arundell  was,  he  thinks,  the  second 
Earl,  brother-in-law  to  Lord  Arundell  and  son  of  the  patron  of  Shake 
speare. 


PROPOSED  SETTLEMENT  IN  MAINE.      27 

During  "Weymouth's  absence  the  plan  of  Winslade  had 
been  submitted  to  the  famous  Jesuit  Father  Robert  Persons, 
one  of  the  ablest  men  of  his  time.  His  decision,  entitled  "  My 
Judgement  about  transferring  Englishe  Catholiques  to  the 
northern  parts  of  America  for  inhabiting  those  partee  and 
converting  those  barbarous  people  to  Christianitie,"  was  so 
adverse  that  it  apparently  led  Lord  Arundell  to  abandon  the 
project. 

The  reasons  alleged  by  Father  Persons  were  that  the  king 
and  his  council  would  never  favor  the  plan,  as  it  made  them 
out  persecutors,  and  without  the  consent  of  government 
men  could  not  sell  estates,  and  leave  the  kingdom.  The 
wealthy  Catholics  would  sooner  risk  losing  part  of  their 
property  by  fines  in  England  than  venture  it  all  on  such  an 
enterprise,  and  the  poor  could  not  go  without  the  rich.  In 
the  next  place  "  it  would  be  verie  ill  taken  by  the  Catholicks 
generally,  as  a  matter  sounding  to  their  discredite  and  con- 
tempte,  to  have  as  it  were  theire  exportatione  to  Bar- 
barouse  people  treated  with  Princes  in  theire  name  without 
theire  knowledge  or  consente."  He  also  feared  that  the  dimin 
ishing  of  the  number  of  Catholics  in  England  might  lead 
to  laws  to  prevent  Catholics  from  leaving  the  country.  In 
the  next  place,  the  plan  proposed  assembling  1,000  in  some 
part  of  the  continent  from  which  they  were  to  sail.  Persons 
objected  that  they  could  not  be  maintained  while  waiting  the 
assemblage  of  the  whole,  and  no  foreign  state  would  permit 
it.  Spain,  always  jealous  of  European  colonization,  would 
surely  obstruct  their  project  not  only  in  Spain,  but  in  Flan 
ders  and  elsewhere. 

"Finally  what  theire  successe  would  be  amongst  those 
wilde  people,  wilde  beastes,  unexperienced  ayre,  unprovided 
lande  God  only  knoweth,  yet  as  I  sayd,  the  intentione  of  con- 
vertinge  those  people  liketh  me  so  well  and  in  so  high  a  de- 


28  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

gree  as  for  that  onely  I  would  desire  myself  to  goe  in  the 
iorney  shutting  my  eyes  to  all  other  difficulties  if  it  were  pos 
sible  to  obtayne  it." 

The  plan  embraced,  therefore,  not  only  a  settlement  as  a 
refuge  for  the  oppressed  Catholics  of  England,  but  a  system 
of  missions  for  converting  the  Indians.  How  strange  it  is, 
that  a  mission  settlement  for  converting  the  Indians  on  that 
very  coast  of  Norumbega,  founded  by  one  of  his  fellow-mem 
bers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  should  be  broken  up  by  Per 
sons'  fellow-countrymen  less  than  ten  years  after  he  wrote.1 

Such  was  the  second  project  of  Catholic  colonization  in  our 
present  territory.  It  failed,  but  strangely  enough,  the  plan 
proposed  by  Winslade  was  carried  out  by  the  English  Sepa 
ratists,  who  gathered  in  Holland,  and  with  scanty  resources,  arid 
apparently  a  want  of  all  prudence  sailed  in  winter  to  land  on 
the  bleak  New  England  coast,  not  to  fail  in  their  projected 
settlement,  but  to  open  the  way  for  others  who  filled  the 
land,  and  established  enduring  institutions. 

The  next  to  take  up  the  project  of  Catholic  colonization 
was  a  convert,  one  who  had  held  high  and  important  offices 
in  the  English  government,  was  thoroughly  conversant  with 
its  spirit  and  ways,  and  who,  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
Company,  must  have  been  fully  conversant  with  all  that  had 
been  done  to  create  colonies  in  America. 

Sir  George  Calvert,  descended  from  a  noble  Flemish  fam 
ily,  was  born  at  Kipling,  in  Yorkshire,  in  1582.  He  took 
his  degrees  at  Oxford  as  bachelor  and  master  of  arts,  and 
showed  ability  as  a  poet.  After  making  a  tour  of  Europe, 
he  obtained  an  appointment  in  Ireland,  and  was  promoted  to 
other  offices,  being  often  employed  on  public  affairs  at  home 


1  Father  Biard's  mission  settlement  of   St.  Sauveur  on  Mont  Desert 
Island. 


CALVERT  IN  NEWFOUNDLAND.  09 

and  abroad,  where  a  clear  head,  prompt  action,  and  honest 
purpose  were  required.  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  the  trusted  minister 
of  Elizabeth,  made  the  young  man  his  chief  clerk,  and  when 
he  himself  became  lord  high  treasurer  named  Calvert  clerk  of 
the  Privy  Council.  Knighted  in  1617,  he  became  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  state  the  next  year.  Favors  flowed  upon  him, 
among  others  a  large  grant  of  land  in  Ireland.  At  a  very  early 
period  he  became  interested  in  American  colonization.  In 
1609  he  was  one  of  the  Virginia  Company  of  Planters,  and 
fifteen  years  later  one  of  the  provincial  council  in  England 
for  the  government  of  that  province.  In  1620,  too,  he  pur 
chased  the  southeast  peninsula  of  Newfoundland,  and  sent 
out  Captain  Edward  Wynne  with  a  small  colony,  who  formed 
a  settlement  at  Ferryland. 

Meanwhile,  this  public  man,  brought  up  amid  the  wily  and 
unprincipled  statesmen  of  the  courts  of  Elizabeth  and  James, 
able  but  faithless,  grasping  and  insincere,  to  whom  religion 
was  but  a  tool  for  controlling  the  people,  began  to  study  re 
ligious  affairs  seriously.  The  Puritans  and  Separatists  and 
Presbyterians  were  working  among  the  lower  and  more  ig 
norant  classes,  building  up  a  large  body  of  dissenters  ;  the 
Church  of  England  was  inert,  many  of  the  abler  and  purer 
men  seeking  to  recover  what  they  had  lost  at  the  reforma 
tion,  rather  than  reject  more. 

Calvert  had  not  been  indifferent  to  the  salvation  of  his  own 
soul,  amid  all  the  engrossing  cares  of  office,  and  the  allure 
ments  of  the  court.  He  felt  the  importance  of  religion  and 
gave  it  his  serious  thought  and  inquiry.  In  the  Puritan 
school  he  saw  only  a  menace  to  all  government  civil  and 
ecclesiastical.  In  the  Anglican  Church  only  a  feeble  effort  to 
retrieve  a  wrong  step.  To  his  decisive  mind  the  only  course 
for  any  man  was  to  return  to  the  ancient  Church.  This  be 
came  clearer  and  clearer  to  his  mind,  and  he  prepared  to  ar- 


30  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

range  his  affairs  to  meet  the  consequences  attendant  on  a  pro 
fession  of  a  faith  proscribed  by  the  laws  of  the  state.  In  1624 
lie  relinquished  his  seat  in  Parliament,  and  was  received  into 
the  Church.  He  then  announced  his  change  to  the  king 
and  tendered  his  resignation  as  secretary  of  state.  King 
James  retained  him  as  a  member  of  the  Privy  Council ;  he 
also  regranted  to  him  the  estates  in  Ireland,  exempting  him 
from  obligations  which  he  now  as  a  Catholic  could  not  fulfil, 
and  to  reward  his  long  and  faithful  service,  created  him 
Baron  of  Baltimore  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland. 

Evidently  in  anticipation  of  the  return  to  the  Church  of 
his  ancestors  Calvert  had  on  the  7th  of  April,  1623,  obtained 
a  charter  for  the  province  of  Avalon  in  Newfoundland,  mak 
ing  him  a  lord  proprietor  where  he  was  as  yet  only  a  land 
holder. 

His  view  was  to  lead  out  a  colony  and  make  it  his  resi 
dence.  That  it  was  his  design  to  make  it  a  refuge  for  op 
pressed  Catholics  cannot  be  doubted.  He  was  already  in  in 
timate  relations  with  Sir  Thomas  Arundell,  who  had  been 
connected  with  a  previous  scheme  of  the  kind,  and  the  union 
of  the  two  families  was  soon  cemented  by  a  marriage. 

The  charter  of  Avalon  made  him  "  true  and  absolute  Lord 
and  proprietary  of  the  region  "  granted,  which  was  erected 
into  a  province,  with  full  power  to  make  necessary  laws,  ap. 
point  officers,  enjoy  the  patronage  and  advowson  of  all 
churches.  Full  authority  was  given  to  all  the  king's  subjects 
to  proceed  to  the  province  and  settle  there,  notwithstanding 
any  law  to  the  contrary.  The  settlers  were  to  be  exempt 
from  all  taxation  imposed  by  the  king  or  his  successors. 

It  was  provided  that  the  laws  should  not  be  repugnant  or 
contrary  to  those  of  England,  and  a  special  clause  "  Provided 
allways  that  no  interpretation  bee  admitted  thereof  (of  the 
charter)  whereby  God's  holy  and  truly  Christian  religion  or 


CAL  VER  T  IN  NE  WFO  UNDLAND.  31 

allegiance  due  unto  us,  our  heires  and  successors  may  in  any 
thing  suffer  any  prejudice  or  diminution."  To  give  a 
charter  directly  favoring  or  protecting  the  Catholic  religion 
was  what  the  king  could  not  do.  But  the  Avalon  charter  en 
abled  Catholics  to  emigrate  to  that  province  without  hindrance, 
and  enabled  Calvert  to  make  such  laws  as  he  pleased,  and  re 
served  no  power  to  require  him  to  enforce  the  English  penal 
laws  against  Catholics.  Thus  under  the  charter  Catholics 
could  hold  lands,  have  their  own  churches  and  priests.  It 
was  unnecessary  for  Lord  Baltimore  to  pass  any  special  law 
permitting  them  to  do  so. 

Embarking  in  an  armed  vessel  of  three  hundred  tons,  in 

o 

1627,  he  reached  Ferry  land  about  the  23d  of  July,  with 
colonists  and  supplies.  With  him  went  two  seminary  priests, 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  Longvill  and  Anthony  Smith.  After  a 
short  stay  in  his  province  he  returned,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Long 
vill  accompanying  him.  A  chapel  had  been  set  up,  and 
mass  was  regularly  offered,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  being  joined 
next  year  by  a  priest  named  Hacket,  when  Lord  Baltimore 
came  over  with  most  of  his  family  to  make  his  home  in 
Newfoundland.  The  colonists  were  not  all  Catholics,  how 
ever  ;  and  Lord  Baltimore  showed  his  sense  of  the  equal 
religious  rights  of  all  by  giving  the  Protestant  colonists  a 
place  for  worship  and  a  clergyman.  This  minister,  a  Rev. 
Mr.  Stourton,  was  not  content  with  full  liberty ;  he  returned 
to  England,  and  filed  an  information  against  Lord  Baltimore 
for  permitting  mass  to  be  said.  His  intolerance  was  that  of 
his  time  and  country.  Lord  Baltimore,  in  practically  placing 
both  religions  on  an  equal  footing,  making  both  tacitly  sanc 
tioned,  giving  religious  freedom  to  all,  rose  pre-eminently 

1  The  Charter  is  given  at  length  in  Scharf,  "  History  of  Maryland," 
i.,pp.  33-40. 


32  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

above  his  time.  lie  nobly  endeavored  in  Avalon  to  enable 
each  class  of  settlers  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dic 
tates  of  their  conscience,  and  it  was  brought  up  against  him 
as  a  crime.  Taught  by  this  rude  experience,  we  shall  see 
that  in  his  next  experiment,  he  left  each  class  to  provide 
ministers  of  religion  for  themselves,  or  neglect  to  do  so,  as 
they  preferred. 

Lord  Baltimore  found  the  climate  very  severe,  and  was 
soon  discouraged  by  the  depredations  of  the  French,  with 
whom  he  had  some  sharp  fighting,  gaining,  however,  the 
victory. 

Lady  Baltimore,  sailing  down  to  Virginia  to  obtain  sup 
plies,  was  charmed  with  the  beauty  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  and 
apparently -urged  her  husband  to  cast  his  fortunes  there  rather 
than  on  the  bleak  shore  of  Newfoundland.  Lord  Baltimore, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Virginia,  visited  that 
province  in  October,  1629,  witli  a  view  of  removing  his 
settlement  thither.  The  acting  governor,  John  Pott,  and 
other  officials,  including  Clayborne,  at  once  demanded  that 
he  should  take  the  oath  of  supremacy.1  In  this  they 
assumed  powers  not  given  to  the  officials  in  Virginia,  such 
powers  having  been  limited  to  the  treasurer  and  council  in 
England.2 

This  manifestation  of  hostility  and  bigotry  was  unexpected. 

1  Sainsbury,  "  Calendar  of  State  Papers,"  i.,  p.  104.    In  justifying  their 
course,  Potts  and  his  associates  boasted   "that  no  Papists  have  been 
suffered  to  settle  their  abode  amongst  us."    Neill,  "  Founders  of  Mary 
land,"  p.  45.     In  fact,  Virginia  broke  up  a  French  Catholic  settlement  in 
Maine,  and  at  a  later  day  had  prevented  Irish  Catholics  from  landing. 

2  No  such  power  is  given  in  the  first  charter,  4  James,  i.    The  second, 
7  James,  i.,  empowers  the  treasurer,  and  any  three  of  the  council,  to 
tender  the  oath  to  those  going  to  Virginia  ;  and  the  third  gives  a  similar 
power,  but  there  is  not  a  word  empowering  subordinate  officials  in  the 
colony  to  tender  the  oath  to  a  member  of  the  council. 


LORD  BALTIMORE  IN  VIRGINIA.  33 

by  Lord  Baltimore.  Before  leaving  Newfoundland,  he  had 
written  on  the  19th  of  August,  1629,  to  King  Charles  I., 
soliciting  the  grant  of  a  precinct  of  land  in  Virginia  to  which 
he  wished  to  remove  with  forty  persons,  and  there  enjoy  the 
same  privileges  that  had  been  granted  to  him  at  Aval  on.1 
He  evidently  aimed  at  employing  his  means  and  ability  to 
build  up  Virginia  in  which  he  had  so  long  been  interested. 

The  conduct  of  the  Virginia  officials  showed  Lord  Balti 
more  clearly,  however,  that  Catholics  could  not  live  in  peace 
in  that  colony ;  and  that  to  secure  them  a  refuge  he  must 
obtain  a  charter  for  a  new  province.  Leaving  his  family  in 
Virginia,  he  sailed  to  England  to  employ  his  influence  in 
obtaining  a  new  grant.  In  February,  1630,  Lord  Baltimore, 
with  Sir  Thomas  Arundell  of  Wardour,  applied  for  a  grant 
of  land,  south  of  the  James  River,  "to  be  peopled  and 
planted  by  them," 2  the  bravest  Englishman  of  his  time 
again  renewing  his  attempt  at  colonization  within  our  limits. 

Clayborne,  who  had  been  one  of  those  who  prevented 
Lord  Baltimore  from  settling  in  Virginia,  prompted,  as  their 
action  shows,  by  hostility  to  his  religion,  was  now  secretary 
of  that  province.  When  the  king,  at  the  petition  of  Lords 
Baltimore  and  Arundell,  signed  a  charter  for  territory  south 
of  Virginia,  in  February,  1631,  Clayborne  and  other  repre 
sentatives  of  that  colony  who  were  then  in  England,  were 
appalled  at  the  result.  To  their  prejudiced  minds  it  was 
dangerous  for  Virginia  to  have  Catholic  subjects,  but  that 
danger  was  little  compared  to  having  a  colony  controlled  by 
Catholics  at  their  very  border.  The  charter  just  granted 
was,  on  their  vehement  remonstrance,  revoked.  Baron  Arun- 

1  Colonial  Papers,  v.  27.     Kirke, "  Conquest  of  Canada,"  i.,   p.  158. 
Scharf,  "Maryland,"  i.,  p.  44. 

2  Sainsbury,  "  Calendar  of  State  Papers. "    Johnson,  "  Foundation  of 
Maryland,"  p.  18. 

3 


34  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

dell  died,  but  Lord  Baltimore,  persisting  in  his  design,  solic 
ited,  in  lieu  of  the  territory  south  of  Virginia,  a  district 
to  the  northward.  Virginia  had  gained  nothing,  and  further 
opposition  on  her  part  was  treated  as  vexatious.1 

Charles  I.  ordered  a  patent  to  be  issued  to  Lord  Baltimore, 
granting  to  him  the  territory  north  of  the  Potomac  to  the 
fortieth  degree,  with  the  portion  of  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
Chesapeake,  lying  opposite,  and  extending  to  the  ocean.  This 
province  the  king  named  Terra  Mariae,  or  Maryland,  in 
honor  of  his  queen,  Henriette  Marie,  daughter  of  Henri  IV., 
and  doubtless,  too,  in  memory  of  the  old  Spanish  name  of 
the  Chesapeake,  retained  on  many  charts,  "  Baia  de  Santa 

Maria." 

The  charter  for  Maryland,  in  which  the  long  experience 
and  political  wisdom  of  Lord  Baltimore  are  manifest,  has 
generally  been  regarded  as  one  of  his  best  titles  to  the  respect 
of  posterity.  Sir  George  Calvert  "  was  a  man  of  sagacity  and 
an  observing  statesman.  He  had  beheld  the  arbitrary  admin 
istration  of  the  colonies,  and  against  any  danger  of  future 
oppression,  he  provided  the  strongest  defence  which  the 
promise  of  a  monarch  could  afford."  "  The  charter  secured 
to  the  emigrants  themselves  an  independent  share  in  the 
legislation  of  the  province,  of  which  the  statutes  were  to  be 
established  with  the  advice  and  approbation  of  the  majority 
of  the  freemen  or  their  deputies.  Representative  govern 
ment  was  indissolubly  connected  with  the  fundamental 
charter."  The  king  even  renounced  for  himself  and  his 
successors  the  right  to  lay  any  tax  or  impost  on  the  people  of 
Maryland. 

"  Calvert  deserves,"  says  Bancroft,  "  to  be  ranked  among 

'  Ayscough  MSS.  in  British  Museum,  cited  by  Scharf,  Hist.  Mary 
land,  i.,  p.  50. 


THE  MARYLAND  CHARTER.  35 

the  most  wise  and  benevolent  lawgivers  of  all  ages.  He 
was  the  first  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  world  to  seek  for 
religious  security  and  peace  by  the  practice  of  justice  and 
not  by  the  exercise  of  power ;  to  plan  the  establishment  of 
popular  institutions  with  the  enjoyment  of  liberty  of  con 
science  ;  to  advance  the  career  of  civilization  by  recognizing 
the  rightful  equality  of  all  Christian  sects.  The  asylum  of 
Catholics  was  the  spot  where,  in  a  remote  corner  of  the 
world,  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  which,  as  yet,  had  hardly  beer, 
explored,  the  mild  forbearance  of  a  proprietary,  adoptee1 
religious  freedom  as  the  basis  of  the  state." 

Before  the  charter  passed  the  Great  Seal  of  England, 
Lord  Baltimore  died  ;  but  his  son  obtained  the  promised 
grant  under  the  same  liberal  conditions  and  proceeded  at 
once  to  carry  out  his  father's  plans,  chief  among  which  was 
"  to  convert,  not  extirpate  the  natives,  and  to  send  the  sober, 
not  the  lewd,  as  settlers,  looking  not  to  present  profit,  but 
future  expectation."  l 

1  Some  recent  writers,  notably  S.  F.  Streeter  and  E.  D.  Neill,  have 
endeavored  to  detract  from  the  first  Lord  Baltimore's  claim  to  our  respect 
as  an  exponent  of  religious  liberty.  The  older  writers  uniformly  recog 
nized  it.  Gen.  B.  T.  Johnson,  reviewing  the  whole  question,  says  : 
"  Calvert  adopted  the  principle  of  religious  liberty  as  covered  by,  and 
included  in,  the  guarantees  of  the  Great  Charter,  not  that  there  could  be 
liberty  of  conscience  without  security  of  personal  property,  but  that 
there  could  be  no  security  of  personal  property  without  liberty  of  con 
science."  "  Foundation  of  Maryland,"  p.  12.  Scharf,  "  History  of  Mary 
land,"  i.,  p.  52,  says  :  "  Calumny  has  not  shrunk  from  attacking  his 
honored  name.  Detraction  has  been  busy,  and  as  the  facts  could  not  be 
denied,  Calvert's  motives  have  been  assailed,  but  empty  assertion,  con 
jecture,  surmises,  however  ingeniously  malevolent,  have  happily  exer 
cised  very  little  influence  over  the  minds  of  intelligent  and  candid  men." 
See  the  question  of  the  credit  to  be  given  to  the  charter  and  to  Lord 
Baltimore  discussed  in  "  American  Catholic  Quarterly,"  x.,  p.  658.  Cal 
vert's  giving  equality  to  Catholic  and  Protestant  worship  in  Avalon  is 
the  practical  proof  of  his  motive.  That  no  charters  but  his  allowed 
toleration  or  colonial  legislation,  shows  that  the  ideas  did  not  emanate 
from  the  crown. 


36  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

A  Catholic  nobleman,  at  a  time  when  his  faith  was  pro 
scribed  in  England,  and  its  ministers  constantly  butchered 
by  law,1  was  thus  made  proprietary  of  a  colony  in  America, 
where  the  colonists  were  to  make  their  own  laws  ;  where  no 
religion  was  established,  where  the  laws  required  no  royal 
assent.  It  was  a  colony  where  Catholicity  might  be  planted 
and  flourish. 

1  Within  twenty  years  ten  Catholic  priests  and  several  laymen  had  been 
hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  in  England  for  their  religion,  one  of  them 
as  recently  as  1628. 


7 

ANCIENT  PEWTER  CHALICE  AND  PATEN, 
OF  TILE  EARLY  DAYS  OP  MARYLAND, 
WITH  ALTAR  STOT>E  PRESERVED  .A.T 
WOODSTOCK  COLLEGE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CATHOLICITY   PLANTED   IN   MARYLAND.       1634-1646. 

THE  project  of  a  home  beyond  the  Atlantic  for  the  perse 
cuted  Catholics  of  England  was  at  laet  on  the  point  of  being 
successfully  carried  out.  The  attempts  of  Peckham  and 
Gerard,  of  "Winslade,  of  Lord  Baltimore  at  Avalon,  all  show 
the  same  object,  and  leave  no  room  for  doubt  that  Cal vert's 
design  in  founding  Maryland  was  to  give  his  fellow-believers 
a  place  of  refuge.  The  object  was,  of  course,  not  distinctly 
avowed.  The  temper  of  the  times  required  great  care  and 
caution  in  all  official  documents,  as  well  as  in  the  manage 
ment  of  the  new  province. 

Cecil,  Lord  Baltimore,  after  receiving  his  charter  for  Mary 
land,  in  June,  1632,  prepared  to  carry  out  his  father's  plans. 
Terms  of  settlement  were  issued  to  attract  colonists,  and  a 
body  of  emigrants  was  soon  collected  to  begin  the  foundation 
of  the  new  province.  The  leading  gentlemen  who  were 
induced  to  take  part  in  the  project  were  Catholics ;  those 
whom  they  took  out  to  till  the  soil,  or  ply  various  trades,  were 
not  all  or,  indeed,  mainly  Catholics,  but  they  could  not  have 
been  very  strongly  Protestant  to  embark  in  a  venture  so  abso 
lutely  under  Catholic  control.  At  Avalon  Sir  George  Cal- 
vert,  anxious  for  the  religious  life  of  his  colonists,  had  taken 
over  both  Catholic  and  Protestant  clergymen,  and  was  ill- 
repaid  for  his  liberal  conduct.  To  avoid  a  similar  ground  of 
reproach,  Baron  Cecil  left  each  part  of  his  colonists  free  to 
take  their  own  clergymen.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the 

(37) 


38  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Protestant  portion  were  so  indifferent  that  they  neither  took 
over  any  minister  of  religion,  nor  for  several  years  after 
Maryland  settlements  began,  made  any  attempt  to  procure 
one.  On  behalf  of  the  Catholic  settlers,  Lord  Baltimore 
applied  to  Father  Richard  Blount,  at  that  time  provincial 
of  the  Jesuits  in  England,  and  wrote  to  the  General  of  the 
Society,  at  Rome,  to  excite  their  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  English 
Catholics  who  were  about  to  proceed  to  Maryland.  He  could 
offer  the  clergy  no  support.  "  The  Baron  himself  is  unable  to 
find  support  for  the  Fathers,  nor  can  they  expect  sustenance 
from  heretics  hostile  to  the  faith,  nor  from  Catholics  for  the 
most  part  poor,  nor  from  the  savages  who  live  after  the  man 
ner  of  wild  beasts." 

The  prospect  was  not  encouraging,  and  the  proximity  of 
the  colonies  of  Virginia  and  New  England,  both  hostile  in 
feeling  to  Catholicity,  made  the  position  of  a  Catholic  mis 
sionary  one  of  no  little  danger.  The  Jesuits  did  not  shrink 
from  a  mission  field  where  they  were  to  look  for  no  support 
from  the  proprietary  or  their  flock,  and  were  to  live  amid 
dangers.  It  was  decided  that  two  Fathers  were  to  go  as  gen 
tlemen  adventurers,  taking  artisans  with  them,  and  acquiring 
lands  like  others,  from  which  they  were  to  draw  their  sup 
port.  This  required  means,  and  we  are  not  told  by  whom 
they  were  furnished,  but  circumstances  strongly  indicate  that 
Father  Thomas  Copley,  of  an  old  English  family,  but  born 
in  Spain,  supplied  the  means  by  which  the  first  missionaries 
were  sent  out  and  maintained.1  The  Maryland  pilgrims 
under  Leonard  Calvert,  brother  of  the  lord  proprietary. 


1  Memorial  of  Father  Henry. More,  Vice-Provincial.  Foley,  "  Records 
of  the  English  Province,"  iii.,  pp.  363-4.  Thomas  Copley,  known  on  the 
mission  as  Father  Philip  Fisher,  took  up  lands,  claiming  that  Fathers 
White,  Altham,  and  their  companions  had  been  sent  over  by  him.  Kilty, 
Landholder's  Assistant,  pp.  66-8. 


MARYLAND  SETTLED.  39 

consisted  of  his  brother  George,  some  twenty  other  gentle 
men,  and  two  hundred  laboring  men,  well  provided.  To  con 
vey  these  to  the  land  of  Mary,  Lord  Baltimore  had  his  own  pin 
nace,  the  Dove,  of  fifty  tons,  commanded  by  Robert  "Winter, 
and  the  Ark,  a  chartered  vessel  of  350  tons  burthen,  Richard 
Lowe  being  captain.  Leonard  Calvert  was  appointed  gover 
nor,  Jerome  Hawley  and  Thomas  Cornwaleys  being  joined  in 
the  commission.  Among  the  gentlemen  who  came  forward  to 
take  part  in  the  good  work  was  Richard  Gerard,  son  of  the 
baronet  Sir  Thomas,  one  of  the  first,  as  we  have  seen,  to  pro 
pose  Catholic  colonization  in  America,  and  active  with  Feck- 
ham  in  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's  expedition. 

Lord  Baltimore  met  with  many  vexations  and  delays.  He  ob 
tained  from  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  a  warrant  exempting 
his  men  from  impressment ;  but  as  by  his  very  charter  the  object 
of  his  colony  was  religious,  the  proprietary  being  praised  for 
his  pious  zeal  and  desire  to  propagate  the  Christian  faith, 
every  engine  was  employed  to  defeat  the  expedition.  On 
hostile  representations,  the  attorney-general  at  last  made  an 
information  in  the  Star  Chamber  that  Lord  Baltimore's  ships 
had  departed  without  proper  papers  from  the  custom-house, 
and  in  contempt  of  all  authority.  It  was,  moreover,  alleged 
that  the  emigrants  had  abused  the  king's  officers  and  refused 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  On  these  malicious  charges 
ships  were  sent  in  pursuit  of  the  Maryland  vessels,  and  the 
Ark  and  Dove  were  brought  back  to  London.  The  charges 
were  soon  disproved,  but  Lord  Baltimore  had  been  put  to  great 
expense,  and  his  expedition  jeoparded.  His  enemies,  how 
ever,  could  not  force  him  to  abandon  his  undertaking.' 

The  Ark  and  Dove,  when  released,  bore  away  again,  and 
putting  in  at  Cowes,  in  the  Isle  of  "Wight,  took  aboard  other 

1  Lord  Baltimore  to  the  Earl  of  Strafford.      Stafford's  Letters. 


40  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

members  of  the  expedition.  From  this  period  we  have  as 
our  guide  the  narrative  of  the  voyage,  written,  in  all  proba 
bility,  by  Father  Andrew  White.  This  learned  man,  who 
after  serving  on  the  English  mission  as  a  seminary  prieet,  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemies  of  the  true  faith  and 
spent  years  in  prison,  had  been  banished  from  England  in 
1606.  On  the  Continent  he  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus 
and  filled  professors'  chairs  in  several  colleges.1  He  had 
been  selected  by  the  provincial  as  chief  missioner  to  Mary 
land,  and  was  accompanied  by  Father  John  Altham,  or  Grave- 
nor,  and  by  Thomas  Gervase,  a  lay  brother.2 

They  sailed  from  Cowes  on  the  22d  of  November,  1633, 
the  feast  of  Saint  Cecilia.  In  the  stormy  weather  which  they 
soon  encountered,  the  Dove  was  driven  from  her  consort,  and 
the  two  priests  in  the  Ark  expecting  for  their  party  the  fate 
which  seemed  to  have  overtaken  her,  united  all  the  Catholics 
in  prayers  and  devotions  to  our  Lord,  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
Saint  Ignatius,  and  the  Angel  Guardians  of  Maryland,  con 
secrating  that  province  as  a  new  votive  offering  to  Our  Lady 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  Sweeping  around  by  Barba- 
does,  by  Montserrat,  whence  the  fugitive  Irish  Catholics  had 

1  Challoner,  "Missionary  Priests " (Phil,  edn.),  ii.,  p.  14.  Foley,  "  Rec 
ords  of  the  English  Province,"  iii.,  pp.  334-9.  The  earliest  printed  ac 
counts  of  Father  White's  Life  are  in  More,  "  Historia  Anglo  Bavarica," 
and  in  Tanner,  "  Societas  Jesu,"  p.  803.  Prague,  1694. 

-  The  "  Relatio  Itineris  "  mentions  no  other  priest  except  F.  Altham,  and 
White  would,  of  course,  not  mention  himself  byname.  Grants  of  lands 
were  taken  up  only  for  White  and  Altham.  Kilty's  Land-Holder's  Assist 
ant,  p. 68.  We  must  regard  the  mention  of  other  priests  at  the  time  as 
erroneous.  To  some  it  may  require  explanation  why  Altham  and  other 
early  missionaries  had  more  than  one  name.  This  was  a  result  of  the  penal 
laws  in  England,  to  save  their  relatives  and  those  who  harbored  them 
from  annoyance  and  danger.  Mr.  Henry  Foley  has,  at  infinite  trouble, 
collected  the  names  which  Fathers  of  the  Society  were  compelled  to 
assume.  After  his  patient  research  I  make  no  mere  conjecture  in  any 
case. 


THE  JESUITS  IN  MARYLAND.  41 

not  yet  been  driven  by  English  bate,  by  Nevis  and  other 
West  India  Islands,  the  two  vessels,  which  had  again  joined 
company,  glided  peacefully  at  last  between  the  capes  into  the 
bay  which  Spanish  navigators  named  in  honor  of  the  Mother 
of  God,  but  which  was  to  bear  its  Indian  name  of  Chesapeake. 

The  avowed  hostility  of  Virginia  made  Leonard  Calvort 
anxious  to  learn  what  reception  awaited  him.  He  anchored 
for  a  time  at  Point  Comfort  and  forwarded  to  the  governor 
letters  he  bore  from  the  king  and  the  authorities  in  England. 

Encouraged  by  a  courteous  welcome,  Calvert  then  proceeded 
up  the  bay  to  the  territory  embraced  within  the  charter  of 
Maryland.  The  Catholic  character  of  the  colony  is  at  once 
apparent.  For  each  natural  landmark  a  title  is  drawn  from 
the  calendar  of  the  Church.  The  Potomac  is  consecrated  to 
St.  Gregory  ;  Smith's  Point  and  Point  Lookout  become  Cape 
St.  Gregory  and  Cape  St.  Michael.  When  the  Pilgrims  of 
Marvland  reached  the  Heron  Islands  they  named  them  after 
St.  Clement,  St.  Catharine,  and  St.  Cecilia,  whose  festivals  re 
called  the  early  days  of  their  voyage.  Near  the  island  named 
St.  Clement  they  came  to  anchor.  "  On  the  day  of  the  An 
nunciation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  in  the  year  1634," 
writes  the  author  of  the  "  Kelatio  Itineris,"  "  we  celebrated 
the  first  mass  on  that  island  ;  never  before  had  it  been  offered 
in  that  region.  After  the  holy  sacrifice,  bearing  on  our 
shoulders  a  huge  cross,  which  we  had  hewn  from  a  tree,  we 
moved  in  procession  to  a  spot  selected,  the  governor,  com 
missioners  and  other  Catholics,"  putting  their  hands  first  unto 
it,  "  and  erected  it  as  a  trophy  to  Christ  our  Saviour ;  then 
humbly  kneeling,  we  recited  with  deep  emotion,  the  Litany 
of  the  Holy  Cross."  ' 

1  "  Relatio  Itineris  ad  Marylandiam,"  Baltimore,  1874,  p.  83.  The 
manuscript  of  the  Relatio  with  an  Indian  catechism  was  found  in  1832 
in  the  Archives  of  the  Professed  House  at  Rome,  by  an  American  Jesuit, 


42  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


ST.  CLEMENT'S  ISLAND,  EASTERN  END,  WHERE  THE  FIRST  MASS  WAS 
SAID  IN  MARYLAND,  MARCH  25,  1634.    FROM  A  DRAWING  BY  F.  B. 

MAYER. 

Catholicity  thus  planted  her  cross  and  her  altar  in  the 
heart  of  the  English  colonies  in  America,  March  25,  1634:. 
The  land  was  consecrated,  and  then  preparations  were  made 
to  select  a  spot  for  the  settlement.  Leaving  Father  White  at 
St.  Clement's,  the  governor,  with  Father  Altham,  ran  up  the 
river  in  a  pinnace,  and  at  Potomac  on  the  southern  shore 
met  Archihau,  regent  of  the  powerful  tribe  that  held  sway 
over  that  part  of  the  land.  The  priest,  through  an  interpre 
ter,  made  known  his  desire  to  instruct  the  chief  in  the  true 
faith.  Archihau  gave  every  mark  of  friendly  assent.  The 
emperor  of  Piscataway,  who  controlled  a  considerable  extent 
of  territory  on  the  Maryland  side  of  the  river,  was  also  won 
over  by  the  Catholic  pilgrims,  although  on  their  first  ap 
proach  the  Piscataways  came  flocking  to  the  shore  to  oppose 
them  in  arms.  Having  thus  prepossessed  the  most  powerful 
native  rulers  of  the  neighboring  Indians  to  regard  the  new 

Father  William  McSherry.  A  translation  by  N.  C.  Brooks,  LL.D.,  ap 
peared  soon  after  and  was  reprinted  in  Force's  Tracts,  Vol.  IV.  The  Mary 
land  Historical  Society  printed  the  Latin  with  a  translation  edited  by  Rev. 
E.  A.  Dalrymple  in  1874.  A  corrected  version  is  given  in  the  Woodstock 
Letters,  I.,  pp.  12-24  ;  71-80  ;  145-155  ;  II.,  pp.  1-13.  It  is  evidently  by 
Father  White.  See  also,  "  A  Relation  of  the  Successful  Beginnings  of  the 
Lord  Baltimore's  Plantation  in  Mary -land."  London,  1634;  New  York, 
1865,  p.  9.  In  this  which  follows  the  Relatio  closely  but  prudently  "  cel 
ebrated  the  first  mass"  becomes  "recited  certain  prayers." 


FIRST  CHAPEL  AT  ST.  MARY'S.  43 

settlers  favorably,  Leonard  Calvert  sailed  back  to  Saint 
Clement's.  Then  the  pilgrims  entered  the  Saint  Mary's,  a 
bold  broad  stream,  emptying  into  the  Potomac  about  twelve 
miles  from  its  mouth.  For  the  first  settlement  of  the  new 
province,  Leonard  Calvert,  who  had  landed,  selected  a  spot  a 
short  distance  above,  about  a  mile  from  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
river.  Here  stood  an  Indian  town,  whose  inhabitants,  harassed 
by  the  Susquehannas,  had  already  begun  to  emigrate  to  the 
westward.  To  observe  strict  justice  with  the  Indian  tribes 
Calvert  purchased  from  the  werowance  or  king,  Yaocomoco 
thirty  miles  of  territory.  The  Indians  gradually  gave  up  some 
of  their  houses  to  the  colonists,  agreeing  to  leave  the  rest  also 
after  they  had  gathered  in  their  harvest.  The  colonists,  who 
had  according  to  tradition  tarried  for  a  time  on  the  ground 
now  known  as  St.  Inigoes/  came  up  and  the  Governor  took 
the  colors  ashore,  the  gentlemen  and  the  servants  under  arms, 
receiving  them  with  a  salute  of  musketry,  to  which  the  can 
non  of  the  vessels  replied.  He  took  possession  of  the  Indian 
town  and  named  it  St.  Mary's.  One  of  the  oblong  oval  In 
dian  bark  houses  or  witchotts  was  assigned  to  the  priests. 
With  the  help  of  their  good  lay  brother,  the  two  Jesuit 
Fathers  soon  transformed  it  into  a  chapel,  the  first  shrine  of 
Catholicity  in  Maryland. 

The  native  tribes  were  conciliated  ;  Sir  John  Harvey,  Gov 
ernor  of  Virginia,  came  as  a  welcome  guest ;  the  new  settle 
ment  began  with  Catholic  and  Protestant  dwelling  together 
in  harmony,  neither  attempting  to  interfere  with  the  religious 
rights  of  the  other,  "  and  religious  liberty  obtained  a  home, 
its  only  home  in  the  wide  world,  at  the  humble  village  which 
bore  the  name  of  St.  Mary's."  " 

1  Foley.  "Records  of  the  English  Province,"  iii.,  p.  322.     "Relatia 
Itineris,"  p.  36.     "A  Relation  of  Maryland,  1635,"  p.  12. 
3  Bancroft,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  i.,  p.  247. 


44  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Thus  began  the  city  of  St.  Mary's,  March  27,  1634. 
"  St.  Mary's  was  the  home,  the  chosen  home  of  the  disciples 
of  the  Roman  Church.  The  fact  has  been  generally  received. 
It  is  sustained  by  the  traditions  of  two  hundred  years,  and  by 
volumes  of  written  testimony ;  by  the  records  of  the  courts  ; 
by  the  proceedings  of  the  privy  council ;  by  the  trial  of  law 
cases  ;  by  the  wills  and  inventories  ;  by  the  land  records  and 
rent-rolls  j  and  by  the  very  names  originally  given  to  the  towns 
and  hundreds  to  the  creeks  and  rivulets,  to  the  tracts  and 
manors  of  the  county."  ' 


SITE  OP  THE  CITY  OF  ST.  MARY'S,  MD.,  WHERE  THE  FIRST  CATHOLIC 
CHAPEL  WAS  ERECTED.  FROM  A  SKETCH  BY  GEORGE  ALFRED 
TOWNSEND. 

The  settlers  were  soon  at  work.  Houses  for  their  use  were 
erected,  crops  were  planted,  activity  and  industry  prevailed. 
St.  Mary's  chapel  was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Almighty 
God,  and  near  it  a  fort  stood,  ready  to  protect  the  settlers. 
It  was  required  by  the  fact  that  Clayborne,  the  fanatical 
enemy  of  Lord  Baltimore  and  his  Catholic  projects,  who  had 
already  settled  on  Kent  Island,  was  exciting  the  Indians 
against  the  colonists  of  Maryland. 

The  little  community  gave  the  priests  a  field  too  limited 
for  their  zeal.  The  daily  mass,  the  instructions  from  the 

1  Davis,  "  Day  Star,"  p.  149. 


MAP  OF  MARYLAND,  FROM  ONE  PUBLISHED  BETWEEN  1670  AND  1690. 


46  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

altar,  private  conferences  with  any  desiring  clearer  knowledge 
of  the  faith  ;  all  these  were  the  ordinary  work  ;  but  the  In 
dian  tribes  were  to  be  reached.  The  Yaocomocos  near  St. 
Mary's  hunted  and  fished  for  the  colonists  and  were  constantly 
in  the  little  town.  The  missionaries  began  to  study  their 
language,  collecting  words  and  endeavoring  to  understand  its 
structure  and  forms.  They  found,  however,  that  each  little 
tribe  seemed  to  have  a  different  dialect  or  a  distinct  lamruaere  ; 

O        O      " 

but  undeterred  by  this,  they  went  steadily  on,  and  the  results 
of  their  investigations  are  still  preserved.1 

Another  priest,  with  a  lay  brother,  came  to  share  their 
labors  before  the  close  of  the  year  1635  ;  and  the  next  year 
four  priests  were  reported  as  the  number  assigned  to  the 
Maryland  mission.  Of  their  early  labors  no  record  is  pre 
served,  and  we  learn  only  that  they  were  laboring  diligently  to 
overcome  the  difficulties  presented  by  the  Indian  languages.'2 

The  two  priests  last  assigned  to  the  mission,  and  who  ap 
parently  did  not  reach  Maryland  till  1637,  were  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Copley,  known  on  the  records  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
as  Father  Philip  Fisher,  with  Father  John  Knolles.  Father 
Copley  (Fisher)  became  superior  of  the  mission,  and  at  once 
took  steps  to  place  the  affairs  of  the  community  on  a  self-sup 
porting  basis.  Under  the  Conditions  of  Plantation  issued  by 
Lord  Baltimore,  August  8,  1636,  every  one  of  the  gentlemen 
adventurers  of  1633  was  entitled  to  two  thousand  acres  for 
every  five  men  brought  over,  and  the  same  quantity  of  land 
for  every  ten  men  brought  over  in  the  two  succeeding  years. 

1  The  "Relatio  Itineris,"  as  printed,  purports  to  be  addressed  to  the 
General  of  the  Society,  but  this  address  seems  to  have  been  added  to 
Father  McSherry's  transcript  by  a  later  hand.     See  Latin  notes,  Mary 
land  Hist.  Society's  edition,  p.  101. 

2  Notes    for  1635-1636;  Ib.,  p.  54.     There  are  allusions  to  a  Father 
Hayes,  who  may  have  come  over  in  1635,  and  returned  soon  after. 


THE  JESUITS  IN  MARYLAND.  47 

Under  these  provisions  Father  Fisher,  using  his  real  name 
of  Thomas  Copley,  entered  a  claim  for  Mr.  Andrew  "White, 
Mr.  John  Altham,  and  others  to  the  number  of  thirty 
brought  over  by  him  in  the  year  1633 ;  as  well  as  for  him 
self  and  Mr.  John  Knolles,  and  others  to  the  number  of  nine 
teen  brought  over  in  1637. '  The  position  taken  by  Lord 
Baltimore  that  the  Catholic  priests  who  went  to  Maryland 
were  not  10  look  to  him  or  to  the  settlers  for  support,  left 
them  no  alternative  but  to  maintain  themselves,  as  there  was 
no  hope  of  any  one  establishing  a  fund,  for  their  use.  The 
lands  then  taken  up  were  cleared  and  put  under  cultivation 
by  the  missionaries  and  for  two  centuries  may  be  said  to  have 
met  all  the  cost  of  maintaining  Catholic  worship  and  its  min 
isters  in  those  portions  of  Maryland.2 

Sickness  prevailed  in  the  colony,  and  the  missionaries  did 
not  escape.  Within  two  months  after  his  arrival  Father 
Knolles,  a  talented  young  priest  of  much  hope,  sank  a  vic- 

1  Kilty,  "  The  Land-Holder's  Assistant,"  Baltimore,  1808,  pp.  30,  66, 
67,  68.  Other  lands  were  claimed  by  Copley,  as  assignee  of  settlers  who 
had  returned  to  England. 

Mr.  Henry  Foley,  Records  of  the  English  Province,  vii. ,  1146,  etc.: 
and  Woodstock  Letters,  xi.,  pp.  18-24,  xv.,  pp.  44-7,  discussing  the  sub 
ject  ably,  consider  the  identity  of  Thomas  Copley  and  Father  Philip  Fisher 
established,  and  this  was  the  result  of  rny  own  studies.  Both  are  repre 
sented  as  born  at  Madrid  at  the  close  of  the  16th  century  ;  each  came  to 
Maryland  in  1637  (August  8)  with  Father  Knolles  ;  each  was  carried  off, 
and  each  died  in  1652.  Neither  recognizes  the  existence  of  the  other. 
Copley  took  up  lands  for  all  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  but  no  lands  for  Fisher, 
and  Fisher  as  superior  alludes  in  his  account  of  the  mission  to  no  Father 
Copley.  A  very  interesting  sketch  of  Father  Copley  by  Mrs.  K.  C.  Dor- 
sey  is  in  Woodstock  Letters,  xiii.  p.  250,  cf.  xiv.  p.  345  ;  xv.  p.  44. 

•  It  has  been  charged  that  the  Catholic  missionaries  in  adopting  the 
course  they  did,  became  farmers  and  merchants ;  but  the  taunt  comes 
with  a  very  ill  grace  from  ministers,  whether  Episcopalian  or  Calvinist, 
whose  predecessors  in  this  country  lived  on  money  wrung  by  process  of 
law  from  many  who  did  not  belong  to  their  flock  and  who  rejected  their 
teaching. 


48  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

tim  to  the  climate, .and  Brother  Gervase,  one  of  the  original 
band  of  settlers,  also  died.1 

The  hostility  excited  by  Clayborne  prevented  the  establish 
ment  of  any  mission  among  the  Indian  tribes,  as  the  gov 
ernor  deemed  it  rash  for  any  missionary  to  take  up  his  resi 
dence  in  an  Indian  village ;  but  among  the  settlers  they 
found  employment  for  their  zeal,  several  Protestants  being 
instructed  and  received  into  the  Church.  One  of  the  Fath 
ers  visited  a  neighboring  province,  Virginia  as  we  may -infer, 
and  found  two  Frenchmen  long  strangers  to  the  sacraments 
and  their  duties,  who,  struck  down  by  sickness,  availed  them 
selves  of  this  providential  presence  of  a  priest  to  make  their 
peace  with  God.  The  Fathers  found  several  Catholics  in 
Virginia  held  for  service  whose  terms  they  purchased  to  enable 
them  to  go  to  Maryland  and  live  where  they  could  practice 
their  religion. 

We  can  picture  to  ourselves  the  little  colony,  the  only 
place  under  the  flag  of  England  where  Catholicity  enjoyed 
even  comparative  freedom.  A  public  chapel  where  mass 
was  regularly  said,  where  sermons  were  preached  on  Sun 
days  and  holidays,  where  the  children  each  Sunday  learned 
their  catechism,  and  adults  were  grounded  in  the  faith  by 
instructions  suited  to  their  capacity — undoubtedly  the  first 
Sunday-school  in  the  country — where  retreats  were  given  to 
those  who  wished  to  perform  the  spiritual  exercises. 

After  a  time  Father  White  took  up  his  residence  with 
Maquacomen,  chief  or  king  of  Patuxent,  a  man  of  great 
power  and  influence,  who  showed  every  inclination  to  em 
brace  the  faith.  His  example  led  several  of  the  tribe  to  lis 
ten  to  the  missionary  and  they  were  baptized  after  being 
carefully  instructed  and  their  perseverance  tested ;  but  Ma- 

1  Annual  Letter  of  1638.     "  Relatio  Itineris,"  pp.  54-5. 


EQUALITY  OF  RELIGIOUS  EIGHTS.  49 

quacomen,  though  he  followed  the  instructions  and  seemed 
convinced,  hesitated  and  procrastinated.  He  had  shown  his 
good-will  by  bestowing  on  the  mission  a  tract  known  as  Meta- 
pawnien,  a  spot  so  fertile  that  its  produce  was  the  main  reli 
ance  of  the  Maryland  missionaries.  Yet  with  the  unstable 
ness  so  frequent  among  Indians  he  soon  changed,  all  design 
of  embracing  the  faith  vanished,  and  his  hostility  to  the  mis 
sionaries  and  to  the  Maryland  settlers  became  so  marked  that 
Leonard  Calvert  recalled  Father  White  to  St.  Mary's.  The 
first  permanent  Indian  mission  was  thus  defeated,  great  a£ 
the  hopes  wTere  that  had  been  based  on  the  influence  which 
the  Patuxent  chief  exercised  over  the  surrounding  tribes.1 

The  prevailing  influence  in  Maryland  was  Catholic ;  the 
leading  gentlemen  who  had  given  their  means  and  personal 
services  to  the  project,  like  Captain  Thomas  Cornwaleys, 
Cuthbert  Fenwick,  Thomas  Green,  were  Catholics,  but  several 
of  those  whom  they  brought  over  under  the  conditions  of 
plantation  were  Protestants.  For  many  years  these  had  no 
clergymen,  but  a  chapel  was  soon  reared  for  their  use.  They 
were  protected  in  its  exclusive  use,  and  interference  with 
their  religious  views  by  taunts  or  opprobrious  words  was  pun 
ished.2 

Care  was  taken  by  the  lord  proprietary  to  maintain  this 
equality  of  religious  rights.  The  oath  of  office  taken  by  the 
governors  from  the  outset  evinces  this.  "  And  I  do  further 
swear  that  I  will  not  by  myself  or  any  other  person,  directly 
or  indirectly,  trouble,  molest,  or  discountenance  any  person 

1  "  Relatio  Itineris,"  p.  63. 

2  Lt.  William  Lewis  was  fined  in  1638  for  abusing  Protestants  who  were 
reading  aloud  a  book  that  offended  him.     See  proceedings  analyzed  in 
Scharf,  i.  pp.  166-7.     Dr.  Thomas  Gerrard  was  fined  in  1642  for  taking 
away  the  keys  and  books  of  the  Protestant  chapel.     Maryland  Archives, 
i,p.  119  ;  Johnson,  "  Old  Maryland  Manors,"  p.  29  ;  Bozman,  "History 
of  Maryland,"  ii.  pp.  199-200  ;  Davis,  "  Day  Star,"  p.  33. 

4 


50  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

whatsoever,  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  par 
ticular  no  Roman  Catholic,  for  or  in  respect  of  religion,  nor 
his  or  her  free  exercise  thereof  within  the  said  province,  .  .  . 
nor  will  I  make  any  difference  of  persons  in  conferring  of 
fices,  rewards  or  favors,  for  or  in  respect  to  their  said  religion, 
but  meerly  as  I  shall  find  them,  faithful  and  well  deserving 
of  his  said  Lordship  and  to  the  best  of  my  understanding 
endowed  with  morall  vertues  and  abilities  .  .  .  and  if  any 
other  officer  or  persons  whatsoever  shall  .  .  .  molest  or  dis 
turb  any  person  .  .  .  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ, 
meerly  for  or  in  respect  of  his  or  her  religion  or  the  free 
exercise  hereof  upon  notice  or  complaint  thereof  made  to 
him,  I  will  apply  my  power  and  authority  to  relieve  any  per 
son  so  molested  or  troubled,  whereby  he  may  have  right  done 
him."1 

Lord  Baltimore's  scheme  embraced  not  only  religious  but 
legislative  freedom,  and  his  charter  provided  for  a  colonial 
assembly.  Maryland  begins  her  history  in  March,  1634,  and 
in  less  than  three  years  an  assembly  of  the  freemen  of  the 
little  colony  was  convened  and  opened  its  sessions  on  the 
25-26th  of  January,  1637.  All  who  had  taken  up  lands  were 
summoned  to  attend  in  person.  The  Catholic  priests,  sum 
moned  like  the  rest,  had  no  wish  to  take  part  as  legislators. 
Through  Robert  Clerke  they  asked  to  be  excused  from  serv 
ing."  When  the  Assembly  met,  John  Lewgar,  secretary 

:  Chalmers,  p.  235 ;  McMahon,  "  Hist.  Maryland,"  226.  Langford, 
"  Refutation  of  Babylon's  Fall ";  "Virginia  and  Maryland,"  pp.  22,  23,  26. 
The  terms  of  the  oath  are  taken  from  the  Parliament  Navy  Committee 
31st  Dec.,  1652,  where  they  are  given  in  a  general  way,  and  not  as  those 
of  an  oath  introduced  recently.  Streeter,  ' '  Maryland  Two  Hundred  Years 
Ago,"  p.  26,  and  some  subsequent  writers  endeavored  to  show  that  this 
oath  did  not  date  back  to  1636 ;  the  whole  qiiestion  can  be  studied  in 
Scharf,  i.,  p.  171. 

8  "Maryland  Archives,"  i.,  p.  5. 


NEW  QUESTIONS.  51 

to  Lord  Baltimore,  was  the  leading  spirit.  A  recently  con 
verted  Protestant  minister,  he  was  little  versed  in  the  canons 
and  rules  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Some  of  the  laws  intro 
duced  by  him  excited  grave  doubts  in  the  minds  of  Catholic 
gentlemen  in  the  Assembly,  who  submitted  the  matter  to 
the  missionaries.  To  their  minds  the  proposed  acts  so 
conflicted  with  the  laws  of  the  Church  that  no  Catholic 
could  conscientiously  vote  for  them.  Their  opinion  gave 
great  umbrage  to  Leonard  Calvert,  the  governor,  and  still 
greater  to  Lord  Baltimore  when  the  affair  was  reported  to 
him.1 

The  variance  of  opinion  was  most  unfortunate  in  its  results 
to  the  colony,  as  impairing  the  harmony  which  had  hitherto 
prevailed,  and  threatened  to  prevent  the  growth  of  the 
Church  in  its  usefulness  and  the  spreading  of  missions  among 
the  Indians.  A  chapel  had  by  this  time  been  erected  at  St. 
Mary's,  and  a  cemetery  was  duly  blessed  to  receive  the  remains 
of  those  who  died  in  the  faith.2 

Secretary  Lewgar,  though  sincerely  a  Catholic,  and  subse 
quently  a  priest,3  was  at  this  time  too  unacquainted  with 
the  canons  of  the  Church  to  act  dispassionately.  His  letters 
to  Lord  Baltimore  seem  to  have  excited  that  nobleman 
so  much  that  he  resolved  to  force  the  Jesuit  Fathers  to  aban 
don  the  mission.  He  declared  the  grant  of  land  by  the 
Patuxent  king  null  and  void,  and  objected  to  a  further 

1  Laws  were  introduced  regarding  marriage  and  proving  wills,  then 
regarded  as  within  the  province  of  ecclesiastical  courts,  establishing  courts, 
and  one  curious  enactment  deprived  a  woman  of  lands  descending  to  her 
unless  she  married  before  an  age  fixed  by  law.     "Maryland  Archives," 
L,  p.  15. 

2  "  Ye  ordinary  burying  place  in  St.  Mary's  Chapel  yard  "  is  alluded  to 
in  John  Lloyd's  will,  1658.     Davis,  p.  33. 

3  He  died  at  London  in  1655,  while  attending  the  plague-stricken.   As  to 
his  writings,  see  Dodd,  iii.,  p.  264. 


52  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

acquisition  of  land  by  the  missionaries.  At  the  same  time 
lie  took  measures  to  request  the  Congregation  de  Propa 
ganda  Fide  at  Rome  to  establish  a  mission  in  his  province  of 
Maryland.  In  carrying  out  his  plan  he  acted  disingenuously, 
evidently  withholding  all  information  as  to  the  actual  exist 
ence  of  a  mission  in  his  colony,  founded  by  the  English 
province  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  A  more  direct  and 
straightforward  course  would  have  been  to  submit  the  case 

O  i 

to  the  authorities  in  Rome  and  solicit  such  a  modification  of 
ordinary  rules  as  the  exceptional  state  of  affairs  in  Maryland 
seemed  to  require. 

It  was  apparently  to  support  his  application  to  Rome  that 
the  Maryland  Assembly,  on  the  19th  of  March,  1638  (O.  S.), 
passed  an  act  entitled  "  An  Act  for  Church  Liberties,"  the 
first  section  of  which  provided  that  "  Holy  Church  within 
this  province  shall  have  all  her  rights,  liberties  and  immu 
nities,  safe,  whole  and  inviolable  in  all  things." 


1  "  Maryland  Archives,"  i.,  pp.  35,  40,  82.  It  was  to  be  in  force  till  the 
next  Assembly  and  then  be  made  perpetual.  That  a  law  of  general  relig 
ious  freedom  was  then  passed  has  been  asserted,  but  no  such  act  can  now 
be  found. 

"  After  the  Charter  was  thus  granted  to  Lord  Baltimore,  who  was  then 
a  Roman  Catholic,  his  Lordship  emitted  his  proclamation  to  encourage 
the  settlement  of  his  province,  promising  therein  among  other  things, 
liberty  of  conscience  and  an  equal  exercise  of  religion  to  every  denom 
ination  of  Christians  who  would  transport  themselves  and  reside  in  his 
province,  and  that  he  would  procure  a  law  to  be  passed  for  that  purpose 
afterwards.  The  first  or  second  Assembly  that  met  after  the  colonists 
arrived  here,  some  time  in  the  year  1688,  a  perpetual  law  was  passed  in 
pursuance  of  his  Lordship's  promise,  and  indeed  such  a  law  was  easily 
obtained  from  those  who  were  the  first  settlers.  This  act  was  confirmed 
in  1649  and  again  in  1650."  Reply  of  Upper  to  Lower  House  of  Assem 
bly  in  1758,  cited  by  Scharf,  i.,  p.  154. 

"  The  people  who  first  settled  in  this  province  were  for  the  most  part 
Roman  Catholics,  and  that  although  every  other  sect  was  tolerated,  a 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  continued  Papists  till  the  Revolution."  Gov. 
Sharpe's  letter  of  Dec.  15,  1758,  in  Maryland  State  Library. 


PAndrai?  [Vitas,  £  JAnijn.  -WJia  et  JWkrilau 


BAPTIRM  OP  KING  CHILOMACON.   BY  FATHER  ANDREW  WHITE 

PROM  TANNER,  "  SOCIETAS  JESTJ,"   1694 


MARYLAND  MISSIONS.  53 

Meanwhile  the  missionaries  were  continuing  their  labors, 
Father  John  Brock,  who  had  become  Superior  of  the  Mis 
sion,  residing  with  a  lay  brother  at  the  plantation,  apparently 
that  known  as  St.  Inigoes ;  Father  Altham,  who  had  become 
well  acquainted  with  the  country,  being  stationed  at  Kent 
Island  on  the  eastern  shore,  then  a  great  centre  of  the  Indian 
trade,  and  Father  Philip  Fisher  at  the  chapel  in  St.  Mary's, 
the  capital  of  the  colony. 

Father  White  had  penetrated  to  a  new  field,  a  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  from  St.  Mary's,  having,  in  June,  1639, 
planted  his  mission  cross  at  Kittamaquindi,  capital  of  Pisca- 
taway,  the  realm  of  the  Tayac  or  Chief,  Chitomachen  or 
Chilomacon.  This  was  probably  at  or  near  the  present  town 
of  that  name,  fifteen  miles  south  of  the  city  of  Washington. 
The  chief,  predisposed  by  dreams,  on  which  Indians  depend 
so  much,  received  the  missionary  warmly.  He  listened  to 
the  instructions  and,  touched  by  grace,  resolved  not  only  to 
encourage  the  missionary's  labors  among  his  people,  but, 
with  his  wife  and  children,  to  embrace  the  faith  preached  to 
them.  He  put  away  his  concubines,  learned  how  to  pray, 
and  observed  the  fasts  and  abstinences  of  the  Church.  He 
openly  avowed  his  renunciation  of  all  his  former  supersti 
tions  and  idolatry,  and  declared  that  religion  was  far  more 
to  him  than  any  other  advantage  he  could  derive  from  the 
whites.  Visiting  St.  Mary's,  this  catechumen  was  received 
with  every  mark  of  friendship,  and  when  lie  was  sufficiently 
instructed,  and  his  dispositions  deemed  certain,  he  was 
solemnly  baptized  at  Kittamaquindi,  his  capital,  on  the  5th 
of  July,  1640,  receiving  at  the  sacred  font  the  name  of 
Charles.  His  wife,  the  devoted  friend  of  the  mission,  re 
ceived  in  baptism  the  name  of  Mary,  and  her  infant  child 
that  of  Anne.  The  king's  chief  councillor,  Mesorcoques, 
with  his  son,  enjoyed  the  same  blessing.  This  interesting 


54  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

ceremony,  the  administration  of  the  holy  sacrament  of  regen 
eration  to  a  chief  of  such  influence  and  his  family,  took 
place  in  a  new  bark  chapel,  erected  for  the  occasion. 
Leonard  Calvert,  the  governor,  came  with  Lewgar,  the  sec 
retary  of  the  colony,  and  Father  Altham,  to  show  by  their 
presence  the  importance  of  the  event. 

In  the  afternoon  the  king  and  queen  were  united  in  matri 
mony  according  to  Christian  usage  ;  then  a  large  holy  cross 
was  erected,  the  Indian  chief,  the  English  governor  and 
secretary,  with  natives  and  settlers  lending  their  shoulders 
and  hands  to  bear  it  to  its  destined  place,  the  two  Jesuit 
Fathers  chanting,  as  they  went,  the  Litany  of  our  Lady  of 
Loretto,  the  murmur  of  the 'river  as  it  flowed  down  past  the 
site  of  the  future  capital  of  the  country,  and  the  voices  of 
the  hoary  forests  echoing  the  response.1 

The  two  missionaries  were  soon  after  prostrated  by  fever, 
and  they  were  conveyed  to  St.  Mary's.  Father  Altham  did 
not  rally  from  its  effects ;  he  sank  under  the  disease  and  died 
on  the  5th  of  November,  1640.  Father  White  began  to 
mend,  and  in  February,  having  regained  some  strength, 
joined  Father  Brock,  at  Piscataway,  in  order  to  make  the 
mission  a  solid  one ;  but  he  again  fell  sick,  exciting  the  alarm 
of  Father  Srock,  who  feared  that  listening  only  to  his  zeal 
he  would  sink  under  his  age  and  increasing  infirmities,  the 
result  doubtless  of  the  years  spent  in  English  prisons.  Much 
of  the  success  of  the  society's  labors  in  Maryland  depended 
upon  Father  White,  inasmuch  as  he  possessed  the  greatest 
influence  over  the  minds  of  the  Indians,  and  spoke  their 
languages  with  greater  fluency  and  accuracy  than  any  of  the 

1  Annual  Letter,  1639,  in  "Relatio  Itineris,"  p.  65,  etc.;  Foley,  "  Rec 
ords,"  iii.,  p.  372.  Tanner,  "  Societas  Jesu  Apostolorum  Imitatrix," 
Prague,  1694,  pp.  803-4.  The  curious  picture  of  the  baptism  of  Chito- 
machen  is  reproduced  exactly  from  the  now  rare  work  of  Tanner. 


MARYLAND  MISSIONS.  55 

other  missionaries.  It  was  Father  Brock,  however,  who  was 
to  be  the  next  victim  to  the  climate.  After  announcing  the 
faith  to  the  tribe  of  Anacostans  or  Snakes,  and  converting 
their  king,  he  died  before  the  close  of  the  year. 

Father  Brock,  whose  real  name  was  Ferdinand  Poulton, 
belonged  to  a  family  which  had  given  many  members  to  the 
Society  of  Jesus.  He  was  born  in  Buckinghamshire  about 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  entering  the  Society  in 
1622,  was  sent  out  as  Superior  of  the  mission  in  1638  or  1639, 
being  then  a  professed  Father.  He  was  accidentally  shot 
while  crossing  Saint  Mary's  River. 

A  letter  written  shortly  before  his  death  gives  interesting 
details  of  the  labors  of  the  Fathers  on  the  Maryland  mission, 
which  we  have  used  in  our  account.  Its  closing  sentences 
show  how  completely  he  was  absorbed  in  the  work.1  "  The 
mere  idea  of  our  Superiors  recalling  us  or  not  sending  others 
to  help  us  in  this  glorious  work  of  the  conversion  of  souls,  in 
some  sort  impugns  the  Providence  of  God  and  his  care  of  his 
servants,  as  though  he  would  now  less  than  formerly  provide 
for  the  nourishment  of  his  laborers.  On  which  account  our 
courage  is  not  diminished,  but  rather  increased  and  strength 
ened  ;  since  now  God  will  take  us  into  his  protection,  and 
will  certainly  provide  for  us  himself,  especially  since  it  has 
pleased  the  divine  goodness  already  to  receive  some  fruit  of 
our  labors  however  small.  In  whatever  manner  it  may  seem 
good  to  his  divine  Majesty  to  dispose  of  us,  may  his  holy  will 
be  done  !  But  as  much  as  in  me  lies,  I  would  rather,  labor 
ing  in  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  expire  on  the  bare 
ground  deprived  of  all  human  succor  and  perishing  with  hun 
ger,  than  once  think  of  abandoning  this  holy  work  of  God 

1  Letter  of  Father  John  Brock,  Stonyhurst  MSS.,  iv.,  p.  109  ;  U.  8. 
Catholic  Magazine,  1848,  p.  534.  Foley,  "Records,"  iii.,  pp.  368,  382; 
"  Relatio  Itineris,"  p.  73. 


56  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

from  the  fear  of  want.  May  God  grant  me  grace  to  render 
him  some  service  and  all  the  rest  I  leave  to  divine  Provi 
dence.  The  King  of  Piscataway  lately  died  most  piously ; 
but  God  will  for  his  sake  raise  up  seed  for  us  in  his  neigh 
bor,  the  King  of  Anacostan,  who  has  invited  us  to  come  to 
him,  and  has  decided  to  become  a  Christian.  Many  likewise 
in  other  localities  desire  the  same.  Hopes  of  a  rich  harvest 
shine  forth,  unless  frustrated  by  the  want  of  laborers  who 
can  speak  the  language  and  are  in  sound  health." 

This  energetic  Superior  was  cut  off  amid  plans  approved 
by  the  Provincial  for  establishing  new  stations,  and  he  had 
proposed  a  scheme  for  commencing  a  seat  of  learning  for  the 
province  of  Maryland.1 

In  1642  Father  Philip  Fisher,  again  Superior,  contin 
ued  his  labors  at  Saint  Mary's,  among  the  settlers  and 
neighboring  Indians.  Here  the  young  empress  of  Piscata 
way  was  solemnly  baptized,  and  remained  to  be  educated  in 
Christian  and  civilized  life.  Father  Andrew  White  attended 
Piscataway  and  the  scattered  missions.  He  suffered  greatly 
from  a  Puritan  captain  on  whose  vessel  he  embarked  to 
shorten  his  voyages,  and  he  even  feared  that  he  might  be 
carried  off  to  New  England ;  but  the  vessel  was  frozen  in  the 
ice  of  the  Potomac  opposite  the  Indian  town  of  that  name 
to  which  Father  White  proceeded  over  the  ice  on  foot,  the 
inhospitable  craft  soon  after  sinking  crushed  by  the  ice  of  the 
river.  The  missionary  was  weather-bound  at  this  point  nearly 
two  months,  but  they  were  a  season  of  grace  to  the  Indians. 
"  The  ruler  of  the  little  village  with  the  principal  men  among 
the  inhabitants  was  during  that  time  added  to  the  Church, 

1  "  The  hope  of  establishing  a  College  which  you  hold  forth,  I  embrace 
with  pleasure  ;  and  shall  not  delay  my  sanction  to  the  plan,  when  it  shall 
have  reached  maturity."  Letter  to  Father  Brock,  U.  S.  Cath.  Mag., 
vii.,  p.  580. 


MARYLAND  MISSIONS.  57 

and  received  the  faith  of  Christ  through  baptism.  Besides 
these  persons,  one  was  converted  along  with  many  of  his 
friends  ;  a  third  brought  his  wife,  his  son,  and  a  friend  ;  and 
a  fourth  in  like  manner  came,  together  with  another  of  no 
ignoble  standing  among  his  people.  Strengthened  by  their 
example,  the  people  are  prepared  to  receive  the  faith  when 
ever  we  shall  have  leisure  to  instruct  them." ' 

About  this  time  the  Fathers  seem  to  have  converted  also 
some  Virginia  settlers  so  as  to  arouse  animosity,  for  the 
acts  of  the  colony  show  that  the  Catholics  were  deemed  nu 
merous  and  active  enough  to  crush.  In  1641  it  was  enacted 
that  no  popish  recusant  should  attempt  to  hold  any  office  in 
that  colony  under  the  penalty  of  a  thousand  pounds  of  to 
bacco." 

Father  Roger  Rigby  was  soon  after  stricken  down  with 
illness  amid  his  apostolic  labors  at  Patuxent. 

The  efforts  of  the  missionary  at  Port  Tobacco  resulted  in 
the  conversion  of  almost  all  the  tribe,  so  that  Father  White 
resolved  to  make  their  town  his  residence,  Piscataway  hav 
ing  become  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  the  Susquehannas, 
who  had  already  attacked  a  mission  station  and  killed  all  the 
whites  who  were  there  cultivating  the  soil.  The  report  that 
the  missionary  himself  had  been  slain  spread  far  and  wide, 
and  reached  the  ears  of  the  holy  Jesuit  Father  Isaac  Jogues, 

1  "Annual  Letter,"  1642.     Foley,  "  Records,"  iii.,  p.  381. 

2  An  unscrupulous  enemy  of  the  missionaries  at  this  time  attests  the 
constant  conversions  of  Protestants  as  distinctly  as  the  Jesuits  and  their 
friends.     "  His  country,"  writes  the  author  of  "Virginia  and  Maryland," 
"  till  he  employed   Captain  Stone,   never    had  but   papist   governors, 
and  counsellors,   dedicated  to   St.  Ignatius,  as  they  call  him,  and  his 
Chappel  and  Holy  day  kept  solemnly.     The  Protestants,  for  the  most 
part,  miserably  disturbed  in  the  exercise  of  their  Religion,  by  many 
wayes  plainly  enforced,  or  by  subtil  practises,  or  hope  of  preferment  to 
turn  Papists,  of  which  a  very  sad  account  may  from  time  to  time  be 
given,  even  from  their  first  arrivall  to  this  very  day."    P.  13. 


58  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

who,  rescued  by  the  Dutch  from  the  inhuman  cruelties  of 
the  Mohawks,  was  then  at  Manhattan.2 

The  danger  of  the  inroads  of  this  fierce  tribe  compelled 
the  missionaries  to  confine  themselves  to  visits  to  the  Indian 
towns  instead  of  taking  up  their  residence  in  them.  "  Where 
fore,"  says  Father  Fisher,  "we  have  to  content  ourselves 
with  excursions,  many  of  which  we  have  made  this  year 
(1640),  ascending  the  river  called  the  Patuxen.  Hence  this 
fruit  has  arisen,  the  conversion  of  young  Queen  of  Pa 
tuxen  and  her  mother,  also  of  the  young  Queen  of  Por- 
tobacco,  of  the  wife  and  two  sons  of  Tayac  the  great,  so- 
called,  that  is  the  emperor,  who  died  last  year,  and  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  others.  The  following  is  our  manner  of 
making  an  excursion :  We  are  carried  in  a  pinnace  or  gal 
ley  (the  father,  the  interpreter,  and  a  servant),  two  rowing 
when  the  wind  fails  or  is  contrary,  -the  other  steering.  We 
take  with  us  a  little  chest  of  bread,  butter,  cheese,  corn  cut 
and  dried  before  ripening,  beans  and  a  little  flour ;  another 
chest  with  a  bottle  of  wrine  for  mass,  a  bottle  of  holy  water 
for  baptism,  an  altar  stone,  chalice,  vestments ;  while  a  third 
box  contained  trifles  for  presents  to  the  Indians,  bells,  combs, 


1  In  this  raid  the  Susquehannas  sent  a  spear  at  an  Anacostan  In 
dian,  piercing  him  through  the  body  below  the  arm-pits.  He  was  car 
ried  in  a  dying  state  to  Piscataway,  where  Father  White  prepared  him 
for  death,  and  touched  his  wounds  with  a  reliquary  containing  a  particle 
of  the  True  Cross.  As  he  was  summoned  to  attend  an  aged  dying  Indian 
at  some  distance,  he  directed  the  Anacostan's  friends  to  take  his  body 
when  he  died  to  the  chapel  for  burial.  The  next  day  as  the  missionary 
was  returning  in  his  canoe,  he  was  met  by  this  very  man,  perfectly  re 
stored  to  health,  a  red  spot  on  each  side  showing  where  the  wound  had 
been.  He  declared  "that  from  the  hour  at  which  the  Father  had  left 
him  he  had  not  'ceased  to  invoke  the  most  holy  name  of  Jesus,  to  whom 
he  ascribed  his  recovery.  The  missionary  urged  him  in  view  of  so  great 
a  favor  to  thank  God  and  persevere,  treating  with  love  and  reverence  that 
holy  name  and  the  most  holy  cross."  "  Relatio  Itineris,"  pp.  87-8. 


MARYLAND  MISSIONS.  59 

fishhooks,  needles,  thread,  &c.;  a  small  mat  to  pitch  as  a  tent 
when  they  had  to  sleep  in  the  open  air,  and  a  larger  one  for 
rainy  seasons.  The  servant  is  equipped  for  hunting  and  for 
preparing  food  when  taken.  In  our  excursions  we  endeavor, 
when  possible,  to  reach  some  English  dwelling  or  Indian 
village  at  nightfall ;  if  not,  we  land,  and  the  missionary  se 
cures  the  boat,  gathers  wood  and  builds  a  fire,  while  the 
others  go  out  to  hunt.  If  they  take  any  game  it  is  prepared  ; 
if  not  we  lie  down  by  the  fire  and  take  our  rest.  If  fear  of 
rain  threatens  we  erect  our  hut  and  cover  it  with  a  larger 
mat  spread  over,  and,  thank  God,  we  enjoy  this  humble  fare 
and  hard  couch  with  as  joyful  a  mind  as  we  did  more  lux 
urious  provisions  in  Europe ;  with  this  present  comfort  that 
God  imparts  to  us  now  a  foretaste  of  what  He  will  be 
stow  on  those  who  labor  faithfully  in  this  life,  and  He  miti 
gates  all  hardships  with  a  sense  of  pleasure,  so  that  his  divine 
majesty  appears  to  be  present  with  us  in  an  extraordinary 
manner." 

Meanwhile  Lord  Baltimore  had  applied  to  the  Propaganda 
to  establish  a  mission  in  Maryland,  and  give  faculties  to  a  Pre 
fect  and  secular  priests ;  the  Sacred  Congregation  accordingly, 
in  August,  1641,  issued  faculties,  which  were  transmitted  to 
Dom  Rossetti,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Tarsus.  The  Jes 
uits  remonstrated  in  an  appeal  to  the  Holy  See,  saying,  "  The 
Fathers  do  not  refuse  to  make  way  for  other  laborers,  but 
they  humbly  submit  for  consideration  whether  it  is  expedient 
to  remove  those  who  first  entered  into  that  vineyard  at  their 
own  expense,  who  for  seven  years  have  endured  want  and 
sufferings,  who  have  lost  four  of  their  number,  laboring 
faithfully  unto  death,  who  have  defended  sound  doctrine  and 
the  liberty  of  the  Church,  incurring  odium  and  temporal 

1  "Relatio  Itineris,"  Annual  Letter,  1642,  pp.  80-3. 


60  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

loss  to  themselves,  who  have  acquired  the  languages  of  the 
Indians."  ' 

This  memorial  arrived  too  late.  The  Propaganda  had 
already  acted  on  the  petition  of  Lord  Baltimore,  and  in  1642 
two  secular  priests  arrived  in  Maryland  to  begin  the  mission 
established  by  the  Sacred  Congregation.  The  names  of  these 
pioneers  of  the  secular  clergy  in  this  country  are  not  re 
corded,  and  we  have  no  details  of  their  labors.  On  finding 
that  they  were  expected  to  take  a  different  theological  view 
of  questions  for  which  they  had  not  been  prepared,  they 
declined  to  condemn  the  course  pursued  by  the  missionaries 
already  in  the  country,  leaving  it  to  superior  authority  to 
decide  the  question  after  due  examination.2 

Meanwhile  attempts  had  been  made  in  England,  through 
the  intervention  of  Mrs.  Peasley,3  to  effect  a  reconciliation 
between  the  lord  proprietor  and  the  missionaries.  Lord 
Baltimore  long  resisted  all  advances,  but  finally  yielded,  ex 
acting  severe  conditions,4  which  the  provincial  was  to  sign, 

1  "  Memorial"  of  F.  Henry  More.     Foley,  "  Records,"  iii.,  p.  363. 

-  Through  the  kindness  of  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Jacobini  search 
was  made  in  the  archives  of  the  Propaganda  for  any  record  of  the  facul 
ties  granted,  but,  unfortunately,  none  could  be  traced.  Neill,  in  his 
"Founders  of  Maryland,"  p.  103,  charges  these  priests  with  not  keeping 
faith  with  Lord  Baltimore  ;  but  this  is  most  unjust,  the  Propaganda  hav 
ing  sent  them  out  to  act  as  missionaries,  not  as  judges  on  a  point  of  canon 
law,  which  could  have  been  decided  at  Rome  had  Lord  Baltimore  sought  a 
decision. 

•'  Letters  of  W.  Peasley,  Oct.  1  and  7,  1642,  of  Ann  Peasley,  Oct.  5. 

4  They  resigned  all  claim  to  the  lands  ceded  by  the  Indian  king,  and 
agreed  to  take  no  others  ;  they  accepted  the  English  statutes  against 
pious  uses,  as  in  force  in  Maryland,  and  agreed  to  take  up  no  lands  except  by 
special  permission  of  Lord  Baltimore  ;  the  missionaries  were  to  claim  no 
exemptions  or  privileges  in  Maryland  not  legally  allowed  them  in  Eng 
land,  except  that  corporal  punishment  was  not  to  be  inflicted  on  any 
missionary  unless  for  a  capital  offense.  No  missionary  was  to  be  sent  to 
Maryland  without  special  permission  of  Lord  Baltimore  ;  any  missionary 


MARYLAND  MISSIONS.  61 

and  every  missionary  sent  out  was  to  obtain  direct  permission 
from  the  lord  proprietor  and  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
him.1 

Under  these  stringent  conditions  two  Jesuit  Fathers  were 
proposed  to  Lord  Baltimore,  and,  receiving  his  sanction,  sailed 
for  Maryland  in  1642.'  But,  though  harmony  was  restored, 
the  missionaries  must  have  felt  discouraged  and  hampered, 
and  the  new  Conditions  of  Settlement  issued  by  Lord  Balti 
more3  bear  the  impress  of  great  jealousy  of  the  Church, 
reviving  the  English  ideas'  of  mortmain,  and  inadvertently 
paving  the  way  to  direct  persecution  of  the  whole  Catholic 
body. 

The  Puritan  party  in  England,  while  the  Anglican  church 
was  dominant,  sought  the  support  of  the  Catholics  who  suf 
fered  like  themselves  from  the  rule  of  the  State  church, 
although  the  scaffolds  did  not  run  red  with  Puritan  as  they 
did  with  Catholic  blood. 

then  in  the  colony,  or  subsequently  sent,  was  to  be  recalled  within  a  year 
at  the  request  of  Lord  Baltimore.  No  missionary  was  to  be  allowed  in 
the  colony  who  did  not  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  him  as  lord  pro 
prietor. 

1  The  Conditions  in  1648  excepted  specially  all  corporations,  etc. ,  as 
well  spiritual  as  temporal,  and  prohibited  their  acquiring  or  holding  land 
without  special  license,  either  in  their  own  name  or  in  the  name  of  any 
person  to  their  use.  Kilty,  p.  41.  Those  in  1G49  forbade  any  ad 
venturer  or  planter  to  transfer  lands  to  any  such  corporation  or  in  trust 
for  it,  without  license.  Ib.,  p.  50. 

2"Relatio  Itineris,"  p.  89,  is  incorrectly  translated  "  two  others";  it 
should  read  "two  new  Fathers."  Who  they  were  even  the  minute  re 
searches  of  Br.  Foley  and  Father  Treacy  fail  to  enable  us  to  say  posi 
tively.  There  are  three  letters  extant  of  W.  Peasley  and  his  wife  Ann, 
addressed  evidently  to  the  provincial  in  September  and  October,  1642. 
"I  have  prevailed  for  the  present  employment  of  two  of  yours."  The}' 
were  to  sail  in  Ingle's  vessel,  but  may  not  have  come. 

3  "Puncta  ab  Illust.  Dom.  Barone  Baltimore  concepta  quse  subscribi 
exigit  a  R.  Prov.  Soc.  Jesu  in  Anglia,"  MSS.  Stonyhurst,  vol.  iv.,  No. 
108.  "  Omnibus  has  pra3sentes  lecturis."  Ib. 


62  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

In  Virginia,  Puritan  settlers  from  New  England  were 
treated  with  great  harshness  by  the  authorities,  zealous  up 
holders  of  the  Anglican  church  ;  Clayborne,  who  had  tendered 
the  oath  of  supremacy  to  Lord  Baltimore,  being  then  an 
adherent  of  the  dominant  party.  To  these  harassed  Puritans 
Lord  Baltimore  offered  an  asylum,  and  many  settled  in  Mary 
land.  When  the  civil  war  was  enkindled  in  England  these 
men  began  to  evince  great  hostility  to  Lord  Baltimore  and  the 
Catholics.  After  the  royal  power  fell  Clayborne  joined  the 
Puritan  side,  and,  taking  as  his  lieutenant  a  reckless  sea 
captain  named  Ingle,  once,  as  generally  believed,  a  pirate, 
but  now  a  zealous  Puritan,  commanding  a  ship  which  he 
called  The  Reformation,  resolved  once  more  to  attempt  an 
overthrow  of  the  authority  of  the  Baltimores.  Aided  by  the 
ungrateful  Puritans,  who  supported  their  old  enemy  against 
their  friend,  Clayborne  not  only  held  Kent  Island  against 
all  the  efforts  of  Governor  Calvert  to  reduce  it,  but  with 
Ingle's  aid  invaded  St.  Mary's  country,  drove  the  governor 
from  his  capital,  compelling  him  to  seek  flight  in  Virginia, 
and  made  himself  master  of  the  province.1  He  let  Ingle 
loose  on  the  Catholic  settlers,  and  pretending  the  authority 
of  a  letter  of  marque,  this  ruffian  plundered  the  houses  of  the 
chief  Eoman  Catholics,  like  Cornwaleys  and  Fen  wick,  and 
especially  the  missionaries,  and  for  two  years  maintained 
a  reign  of  terror  in  Maryland.  Ingle  had  brought  some  of 
the  missionaries  over  to  the  province  as  captain  of  vessels 
chartered  or  owned  by  Lord  Baltimore,  and  was  familiar 

1  "  The  Maryland  authorities  had  invited  to  the  province  the  Puritans 
persecuted  in  Virginia,  and  any  who  wished  to  come  from  New  England, 
where  the  rule  was  too  strict  for  many.  But  these  new  comers  proved 
most  ungrateful.  '  Finding  themselves  in  a  capacity  to  oversway  those 
that  had  so  received  and  relieved  them,  they  began  to  pick  quarrels, 
first,'  says  an  old  writer,  '  with  the  Papists.'  "  "  Leah  and  Rachel,"  cited 
by  Hawks,  "P.  E.  Church  in  Maryland,"  p.  39. 


MISSIONARIES  DEPORTED.  63 

with  their  residences  and  their  persons.  The  Catholic  gentry 
and  the  missionaries  were  the  chief  objects  of  his  malice. 
Invading  their  estates  with  a  lawless  band,  he  drove  out  or 
seized  the  people,  carried  off  and  destroyed  property,  leaving 
the  houses  mere  wrecks.  Captain  Cornwaleys  estimated  the 
damage  done  his  place  in  February,  1645,  at  three  thousand 
pounds. 

The  houses  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  at  Potopaco  arid  St. 
Inigoes  were  similarly  plundered  and  wrecked,  but  this  tem 
poral  loss  was  little  compared  to  the  affliction  of  the  hunted 
and  scattered  Catholics  when  they  beheld  the  venerable 
Father  Andrew  White,  the  founder  of  the  Maryland  mission, 
and  Father  Thomas  Copley,  fall  into  the  hands  of  this  man, 
who,  treating  them  as  criminals,  loaded  them  with  heavy 
irons.  After  being  kept  confined  for  some  time,  the  two 
missionaries  were  sent,  by  Ingle  to  England. 

There  the  two  Fathers  were  indicted  under  the  penal  laws 
of  27  Elizabeth,  for  having  been  ordained  priests  abroad  and 
coming  into  and  remaining  in  England  as  such,  contrary  to 
the  statute,  a  crime  punishable  with  death.  When  brought 
to  trial,  however,  they  pleaded  that  they  had  been  brought 
violently  into  England,  and  had  not  come  of  their  own  will, 
but  against  it.  The  judges  acknowledged  the  force  of  the 
argument  and  directed  an  acquittal.  They  were  not,  it 
would  seem,  liberated  at  once,  but  were  detained  in  prison 
and  finally  sent  out  of  England  under  an  order  of  perpetual 
banishment. 

Father  White  reached  Belgium,  whence  he  endeavored  in 
vain  to  regain  the  missions  of  his  beloved  Maryland  ;  but  his 
advanced  age  and  his  broken  constitution  would  in  them 
selves  have  made  him  no  longer  fit  for  such  a  laborious  life 
as  awaited  the  priests  who  attempted  to  revive  religion 
there. 


64  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

As  we  can  no  longer  record  his  labors  on  our  soil,  it  is 
well  to  sketch  here  the  life  of  this  founder  of  the  Maryland 
mission.  Father  Andrew  "White  was  born  in  London  in 
1579,  and  was  educated  at  Douay,  where  he  was  ordained 
priest  about  the  year  1605.  Returning  to  England  as  a 
seminary  priest  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  authorities  at 
the  very  threshold  of  his  missionary  career,  and  after  spend 
ing  some  time  in  prison,  was  sentenced  to  perpetual  banishment 
with  forty-five  other  priests  in  1606. '  Seeking  admission  to 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  enter  the 
novitiate  opened  at  St.  John's,  Louvain,  where  one  of  his 
fellow  novices  was  the  celebrated  Father  Thomas  Garnett, 
who,  returning  to  England,  died  on  the  scaffold  in  the  fol 
lowing  year.  Father  White  went  through  his  period  of 
probation  with  great  humility  and  piety,  preparing  for  the 
dangerous  mission  of  his  native  land,  to  which  at  the  close  of 
his  noviceship  he  was  at  once  sent.  There  he  labored  with 
great  zeal  and  fruit,  attending  by  stealth  the  oppressed  Cath 
olics,  encouraging  them  in  trials,  sustaining  their  faith,  and 
when  an  opportunity  offered,  instructing  Protestants  and 
reconciling  them  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  the  recollec 
tion  of  which  was  still  fresh  in  most  English  families.  After 
some  years  his  superiors  appointed  him  to  a  professor's  chair 
in  one  of  the  colleges  maintained  by  the  English  province  in 
Spain. 

His  ability,  learning,  and  piety  found  an  ample  field,  and 
he  was  prefect  of  studies,  professor  of  sacred  Scripture,  dog 
matic  theology,  and  Hebrew,  at  Yalladolid  and  Seville,  hold 
ing  also  the  position  of  superior  or  minister.  It  is  an  evidence 
of  his  great  merit  and  learning  that  he  was  admitted  to  the 
four  vows  as  a  professed  Father  on  the  15th  of  June,  1619.2 

1  Challoner,  "  Missionary  Priests. " 

9  Foley,  "  Records  of  the  English  Province,"  iii.,  p.  334. 


FATHER  ANDREW  WHITE.  65 

After  forming  future  martyrs  and  apostles  in  the  colleges  of 
the  society,  he  was  sent  to  Belgium,  where  he  taught  theol 
ogy  at  Louvain  and  Liege  for  several  years,  till,  at  his  earnest 
request,  he  was  allowed  to  share  the  labors  of  those  whom 
he  had  trained  for  the  post  of  peril.1  His  career  in  the 
Maryland  mission  among  whites  and  Indians  has  been 
already  traced.  After  his  second  banishment  he  succeeded 
in  reaching  England,  and  was  assigned  to  the  Hampshire 
district,  or  residence  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  spending 
the  last  years  of  his  life  in  the  house  of  a  Catholic  nobleman. 
As  his  weakness  increased  he  was  urged  to  prepare  for  death, 
but  he  answered,  "  My  hour  is  not  yet  come,  nor  is  St.  John 
the  Evangelist's  day."  When  that  festival  arrived,  in  the 
year  1656,  he  heard  interiorly :  "  To-day  thou  shalt  be  with 
me."  He  then  directed  a  fellow-priest  to  be  summoned, 
and,  receiving  the  last  sacraments,  closed  his  mortified  life 
December  27,  1656.  Through  life  to  its  close,  on  his  mis 
sions  and  in  prison,  he  fasted  twice  a  week  on  bread  and 
water.  When  his  jailer  once  told  him  that  if  he  treated  his 
poor  old  body  so  badly  he  would  not  have  strength  to  be 
hanged  at  Tyburn,  the  apostle  of  Maryland  replied  :  "It  is 
this  very  fasting  which  gives  me  strength  enough  to  bear  all 
for  the  sake  of  Christ."  * 

When  Fathers  White  and  Copley  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Ingle,  Father  Bernard  Hartwell,  who  had  been  sent  out  in 
16-45  as  Superior  of  the  Maryland  mission,  seems  to  have 

1  Tanner,  "  Societas  Jesu  Apostolorum  Imitatrix,"  Prague,  1694,  p.  803. 

2  Annual  Letter,  1656,  cited  by  Foley,  iii.,  p.  338.  This  author  gives, 
pp.  268-270,  two  letters  of  Father  Andrew  White.  His  Indian  Catechism 
is  extant  at  Rome,  but  of  his  Maryland  Grammar  and  Vocabulary  noth 
ing  is  definitely  known.    The  recovery  of  Father  White's  Indian  works 
would  be  the   more  valuable,  as  he  was  beyond  all  doubt  the  first 
Englishman  who  attempted  to  reduce  an  Indian  language  to  grammat 
ical  forms.     See,  too,  "Woodstock  Letters,"  xiv.,  p.  384. 

5 


66  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

eluded  the  persecutors ;  while  Father  Roger  Rigbie  and  John 
Cooper  escaped  to  Virginia  by  the  aid  of  Indian  converts  or 
were  taken  there  as  prisoners.  Both  died  in  that  province 
in  1646,  how  or  where  no  record  remains  to  tell,  but  certainly 
victims  to  the  hatred  of  the  Catholic  faith,  even  though  they 
did  not  perish  by  the  hand  of  violence.  Both  were  young 
and  zealous;  both  were  of  the  number  of  twenty-three 
young  Jesuits  who  in  July  and  August,  1640,  wrote  to  the 
Provincial,  Father  Edward  Knott,  earnestly  seeking  to 
be  sent  to  the  Maryland  mission.  These  letters  full  of 
zeal  and  devotion,  are  preserved  as  precious  treasures  in  the 
College  of  the  Sacred  Heart  at  Woodstock,  Maryland,  and 
from  them  we  reverently  traced  the  fac-similes  of  their  signa- 


tures.  Father  Roger  Rigbie  arrived  in  Maryland  in  1641, 
and  soon  won  universal  esteem.  Though  prostrated  by 
serious  disease  at  Patuxent,  he  persevered,  mastered  the 
language  of  his  flock,  and  composed  a  catechism  in  it. 
Father  John  Cooper,  a  native  of  Hampshire,  reached  Mary 
land  in  1644,  and  the  next  year  was  torn  from  his  flock. 

Father  Hartwell,  the  Superior  of  the  mission,  did  not  sur 
vive  these  terrible  blows.  His  death  too  is  recorded  in  this 
fatal  year.  Not  a  priest  was  left  in  the  province  of  Mary 
land.1 

So  closed  the  first  period  of  the  Maryland  mission.  Its  rec 
ord  is  a  noble  one.  Imbued  with  Catholicity  the  province  had 

1  Foley,  "Records  of  the  English  Province,"  iii.,  pp.  375-387;  vii., 
pp.  163,  342,  650;  B.  U.  Campbell  in  U.  S.  Cath.  Mag.,  vii.,  pp.  529, 
850  ;  Rev.  W.  P.  Treacy,  "  Catalogue  of  our  Missionary  Fathers,  1634- 
1805,"  Woodstock  Letters,  xvi.,  pp.  89-90. 


MARYLAND  MISSIONS.  67 

been  conducted  with  a  wisdom  seen  in  no  other  colony.  The 
destitution,  famine,  and  Indian  wars  that  mark  the  early  days 
of  other  settlements  were  unknown  in  Maryland.  Catholicity 
was  planted  with  the  colony,  and  exercised  its  beneficent 
influence  ;  the  devoted  priests  instructed  their  people  assid 
uously,  teaching  the  young,  and  reviving  the  faith  of  the 
adults  ;  men  led  away  by  false  doctrines  in  England,  moved 
by  their  example,  sought  light  and  guidance.  Full  of  apos 
tolic  zeal  these  priests  extended  their  care  to  the  Indian  tribes 
along  both  shores  of  the  Potomac  to  the  Piscataway,  and  up 
the  Patuxent  to  Mattapany,  so  that  nearly  all  the  Indians  on 
those  twro  peninsulas  were  thoroughly  instructed  in  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  many  received 
into  the  church  had  learned  to  lead  a  Christian  life.  The 
success  had  not  been  attained  without  sacrifice ;  five  of  the 
devoted  priests  in  the  short  twelve  years  had  laid  down  their 
lives ;  two  were  in  chains  to  stand  trial  and  perhaps  face 
death  on  the  scaffold.1 

1  The  question  has  been  mooted  whether  it  is  proper  to  say  that  Mary 
land  was  a  Catholic  colony.  It  has  been  well  replied:  "The  colony 
whose  only  spiritual  guides  were  Catholics,  whose  only  public  worship 
was  according  to  Catholic  rites,  was  a  Catholic  colony"  (Scharf,  i.,  p. 
166) ;  and  surely  it  was  so  when  the  Catholicity  was  active,  zealous, 
exemplary,  and  edifying.  The  "  Objections  Answered  Concerning  Mary 
land,"  a  document  of  the  time  of  the  settlement,  discusses  at  length 
whether  the  Catholic  colony  of  Maryland  would  be  dangerous  to  New 
England  and  Virginia. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE   MARYLAND   MISSION   RESTORED.       1648-1668. 

WITH  the  triumph  of  Clayborne  and  Ingle  Catholicity 
seemed  so  utterly  overthrown  in  Maryland  that  Lord  Balti 
more  lost  heart,  and  thought  of  abandoning  the  province. 
He  gave  orders  to  secure  his  personal  property  and  send  it 
over  to  England.  But  his  brother  Leonard  was  made  of 
sterner  stuff.  Gathering  a  force  in  Virginia  he  suddenly 
surprised  the  faction  in  Maryland  and  recovered  possession 
of  the  province,  where  the  authority  of  the  lord  proprietary 
was  once  more  established. 

The  field  was  again  open  to  the  labors  of  the  priests  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  It  would  seem  that  Lord  Baltimore  again 
applied  to  the  Holy  See  for  secular  missionaries,  but  failed  to 
obtain  them,1  and  the  Jesuit  Fathers  were  permitted  to  re- 

1  Foley,  "  Records,"  iii.,  p.  387. 

Lord  Baltimore  complained  to  Agretti  in  1669  that  the  Holy  See  for 
four  and  twenty  years  had  refused  to  send  missionaries  to  Maryland, 
which  carries  back  his  unsuccessful  application  to  1645.  Mgr.  Urban 
Cerri,  in  his  report  to  Pope  Innocent  XI.,  speaking  of  Maryland,  says  : 
"A  mission  might  easily  be  settled  in  that  country,  the  said  lord  having 
frequently  desired  it  of  the  Congregation."  Steele,  "An  Account  of  the 
State  of  the  Roman  Catholick  Religion,"  p.  169.  It  was  apparently  well 
known  that  Lord  Baltimore  wished,  about  this  time,  to  substitute  other 
missionaries.  In  "Virginia  and  Maryland;  or  the  Lord  Baltimore's 
printed  Case  uncased  and  answered,"  London,  1655,  we  read  :  "  The  bet 
ter  to  get  friends,  first  made  it  a  receptacle  for  Papists  and  Priests  and 
Jesuites,  in  some  extraordinary  and  zealous  manner,  but  hath  since  dis 
contented  them  many  times  and  many  ways  ;  though  Intelligence  with 
Bulls,  Letters,  &c.  from  the  Pope  and  Rome,  be  ordinary  for  his  own  In- 
tersts."  (Force's  edition,  p.  12.) 
(68) 


MISSION  RESTORED.  69 

visit  the  land  where  their  heroic  little  band  had  labored  amid 
suffering  and  death.  Father  Thomas  Copley  was  sent  over 
as  he  had  been  eleven  years  before.  Writing  to  the  General 
of  the  Society  on  the  1st  of  March,  1648,  he  reports  his 
arrival  with  his  companion  in  Virginia  in  January.  From 
that  province  he  penetrated  to  St.  Mary's,  where  he  found 
his  flock  collected  after  having  been  scattered  for  three  years. 
Once  more  was  the  holy  sacrifice  offered  in  the  land,  confes 
sions  heard,  baptism  conferred  ;  but  caution  was  still  required, 
and  the  priests  performed  their  sacred  duties  almost  secretly. 
Leaving  his  companion,  Father  Lawrence  Starkey,  concealed 
apparently  in  Virginia,  Father  Copley  then  proceeded  to  his 
Indian  neophytes  from  among  whom  he  had  been  torn  by 
Ingle's  men. 

Though  the  authority  of  Lord  Baltimore  was  restored,  the 
state  of  affairs,  and  especially  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
Maryland,  became  very  precarious.  Puritans  expelled  from 
Virginia  had  been  allowed  by  Lord  Baltimore  to  settle  in 
Anne  Arundel  County,  but  from  the  first  they  disavowed  his 
authority  as  supporting  antichrist.  As  their  numbers  in 
creased  they  made  common  cause  with  Clayborne,  and  began 
to  outnumber  the  Catholics,  who,  for  a  time,  had  formed  the 
majority,  especially  of  the  landholders,  as  the  contemporane 
ous  records  of  wills  show. 

The  illustrious  governor,  Leonard  Calvert,  did  not  long 
survive  his  triumph.  This  devoted  Catholic  died  amid  his 
family  and  friends  on  the  9th  of  June,  1647,  leaving  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  colony  to  Thomas  Greene.  In  the  following 
year  Lord  Baltimore  appointed  William  Stone  as  governor, 
and,  in  view  of  a  future  preponderance  of  Protestants, 
endeavored  to  establish,  as  by  a  charter  of  liberty,  that  free 
dom  of  conscience  which  his  father  and  himself  had  so  long 
advocated  and  practiced. 


70  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

In  pursuance  of  his  instructions  Governor  Stone  convened 
an  assembly  at  St.  Mary's,  on  the  2d  day  of  April,  1649.  This 
body  consisted  of  the  lieutenant-governor,  Stone  represent 
ing  the  Catholic  proprietary  ;  the  council,  Thomas  Greene  and 
Robert  Clarke,  Catholics  ;  John  Price  and  Robert  Vaughn, 
Protestants ;  and  nine  burgesses,  Cuthbert  Femvick,  "William 
Bretton,  George  Manners,  John  Maunsell,  Thomas  Thorn- 
borough  and  Walter  Peake,  Catholics,  and  Philip  Conner, 
Richard  Banks,  and  Richard  Browne,  Protestants.  The  as 
sembly  is  a  famous  one  in  history,  as  it  passed  an  "  Act  con 
cerning  religion,"  which,  after  inflicting  penalties  on  any  one 
who  should  call  another  by  a  sectarian  name  of  reproach, 
proceeds  in  these  noble  words :  "  And  whereas  the  enforc 
ing  of  conscience  in  matters  of  religion  hath  frequently 
fallen  out  to  be  of  dangerous  consequence  in  those  common 
wealths  where  it  has  been  practiced,  and  for  the  more  quiet 
and  peaceable  government  of  this  province,  and  the  better 
to  preserve  mutual  love  and  unity  amongst  the  inhabitants, 
no  person  or  persons  whatsoever  within  this  province  or  the 
islands,  ports,  harbors,  creeks,  or  havens  thereunto  belonging, 
professiug  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  shall  from  henceforth 
be  any  ways  troubled  or  molested,  or  discountenanced  for  or 
in  respect  of  his  or  her  religion,  nor  in  the  free  exercise 
thereof  within  this  province  or  the  islands  thereunto  belong 
ing,  nor  any  way  compelled  to  the  belief  or  exercise  of  any 
other  religion,  against  his  or  her  consent."  ' 

"  The  passage  of  this  act,"  says  McSherry,  "  is  one  of  the 
proud  boasts  of  Maryland,  and  its  exact  execution  until  the 

1  The  acts  of  1649,  1650,  eighteen  in  number,  were  drawn  up  by  Lord 
Baltimore  and  transmitted  to  the  Assembly,  which  passed  only  a  part  in 
1649  (April  21)  and  the  rest  April  25,  1650,  in  sessions  held  at  St.  Mary's. 
They  were  confirmed  together  by  Lord  Baltimore's  declaration,  dated 
August  26, 1650.  "  Maryland  Archives,"  i.,  pp.  244-7  ;  Sainsbury,  "  Cal 
endar  of  State  Papers, "  1,  p.  329  ;  "Colonial  Entry  Book, "vol.  53,  pp.  4-20. 


THE  TOLERATION  ACT.  71 

government  was  overthrown  by  the  Puritans,  and  from  its 
restoration  till  the  Protestant  revolution,  forms  one  of  her 
greatest  glories." 

Efforts  have  been  made  to  deprive  Catholics  of  the  credit 
of  this  act.  Gladstone's  endorsement  of  the  efforts  gave  rise 
to  a  triumphant  Catholic  vindication.1  It  was  no  novelty  :  it 
was  the  last  Catholic  act  confirming  the  policy  which  had 
obtained  from  the  founding  of  the  colony,  and  which  was 
maintained  so  long  as  Catholic  proprietors  were  in  power, 
ceasing  only  with  Catholic  influence.  "  The  religious  tolera 
tion  which  historians  have  so  much  extolled  in  the  Catholic 
colonists  and  founders  of  Maryland  did  not  originate  with, 
or  derive  its  existence  from  that  law  of  1649,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  it  existed  long  anterior  to  and  independent  of  it. 
This  great  feature  in  the  Catholic  government  of  Maryland 
had  been  established  by  the  Catholic  lord  proprietary,  his 
lieutenant-governor,  agents  and  colonists,  and  faithfully  prac 
ticed  for  fifteen  years  prior  to  the  Toleration  Act  of  1649. 
From  1634  to  1649  it  had  been  enforced  with  unwavering 
firmness,  and  protected  with  exalted  benevolence." 

The  act  of  1649,  with  its  broad  views  of  religious  freedom, 
is  one  of  the  grounds  of  pride  in  Catholic  Maryland.  Natu 
rally  those  who  are  haunted  by  a  perpetual  jealousy  of  every 
Catholic  claim  have  sought,  by  specious  arguments  and 
cunningly  arrayed  facts,  to  make  it  appear  that  the  Catholic 
body  in  Maryland  could  lay  no  claim  to  the  honor. 

The  history  of  the  act  and  of  others  closely  connected  with 
it  is  now  known.  Lord  Baltimore,  who  saw  the  necessity  of 
adopting  some  plan  for  the  future  government  of  the  prov 
ince  that  would  save  his  own  rights  and  the  liberty  of  the 
Catholic  settlers  from  being  overthrown,  drew  up  a  body  of 

1  R.  H.  Clarke,  Catholic  World,  December,  1875. 


72  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

sixteen  laws  during  the  summer  of  1648,  and  transmitted 
them  from  Bath,  in  England,  to  be  passed  and  made  per 
petual  by  the  Assembly,  and  with  them  the  oaths  to  be  taken 
by  the  governor  and  the  members  of  the  council.  These 
acts  were  to  be  passed  without  any  alteration,  addition,  or 
diminution.  The  Assembly  of  1649  passed  nine  of  these 
acts  in  April,  and  in  the  Assembly  held  in  the  following 
year,  the  other  seven  were  passed,  Lord  Baltimore  having 
complained  of  their  neglect.  In  their  action  in  April,  1650, 
the  whole  sixteen  laws  were  read  and  considered,  and  they 
were  assented  to  by  the  proprietary  in  one  instrument,  dated 
August  20,  1650. 

The  first  of  these  laws  was  the  act  concerning  religion.  It 
emanated  from  the  Catholic  proprietary,  and  was  passed  by 
a  legislature  in  which  the  majority  were  Catholics.' 

The  next  year  the  Assembly  required  an  oath  from  mem 
bers,  which  was  in  itself  a  harbinger  to  Catholics  of  coming 
difficulties.  One  Catholic  member,  Thomas  Matthews,  of 

1  Johnson,  "  Foundation  of  Maryland,"  pp.  111-123.  Mr.  Gladstone 
pretended  that  this  act  was  based  on  an  order  of  the  English  House  of  Com 
mons,  giving  freedom  of  conscience  in  the  Summer  Islands,  and  also  on 
a  British  ordinance  of  1647.  The  assertion,  coming  from  a  British  Prime 
Minister,  attracted  attention.  Examination  shows  that  the  order  merely 
gave  freedom  of  worship  to  an  independent  congregation,  under  Rev. 
Patrick  Copland,  in  the  Bermudas ;  that  it  passed  only  one  house,  and 
never  took  effect.  The  ordinance  of  1647,  referred  to  by  Mr.  Gladstone, 
never  passed,  and  so  far  as  toleration  was  concerned,  the  House  of  Com 
mons  resolved  that  it  was  not  to  extend  to  Catholics,  or  take  away  any 
penal  laws  against  them.  "Journals  of  the  Commons,"  1644-6.  Rush- 
worth,  "Collection,"  vii.,  p.  849.  Johnson,  "Foundation  of  Maryland," 
pp.  126-129. 

Father  Hunter,  in  the  last  century,  referred  to  the  act  as  passed  in 
1640,  but  it  is  more  likely  that  this  is  only  an  error  in  copying  for  1649. 
His  statement  that  it  was  re-enacted  in  1650  is  easily  understood.  The 
entries  show  that  in  1650  the  whole  sixteen  laws  were  read  and  consid 
ered,  and  this  was  considered  a  re-enacting  of  the  nine  passed  in  1649. 


PURITAN  RULE.  73 

Saint  Inigoes,  on  his  refusing  to  take  this  oath,  to  which  he 
declared  he  had  conscientious  objections,  was  expelled ;  and 
his  successor,  Fenwick,  also  a  Catholic,  took  it  only  with  the 
understanding  that  the  craftly  devised  language  was  not 
meant  to  infringe  liberty  of  conscience  or  religion. 

To  preserve  the  Catholic  missions  among  the  native  tribes 
in  which  so  much  had  been  accomplished  since  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  colony,  Lord  Baltimore,  in  1651,  set  apart 
ten  thousand  acres  of  laud  at  Calverton  manor,  on  the  Wico- 
mico  River,  for  the  remnant  of  the  Mattapany,  Wicomicons, 
Patuxent,  Lamasconsons,  Highahwixons,  and  Chapticon 
Indians ;  the  Assembly  had  already  recognized  his  constant 
efforts  to  Christianize  the  native  tribes,  and  thus  the  first 
Indian  reserve  was  formed  by  a  Catholic,  and  under  the 
direction  of  the  Catholic  clergy. 

The  Catholics  were  at  this  time,  as  estimated  by  the  labo 
rious  and  accurate  Mr.  Davis,  based  on  wills,  conveyances, 
tax  lists,  and  official  records,  three-fourths  of  the  popula 
tion  of  Maryland.  They  enjoyed  the  services  of  zealous 
priests  who  attended  chapels  at  different  points  from  Corn- 
wallys'  Neck  to  Point  Lookout,  and  education  secular  and 
religious  was  fostered.1 

In  1652,  Clayborne  and  Bennett,  as  commissioners  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  England,  overthrew  the  proprietary  gov 
ernment,  and  when  Lord  Baltimore  prepared  to  restore  it, 
they  convened  an  assembly,  first  prohibiting  any  Catholic 
to  vote  for  or  to  sit  as  a  delegate.  The  body  called,  after 
thus  excluding  the  Catholic  majority,  passed  an  act  con 
cerning  religion,  which  began,  "  It  is  hereby  enacted  and 
declared  that  none  who  profess  and  exercise  the  Popish 

1  There  are  some  data  showing  the  existence  of  a  thriving  school  con 
ducted  by  Ralph  Crouch,  under  the  direction  of  the  Catholic  clergy  at 
this  time. 


74  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

(commonly  called  the  Roman  Catholic)  religion,  can  be  pro 
tected  in  this  province  by  the  laws  of  England,  formerly 
established  and  yet  mirepealed ;  nor  by  the  government  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  England,  etc.,  but  to  be  restrained 
from  the  exercise  thereof."  It  concluded  thus :  "  Provided 
such  liberty  be  not  extended  to  Popery  or  prelacy,  nor  to 
such  as  under  the  profession  of  Christ,  hold  forth  and  prac 
tice  licentiousness." ' 

A  reign  of  terror  was  thus  established  instead  of  the 
tolerant  and  friendly  policy  of  the  Catholic  rulers.  Gov 
ernor  Stone  endeavored  to  restore  the  proprietary's  power. 
He  took  the  field,  with  the  support  of  the  Catholics  and  the 
Protestants  who  adhered  to  Lord  Baltimore,  but  was  defeated 
in  a  hard-fought  engagement,  after  which  the  Puritans 
evinced  their  ferocious  cruelty  by  shooting  four  prisoners  in 
cold  blood.  As  three  of  these  were  Catholics,  it  shows  that 
hatred  of  Catholicity  guided  them  in  this  as  in  their  legisla 
tion.9 

Then  we  find  the  anti-Catholic  power  gaining.  Thus,  in 
1654,  Luke  Gardner  was  charged  with  enticing  Eleanor 
Hatton  to  his  house,  "  to  train  her  up  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion."  This  was  deemed  "  a  great  affront  to  the  govern 
ment,  and  of  very  dangerous  and  destructive  consequences 
in  relation  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  province." 

1  Scharf,  "  History  of  Maryland,"  i.,  p.  215.  "  Maryland  Archives," 
i.,  pp.  340-1.  Hawks,  "Maryland,"  pp.  42-3. 

-  The  Puritan  account,  "Virginia  and  Baltimore,"  p.  16,  suppresses  all 
mention  of  the  execution  in  cold  blood  of  Eltonhead,  Lewis,  Legate, 
Pedro.  The  character  of  the  tract  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  weighing 
its  value  elsewhere.  For  another  account  see  Hammond,  "Leah  and 
Rachel,"  p.  25.  The  petition  of  Edward  Lloyd  and  seventy-seven  inhab 
itants  of  Severne  alias  Anne  Arundel  County,  in  1653,  against  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  Lord  Baltimore,  because  Catholicity  was  tolerated  is 
given  in  "  Virginia  and  Baltimore,"  pp.  28-9.  They  certainly  had  no  part 
in  passing  the  act  of  1649. 


MARYLAND  WITHOUT  PRIESTS.  75 

"While  Maryland  was  thus  convulsed,  and  difficulties  in 
creased  for  Catholics,  Father  Thomas  Copley  died  in  1653, 
leaving  Father  Lawrence  Starkey  alone  on  the  mission,  but 
he  was  joined  the  next  year  by  Father  Francis  Fitzherbert, 
who  made  St.  Inigoes  his  residence,  the  veteran  Starkey  at 
tending  the  scattered  missions  from  Portobacco. 

The  Puritans,  after  their  victory  on  the  Severn,  and  their 
savage  triumph,  hastened  to  St.  Mary's  County.  There  they 
rushed  into  the  houses  of  the  priests,  clamoring  for  the  lives  of 
the  hypocrites,  as  they  styled  them,  and  certainly  intending  for 
any  they  might  secure,  the  fate  of  the  Catholics  slaughtered 
on  the  field.  Such  had  been  their  course  in  England,  and  it 
would  find  greater  pretext  here.  But  the  two  Fathers  managed 
to  escape,  ascribing  it  to  the  Providence  of  God  that  they 
were  carried  away  before  the  very  eyes  of  their  vindictive 
pursuers  ;  but  their  books,  furniture,  and  everything  else  in 
the  houses  fell  a  prey  to  the  spoilers.  The  missionaries  were 
carried  into  Virginia  amid  constant  peril,  and  in  the  utmost 
want  of  all  things.  There  they  lived  in  a  mean  hut,  sunk 
in  the  ground  like  a  cistern  or  a  tomb,  so  that  they  com 
pared  themselves  to  Saint  Athanasius,  who  lay  concealed  for 
several  years  in  a  similar  refuge.  Their  supplies  from  Eng 
land  were  intercepted ;  they  could  obtain  no  wine  to  say 
mass,  and  their  ministry  was  reduced  to  stealthy  visits,  by 
boats,  to  Catholics  who  could  be  reached  from  Virginia.1 

The  missionaries,  unable  to  return  to  their  congregations 
in  Maryland,  remained  in  Virginia,  where  Father  Starkey 
died  in  the  midst  of  his  trials,  February  19,  1657.2 

Lord  Baltimore,  however,  at  last  recovered  his  authority, 
liberty  of  conscience  was  restored,  and  Father  Fitzherbert 

1  Foley,  "Records,"  iii.,  p.  389. 

2  His  real  name  seems  to  have  been  Laurence  Sankey.    He  was  born  in 
Lancashire  in  1606,  and  entered  the  Society  in  1636.    Foley,  vii.,  p.  685. 


76  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

returned  to  Maryland.  The  influx  of  Protestants  after  this 
increased,  and  the  Jesuit  Fathers  labored  with  zeal  to  win 
over  such  as  seemed  well  disposed.  This  led  to  a  curious 
case,  in  1658.,  when  Father  Francis  Fitzherbert  was  indicted 
for  treason  and  sedition,  and  giving  out  rebellious  and  mu 
tinous  speeches,  and  endeavoring  to  raise  distractions  and 
disturbances.  The  grounds  were  that  he  had  preached  at 
the  general  muster  of  the  militia,  at  Patuxent  and  Newtown, 
and  had  threatened  to  excommunicate  Thomas  Gerrard  of 
the  council  for  not  bringing  his  wife  and  children  to  church. 
The  arraigned  priest  demurred  on  the  ground  that  by  the 
very  first  law  of  the  country,  Holy  Church  within  this 
province  was  to  have  and  enjoy  all  her  rights,  liberties,  and 
franchises,  wholly  and  without  blemish,  amongst  which  that 
of  preaching  and  teaching  is  not  the  least.  "  Neither  imports 
it  what  church  is  there  meant,  since  by  the  true  intent  of 
the  act  concerning  religion,  every  church  professing  to 
believe  in  God  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  is  accounted 
Holy  Church  here."  Moreover  he  claimed  that  by  the  act 
entitled,  "  An  Act  concerning  Religion,"  no  one  was  to  be 
molested  in  the  free  exercise  of  his  religion  ;  "  and  undoubt 
edly  preaching  and  teaching  is  the  free  exercise  of  every 
churchman's  religion."  The  court,  all  apparently  Protestants 
except  one,  sustained  the  demurrer.1 

The  early  Maryland  Catholics  were  liberal  in  contributing 
to  the  support  of  the  church,  and  frequent  legacies  and 
bequests  appear  in  their  wills.  On  the  10th  of  November, 
1661,  as  several  of  the  good  and  zealous  Roman  Catholics  of 
Newtown  and  St.  Clement's  Bay  had  agreed  to  erect  a 
chapel,  and  had  selected  as  most  convenient  for  them  all  a 
spot  on  land  of  William  Bretton,  Esq.,  one  of  the  lawgivers 

1  Davis,  "Day  Star,"  p.  55. 


MANOR  HOUSE  AT  NEWTOWN  OR  BRETTON'S  NECK. 


78  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

of  1649,  that  gentleman,  with  the  hearty  good  liking  of  his 
dearly  beloved  wife,  Temperance  Bretton,  "  to  the  greater 
honor  and  glory  of  Almighty  God,  the  ever  Immaculate 
Virgin  Mary  and  all  saints,"  granted  to  the  said  Roman 
Catholic  inhabitants,  and  their  posterity,  an  acre  and  a  half 
of  ground  for  a  chapel  and  cemetery,  and  here  rose  the 
modest  chapel  of  Saint  Ignatius,  the  first  Catholic  church  of 
Newtown.1 

With  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  and  the  fall  of  the 
Puritan  rule,  Lord  Baltimore  regained  his  authority,  and 
Catholic  settlers  began  to  arrive.  Before  1668,  John  and 
Joseph  Hebron,  Catholics,  from  Scotland,  settled  on  the 
eastern  shore,  in  Kent  County,  and  their  descendants  retained 
the  faith  for  some  generations." 

1  The  deed  for  the  land  for  the  church  and  graveyard  bears  date  Nov. 
10,  1661.    Davis,  "Day  Star,"  p.  227.    It  was  a  triangular  piece  at  the  head 
of  St.  Nicholas'  Creek,  near  Bowling's  Cove.    A  few  old  bricks,  with 
mortar  still  adhering,  are  the  last  relics  of  St.  Ignatius  Chapel,  and  near 
it  is  the  graveyard  used  for  more  than  two  centuries.     The  church 
on  Sundays  in  the  old  time  was  reached  in  sailboats  from  miles  around. 

The  manor  at  Newtown,  or  Bretton's  Neck,  passed  from  Bretton,  and 
was  purchased  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries.  In  their  hands  the  house  and 
chapel  have  been  a  centre  of  Catholicity,  surrounded  by  lands  and  streams 
that  bear  the  name  of  St.  Francis,  St.  Margaret,  St.  Lawrence,  St.  Peter, 
St.  John,  St.  Winifred,  St.  Michael,  St.  Gabriel,  St.  Anne.  The  house 
erected  by  Bretton,  of  old  English  brick,  is  still  standing,  its  original  one 
story  having  had  another  added,  making  it  a  stately  mansion,  beautifully 
situated  on  the  Neck.  It  contains  relics  of  Fathers  who  labored  in  Mary 
land  in  the  last  two  centuries.  "Historical  points  connected  with  New- 
town  manor  and  church,  St.  Mary's  Co.,  Md."  Woodstock  Letters,  xiii., 
pp.  69,  116,  and  xiv.,  p.  61,  etc. 

2  Hanson,  "  History  of  Old  Kent,"  pp.  197-8.    Virginia  about  this  time 
(1661)  showed  the  old  intolerance  by  passing  an  act  imposing  a  fine  of  £20 
on  any  one  who  neglected  to  attend  the  service  of  the  Protestant  church. 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

THE    JESUITS    AND   FRANCISCANS    IN   MARYLAND,    1669-1690. 

FROM  the  difficulty  in  which  the  Society  was  involved  in 
England,  and  a  great  loss  of  means  for  maintaining  the  mission, 
few  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  sent  to  Maryland  during  the  admin 
istration  of  Charles  Calvert,  who  was  governor  of  the  prov 
ince  from  1661  to  1675,  remained  for  any  considerable 
period. 

"When  the  Abbate  Claudius  Agretti,  a  canon  of  Bruges, 
was  sent  by  the  Holy  See  on  a  special  mission  to  England  in 
1669,  he  visited  Cecil,  Lord  Baltimore,  at  his  villa,  and  that 
aged  nobleman  complained  that  there  were  only  two  priests 
in  Maryland  to  minister  to  the  two  thousand  Catholics  in 
that  province,  and  that  the  Holy  See,  although  solicited  for 
twenty-four  years  to  send  missionaries  there,  had  taken  no 
action  in  the  matter.1 

Of  the  three  priests  of  the  Society  on  the  mission  in  Mary 
land  in  1669,  one,  Father  Peter  Pelcon  or  Manners,  a  young 

1  Brady,  "Annals  of  the  Catholic  Hierarchy  in  England  and  Scotland," 
Rome,  1877,  p.  116.  So  far  as  can  be  traced  the  Jesuit  Fathers  employed 
on  the  Maryland  mission  from  1660  to  1674,  were  Fathers  Henry  Pel- 
ham,  Edward  Tidder,  John  Fitzwilliam,  Francis  Fitzherbert,  Peter  Pel- 
con,  Peter  Riddell,  George  Pole,  William  Warren,  Michael  Forster  (Gu- 
lick) ;  but  the  only  two  actually  there  at  the  close  of  1669  were  William 
Pelham  and  Michael  Forster  (Gulick).  Father  Treacy  (Woodstock  Let 
ters,  xv.,  p.  91),  omits  Fitzwilliam  and  Riddell,  and  places  Forster  later. 
Foley,  "  Records,"  vii.,  gives  the  number  on  the  Maryland  mission  in  1660 
as  1  ;  1661,  2  ;  1663-7,  3  ;  1672-4,  2,  vol.  vii.,  xc-xcvi.  The  Annual  Let 
ters,  1671-4  ("Rel.  Itin.,"  pp.  98-99),  gives  two  as  the  number  for  those 
years. 

(79) 


80  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  zealous  missioner  full  of  the  apostolic  spirit,  met  death  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duty.  He  had  bound  himself  by  a 
special  vow  to  consecrate  his  whole  life  and  labors  to  the 
Maryland  mission,  if  his  superiors  permitted  it.  A  saintly 
man  who  had  vowed  to  love  no  creature  except  in  God  and 
for  God,  his  influence  was  extraordinary.  Catholics  were 
brought  by  him  to  a  loving  and  exact  discharge  of  all  Chris 
tian  duties,  and  to  firmness  of  faith  amid  trials  and  seductions  ; 
even  Protestants,  won  by  his  pure  and  devoted  character, 
sought  guidance  and  instruction  from  him,  so  that  nearly  a 
hundred  conversions  were  ascribed  to  his  influence,  although 
he  did  not  live  to  receive  them  all  into  the  Church.  On 
Wednesday,  in  Easter  week,  April  24,  1669,  he  was  sum 
moned  to  a  distant  call,  and  at  once  set  out.  The  spring  rains 
had  swollen  the  streams  into  torrents,  and  in  attempting  to 
cross  one,  the  missionary  and  his  horse  were  swept  down  the 
current  and  engulfed  in  the  waters.1 

The  report  of  the  Abbate  Agretti  was  considered  in  a  Par 
ticular  Congregation  of  the  Propaganda,  held  September  9, 
1670,  and  the  last  decree  then  passed  directed  "  that  letters 
should  be  written  to  the  Internuncio  regarding  the  mission  to 
the  island  of  Maryland  in  America,  in  order  that  at  the  in 
stance  of  the  temporal  lord  of  the  aforesaid  island,  he  should 
depute  missionaries  of  approved  merit,  and  send  in  their 
names  to  the  Cardinal  Protector  for  the  issue  of  the  necessary 
faculties.* 

1  He  had  been  twelve  years  in  the  Society  and  died  at  the  age  of  38. 
Notice  of  him  by  Very  Rev.  F.  Simeon,  provincial  of  England,  Foley, 
iii.,  p.  390  ;  Annual  Letter,  in  "  Relatio  Itineris,"  p.  93  ;  his  real  name  was 
apparently  Pelcon,  Foley,  vii.,  p.  679.     The  Annual  Letters  report  54 
conversions  in  1671  ;  70  in  1672  ;  28  in  1673.     The  baptisms  for  three 
years  were  100,  70,  75. 

2  Brady,  "Annals  of  the  Catholic  Hierarchy,"  pp.  118-9.     The  Inter- 
nuncio  was  the  Abbate  Airoldi  at  Brussels. 


THE  FRANCISCANS  IN  MARYLAND.  81 

A  mission  founded  about  this  time  in  Maryland  by  the 
Franciscan  Fathers  of  the  English  province  was  evidently  a 
result  of  this  decree  of  the  Propaganda.  The  Jesuits  had  an 
illustrious  founder  of  their  mission  in  the  person  of  Father 
Andrew  White ;  the  Franciscan  mission  claims  as  its  founder 
a  truly  apostolic  man,  Father  Massseus  Massey  a  Sancta  Bar 
bara.  In  a  congregation  of  the  province  held  October  12, 
1672,  in  Somerset  House,  one  of  the  royal  palaces  in  London, 
then  apparently  the  residence  of  the  Portuguese  ambassador, 
the  establishment  of  a  mission  of  the  order  in  Maryland  -was 
decided  upon,  and  Father  Massey  was  appointed  to  found 
it,  with  another  Father  to  be  selected  by  the  provincial.1 
Father  Massey  with  his  associate  reached  Maryland  apparently 
in  1673,  and  entered  into  a  portion  of  the  labors  and  harvest 
of  the  missionaries  already  there ;  perfect  harmony  being 
maintained  between  them  for  the  common  prosperity  of  the 
Catholic  cause.3 

In  1674,  the  French  Jesuit  Father  John  Pierron,  who  had 
been  employed  on  the  Mohawk  mission,  and  had  thus  become 
familiar  with  the  English  colonial  ways,  was  transferred  for  a 
time  to  the  Acadian  mission.  While  attached  to  this  station, 
he  made  a  tour  through  the  English  colonies  as  far  as  Virginia. 
On  the  way  he  was  shocked  to  see  baptism  so  generally  neg 
lected,  and  endeavored  to  do  what  good  he  could,  but  he 
found  few  to  benefit  by  his  ministry.  He  had  interviews 
with  some  of  the  ministers  at  Boston,  and  the  Labbadists  a 
few  years  after  found  his  visit  there  still  a  topic  of  conversa 
tion.  He  was  at  last  cited  before  the  General  Court,  but  he 
proceeded  on  his  journey.  "  He  found,"  says  the  Relation  of 
1674,  "in  Maryland  two  of  our  English  Fathers  and  one 

1  " Ex-Registro,  FF.M.,  Prov.  Angliae,"  p.  85— Oliver,  'Collections," 
p.  541. 

s  Annual  Letter  of  1673,  in  "  Relatio  Itineris,"  pp.  98-9. 
6 


82  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

brother  ;  the  Fathers  dressed  like  gentlemen,  and  the  brother 
like  a  fanner  ;  in  fact,  he  has  charge  of  the  farm  which  gives 
the  two  missionaries  their  support.  They  labor  with  success  in 
converting  the  Protestants  of  the  country,  where  there  are  in 
fact  many  Catholics,  among  others,  the  governor.  As  these 
two  Fathers  are  not  enough  alone,  Father  Pierron  offers  vol 
untarily  to  go  and  help  them,  and  at  the  same  time  found  a 
mission  among  the  neighboring  Indians,  whose  language  he 
understands.  But  this  scheme  presents  many  difficulties  and 
seems  to  me  impossible."  ' 

The  want  of  all  records  of  this  period  makes  it  impossible 
to  tell  in  what  field  each  of  the  Jesuit  and  Franciscan  mis 
sionaries  labored  at  this  time.  Kew  York,  in  which  New 
Jersey  was  then  included,  was  open  to  Catholics  and  some  may 
have  settled  there,  to  whom  these  Fathers  occasionally  made 
visits.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  wider  field  than  that  of 
the  two  thousand  Catholics  in  Maryland,  who  were  nearly  all 
in  the  same  district,  for  in  1674  the  Franciscans  in  a  congrega 
tion  held  in  May,  appointed  Fathers  Polycarp  Wicksted  and 
Basil  Hobart  to  the  Maryland  mission,  and  the  next  year  the 
Jesuit  Father  Nicholas  Gulick  came  to  America  with 
Father  Francis  Pennington  and  two  lay  brothers.2  In  the 
following  year  the  Franciscan  Father  Henry  a  Sancto  Fran 
cisco  appears  in  Maryland,  and  in  October,  Father  Edward 
Golding  was  sent  out;  Father  Massey  remaining  superior 
till  1677,  when  Father  Henry  Carew  replaced  him,  his 
predecessor  becoming  guardian  of  the  convent  in  London. 
The  same  year  the  Jesuit  Superior  Thomas  Gawen  arrived.8 

1  " Relation de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1674, in  "Relations  Inedites,"  ii., 
pp.  8,  10;  Bankers  and  Sluyter,  "Journal,"  p.  388. 

2  Ex  Registro,  FF.M.,  Prov.  Anglise,  p.  88.     Jesuit  Annual  Letter, 
1675,  in  "Rel.  Itineris,"  p.  99. 

3  Ex  Registro,  pp.  97, 104, 108  ;  Annual  Letter,  1677.  "Rel.  Itin. ,"  p.  100 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION.  83 

Two  Labbadists  who  visited  Maryland  about  this  time 
(1679-80)  write  :  "  Those  persons  who  profess  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  have  great,  indeed  all  freedom  in  Maryland, 
because  the  governor  makes  profession  of  that  faith,  and  con 
sequently  there  are  priests  and  other  ecclesiastics  who  travel 
and  disperse  themselves  everywhere,  and  neglect  nothing 
which  serves  for  their  profit  and  purpose."  ' 

One  result  of  this  increase  of  the  clergy  was  the  opening 
in  1677  of  a  Catholic  school  in  Maryland,  with  a  course  of 
study  which  included  the  humanities.  It  was  directed  by 
Father  Forster  and  Mr.  Thomas  Hothersall,  an  approved 
scholastic  of  the  Society,  prevented  by  constant  headaches 
from  being  ordained.  The  sons  of  the  planters  won  applause 
by  their  application  and  progress.  In  1681  two  scholars  who 
had  passed  through  the  course  at  this  academy  crossed  the 
Atlantic  to  complete  their  university  studies  at  St.  Omer's, 
and  with  true  American  energy,  at  once  made  a  bold  effort 
to  be  the  leaders  in  the  various  classes. 

This  system  was  kept  up  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers  in  Maryland 
till  the  American  Revolution,  their  school  being  occasionally 
suspended  by  the  hostility  of  the  provincial  government. 
Trained  in  preparatory  schools,  the  sons  and  even  the 
daughters  of  the  more  wealthy  Maryland  Catholics  were  sent 
abroad ;  some  returned  to  America  to  mix  in  the  world ;  not 
a  few  young  Marylanders  became  religious  laboring  in  the 
vineyard  in  England  or  America,  or  leading  holy  lives  in 
convent  cloisters.* 


1  Bankers  and  Sluyter,  "  Journal  of  a  Voyage  to  New  York,"  Brooklyn, 
1867,  p.  221.  Of  the  Protestant  ministers  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  they 
say,  p.  218  :  "  You  hear  often  that  these  ministers  are  worse  than  anybody 
else,  yea,  are  an  abomination." 

8  Foley,  "Records  of  the  English  Province,"  vii.,  p.  275;  Woodstock 
Letters,  xiii.,  p.  269. 


84  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Among  the  early  pupils  of  this  academy,  we  should  prob 
ably  find  on  the  roll  the  name  of  Robert  Brooke,  a  member 
of  a  pious  Catholic  family,  who  was  born  in  Maryland  in  1603, 
and  entering  the  Society  of  Jesus  at  Watten  in  168-i,  was  ap 
parently  the  first  priest  of  the  order  ordained  from  Lord 
Baltimore's  province,  and  he  is  the  first  of  five  priests  his 
family  gave  to  the  Society  of  Jesus.1 

The  Protestants  in  Maryland,  whether  of  the  Established 
Church  or  the  Puritan  bodies,  had  been  free  to  establish  their 
own  churches,  but  they  were  to  all  appearance  profoundly  in 
different.  This  was  perhaps  but  the  general  rule,  the  French 
Calvinists  in  Florida,  the  Dutch  in  New  York,  the  Swedish 
Lutherans  on  the  Delaware,  the  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth,  all 
coming  over  and  remaining  for  some  time  without  a  minister 
of  religion.  It  was  not  till  1650  that  a  Protestant  clergyman, 
Rev.  Mr.  Wilkinson,  appeared  in  the  province,  and  he  re 
flected  no  credit  on  his  profession.  The  historians  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland  admit  and  deplore  the  un 
worthy  character  of  the  early  ministers  of  their  faith.  In 
stead  of  building  up  Protestant  congregations  they  induced 
many  to  seek  the  guidance  of  the  Catholic  priests,  whose  zeal 
and  edifying  life  spoke  louder  than  words.  There  could, 
under  such  circumstances,  be  little  life  in  the  Protestant  body, 
and  in  1676  we  find  the  Rev.  Mr.  Yeo,  one  of  the  three  Episco 
pal  clergymen  in  Maryland,  appealing  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  drawing  a  sad  picture  of  Protestantism  in  the  col 
ony,  and  urging  him  to  solicit  from  Lord  Baltimore  some  sup- 


'  Foley,  "  Records,"  vii.,  p.  91.  Matthew  Brooke,  born  in  Maryland  in 
1672,  is  the  first  secular  priest  of  the  province.  He  subsequently  entered 
the  Society.  Ib.,  p.  90.  There  is  at  Woodstock  College,  a  very  touch 
ing  account  by  Father  Peter  Pelcom  (Manners),  of  the  death  of  Robert 
Brooke,  Esq.,  "Narratio  Mortis  Admodum  Piae  Doni  Roberti  Brooke  in 
Marylandia,  Anno  Doni  1667,  Octobris  2." 


MARYLAND  MISSIONS.  85 

port  for  a  Protestant  ministry.  The  lord  proprietary  replied 
that  he  supported  no  clergy,  that  all  denominations  were  free  in 
Maryland,  and  that  each  had  maintained  its  own  ministers 
and  churches  voluntarily.1 

During  the  period  of  Catholic  influence  in  Maryland,  the 
Indian  converts  in  many  cases  lived  side  by  side  with  the 
white  settlers.  The  chiefs  adopted  the  usages  of  civilized 
life ;  their  daughters  were  educated  and  frequently  married 
into  families  of  the  colonists.  Descendants  of  the  aborigi 
nal  rulers  of  the  soil  exist  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Pisea- 
taway  and  on  the  eastern  shore.  It  is  constantly  asserted  by 
Maryland  writers  that  the  blood  of  the  native  chiefs  is  now 
represented  by  the  Brents,  Fen  wicks,  Goldsboroughs,  and  other 
distinguished  families  of  the  State. 

The  original  chapel  at  St.  Mary's,  although  the  first  city 
of  Maryland  remained  a  kind  of  scattered  village,  had  by 
this  time  grown  too  small  or  otherwise  uusuited  to  the  wants 
of  the  Catholics  of  white  and  Indian  origin  who  attended  it. 
In  1683  steps  were  taken  in  the  council  of  the  colony  to  lay 
out  a  site  for  a  new  church,  and  cemetery.  Unfortunately 
no  plan  of  St.  Mary's  exists  and  apparently  no  data  by  which 
to  form  one  now  to  show  the  site  of  the  original  chapel  and 
the  ground  where  the  early  settlers  and  Governor  Leonard 
Calvert  were  laid.2 


1  Chalmers,  "Annals,"  p.  375;  Scharf,  i.,  p.  282-3.  Yet  the  Privy 
Council  thought  some  provision  should  be  made,  and  in  a  few  years  this 
was  most  iniqxiitously  carried  out. 

-  Kilty,  "Land-Holders'  Assistant,"  p.  123.  Lord  Baltimore  in  council 
ordered  land  to  be  laid  out  there  for  "  the  chappel,  state  house,  and  bury 
ing  place."  The  Annual  Letter,  1696,  says  of  St.  Mary's,  that  "  with  the 
residence  of  the  illustrious  Lord  Baltimore  surrounded  by  six  other 
houses,  it  bore  some  semblance  to  a  village."  Foley, "  Records, "vii.,  p.  clix. 
"  But  it  can  hardly  be  called  a  town,  it  being  in  length  by  the  water 
about  five  miles,  and  in  breadth  upwards,  toward  the  land,  not  above  a 


86  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  grant  by  Charles  II.  of  territory  in  America  under 
which  his  brother  James,  Duke  of  York,  put  an  end  to  the 
Dutch  rule  in  New  Netherland,  brought  the  whole  coast 
from  the  borders  of  Connecticut  to  the  Potomac,  under  the 
control  of  Catholic  proprietors,  who  would  naturally  favor 
the  immigration  and  freedom  of  their  fellow-believers.  The 
district  acquired  by  James  was  one,  however,  in  which  Catho 
lics  had  always  been  few  and  rarely  permanent  residents. 
Two  Portuguese  soldiers  at  Fort  Orange  in  1626 ;  a  Portu 
guese  woman,  and  a  transient  Irishman  met  by  Father  Isaac 
Jogues,  in  1643,  are  the  earliest  on  record.1 

Yet  soon  after  Lord  Baltimore  applied  for  his  Maryland 
charter,  another  Catholic  gentleman,  Sir  Edmund  Plowden,  a 
descendant  of  the  famous  lawyer  of  that  name,  solicited  for 
himself  and  some  associates  a  patent  for  lands  on  the  Hudson 
and  Delaware,  including  what  is  now  known  as  New  Jersey 
and  Long  Island.  A  charter  was  granted  by  writ  of  Privy 
Seal,  witnessed  by  the  Deputy  General  of  Ireland,  at  Dublin, 
June  21,  1634,  by  which  a  county  palatine  was  erected  under 
the  name  of  New  Albion.  Captain  Thomas  Yong,  a  corre 
spondent  of  the  famous  priest  Sir  Toby  Mathews,  under  this 
erected  a  fort  or  trading  house  at  Eriwomeck  on  the  Jersey 
side  of  the  Delaware  about  1634  and  resided  there  some  years. 
Plowden  himself  came  over  in  1642  and  nearly  lost  his  life  by 
a  mutiny  of  his  crew,  who  set  him  ashore  on  a  desert  island 
two  years  afterwards.  Some  of  the  English  settlers  recog 
nized  his  authority,  but  the  Swedes  stubbornly  refused  to  al- 

mile,  in  all  which  space,  excepting  only  my  own  home  and  buildings 
wherein  the  said  courts  and  public  offices  are  kept,  there  are  not  above 
thirty  houses,  and  those  at  considerable  distance  from  each  other,  and 
the  buildings  ....  very  mean  and  little."  Lord  Baltimore,  in  Scharf,  i., 
p.  294. 

1  Brodhead,  "  History  of  New  York,"  i.,  p.  169  ;  Martin,  "  Life  of 
Father  Isaac  Jogues,"  p.  154. 


FIRST  SERVICE  IN  NEW  YORK.  87 

low  him  even  to  trade  on  the  Delaware.  His  plans  of 
settlement  proposed  a  recognition  of  Christianity  and  beyond 
that  the  most  complete  toleration  for  all.  That  his  object  may 
have  been  to  secure  a  refuge  for  oppressed  Catholics  is  very 
probable,  but  nothing  that  can  be  deemed  a  Catholic  settle 
ment  was  founded  by  him,  nor  is  there  any  trace  of  any  visit 
to  New  Albion  by  any  Catholic  priest,  or  the  erection  of  a 
chapel.1 

The  grant  to  James,  Duke  of  York,  was  followed  by  the 
establishment  of  English  authority  and  ,the  opening  of  the 
country  to  English  colonization.  James  subsequently  ceded 
part  of  his  territory  under  the  name  of  New  Jersey  to  a  num 
ber  of  persons,  prominent  among  whom  was  James,  the  Cath 
olic  Earl  of  Perth.  There  was  no  attempt  to  form  any  largely 
Catholic  settlement  at  any  point,  though  Catholics  obtained 
positions  under  the  new  colonial  governments  and  some  came 
over  to  better  their  fortunes,  and  make  homes  for  themselves 
in  the  New  World. 

In  1674,  James  sent  out  as  second  in  authority  to  Governor 
Andros,  and  his  successor  in  case  of  death,  Lieutenant  An 
thony  Brockholls.  This  gentleman  was  of  a  Catholic  family 
in  Lancashire,  England,  and  would  have  been  excluded  from 
holding  office  in  England  by  the  Test  Act  recently  passed  in 
that  country.  "  But  as  that  statute  did  not  extend  to  the 
British  American  Plantations,  the  Duke  of  York  himself," 
says  a  New  York  historian,  "  a  victim  of  Protestant  intoler 
ance,  was  able  to  illustrate  his  own  idea  of  '  Freedom  to 
worship  God,'  by  appointing  a  member  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  to  be  his  second  colonial  officer  in  New  York." 


1  In  regard  to  New  Albion  and  Plowden,  see  Rev.  Dr.  R.  L.  Burtsell, 
"A  Missing  Page  of  Catholic  History,"  Catholic  World,  xxxii.,  p.  204  ; 
GregoryB.  Keen,  "Note  on  New  Albion"  in  Winsor's  "Narrative  and 
Critical  History  of  America,"  iii.,  p.  457. 


88  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Brockliolls  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony, 
as  commander-in-chief  (1677-8,  1680-3)  and  member  of  the 
council  till  the  power  of  William  III.  was  established.  He 
married  in  the  colony  and  many  of  his  descendants  exist  to 
this  day. 

Lieutenant  Jervis  Baxter,  another  Catholic,  was  a  promi 
nent,  active,  and  able  officer  of  the  colony,  in  administrative 
posts  and  in  the  council  chamber. 

There  is  some  ground  for  believing  that  there  were  several 
Catholics  from  the  Netherlands  at  Albany  in  1677,  for  whose 
spiritual  consolation  the  Franciscan  Father  Hennepin  was 
invited  to  settle  at  that  place.1  There  were  Catholics  also  in 
other  parts,  and  there  are  indications  that  priests  reached  New 
York,  either  secular  priests  from  England  or  Franciscans  from 
Maryland.2  Two  Labbadists  who  visited  New  York  and  the 
neighboring  provinces  in  1679  with  the  view  of  selecting  a 
spot  for  a  colony  of  their  sect,  state  that  the  Catholics  believed 
them  to  be  really  priests,  and  were  so  persistent  that  they 
could  not  get  rid  of  them  or  disabuse  them.  The  poor 
Catholics,  long  deprived  of  mass  and  the  sacraments,  and  evi 
dently  looking  for  promised  priests,  took  these  French  sec 
taries  to  be  really  ministers  of  their  faith,  and  wished  them  to 
say  mass,  hear  their  confessions,  and  baptize  their  children. 
Bankers  and  Sluyter  mention  expressly  a  family  of  French 


1  Hennepin,  "  Nouvelle  Decouverte,"  Utrecht,  1697,  p.  29  ;  Brodhead, 
"  History  of  New  York,"  ii.,  p.  307. 

2  Rev.  Peter  Smith,  a  Catholic  priest,  who  is  said  to  have  been  chaplain 
to  Dongan,  stated  in  an  affidavit  made  in  London  in  1675,  that  he  was  in 
New  York  in  1665.     Letter  of  Edward  Antill  to  James  Alexander,  April 
18,  1752.     A  baptism  apparently  by  him  is  noted  in  1685.     Brodhead 
supposes  one  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  to  have  been  known  as  John  Smith, 
but  this  is  mere  conjecture.     "Father  Smith,"  Dongan's  chaplain,  is  al 
luded  to  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.,  Hi.,  pp.  613,  747;   iv.,  p.  398;   the  name 
John  Smith  appears,  ii.,  p.  17. 


CATHOLICS  IN  NEW  JERSEY.  89 

Catholics  who  kept  a  tavern  at  Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey, 
and  who  treated  them  with  every  courtesy,  convinced  to  the 
last  that  their  guests  were  priests,  afraid  to  avow  their  real 
character.1 

There  was  one  Catholic  of  note  in  New  Jersey  at  this  time 
who  was  active  in  all  public  affairs.  This  was  William 
Douglas,  who  in  1680  was  elected  member  of  Assembly  from 
Bergen.  When  that  body  convened  in  Elizabethtown  in 
June,  they  promptly  expelled  Douglas,  "the  aforesaid  mem 
ber  upon  examination  owning  himself  to  be  a  Roman  Cath- 
olick,''  and  a  warrant  was  issued  to  the  town  of  Bergen  for  a 
new  choice.3 

Richard  Towneley  was  apparently  of  the  staunch  Catholic 
family  which  endured  such  memorable  sufferings  for  the 
faith,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  his  fidelity. 

In  1GS2,  the  Duke  of  York  appointed  as  Governor  of  New 
York,  Colonel  Thomas  Dongan,  the  younger  son  of  an  Irish 
Catholic  baronet  of  great  wealth  and  influence,  who  subse 
quently  became  Earl  of  Limerick.  Colonel  Dongaii  was  a 
Catholic,  a  man  of  enlarged  views  and  great  energy  ;  he  had 
seen  service  in  the  French  armies,  and  had  been  English  Gov 
ernor  of  Tangier. 

One  great  object  of  James  was  to  detach  the  Five  Nations 
from  the  French,  and  keep  that  rival  nation  north  of  the 
great  lakes.  The  influence  of  the  French  over  the  Indians 
had  been  acquired  and  retained  in  no  small  degree  by  the 
zealous  labors  of  the  missionaries,  who  at  this  time  were 
drawing  many  converts  from  the  Five  Nations  in  New  York 
to  La  Prairie  in  Canada,  where  a  Catholic  Indian  village  had 

1  Bankers  and  Sluyter,  "  Journal  of  a  Voyage  to  New  York,"  Brook 
lyn,  1867,  p.  147. 

"  "  Documents  Relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  Jersey,"  New 
ark,  1880,  p.  312. 


90  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

been  formed.  To  counteract  this  it  was  evidently  arranged 
at  this  time  to  establish  a  Jesuit  mission  in  New  York,  the 
Fathers  to  form  a  Catholic  village  of  Iroquois  Indians  under 
English  influence.  This  plan  was  subsequently  avowed  and 
Saratoga  mentioned  as  the  site.1 

One  of  the  English  Fathers  selected  for  the  New  York 
mission,  Father  Thomas  Harvey,  embarked  with  Gov 
ernor  Dongan  in  the  Constant  Warwick,  an  old  Parlia 
mentarian  frigate,  and  arriving  at  Nantasket  in  August,  1683, 
proceeded  overland  with  the  governor,  and  reached  New 
York  before  the  close  of  that  month.9 

There  is  very  good  ground  for  believing  that  Father  Forster 
(Gulick),  Superior  of  the  Maryland  Jesuits,  was  already  in  or 
near  New  York  to  receive  the  new  member  of  his  mission 
and  arrange  for  future  action.  A  baptism  at  "Woodbridge. 
New  Jersey,  in  June,  1683,  seems  evidently  to  have  been 
performed  by  him,  and  his  presence  near  New  York  would, 
under  the  circumstances,  be  perfectly  natural.3 

Father  Warner,  the  English  provincial,  writing  to  the 
general  of  the  society,  February  26,  1683,  says:  "Father 
Thomas  Hervey,  the  missioner,  passes  to  New  York  by  con 
sent  of  the  governor  of  the  colony.  In  that  colony  is  a 
respectable  city,  fit  for  the  foundation  of  a  college,  if  faculties 
are  given,  to  which  college  those  who  are  now  scattered 
throughout  Maryland  may  betake  themselves  and  make  ex 
cursions  from  thence  into  Maryland.  The  Duke  of  York, 

1  See  Dongan's  Report,  N.  Y.  Colonial  Doc.,  iii.,  p.  394. 

*  Brodhead,  "History  of  New  York,"  New  York,  1871,  pp.  374-5. 

3  Dollier  de  Casson,  historian  of  Montreal,  records,  Aug.  20,  1700,  the 
baptism  in  June,  1G83,  of  Robert  du  Poitiers,  born  on  Staten  Island,  "  at 
Hotbridge,  3  leagues  from  Menate,  by  a  Jesuit  come  from  Mary-Land 
and  named  Master  Juillet."  The  only  name  at  all  among  the  Fathers  at 
the  time  approaching  this  is  Gulick,  also  written  Guilick.  Foley,  vii., 
p.  275. 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  NEW  YORK.  91 

the  lord  of  that  colony,  greatly  encourages  the  undertaking  of 
a  new  mission.  He  did  not  consent  to  Father  Thomas  Her- 
vey's  sailing  until  he  had  advised  with  the  provincial,  the 
consultors  and  other  grave  fathers."  ' 

Father  Henry  Harrison  and  Father  Charles  Gage,  with 
two  lay  brothers,  soon  joined  Father  Harvey  in  New  York. 
Though  of  English  family,  Father  Henry  Harrison  was 
born  in  the  Netherlands,  and  was  probably  selected  on  that 
account,  as  being  more  likely  to  effect  good  among  the 
Dutch.2 

The  Catholics  had  a  small  chapel  in  Fort  James,  which  stood 
south  of  the  Bowling  Green,  and  this  spot  may  be  deemed 
the  first  where  mass  was  regularly  said  in  New  York.  Sixty 
pounds  a  year  was  paid,  we  are  told,  to  "  two  Eomish  priests 
that  attended  on  Governor  Dongan."  The  establishment  of 
a  Latin  school  was  one  of  the  early  good  works  of  the  Jesuit 
Fathers.  It  was  held  apparently  on  the  king's  farm,  subse 
quently  leased  by  Governor  Fletcher  to  Trinity  Church,3  and 
was  attended  by  the  sons  of  Judges  Palmer  and  Graham, 
Captain  Tudor,  and  others,4  the  bell  of  the  Dutch  church  in 
the  fort  being  rung  to  summon  the  pupils.6 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  administration  of  the  Catholic 
governor,  Dongan,  was  the  convening  of  the  first  legislative 
assembly  in  New  York,  which  met  on  the  17th  of  October, 
1683.  In  the  Bill  of  Eights,  passed  on  the  30th,  the  broad 
principle  of  religious  freedom  is  recognized,  as  it  was  wher 
ever  Catholics  had  any  influence.  It  declared  that  "  no  per 
son  or  persons  which  profess  faith  in  God  by  Jesus  Christ 

1  Foley,  "Records  of  the  English  Province,"  vii.,  p.  343. 

2  Harrison  seems  to  come  in  1685  and  Gage  in  1686.    Ib.,  pp.  335,  342. 

3  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.  iv.,  p.  490. 

4  Leisler's  correspondence  in  "Doc.  History  of  N.  Y.,"  ii.,  pp.  14, 147. 
•  Brodhead,  ii.,  p.  487. 


92  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

shall  at  any  time  be  anyways  molested,  punished,  disquieted, 
or  called  in  question  for  any  difference  of  opinion  or  matter 
of  religious  concernment,  who  do  not  actually  disturb  the 
civil  peace  of  the  province ;  but  that  all  and  every  such  per 
son  or  persons  may,  from  time  to  time  and  at  all  times, 
freely  have  and  fully  enjoy  his  or  their  judgments  or  con 
sciences  in  matters  of  religion  throughout  all  the  province ; 
they  behaving  themselves  peaceably  and  quietly,  and  not 
using  this  liberty  to  licentiousness  nor  to  the  civil  injury  or 
outward  disturbance  of  others."  The  Christian  churches  in 
the  province,  and  the  Catholic  was  actually  one,  were  to  be 
"  held  and  reputed  as  privileged  churches,  and  enjoy  all  their 
former  freedoms  of  their  religion  in  divine  worship  and 
church  discipline." 

The  ]S"ew  York  Legislature  thus  carried  out  the  liberal  spirit 
of  James'  instructions  to  Andros  in  1674,  and  subsequently  to 
Dongan,  who  were  to  "  permit  all  persons,  of  what  religion 
soever,  quietly  to  inhabit  within  their  government,  without 
giving  them  any  disturbance  or  disquiet  whatsoever  for  or  by 
reason  of  their  differing  opinions  in  matters  of  religion,  pro 
vided  they  give  noe  disturbance  to  the  public  peace,  nor  doe 
molest  or  disquiet  others  in  the  free  exercise  of  their  relig 


ion. 


It  was  doubtless  the  freedom  thus  guaranteed  that  led  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  to  build  hopes  of  founding  a  permanent  mis 
sion  in  New  York,  with  an  increasing  flock  of  Catholics. 
The  arrival  of  Fathers  Harrison  and  Gage  enabled  them  to 
visit  scattered  Catholics  and  prepare  for  the  promising  future. 

While  Catholicity  was  thus  endeavoring  to  gain  a  foothold 
on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  a  new  field  was  opened  to  it. 
Charles  II.,  to  cancel  a  debt  of  the  Crown  to  Admiral  Penn,' 

1  Brodhead,  " History  of  New  York."  ii.,  p.  454  :  3  Tb.,  p.  487. 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA.      93 

granted  to  the  Admiral's  son,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1681,  a 
territory  in  America,  extending  five  degrees  westward  from 
the  Delaware  Kiver,  with  a  breadth  of  three  degrees.  This 
became  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania.  Penn,  from  a  fop 
pish  young  courtier  had  become  a  zealous  member  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  and  though  he  had  written  a  most  impas 
sioned  book  against  the  Catholic  religion,  enjoyed  the  friend 
ship  of  the  Duke  of  York,  and  was  fully  in  accord  with  the 
principles  of  religious  liberty  which  James  had  so  much  at 
heart.  These  views  Penn  carried  out  in  the  province  granted 
to  him.  Dutch  Calvinists  and  Swedish  Lutherans  were  al 
ready  there,  and  Catholics  had  made  an  attempt  at  coloniza 
tion.  Now  it  was  to  receive  a  large  body  of  emigrants, 
chiefly  followers,  like  Penn,  of  George  Fox.  In  the  thirty- 
fifth  clause  of  the  laws  agreed  upon  in  England  by  William 
Penn,  it  was  provided  :  "  That  all  persons  living  in  the 
province  who  confess  and  acknowledge  the  one  Almighty 
and  Eternal  God  to  be  the  Creator,  Upholder  and  Kuler  of 
the  World,  and  that  hold  themselves  obliged  in  conscience  to 
live  peaceably  and  justly  in  civil  society,  shall  in  no  way  be 
molested  or  prejudiced  for  their  religious  persuasion  or  prac 
tise  in  matters  of  faith  and  worship,  nor  shall  they  be  com 
pelled  at  any  time  to  frequent  or  maintain  any  religious 
worship,  place  or  ministry  whatever."  ' 

Penn  exerted  himself  to  obtain  emigrants  from  Germany, 
and  among  the  settlers  who  came  out  there  may  have  been 
Catholics  who  sought  homes  in  this  and  other  colonies  now 
thrown  open  to  them.  As  there  was  constant  intercourse 
between  New  York  and  Maryland,  official  and  personal,  the 
Maryland  missionaries  might  easily  visit  the  rising  city  of 
Philadelphia.  The  northern  visit  of  Father  Gulick  was  not, 

1  "  The  Frame  of  Government,"  1682. 


94  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

apparently,  the  only  one ;  and  there  are  indications  that 
Pennsylvania  was  visited  at  an  early  day  by  some  of  the 
Franciscan  Fathers. 

After  sending  out  Markham  as  his  deputy,  who  bore  let 
ters  from  King  Charles  and  from  Penn  to  Lord  Baltimore, 
the  proprietor  of  Pennsylvania  himself  landed  at  Newcastle 
in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1682.  That  some  Jesuit 
Father  or  other  priest  called  upon  him  soon  after  is  not  un 
likely,  as  such  a  visit  would  explain  the  report  of  his  death, 
which  was  soon  carried  to  England,  with  the  assertion  that 
he  had  died  a  Jesuit.1 

In  Virginia  and  the  New  England  colonies  there  were  at 
this  time  few,  if  any,  resident  Catholics,  occasional  transient 
cases  comprising  nearly  all,8  Dr.  Le  Baron,  a  shipwrecked 
physician,  being,  perhaps,  one  of  the  few  who  professed  the 
true  faith  amid  that  spiritual  darkness. 

Such  was  the  position  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  Eng 
lish  colonies  when  the  weak  Charles  II.  died,  reconciled  to 


1  "I  find  some  persons  have  had  so  little  wisdom  and  so  much  malice 

as  to  report  my  death,  and  to  mend  the  matter,  dead  a  Jesuit  too 

I  am  still  alive  and  no  Jesuit." — Letter,  Philadelphia,  August  1683,  p.  3- 
Ford,  "  A  Vindication  of  William  Penn,  Proprietary  of  Pennsilvania," 
1683,  Penn.  Mag.  of  Hist.,  vi.,  pp.  176-7,  denies  his  being  a  Papist  and 
keeping  a  Jesuit  to  write  his  books.     A  visit  of  a  reputed  priest  to  Penn 
when  ill  would  easily  give  rise  to  such  stories.     Penn  also  justified  him 
self  against  the  charge  of  ill-treating  a  monk,  Proud,  "  History  of  Penn 
sylvania,"  i.,  p.  317.    Watson  cited  the  allusion  of  Penn  to  an  old  priest, 
as  showing  the  presence  of  a  Catholic  priest  in  the  colony  ;  but  Westcott, 
in  his  "History  of  Philadelphia,"  showed  that  the  reference  was  to  the 
Swedish  Lutheran  minister.    Catholic  writers  in  Pennsylvania  have  failed 
to  throw  any  new  light  on  this  early  period.     They  copy  Westcott  now 
as  they  formerly  copied  Watson.     I  called  the  attention  of  Rev.  A.  A. 
Lambing's  publishers  to  Mr.  Westcott's  work,  and  enabled  him  to  avoid 
repeating  Watson. 

2  See  "Report  of  a  French  Protestant  Refugee  in  Boston,"  1687; 
Brooklyn,  1868,  pp.  16,  30. 


VICARS-APOSTOLIC  IN  ENGLAND.  95 

the  Church,  and  his  brother  James,  an  avowed  Catholic,  as 
cended  the  throne  in  1685. 

One  of  the  first  beneficial  results  was  the  appointment  of  a 
Vicar-Apostolic  for  England.  Dr.  John  Leyburn,  a  divine 
of  great  zeal  and  learning,  President  of  Douay  College  and 
Vicar-General  of  Bishop  Smith,  was  appointed  by  Pope  In 
nocent  XI.  Bishop  of  Adrumetuni  and  Vicar- Apostolic  of  all 
England.  He  was  consecrated  in  Rome  on  September  9, 1685, 
and  on  reaching  England  was  provided  with  apartments  in 
Saint  James'  Palace.  Three  years  subsequently  his  jurisdic 
tion  was  restricted  to  the  London  district,  three  other  bishops 
being  appointed  as  Vicars- Apostolic  of  the  Western,  Mid 
land,  and  Northern  districts.1  From  the  date  of  his  appoint 
ment  to  the  close  of  the  American  Revolution,  the  Catholics 
in  the  British  colonies  in  America  and  their  clergy  were 
subject  to  Doctor  Leyburn  and  his  successors,  Bishops  Gif- 
fard,  Petre,  and  the  illustrious  Doctor  Challoner,  with  his  co 
adjutor,  Talbot.  It  was  nearly  sixty  years  since  a  Catholic 
bishop  had  appeared  in  England,  and  Bishop  Leyburn  was 
the  first  who  for  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  had  traveled  un 
molested  through  the  island  in  the  discharge  of  his  episcopal 
functions.  The  Holy  See  in  the  time  of  Innocent  XII. 
made  the  secular  clergy,  and  all  regulars,  even  Jesuits  and 
Benedictines,  subject  to  the  Vicar-Apostolic  in  whose  dis 
trict  they  were",  for  approbation  with  regard  to  hearing  con 
fessions,  for  the  cure  of  souls,  and  for  all  parochial  offices. 

During  the  closing  years  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  Father 
Michael  Foster,  the  Jesuit  Superior  in  Maryland,  continued 
the  old  mission  work.  Yet  he  had  only  two,  or  at  most  three, 
Fathers  with  him,  one  being  Father  Francis  Pennington,  who 


1  Brady,  "Annals  of  the  Catholic  Hierarchy  in  England  and  Scotland," 
Rome,  1877,  p.  140,  etc. 


96  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

became  superior  on  the  death  of  Father  Forster,  and  con 
tinued  so  for  a  considerable  period,  being  for  nearly  five 

years  the  only  priest  of  his  or- 
der  in  Maryland.  ' 

Father  Henry  Carew  was  ap- 

FAC-SI5IILE  OF  SIGNATURE   OF   FA-  .     ,      n     ^         .  , 

Pomted  President  of  the  Fran- 


THEK  FRANCIS 

ciscan    Mission    in    1677,    and 

served  in  Maryland  for  six  years,  dying  at  sea  on  the  voyage 
back  to  England. 

From  1680  to  1684  Father  Massey  was  again  superior,  and 
then  disappears  from  Maryland,  filling  the  position  of  Guard 
ian  at  Gronow,  and  Douay,  then  of  Vicar,  Minister,  and 
Commissary-General  of  the  Province. 

As  Father  Hobart  died  subsequently  in  Maryland,  he  ap 
parently  remained  in  the  colony  during  this  period,  but  some 
of  the  others  may  have  returned.  There  were  not  more  than 
six  Franciscans  at  any  time  on  the  mission,  and  apparently 
generally  only  three  or  four  priests  of  that  order.1 

It  is  not  easy  to  comprehend  why  the  Church  did  not  at 
this  time  show  more  vitality  in  the  old  Catholic  province  ; 
but  the  clergy  were  few  in  number,  and  the  Society  of  Jesus 
thought  of  making  New  York  the  centre. 

That  religion  was  not  more  prosperous  under  a  Catholic 
king  and  with  a  Catholic  lord  proprietor,  residing  for  a  time 
in  the  province  of  Maryland,  seems  strange  indeed. 

Among  the  interesting  points  connected  with  the  history 
of  Catholicity  in  this  country  during  the  reign  of  James,  was 


1  Father  Francis  Pennington  expired  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Hill,  New- 
town,  Md.,  February  22, 1699.  F.  Treacy's  List,  Woodstock  Letters,  xv., 
p.  92. 

*  "Ex-Registro  FF.M.,  Prov.  Angliae,"  pp.  85,  88,  97,  108,  115,  134; 
Oliver,  "Collections,"  p.  541.  Father  Hobart's  death  was  reported  at 
the  Chapter  held  July  10,  1698. 


CLOSE  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  MISSION.  97 

the  attempt  of  Captain  George  Brent  to  establish  a  Catholic 
settlement  in  Virginia.  With  Richard  Foote,  Robert  Bar- 
stow,  and  Nicholas  Hayward,  of  London,  he  purchased  of 
Thomas  Lord  Culpeper  thirty  thousand  acres  of  land  between 
the  Potomac  and  Rappahannock,  and  prepared  to  bring  over 
settlers.  They  applied  to  the  king  for  a  guarantee  of  relig 
ious  freedom,  and  James,  by  patent,  dated  February  10, 1687, 
granted  "  unto  the  petitioners,  and  all  and  every  the  inhabitants 
which  now  are  or  hereafter  shall  be  settled  in  the  said  towne 
and  the  tract  of  land  belonging  to  them,  the  free  exercise  of 
their  religion,  without  being  prosecuted  or  molested  upon 
any  penall  laws  or  other  account  of  the  same." 

The  reign  of  James  II.  was  too  brief  to  produce  any  other 
permanent  result  for  the  Church  in  whose  cause  he  had 
labored  and  suffered.  The  scheme  of  a  grand  union  of  all 
the  American  colonies  into  one  government,  with  the  broad 
charter  of  equal  religious  rights  for  all,  which  emanated  from 
the  able  mind  of  James,  was  not  to  be  carried  out  for  a  cen 
tury,  when  the  united  colonies  shook  off  the  yoke  of  the  Prot 
estant  sovereigns  of  England. 

Plots  were  formed  to  overthrow  James  and  call  over  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  All  was  ready  in  the  colonies  to  forward 
the  movement.  JSro  sooner  did  tidings  arrive  of  the  landing 

o  O 

of  William  tvhan  a  rising  took  place  in  New  England.  In 
New  York,  the  fanatical  Leisler,  full  of  declamation  against 
Popery,  seized  the  government.  In  Maryland,  Coode,  a  min 
ister,  associated  men  as  infamous  as  himself  for  the  defence 
of  the  Protestant  religion,  and  overthrew  the  proprietary 
government. 

In   New   York,  Colonel   Thomas   Dongan  had   recently 

ceased  to  be  governor,  but  a  Catholic  priest  still  resided  in  the 

fort,  under  Nicholson,  and  probably  fled  with  that  officer. 

Dongan  was    hunted   like    a  wolf.      The   Jesuits   Harvey 

7 


98  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  Harrison  narrowly  escaped  Leisler's  hands.  The  latter 
managed  to  secure  a  passage  to  Europe,  was  captured  and 
robbed  by  Dutch  pirates,  but  finally  reached  Ireland  by  way 
of  France.  Father  Harvey,  though  forced  to  abandon  his 
New  York  mission  for  a  season,  did  not  renounce  all  hope  of 
continuing  his  labors  there.  He  made  his  way  on  foot  to 
Maryland,  but  succeeded  in  reaching  New  York  again  the 
next  year  in  company  with  another  Father,  who  did  not, 
however,  remain  long  to  share  his  labors  and  perils.  Father 
Harvey  continued  on  the  New  York  mission  for  some  years, 
till  health  and  strength  gave  way,  when  he  sought  Maryland, 
to  die  among  his  brethren.1 

The  fall  of  James,  planned  long  before  in  a  scheme  for  the 
establishment  of  the  Church  of  England  on  a  firmer  basis 
than  ever,  was  effected  by  inflaming  the  fanaticism  of  the  old 
dissenting  element  which  had  overthrown  Charles  I.,  as  it  was 
now  exerted  to  expel  James.  It  was  by  no  fortuitous  acci 
dent  that  men  like  Leisler  in  New  York,  and  Coode  in 
Maryland,  were  allowed  to  rave  like  maniacs  against  Popery 
and  seize  the  government  of  those  provinces.  Seeing  nothing 
but  visions  of  Papists  around  him,  Leisler  stimulated  the  In 
dians  against  the  French,  and  congratulated  them  openly  on 
the  fearful  scenes  of  massacre  they  perpetrated  at  Lachine. 
Coode  urged  William  III.  to  redeem  the  people  of  Maryland 
"  from  the  arbitrary  will  and  pleasure  of  a  tyrannical  Popish 
government,  under  which  they  had  so  long  groaned."  Will 
iam  made  both  royal  provinces,  profiting  by  disorders  that 
were  doubtless  planned  in  England.  Lord  Baltimore  was 
deprived  of  all  his  rights  as  proprietary  without  any  form  of 
law,  or  even  a  formal  accusation  that  he  had  forfeited  his 
charter. 


1  Annual  Letters,  Foley,  Hi.,  pp.  394-5  ;  vii.,  p.  clix,  p.  355,  p.  343. 


CLOSE  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  MISSION. 


99 


In  both  colonies  steps  were  taken  to  establish  the  Church 
of  England  formally.  In  New  York  the  bill  of  rights  was 
abolished,  all  toleration  or  religious  freedom  was  scouted,  and 
Catholics  were  excluded  from  office  and  franchise  and  the 
career  of  penal  laws  began, 

Penu,  shrewd  and  cautious,  avoided  any  outward  show  of 
his  kindly  feelings  in  the  affairs  of  his  province,  although  he 
boldly,  in  a  tract  published  in  England,  urged  the  repeal  of 
all  penal  laws  against  Catholics. 

The  year  1690  was  an  era  when  all  hopes  of  the  true  faith 
on  this  coast  seemed  blasted,  and  the  prospects  of  the  Church 
in  the  English  colonies  gloomy  beyond  description. 


FORT    AT    NEW    YORK    WHERE    A    CATHOLIC    CHAPEL,    EXISTED    UNDER 
JAMES   II.      FROM   THE   VIEW   BY   ALLAHD,    1673. 


BOOK    II. 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  THE  SPANISH 
COLONIES. 


CHAPTEK   I. 

THE   CHtJKCH    IN    FLORIDA,    1513-1690. 

ALTHOUGH  Columbus  himself  in  his  first  landfall  had  nearly 
reached  the  coast  of  the  northern  continent,  he  turned  south 
ward,  and  it  was  not  till  some  years  after  his  death  that  any 
European  landed  on  our  shores.  Cabot,  accompanied  by  a 
priest  from  Bristol,  probably  reached  Newfoundland  and 
Labrador,  but  it  was  not  till  1513  that  John  Ponce  de  Leon, 
one  of  the  early  companions  of  Columbus,  led  by  the  Indian 
reports  of  a  greater  island  of  Biiuini,  sought  of  the  Spanish 
monarch  a  patent  authorizing  him  to  discover  and  settle  it. 
The  document  bore  date  February  23,  1512,  but  though 
countersigned  by  the  Bishop  of  Palencia,  no  clause  in  the 
state  paper  required  the  establishment  of  churches  for  the 
settlers,  or  missions  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  Re 
turning  to  Porto  Eico,  where  he  had  been  employed  in  the 
royal  service,  Ponce  de  Leon  obtained  a  vessel  to  make  the 
discoveries  authorized  by  his  patent  within  the  year  prescribed 
by  its  tenor.  The  authorities  in  Porto  Rico,  however,  seized 
his  vessel  under  the  pretext  that  it  was  needed  in  the  royal 
service,  and  it  was  not  till  March,  1513,  that  he  bore  away 
from  the  port  of  San  German  with  three  caravels,  the  expe 
rienced  Anton  de  Alaminos,  of  Palos,  being  his  pilot.  After 
(100) 


DISCOVERY  OF  FLORIDA.  101 

threading  the  Bahamas  he  steered  northwest,  and  on  Easter 
Sunday,  called  in  Spanish  Pascua  Florida,  came  in  sight  of 
the  continent.  Then  running  north  till  the  2d  of  April 
he  landed,  and  prompted  alike  by  its  beauty,  and  by  the  re 
membrance  of  the  day  of  its  discovery,  bestowed  on  the  coun 
try  the  name  Florida,  which  it  retains  to  this  day.  Hav 
ing  taken  possession  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain,  he 
followed  the  coast  southerly  till  he  reached  the  Martyrs  and 
Tortugas,  and,  doubling  the  cape,  entered  a  fine  bay  that 
long  bore  his  name.  Satisfied  with  his  discovery  he  returned 
to  Porto  Rico,  leaving  to  one  of  his  vessels  the  search  for 
Bimini. 

For  the  land  which  he  had  thus  discovered  for  Spain,  he 
solicited  a  new  patent,  which  was  issued  on  the  27th  of  Sep 
tember,  1514.  The  former  asiento  for  an  island,  whose 
existence  was  not  ascertained,  had  authorized  the  usual  en 
slavement  of  Indians.  This  unjust  and  cruel  system  had 
been  introduced  by  Christopher  Columbus,  and  was  followed 
by  all.  In  a  letter  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  the  discoverer 
of  the  new  world  proposed  sending  slaves  and  Brazilwood  to 
Spain.  He  actually  dispatched  five  shiploads  of  unfortunate 
Indians  to  be  sold  there,  but  Isabella,  shocked  and  indig 
nant,  caused  the  natives  of  America  to  be  set  free,'  Las 
Casas  declares  that  between  1494  and  1496  one  third  of  the 
population  of  Hispaniola  was  swept  off  by  this  system. 
The  Benedictine,  Buil,  delegate  of  the  Holy  See,  the  Fran 
ciscan.  Francis  Ruiz,  afterward  Bishop  of  Avila,  and  his 
companions,  in  vain  endeavored  to  arrest  the  iniquity. 
But  in  the  month  of  September,  1510,  three  Dominican 

1  Letter  of  Columbus  to  the  sovereigns  in  Duro,  "  Colony  la  Historia 
Postuma,"  pp.  49-51.  Columbus  even  ordered  the  ears  and  noses  of  In 
dian  slaves  to  be  cut  off  for  slight  faults.  Navarrete,  ii.,  p.  110;  Las 
Casas,  "  Historia  de  Indias,"  Lib.  1,  cap  xciii.,  cvi. 


102  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Fathers,  from  the  convent  of  San  Estevan,  in  Salamanca, 
landed  in  Hispaniola.  With  the  superior,  Father  Peter  de 
Cordoba,  came  Father  Anthony  de  Montesinos,  a  great  lover 
of  strict  observance,  a  great  religious  and  great  preacher. 
When  they  had  taken  time  to  study  the  condition  of  affairs, 
Father  Montesinos,  in  1511,  ascended  the  pulpit  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Santo  Domingo,  and  in  a  sermon  full  of  elo 
quence,  denounced  the  enslavement  and  cruel  treatment  of 
the  Indians  as  sinful  and  wicked,  sure  to  draw  down  God's 
anger  on  them  all.  The  bold  denunciation  of  the  great 
Dominican  fell  like  a  thunder-clap  on  the  Admiral,  Diego 
Columbus,  on  the  officials  and  the  Spaniards  at  large.  They 
called  upon  his  superior  to  censure  him,  but  Father  Peter  de 
Cordoba  replied  that  Father  Anthony's  sermon  was  sound, 
and  was  sustained  by  his  brethren.  Then  the  Dominicans 
were  denounced  to  the  king  and  his  council  for  condemning 
what  the  Spanish  monarchs  had  approved.  Censured  on  the 
facts  as  presented,  Father  Montesinos  and  his  superior  were 
cited  to  Spain  in  1512,  but  there  they  pleaded  the  cause  of 
the  Indian  so  eloquently  and  so  ably  that  they  returned  the 
next  year,  having  won  a  great  triumph  in  inducing  the  king 
to  take  some  steps  to  save  the  natives.1 

The  influence  of  the  action  of  Father  Montesinos,  the  first 
to  denounce  human  slavery  in  America,  can  be  seen  in  the 
second  patent  to  John  Ponce  de  Leon.  This  requires  that 
the  natives  must  be  summoned  to  submit  to  the  Catholic 
faith  and  the  authority  of  the  King  of  Spain,  and  they  were 
not  to  be  attacked  or  captured  if  they  submitted.8  Years 

1  Juan  Melendez,  "  Tesoros  Verdaderos  de  las  Yndias,"  Rome,  1681,  pp. 
10-14,  citing  Las  Casas,  "  Historia  Apologetica,"  Lib.  1,  cap.  ccxlv.  Her- 
rera,  Dec.  1,  Lib.  viii.,  cxi.,  xii.  See  Helps,  "  Spanish  Conquest  in  Amer 
ica,"  Bk.  iv.,  ch.  ii.,  which  is  devoted  entirely  to  this  affair;  also  book 
viii.,  ch.  i.,  Cardinal  Hefele,  "Life  of  Cardinal  Ximenes,"  pp.  503-4. 

-  "  Coleccion  de  Documentos  Ineditos,"  xxii ,  pp.  33-8. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  FLORIDA.  103 

rolled  by,  however,  before  Ponce  de  Leon,  employed  by  the 
king  in  the  wars  with  the  Caribs,  could  sail  to  settle  in  Florida. 
At  last,  in  1521,  he  completed  his  preparations,  and  his  pro 
ject  shows  the  influence  of  the  religious  thought  that  was  to 
control  the  settlement  of  Florida.  Writing  on  the  10th  of 
February  to  Charles  V.,  Ponce  says :  "I  return  to  that 
island,  if  it  please  God's  will  to  settle  it,  being  enabled  to 
carry  a  number  of  people  with  whom  I  shall  be  able  to  do 
so,  that  the  name  of  Christ  may  be  praised  there,  and  your 
Majesty  served  with  the  fruit  that  land  produces."  And  a 
letter  to  the  Cardinal  of  Tortosa,  afterwards  Pope  Adrian 
VI.,  breathes  the  same  spirit.  Ponce  de  Leon  sailed  with 
two  vessels  carrying  settlers  with  live  stock  and  all  requisites 
for  a  permanent  establishment,  and  bore  with  him  priests  to 
minister  to  his  people,  and  friars,  in  all  probability,  of  the 
order  of  St.  Dominic,  to  convert  the  Indians.  He  reached 
land,  and  began  to  erect  dwellings  for  his  people,  though, 
unfortunately,  we  cannot  fix  the  time  or  place,  but  facts  lead 
to  the  inference  that  it  was  on  the  bay  which  he  discovered 
on  his  first  voyage.  If  this  conjecture  can  be  received,  the 
altar  reared  by  the  priests  and  friars  of  this  expedition 
must  have  been  on  the  western  shore  of  Florida,  near  Char 
lotte  Harbor.  The  Spanish  settlers  while  rearing  house  and 
chapel  were,  however,  constantly  attacked  by  the  Indians, 
and  at  last  Ponce  de  Leon,  while  bravely  leading  a  charge 
to  repulse  them,  received  a  severe  and  dangerous  wound,  the 
stone  head  of  the  arrow  defying  all  the  skill  of  a  surgeon 
to  extract  it.  Then  the  projected  settlement  was  abandoned  ; 
priests  and  people  re-embarked  ;  the  temporary  homes  and 
chapel  were  abandoned.  One  vessel,  with  the  stricken  com 
mander,  reached  the  neighboring  island  of  Cuba ;  the  other 
was  driven  to  the  coast  of  Mexico,  where  Cortes,  in  his  need, 


104  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

appropriated  the  stores.1  The  first  offering  of  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  in  this  country,  the  initial  point  in  the  history  of 
the  Church,  is  thus  unfortunately  very  vague,  for  we  know 
not  yet  the  time  or  place  and  have  no  clue  to  the  name  of 
any  of  the  secular  or  regular  priests. 

Before  this  disastrous  effort  at  colonization  by  John  Ponce, 
another  point  on  the  coast  north  of  the  limits  of  his  explora 
tion  had  been  reached  by  two  vessels  from  Santo  Domingo. 
Lucas  Vasquez  de  Ayllon,  one  of  the  judges  of  that  island, 
though  in  the  enjoyment  of  an  honorable  office,  great  wealth, 
and  a  happy  home,  aspired  to  the  glory  of  discovering  and 
colonizing  some  land  hitherto  unknown.  Having  solicited 
the  necessary  permission,  he  despatched  a  caravel  com 
manded  by  Francisco  Gordillo,  in  1520,  to  explore  north 
of  the  limits  of  Ponce  de  Leon.  While  this  vessel  was  run 
ning  amid  the  Bahamas  it  came  in  sight  of  another  caravel, 
which  proved  to  have  been  sent  out  by  Matienzo,  also  a 
judge  in  Santo  Domingo.  Its  object  was  not  exploration, 
but  to  carry  back  a  cargo  of  Indian  slaves.  The  captains  of 
the  two  vessels  agreed  to  sail  in  company,  and  holding  on 
their  course,  in  eight  or  nine  days  reached  the  coast  near  the 
mouth  of  a  great  river,  on  the  25th  of  June,  1521,  and, 
adopting  a  custom  constantly  followed  by  the  Catholic  navi 
gators  of  those  days,  named  river  and  land  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  the  day  being  the  feast  of  the  precursor  of  our  Lord. 

Ayllon  had  instructed  the  captain  of  his  caravel  to  culti 
vate  a  friendly  intercourse  with  the  natives,  and  to  avoid  all 
hostilities ;  but  Gordillo,  influenced  by  Quexos,  commander 
of  Matienzo's  vessel,  joined  him  in  seizing  a  number  of  In 
dians,  and  sailed  off  with  them.  Ayllon,  on  the  arrival  of 

1  Oviedo,  "Historia  General  y  Natural  de  las  Indias,"  iii.,  p.  622.  Her- 
rera,  "Decade,"  iii.;  Lib.  ii.,  f.  43.  Valadares,  "Historia  de  Puerto 
Rico,"  Madrid,  p.  97.  Torquemada,  "Monarquia  Indiana,"  i.,  p.  561. 


SAN  MIGUEL  DE  GU AND  APE.  105 

the  vessels,  condemned  Gordillo ;  he  brought  the  matter 
before  the  Admiral  Diego  Columbus ;  the  Indians  were  de 
clared  free ;  but,  though  Ayllon  released  those  brought  on 
his  vessel,  Matienzo  evaded  the  decision  of  the  council  and 
subsequent  orders  of  the  king.  It  is  a  strange  fact  that  the 
history  of  this  country,  as  written  hitherto,  represents  the 
upright  Ayllon,  whose  whole  Indian  policy  was  Christian 
and  humane,  as  a  man  guilty  of  the  greatest  cruelty  to  the 
natives,  while  Matienzo,  the  real  culprit,  is  ignored. 

Taking  one  of  these  Indians  from  our  shores,  whom  he 
had  placed  under  instruction,  and  who  received  in  baptism 
the  name  of  Francisco,  Ayllon  sailed  to  Spain  to  present  to 
the  king  a  report  of  the  discovered  territory,  and  obtain  a 
cedula  or  patent  for  its  occupation  and  settlement.  Fran 
cisco  gave  wonderful  accounts  of  the  land,  and  Ayllon, 
on  the  12th  of  June,  1523,  received  a  patent,  requiring  him 
to  explore  the  coast  for  eight  hundred  leagues,  and  form  a 
settlement  within  three  years. 

The  patent  shows  the  Christian  obligation  imposed  on  the 
adelantado.  He  was  "to  attract  the  natives  to  receive 
preachers  who  would  inform  and  instruct  them  in  the  affairs 
of  our  holy  Catholic  faith,  that  they  might  become  Chris 
tians."  The  document  also  says :  "  And  whereas  our  prin 
cipal  intent  in  the  discovery  of  new  lands  is  that  the  inhabit 
ants  and  natives  thereof,  who  are  without  the  light  or 
knowledge  of  faith,  may  be  brought  to  understand  the  truths 
of  our  holy  Catholic  faith,  that  they  may  come  to  a  knowl 
edge  thereof  and  become  Christians  and  be  saved,  and  this 
is  the  chief  motive  that  you  are  to  bear  and  hold  in  this 
affair,  and  to  this  end  it  is  proper  that  religious  persons 
should  accompany  you,  by  these  presents  I  empower  you  to 
carry  to  the  said  land  the  religious  whom  you  may  judge 
necessary,  and  the  vestments  and  other  things  needful  for 


106  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

the  observance  of  divine  worship ;  and  I  command  that 
whatever  you  shall  thus  expend  in  transporting  the  said 
religious,  as  well  as  in  maintaining  them  and  giving  them 
what  is  needful,  and  in  their  support,  and  for  the  vestments 
and  other  articles  required  for  the  divine  worship,  shall  be 
paid  entirely  from  the  rents  and  profits  which  in  any  manner 
shall  belong  to  us  in  the  said  land." 

Thus,  in  1523,  did  the  King  of  Spain  assume  the  charge 
of  maintaining  divine  worship  on  our  coast. 

Various  circumstances,  and  especially  a  vexatious  lawsuit 
instituted  by  Matienzo,  prevented  Ay  lion  from  attempting 
the  colonization  of  the  land  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist,  but 
in  1525  he  sent  Pedro  de  Quexos  with  two  caravels  to 
explore.  That  navigator  ran  along  the  coast  for  seven  hun 
dred  miles,  setting  up  stone  crosses  with  the  name  of  Charles 
V.  and  the  date  of  taking  possession. 

Early  in  June  of  the  following  year  Ayllon  completed 
the  preparations  for  colonizing  his  grant,  and  sailed  from 
Puerto  de  la  Plata  with  three  large  vessels,  carrying  six 
hundred  persons  of  both  sexes,  with  abundant  supplies  and 
horses.  The  Dominican  Fathers  Anthony  de  Montesinos 
and  Anthony  de  Cervantes,  with  Brother  Peter  de  Estrada, 
accompanied  the  colonists.  The  vessels  reached  the  coast 
north  of  the  river  Saint  John,  probably  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Wateree,  but  one  vessel  was  soon  lost.  Ayllon  at  once 
set  to  work  to  replace  it,  and  finding  the  coast  unsuited  for 
settlement,  sailed  northward  till  he  reached  the  Chesapeake. 
Entering  the  capes  he  ascended  a  river,  and  began  the  estab 
lishment  of  his  colony  at  Guandape,  giving  it  the  name  of 
St.  Michael,  the  spot  being,  by  the  testimony  of  Ecija,  the 

1  "  Real  Cedula  que  contiene  el  asiento  capitulado  con  Lucas  Vasquez 
de  Ayllon"  in  Navarrete,  "  Coleccion  de  Viages  y  Descubrimientos," 
Madrid,  1829,  ii.,  pp.  153,  156. 


SAN  MIGUEL  DE  GU AND  APE.  107 

pilot-in-chief  of  Florida,  that  where  the  English  subse 
quently  founded  Jamestown.  Houses  were  erected,  and  the 
holy  sacrifice  was  offered  in  a  temporary  chapel  by  the  zeal 
ous  priests.  Sickness  soon  showed  itself,  and  Ayllon,  sinking 
under  a  pestilential  fever,  died  in  the  arms  of  the  Dominican 
priests  on  St.  Luke's  day,  October  18,  1526.  Winter  set  in 
early,  and  the  cold  was  intense.  Francis  Gomez,  who  suc 
ceeded  to  the  command,  could  not  control  the  people.  His 
authority  was  usurped  by  mutineers,  who  provoked  the  negro 
slaves  to  revolt  and  the  Indians  to  hostility.  It  was  at  last 
resolved  to  abandon  the  country,  and  in  the  spring  Gomez, 
taking  the  body  of  Ayllon,  set  sail  for  Santo  Domingo,  but 
the  vessel  containing  the  remains  foundered,  and  only  one 
hundred  and  fifty  of  the  whole  party  reached  Hispaniola.1 

1  For  Ayllon  the  authentic  documents  are  the  Cedula  of  1523  and  the 
proceedings  in  the  lawsuit  brought  by  Matienzo,  where  the  testimony  of 
Quexos,  Aldana,  and  others  who  were  on  the  first  voyage,  is  given,  and 
the  Act  of  taking  possession.  Father  Cervantes  survived  Father  Mou- 
tesinos,  and  in  1561  gave  testimony  in  regard  to  the  settlement  on  the 
James.  Many  facts  relating  to  Father  Montesinos  are  given  in  Fer 
nandez,  "  Historia  Eclesiastica  de  Nuestros  Tiempos,"  Toledo,  1611, 
p.  24;  Melendez,  "  Tesoros  Verdaderos  de  las  Yndias  en  la  Historia  de 
la  gran  provincia  de  San  Ivan  Bavtista  del  Perv,"  Rome,  1681,  pp.  10- 
15;  Charlevoix,  "Histoire  de  Saint  Domingue,"  i.,  p.  233  ;  Touron. 
"Histoire  de  1'Amerique,"  i.,  pp.  213,  240-8,  253-5,  321;  Valladares, 
"Historia  de  Puerto  Rico,"  Madrid,  1788,  p.  102.  According  to  Helps, 
"Spanish  Conquest  of  America,"  he  went  subsequently  to  Venezuela, 
and  opposite  his  name  on  the  list  preserved  in  his  convent  at  Salamanca 
are  the  words  "  Obiit  martyr."  Navarrete,  iii.,  pp.  72-3,  correctly  states 
that  Ayllon  sailed  north  ;  and  the  Relacion  of  Ecija,  Piloto  mayor  of 
Florida,  who  was  sent,  in  1609,  to  discover  what  the  English  were  doing, 
gives  places  and  distances  along  the  coast  with  great  accuracy,  and  states 
that  the  English  had  settled  at  Guandape,  the  distance  to  which  he  gives. 
Writing  only  eighty-three  years  after  Ayllon's  voyage,  and  by  his  office 
being  in  possession  of  Spanish  charts  and  derroteros  of  the  coast,  his 
statement  is  conclusive.  The  Father  General  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dom 
inic,  Very  Rev.  F.  Larroca,  had  search  made  for  documents  as  to  the 
great  priest  Montesinos,  but  none  were  traced.  The  stone  found  at  Pom- 
pey,  N.  Y.,  may  be  a  relic  of  Ayllon.  See  H.  A.  Homes'  paper  on  it. 


108  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  second  altar  of  Catholic  worship  on  our  soil  was  thus 
abandoned  like  the  first ;  but  its  memory  is  linked  with  that 
of  the  illustrious  missionary  Montesinos,  whose  evangelical 
labors  in  Puerto  Rico  had  won  him  the  title  of  apostle  of 
that  island. 

Meanwhile  the  gulf  shore  had  been  visited  and  explored 
by  expeditious  sent  out  from  Jamaica  by  Francis  de  Garay, 
governor  of  that  island.  By  one  of  these  the  Mississippi  was 
discovered,  and  received  the  name  of  Espiritu  Santo  ;  but  the 
only  settlements  attempted  by  Garay  were  south  of  the  Eio 
Grande.  In  1527,  Panfilo  de  Narvaez,  wishing  to  rival 
Cortes,  obtained  a  patent  for  the  territory  explored  by  Garay, 
and  projected  a  settlement  at  Rio  de  Palmas.  He  sailed 
from  Spain  on  the  lYth  of  June  with  five  vessels,  carrying 
six  hundred  persons,  to  settle  and  reduce  the  country.  Sev 
eral  secular  priests '  accompanied  the  expedition,  and  five 
Franciscan  friars,  the  superior  or  commissary  being  Father 
John  Xuarez,  who,  with  one  of  his  companions,  Brother 
John  de  Palos,  belonged  to  the  original  band  of  twelve  who 
founded  the  mission  of  their  order  in  Mexico.  "While  en 
deavoring  to  enter  the  harbor  of  Havana,  Narvaez's  fleet  was 
driven  on  the  coast  of  Florida,  near  Apalache  Bay.  Sup 
posing  that  he  was  near  his  destination,  Rio  de  Palmas,  he 
landed  most  of  his  people,  directing  the  ships  to  keep  along 
the  coast ;  but  so  unwise  were  all  his  arrangements  that  his 
ships  and  his  people  never  were  able  to  find  each  other  again. 
After  undergoing  many  sufferings  and  finding  the  country 
sterile  and  destitute  of  wealth  or  resources,  Narvaez  returned 
to  the  gulf,  and  built  five  large  boats,  in  which  he  hoped  to 
coast  along  till  he  found  some  Spanish  settlement.  Each 
boat  carried  nearly  fifty  men,  and  in  one  of  them  the  com- 


1  El  Asturiano  is  the  only  one  named. 


FC3AY 


110  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

missary,  Father  Xuarez,  and  his  companions  embarked  in  Sep 
tember,  1528.  The  whole  party  followed  the  shore,  in  great 
suffering  for  food  and  water,  rarely  able  to  obtain  either  from 
the  Indians.  About  the  first  of  November  they  reached  a 
point  where  the  Mississippi  sent  out  its  strong  current,  fresh 
ening  the  sea-water  so  that  they  could  drink  it ;  but  their 
clumsy  boats,  managed  by  unskilful  men,  could  not  cross  the 
mouth  of  the  great  river  safely.  The  boat  with  Narvaez 
perished ;  that  in  which  the  missionaries  were  was  found 
afterwards  on  the  shore,  bottom  upward.  No  trace  of  the 
Fathers  was  ever  discovered.  Some  of  the  boats  were  driven 
on  the  land,  and  a  number  of  Spaniards  reached  land  safely, 
among  them  the  priest  Asturiano.  But  he  must  have  died 
before  these  wretched  survivors  endeavored,  by  rafts  and 
otherwise,  to  work  their  way  along  the  coast.  Of  the  whole 
array  of  Panfilo  de  Narvaez,  only  four  persons,  Cabeza  de 
Vaca,  Dorantes,  Castillo,  and  Stephen,  a  negro,  after  years 
of  suffering  and  wandering,  reached  Petatlan,  in  Sinaloa, 
April  1,  1536.' 

This  expedition  aimed  at  a  point  beyond  the  limits  of  our 
Republic,  and  was  only  by  accident  on  our  shores.  In  the 
vague  narrative  of  Cabeza  de  Yaca,  there  is  no  mention  of 
the  celebration  of  the  holy  sacrifice  by  the  priests  after  they 
landed,  nor  of  any  labors  such  as  we  may  infer  they  undertook 
to  solace  their  comrades  in  life  and  death.  It  is  rather  from 
their  sufferings  that  this  little  band  of  clergymen  find  a  place 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  in  this  country,  while  the  merit 
of  Father  Xuarez  and  his  humble  companion,  Brother  John 
de  Palos,  have  entitled  them  to  an  honorable  place  in  the 
annals  of  their  order. 

'For  this  expedition  the  leading  authority  is  "La  relacion  que  dio 
Aluar  nunez  cabeca  de  vaca,"  Zamora,  1542  ;  reprinted,  1550  ;  translated 
by  Buckingham  Smith,  Washington,  1851  ;  New  York,  1871. 


FATHER  JUAN  XUAREZ.  HI 

Father  John  Xuarez  was  the  fourth  of  the  band  of  twelve 
Franciscans  sent  to  Mexico.  He  belonged  to  the  province 
of  St.  Gabriel,  and  came  to  America,  in  1523,  with  Father 
Martin  de  Valencia,  and  was  immediately  made  guardian  of 
the  convent  established  at  Huexotzinco,  where  he  was  long 
remembered  by  the  Indians  as  a  holy  religious.  Brother 
John  de  Palos  came  from  the  convent  of  St.  Francis,  in 
Seville,  and  showed  great  zeal  in  acquiring  the  Mexican  lan 
guage,  so  that  he  was  able  to  instruct  the  Indians  in  their 
own  tongue.1 

The  expedition  of  Panfilo  de  Narvaez  would  scarcely  have 
found  a  place  in  the  civil  or  ecclesiastical  history  of  America 
had  it  not  inspired  expeditions  from  the  Atlantic  and  from 
the  Pacific  coast,  which  reached  the  very  heart  of  the  conti 
nent,  and  one  of  which  led  to  subsequent  settlement  and  to 
mission  work. 

Impelled  by  the  accounts  which  Cabeza  de  Yaca  spread 
through  Spain,  and  apparently  by  the  air  of  mystery  assumed 
by  that  officer  as  to  realms  of  which  he  heard,  Hernando  de 
Soto,  a  gentleman  of  Xerez,  who,  even  in  days  of  cruelty, 
was  esteemed  cruel  in  his  career  at  Nicaragua,  Darien,  and 
Peru,  obtained  a  grant  of  the  lands  previously  embraced  in 


1  Torqueinada,  "  Monarquia  Indiana,"  iii.,  pp.  437,  447.  Their  por 
traits  were  engraved  by  Mr.  Smith  from  the  originals  preserved  in  the 
convent  of  Tlatelalco,  and  we  give  that  of  Father  Xuarez. 

"Relacion  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabe£a  de  vaca,"  New  York,  1871,  pp.  99, 
100.  Barcia,  in  his  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  speaks  of  Father  Xuarez  as 
Bishop,  but  neither  Cabeza  de  Vaca  nor  Torquemada  evidently  knew 
anything  of  his  elevation  to  the  episcopate,  and  the  portrait  is  absolutely 
without  anything  indicative  of  his  being  a  bishop.  There  is  no  trace  of 
the  erection  of  any  see  or  diocese  of  Rio  de  Palmas  ;  his  name  occurs  in 
no  work  giving  the  list  of  bishops  in  Spanish  America,  when  even  his 
nomination  by  the  king  would  have  entitled  him  to  wear  outward  marks 
of  the  episcopal  character.  Aleman,  "Hist,  de  Mexico,"  i.,  p.  37.  We 
must  therefore  regard  this  statement  of  Barcia  as  utterly  unfounded. 


112  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

the  concessions  to  Narvaez  and  Ayllon.  His  project  created 
the  greatest  enthusiasm  in  Spain  ;  men  sold  their  estates  and 
offices  to  join  the  expedition  of  Soto,  elated  at  being  ad 
mitted  to  share  its  dangers. 

The  king  made  it  one  of  the  conditions  of  his  grant  to 
Soto  that  he  should  carry  and  have  with  him  "  the  religious 
and  priests  who  shall  be  appointed  by  us,  for  the  instruction 
of  the  natives  of  that  province  in  our  holy  Catholic  faith,  to 
whom  you  are  to  give  and  pay  the  passage,  stores,  and  the 
other  necessary  subsistence  for  them  according  to  their  con 
dition,  all  at  your  cost,  receiving  nothing  from  them  during 
the  said  entire  voyage,  with  which  matter  we  gravely  charge 
you  that  you  do  and  comply,  as  a  thing  for  the  service  of 
God  and  our  own,  and  anything  otherwise  we  shall  deem 
contrary  to  our  service." 

The  expedition  set  sail  from  Spain  April  6,  1538,  exceed 
ing  in  numbers  and  equipment  anything  yet  seen  for  the 
conquest  of  the  Indies.  It  was  made  up  of  men  of  high 
rank  and  blood,  full  of  ambition,  and  attired  in  all  the  gay 
trappings  of  fashion,  as  though  it  were  a  party  of  pleasure 
rather  than  a  dangerous  expedition  into  an  unknown  land. 

The  religious  influence  manifested  throughout  seems  to 
have  been  very  slight.  Twelve  priests,  eight  ecclesiastics  and 
four  religious,  are  said  to  have  accompanied  the  expedition, 
consisting  of  nearly  a  thousand  men  ;  but  the  names  of  none 
of  thorn  are  given  in  the  narratives  of  Soto's  wanderings,  ex 
cept  that  of  Father  John  de  Gallegos. 

No  mention  is  made  of  the  celebration  of  any  Sunday  or 
holiday  by  any  special  service,  but  the  holy  sacrifice  was  ap 
parently  offered  when  they  encamped,  until  in  the  terrible 
battle  of  Mauila,  vestments,  church  plate,  wheat,  flour,  and 
bread  irons  were  consumed  in  the  general  conflagration.  Oc 
tober,  1540.  After  that,  according  to  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega, 


PRIESTS  WITH  SO  TO.  113 

mass  prayers  were  said  before  a  temporary  altar  by  a  priest  in 
vestments  of  dressed  skins. 

Most  of  the  priests  and  religious  perished  in  the  long  and 
straggling  march  of  the  force  from  Tampa  Bay  to  Pensacola, 
then  to  the  Savannah  and  the  land  of  the  Cherokees,  thence 
to  Mobile,  whence  Soto  struck  to  the  northwest,  crossing  the 
Mississippi  at  the  lower  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  and  penetrating  to 
the  bison  range  south  of  the  Missouri ;  then  pushing  down 
the  western  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  till  death  ended  all  his 
projects  and  disappointments,  May  21, 1542.  "When  his  suc 
cessor,  Muscoso,  reached  the  settled  parts  of  Mexico  with  the 
few  survivors  of  the  brilliant  array  that  had  left  Spain  so  full 
of  delusive  hopes,  three  friars  and  one  French  priest  alone 
survived  of  the  clergymen.  Once  only  in  the  narratives  do 
the  clergy  appear  in  any  scene  of  interest.  This  was  in  the 
town  of  Casqui,  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  soon 
after  Soto  crossed  it.  The  Indians  came  to  the  Spaniards  as 
superior  beings,  worshipping  a  more  powerful  God,  and  be 
sought  their  mediation  to  avert  the  long  drought  and  cure 
their  blind.  The  Spanish  commander  said  they  were  but 
sinful  men,  yet  they  would  pray  to  the  Almighty  for  them, 
and  he  ordered  a  huge  pine  tree  to  be  felled  and  a  cross  made 
and  reared.  Then  the  whole  force,  except  a  small  band  left 
as  a  guard,  formed  a  procession,  and,  led  by  the  priests  and 
religious,  moved  on  toward  the  cross,  chanting  litanies,  to 
which  the  soldiers  responded.  On  reaching  the  cross  all 
knelt,  prayers  were  recited,  and  each  kissed  the  symbol  of 
man's  redemption.  Many  of  the  Indians  joined  in  the  pro 
cession,  and  imitated  the  actions  of  the  Spaniards.  "When 
the  devotions  at  the  cross  were  concluded,  the  procession  re 
turned  to  the  camp  in  the  same  order,  chanting  the  Te  Deum.1 

1  No  religious  chronicle  gives  details  as  to  any  of  the  priests  or  friars 
who  accompanied  Soto,  and  the  pages  of  the  "Gentleman  of  Elvas," 


114  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Less  brilliant  in  its  inception,  more  fortunate  in  its  close, 
was  another  expedition,  also  inspired  by  the  accounts  of 
Cabeza  de  Yaca.  Its  course  was  not  marked  by  wanton  cru 
elty  or  by  retributive  suffering.  It  was  judiciously  managed ; 
the  troops  were  well  handled  ;  it  lai-d  open  provinces  where  set 
tlements  in  time  were  formed.  Above  all,  it  claims  our  notice 
in  tins  work  because  there  was  a  religious  influence  through 
out.  Zeal  for  the  salvation  of  the  native  tribes  was  manifest, 
and  it  resulted  in  a  noble  effort  of  Franciscan  Fathers  to 
plant  a  mission  in  the  very  heart  of  the  American  continent, 
a  thousand  miles  from  either  ocean,  the  Mexican  Gulf  or 
Hudson  Bay.  This  was  the  expedition  directed  by  the  wise 
and  upright  viceroy,  Don  Antonio  de  Mendoza.  Purchasing 
the  negro  slave  Stephen  from  Dorantes,  a  companion  of  Cabeza 
de  Yaca,  and  setting  free  all  Indians  who  had  followed  the 
four  survivors,  he  sent  Yasquez  de  Coronado  as  governor  to 
Sinaloa,  directing  Father  Mark,  an  illustrious  Franciscan  from 
Kice,  in  Italy,  to  penetrate  into  the  interior,  with  Stephen  as 
his  guide,  assuring  all  the  native  tribes  he  encountered  that 
the  viceroy  had  put  an  effectual  stop  to  the  enslavement  of 
the  Indians  and  sought  only  their  good.  "  If  God  our  Lord 
is  pleased,"  says  the  viceroy  in  his  instructions  to  Father 
Mark,  "  that  you  find  any  large  town  where  it  seems  to  you 
that  there  is  a  good  opportunity  for  establishing  a  convent 
and  sending  religious  to  be  employed  in  the  conversion,  you 
are  to  advise  me  by  Indians  or  return  in  person  to  Culuacan. 
With  all  secrecy,  you  are  to  give  notice,  that  provision  be 
made  without  delay,  because  the  service  of  our  Lord  and  the 

Biedma,  and  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  are  barren  of  information  as  to  any 
thing  ecclesiastical.  The  two  former  may  be  followed  in  Smith's 
"  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto  in  the  Conquest  of 
Florida,"  New  York,  1866,  the  latter  in  Irviug's  "Conquest  of  Florida 
by  Heruando  de  Soto,"  New  York,  1851. 


FATHER  MARK  OF  NICE,  115 

good  of  the  people  of  the  Land  is  the  aim  of  the  pacification 
of  whatever  is  discovered." 

The  instructions  were  handed  to  the  Franciscan  Father  in 
November,  1538,  by  Governor  Coronado,  and  after  an  inef 
fectual  attempt  by  way  of  the  province  of  Topiza,  as  directed 
by  the  viceroy,  he  set  out,  March  7,  1539,  from  San  Miguel 
de  Culuacan  with  Father  Honoratus,1  Stephen  and  liberated 
Indians ;  but  on  reaching  Petatlan  his  religious  companion 
fell  sick  and  was  left  to  recruit.     Then  Father  Mark  jour 
neyed  on,  keeping  near  the  coast,  meeting  friendly  tribes, 
who  hailed  him  as  a  "  Sayota,"  man  from  heaven.     He  heard 
of  California  and  its  people  on  the  west,  and  of  tribes  at  the 
north,  dwelling  in  many  large  towns,  who  were  clothed  in 
cotton  dresses  and  had  vessels  of  gold.     He  spent  Holy  AV  eek 
at  Yacapa a  and  sent  Stephen  northward,  with  instructions 
that  if  he  found  any  important  place  he  was  to  send  back  a 
cross  by  the  Indians,  its  size  to  be  in  proportion  to  the  great 
ness  of  the  town  he  might  discover.     In  a  few  days  messen 
gers  came  from  Stephen,  announcing  that  thirty  days'  march 
beyond  the  point  he  had  reached  was  a  province,  called  Ci- 
bola,  in  which  were  seven  great  cities  under  one  lord.     The 
houses  were  of  stone,  three  and  four  stories  in  height ;  that 
the  people  were  well  clothed  and  rich  in  turquoises.     After 
waiting  for  the  return  of  his  Indian  messengers  and  receiving 
confirmation  of  the  story  of  the  seven  cities,  he  left  Vacapa 
on  Easter  Tuesday,  urged  by  fresh  messengers  from  Stephen 
to  come  on  with  all  speed.     On  the  way  he  met  Indians  who 
had  visited  Cibola,  the  first  of  the  seven  cities,  and  had  ob- 

1  Castaueda  de  Najera,  whoever  he  was,  writing  twenty  years  after 
Coronado's  expedition,  gives  Father  Mark  two  other  friars,  in  direct  con 
tradiction  of  F.  Mark's  contemporaneous  account.     Ternaux  Corupaus' 
edition,  p.  10. 

2  Now  San  Luis  de  Bacapa,  in  Sonora, 


110 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


tamed  buffalo  hides  and  turquoises  there.  These  turquoises 
were  greatly  prized  in  Mexico,  where  the  Aztecs,  who  called 
them  chalchihuitl,  used  them  both  as  jewelry  and  as  money. 
As  Father  Mark  proceeded,  he  re 
ceived  confirmation  of  the  intelligence 
from  the  Indians,  who  assured  him 
that  in  Totonteac,  a  province  near 
Cibola,  the  men  wore  woollen  goods 
like  his  habit.  He  told  them  that 
they  must  mean  cotton,  but  they  as 
sured  him  that  they  knew  the  differ 
ence;  that  it  wras  woven  from  the 
wool  of  an  animal.  They  explained 
to  him,  also,  how  the  people  in  the 
towns  reached  the  top  of  their  houses 
by  means  of  ladders.  Passing  another 
SEAL  OP  FATHER  MARK  Desert,  he  traversed  a  delightful  val 
ley,'  still  encouraged  by  tidings  from 

Stephen,  and   came   to   a   desert   which   was   fifteen   days' 
march  from   Cibola.     Accompanied  by  many  Indians,  he 


FAC-SIMTLE   OF   THE   SIGNATURE  OF  FATHER  MARK  OF  NICE. 

began  to  cross  this  desert  on  the  9th  of  May  and  travelled 
on  till  the  21st,  when  a  messenger  came,  in  terror  and  spent 

1  Whipple  regards  it  as  the  valley  of  the  Gila. 


A  PRIEST  EXPLORER.  117 

with  fatigue,  bearing  a  tale  of  disaster.  Stephen,  when 
within  a  day's  march  of  Cibola,  had  sent  the  chief  some 
tokens  of  his  coming,  but  the  Indians  refused  to  receive 
them,  and  threatened  to  kill  him  if  he  came.  Stephen  per 
sisted  and  reached  Cibola.  He  was  not  allowed  to  enter,  but 
was  placed  in  a  house  without  the  town  and  stripped  of  all 
the  goods  he  carried.  The  next  day  he  and  his  companions 
were  attacked  by  the  natives,  and  the  messenger  alone  escaped 
to  carry  back  the  sad  tidings.  Though  his  life  was  in  peril 
from  his  Indian  attendants,  who  held  him  responsible  for  the 
death  of  their  countrymen  in  Stephen's  party,  Father  Mark 
resolved  to  push  on,  at  least  to  see  the  town,  hoping  to  rescue 
any  survivors.  He  declared  that  he  came  in  sight  of  Cibola 
and  planted  a  cross,  to  take  possession  of  the  country.  He 
then  returned  and  made  a  report  of  the  expedition  to  the 
viceroy,  who  transmitted  it  to  the  king.1 

1  We  follow  Father  Mark's  "Relation."  Castaneda  de  Najera  is  not 
an  eye-witness,  and  wrote  more  than  twenty  years  afterwards.  He  must 
have  written  from  vague  recollections  of  what  he  had  heard  ;  and  in  re 
gard  to  what  he  saw  on  Coronado's  expedition,  he  shows  great  hostility 
to  the  commander,  throwing  doubts  on  his  impartiality.  Father  Mark 
was  a  native  of  Nice,  then  a  city  of  Savoy,  now  of  France.  He  arrived 
in  St.  Domingo  in  1531,  and  after  visiting  Peru  went  to  Mexico,  where 
he  became  the  third  Provincial  of  his  order.  He  set  out  with  Coronado 
after  his  return  from  his  first  expedition,  but  returned,  having  contracted 
a  disease  from  which  he  never  recovered.  He  died  in  the  convent  of  his 
order  in  the  City  of  Mexico.  Torquemada,  iii.,  pp.  358,  373,  499,  610. 
It  has  been  usual  to"  assail  this  Franciscan  in  terms  of  coarse  vituperation, 
but  the  early  translations  of  his  narrative  contained  exaggerations  and  in 
terpolations  not  found  in  his  Spanish  text.  This  is  admitted.  Hayues, 
in  "  Winsor's  Narrative  and  Critical  History,"  ii.,  p.  499  ;  Coronado,  Let 
ter  to  Emperor,  Aug.  3,  1540 ;  Ramuzio,  iii.,  p.  360  ;  Oct.  20,  1541,  Ter- 
naux,  "Castaneda,"  p.  362.  Castaneda,  "  Relation,"  p.  48,  originated  the 
charges  against  him.  Haynes  follows  his  real  narrative  and  does  not  note 
a  single  statement  as  false  or  bring  any  evidence  to  show  any  assertion 
untrue.  That  the  Navajoes  wove  woollen  goods  and  other  tribes  cotton  ; 
that  turquoises  were  mined  in  New  Mexico  ;  that  the  Pueblo  Indians  en- 


118  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Father  Mark  thus  stands  in  history  as  the  earliest  of  the 
priestly  explorers  who,  unarmed  and  afoot,  penetrated  into 
the  heart  of  the  country,  in  advance  of  all  Europeans— a 
barefooted  friar  effecting  more,  as  Yiceroy  Mendoza  wrote, 
than  well-armed  parties  of  Spaniards  had  been  able  to  ac 
complish.  The  point  reached  by  Father  Mark  was  certainly 
one  of  the  towns  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  New  Mexico  and 
Arizona,  wThose  remarkable  dwellings  and  progress  in  civil 
ization  he  was  the  first  to  make  known. 

Encouraged  by  the  report  of  the  Franciscan  explorer,  the 
viceroy  ordered  Francis  Vasquez  de  Coronado  to  advance 
into  the  country  with  a  considerable  force.  The  army  of  oc 
cupation  formed  at  Culiacan,  and  Coronado,  on  the  22d  of 
April,  1540,  took  the  advance  with  a  detachment,  accom 
panied  by  the  missionaries,  Fathers  Mark  of  Nice,  John  de 
Padilla,  Daniel  and  Louis,  with  the  lay  brothers  Luis  de  Es- 
calona  and  John  of  the  Cross.1  Father  Anthony  Yictoria, 
another  missionary,  broke  his  leg  a  few  days  afterwards,  and 
was  sent  back  to  the  main  army.  Taking  the  route  by  way 
of  Chichilticale,  known  later  as  the  Casas  Grandes,  in  Arizona, 
Coronado,  crossing  a  desert  and  the  Gila,  reached  Cibola, 
twenty  miles  from  its  banks.  It  was  a  town,  with  houses 
three  or  four  stories  high,  built  on  a  rock,  and  contained  two 
hundred  warriors,  some  of  whom  sallied  forth  to  check  the 
invaders.  Coronado  sent  forward  Garci  Lopez,  with  Fathers 
Daniel  and  Louis,  to  explain  his  friendly  intent,  but  the  In 
dians  replied  with  a  shower  of  arrows,  one  piercing  the  habit 
of  Father  Daniel.  Though  they  fled  from  a  charge,  the  In 
dians  defended  the  town  bravely,  but  it  was  taken  by  storm, 
and  the  rest  of  the  seven  towns  submitted. 

tered  their  houses  by  a  door  in  the  roof,  reached  by  ladders,  might  appear 
at  the  time  false  statements,  but  are  all  now  admitted  to  be  true. 
1  Some  make  these  the  secular  and  religious  names  of  one  brother. 


FATHER  PADILLA  AT  QUIVIRA.  119 

Coronado  dispatched  an  officer  to  Mexico  to  give  an  ac 
count  of  his  operations,  and  Father  Mark  returned  with  him, 
Coronado  and  many  of  his  followers  holding  him  responsible 
for  the  exaggerations  of  the  Indian  accounts. 

While  one  detachment,  attended  by  the  fearless  Father 
Padilla,  visited  Tusayan,1  a  district  of  seven  towns  like 
Cibola,  and  another  subsequently  reached  the  wonderful 
canon  of  the  Colorado,  the  main  body  of  the  expedition  came 
up  from  Sonora  and  the  whole  force  united  at  Cibola.  Co 
ronado  then,  in  person  or  by  his  officers,  reduced  Acuco  or 
Acoma,  Tiguex,  Cicuye  or  Old  Pecos,  the  central  town  of  the 
district,  Yuquayunque  and  Jemez.  None  of  these  towns 
gave  indication  of  any  rich  mines,  and  the  country  did  not 
encourage  the  Spaniards  to  attempt  a  permanent  settlement. 
The  troops  were  scattered  and  lived  on  the  natives,  whom 
their  oppression  forced  into  hostilities.  ~No  record  remains 
of  the  services  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers  during  this  period, 
but  when,  in  April,  1541,  Coronado  set  out  for  the  Province 
of  Quivira,  of  whose  wealth  a  treacherous  Indian  guide  told 
the  greatest  marvels,  we  find  Father  John  de  Padilla  in  the 
detachment.  The  missionary  thus  crossed  the  bison  plains, 
meeting  only  Querecho  Indians,  who  lived  in  tents  of  bison 
skins  and  moved  from  place  to  place,  with  their  trains  of 
dogs.  Marching  to  the  northeast,  Coronado,  sending  back 
part  of  his  force,  at  the  end  of  sixty-seven  days  arrived  on 
the  banks  of  a  great  river,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul,  as  they  reached  it  on  the  feast  of  the  Holy 
Apostles.  Quivira,  as  he  found  it,  yielded  nothing  to  repay 
his  long  march.  JSro  gold  was  to  be  seen,  and  the  people 
were  less  advanced  than  those  of  New  Mexico,  though  they 
cultivated  Indian  corn.  He  could  not  have  been  far  from 

1  Bandelier  regards  this  as  the  district  of  the  Moqui  towns. 


120  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

the  Missouri  River,  for  an  Indian  woman,  held  as  a  slave, 
escaping  from  Coronado's  party,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
survivors  of  DeSoto's  expedition  and  was  taken  to  Mexico.1 
After  erecting  a  cross  bearing  the  inscription,  "  Francis  Yas- 
quez  de  Coronado,  general  of  an  expedition,  reached  this 
spot,"  the  Spanish  commander  returned  to  Tiguex.  Another 
winter  spent  in  New  Mexico  without  any  further  discoveries 
brought  him  to  the  resolution  to  abandon  the  country. 

Spaniards  had  thus  occupied  New  Mexico  for  two  years, 
but  there  is  not  the  slightest  hint  that  they  anywhere  erected 
the  most  perishable  form  of  chapel ;  yet  we  can  scarcely  con 
ceive  it  possible  that  Coronado's  camp  was  planted  so  long 
without  some  action  to  erect  a  place  for  divine  worship. 
The  expedition  was  judiciously  conducted,  their  live  stock 
was  abundant,  and  the  men  did  not  suffer  from  want  or 
hardship.  A  settlement  might  easily  have  been  formed,  but 
no  steps  were  taken  to  establish  one,  and  when  Coronado 
evacuated  New  Mexico,  the  little  missionary  party  who  so 
bravely  remained  were  the  only  representatives  of  civiliza 
tion  and  Christianity. 

The  temporary  chapel  at  Tiguex,  probably  not  far  from 
the  modern  Bernalillo,  was  the  first  chapel  of  New  Mexico, 
where  during  the  two  years'  occupation  mass  was  regularly 
offered,  and  the  gospel  preached  with  zeal  and  fervor  by  the 
sons  of  St.  Francis,  Father  Padilla  effecting  great  good 
among  the  soldiers  by  his  ministry,  as  Torquemada  declares.2 

Father  Padilla  and  the  lay  brother,  Luis  de  Escalona,  re 
solved  to  remain,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  mission, 
the  former  having  been  impressed  especially  with  the  disposi 
tions  manifested  by  the  people  of  Quivira.  Coronado,  when 

1  Castaneda,  "Relation  du  Voyage  de  Cibola,"  p.  135. 

2  "  Monarquia  Indiana,"  iii.,  p.  610.     Bandelier,  "  Historical  Introduc 
tion,"  p.  182. 


DEATH  OF  PADILLA.  121 

about  to  leave  New  Mexico  in  April,  1542,  gave  the  mission 
ary  as  guides  the  Quivira  Indians,  who  had  accompanied  him 
from  their  country ;  Andrew  del  Campo,  a  Portuguese,  a 
negro,  and  two  Zapoteca  Indians  of  Michoacan,  Luke  and 
Sebastian,  also  joined  him.  The  little  missionary  party,  for 
the  negro  and  the  last  named  Indians  had  received  the  habit 
of  the  order,1  had  a  horse,  some  mules,  and  a  little  flock  of 
sheep.  The  missionary  took  his  vestments  and  chapel  outfit 
and  some  trifles  to  give  the  Indians.8  He  set  forth  his  design 
in  a  Lenten  sermon  preached  to  the  Spanish  force  at  Tiguex, 
and  departed  soon  after  for  the  scene  of  his  projected 
mission.  Brother  Luis,  who  is  represented  by  writers  on  the 
expedition  as  a  very  holy  man,  determined  to  take  up  his 
residence  at  Cicuye,  hoping  to  set  up  the  cross  in  all  the 
neighboring  villages,  instruct  the  people  in  the  faith,  and 
baptize  dying  children. 

Father  Padilla  seems  to  have  reached  Quivira,  but  wishing 
to  visit  a  neighboring  tribe  he  set  out  for  them,  and  was 
attacked  by  the  wild  savages  of  the  plains.  Seeing  that 
escape  was  all  but  impossible,  he  thought  only  of  his  com 
panions.  He  bid  del  Campo,  who  was  mounted,  gallop  for 
life,  and  the  young  Indians  to  fly,  as  escape  was  possible  for 
them.  Then  he  knelt  down,  and  in  prayer  awaited  the  will 
of  the  Indians,  commending  his  soul  to  God.  A  shower  of 
arrows  pierced  him  through,  and  the  first  martyr  that  the 
Church  can  claim  on  our  soil  fell  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
northern  continent.  Campo  did  not  wait  to  see  what  fate 

1  Apparently  as  members  of  the  Third  Order,  for  Torquemada  states  ex 
pressly  that  they  were  not  lay  brothers,  but  men  who  devoted  themselves 
to  the  mission.  (Donados  ;  in  French,  donnes.)  "  Monarquia  Tnd.,"  iii., 
p.  611. 

-Jaramillo,  "Relacion,"  in  Smith's  Coleccion,  p.  154;  in  Ternaux 
Compans,  pp.  380-1,  214,  194. 


122  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

befel  the  missionary ;  urging  his  horse  to  its  utmost  he  dis 
tanced  his  pursuers,  and  in  time  was  safe  among  the  Spanish 
residents  of  Panuco.  Not  so  Luke  and  Sebastian ;  lurking 
amid  the  tall  grass  they  waited  till  the  murderous  Indians 
had  departed ;  then  they  retraced  their  steps,  and  raising  the 
mangled  remains  committed  them  to  the  earth,  amid  their 
tears  and  prayers.  Only  then  did  they  in  earnest  endeavor 
to  reach  the  Spanish  settlements.  Traversing  New  Mexico 
they  bore  to  Culuacan  the  tidings  of  the  glorious  death  of 
Father  John  de  Pad  ilia. 

Nothing  definite  was  ever  learned  of  the  fate  of  Brother 
John  of  the  Cross  (Luis  de  Escalona).  "When  Coronado  was 
setting  out  he  sent  the  pious  Brother  a  little  flock  of  sheep. 
The  messengers  found  him  near  Cicuye,  starting  for  some 
villages  fifteen  or  twenty  leagues  distant.  He  was  full  of 
hope,  but  avowed  that  the  old  Indians  regarded  him  with  no 
favor,  and  would  ultimately  kill  him. 

Father  Padilla  is  properly  the  protomartyr  of  the  mis 
sions  in  this  country.  Other  priests  had  died  by  disease, 
hardship,  or  savage  cruelty,  but  they  were  attached  to  Spanish 
expeditions,  and  had  not  begun  any  special  labors  for  the 
conversion  of  the  native  tribes,  as  this  worthy  Father  and  his 
companions  had  done.1 

The  ministers  of  the  Catholic  faith  had  thus,  before  the 


'Castaneda  de  Xajera  (Ternaux),  pp.  214-5;  "Relaciondel  Suceso" 
(Smith's  Coleccion,  p.  154);  Jaramillo,  "Relation"  (Ib.,  p.  162);  Tor- 
quemada,  "Monarquia  Indiana,"i.,  p.  609  ;  iii.,  pp.  610-1 ;  Rapine,  "  His- 
toire  Generate  de  1'Origine  et  Progrez  des  Recolets,"  Paris,  1631.  pp. 
331-4.  Father  John  de  Padilla  was  a  native  of  Andalusia,  and,  after 
serving  in  the  army,  entered  the  Franciscan  order  in  the  Province  of  the 
Holy  Gospel  in  Mexico.  He  was  the  first  guardian  of  the  convent  of 
Tulantzinco,  but  yearning  to  devote  himself  to  the  Indian  missions  was 
sent  as  guardian  to  Tzopatlan,  in  Michoacan.  He  had  accompanied 
Father  Mark  of  Nice  on  some  of  his  earlier  explorations. 


FATHER  CANCER'S  FLORIDA  MISSION.       123 


middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  carried  the  cross  and  an 
nounced  Christianity  from  the  banks  of  the  Chesapeake  to 
the  canons  of  the  Colorado.  Had  the  priests  with  Soto 
been  able  to  say  mass,  the  march  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
and  of  the  Precious  Blood  across  the  continent  would  have 
been  complete. 

Soon  afterwards  a  memorable  and  heroic  attempt  was 
made  to  plant  Christianity  among  the  natives  of  Florida. 
The  Dominican  Father,  Louis  Cancer,  full  of  the  spirit  of 
Montesinos  arid  Las  Casas,  had  alone  and  unsupported  concil 
iated  the  fierce 
tribes  of  a  pro 
vince  of  Central 
America,  before 
whose  conquest 
by  force  of  arms  Span 
ish  prowess  had  re 
coiled.  Armed  only 
with  his  cross,  Father 
Cancer  so  completely 
won  the  district  that  it 
bears  to  this  day  the 
name  of  Vera  Paz,  or 
True  Peace,  in  token 
of  his  victory.  In 
1546  this  courageous 

missionary  conceived  the  project  of  endeavoring  a  similar 
peaceful  and  Christian  conquest  of  the  natives  of  Florida. 
His  plans  were  ably  seconded  by  Father  Gregory  de  Beteta, 
and  other  prominent  men  of  his  order,  and  were  in  time  laid 
before  the  Spanish  king,  who  gave  them  his  hearty  approval. 

On  this  remarkable  man  the  emperor  Charles  V.  now  cast 
his  eyes.     Four  tyrants,  he  said,  had  entered  Florida,  effect- 


ATTTOGRAPHS  OF  FATHERS  LOUIS  CANCER 
AND  GREGORY  DE  BETETA. 


124  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

ing  no  good,  but  causing  much  mischief,  and  now  he  would 
try  religious.  Father  Cancer  was  formally  appointed  by  the 
king  and  council  to  begin  this  pious  conquest  of  Florida. 
Without  deluding  himself  as  to  the  dangers  that  awaited 
him,  the  devoted  son  of  Saint  Dominic  accepted  the  perilous 
commission.  By  a  royal  decree,  which  proved,  however,  in 
effectual,  all  natives  of  Florida,  especially  those  brought  away 
by  Muscoso,  were  to  be  set  free  and  sent  back  to  their  native 
country  with  Father  Cancer.  So  many  difficulties  arose  that 
most  persons  would  have  abandoned  the  project,  but  the 
earnest  Dominican  regarded  the  royal  instructions  as  per- 


LJ 


AUTOGKAPHS  OF  FATHERS  DIEGO  DE  TOLOSA  AND  JUAN   GARCIA. 

emptory,  and  persevered  to  the  end.  In  1549  he  sailed  from 
Yera  Cruz  in  an  unarmed  vessel  called  the  Santa  Maria  de 
la  Enema.  Fathers  Gregory  de  Beteta,  Diego  de  Tolosa, 
John  Garcia,  and  some  others  accompanied  him,  all  prepared 
to  land  in  Florida,  and  attempt  founding  missions  among  the 
Indians  without  the  attendance  of  Spanish  soldiers  to  protect 
them  from  the  bloodthirsty  impulses  of  those  whom  they 
sought  to  serve.  After  touching  at  Havana,  where  they  ob 
tained  as  interpreter  a  converted  Florida  woman  named 
Magdalena,  the  missionaries  with  their  vessel  ran  across  to 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  CANCER.       125 

the  peninsula,  and  on  Ascension-day  anchored  on  the  west 
ern  shore,  near  Tampa  Bay.  The  scheme  of  the  Domini 
can  Fathers  was  one  that  required  an  examination  of  the 
coast  to  find  a  tribe  whose  friendly  attitude  would  justify 
remaining  among  them.  But  this  the  captain  of  the  Santa 
Maria,  John  de  Arana,  who  seems  to  have  been  utterly  re 
gardless  of  the  intentions  or  fate  of  the  missionaries,  reso 
lutely  opposed.  He  ran  a  short  distance  up  the  coast,  then 
returned  to  his  anchorage,  and  insisted  that  the  Dominican 
Fathers  must  land  there  or  sail  back  with  him.  The  mission 
aries  held  a  consultation ;  to  most  of  them  it  seemed  rash  to 
attempt  any  mission  under  such  circumstances,  when  they 
were  not  at  liberty  to  select  a  favorable  spot  or  a  friendly 
tribe ;  but  Father  Cancer  felt  bound  by  his  instructions,  and 
did  not  regard  himself  at  liberty  to  abandon  an  attempt,  pro 
posed  by  himself  to  the  king,  without  making  some  endeavor 
to  carry  it  out.  A  few  Indians  who  were  fishing  near  the 
vessel,  and  whose  cabins  were  in  sight,  seemed  well  disposed, 
and  the  missionaries  landed  to  open  intercourse  with  them. 
Father  Diego  de  Tolosa  disembarked  with  Fuentes,  a  pious 
man  who  had  given  his  services  to  the  mission,  a  sailor, 
and  Magdalena.  They  proceeded  to  the  Indian  cabins ;  but 
while  those  on  board  were  awaiting  their  return,  a  Spaniard 
reached  the  vessel  who  had  been  for  many  years  a  prisoner 
in  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  He  assured  the  missionaries 
that  Father  Diego  and  Fuentes  had  been  already  murdered  ; 
but  as  Magdalena  was  seen  on  the  shore,  and  declared  that 
they  were  alive  and  well,  Father  Cancer  and  his  surviving 
companions  were  divided  in  opinion.  Father  Louis  finally  re 
solved  to  land,1  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  Beteta 

1  "  Digo  que  un  neg°  de  tanta  imp  ft  que  ha  tres  anos  que  se  ordena,  no 
es  bien  se  deshaga  asi,  i  mas  qndo  depues  de  m«  trabajos  estamos  bien 
juntos  al  punto  del  Esp.  S.  do  vamos."  F.  Cancer,  MS. 


126  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  Munoz,  the  escaped  prisoner.  The  sailors  were  afraid  to 
row  their  boat  to  the  shore,  and  Father  Louis  jumped  into 
the  water  and  Waded  ashore.  From  the  ship  he  was  seen  to 
ascend  the  sloping  bank,  till  Indians  surrounded  him ;  his 
hat  was  torn  from  his  head,  and  as  the  good  Father  knelt  in 
prayer,  the  Indians  butchered  him.  Thus  perished,  in  obe 
dience  to  a  sense  of  duty,  Father  Louis  Cancer  de  Barbastro, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  missionaries  of  his  order,  whose 
wonderful  sway  over  the  Indians  of  Central  America  justi 
fied  a  confidence  that  the  same  means  would  influence  the 
Mobilian  tribes.  The  boat  was  driven  oil  by  showers  of  ar 
rows,  and  the  Santa  Maria,  with  his  dejected  brethren,  sailed 
back  to  Yera  Cruz.1 

For  several  years  the  northern  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mex 
ico,  and  the  ocean-swept  coast  of  Florida,  were  avoided  by  all 
who  sought  to  colonize  or  conquer ;  and  the  mariners  of 
Spain  knew  them  as  a  dangerous  and  inhospitable  land,  where 
many  a  rich  galleon  had  been  wrecked,  where  man  escaped 
the  danger  of  the  sea  only  to  meet  a  more  cruel  death  at  the 
hands  of  the  savages. 

In  1553  a  rich  fleet,  dispatched  from  Yera  Cruz  to  Spain 
by  the  viceroy,  Don  Louis  de  Yelasco,  was  driven  on  the  coast 
of  Texas.  Nearly  all  were  wrecked.  One  vessel  returned 
to  the  port  with  the  disastrous  news,  three  others  reached 
Seville,  all  the  rest  perished ;  and  of  the  thousand  persons 
on  them,  only  three  hundred  reached  the  shore  on  spars, 
planks,  and  cases  of  merchandise,  and  made  their  wav  to  the 


1  "  Relacion  de  la  Florida  "  in  Smith's  Coleccion,  pp.  190-202  ;  "  Requi- 
rimentos  y  respuestas  ";  opinions  taken  on  the  vessel,  MS.  Barcia,  "  En- 
sayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  25-6.  Davila  Padilla,  "Historia  de  la  Provincia 
de  Santiago  de  Mexico,"  ch.  liv.-lvii. ;  Touron,  "  Histoire  de  1'Amerique," 
vi., p.  81.  Fernandez,  "Historia Eclesiastica de Nuestros Tiempos,"  1611, 
ch.  43,  p.  150. 


DE  LUNA'S  ATTEMPTED  SETTLEMENT.        127 

Eio  Grande,  but  nearly  all  perished  before  reaching  Panuco, 
including  several  religious  of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic.1 

It  had  become  vitally  important  to  Spain  either  to  con 
vert  and  conciliate  the  natives  on  the  northern  shores  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  southern  Atlantic,  or  to  plant  settle 
ments  on  the  coast.  The  storms  that  sweep  those  seas  had 
wrecked  so  many  treasure  ships  that  the  French  were  begin 
ning  to  trade  with  the  natives  for  the  silver  that  they  secured, 
and  the  Indians  seldom  spared  the  shipwrecked  Spaniards 
who  fell  into  their  hands. 

In  1555  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico,  and  in  the  following 
year,  on  the  accession  of  Philip  II.,  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico, 
John  de  Urango,  Bishop  of  Santiago  de  Cuba,  whose  diocese 
embraced  Florida,  and  others,  urged  upon  the  king  the  ne 
cessity  of  planting  colonies  in  Florida.3  Philip  approved  the 
project,  and  confided  its  execution  to  the  viceroy  Yelasco ; 
the  Provincial  of  the  Dominicans  in  Mexico,  Father  Domi 
nic  of  St.  Mary,  being  commanded  to  send  religious  of  his 
order  with  the  colonizing  expedition. 

A  fleet  of  thirteen  vessels  was  fitted  out  at  Yera  Cruz  and 
placed  under  the  command  of  Don  Tristan  de  Luna  y  Are 
llano,  son  of  the  Marshal  Carlos  de  Luna,  Governor  of  Yucatan. 
It  comprised  a  force  of  1,500  soldiers,  many  of  whom  had 

1  Davila  Padilla,  "Historia  de  la  f'undacion  de  la  Provincia  de  San 
tiago  de  Mexico,"  Madrid,  1596,  pp.  231-268.     Barcia,  "Ensayo  Crono- 
logico,"  pp.  28-31. 

2  "Porque  a  nuestro  oficio  pastoral  y  al  oflcio  apostolico  que  tenemos 
pertenece  procurar  por  todas  las  vias  y  modos  que  pudieremos  como  la  Fee 
de  Christo  Nuestro  Redentor  sea  ampliada,  y  todas  las  gentes  vengan  en 
conocimiento  de  Dios   y  salvar  sus  animas,-  suplicamos  a  V.  M.  sea 
servido  proveer  y  mandar  por  las  vias  que  mas  justas  parecieren  que  la 
Florida  y  gente  della  vengan  en  conoscimiento  de  su  Criador,  pues  la 
tenemos  tan  cerca  y  sabemos  la  innumerable  gente  que  en  ella  se  condena 
por  no  haber  quien  les  predique  el  Santo  Evangelic."     Archbishop  of 
Mexico  to  the  emperor,  Nov.  1,  1555.     "  Col.  de  Doc.  Ined.,"  3,  p.  526. 


128 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


already  been  in  Florida,  with  a  number  of  settlers,  and  all 
necessary  implements  for  tilling  the  earth,  clearing  the  for 
ests,  and  building  houses 
and  defences.  At  the  head 
of  the  spiritual  direction  of 
the  intended  colony  was  the 
Dominican  Father  Peter  de 
Feria,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Chiapa. 

AUTOGRAPH  OF  FATHER  PEDRO  DE  TllG     Plal1     WaS     tO     form 

FERIA.  one  settlement  on  the  Gulf 

coast,  one  at  Coosa,  inland, 

and  a  third  on  the  Atlantic  at  Santa  Elena;  not  reducing 
the  Indians  by  conquest,  but  as  Father  Feria  states  in  a  letter 
announcing  his  departure,  "by  good  example,  with  good 
works,  and  with  presents,  to  bring  the  Indians  to  a  knowledge 
of  our  holy  Faith  and  Catholic  truth." 

The  viceroy  acted  writh  great  prudence  and  forecast.  Be 
fore  sending  out  the  expedition  he  dispatched  Guido  de  La- 
bazares,  an  experienced  pilot,  to  examine  the  coast  and  select 
a  port  for  the  vessels  to  enter.  The  pilot  selected  Pensacola 
Bay,  which  he  named  Fernandina,  a  safe  and  good  harbor, 
with  a  well-wooded  country  abounding  in  game  and  fish,  and 
a  soil  that  richly  repaid  the  rude  Indian  cultivation.  Then 
the  expedition  prepared  to  sail,  the  viceroy  coming  in  person 
to  Vera  Cruz  to  address  and  encourage  Tristan  de  Luna  and 
those  placed  under  his  command.  Father  Peter  de  Feria  went 
as  vice-provincial  of  Florida,  accompanied  by  Father  Dominic 
of  the  Annunciation,  Father  Dominic  de  Salazar,  Father  John 
Mazuelas,  Father  Dominic  of  St.  Dominic,  and  a  lay  brother. 
They  sailed  June  11,  1559,  but  though  they  entered  Pensa 
cola  Bay,  Tristan  de  Luna,  instead  of  settling  there  as  was 
intended,  yielded  to  the  advice  of  his  pilots,  and  lost  time  in 


DOMINICANS  IN  FLORIDA.  129 

looking  for  Iclmse  or  Santa  Rosa  Bay.  Here  the  disembark 
ation  began,  but  was  carried  on  with  little  energy,  the  vessels 
riding  at  anchor  for  weeks,  while  an  exploring  party,  accom 
panied  by  one  of  the  missionaries,  penetrated  inland.  On 
the  19th  day  of  September  a  terrible  hurricane  came  upon 
them ;  five  ships,  a  galleon,  and  a  bark  perished ;  many  of  the 
people,  and  nearly  all  the  year's  provision,  were  destroyed. 
After  this  terrible  blow,  Tristan  de  Luna  obtained  relief 
from  Mexico ;  and  another  exploring  party,  attended  by 
Fathers  Dominic  of  the  Annunciation  and  Father  Salazar, 
reached  Nanipacna  on  the  Escambia,  an  Indian  town,  which 
seemed  so  attractive  that  Tristan  de  Luna,  leaving  a  detach 
ment  on  the  coast,  proceeded  to  it,  and  naming  it  Santa  Cruz, 
resolved  to  settle  there.  The  commander  showed  in  every 
thing  dilatoriness  and  inefficiency.  At  Santa  Cruz  he  prob 
ably  erected  some  dwellings,  and  perhaps  a  chapel ;  though 
he  wintered  there,  he  cleared  and  planted  no  land  in  the 
spring;  but  Jaramillo  was  sent  on  an  expedition  to  Cosa, 
on  the  Coosa,  attended  by  the  same  missionaries,  to  obtain 
provisions  from  the  Indians.  Forming  a  friendly  alliance 
with  the  Cosa  tribe,  the  Spaniards  accompanied  their  war 
parties  against  the  Napochies,  a  tributary  tribe  on  the  Missis 
sippi,  who  sought  to  throw  off  their  yoke.  Father  Dominic 
of  the  Annunciation,  and  Father  Salazar,  shared  all  the  hard 
ships  and  dangers  of  the  party,  saying  mass  in  rustic  chapels 
made  of  boughs,  as  the  camp  moved  from  place  to  place.  On 
one  of  these  occasions,  as  Father  Dominic  was  saying  mass, 
he  saw  a  huge  caterpillar  on  the  very  rim  of  the  chalice,  just 
after  the  consecration.  He  was  afraid  to  attempt  to  remove  it 
for  fear  it  should  fall  into  the  chalice  ;  he  uttered  a  fervent 
prayer,  and  to  his  relief  saw  it  fall  from  the  chalice  dead  on 
the  altar. 

Regarded  as  a  divine  interposition  this  incident  filled  the 
9 


130  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

party  with  new  confidence.  Before  the  return  of  this  party, 
Tristan  de  Luna  abandoned  Santa  Cruz  and  retired  to  Pensa- 
cola,  where  finally  the  whole  force  was  gathered.  He  wished 
to  proceed  to  Cosa  and  form  a  settlement  there,  but  his  men 
refused.  Three  vessels  sent  to  examine  St.  Helena  Sound 
were  scattered  by  a  storm.  The  fine  expedition  fitted  out 
from  Mexico,  and  maintained  at  enormous  expense,  after 
nearly  two  years'  occupation  of  Florida  had  effected  abso 
lutely  nothing ;  not  a  sign  of  settlement,  no  houses,  chapels, 
or  anything  but  mere  temporary  structures  existed.  Father 
Feria,  finding  that  there  was  no  hope  of  a  successful  coloni 
zation,  embarked  for  Havana  with  Father  John  and  Father 
Dominic,  when  Tristan  de  Luna  returned  to  the  coast ;  he 
believed  his  fellow  missionaries  dead,  but  left  some  wheat 
flour  to  enable  them  to  say  mass.1  The  other  Fathers  labored 
among  the  Spaniards,  but  among  the  Indians  found  their 
ministry  so  fruitless  that  only  one  conversion  is  attributed  to 
their  zeal.  The  dissension  that  arose  between  Tristan  de 
Luna,  whose  mind  was  unsettled  by  delirious  fevers,  and  the 
next  in  command,  George  Ceron,  gave  the  missionaries  a 
field  for  their  Christian  charity,  as  it  divided  the  camp  into 
two  hostile  factions.  Tristan  issued  an  order  menacing  any 
deserter  with  death.  Two  soldiers  attempted  to  escape  from 
the  camp,  and  were  sentenced  to  die.  In  vain  did  Father 
Dominic  of  the  Annunciation  implore  their  pardon  ;  but  as 
the  commander  sternly  refused,  he  hastened  to  prepare  the 
unfortunate  men  for  death,  urging  them  to  recite  the  rosary 
and  commend  themselves  to  Our  Lady.  One  hearkened  to 
him,  and  spent  the  night  performing  the  devotion  with  the 
zealous  Dominican ;  the  other  sullenly  refused.  In  the  morn- 


1  This  little  provision  is  reported  to  have  lasted  till  the  settlement 
broke  up,  and  its  inexhaustible  nature  recalled  the  miracle  of  the  widow's 
cruse. 


THEIR  INFLUENCE,  131 

ing  Tristan  de  Luna  remitted  the  punishment  of  the  client 
of  Mary,  and  the  other  paid  the  penalty  of  the  law. 

As  the  dissension  increased,  the  governor  finally  con 
demned  Ceron  and  his  adherents  to  death  as  rebels.  After 
Father  Salazar  had  in  vain  endeavored  to  appease  the  com 
mander,  Father  Dominic  of  the  Annunciation  resolved  to 
make  a  solemn  and  public  appeal  to  his  Christian  feelings. 
As  Holy  Week  approached  the  missionaries  commended  the 
affair  to  God,  and  on  Palm  Sunday  Father  Dominic  offered 
earnest  prayers  for  peace.  The  general,  Ceron,  and  the 
officers  and  soldiers  gathered  in  the  chapel  for  mass, 
which  Father  Dominic  was  to  offer.  The  holy  sacrifice  went 
on  till  the  moment  of  communion  approached,  when  he 
suddenly  called  Tristan  de  Luna  by  name.  The  general, 
amazed,  rose  and  approached  the  altar.  Turning  towards 
him  with  the  sacred  host  in  his  hands,  Father  Dominic  said : 
"You  believe  that  it  is  the  true  Body  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Son  of  the  living  God,  who  came  from  heaven  to 
earth  to  redeem  us  from  the  power  of  sin  and  the  devil,  this 
Sacred  Host,  which  I  hold  in  my  unworthy  hands?"  "  Yes, 
I  believe  it,"  replied  the  governor,  not  knowing  what  all  this 
meant.  "  Do  you  believe  that  this  same  Lord  is  to  come  to 
judge  the  living  and  the  dead,  to  reward  the  good  and  pun 
ish  the  wicked  ? "  "  Yes,  I  believe,"  again  replied  Tristan  ; 
and  Father  Dominic,  believing  that  he  had  touched  his  heart, 
proceeded :  "  If  then  you  believe,  as  a  true  and  faithful 
Christian,  in  the  real  presence  of  the  Supreme  Judge  of  all, 
in  this  Holy  Host,  how,  without  fear  of  Him  who  is  to  judge 
us,  can  you  permit  so  many  evils,  so  many  sins  against  Him, 
as  for  the  last  five  months  we  have  deplored  and  wept  over  ? 
It  behooves  you,  as  superior,  to  remedy  it ;  and  to  read  in 
your  own  heart  whether  hatred,  cloaked  with  zeal  for  justice, 
has  room  in  your  heart,  when  to  distinguish  them  the  least 


132  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

ray  of  the  Divine  Light,  which  you  have  before  you,  suffices. 
You  beheld  the  innocent  suffer  as  well  as  those  you  judge 
guilty,  and  you  would  confound  the  punishment  of  some 
with  the  unjustice  you  wreak  on  others.  What  account 
can  you  give  of  yourself  on  the  tremendous  day  of  judg 
ment,  if  against  yourself  you  hate  peace,  and  deprive  us  all 
of  it,  when  God  became  man  to  give  peace  to  men  I  Do 
you  wish  to  deprive  us  of  this  happiness,  fanning  the  llames 
of  Satan,  the  father  of  discord  ? " 

He  continued  for  a  time  in  this  strain,  and  when  he  turned 
to  the  altar,  the  governor  returned  to  his  place  deeply 
moved.  No  sooner  \vas  the  mass  ended  than  Tristan  arose, 
declaring  that  he  had  never  intended  to  wrong  any  man.  If 
led  by  a  sense  of  duty  he  had  done  so,  he  asked  pardon. 
They  did  not  allow  him  to  proceed ;  Ceron  and  his  officers 
were  kneeling  around  him,  asking  pardon  at  his  hands.  A 
general  reconciliation  followed,  and  all  prepared  to  remedy 
the  distress  caused  by  the  unfortunate  discord.  But  in  a  few 
days  vessels  arrived  under  Angel  de  Yillafaile,  bearing 
Father  John  de  Contreras,  with  Father  Gregory  de  Beteta, 
who  had  renounced  a  bishopric,  to  spend  his  remaining  days 
in  Florida.  But  when  a  general  council  was  held,  it  was  de 
termined  to  abandon  the  country  ;  all  except  a  small  party  of 
soldiers,  left  as  a  garrison,  embarked,  and  Yillafane  sailed 
with  them  to  Saint  Helena  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  but  deem 
ing  it  unsuited  for  settlement,  returned  to  Mexico  in  1561.' 

The  only  fruit  of  the  voyage  to  the  Atlantic  coast  \vas  a 
young  Indian,  brother  of  the  Cacique  of  Axacan,  on  the 

1  The  story  of  Tristan  de  Luna's  colony  is  given  in  Davila  Padilla, 
"Relacion  de  la  Fundacion  de  la  Provinciade  Santiago,"  1567,  pp.  247- 
277;  "Coleccion  de  Documentos  ineditos,"  v.,  p.  447;  "  Relacion  "  and 
Letters  of  Velasco  (Smith's  Coleccion,  p.  10);  "Memorial  of  Tristan  de 
Luna,"  Doc.  ined.,  xii.,  pp.  280-3  ;  testimony  taken  in  regard  to  the  col 
ony;  and  Barcia,  "Ensayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  32-41. 


MENENDEZ  SENT  TO  FLORIDA.  133 

Chesapeake,  who  was  taken  at  this  time  by  the  Dominicans 
to  Mexico. 

Florida  seemed  so  utterly  unsuited  to  colonization,  so  de 
void  of  wealth  to  be  drawn  from  mines  or  soil,  that  all  fur 
ther  attempts  were  regarded  as  visionary  ;  and  a  board  ap 
pointed  by  the  Spanish  monarch  decided  that  no  project  of 
the  kind  was  to  be  entertained,  since  no  other  European  na 
tion  would  attempt  or  could  hope  to  form  a  prosperous  set 
tlement  there  to  the  detriment  of  Spain. 

But  the  elements  still  strewed  the  shores  with  the  wrecks  of 
vessels,  and  the  waves  bore  to  the  beach  the  bodies  of  white 
men  or  wretched  survivors  with  fragments  of  the  rich  car 
goes.  Heart-broken  at  the  loss  of  a  son,  wrecked  on  Florida, 
Peter  Menendez,  a  famous  naval  commander,  arrived  in  Spain 
possessed  with  only  one  thought,  that  of  asking  the  royal 
permission  to  sail  to  the  rescue  of  the  last  scion  of  his  ancient 
house.  Enemies  created  by  the  brave  but  arbitrary  com 
mander,  caused  his  arrest  on  charges  of  misconduct,  and  he 
lingered  for  months  in  prison.  On  obtaining  his  release  he 
sousrht  the  presence  of  Philip  II.,  to  obtain  the  gratification 
of  his  earnest  desire.  Notwithstanding  the  recent  decision  of 
his  officials,  the  Spanish  monarch  proposed  to  Menendez  the 
occupation  and  settlement  of  Florida.  Menendez  did  not  re 
fuse  the  unsought  honor,  attended,  as  it  was,  with  toil  and 
little  prospect  of  success.  He  formed  his  plans,  summoning 
around  him  kinsmen  and  vassals.  While  he  was  collecting 
ships,  men,  arms,  and  provisions  of  every  kind,  there  came 
the  startling  intelligence  that  the  Calvinists  of  France,  whose 
corsairs  were  the  unsparing  foes  of  Spain  on  the  ocean,  had 
actually  sent  out  an  expedition  and  occupied  Saint  Helena 
Sound  in  less  than  a  year  after  Yillafane  had  pronounced  it 
entirely  unfit  for  settlement. 

The  expedition  of  Menendez,  from  being  the  affair  of  an 


134  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

individual  proprietor,  assumed  a  national  importance.  Philip 
gave  him  royal  vessels  and  royal  aid,  to  root  out  utterly  a 
settlement  which  would  be  a  constant  menace  to  the  com 
merce  of  Spain,  and  which  from  the  days  of  Cartier's  voyage 
to  the  St.  Lawrence,  it  had  been  the  resolution  of  the  Spanish 
government  to  prevent. 

Charlesfort,  established  by  Eibault  on  Port  Koyal  Sound  in 
1562,  did  not  subsist  long.  After  indolence,  mutiny,  and 
starvation,  a  few  survivors  rescued  by  an  English  vessel, 
landed  at  last  in  England.  Admiral  Coligny,  undismayed  by 
this  failure,  sent  out  another  expedition  in  1564  under  Rene 
de  Laudonniere.  In  June  that  commander  entered  the  St. 
John's  River,  which  the  French  had  named  the  River  of  May. 
Gaining  the  good-will  of  Saturiova  and  other  chiefs,  the 
French  commander  threw  up  Fort  Caroline  on  the  main 
river  of  Florida.  This  new  settlement  was  no  better  man 
aged  than  the  former.  Mutiny  ensued  there  also,  and  the 
rebellious  party  extorting  a  license  from  Laudonniere,  took 
the  vessels  and  proceeded  on  a  piratical  cruise  against  the 
Spanish  ships  and  seaside  settlements.  Those  who  remained 
would  have  perished  but  for  aid  furnished  by  Sir  John 
Hawkins,  who,  himself  cruising  against  the  Spaniards,  hap 
pened  to  enter  the  river  on  the  3d  of  August.  Even  after 
this  aid  Laudonniere  was  on  the  point  of  abandoning  Florida 
when  Ribault  arrived  with  a  large  force  in  seven  vessels. 

The  activity  of  Meuendez's  preparations  for  the  occupation 
of  Florida  had  become  known  in  France,  and  Admiral  Co 
ligny  determined  to  maintain  his  settlement  and  resist  the 
Spaniards.  For  this  purpose  he  had  equipped  the  expedition 
under  Ribault,  who  sailed  from  Dieppe,  in  France,  on  the  26th 
of  May,  as  Menendez  did  from  Spain  on  the  29th  of  June, 
1565. 

Each  commander  used  all  the  resources  of  seamanship  to 


PRIESTS  WITH  MENENDEZ.  135 

outstrip  his  antagonist,  Menendez  to  strike  a  decisive  blow 
before  Hibault  could  arrive,  the  French  captain  to  reinforce 
Caroline  so  as  to  meet  any  Spanish  attack. 

Menendez  sailed  from  Cadiz  with  the  San  Pelayo,  a 
royal  vessel,  and  nineteen  others  carrying  more  than  fifteen 
hundred  persons,  including  mechanics  of  all  kinds.  Four 
secular  priests  with  proper  faculties  sailed  on  the  San  Pe 
layo.  Other  vessels  followed,  one  from  Cadiz,  and  three 
from  Aviles  and  Gijon  under  Stephen  de  las  Alas,  who  sailed 
May  25th  with  257  more  persons,  including  eleven  Francis 
can  Fathers,  and  one  lay  brother,  a  Father  of  the  Merceda- 
rian  order,  one  cleric,  and  eight  Jesuit  Fathers.1  Including 
smaller  vessels  with  supplies,  the  whole  number  that  em 
barked  for  Florida  was  2,646,  Menendez  having  expended  a 
million  ducats  in  fourteen  months.  This  great  armament 
was  scattered  by  storms,  and  Menendez  reached  Porto  Rico 
with  less  than  one-third  his  force  in  men  and  vessels.  Learning 
there  that  Ribault  had  outsailed  him,  and  captured  a  Spanish 
vessel  in  the  AVest  Indies,  thus  opening  hostilities,  Menen 
dez  held  a  council  of  war,  in  which  it  was  decided  to  proceed 
and  attack  the  French  at  once.  He  reached  the  coast  of 
Florida  on  the  28th  of  August,  the  feast  of  St.  Augustine,  and 
the  Te  Deum  was  chanted  with  great  solemnity.  Giving  the 
name  of  the  Bishop  of  Hippo  to  a  harbor  which  he  discovered, 
Menendez  sailed  on  to  discover  the  French  fort.  Coming 
upon  Ribault's  vessels  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John's,  he  an 
nounced  his  determination  to  put  them  all  to  death.  Ko 
quarter  at  that  time  was  shown  to  the  Spaniards  on  sea  or 
laud  by  the  French  and  English  cruisers ;  the  Spanish  sol 
diers  in  the  army  of  the  league  in  France ;  those  who  es 
caped  from  the  wreck  of  the  Armada  on  the  coast  of  Ireland, 

1  Barcia,  p.  691. 


136  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

all  were  put  to  death  without  mercy  by  the  English,  unless 
they  were  rich  enough  to  ransom  their  lives.  Only  a  few 
years  before  Jacques  Sorie,  a  French  commander,  had  burned 
Havana  and  hung  his  prisoners  amid  the  smoking  ruins. 
The  terms  announced  by  Menendez  to  the  French  were  pre 
cisely  those  given  to  the  Spaniards  by  French  and  English.1 

After  an  ineffectual  pursuit  of  the  French  vessels,  Me 
nendez  sailed  down  the  coast  to  the  harbor  of  Saint  Augus 
tine,  where  he  had  determined  to  plant  his  settlement.  His 
resolution  was  to  fortify  his  position  there  and  hold  out  till 
the  rest  of  his  fleet  arrived. 

Entering  the  harbor  on  the  6th  of  September,  he  sent  three 
companies  of  soldiers  ashore  under  two  captains,  who  were 
to  select  a  site  and  begin  a  fort.  A  cacique  gave  the  new 
comers  a  large  cabin  near  the  seashore,  and  around  it  the 
Spanish  officers  traced  the  outline  of  a  fort ;  the  soldiers,  with 
their  hands  and  anything  they  could  fashion  into  an  imple 
ment,  digging  the  ditches  and  throwing  up  the  ramparts. 
The  next  day,  September  8, 1565,  Menendez  landed  amid  the 

thunder  of  artillery 
and  the  blast  of 
trumpets,  the  ban 
ners  of  Castile  and 
Arragon  unfurled. 
The  priest,  Men- 
doza  Graiales,  who 

AUTOGRAPH    OF    REV.     MARTIN    FRANCISCO    DE 

MENDOZA    GRAJALES,   FIRST    PARISH    PRIEST       ^^  landed  tllG  prC- 
OF   ST.  AUGUSTINE. 


f  -s    r 

\c>  r 

•       {^^ 

""""*"*••' 


voug 

cross  and   pro 
ceeded  to  meet  him,  followed  by  the  soldiers,  chanting  the  Te 

1  No  Spaniard  was  found  among  Ribault's  men,  so  that  we  must  infer 
that  those  taken  on  the  vessel  he  captured  in  the  West  Indies  were  put 
to  death. 


FIRST  MASS  AT  ST.  AUGUSTINE. 


137 


8AINT    AUGUSTINE     AND     ITS    ENVIRONS.        FROM    A    SPANISH    PLAN,    BY 
JOHN   JOSEPH   ELIXIO   DE   LA   PUENTE,    FEBRUARY   16,  1771. 


(12)  "Spot  called  Nombre  de  Dios,  and  is  the  same  where  the  first  mass 
was  said,  September  8,  1565,  when  the  Spaniards  went  with  the  Adelau- 
tado  Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles  to  conquer  these  provinces,  and  since 
then  an  Indian  town  has  been  formed  there,  with  a  chapel,  in  which  was 
placed  the  statue  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Leche.  The  town  and  chapel 
subsisted  till  March  20, 1728,  when,  in  consequence  of  the  British  forces 
theu  obtaining  possession  of  it  (they  were  then  endeavoring  to  take  the 
said  fortress  by  surprise),  the  Spanish  governor  ordered  it  to  be  demol 
ished." 

(15)  "  The  chapel  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Leche,  and  lands  occupied 
by  the  Indians,  who  subsequently  established  their  town  there." 

(19)  "  Chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe,  with  the  territory  occupied 
by  the  Indians  of  their  town  called  Tolomato." 

(34)  "  Spot  where  there  was  a  fort  and  Indian  town,  which  was  called 
'  Nombre  de  Dios  Chiquito,'  from  the  second  mass  having  been  said  there, 
at  the  time  of  the  conquest  by  the  said  Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles." 

(36)  "  Spot  called  Casapullas,  where  there  was  another  Indian  town." 
(17)  Fort. 

(22)  City  Wall. 

(23)  City  of  St.  Augustine. 

(24)  Indian  Church  of  La  Punta. 

(26)  San  Sebastian  River. 

(27)  Potolaca.     Fort  and  Indian  Church. 

(28)  Palica.     Fort  and  Indian  Church. 


138  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Deum.  Menendez  advanced  to  the  cross,  which  he  kissed  on 
bended  knee,  as  did  all  who  followed  him.'  The  solemn  mass 
of  Our  Lady  was  then  offered  at  a  spot,  the  memory  of  which 
has  been  preserved  on  Spanish  maps.  It  received  the  name  of 
Nombre  de  Dios,  as  there  the  name  of  God  was  first  invoked 
by  the  awful  sacrifice  of  the  New  Law.  There  in  time  the 
piety  of  the  faithful  erected  the  primitive  hermitage  or 
shrine  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Leche.2  Thus  began  the  city 
of  St.  Augustine,  and  thus  began  the  permanent  service  of 
the  Catholic  Church  in  that  oldest  city  of  the  United  States, 
maintained  now  with  but  brief  interruption  for  more  than 
three  hundred  years.  The  name  of  the  celebrant  is  not  stated, 
and  we  know  that  besides  Grajales  there  was  present  Doctor 
Solis  de  Meras,  brother-in-law  of  Menendez. 

The  work  of  landing  the  supplies  for  the  settlers,  and  arms 
and  munitions  for  the  soldiers  went  steadily  on,  directed  by 
Menendez  himself.  His  vessels  could  not  cross  the  bar  to 
enter  the  harbor,  and  were  exposed  to  attack.  In  fact  his 
boats  while  landing  the  supplies  were  nearly  captured  by  the 
French,  who  suddenly  appeared.  The  Spaniards  ascribed 
their  escape  to  Our  Lady  of  Consolation  at  Utrera,  whom 
they  invoked  in  their  sore  strait.  As  soon  as  all  needed  by 
his  settlement  was  disembarked,  Menendez  sent  off  his  ves 
sels  and  prepared  to  act  on  the  defensive.  His  force  con 
sisted  of  six  hundred  men  at  arms  ;  the  French  were  superior 
in  numbers,  and  had  their  ships.  But  while  the  French 
vessels  hovered  around  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  St. 
Augustine,  wasting  their  opportunity  to  strike  a  decisive 


'Francisco  Lopez  de  Mendoza  Grajales,  "Memoria,"  Sept.  29,  1565, 
MS. 

5  It  was  north  of  the  present  Fort  Marion,  and  further  from  it  than  the 
second  shrine  of  N.  8.  de  la  Leche.  The  offering  of  the  mass  is  not  men 
tioned  by  Mendoza,  but  is  given  by  Barcia,  p.  76. 


CHAPEL  AT  SAN  MATHEO.  139 

blow,  the  practiced  eye  of  Menendez,  trained  by  long  experi 
ence  to  know  the  changes  of  tropical  weather5  discerned  a 
coming  norther.  The  French  fleet  must  be  driven  south 
ward  before  it,  far  from  their  fort.  In  an  instant  he  resolved 
to  assume  the  offensive,  to  march  on  Fort  Caroline,  which  he 
believed  to  be  but  fifteen  miles  distant,  capture  it,  and  leave 
the  French  without  a  foothold  on  the  coast.  A  mass  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  offered,  and  a  council  convened.  Most  of 
the  officers  opposed  his  plan  as  rash  ;  the  two  priests  begged 
him  not  to  leave  his  fort  with  helpless  women  and  children 
exposed  to  the  French  or  Indian  foes. 

Selecting  nearly  all  his  soldiers  able  to  march,  Menendez 
set  out  on  the  16th  after  hearing  mass  with  his  troops,  leav 
ing  the  settlers  and  the  feeble  garrison  of  the  fort  in  deep 
anxiety  and  fear.  Gathering  around  their  altar  as  days  went 
on,  they  sought  the  protection  of  heaven  against  dangers  that 
menaced  them  from  the  sea  and  from  the  land.  Faint-hearted 
deserters  from  the  expedition  came  back  announcing  that 
Menendez  was  marching  to  certain  destruction.  Every  hour 
increased  the  possibility  of  a  return  of  the  French  ships,  con 
scious,  perhaps,  of  their  defenceless  state. 

Meanwhile  Menendez  had  pushed  on  amid  the  storm, 
through  swamps  and  flooded  lands,  his  march  impeded  by  the 
tropic  vegetation.  At  daybreak  on  the  21st  he  dashed  into 
Fort  Caroline,  putting  all  to  the  sword,  sparing  only  the 
women,  and  boys  under  fifteen.  It  was  not  a  battle  ;  it  was 
a  mere  slaughter  ;  for  Laudonniere  seems  to  have  made  no 
preparation  for  defence. 

The  next  day  mass  was  celebrated  in  the  captured  fort, 
which  received  the  name  of  San  Matheo — its  capture  having 
taken  place  on  the  feast  of  the  apostle  St.  Matthew.  Then 
two  crosses  were  set  up  on  eminences,  and  a  site  marked  out 


140  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

for  a  chapel  to  be  built  of  wood  prepared  by  the  French  for 
a  vessel.1 

The  anxiety  at  St.  Augustine  was  relieved  on  the  24th  by 
the  approach  of  a  soldier  announcing  the  victory.  Mendoza, 
arrayed  in  his  best  cassock  and  surplice,  went  to  meet  the 
general  with  four  ecclesiastics  chanting  the  Te  Deum,  in 
which  Menendez  and  the  soldiers  who  accompanied  him 
joined  after  kneeling  to  kiss  the  cross. 

When  some  days  afterwards  the  shipwrecked  Frenchmen 
of  Ribault's  force  approached  St.  Augustine,  Mendoza  ac 
companied  Menendez  by  his  command.  The  Spanish  general 
resolved  to  put  all  the  unfortunate  men  to  death ;  but  Men 
doza  writes :  "As  I  was  a  priest,  and  had  the  bowels  of  a 
man,  I  asked  him  to  grant  me  a  favor,  and  it  was  that  those 
who  should  prove  to  be  Christian  should  not  die,  and  so  he 
granted.  Examination  made,  we  found  ten  or  twelve,  and 
these  we  brought  with  us." 2 

Menendez,  thus  left  in  full  possession  of  Florida,  planned 
the  occupation  of  Port  Royal,  the  Chesapeake,  and  Tampa 
Bay.  Besides  strengthening  St.  Augustine  and  San  Matheo, 
he  visited  Port  Royal  in  April,  1566,  and  erected  a  stockade 
fort,  which  he  named  San  Felipe,  and  assigned  the  command 
to  Stephen  de  las  Alas.3  Menendez,  in  his  asiento  with  the 

1  Barcia,  who  followed  the  manuscript  of  Don  Solis  de  Meras,  mentions 
the  mass  and  projected  chapel,  so  that  probably  that  priest  accompanied 
Menendez  on  his  march. 

-  The  terrible  slaughter  of  shipwrecked  men  by  Menendez  aroused 
great  indignation  in  France,  and  appeals  were  made  to  the  king  to  avenge 
it.  Only  by  perverting  historical  truth,  however,  can  it  be  made  a  soli 
tary  or  unusual  case.  The  French  never  gave  quarter  to  the  Spaniards, 
and  only  a  few  years  before,  Menendez  had  seen  the  burning  ruins  of 
Havana  strewn  with  the  corpses  of  its  butchered  inhabitants,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  cruisers  from  Caroline  and  Ribault  put 
to  death  the  Spaniards  whom  they  captured. 

3  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  108. 


facretdclcl, 


iJ£i  Christiana  ocnswf  A- 
cld.  Jti>tf$ff&  8  JStvtcm  \jvis, 


DEATH  OP  FATHER  PETER  MARTINEZ,   S.J 

FROM  TANNER,  "  SOCIETAS  MILITANS,"   1675. 


FIRST  VICAR  AT  ST.  AUGUSTINE.  141 

king,  March  20,  1565,  bound  himself  to  bring  out  ten  or 
twelve  religious  of  some  order,  men  of  exemplary  life,  and 
four  Jesuits.  He  was  himself  zealous,  and  alive  to  the  ne 
cessity  of  converting  the  Indians  to  Christianity,  and  at  vari 
ous  points  erected  crosses,  and  left  Spaniards,  men  of  probity, 
who  were  daily  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  to  recite  a  short 
abridgment  of  Christian  doctrine,  to  familiarize  the  natives 

O  7 

with  the  devotions  of  Catholics.  He  earnestly  appealed  to 
the  Society  of  Jesus  for  missionaries  to  labor  for  their  con 
version. 

Of  the  first  church  at  St.  Augustine  and  the  chapels  at  San 
Matheo  and  San  Felipe  we  have  no  distinct  accounts  ;  but  in 
the  mutinies  and  troubles  incident  to  a  new  settlement,  we 
find  the  Vicar  Lopez  de  Mendoza  interceding  for  mutineers 
and  saving  their  lives.  He  was  an  active  and  zealous  priest 
and  seems  to  have  labored  from  Cannaveral  to  the  St.  John's 
River.  He  was  a  native  of  Xerez  de  la  Frontera,  and  was 
named  by  Menendez,  with  the  consent  of  the  Bishop  of  San 
tiago  de  Cuba,  under  the  Royal  Patronage,  granted  to  the 
Spanish  monarchs  by  Pope  Julius  II.,1  Vicar  and  Superior  at 
St.  Augustine  and  San  Matheo,  having  four  clergymen  under 
him,  one  of  whom  soon  proved  to  be  most  unworthy.11 

In  the  vessels  that  arrived  in  1566  there  came  some  Do 
minican  Fathers,  and  Menendez  sent  two  of  them  with  Don 
Luis  Velasco,  the  brother  of  the  chieftain  of  Axacan,  to  the 
Chesapeake,  with  a  captain  and  thirty  soldiers  for  their  pro 
tection.  Menendez  deemed  it  necessary  to  occupy  the  bay 

1  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  173.     See  Bull,  "  Universalis  Ec- 
clesise  Regimini,"  July  28, 1538,  in  Ribadaneyra,  "  Manual,  6  Compendio 
del  Regio  Patronato,"  pp.  408-15.    Hernaez,  "  Coleccion  de  Bulas,"  Brus 
sels,  1879,  L,  pp.  24-25. 

2  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  116  ;  Letter  of  Vicar  Mendoza, 
December  19,  1569. 


142  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

as  the  northern  bulwark  of  the'  Spanish  power.  His  inten 
tion  was,  however,  baffled,  for  the  captain,  pretending  to 
have  been  prevented  by  storms,  made  his  way  to  Seville.1 

The  Spanish  commander,  as  we  have  seen,  had  labored  to 
give  the  Indians  some  ideas  of  Christianity.  Philip  II.  had 
already  requested  St.  Francis  Borgia,  General  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  to  send  twenty-four  of  his  religious  to  found  a  mis 
sion  in  Florida.  Unable  to  assign  so  many  at  once,  the  Saint 
selected  for  the  purpose  Father  Peter  Martinez,  a  native  of 
Celda,  in  the  diocese  of  Saragosa  ;  Father  John  Eogel,  of 
Pamplona,  and  Brother  Francis  de  Yillareal.  These  pioneers 
sailed  from  San  Lucar  in  a  Flemish  vessel,  but  near  the  Flor 
ida  coast  it  separated  from  the  fleet  to  which  it  belonged. 


FAC-SIMTLE  OF  SIGNATTJKE  OF  FATHEK  JOHN  KOGEL. 

Ignorant  of  his  position  the  captain  sent  a  boat  ashore,  in 
which  Father  Martinez  embarked  to  reassure  the  sailors. 
While  they  were  on  land  a  storm  drove  the  vessel  off,  and  it 
eventually  put  in  at  Havana  ;  meanwhile  the  missionary  and 
his  party,  endeavoring  to  reach  the  Spanish  port,  were  as 
sailed  by  Indians,  who  dragged  Father  Martinez  from  the 
boat  and  put  him  to  death  on  the  island  of  Tacatacuru,  now 
Cumberland,  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  St.  John's  Eivcr.2 

1  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  119,  123;  Letter  of  Menendez 
to  the  king.  The  first  chapel  was  apparently  at  Nombre  de  Dios  Chi- 
quite,  where  the  city  was  first  begun.  It  was  removed  before  1570  to 
its  present  position.  "  Discurso  sobre  la  poblacion  de  la  Costa  de  la 
Florida,"  MS.  See  plan  of  De  la  Puente,  No.  34. 

-  Tanner,  "  Societas  Jesu  usque  ad  Sanguinis  et  Vitae  Prof  usionem  Mili- 
tans,"  Prague,  1675,  pp.  443-5;  Barcia,  "Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  120. 


JESUIT  MISSIONS.  143 

With  this  good  missionary  were  lost  Bulls  and  Faculties  of 
St.  Pius  Y.  regarding  the  mission.1  Father  Eogel  and  his 
companion,  at  the  request  of  Menendez,  remained  in  Havana 
to  study  the  language  of  the  Indians  of  Southern  Florida. 
In  March,  156V,  they  proceeded  with  Menendez  to  the  prov 
ince  of  Carlos,  where  the  Spaniards  had  erected  a  block 
house.  The  governor  ordered  another  house  to  be  put  up 
for  Dona  Antonia,  the  converted  sister  of  the  chief,  and  a 
chapel  in  which  Father  Kogel  might  offer  the  holy  sacrifice. 
This  third  Catholic  chapel  in  Florida  was,  on  Charlotte  Har 
bor,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  peninsula.  Father  Rogel 
immediately  began  a  series  of  instructions  to  the  soldiers, 
who  had  long  been  deprived  of  the  sacraments.  He  re 
mained  as  chaplain  of  the  post  and  missionary  to  the  Indians 
til'l  Menendez  arrived  from  Spain  in  1568,  bringing  ten  mis 
sionaries  chosen  by  St.  Francis  Borgia.  They  were  Father 
John  Baptist  Segura,  a  native  of  Toledo,  who  had  been  ap 
pointed  Vice-Provincial  of  Florida ;  Fathers  Gonzalo  del 
Alamo,  Antonio  Sedeno,  and  Juan  de  la  Carrera,  with  several 
brothers,  Dominic  Augustine  Baez,  John  Baptist  Mendez, 
Gabriel  Solis,  Peter  Euiz,  John  Salcedo,  Christopher  Re- 
dondo,  and  Peter  de  Linares.  An  Indian  school  was  estab- 


1  Barcia,  p.  121  ;  Letter  of  Don  Pedro  Menendez,  October  16,  1566,  in 
Alcazar,  "  Chrono-IIistoria  de  la  Provincia  de  Toledo";  translated  by 
D.  G.  Brinton,  in  Historical  Magazine,  October,  1861,  pp.  292-4.  The 
place  where  Father  Martinez  died  was  on  the  island  of  Tacatacuru. 
This  was  an  island  six  leagues  long,  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John, 
evidently  to  the  north,  as  the  French  occupied  it  in  operating  against 
Fort  Sail  Mateo.  The  Spaniards  erected  Fort  Saa  Pedro  on  it,  and  the 
island  took  that  name,  which  Oglethorpe  changed  to  Cumberland.  "Col. 
deDoc.  Ined.,"13,pp.  307-8;  Stevens,  "  Georgia, "i.,  135.  The  holy  Pope, 
Saint  Pius  V.,  was  deeply  interested  in  the  conversion  and  kind  treat 
ment  of  the  Indians,  which  he  constantly  urged.  See  letters  in  Hernaez, 
i.,  pp.  104-108  ;  letter  to  Menendez,  Barcia,  an.  1569. 


144  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

lislied  in  Havana  under  Father  Kogel  and  Brother  Villareal, 
to  receive  boys  sent  from  the  province  of  Carlos. 

Father  Segura  and  the  others,  after  proclaiming  the  Jubilee 
in  St.  Augustine,  proceeded  to  Carlos,  and  also  began  missions 
in  the  provinces  of  Tocobaga  and  Tequesta,  besides  attending 
the  Spanish  posts ;  Father  Sedefio  with  Brother  Baez  finally 
taking  up  his  abode  in  Guale,  now  Amelia  Island,  and  he 
may  be  regarded  as  the  pioneer  priest  of  Georgia.  Brother 
Baez  applied  himself  so  zealously  to  the  language  of  the  In 
dians  that  in  time  he  drew  up  a  grammar  and  prepared  a 
catechism  for  the  instruction  of  the  neophytes.1 

The  next  year  (1569)  Father  Kogel  went  with  some  of  his 
fellow  religious  to  the  post  of  Santa  Helena,  on  Port  Royal 
harbor,  thus  becoming  the  first  resident  priest  in  the  present 
territory  of  South  Carolina.  After  ministering  to  the  Spanish 
soldiers  and  settlers,  he  entered  the  Indian  town  of  Orista, 
twelve  leagues  from  the  post,  which  excited  great  hopes,  as 
the  natives  seemed  more  civilized  and  docile  than  those  of 
Carlos.  Here  a  church  was  erected,  and  a  house  for  him  and 
three  young  men  whom  he  took  as  assistants.  At  the  end  of 
six  months,  by  diligent  study,  he  acquired  the  language  suffi 
ciently  to  instruct  the  Indians  in  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Unity  and  Omnipotence  of  God,  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  a  state  of  rewards  and  punishment.  But  though 
they  listened  at  first,  his  flock  soon  scattered.  Father 
Sedefio  retained  his  auditors  only  while  the  store  of  Indian 
corn  lasted,  which  the  Bishop  of  Santiago  de  Cuba,  Don  Juan 
del  Castillo,  had  given  him  to  win  the  good-will  of  the  peo 
ple.  Brother  Baez  died  of  malarial  fever  amid  his  labors,  and 
Father  Sedefio  returned  to  Santa  Helena ;  but  at  the  close  of 
a  year  the  labors  of  Fathers  Segura,  Sedefio,  and  Alamo,  and 

1  Barcia,  p.  138  ;  Tanner,  "  Societas  Militans,"  p.  447. 


a  * . 

^Si*^^ 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  JOHN  BAPTIST  DE  SEGURA,   S.J..  AND  HIS  COMPANIONS 

FROM  TANNER,  "  SOCIKTAS  MILITANS,"   1675. 


LETTER  OF  ST.  PIUS  V.  145 

Brother  Villareal,  bad  resulted  in  the  baptism  of  seven,  four 
children  and  three  adults,  at  the  point  of  death. 

Father  Kogel  foimd  as  little  to  console  him  at  Orista,  for 
though  he  induced  the  Indians  to  build  houses  and  plant  the 
Indian  corn  which  he  distributed  among  them,  their  fickle 
nature  soon  wearied  of  the  restraint,  and  nearly  all  abandoned 
the  rising  village.  The  few  who  remained  rose  against  him 
when  he  warned  them  to  avoid  the  snares  and  deceits  of  the 
devil,  for  they  declared  him  to  be  the  best  thing  in  the 
world,  as  he  made  men  brave.  Other  tribes  which  the  mis 
sionary  visited  gave  him  no  encouragement;  and  in  July, 
1570,  he  demolished  his  house  and  chapel,  and  promising  the 
Indians  to  return  as  soon  as  they  were  willing  to  hear  him, 
made  his  way,  sad  and  dispirited,  to  Santa  Helena,  where 
Father  Alamo  had  remained.  There  he  labored  among  the 
Spaniards  for  a  time,  witnessing  the  sufferings  for  want  of 
food,  men  reduced  by  hunger  till  unfit  to  labor.1  To  obtain 
relief  he  proceeded  to  Havana  with  Father  Sedeno,  taking 
Indian  boys  from  various  tribes  to  the  seminary. 

Menendez,  in  Spain,  had  received  the  following  letter  from 
Saint  Pius  Y.,  then  Pope : 

UTO  OUE  BELOVED  SON  AND  NOBLE  LORD  PEDEO  MENENDEZ 
DE  AVILES,  VICEROY  IN  THE  PROVINCE  OF  FLORIDA  IN  TUB 
PARTS  OF  INDIA: 

"  Beloved  Son  and  noble  Sir — 

"  Health,  grace,  and  the  blessing  of  our  Lord  be  with  you. 
Amen. 

"  We  rejoice  greatly  to  hear  that  our  dear  and  beloved  son 
in  Christ,  Philip,  Catholic  King,  has  named  and  appointed 

1  Letter  of  Father  Kogel  to  Juan  de  Hinystrosa,  Dec.  2, 1569,  MS.    Let 
ter  of  same  to  Menendez,  Dec.  9,  1570,  in  Alcazar,  "  Chrono-Historia 
de  la  Compania  de  Jesus  en  la  Provincia  de  Toledo,"  Dec.  iii.:  Afio  viii.; 
translated  by  D.  G.  Brinton  in  Histor.  Magazine,  1861   p.  327 
10 


146  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

you  Governor  of  Florida,  creating  you  adelantado  thereof ; 
for  we  hear  such  an  account  of  your  person,  and  so  full  and 
satisfactory  a  report  of  your  virtue  and  nobility,  that  we  be 
lieve,  without  hesitation,  that  you  will  not  only  faithfully, 
diligently,  and  carefully  perform  the  orders  and  instructions 
given  you  by  so  Catholic  a  king,  but  trust  also  that  you,  by 
your  discretion  and  habit,  will  do  all  to  effect  the  increase 
of  our  holy  Catholic  faith,  and  gain  more  souls  to  God.  I 
am  well  aware,  as  you  know,  that  it  is  necessary  to  govern 
these  Indians  with  good  sense  and  discretion ;  that  those  who 
are  weak  in  the  faith,  from  being  newly  converted,  be  con 
firmed  and  strengthened  ;  and  idolaters  be  converted,  and  re 
ceive  the  faith  of  Christ,  that  the  former  may  praise  God, 
knowing  the  benefit  of  his  divine  mercy,  and  the  latter,  still 
infidels,  may,  by  the  example  and  model  of  those  now  out  of 
blindness,  be  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth :  but  noth 
ing  is  more  important,  in  the  conversion  of  these  Indians  and 
idolaters,  than  to  endeavor  by  all  means  to  prevent  scandal 
being  given  by  the  vices  and  immoralities  of  such  as  go  to 
those  western  parts.  This  is  the  key  of  this  holy  work,  in 
which  is  included  the  whole  essence  of  your  charge. 

"  You  see,  noble  sir,  without  my  alluding  to  it,  how  great 
an  opportunity  is  offered  you,  in  furthering  and  aiding  this 
cause,  from  which  result — 1st,  Serving  the  Almighty ;  2d, 
Increasing  the  name  of  your  king,  who  will  be  esteemed  by 
men,  loved  and  rewarded  by  God. 

"  Giving  you,  then,  our  paternal  and  apostolical  blessing, 
we  beg  and  charge  you  to  give  full  faith  and  credit  to  our 
brother,  the  Archbishop  of  Rossano,  who,  in  our  name,  will 
explain  our  desire  more  at  length. 

"  Given  at  Rome,  with  the  fisherman's  ring,  on  the  18th 
day  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Redemption,  1569,  the 
third  of  our  pontificate." 


THE  MISSION  IN  VIRGINIA.  147 

Letters  from  St.  Francis  Borgia  urged  the  missionaries  to 
persevere  in  the  barren  fields,  and  Sedeno  embarked  with  a 
party  of  soldiers  going  to  Santa  Helena.  Sickness  broke  out, 
and  the  missionary  with  his  comrade,  Brother  Yillareal,  were 
both  stricken  down.  The  disease  proved  so  obstinate  that 
they  were  put  on  a  vessel  for  Havana,  but  it  was  wrecked  on 
the  coast,  and  only  after  great  privations  and  suffering  did 
the  invalids  reach  St.  Augustine. 

C5 

Menendez  still  clung  to  the  idea  of  occupying  the  Chesa 
peake,  and  coming  from  Spain  brought  the  Indian  Don  Luis 
de  Yelasco,  and  some  additional  Jesuit  missionaries,  Father 
Louis  de  Quiros  and  Brothers  Gabriel  Gomez  and  Sancho  de 
Zevallos.  After  he  reached  Santa  Helena  in  November, 
15TO,  Father  Segura,  the  Yice-Provincial,  resolved  to  go  in 
person  to  found  the  new  mission,  relying  on  the  promise  of 
protection  of  the  Indian  Yelasco.  He  selected  as  his  com 
panion  Father  Louis  de  Quiros,  and  Brothers  Solis,  Mendez, 
Kedondo,  Linares,  Gabriel  Gomez,  and  Sancho  Zevallos.1 
Every  preparation  was  made  for  a  permanent  mission ;  the 
priests  carried  vestments,  books,  and  chapel  furniture,  neces 
sary  implements,  provisions  for  the  winter.  Four  Indian 
boys,  who  had  for  some  time  been  under  instruction,  accom 
panied  the  missionaries.  Don  Luis  Yelasco  gave  every  as 
surance  as  to  the  personal  safety  of  the  missioners,  declaring 
that  they  should  want  nothing,  as  he  would  aid  them  in 
everything.  They  sailed  from  Santa  Helena,  August  5,  1570, 
and  crept  slowly  up  the  coast  to  the  entrance  of  St.  Mary's 
Bay.  Passing  through  the  capes  they  ascended  the  Potomac, 
and  on  the  10th  of  September  reached  their  destination. 

1  There  is  a  little  obscurity  as  to  these.  F.  Rogel's  letter  from  Havana, 
December  9,  1570,  says  they  were  "  nine  in  number,  five  of  the  Society 
and  four  youths  who  have  been  instructed";  but  the  names  in  Barcia 
and  Tanner  give  two  priests  and  seven  brothers. 


148  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Father  Quiros,  in  a  letter  written  from  this  spot  two  days 
after,  says  :  "  We  found  the  country  of  Don  Louis  in  a  very 
different  condition  from  what  we  anticipated,  not  because  he 
misrepresented  in  his  account  of  it,  but  because  our  Lord  has 
chastised  it  with  six  years  sterility  and  death,  which  has  left  it 
very  thinly  inhabited  compared  to  what  it  used  to  be,  many 
of  the  people  having  died  and  others  removed  to  other  lands 
to  appease  their  hunger."  The  Indians  had  no  corn  ;  the 
berries  and  roots  they  usually  gathered  had  failed,  and  the 
winters  had  been  severe.  They  manifested,  however,  great 
joy  at  the  return  of  Don  Louis,  and  earnestly  besought  the 
missionaries  to  stay  ;  the  chief,  who  lived  seven  or  eight 
leagues  off,  begging  them  to  go  to  his  child  who  was  at  the 
point  of  death.  Father  Segura  sent  one  of  the  party  to 

baptize  it.  and 
then  held  coun- 
cil  as  to  their 
course.  The 
Potomac  was 

FAC-8IMILE  OF  SIGNATURES  OF  FATHERS  QUIROS  AND     SUppoSec]  to 
SEGURA.        FROM     THEIR     LETTER     WRITTEN     IN 
VIRGINIA  SEPT.    12,    1570.  rlSG  . m    mOUI1- 

tains     beyond 

which  lay  the  Pacific,  and  it  was  important  to  learn  the  real 
topography  of  the  country.  The  field  for  preaching  the 
gospel  seemed  a  favorable  one,  and  they  resolved  to  face  all 
hardships,  depending  on  prompt  relief  from  their  country 
men.  Yet  so  poorly  had  the  vessel  been  fitted  with  stores 
that  on  the  voyage  the  crew  used  two  of  four  barrels  of 
ship's  biscuit  intended  for  the  winter  supply  of  the  mission 
aries. 

Father  Segura  joined  Father  Quiros  in  his  letter,  urging  in 
the  strongest  terms  the  importance  and  necessity  of  sending 
them  further  supplies  with  all  possible  expedition.  For  the 


MISSIONARIES  PUT  TO  DEATH.  149 

spring  too  they  asked  seed  corn  to  induce  the  Indians  to 
plant  crops  for  the  year. 

The  vessel  left  them  on  the  12th,  the  captain  having 
agreed  to  come  on  his  return  to  the  mouth  of  a  river  they 
had  passed  on  the  way,  which  ran  near  the  one  they  ascended, 
and  on  which  really  the  tribe  of  Don  Luis  lived.  This  was 
evidently  the  Eappahannock.  At  the  mouth  a  fire  by  night 
or  smoke  by  day  was  to  be  answered  by  a  letter  from  the 
vessel. 

After  the  departure  of  the  vessel  the  Jesuit  mission  party 
set  out  for  their  place  of  settlement,  they  and  the  Indians 
carrying  their  baggage  a  distance  of  two  leagues  to  the  other 
river,  where  they  embarked  in  wretched  canoes.1  Don  Louis 
does  not  seem  to  have  guided  them  to  his  brothers  village, 
but  to  have  advised  them  to  fix  their  residence  at  some  dis 
tance.  They  erected  a  hut  of  logs  and  branches,  and  pre 
pared  to  winter  there,  making  it  their  chapel  and  home. 
Louis  remained  with  them  for  a  time  as  their  interpreter  and 
teacher,  but  as  weeks  wore  on  the  hope  of  relief  from  Santa 
Helena  faded.  Their  countrymen  had  abandoned  them,  and 
as  their  provisions  failed  they  sought  to  sustain  life  by  roots 
and  herbs.  Louis  left  them  and  retired  to  the  village  of  his 
brother,  a  league  and  a  half  distant.  In  February  the  supe 
rior  sent  Father  Quiros  with  Solis  and  Mendez  to  urge  Ve- 
lasco  to  return,  but  he  put  them  off  with  frivolous  excuses, 
and  finally,  on  the  14th,  treacherously  attacked  them  with  a 
party  of  Indians,  slaying  them  by  a  shower  of  arrows.  Four 
days  after  the  chief  with  Louis  and  the  warriors  invested  the 
mission  chapel,  and  demanded  all  the  axes  and  knives  of  the 
party.  Father  Segura  saw  the  cassock  of  Father  Quiros  and 


1  Letter  of  Father  Quiros,  September  12,  1570,  with  addition  by  Father 
Segura,  and  supplement  by  Quiros. 


150  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

knew  that  the  end  had  come.  He  prepared  his  companions 
for  death,  and  all  soon  fell  beneath  the  blows  of  the  Indians 
dealt  with  the  implements  they  had  surrendered. 

One  only  of  the  party,  Alonso,  an  Indian  boy,  escaped, 
having  been  concealed  by  a  friendly  native.1 

When  late  in  the  spring  Brother  Vincent  Gonzalez  induced 
a  Spanish  pilot  to  sail  to  Axacan,  no  tidings  of  the  Fathers 
could  be  obtained,  but  the  conduct  of  the  Indians  inspired  the 
worst  fears.  Menendez,  who  had  gone  to  Spain  after  hear 
ing  of  Segura's  landing  in  Axacan,  received  on  his  return  the 
report  of  Gonzalez.  He  sailed  to  the  Chesapeake,  and  seized 
several  of  the  Indians,  demanding  the  surrender  of  Don 
Luis.  Alonso  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Spaniards,  and  gave 
a  full  account  of  the  death  of  the  missionaries.  Louis  escaped, 
but  eight  of  those  who  were  proved  to  have  been  active  in 
murdering  the  missionaries  were  hung  by  Menendez.  They 
were,  however,  prepared  for  death  and  baptized  by  Father 
Rogel,  who  had  come  on  the  vessel,  and  who  bore  away  as  a 
relic  of  his  martyred  brethren  a  crucifix  to  which  a  miracle 
was  ascribed." 

Father  Segura  had  directed  Fathers  Eogel  and  Sedeno  to 
remain  at  the  Spanish  posts,  but  they  were  in  such  distress 
and  the  Indians  so  hostile  that  they  retired  to  Havana. 

St.  Francis  Borgia,  on  learning  the  death  of  Father  Segura 
and  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  any  permanent  Spanish  set 
tlement  in  Florida,  recalled  the  members  of  the  Society,  who 
thereupon  proceeded  to  Mexico  and  founded  a  flourishing 
province.  In  fact  the  Spanish  settlements,  in  spite  of  all 
Menendez's  exertions  and  outlay,  were  on  the  brink  of  ruin. 


1  Barcia,    "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  142-146  ;    Tanner,   "  Societas 
Military,"  pp.  447^51. 

2  Rogel,  Letter  of  December  9,  1570. 


ST.  AUGUSTINE  DESTROYED.  151 

A  report  on  their  condition  soon  after  says  the  few  people 
there  were  losing  their  faith  and  piety,  as  for  a  considerable 
time  there  was  no  priest  or  friar  at  St.  Augustine  to  say  mass 
and  administer  the  sacraments,  and  although  friars  had  arrived, 
some  were  going  and  others  had  gone  elsewhere.1 

The  friars  referred  to  were  apparently  those  sent  over  by 
Menendez  in  1573,  and  whom  the  Governor  of  Florida  found 
on  his  return  to  Santa  Helena,  after  a  voyage  of  exploration 
to  the  Chesapeake. 

Wretched  as  the  condition  of  Florida  was,  it  declined  after 
the  death  of  Don  Pedro  Menendez  in  1574,  till  the  Spanish 
Government,  recognizing  the  importance  to  the  kingdom  and 
its  commerce  of  retaining  Florida,  provided  for  its  mainte 
nance.2  In  1586  St.  Augustine  had  made  some  progress. 
The  city  had  its  public  buildings,  a  parish  church,  and  well- 
cultivated  gardens,  when  Francis  Drake,  in  one  of  his  pirat 
ical  cruises,  attacked  it,  and  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  one 
of  his  men  set  fire  to  the  place  and  destroyed  it,  the  garrison 
and  its  inhabitants  having  retired  to  San  Matlieo. 

The  Indian  missions,  which  the  sons  of  St.  Dominic  and 
St.  Ignatius  had  failed  to  render  successful,  devolved  at  last 
on  the  sons  of  John  Bernardon,  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  Father 
Alonzo  de  Keynoso  arrived  with  a  number  of  Fathers  toward 
the  close  of  the  year  157Y.  They  began  their  labors  among  the 
Indians  atNombre  de  Dios  and  San  Sebastian,  and  with  such 
success  that  Indian  converts  were  soon  regular  attendants  at 
the  Sunday  mass  in  the  parish  church.3 

1  "  Discurso  sobre  la  poblacion  de  la  costa  de  la  Florida,"  MS. 

2  Barcia,  p.  149. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  162.     Testimony  of  Juan  Menendez  Marquez,  1588,  MS. 
F.  Alonzo  Reynoso's  arrival  is  given  in  this  document  as  37,  but  as  he  is 
mentioned  as  bearer  of  a  letter  from  Florida  in  1583,  we  infer  that  1577 
is  meant. 


152  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  Franciscan  mission  about  1592  consisted  of  Father 
Francis  Marron,  the  Gustos,  the  zealous  Fathers  Balthazar 
Lopez  and  Peter  de  Corpa,  with  another  priest  and  two  lay 
brothers.  As  they  were  especially  designed  for  the  Indian 
missions,  they  took  up-  their  residence  in  the  towns  of  the 
natives  from  the  island  of  St.  Peter,  now  called  Cumberland, 
to  San  Sebastian.' 

The  only  secular  priest  whose  name  appears  in  Florida  in 
1593,  was  the  Kev.  Eodrigo  Garcia  de  Truxillo,  parish  priest v 
of  St.  Augustine,  then  very  old,  broken  by  his  twenty-eight 
years'  labor  there  and  his  previous  service  as  navy  chaplain.2 

In  this  state  of  spiritual  destitution  an  appeal  was  made  to 
Father  Bernardino  de  San  Cebrian,  Commissary  General  of 
the  Indies,  to  increase  the  number  of  his  Franciscan  Fathers 
in  Florida.  The  Council  of  the  Indies  gave  free  passage  to 
twelve,  who  were  sent  with  Father  John  de  Silva  as  superior, 
a  missionary  who  had  already  labored  fruitfully  in  Mexico. 
These  missionaries,  who  reached  Havana  in  1593,  were  Fa 
thers  Michael  de  Aunon,  Peter  de  Aufion,  Peter  Fernandez 
de  Chozas,  preachers ;  Fathers  Bias  de  Montes,  Francis  Pa- 
reja,  Peter  de  San  Gregorio,  Francis  de  Velascola,  Francis  de 
Avila,  Francis  Bonilla,  and  Peter  Ruiz,  priests  and  confess 
ors,  and  Brother  Peter  Viniegra,  a  lay  brother. 

The  next  year  these  religious  began  their  labors  in  Florida, 
Father  Marron  sending  Fathers  Peter  de  Corpa,  Michael  de 
Aunon,  Francis  de  Velascola,  and  Bias  Rodriguez  with  Bro 
ther  Anthony  Badajoz  to  the  island  of  Guale,  the  present 
Amelia  Island,  where  the  Indians  had  become  so  bold  and 
violent  that  the  Spanish  soldiers  durst  not  venture  outside 


1  Stevens,  "  History  of  Georgia,"  i.,  p.  135. 

2  Barcia,  pp.  166-7.     Relacion  hecha  a  S.  M.  afio  de  1593,  MS.     This 
priest  must  have  been  there  from  the  time  of  the  settlement. 


FRANCISCAN  MISSIONS.  153 

their  palisades.1  The  missionaries  by  their  instructions  and 
kind  ways  soon  changed  the  face  of  the  province.  For  two 
years  they  labored  with  apparent  success,  baptizing  many, 
especially  in  the  older  missions,  as  at  Xombre  de  Dios,  where 
Father  Balthazar  Lopez  baptized  eighty  in  1595.  Father 
Pedro  de  Chozas  had  meanwhile,  fearless  of  danger,  pene 
trated  to  Ocute,  150  miles  from  the  coast.3 

The  city  of  St.  Augustine  had  by  this  time  received  a  par 
ish  priest,  Don  Diego  Scobar  de  Sambrana,  whose  register 
is  still  extant  in  Havana.  It  extends  from  January  to  July, 
1594,  from  which  date  Father  Francis  Marron  discharged 
the  parochial  functions  till  the  feast  of  the  Annunciation  in 
1597,  when  Don  Kicardo  Artur  appears  on  the  register  as 
parish  priest.3 

In  September,  1597,  the  son  of  the  Cacique  of  the  Island 
of  Guale,  wearying  of  the  restraints  on  his  passions  required 
by  the  Christian  law,  fell  into  great  excesses,  and  at  last  went 
off  to  a  pagan  band.  Finding  kindred  spirits  there  he  re 
solved  to  silence  the  priest  who  had  reproved  him,  and  re 
turned  by  night  to  Father  Corpa's  village  of  Tolemato. 
Taking  up  his  post  near  the  church  he  waited  for  the  dawn 
of  day.  When  Father  Corpa  opened  the  door  of  his  little 
cabin  to  proceed  to  the  church,  the  conspirators  tomahawked 
him,  and  cutting  off  his  head  set  it  on  a  pole.  Having 

1  Barcia,  an.  1594,  p.  167  ;   Torquemada,  "  Monarquia  Indiana,"  iii., 
p.  350. 

2  Testimony  of  Alonso  de  las  Alas,  1602. 

3  "  Xoticias  relativas  a  la  Parroquial  mayor  de  la  ciudad  de  San  Agus- 
tin  de  la  Florida,"  kindly  extracted  for  me  from  the  Registers  in  his 
archives,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  of  St.  Christopher  of  Havana.     The 
Registers  of  the  Church  of  St.  Augustine  from  Jannary  1,  1594,  are  ex 
tant  in  Havana  and  St.  Augustine,  and  form  the  oldest  and  most  com 
plete  set  of  records  in  the  country,  antedating  every  English,  Dutch,  or 
Swedish  settlement. 


154  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

brought  his  comrades  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  blood,  the 
young  chief  easily  persuaded  them  that  they  must  kill  all  the 
religious  and  Spaniards.1 

Proceeding  then  to  the  town  of  Topoqui,  they  burst  into 
the  house  of  Father  Bias  Rodriguez.  The  missionary  en 
deavored  to  show  them  the  wickedness  and  folly  of  their 
conduct,  which  would  entail  punishment  here  and  hereafter, 
but  finding  his  words  of  no  avail,  he  asked  the  Indians  to 
allow  him  to  say  mass.  They  granted  his  request,  moved  by 
a  respect  which  they  could  not  understand  ;  and  the  good 
priest,  with  his  expectant  murderers  for  his  congregation, 
offered  the  holy  sacrifice  for  the  last  time,  and  then  knelt 
down  before  his  altar  to  receive  the  death-blow  which  enabled 
him  to  make  his  thanksgiving  in  heaven.  His  body  was 
piously  interred  by  an  old  Christian  Indian  after  the  mur 
derers  had  departed. 

Learning  of  the  approach  of  a  band  bent  on  massacre, 
Father  Michael  Aunon,  at  Asopo,2  said  mass  and  gave  com 
munion  to  Brother  Anthony  Badajoz,  his  companion.  They 
knelt  in  prayer  till  the  apostate  came,  who  first  dispatching  the 
brother,  then  with  two  blows  of  one  of  their  war-clubs  crowned 


1  The  site  of  the  present  cemetery  of  St.  Augustine  was  called  Tole- 
rnato,  but  it  cannot  be  the  scene  of  Father  Aunon's  death,  as  he  was  on 
Amelia  Island,  and  the  murderer  was  the  son  of  the  chief  of  that  same 
island.  Contemporary  writers,  like  Gov.  Mendes  de  Canco,  April  24, 
1601,  §  14,  speak  of  the  missionaries  as  being  put -to  death  in  the  prov 
ince  of  Guale,  which  in  the  same  report  he  declares  to  be  forty  leagues 
from  St.  Augustine.  Stevens,  "Hist.  Georgia,"  i.,  p.  135,  recognizes 
the  identity  of  Santa  Maria  de  Guale  and  Amelia  Island. 

'2  Asopo  was  nine  and  a  half  leagues  from  Asao.  ' '  Examination  of  Alonso 
de  los  Alas,"  1602  ;  Ecija  in  his  "  Derrotero,"  1609,  makes  it  ten  and  a  half. 
It  was  north  of  31°  30',  and  is  evidently  Ossibaw  Island.  The  bodies  of 
F.  Aunon  and  Br.  Badajoz  were  taken  up  in  1605  and  interred,  appar 
ently,  at  St.  Augustine.  Barcia,  an.  1605. 


FATHERS  IN  GEORGIA  SLAIN.  105 

Father  Michael  with  martyrdom.  The  weeping  Christians 
interred  the  bodies  at  the  foot  of  the  tall  mission  cross. 

On  reaching  Asao1  the  insurgents  found  that  Father  Fran 
cis  de  Velascola  had  gone  to  St.  Augustine,  but  they  lurked 
amid  the  vegetation  on  the  shore  till  they  saw  his  canoe  ap- 
proaching.  "When  the  Franciscan  landed  they  accosted  him 
as  friends,  and  fearing  his  great  strength,  seized  him  suddenly 
and  slew  him.  Father  Francis  Davila,  at  Ospo,2  endeavored 
to  escape  at  night ;  but  the  moon  revealed  him,  and  he  fell 
into  their  hands  pierced  by  two  arrows.  An  old  Indian 
prevented  their  finishing  the  cruel  work,  and  the  mission 
ary,  stripped  and  suffering,  was  sent  as  a  slave  to  a  pagan 
village. 

The  revolted  Indians,  then  in  forty  canoes,  invested  Saint 
Peter's  (now  Cumberland)  Island,3  but  a  small  Spanish  vessel 
lay  at  anchor  there.  This  gave  courage  to  the  chief  of  the 
island,  who,  with  a  flotilla  of  canoes,  met  the  invaders  and 
completely  routed  them.  Few  escaped  in  their  canoes ;  many 
driven  ashore  were  killed,  perished  of  hunger  or  by  their 
own  hands.  After  this  fearful  outburst  of  pagan  hatred  of 
Christianity,  none  of  the  Guale  missionaries  survived  except 
Father  Avila ;  and  his  owners,  tiring  of  his  presence,  were 
about  to  burn  him  at  the  stake,  when  a  woman,  whose  son 
was  held  prisoner  in  Saint  Augustine,  obtained  him  to  effect 
an  exchange,  which  the  Spaniards  readily  made. 

1  Asao  was  eleven  or  eleven  and  a  half  leagues  from  San  Pedro.  Las 
Alas  and  Ecija.     This  makes  it,  in  all  probability,  St.  Simon's  Island. 

2  Ospo  I  do  not  find  in  the  "Derroteros,"  but  it  must  have  been  be 
tween  St.  Simon  and  Cumberland. 

3  San  Pedro  was  seven  or  eight  leagues  from  San  Mateo  (Las  Alas, 
Ecija),  and  must  be  Cumberland  Island  ;  Stevens'  "Georgia,"  i.,  p.  135. 
"A  Relation  of  the  Martyrs  of  Florida,"  by  F.  Luis  Geronimo  de  Ore, 
a  native  of  Peru,  appeared  in  1604,  in  quarto,  but  I  have  never  been  able 
to  trace  a  copy  of  it.     I  follow  Torquemada,  "Monarquia  Indiana,"  iii., 
pp.  350-2  ;  Barcia,  pp.  170-172. 


156  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

On  the  14th  of  March,  1599,  the  Convent  of  San  Fran 
cisco,  at  Saint  Augustine,  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  till  the 
building  could  be  restored  the  Fathers  occupied  the  Hermit 
age  of  ISTuestra  Sefiora  de  la  Soledad,  which  had  previously 
been  used  as  an  hospital.  The  soldiers,  Indians,  and  negroes 
soon  felt  the  want  of  a  place  where  they  could  be  treated  in 
sickness ;  and  Governor  Mendez  de  Canco,  at  his  own  ex 
pense,  put  up  the  Hospital  of  Santa  Barbara,  with  six  good 
beds.  A  curious  question  then  arose ;  the  king  had  granted 
the  Hospital  of  Soledad  five  hundred  ducats  from  the  treas 
ury,  but  the  officials  refused  to  pay  it  to  the  new  hospital,  and 
the  governor  was  forced  to  appeal  to  the  king.1 

The  earliest  missions  mentioned  near  Saint  Augustine  were 
those  of  Nombre  de  Dios,  San  Juan,  and  San  Pedro,  where 
missionaries  were  permanently  stationed.  The  Indians  were 
poor,  but  they  cultivated  corn,  beans,  and  pumpkins ;  they 
depended  less  on  hunting,  and  were  instructed  in  religion, 
not  only  hearing  mass  and  approaching  the  sacraments,  but 

having  confraternities,  and 
zealous  in  seeking  to  have 
masses  said  for  their  de 
ceased  kindred.2 

The  missionary  at  San 
Juan  was  the  learned  Fa 
ther  Francis  Pareja,  whose 
labors  were  supported  by 

FAC-SIMILE   OF  SIGNATURE  OP  FATHER  J 

FRANCIS  PAREJA.  Dona    Maria,    the    woman 

chief  of  the  province,  and 

the  chiefs  of  the  towns.'     This  great  missionary  was  born 

1  Governor  Mendez  de  Canpo  to  the  king,  April  24, 1601. 

2  Testimony  of  Bartolome  de  Arguelles,  1602,  and  of  Juan  Menendez 
Marques. 

3  Letter  of  Governor  Ibarra,  1G04. 


FATHER  PAREJA'S  WORKS.  157 

at  Aunon,  in  the  diocese  of  Toledo  in  Spain,  and  spent  six 
teen  years  in  the  study  of  the  language  of  the  Timuquan 
Indians.  He  was  Guardian  of  the  Convent  of  the  Immacu 
late  Conception  of  Our  Lady  in  St.  Augustine,  in  1612,  when 
two  Catechisms  by  him,  in  the  Timuquan  language,  were 
printed  at  Mexico.  A  Confesonario  was  printed  the  same  year 
and  the  next ;  a  Grammar  in  1614,  and  another  Catechism 
in  1627.  Besides  these  works  he  is  said  to  have  written 
treatises  on  Purgatory,  Hell,  and  Heaven,  one  on  the  Kosary, 
and  a  book  of  Prayers.  Three  of  these  rare  works  are  pre 
served  in  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  He  died  in 
Mexico,  January  25,  1628.1 

In  1602  Governor  Canco  estimated  the  Christian  Indians 
at  about  twelve  hundred,  the  venerable  Father  Balthazar 
Lopez  being  stationed  at  the  town  of  San  Pedro,  Father 
Francis  Pareja  in  San  Juan,  and  Father  Peter  Bermejo  in 
Nombre  de  Dios,  and  Brother  Yiniegra  at  San  Antonio,  each 
of  these  places  being  resorted  to  by  numbers  of  Indians  in 
the  neighborhood ;  Tocoy,  Antonico,  and  Mayaca,  with  con 
siderable  Indian  population,  were  regularly  visited  by  the 
missionaries  to  say  mass  and  enable  the  Indians  to  approach 
the  sacraments,  and  by  instructions  keep  up  a  knowledge  of 
their  religion. 

In  St.  Augustine  the  church  and  convent  of  St.  Francis 
had  not  been  rebuilt,  and  the  house  used  as  a  chapel  was  unfit 
for  the  purpose.  The  King  of  Spain  had  contributed  eight 
hundred  ducats  towards  rebuilding  the  church  and  convent ; 
but  beyond  the  collection  of  some  material,  nothing  had  been 
done  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people  and  the  wishes  of  the 

1  Titles  of  his  works  are  given  in  Pilling,  "Xorth  American  Linguis 
tics,"  pp.  560-8.  His  birthplace  is  given  in  the  Cathecismo  of  1627, 
much  better  authority  than  the  index  to  Torquernada,  which  says  Castro 
Urdiales  ;  or  Barcia,  p.  195,  who  says  Mexico. 


158  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

king.1     The  Spanish  monarch  had  also  ordered  the  tithes  to 
be  devoted  to  the  parish  church. 

Everything  was  in  a  state  of  neglect ;  and  the  settlers,  as 
well  as  the  soldiers  in  the  garrison,  would  at  this  time  have 
been  deprived  of  the  consolations  of  religion  but  for  the 
Franciscan  Fathers ;  so  that  Governor  Canco  proposed  that 
the  Guardian  of  the  Convent,  on  whom  and  his  community 
the  whole  spiritual  care  of  the  place  had  devolved,  should  be 
made  parish  priest  and  chaplain  of  the  fort.2 

The  vacancy  in  the  parish  church  was  filled,  however,  on 
the  20th  of  October,  1602,  when  Don  Manuel  Godino  ap 
pears  as  incumbent,  remaining  till  1607,  assisted  for  a  time 
by  Don  Vicente  Freire  Dandrade. 

Meanwhile  the  Franciscans  were  joined  by  new  mission 
aries  of  their  order,  and  in  the  General  Congregation  held  at 
Toledo,  in  1603,  the  eleven  convents  in  Florida,  Havana,  and 
Bayamo  were  erected  into  a  custodia  by  Father  Bernard  de 
Salva,  Commissary  General  of  the  Indies  by  patent  of  No 
vember  18,  1609 ;  confirmed  by  royal  order,  June  5,  1610.3 
Father  Peter  Ruiz  was  the  first  custos. 

The  Franciscans  re-entered  Guale,  and  in  November, 
1606,  established  missions  in  the  province  of  Potano, 
where,  besides  infants,  more  than  a  thousand  adults  re 
ceived  the  sacrament  of  regeneration  before  the  end  of 
October,  1607,  the  missionaries  travelling  for  days  through 
swamps,  often  waist-high  in  water.  The  province  of 
Apalache  also  called  for  missionaries,  and  a  great  field 

^ '  O 

1  Letter  of  Mendez  de  Canco  to  the  king,  September  22,  1602.     There 
had  been  no  chaplain  in  the  fort  for  a  year  and  a  half. 

2  Letter  of  Governor  Ybarra,  January  8,  1604. 

3  Senate  Report,  March  21,  1848.     The  convents  hi  Florida  were  St. 
Catharine,  in  the  province  of  Guale ;  that  on  St.  Peter's  Island,  San  Juan 
del  Puerto  ;  St.  Bonaventure,  of  Guadalquini ;  St.  Dominic,  of  Asao  ;  St. 
Anthony,  of  Guadulce  ;  St.  Ann,  of  Potano. 


THE  BISHOP  OF  SANTIAGO  DE  CUBA.        159 


was  opening  there,  and  hopes  were  entertained  of  Tama  and 
Ocute,  to  which  Fathers  Chozas  and  Berascula  had  pene 
trated. 

The  reports  from  Florida  had,  however,  been  so  discour 
aging  that  King 
Philip  III.  pro 
posed  to  aban 
don  all  idea  of 
settling  the 
c  o  n  n  t  r  y,  in 
tending  merely 
to  maintain  a 
fort  and  to  re 
move  the  Chris 
tian  Indians  to 
the  island  of ' 
St.  Domingo. 
Against  this 
step  Father  Pareja,  who  had  become  custos  of  Florida,  and 
Father  Alonso  de  Penaranda,  Guardian  of  the  Convent  at 
St.  Augustine,  most  earnestly  protested  in  a  letter  to  the 
king.1 

The  Bishops  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  had  lamented  the  condi 
tion  of  Florida,  and  a  visitation  of  that  province  was  earn 
estly  recommended,  but  many  difficulties  and  dangers  inter 
vened.  "When  Don  Frai  Juan  Cabezas  de  Altamirano  was 
appointed  to  the  See,  a  visitation  was  one  of  the  first  duties 
to  which  he  resolved  to  devote  himself.  In  those  days  a 
bishop,  whether  in  his  cathedral  or  on  a  visitation,  was  sur 
rounded  by  peril. 

On  arriving  in  Cuba  this  zealous  bishop  found  his  episcopal 

1  Letter  from  the  Convent  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  St.  Augus 
tine,  November  20,  1607. 


FAC-SIMILE    OF    SIGNATURE    OF    FATHEK   ALONSO 
DE    PEKAKANDA. 


160  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

city  with  its  cathedral  destroyed  by  French  pirates,  and  while 
making  a  visitation  of  his  diocese  the  next  year,  1604,  he  was 
surprised  by  one  of  these  marauders,  Gilbert  Giron,  who  held 
him  as  a  prisoner  aud  gave  him  liberty  only  when  he  had 
advanced  an  enormous  ransom.  The  Spaniards,  after  thus 
obtaining  the  release  of  their  bishop,  rallied,  attacked  the 
corsairs,  and  utterly  defeated  them,  killing  their  leader  and 
most  of  his  party.  There  is  extant  a  curious  contemporary 
poem  on  this  whole  episode.  According  to  a  document  of 
1607,  the  bishop  embarked  in  that  year  from  Bayamo  u  for 
the  provinces  of  Florida  as  annexed  to  his  diocese ;  he  visited 
them  and  consoled  that  new  Christianity,  whicli  owes  its 
planting  to  the  Franciscan  religious,  some  of  whom  have  had 
the  incomparable  happiness  of  witnessing  in  their  blood  to 
the  truth  of  the  gospel,  which  they  preached  with  truly  apos 
tolical  zeal.  In  fact  the  bishop  fulfilled  exactly  his  pastoral 
office,  and  was  the  first  who  discharged  this  obligation,  and 
he  came  near  being  the  only  one,  because,  with  the  exception 
of  Don  Gabriel  Diaz  Yara  Calderon,  no  other  prelate  has  had 
the  courage  to  undertake  it."  ' 

Fortunately  we  have  some  definite  details  of  his  visitation. 
On  Holy  Saturday,  March  25, 1606,  Bishop  Cabezas  de  Alta- 
mirano  administered  the  sacrament  of  confirmation  to  several 
candidates  for  holy  orders.  On  subsequent  days  he  confirmed 
many  Spaniards  and  Indians.  So  far  as  any  documents  attest, 


1  This  zealous  bishop,  who  was  perhaps  the  first  to  exercise  episcopal 
functions  within  the  present  limits  of  the  United  States,  was  the  son  of 
the  licentiate  Juan  Cabezas  and  of  Dona  Ana  de  Calzada.  After  a 
course  in  the  University  of  Salamanca  he  took  the  habit  of  St.  Dominic 
in  1583,  and  came  to  America  nine  years  afterwards.  He  was  professor 
of  theology  in  Santo  Domingo,  and  then  delegate  of  the  province  to  Rome. 
He  was  made  Bishop  of  Cuba  in  1603  and  transferred  to  Guatemala  in 
1610.  He  died  there  of  apoplexy  in  December,  1615.  "  Historia  de  la 
ysla  y  Catedral  de  Cuba,"  by  Bishop  Pedro  Agustin  Morel,  MS. 


TIMUQ  UAN  CONVER  TS.  161 

this  was  the  first  administration  of  the  sacrament  of  Confirm 
ation  in  any  part  of  this  country.  The  good  bishop  visited 
several  provinces  of  Florida  with  great  hardship  and  peril  of 
life,  the  condition  of  the  natives  exciting  his  deepest  compas 
sion  and  zeal.1 

In  the  Lent  of  1609  the  great  Cacique  of  Timucua,  who 
had  been  instructed  by  the  Franciscans,  came  to  St.  Augus 
tine  to  solicit  baptism  for  himself,  his  heir  and  ten  of  his 
chiefs,  as  well  as  to  beg  for  missionaries  to  reside  among  his 
people  and  bring  them  all  to  the  faith.  They  were  all  bap 
tized  on  Palm  Sunday,  Governor  Ybarra  being  sponsor  for 
the  cacique  and  his  son,  Spanish  officers  assuming  the  same 
charge  for  the  chiefs.  The  whole  ceremony  was  attended 
with  all  the  solemnity  the  little  town  could  impart  to  it. 
The  Tinraquans  were  entertained  till  after  Easter,  when  they 
returned  with  a  guard  of  honor.8 

Poor  as  the  country  was  the  missionaries  continued  to 
come,  thirty-one  setting  out  from  Spain  for  the  Florida  mis 
sion  in  1612  and  the  following  year.  The  custodia  was  then 
erected  into  the  province  of  Santa  Helena,  the  convent  of 
Havana  being  the  chief  one,  and  Father  John  Capillas  was 
elected  the  first  provincial  of  this  organization  of  regular 
clergy,  mainly  within  our  actual  territory.3 

For  a  time  Saint  Augustine  also  enjoyed  the  services  of 

1  "  Noticias  relativas  a  la  Yglesia  Parroquial  de  San  Agustin  de  la  Flor 
ida,  trabajo  hecho  por  disposition  del  Excmo  e  Illmo  Sr.  D.  Ramon  Fer 
nandez  de  Pierola  y  Lopez  de  Luzuriaga,  Obispo  de  San  Cristobal  de  la 
Habana."    Barcia  says  that  Don  Frai  Antonio  Diaz  de  Salcedo,  Bishop  of 
Santiago  de  Cuba,  made  a  visitation  of  Florida  in  1595  ;  but  no  writer  on 
the  Bishops  of  Cuba  mentions  the  fact,  and  the  Register  of  St.  Augus 
tine  is  evidence  against  its  probability. 

2  Letter  of  Governor  Ybarra,  April,  1609. 

3  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  175,  181;   Torquemada,   "  Mo- 
narquia  Indiana,"  iii.,  pp.  350,  354. 

11 


162  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

several  secular  priests  at  the  parish  church  and  fort,  Simon 
de  Ayllon  being  parish  priest,  assisted  by  Don  Pedro  de  la 
Camarda,  chaplain  of  the  fort,  followed  by  Don  Luis  Perez 
as  parish  priest,  and  Alonso  Ortiz,  whose  names  appear  till 
1623. 

Frai  Alonso  Henriquez  Almendarez  de  Toledo  of  the 
Mercedarian  Order  for  the  Kedemption  of  Captives  had  been 
appointed  to  the  See  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  in  1610.  He  was 
an  active  and  energetic  bishop,  and  found  so  much  to  engage 
his  attention  in  the  island  of  Cuba,  where  he  was  involved  in 
disputes  with  the  civil  authorities,  that  he  found  it  impossible 
to  make  a  visitation  of  Florida,  as  he  desired.  He  accord 
ingly  deputed  in  his  stead  Father  Louis  Jerome  de  Ore,  lec 
turer  in  theology  and  commissary  of  the  Franciscan  Order, 
to  make  a  visitation  of  Florida.  This  religious  was  a  native 
of  Peru  and  highly  esteemed.  He  visited  Saint  Augustine 
November  13,  1616.  He  found  the  parish  church  well  sup 
plied  with  church  plate,  silver  chalices,  patens,  cross,  censer, 
boat  and  spoon  of  silver,  and  with  suitable  vestments,  which, 
with  the  stocks  for  the  holy  oils,  were  well  kept.  The  mis 
sals,  manuals,  bells,  and  choir  books  are  also  attested  as  being 
suitable,  and  the  registers  well  kept  by  the  actual  parish 
priest,  Juan  de  Lerdo. 

In  1621,  during  the  administration  of  Bishop  Almendarez, 
the  first  provincial  Council  of  St.  Domingo  was  held,  and  its 
decrees  extended  to  Florida.1 

In  1630  the  king,  by  a  decree  of  December  4th,  made  es 
pecial  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Franciscan  mis 
sions  in  Florida,  ordering  money  to  be  drawn  annually  from 

1  "  Historia  de  la  isla  y  Catedral  de  Cuba  par  el  Ilmo  Pedro  Agustin 
Morel  de  Santa  Cruz";  "  Noticias  relativas  a  la  Iglesia  parroquial  de  San 
Agustin  para  el  Ilm"  Sr  D.  Ramon  Fernandez  de  Pierola  y  Lopez  de  Luzu- 
riaga,  Obispo  de  la  Ilabana." 


MISSION  LIFE.  163 

Mexico  to  purchase  clothing  and  supplies.1  More  mission 
aries  had  been  petitioned  for  by  Father  Francisco  Alonzo  of 
Jesus,  Provincial  of  Florida,  but  he  obtained  only  twelve ; 
and  of  these  one  died  on  the  voyage  from  Spain,  and  two 
were  left  sick  at  Havana.  The  missionaries  sank  rapidly 
under  their  labors,  five  of  them  dying  in  Florida  in  the  next 
five  years.  The  Franciscans  in  1634  numbered  thirty-five, 
maintaining  forty-four  doctrinas  or  missions,  in  which  they 
reckoned  thirty  thousand  converted  Indians. 

The  Ke'v.  Alonso  de  Vargas  and  Eev.  Toribio  de  Pozada  kept 
up  the  succession  of  parish  priests  till  1631,  with  Bartolome 
Garcia  as  chaplain,  but  much  parochial  work  was  done  by 
the  Guardians  of  the  Franciscan  Convent,  Melchor  Ferraz 
and  Juan  Gomez  de  Palma ;  a  teniente  de  cura,  or  temporary 
substitute,  acting  in  1632  and  1633,  and  Don  Antonio  Calvo, 
chaplain  of  the  fort,  supplying  the  place  of  Eev.  Mr.  de 
Pozada  till  April,  1640.' 

The  missionaries  were  far  apart,  unable  to  relieve  each 
other ;  and  when  any  one  wished  himself  to  approach  the 
sacred  tribunal  he  had  a  weary  journey  afoot,  through  ever 
glade  and  streams,  to  reach  a  brother  priest.  Several  broke 
down  under  the  severe  labors,  so  that  the  Apalaches,  who 
earnestly  sought  clergy  to  instruct  them,  were  deferred 
till  the  Guardian  of  the  Convent  at  Saint  Augustine  set  out 
in  person,  in  1633,  with  a  single  assistant.  The  custos  of 
Florida,  writing  in  February,  1635,  states  that  the  zealous 
missionary  was  still  there,  and  had  baptized  five  thousand  of 
the  tribe.  In  the  south  of  Florida  the  Indians  of  Carlos  and 
Matacumbe  were  again  soliciting  missionaries  with  every 
mark  of  sincerity.3  The  king,  in  reply  to  the  appeal  for  more 

1  Barcia,  p.  197.  "  "Noticias." 

3  Letter  of  F.  Francisco  Alonso  de  Jesus  to  the  king. 


164  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

evangelical  laborers,  ordered  eight  to  be  sent.1  The  Apa- 
laches,  harassed  by  the  Choctaws,  Apalachicolas,  and  other 
tribes,  looked  for  protection  to  the  Spaniards  and  their  allies. 
In  1639  the  Apalache  Chief  of  Cupayca  came  to  Saint  Angus- 
tine  to  be  instructed  and  baptized.  At  the  sacred  font  he 
received  the  name  of  Balthazar,  Governor  Damian  de  Vega 
Castro  being  his  godfather.  "When  he  left  the  town  he  took 
with  him  a  Franciscan  Father,  who  was  to  found  a  mission 
in  his  tribe.2  To  open  intercourse  with  these  new  stations 
the  Spaniards,  for  the  first  time,  sent  vessels  to  coast  around 
the  peninsula  from  St.  Augustine.  Yet  there  were  occasional 
difficulties  between  whites  and  Indians,  and  we  find  soon 
after  a  Governor  of  Florida  compelling  the  Indians  near  the 
town  to  work  on  the  fortifications,  in  punishment  for  some 
outbreak.3 

In  1646  St.  Augustine  had  about  three  hundred  people, 
and  a  flourishing  community  of  fifty  Franciscan  religious 
scattered  through  Florida,  who  not  only  labored  among  the 
Indians,  but  did  much  to  maintain  piety  among  the  Span 
iards.  Besides  them  there  were  in  St.  Augustine  the  Cura 
Vicario,  or  parish  priest,  Don  Pedro  Verdugo  de  la  Silveyra 
(April,  1 640-4 T),4  the  Sacristan  Mayor,  and  Antonio  Calvo, 
the  chaplain  of  the  fort,  who  in  1647  became  temporary  par 
ish  priest.  There  were  not  enough  secular  clergy  to  attend 
to  all  the  whites.  The  parish  church  was  still  of  wood,  both 
walls  and  roof,  and  Bishop  de  la  Torre  was  unable  to  replace 
it  by  a  better  one — his  whole  income  from  Florida  being 

v  O 

$400,  more  than  which  he  expended  on  the  province.  There 
was,  also,  the  Hospital  of  Xuestra  Sefiora  de  la  Soledad,  and 

1  Memorandum  on  letter  just  cited.     Letter  of  Salinas  and  Sanchez ; 
Barcia,  p.  203. 

2  Letter  of  Governor  Castro,  August  22, 1639.  3  Barcia,  p.  204. 
4  "  Noticias"  kindly  furnished  by  the  Bishop  of  Havana. 


A  BISHOP  ASKED  FOR  FLORIDA.  165 

one  for  the  poor,  and  the  Hermitage  or  Chapel  of  Santa  Bar 
bara.  Piety  was  kept  alive  among  the  people  by  the  confra 
ternity  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  and  one  for  the  Faithful 
Departed.  The  people  naturally  gathered  around  the  chapel 
of  the  Franciscans,  finding  encouragement  there  for  their 
devotion. 

In  that  year  Father  Francis  Perez,  the  custos,  obtained 
several  additional  Fathers  for  the  Indian  missions.1 

All  felt  the  want  of  a  bishop — the  visits  of  the  one  who 
occupied  the  See  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  being  rare,  owing  to 
the  danger  of  the  passage  on  account  of  storms,  and  of  the 
pirates  who  infested  the  coast.  Don  Diego  de  Kebolledo, 
Governor  of  Florida  in  1655,  strongly  urged  the  King  of 
Spain  to  ask  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  to  erect  Saint  Augustine 
into  an  Episcopal  See,  or  at  least  to  make  Florida  a  Yicariate 
Apostolic  (Abadia),  so  that  there  might  be  a  local  Superior, 
and  that  the  faithful  there  might  receive  the  sacrament  of 
confirmation,  of  which  many  died  deprived.  The  King  and 
the  Council  of  the  Indies  asked  the  opinion  of  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Santo  Domingo,  the  Bishop  of  Cuba,  the  Governor 
of  Havana,  and  others,  but  there  the  matter  ended. 

Of  the  Indian  missions  and  their  extent  at  that  time  we 
can  glean  some  idea.  The  centre  was  the  Convent  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  in  Saint  Augustine,  where  the  guar 
dian  resided  with  two  lay  brothers.  This  was  the  refuge  of 
missionaries  overcome  by  sickness  at  their  posts.  The  nearest 
missionary  was  at  Xombre  de  Dios,  about  a  mile  from  the 
city.  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe  was  about  ten  miles  distant, 
and  San  Juan  del  Puerto  was  on  the  sea.  Thence  along  the 
coast  northward  were  San  Pedro  del  Mocarno,  San  Buenaven 
tura  de  Goadalquibi,  Santo  Domingo  de  Talege,  San  Jose  de 

-  Juan  Diaz  de  la  Calle,  "Noticias  Sacras  y  Reales";  Barcia,  "Ensayo 
Cronologico,"  p.  212. 


166  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Zapala,  Santa  Catalina  de  Guale,  and  San  Felipe,  the  last 
fifty-four  leagues  from  St.  Augustine.  The  most  northerly 
on  the  coast  was  Chatuache,  six  leagues  further.1 

In  another  direction  were  Santiago  de  Ocone,  Santa  Cruz 
de  Tarica,  San  Agustin  de  Urica,  Santa  Maria  de  los  An 
geles  de  Arapaja,  Santa  Cruz  de  Cachipile,  San  Yldefonso 
de  Chamini,  San  Francisco  de  Chuaquu,  San  Pedro  y  San 
Pablo  de  Potuturiba,  Santa  Elena  de  Machaba,  San  Miguel  de 
Asile,  ranging  from  thirty  to  sixty  leagues  from  the  capital. 

In  the  Apalache  country  were  the  missions  of  San  Lo 
renzo,  Concepcion,  San  Jose,  San  Juan,  San  Pedro  y  San 
Pablo,  San  Cosine  y  San  Damian,  San  Luis,  San  Martin  ;  and 
between  Apalache  and  Saint  Augustine  were  San  Martin  de 
Ayaocuto,  Santa  Fe  de  Toloco,  San  Francisco  oe  Potano. 

Southward  lay  Santa  Lueia  de  Acuera,  San  Antonio  de 
Nacape,  San  Salvador  de  Mayaca,  San  Diego  de  Laca.  At  each 
one  of  these  there  was  a  missionary  stationed,  and  the  Chris 
tian  Indians  of  Florida  were  then  reckoned  at  26,000.2 

But  the  missions  were  to  receive  the  first  blow  from  the 
civil  authorities.  The  Governor  of  Florida  sent  orders  to 
the  Cacique  of  Tarigica,  an  Apalache,  that  the  chiefs  of  that 


1  Of  the  missions  on  the  coast  here  mentioned,  several  were  visited  by 
Dickenson  and  his  party  after  their  shipwreck.  Santa  Cruz  was  two  or 
three  leagues  from  St.  Augustine.  It  had  a  friar  and  a  large  chapel  with 
five  bells,  and  the  Indians  were  as  regiilar  and  attentive  at  their  devotions  as 
the  Spaniards.  There  was  besides  a  large  council-house.  San  Juan,  thirteen 
leagues  further,  on  an  island,  wTas  a  large,  populous  town,  with  friar  and 
chapel,  the  people  industrious,  with  abundance  of  hogs,  poultry,  and 
corn.  St.  Mary's  had  a  friar,  church,  and  the  Indian  boys  were  kept  at 
school.  Santa  Catalina  was  ruined  ;  but  he  mentions  it  October  10, 1699, 
"where  had  been  a  great  settlement  of  Indians,  for  the  land  was  cleared 
for  planting  some  miles  distant." 

-"Memoria  de  las  Poblaciones  Principales,  Yglesias  y  Dotrinas  que 
ay  en  las  Combersiones  de  las  Provincias  de  la  Florida  a  cargo  de  los 
Religiosos  de  San  Francisco,"  MS. 


APALACHE  MISSION  BROKEN  UP.  167 

tribe  should  repair  to  Saint  Augustine,  and  that  each  one 
must  carry  in  person  a  certain  load  of  corn.  The  chiefs  re 
fused,  saying  that  there  were  vassals  whom  the  governor 
might  order.  They  were  not  slaves  because  they  obeyed  the 
Holy  Gospel  and  Law  of  God ;  they  had  become  Christians 
of  their  own  accord ;  they  had  been  conquered  only  by  the 
Word  of  God  and  what  the  missionaries  had  taught  them. 
When  the  Spaniards  attempted  to  force  the  chiefs  to  submit  to 
the  degradation,  an  insurrection  broke  out,  in  which  some 
Spaniards  were  slain.  The  governor  took  the  field  against 
the  great  chief  of  Apalache,  and  several  engagements  were 
fought.  The  governor  finally  captured  and  hung  six  or  seven 
chiefs.  This  war,  provoked  by  Spanish  oppression,  com 
pletely  broke  up  the  missions  among  the  Indians  of  that 
nation.  The  Franciscan  Fathers,  unable  to  exercise  any  ben 
eficial  influence  over  the  Apalaches,  whose  minds  were  bitter 
ly  excited,  embarked  for  Havana  to  await  better  times  ;  but 
they  were  all  drowned  on  the  passage,  completing  their  own 
sacrifice,  but  depriving  Florida  of  all  religious  teachers  skilled 
in  the  Apalache  tongue.1 

The  parish  of  Saint  Augustine,  about  this  time,  was  placed 
on  another  footing.  After  Don  Lorenzo  de  Solis,  who,  be 
sides  styling  himself  Cura  and  Vicario,  adds  the  title  of  Eccle 
siastical  Judge,  the  Church  was  made  a  benefice  to  be  ac 
quired  as  property,  according  to  a  custom  unfortunately 
prevailing.  Tn  1650  Don  Pedro  Juan  de  la  Oliva  began  as 
beneficed  proprietor  and  vicar,  and  held  the  position  till 
1661,  replaced  during  an  apparent  absence  in  1653,  and  the 
year  following,  by  Don  Pedro  Bernaldez  as  vicar.  He  was 
succeeded,  for  five  years,  by  Christopher  Boniface  de  Rivera, 
not  as  proprietor,  but  as  beneficed  parish  priest. 

1  Letter  of  Father  John  Gomez  de  Engraba,  who  had  been  forty -six 
years  on  the  Florida  mission,  dated  March  13  and  April  4,  1657. 


168  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

When  Don  Gabriel  Diaz  Yara  Calderon  became  Bishop  of 
Santiago  de  Cuba  on  the  1-ith  of  December,  1671,  lie  wished 
to  examine  the  affairs  of  the  Church  in  Florida,  and  deputed 
Don  Francisco  de  Sotolongo1  as  visitor ;  but  as  the  Francis 
cans  raised  objections  to  his  authority,  the  bishop  commis 
sioned  Father  Juan  Moreno  Pizarro,  and  Father  Joseph  Yar- 
redo  as  secretary,  to  make  a  visitation  in  his  name."  The  re 
sult  seems  to  have  convinced  Bishop  Calderon  of  the  neces 
sity  of  a  personal  visitation.  Having  made  his  arrangements 
in  the  early  part  of  the  year  to  leave  Cuba,  he  embarked  at 


FAOSIMILE  OP  SIGNATURE  OP  BP.    GABRIEL  DIAZ   VARA  CALDERON. 

Havana  on  the  18th  of  August,  1674,  convoyed  by  a  fleet, 
and  on  the  23d  entered  the  harbor  of  Saint  Augustine.  The 
next  day  he  began  the  visitation.  Unfortunately  we  have 
but  a  part  of  the  record  of  his  episcopal  labors,  yet  enough 
to  show  that  the  visitation  was  not  a  mere  form.  He  cel- 

1  Sotolongo  was  cura  propietario  of  San  Agustin,  1666-1674,  his  duties 
being  discharged  from  1671-4  by  Antonio  Lorenzo  de  Padilla,  the  chaplain 
of  the  fort.  "  Noticias."  We  reproduce  part  of  a  view  of  St.  Augustine, 
published  at  Amsterdam  in  1671,  "DeNieuwe  en  Onbekende  Weereld  of 
Beschryving  van  America,"  by  Arnold  Montanus.  If  it  is  based  on  any 
authentic  sketch,  the  church  shown  is  apparently  the  parish  church,  not 
the  chapel  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Leche,  north  of  the  fort. 

5  "  Memorial  en  Derecho  "  of  Don  Juan  Ferro  Machado. 


170  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

ebrated  a  pontificial  high  mass  on  the  24th  of  August  in  the 
ancient  city,  which  had  already  celebrated  its  first  centenary ; 
gave  minor  orders  to  seven  young  men,  sons  of  respected 
citizens — and  this  is  the  first  recorded  instance  of  the  con 
ferring  of  the  sacrament  of  Holy  Orders  within  the  present 
limits  of  the  United  States ;  gave  a  thousand  dollars  in  alms 
to  poor  widows,  who  were  reluctant  to  make  known  their 
necessities,  created  or  increased  by  a  hurricane  that  inundated 
most  of  the  city  on  the  lYth. 

After  making  a  formal  visitation  of  the  parish  church  on 
the  feast  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  where  he  was 
received  by  the  parish  priest,  Bachelor  Sebastian  Perez  de  la 
Cerda,  the  bishop  visited  on  the  39th  the  parish  church, 
"  Doctrine  "  of  the  Native  Indians  in  the  city  and  suburbs, 
which  was  attached  to  the  Convent  of  Saint  Francis.  Here 
he  was  received  by  Father  Antonio  de  Urchia,  Commissary 
Visitor ;  Father  Francis  Perete,  Provincial  ;  Father  Alonso 
del  Moral,  Gustos  and  ex-Provincial. 

He  then  issued  an  edict  requiring  all  who  had  Indians  in 
their  employ  to  send  them  within  twenty-four  hours  to  be 
examined  as  to  their  knowledge  of  Christian  doctrine.  The 
zealous  bishop  found  such  ignorance  prevailing  that  on  the 
7th  of  October  he  promulgated  at  the  high  mass  an  edict  re 
quiring,  under  the  penalty  of  excommunication,  the  Francis 
can  Fathers  versed  in  the  Timuquan,  Apalache,  and  Guale 
languages,  to  hold  a  catechism  class  for  Indians  every  Sunday 
and  holiday,  to  which  all  masters  were  to  send  their  Indian 
servants,  under  penalty  of  excommunication  and  a  fine  of 
twenty  ducats.  The  masters  were  forbidden  to  force  their 
Indian  servants  to  work  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  and  this 
edict  was  to  be  read  every  Sunday  in  the  parish  church  at 
high  mass.1 

1  Entry  of  visitation  in  Registers  of  St.  Augustine. 


BISHOP  CALDERON'S  VISITATION.  171 

All  the  coasting  vessels  in  the  port  of  St.  Augustine  had 
been  destroyed  or  shattered  by  the  great  hurricane,  so  that 
the  bishop  was  unable  at  first  to  visit  the  missions  in  the 
province  of  Guale,  but  he  confirmed  the  Indians  of  Guale 
and  Mocana  whom  he  could  reach. 

There  were  nine  confraternities  in  the  city — those  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament,  True  Cross,  Our  Lady  of  the  Eosary, 
Our  Lady  of  Soledad,  San  Telmo,  the  Faithful  Departed, 
St.  Patrick,  the  Conception,  and  Our  Lady  of  the  Milk  at 
Kombre  de  Dios,  a  suburb  of  the  city.  These  he  visited,  as 
well  as  the  hospital,  the  resources  and  expenditures  of  which 
he  examined  carefully. 

About  the  middle  of  October,  undeterred  by  the  rains, 
crossing  rivers  in  canoes  lashed  together,  the  bishop  reached 
Santa  Fe,  the  chief  mission  and  centre  of  the  Timuquan  na 
tion,  and  gave  confirmation  to  all  who  had  been  prepared  for 
that  sacrament.  Thence  we  can  trace  his  visitation  as  far  as 
Taragica,  in  the  Apalache  country.1 

The  zealous  bishop  spent  eight  months  in  his  laborious  and 
thorough  visitation,  correcting  many  abuses  and  suppressing 
irregularities  that  had  grown  up.  His  desire  to  restore  the 
discipline  of  the  church  excited  opposition,  for  an  attempt 
was  made  to  take  his  life  by  poison.  He  founded  churches 
in  Florida,  providing  for  their  maintenance,  supplied  others 
with  vestments,  and  gave  liberal  alms  to  the  Indian  chiefs 

1  "  Relacion  de  viage  por  Don  Pedro  Palacios,  secretario  de  visita."  Se 
bastian  Perez  de  la  Cerda,  proprietary  parish  priest  from  1674  to  his  death 
at  the  end  of  1682,  received  Bishop  Calderon.  He  was  replaced  by  Mark 
Gonzales  as  pastor  ad  interim  and  vicar  in  1681-2.  He  was  succeeded  as 
parish  priest  and  vicar  ad  interim  by  Joseph  de  la  Mota,  the  chaplain  of 
the  troops,  who  was  also  Commissary  of  the  Crusade,  and  Minister  of 
the  Holy  Office,  1684-5. 


172  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  their  people.     He  expended  no  less  than  eleven  thousand 
dollars  among  the  faithful  of  this  part  of  his  diocese.1 

As  a  fruit  of  this  visit,  we  find  the  missions  of  St.  Nicholas 
of  Tolentino,  and  another  among  the  Choctaws,  that  of  the 
Assumption  among  the  Caparaz,  Amacanos,  and  Chines, 
founded  in  1674,  and  those  of  Candelaria  among  the  Tamas, 
and  the  Nativity  of  Our  Lady  in  the  following  year.  Father 
Pedro  de  Luna  was  then  at  Guadalquini  on  the  Georgia 
coast ;  Pedro  de  la  Lastra  at  San  Felipe  :  Diego  Bravo  at  San 
Juan  del  Puerto ;  Bernabe  de  los  Angeles  at  Santa  Cathalina, 
now  St.  Catharine's ;  John  Baptist  Campana  at  St.  Joseph 
de  Sapala,  now  Sapelo  ;  Juan  de  Useda  at  Asao,"  from  which 
it  is  evident  that  the  missions  were  still  maintained  nearly  to 
the  new  English  settlements  in  Carolina  ;  and  that  the  good 
bishop  must  have  actually  reached  South  Carolina  in  his 
visitation.  The  number  confirmed  by  him,  which,  of  course, 
included  many  adults,  is  stated  by  the  Bishop  to  have  been 
13,152.  This  agrees  with  the  Catholic  population  given  by 
the  missionaries  about  that  time.3  The  next  year  Father 
Alonso  Moral,  in  spite  of  great  opposition,  reached  Florida 
with  twenty-four  Franciscans  for  the  Indian  missions."  One 
missionary  went  to  the  province  of  Carlos,  but  the  governor, 
Don  Pablo  de  Hita,  was  so  earnest  to  have  greater  effort 
made  there,  that  the  Licentiate  Sebastian  Perez  de  la  Cerda, 
then  parish  priest  and  Yicar  of  Saint  Augustine,  induced 
some  secular  priests  in  Havana  to  offer  their  services.6  The 

1  Letter  of  Bishop  Calderon  to  Don  Juan  de  Mendoza  Escalante,  June 
8,  1675.     He  confirmed  630  whites,  1,510  Indians. 
-  Apparently  St.  Simon's  Island.     See  ante,  p.  155. 

a  The  bishop's  entry  of  his  visitation  at  St.  Augustine  is  September  8 
1674. 

4  Distances  of  the  Missions,  MS.,  1675.     Letter  of  Bishop  Calderon, 
June  8,  1675. 

5  Barcia,  1676,  p.  231. 


INDIAN  COMPLAINTS.  173 

king  gave  directions  for  the  selection  of  worthy  priests,  mak 
ing  appropriation  for  their  expenses  to  Florida,  and  a  yearly 
salary  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  ducats,  but  the  officials  in 
Cuba  raised  so  many  difficulties  that  the  whole  project  failed,1 
though  the  learned  Doctor  Don  Juan  de  Cisneros,  the  oldest 
canon  of  the  Cathedral,  a  learned,  virtuous,  and  charitable 
priest,  offered  to  go.2 

In  1680  the  Indians  of  the  mission  of  Mascarasi,  just  under 
the  walls  of  St.  Augustine,  complained  to  the  newly-arrived 
governor,  Don  Juan  Marquez  Cabrera,  of  their  treatment  by 
their  missionary.  The  affair,  trifling  in  itself,  led  to  conten 
tions  which  for  years  troubled  the  peace  of  the  Church  in 
Florida.  The  Provincial  making  no  reply  to  the  Governor's 
request  to  examine  into  the  matter,  the  case  was  carried  to 
the  Commissary  of  the  Indies  and  to  the  King.  A  royal 
decree  of  September  27,  1681,  required  the  Commissary  to 
enjoin  on  his  subjects  to  correct  the  Indians  with  gentle  and 
mild  means,  without  exasperating  them,  the  better  to  win 
souls  to  the  service  of  God,  and  to  perseverance  in  their  in 
structions.  It  moreover  declared  that  the  Indians  must  be 
paid  for  all  work  ;  and  all  must  obey  the  ordinances  of  the 
Commissary-General  of  the  Indies.3 

The  King  of  Spain,  finding  that  no  Synod  had  been  held 
in  the  diocese  of  Cuba  from  the  time  of  its  erection,  although 
one  had  been  convoked  by  Bishop  Almendarez,  had,  by  a 
decree  of  March  13,  1673,  directed  Bishop  Calderon  to  con- 

1  Barcia,  1679,  p.  234. 

*  Barcia,  1680,  pp.  239,  240,  245. 

3  Barcia— 1681,  p.  243  ;  1682,  p.  245,— speaks  of  the  death  of  a  Bishop  of 
Santiago  de  Cuba  in  1681-2,  and  Gams,  "  Series  Pontificorum,"  p.  146, 
makes  Bishop  Juan  Garcia  de  Palacios  die  June  1,  1682  ;  but  this  is  im 
possible,  for  the  Diocesan  Synod  in  June,  1684,  was  held  by  Bishop 
Palacios,  who  signs  the  statutes.  "  Synodo  Diocesano"  (Ed.  1844),  p. 
186. 


174  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

voke  one  ;  but  that  zealous  bishop,  who  wished  first  to  know 
his  diocese  by  a  thorough  visitation,  and  who  completed  the 
cathedral,  apparently  with  a  view  to  such  an  ecclesiastical 
assembly,  died  March  16,  1676.  His  successor,  Don  Juan 
Garcia  de  Palacios,  convoked  a  diocesan  synod,  which  was 
opened  in  Havana  on  Whitsunday,  1684.  The  Constitutions 
signed  June  16th  have  continued  in  force  in  Cuba  to  this 
day,  and  obtained  in  Florida  as  long  as  that  province  re 
mained  under  the  Spanish  flag. 

The  Synod  recognized  and  put  in  force  in  the  diocese  the 
decrees  of  the  Council  of  Santo  Domingo,  passed  September 
21,  1622,  Florida  belonging  to  that  ecclesiastical  province, 
and  so  remaining  till  the  erection  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  into  a 
metropolitan  see  in  1803. 

The  Constitutions  provide  for  the  instruction  of  the  young 
in  Christian  doctrine,  one  constitution  inculcating  the  duty 
on  heads  of  families,  as  others  do  on  pastors  and  teachers. 
Confraternities  were  regulated  and  many  suppressed.  Im 
proper  dances  and  amusements  were  prohibited,  and  care 
taken  to  prevent  religious  holidays  from  being  transformed 
into  wild  and  lawless  merrymakings.  Provision  was  made 
for  the  erection  of  a  diocesan  seminary  in  Havana,  to  which 
the  See  was  then  about  to  be  transferred.  The  conferring  of 
the  Sacraments  of  Holy  Orders  and  Extreme  Unction  were 
next  regulated.  Elaborate  rules  were  adopted  for  ecclesias 
tical  courts.  The  duties  of  parish  priests  and  head  sacristans, 
of  collectors  of  offerings  in  churches,  and  of  visitors  appointed 
by  the  bishop  or  chapter,  were  prescribed. 

The  inalienability  of  church  property  is  distinctly  laid 
down.  "  The  goods  and  property  held  by  churches  are  dedi 
cated  to  the  divine  worship,  and  to  rob  them  is  sacrilege ; 
and  that  no  occasion  may  be  given  to  commit  it,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  attest  the  goods  held  by  churches,  and  which 


DIOCESAN  SYNOD.  175 

caimot  be  usurped  or  alienated,"  the  dean  and  chapter  of  the 
cathedral  and  all  parish  priests  were  required  to  have  an  au 
thentic  book,  in  which  all  houses,  farms,  and  other  property 
belonging  to  churches  should  be  recorded,  and  also  a  record 
of  all  vestments,  plate,  and  other  articles,  and  in  the  divine 
service  or  the  adornment  of  the  altar  (Title  iv.,  Const,  i.-iv.). 
The  right  of  sanctuary  enjoyed  by  churches  was  also  main 
tained  (Title  xiv.,  Const,  i.-vii.).  Other  constitutions  related 
to  wills,  funerals,  the  sacraments  of  penance  and  matrimony. 

The  holidays  of  obligation  established  were  the  Circum 
cision,  Epiphany,  Purification,  St.  Mathias,  St.  Joseph,  the 
Annunciation,  St.  Philip  and  St.  James,  the  Finding  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  St.  Ferdinand,  St.  John  the  Baptist,  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul,  St.  James,  St.  Christopher,  St.  Ann,  St.  Lau 
rence,  the  Assumption,  St.  Bartholomew,  St.  Augustine,  St. 
Rose,  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  St.  Matthew,  St. 
Michael,  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude,  All  Saints,  St.  Andrew,  the 
Conception  of  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  St.  Thomas,  Christmas, 
St.  Stephen,  St.  John,  Holy  Innocents  and  St.  Sylvester, 
Easter  Monday  and  Tuesday,  Ascension,  Whitmonday  and 
Tuesday,  Corpus  Christi.  Those  who  lived  more  than  three 
miles  from  a  church  or  chapel,  and  not  more  than  three 
leao-ues,  were  to  hear  mass  once  a  fortnight ;  those  within 
ten  leagues,  every  month,  and  so  on ;  those  who  lived  sixty 
or  seventy  leagues  distant  being  required  to  hear  mass  at 
least  once  a  year  (Lib.  ii.,  Tit.  i.,  Const,  i.-vi.). 

After  Easter  Sunday  the  parish  priest  was  required  to  visit 
every  house,  and  see  all  who  lived  there  to  be  sure  that  they 
had  approached  the  sacraments.  A  certificate  was  given  to 
each  communicant,  and  a  list  had  to  be  taken  to  the  bishop 
within  a  specified  time.  The  parish  priests  in  Florida  were 
to  come  by  the  first  vessel  sailing  to  Cuba  (Lib.  i.,  Tit.  vii.. 
Const,  iv.). 


176  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  fasting  days  were  the  Ember  days,  all  days  of  Lent 
except  Sundays,  the  vigils  of  Whitsunday,  St.  Mathias,  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  St.  James,  St.  Lau 
rence,  the  Assumption,  St.  Bartholomew,  St.  Matthew,  St. 
Simon  and  St.  Jude,  All  Saints,  St.  Andrew,  St.  Thomas, 
and  Christmas  (Lib.  iii.,  Tit.  xiii.,  Const,  i.).  Fridays  and 
Saturdays  were  days  of  abstinence. 

A  special  title  was  devoted  to  Florida,  the  provinces  of 
which  the  Synod  declared  had  been  intrusted  to  the  bishop 
by  the  Apostolic  See  -and  by  the  Spanish  monarch,  and  which 
belonged  to  that  bishopric.  The  game  of  ball  among  the 
Indians  as  connected  with  superstitious  usages  was  forbidden  ; 
married  Indian  men  were  not  to  be  kept  in  St.  Augustine 
away  from  their  wives  ;  it  appearing  that  many  were  in  the 
habit  of  living  there  as  hunters,  carpenters,  etc.,  the  parish 
priest  and  his  vicar  were  to  see  that  they  returned  to  their 
own  villages ;  Indians  employed  in  or  near  the  city  were  to 
have  every  opportunity  to  hear  mass  on  Sundays  and  holi 
days,  and  were  to  be  sent  to  the  Franciscan  Convent  to  hear 
mass  and  receive  instruction  in  Christian  doctrine. 

The  Indian  Catholics  were  not  obliged  to  observe  the  same 
holidays  as  the  whites,  the  obligation  extending  only  to  the 
Sundays,  Circumcision,  Epiphany,  Purification,  Annuncia 
tion,  Ascension,  Corpus  Christi,  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  As 
sumption,  All  Saints,  and  Christmas,  as  they  were  relieved 
from  the  others  by  Bulls  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs.1  They 
were  obliged  to  fast  only  on  Fridays  in  Lent,  Holy  Saturday, 
and  Christmas  Eve.  Religious  were  not  to  hear  confessions 
or  administer  the  sacraments  till  they  received  faculties  from 
the  bishop,  and  were  not  to  leave  their  missions  for  more 

1  Bull  "Altitude  Divini  Consilii"of  Pope  Paul  III.,  June  1,  1537. 
Hernaez,  "  Coleccion,"  i.,  pp.  65-7;  "Bullarium  de  Propaganda  Fide," 
App.  i.,  p.  25.  This  does  not  include  All  Saints. 


REGULATIONS  FOR  FLORIDA.  177 

than  two  months  at  a  time ;  were  to  be  assiduous  in  cate 
chising,  teaching  the  boys  every  day,  and,  where  possible,  in 
Spanish.  Indian  converts  instructed  in  the  Christian  doc 
trine  were  to  receive  communion  at  Easter  and  other  con 
venient  seasons,  and  certificates  of  having  fulfilled  their 
Paschal  duty  were  to  be  given  to  them.  Eegisters  were  to 
be  kept  of  Indian  baptisms,  marriages,  and  funerals,  and  the 
Franciscan  Fathers  were  not  to  serve  the  whites  except  in 
special  cases.  Nor  were  whites  to  endeavor  to  collect  money 
due  from  Indians  who  came  to  church.  This  and  other 
abuses  were  prohibited  by  royal  orders  of  June  1,  1672,  and 
August  2, 1678.  The  Florida  title  ends  thus :  "  And  obeying 
another  royal  order  of  May  21,  1678,  in  which  his  majesty, 
with  his  Catholic  piety,  charges  us  that  we  should,  on  our 
part,  watch  with  all  attention  and  vigilance  for  the  relief  and 
good  treatment  of  the  Indians,  we  most  affectionately  ad 
monish  the  said  missionaries  to  treat  them  well  and  charita 
bly,  and  not  to  consent  that  any  person,  ecclesiastical  or  secu 
lar,  should  maltreat  them  in  word  or  deed,  using  due  effort 
in  all  cases,  in  a  matter  so  important  to  the  service  of  God 
and  his  majesty,  wherewith  we  charge  them  in  conscience  " 
(Lib.  iv.,  Tit.  v.).1 

Spain,  although  she  found  that  Florida  could  not  be  self- 
subsisting,  not  being  fitted  for  raising  wheat  or  cattle,  neg 
lected  to  plant  settlements  on  the  Chesapeake,  where  shell 
fish  and  wild-fowl  would  have  proved  a  resource.  She 
allowed  the  English  to  plant  that  district  and  at  last  extend 
their  settlements  to  the  country  immediately  north  of  Saint 
Helena  Sound.  As  the  new  English  colony  of  Carolina 

1  "  Synodo  Diocesana,  que  de  orden  de  8.  M.  celebro  el  ilustrisimo 
Senor  Doctor  Don  Juan  Garcia  de  Palacios,  Obispo  de  Cuba,  en  Junio 
de  mil  seiscientos  ochenta  y  cuatro."     There  are  three  editions,  the  first 
about  1688  ;  the  second  at  Havana,  1816  ;  the  third,  Havana,  1844. 
12 


178  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

grew,  it  became  a  menace  to  Florida,  and  the  result  was  not 
long  delayed. 

The  Bishop  of  Cuba  used  every  exertion  to  have  the  royal 
orders  in  regard  to  the  mission  of  secular  priests  in  Florida 
carried  out ;  but  all  efforts  failed.  The  Governor  Juan  Mar- 
quez  Cabrera  was  by  no  means  fitted  for  the  difficult  crisis 
in  the  affairs  of  the  peninsula. 

On  the  Atlantic  coast,  seeing  the  missions  menaced,  the 
governor  endeavored  to  persuade  the  converted  Indians  of 
the  towns  of  San  Felipe,  San  Simon,  Santa  Catalina,  Sapala, 
Tupichi,  Asao,  Obaldaquini,  and  other  missions,  to  remove  to 
the  islands  of  Santa  Maria,  San  Juan,  and  Santa  Cruz.  His 
plan  may  have  been  wise,  but  it  was  not  carried  out  with 
judgment.  The  Indians  refused  to  go,  and  revolting,  aban 
doned  their  missions.  Some  fled  to  the  woods,  others  to  Eng 
lish  territory.  The  missionaries  in  1684  used  every  means 
of  persuasion  and  promises  to  induce  the  Jama^os,  or  Yam- 
assees,  of  the  Guale  province  to  remain  ;  but  they  went  over 
to  the  English,  followed  by  other  tribes.  Aided  by  their 
new  friends  with  arms,  and  doubtless  at  their  instigation, 
these  Indians  the  next  year  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  in 
vaded  the  Spanish  territory  of  Timuqua,  sacked  the  mis 
sion  of  Santa  Catalina,  carried  off  all  the  vestments,  plate, 
and  other  articles  from  the  church  and  Franciscan  convent, 
killed  many  of  the  Catholic  Indians,  burned  the  town,  and 
retired  loaded  with  plunder,  and  Indians  to  sell  as  slaves  to 
the  settlers  of  Carolina.1 


1  Barcia,  1687,  p.  287  ;  Ayeta,  "La  Verdad  Dcfendida,"  fol.  213.  Obal 
daquini  is  apparently  Gualaquini  or  Jykill  island.  San  Felipe  was  six 
leagues,  and  Mocama  island,  occupied  by  the  Yamassees,  was  three 
leagues  from  it.  MS.  Statement  of  Missions  in  1675.  Chatuache  or 
Satuache  was  sixty  leagues  from  St.  Augustine,  and  was  the  most  north 
erly  town  attended  by  the  missionaries.  "  Meruoria  de  las  Poblaciones, 
1655,"  MS. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  SANTA  CATALINA.         179 

This  mission  of  St.  Catharine,  the  most  important  one  in 
the  province  of  Guale,  was  evidently  on  the  island  that  still 
bears  that  name,  on  the  coast  of  Georgia.  In  1675,  with  the 
dependent  town  of  Satuache,  it  was  attended  by  Father  Ber- 
nabe  de  los  Angeles ;  St.  Joseph's  mission  being  at  Sapala, 
now  Sapelo  island,  and  St.  Dominic's  at  Asao,  or  St.  Simon's 
island. 

The  aggressive  fanaticism  of  English  colonists  was  thus  ar 
rayed  against  Catholicity  in  Florida.  The  destruction  of  St. 
Catharine's  church  and  convent  opens  a  new  era. 

Don  Juan  Marques  Cabrera  when  governor  treated  the 
Apalaches  witli  great  severity,  and  his  adjutant,  Antonio 
Matheo,  burnt  several  of  their  towns,  the  Indians  flying  to 
the  woods  or  seeking  refuge  with  other  nations. 

When  Don  Diego  de  Quiroga  y  Lossada  was  appointed  he 
adopted  a  more  conciliatory  policy.  The  great  Cacique  of 
the  Carlos  Keys  sent  his  son,  the  heathen  Indians  of  Vasisa 
Uiver  asked  for  missionaries,  and  Franciscans  were  sent  to 
several  of  the  Christian  towns.  A  better  feeling  soon  pre 
vailed  throughout  the  penmsula,  and  there  are  extant  let 
ters  to  the  King  of  Spain,  one  written  by  the  Apalache 
chiefs,1  and  the  other  by  those  of  the  Timuquan  nation,2 
expressing  their  satisfaction  with  the  missionaries  and  the 
governor. 

The  documents  are  curious  as  evidence  that  the  chiefs  in 
Spanish  Florida,  at  that  time,  were  able  to  write  their  names. 

1  Don  Matheo  Clmba  ;  Chief  Juan  Mendoza  ;  Don  Bentura,  Chief  of 
Ibitachuco  ;  Don  Alonso  Pastrana,  Chief  of  Pattali ;  Don  Patricio,  Chief 
of  Santa  Cruz  ;  Don  Ignacio,  Chief  of  Tulpatqui. 

2  Don  Francisco,  Chief  of  San  Matheo  ;  Don  Pedro,  Chief  of  San  Pe 
dro  ;   Don  Bentura,  Chief  of  Asile ;   Don  Diego,  Chief  of  Machaua  ; 
Gregorio,  Chief  of  San  Juan  de  Guacara ;  Francisco  Martinez. 

Fac-similes  of  the  signatures  are  given  at  page  180.  The  -word 
"  holahta"  means  "  Chief." 


VISITATION  BY  DON  JUAN  FERRO  MACHADO.    181 

Reports  of  Indian  discontent,  and  appeals  for  better  eccle 
siastical  government  in  Florida,  induced  the  King  of  Spain, 
in  1687,  to  direct  the  newly  appointed  Bishop  of  Cuba,  Don 
Diego  Evelino  de  Compostela,  to  dispatch  all  urgent  business 
as  soon  as  possible  after  reaching  his  diocese,  and  then  pro 
ceed  to  the  provinces  of  Florida  and  make  a  complete  visi 
tation.  Finding,  however,  that  the  affairs  of  Cuba  would  re 
quire  his  attention  for  a  considerable  time,  the  bishop  (Jan 
uary  7, 1688)  appointed  a  learned  Cuban  priest,  the  Bachelor 
Don  Juan  Ferro  Machado,  his  visitor-general  of  the  provinces 
of  Florida.  Br.  Ferro  Machado  proceeded  to  Florida  at  his 
own  expense,  with  his  secretary,  Bachelor  Joseph  Manuel 
Aleman  y  Hurtado,  and  was  received  at  St.  Augustine,  as  the 
bishop's  representative,  by  Rev.  Joseph  Perez  de  la  Mota,  the 
parish  priest  and  vicar;  but  the  Franciscan  Fathers  would 
not  permit  him  to  make  a  visitation  of  their  houses  and  mis 
sions,  as  he  was  not  the  bishop  or  a  religious  of  their  order 
empowered  for  the  purpose,  citing  in  justification  a  royal 
order  of  December  21, 1595.  The  parish  church  in  St.  Au 
gustine  was  visited  by  him  February  20, 1688.  It  was  still 
only  a  wooden  structure,  poorly  fitted  up,  and  the  clergy  with 
but  scanty  means  to  give  dignity  to  the  worship  of  God.1 

The  report  of  Don  Juan  Ferro  Machado  drew  forth  a  work 
by  Father  Francis  Ayeta  in  wThich  he  denied  that  Florida 
was  part  of  the  diocese  of  Cuba,  and  questioned  the  bishop's 
authority  to  send  a  delegate  to  make  a  visitation  of  their 
houses.  He  reviewed  the  whole  question  at  great  length, 
with  a  vast  array  of  authorities,  and  controverted  some  state 
ments  of  the  visitor-general,  especially  in  relation  to  the  mis- 

1  Machado,  "Memorial  en  derecho  al  Rei,"  22  leaves,  fol.  1688.  Bar- 
cia,  pp.  294,  300.  Entry  in  the  Register  of  St.  Augustine.  The  chapel  in 
the  fort  at  Saint  Augustine,  begun  about  this  time,  is  one  of  the  oldest 
Catholic  chapels  in  the  country. 


182  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

sion  of  San  Salvador  de  Mayaca,  which  had  been  removed 
by  the  Franciscans.  Father  Ayeta  asserted  that  its  location 
was  so  unhealthy  that  the  people  and  their  missionary,  Father 
Bartholomew  de  Quiiiones,  were  constantly  sick ;  that  the 
provincial,  in  consequence,  sent  his  secretary,  Father  Salvador 
Bueno,  who  selected  a  healthy  site,  which  pleased  the  Indi 
ans,  so  that  he  attracted  others  and  made  many  converts.1 

1  F.  Francisco  Ayeta,  "La  Verdad  Defendida,"  a  folio  of  227  leaves. 
Ayeta  was  a  prolific  writer,  whose  pen  was  employed  by  his  Order  in 
several  similar  controversies.  He  wrote  also  the  "  Crisol  de  la  Verdad," 
1693,  against  Bishop  Palafox  of  Puebla  in  Mexico  ;  "  Ultimo  Recurso" 
(1694)  on  questions  raised  in  Yucatan;  "Defensa  de  la  Verdad"  (1689) 
against  the  Bishop  of  Guadalajara  ;  "  Discurso  Legal "  against  the  Bishop 
of  Quito,  1699.  See  as  to  him  F.  Marcellino  da  Civezza,  "Bibliografia 
Francescana,"  pp.  29-30. 


CHAPTEK  II. 

THE   CHURCH    IN   NEW   MEXICO,   1581-1680. 

WE  have  traced  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  English 
colonies  to  1690,  and  seen  what  she  had  accomplished  in 
Florida  till  the  same  time.  In  another  part  of  our  present 
domain  the  Church  had  also  labored,  and  not  in  vain.  The 
year  1690  beheld  there,  indeed,  naught  but  ruined  churches 
and  slaughtered  priests ;  but  there  is  a  century  of  evangelical 
labor  to  chronicle,  and  the  check  sustained  by  the  Church  in 
her  holy  work  was  but  a  temporary  one. 

After  the  martyrdom  of  Father  Padilla  and  his  compan 
ion,  no  further  effort  was  made  in  the  direction  of  New  Mex 
ico  till  the  year  1581.  A  fervent  Franciscan  lay  brother, 
Augustine  Eodriguez,  full  of  mortification,  prayer,  and  zeal, 
had  been  sent  at  his  own  request  to  Zacatecas.  From  that 
point  he  penetrated  northward,  and  found  tribes  who  received 
him  with  every  mark  of  good-will.  He  returned,  expecting 
to  induce  his  superiors  to  found  a  mission  there.  But  the 
laborers  were  few,  and  the  good  lay  brother  retired  to  a  con 
vent  in  the  valley  of  San  Bartolome,  where  he  prayed,  mor 
tified  himself,  and  waited  for  the  Lord.  Three  Indians  came 
to  tell  him  of  civilized  tribes  to  the  north  who  lived  in 
houses.  He  journeyed  far  enough  to  be  convinced  of  the 
fact,  and  then  made  his  way  to  Mexico  to  implore  his  supe 
riors  to  do  something  for  these  starving  souls.  His  pleading 
was  not  in  vain ;  two  young  priests  of  the  order — Father 
Francis  Lopez,  who  had  come  from  the  Franciscan  province 

(183) 


184  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

of  Andalusia,  and  Father  John  of  St.  Mary,  a  Catalan — were 
assigned  to  the  work.  They  set  out  from  the  mines  of  Santa 
Barbara,  June  6,  1581,  escorted  by  eight  soldiers,  who  with 
their  leader,  Francisco  Sanchez  Chamuscado,  volunteered  to 
protect  the  missionaries.  Passing  through  wild  tribes  the 
brave  religious  came  to  the  country  of  the  Pueblo  Indians. 
They  gave  the  province  the  name  of  New  Mexico,  which  it 
has  borne  for  three  centuries.  The  Tiguas,  first  to  receive 
these  Christian  teachers,  showed  a  disposition  to  listen  to  their 
words,  so  that  Brother  Augustine  and  his  companions  re 
solved  to  begin  their  mission  there.  Chamuscado  and  his 
men,  after  making  some  exploration,  left  the  missionaries  in 
apparent  security  in  December,  and  journeyed  back.  For  a 
time  the  mission  prospered,  and  the  field  seemed  so  wide  that 
Father  John  set  out  for  Mexico  to  obtain  other  religious, 
with  requisites  for  a  permanent  mission.  Skilled  in  astron 
omy,  and  trusting  to  the  guidance  of  the  stars,  he  took  a  new 
route,  crossing  the  Salinas  and  bearing  straight  for  the  Rio 
Grande.  While  sleeping  one  day  by  the  wayside  he  was  dis 
covered  by  some  Tigua  Indians,  of  a  town  subsequently  called 
San  Pablo,  who  crushed  his  head  with  a  huge  stone,  and  then 
burned  his  body.  Father  Lopez  and  Brother  Augustine  had 
remained  at  a  Pueblo  town,  with  three  Indian  boys  and  a 
half-breed,  earnestly  endeavoring  to  acquire  the  language,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  instruct  the  people  in  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel.  One  day  a  band  from  an  unfriendly  tribe  entered 
the  town  and  began  quarreling  with  the  people.  Father 
Lopez  reproved  them,  but  they  became  furious  at  his  cen 
sure,  and  turning  upon  him  made  his  body  a  target  for  their 
arrows.  The  second  of  the  priests  thus  laid  down  his  life. 
Brother  Augustine  buried  the  body  of  Father  Lopez  in  the 
town,  and  courageously  resumed  his  labors  ;  but  his  Indian 
comrades  took  alarm  and  fled.  One  was  slain,  but  the  other 


THE  FIRST  MARTYRS.  185 

reached  a  Spanish  post  to  tell  of  the  death  of  Father  Lopez, 
and  his  fears  that  the  good  Brother  had  perished  also,  because 
lie  heard  shouts  and  yells  behind  him  when  he  escaped.  It 
is  said  that  some  of  the  chiefs  endeavored  to  save  Brother 
Augustine,  but  others  wished  to  rid  themselves  of  an  impor 
tunate  monitor,  and  he  was  ere  long  dispatched.  Father 
Zarate  Salmeron,  writing  in  1626,  says  that  he  was  killed 
by  two  blows  of  a  macana  or  wooden  war-club,  as  his  skull 
showed,  and  as  the  Indians  of  the  town  of  Poala  confessed; 
for  there  were  many  still  alive  who  witnessed  his  death,  and 
revealed  where  his  body  was  buried  beside  the  grave  he  had 
dug  for  Father  Lopez.' 

The  report  of  the  soldiers  filled  the  Franciscan  Fathers  on 
the  frontier  with  alarm.  Father  Bernardine  Beltran  in  vain 
sought  men  brave  enough  to  accompany  him  in  search  of  his 
valiant  brethren,  till  at  last  a  rich,  brave,  and  pious  gentle 
man,  Don  Antonio  Espejo,  resolved  to  go,  and  gathered  a 
party  of  fourteen  stout  men  for  the  purpose.  He  set  out 
from  the  valley  of  Sari  Bartolonie,  November  10,  1582,  with 

1  Brother  Augustine  Rodriguez  was  a  native  of  the  county  of  Niebla,  in 
Spain,  and  entered  the  Franciscan  Order  in  Mexico.  The  place  where 
Father  John  Mary  perished  cannot  be  identified  ;  but  Poala,  or  Puaray, 
where  Brother  Rodriguez  and  Father  Lopez  were  killed,  must  have  been 
near,  if  not  between,  the  present  pueblos  of  Sandia  and  Isleta,  as  is  evi 
dent  from  the  itinerary  of  Espejo.  The  earliest  account  of  these  mis 
sionaries  is  in  an  "  Itinerario  del  Nuevo  Mundo,"  appended  to  the  "  His- 
toria  de  las  Cosas  mas  Notables,  Ritos  y  Costumbres  del  gran  Reyno  de 
la  China,"  by  Juan  Gonzalez  de  Mendoza,  published  at  Madrid  in  1586. 
See  also  Zarate  Salmeron,  "  Relacion  de  las  Cosas  que  en  el  Nuevo  Mex 
ico,"  Mexico,  1856,  pp.  9-10  ;  Villagra,  "  Historia  de  la  Nueva  Mexico," 
pp.  35,  126,  137;  Torquemada,  "  Monarquia  Indiana,"  iii.,  pp.  359, 
626-8  ;  Arlegui,  "  Cronica  de  la  Provincia  de  Zacatecas,"  Mexico,  1737- 
1851,  pp.  212-217  ;  Fernandez,  "  Historia  Ecclesiastica  de  Nuestros  Ti- 
empos,"  1611,  pp.  57-8  :  "  Testimonio  dado  in  Mejico  sobre  el  descubri- 
miento  de  doscientos  leguas  adelante  de  las  minas  de  Sa  Barbara"; 
"  Colec.  de  Doc.  Ineditos,"  xv.,  p.  80  ;  "  Testimony  of  Pedro  Busta- 
mente,"  p.  81. 


186  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Father  Beltran.  Passing  through  the  Indian  tribes  of  the 
Conchos,  Passaguates,  Tobosos,  Jumanas,  or  Patarabueyes, 
he  finally  reached  Poala  only  to  be  assured  of  the  assassina 
tion  of  the  missionaries.  The  guilty  Indians  fled  at  his 
approach. 

Finding  himself  baffled  in  the  pious  object  of  his  expedi 
tion,  Espejo  resolved  to  explore  the  country  before  he  re 
turned.  He  visited  the  Maguas,  where  Father  John  de 
Santa  Maria  was  killed,  the  Queres,  the  Curiames,  whose 
chief  town  was  Zia,  and  the  Arnejes,  Acoma,  and  Zuni.  At 
the  last-named  town  he  found  three  Christian  Indians  who 
had  been  left  by  Coronado.  Father  Beltran  set  out  from 
Zuni  for  Mexico,  but  Espejo  visited  Moqui  before  his  re 
turn. 

Permission  to  occupy  New  Mexico  was  solicited  by  Espejo, 
but  he  lacked  influence  to  support  his  well-earned  claim. 
More  fortunate  than  he,  Captain  Castanon  obtained  the  con 
sent  of  the  Yiceroy.  Following  the  attempt  of  Lomas,  he 
entered  'New  Mexico  with  a  small  force,  some  families  to 
settle,  and  droves  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  goats,  but  when  after 
advancing  a  considerable  distance  into  the  country  he  sent 
back  for  reinforcements,  the  Yiceroy  recalled  him  and  confided 
the  conquest  of  the  country  to  Juan  de  Oilate.1  An  attempt 
was  made,  however,  in  defiance  of  the  Yiceroy,  by  Captain 
Leiva  Bonilla. 

Though  Onate,  who  was  allied  to  the  families  of  Cortes 
and  Montezuma,  had  obtained  a  royal  patent  as  early  as  1588, 
it  was  not  till  August  24,  1595,  that  the  Yiceroy  of  Xew 
Spain  issued  the  official  authority  for  his  expedition.  The 
Franciscans  had  purchased  the  right  to  evangelize  the  terri- 

1  "  Ytinerario  del  Nuevo  Mundo,"  fol.  287.2-301.2  ;  Montoya,  "  Rela- 
cion  del  Dcscobrimiento  del  Nvovo  Mexico,"  pp.  4,  9  ;  Espejo  in  "  Co- 
leccion  de  Documentos  Ineditos,"  xv.,  pp.  101,  etc. 


FRANCISCANS  WITH  ON  ATE.  187 

tory  by  the  life-blood  of  five  of  their  order.  Father  Roderic 
Duran  was  sent  as  commissary  or  superior  with  Fathers  Diego 
Marquez,  Balthazar,  Christopher  de  Salazar,  and  others,  and 
these  priests  were  promptly  at  the  emigrant  camp  formed  at 
Nombre  de  Dios ;  but  intrigues  at  the  capital  prepossessed 
the  government  against  Ofiate.  He  was  at  last  forbidden  to 
advance,  and  Father  Duran,  with  some  of  the  Franciscans, 
returned  to  Mexico,  leaving  Father  Diego  Marquez  as  the 
only  priest  with  Onate's  company.  This  religious  had  been 
captured  at  sea  and  taken  before  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  or 
dered  him  to  be  tortured  to  extort  information  regarding  the 
Spanish  provinces  in  America.  That  he  yielded  probably 
made  him  at  this  time  unpopular,  and  the  feeling  was  so 
strong  that  when  the  expedition  at  last  set  out,  he  was  com 
pelled  to  return  to  Mexico  soon  after  they  reached  the  Eio 
Conchas.1 

Another  body  of  Franciscans  were,  however,  already  on 
their  way  to  take  charge  of  the  settlers  in  New  Mexico  and 
of  the  Indian  missions.  At  their  head  was  Father  Alonso 
Martinez,  "  a  religious  of  singular  virtue  and  noble  gifts," 
says  the  poet  of  the  expedition.  His  companions  were  Father 
Francis  de  Zamora,  Fathers  Rozas,  San  Miguel,  Claros,  Lugo, 
Andres  Corchado,  and  two  lay  brothers. 

The  expedition  with  heavy  wagons,  droves  of  cattle  and 
sheep,  and  settlers  to  the  number  of  four  hundred,  including 
one  hundred  and  thirty  married  men  with  families,  moved 
slowly,  escorted  by  Spanish  soldiers,  and  the  flower  of  the 
Chichimeca  Indian  auxiliaries.  The  Eio  del  Norte  was 
finally  reached  at  the  close  of  April,  and  on  Ascension  Day, 
1598,  after  a  solemn  mass  and  sermon,  possession  was  for- 

1  Villagra,  "  Historia  de  la  Nueva  Mexico,"  1610,  pp.  68,  86  ;  Andres 
Cavo,  "  Tres  Siglos  de  Mexico,"  i.,  p.  228  ;  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronolog- 
ico,"  p.  164. 


188  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

mally  taken  of  New  Mexico,  in  the  name  of  the  Spanish  King.1 
The  religious  services  were  followed  by  a  representation  in 
the  style  of  the  old  mysteries,  a  "  Comedia,"  composed  by 
Captain  Farfan,  m  which  New  Mexico  welcomed  the  Church, 
beseeching  her,  on  bended  knee,  to  wash  away  its  sins  in 
the  waters  of  baptism. 

Captain  Yillagra,  in  his  poetical  account  of  the  conquest 
of  New  Mexico,  inserts  this  prayer,  pronounced  aloud  at  this 
time  by  Onate  : 

"  O  holy  Cross,  who  art  the  divine  gate  of  heaven,  altar  of 
the  only  and  essential  sacrifice  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  the 
Son  of  God,  path  of  the  Saints,  and  possession  of  His  glory, 
open  the  gate  of  heaven  to  these  unbelievers,  found  the 
Church  and  Altars  on  which  the  Body  and  Blood  of  the  Son 
of  God  may  be  offered  ;  open  to  us  the  way  of  security  and 
peace,  for  their  conversion  and  our  own  conversion,  and  give 
cur  king  and  me,  in  his  royal  name,  peaceful  possession  of 
these  kingdoms  and  provinces  for  His  holy  glory.  Amen."  2 

This  is  a  gratifying  monument  of  the  religious  and  peace 
ful  character  of  Onate's  entrance  into  New  Mexico.  As 
they  went  on,  mass  was  said  by  some  of  the  Fathers  before 
each  day's  march  Jbegan.  Onate,  finally,  with  Fathers  Mar 
tinez  and  Christopher  de  Salazar,  accompanied  by  sixty  men, 
pushed  on,  and  entering  New  Mexico  took  possession  in  the 
usual  form,  justifying  the  conquest  by  the  murder  of  the 
missionaries.3 

On  the  27th  of  June  they  entered  Puaray.     Here  they 

1  Villagra,  p.  118 ;  Zarate  Salmeron,  p.  23. 

2  Villagra,  p.  130,  gives  this  in  prose. 

3  "  Treslado  de  la  posesion  que  en  nombre  de  su  Magestad  tomo  Don 
Joan  de  Onate  de  los  reynos  y  provincias  de  la  Nueva  Mexico,  ano  de 
1598."     "  Coleccion  de  Documentos,"  xvi.,  p.  88;  xviii.,  pp.  108-127; 
Villagr'i,  pp.  119-132  ;  Duro,  "  Penalosa,"  p.  155. 


CHURCH  OF  SAN  JUAN  BA  UTISTA.  189 

found  a  house,  with  the  walls  within  so  carefully  whitened 
as  to  excite  their  suspicion.  On  removing  this  coat  the 
Spaniards  found  beneath  a  painting,  representing  with  some 
skill  the  martyrdom  of  Fathers  Santa  Maria  and  Lopez  and 
Brother  Ruiz,  depicting  the  scene  where  they  perished  be 
neath  the  weapons  of  the  Indians.1 

By  the  25th  of  July  Onate  reached  the  Indian  pueblo  of 
Pecos,  but  retracing  his  course  to  the  valley  of  Santo  Do 
mingo,  he  began  on  the  llth  of  August  to  lay  out  the  city  of 
San  Francisco.  This  first  seat  of  Spanish  occupation  in  New 
Mexico  was  about  two  miles  west  of  the  former  pueblo  of 
Ojke,  to  which  the  Spaniards  gave  the  name  of  San  Juan  de 
los  Caballeros,  and  the  proposed  city,  instead  of  its  intended 
name  of  San  Francisco,  is  referred  to  as  the  Real  de  San 
Juan.  Here,  on  the  23d  of  August,  the  erection  of  the  first 
church  in  New  Mexico  was  begun,  and  on  the  7th  of  Sep 
tember  a  building  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  settlers 
and  garrison  was  completed.  The  next  day,  feast  of  the 
Nativity  of  our  Lady,  this  church  was  dedicated  under  the 
name  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist,  the  Father  Commissary, 
Alonso  Martinez,  blessing  it  and  consecrating  the  altars  and 
chalices.  Father  Christopher  de  Salazar  preached  the  sermon, 
and  the  day  wound  up  with  a  general  rejoicing  and  a  mock 
battle  between  mounted  Moors  with  lance  and  shield  and 
Christians  on  foot  with  firearms.  Thus  was  the  first  Cath 
olic  settlement  in  New  Mexico  begun,  just  thirty-three  years 
after  the  settlement  of  Saint  Augustine.2 

1  Villagra,  p.  137  ;  "  Coleccion  de  Documentos,"  xvi.,  p.  256. 

*  "  Discurso  de  las  Jornadas,"  Coleccion  de  Documentos,  xvi.,  pp.  247- 
264.  Onate,  in  his  letter  of  March  2,  1599,  says  that  the  first  church 
was  founded  in  the  beginning  of  October.  Montoya,  "  Relation,"  p.  16. 
"  Y  como  el  real  Alferez  Penalosa  Llego  con  todo  el  campo  sin  disgusto 
Al  pueblo  de  San  Juan,  los  Religiosos  Hizieron  luego  Yglesia,  y  la  ben- 
dijo  El  Padre  Comis;irio  "  Villagra,  pp.  144-2,  171.  While  endeavoring 


190  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  sacristy  of  this  first  church  was  soon  enriched  with  a 
relic  which  filled  the  missionaries  with  pious  consolation.  It 
was  the  paten  used  by  Father  Lopez,  who  had  been  put  to 
death  at  Puaray,  and  which  they  had  recovered  from  a  chief 
at  Jemez,  whom  they  found  wearing  it  as  a  gorget.1 

Having  thus  established  a  religious  centre,  the  Commissary 
Apostolic  assigned  his  priests  to  fields  of  labor  in  the  great 
vineyard  opened  before  him.  Father  Francis  de  San  Miguel 
was  sent  to  Pecos ;  Father  Francisco  de  Zamora  to  Picuries 
and  Taos ;  Father  John  de  Bozas  to  Cheres ;  Father  Alphon- 
sus  de  Lugo  to  Jemez ;  Father  Andrew  Corchado  to  Zia ; 
Father  John  Claros  to  the  Tiguas;  Father  Christopher  de 
Salazar  was  not  yet  ordained,  but  he  took  up  his  abode  at 
the  newly  erected  church  of  St.  John  with  Brother  John  de 
San  Buenaventura,  and  here  the  Commissary  remained  when 
not  visiting  the  mission  stations.  Each  missionary  had  a  dis 
trict,  with  several  pueblos,  dependent  on  him. 

All  through  the  summer  the  chiefs  of  the  pueblos  made 
their  submission  and  acknowledged  the  Spanish  authority,  so 
that  Onate  and  his  officers  thought  the  country  completely 
reduced.  Each  pueblo  received  the  name  of  the  saint  or 
mystery  to  which  the  church  or  convent  was  to  be  dedicated. 
Thus  Puaray  was  placed  under  the  patronage  of  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua ;  the  rising  convent  of  Santo  Domingo  was  dedi 
cated  to  our  Lady  of  the  Assumption  ;  Picuries  to  Saint  Bon- 

to  fix  the  location  of  this  first  church,  the  experienced  antiquary,  Adolph 
F.  Bandelier,  wrote  me,  "The  first  church  was  not  built  at  San  Juan 
Baptista,  as  the  '  Discurso  de  las  Jornadas'  of  Onate  would  seem  to  imply, 
but  about  two  miles  west  of  the  former  pueblo  of  Ojke,  then  called  by 
the  Spaniards  San  Juan.  The  site  of  Ojke  is  partly  covered  by  the 
actual  pueblo  of  San  Juan."  The  pueblo  of  San  Juan  is  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rio  Grande,  just  above  the  junction  of  the  Rio  Charna,  the  new 
pueblo  being  somewhat  west  of  the  former  one. 
1  "  Discurso  de  las  Jornadas,"  p.  259. 


SPANIARDS  AT  SAN  GABRIEL.  191 

aventure ;  Galisteo  to  Saint  Anne.  But  in  December  the 
Spaniards  were  startled  in  their  fancied  security  by  tidings 
from  Acoma  that  the  men  of  that  pueblo,  under  Zutacapan, 
had  suddenly  attacked  and  killed  Onate's  lieutenant  and 
several  of  his  men.  Oflate  sent  a  detachment  which  stormed 
the  height,  captured  the  town  after  a  stubborn  resistance, 
and  gave  it  to  the  flames ;  soon  after  the  commander  suc 
cessfully  repelled  an  Indian  attack  on  his  camp  at  San 
Juan.' 

When  spring  opened,  Onate  sent  to  Mexico  Captain  Yilla- 
gra,  with  Fathers  Martinez  and  Salazar,  to  give  an  account 
of  his  conquest.  Father  Salazar  died  on  the  way ;  and  though 
the  Commissary  reached  the  City  of  Mexico,  his  health  was 
greatly  enfeebled  by  all  that  he  had  undergone ;  he  fell  sick, 
and  being  unable  to  return,  a  venerable  priest  of  great  sanc 
tity,  Father  John  de  Escalona,  was  sent  as  Commissary,  with 
six  or  eight  additional  Fathers,  escorted  by  about  two  hun 
dred  soldiers." 

Meanwhile  Ofiate  had  abandoned  the  site  'selected  east  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  and  crossing  that  river  founded  San  Gabriel, 
on  the  Chama,  six  leagues  north  of  the  junction,  and  near 
the  Ojo  Caliente.3 

In  October,  1599,  the  new  Commissary,  Father  Escalona, 
reached  San  Gabriel,  where  the  Spaniards  were  living  peace 
fully,  surrounded  by  Indians,  many  of  whom  had  already  re 
ceived  the  grace  of  baptism.  Ofiate  then  set  out,  with  eighty 

1  "Documentos  Ineditos,"  16,  p.  39. 

'2  Ofiate,  Letter  March  2, 1599,  from  San  Juan.  Montoya,  p.  24  ;  "  Co- 
lecciou  de  Doc.  Ineditos,"  xvi.,  p.  97,  etc.;  xviii.,  p.  265;  Zarate  Salme- 
ron,  p.  23  ;  Villagra,  pp.  195-277. 

3  "Coleccion  de  Documentos,"  xvi.,  p.  39  ;  Zarate  Salmeron,  1626,  p. 
24  ;  "Documentos  para  la  Historia  de  Mexico,"  iii.,  1,  p.  158.  The  post 
of  San  Gabriel  was  maintained  certainly  till  1604  (Zarate  Salmeron,  p.  30) 
and  probably  till  1607. 


192  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

soldiers,  to  make  discoveries  in  the  direction  followed  by 
Coronado,  and  reach  Quivira.  Father  Francisco  Velasco  and 
Brother  Yergara  accompanied  the  force  to  tread  the  path 
which  led  Padilla  to  martyrdom.  His  course  lay  first  to  the 
east-northeast,  and  then  turned  directly  to  the  east.  After  a 
march  of  two  hundred  leagues  Oiiate  reached  the  town  of 
Quivira,  whose  occupants  were  attacked,  as  the  Spaniards 
were,  by  a  roving  prairie  tribe,  called  by  the  Spaniards  the 
Escanjaques.1 

The  settlers  and  soldiers  left  at  San  Gabriel,  without  any 
one  to  direct  the  necessary  works  to  fit  it  for  defence  as  a 
place  of  refuge,  oppressed  the  Indians,  and  soon  fell  into 
such  want  that  they  were  all  perishing.  The  natives,  whom 
the  Spaniards  had  robbed  of  their  stores  of  corn,  fled  from 
their  towns.  The  crops  planted  by  the  settlers  seemed  to 
have  failed,  and  there  was  a  general  feeling  that  their  com 
mander  might  never  return.'  It  was  the  almost  unanimous 
wish  of  the  settlers  to  abandon  the  country  and  make  their 
way  to  Santa  Barbara,  thence  to  report  to  the  viceroy  and 
await  his  answer.  Even  the  missionaries  favored  the  step. 
Fathers  Francis  de  San  Miguel  and  Francis  de  Zamora,  with 
two  lay  Brothers,  asked  also  to  go  and  act  as  chaplains  to  the 
discouraged  emigrants.  Father  Escalona  remained  at  San  Ga 
briel,  with  the  King's  Ensign  and  a  few  Spaniards,  awaiting 
instructions  either  from  Onate  or  from  the  viceroy.3  When 
Ofiate  returned  to  San  Gabriel  he  was  roused  to  fury  on 
finding  his  settlement  abandoned ;  he  proceeded  against  those 
who  had  left  in  form,  proclaimed  them  traitors,  and  sen- 


"  Memorial  de  Vicente  de  Zaldivar,"  Doc.  Ined.,  xviii.,  p.  188  ;  Tor- 
quemada,  "Monarquia  Indiana,"  i.,  pp.  672,  678. 

2  Zarate  Salmeron,  p.  26. 

3  Letter  dated  San  Gabriel,  October  1, 1601 ;  Torquemada,  i.,  p.  673. 


FATHER  JOHN  DE  ESCALONA.  193 

tenced  them  to  death.1  His  highest  officer,  with  the  san 
guinary  warrants,  reached  Santa  Barbara  twelve  days  after 
the  slow-going  caravan  of  disheartened  settlers  entered  it." 
The  missionaries  justified  the  action  of  the  people,  and  Ofiate 
was  evidently  compelled  to  conciliate  his  colonists,  and  seems 
to  have  induced  them  to  return.  Six  Franciscan  Fathers — 
Francis  de  Escobar,  one  of  them,  being  appointed  Commis 
sary3 — were  sent  to  maintain  the  missions ;  but  the  religious 
complained  of  Ofiate's  arbitrary  conduct  in  causing  the  Com 
missary  to  remove  them  from  place  to  place,  and  forcing 
them  to  act  as  chaplains  to  the  whites — a  duty  rather  for 
secular  priests,  when  their  object  was  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians. 

Father  John  de  Escalona,  retiring  from  his  office  as  Com 
missary,  remained  in  the  province,  laboring  as  a  missionary 
among  the  Indians,  edifying  all  by  his  zeal,  as  he  had  done 
for  years  by  his  holy  life.  He  had  seen  the  first  effort  made 
for  the  conversion  of  New  Mexico,  and  is  said  to  have  be 
held  in  ecstasy  the  death  of  Brother  Kodriguez  and  his  com 
panions.  His  own  mission  work  began  among  the  Queres, 
in  the  pueblo  of  Santo  Domingo  on  'the  banks  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  there  he  piously  ended  his  days.4 

In  October,  1604,  Ofiate,  having  restored  his  town  of  San 
Gabriel,  set  out  from  it  to  extend  his  explorations  to  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific.  Accompanied  by  Father  Escobar  he 
visited  Zufii  and  the  Moqui  towns,  then  reached  the  Col 
orado  and  Gila,  and  followed  the  former  to  its  mouth,  taking 

1  Torquemada,  i.,  p.  675. 

2  Letter  of  F.  Francis  de  San  Miguel,  Santa  Barbara,  February  26, 1602  ; 
Torquemada,  i.,  pp.  676-7. 

a  Torquemada,  i.,  p.  678. 

4  "  Many  are  the  prodigious  things  which  befel  this  holy  man  among 
those  Indians,"  writes  F.  Zarate  Salmeron,  p.  53. 
13 


194  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

possession  in  the  name  of  the  king  on  the  25th  of  January, 
1605,  assigning,  as  far  as  he  could,  the  whole  extent  of  the 
province  he  had  explored  to  the  Franciscans,  who,  in  mem 
ory  of  the  day,  made  the  Conversion  of  Saint  Paul  the  pa- 
tronal  feast  of  the  mission  of  New  Mexico.1 

Soon  after  this  Santa  Fe  was  founded  and  became  the  seat 
of  the  Spanish  power ;  but  as  the  religious  devoted  their  ener 
gies  more  especially  to  the  Indian  pueblos,  and  there  was 
perhaps  a  feeling  that  the  new  settlement  might  not  be  per 
manent,  no  church  was  erected,  the  services  being  conducted 
in  a  wretched  hut.2  - 

For  twelve  years  the  labors  of  the  Sons  of  St.  Francis  in 
New  Mexico  bore  little  fruit  to  encourage  them,3  but  they 
were  at  last  able  to  begin  more  systematic  labors  in  the  In 
dian  pueblos,  and  with  such  success  that,  by  the  year  1608, 
they  reported  eight  thousand  baptisms.  The  Teoas  nation 
was  the  first  to  embrace  the  faith,  their  church  at  San  Ilde- 
fouso  being  apparently  the  first  erected  for  the  Indians  in 
New  Mexico.4  Father  Escobar  having  resigned  his  office. 
Father  Alonso  Peinado  was  sent  to  New  Mexico  as  Commis 
sary,  with  eight  or  nine  additional  priests  to  carry  on  the 
good  work.5 

Father  Jerome  de  Zarate  Salmeron  became  missionary  to 
the  Jemes  about  the  year  1618,  and  during  his  eight  years' 
labor  in  their  pueblo  composed  in  their  language  a  catechism 
and  other  works  that  would  be  needed  by  any  priest  who 
succeeded  him.  He  baptized  6,566  in  the  Jeme  nation,  and 
many  others  at  the  Queres  towns  of  Cia  and  Santa  Ana. 

1  Zurate  Salmeron,  pp.  30-37. 

'•  Benavides,  p  27.     A.  F.  Bandolier,  who  has  written  on  the  date  of 
the  foundation  of  Santa  Fe,  fixes  it  at  1607. 
:t  Benavides,  "  Memorial,"  p.  2.  4  Ibid.,  p.  28. 

6  Torquemada,  i.,  p.  678. 


TRANSLATION  OF  BROTHER  RODRIGUEZ.    195 

Acoma,  which  on  its  embattled  height  had  defied  the  Span 
iards,  yielded  to  his  zeal.  In  all  these  missions  he  erected 
churches  and  residences.1 

When  Father  Stephen  de  Perea  was  Commissary  a  most 
consoling  ceremony  took  place.  Thirty-three  years  after  the 
death  of  Father  John  Lopez,  an  Indian  of  Puaray,  who  had 
witnessed  his  death  and  burial,  guided  Father  Perea  to  the 
spot  where  Brother  Rodriguez  had  interred  him.  The  grave 
was  opened,  and  the  bones  reverently  encased  were  borne  by 
the  religious  in  procession,  followed  by  their  converts  to  the 
Church  of  Sandia,  undeterred  by  the  inclement  weather  of 
February.  Miracles  were  ascribed  to  his  intercession,  for 
which  Father  Zarate  Salmeron  refers  to  the  work  of  another 
missionary,  apparently  Father  Perea  himself.9  The  ancient 
chapel  of  the  pueblo  of  Sandia  in  all  probability  holds  to  this 
day  the  remains  of  this  protomartyr  of  the  New  Mexico 
mission. 

About  the  year  1622,  in  the  Provincial  Chapter  of  the 
Franciscan  Order  held  in  Mexico,  the  missions  which  had 
hitherto  been  under  the  care  of  a  Commissary  were  formed 
into  a  Custodia,  of  which  Father  Alonzo  de  Beriavides  was 
appointed  the  first  custos.  The  Viceroy  of  Xew  Spain  there 
upon  authorized  him  to  take  twenty-six  missionaries  to  Xew 
Mexico,  their  expenses  on  the  way  and  their  maintenance 
being  paid  by  the  king.  But  though  the  new  custos  entered 
his  district  with  that  number,  death,  sickness,  and  hardship 
soon  thinned  their  ranks,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  1027 
the  king  ordered  the  viceroy  to  send  thirty  Franciscan  Fa 
thers  to  New  Mexico.3 

On  the  4th  of  September,  1628,  nineteen  priests  and  two 

1  Torquemada,  "  Dedication."  2  Zarate  Salmeron,  p.  11. 

3  Cedula  of  November  15,  1627. 


196 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


lay  brothers  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Francis  left  the  City  of 
Mexico  with  the  newly  appointed  Gustos,  Father  Stephen  de 
Perea ;  these  were  maintained  by  the  king  and  nine  others, 


VEN.    MARIA  JESUS  DE   AGREDA,  ABBESS  OP   THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEP 
TION,    AGREDA.      BORN  APRIL  2,  1602.      DIED   1665. 

at  the  expense  of  the  province  of  the  Holy  Gospel,  all  ready 
to  meet  toil  and  danger  in  the  missions  of  New  Mexico.1 
In  1630  Father  Benavides  was  dispatched  to  Spain  to  lay 


1  Perea,  "  Verdadera  Relation  de  la  Grandiosa  Conversion  que  ha  avido 
en  el  Nuevo  Mexico,"  Seville,  1632. 


VEN.  MARIA  DE  JESUS  DE  AGREDA.          197 

before  the  sovereign  the  consoling  results  of  the  missions 
which  his  zeal  had  established. 

At  Chilili,  the  chief  pueblo  of  the  Tompiras,  Father  John 
de  Salas  founded  a  mission,  which  soon  had  six  churches  and 
residences.  His  zeal  extended  beyond  the  limits  of  that  na 
tion.  Hearing  of  the  Xumanas,  a  tribe  similar  in  mode  of 
life  to  the  tribes  already  known,  whose  pueblo  lay  east  of  the 
mesa  still  bearing  their  name,  and  not  far  from  the  Salt 
lakes,  this  missionary  about  1623  endeavored  to  bear  the 
light  of  the  gospel  to  them.  To  his  surprise  he  found  the 
Xumanas  familiar  with  the  Christian  doctrines,  and  they  de 
clared  that  they  had  been  instructed  in  the  faith  of  Christ  by 
a  woman.  Her  attire,  as  they  described  it,  was  that  of  a  nun, 
and  the  missionary  showed  them  a  picture  of  Sister  Louisa 
Carrion,  a  religious  in  Spain  highly  esteemed  for  her  sanc 
tity.  The  Indians  declared  that  the  dress  was  the  same,  but 
the  lady  who  visited  them  was  younger  and  more  handsome. 
In  1629  Father  Benavides  resolved  to  found  a  mission  among 
this  interesting  people,  and  he  sent  Fathers  Perea  and  Lopez 
to  take  up  their  residence  at  the  great  pueblo  of  the  Xumana 
nation,  which  he  dedicated  to  St.  Isidore,  archbishop.  When 
he  subsequently  re- 
turned  to  Spain, 
Father  Benavides 
heard  of  Sister  Maria 
de  Agreda,  and  at 

her  convent  learned  PAC.SIMILE  OF  THE  SIGNATURE  OP  THE  VEX. 
that  she  had  in  MARIA  DE  AGREDA. 

ecstasy  visited  New 

Mexico  and  instructed  Indians  there.  The  Franciscan  writers 
all  from  this  time  speak  of  this  marvellous  conversion  of  the 
Xumanas  by  her  instrumentality,  as  a  settled  fact.  The 
ruins  recently  called  Gran  Quivira  are,  in  all  probability,  the 


198  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

site  of  a  Xumana  town,  the  nation  having  been  wasted  away 
by  wars  and  absorbed  in  some  one  of  the  New  Mexican  tribes.1 
In  1632  Father  John  de  Salas  again  visited  the  tribe,  accom 
panied  by  F.  Diego  de  Ortego,  and  finding  the  people  friendly 
and  disposed  to  receive  the  faith,  he  left  Father  Ortego  there 
for  six  months.2  The  Tompiras  by  1629  had  six  convents  and 

1  This  conversion  of  the  Xumanas  is  detailed  by  Father  Benavides  in 
his  "  Memorial,"  pp.  23,  86,  etc.  ;  and  a  separate  tract,  "  Tail  to  que  se 
saco,"  etc.  ;  is  treated  of  by  Father  Joseph  Xiiuenez  Samaniego  in  his 
Life  of  Maria  de  Agreda  prefixed  to  her  "  Mistica  Ciudad,"  Lisbon, 
1681,  vol.  i.,  sig.  M.  3  ;  is  referred  to  by  Bishop  Manzo  y  Zuiiiga  of 
Mexico  in  1682,  and  is  constantly  mentioned  by  later  writers  as  an  ac 
knowledged  fact.    During  her  life  she  underwent  a  rigorous  examina 
tion  before  the  Inquisition,  of  which  her  long  and  clear  answers  are  pre 
served.     The  Sorboune  condemned  the  "  Mistica  Ciudad,"  and  the  Holy 
See  for  a  time  permitted  its  circulation  only  in  Spain  and  Portugal.    Her 
correspondence  with  Philip  IV.  ("Cartas  de  la  Ven.  M.  Sor  Maria  de 
Agreda  y  del  Senor  Rey  Don  Felipe  IV.,"  Madrid,  1885)  show  a  clear 
political  judgment,  a  firmness  and  decision  that  the  king  and  his  coun 
sellors  seemed  to  lack. 

The  Ven.  Maria  de  Agreda,  daughter  of  Francis  Coronel  and  Cathe 
rine  de  Arana,  was  born  at  Agreda,  April  2,  1602,  and  after  a  childhood 
of  great  piety  and  reserve,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  took  the  veil  in  the  Order 
of  Poor  Clares  with  her  mother  and  sister,  their  house  becoming  a  con 
vent,  her  father  with  her  two  brothers  making  their  profession  in  the 
Convent  of  San  Antonio  the  same  day.  Her  austerities  were  extraordi 
nary,  but  they  were  supported  by  a  solid  and  constant  piety  and  virtue. 
Having  become  abbess  at  the  age  of  twenty -five,  she  erected  a  new  con 
vent  near  the  city,  which  is  still  standing.  Through  life  she  petitioned 
the  Holy  See  to  define  clearly  two  points  made  de  fide  in  our  time — the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Infallibility  of  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff.  She  died  on  Whitsunday,  1665,  and  the  process  of 
her  canonization,  begun  soon  after  her  death,  has  been  revived  in  our 
day. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  find  that  A.  F.  Bandelier,  in  a  series  of  arti 
cles  on  "  Cibola  and  Quivira,"  identifies  "  Gran  Quivira"  as  a  Xumana 
town.  It  has  one  large  clmrch  in  tolerable  condition  and  one  in  ruins. 
The  Xumanas,  harassed  by  the  Apaches,  retired,  he  thinks,  in  1679  to 
Socorro  and  other  towns  ;  but,  as  we  shall  see,  they  kept  up  their  sepa 
rate  tribal  existence,  and  were  friendly  after  the  revolt  of  the  Pueblos. 

2  F.  Alonso  de  Posadas,  in  Duro,  "  Penalosa,"  p.  57. 


FIRST  CHURCH  AT  SANTA  FE.  199 

as  many  good  churches.  The  Teoas,  the  first  tribe  to  receive 
the  faith,  had  three  convents  and  churches,  with  five  chapels 
in  the  smaller  pueblos.  The  Tioas  had  convents  and  costly 
churches  dedicated  to  St.  Francis  and  St.  Anthony  at  Sandia 
and  Isleta,  with  chapels  in  the  rest  of  the  fifteen  or  sixteen 
pueblos.  The  Queres  had  three  costly  and  elaborate  churches,, 
one  at  San  Felipe,  with  chapels  on  four  other  pueblos.1  The 
Tanos  had  a  convent  and  very  good  church  in  their  chief 
pueblo,  and  chapels  in  the  four  others.  The  Pecos,  a  branch 
of  the  Jemes,  had  a  church  of  remarkable  beauty  in  design 
and  execution,  reared  by  the  talented  and  skilful  missionary 
in  that  tribe.2 

One  of  the  first  cares  of  Father  Benavides  on  reaching 
Santa  Fe  as  ctistos  was  to  undertake  the  erection  of  a  suita 
ble  convent  and  church  in  that  city,  then  peopled  by  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  Spaniards,  and  seven  hundred  half- 
breeds  brought  in  as  servants  and  laborers,  with  some  Indians 
from  the  neighboring  tribes  in  the  territory.  In  his  wrork  in. 
1630  this  Father  speaks  of  the  church  he  had  erected,  as 
being  one  that  would  be  creditable  anywhere.3  A  carved 
group  of  the  Death  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  which  he  brought 
from  Mexico  attracted  Indians  from  all  parts,  even  the  Apa 
ches  of  the  bison  ranges  coming  to  admire  it.4 

Before  he  presented  his  memorial  to  the  king,  Father  Ben 
avides  as  custos  had  founded  ten  convents  or  missions. 
One  was  apparently  that  at  Picuries,  among  a  branch  of 
the  Tioas  nation,  who  at  first  showed  great  hostility  to  the 

1  Benavides,  "Memorial,"  pp.  23,  28,  21,  22. 

'•  Benavides,  pp.  24,  25. 

3  It  is  positive,  therefore,  that  the  first  church  in  Santa  Fe  was  erected 
between  1622  and  1630  ;  and  that  prior  to  1622  there  was  no  church  in 
Santa  Fe.  Benavides,  p.  27. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  81. 


200  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

faith,  ill-treating  the  missionary,  and  several  times  attempting 
to  take  his  life  ;  but  his  zeal  and  patience  triumphed,  so  that 
they  became  docile  and  peaceful.  The  mission  of  San  Ge- 
ronimo  at  Taos,  a  pueblo  of  the  same  nation,  had  its  convent 
and  church  and  was  attended  by  two  missionaries.  The 
Queres  on  the  rocky  height  at  Acoma  submitted  in  1629  and 
received  a  missionary.  Among  the  Zunis,  who  had  then 
eleven  or  twelve  pueblos,  the  religious  met  great  difficulties, 
and  underwent  great  hardships,  being  strenuously  opposed 
by  the  medicine  men  ; '  one  of  the  apostolic  missionaries, 
Father  Francis  Letrado,  after  laboring  among  this  tribe,  was 
killed  by  the  Cipias,  to  whom  he  attempted  to  unfold  the 
truths  of  the  gospel.* 

Father  Francis  de  Porras,  leaving  Father  Koque  at  Zufii, 
proceeded  with  Father  Andrew  Gutierrez  and  the  lay  brother, 
Christopher  of  the  Conception,  with  their  crosses  on  their 
necks  and  staves  in  their  hands,  to  announce  the  gospel  in 
the  towns  of  the  Moquis.  Beaching  the  first  town  on  St. 
Bernard's  day  they  gave  his  name  to  the  town  and  mission.3 

Among  the  fourteen  pueblos  of  the  Piras,  Father  Bena- 
vides  founded  a  mission  in  1626,  dedicating  Pilabo,  the  prin 
cipal  pueblo,  to  Our  Lady  of  Help  (Nuestra  Seflora  del 
Socorro),  that  at  Senecu  to  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  and  that 
at  Sevilleta  to  San  Luis  Obispo."  Besides  these  labors  among 
the  Xew  Mexican  tribes,  and  the  attempt  made  to  instruct 
the  Moquis,  Father  Benavides,  while  laboring  at  Senecu, 

1  Benavides,  pp.  31-5. 

2Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico"  (1632),  p.  199.  Vetancurt,  "  Teatro 
Mexicano,"  List  of  Authorities.  Bandelier  makes  him  a  missionary  to 
the  Xumanas. 

3  Perea,   "  Segunda  Relacion  de  la  Grandiosa  Conversion,"  Seville, 
1633. 

4  Benavides,  p.  14. 


THE  PUEBLO  INDIANS.  201 

converted  Sanaba,  an  Apache  chief  of  the  Gila,  and  opened 
the  way  for  missions  in  that  wild  race.  On  the  17th  of  Sep 
tember,  1629,  he  founded  a  convent  and  church  in  Santa 
Clara  de  Capoo,  a  pueblo  of  the  Teoas  nation  on  the  Apache 
frontier,  as  a  centre  for  instructing  and  converting  the  pow 
erful  and  warlike  Apaches  of  JS'avajo.1 

In  these  missions  Father  Benavides  assures  us  80,000  had 
been  baptized  as  the  registers  would  show.  In  the  territory 
of  Xew  Mexico  there  were  forty-three  churches.  For  these 
the  missionaries  had  been  architects  and  directors  of  the 
work,  which  was  accomplished  by  the  women,  boys,  and 
girls.  These  Pueblo  Indians  all  lived  in  houses  several 
stories  high,  built  of  sun-dried  bricks  or  adobes,  or  occasionally 
of  stone,  where  it  was  a  more  convenient  material.  These 
houses  were  set  compactly  together  fronting  on  a  square, 
with  a  dead-wall  outside,  the  upper  stories  receding  slightly, 
leaving  a  ledge  which  could  be  reached  by  a  ladder,  and 
from  which  by  drawing  the  same  ladder  up  the  next  story 
could  be  reached  and  finally  the  roof,  in  which  the  door  was. 
This  system  of  towns  made  them  fortresses  defying  the 
efforts  of  the  wilder  tribes  who  surrounded  ISTew  Mexico  on 
all  sides.  Ingenious  as  these  buildings  were,  they  were  ex 
clusively  the  work  of  the  women  and  children.  The  men 
would  go  to  war,  hunt,  fish,  spin,  and  weave,  but  disdained  to 
till  the  soil  or  build  a  house — that  was  woman's  work.  The 
New  Mexican  Adam  did  not  delve  or  the  Eve  spin — they 
reversed  it.  When  the  Franciscan  missionaries  wished  to 
erect  a  church,  they  found  the  women  and  the  children  ready 
to  make  and  lay  the  adobes,  but  could  not  induce  the  men  to 
take  part  in  the  work.  In  vain  did  they  endeavor  to  induce 
the  men  to  undertake  it  and  allow  the  women  to  withdraw. 

1  Benavides,  pp.  35,  55,  59. 


202  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Occasionally  a  man  would  take  a  hand,  but  ere  long,  unable  to 
stand  the  ridicule  of  his  comrades,  he  threw  down  the 
feminine  implements.  The  missionaries  found  that  there 
was  no  alternative  ;  the  material  as  well  as  the  spiritual  church 
must  depend  mainly  on  the  devout  female  sex.  These  old 
ruined  churches  are  monuments  of  the  faith  and  zeal  of  the 
early  women  converts. 

The  missionaries  did  not  attain  the  consoling  results  they 
reported  without  severe  hardships,  great  suffering  from  cold, 
and  journeying  on  foot  over  rocks  and  heights,  as  well  as 
from  the  indifference  and  hostility  of  the  Indians  ;  but  they 
triumphed  ultimately,  and  wherever  they  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  house  or  convent  in  a  pueblo,  they  began  to 
develop  the  industry  of  the  Indians,  using  the  mechanical 
progress  the  Indians  had  made  as  the  basis  of  improvement 
—a  much  wiser  course  than  that  of  the  English,  who  induced 
the  Indians  to  abandon  altogether  their  former  industries. 
The  Spanish  missionaries  in  New  Mexico  introduced  horses 
cattle,  and  sheep,  and  induced  the  Indians  to  keep  domestic 
animals ;  they  improved  their  machinery  for  spinning  and 
weaving,  established  schools  where  they  taught  the  young  to 
read,  write,  chant,  play  on  musical  instruments,  and  after  a 
time  to  handle  tools  as  carpenters,  masons,  carvers,  stone 
cutters.  The  missionaries  aided  cultivation  by  introducing 
acequias  or  irrigating  trenches. 

The  results  obtained  were  effected  in  the  last  eight  years ; 
but  so  general  was  the  conversion  that  the  Fathers  went 
through  the  towns  freely,  welcomed  on  all  sides,  and  greeted 
with  the  pious  salutations:  "Praised  be  Jesus  Christ,"  or 
"  Praised  be  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament."  ' 
Meanwhile  Spanish  settlements  increased  in  New  Mexico, 

1  F.  Peter  de  Miranda  was  killed  at  Taos,  Dec.  28,  1631. 


THE  CLERGY  IN  NEW  MEXICO.  203 

new  towns  were  founded,  mines  were  opened  and  worked. 
When  a  town  was  founded  a  certain  number  of  families  were 
transferred  from  some  part  of  Mexico  or  one  of  the  settle 
ments  already  formed  in  New  Mexico.  In  this  way  a  num 
ber  of  Tlascalans  were  brought  in  to  form  part  of  the  first 
population  of  Santa  Fe,  and  the  church  erected  in  their  quar 
ter  of  the  town  and  destined  for  their  especial  use,  was  known 
as  San  Miguel  de  los  Tlascaltecas.1  These  Mexican  Indians 
brought  in  their  legends  of  the  riches,  power,  and  glory  of 
Montezuma,  till  his  name  became  in  all  the  pueblos  the  hero 
of  a  great  myth,  easily  engrafted  on  their  old  traditions,  and 
remaining  to  this  day. 

The  Indian  converts  clung  to  their  "  estufas";  the  rites  of 
Sabseanism  practiced  in  the  lowest  story  of  their  houses, 
originally  built  for  vapor  baths,  the  favorite  remedy  of  the 
Indians,  but  which  became  also  under  the  medicine  men  the 
centre  of  their  religious  rites.  From  time  to  time  the  Spanish 
authorities  and  the  clergy  endeavored  to  effect  the  suppression 
of  these  superstitions,  but  in  a  few  years  when  search  re 
laxed  the  estufas  would  be  reopened  to  the  known  adherents 
of  the  old  idolatry. 

The  Bishop  of  Guadalajara,  whose  jurisdiction  extended 
over  New  Mexico,  found  it  impossible  to  send  secular  priests 
to  attend  to  the  Spanish  settlers,  and  maintain  any  super 
vision  over  them  ;  the  Conchos  and  other  nomadic  and  hostile 
tribes  who  lay  between  his  See  and  New  Mexico,  making  the 
journey  dangerous,  except  with  a  considerable  military  force. 
Hence  he  committed  not  only  the  Indian  missions,  but  all  the 
parish  churches  and  chapels  of  the  Spaniards,  to  the  Fathers 
of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis,  who  were  the  only  priests  of  New 
Mexico  down  to  the  present  century,  the  Bishop  of  Dnrango, 

1  This  church  was  erected  after  the  parish  church  built  by  Father 
Benavides. 


£04  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

to  whose  diocese  on  its  erection  the  province  was  assigned, 
adopting  the  same  course.  The  habit  of  the  Seraphic  Order 
was  there  for  more  than  two  centuries,  to  the  eyes  of  people, 
the  only  recognized  garb  of  the  Catholic  priesthood.1 

In  1645  there  were  in  New  Mexico  churches  in  the  Spanish 
settlements  attended  by  the  Franciscans  and  twenty-five 
Indian  missions,  the  whole  employing  sixty  members  of  the 
order. 

New  Mexico  suffered  constantly  from  the  inroads  of  the 
Apaches,  and  toward  the  close  of  the  century  from  the  Yutes. 
One  Zuili  town  and  six  in  the  valley  of  the  Salinas,  east  of 
the  Sandia  range,  were  destroyed  by  the  Apaches.8  The 
Church  continued  its  work  in  New  Mexico  in  peace  for 
several  years,  though  in  1640  and  1650  revolts  incited  by  the 
medicine  men  took  place.  About  the  middle  of  the  seven 
teenth  century,  the  civil  power  seems  to  have  fallen  into 
variance  with  the  ecclesiastical.  Governor  Penalosa  in  1664 
arrested  and  imprisoned  the  Superior  of  the  mission,  ap 
parently  Father  Alonso  de  Posadas,  and  his  conduct  was  re 
garded  as  so  illegal  that  on  his  return  to  Mexico  he  was 
brought  before  the  court  of  the  Inquisition  and  compelled  to 
make  reparation  by  a  public  penance.3  This  unfortunate 
conflict  between  the  civil  and  religious  authorities  could  not 
fail  to  lessen  the  respect  of  the  Indians  for  the  missionaries, 
and  as  a  natural  consequence  made  them  regard  with  hostility 
the  Spanish  officials  and  settlers  whom  no  sanctity  of  pro 
fession  had  ever  exalted  in  their  eyes. 

The  sullen  spirit  of  revolt  was  nurtured  for  years  in  the 


1  Pino,  "  Exposicion  del  Nuevo  Mexico,"  Cadiz,  1812,  p.  26  ;  "  Mexico," 
1849,  p.  32. 

2  Letter  of  F.  Sylvester  Velez  Escalante,  April  2,  1778. 

3  Shea,  "Penalosa,"  p.  11 ;  Margry,  iii.,  p.  39  ;  Duro,  "Pefialosa,"  pp. 
82,  53. 


THE  GREAT  REBELLION.  205 

minds  of  the  Indians,  and  in  1680  the  whole  country  was 
permeated  by  a  network  of  conspiracy,  awaiting  the  signal  to 
rise  against  the  Spaniards.  At  this  time  Kew  Mexico  con 
tained  forty-six  pueblos  or  towns  of  converted  Indians,  and 
the  Spanish  city  of  Sante  Fe,  with  a  number  of  smaller 
Spanish  stations,  chiefly  on  or  near  the  banks  of  the  Rio 
Grande.1 

The  plot  was  conceived  and  carried  out  by  a  Tejua  Indian 
named  El  Pope,  who  had  been  pursued  for  committing  mur 
ders,  and  instigating  the  Indians  to  revive  their  old  heathen 
rites.  Flying  from  pueblo  to  pueblo  this  man  labored  for 
fourteen  years  to  effect  a  general  insurrection  against  the 
Spaniards.  He  claimed  power  to  injure  any  one  he  chose  by 
his  alliance  with  the  Evil  One,  and  was  so  implicitly  believed 
that  all  the  pueblos  except  those  of  the  Piros  and  Pecos  en 
tered  into  the  plot.  The  13th  of  August,  1680,  was  fixed 
upon  for  the  general  massacre  of  the  Spaniards,  but  John 
Ye,  Governor  of  the  Pecos,  warned  the  authorities  of  the 
danger,  and  finding  his  advice  unheeded,  as  the  fatal  day 
drew  near,  told  the  missionary  in  his  pueblo,  Father  Ferdi 
nand  de  Yelasco  :  "  Father,  the  people  are  going  to  rise  and 
kill  all  the  Spaniards  and  missionaries.  Decide  then  whither 
you  wish  to  go,  and  I  will  send  warriors  with  you  to  protect 
you."  The  Tanos  of  San  Cristobal  and  San  Lazaro  also 
warned  the  Gustos  of  the  Mission,  Father  John  Bernal,  who 
wrote  to  Governor  Otermin.  On  the  9th  that  officer  was  at 
last  convinced  of  the  danger,  and  Pope  seeing  his  plot  dis 
covered,  gave  the  order  to  the  confederates  to  rise  at  once. 
At  daybreak  on  the  10th  the  Taos,  Picuries,  and  Tejuas  at 
tacked  the  convents  of  the  missionaries  and  the  houses  of  the 
Spaniards,  slaughtering  and  destroying.  Then  the  other 

1  Letter  of  F.  Sylvester  Velez  de  Escalante,  April  2,  1778. 


206  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

tribes  rose  and  the  massacre  and  destruction  became  general. 
The  Spaniards  at  Isleta  and  San  Felipe  on  the  south  fled  to 
El  Paso  ;  those  in  La  Canada  retreated  to  the  strong  house 
of  the  Alcalde  and  kept  the  Indians  at  bay  till  Otermin  ena 
bled  them  to  reach  Santa  Fe.  In  a  few  days  not  a  Spaniard, 
except  a  few  women  held  as  slaves,  was  to  be  found  in  all 
New  Mexico  outside  the  walls  of  the  capital.  On  the  19th 
that  city  was  invested  by  nine  hundred  Tanos,  Queres,  and 
Pecos.  They  captured  the  Analco  quarter  occupied  by  the 
Tlascalans  and  set  fire  to  their  chapel  of  San  Miguel.  The 
Spaniards  charged  them,  and  after  a  desperate  fight  were 
gaming  the  advantage,  when  another  Indian  force,  including 
more  of  the  Taos,  with  the  Pi  curies  and  Tejuas,  attacked 
the  city  on  the  north.  For  five  days  the  fight  raged  in  the 
city  night  and  day,  till  the  Indians,  capturing  house  after 
house  and  firing  it,  gave  the  parish  church  and  convent  to 
the  flames,  and  held  the  Spaniards  and  Tlascalans  in  the  royal 
buildings  and  the  plaza.  There  one  hundred  and  fifty  sur 
vivors  beheld  themselves  surrounded  by  three  thousand  furi 
ous  Indians,  under  Pope  and  Alonso  Catitis,  who  had  gone 
so  far  that  they  panted  to  complete  their  work.  Encouraged 
by  the  three  religious,  Father  Francis  Gomez  de  la  Cadina, 
Father  Andrew  Duran,  and  F.  Francis  Farfan,  one  hundred 
Spaniards,  drawn  up  by  the  governor,  invoked  the  name  of 
Mary,  and  charged  the  insurgents  with  such  fury  that  they 
killed  300  and  captured  43,  putting  the  rest  to  flight.  Gov 
ernor  Otermin,  wounded  in  the  breast  and  forehead,  profited 
at  once  by  the  confusion  of  the  enemy,  and  marched  towards 
El  Paso.  After  meeting  another  band  of  refugees  with  seven 
religious  at  Fray  Cristoval,  the  scanty  remnant  of  the  popu 
lation  of  New  Mexico  took  up  a  fortified  position  at  La  Sali- 
neta  and  San  Lorenzo,  where  Father  Francis  Ayeta,  procura- 


THE  MARTYRED  MISSIONARIES.  207 

tor  of  the  kingdom,  soon  arrived  with  sorely  needed  supplies 
sent  in  the  name  of  the  king.1 

All  signs  of  Christianity  and  civilization  were  thus  swept 
from  New  Mexico.  Twenty-two  priests  of  the  Franciscan 
Order,  including  the  custos,  who  made  no  attempt  to  fly 
though  he  warned  others,  and  three  lay  brothers,  perished 
witli  three  hundred  and  eighty  men,  women,  and  children.8 
The  churches  were  profaned,  the  sacred  elements  trampled 
under  foot,  the  vestments  and  plate  destroyed,  and,  finally, 
the  churches  and  houses  of  the  clergy  razed  to  the  ground. 
The  Indians  even  vented  their  rage  on  the  cattle,  orchards, 
and  fields  of  European  grain,  as  if  seeking  to  destroy  all  trace 
of  the  hated  whites.3  To  root  out  all  Christian  ideas,  Pope 
bade  the  women  and  children  wear  no  crosses  or  rosaries, 
but  break  them  up  and  burn  them  ;  Christ  and  Mary  and 
the  Saints  were  not  to  be  named  or  invoked  ;  married  men 
were  required  to  put  away  their  wives  and  take  others.4 

Of  the  twenty-one  Franciscan  missionaries  whose  lives  were 
thus  offered,  Father  John  Talaban,  ex-custos,  Father  Francis 
Anthony  de  Lorenzana,  and  Father  Joseph  de  Monies  de 
Oca  were  killed  at  Santo  Domingo.  Father  John  Baptist 
Pio  from  Victoria,  province  of  Cantabria,  was  slain  at  Te- 
zuque ;  Father  Thomas  Torres,  a  native  of  Tepozotlan,  was 
killed  at  Nam  be  ;  Father  Louis  de  Morales,  Father  Sanchez 


1  Letter  of  F.  Sylvester  Velez  de  Escalante  to  F.  Morfi,  April  2,  1778. 
Sigueuza  y  Gongora,  "-Mercuric  Volante  con  las  noticias  de  la  recupera 
tion  de  las  provincias  del  Nuevo  Mexico,"  1693-4.  Remonstrance  of  F, 
Salvador  de  San  Antonio  to  Gov.  Vargas,  December  18,  1693. 

-  Letter  of  F.  Sylvester  de  Velez  Escalante  ;  Ayeta,  "  Crisol  de  la  Ver- 
dad."  pp.  32,  2. 

3  Siguenza  y  Gongora,  "  Mercuric  Volante." 

1  Letter  of  F.  Sylvester  Velez  de  Escalante. 


208  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

de  Pro,  and  Father  Louis  de  Baeza  at  San  Ildefonso ; 
Father  Mathias  de  Rendon  at  Picuries ;  Father  Anthony 
Mora  and  Father  John  de  Pedrosa  at  Taos  ;  Father  Luke 
Maldonado  at  Acoma  ;  Father  John  de  Bal  at  Alona  ;  Father 
Joseph  de  Figueras  at  the  Moqui  town  Ahuatobi ;  Father 
Joseph  Trujillo  at  Xongopabi ;  Father  Joseph  de  Espeleta 
and  Father  Augustine  de  Santa  Maria  at  Oraybe  ;  Father 
John  Bernal,  the  Gustos  of  the  Mission,  and  Father  Do 
minic  de  Vera  at  Galisteo  ;  Father  Francis  de  Yelasco  at 
Pecos ;  Father  Manuel  Tinoco  at  San  Marcos.1 

Father  John  of  Jesus,  a  venerable  old  priest  at  the  pueblo 
of  San  Diego  de  los  Jemes,  was  seized  by  the  Indians,  whom 
he  had  instructed  with  patience  and  love  for  nine  years. 
They  burst  into  his  room,  stripped  and  tied  him  upon  a  hog. 
In  this  state  he  was  driven  around  the  church  and  through 
the  pueblo  amid  the  curses  and  blows  of  the  rabble.  When 
weary  of  this  mode  of  torture,  they  got  upon  him  and  made 
him  carry  them  around  on  all-fours,  till  he  sank  lifeless,  when 
he  was  evidently  dispatched  by  an  arrow  or  javelin  which 
pierced  his  spine,  as  was  seen  when  his  venerated  remains 
were  recovered. 


1  Vetancurt,  "  Cronica  de  la  Provincia  del  Santo  Evangelic  de  Mex 
ico,"  Mexico,  1871,  pp.  306-828  ;  "  Menologio  Franciscano,"  Mexico, 
1871,  pp.  273-276  ;  Espinosa,  "  Cronica  Apostolica  y  Serafica,"  i.,  p.  35  ; 
"  Documentos  para  la  Historia  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  159-161.  Father 
John  of  Jesus  was  a  native  of  Granada,  in  Spain,  and  joined  the  prov 
ince  of  Michoacan,  where  he  was  eminent  for  his  holy  life.  He  was 
elected,  in  1655,  first  guardian  of  the  convent  at  Queretaro.  He  died  on 
the  feast  of  St.  Lawrence.  Espinosa,  i.,  p.  35,  who  refers  to  Vetancurt, 
to  the  Cronica  de  San  Diego  de  Mexico,  and  to  the  Sermon  preached  at 
his  Requiem  by  Don  Isidro  Sarinano,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Antequera. 

Father  Joseph  Trujillo  was  an  eminent  man.  who  after  acquiring 
great  renown  at  Mexico  for  learning  and  eloquence,  went  to  the  Philip 
pine  islands.  He  was  a  native  of  Cadiz. 


FATHER  SIMON  OF  JESUS.  209 

These  twenty-one  missionaries  belonged  to  the  province  of 
the  Holy  Gospel  in  Mexico.  Xever  before  in  the  annals  of 
the  missions  within  our  limits  had  so  many  heralds  of  the 
faith  been  immolated  at  once,  or  such  desolation  been  effected. 
All  the  missions  were  in  ruins.  Zandia,  where  lay  the  en 
ergetic  founder,  Father  Perea,  and  where  the  skull  of  Bro 
ther  Augustine  Eodriguez  was  venerated  ;  Santo  Domingo, 
which  held  the  remains  of  Father  Escalona  ;  Taos  and  Aguico, 
which  held  the  relics  of  the  earlier  martyrs,  Father  Peter  de 
Miranda  de  Avila,  and  Father  Francis  Letrado.  Besides  these 
Fathers  of  the  Province  of  the  Holy  Gospel,  one  laid  down 
his  life  who  belonged  to  the  Apostolic  College  of  Queretaro.1 

The  fate  of  Father  Simon  of  Jesus,  the  missionary  among 
the  Tan  os,  is  strangely  connected  with  the  history  of  these 
tribes,  who  after  living  for  fourscore  years  under  the  mild 
law  of  the  gospel,  rejected  Christ  to  follow  the  wildest  hea 
thenism  of  their  medicine  men.  This  missionary  seeing  the 
talent,  intelligence,  and  apparent  piety  of  an  Indian  boy 
whose  name  comes  down  to  us  as  Frasquillo,  devoted  his  time 
to  the  education  of  the  youth.  The  apt  scholar  learned  to 
read  and  write  Spanish  fluently  and  well ;  he  became  a  good 
Latinist,  and  the  chants  and  service  of  the  Church  were  fa 
miliar  to  him.  The  good  missionary  looked  forward  to  the 
day  when  his  pupil,  ordained  as  a  priest,  would  minister  at 
God's  altar.  Yet  when  the  conspiracy  was  formed  and  the 
day  for  the  massacre  was  fixed,  this  precocious  boy  entered 
ardently  into  it.  At  the  appointed  time  he  began  the  mas 
sacre  in  his  pueblo  by  slaying  with  his  own  hands  the  good 
priest  who  had  done  so  much  to  elevate  him.2  The  Tanos 
hailed  the  young  monster  as  their  king.  Pope,  the  projector 
of  the  whole  conspiracy,  set  himself  up  as  absolute  ruler,  but 

1  Yetancurt,  "Cronica  de  la  Provincia,"  p.  314,  etc. 
-  "  Doc.  Hist.  Mex."  III.,  i.,  pp.  103,  etc. ;  Espinosa,  "Cronica  Aposto- 
lica,"  i.,  p.  284. 
14 


210  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

his  cruelty  and  extortions  soon  drove  the  Queres,  Taos,  and 
Pecos  to  revolt  against  his  authority.  The  other  tribes  then 
deposed  Pope,  despising  his  pretended  powers  from  the  evil 
spirits.  Pope  and  the  medicine  men  persuaded  the  people 
that  their  old  pueblos  had  been  cursed  with  misfortune  by  the 
Christian  rites,  and  incited  the  people  to  erect  new  pueblos 
elsewhere.  .The  old  towns  and  cultivated  fields  were  gener 
ally  abandoned,  and  in  the  new  selection  tribal  lines  were 
broken  up.  While  the  New  Mexican  Indians  were  thus  en 
deavoring  to  create  new  homes,  the  Apaches  and  Utes  were 
exterminating  the  exposed  bands,  a  volcanic  upheaval  dried 
up  the  streams  and  covered  the  land  with  showers  of  ashes, 
crops  failed,  and  to  complete  the  misery,  the  Queres,  Taos, 
and  Pecos  began  a  bitter  war  against  the  Tanos  and  Tehuas, 
the  smaller  tribes  joining  one  side  or  the  other.  At  this 
juncture  the  crafty  boy  Frasquillo  proposed  to  the  Tanos  to 
divide  into  two  parts  by  lot,  one  part  to  remain,  while  the 
other  set  out  to  seek  a  more  fertile  and  quiet  land.  His 
project  pleased  them,  and  leaving  a  similar  number  he  set 
out  at  the  head  of  4,000  men,  women,  and  children,  with  their 
half  of  the  plunder  of  the  churches,  the  arms,  implements, 
horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  goats  taken  from  the  Spaniards. 
He  marched  to  Zuni,  but  finding  no  welcome,  kept  on  till  he 
reached  the  gentle,  industrious  Moquis.  Representing  to 
this  less  warlike  tribe  the  increasing  danger  from  the  Apaches 
and  Utes,  he  offered  to  divide  his  fifteen  hundred  warriors 
among  their  different  pueblos  as  a  garrison  able  to  defeat  any 
foe,  while  the  rest  of  his  people  formed  new  pueblos  in  the 
pasture  lands,  ready  always  to  come  to  their  aid.  Before 
long  Frasquillo  proclaimed  himself  king  of  Moqui,  and  as  the 
Tano  boys  grew  up  found  himself  able  to  master  the  Moquis, 
whom  he  disarmed  and  subjected  to  his  tribe  as  a  kind  of 
helots. 


MISSIONARIES  NOT  DISHEARTENED.  211 

Frasquillo  reigned  here  absolutely  for  thirty  years,  at  times 
showing  a  wish  to  return  to  Christianity,  but  to  the  end  hold 
ing  the  Spaniards  at  bay,  for  though  some  of  his  towns  de 
luded  the  authorities  by  mock  submission,  they  never  in  his 
day  entered  his  capital,  Oraybi.1 

Meanwhile  those  who  remained  in  New  Mexico,  under  the 
scourge  of  wild  Indians  on  the  frontiers,  war  and  famine 
within,  and  the  Spaniards  soon  attacking  from  the  south, 
diminished  rapidly.  The  Piro  and  Tompira  nations  disap 
peared  ;  few  of  the  Tiguas  and  Jemes  survived ;  of  the 
Teguas,  Taos,  and  Pecos  there  were  indeed  more.  The  Queres 
suffered  least,  for  in  the  general  shifting  of  homes,  they 
erected  their  adobe  pueblo  within  the  walls  of  Santa  Fe,  on 
the  ruins  of  the  Spanish  town,  securing  thus  a  double  line  of 
defence. 

Father  Francis  Ayeta,  the  procurator-general  of  the  Fran 
ciscans  of  the  province  of  the  Holy  Gospel,  on  hearing  of  the 
destitute  condition  of  the  Spaniards  and  their  faithful  con 
verts  at  El  Paso,  hastened  thither  with  supplies ;  but  seeing 
how  difficult  it  would  be  for  them  to  establish  new  settle 
ments  there,  he  returned  to  Mexico  in  order  to  urge  the  Vice 
roy  to  send  an  expedition  to  recover  New  Mexico  and  restore 
the  fugitives  to  their  homes.  A  small  force  was  sent  to  the 
Presidio  of  El  Paso,  and  in  November,  1681,  Otermin  ad 
vanced,  accompanied  by  Father  Ayeta  and  other  relig 
ious.  The  Tiguas  of  Isleta  submitted,  but  as  the  winter 
was  too  far  advanced,  Otermin  returned  and  formed  into 
pueblos  near  El  Paso  some  Indians  who  followed  him. 
The  missionaries  then  renewed  their  labors,  but  it  was  with 
constant  peril  of  their  lives.  In  1683  the  Piros,  Tanos,  and 
Jemes  of  Socorro  endeavored  to  kill  their  missionary, 

1  "Doc.  Hist.  Mex."  III.,  i.,  pp.  103-106. 


212  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Father  Autonio  Guerra.     Gradually  most  of  the  New  Mexi 
cans  abandoned  these  new  pueblos  for  their  old  homes. 

But  the  zeal  of  the  missionaries  was  unabated,  and  when  in 
December,  1683,  a  Xumana  Indian  came  to  solicit  mission 
aries,1  Father  Nicholas  Lopez  had  been  appointed  Procurator 
and  Gustos  of  the  missions  of  New  Mexico,  which  the  Francis 
cans  were  too  devoted  to  abandon.  The  next  year  he  set  out 
from  Mexico  with  some  means  supplied  by  the  zeal  of  the 
charitable,  to  restore  religion.  At  the  convent  of  El  Paso 
he  found  thirty-three  Xumana  chiefs  come  to  seek  instruction 
and  baptism.  He  set  out  with  Fathers  John  de  Zaboleta  and 
Anthony  de  Acevedo,  accompanied  by  the  Indians.  They 
made  their  way  barefoot  to  La  Junta  de  los  Bios,  the  con 
fluence  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  Conchos.  Here  the  Indians 
had  erected  a  house  and  two  rustic  chapels  for  the  mis 
sionaries.  Leaving  Father  Acevedo  to  minister  to  these 
well-disposed  natives,  Fathers  Lopez  and  Zaboleta  kept  on,2 
and  following  the  Puerco  River,  reached  the  Xumanas  and 
began  a  mission.  Father  Lopez  drew  up  an  extensive  vocabu 
lary  of  the  Xumana  language,  and  acquired  such  a  knowledge 
of  it  that  he  was  able  to  preach  to  the  natives  in  their  own 
tongue,  extending  his  influence  to  the  Texas  Indians  on 
the  Nueces.  Soon  after  his  return  to  La  Junta,  the  Indians, 
excited  by  some  rumor,  rose  against  the  missionaries,  drove 
them  out  naked  and  without  any  provisions,  profaning  every 
thing  connected  with  the  service  of  God.  The  Franciscan 
Fathers,  with  great  suffering,  reached  El  Paso  after  long  and 
painful  wandering.  Still  more  cruelly  Father  Manuel  Bel- 
tran  was  slain,  at  a  mission  of  the  Yumas  and  Tanos.  his 

1  Letter  of  F.  Velez  de  Escalante. 

-'"  Memorial  de  F.  Nicolas  Lopez"  in  Duro's  "Penalosa,"  pp.  68-9,- 
Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  266;  F.  Sylvester  Velez  de  Escalante. 


POWERS  OF  THE  CUSTOS.  213 

church  destroyed,  and  the  sacred  plate  and  vestments  pro 
faned.1 

Several  expeditions  were  made  into  New  Mexico,  but  no 
decisive  advantage  was  gained. 

In  the  year  1690  the  once  flourishing  church  of  New  Mex 
ico  had  for  the  time  disappeared ;  a  few  fugitive  Spaniards 
and  Indians  on  the  frontier  alone  represented  the  people  who 
a  few  years  before  had  thronged  the  comely  churches  in  the 
upper  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande.2 

During  the  whole  period  that  we  have  'traced,  New  Mexi 
co,  though  subject  to  the  Bishops  of  Guadalajara,  had  never 
enjoyed  the  presence  of  any  one  invested  with  episcopal 
dignity  ;  the  ecclesiastical  administration  for  whites  and  In 
dians  had  devolved  on  the  Gustos  of  the  Franciscans,  who  gov 
erned  as  Superior  of  the  religious  of  his  order,  Vicar-General 
of  the  Bishop,  commissary  for  the  Tribunal  of  the  Holy 
Office,  and  Ecclesiastical  Judge.  Moreover,  under  the  privilege 
of  Leo  X.  and  Adrian  VI.,  he  conferred  the  sacrament  of  con 
firmation.3  Questions  had  arisen  in  various  parts  of  the  Span 
ish  dominions  in  America  whether  religious  in  charge  of 
mission  stations  or  white  settlements  where  a  Bishop  was  as 
yet  unable  to  establish  secular  priests  belonging  to  his  diocese, 
were  really  "  parochi,"  within  the  meaning  of  the  Council  of 
Trent.  St.  Pius  V.,  in  1567,  at  the  request  of  the  King  of 
Spain,  by  his  Bull  "Exponi  Nobis,"  declared  them  to  possess 
all  the  powers  of  parish  priests  for  the  Indians  and  for  whites 
in  their  district  not  subject  to  a  parish  priest.4 

1  Letter  of  Sylvester  Velez  de  Escalante. 

8  Ayeta,  "  Crisol  de  la  Verdad,"  p.  32,  2  ;  Hernaez,  "  Coleccion  de  Bu- 
las,"  Brussels,  1879,  i.,  p.  377. 

3  "  Bullarium  de  Propaganda  Fide,"  Appendix  i.,  p.  42  ;  Ayeta,  "De- 
fensa  de  la  Verdad,"  77. 

4  Hernaez,  "  Coleccion  de  Bulas,"  Brussels,  1879,  i.,  p.  397. 


214  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  missionaries  of  Kew  Mexico  had,  as  we  have  seen, 
opened  intercourse  with  the  Asinais  or  Cenis,  whom  the 
Spaniards  called  Texas  because  they  met  the  whites  crying 
"  Texas !  Texas ! "  which  meant  in  their  language,  "  We  are 
friends !  "  but  which  the  Castilians  mistook  for  their  tribal 
name,  and  it  not  only  remained  the  usual  appellation  for  the 
nation,  but  is  now  that  of  one  of  the  States  of  this  Republic. 

When  the  authorities  in  Mexico  heard  of 'La  Salle's  landing 
in  Texas  and  apparently  obtained  some  clue  to  his  designs, 
an  expedition  was  sent  to  that  province  in  January,  1689, 
under  Don  Aloiiso  de  Leon.  It  was  accompanied  by  several 
missionaries,  the  Superior  being  Father  Damian  Mazanet  of 
the  Order  of  St.  Francis.1  Alonso  de  Leon  proceeded  to  the 
territory  of  the  Asinais  to  ransom  French  prisoners  still  in 
their  hands.  Here  evidence  was  found  that  missionaries  had 
held  intercourse  with  the  tribe,  or  received  some  ideas  from 
their  prisoners,  for  the  Spaniards  found  a  little  chapel  of 
boughs  with  an  altar  on  which  a  crucifix  and  a  rosary  were 
honorably  kept."  The  object  of  the  expedition  was  simply 
to  explore,  but  so  friendly  a  disposition  was  manifested  by 
the  Indians  that  after  the  return  of  the  expedition  to  Coahuila 
in  May,  the  Spanish  authorities  determined  to  occupy  the 
country  and  established  Indian  missions.  Catholicity  had 
already  reared  an  altar  in  this  province,  and  several  priests 
who  accompanied  La  Salle  had  offered  the  holy  sacrifice,  and 
administered  the  sacraments,  three  remaining  to  perish  after 
some  years'  stay  at  Espiritu  Santo  Bay,  being  massacred  by 
the  Indians. 

The  Spaniards  visited  the  scene  of  desolation,  and  the 

1  Morfi,  "  Memorias  para  la  historia  de  la  provincia  de  Texas,"  p.  54  ; 
Espinosa,  "  Crouica  Apostolica,"  i.,  p.  408;  Barcia,  "Ensayo  Crono- 
logica,"  p.  294  ;  Carta  in  B.  Smith,  "  Coleccion,"  p.  25. 

5  Smith,  "Coleccion,"  p.  26. 


CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  MISSION  IN  TEXAS.   215 

priests  on  the  expedition  performed  the  last  rites  for  the  un 
happy  victims. 

Though  the  opening  of  the  year  1690  saw  no  Catholic 
church  or  priest  in  Texas,  it  marks  the  active  preparations 
for  the  spiritual  conquest  of  that  province. 

The  Church  in  Spain  had  already,  too,  prepared  the  way 
for  the  spiritual  conquest  of  California. 

Sebastian  Vizcaino,  after  visiting  Lower  California  with 
Father  Perdomo  and  other  Franciscans  in  1596,  ran  up,  in  a 
second  voyage,  as  far  as  Santa  Barbara,  Monterey,  and  the 
Bay  of  San  Francisco.  He  was  accompanied  on  this  expe 
dition  by  three  discalced  Carmelites,  Fathers  Andrew  of  the 
Assumption,  Anthony  of  the  Ascension,  and  Thomas  of 
Aquin,  the  two  former  of  whom  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  of 
the  mass  beneath  a  spreading  oak  tree  at  Monterey,  in  De 
cember,  1601. ' 

1  Torquemada,  "Monarquia  Indiana,"  ii.,  p.  682;  Venegas,  "Historia 
de  la  California,"  i.,  p.  169. 


BOOK  III. 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FIRST  WOEK   OF   THE   CHURCH   IN   MAINE,    MICHIGAN,    AND   NEW 
YORK.       1611-1652. 

THE  Church  was  planted  in  Maryland  amid  a  hostile 
Protestant  population  growing  up  and  strengthening  around 
it,  so  that  it  held  its  own  with  difficulty  in  that  province  and 
expanded  but  feebly  in  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 
York.  It  was  planted  under  the  protecting  power  of  Spain, 
beginning  at  the  Chesapeake,  then  in  Florida  and  the  Georgia 
coast,  in  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and  setting  up  a  pioneer  cross 
on  the  coast  of  California. 

It  had  also  been  planted  at  the  north  and  west  under  the 
protecting  banner  of  France. 

Where  the  cross  was  first  reared  by  Frenchmen  on  our 
soil  is  not  certain.  If  we  are  to  credit  the  famous  Franciscan 
Father,  Andrew  Thevet,  cosmographer  to  the  King  of  France, 
who  claims  to  have  visited  the  coast  known  as  Norumbega, 
and  which  was  certainly  some  part  of  New  England,  the 
French  had,  previous  to  1575,  erected  a  little  fort  ten  or 
twelve  miles  up  the  Norumbega  River,  on  a  spot  surrounded 
by  fresh  water.1  But  history  is  silent  as  to  the  colonists  who 
settled  here.  The  earliest  English  settlers  on  the  New  Eng- 

1  Thevet,  "La  Cosmographie  Universelle,"  Paris,  1575,  p.  1008.     The 
river  is  most  probably  the  Kennebec. 

(216) 


CHAPEL  AT  SAINTE  CROIX  ISLAND.          217 

land  coast  found  traces  of  Frenchmen  who  had  made  efforts 
to  check  the  vices  of  the  natives  and  instruct  them  in  the 
truths  of  religion.  These  are  supposed  to  have  been  French 
men  who  had  recently  escaped  the  wreck  of  their  vessel,  but 
their  visits  may  date  further  back.1 

Leaving,  however,  the  period  of  the  voyages  prompted  by 
Cartier's  exploration  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  few  of  which  are 
definitely  recorded,  we  coine  to  the  commencement  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  Pierre  du  Guast,  Sieur  de  Monts, 
obtained  of  the  French  king  a  commission  to  colonize  the 
American  coast  and  to  conduct  the  trade  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others.  He  sailed  from  Havre  de  Grace  in  France  on  the 
7th  of  March,  160-i,  and  after  reaching  what  is  now  called  IS^ova 
Scotia,  coasted  along  to  an  island  in  Scoodic  Biver  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  Sainte  Croix,  or  Holy  Cross.  On  this 
island,  now  called  De  Monts 'or  Xeutral  Island,  just  on  the  bor 
ders  of  New  Brunswick  and  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Maine, 
de  Monts  began  a  settlement.  Of  the  little  fort  which  he 
erected,  Champlain,  who  was  one  of  the  party,  has  left  us  a 
sketch,  in  which  appears  "  The  house  of  our  Cure  "  and  a  map 
showing  a  chapel  and  cemetery.  Lescarbot  speaks  of  the 
chapel  as  built  Indian  fashion,  but  he  was  not  there  at  the 
time,  and  we  possess  no  further  description  of  the  first 
Catholic  chapel  erected  in  'New  England,  that  on  Ste.  Croix 
Island  in  July,  1604.  The  position  of  the  chapel  where  the 
first  known  mass  was  said  in  New  England  can  be  seen  on  the 
map  of  the  island.8  The  priest  referred  to  by  Champlain 
was  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Aubry,  a  young  ecclesiastic  of  a  good 

1  Hildreth,  "History  of  the  United  States,"  i.,  p.  222. 

-  On  the  map  E  is  the  cemetery  with  its  cross,  and  F  the  chapel,  A 
being  the  fort.  Scholars  agree  that  the  settlement  was  on  Dochet's  or 
Neutral  Island,  now  called  De  Monts.  Slafter's  "  Champlain,"  ii.,  p.  32 
Lescarbot,  (1611),  p.  470. 


THE  SETTLEMENT  AT  PORT  ROYAL.          219 

family  at  Paris.  He  was  accompanied  by  another  priest, 
whose  name  has  not  come  down  to  us.1  They  ministered  to 
the  little  colony  till  the  spot  was  abandoned  in  the  following 
year  and  the  settlers  transferred  to  Port  Royal,  near  the  pres 
ent  Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia. 

The  little  chapel  shown  in  Champlain's  map  is,  therefore, 
the  earliest  structure  of  which  we  have  any  definite  notice 
raised  in  our  northern  parts  for  the  celebration  of  the 
mysteries  of  religion. 

No  further  details  are  given  as  to  labors  of  the  priests  at 
Holy  Cross  Island,  save  an  adventure  of  Rev.  Mr.  Aubry, 
who,  landing  on  the  coast  before  they  reached  the  island,  was 
lost  in  the  woods,  and  had  nearly  perished  of  hunger  when 
he  was  finally  rescued.2 

The  settlement  at  Port  Royal  did  not  thrive  and  was  re 
signed  by  de  Monts  to  John  de  Biencour,  Sieur  de  Poutrin- 
court,  who  applied  to  the  King  of  France  for  a  confirmation  of 
his  grant.  This  was  given,  but  Henry  IV.  expressed  a  wish 
that  some  Jesuit  Fathers  should  be  sent  over  to  labor  for  the 
conversion  of  the  Indians.  Father  Peter  Biard  was  sum 
moned  in  1608  from  a  professor's  chair  in  Lyons  to  found  the 
mission.  It  was  evident,  at  once,  that  this  was  by  no  means 
pleasing  to  Poutrincourt,  who  made  no  provision  for  the 
passage  of  the  missionary.  When  in  1610  Father  Biard  and 
his  companion,  Father  Enemond  Masse,  made  an  attempt  to 
go  by  the  only  vessel  then  fitting  out  for  Acadia,  a  fund  hav 
ing  been  raised  to  maintain  the  mission  with  all  requisites, 
other  difficulties  arose.  Two  Huguenots  who  had  an  interest 

1  Champlain,  "Voyages,"  1613,  p.  16  (Quebec  ed.);  Slafter's  "Cham- 
plain,"  ii.,  p.  35  ;  Lescarbot,  Lib.  iv.,  c.  3,  4  (Edition  1611),  pp.  453,  462. 

2  When  the  island  was  visited  in  1798  by  the  English  and  American 
boundary  commissioners,  the  remains  of  an  ancient  fortification  could  be 
traced  though  overgrown  with  large  trees.     Holmes'   "Annals,"  i.,  p. 
149,  note;  Williamson's  "Maine,"  i.,  pp.  190-1,  note. 


220         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY 

in  the  vessel  refused  to  allow  Jesuits  to  embark.  Antoinette 
de  Pons,  Marchioness  de  Guercheville,  who  had  been  an 
active  friend  of  the  proposed  mission,  at  once  raised  means  to 
purchase  the  rights  of  these  men,  and  made  the  share  in  the 
vessel  and  trade  thus  acquired  a  fund  for  the  support  of  the 
mission  and  the  colony.  Although  there  was  no  other  means 
by  which  the  missionaries  could  reach  their  destination,  the 
cry  was  immediately  raised  that  the  Jesuits  had  become  trad 
ers,  and  bad  faith  has  repeated  the  charge  to  our  day. 

The  vessel  sailed  in  January,  1611,  and  at  sea  encountered 
Champlain  on  his  way  to  Quebec.  It  was  not  till  Whitsun 
day,  May  22d,  that  the  missionaries  were  able  to  land  at  Port 
Royal ;  Father  Masse  remained  in  a  cabin  reared  for  him  at 
that  place,  but  Father  Biard  accompanied  Poutrincourt  and 
subsequently  his  son  on  several  excursions  along  the  coast  to 
the  St.  John's  River,  Ste.  Croix  Island,  where  he  spent  some 
time,  and  even  as  far  west  as  the  Kennebec.  While  the  French 
were  trading  with  the  Indians  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec 
late  in  October,  Father  Biard  went  to  a  neighboring  island 
to  offer  the  holy  sacrifice,  attended  by  a  boy  to  serve  the 
mass.  Here  the  Indians  overran  the  little  vessel  and  assumed 
so  dangerous  and  rapacious  an  attitude,  that  Biencourt  would 
have  fired  on  them  had  he  not  feared  that  the  missionary 
would  at  once  be  butchered.  This  island  is  the  second  spot 
on  that  northeastern  coast  of  our  territory  where  mass  is  cer 
tainly  known  to  have  been  said. 

Poutrincourt,  in  France,  had  induced  Madame  de  Guerche 
ville  to  advance  a  thousand  crowns  to  fit  out  a  vessel ;  this 
was  confided  to  a  lay  brother,  who  gave  part  of  it  to  Poutrin 
court.  In  the  sequel  the  missionaries  could  obtain  no  part 
of  the  supplies  purchased  for  them  with  the  means  furnished 
by  Madame  de  Guercheville,  on  account  of  the  joint  prop 
erty.  On  the  contrary,  young  Biencourt,  disregarding  their 


SETTLEMENT  AT  SAINT  SAUVEUR.  221 

rights  under  the  compact,  and  their  character,  treated  the 
Fathers  with  every  indignity,  and  when  they  attempted  to 
leave  the  colony  Biencourt  prevented  them.1  In  fact  their 
position  at  Port  Royal  was  rendered  so  insupportable  that 
Madame  Guercheville  resolved  to  abandon  all  relations  with 
Poutrincourt  and  establish  a  distinct  missionary  colony. 

She  obtained  from  de  Monts  a  cession  of  all  his  rights, 
and  King  Louis  XIII.  made  her  a  grant  of  all  the  territory 
of  Xorth  America  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Florida.  Pou 
trincourt  became  her  vassal  as  he  had  been  of  du  Guast. 
His  seignory  was  subject  to  her. 

To  take  possession  of  her  new  domain,  and  to  establish  a 
mission  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  where  Catholic 
priests  could  begin  the  good  work  unhampered  by  any 
claims  or  interference  of  proprietors  or  merchants,  she  fitted 
out  a  vessel  at  Honfleur  under  the  command  of  the  Sieur  de 
la  Saussaye.  It  carried  Father  Quentin  and  Brother  Gilbert 
du  Thet,  with  thirty  persons  who  were  to  winter  in  the 
country.  The  vessel  sailed  from  France,  March  12,  1613, 
and  putting  in  at  Port  Royal  in  May,  took  Fathers  Biard  and 
Masse  on  board,  and  ran  along  the  coast.  De  la  Saussaye  in 
tended  to  plant  the  colony  at  Kadesquit  on  the  Penobscot, 
but  after  encountering  storms  and  fogs  he  found  himself  near 
Mount  Desert  Island.  His  pilot  ran  into  a  fine  large  harbor 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  island.  Here  the  missionaries 
landed,  and  planting  a  cross,  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the 
mass,  calling  the  port  Saint  Sauveur — Holy  Saviour.  The 
Indians  persuaded  the  French  to  abandon  the  project  of  going 
up  to  Kadesquit,  and  to  adopt  a  site  recommended  by  them. 
It  was  on  a  beautiful  hillside  sloping  to  the  sea ;  its  harbor 

1  A  well-known  writer  calls  the  Jesuit  Fathers  mutineers.  They  were 
the  equals  of  Poutrincourt  under  the  compact,  and  the  deputy  of  one 
partner  could  not  treat  another  partner  as  a  mutineer. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

covered  by  Mount  Desert  and  several  smaller  islands.  Two 
streams  of  water  flowed  from  the  hill,  and  the  ground  was 
rich  and  productive.1  Here  the  settlement  was  laid  out 
about  the  middle  of  June,  but  de  la  Saussaye,  instead  of 
fortifying  a  position,  employed  the  men  in  planting  grain, 
beans,  and  other  garden  vegetables.  In  September  the 
vessel  was  still  there,  and  the  missionaries  and  settlers  in  the 
tents  and  temporary  houses  raised  on  the  shore,  when  during 
a  temporary  absence  of  the  commander,  an  English  vessel 
from  Virginia  under  Samuel  Argal  appeared  and  opened  fire 
on  de  Saussaye's  vessel,  which  soon  surrendered,  Brother  du 
Thet  being  mortally  wounded  by  a  musket-ball.  Argal  then 
landed,  carried  off  the  French  commander's  commission  and 
plundered  the  little  settlement,  treating  the  party  as  intruders 
on  English  territory. 

An  unprovoked  attack  by  men  pretending  to  be  Christians 
on  a  mission  station  established  for  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen,  followed  by  bloodshed  and  indiscriminate  plunder, 
has  no  parallel  in  history.  Virginia  shares  the  infamy  by 
endorsing  Argal's  action,  as  England  does  by  refusing  repa 
ration. 

Argal  put  Father  Masse  and  fourteen  Frenchmen  in  a 
small  craft  and  turned  them  adrift ;  Fathers  Biard  and  Quen- 
tin  were  carried  to  Virginia,  then  ruled  by  a  code  of  blood, 
where  Sir  Thomas  Dale  threatened  to  hang  all  the  prisoners. 
Finally,  resolving  to  extirpate  the  French  settlements,  he  sent 
Argal  back  with  a  considerable  force.  The  English  vessels 
carried  the  missionaries  and  many  of  the  French  prisoners, 
who  were  glad  to  escape  from  the  soil  of  Virginia.  Argal 
completed  the  destruction  at  St.  Saviour,  then  demolished  the 
post  on  Ste.  Croix  Island  and  that  at  Port  Royal,  where  Bien- 

1  Parkman  following  E.  L.  Hamlin,  of  Bangor,  thinks  the  position  was 
on  Mount  Desert  Island,  on  the  western  side  of  Soames  Sound. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  QUEBEC,  CANADA.        223 

court  showed  his  hatred  of  the  missionaries.  On  the  voyage 
back,  the  vessel  containing  the  two  Jesuits  was  driven  to  the 
Azores,  but  finally  reached  England,  whence  in  time  the 
survivors  of  a  missionary  settlement  thus  broken  up  by  men 
boasting  of  Christianity,  were  allowed  to  reach  their  native 
land. 

It  never  could  have  entered  into  the  mind  of  the  mission 
aries  or  their  protectors,  that  war  would  be  made  on  a  mission 
station,  or  they  never  would  have  attempted  to  plant  one  so 
near  the  Kennebec,  already  more  than  once  visited  by  the 
English.1 

Samuel  Champlain  had  been  connected  with  de  Monts  in 
the  attempt  to  colonize  Port  Royal.  In  1608  he  and  Font- 
grave  were  sent  out  with  two  vessels  to  establish  a  post  on 
the  Saint  Lawrence.  Above  Isle  Orleans,  on  a  height  which 
formed  a  natural  fortification,  Champlain  founded  a  city  re 
taining  the  name  Quebec,  given  to  the  narrows  by  the  neigh 
boring  Montagnais  Indians.  Some  temporary  buildings 
reared  July  3,  1608,  were  the  commencement  of  Canada. 
De  Monts  thought  only  of  trading-posts,  but  Champlain's 
projects  were  nobler  and  more  patriotic ;  he  wished  to  build 
up  a  colony,  and  make  the  conversion  of  the  natives  an  ob 
ject.  Gaining  the  friendship  of  the  Algonquin  tribes  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa,  he  opened  trade  with  the  Hurons, 
Indians  of  a  different  race,  dwelling  near  the  lake  that  now 
bears  their  name.  To  retain  the  friendship  of  these  tribes,  it 
became  necessary  to  aid  them  in  their  wars  with  a  confederacy 

1  The  story  of  this  mission  is  told  in  Biard,  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle 
France,"  Lyons,  1616;  Champlain,  "Voyages,"  Paris,  1613;  "  Annuae 
Littene  Societatis  lesv,"  Dilingae,  1611 ;  Lyons,  1618  ;  Juvencius,  "Hist. 
Societatis  Jesu";  Carayon,  "Premiere  Mission  des  Jesuites  au  Canada," 
Paris,  1864,  pp.  1-116;  Charlevoix,  "History  of  New  France^"  i.,  pp. 
260-284.  Lescarbot,  "Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  (Ed.  1618),  pp. 
681-86,  is  extremely  hostile  to  the  missionaries. 


224         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

of  five  nations,  kindred  in  origin  to  the  Hurons,  who  lay 
south  of  Lake  Ontario. 

The  little  French  settlement  prospered,  and  in  161 -i  Cham- 
plain  obtained  from  France  four  Franciscan  Fathers  of  the 
Recollect  reform  to  minister  to  the  French  settlers  and  to 
convert  the  natives.  With  Father  Denis  Jamay,  the  Com 
missary  or  Superior,  came  Fathers  John  d'Olbeau  and  Joseph 
le  Caron,  with  the  lay  brother,  Pacificus  du  Plessis.  The 
religious  reached  Tadoussac  on  the  feast  of  the  Annunciation, 
March  25,  1615.  They  soon  began  their  labors  at  the  trad 
ing-posts  established  by  the  French,  and  among  the  Mon- 
tagnais  Indians  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  while  Father  Joseph  le 
Caron  embarking  with  some  canoes  of  the  Hurons  penetrated 
to  the  villages  of  that  nation.  The  Recollects  soon  learned 
the  two  great  languages  of  Canada,  the  Algonquin  and  Hu 
ron,  and  preached  the  gospel  far  and  wide ;  but  though  others 
of  their  order  came  to  share  their  labors,  they  saw  that  the 
field  was  too  vast  for  them  to  occupy  profitably.  Thereupon 
they  invited  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  to  join  them, 
and  in  1625  Fathers  Charles  Lalemant,  Enemond  Masse, 
and  John  de  Brebeuf  arrived,  to  be  welcomed  by  the  Recol 
lects,  but  to  be  eyed  with  distrust  by  many  of  the  French 
who  were  full  of  the  prejudices  inspired  by  the  Huguenots. 
The  missions  were  then  more  zealously  extended,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  1626  Father  Joseph  de  la  Roche  Daillon,  a  Recol 
lect  of  noble  family,  set  out  from  the  Huron  country  for  the 
towns  of  the  Neuter  nation,  who  occupied  both  banks  of  the 
Niagara,  and  reached  their  frontier  nearest  to  the  Senecas, 
but  barely  escaped  with  life. 

This  zealous  religious  was,  so  far  as  can  now  be  ascer 
tained,  the  first  Catholic  priest  from  Canada  who  penetrated 
into  the  present  territory  of  the  United  States.  He  carried 
back  a  knowledge  of  the  people,  and  of  the  country,  noting 
among  the  products  the  mineral  oil. 


SECOND  JESUIT  MISSION.  225 

The  new  colony  of  Canada  had,  however,  but  a  feeble  life. 
Neglected  by  the  government  at  home,  it  was  soon  at  the 
lowest  extremity,  and  in  July,  1629.  Champlain  surrendered 
to  Captain  David  Kirk,  an  English  commander,  who  appeared 
with  a  fleet  before  the  starving  post  of  Quebec.  The  Recol 
lects  and  Jesuits  were  all  carried  off  by  the  English,  and 
Catholicity  had  no  altar  or  worship  till  the  restoration  of  the 
country.1 

When  England,  by  the  treaty  of  Saint  Germain  des  Pres 
in  1632,  finally  restored  Canada  to  France,  after  dishonorably 
retaining  a  province,  captured  wThen  peace  had  been  de 
clared  between  the  two  powers,  Cardinal  Richelieu  offered 
the  Canada  mission  to  the  Capuchins,  but  the  religious  of 
that  reform  seeing  by  the  voyages  of  Champlain  and  the 
works  of  the  Recollect  Brother  Sagard,  how  vast  a  field 
awaited  evangelical  laborers,  even  in  the  territory  that  French 
energy  had  laid  open  in  twenty  years,  in  itself  a  mere  portal 
to  immense  unexplored  regions,  declined  to  undertake  the 
task.  The  great  Cardinal  then  summoned  to  the  task  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  excluding  the  Recollects  entirely.  The 
passport  of  the  first  Jesuit  missionaries  was  signed  by  the 
hand  of  his  Eminence  himself.3 

The  second  Jesuit  mission  in  Canada  began  with  the  land 
ing  at  Quebec  July  15,  1632,  of  Fathers  Paul  le  Jeune  and 
Anne  de  Noue,  with  a  lay  brother.  It  was  a  small  beginning 
where  all  was  to  be  accomplished,  a  home  and  chapel  to  be 
reared  amid  the  embers  of  Champlain's  first  town,  and  then 


1  For  this  earlier  period  see  Sagard,  "  Grand  Voyage  du  Pais  des  Hu- 
rons,"  Paris,  1632  ;  "  Histoire  du  Canada,"  Paris,  1636  ;  Le  Clercq, 
"  Etablissement  de  la  Foi,"  2  vols.,  Paris,  1690 — in  English,  New  York, 
1881  ;  Champlain,  "Voyages,"  1603,  1613,  1619,  1632. 

•  I  saw  it  some  years  ago  in  the  Bureau  des  Terres,  Montreal,  but  it 
has  since  disappeared. 


226        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

a  continent  to  be  occupied.  Other  missionaries  soon  came  ; 
and  throughout  France  in  the  gay  circles  of  the  Court,  in 
the  chateaus  of  the  provincial  nobles,  in  college  and  con 
vent,  among  merchants  and  artisans,  an  interest  was  excited 
in  the  missions  of  ^ew  France.  Annually  for  forty  years  a 
little  volume  appeared  in  cheap  form,  giving  letters  of  the 
missionaries,  so  that  their  hopes  and  struggles,  their  suffer 
ings  and  triumphs,  were  familiar  to  the  pious  of  every  rank 
in  France.  Quebec  was  controlled  by  great  commercial  com 
panies,  Acadia  by  corporations  formed  for  fishery  ;  the  zeal 
excited  in  France  inspired  the  Venerable  John  Olier,  founder 
of  the  Seminary  of  Saint  Sulpice,  to  project  the  establish 
ment  of  a  settlement  in  Canada,  to  be  entirely  .guided  by 
religious  motives.  From  this  great  thought  arose  the  city  of 
Montreal,  of  which  the  Jesuits  were  the  first  pastors. 

The  Catholic  life  of  Canada  grew,  developing  from  these 
two  centres,  Quebec  and  Montreal,  controlled  by  the  Arch 
bishops  of  Roueri  through  local  vicars-general,  each  city  es 
tablishing  houses  of  education  for  both  sexes,  convents,  hos 
pitals,  and  confraternities  among  the  faithful. 

The  Jesuits  resumed  the  missions  begun  by  the  Recollects 
on  the  Saint  Lawrence  and  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Huron,  in 
which  members  of  their  own  order  had  already  labored. 
The  Sulpitians,  guiding  in  the  paths  of  Christian  virtue  the 
settlers  in  and  around  the  city  of  Montreal,  never  extended 
their  Indian  missions  far  after  an  attempt  to  explore  the 
West.  A  temporary  effort  in  Quinte  Bay  and  a  great  mis 
sion  at  Oswegatchie,  now  Ogdensburg,  mark  their  limit. 

The  Jesuits,  except  in  the  district  attended  by  the  Sulpi 
tians,  had  for  many  years  sole  charge  of  all  the  French  settle 
ments  and  the  religious  communities  that  grew  up  there,  to 
gether  with  the  Indian  missions  in  Canada. 

The  French  settlements  were  chiefly  at  Tadoussac,  a  great 


THE  HURON  MISSION.  227 

trading  post ;  Quebec,  Isle  Orleans,  Three  Rivers,  Montreal, 
to  which  the  Huron  s  and  their  allies  further  west  came  down 
on  flotillas  of  canoes  by  the  way  of  the  Ottawa  River.  The 
trading  establishment  at  the  Rapids  above  Montreal  was  the 
frontier  post  of  the  French. 

Under  the  zealous  labors  of  Father  Brebeuf  and  his  asso 
ciates,  men  like  Fathers  Charles  Gamier,  Anthony  Daniel, 
Leonard  Garreau,  Chatelain,  Jogues,  Raymbaut,  many  were 
converted  in  the  great  Wyandot  or  Huron  nation,  and  in 
the  kindred  Tionontates.  The  long  route  to  and  from  their 
stations  near  Lake  Huron  became  annually  more  difficult 
and  dangerous,  as  the  Iroquois  or  Five  Nations  supplied  with 
firearms  by  the  Dutch  at  Manhattan  waylaid  the  Indian 
flotillas  descending  to  trade  or  returning  from  Quebec,  at  a 
hundred  points  along  the  tedious  and  difficult  course.  Yet 
it  was  only  by  these  flotillas  of  bark  canoes  that  the  mission 
aries  could  reach  the  mission  field,  or  return  to  the  French 
colony  when  the  necessities  of  the  Huron  church  required 
it.  With  a  few  lay  brothers,  and  some  devoted  men  who 
gave  their  services  to  the  mission,  the  Jesuits  could  raise 
wheat  and  make  wine  for  the  celebration  of  mass ;  but  cloth 
ing,  books,  paper,  medicines,  implements  of  various  kinds, 
could  be  had  only  in  the  colony ;  and  sometimes  the  inter 
ruption  of  navigation  was  so  prolonged  that  the  missionaries 
suffered  greatly. 

Yet  so  far  were  they  from  any  idea  of  abandoning  the 
field  which  Providence  had  placed  under  their  care,  that 
they  planned  the  extension  of  their  missions  further  west. 
In  the  summer  of  1642,  a  peculiar  institution  of  the  cluster 
of  tribes  to  which  the  Hurous  belonged,  known  as  the  Feast 
of  the  Dead,  gathered  in  the  Huron  country  delegates  from  all 
tribes  with  whom  they  held  friendly  relations.  Then,  amid 
solemn  rites  and  games,  the  bones  of  those  buried  temporarily 


228        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

during  the  last  ten  years  were  committed  to  a  common  grave, 
richly  lined  with  furs,  and  with  them  articles  regarded  as 
of  highest  value.  The  Chippewa  envoys  to  this  ceremony, 
who  came  from  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  invited  the 

black  gowns  to 
visit  their  coun- 
try;  and  when 
the  Feast  of  the 
Dead  was  ended 

and  the  Chip. 

pewas     launch- 

ed  their  cailoes 
on  Lake  Huron, 

FAC-SIMILE   OF  THE  HANDWRITING  OF  FATHER        Father     CliaiieS 
ISAAC   JOGTJE8. 

Kaymbaut   and 

Father  Isaac  Jogues  were  selected  to  accompany  them.  Set 
ting  out  from  the  mission-house  of  St.  Mary's,  a  sail  of 
seventeen  days  over  the  lake  brought  the  two  priestly  pio 
neers  to  the  rapid  outlet,  which  received  from  them  the  name 
it  still  bears,  Sault  St.  Mary's. 

Here,  in  October,  1641,  the  Church  of  Canada,  starting 
from  Quebec  as  a  centre,  again  reached  the  present  territory 
of  the  United  States.  Here 

the  two  Jesuits  planted  the     ^^.<^&y    vLd^vrt^K*/* 
Cross  of  Christianity,  looking  /^s 

still  further  west,  and  form-  FAC-SHQLE  OF  THE  SIGNATURE  OF 

FATHER  CHARLES  KAYMBAUT. 

mg  plans  lor  the  conversion 

of  the  Dakotas,  of  whom  they  heard  by  their  Algonquin 

name,  Kadouessis.1 

Father  Isaac  Jogues,  who  thus  stands  as  one  of  the  two 
pioneer  priests  of  Michigan,  was  destined  soon  to  be  the 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1642,  pp.  97-8. 


FATHER  JOGUES  A  CAPTIVE.  229 

pioneer  priest  of  another  State.  On  the  2d  of  June,  1642, 
he  and  Father  Raymbant  embarked  in  the  Huron  canoes, 
descending  the  great  water  highways ;  Father  Raymbaut, 
whose  health  was  shattered,  was  to  remain  in  the  French 
colony  ;  Father  Jogues  was  to  return  with  the  Indians  after 
the  trade,  bringing  with  him  supplies  the  Huron  mission 
sorely  needed.  The  journey  descending  and  returning  was 
fraught  with  danger  from  lurking  parties  of  the  Mohawks. 
They  reached  Quebec  safely,  and  Father  Jogues  enjoyed  for 
a  season  the  pleasure  of  mingling  among  his  brethren  and 
his  countrymen.  On  the  1st  of  August  the  missionary,  with 
two  Frenchmen,  Rene  Goupil,  a  candidate  for  entrance  into 
the  Society,  and  William  Couture,  embarked  with  the  Hurons 
from  Three  Rivers,  the  great  Chief  Ahasistari  being  in  com 
mand.  Over-confident  in  their  numbers  and  bravery,  the 
Hurons,  when  suddenly  attacked  by  the  Mohawks,  landed  in 
confusion  and  were  soon  routed.  A  few  only  with  the  two 
Frenchmen  made  any  stand.  Father  Jogues  might  have  es 
caped,  but  he  would  not  desert  his  flock  ;  Ahasistari  and  the 
few  brave  Hurons  who  remained  with  the  Frenchmen  were 
soon  overpowered.  The  prisoners  then  underwent  the  usual 
Indian  cruelties  ;  they  were  beaten  to  insensibility,  mangled, 
and  hacked.  Father  Jogues  had  his  nails  torn  out,  and  his 
forefingers  crunched  till  the  last  bone  was  completely  crushed. 
Then  the  Mohawks  compelled  their  prisoners  to  begin  a  ter 
rible  march  to  the  Mohawk.  On  their  way  they  encoun 
tered  on  an  island  in  Lake  Champlain  a  war  party  just  setting 
out.  This,  to  ensure  courage  and  success,  wreaked  its  savage 
cruelty  on  the  prisoners.1  Father  Jogues  finally,  on  the  14th 
of  August,  reached  Ossernenon,  the  first  Mohawk  town,  near 

1  Smith's  Island,  near  Westport,  is  traditionally  believed  to  be  the  spot 
hallowed  by  the  sufferings  of  these  illustrious  missionaries  and  their  dis 
ciples.  A  cross  keeps  the  memory  alive. 


230        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

the  present  station  of  Auriesville,  in  Montgomery  County. 
Here,  after  crossing  the  river,  the  prisoners  were  forced  to 
run  the  gauntlet,  and  were  placed  on  a  platform  for  further 
cruelties.  All  the  prisoners  were  cut  and  mutilated.  Father 
Jogues  had  his  left  thumb  sawed  off  at  the  root,  an  Algonquin 
woman  being  forced  to  execute  the  savage  cruelty.  Then 
followed  days  of  torture  in  each  of  the  towns  of  the  nation, 
the  missionary  forgetting  his  own  sufferings  to  instruct  and 
baptize  those  of  his  own  party  not  yet  received  into  the 
Church,  or  others  brought  in  by  other  war  parties.  When 
the  council  of  the  tribe  finally  decided  the  fate  of  the 
prisoners,  several  Hurons  were  burned  at  the  stake,  in 
cluding  the  brave  Ahasistari ;  but  the  lives  of  the  French 
men  were  spared.  No  care  was  taken  of  their  terrible 
wounds,  and  though  the  Dutch  endeavored  to  ransom  the 
European  captives,  the  Indians  refused  to  part  with  them. 
The  next  month  Rene  Goupil  was  killed  while  returning  to 
Ossernenon  with  the  missionary  and  reciting  the  rosary.  The 
Indians  regarded  his  prayers,  and  especially  the  Sign  of  the 
Cross,  as  magical  acts  for  their  injury,  the  making  the  sign 
on  a  child  being  the  immediate  cause  of  his  death.  Father 
Jogues  endeavored  to  secure  and  bury  the  body  of  his  com 
panion,  but  it  was  maliciously  carried  away.  The  good  priest, 
who  has  left  us  an  account  of  his  young  comrade,  attests  his 
deep  and  earnest  piety,  his  zeal,  and  his  services  as  a  med 
ical  assistant  to  the  missionaries,  whom  he  had  voluntarily 
joined  from  religious  motives,  and  served  with  no  hope  of 
reward.1  Then  began  for  Father  Jogues  a  long  and  terrible 
captivity,  in  which  his  chief  consolation  was  that  of  attend 
ing  prisoners  at  the  stake,  and  the  instruction  of  a  few 

1  Rene  Goupil  had  been  a  novice  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  France,  but 
his  health  failed,  and  he  came  to  America,  hoping  to  enter  in  time.  Fa 
ther  Jogues  received  him  before  his  death. 


HIS  ESCAPE.  231 

Mohawks  in  sickness,  whom  he  taught  to  look  to  God  for 
forgiveness  and  grace.  As  the  slave  of  savages  he  attended 
hunting  and  fishing  parties,  till  at  last  when  at  Fort  Orange, 
now  Albany,  he  heard  that  he  was  to  be  put  to  death  on  his 
return.  The  Dutch  urged  him  to  escape,  promising  him  pro 
tection.  During  the  night  he  reached  a  vessel  lying  in  the 
North  River,  near  the  Fort,  but  the  Indians,  on  discovering 
their  loss,  became  so  menacing,  that  he  was  taken  ashore,  to 
be  given  up,  if  necessary,  to  save  the  lives  of  the  Dutch. 
The  Mohawks  were,  however,  finally  appeased,  and  the  mis 
sionary,  who  had  been  confined  with  great  discomfort,  was 
taken  down  to  the  fort  on  Manhattan  Island,  around  which 
had  clustered  a  few  cabins,  the  commencement  of  the  great 
city  of  New  York.  In  New  Amsterdam,  as  the  place  was 
then  called,  Father  Jogues  found  but  two  Catholics,  the  Por 
tuguese  wife  of  a  soldier,  and  an  Irishman,  recently  from 
Maryland.  His  sufferings  evoked  the  sympathy  of  all  the 
Dutch,  from  their  director,  William  Kieft,  and  the  minister, 
Dominie  Megapolensis,  to  the  poorest.  The  Director  of  the 
Colony  gave  him  passage  in  a  small  vessel  he  was  dispatching 
to  Holland,  but  the  missionary  had  opportunity  for  addi 
tional  suffering,  and  after  being  driven  upon  the  English 
coast,  reached  his  native  land,  just  in  time  to  celebrate  the 
feast  of  Christmas. 

The  future  State  of  New  York  had  thus  been  traversed 
from  north  to  south  by  a  great  and  heroic  priest.  Another 
soon  followed  him  in  the  same  path  of  suffering. 

At  the  close  of  April,  1644,  Father  Joseph  Bressani,  a 
native  of  Rome,  who  had  been  two  years  on  the  Canada  mis 
sion,  soon  after  leaving  Three  Rivers  with  a  Huron  party, 
also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Mohawks.  This  priest  was 
not  severely  maltreated  till  his  captors  met  a  war  party,  when 
he  was  cruelly  beaten  with  clubs,  but  on  arriving  at  a  large 


232        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

fishing  village,  the  prisoners  were  compelled  to  run  the 
gauntlet.  Father  Bressani's  hand  was  cloven  open  ;  he  was 
stabbed  and  burned  all  over  his  body,  indeed  his  hands  were 
burned  no  less  than  eighteen  times  ;  a  stake  was  driven  through 

his  foot,  his  hair  and  beard 

Htorn  out  by  the  roots.     On 
H/  ^7*ifl/  dt)fK~4\Qj*4      reaching     Ossernenon    his 

WCTe  ren6Wed  5    ^ 


FAC-SIMILE   OF  SIGNATURE   OF  FATHER 

FRANCIS  j.  BRESSANI.  left  thumb  and  two  fingers 

of  the  right  hand  were  cut 

off  ;  but  the  council  of  the  tribe  spared  his  life,  and  gave  him 
to  an  old  woman.  His  terrible  wounds  and  ulcers  brought 
him  nearly  to  the  grave  ;  but  he  rallied  and  was  taken  to  the 
Dutch,  who,  effecting  his  ransom,  sent  him  also  to  Europe. 
He  arrived  in  Kochelle  November  15,  1644.  ' 

Father  Jogues,  honored  in  France  as  a  martyr  of  Christ, 
had  but  one  desire,  and  it  was  to  return  to  his  mission.  He 
solicited  from  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  permission  to  say  mass 
with  his  mutilated  hands,  and  it  was  given  in  words  that 
have  become  historic  :  "  Indignum  esse  Christi  martyrem 
Christi  non  bibere  sanguinem."  He  sailed  from  Rochelle  in 
the  spring  of  1644,  and  was  stationed  at  Montreal.  Sum 
moned  thence  in  July,  he  attended  negotiations  with  the 
Mohawks  at  Three  Rivers,  where  peace  waj  concluded,  but 
its  ratification  was  delayed.  In  May,  1646,  Father  Jogues 
and  John  Bourdon  were  sent  to  the  Mohawk  country  to  rat 
ify  it  firmly.  Passing  through  Lake  George,  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  of  "  Lac  St.  Sacrement,"  as  he  reached  it 
on  the  feast  of  Corpus  Christi,  Father  Jogues,  with  his 
companion,  arrived  at  the  Mohawk  castles,  and  peace  was 

1  Father  Bressani  relates  his  own  sufferings  in  his  "  Breve  Relazione," 
Macerata,  1653;  in  French,  Montreal,  1852;  see  also  "Relation  de  la 
Nouvelle  France,"  1644,  ch.  9. 


FATHER    ISAAC    JOGUES.S.J 

K.     AURIESVILLE,      N.Y.      OCT.      I  8  TH 


234        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

His  intercession  was  invoked  in  Canada  and  France,  and 
miraculous  favors  were  ascribed  to  him.  The  narrative  of 
his  sufferings  and  death  was  drawn  up  under  the  authority 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  and  attested  by  oath  to  serve 
in  any  process  for  his  canonization.  In  the  Catholic  body 
that  now  permeates  the  great  population  of  the  Republic, 
devotion  to  this  early  priest  has  become  general ;  and  the 
third  Plenary  Council  in  Baltimore,  in  November,  1884,  for 
mally  petitioned  the  Yicar  of  Christ  that  the  cause  of  his 
canonization  might  be  introduced.1 

Contemporaneous  with  this  effort  from  Canada  to  establish 
the  Church  on  the  Mohawk,  more  consoling  results  were 
seen  in  Maine.  The  Recollects  of  the  province  of  Aquitaine, 
in  France,  came  over  in  1619  to  attend  the  establishments 
begun  in  Acadia  by  sedentary  fishery  and  fur  companies 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1642  ;  1643,  ch.  12,  14  ;  1647,  ch. 
4-7;  Creuxius,  "  Historia  Canadensis,"  pp.  338-500;  Tanner,  "  Societas 
Militans,"  Prague,  1675,  p.  510  ;  "  Concilium  Plenarium  Baltiniorense 
III,"  Baltimore,  1886,  p.  Ixiv.  This  servant  of  God  was  born  at  Orleans, 
France,  of  a  family  still  honored  there,  January  10,  1607.  Entering  a 
Jesuit  college  at  the  age  of  ten,  he  solicited  entrance  into  the  Society  of 
Jesus  and  began  his  novitiate  October  24, 1624.  As  novice  and  as  scholas 
tic,  student  and  teacher,  he  was  regarded  as  a  model.  Considering  himself 
as  one  of  little  ability  for  learning,  he  solicited  a  foreign  mission,  and 
having  been  assigned  to  Canada,  was  ordained  in  1636  to  be  sent  to  that 
severe  field.  He  evinced  skill  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  Huron 
character  and  language,  and  was  a  patient,  successful,  uncomplaining 
missioner,  ready  for  any  peril.  In  the  hour  of  trial  he  showed  the  heroic 
degree  to  which  he  had  ascended  by  his  life  of  prayer  and  union  with 
God.  His  life  has  been  written  by  Father  Felix  Martin,  S.J.  Paris, 
1873  ;  New  York,  1885.  His  writings,  including  a  narrative  of  his  cap 
tivity,  a  notice  of  Rene  Goupil,  and  an  account  of  New  Netherland  in 
1642,  have  been  published  in  a  volume  of  the  "  Collections  of  the  Xew 
York  Historical  Society."  The  site  of  Ossernenon  has  been  identified 
by  the  exhaustive  topographical  studies  of  General  John  S.  Clark,  of 
Auburn,  and  it  has  been  acquired  by  the  Society  of  Jesus.  A  pilgrim 
age  to  the  spot  took  place  in  August,  1884,  when  the  little  chapel  was 
opened. 


a 

Is 

is 

» 

s  3 

3  ^ 

3  ? 
S  f 
>  a 


? 

d  • 
I  .* 


5? 

§  i 


§  I 
S  i. 


236        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

founded  at  Bordeaux.  Their  chief  station  and  chapel  were 
on  St.  John's  River,  and  several  Fathers  labored  in  that  dis 
trict  till  1624,  one  dying  of  hardship  in  the  woods.  They 
then  retired  to  Quebec,  probably  crossing  part  of  Maine  on 
the  way.1  Though  they  resumed  their  missions,  they  were 
driven  out  by  the  English  in  1628 ;  but  even  before  the  res 
toration  of  Canada  to  France,  Recollect  Fathers  from  the 
province  of  Aquitaine  were  again  sent  out  in  1630."  Three 
years  afterward,  however,  Cardinal  Richelieu  gave  orders  for 
their  recall,  and  committed  the  Acadian  mission  to  the  Fa 
thers  of  the  Capuchin  Order.3 

Of  the  extent  of  their  labors  there  is  no  doubt.  The  Capu 
chins  of  the  province  of  Paris,  accepting  the  field  assigned 
to  them,  sent  missionaries  who  attended  the  French  along  the 
coast  from  Chaleurs  Bay  to  the  Kennebec.  Their  country 
men  constituted  a  floating  population — of  small  proportion 
in  winter,  but  swelling  in  summer  to  thousands — as  is  the 
case  to  this  day  at  Saint  Pierre  and  Miquelon.4 

The  conversion  of  the  Indians  was  one  of  the  main  objects 
of  the  mission,  and  the  establishment  of  a  seminary  for  the 
instruction  of  the  young  natives  was  especially  provided  for. 
Cardinal  Richelieu  had  in  1635  become  a  partner  in  a  com 
pany  for  settling  Acadia,  and  in  1640  he  transferred  all  his 

1  Le  Clercq,  "Establishment  of  the  Faith,"  i.,  pp.  199,  227. 

2  Champlain,  "Voyages"  (Prince  edn.),  i.,  p.  298. 

3  Faillon,  "  Histoire  de  la  Colonie  FranQaise,"  i.,  p.  280  ;  Letter  of  Bou- 
thillier,  secretary  of  state,  March  16,  1633,  cited  by  Moreau,  "Histoire 
de  1'Acadie  Franpoise,"  Paris,  1873,  p.  131 ;   Faillon,   "  Histoire  de  la 
Colonie  Francaise,"  i.,  p.  280.     D'Aulnay  received  the  Capuchins,  but 
La  Tour  retained  Recollect  Fathers  till  his  open  mockery  of  the  Cath 
olic  religion  compelled  them  to  withdraw  in  January,  1645 ;  Moreau, 
pp.  131,  211. 

4  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1651,  pp.  14-15;   Charlevoix, 
"  History  of  New  France,"  ii.,  p.  202,  says  Druillettes  found  the  Capu- 
chins  on  the  Kennebec,  but  the  "  Relation"  of  1647 makes  this  doubtful. 


THE  CAPUCHINS  IN  MAINE. 


237 


rights  to  the  Capuchin  Fathers  as  a  fund  for  the  foundation 
and  maintenance  of  this  Indian  school,  so  that  the  great  Car 
dinal  of  France  was  actively  interested  in  the  Christian  edu 
cation  of  K"ew  England  Indians  long  before  Plymouth  or 
Massachusetts  Bay  or  the  British  rulers  had  paid  any  atten 
tion  to  it.1 

The  centre  of  the  mission  was  at  Port  Royal,  but  there 
were   stations   attended   by   the   Capuchins   as  far  east  as 


I-    •*-!       ~w  .,'  :**•:    »...?:•  T     ••  iTT7.     ••- -    •"-- .: 


FAC-SIMILE   OF   COPPER-PLATE   FROM   FOUNDATION   OF   CHAPEL  OF   OUR 
LADY  OF  HOLT  HOPE,   FOUND  IN   1863. 

the  Kennebec'  and  Penobscot.     Among  those  who  were  sta 
tioned  at  the  French  post  of  Pentagoet  on  the  Penobscot 

1  F.  Pacificus  de  Proving,  "  Relazione,"  March  9, 1644,  MS. 

2  Moreau,  "  Histoire  de  1'Acadie  Francaise,"  pp.  137, 164, 167.     D'Aul- 
nay  was  eventually  selected  to  administer  the  revenues  of  the  portion 
belonging  to  the  Capuchins.     Father  Leonard  of  Chartres  for  baptizing 
a  chifd  which,  with  its  mother,  was  in  danger  of  death,  was  mortally 
wounded  by  an  Indian.     Before  they  could  reach  the  hospice  with  the 
dying  Capuchin,  the  post  was  captured  by  the  English,  and  he  was  taken 
to  a  neighboring  island,  where  he  expired.     See  "  Bullarium  Capuccino- 


238        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

may  be  named  Father  Leo  of  Paris,  Father  Cosmas  de  Mante, 
Father  Bernardine  de  Crespy,  and  the  Lay  Brother  Elzear 
de  St.  Florentin.  Their  chapel,  which  bore  the  title  of  Our 
Lady  of  Holy  Hope,  was  evidently  reared  not  far  from  the 
lower  fort  at  the  present  town  of  Castine,  for  in  the  autumn 
of  1863  a  copper-plate  was  found  but  little  below  the  surface 
of  the  soil,  which  bore  an  inscription  proving  that  it  had 
once  been  in  the  corner-stone  of  the  Catholic  chapel.  It  ran 
thus :— "  1648  :  8  Jun  :  F.  LEO  PARISIN  CAPVC  :  Miss  POSVI 

HOC  FVNDTM  IN  HNKEM  ~NltM  DiLE  SANCT.E  SPEI."       "  On  the 

8th  of  June,  1648,  I,  Friar  Leo  of  Paris,  Capuchin  mission 
ary,  laid  this  corner-stone  in  honor  of  Our  Lady  of  Holy 
Hope."  It  was  apparently  one  of  the  last  acts  of  this  mis 
sionary,  for  in  October  of  the  same  year  his  post  was  filled 
by  Father  Cosmas  de  Mante. 

While  the  Capuchin  Fathers  were  thus  engaged  at  Penta- 
goet,  the  Abnaki  Indians  on  the  Kennebec,  who  had  through 
kindred  Algonquin  tribes  visited  the  French  at  Quebec,  asked 
for  missionaries.  As  they  at  a  later  period  told  the  people 
of  New  England,  when  they  went  to  Canada  they  were  not 
asked  whether  they  had  any  furs,  but  whether  they  had  been 
taught  to  worship  the  true  God. 

The  Superior  of  the  Jesuit  Mission  took  the  matter  into 
consideration,  and  on  the  same  day,  August  21,  1646,  that  it 
was  decided  to  send  Father  Isaac  Jogues  to  the  Mohawk,  it 
was  also  unanimously  agreed  that  Father  Gabriel  Druillettes 
should  proceed  with  the  Abnakis  to  found  on  the  Kennebec 
the  Mission  of  the  Assumption.  He  left  Sillery  August 

rum,"  v.,  p.  28;  F.  Ignatius  of  Paris,  "Brevis  .  .  .  descriptio,"  MS.; 
"Eloges  des  Illustres  Capucins  de  la  Ville  de  Paris,"  MS.  This  last 
gives  his  death  as  in  1649,  but  it  was  more  probably  in  1655.  The  "  An- 
nales  des  Peres  Capucins,"  in  the  Mazarin  library,  unfortunately  has  no 
portion  devoted  to  the  Acadian  mission. 


F.  DRUILLETTES  IN  MAINE.  239 

29th,  accompanied  by  Claude,  a  good  Christian  Indian,  to 
winter  with  the  Abnakis,  and  with  his  Indian  guides,  by 
canoe  and  portage,  he  in  time  reached  their  village  on  the 
Kennebec.  Here  he  set  to  work  to  learn  the  language  by 
means  of  the  Algon- 

quin,    which    he   had     ^^^  ^^O^es  Soc-??" 
already  acquired.   The 

.  FAC-SEVIILE   OF  THE    SIGNATURE    OF    FATHER 

sick  ne  instructed   as  GABRIEL  DRUILLETTES. 

well  as  he  could,  and 

children  in  danger  of  death  were  baptized.  He  visited  an 
English  post  on  the  river,  and  subsequently  with  his  Indian 
guides  descended  to  the  sea  and  coasted  along  to  Pentagoet. 
The  Superior  of  the  Capuchins,  Father  Ignatius  of  Paris,  and 
his  associates  received  the  Jesuit  Father  at  their  hospice  with 
every  mark  of  affection,  and  Druillettes,  after  a  short  stay, 
returned  to  his  mission,  with  a  letter  from  the  French  com 
mandant  at  Pentagoet  to  the  English  authorities. 

A  league  above  the  English  post  on  the  Kennebec  the 
Abnakis  gathered  in  a  little  village,  consisting  of  fifteen 
communal  houses.  Here  they  erected  a  little  plank  chapel 
in  their  style  for  the  missionary.  As  he  could  by  this  time 
speak  the  language  with  some  fluency,  he  taught  them  the 
necessity  of  believing  in  God,  the  Creator  of  mankind,  the 
rewarder  of  the  good,  and  the  punisher  of  the  wicked.  He 
impressed  on  them  above  all  to  renounce  the  use  of  liquors 
offered  them  by  traders,  to  avoid  quarrels,  and  to  throw  aside 
the  manitous  in  which  each  one  confided.  Following  them 
in  their  winter  hunt  he  continued  his  instructions  in  the 
fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  and  taught  them  the  or 
dinary  prayers  which  he  had  translated  into  their  language. 

After  revisiting  the  English  post  he  returned  to  Quebec 
in  June.1  He  fully  expected  to  continue  his  mission ;  but 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1647,  ch.  x.  (Quebec  ed.,  pp.  51- 


240        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

he  was  soon  followed  by  another  Indian  party  who  bore  a 
letter  from  the  Capuchins,  deprecating  the  establishment  of 
a  mission  in  territory  specially  assigned  to  them.  The  Su 
perior  of  the  Jesuit  Missions  in  Canada  at  once  relinquished 
a  field  that  seemed  full  of  promise.1 

But  the  revolt  of  La  Tour  against  orders  from  France  and 
the  consequent  struggle  between  him  and  the  Sieur  Aulnay 
de  Charnisay,  in  whose  district  the  Capuchins  were,  menaced 
all  the  French  establishments,  for  La  Tour  obtained  aid  from 
the  English  at  Boston,  though  d' Aulnay  sent  an  envoy  there, 
a  Mr.  Marie,  whom  the  people  of  Massachusetts  supposed  to 
be  one  of  ihjd  Capuchin  Fathers.2 

Foreboding  apparently  the  close  of  their  mission  amid 
these  distracting  scenes,  Fathers  Cosmas  de  Mante  and  Ga 
briel  de  Joinville  visited  Canada,  and  were  in  1648  at  the 
Indian  mission  at  Sillery.3  The  former,  evidently  con 
vinced  by  the  results  he  witnessed,  addressed  the  Jesuit  Su 
perior,  begging  him,  in  most  touching  terms,  to  renew  the 
Abnaki  mission  and  give  the  poor  Indians  and  others  all  the 
assistance  his  courageous  and  untiring  charity  could  afford.4 
But  it  was  not  till  two  years  later  that  the  Society  of  Jesus 
could  take  steps  to  continue  the  Mission  of  the  Assumption. 

56) ;  "  Journal  des  Jesuites,"  pp.  44,  63,  88  ;  Creuxius,  "  Historia  Gana- 
densis,"  p.  483. 

1  "Journal  des  Jesuites,"  1647,  July  3-4,  p.  91. 

"Murdoch,  "Nova  Scotia,"  Halifax,  1865,  i.,  pp.  105,  107.  Indians 
of  St.  John's  River,  incited  by  La  Tour,  attacked  one  of  d'Aulnay's 
sloops,  carrying  off  a  soldier  and  one  of  the  Capuchin  Fathers,  killing 
the  soldier.  Moreau,  p.  155.  The  Letters  Patent  of  the  King  to  d' Aulnay 
de  Charnisay,  February,  1647,  in  the  "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  Que 
bec,  1883,  pp.  120-24,  speak  highly  of  his  establishment  of  the  Capuchin 
missions  and  schools. 

3  "Registre  de  Sillery,"  cited  by  Taiuguay,  "Repertoire  General,"  pp. 
41-2. 

4  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1651,  p.  14. 


A  JESUIT  IN  BOSTON.  241 

In  1650  Father  Gabriel  Druillettes  was  again  granted  to 
the  prayers  of  the  Abnakis,  who  had  year  after  year  solic 
ited  his  return.  On  the  last  day  of  August,  though  spent 
with  a  laborious  winter  mission  on  the  shores  of  the  gulf,  he 
took  up  his  staff  to  accompany  the  Indians  to  their  lodges  on 
the  Kennebec.  The  patient,  self-denying  Jesuit,  went  also 
in  a  new  character.  He  bore  letters  accrediting  him  to  the 
governing  powers  in  New  England,  with  whom  the  Canadian 
authorities  proposed  a  free  intercolonial  trade,  and  to  whose 
humanity  they  appealed  for  aid  or  volunteers,  to  check  the 
Iroquois  who  menaced  all  that  was  Christian.  Four-and- 
twenty  days  of  hardship  and  suffering  brought  the  mission 
ary  to  Norridgewalk,  where  he  was  received  with  rapture. 
The  chief  cried  out  as  he  embraced  the  missionary  :  "  I  see 
well  that  the  Great  Spirit  who  rules  in  the  heavens,  vouch 
safes  to  look  on  us  with  favor,  since  He  sends  our  patriarch 
back  to  us." 

"With  souls  thus  prepared  his  mission  labors  were  full  of 
consolation.  Visiting  the  English  post  to  forward  letters 
announcing  the  nature  of  the  commission  confided  to  him, 
he  continued  his  priestly  work  till  November,  when  he  set 
out  for  Boston  with  Noel  Negabamat,  the  Chief  of  Sillery, 
embarking  at  Merry  Meeting  Bay,  with  John  "Winslow,  whom 
the  missionary  calls  his  Pereira,  alluding  to  the  friend  of  St. 
Francis  Xavier. 

At  Boston  Major-General  Gibbons  received  him  courte 
ously.  Father  Druillettes  says  :  "  He  gave  me  the  key  of  a 
room  in  his  house,  where  I  could  in  all  liberty  say  my  prayers 
and  perform  the  exercises  of  my  religion."  As  he  would 
naturally  carry  his  missionary  chapel  service  with  him,  we 
may  infer  that  Father  Druillettes  offered  tlje  holy  sacrifice  in 
Boston  in  December,  1650.  He  delivered  his  credentials, 
urging  the  cause  of  his  countrymen  and  the  claims  of  his 


242        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

neophytes,  which  he  pleaded  also  at  Plymouth.  At  Roxbury 
he  visited  Eliot,  who  pressed  him  to  remain  under  his  roof 
till  spring,  but  winter  had  no  terrors  for  him.  After  receiv 
ing  a  reply  from  the  governor  and  presenting  his  case  to  the 
leading  men,  he  sailed  early  in  January  for  the  Kennebec, 
and  in  the  following  month  resumed  his  missionary  labors. 
He  returned  to  Canada  in  June,  but  was  again  accred 
ited  in  a  more  formal  manner  as  envoy  with  Mr.  Godefroy 
to  the  Commissioners  of  the  New  England  Colonies,  who 
were  to  meet  at  New  Haven.  Thither  the  missionary  and 
his  associate  proceeded,  and  in  September,  1651,  the  Cath 
olic  priest  pleaded  in  vain  for  a  brotherhood  of  nations, 
and  for  a  combined  action  against  a  destroying  heathen 
power.  The  visit  of  a  priest  to  New  England,  whose  Chris 
tian  civilization,  three  years  before,  had  embodied  its  claims 
to  the  respect  of  posterity  in  a  law  expelling  every  Jesuit 
and  dooming  him  to  the  gallows  if  he  returned,  is,  in  itself, 
a  most  curious  episode.1 

After  concluding  his  diplomatic  functions  in  Boston  and 
New  Haven,  he  returned  to  his  little  flock  on  the  Kennebec, 
and  spent  the  winter  instructing  and  grounding  them  in  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity.  After  many  hardships  he  reached 
Quebec  in  March,  1652.2 

For  some  years  after  these  missions  of  Father  Druillettes 
on  the  Kennebec,  no  further  attempt  was  made  to  establish 
the  church  at  Norridgewalk,  but  the  Abnakis  kept  the  faith 
alive  by  visits  to  Sillery  and  other  missions  in  Canada. 


1  Druillettes,  "  Narre  du  Voyage,"  1650-1,  Albany,  1855  ;  "  Recueil  de 
Pieces  sur  la  Negotiation  entre  la  Nouv.  France  et  la  Nouv.  Angleterre," 
New  York,  1866  ;  Charlevoix,  "  History  of  New  France,"  ii.,  pp.  201-18  ; 
Hazard,  "Collections,"  ii.,  pp.  183-4;  Hutchinson,  "Collection,"  i.,  p. 
269. 

2  "  Journal  des  Jesuites,"  30  Mars,  1652. 


JESUIT  MARTYRS.  243 

Nor  were  the  Capuchin  missions  to  be  much  longer  con 
tinued. 

Brother  Elzear  de  St.  Florentin  spent  ten  years  in  St.  Pe 
ter's  fort  at  Pentagoet,  becoming  thoroughly  versed  in  the 
Indian  language,  and  gaining  many  by  his  instructions,  which 
his  exemplary  life  corroborated.  In  1655  the  Very  Rev. 
Father  Bernardine  de  Crespy,  the  missionary  at  Pentagoet, 
was  carried  off  to  England  by  an  expedition  sent  out  by 
Cromwell,1  and  the  Catholic  French  on  the  coast,  as  well  as 
the  Indian  converts,  were  deprived  of  the  services  of  their 
religion. 

The  war  declared  by  the  Iroquois  on  the  French  and  their 
allies,  when  the  Mohawks  so  treacherously  made  Father 
Jogues  a  prisoner  and  put  him  to  death,  was  carried  on  with 
the  greatest  vigor  ;  the  Montagnais  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  the 
Algonquins  of  the  Ottawa,  the  Attikamegues,  were  nearly 
annihilated,  and  the  great  Huron,  Tionontate,  and  Neuter 
Nations,  though  living  in  palisaded  castles,  saw  town  after 
town  captured  by  their  daring  enemy.  The  upper  country 
became  a  desert ;  the  surviving  Hurons  and  Tionontates  fled 
to  Lake  Superior  or  descended  to  Quebec  to  seek  a  refuge 
under  the  canons  of  the  French.  The  little  colony  of  Canada 
suffered  fearfully.  The  Huron  missions  were  destroyed, 
Fathers  Anthony  Daniel,  John  de  Brebeuf,  Gabriel  Lalemant, 
Charles  Garnier,  and  Noel  Chabanel  perishing  amid  their 
flocks,  Brebeuf  and  Lalemant  undergoing  at  the  stake  the 
utmost  fury  of  the  savages.  Father  James  Buteux  was  slain 
among  his  faithful  Attikamegues ;  the  secular  priests,  Rev. 

1  F.  Ignatius  of  Paris,  "Breuis  ac  dilucida  Missionis  Accadiae  Descrip- 
tio,"  MS.  ;  Moreau,  "  Histoire  de  1'Acadie,"  p.  263.  In  the  struggle  of 
d'Auluay,  who  endeavored  to  carry  out  the  orders  and  decisions  of  tri 
bunals  in  France,  and  of  the  Court,  against  La  Tour,  the  Capuchins 
labored  in  the  interest  of  peace,  on  one  occasion  obtaining  liberty  for  La 
Tour  and  his  \vife.  Moreau,  p.  160. 


244        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

Messrs.  Lemaitre  and  Yignal,  were  killed  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  Montreal ;  Father  Joseph  Poncet,  while  engaged  in 
a  work  of  charity,  was  captured  in  August,  1653,  by  a  band 
of  Mohawks,  was  hurried  through  the  forest  trails  to  their 

village,  undergoing 
privation,  hardship, 
and  great  torture, 

F  AC-SIMILE   OF  SIGNATURE   OF  FATHER  JOSEPH  ,   . 

PONCET.  hl8         halld8         bemS 

frightfully  lacerated 

and  burned.  At  the  Hudson  he  and  his  companion  were 
stripped,  and  forced  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  a  party  whom  they 
encountered.  At  the  Mohawk  village  the  missionary  was  ex 
posed  on  a  scaffold,  and  the  Indians  made  a  boy,  not  more 
than  five  years  old,  hack  off  the  second  finger  of  his  left  hand, 
and  then  staunch  the  blood  with  a  hot  coal.  Taken  the  next 
day  to  another  town,  this  missionary  was  burned  by  day  with 
pipes  and  firebrands  at  any  one's  fancy,  and  hung  up  at  night 
in  ropes.  The  council  called  to  decide  on  his  fate  spared  his 
life,  and  gave  him  to  an  old  woman.  The  Dutch  of  Fort 
Orange,  to  whom  he  was  taken,  dressed  his  wounds.  Here  he 
met  Radisson,  afterwards  famous  in  Canadian  annals,  who  had 
been  taken  prisoner  also,  and  a  Belgian  from  Brussels,  both  of 
whom  approached  the  sacrament  of  penance.  Meanwhile  it 
had  been  decided  by  the  Mohawk  sachems  to  restore  the 
missionary  to  the  French  and  propose  peace.  In  October 
he  set  out  with  a  party,  and  after  a  laborious  march  reached 
Montreal.1 

Thus,  at  a  moment  when  the  prospect  of  the  Church  in 
Canada  seemed  beset  on  all  sides  by  danger  and  difficulty, 
when  any  extension  toward  the  Atlantic  or  the  great  un 
known  West  seemed  impossible,  peace  came  not  only  with 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1653,  ch.  4  (Quebec  ed.,  pp.  9-17). 


FATHER  PONCET.  245 

startling  suddenness,  but  in  such  a  form  that  the  way  for  the 
gospel  was  opened  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Confederacy 
which  had  hitherto  been  the  great  obstacle.  The  blood  of 
the  martyred  missionaries  had  pleaded,  and  not  in  vain,  for 
the  conversion  of  the  Iroquois. 


c. 


FAC-SIMILES  OP   THE   SIGNATURES  OF  FATHERS  LE  MOYNE,  RAGUENEAU. 
LE  MERCIER,    AND   GARREAU. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  JURISDICTION  OF  THE  ARCHBISHOPS    OF   ROUEN THE    FIRST 

ONONDAGA    MISSION — MGR.     LATAL,     VICAR-APOSTOLIC — THE 
MISSION    ON   THE    UPPER   LAKES.       1653-1661. 

THE  extension  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Canada  to  our 
present  territory  in  a  permanent  manner,  is  coeval  with  the 
establishment  and  recognition  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Archbishops  of  Rouen  over  the  portion  of  North  America 
which  the  adventurous  sons  of  France  were  exploring  and 
claiming  for  their  monarch.  The  earlier  missionaries  came 
in  most  cases  with  faculties  from  the  diocese  of  Rouen.  As 
settlements  grew  up,  they  were  vaguely  regarded  as  part  of 
that  bishopric,  but  no  jurisdictional  act  recognized  the  trans 
atlantic  authority  of  the  French  prelate.  As  religious  com 
munities  of  women  arose,  however,  the  question  of  episcopal 
authority  required  a  distinct  settlement. 

Accordingly  the  Jesuit  missionaries  in  Canada  sent  Father 
Yimont  to  France,  and  application  was  made  to  the  Most 
Rev.  Francis  de  Harlay,  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  who,  in  1647, 
appointed  Father  Jerome  Lalemant,  the  Superior  of  the 
Missions  in  Canada,  his  Vicar-General.  These  powers  were 
renewed  by  his  successor,  Francis  de  Harlay  Champallon,  in 
1653,  and  in  that  year  a  Bull  of  Jubilee  from  the  Pope  was 
publicly  proclaimed  in  Canada  by  the  authority  of  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Rouen,  and  accompanied  by  his  pastoral.  As  the 
Church  spread  in  Maine,  New  York,  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 

to  use  the  names  now  borne  by  these  districts,  the  authority 

(246) 


LE  MOYNE  AT  ONONDAGA.  247 

of  the  See  of  Rouen  was  recognized  till  the  Holy  See  formed 
the  French  colony  into  a  vicariate.1 

There  was  a  general  movement  among  the  Iroquois  can 
tons  in  favor  of  peace  with  the  French.  Though  war  parties 
were  in  the  field,  the  Onondagas  proposed  negotiations,  and 
when  their  advances  were  favorably  received,  they  induced 
the  Orieidas  and  Cayugas  to  adopt  the  same  course :  the 
Mohawks,  who  had  suffered  heavily  by  war,  sent  back  Father 
Poncet,  so  that  all  but  the  Senecas  on  the  extreme  west  were 
in  accord.2 

Human  policy,  the  wish  to  gain  time  to  crush  other 
enemies,  discontent  with  their  Dutch  neighbors,  may  have 
had  their  influence,  but  they  do  not  altogether  explain  the 
general  desire  of  the  Iroquois  for  peace. 

The  treaty  was  actually  concluded,  and  it  became  necessary 
to  send  some  person  to  ratify  it  in  the  Iroquois  cantons.  The 
envoy  was  to  undertake  the  task  which  cost  Father  Isaac 
Jogues  his  life.  Yet  there  was  no  trouble  in  finding  a  Jesuit 
to  assume  a  peril-fraught  position.  Father  Simon  le  Moyne 
had  succeeded  to  the  Indian  name  of  Isaac  Jogues,  and  was 
ready  to  follow  his  footsteps  as  envoy  of  peace  to  an  Iroquois 
canton.  Putting  his  life  into  the  hands  of  the  Almighty,  he 
set  out  in  July,  1654,  with  his  Onondaga  guides,  ascending 
the  Saint  Lawrence  by  paddling  and  portage  to  the  great 
lake,  Ontario.  Skirting  its  southern  shore,  he  arrived  at  a 
fishing  village,  where  he  found  some  of  his  old  Huron 

1  Faillon,  "  Histoire  de  la  Colonie  Francaise,"  i.,  p.  280,  says  that  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  who  came  over  in  1633  applied  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Rouen. 

2  "Journal  des  Jesuites,"  August,  1653,  pp.  185-7.     The  first  attempt 
to  have  a  bishop's  see  established  in  Canada,  emanated  from  the  Rec 
ollects.     Faillon,  i.,  p.  282  ;  Le  Clercq,  "  Establishment  of  the  Faith,"  i., 
p.  339  ;  Margry,  "Documents,"  i.,  p.  15  ;  the  next  was  that  of  the  Ven. 
Mr.  Olier,  in  1656.     Faillon,  "Vie  de  M.  Olier,"  Paris,  1853,  ii.,  p.  504. 


248        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

Christians,  and  heard  the  confession  of  his  old  Tiontate  host. 
Confessing,  baptizing,  the  missionary  envoy  came  at  last  in 
sight  of  the  Onoudaga  castle,  to  be  greeted  with  an  unusual 
welcome.  In  the  solemn  council  he  opened  with  a  prayer  in 
Huron,  easily  followed  by  the  Iroquois,  in  which  he  anathe 
matized  the  evil  spirits  who  should  venture  to  disturb  the 
peace,  then  he  prayed  the  angel  guardians  of  the  land  to 
speak  to  the  hearts  of  the  Five  Nations,  to  the  clans,  the 
families,  the  individuals  he  named  ;  then  he  delivered  the 
nineteen  presents  symbolizing  as  many  words  or  propositions. 
In  reply  the  Onondaga  sachems  urged  him  to  select  a  spot  on 
the  banks  of  the  lake  for  a  French  settlement,  and  confirmed 
the  peace.  Everything  encouraged  the  envoy  priest.  The 
Onondagas  seemed  full  of  good-will ;  their  Christian  captives 
full  of  fervor.  Father  le  Moyne  returned  with  two  precious 
relics,  a  New  Testament  that  had  belonged  to  Father  Brebeuf , 
and  a  prayer-book  of  Father  Charles  Gamier,  both  put  to 
death  by  the  Iroquois.  His  favorable  report  filled  the  French 
colony  with  exultation.1 

To  plant  Christianity  and  civilization  at  Onondaga,  was 
the  next  step.  Fathers  Joseph  Chaumonot  and  Claude 
Dablon  were  selected,  and  leaving  Quebec  in  September, 
were  received  in  pomp  by  the  sachems,  about  a  mile  from  the 
Onondaga  castles,  on  the  5th  of  November.  A  banquet  was 
spread  for  the  priests,  who  were  welcomed  by  an  orator  in  an 
eloquent  address,  to  which  Father  Chaumonot  replied  in  their 
own  language  and  style.  Then  they  were  conducted,  between 
a  welcoming  line  on  either  side,  to  the  great  cabin  prepared 
for  them.  As  it  was  Friday,  they  had  to  decline  the  juicy 
bear-meat  cooked  for  their  repast,  but  it  was  at  once  replaced 
by  beaver  and  fish.  That  very  night  a  council  was  held,  and 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1654,  ch.  vi.,  (Quebec  edition,  p. 
11.) 


FATHER  CHAUMONOT.  249 

the  essential  presents  were  exchanged.  The  erection  of  a 
chapel  for  Catholic  worship  was  to  be  one  of  the  first  steps. 
The  sachems  told  Chaumonot  that  as  they  had  ascertained 
that  the  most  gratifying  intelligence  they  could  send  that  fall 
to  Onontio,  that  is,  the  Governor  of  Canada,  would  be  that 
Onondaga  had  a  chapel  for  the  believers,  they  would,  to 
please  him,  provide  for  it  as  soon  as  possible.  The  missionary 
replied  that  they  had  discovered  the  secret  of  winning  the 
governor's  heart,  and  gaining  him  over  completely. 

For  some  days  there  were  interviews,  discussions,  and  in 
terchange  of  presents,  the  missionaries  availing  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  to  visit  the  sick.  They  visited  the  Salt 
Spring  near  Lake  Ganentaa,  which  had  been  selected  as  the 
site  of  the  proposed  French  settlement.  On  the  same  hill 
was  another  spring  of  pure  water.  The  site  was  a  delightful 
one,  easy  of  access  from  all  directions. 

On  Sunday,  November  14th,  they  consecrated  their  work 
by  offering  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass  at  a  temporary 
altar  in  the  cabin  of  Teotouharason,  an  influential  woman 
who  had  visited  Quebec  and  now  openly  declared  herself  in 
favor  of  Christianity. 

The  next  day  the  Sachems  convened  the  nation  in  a  public 
place  that  all  might  see  and  hear.  Then  Father  Chaumonot 
prepared  to  deliver  the  wampum  belts  of  which  he  was  the 
bearer. 

Father  Chaumonot,  who  had  adapted  his  natural  eloquence 
to  the  Indian  mind,  gave  belt  after  belt,  each  with  a  symboli 
cal  meaning  which  he  explained.  "  The  applause  was  general 
and  every  mind  was  on  the  alert  to  see  and  hear  what  came 
next.  This  was  the  finest  wampum  belt  of  all  which  Father 
Chaumonot  displayed.  He  declared  all  that  he  had  thus  far 
said  was  but  to  assuage  and  soothe  their  evils ;  that  he  could 
not  prevent  their  falling  sick  and  dying ;  yet  he  had  a 


250        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 


sovereign  remedy  for  all  kinds  of 
evils  ;  and  that  it  was  this  properly 
which  brought  him  to  their  coun 
try ;  and  that  they  had  displayed 
their  intelligence  in  coming  to 
Quebec  to  seek  him ;  that  this 
great  remedy  was  the  Faith,  which 
he  came  to  announce  to  them, 
which  they  would  undoubtedly  re 
ceive  as  favorably  as  they  had  done 
wisely  in  soliciting  it."  Then  walk 
ing  up  and  down  he  eloquently 
portrayed  the  truth  and  beauty  of 
Christianity,  and  called  upon  them 
to  accept  it.  His  address,  the  first 
eloquent  presentation  of  the  Chris 
tian  faith  to  the  Five  Kations  at 
their  great  council  fire,  was  heard 
with  deep  attention,  interrupted 
only  by  the  applauding  cries  of  the 
sachems  and  chiefs.1 

How  deeply  the  words  of  the 
missionary  impressed  the  sachems, 
may  be  seen  by  the  fact  that  the 
very  wampum  belt  held  up  that 
day  by  Father  Chaumonot,  is  still 
preserved  among  the  treasures  of 
the  Iroquois  League,  at  Onondaga, 


1  "Relation    de    la  Nouvelle  France," 
1656  (Quebec  edition,  p.  16). 


CHAUMONOT  8   BELT. 


MISSIONARY   BELT. 


HIS  WAMPUM  BELT.  251 

showing  in  its  work  of  wampum  beads,  man,  the  onkwe  ouwe 
led  to  the  Cross  of  Christ.1 

The  Mohawks  meanwhile  had  made  proposals  of  peace,  and 
Father  le  Moyne  had  been  promised  to  them.  Wearied  by 
his  past  labors,  a  stout  missionary  might  have  pleaded  for 
rest,  but  he  shrank  from  no  work  of  duty.  He  accepted  the 
new  charge  with  alacrity.  Leaving  Montreal  on  the  17th  of 
August,  1656,  with  twelve  Mohawks  and  two  Frenchmen, 
they  journeyed  on  foot  a  month  before  the  missionary  entered 
the  Mohawks'  castles,  where  he  was  cordially  welcomed.  He 
delivered  the  presents  of  the  French  governor,  and  in  Mo 
hawk  invoked  God  to  punish  any  one  who  violated  the 
solemn  pledges  of  the  treaty.  His  presents  were  repaid  by 
those  of  the  canton,  and  peace  was  thus  firmly  established. 
Then,  as  missionary,  he  conferred  baptism  on  the  children  of 
some  captive  Christians ;  he  visited  the  Dutch  settlements, 
where  he  was  courteously  received,  though  the  minister 
listened  with  doubt  to  the  accounts  of  salt  springs  and  other 
peculiarities  of  the  country  the  missionary  had  visited.* 


1  This  belt  is  perfect,  although  evidently  ancient.  It  is  seven  beads 
wide  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  long.  The  figures  are  white  on  a  dark 
ground.  We  give  an  accurate  drawing  of  it  from  a  photograph  kindly 
furnished  by  Gen.  John  S.  Clark,  of  Auburn,  who  is  convinced  that  it  is 
that  used  by  Chaumonot.  In  Dr.  Hawley's  "  Early  Chapters  of  Cayuga 
History,"  p.  19,  he  says:  "The  legend  of  this  belt  as  explained  at  this 
day,  is  as  follows  :  A  great  many  years  ago,  a  company  from  Canada 
presented  this  belt,  desiring  that  missionaries  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  might  be  settled  among  the  Five  Nations,  and  erect  a  chapel  at 
Onondaga,  and  that  the  road  (represented  by  the  white  stripe)  should  be 
continually  kept  open  and  free  between  them."  We  show  also  another 
belt  evidently  of  missionary  origin,  preserved  by  the  Onondagas,  ancient, 
but  inferior  in  workmanship.  See  Powell,  "  Second  Annual  Report  of 
the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,"  Washington,  1883,  p.  252. 

-  "Relation  de  la  Xouvelle  France,"  1656,  ch.  i.  (Quebec  edition,  pp. 
2-4) ;  O'Callaghan,  "  History  of  New  Netherland,"  ii.,  p.  303  ;  Marie  de 
rincarnatiou,  "Lettres  Historiques,"  Lettre,  October  12,  1655. 


252        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

Meanwhile  the  missionaries  went  about  freely  among  the 
people,  meeting  many  old  Huron  converts,  now  slaves  or 
adopted  into  the  Onondaga  nation.  There  was  abundant 
work  for  their  zeal  in  reviving  or  encouraging  the  faith  in 
these  poor  exiles.  When  the  Catholic  world  was  celebrating 
the  dedication  of  the  grandest  temple  to  the  Most  High,  St. 
Peter's  church  at  Eome,  a  bark  chapel  was  reared  at  Onon 
daga.  "  It  is  true,"  writes  Father  Dablon,  "  that  for  all  mar 
ble  and  all  precious  metals  we  employed  only  bark.  As  soon 
as  it  was  erected  it  was  sanctified  by  the  baptism  of  three 
children,  to  whom  the  way  to  heaven  was  opened  as  wide 
beneath  those  vaults  of  bark,  as  to  those  held  over  font  be 
neath  vaults  fretted  with  gold  and  silver."  St.  John  the 
Baptist  had  been  adopted  as  the  patron  of  the  mission,  and  it 
was  doubtless  under  his  invocation  that  this  first  chapel  on 
the  soil  of  New  York  was  dedicated. 

But  the  chapel  was  soon  too  small  for  those  who  gathered 
to  listen  to  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  proclaimed  in  their 
own  tongue  by  the  eloquent  Chaumonot.1 

But  the  sachems  of  Onondaga  wished  a  French  settlement, 
and  expressed  dissatisfaction  because  no  colonists  arrived. 
To  obtain  them  and  so  dispel  all  doubts,  Father  Dablon  re 
turned  to  Canada. 

There  a  serious  consultation  was  held.  It  was  generally 
believed  that  the  -Onondagas  were  endeavoring  to  draw  the 
French  into  their  country  only  to  massacre  them :  but  un 
less  some  went,  the  cantons  would  declare  war.  Accordingly 
fifty  Frenchmen  under  Mr.  Dupuis,  commandant  of  the  fort 
at  Quebec,  left  that  city  with  all  necessaries  for  a  settlement, 
accompanied  by  Father  Dablon,  the  Superior  of  the  mission, 


1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1656,  ch.  vii.  xiii.,  (Quebec  ed., 
pp.  20,  35). 


OUR  LADY  OF  GANENTAA.  253 

F.  Francis  le  Mercier,  two  other  priests  of  the  Society,  Rene 
Menard  and  James  Fremin,  with  two  lay  brothers.1 

They  set  out  aniid  the  anxious  fears  of  their  countrymen, 
their  white  banner  with  the  name  of  Jesus  betokening  the  ob 
ject  of  their  emigration.  After  a  tedious  journey,  during  which 
they  suffered  from  hunger,  the  colonists  on  the  llth  of  July 
reached  the  spot  on  Lake  Onondaga  which  Fathers  Chaumonot 
and  Dablon  had  selected,  and  where  the  sachems  of  the  tribe 
awaited  them.  The  French  canoes  moved  over  the  waters  of 
the  lake  amid  a  salvo  from  their  five  cannon.  A  grand 
reception  and  banquet  followed.  The  next  day  a  solemn  Te 
Deum  was  chanted  for  their  safe  arrival,  and  possession  was 
taken  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  dedicating 
it  to  Him  by  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass.  On  Sunday  all 
received  holy  communion,  to  fulfil  a  vow  made  amid  the  dan 
gers  of  their  route.  After  the  usual  round  of  receptions  and 
banquets  to  conform  to  the  Indian  custom,  the  French  set  to 
work  in  earnest  to  erect  the  blockhouse  of  Saint  Mary  of  Ga- 
nentaa,  as  the  headquarters  of  the  settlers  and  of  the  mission 
aries.  It  stood  on  a  hill  from  which  flowed  a  stream  of  salt 
water,  and  one  limpid,  fresh,  and  pure.  Before  the  close  of 
August  the  house  was  well  advanced,  and  the  missionaries 
had  reared  in  the  Indian  village  of  Onondaga  a  regular 
chapel,  apparently  a  larger  and  more  solid  structure  than  that 
raised  the  year  before.* 

Fields  were  prepared  and  planted  by  the  French  with 
wheat,  Indian  corn,  and  vegetables,  and  places  arranged  for 
the  swine  and  poultry  which  they  had  brought.3 

'"Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1657,  ch.  4,  (Quebec  ed.,  pp. 
7-9).  Marie  de  1'Incarnation,  "Lettres  Historiques,"  p.  531,  Lettre  Oct. 
4,  1658. 

2  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1657,  ch.  5  (Quebec  ed.,  p.  18). 

3Radisson,  "Voyages,"  p.  118.  St.  Mary's  of  Ganentaawas  just  north 


THE  JESUIT  WELL,    GANENTAA.      FROM  A  DRAWING   BY  A.    L.    RAWSON. 


CAYUGA  AND  SENECA  MISSION.  255 

As  soon  as  the  commencement  of  the  mission  had  been 
laid  at  Onondaga,  the  missionaries  prepared  to  extend  their 
sphere  of  action.  Father  Chaumonot  towards  the  close  of 
August,  1656,  set  out  for  Cayuga,  and  leaving  Father  Rene 
Menard  there,  pushed  on  to  the  Seneca  country.  The  mis 
sionary  of  the  Cayugas  was  not  warmly  received  at  Goio- 
goiien,  Huron  apostates  having  created  prejudice  against  the 
messengers  of  the  faith,  but  four  days  after  his  arrival  a 
bark  chapel  was  erected,  draped  with  finely  wrought  mats 
and  pictures  of  our  Lord  and  His  Blessed  Mother.1  Then  his 
work  began ;  instructions  were  given  daily,  the  sick  and  dy 
ing  visited,  calumnies  refuted,  difficulties  explained.  Some 
listened  ;  one  a  warrior,  who  had  given  wampum  belts  to 
rescue  Fathers  Bre'beuf  and  Lalemant,  but  which  the  war 
chiefs  subsequently  returned. 

Father  Chaumonot  at  Gandagan,  a  Seneca  town,  disposed 
the  sachems  to  favor  the  cause  of  Christianity  and.  to  main 
tain  the  peace ;  another  town,  Saint  Michael's,  made  up  al 
most  entirely  of  Hurons,  welcomed  the  priest,  many  of  the 
exiles  having  adhered  to  the  faith  though  long  deprived  of 
a  pastor.2 

The  two  missionaries  also  visited  Oneida,  although  warned 

of  the  railroad  bridge  on  lot  106,  on  the  north  side  of  Lake  Onondaga, 
about  midway  between  the  two  extremities.  "The  Jesuit's  Well,"  of 
which  an  illustration  is  given  from  a  drawing  by  A.  L.  Rawson,  with  its 
accompanying  salt  spring,  marks  the  spot.  The  Onondaga  village  where 
the  chapel  was  erected,  was  twelve  miles  distant,  two  miles  south  of  the 
present  village  of  Manlius.  Gen.  John  S.  Clark  in  Hawley's  "Early 
Chapters,"  p.  33. 

1  Gen.  John  S.  Clark,  who  has  so  carefully  studied  the  sites  of  Indian 
towns,  places  Goiogouen  three  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Union  Springs, 
near  Great  Gully  Brook.  Rev.  Dr.  Hawley's  "  Early  Chapters  of  Ca 
yuga  History,"  p.  21. 

•  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1657,  ch.  15-16  (Quebec  ed.,  pp. 
42-6). 


256        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

that  a  plot  was  forming  against  their  lives ;  but  they  went 
on  and  boldly  announced  the  gospel. 

Onondaga  was,  however,  the  central  mission  and  that  which 
afforded  most  consoling  hope.  Here  they  found  more  per 
sons  ready  to  listen  to  their  teaching,  more  who  in  sickness 
placed  all  their  hope  in  Our  Lord  when  He  was  made  known 
to  them.  The  old  Christians  and  converts  were  so  numerous 
that  three  Sodalities  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  were  established, 
one  Onondaga,  one  Huron,  and  one  of  the  Xeuter  Xation. 
They  all  assembled  in  the  chapel  on  Palm  Sunday,  1657,  be 
fore  daybreak,  and  prepared  for  mass  by  reciting  the  rosary.1 
Yet  the  lives  of  the  missionaries  hung  by  a  thread.  "While 
Father  Ragueneau  was  on  his  way  from  Canada  to  Onon 
daga  with  a  party  from  that  canton  accompanied  by  some 
Hurons,  who  had  agreed  to  settle  there,  an  Onondaga  chief 
tomahawked  a  Huron  woman,  and  his  companions  massacred 
the  men  of  the  tribe,  treating  the  women  and  children  as 
slaves,  stripping  them  of  all  their  goods.2  The  missionary 
and  a  lay  brother  reached  Onondaga  alive,  but  felt  that  they 
were  prisoners.  If  this  nation  had  ever  really  been  sin 
cere  in  their  advances  to  the  French,  the  jealousy  of  the  Mo 
hawks  and  Oneidas,  who  wished  all  trade  to  pass  through 
their  country,  soon  by  specious  reasoning  incited  the  Onon- 
clagas  to  join  them  in  renewing  hostilities  against  the  French. 
While  Father  le  Moyne  was  on  the  Mohawk,  and  the  mis 
sionaries  and  French  at  Onondaga,  the  Oneidas  slew  and 
scalped  three  colonists  near  Montreal.  Governor  d'  A.illeboust 
acted  with  a  decision  that  saved  the  lives  of  the  missionaries. 
He  seized  all  the  Iroquois  to  be  found  in  the  colony  and  put 
them  in  irons.  They  saw  that  they  were  to  deal  with  a  man 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  ch.  19,  p.  47. 
2Ib.,  ch.  22,  pp.  54-6.     Radisson,  "Voyages,"  p.  119. 


CLOSE  OF  THE  MISSION.  257 

with  whom  they  could  not  trifle.  One  was  allowed  to  re 
turn  and  assure  the  Mohawks  and  Oneidas  that  the  lives  of 
their  tribesmen  depended  on  the  safe  return  of  Father  le 
Moyne. 

The  position  of  the  party  at  Onondaga  was  more  serious, 
but  the  arrival  of  some  Indians  from  that  tribe  gave  the  gov 
ernor  the  hostages  he  desired ;  but  he  could  not  send  an  ex 
pedition  to  save  the  French.  The  winter  wore  away,  the  mis 
sionaries  fait]  if  ally  discharging  their  duties,  the  French 
settlers  looking  forward  to  the  opening  of  navigation  for  an 
effort  to  escape.  Flat-boats  and  canoes  were  secretly  con 
structed,  and  at  last  one  of  the  French  gave  a  grand  banquet 
which  gathered  all  the  men  of  the  Onondaga  tribe.  It  was 
one  that  required  the  guests  to  eat  everything  set  before 
them,  and  the  French  lavished  their  provisions  to  glut  the 
guests,  while  music  was  kept  up  to  drown  all  noise.  At  last 
far  in  the  night  the  Onondagas  returned  to  their  village,  and 
soon  sleep  held  the  whole  tribe.  Then  the  French  embarked 
in  haste,  breaking  a  way  through  the  ice,  down  the  Oswego 
to  the  lake,  and  coasting  along  they  finally  reached  Quebec.1 

So  ended  the  first  French  settlement  and  the  first  Catholic 
mission  in  New  York,  which  had  lasted  from  November  5, 
1655,  to  March  20,  1658,  and  which  had  erected  chapels  in 
the  Onondaga  towns,  and  among  the  Cayugas. 

No  sooner  had  peace  with  the  Iroquois  allowed  the  Catho 
lic  Church  to  extend  its  influence  into  the  territory  of  the 
fierce  Indians  who  had  slaughtered  priest  and  neophyte  and 
catechumen,  than  it  sought  also  to  penetrate  to  the  utmost 
limit  then  known  to  the  French,  the  country  of  the  Ottawas 
on  Lake  Superior,  of  the  very  existence  of  which  few  Euro- 


1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1658.     Letter  of  F.  Ragueneau, 
pp.  2-6;  Radisson,  "Voyages,"  pp.  123-134. 
17 


258         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

peans,  few  even  of  the  English  settlers  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 
had  the  remotest  idea. 

At  the  first  gleam  of  peace  with  the  Iroquois,  flotillas  of 
canoes  from  Lake  Superior  made  their  way  by  the  devious 
route  of  Lake  Huron  and  the  Ottawa  to  Montreal  and  Que 
bec.     The  Jesuit  missionaries  heard  from  these  Indians  of 
other  tribes,  the  Winnebagoes,  Illinois,  Sioux,  Crees.     They 
resolved  to  plant  the  cross  among  them.     The  Ottawas  asked 
for  missionaries,  and  when  their  flotilla  was  ready,  Father 
Leonard  Garreau  and    Father   Gabriel  Druillettes  were  ap 
pointed  to  accompany  them  on  their  long  and  difiicult  voyage, 
with  Brother  Louis  le  Boesme,  destined  to  become  the  earli 
est  metal-worker  in  the  West.     As  the  flotilla  was  passing 
the  upper  end  of  the  island  of  Montreal  it  was  attacked  by  a 
Mohawk  war-party.     At  the  first  volley  Father  Garreau  fell, 
his  spine  traversed  by  a  ball.     In  this  state  he  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Mohawks,  who  dragged  him  into  a  little  stock 
ade  they  had  made,  there  to  be  stripped  and  left  for  three 
days  weltering  in  his  blood.     The  Ottawas  abandoned  the 
other  missionary  and  hastened  onward.  The  intended  apostle 
of  the  West  was  at  last  carried  to  Montreal,  to  expire  the 
same  day,  praying  for  his  murderers,  fortified  with  the  sacra 
ments,  and  edifying  all  by  his  patient  heroism.1 

The  Church  acting  through  the  heroic  regular  clergy  of 
France,  had  made  its  almost  superhuman  efforts  to  gain  a  foot 
hold  in  Maine,  in  New  York,  in  Michigan,  but  in  the  summer 
of  1658  the  first  signs  of  hope  seemed  blasted  ;  no  permanent 
advantage  had  been  gained  ;  nowhere  south  of  the  St.  Law 
rence  and  the  great  lakes  was  the  holy  sacrifice  offered,  not  a 
single  French  priest  resided  at  any  point. 

But  the  Church  in  Canada  was  at  this  time  to  receive  new 

"'Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1656,  ch.  xv.-xvi.,  pp.  38-43 
(Quebec  edition). 


A  BISHOP  APPOINTED.  259 

life  and  vigor  by  the  formation  of  the  colony  into  a  Vicariate- 
Apostolic  confided  to  a  bishop  of  eminent  personal  qualities 
and  of  illustrious  name.  The  Holy  See  requested  by  the 
King  of  France  to  erect  a  bishopric  in  Canada,  deemed  best 
after  some  consideration  to  establish  a  Vicariate- Apostolic. 
Francis  de  Laval  de  Montigny,  recommended  by  the  king  for 
the  Canadian  bishopric,  was  preconised  bishop  inpartibus  in- 
jidellum  in  May,  1658,  and  on  the  3d  of  June  a  bull  was  is 
sued  creating  him  bishop  of  Petrsea  in  the  ecclesiastical 
province  of  Heliopolis.  There  was  at  once  an  opposition  in 
France.  The  Archbishop  of  Eouen  protested  ;  the  parlement 
at  that  city  went  so  far  as  to  defy  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
See,  and  forbid  Mgr.  Laval  to  exercise  the  functions  of  Vicar- 
Apostolic  in  New  France ;  the  bishop  who  was  to  consecrate 
him  declined  to  proceed.  This  conduct  excited  astonishment 
at  Rome,  and  after  examining  the  question,  the  Pope  decided 
against  the  pretensions  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen.  A  bull 
was  issued  declaring  Bishop  Laval  Vicar- Apostolic,  but  indi 
rectly  confirming  all  acts  done  in  Canada  under  the  authority 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen.  Mgr.  Laval  was  then  conse 
crated  by  the  Pope's  nuncio  at  Paris  on  the  8th  of  December, 
1658,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Germain 
des  Pres,  which  was  then  not  within  the  diocese  of  any 
bishop.  But  the  letters  patent  of  the  king  showed  a  desire 
to  incorporate  the  future  diocese  in  Canada  with  the  French 
hierarchy,  and  make  Bishop  Laval  merely  a  vicar-general  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  while  the  Holy  See  desired  to 
make  him  free  from  all  control,  and  dependent  directly  on 
Rome. 

Gathering  a  few  priests  to  aid  in  the  work  before  him 
in  Canada,  Bishop  Laval  disregarding  the  orders  of  the 
French  parlement,  sailed  from  Rochelle,  and  reached  Quebec 
on  the  16th  of  June,  1659.  Although  his  coming  had  not 


260         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

been  announced,  lie  was  received  with  all  possible  pomp,' 
"  as  a  comforting  angel  sent  from  heaven." 

The  Jesuit  Fathers,  who  were  still  acting  as  parochial 
clergy  in  all  the  settlements  except  Montreal,  at  once  re 
signed  that  portion  of  their  work  into  the  hands  of  the  bishop, 
devoting  themselves  henceforward  to  their  college,  sodalities, 
and  chapels  in  the  colony,  and  to  the  Indian  missions.2  Bishop 
Laval's  authority  was  universally  recognized  by  the  clergy 
except  one  priest,  who  receiving  a  new  appointment  as  Vicar- 
General  from  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  attempted  to  ques 
tion  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Yicar- Apostolic.  At  a  later  date 
Bishop  Laval,  in  his  endeavors  to  prevent  the  sale  of  liquor 
to  the  Indians,  drew  on  himself  the  hostility  of  the  governors ; 
but  he  always  had  the  hearty  support  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  settled  in  the  country  and  of  his  clergy. 

"  Monseigneur  de  Laval,"  says  the  judicious  Ferland, 
"  exercised  a  great  influence  over  the  destiny  of  Canada,  both 
directly  by  himself,  and  indirectly  by  the  institutions  which 
he  founded,  as  well  as  by  the  spirit  he  was  able  to  infuse  into 
the  clergy  of  his  immense  diocese.  All  who  have  spoken  of 
him  agree  in  acknowledging  that  he  possessed  an  elevated 
piety  and  the  finest  qualities  of  mind  and  heart.  Based  on 
profound  conviction,  and  often  required  to  crush  evil  at  its 
outset,  to  prompt  and  develop  some  noble  project,  his  firm 
ness  yielded  neither  to  the  suggestions  of  friendship  nor  the 
threats  of  hatred.  Some  reproach  him  with  a  firmness  car 
ried  to  stubbornness.  On  this  earth  no  virtue  is  perfect ;  he 
may  have  been  mistaken  at  times ;  but  it  is  better  for  the 

1  Faillon,  "  Histoire  de  la  Colonie  Canadienne,"  ii,  pp.  313-339  ;  "  Re 
lation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1659,  p.  1  ;  Langevin,  "Notice  Biogra- 
phique,"  Montreal,  1874,  p.  9. 

2  At  a  later  period  Frontenac  complained  of  the  Jesuits  because  they 
would  not  do  parochial  duty  among  the  French. 


BISHOP  LAVAL  AND  HIS  WORK.  261 

founder  of  society  to  err  through  excessive  firmness  than 
from  weakness.  A  vigorous  hand  was  needed  to  guide  in 
the  straight  way  the  little  nation  just  born  011  the  banks  of 
the  Saint  Lawrence.  If  at  the  outset  it  had  befallen  him  to 
take  a  wrong  direction,  he  would  have  swerved  more  and 
more  from  the  path  of  honor  and  duty  as  he  advanced  in  his 
career  ;  he  could  have  been  recalled  to  the  true  path  only  by 
one  of  those  severe  chastisements  which  Providence  employs 
to  purify  nations."  !  He  entered  at  once  on  the  exercise  of 
his  episcopal  functions,  Confirmation  and  Holy  Orders  were 
soon  conferred  for  the  first  time  in  Canada,  and  the  settlers 
and  their  dusky  allies  bowed  in  reverence  before  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  Episcopate,  with  whose  blessing  to  animate 
them  they  went  forth  fearlessly  to  face  all  dangers. 

When  a  Catholic  bishop  thus  reached  Canada,  he  found 
the  colony  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  ravaged  by  armies  of  Tro- 
quois  against  whom  the  most  heroic  bravery  of  the  French 
settlers  seemed  ineffectual ;  but  while  he  joined  with  the 
civil  authorities  in  appealing  to  the  home  government  for 
troops  to  protect  the  colony,  he  courageously  undertook  to 
visit  his  vicariate  from  Gaspe  to  La  Prairie.  With  the  Su 
perior  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  he  projected  new  missions  in  the 
distant  West, 

In  the  summer  of  1660  a  great  flotilla  reached  Montreal 
from  the  upper  lakes,  composed  of  Ottawas  guided  by  two 
Frenchmen,  Groseillier  and  Radisson,2  and  bearing  several 
years'  accumulation  of  furs.  Undismayed  by  the  fate  of 
Father  Garreau,  the  missionaries  were  ready  to  accompany 
the  Ottawas  on  their  return.  Bishop  Laval,  who  saw  the 

1  "  Cours  d'Histoire  du  Canada,"  i.,  p.  449. 

2  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1660,  ch.  6,  Quebec  ed.,  p.  29; 
"Journal  des  Jesuites,"  p.  287  ;  See  Radisson,  "Voyages,"  pp.  134-172, 
for  his  explorations  and  voyage  down. 


262        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

flotilla  at  Montreal,  would  gladly  have  gone  in  person. 
Father  Rene  Menard,  to  whom  the  Cayugas  had  just  sent 
belts  to  urge  him  to  revisit  them,  was  selected  for  the  Otta- 
was  with  Father  Charles  Albanel,  John  Guerin,  a  devoted 
servant  of  the  mission,  and  six  other  Frenchmen  ;  hut  the 
canoe  assigned  to  Father  Albanel  would  not  receive  him,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  return.'  Father  Menard.  fully  conscious 
of  the  hardships  before  him,  writing  a  parting  letter  to  a  fel 
low  religious,  said :  "  In  three  or  four  months  you  may  put 
me  in  the  Memento  of  the  Dead,  considering  the  life  these 
people  lead,  my  age  and  feeble  health.  Yet  I  felt  so  power 
fully  impelled,  and  I  saw  in  this  affair  so  little  of  nature's 
prompting  that  I  could  not  doubt  that  I  should  feel  an 
eternal  remorse  if  I  allowed  the  opportunity  to  pass." :  Be 
tween  Three  Rivers  and  Montreal,  Father  Menard,  who  had 

set  out  in  such 

#*nWv^  ^YJroW^  Joc,;^^  tTc^ix  haste     that     lie 

FAC-SIMILE   OF  THE   SIGNATURE  OF  RENE   MENARD. 

a  proper  supply 

of  clothing  and  other  necessaries,  met  Bishop  Laval,  whose  en 
couraging  words  filled  him  with  consolation.  "  Father,"  he 
said,  "  every  consideration  seems  to  bid  you  remain  here,  but 
God,  who  is  stronger  than  all,  wishes  you  in  those  parts."  The 
missionary  was  an  old  traveller,  and  had  made  many  a  jour 
ney  with  Huron  and  Iroquois  ;  but  the  treatment  he  then 
experienced  was  nothing  compared  to  what  he  had  to  suffer 
from  the  brutal  Ottawas.  They  snatched  his  breviary  from 
his  hand  and  flung  it  into  the  rapid  stream.  On  another  oc 
casion  they  set  him  ashore,  leaving  him  to  clamber  over 

1  The  "  Relation"  states  that  Groseillier  and  Radisson  baptized  many  In 
dian  children  in  danger  of  death.   "  Relation,"  1660,  p.  12,  and  Radisson's 
account,  p.  160,  seem  to  confirm  it. 

2  Letter  of  Aug.  27,  1660.     "  Rel.,"  1660,  p.  30. 


MISSION  OF  ST.  TERESA.  263 

frightful  rocks  to  overtake  them.  Half  his  day  was  spent 
wading,  his  nights  stretched  on  a  rock  without  shelter  or  cov 
ering,  hunger  at  last  was  relieved  only  by  "  tripe  de  roche," 
or  bits  of  deer-skin.  After  they  entered  Lake  Superior,  their 
canoe  was  crushed  by  a  falling  tree,  and  the  missionary  and 
three  Indians  were  left  to  starve.  At  last  some  less  brutal 
Ottawas  took  them  up,  and  on  Saint  Teresa's  day,  October 
15th,  Father  Menard  reached  a  large  bay  on  the  south  shore 
of  Lake  Superior ;  and  "  here,"  he  says,  "  I  had  the  consola 
tion  of  saying  mass,  which  repaid  me  with  usury  for  all  my 
past  hardships.  Here  also  I  opened  a  mission."  The  spot  of 
this  first  mass  and  first  mission  on  Lake  Superior  was  at  Old 
Village  Point,  or  Bikwakwenan  on  Keweenaw  Bay,  about 
seven  miles  north  of  the  present  village  of  L'Anse.1 

The  nearest  altar  of  the  living  God  to  that  reared  by  this 
aged  and  intrepid  priest  was  that  of  the  Sulpitians  at  Mon 
treal,  yet  the  altars  at  Santa  Fe  and  St.  Inigoes  were  but  lit 
tle  more  remote. 

The  aged  priest  stood  alone  in  the  heart  of  the  continent, 
with  no  fellow-priest  and  scarcely  a  fellow-man  of  European 
race  within  a  thousand  miles  of  him. 

He  began  his  instructions,  but  few  besides  the  aged  and 
infirm  seemed  inclined  to  listen.  A  good,  industrious  widow, 
laboring  to  maintain  her  five  children ;  a  noble  young  brave, 
whose  natural  purity  revolted  against  the  debaucheries  of  his 
nation,  were  the  first  fruits  of  those  in  the  prime  of  life. 
Testing  his  neophytes  long  and  strictly,  Father  Menard  ad 
mitted  few  to  baptism.  "  I  would  not,"  he  wrote,  "  admit  a 
greater  number,  being  contented  with  those  whom  I  deemed 
certain  to  persevere  firmly  in  the  faith  during  my  absence  ; 

1  This  is  the  result  of  V.  Rev.  Edward  Jacket's  careful  study  of  the  life 
of  Father  Menard.  The  tribe,  though  classed  under  the  general  name 
Ottawas  by  the  French,  were  Chippewas. 


264        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

for  I  do  not  know  yet  what  will  become  of  me,  or  whither  I 
shall  betake  myself."  His  care  was  attested  by  the  fact 
that  Fathers  Marquette,  Allouez,  and  Nouvel  subsequently 
found  converts  of  Father  Menard  adhering  to  the  Christian 
faith  and  life. 

Keinouche,  the  chief  to  whose  care  the  missionary  had 
been  especially  confided,  proved  to  be  a  brutal,  sensual  man, 
who  finally  drove  Father  Menard  from  his  cabin,  so  that  he 
was  compelled  to  rear  a  rude  shelter  for  himself,  and  to  seek 
food  as  he  might  from  the  Indians  or  the  rocks.  Yet  there 
was  no  thought  of  abandoning  his  mission.  "  I  should  do 
myself  great  violence  were  I  to  wish  to  descend  from  the 
cross  which  God  has  prepared  for  me  in  my  old  days,  in  this 
remote  part  of  the  world.  There  is  not  any  desire  in  my 
heart  to  revisit  Three  Kivers.  I  do  not  know  what  sort  of 
nails  these  are  that  fasten  me  to  the  adorable  wood,  but  the 
mere  thought  of  any  one  approaching  to  take  me  down  from 
it  makes  me  shudder."  .  ..."  I  can  sincerely  say  that,  in 
spite  of  hunger,  cold,  and  other  discomforts, — almost  unbe 
coming  detail, — I  feel  more  content  here  in  one  day  than  I 
experienced  all  my  lifetime  in  whatever  part  of  the  world  I 
sojourned." 

Amid  all  the  hardships  of  a  winter  in  a  hovel  of  branches 
on  Lake  Superior,  Father  Menard  was  acquiring  all  possible 
information  of  the  country  and  the  tribes  inhabiting  it.  He 
heard  of  distant  nations  and  proposed  setting  out  to  an 
nounce  the  gospel  to  them.  "  It  is  my  hope  to  die  on  the 
way."  But  a  call  came  from  a  tribe  to  whom  the  Jesuits 
had  already  preached.  A  band  of  Tionontate-Hurons,  fly 
ing  from  the  Iroquois,  had  reached  the  land  of  the  Dakotas, 
but  acted  so  insolently  as  to  provoke  that  warlike  race.  The 
Tionontates.  thoroughly  worsted,  retreated  up  a  branch  of  the 
Mississippi,  called  the  Black  Eiver,  to  its  headwaters,  where 


DEATH  OF  F.  MENARD.  26o 

they  were  at  this  time  in  an  almost  starving  condition. 
Hearing  that  a  Jesuit  Father  was  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Su 
perior,  they  sent  imploring  him  to  visit  them,  the  pagan  por 
tion  promising  to  listen  to  his  instructions.  Father  Menard 
sent  three  Frenchmen  to  ascertain  the  real  state  of  affairs. 
They  found  the  road  so  difficult  and  dangerous,  the  condition 
of  the  Hurons  so  wretched,  that  on  returning  they  begged 
the  missionary  not  to  attempt  to  go,  but  his  answer  was  a 
decided  one  :  "  God  calls  me  thither  ;  I  must  go,  should  it 
cost  me  my  life."  "  This  is  the  finest  opportunity  of  show 
ing  to  angels  and  men  that  I  love  my  Creator  more  than  the 
life  I  hold  from  him,  and  you  wish  me  to  let  it  slip  ? " 

Some  Hurons  came  to  trade,  and  with  these  as  guides,  and 
taking  a  little  stock  of  smoked  fish  and  meat,  he  set  out  with 
one  Frenchman  July  13,  1661.  He  said  to  his  converts  and 
countrymen  :  "  Farewell,  my  dear  children  ;  I  bid  you  the 
long  farewell  for  this  world  ;  for  you  shall  never  see  me 
again.  But  I  pray  that  the  divine  mercy  may  unite  us  all  in 
heaven."  ' 

The  party  reached,  as  Eev.  Edward  Jacker  thinks,  Lake 
Yieux  Desert,  the  source  of  the  Wisconsin.  Here  the  Huron 
guides  left  him,  promising  to  push  on  to  the  village  and 
bring  relief.  After  waiting  two  weeks,  Father  Menard  and 
his  companion,  finding  an  old  canoe,  attempted  to  descend 
the  river,  broken  by  a  succession  of  rapids.  It  was  a  terrible 
undertaking  for  an  aged  man  whose  frame  was  shattered  by 
years  of  exposure  and  toil.  At  one  dangerous  rapid  Father 
Menard,  to  lighten  the  canoe,  landed,  and  with  some  of  the 
packages  made  his  way  over  the  rocks.  When  the  French 
man  had  guided  his  canoe  safely  down  the  dangerous  pass, 
he  looked  for  the  venerable  priest.  In  vain  he  called  him  ; 

1  '  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1663,  Quebec  ed.,  pp.  20-1. 


266         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

he  fired  his  gun  that  the  sound  might  guide  the  missionary 
if  he  had  lost  his  way.  A  diligent  search  proved  ineffectual. 
Then  he  set  out  in  haste  for  the  Hurons,  meeting  one  of  the 
Sac  tribe  able  to  guide  him.  There  he  endeavored  to  induce 
the  Hurons  to  send  out  a  party  to  search  for  him,  but  a  scout 
who  went  out  discovered  a  hostile  trail.  The  fate  of  Father 
"Rene  Menard  is  uncertain.  That  he  died  by  the  hand  of  prowl 
ing  Indians  seems  most  probable ;  his  altar  furniture,  his  cas 
sock,  and  breviary  were  subsequently,  at  different  times,  found 
in  the  hands  of  Dakotas  and  other  western  tribes.  "  Pater 
Frugifer  "  he  was  called  by  his  fellow-laborers,  who  had  seen 
the  result  of  his  mission  work  in  Upper  Canada  and  New 
York. 

Father  Menard  perished  about  August  10th,  and  Y.  Rev. 
Mr.  Jacker,  after  a  very  careful  local  study,  decides  that  he 
was  lost  near  the  rapid  on  the  Wisconsin,  known  as  Grand 
father  Bull,  or  Beaulieu  rapids.1 


1  It  is  so  set  down  on  an  ancient  unpublished  map  in  Mr.  S.  L.  M. 
Barlow's  collection,  as  may  be  seen  in  Winsor,  "  Narrative  and  Critical 
History,"  iv.,  p.  206.  For  the  last  missions  of  this  great  priest,  see 
"  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1663,  Quebec  ed.,  17-25  ;  1664,  pp. 
2-6;  1665,  p.  9.  Perrot,  "  Mcaurs  et  Coutumes  des  Sauvages,"  edited 
by  F.  Tailhan,  p.  92. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

THE    OTTAWA    MISSION,    1662-1675. 

THE  tidings  of  Menard's  death  were  slow  in  reaching  his 
brethren  on  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  but  when  they  came,  no  idea 
of  abandoning  the  mission  was  entertained.  Danger  from 
hostile  Iroquois,  the  hardships  of  the  long  journey,  the  bru 
tality  of  the  Indians  whose  conversion  they  were  to  seek,  did 
not  appall  them.  Father  Claude  Allouez  was  selected  to  con 
tinue  the  work  of  Menard.  He  reached  Montreal  in  1664 
only  to  find  that  the  Ottawa  flotilla  had  departed.  The  next 
year  he  embarked  in  one  of  their  canoes,  and  on  the  1st  of 
September,  1665,  reached  Sault  St.  Mary's,  and  after  a  brief 
stay  at  St.  Teresa's  Bay  landed,  on  the  1st  of  October,  at 
Chegoimegon.  Here  he  erected  his  bark  chapel,  dedicating 
it  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  spot  taking  the  name  of  "La 
Pointe  du  Saint  Esprit."  The  Church  to  this  day  exerts  her 
influence  there,  and  the  present  church,  identified  with  the 
venerable  Bishop  Baraga,  claims  to  be  the  oldest  one  in  the 
State  of  Wisconsin. 

The  population  at  Chegoimegon  was  a  motley  gathering  of 
Indians  belonging  to  eight  different  tribes.  Father  Allouez 
found  them  all  preparing  to  take  the  field  against  the  Sioux, 
and  his  first  triumph  was  to  cause  them  to  abandon  the  pro 
ject.  His  chapel,  adorned  with  striking  pictures,  such  as  hell 
and  the  last  judgment,  attracted  Indians  from  all  parts  ;  some 
asked  to  be  instructed,  others  came  to  mock  and  jeer  ;  some 

(267) 


268        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

brought  children  to  be  baptized ;  a  few  Hurons  sought  to  re 
vive  the  faith,  now  almost  extinct,  in  their  hearts.  The 
Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Angelical  Salutation  in  the  Chippewa 
language  were  chanted  after  every  instruction,  and  were  soon 
generally  known.  The  medicine-men  were  the  great  enemies 
of  the  missionary,  and  early  in  1666  they  incited  profligate, 
ill-disposed  men  at  a  larger  Indian  town,  where  the  mission 
ary  had  erected  a  second  chapel,  to  break  in  the  walls  and  to 
try  and  rob  him  of  everything.  He  was  forced  to  return  to 
Chegoimegon,  where  the  Hurons  gave  him  more  consolation. 
They  had  been  deprived  of  a  missionary  since  the  death  of 
Father  Garnier,  and  Allouez  baptized  some  whose  instruc 
tion  had  been  begun  by  that  holy  missionary.  The  Potta- 
watomies,  of  whom  a  large  band  visited  La  Pointe,  showed 
better  dispositions  for  the  faith  than  the  Ottawas ;  but  the 
priest  could  not  say  the  same  of  the  haughty  and  cruel  Sacs 
and  Foxes.  The  Illinois  coming  from  their  great  river,  which 
he  believed  to  empty  somewhere  near  Virginia,  danced  the 
calumet  and  listened  to  his  instructions,  carrying  to  their 
distant  home  the  first  tidings  of  the  gospel. 

Bishop  Laval,  in  the  act  by  which  he  created  Father  Al 
louez  his  Vicar-General  in  the  West,  bears  testimony  to  the 
work  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  "  We  can 
not  sufficiently  praise  God  on  beholding  the  zeal  and  charity 
with  which  all  the  Fathers  of  your  Society  continue  to  em 
ploy  their  lives  in  this  new  church  to  advance  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  secure  the  sal 
vation  of  the  souls  whom  He  has  confided  to  our  care,  but 
especially  at  the  happy  success  which  He  gives  to  the  labors 
which  you  have  undergone  for  several  years  past,  with  equal 
fortitude  and  courage,  to  establish  the  faith  in  all  the  countries 
that  lie  on  the  North  and  West.  We  cannot  but  testify  to 
you  and  all  your  companions  the  most  signal  joy  and  conso- 


F.  ALLOUEZ  CREATED  VICAR-GENERAL.     269 

lation  that  we  derive  from  them,  and  in  order  to  contribute 
with  all  our  power  by  marks  of  our  regard  in  the  progress 
and  advancement  of  these  glorious  designs,  and  confiding  in 
your  piety,  purity  of  life,  and  ability,  it  is  our  will  to  appoint 
you  our  Yicar-General  in  all  the  said  countries,  as  we  do  by 
these  presents,"  etc.1 

By  this  appointment  Father  Claude  Mlouez,  or  the 'Su 
perior  of  the  Mission  in  the  West  for  the  time  being,  was 
created  Yicar-General,  and  all  missionaries  to  whom  the 
Bishop  had  given,  or  might  subsequently  give,  faculties  for 
that  district  were  made  subject  to  him.  This  act,  dated  July 
21,  1663,  is  therefore  the  first  ecclesiastical  organization  of 
the  Church  in  the  West.  The  Bishop  of  Quebec  soon  after 
announced  that  the  holidays  of  obligation  in  his  diocese,  and 
of  course  in  the  district  assigned  to  the  Yicar-General,  were 
those  which  were  established  by  Pope  Urban  YIII.  in  1642, 
to  which  he  added  the  feasts  of  Saint  Francis  Xavier,  and  of 
the  Invention  of  the  Holy  Cross.2 

Father  Allouez  went  to  the  western  extremity  of  Lake 
Superior,  where  he  met  a  band  of  Sioux,  and  endeavored 
through  an  interpreter 
to   tell   them   of    the 
faith.       He     learned 

that  beyond  their  FAC-SIMILE  OF  SIGNATURE  OP  FATHEK 
country  lay  the  Kar-  CLAUDE  ALLOUEZ. 

ezi,  after  which   the 

land  was  cut  off.  He  met  too  Kilistinons,  whose  language 
resembled  that  of  the  Montagnais,  of  the  lower  Saint  Law 
rence.  In  1667,  he  penetrated  to  Lake  Aliniibegong,  where 
he  revived  the  faith  in  the  hearts  of  the  Nipissings,  who 

1  "Archives  of  Archbishopric  of  Quebec,"  A.,  p.  166. 

2  "  Ordonnance  au  sujet  du  retranchement  et  institution  de  quelques 
festes,"  3  Dec.,  1667  ;  "Archives  of  Quebec,"  A.,  p.  58. 


270        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

had  formerly  been  under  the  care  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Huron  mission.  He  celebrated  Pentecost  among  them  in  a 
chapel  made  of  branches,  but  with  a  devout  and  attentive 
flock,  whose  piety  was  the  great  consolation  of  his  laborious 
ministry. 

The  Catholic  Church  had  begun  her  work  on  Lake 
Superior  with  energy ;  and  Father  Allouez,  who,  by  this 
time,  had  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  whole  field 
open  to  missionary  labor,  descended  with  the  trading  flotilla 
in  the  summer  of  1667,  to  lay  his  plans  before  his  superiors. 
Two  days  only  did  he  spend  in  Quebec,  returning  to  the 
Ottawas,  with  Father  Louis  Nicolas,  to  pass  through  the  hard 
ships  of  the  long  and  dangerous  route.1  He  bore  with  him 
a  pastoral  of  the  Yenerable  Bishop  Laval,  whose  authority  he 
had  invoked  to  aid  him  in  checking  the  unchristian  lives  of 
some  of  the  early  French  pioneers. 

The  labors  of  the  missionaries  in  the  West  found  other 
obstacles  than  the  pagan  ideas  and  practices  of  the  Indian 
tribes.  The  bad  example  of  some  fur  traders,  who,  throwing 
off  the  restraints  of  civilization,  plunged  into  every  vice,  pro 
duced  a  most  unfavorable  impression  on  the  Indians,  who 
contrasted  it  with  the  high  morality  preached  by  the  mission 
aries.  To  remove  the  scandal  as  far  as  possible,  Father  Al 
louez  appealed  to  Bishop  Laval.  The  following  is  probably 
the  first  official  ecclesiastical  act,  applying  directly  and  ex 
clusively  to  the  Church  in  the  West : 

"  Francis,  by  the  Grace  of  God  and  of  the  Holy  See, 
Bishop  of  Petreea,  Yicar- Apostolic  in  New  France,  and 
nominated  by  the  King  first  Bishop  of  said  country  : 
To  our  well-beloved  Father  Claude  Allouez,  Superior  of 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1667,  ch.  ii.-xvi.  Quebec  edition, 
pp.  4-26.  Lettre  du  pere  Marquette,  Aug.  4,  1667. 


DISORDERS  OF  FRENCH  TRADERS.  271 

the  Mission  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  among  the  Ottawas, 
Health. 

"  On  the  report  which  we  have  received  of  the  disorder 
prevailing  in  your  missions  in  regard  to  the  French  who  go 
thither  to  trade,  and  who  do  not  hesitate  to  take  part  in  all 
the  profane  feasts  held  there  by  the  pagans,  sometimes  with 
great  scandal  to  their  souls,  and  to  the  edification  which  they 
ought  to  give  to  the  Christian  converts,  we  enjoin  you  to 
take  in  hand  that  they  shall  never  be  present  when  these 
feasts  are  manifestly  idolatrous,  and  in  case  they  do  the  con 
trary  of  what  you  decide  ought  to  be  done  or  not  done  on 
this  point,  to  threaten  them  with  censures  if  they  do  not  re 
turn  to  their  duty,  and  in  case  of  contumacy,  to  proceed 
according  to  your  prudence  and  discretion,  as  also  towards 
those  who  are  given  in  an  extraordinary  degree  to  scandalous 
impurity,  to  act  in  the  same  manner.  Given  at  Quebec  this 
6th  of  August,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-seven. 

"  FKANCIS,  Bishop  of  Petrcea"  ' 

The  next  year  these  two  priests  were  reinforced  by  the 
arrival  of  Father  James  Mar- 
quette   and   Brother   Louis   le     JdC&wt.  'mj&YVfKA&e 

T? 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE  SIGNATURE  OF 

The   mission    stations   were  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 

Sault   Sainte    Marie,    and    La 

Pointe  du  Saint  Esprit,  at  Chagoimegon,  each  provided  with 
a  chapel.  At  the  last  mission,  about  this  time,  bands  of  a 
very  great  number  of  tribes  had  gathered,  flying  from  the 
war  parties  of  the  Iroquois,  which  had  carried  desolation 
around  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  as  of  old,  amid  the 
nations  seated  on  Lake  Huron.  This  gave  Father  Allouez 

1  "Archives  of  Quebec,"  A.,  pp.  53-4. 


272        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

an  opportunity  to  announce  the  faith  to  many  tribes,  to  obtain 
a  knowledge  of  their  language,  and  the  routes  leading  to  their 
country.  The  Iroquois  were  the  great  obstacle,  and  peace 
with  them  was  essential.  The  Ottawas  (Queues  Coupees)  at 
La  Pointe,  among  whom  he  had  labored  two  or  three  years, 
showed  little  sign  of  conversion.  They  had  been  obdurate  in 
the  Huron  country,  and  when  Father  Menard  instructed 
them.  Father  Allouez  at  last  announced  his  determination 
to  leave  them  and  go  to  the  Sault,  where  the  people  showed 
docility.  Finding  him  in  earnest,  the  chiefs  called  a  council, 
in  the  autumn  of  1665.  There  they  decided  to  put  an  end 
to  polygamy,  to  abolish  all  offering  to  Manitous,  and  not  to 
take  part  in  the  heathen  rites  of  the  tribes  that  had  gathered 
around  them.  The  change  was  sudden  but  sincere.  They 
came  during  the  winter  regularly  to  the  chapel  with  their 
wives  and  children  to  receive  instruction,  and  to  pray  in  com 
mon  in  the  morning  and  at  night.  The  whole  tribe  became 
Christians,  and  by  its  numbers  and  love  of  peace,  gave  great 
hopes. 

Father  Marquette,  at  the  Sault,  found  many  correspond  to 
his  teaching,  but  was  prudently  waiting  to  test  the  strength 
of  their  good  resolutions,  before  admitting  them  to  baptism.1 

Hoping  to  obtain  more  missionaries,  and  means  to  establish 
stations  at  Green  Bay  and  other  points,  Father  Allouez,  in 
1669,  went  down  to  Quebec,  taking  several  Iroquois  whom 
he  had  rescued,  and  through  whom  he  hoped  to  effect  a  peace 
between  the  Five  Nations  and  the  Western  tribes.  This 
happy  result  followed.  The  Ottawa  mission  was  organized, 
and  Father  Dablon  went  up  as  Superior.2 

Father  James  Marquette  then  went  to  Chagoimegon  in 
September,  1669,  to  take  charge  of  the  motley  gathering 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1668,  p.  21. 
*  Ibid.,  1669,  pp.  19-20. 


MISSION  AT  GREEN  BAY.  273 

there,  the  newly  converted  Kiskakons;  the  Tionontate 
Hurons  who  had  finally  settled  there,  most  of  whom  had 
been  baptized,  but  in  their  wandering  life,  had  lost  nearly  all 
traces  of  Christianity  ;  the  Ottawa  Sinagos  and  Keinouches, 
who,  with  few  exceptions,  derided  the  Christian  teachers. 
He  found  the  Kiskakons  docile  and  attentive  to  all  the  in 
structions  and  exercises  in  the  chapel,  and  could  see  in  the 
modest  behavior  of  the  young  women,  that  they  were  making 
real  progress  in  virtue,  and  avoiding  the  old  vices.  He  was, 
however,  already  selected  by  Father  Dablon  to  found  a 


FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE  SIGNATURE  OP  FATHER  CLAUDE  DABLON. 

mission  among  the  Illinois,  and  in  16YO,  wrote,  that  during 
the  winter,  he  had  acquired  some  elementary  knowledge  of 
their  language  from  a  young  man  of  the  Illinois  nation,  who 
had  come  to  Chagoimegoii.  He  found  it  to  differ  widely 
from  other  Algonquin  dialects,  but  he  adds,  "  I  hope  never 
theless,  by  the  help  of  God's  grace,  to  understand  and  be 
understood,  if  God  in  his  goodness  leads  me  to  that  land." 
"  If  it  pleases  God  to  send  some  Father,  he  will  take  my  place, 
while  I,  to  fulfil  Father  Superior's  orders,  will  proceed  to 
found  the  mission  of  the  Illinois."  ]  Father  Allouez  had 
paved  the  way  for  this  mission,  by  announcing  the  Gospel  to 
some  who  came  to  La  Pointe.8 

In  November,  that  pioneer  of   the  Faith  on  the  Upper 
Lakes,  set  out  in  the  canoes  of  the  Pottawatomies,  accom- 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1670,  pp.  89-90. 

2  A  took  is  still  preserved  in  Canada,  containing  prayers  in  Illinois  and 
French,  which  contains  an  ancient  note  stating  that  it  was  prepared  by 
Father  Allouez  for  the  use  of  Father  Marquette. 

18 


274        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

panied  by  two  other  Frenchmen,  and,  amid  storms  and  snow, 
toiled  on  till  they  reached  Lake  Michigan,  and  skirted  its 
shores  till  they  entered  Green  Bay,  on  the  feast  of   Saint 
Francis  Xavier.     The  next  day,  Father  Allouez  celebrated 
the  first  mass  in  that  part,   which  was  attended  by  eight 
Frenchmen.     A  motley  village  of  six  hundred  Indians,  Sacs 
and  Foxes,  Pottawatomies  and  Winnebagoes,  had  gathered 
here  to  winter,  and  similar  groups  were  scattered  at  intervals 
around  the  Bay.     The  missionary  spent  the  winter  announc 
ing  the  Gospel,  first  to  the  Sacs,  instructing  them  and  teaching 
them   to   pray,  having   soon   adapted   the   Algonquin   Our 
Father  and  Hail  Mary  to  their  dialect.     In   February,  he 
visited  the  Pottawatomies,  convening  the  chiefs,  and  then 
visiting  each  cabin.     In  both  villages,  all  sick  children  were 
baptized,  and  adults  in  danger  were  instructed  and  prepared. 
The  winter  wore  away  before  he  had  made  a  thorough  visita 
tion  of  all  these  villages,  and  to  his  regret,  he  saw  them  begin 
to  scatter.     Living  on  Indian  corn  and  acorns,  he  had  toiled 
and   suffered,  but  could  feel  that   something   had  been  ac 
complished.     In  April,  he  ascended   Fox  Kiver,  passing  a 
Sac  village   with    its    fish    weir,   passing    Kakalin    Rapids, 
threading  Winnebago  Lake,  and  keeping  on  till  he  reached 
the  crowded  town  of  the  Foxes,  where  he  was  greeted  as  a 
Manitou.     The  chiefs  came  to  the  council  he  convened,  and 
there  he  explained  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
the  Commandments  of  God,  the  rewards  and  punishments  of 
eternity.     He  consoled  them  for  their  recent  losses  at  the 
hands  of  the  merciless  Iroquois.     They  responded  at  a  later 
council,  and  urged  him  to  remain  to  instruct  them.     Thus 
be<nm  the  Mission  of  Saint  Mark,  so  named  from  the  day  of 

c5 

its  first  work. 

Then   he   took  his  canoe  again,  and  returning  to  Lake 
Winnebago,  ascended  Wolf  River   to  the  Mascoutin  fort. 


SAULT  ST.  MARY'S.  275 

Here  lie  found  a  tribe  ready  to  welcome  a  missionary.  Ke- 
turning  from  this  excursion,  in  which  he  found  that,  by  a 
short  portage,  he  could  easily  reach  the  great  river  Messi-sipi, 
he  visited  the  Menomonees,  with  their  corrupt  Algonquin, 
and  the  Winnebagoes,  whose  language  of  the  Dakota  stock 
was  utterly  unlike  any  language  he  had  yet  heard.  He  set 
to  work  to  study  it,  and  to  translate  the  Lord's  Prayer  and 
the  Angelical  Salutation,  with  a  brief  Catechism  into  it. 

Such  was  the  first  announcement  of  Christianity  in  the 
heart  of  Wisconsin.  The  teaching  of  the  Church  had  begun. 
There  were  a  few  converts,  but  instructions  and  prayers  were 
maintained  regularly  by  the  missionary  in  his  chapel.  Late 
in  May  he  returned  to  Sault  St.  Mary's. 

The  new  field  thus  opened  with  the  missions  of  the  Illinois 
and  Dakotas  in  prospect  called  for  more  evangelical  laborers. 
Fathers  Gabriel  Druillettes  and  Louis  Andre  went  up  in  the 
autumn  of  1670.'  In  May,  1671,  the  Cross  was  formally 
planted  at  Sault  St.  Mary's  amid  a  vast  gathering  of  tribes. 
Here  the  chapel  was  a  constant  attraction.  Indians  came  and 
listened  ;  children  were  baptized,  and  a  class  gathered  for 
daily  instruction.  Amid  great  hopes  their  little  chapel  took 
fire  on  the  27th  of  January,  1671,  and  the  missionaries  were 
able  to  save  little  except  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 

Meanwhile  Father  Andre  visited  the  Missisagas,  Manitou- 
line,  Mackinac,  and  Lake  Xipissing,  encouraged  by  the 
docility  of  the  Indians,  but  always  constantly  on  the  verge  of 
starvation,  living  on  pieces  of  deerskin,  tripe  de  roche,  or 
acorns.  In  the  spring  of  1671,  Father  Marquette,  who  had 
been  at  La  Pointe,  saw  his  flock  of  Hurons  and  Ottawas 
tremble  before  the  wrath  of  the  Sioux,  whom  they  had  pro 
voked.  They  fled,  the  Ottawas  to  Manitouline,  the  Hurons 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1670,  ch.  xii. 


276        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

to  Michilimakinac,  where  Father  Marquette  took  up  his 
abode  to  continue  the  mission  of  Saint  Ignatius. 

Father  Allouez  continued  his  labors  around  Green  Bay, 
greatly  encouraged  by  his  reception  among  bands  of  Miamis 
and  of  Illinois,  near  the  Maskouten  fort.  Here  he  was  re 
ceived  with  respect  by  the  great  chief  of  the  Illinois,  whom 
his  people  regarded  with  the  deepest  reverence.  The  gentle 
and  sweet  disposition  of  this  chief  won  the  heart  of  the  mis 
sionary,  who  built  great  hopes  on  the  favor  of  one  who  could 
unite  these  traits  with  great  valor  in  war.  So  deeply  was 
the  chief  moved  by  our  Lord's  passion  when  the  mis 
sionary  described  it,  that  all  wondered  ;  grace  seemed  to  be 
working  in  his  heart.  He  escorted  the  missionary  to  his 
canoe  when  he  left,  urged  him  to  visit  them  in  their  own 
country,  and  gave  every  hope  that,  in  time,  this  most  inter 
esting  nation  yet  discovered  by  the  missionaries  would  afford 
a  field  for  consoling  and  fruitful  labors.1 

Father  Henry  Nouvel  was  sent  up  in  the  autumn  of  1671 
as  Superior  of  all  the  Ottawa  missions,  as  those  on  the  Upper 
Lakes  were  called.  He  took  for  his  share  the  laborious  mis 
sions  on  Lakes  Huron  and  Nipissing.  Father  Gabriel  Dmil- 
lettes  continued  his  labors  at  Sanlt  St.  Mary's,  encouraged  by 
cures  that  seemed  so  miraculous  that  the  Indians  redoubled 
their  faith  and  zeal.  He  rebuilt  his  chapel,  which  greatly 
surpassed  the  first  one."  At  Michilimakinac  Father  Mar 
quette  was  assiduous  in  his  work,  endeavoring  to  revive  in 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  Hurons  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  God  which  had  become  nearly  effaced  in  their  long  wan 
derings  and  struggles. 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1671,  part  iii.,  ch.  1-5. 

-  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1671,  p.  31.  Le  Clercq,  "Establish 
ment  of  the  Faith"  (Shea's  translation),  ii.,  p.  105,  implies  that  it  was  a 
magnificent  church,  with  the  richest  vestments,  but  this  is  a  mere  exag 
geration. 


THE  OTTAWA  MISSION.  277 

Father  Allouez  and  Father  Andre  planted  their  little  house 
and  chapel  at  the  Eapide  des  Peres,  from  which  the  latter 
attended  the  tribes  on  Green  Bay,  the  former  those  on  the 
rivers  beyond  their  mission  station.1 

Meanwhile  the  Church  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  had  been  re 
built,  and  fine  vestments  sent  by  charitable  friends  in  more 
civilized  parts  filled  the  Indians  with  wonder,  as  they  camped 
around  the  chapel — a  safer  place,  in  their  eyes,  than  their 
own  fort  against  any  attack  of  hostile  braves,  old  Iskouakite, 
a  Chippewa  chief,  seamed  with  wounds  from  Dakota  or 
Iroquois,  being  the  catechist. 

This  new  church  stimulated  a  kind  of  jealousy.  At  Green 
Bay  the  Indians  murmured,  and  to  satisfy  them  a  suitable 
site  was  selected  on  Fox  River,  which  had  taken  the  name  of 
Saint  Francis  Xavier.  Here,  before  the  close  of  1673,  a 
large  church  was  erected,  to  which  the  neighboring  tribes 
might  repair  when  not  away  on  their  distant  hunting- 
grounds. 

From  the  Sault  Father  Druillettes  directed  the  Chippewas 
and  Kiskakons,  and  visited  the  Missisagas.  There  was  much 
faith  to  encourage  the  missionaries,  but  the  medicine-men 
labored  to  prevent  the  progress  of  Christianity  and  to  seduce 
those  who  had  embraced  it.  As  in  other  parts,  they  endeav 
ored  to  persuade  the  people  that  the  missionaries  caused  the 
death  of  the  children  of  unbelievers.  Father  Henry  Xouvel 
was  three  times  attacked  with  uplifted  hatchet  by  one  of 
these  medicine-men. 

In  the  summer  of  1672  the  Ottawa  Sinagos  and  the  Tio- 
nontate  Hurons  began  to  arrive  at  Michilimakinac,  Father 
Andre  having  produced  some  fruit  among  the  former  on  Lake 
Superior.  A  Huron  stockade  fort  rose  near  the  church.  Some 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1672,  part  ii.,  ch.  2-5. 


278        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

Hurons  from  near  Quebec,  who  came  up  to  trade,  aided  the 
missionary  by  their  exhortations  and  the  influence  of  their 
example.  But  Father  Marquette  was  preparing  to  resign 
his  mission  to  other  hands  and  set  out  on  a  dangerous  expe 
dition.1 

Father  Louis  Andre,  sent  to  Green  Bay,  began  his  labors 
at  Saint  Francis  Xavier  among  the  Sacs  at  Chouskouabika, 
endeavoring  to  dispel  their  superstitions,  and,  above  all,  their 
belief  in  Missipissi — a  deity  on  whom  they  relied  for  success 
in  fishing.  He  found  polygamy  a  great  obstacle,  and  would 
not  admit  to  his  instructions  any  one  who  did  not  renounce 
it.  Visiting  every  cabin,  he  instructed  the  inmates  amid  the 
nets  and  drying  fish.  Just  three  days  before  Christmas, 
1672,  his  little  cabin  was  burned  down,  and  he  lost  his  desk 
and  papers,  with  many  valuable  articles.  A  new  house  and 
chapel  was  reared  for  him  by  piling  up  a  wall  of  straw  to  the 
height  of  a  man  and  roofing  it  with  mats.  Such  was  the 
winter  home  of  a  Western  priest  two  centuries  ago.  Among 
the  Pottawatomies  at  Oussouamigoung  his  experience  was 
more  cheering,  the  chapel  being  constantly  visited  by  the 
women  to  receive  instructions  or  to  offer  their  devotions. 
Attached  to  this  mission  were,  too,  the  Winnebagoes  and 
Menomonees.2 

In  the  fields  near  the  Maskouten  village,  Father  Allouez 
had  reared  a  chapel  of  reed  mats,  which  he  opened  on  the 
feast  of  the  Assumption.  Miamis  came  and  camped  around, 
so  that  he  was  compelled  to  go  out  and  instruct  them  in  the 
open  air,  using  his  chapel  for  mass,  which  he  said  behind  a 
rood-screen  of  mats,  leaving  only  a  small  space  for  the  cate- 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673  ;  Manate,  1861,  pp.  146-157  ; 
"  Relations  Inedites,"  Paris,  1861,  pp.  69-102. 

-'  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673,  pp.  157-186;  "Relations 
Inedites,"  pp.  103-122,  223-233. 


THE  MASKOUTENS.  279 

chumens  ;  and  for  them  he  established  two  rules — that  there 
was  to  be  no  smoking  or  talking  in  the  chapel.  Then  a  cross 
was  planted  in  the  Maskouten  village,  and  its  meaning  ex 
plained,  with  the  veneration  in  which  Christians  held  it. 
Besides  this  charge  he  also 

labored  among  the  Foxes  at     t/^t^-   ^fL^±  </  'v7  </? 
Saint  Mark  and  the  Indians  " 

FAC-SIMILE  OF    THE    SIGNATURE    OF 

at  Green  Bay,  to  which  the  FATHER  ANT.  SILVY. 

next  year  came   Kaskaskias 

and  Peorias.  In  1675  Father  Silvy  was  sent  to  Green  Bay  to 
aid  Father  Allouez  in  his  labors.1 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673,  pp.  123-147,  211-223,  ii.,  p. 
20. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   CHUECH   AMONG   THE   IKOQUOIS,    1660-1680. 

THE  services  of  the  Catholic  Church  were  thus  begun  on 
the  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  near  the  fugitive  Hurons,  who 
still  yearned  for  a  priest.  There  were  Catholics  on  the  Ken- 
nebec  and  Penobscot,  by  the  shore  of  Lake  Onondaga  and  in 
the  castles  of  the  Senecas.  Providence  was  paving  the  way 
for  their  consolation.  The  Catholics  at  Onondaga,  French 
prisoners  in  hourly  dread  of  a  fearful  death  at  the  stake, 
Hurons  and  Algonquins  groaning  under  a  hopeless  captivity, 
found  a  potent  protector  in  the  eloquent  and  wise  Garaconthie, 
whose  hospitality  the  missionaries  had  often  enjoyed,  and 
who  now,  by  liberal  presents,  saved  from  a  fearful  death  the 
French  prisoners  brought  into  the  territory  of  the  Five  Na 
tions.  An  admirer  of  the  Christian  law,  though  he  had 
never  placed  himself  in  the  ranks  of  the  catechumens,  this 
remarkable  man  gathered  the  French  and  Indian  Christians 
by  the  sound  of  a  bell  for  morning  and  evening  prayer  at 
Onondaga,  and  on  Sundays,  by  giving  feasts,  enabled  the 
Catholics  to  spend  the  day  in  suitable  devotions. 

Meanwhile  he  labored  steadily  to  incline  the  minds  of  his 
countrymen  to  peace  with  the  French.  His  wise  policy  at 
last  prevailed.  In  July,  1661,  two  Iroquois  canoes,  bearing 
a  white  flag,  were  run  up  on  the  shore  at  Montreal,  and  a 
band  of  warriors  advanced,  accompanied  by  four  Frenchmen. 
The  Cayuga  Saonchiogwa  delivered  his  presents,  proposing 
peace  in  the  name  of  the  Onondagas  and  Cayugas,  and  asking 
(280) 


LE  MOYNE  AT  ONONDAGA.  281 

the  French  to  return  to  Ganentaa,  but  raising  his  last  belt  of 
wampum,  he  said  :  "A  black  gown  must  come  with  me  or 
there  can  be  no  peace  ;  on  his  coming  hang  the  lives  of  the 
twenty  Frenchmen  now  at  Onondaga."1  The  decision  was 
referred  to  Viscount  d'Argenson,  the  Governor  of  Canada. 
The  colony  had  suffered  terribly,  the  Seneschal  Lauson  and 
a  Sulpitian  at  Montreal  had  been  slain,  every  Iroquois 
town  had  witnessed  the  torture  and  death  of  French  prison 
ers.  Peace  was  worth  a  risk  and  a  sacrifice.  A  Jesuit  was 
ready.  Father  Simon  le  Moyne  was  selected  for  the  danger 
ous  embassy.  He  went  up  to  Montreal  with  Father  Chau- 
monot,  and  after  consulting  Iroquois  delegates  he  stepped 
into  one  of  their  canoes  on  the  21st  of  July,  uncertain  as  to 
the  fate  before  him.  Mohawk  war  parties  threatened  his 
life  on  the  way,  but  he  at  last  approached  the  Onondaga  cas 
tle,  to  be  welcomed  before  entering  by  Garaconthie  and  the 
sachems.  With  tact  Garaconthie  took  the  priest  first  to  the 
cabins  of  influential  men  to  win  their  favor.  Then  his  own 
cabin  became  the  chapel  of  Catholicity  at  Onondaga.  A 
council,  convoked  by  the  sound  of  the  old  mission-bell,  de 
cided  to  send  Garaconthie  to  Montreal  with  nine  of  the  French 
prisoners,  and  he  went,  meeting  on  his  way  an  Onondaga, 
who  had  butchered  the  Eev.  Mr.  Maitre,  a  Sulpitian.2 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1661,  ch.  ii.,  vii.,  pp.  7-32. 

2  Ibid.,  "Journal  des  Jesuites,"  p.  300.     Father  Peter  Josepb  Mary 
Cbaumonot  ceases  from  tbis  time  to  appear  as  an  evangelical  laborer  in 
tbis  country.     He  was  one  of  the  most  notable  of  tbe  Jesuit  missionaries 
in  Canada.     Tbe  son  of  a  poor  vine-grower,  be  ran  away  while  a  student 
and  made  his  way  to  Italy,  where,  after  a  series  of  adventures,  he  became 
tutor  in  a  Jesuit  college,  and  finally  entered  the  order,  to  offer  his  ser 
vices  for  the  missions  of  New  France.    After  being  associated  with  Father 
Brebeuf  in  the  Huron  and  Neuter  missions,  he  took  an  active  part  in  es 
tablishing  Catholicity  at  Onondaga.    Then  he  took  charge  of  the  fugitive 
Hurons  at  Quebec,  founding  the  mission,  which,  from  his  devotion  to 
tbe  Santa  Casa,  he  called  "  Lorette."     The  same  devotion  led  him  to 


282        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

During  the  winter  Father  le  Moyne  remained  at  Onon- 
daga  offering  mass  daily  in  his  chapel  for  the  French  and  In 
dian  Catholics,  whom  he  gathered  again  at  evening  to  recite 
the  rosary.  Sickness  prevailed,  and  he  visited  the  sick  assid 
uously,  giving  them  all  the  bodily  relief  in  his  power,  and 
instructing  for  baptism  all  who  showed  good-will.  His  bap 
tisms  of  dying  infants  and  of  adults  reached  two  hundred. 
Wine  for  mass  failed  him  at  last,  and  he  wrote  to  the  Dutch 
post,  from  which  he  received  a  small  supply.  During  his 
stay  he  visited  Cayuga  also,  and  his  influence  as  a  missionary 
extended  even  to  the  Seneca  country.  In  the  summer  of 
1,662  he  was  sent  back  with  the  remaining  French  prisoners. 

Father  Simon  le  Moyne,  the  first  to  open  missions  among 
the  Mohawks  and  Onondagas,  was  born  in  1604,  and  entered 
the  Society  of  Jesus  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  He  came  to 
Canada  in  1638,  laboring  from  that  time  zealously  among  the 
Hurons.  His  intrepidity  and  ability  were  hallowed  by  his 
zeal  and  piety.  Broken  by  years  of  labor,  not  long  after  this 
perilous  stay  at  Onondaga,  he  died  a  holy  death  at  Cap  de  la 
Magdeleine,  Nov.  24,  1665.' 

After  Father  Allouez  set  out  to  plant  Catholicity  on  Lake 


take  an  active  part  in  establishing  the  Confraternity  of  the  Holy  Family, 
which  still  exists  in  Canada,  and  which  in  the  Indian  missions  in  our 
present  limits  did  incalculable  good.  Father  Chaumonot  was  famous 
for  his  eloquence,  preaching  in  the  Italian  style,  not  confined  in  a  pulpit, 
but  moving  about.  He  became  a  perfect  master  of  the  Huron  language, 
his  grammar  being  the  key  to  all  the  Iroquois  dialects.  In  Onondaga  he 
was  equally  at  home.  No  one  ever  adapted  himself  more  thoroughly  to 
the  Indian  lines  of  thought  and  expression.  He  died  in  the  odor  of 
sanctity  at  Quebec,  February  21,  1693,  aged  82.  Through  obedience  he 
wrote  an  account  of  his  life,  which  has  been  printed,  New  York,  1858  ; 
Paris,  1869,  and  recently  with  the  introduction  of  matter  merely  referred 
to  in  the  text,  by  the  venerable  Father  Felix  Martin,  Paris,  1885. 

1  "  Journal  des  Jesuites,"  pp.  339-340  ;  "  Bannissement  des  Jesuites  de 
la  Louisiane,"  pp.  113,  132. 


FORT  ST.  ANNE.  283 

Superior,  the  French  government  was  roused,  when  too  late, 
to  send  out  a  force  sufficient  to  bring  the  Iroquois  cantons  to 
terms,  if  not  to  subjection.  But  it  had  allowed  the  oppor 
tunity  to  slip  of  acquiring  New  Netherland  from  the  Dutch. 

In  1665  Alexander  de  Prouville,  Marquis  de  Tracy,  was 
sent  over  as  Lieutenant- General  of  the  King,  Daniel  Remy 
de  Courcelles  as  Governor  of  Canada,  and  the  regiment  of 
Carignan-Salieres  to  opsrajte  against  the  Iroquois,  and  a  num 
ber  of  settlers,  nearly  doubling  the  French  population  of 
Canada. 

The  Marquis  de  Tracy  established  a  line  of  forts  along  the 
River  Richelieu,  the  last,  Fort  Saint  Anne,  erected  in  1665, 
being  on  Isle  la  Mothe,  in  Lake  Champlain,  the  first  white 
structure  in  our  present  State  of  Vermont,  as  its  chapel  was 
the  first  edifice  dedicated  to  Almighty  God  in  that  State.  In 
January,  1666,  de  Courcelles,  with  a  small  force  on  snowshoes, 
traversed  the  country  to  attack  the  Mohawks ;  a  slight  skir 
mish  was  the  only  result,  but  he  returned  to  Canada  with  the 
startling  intelligence  that  the  English  were  in  possession  of 
New  Nether] and,  and  that  thenceforward  the  Iroquois  would 
be  backed  not  by  the  easy-going  Hollander,  but  by  the  grasp 
ing  English,  who  held  with  a  firm  hand  the  whole  coast  from 
the  Kennebec  to  the  Roanoke.  The  boldness  of  de  Cour 
celles'  march  had  its  effect.  The  Mohawks  and  Oneidas 
sought  peace  as  the  Onondagas  had  already  done.  It  was 
granted,  and  the  Jesuit  missionary  Beschefer  was  sent  to  rat 
ify  it.  Before  he  could  reach  Lake  Champlain  tidings  came 
that  the  Mohawks  had  broken  the  peace,  killed  some  French 
officers  and  captured  others. 

The  French  force  was  soon  in  movement,  new  embassies 
from  the  cantons,  and  messages  from  the  English,  creating 
but  little  delay.  It  was  accompanied  by  four  chaplains,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  DuBois,  chaplain  of  the  Carignan  regiment,  Rev. 


284        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

Dollier  de  Casson,  a  Sulpitian,  and  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
Albanel  and  Raffeix.  The  Mohawks,  on  hearing  of  the  ap 
proach  of  a  large  force,  abandoned  three  towns  and  took 
refuge  in  the  fourth,  which  was  strongly  palisaded.  Here 
they  resolved  to  make  a  stand,  but  as  Tracy  advanced  they 
fled.  The  French  took  solemn  possession  of  the  Mohawk 
country,  a  Te  Deum  was  chanted  and  mass  said  in  the  great 
town.  Then  the  country  was  ravaged,  the  stores  of  pro 
visions  laid  up  by  the  Mohawks  were  destroyed,  and  their 
towns  given  to  the  flames.  The  humbled  Indians,  their  old 
renown  lost,  returned  to  starve  amid  the  ruins  of  their  castles. 
They  sought  peace,  they  asked  for  missionaries. 

The  Jesuits  did  not  hesitate  to  trust  their  lives  again  to  a 
nation  which  had  caused  the  death  of  so  many  of  their  order. 
After  kneeling  to  receive  the  blessing  of  the  Bishop  of 
Petraea,  Father  James  Fremin  and  Father  John  Pierron 

.         set  out  in  July,  1607,  for  the 

J-7.     Mohawk5  and  Father  Jame8 

FAC-SIMILE   OF   THE   SIGNATURE   OP      -^  ,,          ,-.          ^        .  ,          -, 

FATHER   JAMES   FREMZN.  ^^^    f°r    til°     OneidaS»  ^ 

at  Fort  Saint  Anne,  on  Isle 

La  Mothe,  they  found  their  way  beset  by  Mohegans  who 
hoped  to  ambuscade  and  slay  the  Mohawk  envoys.  They  re 
mained  at  the  fort  for  a  month,  giving  a  mission  to  the 
garrison,  the  first  undoubtedly  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
in  Vermont,  then  committing  themselves  to  Divine  Provi 
dence,  went  on.1  They  were  taken  by  their  guides  to  Ganda- 
ouague,  "  the  town,"  says  Father  Fremin,  "  which  the  late 
Father  Jogues  bedewed  with  his  blood,  and  where  he  was  so 
horribly  treated  during  his  eighteen  months'  captivity."  A 
congregation  of  Huron  and  Algonquin  captives  was  already 
there  anxious  for  their  ministry,  and  Father  Fremin  gathered 

1  "Relation  de  la  Xouvelle  France,"  1666-7,  ch.  18  (Quebec  ed.,  pp. 
28-9). 


THE  MOHAWK  MISSION.  285 

them  in  an  isolated  cabin  to  instruct  them,  prepare  them  for 
the  sacraments,  and  baptize  their  children.  A  Mohawk  woman 
too  came  forward,  and  following  his  instructions,  sought 
baptism.  The  missionaries  then  visited  the  other  two  towns 
of  the  Mohawk  nation,  and  three  smaller  hamlets,  so  that  they 
soon  had  an  organized  Christian  flock.  On  the  feast  of  the 
Exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross,  they  addressed  the  sachems, 
and  delivered  the  wampum  belts  which  they  bore  from  the 
French  governor. 

A  site  was  selected  at  Tionnontoguen  for  their  chapel ;  it  was 
erected  by  the  Mohawks,  and  similar  chapels  were  reared  in 
the  other  towns.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  Mission  of  St. 
Mary  of  the  Mohawks.  Here  the  missionaries  labored,  mak 
ing  at  first  little  impression  on  the  Iroquois,  and  exposed  to 
insult  and  even  danger  from  the  braves  when  infuriated  by 
the  liquor  which  traders  freely  sold  them..  After  visiting 
Albany,  Father  Pierron  returned  to  Quebec,  but  was  soon 
again  on  the  Mohawk,  Fremin  leaving  the  field  of  his  year's 
labor  to  found  a  mission  among  the  Senecas.1 

Keaching  the  Oneida  castle  in  September,  1667,  Father 
James  Bruyas  soon  had  his  chapel  dedicated  to  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  in  which  he  said  mass  for  the  first  time  on  St. 
Michael's  day.  He  too  found  Christians  to  form  a  congrega 
tion,  needing  instruction,  encouragement,  and  consolation. 
They  were  the  nucleus  around  which  some  well-disposed 
Oneidas  soon  gathered.2  During  the  year,  he  was  joined  by 
Father  Julian  Garnier,  who  soon  after  proceeded  to  Onoii- 
daga.  Garaconthie  welcomed  him  cordially,  and  erected  a 
chapel  for  his  use,  which  was  dedicated  to  St.  John  the 
Baptist.  To  place  the  Church  on  a  solid  basis,  this  chief  pro- 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1668,  ch.  i.-ii.,  Quebec  edition,  3, 
pp.  2-13.     Havrley,  "  Early  Chapters  of  Mohawk  History." 
4  "  Relation,"  1668,  ch.  3,  Quebec  edition,  3,  p.  14. 


286        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

posed  to  the  heads  of  the  great  families,  an  embassy  to 
Quebec,  with  which  he  set  out. 

Then  Father  Stephen  Carheil  and  Father  Peter  Milet 
began  at  Cayuga  to  revive  the  work  begun  by  Father 
Menard,1  in  this  mission  of  St.  Joseph. 

One  thing  was  evident  to  the  missionaries  in  all  the  can 
tons,  that  unless  some  check  was  given  to  the  traders  who 
sold  liquor  to  the  Indians,  there  was  no  hope  for  their  civiliz 
ation  and  conversion.  Father  Pierron,  with  the  Mohawk 
sachems,  appealed  to  Governor  Lovelace,  of  New  York,  that 
his  influence  might  arrest  the  traffic.  His  reply  acknowl 
edged  the  devoted  kbors  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  and 
sympathy  with  their  work. 

Father  Fremin  reached  the  first  Seneca  village  November 
1,  1668,  and  was  received  with  all  the  honors  paid  to  am 
bassadors.  A  chapel  was  then  reared  for  him,  and  captive 
Christians  incorporated  into  the  nation,  came  eagerly  to  obtain 
the  benefits  of  religion.'  Catholicity  had  thus  her  chapels  in 
each  of  the  five  Iroquois  cantons,  with  zealous  priests  labor 
ing  earnestly  to  convert  the  Iroquois.  The  worship  of 
Tharonhiawagon,  the  superstitious  observance  of  dreams, 
the  open  debaucheries,  formed  a  great  obstacle,  and  the 
thirst  for  spirituous  liquors  inflamed  all  their  bad  passions. 
Besides  this,  prejudice  against  the  Catholic  priests  was  im 
parted  to  the  Iroquois  by  the  Dutch  and  English  of  Albany,3 
and  by  Hurons,  who,  in  their  own  country,  had  resisted  all 
the  teachings  of  the  missionaries.  Father  Carheil  tried  to 
instruct  and  baptize  a  dying  girl,  but  her  Huron  father  pre 
vented  him,  and  told  him  that  he  was  like  Father  Brebeuf, 

1  "Relation,"  1668,  ch.  4,  5,  Quebec  edition,  3,  pp.  16-20. 

2  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1669,  ch.  1-5,  Quebec  edition,  pp. 
1-17. 

3  See  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1670,  p.  32. 


DANIEL  GARACONTHIE.  287 

and  wished  only  to  kill  her.  The  missionary,  driven  from 
the  cabin,  could  only  weep  and  pray  for  the  poor  girl,  who 
expired  amid  the  wild  rites  of  the  medicine-men.  The 
Huron  then  roused  the  people  to  slay  the  missionary,  whom 
he  accused  of  killing  his  child. 

The  prisoners  brought  in  and  burned  at  the  stake,  were  al 
ways  attended  by  the  missionaries,  who  sought  to  instruct 
them  and  prepare  them  for  death  by  baptism,  and  there  is  no 
page  more  thrilling  than  that  in  which  a  missionary  records 
his  presence  near  the  sufferer,  amid  the  horrible  tortures  in 
flicted  on  him. 

The  faith  seemed  to  make  but  little  progress  in  the  hearts 
of  the  Iroquois  themselves,  yet  many  of  the  better  and  abler 
leaders  had  been  careful  observers,  and  in  their  own  hearts 
recognized  the  superiority  of  the  gospel  law,  though  their 
immovable  faces  betrayed  nothing  of  the  inward  conviction. 

The  open  avowal  of  Garaconthie,  the  able  Onondaga  chief, 
at  a  council  convoked  at  Quebec,  in  consequence  of  a  re 
newal  of  hostilities  between  the  Senecas  and  Ottawas,  was  a 
startling  surprise,  as  consoling  as  it  was  unexpected.  "  As  to 
the  faith  which  Onnontio  (the  French  Governor)  wishes  to 
see  everywhere  diffused,  I  publicly  profess  it  among  my 
countrymen ;  I  no  longer  adhere  to  any  superstition,  I  re 
nounce  polygamy,  the  vanity  of  dreams,  and  every  kind  of 
sin."  For  sixteen  years  he  had  been  a  constant  friend  of  the 
French,  he  had  attended  instructions,  had  even  solicited  bap 
tism,  yet  the  Fathers  had  hesitated,  though  his  pure  life 
seemed  to  attest  his  sincerity.  His  avowal  on  this  occasion, 
won  Bishop  Laval,  who,  finding  him  sufficiently  instructed, 
resolved  to  baptize  and  confirm  him.  The  ceremony  took 
place  in  the  Cathedral  of  Quebec,  the  Governor  being  his 
godfather,  and  Mile.  Bouteroue,  daughter  of  the  Intendant, 
his  godmother.  In  the  church,  crowded  with  Indians  of 


288        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

almost  every  tribe  in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  he 
received  at  the  font  the  name  of  Daniel,  that  of  Governor  de 
Courcelles,  and  was  then  entertained  with  honor  at  the 
Castle  of  Quebec.1  The  effect  of  this  conversion  was  incal 
culable,  not  only  at  Onondaga,  but  in  all  the  other  cantons. 
Reaching  the  Mohawk  towns  at  a  critical  moment,  when 
Father  Pierron,  in  attempting  to  expose  the  absurdity  of  the 
Indian  traditional  tales,  had  been  commanded  to  be  silent,  but 
by  treating  their  conduct  as  an  insult,  had  made  it  an  affair  of 
state,  to  be  discussed  by  the  great  council  of  the  tribe,  Gara- 
conthie  threw  his  whole  influence  adroitly  on  the  side  of  the 
missionary,  and  the  result  was  a  public  renunciation  of 
Agreskouu  or  Tharonhiawagon  as  their  divinity,  the  act 
being  ratified  by  an  exchange  of  belts  between  the  mission 
ary  and  the  nation.2  At  Oneida,  Garaconthie  spoke  in  favor 
of  the  faith,  and  gave  a  wampum  belt  to  attest  the  sincerity 
of  his  words.3  At  Onondaga,  he  urged  Father  Milet  not  to 
confine  his  instructions  to-  the  children,  but  to  explain  the 
Christian  law  to  adults.  The  missionary  gave  a  feast,  and 
erected  a  pulpit  covered  with  red,  with  a  Bible  and  crucifix 
above,  and  all  the  symbols  of  the  superstitions  and  vices  of 
the  country  below.  A  wampum  belt  hung  up  conspicuously 
betokened  the  unity  of  God.  His  discourse,  carefully  pre 
pared,  produced  an  immense  influence,  and  thenceforward  he 
had  among  his  auditors  the  best  men  of  the  nation. 

The  triumph  of  Father  Pierron  on  the  Mohawk  was  not 
a  mere  transitory  one.  The  old  gods  of  the  Ilotinonsionni 
fell  and  forever,  not  only  in  that  canton,  but  in  the  others. 
Dieu,  the  God  preached  by  the  missionaries  which  soon  on 
Iroquois  lip  became  as  it  now  is,  "Niio,"  has  since  been 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1670,  ch.  2,  Quebec  edition,  pp. 
5-6. 

2  Ibid.,  c.  5.  3Ibid.,c.  6. 


AGRESKOUE  RENOUNCED.  289 

worshipped  by  the  Five  Nations,  whether  they  profess 
Christianity  or  not.  By  a  providential  law,  the  Iroquois 
term  to  express  the  Lord,  or  rather  He  is  the  Lord,  is 
Hawenniio,  which  seems  to  embody  the  term  for  God. 

The  open  honor  to  their  old  gods  was  gone,  but  to  eradicate 
superstitions,  especially  the  idea  that  dreams  must  be  carried 
out,  no  matter  how  absurd  or  wicked,  was  not  easy  ;  and  to 
build  up  in  these  hearts,  ignorant  of  all  control,  the  self-denying 
system  of  the  law  of  grace,  was  a  task  of  no  ordinary  magnitude. 
The  missionaries  resorted  to  all  devices  suited  to  the  ignorant, 
to  whom  a  book  was  a  mystery.  The  symbolical  paintings 
devised  by  Rev.  Mr.  Le  Nobletz,  in  France,  were  of  great  ser 
vice,  and  Father  Pierron  invented  a  game  which  the  Mohawks 
took  up  very  readily,  and  in  which  some  dull  minds  learned 
truths  of  faith  as  to  which  instructions  seemed  never  clear 
enough  to  reach  their  comprehension.  When  they  saw,  in 
this  way,  that  mortal  sin  led  to  hell,  unless  one  could,  by  the 
path  of  penance,  return  to  grace,  the  whole  came  vividly  be 
fore  their  minds  while  the  missionary  instructed  them.1 

Yet  the  profession  of  Christianity  was  not  regarded  with 
out  aversion.  A  woman  of  rank,  an  Oyander,  having  be 
come  a  Christian,  was  in  a  council  of  the  tribe,  convoked  for 
the  purpose,  degraded  from  her  rank,  although  she  held  it  by 
descent.  Another  was  installed  in  her  place,  and,  stripped  of 
her  property,  she  went  to  Canada  to  enjoy  in  peace  the  exer 
cise  of  her  religion.2 

It  was  not  easy  again  for  the  missionaries  to  inculcate  self- 
control,  temperance,  and  chastity,  when  the  English  and 
French  governments  alike,  permitted  unlimited  sale  of  liquor 
to  the  Indians,  by  which  the  doctrines  of  the  missionaries 
were  contradicted  and  vice  encouraged. 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1670,  p.  38.  *  Ibid.,  p.  6. 

19 


THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

Father  Bruyas,  at  Oneida,  saw  his  efforts  thwarted  by  the 
prevalent  drunkenness  of  the  men,  who  were  deaf  to  all  ex 
hortations,  their  hearts  being  like  the  rock  from  which  the 
tribe  derives  its  name,  and  they  so  influenced  the  women 
that  it' was  only  when  the  braves  were  absent  on  the  war 
path  or  the  hunts  that  they  ventured  to  attend  the  instruc 
tions  in  the  chapel.1 

We  see  an  example  of  this  in  the  Huron,  Francis  Tonsa- 
hoten,  who,  though  a  Christian,  did  not  avow  or  practice  hisi 
religion  openly,  but  when  going  off  to  a  hunt,  told  his  Erie 
wife  to  attend  the  instructions  of  the  missionary  during  his 
absence.  She  became  the  earnest  and  pious  Catholic,  Catharine 
Ganneaktena,  the  foundress  of  the  mission  of  La  Prairie, 
after  having  been  the  tutor  of  Father  Bruyas  in  the  Oneida 
dialect.*  At  a  later  period,  the  missionary,  at  these  seasons, 
assembled  the  old  men,  and  expounded  the  mysteries  of  faith  to 
them,  refuting  their  superstitious  fables.  These  conferences 
showed-by  their  fruit  that  they  had  touched  many  a  heart,3 

Unable  to  celebrate  the  holidays  of  the  Church  at  Oneida, 
Father  Bruyas  frequently  went  on  those  occasions  to  Onon- 
daga,  where  the  children  sang  the  truths  of  Christianity 
through  the  town ;  and  where  Father  Milet,  addressing  the 
sachems,  attacked  the  Dream  superstition,  the  last  stronghold 
of  Iroquois  paganism.  They  yielded  to  his  arguments  and 
formally  renounced  it,  reminding  him  that  Agreskoue  was 
no  longer  named  at  their  feasts,  which  indeed,  on  all  great 
occasions,  were  opened  by  the  blessing  asked  by  the  priest.4 
The  failure  of  some  dream  prophecies  of  the  medicine-men 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1670,  p.  53. 

'  Chauchetiere,  "  Vie  de  la  B.  Catherine  Tegakouita." 

3  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1672,  p.  19. 

4  Ib .,  1670,  p.  53  ;  Chauchetiere,  "  Vie  de  la  B.  Catherine  Tegakouita," 
ch.  12.     Catharine  emigrated  to  Montreal  in  1667. 


THE  IROQUOIS  MISSION.  291 

about  this  time,  aided  the  missionary  cause  by  discrediting 
those  impostors. 

Still  the  Catholic  Church  at  Onondaga  was  made  up  mainly 
of  old  Huron  and  other  Christian  Indians,  whom  the  misfor 
tunes  of  war  had  consigned  to  that  place,  with  a  few  converts 
made  during  the  existence  of  Saint  Mary's,  at  Ganeutaa.1 
Father  Carheil,  at  Cayuga,  struggled  with  the  same  difficul 
ties,  converting  a  few,  chiefly  in  sickness,  which  ravaged 
many  of  the  cantons,  but  with  his  auxiliary  Rene  he  built  a 
neat  chapel  of  wood,  resembling  Indian  cabins  in  nothing 
but  the  bark  roof.  Father  Fremin,  at  the  Seneca  town  of 
Saint  Michael,  erected  his  chapel  for  the  large  and  distinct 
body  of  Huron  Christians,  many  of  whom  were  eminent  for 
piety  and  fervor.  Among  these,  James  Atondo  is  recorded 
as  one  given  to  prayer,  and  constant  in  exhorting  others  to 
observe  the  commandments  of  God,  and  lead  a  pious  life. 
Francis  Tehoronhiongo,  baptized  by  Father  Brebeuf,  the 
host  of  Father  le  Moyne,  who,  after  edifying  his  own  land, 
and  that  of  his  exile,  died  at  the  Mountain  of  Montreal,  knew 
all  the  leading  events  of  Scripture  history  as  well  as  the 
Catechism,  and  not  only  trained  his  own  family  to  a  Christian 
life,  but  was  so  constantly  instructing  all  around  him,  that 
Father  Garnier  says :  "  If  the  Gospel  had  never  been  pub 
lished  in  this  country  by  missionaries,  this  man  alone  would 
have  announced  it  sufficiently  to  justify  at  the  Day  of  Judg 
ment  the  conduct  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  all  men."* 
That  missionary  had  come  to  Onondaga  to  aid  Fremin,  and 
had  reared  a  chapel  at  Gandachioragou,  as  Fremin  did  in 
September,  1669,  at  St.  Michael's.3 

1  "Relation, "1670,  p.  61. 

2Ib.,  p.  71;  "History  of  the  Catholic  Missions  among  the  Indian 
Tribes,"  p.  328. 

3  St.  Michael's  (Gandougarae)  was  probably  about  five  miles  southeast 


292        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

The  26th  of  August,  1670,  saw  a  little  synod  of  the  clergy 
of  New  York,  held  at  Onoudaga.  Fathers  Fremin  from  Sen 
eca,  and  Carheil  from  Cayuga,  had  joined  Father  Milet,  and 
on  that  day  Fathers  Bruyas  from  Oneida,  and  Pierron  from  the 
Mohawk,  arrived.  They  spent  six  days  in  concerting  the  steps 
to  be  taken  to  ensure  success  in  their  missions,  and  the  means 
of  overcoming  the  obstacles  which  impeded  the  establishment 
of  the  faith.1  Yet  their  lives  were  in  peril  when  tidings  came 
that  several  of  the  tribe  had  been  murdered  by  the  French. 

The  influence  of  this  untoward  tidings  was  soon  perceived. 
Returning  to  his  Seneca  mission,  Father  Julian  Gamier  reach 
ed  Gandachioragou   safely, 
but  while  passing  through 
FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE  SIGNATURE  OF     Gandagarae,  was   assaulted 

FATHER  JULIAN  GARNIER. 

by  an  Indian  maddened  with 

drink,  who  twice  endeavored  to  plunge  a  knife  into  his  body ; 
but  as  Father  Fremin  wonderingly  attests,  the  brave  Jesuit 
never  paled  in  the  hour  of  danger,  such  was  his  firmness  and 
resolution.  He  took  up  his  abode  at  Gandachioragou,  where 
there  were  only  three  or  four  avowed  Christians.  Then  he 
founded  the  Mission  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  and 
began  to  study  the  Seneca  language,  drawing  up  the  outlines 
of  a  Grammar  and  a  Dictionary  which  is  still  extant.2 

Father  Fremin,  though  still  retaining  charge  of  Saint 
Michael,  St.  James,  and  the  other  Seneca  towns,  was  pre 
vented  by  illness  from  resuming  his  labors  there.8  But  the 

of  the  present  town  of  Victor  ;  Gandachioragou  was  probably  at  the  site 
of  Lima  ;  Gandagaro  (St.  James)  south  of  the  village  of  Victor,  and  Son- 
nontuan,  or  The  Conception,  a  mile  and  a  half  N.N.W.  of  Honeoye 
Falls.  This  is  the  result  of  the  careful  and  patient  study  of  Gen.  John 
S.  Clark.  Hawley,  "Early  Chapters  of  Seneca  History,"  Auburn,  1884, 
pp.  25-6. 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1670,  p.  77. 

2  It  is  preserved  at  the  mission  of  Sault  St.  Louis. 
1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1671,  p.  21. 


SAONCHIOGWAS  BAPTISM.  293 

next  spring,  the  town  of  St.  Michael's  with  his  chapel,  was 
utterly  destroyed  by  fire,  and  it  was  regarded  as  a  judgment 
for  its  resistance  to  the  faith.  The  tribe  promised  to  erect  a 
new  and  finer  chapel  within  the  palisades  that  enclosed  the 
new  town. 

Saonchiogwa,  the  great  Cayuga  chief,  undertook  an  embassy 
to  Quebec  in  the  year -1671,  to  make  terms  on  behalf  of  the 
Senecas  who  had  violated  the  peace ;  after  terminating  that 
affair  satisfactorily,  he  sought  Father  Chaumonot,  whose 
words  in  the  great  address  at  Onondaga  years  before,  had 
never  left  his  mind.  He  had  made  his  ca-bin  the  home  of 
Fathers  Menard  and  de  Carheil,  had  carefully  followed  their 
instructions  and  studied  their  lives.  Yet  he  was  such  a  type 
of  the  wily,  diplomatic  Indian,  that  the  missionaries  were  not 
convinced  of  his  sincerity.  Now,  however,  his  conduct,  his 
language,  all  convinced  the  missionary.  He  was  baptized  by 
Bishop  Laval,  Talon,  the  Intendant,  acting  as  his  godfather, 
and  Huron,  Algonquin,  and  Iroquois,  sat  down  together  at 
the  bounteous  feast  spread  after  the  ceremony.1  The  acces 
sion  to  the  Christian  cause  of  a  man  of  the  ability  of  Saon 
chiogwa,  who  now  took  his  stand  beside  Daniel  Garaconthie, 
was  incalculable.  Both  were  men  of  unblemished  reputation, 
who  had  acquired  the  highest  rank  in  the  councils  of  the 
Five  Nations,  by  their  wisdom,  ability,  and  eloquence. 
Garaconthie,  after  his  conversion,  gave  a  banquet,  and  an 
nounced  that  his  actions  were  now  to  be  guided  by  the  Chris 
tian  law,  that  his  life  should  be  pure,  and  what  duties  he  had 
hitherto  discharged,  would  now  be  still  more  exactly  fulfilled 
from  a  higher  motive.  In  regard  to  dreams,  he  announced 
that  he  would  in  no  case  do  a  single  act  to  fulfil  one,  or  take 
part  in  any  of  the  superstitious  customs  of  their  forefathers. 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1671,  pp.  3-4. 


294        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

These  follies  were  the  ruin,  not  the  mainstay  of  their  coun 
try.  Many  who  had  hesitated  before,  took  courage  and  now 
came  forward  to  embrace  and  to  practice  a  faith  professed  by 
such  superior  men.  At  Albany,  Garaconthiu  reproached  the 
authorities  for  having  sought  the  furs  of  his  countrymen, 
corrupting  them  with  liquor,  but  never  seeking  to  deliver 
them  from  their  spiritual  blindness,  or  teach  them  the  way 
to  God.  "  You  ask  me  why  I  wear  this  crucifix  and  these 
beads  around  my  neck  ?  you  ridicule  me,  you  tell  me  that  it 
is  good  for  nothing  ;  you  blame  me,  and  show  contempt  for 
the  true  and  saving  doctrine  taught  us  by  the  black-gowns. 
What  blessing  after  that  can  you  expect  from  God,  in  your 
treaties  of  peace,  when  you  blaspheme  against  His  most  ador 
able  mysteries  and  constantly  offend  Him  ?  "  ' 

Almost  at  once  by  a  single  eloquent  address,  he  prevented 
the  annual  saturnalia  known  as  Onnonhouaroia. 

After  four  or  five  years'  toil  at  Oneida,  Father  Bruyas  was 
assigned  to  the  Mohawk  and  became  Superior  of  the  Iroquois 
missions,  Father  Milet  succeeding  him.  At  Cayuga,  Father 
Carheil  was  so  affected  by  a  nervous  disorder  that  he  was 
forced  to  resign  his  mission  for  a  time 
*°  Bather  Raffeix.  Returning  to  Canada 
and  finding  medical  skill  unequal  to  the 

FAC-SEVTTLE     OP     THE  . 

SIGNATURE    OF    cure  °*  ™  maiady,  he  turned  to  a  mgh- 

FATHER  RAFFEIX.      BY  physician  and  sought  his  cure  from 

God  in  prayer,  before  the  shrines  of  Our 

Lady  of  Foye  and  St.  Anne   at  Beaupre.     He  recovered 

and  returned  to  his  mission.     Medals  of  Saint  Anne,  dug  up 

to  this  day  in  the  old  land  of  the  Cayugas,  are  doubtless  due 

to  the  pious  gratitude  of  this  missionary,  who  diffused  devo 

tion  to  the  Mother  of  Our  Lady.     On  his  return,  Father 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1671,  p.  17. 


* 
**' 


THE  IROQUOIS  MISSIONS.  295 

Raffeix  hastened  to  the  Seneca  towns  to  aid  Father  Gamier, 
and  Father  de  Lamberville  was  in  charge  at  Onondaga. 

Among  the  Senecas  there  was  great  instability ;  now  the 
sachems  of  a  town  would  hold  a  council  and  decide  that  all 
must  pray  to  God,  in  other  words,  place  themselves  under  in 
struction  for  baptism  ;  then  on  the  prompting  of  some  apos 
tate  Huron,  or  some  fire-brand  from  another  Iroquois  tribe, 
they  would  decide  that  the  missionary  was  a  spy  and  a  sor 
cerer,  and  propose  his  death.1 

Meanwhile  the  faith  was  gaining,  especially  among  the 
Mohawks ;  but  the  converts  were  assailed  by  temptations 
from  within  and  without.  The  heathen  party  used  every 
effort  to  lead  the  Christians  into  drunkenness,  debauchery,  and 
superstitious  observances ;  many  after  the  first  fervor  had  sub 
sided,  yielded  to  these  insidious  advances,  and  the  mission 
aries  groaned  to  see  that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  any  one 
to  persevere  where  all  around  breathed  vice  and  corruption, 
and  where  there  was  no  strong  body  of  Christians  to  give 
moral  support  by  a  pious  example. 

The  war  waged  by  the  Mohegans  on  the  Mohawks  had 
kept  the  latter  constantly  on  the  alert,  and  prevented  easy 
access  to  Albany.  "With  peace  in  1673  came  such  a  universal 
debauchery  that  a  fatal  epidemic  ensued.  Father  Bruyas  and 
his  associate,  Father  Boniface,  labored  incessantly,  attending 
the  sick  and  preparing  for  a  Christian  death  all  who  showed 
any  disposition  to  embrace  the  faith,  and  recalling  those  who, 
having  once  professed  Christianity,  had  yielded  to  tempta 
tion.  Father  Boniface  at  Gandaouague  and  Gannagaro, 
forming  St.  Peter's  mission,  had  what  were  regarded  as  the 
first  and  principal  Iroquois  churches,  the  faith  being  more 
constantly  embraced  and  more  bravely  professed.  The  towns 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1672,  p.  25. 


296        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

were  small,  but  they  contained  more  practical  Catholics  than 
all  the  rest  of  the  Iroquois  castles.  The  result  was  attributed 
to  the  intercession  of  Father  Jogues  and  Rene  Goupil.  The' 
services  of  the  Church  were  performed  openly  and  with  no 
little  pomp,  even  the  Blessed  Bread  being  given  as  in  French 
churches.  The  Catholic  women  wore  their  beads  and  medals 
openly,  even  when  visiting  the  English  settlements.1  One 
of  these  faithful  women  was  the  wife  of  Kryn,  the  principal 
chief,  and  called  by  the  French,  "  The  Great  Mohawk."  So 
incensed  was  this  haughty  Indian  that  he  abandoned  her  and 
went  away  from  the  village  and  the  cabin.  Moodily  hunting 
he  came  at  last  to  La  Prairie.  The  order  and  regularity  pre 
vailing  in  that  little  Catholic  settlement  so  impressed  his  nat 
urally  upright  mind  that  he  remained  there.  In  a  short  time 
the  bravest  warrior  and  leader  of  the  Mohawks  wras  kneeling 
in  all  humility  to  receive  instruction  in  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 
When  his  rallying-cry  resounded  again  through  the  valley  of 
the  Mohawk,  Kryn  entered  the  castle  as  a  fervent  disciple,  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  heathens  and  to  the  joy  of  his  for 
saken  wife.  With  her  and  many  others  he  soon  set  out  for 
the  banks  of  the  Saint  Lawrence,  accompanied,  among  the 
rest,  by  a  young  warrior,  who,  as  Martin  Skandegonrhaksen, 
became  the  model  of  the  mission.2 

The  Mohawks  of  Tionnotoguen  did  not  show  this  inclina 
tion  for  the  true  faith,  and  they  reproached  Father  Bruyas 
with  trying  to  depopulate  the  country ;  and  he  gave  a  wam 
pum  belt  to  attest  that  neither  he  nor  his  associate  had  insti 
gated  the  Great  Mohawk.3 

1  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673,  pp.  33;  "Relations  Ine- 
dites,"  i.,  pp.  1-19  ; 

2  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673,  p.  45,  etc.  ;  "  Relations  Ine- 
dites,"  pp.  18-20;  ii  ,  pp.  50-4;  Chauchetiere,  "Vie  de  Catherine  Te- 
gakouita." 

3  "  Relation,"  1673,  p.  54  ;  "  Relations  Inedites,"  i.,  pp.  20-21. 


SACHEM  ASSENDASE.  297 

Among  the  Onondagas  Father  John  de  Lamberville  was 
consoled  and  supported  by  the  zeal  and  fervor  of  Garaconthie. 
His  open  profession  of 
Christianity  drew  on 
that  remarkable  man  the 

FAC-SIMILE     OF     THE     SIGNATURE    OP    FA- 

hatred  of  some  of  the  THER  JOHN  DE  LAMBEKVILLE. 

sachems,  who  endeavor 
ed  to  break  down  his  influence,  declaring  that  he  was  no  longer 
a  man,  that  the  black-robes  had  disordered  his  mind.  They 
said  that  as  he  had  given  up  the  customs  of  the  Onoudaga 
nation,  he  evidently  cared  nothing  for  it ;  but  when  any  em 
bassy  was  to  be  sent  or  an  eloquent  speaker  was  desired  for 
any  occasion,  all  turned  to  Garaconthie.  When  he  was  once 
prostrated  by  disease,  the  whole  canton  was  in  alarm.  To 
the  Christians  he  was  an  example  and  a  constant  monitor. 
Father  Carheil  continued  his  labors  among  the  Cayugas,  Fa 
ther  Julian  Garnier  at  the  Seneca  mission  of  St.  Michael, 
and  Father  Kaffeix  at  that  of  the  Conception,  gaining  a  few 
adults  in  health,  baptizing  more  who  turned  to  them  when 
the  hand  of  sickness  prostrated  them.' 

The  next  year  Father  Bruyas  won  the  aged  but  able 
sachem,  Assendase,  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  old  Mohawk 
faith,  who,  crafty  and  astute,  upheld  his  influence  by  his  re 
nown  as  a  medicine-man.  He  had  listened  to  the  instructions 
of  the  missionary,  but  had  for  two  years  resisted  God's  grace, 
when  the  earnest  words  of  Count  Frontenac  at  Montreal  gave 
him  courage  to  avow  his  conviction,  renounce  his  errors,  and 
seek  baptism.'  Assendase's  family  followed  his  example, 
although  sickness  and  misfortune  came  to  test  their  con 
stancy.  His  conversion  roused  the  heathen  party,  and  one 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673,  pp.  55-114  ;  "  Relations  Ine- 
dites,"  i.,  pp.  57-68. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  235-278. 


298        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

of  his  own  kindred,  maddened  by  drink,  tore  the  rosary  and 
crucifix  from  the  neck  of  the  aged  chief  and  threatened  to 
kill  him.  "  Kill  me,"  said  Asseudase  ;  "  I  shall  be  happy  to 
die  in  so  good  a  cause ;  I  shall  not  regret  my  life  if  I  give  it  in 
testimony  of  my  faith."  His  example  exerted  a  great  influ 
ence.  The  fervor  of  those  already  Christians  was  revived  by 
the  reception  of  a  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  received  from 
the  shrine  of  Notre  Dame  de  Foye,  which  was  exposed  to  the 
faithful  on  the  feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  with  all 
possible  pomp.  Catholicity  had  an  open  and  authorized  ex 
istence,  and  scarcely  a  Sunday  passed  without  the  baptism  of 
some  child  or  adult. 

Father  Boniface,  prostrated  by  illness,  was  compelled  to 
leave  the  mission,  and  was  succeeded  at  Gandaouague  by  Fa 
ther  James  de  Lamberville.1  But  the  Mohawk  mission  sus 
tained  a  terrible  loss  by  the  death  in  August,  1675,  of  Peter 
Assendase,  the  Christian  chief,  who  expired  after  a  long  and 
painful  illness,  which  he  bore  with  piety  and  patience,  refus 
ing  all  the  superstitious  remedies  proposed,  and  declaring : 
"  I  wish  to  die  a  Christian  and  keep  the  word  I  have  pledged 
to  God  at  my  baptism.  I  do  not  ascribe  my  illness  to  it,  as 
my  kindred  falsely  imagine.  We  must  all  die  ;  the  heathens 
will  die  as  well  as  I.  There  is  one  God  who  sets  a  limit  to 
my  life  ;  He  will  do  with  me  as  He  will ;  I  accept  willingly 
all  that  comes  from  His  hand,  be  it  life  or  death." " 

This  was  a  severe  blow  to  Father  Bruyas  at  Agnie,  but 

1  "Relations  Inedites,"  ii.,  pp.  35-45;   "Relation,"  1673-9,  p.  178. 
Father  Boniface  wasted  away  in  a  delirious  state.    His  religious  brethren 
began  devotions  to  invoke  the  intercession  of  Father  Brebeuf,  and  re 
garded  as  a  miracle  Father  Boniface's  recovery  of  his  senses,  soon  after 
which  he  expired  in  great  piety  December  17,  1674.     MS.  Attestation  of 
the  Miracle. 

2  "  Relations  Inedites,"  ii.,  p.  102  ;  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France," 
1673-9,  pp.  147-151 ;  "  Relation,"  1676-7,  pp.  7,  etc. 


CATHARINE  TEGAKOUITA.  299 

Father  James  de  Lamberville  had  his  consolations  at  Ganda- 
ouague.  Going  one  day  through  the  town  -when  most  of  the 
people  were  absent  in  the  fields,  he  was  impelled  to  enter  the 
cabin  of  a  great  enemy  of  the  faith.  There  he  found  the 
niece  of  that  chief,  Tegakouita,  daughter  of  a  Christian 
Algonquin  mother,  prevented  by  an  injury  to  her  foot  from 
being  at  work  with  the  rest.  She  was  a  lily  of  purity  whom 
God  had  preserved  unscathed  amid  all  the  dangers  surround 
ing  her.  It  had  been  the  great  longing  of  her  heart  to  be  a 
Christian,  but  her  shy  modesty  prevented  her  addressing  the 
missionary.  Father  Lamberville  saw  at  once  that  she  was  a 
soul  endowed  with  higher  gifts,  and  he  invited  her  to  the  in 
structions  given  at  the  chapel.  These  she  attended  with  the 
strictest  fidelity,  learning  the  prayers  and  the  abridgment  of 
Christian  doctrine  readily  in  her  desire  to  be  united  by  bap 
tism  to  our  Lord.  She  edified  all  by  her  fervor,  and  was 
solemnly  baptized  in  the  chapel  on  Easter  Sunday,  16T5, 
receiving  the  name  of  Catharine. 

Her  uncle  had  at  first  done  nothing  to  prevent  her  attend 
ing  the  chapel  or  performing  her  devotions  in  the  cabin ;  but 
persecution  soon  came  when  she  declared  that  she  would  not 
go  to  the  field  to  work  on  Sunday.  They  endeavored  in  vain  to 
starve  her  into  subjection  by  taking  all  food  away  with  them, 
leaving  her  to  fast  all  day  unless  she  came  to  them,  when 
they  intended  to  compel  her  to  work.  She  cheerfully  bore 
the  mortification  rather  than  offend  God  by  neglecting  to 
sanctify  the  Lord's  day. 

Father  Lamberville  soon  found  that  the  usual  regulations 
adopted  for  the  women  converts  did  not  apply  to  Catharine. 
What  they  were  urged  to  avoid  she  had  always  shunned. 
Higher  and  more  spiritual  was  the  life  she  was  to  lead. 
"  The  Holy  Ghost,"  says  her  biographer,  Father  Chauche- 
tiere,  "'  who  wrought  more  in  her  than  man,  directed  her  in- 


300        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

teriorly  in  all,  so  that  she  pleased  God  and  men,  for  the  most 
wicked  admired  her,  and  the  good  found  matter  for  imitation 
in  her." 

Though  her  example  and  services  were  of  the  utmost  ben 
efit  to  him,  and  the  crosses  she  underwent  increased  her 
merit,  the  missionary  was  in  constant  fear,  and  urged  her  to 
go  to  La  Prairie,  and  meanwhile  to  be  incessant  in  prayer. 
Her  uncle,  who,  in  the  system  of  Iroquois  relationship,  stands 
in  the  stead  of  a  father,  would,  she  knew,  never  consent  to 
her  departure.  She  feared  that  the  attempt  might  lead  to 
trouble,  and  perhaps  result  in  the  death  of  some  one  at  the 
hands  of  her  furious  guardian,  who  once  sent  a  brave  into 
the  cabin  to  kill  the  "  Christian  woman,"  as  she  had  grown 
to  be  commonly  called.  She  did  not  quail,  and  feared  not 
her  own  death,  but  that  of  any  one  who  attempted  to  aid  her. 
At  last,  however,  the  resolute  chief,  Hot  Cinders,  came  to 
Gaudaouague.  Catharine  felt  that  in  him  she  had  a  tower  of 
strength,  and  told  Father  Lamberville  that  she  was  ready 
to  start  for  La  Prairie  with  her  brother-in-law,  who  had  come 
with  Hot  Cinders.  During  her  uncle's  absence,  she  and  her 
companions  started  by  a  circuitous  route,  and  though  pursued 
by  her  uncle  with  bloodthirsty  design,  reached  La  Prairie, 
which  she  was  to  edify  in  life  and  make  glorious  by  her 
death  and  the  favors  ascribed  to  her  intercession  after  the 
close  of  her  virginal  life.1 

The  year  of  Catharine's  baptism  Father  de  Lamberville 
had  in  vain  endeavored  to  reach  a  Mohawk  who  had  for 
eight  months  been  lingering  on  a  pallet  of  pain,  but  the 
doors  of  the  cabin  were  closed  against  him.  "  In  this'ex- 
tremity,"  he  writes,  "  I  had  recourse  to  the  venerable  Father 
Jogues,  to  whom  I  commended  this  man,  and  at  once  the 

1  Chauchetiere,  "  Vie  de  Catherine  Tegakouita,"  New  York,  1886. 


Jro  quotas  e/  du-  J*auc 
Tftonfre^iL  en  Canada*  jru^rC^ 


PORTRAIT  OF  CATHARINE  TEGAKOTJITA,   FROM  THE   PICTURE  IN 
DE  LA  POTHERIE. 


302        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

cabin  doors  opened  and  gave  me  access  to  instruct  and  bap 
tize  him.  The  conversion  is  a  special  work  of  divine  grace, 
and  a  special  favor  obtained  by  the  merits  of  Father  Isaac 
Jogues,  who  shed  his  blood  here  in  God's  quarrel,  having 
been  massacred  by  these  savages  in  hatred  of  the  faith." 

At  Oneida  Father  Milet  made  less  progress,  and  it  was 
.only  the  higher  and  abler  minds  that  were  impressed.  One 
chief  was  converted  in  1672  ;  a  few  years  after  another,  who 
withdrew  from  the  village  and  cabined  apart  to  keep  aloof 
from  the  superstitions  and  debaucheries  of  his  tribe.  In 
1675  Milet  converted  the  great  chief,  Soenrese.  The  mis 
sionary  was  consoled  by  the  fervor  of  his  flock  and  the  decay 
of  the  worship  of  Agreskoue. 

In  the  several  cantons  the  missionaries  derived  great  con- 
eolation  from  the  Confraternity  of  the  Holy  Family,  a  pious 

association  founded  at  Montreal 

//n/7  by    Father    Chaumonot,    Rev. 

7^fc*t*fn*nrf     Mr  Souel?  and  the  Yen>  Mar. 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  SIGNATURE  OF  FA-  garet  Bourgeoys.      It  ^  was   at- 
THER  JOSEPH  M.  CHAUMONOT.     tached  to  every  Catholic  chapel 

in    the    Iroquois    country   and 

sustained  the  faith  and  Christian  life  of  all.1  But  the  mis 
sions  were  entering  on  a  period  of  trial ;  the  death  of  some 
Christian  chiefs,  the  removal  of  others  to  La  Prairie  had  em 
boldened  the  heathens,  who  began  to  menace  the  lives  of  the 
missionaries  and  treat  the  Christians  with  oppression  and  in 
sult.  Garaconthie  was  far  advanced  in  years,  and  in  1676, 
feeling  that  his  life  was  uncertain,  he  gave  three  solemn  ban 
quets.  One  was  to  declare  that  they  were  not  given  in  ac 
cordance  with  any  dream,  and  that  he  renounced  all  super- 


1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673  ;  1675 ;  1676  ;  1673-9,  p. 
182;  "  Relations  Inedites,"  ii.,  pp.  38,  106,  99-111. 


DEATH  OF  GARACONTHIE.  303 

stitious  rites ;  in  another  he  denounced  the  banquets  where 
all  must  be  devoured  by  the  guests.  In  the  third  he  sang 
his  Death  Song,  as  he  was  now  so  old.  He  saluted  the 
Master  of  Life,  whom  he  acknowledged  as  sovereign  of  our 
fortunes ;  on  whom,  and  not  on  dreams,  our  life  and  death 
depended.  He  also  saluted  the  bishop  in  Canada,  and  other 
dignitaries  there,  telling  them,  as  though  they  were  present, 
that  he  wished  to  die  a  Christian,  and  hoped  that  they  would 
pray  to  God  for  him.  He  concluded  by  making  a  public 
profession  of  his  faith,  and  by  disavowing  all  the  errors  in 
which  he  had  lived  before  his  baptism. 

He  attended  the  midnight  mass  at  Christmas  with  his 
whole  family,  coming  a  long  distance  through  the  snow. 
Attacked  by  a  pulmonary  disease,  he  repaired  to  the  chapel, 
and  after  kneeling  there  in  prayer,  told  Father  Lamberville, 
"  I  am  a  dead  man,"  and  made  his  confession  with  great 
compunction.  During  his  illness  his  prayer  was  constant ; 
then  giving  the  farewell  banquet,  in  which  two  young  war 
riors  announced  his  wishes,  the  Rosary  was  recited,  and  after 
the  Commendation  of  a  Departing  Soul,  he  peacefully  yielded 
up  his  soul.  The  great  Catholic  chief  of  Onondaga,  Daniel 
Garaconthie,  stands  in  history  as  one  of  the  most  extraordi 
nary  men  of  the  Iroquois  league.1 

Father  Carheil  at  Cayuga,  aided  for  a  time  by  Father 
Pierron,  and  Fathers  Garnier  and  Raffeix  in  the  Seneca 
towns,  had  not  met  the  encouragement  found  in  the  Eastern 
cantons.  The  old  Huron  element  was  the  nucleus  of  the 
Catholic  body,  with  more  converts  from  the  subjugated  Keu- 
ters  and  Onnontiogas  and  captive  Susquehannas  thim  from 
the  Cayugas  and  Senecas. 


1  "Relations  Inedites,"  ii.,  pp.  112-114,  197-205;    "Relation  «^e  la 
Nouvelle  France,"  1673-9,  pp  185-192  ;  "Relation,"  1676-7,  pp.  24-29. 


304         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

About  the  year  1678  Father  Francis  Yaillant  succeeded 
Father  Bruyas  at  Tionnontoguen,  and  that  master  of  the 
Mohawk  language  proceeded  to  Onondaga  to  continue  the 
work  of  Father  John  de  Lamberville,  and  Father  John  Pier- 
ron,  leaving  the  Mohawks,  joined  the  missionaries  in  the 
Seneca  nation,  after  being  at  Cayuga  in  1676.  Bruyas'  labors 
on  the  Mohawk  had  been  most  fruitful  and  his  influence 
great.  The  language  of  the  nation  he  spoke  with  fluency 
and  correctness,  and  he  drew  up  a  vocabulary  and  a  work 
called  "  Racines  Agnieres,"  or  "  Mohawk  Radicals,"  in 
which  the  primitive  words  were  given  and  the  derivatives 
from  them  explained.  He  also  wrote  a  catechism  and  prayer- 
book.'1 

During  the  period  of  the  Iroquois  missions  of  which  we 
have  more  ample  details,  the  missionaries,  in  constant  peril 
and  hardship,  had  earnestly  labored  among  the  Five  Nations ; 
their  great  success  was  with  the  sick  and  dying,  and  the  bap 
tisms  of  adults  and  infants,  which,  from  1668  to  1678, 
amounted  to  2,221,  did  not  in  consequence  greatly  increase 
the  church  militant  on  earth,  though  it  did  the  church  tri 
umphant  in  heaven.  The  emigration  of  Christians  to  Can 
ada,  which  the  missionaries  urged  to  prevent  apostasy,  also 
prevented  great  increase  of  numbers  in  the  cantons.  The 
missionaries  maintained  their  chapels  and  instructions  mainly 
for  the  little  body  of  Christians  who  were  not  able  to  with 
draw. 

The  attitude  of  the  English  in  New  York  and  their  claims 
over  the  territory  of  the  Five  Nations  showed  the  mission 
aries  that  in  a  few  years  the  land  of  the  Iroquois  would  be 
closed  to  them. 

1  "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673-9,  p.  140  ;  Bruyas'  "  Racines 
Agnieres"  was  published  in  Shea's  "  American  Linguistics  "  in  1863-3. 
It  had  been  used  by  Father  Hennepin,  "  Nouvelle  Decouverte,"  p.  37. 


MISSION  VILLAGE  AT  LA  PRAIRIE.  305 

The  Catholic  Indian  emigrants  from  New  York  settled, 
some  at  La  Prairie,  some  at  Lorette  with  the  Hurons,  and 
others  again  at  the  Mountain  at  Montreal,  where  the  Sulpi- 
tians  of  the  Seminary  had  established  an  Iroquois  mission, 
the  fruit  of  their  labors  among  the  portion  of  the  Cayuga 
tribe  which  settled  on  Quinte  Bay.1 

The  Jesuits  had,  too,  in  1669,  erected  a  little  house  at  La 
Prairie  de  la  Magdeleine,  as  a  place  where  missionaries  com 
ing  from  the  Iroquois  or  Ottawa  missions  might  recruit; 
but  Indians  began  to  stop  there,  and  some  desired  to  remain 
for  instruction,  so  that  it  soon  required  the  constant  service 
of  two  experienced  priests  to  minister  to  people  of  many 
different  languages.  Indians  from  the  cantons  of  the  Five 
Nations,  who  lacked  courage  to  avow  their  desire  to  become 
Christians,  or  who  had  embraced  the  faith,  but  feared  to  lose  it, 
proposed  to  Father  Fremin  that  they  should  settle  at  La 
Prairie.  The  missionary,  fully  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  a 
convert's  preserving  the  faith  amid  the  prejudice  and  seduc 
tions  of  the  Iroquois  castles,  beheld  in  this,  a  providential 
design.  Catharine  Ganneaktena,  an  Erie  convert,  was  the 
foundress  of  the  new  village.  Others  soon  followed  her  ex 
ample,  and  when  the  report  spread  that  a  new  Iroquois  town 
had  been  formed  at  La  Prairie,  so  many  came  that  a  govern 
ment  was  organized,  and  chiefs  to  govern  the  town  were 
elected  with  the  usual  Iroquois  forms  and  ceremonies.  By 
the  first  laws  promulgated,  no  one  was  permitted  to  take  up 
his  residence  unless  he  renounced  three  things,  Belief  in 
Dreams,  Changing  wives,  and  Drunkenness :  and  any  one 
admitted  who  offended  on  these  points  was  to  be  expelled. 

The  village  thus  formed,  showed  the  importance  of  the 
course.  No  longer  opposed  or  persecuted,  no  longer  allured 

1  Shea,  "  History  of  the  Catholic  Missions,"  pp.  298-311. 
20 


306        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

to  resist  or  abandon  the  faith,  catechumens  came  assiduously 
to  instructions,  and  those  already  Christians,  practiced  their 
religion,  praying  and  approaching  the  sacraments  with  fer 
vor.     The  better  instructed  became  dogiques  or  catechists  of 
others,  and  one  of  these  attended  every  band  that  went  out 
from  the  village  for  the  winter  hunt.    A  catechumen  and  his 
wife  while  out  on  a  hunting  expedition,  fell  in  with  two 
leading  Mohawks,  one  of  them  Kryn,  the  Great  Mohawk. 
These  listened  with  interest  to  what  they  heard  of  the  new 
village  and  its  moral  code.     They  felt  that  it  was  a  rightful 
course ;  they  joined  the  catechumens  in  their  devotions,  and 
going  back  to  their  tribe  for  their  wives,  came  to  La  Prairie 
with  forty-two  companions.1     Every  hunting  party  that  went 
out,  acted  as  apostles,  and  the  men  of  their  tribe  whom  they  met, 
were  so  impressed  by  their  probity,  their  devotions,  and  their 
instructions,  that  a  party  seldom  returned  to  La  Prairie  without 
bringing  some  candidate  to  the  missionary.11     In  this  way  a 
famous  Oneida  chief,  called  by  the  French,  "Hot  Cinders," 
from  his  fiery  disposition,  who  had  left  his  own  canton  in 
disgust  at  some  affront,  was  led  to  visit  La  Prairie,  where  he 
remained  and  became  one  of  the  most  fervent  Christians,  his 
ability  soon  causing  his  election  as  one  of  the  chiefs.     He 
was  installed  with  all  the  formalities  used  in  the  Iroquois 
cantons,  the  same  harangues  and  symbolical  acts :  but  through 
inadvertence,  the  presentation  of  a  mat  was  omitted.     He 
complained  to  the  missionary  that  he  had  been  made  a  fool 
of,  that  he  was  no  chief,  as  he  had  no  mat  to  sit  upon,  and 
the  whole  ceremonial  was  repeated  to  make  his  induction 
strictly   legal.3      This  mission  lost  in   1673   its  foundress, 

'  "Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673;  New  York,  1861,  p.  30; 
"  Relations  Inedites,"  Paris,  1861,  i.,  pp.  179-189. 

*  Ibid.,  i.,  pp.  279-283. 

*  Chauchetiere,  "  Vie  de  Catharine  Tegakouito." 


V.  CATHARINE  TEGAKOUITA.  307 

Catharine  Ganneaktena,  who  died  full  of  piety,  having  pre 
served  her  baptismal  innocence  unsullied,  and  regarded  as  a 
saint  by  the  little  Christian  community  which  had  grown  up 
around  her  and  revered  her  as  a  mother.1 

On  Whitmonday,  May  26,  1675,  Bishop  Laval  extended 
the  visitation  of  his  diocese  to  this  mission,  where  he  was 
received  with  great  pomp  and  joy,  and  the  next  day  he  con 
ferred  the  sacrament  of  confirmation  in  an  Iroquois  chapel. 
The  bishop  was  greatly  touched  and  edified  by  the  Christian 
deportment  of  the  Indians,  and  the  pe,ace  and  happiness  that 
prevailed  in  the  village.  He  remained  some  days  to  visit 
the  whole  mission,  giving  free  access  to  all.* 

The  mission  had  remarkable  men  in  the  Great  Mohawk, 
and  in  the  Oneida  Chief,  Louis  Garonhiague.  It  received 
its  most  illustrious  and  holy  member  in  the  autumn  of  1677, 
when  Catharine  Tegakouita  arrived  from  the  town  of 
Gandawague.  There  she  began  the  life  of  toil,  recollection, 
and  prayer,  seeking  in  all  things  to  do  what  was  most  agree 
able  to  God.  The  little  bark  chapel  was  the  home  where 
she  spent  the  hours  not  required  by  the  assiduous  toil  of  an 
Indian  woman,  for  having  renounced  for  God  all  idea  of  mar 
riage,  she  lived  with  her  brother-in-law,  and  not  to  be  a  bur 
then  labored  constantly.  The  work  of  an  Iroquois  woman 
included  felling  and  cutting  up  trees  for  firewood.  Once 
a  tree  she  had  felled  as  it  descended  hurled  her  to  the  ground, 
a  branch  striking  her.  As  soon  as  she  recovered  her  senses 
she  exclaimed :  "  My  Jesus  !  I  thank  Thee  for  having  pre 
served  me  from  that  accident,"  and  took  up  her  hatchet  to 
continue  her  work  :  her  companions  compelled  her  to  go 


1  Chauchetiere,  "  Vie  de  Catharine  Tegakouita."    "  Relations  Inedites," 
i.,  pp.  284-298.     "  Relation  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  1673-9,  pp.  162-174. 
*  "  Relations  Inedites,"  ii.,  pp.  58,  etc.,  168,  etc. 


308         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

and  rest,  but  she  said  that  God  lent  her  a  little  more  life  to 
do  penance,  and  that  she  must  employ  her  time  well. 

A  new  church  was  rising  under  the  hands  of  the  carpen 
ters,  something  grand  in  the  eyes  of  the  Indians.  To  her  in 
her  humility  it  seemed  that  she  was  not  worthy  to  enter, 
and  was  fit  only  to  be  driven  from  it.  She  enrolled  herself 
in  the  Confraternity  of  the  Holy  Family,  and  adopted  a  rale 
of  life  which  she  followed  exactly.  When  the  family  went 
off  to  hunt,  and  she  could  not  hear  masses  daily,  she  made  a 
little  oratory  to  which  she  retired  to  pray.  All  soon  re 
garded  her  as  a  holy  virgin  dedicated  to  God ;  but  this  did  not 
affect  her  humility  or  spirit  of  penance  except  to  increase  it, 
and  augment  the  austerity  of  her  life.  The  winter  spent 
with  the  hunting-party  was  to  her  one  of  such  spiritual  pri 
vation  that  she  ever  after  preferred  bodily  privation  in  the 
village  so  long  as  she  could  attend  the  adorable  sacrifice, 
spend  hours  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament  and  often  re 
ceive  it. 

Her  health,  never  sound,  failed  gradually.  She  could  only 
drag  herself  to  the  chapel,  and  leaning  on  a  bench  commune 
with  God.  In  the  spring  of  1680  she  was  unable  to  leave 
her  mat,  and  prepared  for  her  death.  She  had  renounced 
the  world  in  which  she  had  lived,  with  its  pleasures  and  its- 
vanities  ;  she  had  practiced  the  evangelical  counsels  of  chas 
tity,  poverty,  and  obedience.  When  Father  Fremin  gave 
her  the  last  sacraments  he  asked  her  to  address  those  around 
her,  for  the  cabin  was  filled.  She  had  in  life  unconsciously 
to  herself  filled  the  mission  with  new  fervor,  and  he  wished 
her  influence  to  be  lasting.  Assisted  by  all  the  consolations 
of  religion  she  expired  on  Wednesday  in  Holy  Week,  and 
the  Indians  came  to  kiss  her  hands,  and  to  spend  the  day  and 
night  in  prayer  beside  her  lifeless  remains.  The  missionary 
pronounced  her  eulogium  there,  holding  her  up  to  all  as  a 


CANONIZATION  SOLICITED.  309 

model  for  imitation.  She  was  buried  at  a  spot  selected  by 
herself  three  years  before. 

The  reputation  of  her  virtue  spread  through  Canada.  The 
missionaries  and  all  who  had  known  her  attested  her  exalted 
virtues  and  sanctity,  and  her  grave  became  a  pilgrimage. 
Bishop  Laval  came  to  the  Sault  with  the  Marquis  de  Denon- 
ville,  and  prayed  at  the  tomb  of  "  the  Genevieve  of  Canada," 
as  he  styled  her.  The  priests  of  neighboring  parishes,  who 
at  first  checked  devotion  to  the  "  Good  Catharine,"  came  to 
pray,  as  did  Rev.  Mr.  Colombiere  from  Quebec,  and  sturdy 
old  soldiers  like  Du  Lhut. 

The  miracles  ascribed  to  her  intercession,  of  which  a  host  are 
recorded,  have  kept  devotion  to  her  alive  in  Canada.  Her  rel 
ics,  and  all  belonging  to  her,  were  eagerly  sought ;  little  objects 
she  had  made,  pieces  of  wood,  even,  that  she  had  chopped. 
Father  Chauchetiere  painted  her  portrait,  and  this  was  copied 
and  circulated.  De  la  Potherie,  in  his  "  Histoire  de  PAme- 
rique  Septentrionale,"  gives  an  engraving  based  evidently  on 
one  of  these  pictures  by  the  missionary,  and  we  give  an  exact 
reproduction  of  it. 

The  introduction  of  cause  of  her  canonization  with  those 
of  Father  Jogues  and  Rene  Goupil  was  solicited  from  the 
Holy  See  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of 
Baltimore.1 

1  The  fullest  account  of  Catharine  is  her  Life  by  Father  Claude  Chau 
chetiere,  New  York,  1886  ;  a  shorter  life  by  F.  Cholonek  is  in  the 
"  Lettres  Edifiantes,"  Vol.  XII.  (Paris,  1727).  Kip's  "Jesuit  Missions," 
New  York,  1847,  pp.  82-113  ;  and  in  Charlevoix,  "  Histoire  de  la  Nou- 
velle  France"  (Shea's  Translation,  iv.,  p.  283)  ;  Mgr.  St.  Valier,  second 
Bishop  of  Quebec,  records  her  holy  life  in  his  "  Estat  Present,"  pp.  48-9. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   CHUECH   FEOM   THE   PENOBSCOT  TO  THE   MISSISSIPPI,  1680- 

1690. 

SUCH  was  the  position  of  the  Church  in  the  part  of  North 
America  claimed  by  France.  Devoted  priests  had  established 
missions  among  the  five  Iroquois  nations  and  among  the 
Algonquin  tribes  around  Lakes  Huron,  Michigan,  and  Supe 
rior.  In  all  these  parts  France  had  not  a  single  settlement, 
not  a  trading  post  or  fort ;  a  few  adventurous  fur  trappers 
alone  threaded  the  Indian  trails  in  those  regions  where  the 
Catholic  missionaries  were  patiently  laboring. 

France  seemed  utterly  indifferent  to  the  vast  realm  in  her 
grasp.  No  attempt  was  made  to  restore  the  settlement  at 
Ganentaa,  or  the  fort  on  Isle  La  Motte,  in  Lake  Champlain  ; 
no  vessel  was  built  to  extend  the  trade  on  the  lakes.  In  all 
our  present  territory  there  was  not  a  post  that  France  could 
claim  till  the  treaty  of  Breda,  in  July,  1667,  restored  Penta- 
goet  to  the  Most  Christian  king.1  But  the  French  Govern 
ment  was  at  last  aroused  to  the  importance  of  the  vast  coun 
try  in  North  America  to  which  she  could  lay  claim,  and  to 
consider  it  as  something  more  than  a  territory  from  which 
heartless  trading  companies  could  draw  furs.  The  Catholic 
missionaries  on  the  Lakes  had  for  some  years  been  reporting 

1  "  Memoires  des  Commissaires  du  Roi,"  Paris,  1755,  ii.,  pp.  40,  295,  320. 
The  "Estat  du  Fort,"  etc.,  "Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  Quebec,  1884, 
i.,  p.  200,  makes  the  chapel  there  a  frame  building,  8  paces  by  6. 
(310) 


LA  SALLE  AND  THE  SULPITIANS.  311 

more  and  more  definite  intelligence  of  the  great  river  in  the 
West,  which  the  Algonquin  tribes  called  Missi  sipi,  great 
river ;  and  which  the  five  Iroquois  nations  styled  Ohio,  great 
and  beautiful  river.  Though  the  French  Government  took 
no  steps,  individuals  did.  Robert  Cavelier,  who  had  assumed 
the  style  of  de  la  Salle,  brother  of  a  Sulpitian  priest  at  Mon 
treal,  had  heard  of  this  river  through  the  Iroquois  ;  the  Sul- 
pitians  moved  by  missionary  instinct  resolved  to  seek  it  and 
win  the  tribes  on  its  banks  to  Christianity.  On  the  6th  of 
July,  1669,  a  little  expedition  set  out  from  Montreal,  La 
Salle  with  five  canoes  and  the  Sulpitians,  Rev.  Francis  Dol- 
lier  de  Casson,  priest,  and  Rene  de  Brehaut  de  Galinee,  still 
in  deacon's  orders,  with  three  canoes,  guided  by  some  Sene- 
cas  who  had  wintered  in  Canada.  Plodding  along  slowly 
they  reached  the  chief  Seneca  town  on  the  12th  of  August, 
and  there  with  Father  Fremin's  attendant  as  interpreter, 
they  solicited  from  the  Seneca  Council  an  Illinois  slave  to 
guide  them  to  his  country.  The  sachems  deferred  a  reply, 
but  meanwhile  the  French  were  told  on  all  sides  that  the 
route  by  land  was  long  and  dangerous,  while  the  great  river 
could  easily  be  reached  by  way  of  Lake  Erie.  Abandoning 
the  hope  of  reaching  the  river  through  the  Seneca  country 
they  crossed  the  Niagara  below  the  falls,  and  at  a  little  vil 
lage  near  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario  obtained  two  western 
Indians  for  guides.  Soon  afterward  they  met  Louis  Jolliet 
descending  from  the  copper  district  on  Lake  Superior,  who 
on  learning  their  object  recommended  the  route  by  way  of 
Green  Bay  and  the  Wisconsin.  La  Salle  left  the  Sulpitians 
on  the  plea  of  illness  and  started  for  Montreal.  Rev.  Dol- 
lier  de  Casson  and  his  companion  proceeding  westward,  win 
tered  on  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Erie.  Setting  out  in 
the  spring  they  lost  all  their  chapel  equipment,  so  that  Dol- 
lier  de  Casson  was  deprived  of  the  consolation  of  saying 


312        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

mass.  On  the  25th  of  May,  they  descried  the  palisade  around 
the  house  and  chapel  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  at  Sault  Ste. 
Marie  with  the  cultivated  fields  near  by.  After  enjoying 
the  hospitality  of  Fathers  Dablon  and  Marquette  for  a  time 
at  this  mission  the  two  Sulpitians  returned  to  Montreal.1 

La  Salle,  at  some  subsequent  period,  by  way  of  Lake  Erie 
reached  the  Illinois  or  some  other  affluent  of  the  Mississippi, 
but  made  no  report  and  made  no  claim,  having  failed  to 
reach  the  main  river. 

The  Jesuit  missionaries,  however,  had  not  abandoned  the 
subject.  Talon,  Intendant  of  Canada,  recommended  Louis 
Jolliet  to  Count  Frontenac  as  one  who  was  capable  of  under 
taking  an  exploration  which  he  deemed  important  for  the 
interest  of  France.  The  French  Government  in  Canada,  at 
last  resolved  to  send  out  an  expedition  of  discovery.  In 
November,  1672,  Frontenac  wrote  to  Colbert,  the  great  prime 
minister  of  France :  "  I  have  deemed  it  expedient  for  the 
service  to  send  the  Sieur  Jolliet  to  the  country  of  the  Mas- 
koutens,  to  discover  the  South  Sea  (Pacific  Ocean),  and  the 
great  river  called  Mississippi,  which  is  believed  to  empty 
into  the  gulf  of  California."  One  single  man  with  a  bark 
canoe  was  all  the  Provincial  Government  could  afford ;  but 
Jolliet  had  evidently  planned  his  course.  Like  the  Sulpitians 
he  proceeded  to  a  Jesuit  mission,  to  that  of  Father  James  Mar 
quette,  who  had  so  long  been  planning  a  visit  to  the  country 
of  the  Illinois,  and  who  speaking  no  fewer  than  six  Indian 
languages  was  admirably  fitted  for  such  an  exploration. 
That  missionary  received  permission  or  direction  from  his 
superiors  to  join  Jolliet  on  his  proposed  expedition,  and  there 
are  indications  that  the  venerable  Bishop  Laval,  to  accredit 


1  "  Voyage  de  MM.  Dollier  de  Casson  et  de  Galinee,  1669-70,"  Mou 
treal,  1875. 


MARQUETTE  AND  JOLLIET  313 

him  to  the  Spanish  authorities  whom  he  might  encounter, 
made  him  his  Vicar-General  for  the  lands  into  which  they 
were  to  penetrate.1  Jolliet  reached  Michilimackinac  on  the 
8th  of  December,  1672,  the  Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Con 
ception,  and  the  pious  missionary  with  whom  he  was  to 
make  the  exploration,  thenceforward  made  the  Immaculate 
Conception  the  title  of  his  discovery  and  mission.  They 
spent  the  winter  studying  their  projected  route  by  way  of 
Green  Bay,  acquiring  from  intelligent  Indians  all  possible 
knowledge  of  the  rivers  they  should  meet,  and  the  tribes  they 
would  encounter. 

All  this  information  they  embodied  on  a  sketch-map,  both 
possessing  no  little  topographical  skill.  On  the  17th  of 
May,  1673,  Father  Marquette  and  Jolliet  with  five  men  in 
two  canoes  set  out,  taking  no  provision  but  some  Indian  corn 
and  some  dried  meat.  Following  the  western  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan,  they  entered  Green  Bay,  and  ascended  Fox  River, 
undeterred  by  the  stories  of  the  Indians  who  warned  them  of 
the  peril  of  their  undertaking.  Guided  by  two  Miamis 
whom  they  obtained  at  the  Maskoutens'  town,  they  made  the 
portage  to  the  Wisconsin,  and  then  reciting  a  new  devotion 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  they  paddled  down  amid  awful  soli 
tudes,  shores  untenanted  by  any  human  dwellers.  Just  one 
month  from  their  setting  out  their  canoes  glided  into  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  hearts  of  all  swelled  with  exultant  joy. 


1  Father  Marquette,  though  never  Superior  of  the  Ottawa  missions,  was 
Vicar-General  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  and  apparently  in  his  quality  as 
missionary  to  the  Illinois,  as  his  successors  there,  Allouez  and  Gravier 
also  held  this  office,  then  the  priests  of  the  seminary  of  Quebec,  and  last 
of  all,  Rev.  Peter  Gibault.  (Letter  of  Father  Gravier  to  Bishop  Laval.) 
The  appointment  may  have  been  given  when  he  set  out  to  found  his 
Illinois  mission  in  1674,  but  there  is  no  apparent  reason  for  conferring 
such  a  dignity  on  him  then,  and  there  was  when  he  set  out  on  his 
voyage. 


314        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

The  dream  of  Father  Marquette's  life  was  accomplished ;  lie 
was  on  the  great  river  of  the  West,  to  which  he  gave  the 
name  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  On  and  on  their 
canoes  kept  while  they  admired  the  game  and  birds,  the  fish 
in  the  river,  the  changing  character  of  the  shores.  More 
than  a  week  passed  before  they  met  the  least  indication  of 
the  presence  of  man.  On  the  25th  they  saw  foot-prints  on 
the  western  shore,  and  an  Indian  trail  leading  inland.  The 
missionary  and  his  fellow-explorer  leaving  the  canoes  followed 
it  in  silence.  Three  villages  at  last  came  in  sight.  Their 
hail  brought  out  a  motley  group,  and  two  old  men  advanced 
with  calumets.  When  near  enough  to  be  heard  Father  Mar- 
quette  asked  who  they  were.  The  answer  was :  "  We  are 
Illinois."  The  missionary  was  at  the  towns  of  the  nation 
he  had  for  years  yearned  to  visit.  The  friendly  natives  es 
corted  them  to  a  cabin,  where  another  aged  Indian  welcomed 
them  :  u  How  beautiful  is  the  sun,  O  Frenchman,  when 
thou  comest  to  visit  us !  All  our  town  awaits  thee  and  thou 
shalt  enter  all  our  cabins  in  peace." 

These  Illinois  urged  the  missionary  to  stay  and  instruct 
them,  warning  him  against  the  danger  of  descending  the 
river,  but  they  gave  him  a  calumet  and  an  Indian  boy.  He 
promised  these  Illinois  of  the  Peoria  and  Moingona  bands 
to  return  the  next  year  and  abide  with  them.  Having  an 
nounced  the  first  gospel  tidings  to  the  tribe,  the  missionary 
with  his  associate  was  escorted  to  their  canoes  by  the  war 
riors.  Past  the  Piesa,  the  painted  rock  which  Indian  super 
stition  invested  with  terror  and  awe  ;  past  the  turbid  Mis 
souri,  pouring  its  vast  tide  into  the  Mississippi ;  past  the 
unrecognized  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  coming  down  from  the 
land  of  the  Senecas,  the  explorers  glided  along,  impelled  by 
the  current  and  their  paddles.  At  last  the  character  of  the 
country  changed,  canebrakes  replaced  the  forest  and  prairie, 


THE  MISSISSIPPI  EXPLORED.  315 

and  swarms  of  mosquitoes  hovered  over  laud  and  water. 
After  leaving  the  Illinois,  they  had  encountered  only  one 
single  Indian  band,  apparently  stragglers  from  the  East,  who 
recognized  the  dress  of  the  Catholic  priest.  To  them  he 
spoke  of  God  and  eternity.  But  as  the  canoes  neared  the 
Arkansas  River,  the  Metchigameas  on  the  western  bank  came 
out  in  battle  array,  a  band  of  the  Quappa  confederation  of 
Dakotas.  Hemming  in  the  French  above  and  below,  they 
filled  the  air  with  yells.  The  missionary  held  out  his  calu 
met  of  peace,  and  addressed  them  in  every  Indian  language 
he  knew.  At  last  an  old  man  answered  him  in  Illinois. 
Then  Father  Marquette  told  of  their  desire  to  reach  the  sea 
and  of  his  mission  to  teach  the  red  man  the  ways  of  God. 
All  hostile  demonstrations  ceased.  The  French  were  regaled 
and  referred  to  the  Arkansas,  the  next  tribe  below.  This 
more  friendly  nation,  then  OR  the  eastern  shore,  was  soon 
reached.  The  explorers  had  solved  the  great  question,  and 
made  it  certain  that  the  Mississippi  emptied  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  Jesuit  Father  had  published  the  gospel  as  well 
as  he  could  to  the  nations  he  had  met,  and  opened  the  way 
to  future  missions.  On  the  17th  of  July  they  turned  the 
bows  of  their  canoes  northward,  and  paddling  sturdily  against 
the  current  at  last  descried  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois.  On 
the  way  they  met  the  Peorias,  and  Father  Marquette  spent 
three  days  with  him,  explaining  in  each  cabin  the  funda 
mental  truths  of  religion.  That  he  made  some  impression 
we  can  see  by  the  fact  that  as  he  was  about  to  embark  they 
brought  him  a  dying  child  which  he  baptized,  the  first  re 
corded  administration  of  the  sacrament  on  the  banks  of  the 
great  river. 

The  voyage  of  the  priest  has  become  historic.  The  Gov 
ernment,  which  sent  his  companion,  Jolliet,  seems  to  have 
comprehended  less  the  value  of  the  discovery  to  France  than 


316         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

the  Church  did  the  great  field  of  labor  wliich  Providence 
had  laid  open  to  the  zeal  of  her  ministers.1 

Ascending  the  Illinois  River  the  missionary  reached  the 
town  of  the  Kaskaskias,  who  extorted  from  him  a  promise  to 
return  and  instruct  them.  A  chief,  with  a  band  of  warriors, 
escorted  the  party  to  Lake  Michigan,  and  following  its  west 
ern  bank  they  reached  Green  Bay  in  the  closing  days  of 
September.  While  Father  Marquette  was  thus  exploring  the 
territory  stretching  far  away  to  the  south,  there  had  been 
strange  scenes  in  the  Ottawa  missions.  The  Dakotas,  who 
had  so  long  been  at  war  with  the  Algonquin  tribes  around 
Lake  Superior,  sent  an  embassy  of  ten  leading  men  to  Sault 
Sainte  Marie  to  arrange  a  peace.  The  Chippewas,  or  Indians 
of  the  Sault,  received  them  with  hearty  welcome,  but  some 
Crees  and  Missisakis  resolved  to  kill  them,  and  when  the 
council  was  held  a  Cree  contrived  to  slip  in  armed  in  spite 
of  the  precautions  adopted.  He  struck  a  Dakota  a  deadly 
wound,  and  then  the  surviving  Dakotas,  believing  themselves 
betrayed,  turned  upon  the  Indians  nearest  them,  killing 
all  they  met.  Many  escaped,  and  the  Dakotas  barricaded 
the  house,  and  with  arms  they  found  kept  up  a  h're  on  those 
without  till  the  building  was  set  on  fire.  All  were  at  last 
slain,  with  two  of  their  women,  while  forty  Algonquins  were 
killed  or  wounded.  The  trading-house  in  which  they  met 
was  burned  to  the  ground,  and  the  flames  spread  to  the 
chapel  and  residence  of  the  missionary,  which  was  also  de 
stroyed.  As  their  ambassadors  were  killed  at  the  village  of 
the  Chippewas,  that  tribe,  though  not  the  assailants,  were  by 
Indian  law  responsible  to  the  Dakotas.  Dreading  the  resent- 

1  Marquette's  Narrative  is  in  French  and  in  English  in  Shea,  ' '  Discov 
ery  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  New  York,  1852,  pp.  3- 
52;  his  Life,  pp.  xli.-lxxx.  "'Relations  Inedites,"  i.,  pp.  193-204;  ii., 
pp.  239-329. 


HIS  LAST  ILLNESS.  31? 

merit  of  that  powerful  nation  they  fled,  and  of  the  mission 
conducted  by  Father  Druillettes  naught  remained  but  a  de 
serted  town  and  smoldering  ashes.  But  the  aged  missionary 
clung  to  his  flock,  and  after  a  time  began  to  restore  his 
chapel,  aided  by  the  Superior,  Father  Henry  Nouvel,  and  a 
lay  brother.1 

After  his  return  from  his  great  voyage,  Father  Marquette 
was  assigned  to  Green  Bay,  but  having  in  1674  obtained  per 
mission  to  undertake  to  establish  a  mission  among  the  Kas- 
kaskias,  he  set  out  in  November  with  two  companions, 
although  he  had  been  sick  all  the  summer.  The  disease 

O 

returned  before  he  had  reached  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan, 
and  he  cabined  for  the  winter  at  the  portage  of  a  river  lead 
ing  to  the  Illinois,  generally  regarded  as  the  Chicago.2  In 
the  spring  he  made  a  novena  in  honor  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  feeling  new  strength 
set  out  in  March  29,  1675,  and  in  eleven  days  reached  the 
town  of  the  Kaskaskias,  who  received  him  as  an  angel.  A 
chapel  was  soon  reared,  adorned  with  mats  and  furs  ;  at  the 
upper  end  the  missionary  draped  it  with  hangings  and  pic 
tures  of  Our  Lady.  After  delivering  his  words  and  presents 
to  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe,  he  preached  to  them,  and  then 
founded  his  mission  by  the  celebration  of  the  first  mass  in 
Illinois  on  Holy  Thursday,  1675.  After  beginning  his  reg 
ular  mission  labors  he  found  that  his  disease  was  assuming  a 
more  dangerous  form,  and  washing  to  die  assisted  by  his 
brethren,  he  set  out  for  Michilimackinac.  His  two  good 
canoe-men  took  the  missionary  with  all  care  to  Lake  Michi 
gan,  and  embarking  there  plied  their  paddles,  urging  their 
canoe  along  the  eastern  shore.  Convinced  that  he  would 

1  "  Relations  Inedites,"  i.,  pp.  205-210  ;  ii.,  pp.  3-8. 
-  Ibid.,  ii.,  pp.  23,  318. 


3L8        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

not  reach  his  old  mission,  Marquette  instructed  his  compan 
ions  how  to  assist  him  in  his  dying  moments,  and  to  bury 
him.  One  evening  as  they  landed  for  the  night,  he  told 
them  he  would  die  the  next  day  ;  they  put  up  a  bark  cabin 
as  well  as  they  could  and  placed  the  dying  missionary  in  this 
wretched  shelter.  He  heard  the  confessions  of  his  men,  and 
with  great  difficulty  recited  his  breviary — an  obligation  which 
he  always  scrupulously  performed.  Then  he  sent  them  to 
rest.  Some  hours  later  he  summoned  them  to  his  side,  and 
taking  off  his  crucifix  asked  them  to  hold  it  before  his  eyes. 
Rallying  his  strength  to  make  a  profession  of  faith,  and 
thanking  God  for  permitting  him  to  die  in  the  Society,  a 
missionary,  destitute  of  all  things,  he  continued  in  prayer  till 
his  strength  failed.  Seeing  him  about  to  depart,  his  faithful 
attendants  pronounced  the  names  of  Jesus  and  Mary,  which 
he  repeated  several  times,  then  sweetly  expired,  not  far  from 
midnight,  May  19, 1 675.  His  body  was  interred  in  the  place 
he  had  selected,  and  the  river  which  skirts  it  bears  his  name 
to  this  day  ;  but  some  Ottawas  in  1677  took  up  his  remains, 
and  placing  the  bones  in  a  box  of  bark,  carried  them  to  the 
mission  chapel  at  Michilimackinac.  The  remains  were  re 
ceived  with  solemnity  by  Father  Henry  Nouvel  and  Father 
Pierson,  and  after  a  funeral  service,  the  box  was  placed  in  a 
little  vault  in  the  middle  of  the  church,  "  where,"  wrote  Fa 
ther  Dablon,  "  he  reposes  as  the  guardian  angel  of  our  Ottawa 
missions."  His  piety,  zeal,  and  virtues  had  in  life  caused 
him  to  be  regarded  as  a  saint,  and  the  repute  increased  after 
his  holy  death.  Indian  and  white  came  to  pray  over  the  re 
mains  of  one  whom  all  believed  to  be  enjoying  the  beatific 
vision,  and  pleading  for  those  whose  salvation  had  been 
dearer  to  him  than  life.  His  devotion  to  the  Immaculate 
Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  remarkable.  On  his 
great  voyage  he  recited  with  his  companions  a  chaplet  he 


HIS  TOMB. 


319 


had  composed  to  honor  that  mystery  ;  he  gave  the  name  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception  to  the  Mississippi,  and  to  the 
mission  among  the  Kaskaskias,  which  has  never  lost  it. 
Providence  has  maintained  his  honor,  for  a  city  has  been 
named  after  him,  and  has  been  made  by  the  Pope  a  bishop's 
see.'  He  died  at  the  early  age  of  38,  having  borne  the  robe 
of  Saint  Ignatius  for  twenty-one  years. 

The  church  in  which  he  was  laid  away  was  burned  in 
1700,    when     the 
mission  was  aban 
doned.     For  years 
the  very  site  was 
unknown,  but  was 
finally   discovered 
in  1877,  by  Hev. 
Edward      Jacker, 
then  missionary  at 
Pointe   Saint    Ig- 
nace.   Excavations 
inside  the  founda 
tion-walls,     about 
the  centre  in  front 
of  the  altar  reveal 
ed  a  decaying  bark 
box        containing 
pieces    of  human   bones.     To   his  mind   and  to   those   of 
students  generally,  there  was  little  doubt  that  remains  thus 
peculiarly  committed  to  the   earth  were  those   of   Father 
James  Marquette,  of  Laon,  interred  there  in  precisely  that 
form  in   1677.     The   learned  priest,  thoroughly  versed  in 

1  "Relations  Inedites,"  ii.,  pp.  21-33,  290-330;  "Relation,"  1673-9, 
pp.  100-120 :  Shea,  "  Discovery  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  pp.  53-66, 
258-264. 


SITE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE'S  CHAPEL  AND 
GRAVU.  AT  POINTE  SAINT  IGNACE,  MICH., 
IDENTIFIED  AND  ENCLOSED  BY  V.  REV.  E. 
JACKER. 


320        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

all  the  early  history  of  the  missions,  was  not  a  man  to  be 
hasty  in  conclusions.  He  surrounded  the  spot  once  con 
secrated  to  religion  with  a  fence  to  preserve  it  from  neglect.1 

The  last  work  of  Father  Marquette,  the  mission  he  founded 
at  Kaskaskia,  was  zealously  taken  up  by  Father  Allouez, 
who  set  out  from  Green  Bay,  in  October,  1676,  but  win 
ter  set  in  so  suddenly  that  he  could  not  proceed  till  February. 
"When  he  reached  Kaskaskia,  at  the  close  of  April,  he  found 
not  only  that  band,  but  several  others  of  the  Illinois  nation. 
Here  he  planted  a  cross  and  began  his  labors,  which  he  re 
newed  the  following  year.8 

The  great  discovery  made  by  Jolliet  and  Father  Marquette 
did  not  at  first  prompt  the  French  Government  to  any 
scheme  for  planting  colonies  to  cultivate  the  rich  lands  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  or  develop  its  mineral  wealth.  A 
plan  of  settlement  proposed  by  Jolliet  was  rejected.  The 
attitude  of  the  English  in  New  York  began,  however,  to  ex 
cite  alarm,  but  their  action  was  regarded  as  a  menace  to  the 
French  fur  trade  rather  than  a  step  toward  the  destruction 
of  French  power  in  America.  The  Count  de  Frontenac, 
governor  of  Canada,  went  up  to  Lake  Ontario,  and  at  a  spot 
near  the  present  Kingston,  called  by  the  Iroquois  Cataro- 
couy,  laid  in  July,  1673,  the  foundation  of  a  fort  to  bear  his 
name.  The  engineers  traced  the  fort,  and  the  soldiers  soon 
threw  up  earthworks  and  stockades.  France  had  planted 
her  first  fort  on  the  lakes.  The  command  of  this  outpost 
was  soon  given  to  La  Salle.  He  was  full  of  projects  for 
building  up  his  fortunes  in  the  West,  not  by  colonization 
and  agriculture,  but  by  controlling  the  fur  trade.  Many 

1  "  Catholic  World,"  xxvi.,  p.  267.     Our  illustration  shows  the  site  of 
the  old  chapel  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jacker  near  it. 

2  "Relations  Inedites,"   pp.    306-317;    "Relation,"  1673-9,   p.    121; 
Shea,  "Discovery  of  the  Mississippi,"  pp.  67-77. 


THE  RECOLLECTS.  321 

members  of  his  family  and  others  in  France  entered  into  his 
schemes,  and  he  obtained  a  grant  of  Fort  Frontenac,  and  a 
patent  to  explore  the  West  with  a  monopoly  of  trade.  Fron 
tenac  suggested  that  a  fort  should  be  established  at  Niagara, 
and  a  vessel  built  on  Lake  Erie.1 

All  this  La  Salle  undertook  to  accomplish.  After  rebuild 
ing  Fort  Frontenac  with  stone,  he  prepared  to  conduct  an 
expedition  to  the  West.  The  grandiloquence  with  which 
he  announced  his  projects  led  to  the  wildest  hopes  of  results. 
A-  sycophant  of  Frontenac,  he  was  in  full  harmony  with  that 
governor's  hostility  to  the  Bishop,  secular  clergy,  and  the 
Jesuits.  He  solicited  Recollect  Fathers  as  chaplains  of  his 
posts  and  expeditions.  There  were  at  the  moment  in  Can 
ada  several  Flemish  Recollects  whom  Louis  XIV.  had  torn 
from  their  convents  in  territory  he  had  wrested  from  Spain, 
and  forced  to  annex  themselves  to  a  French  province.  The 
Superiors  there  gladly  sent  their  unsolicited  recruits  to  Can 
ada,  and  the  Superior  of  their  order  at  Quebec  having  no 
field  to  employ  them  in  the  colony,  gladly  assigned  a  large 
number  of  them  to  La  Salle.  Of  these  sons  of  St.  Francis 
the  Superior  was  the  aged  Father  Gabriel  de  la  Ribourde, 
last  scion  of  an  old  Btirgundian  house,  and  under  him  were 
Fathers  Zenobius  Membre,  Louis  Hennepin,  Luke  Buisson, 
and  Melithon  Watteaux. 

The  Sieur  de  la  Motte  in  a  brigantine  accompanied  by 
Father  Hennepin  reached  the  outlet  of  Niagara  River,  De 
cember  6,  1673,  and-  the  Recollect  father  chanted  the  Te 
Deum  in  thanksgiving.  Leaving  their  vessel  there  they 


1  Frontenac  to  Colbert,  November  14,  1674,  "New  York  Col.  Doc.," 
ix.,  p.  121.  In  this  very  dispatch  he  announced  that  a  Dutch  frigate, 
"  The  Flying  Horse,"  had  captured  Fort  Pentagoet.  The  only  spot  within 
ou"  present  limits  where  there  was  a  chapel  for  French  Catholics,  had 
thus  been  temporarily  lost. 
21  ' 


322        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

went  in  canoes  to  the  Mountain  Ridge,  where  a  rock  still 
bears  Hennepin's  name.  Climbing  the  heights  of  Lewiston, 
they  came  in  sight  of  the  mighty  cataract,  where  the  massed 
waters  of  the  upper  lakes  rushing  through  the  narrow  channel, 
plunge  down  what  seemed  to  their  astounded  eyes  as  many 
hundreds  of  feet.  Father  Hennepin  gave  the  first  published 
description  of  this  wonder  of  the  Western  world. 

Looking  for  suitable  land  to  settle  on,  they  reached  Chip- 
pewa  Creek,  where  they  slept,  and  returning  the  next  morn 
ing,  Father  Hennepin  offered  the  first  mass  on  the  Niagara, 
where  La  Motte  and  his  men  were  gathered  to  build  a  fort 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river.1  The  Indians  showed  such  hos 
tility  to  the  fort  that  it  was  abandoned,  and  La  Motte  be 
gan  a  house  and  stockade  at  the  Great  Rock  on  the  east  side, 
which  he  called  Fort  de  Conty.  Here  Father  Hennepin  at 
once  began  to  erect  a  bark  house  and  chapel.2 

Returning  to  Fort  Frontenac  after  blessing  the  "  Griffin," 
the  first  vessel  on  Lake  Erie,  which  La  Salle  had  built  above 
the  falls,  Father  Hennepin  came  up  again  with  the  Superior 
of  the  mission.  Father  Gabriel  de  la  Ribourde,  and  Father 
Zenobius  Membre,  and  Melithon  Watteaux.  La  Salle  made  a 
grant  of  land  at  Niagara  to  the  Recollect  Fathers  for  a  resi 
dence  and  cemetery,  May  27,  1679,  and  this  was  the  first 
Catholic  Church  property  in  the  present  State  of  New  York. 
When  the  "  Griffin  "  sailed,  Father  Melithon  Watteaux  remain1 
ed  in  the  palisaded  house  at  Niagara  as  chaplain,  and  he  ranks 
as  the  first  Catholic  priest  appointed  to  minister  to  whites  in 
New  York.3 

1  Hennepin,  "  Relation  of  Louisiana,"  p.  68. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  74.    "  Tonty  in  Margry,"  i.,  p.  576.    The  projected  fort  was 
soon  destroyed  by  fire.     Ibid.,  ii.,  p.  12. 

a  Le  Clercq,  "Establishment  of  the  Faith,"  ii.,  p.  112;  Hennepiu. 
"  Nouvelle  Decouverte,"  p.  108. 


RECOLLECT  CHAPELS.  323 

La  Salle's  party  on  his  barque,  the  "  Griffin,"  reached  Michi- 
limakinac,  where  at  Pointe  Saint  Ignace,  the  Jesuit  Fathers 
had  their  mission  church,  and  minor  chapels  for  the  Hurons 
and  Ottawas.  After  some  stay  here  the  expedition  entered 
Green  Bay,  whence  La  Salle  sent  the  vessel  back  to  Niagara 
with  a  load  of  furs,  but  it  never  reached  its  port,  and  the 
fate  of  the  first  vessel  which  plowed  the  waters  of  the 
upper  lakes  is  involved  in  mystery.  La  Salle  then  kept  on 
in  canoes  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  his  party  con 
sisting  of  himself,  the  three  Franciscan  Fathers,  and  ten  other 
persons. 

Reaching  the  mouth  of  St.  Joseph's  River,  La  Salle,  dur 
ing  the  month  of  November,  threw  up  a  rude  fort,  and  in  it 
the  Recollect  Fathers  built  a  bark  cabin,  the  first  Catholic 
church  in  the  lower  peninsula  of  Michigan.  It  was  appar 
ently  dedicated  to  Saint  Anthony  of  Padua,  as  the  com 
mander  on  the  voyage  had  promised  to  dedicate  the  first 
chapel  to  that  saint.1  Here  the  three  priests  officiated  for 
the  party,  swelled  by  Tonty's  detachment,  preaching  on  Sun 
days  and  holidays. 

Setting  out  from  this  post  in  December  by  toilsome  travel 
and  portage,  La  Salle  reached  the  country  of  the  Illinois  In 
dians,  and  throwing  up  a  little  fort,  began  to  build  a  vessel 
in  which  to  descend  the  Mississippi.  Fort  Crevecoeur  was  a 
little  below  the  present  episcopal  city  of  Peoria.  Upon  the 
arrival  of  the  party  there,  Father  Gabriel  de  la  Ribourde, 
with  his  fellow-priests,  Fathers  Zenobius  Membre  and  Louis 
Ilennepin,  raised  a  cabin  as  a  chapel  for  the  French  and  for 
the  Illinois  Indians.  This  little  chapel  was  of  boards,  but 
they  were  unable  to  say  mass,  their  little  stock  of  wine,  made 


1  Heunepin,  "Description  of  Louisiana,"  pp.  96,  133,  177 ;  Le  Clercq, 
"  Establishment  of  the  Faith,"  ii.,  pp.  114,  117,  130. 


324        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

from  wild  grapes  gathered  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan, 
having  failed  them.  The  services  in  the  chapel  consisted 
only  of  singing  vespers  and  occasional  sermons  after  morning 
prayers. 

La  Salle  hearing  no  tidings  of  his  barque,  which  was  to  have 
brought  his  supplies,  set  out  for  Forts  ^Niagara  and  Fronte- 
nac,  having  first  dispatched  Father  Hennepin,  with  two  of 
his  men,  in  a  canoe  to  ascend  the  Mississippi  River.  Leav- 
ine-  his  two  fellow-religious  at  Fort  Crevecoeur,  this  Francis- 

o  "  ' 

can  descended  the  Illinois  River  to  its  mouth,  and  after  being 
a  month  on  the  Mississippi,  fell  in  April  into  the  hand?  of  a 
large  war  party  of  Sioux,  who  carried  him  and  his  compan 
ions  up  to  their  country,  where  he  saw  and  named  the  Falls 
of  Saint  Anthony.  Held  captive  for  some  months,  Father 
Hennepin  and  his  companions  were  rescued  by  Daniel  Grey- 
soloii  du  Lhut,  who,  after  wintering  in  the  Sioux  country, 
returned  for  further  exploration.  With  this  protection  Fa 
ther  Hennepin  reached  Green  Bay  by  way  of  the  Wisconsin 
River,1  having  been  the  first  to  announce  the  gospel  in  the 
land  of  the  Dakotas. 

The  party  left  at  Fort  Crevecoeur  had  meanwhile  had 
a  dangerous  and  tragic  experience.  Devoting  himself  as 
aid  to  his  Superior  in  instructing  the  Illinois,  Father  Membre 
took  up  his  residence  in  the  cabin  of  the  chief,  Ouma- 
houha,  to  whom  La  Salle  had  made  presents  to  insure  his 
good  treatment  of  the  missionary  ;  but  the  slow  progress 
he  made  in  the  language  and  the  brutal  habits  of  the  Indians 
effectually  discouraged  him.  Gradually,  however,  he  ac 
quired  some  knowledge  of  the  language  and  began  to  instruct 
the  people,  finding  it  difficult  to  make  any  impression  on  the 
minds  of  these  Indians.  Tonty,  who  was  left  in  command 


Hennepin,  "  Description  of  Louisiana,"  pp.  192-259. 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  RIBOURDE.  325 

of  the  fort,  was  soon  deserted  by  most  of  his  men,  and  the 
aged  Father  de  la  Eibourde  was  adopted  by  Asapista,  an  Illi 
nois  chief.  When  the  clusters  of  grapes,  carefully  watched 
by  the  missionaries,  began  to  ripen  in  the  summer  sun,  they 
pressed  them,  and  enjoyed  the  consolation  of  offering  the 
holy  sacrifice  in  their  chapel,  the  second  Catholic  shrine  in 
Illinois.  They  followed  the  Indians  in  their  summer  hunts 
and  Father  Membre  visited  the  Miamis,  but  the  fruit  of  their 
labors  was  not  encouraging  ;  they  baptized  some  dying  chil 
dren  and  adults,  but  conferred  the  sacrament  of  regeneration 
on  only  two  adults  in  health,  in  whom  they  found,  as  they 
supposed,  solidity  and  a  spirit  of  perseverance,  yet  were  dis 
tressed  to  see  one  of  these  die  in  the  hands  of  the  medicine 
men.  In  September  the  Illinois  were  attacked  by  an  Iroquois 
army  and  fled.  Tonty  and  the  missionaries  escaped  narrowly, 
and  seeing  no  alternative,  set  out  to  reach  Green  Bay  in  a 
wretched  bark  canoe,  without  any  provisions.  The  next  day 
an  accident  to  the  canoe  compelled  them  to  land  ;  while 
Tonty  and  Father  Membre  were  busy  repairing  the  damage, 
Father  Gabriel  de  la  Kibourde  retired  to  the  shade  of  a 
neighboring  grove  to  recite  the  office  of  the  day  in  his 
Breviary.  When  toward  evening  they  sought  the  venerable 
priest,  no  trace  of  him  could  be  found.  Three  Kickapoos 
had  come  upon  him,  and  although  they  recognized  him  as  a 
Frenchman  and  a  missionary,  they  killed  him  and  threw  his 
body  into  a  hole,  carrying  off  all  he  had,  even  his  breviary 
and  diurnal.  These  subsequently  fell  into  the  hands  of  a 
Jesuit  missioner. 

Father  Gabriel  de  la  Bibourde  was  the  last  of  a  noble  fam 
ily  in  Burgundy  who  gave  up  all  to  enter  the  Order  of  Saint 
Francis.  After  being  master  of  novices  at  Bethune,  he  came 
to  Canada  in  1670,  and  was  the  first  Superior  of  the  restored 
Kecollect  mission  in  Canada.  He  was  in  his  seventieth  year 


326        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

when  he  fell  by  the  hands  of  the  prowling  savages  Septem 
ber  9,  1GS0.1 

After  enduring  great  hardships,  want,  and  illness,  Father 
Membre  reached  the  Jesuit  mission  at  Green  Bay,  and  he 
says  that  he  could  not  sufficiently  acknowledge  the  charity 
which  the  Fathers  there  displayed  to  him  and  his  compan 
ions.   Father  Enjalran 

/tnriJU  fiuJkar^Jot'  fa*     then  accompanied  him 
^  to       Michilimakinac, 

FAC-SIMI^E    OF  THE    SIGNATUKE   OF  FATHEK    wWther    Father    Hen. 
JOHN   EXJALRAN. 

nepin    had    preceded 

them.  He  had  recovered  some  of  their  vestments  at  Green 
Bay,  where  he,  too.  was  able  to  say  mass,  after  which  he  win 
tered  at  Michilimakinac  with  Father  Pierson. 

When  La  Salle  set  out  in  November,  1681,  to  descend  the 
Mississippi,  Father  Zenobius  Membre  bore  him  company,  and 
his  account  of  the  canoe  voyage  is  preserved.  He  planted 
the  cross  at  the  Quappa  town  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  endeavoring  to  announce,  as  well  as  he  could,  the  great 
truths  of  religion  to  the  tribes  he  met  on  the  way.  It  was 
his  privilege  to  intone  the  Yexilla  Regis  and  the  Te  Deum 
when  they  reached  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  amiable  relig 
ious  returned  with  La  Salle  to  Europe  by  the  way  of  Canada, 
and  the  Recollect  mission  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  came  to 
a  close.  "  All  we  have  done,"  says  Father  Membre,  "  has 
been  to  see  the  state  of  these  nations,  and  to  open  the  way  to 
the  gospel  and  to  missionaries,  having  baptized  only  two  in- 


1  Le  Clercq,  "  Establishment  of  the  Faith,"  ii.,  pp.  128-157  ;  Letter  of  La 
Salle  in  Margry,  "  Decouvertes  et  Etablissements  des  Fran^ais,"  Paris, 
1877,  ii.,  p.  124.  "  Relation  de  Henri  de  Tonty,"  ibid.,  i.,  p.  588  ;  Hen- 
nepiu,  "  Description  de  la  Louisiane,"  Paris,  1683  ;  New  York,  1880,  pp. 
266-9. 


VICARIATES-APOSTOLIC  ERECTED.  327 

fants,  whom  I  saw  at  the  point  of  death,  and  who,  in  fact, 
died  in  our  presence."  ' 

There  is  reason  to  believe,  however,  that  the  Recollects 
regarded  the  Mississippi  Yalley  as  a  field  assigned  to  them, 
and  the  whole  influence  of  Count  de  Frontenac,  the  Governor 
of  Canada,  supported  by  the  French  Government,  wras  given 
to  the  Recollects  and  directed  against  the  bishop  and  his  sec 
ular  clergy,  and  against  the  Jesuits  who  shared  the  views  of 
the  bishop.  La  Salle  was  in  ardent  sympathy  with  Frontenac, 
and  his  papers  and  those  of  his  friends  show  the  most  viru 
lent  hatred  of  the  Jesuits.  The  venerable  Father  Allouez, 
who  had  labored  so  long  and  fruitfully  in  the  northwest,  was 
a  special  object  of  La  Salle's  detestation,  and  he  was  ready  to 
lay  any  crime  to  the  missionary's  charge. 

In  this  position  of  affairs  the  French  Government  was  in 
duced  to  ask  the  Holy  See  to  erect  one  or  more  Vicariates- 
Apostolic  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  the  hopes  of  a  success 
ful  mission  appeared  to  the  Propaganda  so  well  founded  that 
Vicariates  were  actually  established.  But  when  information 
of  this  step  reached  Bishop  Saint  Vallier  at  Quebec,  he  for 
warded  to  Paris  and  Rome  a  strong  protest  against  the  dis 
memberment  of  his  diocese,  without  his  knowledge  or  con 
sent.  He  claimed  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  as  having  been 
discovered  by  Father  Marquette,  a  priest  of  his  diocese,  and 
Louis  Jolliet,  a  pupil  of  his  Seminary.  He  claimed  that  Fa 
ther  Marquette  had  preached  to  the  nations  on  that  river  and 
baptized  Indians  there  more  than  twelve  years  before.  Louis 
XIY.  referred  the  matter  to  three  commissioners,  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Paris,  the  King's  Coufessor,  and  the  Marquis  de 
Seignelay,  and  on  their  report  he  solicited  from  the  Holy  See 
a  revocation  of  the  Yicariates  which  had  been  established.2 

1  Le  Clercq,  "  Establishment  of  the  Faith,"  ii.,  p.  194. 

9  "  Memoire  pour  faire  connaitre  au  Roy  que  tous  les  missionnaires  de 


328        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

The  Recollect  Fathers  had,  however,  withdrawn  from  the 
West,  and  the  whole  care  of  the  missions  and  of  the  only 
French  post,  Fort  Saint  Louis,  established  by  La  Sulle  at 
Starved  Rock,  on  the  Illinois  River,  near  the  Big  Yermillion, 

devolved  on  the  Jes 
uits.  The  missiona 
ries  of  that  order  were 
the  veteran  Allouez, 
wno  labored  among 
the  JViiamis,  visiting 
Fort  Saint  Louis  from 

time  to  time;  Henry 
Nouvel  and  Enjalran 

at  Green  Bay ;  Alba- 
nel?Bailloquetijames 

PAC-SIMILE8  OP  THE  SIGNATURES  OF  FATHERS     Gravier,     Claude    Av- 
ALBANEL,     BAILLOQUET,    GRAVIER,     AND    ^  ^        ^ 

MAREST.  r 

Carheil    and    Kicolas 

Potier  ;  while  John  Joseph  Marest,  of  a  family  to  be  long 
connected  with  the  West,  was  assigned  to  a  projected  mission 
among  the  Sioux.1 

Nicholas  Perrot,  one  of  the  most  capable  and  honest  of 
the  French  pioneers  of  the  West,  a  man  whose  solid  services 
contrast  nobly  with  the  great  vaporings  and  petty  results  of 
La  Salle,  was  a  steady  friend  of  the  Catholic  development  of 

la  Nouvellc  France  y  doivcnt  travailler  sons  la  dependance  de  1'Evgque 
de  Quebec,"  by  Bishop  St.  Vallier. .  The  date  must  be  about  1685.  See, 
too,  Letter  of  the  Bishop,  August  20,  1688.  Margry,  iii.,  p.  579.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  ascertain  the  names  and  limits  of  these  Vicariates, 
the  first  distinct  organization  in  this  country,  but  these  details  cannot  yet 
be  traced  in  the  archives  of  the  Propaganda. 

1  "  New  York  Co'.  Documents,"  ix.,  p.  418  ;  Charlevoix,  "  History  of 
New  France,"  Catalogue  S.  J.,  1688 ;  Baugy,  "  Journal  d'une  Expedition 
contre  les  Iroquois  en  1687,"  Paris,  1883,  p.  166  ;  F.  Henri  Nouvel  to  De 
la  Barre,  April  23,  1684,  in  Margry,  ii.,  p.  344. 


PERRONS  MONSTRANCE. 


329 


the  West,  and  that  he  was  especially  a  benefactor  of  the 
Church  at  Green  Bay  is  attested  by  one  of  the  most  interest 
ing  relics  preserved  in  the  country.  This  is  a  silver  mon 
strance,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Bishop  of  Green  Bay, 
which  bears  an  inscription  telling  when  and  by  whom  it  was 
given.  Though  buried  for  generations  on  the  site  of  the  old 
chapel  at  the  Kapide  des  Peres,  it  is  so  well  preserved  that 


PEBROT'S  MONSTRANCE  AND  BASE,  SHOWING  INSCRIPTION. 


its  original  beauty  can  be  seen.  On  the  base  is  the  inscrip 
tion  :  "  *  Ce  soleil  a  ete  donne  par  M.  Mcolas  Perrot  a  la 
mission  de  St.  Frangois  Xavier  en  la  Baye  des  Puants.  %t 
1686."  "  This  ostensorium  was  given  to  the  mission  of  St. 
Francis  Xavier  at  Green  Bay  by  Nicolas  Perrot,  1686." 

i  A  writer,  who  imbibed  from  La  Salle  and  Margry  a  rooted  prej 
udice  against  the  Jesuits,  we  regret  to  say,  has  thrown  on  this  noble 


330        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

The  missionaries  were  in  early  times  the  only  representa 
tives  of  civilized  authority  on  the  frontier,  and  alone  exer 
cised  control  over  the  bushlopers  and  independent  fur-trad 
ers.  Under  the  ban  of  the  law,  as  most  of  them  were,  for 
the  French  authorities  in  Canada  favored  only  trading  com 
panies  and  monopolists,  these  irregular  traders,  many  of  them 
born  in  the  country  and  known  from  boyhood  to  the  mission 
priests,  found  in  them  monitors  in  their  waywardness,  con 
solers  in  sickness  and  affliction,  encouragers  in  all  that  tended 
to  keep  them  within  the  laws  of  moral  and  civilized  life. 
Frequently  aided  by  them  in  their  long  journeys,  and  re 
lieved  by  their  aid,  the  missionaries  naturally  sympathized 
with  these  young  men  of  Canadian  birth,  and  as  naturally 
were,  at  times,  reproached  by  those  who  grasped  at  the  mo 
nopoly  of  the  fur  trade  on  the  lakes.1 

De  la  Barre,  when  Governor  of  Canada,  was  as  favorable 
to  the  missionaries  as  Frontenac  and  his  sycophant  La  Salle 
had  been  hostile.  In  his  instructions  to  La  Durantaye,  an 
officer  sent  West  in  1683,  he  says  :  "  As  the  Kev.  Jesuit  Fa 
thers  are  the  best  informed  as  to  the  manner  of  treating1  with 


explorer  the  odium  of  attempting  to  poison  La  Salle.  But  Xicolas 
Perrot,  who  was  Captain  of  the  Cote  de  Becancour  in  1670,  and  who 
had  acted  as  the  representative  of  the  French  Government  in  the  West, 
could  not  be  the  man  who  was  valet  to  La  Salle.  Another  person  of  the 
name  was  a  hired  servant  to  the  Sulpitians  in  1667  (Faillon,  iii..  p.  220), 
and  a  workman  at  Fort  Frontenac  (Margry).  He  is,  in  all  probability, 
the  valet  of  La  Salle. 

1  In  the  constant  flings  at  them  in  the  dispatches  of  Frontenac  and  the 
writings  of  La  Salle,  this  should  be  borne  in  mind.  Any  missionary, 
Catholic  or  Protestant,  isolated  on  the  frontier  would  be  similarly  influ 
enced.  Father  Marquette's  unfinished  journal  gives  us  a  kind  of  photo 
graph  of  life  on  the  lakes  in  those  days,  and  the  punning  words  that 
close  it  are  a  kind  of  apology  for  the  coureurs  de  bois.  "  Si  les  Francois 
out  des  robbes  de  ce  pays  icy,  ils  ne  les  desrobbent  pas,  tant  les  fatigues 
sent  grands  pour  les  en  tirer." 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  ALLOUEZ.  331 

the  Indians,  and  the  most  zealous  for  Christianity,  he  will 
place  confidence  in  them,  will  afford  them  all  satisfaction  in 
his  power,  and  treat  them  as  persons  for  whom  I  entertain  a 
profound  respect  and  a  great  esteem." 

Tout}7,  while  faithful  to  La  Salle,  did  not  share  the  preju 
dices  of  his  commander,  and  not  only  availed  himself  of  the 
services  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  at  Fort  St.  Louis,  but  sought 
to  have  them  in  the  territory  on  the  Arkansas  granted  him 
by  La  Salle,  where  he  gave  them  land  for  a  chapel  and  a 
mission. 

The  enterprises  of  La  Salle,  involving  a  monopoly  of  trade, 
had  excited  great  discontent  in  Canada  and  the  West,  and  his 
overbearing  manner  and  violence  had  created  him  many  ene 
mies.  The  Iroquois  saw  with  no  favorable  eye  his  forts  at 
Catarocouy,  Niagara,  and  on  the  Illinois.  They  were  a  con 
stant  menace  to  the  existence  and  trade  of  the  Five  Nations. 
In  1683  a  Seneca  force  was  sent  against  Fort  Saint  Louis  in 
Illinois,  plundering  French  traders  on  the  way.  They  ex 
pected  to  take  the  post  by  surprise,  but  the  Chevalier  Baugv 
and  Tonty  had  been  warned,  and  repulsed  the  Iroquois  with 
loss.1  The  brave  Breton,  de  la  Durantaye,  hearing  of  the 
danger  of  the  fort,  had  set  out  for  its  relief,  accompanied  by 
an  Indian  force,  and  the  veteran  Father  Allouez,  who,  rising 
above  all  personal  motives,  was  ready  to  endure  toil  and 
danger  to  save  the  lives  and  property  of  La  Salle's  colony  on 
the  Illinois.11 

Father  Claude  Allouez,  the  founder  of  Catholicity  in  the 
West,  closed  his  long  labors  by  a  happy  death  on  the  27th  or 
28th  of  August,  1689,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age, 

1  Margry,  ii.,  pp.  338,  344  ;  Charlevoix,  "  History  of  New  France,"  iii., 
p.  244;   "N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.,"  ix.,  p.  239;  "  Mercure  Galant,"  August, 
1685,  pp.  340-350. 

2  Tonty  in  Margry,  p.  22. 


332        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

t 

having  been  nearly  thirty  years  on  the  missions  around  Lake 
Superior  and  Lake  Michigan,  which  he  had  created.1 

The  Iroquois  had  thus  openly  made  war  on  the  French, 
and  de  la  Barre  prepared  to  invade  their  territory  with  a 
force  sufficient  to  punish  their  perfidy.  The  other  cantons 
renewed  their  treaties  with  the  French,  so  that  de  la  Barre 
was  able  to  throw  his  whole  army  on  the  Senecas. 

The  missionaries  in  that  nation  were  no  longer  safe  ;  Fa 
thers  Fremin  and  Pierron  returned  to  Canada,  followed  in 
1683  by  Father  Garnier ;  the  Cayuga  chiefs  plundered  Fa 
ther  de  Carheil,  and  in  1684  drove  him  from  the  canton. 
The  missionaries  on  the  Mohawk  withdrew,  and  Father 
Milet,  leaving  Oneida,  proceeded  to  the  camp  of  de  la  Barre 
at  Hungry  Bay.  The  Catholic  missions  among  the  Five 
Nations  were  suspended,  except  at  Onondaga,  where  the  two 
brothers  in  blood  and  religion,  Fathers  John  and  James  de 
Lamberville,  still  maintained  their  chapel. 

De  la  Barre  was  induced  by  the  other  cantons  to  accept 
vague  promises  made  on  behalf  of  the  Senecas,  with  whom 
he  made  peace  and  returned  to  Canada.  The  Senecas,  how 
ever,  neglected  to  carry  out  the  treaty  on  their  side,  and  after 
a  general  council  at  Albany,  a  force  was  sent  by  the  Five 
Nations  against  the  Ottawas  in  Michigan. 

The  Marquis  de  Denonville,  who  had  arrived  as  Governor 
of  Canada,  made  all  preparations  for  a  vigorous  campaign. 
Father  John  de  Lamberville  went  down  to  Canada  to  confer 
with  him,  leaving  his  brother  alone  at  Onondaga.  Colonel 

* 

1  Pie  was  born  at  Saint  Didier  en  Forest,  and  studied  at  the  College  of 

Puy  en  Velay,  where  he  was  under  the  direction  of  Saint  Francis  Regis. 
Entering  the  Society  of  Jesus  with  one  of  his  brothers,  he  was  sent  to 
Canada  in  1658.  His  first  labors  were  near  Quebec,  but  August  8,  1665, 
he  left  Three  Rivers  for  his  great  Western  mission.  To  his  merit  there 
is  uniform  testimony,  and  the  only  dissonant  voice  is  that  of  La  Salle. 
Margry,  "  Decouvertes  et  Etablissements  des  Francais,"  i.,  pp.  59-64. 


FATHER  LAMBERVILLE' S  PERIL.  333 

Dongan,  Governor  of  New  York,  was  inciting  the  Iroquois 
against  the  French  and  endeavored  to  obtain  possession  of 
Father  James  de  Lamberville  ;  but  he  remained,  and  soon 
joined  by  his  brother,  they  continued  their  mission  amid 
a  thousand  dangers.  In  1686  the  younger  Father  was 
recalled,  and  when  Denonvjlle  was  ready  to  take  the  field, 
Father  John  de  Lamberville  was  sent  to  Onondaga,  mainly 
to  cover  his  designs.  To  prevent  knowledge  of  his  move 
ments  reaching  the  Indians,  the  governor  arrested  all  the 
Iroquois  in  the  colony,  entrapping  those  living  near  Fort 
Catarocouy,  and  even  treating  as  prisoners  some  who  assumed 
to  be  ambassadors  from  the  cantons.  These  prisoners  were 
sent  to  France  to  be  treated  as  galley-slaves. 

The  missionary  stood  alone  at  Onondaga.  In  the  eyes  of 
the  Indians  he  was  responsible  for  the  apparently  treacherous 
acts  of  the  governor,  whose  envoy  he  had  been.  But  Teior- 
hensere  was  respected  for  his  virtues.  The  sachems  of  Onon 
daga  addressed  him  in  noble  words.  They  knew  the  honesty 
of  his  heart  too  well  to  believe  him  capable  of  duplicity,  but 
the  young  braves  would  hold  him  responsible.  "  It  is  not 
safe  for  thee  to  remain  here.  All,  perhaps,  will  not  render 
thee  the  justice  that  we  do,  and  when  once  our  young  men 
have  sung  the  war  song  ....  they  will  hearken  only  to 
their  fury,  from  which  it  would  be  no  longer  in  our  power 
to  rescue  thee."  They  gave  him  guides  and  a  guard,  insist 
ing  that  he  should  depart  at  once,  and  led  by  devious  paths 
the  missionary,  after  closing  the  last  Catholic  chapel  in  the 
land  of  the  Five  Nations,  reached  his  countrymen  in  safety. 

The  missions  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  among  the  five  Iro 
quois  nations  begun  with  the  tortures  of  the  saintly  Isaac 
Jogues,  and  maintained  amid  all  disheartening  opposition  for 
forty  years,  closed  virtually  with  the  noble  retirement  of 
Father  John  de  Lamberville.  After  this  the  Catholics  in 


334        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

the  cantons  could  depend  only  on  occasional  visits  of  a  priest, 
and  many  gradually  joined  the  village  at  Sault  Saint  Louis, 
or  that  under  the  Sulpitians  on  the  island  of  Montreal. 

Denouville  in  his  expedition  against  the  Senecas,  had  a 
force  of  western  Indians,  who  came  attended  by  Father 
Enjalran.  In  the  action  with  the  Senecas  at  Gannagaro 
(Boughton's  Hill),  this  missionary  laboring  among  his  In 
dians  received  a  severe  and  dangerous  wound. 

After  ravaging  the  Seneca  towns,  Denonville  erected  a 
fort  at  Niagara  and  garrisoned  it.  The  chapel  here  was  the 
next  shrine  of  Catholicity.  La  Salle's  block-house  and  Fa 
ther  Melithon's  chapel  within  it  had  been  burned  by  the 
Senecas  twelve  years  before.  Now  within  the  stockade  were 
some  eight  cabins,  one  set  apart  for  the  priest,  and  another 
with  double  door  and  three  small  windows  was  evidently  the 
chapel.  Here  the  Chevalier  de  la  Motthe  was  left  with  a 
garrison  of  a  hundred  men,  but  the  provisions  furnished 
were  so  unfit,  that  they  bred  disease  that  swept  off  most  of 
the  French,  including  the  commander.1  Father  John  de 
Lamberville,  who  had  gone  there  to  minister  to  the  garrison, 
was  stricken  down  with  the  disease,  and  in  1687  the  surviv- 


INSCRIPTION  ON  FATHER  MTLET'S  CROSS  AT  NIAGARA. 

ors  were  discovered  and  rescued  by  some  Miamis."  Father 
Milet  accompanied  the  next  party  sent,  and  on  Good  Friday, 
1688,  he  erected  and  blessed  a  large  wooden  cross  in  the  cen- 


1  "  New  York  Doc.  Hist.,"  i.,  p.  168. 

2  Charlevoix,   "History  of  New  France,"  iii.,  pp.  290-1,  303,  and  au 
thorities  cited. 


FATHER  MILET,  A  CAPTIVE.  335 

tre  of  the  square  with  the  inscription,  "  Christ  reigneth,  con- 
quereth,  commandeth." 

But  on  the  15th  of  September,  the  palisades  were  demol 
ished,  and  the  French  withdrew.  The  last  altar  reared  by 
the  Catholic  priests  of  France  on  the  soil  of  New  York  was 
thus  for  a  time  abandoned.  The  labors  of  pioneers  and  mis 
sionaries  from  the  days  of  Champlain,  thrilling  with  their 
heroic  effort  had  failed  to  plant  a  permanent  settlement  or 
chapel  on  the  soiK  The  souls  won  from  heathenism  were 
numbered  with  the  anointed  dead,  or  in  Catholic  villages  on 
the  banks  of  the  Saint  Lawrence  attested  the  thoroughness  of 
the  Christian  teaching  given. 

In  1690  only  one  Catholic  missionary  was  in  the  land  of 
the  Iroquois.  He  was  there  as  the  first  had  been,  a  prisoner. 
Father  Milet  after  the  evacuation  of  Niagara  was  stationed 
at  Catarokouy,  where  his  knowledge  of  the  Iroquois  charac 
ter  and  language  was  reckoned  upon  as  a  means  of  drawing 
the  cantons  to  peace.  In  June,  1689,  a  few  Onondagas 
approached  the  fort,  and  declaring  that  peace  had  been  made 
at  Montreal,  asked  for  a  surgeon  and  priest  to  attend  some 
of  their  sick.  Father  Milet  with  St.  Amand,  a  physician, 
went  out,  but  found  themselves  prisoners.  The  missionary 
was  pinioned,  deprived  of  his  breviary,  and  all  he  had  on 
him.  Manchot,  an  Oneida  chief,  however,  told  him  that  he 
and  his  old  Oneida  converts  would  save  his  life.  Yet  he 
was  soon  stripped  and  subjected  to  ill  usage,  until  he  was 
given  up  to  the  Oneidas,  who  took  him  bound,  but  uninjured, 
to  their  canton.  There  his  old  Christian  converts  prevented 
any  injury  being  done  to  him,  but  he  was  held  as  a  prisoner.1 

In  the  eastern  portions  of  the  country  there  seemed  a 
more  favorable  prospect.  But  even  after  the  restoration  of 

1  "  Lettre  du  p£re  Pierre  Milet  a  quelques  Missionnaires  clu  Canada," 
Onneiout,  1691. 


336        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

Pentagoet  by  treaty,  difficulties  raised  by  Colonel  Temple 
delayed  its  execution.  Xot  till  the  5th  of  August,  1670, 
was  Pentagoet  actually  surrendered  to  the  Chevalier  de 
Grande- Fontaine.  The  French  sent  to  garrison  the  post, 
and  the  few  settlers  who  had  remained  during  English  rule, 
were  the  only  Catholics  of  European  origin  under  the 
French  flag  in  the  land  now  embraced  in  the  United  States. 

The  chapel  once  served  by  the  Capuchin  Fathers  was  re 
stored  to  the  Catholic  worship.  It  is  described  as  u  a  chapel 
of  about  six  paces  long  and  four  paces  broad,  covered  with 
shingles,  and  built  upon  a  terrace ;  it  was  surmounted  by  a 
belfry  containing  a  small  bell  weighing  about  eighteen 
pounds."  ;  This  was  the  only  church  in  the  only  French 
post  on  our  soil  at  that  time.  When  France  recovered  Aca- 
dia  we  trace  the  existence  of  only  one  priest  in  the  province, 
the  Franciscan,  Laurence  Molin,  who  seems  to  have  visited 
all  tho  stations,  and  drawn  up  a  census,  so  that  he  probably 
officiated  in  this  chapel  for  the  little  garrison  and  the  hand 
ful  of  French  settlers.  But  the  lone  settlement  did  not 
grow,  though  the  Baron  de  Saint  Castin,  ensign  of  Grande- 
Fontaine,  Governor  of  Acadia,  or  his  successor,  Chambly, 
labored  earnestly  for  years  to  develop  the  resources  of  the 
post  and  district  soon  known  as  the  parish  of  the  Holy 
Family.2 

The  people  of  Xew  England,  after  King  Philip's  war, 
looked  with  suspicion  and  hostility  on  all  Indians,  even  those 
who  had  been  gathered  in  villages  for  instruction  by  men 


1  Moreau,  "  Histoire  de  1'Acadie  Framboise,"  Paris,  1873,  p.  275.  Some 
Recollects  followed,  and  then  four  Penitents  of  Xazareth  were  sent. 
"  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  Quebec,  1883,  i.,  p.  395.  "  Centennial  Cel 
ebration  at  Bangor,"  p.  24. 

'  Pentagoet  was  taken  by  a  Dutch  frigate  in  1674.  In  1688  the  plun 
dering  English  discovered  a  chapel  in  St.  Castin's  house. 


MISSIONS  IN  MAINE.  337 

like  Eliot.  Many  bands,  in  consequence,  struck  into  the 
forests,  and  sought  safer  and  more  congenial  homes  with 
kindred  tribes  near  the  Saint  Lawrence.1  Thus  in  1676  the 
Sokokis,  Indians  of  Saco,  settled  near  Three  Rivers,  where 
the  Catholic  missionaries  immediately  undertook  their  in 
struction  in  religion,  and  so  many  of  the  Abnakis  from  the 
Kennebec  clustered  around  the  old  Algonquin  mission 
chapel  at  Sillery,  that  it  became  an  Abnaki  mission. 
About  the  same  time  Father  Morain  was  laboring  among  a 
band  of  Gaspesians  and  Etchemins  who  had  wandered  inland 
to  the  Riviere  du  Loup  on  the  borders  of  Maine.3  To  re 
vive  religion  in  Acadia,  Bishop  Laval,  in  1684,  sent  to  that 
part  of  his  diocese  a  zealous  secular  priest,  Louis  P.  Thury, 
who  labored  there  to  the  close  of  his  useful  life.3  Three 
years  later  he  had  taken  up  his  residence  at  Pentagoet,  and 
the  holy  sacrifice  was  again  offered  in  the 
chapel  of  the  French  frontier.4  Father  ^^  (j^^j^  &  \ 
James  Bigot,  who  after  consolidating  the 

.         .      .  OM  FAC-SIMTLE     OF      THE 

Abnaki  mission  at  billery,  had  transferred      SIGNATURE    OF 
it   to    Saint    Francois   de    Sales    on    the      FATHER     JACQTTEB 
Chaudiere  in   1685,  visited  the  country      BIGOT- 
near  Pentagoet  in  1687,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  church 
among  the  Indians." 

The  English  in  that  part  of  the  country  were  already,  by 
plundering  the  French  and  insulting  missionaries  who  fell 

1  "New  York  Doc.  Hist.,"  i.,  p.  169. 

2  "Relation,"  1676-7,  p.  107;  "Relations  Inedites,"  ii.,  pp.  138-159. 

s  Bishop  St.  Valier,  "  Estat  Present  del'Eglise,"  Quebec,  1857,  p.  12. 
4  Cardinal  Taschereau,  "  Memoire  sur  les  Missions  de  1'Acadie." 
6  Bigot,  "  Journal  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe  dans  la  Mission  Abnaquisede- 
puis  la  feste  de  Noel,  1683,  jusqu'  au  6  Octobre,   1684,"    New  York, 
1857  ;  "  Lettre  du  pere  Jacques  Bigot,  ecrite  au  mois  de  Juillet,  1685," 
New  York,  1858;  Bishop  St.  Valier,    "Estat  Present,"  p.   68;  Denon- 
ville  in  Charlevoix,  "  History  of  New  France,"  iii.,  p.  308. 
22 


338        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

into  their  hands,  provoking  hostilities.  When  the  war  began 
the  Catholic  Indians  were  ready  to  meet  their  old  enemies 
on  the  field.  The  Indians  of  Rev.  Mr.  Thury's  mission,  he 
tells  us,  numbering  nearly  a  hundred  warriors,  almost  all 
went  to  confession  before  setting  out  against  Fort  Pemaquid ; 
and  while  the  force  was  absent  their  wives  and  children  ap 
proached  the  holy  tribunal  to  lift  up  clean  hands  to  God,  and 
the  women  kept  up  a  perpetual  recitation  of  the  Eosary  from 
early  morn  to  night  to  ask  God,  through  the  intercession  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  show  them  His  favor  and  protection 
during  this  war.1 

For  a  brief  term  of  two  years  regular  and  secular  priests 
of  France  established  a  chapel  and  exercised  the  ministry  in 
a  far  distant  portion  of  the  country,  with  independent  sanc 
tion  from  the  Congregation  "  de  Propagande  Fide"  at  Rome 
and  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  who  still  clung  to  his  old 
jurisdiction  beyond  the  Atlantic. 

When  La  Salle  had  continued  the  exploration  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  begun  by  Jolliet  and  Marquette,  and  established  the 
fact  that  no  impediment  to  navigation  existed,  but  that  a 
vessel  might  sail  from  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  to  Dieppe  or 
Rochelle,  he  formed  vague  plans  of  trade  in  buffalo  robes, 
but  seems  to  have  entertained  no  definite  project  of  coloniz 
ing  the  valley  of  the  great  river.  When  he  went  to  France 
his  mind  was  filled  with  projects  for  collecting  a  vast  Indian 
force  with  which  to  cross  the  country  from  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Mexican  frontier  and  capture  the  rich  mining  districts 
in  Mexico,  of  which  Santa  Barbara  was  popularly  supposed 
to  be  the  real  centre.  In  Paris  he  met  Pefialosa,  once  Gov 
ernor  of  New  Mexico,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  France, 


1  Lettres  de  M.  Thury,  "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  Quebec,  1883,  pp. 
464-5,  477. 


FRENCH  CHAPEL  IN  TEXAS.  339 

where  to  curry  favor  with  the  Government  he  prepared  a 
narrative  of  an  expedition  to  the  Mississippi,  which  he  "pre 
tended  to  have  made  from  Santa  Fe.  He  put  La  Salle's 
schemes  into  practical  form,  and  proposed  that  an  expedition 
should  be  sent  to  Texas,  whence  the  mines  could  be  easily 
reached.1 

The  Government  was  deceived.  La  Salle  was  taken  into 
favor,  and  was  sent  out  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  large  expe 
dition  under  Penalosa.  The  real  object  of  the  expedition 
was  of  course  kept  secret,  and  La  Salle's  object  was  ostensi 
bly  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  which  he  had  discovered, 
and  where  he  was  to  begin  a  settlement.  A  vessel  was  given 
to  him,  with  authority  to  enlist  soldiers  among  the  rabble  of 
Paris,  and  the  "  Joli,"  a  vessel  of  the  French  Navy,  com 
manded  by  Captain  Beaujeu,  was  placed  at  his  disposal,  and 
subject  to  his  orders  till  his  expedition  reached  its  destina 
tion.  The  expedition  left  France  in  July,  1684. 

After  taking  in  some  freebooters  in  the  West  Indies,  La 
Salle  entered  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  passing  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  coasted  along  the  Texan  shore  for  a  suitable 
port.  He  finally  fixed  on  Passo  Cavallo,  to  which  he  re 
turned.  One  vessel  entered  the  bay,  the  other  was  run 
ashore  by  accident  or  design.  Here  the  object  of  the  expe 
dition  was  made  known,  and  the  plan  of  an  attack  on  the 
Spanish  settlements  was  revealed." 

Several  priests  had  accompanied  the  expedition.  The 
Recollect  Father,  Zenobius  Membre,  who  had  accompanied 
La  Salle  to  Illinois,  and  subsequently  down  the  Mississippi, 

'Shea,  "Penalosa,"  New  York,  1882 ;  Duro,  "Penalosa,"  Madrid, 
1882. 

2  Joutel,  "Journal  Historique,"  Paris,  1713;  Cavelier,  "Relation,"  New 
York,  1858  ;  Margry,  "  Etablissements  et  Decouvertes,"  ii.,  pp.  485-606  ; 
Le  Clercq,  "  Establishment  of  the  Faith,"  New  York,  1881,  pp.  199-283. 


340        THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

was  one.  He  was  accompanied  by  Fathers  Anastasius  Douay 
and  Maximus  Le  Clercq  of  the  same  order.  These  Fathers 
had  obtained  from  the  Propaganda  special  powers  establish 
ing  a  mission  of  their  order.  There  were  besides  the  Rev. 
John  Cavelier,  brother  of  La  Salle,  a  Sulpitian,  Rev.  Messrs. 
Chefdeville  and  D'esmanville  of  the  same  community.  They 
had  obtained  faculties  from  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  who, 
in  granting  them,  alleged  as  a  ground  for  his  action  that 
Quebec  was  too  remote  from  their  destination  to  justify  ap 
plication  to  the  bishop  of  that  see.1 

When  Rev.  Mr.  D'esmanville  learned  the  real  object  of  the 
expedition  he  declared  his  intention  to  return  to  France. 
"  He  had  come,"  he  said,  "  to  war  against  demons,  not 
against  Christians,"  and  he  sailed  back  with  Beaujeu,  who, 
having  fulfilled  the  task  imposed  upon  him,  hoisted  his  sail 
for  Europe." 

La  Salle,  entering  Espiritu  Santo  Bay  in  January,  1085, 
threw  up  a  fort  on  the  spot  subsequently  occupied  by  the 
Bahia  mission.  From  this  point  he  made  excursions  to  sound 
the  native  tribes,  and  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Cenis  or 
Asinais,  evidently  awaiting  all  the  while  the  arrival  of  the 
great  expedition  under  Pefialosa,  which  never  came.  Fear 
of  capture  by  the  Spaniards  must  have  prevented  his  ventur 
ing  into  the  gulf  with  his  remaining  vessel,  and  at  last,  ap 
parently  convinced  that  his  government  had  abandoned  him, 
he  set  out  from  his  fort,  which  he  had  named  St.  Louis,  with  a 
party,  intending  to  reach  the  Mississippi  overland  and  return 
with  such  force  as  he  could  gather.  In  the  fort  he  left  about 
twenty  persons  under  Barbier,  with  Fathers  Membre  and 
Maximus  Le  Clercq,  and  the  Sulpitian,  Rev.  Mr.  Chefdeville. 

•  See  "  Faculties,"  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.,  p.  196  ;  Margry,  ii.,  p.  475. 
2  D'esmanville,  in  Margry,  ii.,  pp.  510-517. 


FRENCH  CHAPEL  IN  TEXAS.  341 

He  was  accompanied  on  his  march  by  his  brother,  Rev.  Mr. 
Cavelier,  and  Father  Anastasius  Douay.  For  two  years  these 
five  priests  had  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  in  a  chapel  con 
structed  in  the  fort,  and  administered  the  sacraments.  There 
were  marriages  and  baptisms,  the  sick  to  console  with  relig 
ious  rites,  and  the  dead  for  whom  to  offer  the  mass  of  requiem. 
Rev.  Mr.  Cavelier  and  Father  Anastasius,  after  the  murder 
of  La  Salle  by  his  own  men,  reached  a  French  post  on  the 
Arkansas,  and  by  way  of  Illinois  returned  to  Canada  and 
France.1 

How  long  the  party  at  the  fort  remained  unmolested  is 
not  definitely  known,  but  they  were  nearly  all  finally  cut  off 
by  the  Indians.  That  this  was  the  fate  of  the  Eecollect  Fa 
thers  and  Rev.  Mr.  Chefdeville  was  positively  asserted  by 
two  young  Frenchmen  named  Talon,  who  were  rescued  by 
the  Spaniards  and  by  Francisco  Martinez,  afterward  Sergeant 
Major  at  Pensacola,  who  in  Texas  obtained  the  chalices  and 
breviaries  of  the  murdered  priests  from  the  Indians.2 

A  Spanish  expedition,  sent  to  break  up  the  French  settle 
ment,  found  only  charred  ruins  and  the  unburied  bones  of 
the  unfortunate  remnant  of  La  Salle' s  great  force.3 

Sainte  Croix  Island,  the  Falls  of  Saint  Anthony,  and  Fort 
Saint  Louis  in  Texas  are  the  three  extreme  points  in  our 
land  marking  the  limits  of  the  territory  through  which  the 
clergy  of  France,  under  the  Bishops  of  Rouen  and  Quebec, 
had,  in  less  than  fourscore  years  and  ten,  carried  the  ministry 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  offering  its  solemn  sacrifice,  an 
nouncing  the  word  of  God  to  civilized  and  unreclaimed  men, 
spending  strength  and  health  and  life's  blood  in  the  cause  of 


1  Joutel,  "Journal  Historique,"  p.  329. 

"  Letter  of  d'Iberville,  Rochelle,  May  3,  1704. 

••  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  294-6 ;  Smith,  "  Coleccion,"  p.  25. 


342         THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 

religion,  from  the  fierce  ocean  tide  of  Fundy,  the  thunderous 
roar  of  Niagara,  the  copper-lined  shores  of  Superior,  and  the 
bison  plains  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  to  the  gulf  shore  of 
Texas,  while  Protestantism  had  not  yet  ventured  to  proclaim 
its  views  or  call  men  to  prayer  at  the  foot  of  the  Alleghanies. 

Meanwhile  the  Bishopric  of  Quebec  had  seen  its  changes. 
The  venerable  Laval  had,  soon  after  the  erection  of  the  See, 
exerted  himself  to  give  existence  to  the  chapter  instituted  by 
the  bulls,  but  delays  ensued,  and  he  finally  visited  Europe. 
There  failing  health  and  increasing  difficulties  induced  him 
to  offer  to  resign  his  See.  To  succeed  him  as  Bishop  of 
Quebec,  the  .Abbe  John  Baptist  de  la  Croix  Chevrieres  de 
Saint  Yallier,  a  native  of  Grenoble,  a  man  of  piety  and  worth, 
and  at  the  time  one  of  the  king's  chaplains,  was  selected. 
With  the  authority  of  Yicar-General  conferred  upon  him  by 
Bishop  Laval,  the  Abbe  de  St.  Yallier  visited  Canada  and  ex 
amined  the  condition  of  the  Church  on  the  Atlantic  shore  of 
Acadia  and  throughout  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  con 
signing  the  result  of  his  observations  to  writing,  and  in  time 
giving  them  to  the  press. 

Eesolved,  then,  to  undertake  the  direction  of  the  diocese, 
he  accepted  the  bulls  of  appointment,  and  Bishop  Laval  hav 
ing  ratified  his  virtual  resignation  by  a  formal  act  on  the 
24th  of  January,  1688,  the  Abbe  Saint  Yallier  was  duly  con 
secrated  bishop  on  the  following  day. 

Bishop  Laval's  desire,  ardently  entertained,  was  to  return 
to  Canada  and  end  his  days  there.  After  some  delay  this 
was  permitted.  Though  no  longer  the  bishop  of  the  diocese, 
his  personal  influence  was  great,  and  during  the  absence  of 
Bishop  St.  Yallier,  1691-2,  1700-1711,  the  presence  of  its 
former  bishop  was  a  source  of  blessing  to  Canada,  in  his  co 
operation  with  those  entrusted  with  the  administration,  the 
exercise  of  episcopal  functions,  and  the  influence  which  his 


BISHOP  LAVAL.  343 

zeal  evoked  for  the  good  of  religion.  Surrounded  by  the 
loving  children  of  his  clergy,  religious,  and  flock,  Bishop 
Laval  died  on  the  6th  of  May,  1708.  He  died  as  a  saint  and 
was  venerated  as  one ;  many  sought  his  intercession  with 
God,  and  for  nearly  two  centuries  frequent  miracles  have 
been  ascribed  to  him. 

The  Church  of  Canada  in  our  day  has  petitioned  for  the 


FAC-SIMILE   OF  THE   SIGNATURE  OF  BISHOP  LAVAL. 

canonization  of  Bishop  Laval.  As  by  his  authority  the 
Church  was  established  in  New  York,  Michigan,  Illinois, 
and  Wisconsin,  and  the  cross  borne  down  the  current  of  the 
Mississippi,  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  cannot 
be  indifferent  to  the  cause  which  may  exalt  to  the  honor  of 
public  suffrages  at  our  altars  one  who  exercised  episcopal 
jurisdiction  over  so  vast  a  part  of  our  territory.1 

1  La  Tour,  "  Memoires  sur  la  Vie  de  M.  de  Laval,  Premier  Evgque  de 
Quebec,"  Cologne,  1761.  Langevin,  "  Notice  Biographique  sur  Francois 
de  Laval  de  Montmorency,  ler  Evgque  de  Quebec,"  Montreal,  1874; 
"Esquisse  dela  vie  ....  de  Mgr.  Fr.  Xavier  de  Laval  Montmorency, 
Premier  EvSque  de  Quebec,"  Quebec,  1845. 


BOOK    IV. 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  THE  ENGLISH 
COLONIES. 


CHAPTEK  I. 

CATHOLICITY    IN   MARYLAND,    1690-1708. 

IT  has  been  the  custom  with  historians  to  speak  contempt 
uously  of  the  two  Stuart  brothers,  Charles  II.  and  James  II., 
as  rulers.  Yet  James  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  appre 
hend  the  future  greatness  of  America,  and  the  necessity  of 
uniting  the  colonies  in  one  organized  system.  Charles,  act 
ing  by  the  advice  of  James  in  dispossessing  the  Dutch,  and 
taking  steps  for  the  speedy  settlement  of  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania,  as  well  as  by  the  charters  which  he  granted 
for  the  Carolinas,  made  England  sole  occupant  of  the  whole 
coast  from  the  rugged  shores  of  Maine  to  the  borders  of 
Florida.  A  compact  series  of  communities,  blended  together, 
ready  to  afford  mutual  aid,  confronted  on  the  north  the  ter 
ritories  claimed  by  France,  and  on  the  south  those  occupied 
for  more  than  a  century  by  Spain.  James  II.  as  Duke  of 
York,  and  as  king,  had  been  the  first  to  check  the  increasing 
power  of  France  on  the  north  and  west,  and  make  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi  the  boundaries  of  England's 
future  empire. 

The  fall  of  the  Stuarts  changed  the  whole  political  and 
religious  character  of  events.  England  became  heartily 
and  intensely  opposed  to  Catholicity  in  her  internal  relations, 
and  in  her  intercourse  with  other  nations.  She  was  precipi 
tated  into  wars  with  France  and  Spain,  and  these  involved 
her  American  colonies  in  hostilities  with  Canada  and  Florida. 
The  struggle  on  the  part  of  the  colonies  was  not  national 
(344) 


COODE'S  FALSE  CHARGES.  345 

merely.  It  heightened  the  old  antagonism  to  the  Church 
of  God,  and  made  her  an  object  of  unceasing  hatred  and 
dread,  and  caused  her  to  be  regarded  as  a  menacing  enemy 
at  the  very  doors  of  the  colonists.  Within  the  provinces 
every  Catholic  was  regarded  as  a  Jacobite,  ready  at  all  times 
to  join  any  enemy  whatever  against  his  fellow-countrymen. 

In  Maryland  a  revolt  against  the  authority  of  Lord  Balti 
more  was  headed  by  one  John  Coode,  whose  character  may 
be  judged  by  the  fact  that  having  subsequently  been  or 
dained  a  minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  he  was  indicted 
and  convicted  in  1G99  of  "  atheism  and  blasphemy."  '  This 
man  gathered  a  convention  "  for  the  defense  of  the  Protest 
ant  religion,"  which  sent  to  William  III.  an  exposition  of 
their  motives.  Among  the  grievances  which  they  alleged 
was  the  following : 

"  In  the  next  place  Churches  and  Chappells,  which  by  the 
said  Charter,  should  be  built  and  consecrated  according  to 
the  Ecclesiasticall  lawes  of  the  kingdome  of  England,  to  our 
greate  regrett  and  discouragement  of  our  religion,  are  erected, 
and  converted  to  the  use  of  popish  Idolatry  and  superstition, 
Jesuits  and  seminarie  priests  are  the  onely  incumbents  (for 
which  their  is  a  supply  provided  by  sending  over  popish 
youth  to  be  educated  at  St.  Ormes."  ' 

It  further  charged  that,  "  severall  children  of  protestants 
have  been  committed  to  the  tutelage  of  papists,  and  brought 
up  in  the  Romish  superstition."  And  again,  "  The  seizure 
and  apprehending  of  protestants  in  their  houses  with  armed 
forces,  consisting  of  papists,  and  that  in  time  of  peace,  thence 

1  Hawks,  "  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  U.  S.," 
ii.,  p.  64. 

-  Maryland  historians  admit  that  these  charges  were  groundless  and 
malicious,  McMahon,  p.  240;  Hawks,  "Contributions,"  ii.,  p.  66; 
Chalmers,  p.  383. 


346  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

hurrying  them  away  to  prisons,  etc.  We  still  find  all  the 
ineanes  used  by  these  very  persons  and  their  agents,  Jesuits, 
priests,  and  lay  papists,  that  art  of  malice  cann  suggest,  to 
divert  the  obedience  and  loyalty  of  the  Inhabitants  from 
their  most  sacred  Majtys  to  that  height  of  impudence  that 
solemn  Masses  and  prayers  are  used  (as  wee  have  very  good 
information)  in  their  Chappells  and  Oratoryes  for  the  pros 
perous  success  of  the  popish  forces  in  Ireland,  and  the 
French  designes  against  England."  * 

William  seized  the  opportunity  to  make  Maryland  a  royal 
province.  He  recognized  the  convention,  and  sent  out  Sir 
Lionel  Copley  as  royal  governor  in  1691.  This  official  at 
once  summoned  a  legislature,  from  which  all  Catholics, 
though  they  represented  very  great  landed  interests,  were 
excluded.  The  first  act  recognized  William  and  Mary  ;  the 
second  was,  "  An  Act  for  the  service  of  Almighty  God,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  Protestant  religion,  in  this  Prov 
ince."  The  knell  of  religious  liberty  had  sounded.  "  Under 
the  gentle  auspices  of  that  government  of  the  Lords  Balti 
more,"  says  the  Maryland  historian,  McMahon,  "  that  gov 
ernment,  whose  tyrannical  and  popish  inclinations  were  now 
the  favorite  theme,  the  profession  and  exercise  of  the  Chris 
tian  religion  in  all  its  modes,  was  open  to  all, — no  church 
was  established  :  all  were  protected,  none  were  taxed  to  sus 
tain  a  -church  to  whose  tenets  they  were  opposed,  and  the 
people  gave  freely  as  a  benevolence,  what  they  would  have 
loathed  as  a  tax." 

The  Puritans,  ungrateful  to  the  Catholics  who  offered  them 
a  home,  had,  on  seizing  the  government,  sought  to  crush  the 
adherents  of  the  ancient  faith  ;  now  they  beheld  their  own 

1  Scharf,  i.,  pp.  311-3.  The  charges  were  utterly  preposterous,  as 
Protestants  far  outnumbered  the  Catholics,  but  the  document  gave  the 
authorities  in  England  a  pretext  they  desired. 


ANGLICAN  CHURCH  ESTABLISHED.  347 

weapons  turned  against  themselves,  and  saw  a  party,  placed 
in  power  by  their  aid,  establish  the  Church  of  England  in 
Maryland.  Nor  was  this  merely  in  name.  The  whole  prov 
ince  was  divided  into  parishes,  vestrymen  were  appointed, 
and  every  taxable  inhabitant  of  Maryland,  whether  Cath 
olic,  Puritan,  or  Friend,  was  taxed  annually  forty  pounds  of 
tobacco  to  form  a  fund  for  building  Episcopal  churches  and 
maintaining  Episcopal  ministers.  To  annoy  the  Catholics, 
Saint  Mary's  County,  in  which  the  population  was  mainly  of 
that  faith,  was  divided  into  two  parishes,  one  named  William 
and  Mary,  the  other  King  and  Queen.  Here  as  in  other 
Catholic  parishes,  the  people  were  compelled  to  contribute 
their  means  to  erect  Episcopal  churches,  some  still  existing, 
and  for  nearly  a  century  to  pay  for  the  support  of  a  hostile 
ministry  which  never  had  but  a  petty  flock  of  its  own. 

Being  ere  long  disfranchised,  the  Catholics  had  no  voice 
in  making  the  laws  or  electing  delegates,  but  they  naturally 
united  with  the  Friends  and  others,  who  felt  the  hardship  of 
this  unjust  and  oppressive  system. 

The  church  thus  established  had  not  ministers  enough  to 
supply  the  parishes  created  in  the  province,  for,  according  to 
some,  "  there  were  scarcely  any  ministers  in  it."  Governor 
Nicholson  found  but  three,  so  indifferent  had  members  of 
the  Church  of  England  been  in  regard  to  their  religion. 
"  These  three,"  says  a  representation  of  the  Anglican  clergy 
to  the  Bishop  of  London,  "  had  to  contend  with  double  their 
number  of  priests  belonging  to  the  Church  of  Rome." * 
Another  Protestant  represents  "  his  religion  as  in  a  manner 
turned  out  of  doors  "  by  the  very  loose  morals  and  "  scandal 
ous  lives "  of  the  Anglican  clergy,  and  "  by  the  Roman 
priests'  cunning."  The  province  then  contained  a  popula- 

1  Hawks,  "  Contributions,"  ii.,  pp.  71,  76,  77. 


348  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

tion  of  twenty-five  thousand,  a  majority  being  Protestant ; 
yet  this  was  the  state  to  which  religion  had  fallen  among 
them.1 

But  while  the  clergy  of  the  Protestant  faith  were  few,  and 
by  no  means  a  credit,  not  a  breath  of  suspicion  is  raised 
against  the  Catholic  priests  of  Maryland.  The  only  Jesuit 
Fathers  then  in  the  province,  so  far  as  we  can  gather,  were 
the  Rev.  Nicholas  Gulick,  Rev.  Francis  Pennington,  and 
Rev.  William  Hunter,  with  probably  the  Franciscan  Father, 
Basil  Hobart.  Yet  few  as  they  were,  these  zealous  priests 
not  only  kept  alive  the  faith  of  Catholics,  but  won  Protest 
ants  to  the  Church.2 

In  the  Assembly  convened  by  Nicholson  on  his  arrival,  an 
act  was  passed  transferring  the  seat  of  government  from 
Saint  Mary's  to  Anne  Arundell.  "  The  reasons  alleged  for 
the  change,"  says  Scharf,  "  were  not  without  weight ;  but  it 
is  probable  that  the  true  motives  were  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  Saint  Mary's  was  especially  a  Catholic  settlement, 
was  beyond  other  towns  devoted  to  the  proprietary  govern 
ment,  and  was  closely  connected  with  all  those  ties  which  it 


1  McMahon,  "  History  of  Maryland,"  p.  244  ;  Hawks,  i.,  p.  73. 

9  The  Letter  from  the  Maryland  (Protestant  Episcopal)  Clergy  to  the 
Bishop  of  London,  May  18,  1696  ("Hist.  Mag.,"  March,  1868,  p.  151)', 
says  :  "  When  his  Excellency  Governor  Nicholson  came  into  the  Coun 
try  in  the  year  1694  there  were  but  3  Clergymen  in  Episcopal  Orders, 
besides  5  or  6  popish  priests  who  had  perverted  divers  idle  people  from 
the  Protestant  Religion."  ....  "This  expectation  of  the  Lord  Balti 
more  being  restored  to  the  Government  of  Maryland  animates  the  Priests 
and  Jesuits  to  begin  already  to  inveigle  several  ignorant  people  to  turn 
to  their  religion.  To  which  end  they  do  (contrary  to  the  Act  of  Parlia 
ment  to  deter  them  from  perverting  any  of  his  Majesty's  Protestant  sub 
jects  to  popery)  introduce  themselves  into  the  company  of  the  sick  when 
they  have  no  Ministers  that  his  Excellency  hath  been  lately  forced  to 
issue  out  his  proclamation  against  their  so  doing  to  restrain  them."  Ib., 
p.  153 


ZEAL  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  CLERGY.  349 

was  the  policy  of  the  new  government  to  break  up."  The 
Mayor,  Common  Council,  and  Freemen  of  Saint  Mary's  in 
vain  appealed ;  their  remonstrance  was  treated  with  the  ut 
most  contempt ;  the  change  was  carried  into  effect,  and 
though  as  late  as  1705  government  lingered  at  the  old  cap 
ital,  Saint  Mary's  gradually  declined,  till  nothing  remains  to 
mark  the  spot  but  a  few  bricks  and  the  Protestant  church 
erected  with  money  wrung  from  the  Catholics,  and  with  the 
materials  of  the  old  Catholic  church  and  governor's  house. 

The  veteran  missioner,  Thomas  Harvey,  died  in  Maryland 
in  1696.  The  next  year  Fathers  John  Hall  and  Nicholas 
Gulick  attended  the  brick  chapel  at  St.  Mary's,  and  two  frame 
chapels,  apparently  at  St.  Inigoes  and  Newtown  ;  the  Super 
ior,  Father  "William  Hunter,  with  Father  Robert  Brook, 
residing  at  Port  Tobacco,  attended  the  chapel  just  erected 
near  the  house,  and  a  little  chapel  40  feet  by  20  at  Newport 
in  Charles  Co.,  and  another  only  30  feet  long  on  the  Boar- 
man  estate  near  Zekiah  Swamp  Creek,  the  Recollect  Father 
Basil  Hobart  also  maintaining  a  chapel  at  his  residence  a 
mile  and  a  half  from  Newport ; '  while  the  chapel  at  Don- 
caster  in  Talbot  Co.,  "  a  clapboard  house,"  was  unattended 
and  had  perhaps  been  under  a  Rev.  Mr.  Smith.2 

The  next  year  Maryland  was  visited  by  a  pestilence,  and 
the  Catholic  priests  showed  their  wonted  zeal  and  devoted- 
ness.  In  many  parts  there  were  no  Protestant  clergy,  or 
none  who  would  face  the  danger,  and  the  priest  was  fre 
quently  summoned  to  the  bedside  of  a  sufferer.  Their  care 
and  attention  won  so  many  to  the  faith,  that  an  Episcopal 
minister  addressed  a  letter  to  Nicholson  which  he  sent  to  the 
Legislature.  That  body  took  alarm,  and  in  an  address  to  the 

1  Perry,  "  Historical  Collections,"  iv.  (Maryland),  pp.  20-23  ;  Scliarf, 
i.,  pp.  345,  364.     The  Mortuary  List. 

2  A  priest  of  this  name  is  alluded  to  as  now  or  late  of  Taibot  County. 


350  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

governor  said  :  "  Upon  reading  a  certain  letter  from  a  rev 
erend  minister  of  the  Church  of  England  which  your  Excel 
lency  was  pleased  to  communicate  to  us,  complaining  to  your 
Excellency  that  the  Popish  priests  in  Charles  County  do,  of 
their  own  accord,  in  this  raging  and  violent  mortality  in  that 
county,  make  it  their  business  to  go  up  and  down  the  county, 
to  persons'  houses  when  dying  and  frantic,  and  endeavour  to 
seduce  and  make  proselytes  of  them,  and  in  such  condition 
boldly  presume  to  administer  the  sacrament  to  them  ;  we 
have  put  it  to  the  vote  in  the  House,  if  a  law  should  be  made 
to  restrain  such  their  presumption  or  not ;  and  have  con 
cluded  to  make  no  such  law  at  present,  but  humbly  entreat 
your  Excellency  that  you  would  be  pleased  to  issue  your 
proclamation  to  restrain  and  prohibit  such  their  extravagance 
and  presumptuous  behaviour."  ' 

Such  a  proclamation  probably  issued.  Ministers  of  the 
Gospel  were  forbidden  in  time  of  pestilence  to  visit  the  sick 
who  were  abandoned  by  their  own  pastors  or  destitute  of 
them  !  One  would  think  that  steps  to  increase  the  numbers 
or  efficiency  of  the  established  clergy  would  have  been  more 
reasonable. 

Yet  the  matter  did  not  drop  there.  Some  time  after,  the 
Upper  House  paid  this  tribute  to  the  zeal  of  Father  William 
Hunter."  Addressing  the  governor,  they  say  :  "  It  being 
represented  to  this  board  that  William  Hunter,  a  Popish 
priest,  in  Charles  county,  committed  divers  enormities  in 
disswadiug  several  persons,  especially  poor,  ignorant  people 


1  "  Maryland  Manuscripts  at  Fulham,"  cited  by  Hawks,  ii.,  p.  79. 

2  Father  William  Hunter,  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  entered  the  Society  of 
Jesus  in  1679,  and  after  a  year  on  the  English  mission  came  to  Maryland 
in  1692.     He  was  Superior  of  the  Mission  from  1696  to  1708,  and  died  at 
Port  Tobacco  August  15,  1723,  at  the  age  of  64.     Foley,  "Records," 
vii.,  p.  385  ;  "  Woodstock  Letters,"  xv.,  p.  93. 


PENAL  LAWS.  351 

of  the  Church  of  England,  from  their  faith  and  endeavour 
ing  to  draw  them  to  the  Popish  faith,  consulted  and  debated 
whether  it  may  not  be  advisable  that  the  said  Hunter  be 
wholly  silenced,  and  not  suffered  to  preach  or  say  mass  in 
any  part  of  this  province,  and  thereupon  it  is  thought  advis 
able  that  the  same  be  wholly  left  to  his  Excellency's  judg 
ment  to  silence  him  or  not,  as  his  demerits  require." 

The  Legislature  resolved  to  annoy,  if  they  could  not  crush, 
the  Catholics.  A  law  had  been  passed  in  1696.  under  which 
it  was  evidently  intended  to  make  attendance  on  the  Church 
of  England  service  compulsory,  but  it  was  annulled  by  the 
King's  Council  in  1699  on  the  express  ground  that  it  con 
tained  "  a  clause  declaring  all  the  laws  of  England  to  be  in 
force  in  Maryland ;  which  clause  is  of  another  nature  than 
that  which  is  set  forth  by  the  title  in  the  said  law."  :  The 
Legislature  did  not  venture  to  act  under  the  vague  terms  of 
this  law  by  ordering  any  prosecution  of  the  Catholic  clergy. 

The  Franciscan  Father  Basil  Hobart 3  and  the  Jesuit  lay 
brother  Nicholas  Willart,  whose  deaths  are  reported  in 
1698,  were  perhaps  victims  to  their  zeal,  early  pioneers  in 
the  long  catalogue  of  priests  and  religious  who  have  been 
martyrs  of  charity  in  the  land  of  Mary. 

The  Catholics  had  now  entered  on  a  period  of  great  trial. 
The  proprietary  deprived  of  his  government  of  the  colony 
could  exert  no  influence,  and  even  his  personal  rights  in  the 
province  he  had  secured  only  in  part,  the  Assembly  defying 
a  royal  decision. 

Year  by  year  new  laws  were  enacted  bearing  more  and 
more  heavily  on  Catholics.  Thus  in  1700  an  act  was  placed 
on  the  statute-book  which  required  the  use  of  the  Book  of 

1  Scharf,  "  History  of  Maryland,"  i.,  p.  364. 

2  "  Acts  of  Chapter  held  in  England,"  July  10,  1698.     This  Father 
had  been  laboring  on  the  Maryland  mission  from  1674. 


352  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

Common  Prayer  "  in  every  cliurcli  or  other  place  of  public 
worship,"  but  the  remonstrances  against  a  statute  which 
affected  the  Presbyterian  and  the  Friend  no  less  than  the 
Catholic,  prevented  its  receiving  the  royal  assent.1 

The  Church  of  England  took  a  step  toward  organizing  in 
America  by  sending  out  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bray  as  Commissary. 
Yet  in  his  first  visitation  this  high  official  addressing  a  min 
ister  arraigned  for  his  scandalous  life,  bore  testimony  to  the 
high  character  of  the  Catholic  clergy.  "  It  so  happens,  that 
you  are  seated  in  the  midst  of  papists,  nay,  within  two  miles 
of  Mr.  Hunter,  the  chief  amongst  the  numerous  priests  at 
this  time  in  this  province ;  and  who,  I  am  credibly  informed 
by  the  most  considerable  gentlemen  in  these  parts,  has  made 
that  advantage  of  your  scandalous  living  that  there  have 
been  more  perversions  made  to  popery  in  that  part  of  Mary- 
Land  since  your  polygamy  has  been  the  talk  of  the  country, 
than  in  all  the  time  it  has  been  an  English  colony."  a 

The  English  Government  indeed  began  to  feel  that  its 
neglect  of  all  care  for  the  religious  condition  of  its  subjects 
in  America  was  not  creditable  to  the  realm  or  to  the  richly 
endowed  church  established  by  law.  The  Charter  granted 
by  William  III.  on  the  16th  day  of  June,  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  his  reign,  to  "  The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  admits  the  delinquency  in  a  coarse 
and  vulgar  fling  at  the  Catholic  clergy  whose  zeal  and  disin 
terested  labors  were  such  a  striking  contrast  to  their  revilers. 
"  Many  of  our  loving  subjects,"  it  says,  "  do  wrant  the  admin 
istration  of  God's  word  and  sacraments,  and  seem  to  be 
abandoned  to  atheism  and  infidelity ;  and  also  for  want  of 
learned  and  orthodox  ministers  to  instruct  our  said  loving  sub- 

1  Hawks,  ii.,  p.  973  ;  Scharf,  i.,  pp.  365-6. 

'2  "  The  Acts  of  Dr.  Bray's  Visitation,  held  at  Annapolis,  in  Maryland." 
London,  1700,  p.  12.  Hawks,  "  Contributions,"  ii.,  pp.  497,  etc. 


STERILITY  OF  PROTESTANTISM.  353 

jects  in  the  principles  of  true  religion,  divers  Romish  priests 
and  Jesuits  are  the  more  encouraged  to  pervert  and  draw 
over  our  said  loving  subjects  to  Popish  superstition  and  idol 
atry." 

Humphreys,  the  Historian  of  the  Society,  recording  the 
work  of  the  Society  to  the  year  1718,  is  very  cautious  and 
gives  no  account  of  the  extent  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
Maryland.  There  is  not  the  slightest  claim  by  him  that  the 
missionaries  of  this  Protestant  Society  had  gained  any  con 
verts  from  the  ranks  of  the  Catholics,  but  writing  after  a  law 
had  been  passed  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  Catholic  ser 
vants,  he  contents  himself  with  saying :  "  the  number  of 
Papists  who  went  over  there  hath  decreased."  l 

Thus  from  hostile  testimony  we  draw  some  idea  of  the 
labors  of  a  prominent  Catholic  clergyman  in  Maryland  at 
this  time. 

By  a  law  passed  in  1702  which  received  the  royal  sanc 
tion,  the  English  acts  of  toleration  were  extended  to  Protest 
ant  dissenters  in  Maryland,  wrho  were  permitted  to  have 
service  in  their  meeting-houses  when  registered.  The  Cath 
olic  was  thus  left  the  only  victim  of  intolerance  and  op 
pression  in  a  province  founded  by  Catholics.2 

John  Seymour,  the  royal  governor  sent  over  in  February, 
1703,  was  a  fit  instrument  for  the  enforcement  of  an  un 
christian  policy. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  a  complaint  was  lodged  before  him 

'Humphreys,  "An  Historical  Account  of  the  Incorporated  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts."  London,  1730,  p. 
xvi.,  p.  21. 

2  And  Maryland  "presented  the  picture  of  a  province,  founded  for 
the  sake  of  religious  opinion  by  the  toil  and  treasure  of  Roman  Catholics, 
in  which  of  all  who  called  themselves  Christian,  none,  save  Roman  Cath 
olics,  were  denied  toleration."  Rev.  Dr.  Hawks  in  "  Contributions," 
ii.,  p.  117. 

23 


354  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

that  Father  William  Hunter  had  consecrated  a  chapel,  and 
that  Father  Robert  Brooke  had  said  mass  in  court  time  in 
the  old  Catholic  chapel  at  Saint  Mary's,  as  the  Catholic 
clergy  had  done  since  the  founding  of  the  colony.  The 
governor  summoned  the  priests  before  him  and  his  council, 
September  11,  1704,  and  though  the  accused  asked  to  be  at 
tended  by  their  counsel,  Charles  Carroll,  this  was  refused.  To 
the  charge  of  consecrating  a  chapel  Father  Hunter  replied 
that  "  he  did  not  consecrate  it,  for  that  is  an  Episcopal  func 
tion,  and  that  nobody  was  present  but  himself  in  his  common 
priest's  vestments,  and  that  neither  under  his  Excellency's 
eye,  nor  in  his  presence,  but  if  any  such  thing  was  done,  it 
was  above  fourteen  months  ago,  and  long  before  his  Excel 
lency's  arrival."  Father  Brooke  pleaded  justly  that  he  had 
only  done  what  others  had  formerly  done  without  cavil. 

The  action  and  language  of  the  wretched  bigot  who  then 
governed  Maryland  are  thus  recorded,  and  are  a  picture  of 
unexampled  arrogance,  insolence,  and  intolerance : 

"  Advised  that  this  being  the  first  complaint  the  said  Mr. 
Hunter  and  Mr.  Brooke  be  severely  reprimanded,  and  told 
that  they  must  not  expect  any  favor,  but  the  utmost  severity 
of  the  law  upon  any  misdemeanor  by  them  committed  ;  and 
being  called  in5  his  Excellency  was  pleased  to  give  them  the 
following  reprimand : 

"  It  is  the  unhappy  temper  of  you  and  all  your  tribe  to 
grow  insolent  upon  civility,  and  never  know  how  to  use  it, 
and  yet  of  all  people  you  have  the  least  reason  for  consider 
ing  that  if  the  necessary  laws  that  are  made  were  let  loose, 
they  are  sufficient  to  crush  you,  and  which  (if  your  arrogant 
principles  have  not  blinded  you)  you  must  need  to  dread. 

"  You  might,  methinks,  be  content  to  live  quietly  as  you 
may,  and  let  the  exercise  of  your  superstitious  vanities  be 
confined  to  yourselves,  without  proclaiming  them  at  public 


FATHERS  HUNTER  AND  BROOKE.     355 

times  and  in  public  places,  unless  you  expect  by  your  gaudy 
shows  and  serpentine  policy,  to  amuse  the  multitude,  and 
beguile  the  unthinking  weakest  part  of  them,  an  act  of  de 
ceit  well  known  to  be  amongst  you. 

"  But,  gentlemen,  be  not  deceived,  for  though  the  clem 
ency  of  her  Majesty's  government,  and  of  her  gracious  in 
clinations  leads  her  to  make  all  her  subjects  easy,  that  know 
how  to  be  so,  yet  her  Majesty  is  not  without  means  to  curb 
insolence,  but  more  especially  in  your  fraternity,  who  are 
more  eminently  than  others  abounding  with  it ;  and  I  assure 
you  the  next  occasion  you  give  me  you  shall  find  the  truth 
of  what  I  say,  wrhich  you  should  now  do,  but  that  I  am  will 
ing  upon  the  earnest  solicitations  of  some  gentlemen  to  make 
one  trial  (and  it  shall  be  but  this  one)  of  your  temper. 

"In  plain  and  few  words,  gentlemen,  if  you  intend  to  live 
here,  let  me  hear  no  more  of  these  things,  for  if  I  do  and 
they  are  made  good  against  you,  be  assured  I'll  chastise  you  ; 
and  least  you  should  flatter  yourselves  that  the  severities  of 
the  laws  will  be  the  means  to  move  the  pity  of  your  judges, 
I  assure  you  I  do  not  intend  to  deal  with  you  so.  I'll  remove 
the  evil  by  sending  you  where  you  will  be  dealt  with  as  you 
deserve. 

"  Therefore,  as  I  told  you,  I'll  make  but  this  one  trial,  and 
advise  you  to  be  civil  and  modest,  for  there  is  no  other  way 
for  you  to  live  quietly  here. 

"  You  are  the  first  that  have  given  any  disturbance  to  my 
government,  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  hopes  of  your  better 
demeanour  you  should  now  be  the  first  that  should  feel  the 
effects  of  so  doing.  Pray  take  notice  that  I  am  an  English 
Protestant  gentleman,  and  can  never  equivocate." 

The  two  priests,  who  had  really  violated  no  law  of  the 


1  "  Proceedings  of  the  Council,"  cited  by  Scharf,  i.,  p.  368. 


356  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

province,  who  had  not  been  indicted  or  tried,  were  then  dis 
charged,  but  the  matter  did  not  end  there.  The  House  of 
Delegates,  always  in  Maryland  more  violently  anti-Catholic 
than  the  Upper  House,  sent  an  address  to  Governor  Seymour 
on  the  19th  of  September,  1704,  to  express  their  satisfaction 
with  his  course  and  thank  him  for  it. 

The  Council  also  "  taking  under  their  consideration,  that 
such  use  of  the  Popish  chapel  of  the  City  of  Saint  Mary's, 
in  St.  Mary's  County,  where  there  is  a  Protestant  church, 
and  the  said  County  Court  is  kept,  is  both  scandalous  and 
offensive  to  the  government,  do  advise  and  desire  his  Excel 
lency  the  Governor,  to  give  immediate  orders  for  the  shut 
ting  up  of  the  said  Popish  chapel,  and  that  no  person  pre 
sume  to  make  use  thereof  under  any  pretence  whatever. 

"  Whereupon  it  was  ordered  by  his  Excellency  the  Gover 
nor,  that  present  the  Sheriff  of  St.  Mary's  County,  lock  up 
the  said  chapel  and  keep  the  key  thereof."  ' 

Thus  was  the  first  Christian  place  of  worship  in  Maryland, 
founded  by  the  Catholics  in  1634,  wrested  from  them  for 
ever.  Of  its  subsequent  fate,  there  is  nothing  to  tell  us.J 

Anti-Catholic  legislation  and  action  were  not  confined  to 
Maryland,  though  elsewhere,  where  Catholics  were  few  and 
there  were  no  priests  or  chapels,  the  enactments  were  com 
paratively  harmless. 

In  1700  the  Earl  of  Bellomont,  Governor  of  New  York,  a 
fierce  anti-Catholic  zealot,  son  of  a  Colonel  Coote,  whose 
butcheries  of  Catholics  in  Ireland  stand  out  horribly  even  on 
the  records  of  that  unhappy  island,  contrived  to  carry  through 

1  Scharf,  i.,  p.  369;  "Woodstock  Letters,"  xiii.,  p.  276.  The  early 
records  of  St.  Mary's  County  down  to  1827  have  perished.  Letter  of 
J.  Frank  Ford,  County  Clerk. 

'2  According  to  the  tradition  of  the  Catholics  of  St.  Mary's  County,  a 
barn  occupies  the  site  of  the  first  chapel  reared  for  the  worship  of  Al 
mighty  God  in  Maryland. 


NEW  YORK  PENAL  LAW.  357 

the  New  York  Legislature  the  first  penal  act  against  ther 
Catholic  clergy,  and  Massachusetts,  of  which  he  was  also 
Governor,  almost  simultaneously  passed  a  similar  act. 

Common  as  misrepresentation  in  regard  to  Catholics  then 
was  and  later  too,  the  preamble  of  the  New  York  act  is  a 
remarkable  instance  of  disregard  of  truth  as  the  context  was 
of  humanity.  "  Whereas  divers  Jesuits,  Priests  and  Popish 
missionaries  have  of  late  come  and  for  some  time  have  had 
their  residence  in  the  remote  parts  of  this  Province,  and 
others  of  his  Majesty's  adjacent  colonies,  who,  by  their 
wicked  and  subtle  insinuations,  industriously  labour  to  de 
bauch,  seduce  and  withdraw  the  Indians  from  their  due  obe 
dience  to  His  most  sacred  Majesty,  and  to  excite  and  stir 
them  up  to  sedition,  rebellion,  and  open  hostility  against  his 
Majesty's  government,"  says  this  preamble,  although  the  ex 
istence  of  the  missionaries  and  their  residence  in  New  York 
would  be  very  difficult  to  prove,  and  the  acts  charged  are 
without  a  particle  of  testimony  in  fact  or  probability.  Yet 
the  law  enacted  that  every  priest  remaining  in  the  province 
after  the  passage  of  the  law,  or  coming  in  after  November  1, 
1700,  should  be  "  deemed  and  accounted  an  incendiary  and 
disturber  of  the  public  peace  and  safety,  and  an  enemy  to  the 
true  Christian  religion,  and  shall  be  adjudged  to  suffer  per 
petual  imprisonment."  Any  priest  imprisoned  under  the 
act  who  escaped  from  his  dungeon  was  liable  to  the  penalty 
of  death  if  he  was  retaken.  Any  one  who  harbored  a  Cath 
olic  priest  was  subject  to  a  fine  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds,  and  was  to  stand  on  the  pillory  for  three  days.1 

The  next  year  a  law  passed  by  which  "  Papists  and  Popish 
recusants  were  prohibited  from  voting  for  members  of  as- 

1  "An  Act  against  Jesuits  and  Popish  Priests,"  "Acts  passed.  .  . . 
July,  Aug.,  Oct.,  1700,"  in  "The  Laws  of  Her  Majesties  Colony  of  New 
York."  New  York,  1710,  p.  37. 


358  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

sembly,  or  any  office  whatever  from  thenceforth  and  for 
ever." 

The  Massachusetts  law  passed  by  Bellomont's  influence 
was  almost  identical  in  language.1 

Kot  to  be  behind  in  zeal  for  the  Protestant  supremacy,  the 
Maryland  Legislature,  stimulated  by  Governor  Seymour,  who 
was  incensed  against  the  Catholics  because  they  refused  to 
make  up  a  purse  for  him,  passed  an  act,  on  the  3d  of  Octo 
ber,  1704,  "  to  prevent  the  growth  of  popery  within  this 
province."  '  Its  provisions  contrast  strangely  with  the  char 
ity  and  liberality  of  the  laws  passed  while  Catholic  influence 
prevailed.  This  law  enacted  that  "  whatsoever  popish  bishop, 
priest,  or  Jesuit,  should  baptize  any  child  or  children,  other 
than  such  who  have  popish  parents,  or  shall  say  mass,  or  ex 
ercise  the  function  of  a  popish  bishop  or  priest  within  this 
Province,  or  should  endeavor  to  persuade  any  of  his  majes 
ty's  liege  people  to  embrace  and  be  reconciled  to  the  Church 
of  Rome,"  should,  upon  conviction,  pay  the  sum  of  £50  and 
be  imprisoned  for  six  months.  And  if,  after  such  conviction, 
any  popish  bishop,  priest,  or  Jesuit,  should  say  mass  or  exer 
cise  any  function  of  a  priest  within  the  province,  or  if  any 
persons  professing  to  be  of  the  Church  of  Rome  should  keep 
school,  or  take  upon  themselves  the  education,  government, 
or  boarding  of  youth,  at  any  place  in  the  province,  upon  con 
viction  such  offenders  should  be  transported  to  England  to 
undergo  the  penalties  provided  there  by  Statutes  11  and  12, 
William  III.,  "  for  the  further  preventing  the  growth  of 
Popery."  And  the  fourth  section  provided  that  if  any 

1  "An  Act  against  Jesuits  and  Popish  Priests."  "Acts  and  Laws 
passed  by  the  Great  and  General  Court  or  Assembly,  begun  29th  of 
May,  1700."  London,  1724,  p.  169. 

-  "A  Compleat  Collection  of  the  Laws  of  Maryland,"  Annapolis,  1727, 
p.  201.  Acts  of  1704,  ch.  59. 


SEYMOUR'S  PENAL  LAW.  359 

Popish  youth  shall  not,  within  six  months  after  he  attains 
his  majority,  take  the  oaths  prescribed,  he  shall  be  incapable 
of  taking  lands  by  descent,  and  his  next  of  kin  being  a  Prot 
estant  shall  succeed  to  them  ;  that  any  person  professing  the 
Catholic  faith  shall  be  incompetent  to  purchase  lands.  An 
other  -section  provided  that  any  person  sending  his  child 
abroad  to  be  educated  in  the  Catholic  faith  should  forfeit 
£100. 

Another  clause  providing  that "  Protestant  children  of  Pop 
ish  parents  might  not,  for  want  of  a  suitable  maintenance,  be 
compelled  to  embrace  the  Popish  religion  contrary  to  their 
inclinations,"  enacted,  "  if  any  such  person  refused  a  proper 
support  to  his  Protestant  child  that  the  governor  or  keeper 
of  the  great  seal  should  have  power  to  make  euch  order 
therein  as  suited  the  intent  of  the  act."  ' 

Of  this  fearful  law  of  persecution  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hawks, 
an  Episcopal  clergyman,  says :  "  The  enactment  enforced  a 
gross  violation  of  the  best  feelings  of  human  nature  ;  it  for 
bade  a  parent  to  fulfil  the  first  duty  which  he  owed  to  his 
offspring,  that  of  instruction ;  and  dissolving  filial  obliga 
tion,  offered  to  a  wayward  child  a  premium  for  youthful 
hypocrisy.  He  who  can  speak  of  such  a  law  in  any  terms 
but  those  of  indignant  reprobation,  deserves  himself  to  en 
dure  all  its  penalties."  " 

The  act  made  the  performance  of  any  duty  by  a  priest  or 
bishop  a  crime :  he  could  not  baptize,  offer  the  holy  sac 
rifice,  hear  confessions,  preach,  or  attend  the  dying.  No 
Catholic  could  teach,  no  Catholic  could  send  his  child  out  of 
the  province  to  receive  instructions  from  those  of  his  faith. 

1  "Acts  of  Assembly,"  passed  in  the  province  of  Maryland,    from 
1692  to  1715.    London,  1723,  p.  24. 

2  Hawks,  "Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  United 
States,"  iii.,  pp.  125-127.     Scharf,  "History  of  Maryland,"  i.,  pp.  369- 
370. 


360  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

When  this  act  was  promulgated  Maryland  was  in  a  fer 
ment.  The  Catholics  complained  of  the  hardship,  ingrati 
tude,  and  injustice  of  such  a  penal  law,  for  which  they  had 
not  given  the  slightest  pretext  by  any  action  on  their  part. 
Numbers  of  their  Protestant  neighbors  sympathized  with 
them  so  that  the  Assemblymen  declared  that  it  was  neither 
their  intention  nor  desire  to  forbid  Catholics  the  free  exer 
cise  of  their  religion,  and  they  addressed  the  governor  asking 
that  the  Assembly  should  be  reconvened.  As  soon  as  it 
met,  the  Legislature  on  the  9th  of  December  suspended  the 
operation  of  this  law  for  eighteen  months,  as  against  priests 
exercising  their  functions  only  in  the  house  of  a  Catholic 
family.' 

The  law  did  not  emanate  from  the  delegates,  it  would 
seem,  but  was  probably  sprung  upon  them  by  some  tactics 
of  the  governor,  whose  hatred  of  the  Catholics  was  intense. 

Another  act  of  this  year  imposed  a  fine  of  twenty  pounds 
on  any  one  who  brought  in  the  sturdy  arms  of  an  Irish  pa 
pist  to  till  the  soil  of  Maryland." 

It  may  seem  somewhat  strange  to  find  the  English  sov 
ereign  and  government  intervene  to  protect  any  part  of  the 
people  from  the  intolerance  and  sectarian  tyranny  of  a  colo 
nial  assembly,  but  such  was  now  actually  the  case.  The 
Commissioners  of  Trade  and  Plantations  were  shocked  at  the 
injustice  of  Governor  Seymour  and  his  pliant  Assembly. 
After  consulting  with  the  Bishop  of  London,  who  was  re 
garded  as  the  Diocesan  of  the  Anglican  Church  in  the  colo 
nies,  they  petitioned  Queen  Anne  to  extend  her  royal  pro 
tection  to  her  menaced  Catholic  subjects  in  America.  Anne 


1  Bacon's  "  Laws,"  1704,  ch.  9. 

•J  "  Liberty  and  Property ;  or,  the  Beauty  of  Maryland  displayed,' 
etc.     "  By  a  Lover  of  his  Country." 


QUEEN  ANNE  SAVES  CATHOLICITY.          361 

favored  the  Church  of  England,  and  personally  did  more 
for  it  in  America  than  any  other  English  sovereign,  her 
name  being  gratefully  remembered  to  this  day ;  but  in  Mary 
land  and  Nova  Scotia  she  won  as  enduring  a  claim  to  the 
gratitude  of  Catholics,  and  in  both  provinces  for  many  a 
year  the  faithful  appealed  to  her  kindly  interposition  as  their 
protecting  segis.  The  Acts  of  the  Maryland  Assembly 
"  being  taken  into  her  Majesty's  Koyal  Consideration,  out  of 
her  Gracious  Tenderness  to  all  her  Subjects,  behaving  them 
selves  peaceably  and  quietly  under  Her  Majesty's  Govern 
ment  she  has  been  Graciously  pleased  by  Her  Order  to  His 
Excellency  the  Governour  of  this  Province,  bearing  date  at 
the  Council  Board  at  Whitehall,  the  Third  Day  of  January, 
1T05,  to  direct  that  a  New  Law  or  Clause  of  a  Law  should 
be  Enacted  in  this  Province,  whereby  the  said  Act  of  Assem 
bly,  suspending  the  Execution  of  that  Part  of  the  said  First 
mentioned  Law  for  preventing  the  Growth  of  Popery,  viz., 
as  to  the  Prosecution  of  any  Priests  of  the  Communion  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  incurring  the  Penalties  of  the  said 
Act,  by  exercising  their  Function  in  a  private  Family  of  the 
Roman  Communion,  but  in  no  other  Case  whatsoever,  may 
be  continued,  without  any  other  Limitation  of  Time  than 
until  Her  Majesty's  further  Pleasure  be  declared  and  signi 
fied  therein."  And  in  obedience  to  this  order  of  Queen 
Anne,  the  Maryland  Assembly,  March  26— April  15,  1707, 
passed  the  required  law.1 

The  new  act  stands  as  a  proof  that  the  Catholics  of  Mary 
land  had  behaved  themselves  peaceably  and  quietly  under 
Her  Majesty's  Government,  for  had  it  been  possible  for  Sey 
mour  and  his  followers  to  allege  the  contrary,  as  a  pretext 

1  "A  Compleat  Collection  of  the  Laws  of  Maryland,"  Annapolis,  1727, 
p.  50. 


362  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

for  their  tyrannical  intolerance,  they  would  not  have  failed 
to  present  charges  to  that  effect. 

They  had,  however,  already  sought  to  elude  the  effect  of 
the  temporary  suspension  of  the  Act  by  passing  a  law,  for 
extending  to  Maryland  a  certain  act  in  regard  to  marriages, 
to  which  was  added,  in  a  way  to  escape  notice,  a  clause  that 
all  the  Penal  acts  mentioned  in  a  law  of  I  William  III. 
"  shall  be  and  are  in  full  force  to  all  Intents  and  Purposes 
within  this  Province."  '  But  the  royal  sanction  to  this  law 
was  withheld  on  the  ground  that  it  embraced  matters  not 
clearly  expressed  in  the  title.2 

An  indication  of  the  feeling  prevailing  in  Maryland  at  this 
epoch  is  seen  in  a  little  work  printed  at  Boston,  in  1707,  prob 
ably  because  there  was  no  press  in  Maryland  to  issue  it.  It 
was  entitled,  "  A  Catechism  against  Popery  for  Christians  in 
Maryland."  8 

The  next  year  the  Sheriffs  of  the  several  counties  were  re 
quired  to  report  the  number  of  Catholics  within  their  several 
counties,  and  in  a  population  exceeding  forty  thousand  only 
2,974  were  returned  by  the  officers,  nearly  one-half,  1,238, 
being  in  Saint  Mary's  County,  with  709  in  Charles,  and  248 
in  Prince  George's  Counties.  In  the  rest  of  the  province 
the  number  was  small,  161  in  Anne  Arundell,  53  in  Balti 
more,  48  in  Calvert  Counties ;  while  on  the  eastern  shore  it 
was  even  less,  49  in  Cecil,  40  in  Kent,  179  in  Queen  Anne, 
89  in  Talbot,  79  in  Dorchester,  and  81  in  Somerset.  This 


1  Laws,  p.  48     The  Act  of  1704  was  formally  repealed  in  1717.     Ibid., 
p.  201. 

2  Rev.  George  Hunter,  S.  J.     "  A  short  Account  of  y°  State  and  Con 
dition  of  ye  Roman  Catholicksin  ye  Province  of  Maryland,  collected  from 
authentick  copys  of  ye  Provincial  Records  and  other  undoubted  test! 
monys." 

3  Thomas,  "History  of  Printing,"  Second  Edition,  ad  ann.  1707. 


PRIEST  CHAPEL-HOUSES.  363 

little  flock  the  vanguard  of  the  phalanx  of  the  faith  in  the 
English-speaking  part  of  America,  were  guided  by  the  great 
Father  "William  Hunter,  still  Superior ;  Father  Kobert  Brooke, 
of  the  family  from  which  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton  was  a 
scion  ;  George  Thorold,  who  was  in  time  Superior  ;  Thomas 
Mansell,  and  William  Wood,  who  came  to  the  mission  in 
1700,  Father  Mansell  in  1704,  founding  the  mission  at  Bohe 
mia,  in  Cecil  County,  near  the  more  Christian  and  less  intol 
erant  province  of  Pennsylvania.1 

The  exemption  granted  temporarily,  and  confirmed  per 
petually  by  Queen  Anne's  directions,  allowed  the  offices  of 
the  Church  to  be  performed  only  in  a  private  family. 
Henceforward  to  the  end  of  British  rule,  no  separate  Cath 
olic  church  or  chapel  was  allowed.  The  step  taken  by  the 
early  missionaries  in  securing  lands  was  now  to  show  its  prov 
idential  character.  The  houses  of  the  missionaries  were 
adapted  or  new  ones  erected  in  such  a  form  that  while  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  each  was  a  dwelling-house,  a  large  room 
within  was  a  chapel  for  the  Catholics  of  the  district.  The 
house  of  some  Catholic  planter  at  a  convenient  distance  would, 
by  the  zeal  and  piety  of  the  owner,  have  under  the  general 
roof  a  chapel-room  where  his  family  and  neighbors  could 
gather  to  join  in  the  awful  sacrifice  so  pleasing  in  the  eyes  of 
God,  so  terrible  to  hell.  The  ancient  Carroll  mansion  at 
Doughoregan  manor  is  a  type  of  one  of  these  private  chapels 
which  alone  for  generations  enabled  the  Catholics  in  that  dis- 

1  Rev.  W.  P.  Treacy,  "Catalogue  of  our  Missionary  Fathers,"  1634- 
1805.  "  Woodstock  Letters,"  x.,  p.  15  ;  xv.,  pp.  90-1.  Scharf,  "  History 
of  Maryland,"  i.,  p.  370,  and  authority  cited. 

Father  Robert  Brooke,  of  a  pious  Maryland  family,  one  of  the  earliest 
American  members  of  the  Society,  was  sent  back  to  his  native  province 
about  1696,  and  was  Superior  of  the  Mission  from  1710  to  his  death  at 
Newtown,  July  18,  1714.  Foley,  "  Records,"  vii.,  p.  91 ;  "Woodstock 
Letters,"  xv.,  p.  93. 


364  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

trict  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  worshipping  God.  Of  the  priest 
chapel-houses  the  most  perfect  example  now  remaining  is 
the  Kock  Creek  or  Hickory  Mission  in  Harford  County,  of 
which  a  sketch  will  be  given  in  this  work,  as  well  as  the 
ground-plan  and  elevation  of  a  similar  structure  reared  in  the 
last  century  on  the  eastern  shore.1 

"  "When  divine  service  was  performed  at  a  distance  from 
their  residence,  private  and  inconvenient  houses  were  used 
for  churches."  "  Catholics  contributed  nothing  to  the  sup 
port  of  religion  or  its  ministers ;  the  whole  charge  of  their 
maintenance,  of  furnishing  the  altars,  of  all  travelling  ex 
penses,  fell  on  the  priests  themselves,  and  no  compensation 
was  ever  offered  for  any  services  performed  by  them,  nor  did 
they  require  any  so  long  as  the  produce  of  their  lands  was 
sufficient  to  answer  their  demand."  * 

1  See  "  "Woodstock  Letters,"  vi.,  p.  13. 
8  "  Bishop  Carroll's  Account." 


CHAPTER  II. 

CATHOLICITY    IN    PENNSYLVANIA    AND    MARYLAND,    1708-1741. 

WHILE  religion  was  thus  oppressed  in  Maryland,  Penn, 
who  had  recovered  his  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  practiced, 
as  far  as  he  dared,  the  principles  of  religious  liberty  which 
he  shared  with  the  Calverts  and  James  II.1  But  with  the 
prudent  caution  which  marked  his  career,  he  avoided  coming 
to  any  issue  with  the  home  government,  fully  aware  that  any 
collision  on  that  point  would  imperil  his  power  to  do  good 
and  endanger  the  religious  freedom  of  his  own  community. 

In  the  first  clause  of  the  Charter  of  Liberties  and  Privi 
leges,  October  28,  1701,  which  reaffirmed  the  toleration  al 
ready  established,  it  was  provided  :  "  And  that  all  persons 
who  also  profess  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  shall  be  capable  (notwithstanding  their  other  per 
suasions  and  practices  in  point  of  conscience  and  religion)  to 
serve  the  government  in  any  capacity,  both  legislatively  and 
executively,  he  or  they  solemnly  promising  when  lawfully 

1  In  New  Jersey  the  Liberty  of  Conscience  proclaimed  in  1702  ex- 
cepted  Papists  and  Quakers.  In  Carolina,  members  of  Assembly  had  to 
receive  communion  in  the  Anglican  church  by  Act  of  1704.  "  Through 
out  the  Colonies  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  man  who 
did  not  conform  to  the  established  religion  of  the  colony  ....  if  he 
were  a  Roman  Catholic  was  everywhere  wholly  disfranchised.  For  him 
there  was  not  even  the  legal  right  of  public  worship."  C.  J.  Stille, 
"Penn.  Mag.  of  Hist.,"  ix.,  p.  375.  All  colonial  officers  were,  by  a 
declaration  of  Queen  Anne  in  1702,  required  to  take  the  test  oath,  and 
thus  all  Catholics  were  excluded.  Ibid.,  p.  390.  See  "  Woodstock  Let 
ters,"  vi.,  p.  13. 

(365) 


366  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

required,  allegiance  to  the  king  as  sovereign,  and  fidelity  to 
the  Proprietor  and  Governor." 

Encouraged  by  the  liberality  of  Penn's  government,  many 
Catholics,  unable  to  settle  in  Maryland,  began  to  make  their 
homes  in  Pennsylvania.  Who  the  pioneer  Catholics  were, 
and  who  was  the  first  priest,  is  a  point  now  involved  in  ob 
scurity.  Evidence  from  several  sources  shows  that  mass  was 
openly  offered  in  Philadelphia  at  the  close  of  1707,  or  early 
in  the  ensuing  year,  and  Lionel  Brittain,  a  man  of  means  and 
position, -became  a  convert  to  the  Catholic  faith.  The  Kev. 
John  Talbot,  an  Anglican  clergyman  at  Burlington,  New 
Jersey,  and  a  nonjuring  bishop,  learned  these  facts  in  New 
York,  and  reported  them  January  10,  1708,  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  and  the  next 
month,  in  a  letter  to  Keith,  mentions  the  conversion  of  sev 
eral  persons.1 

During  those  days  of  general  persecution,  Catholics  in 
most  parts  of  the  British  Empire  acted  with  great  caution  so 
as  not  to  excite  hostility,  but  in  Philadelphia  they  showed 
less  prudence.  The  fact  that  mass  was  openly  said,  became 
known  in  England,  and  was  made  the  basis  of  accusation 
against  Penn,  who  wrote  to  Logan :  "  Here  is  a  complaint 
against  your  government  that  you  suffer  publick  mass  in  a 
scandalous  manner." 

There  is,  however,  no  Catholic  record  or  tradition  as  to  the 

1  "  Since  Mr.  Brooke,  Mr.  Moore,  and  Mr.  Evans  went  away  there's 
an  ludependancy  set  up  again  at  Elizabeth  Town,  Anabaptism  at  Bur 
lington,  and  the  Popish  Mass  at  Philadelphia."— Letter  of  Rev.  John 
Talbot  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Soc.  Prop.  Gosp.,  New  York,  January  10, 
1707-8.  Hill's  "Hist.  Burlington,"  p.  78.  "I  saw  Mr.  Bradford  at 
New  York  ;  he  tells  me  mass  is  set  up  and  read  publicly  in  Philadelphia, 
and  several  people  are  turned  to  it,  amongst  which  Lionel  Brittain,  the 
church  warden,  is  one,  and  his  son  another." — Letter  of  Rev.  John  Tal 
bot  to  Rev.  Mr.  Keith,  14th  February,  1707-8.  "Doc.  Hist.  P.  E. 
Church,  Connecticut,"  ii.,  p.  37,  New  York,  1862. 


FIRST  MASS  IN  PHILADELPHIA.  367 

Catholic  clergyman  whose  zeal  attracted  this  general  notice, 
nor  do  we  know  anything  of  his  flock. 

The  place  where  the  first  mass  was  offered  is  not  clearly 
settled.  Watson,  the  annalist  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  author 
ity  of  Samuel  Coates,  stated  that  it  was  the  house  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Front  and  Walnut  Streets.  A  later  and 
careful  historian,  Thompson  Westcott,  raised  a  doubt  by 
showing  that  this  property  belonged  to  Griffith  Jones,  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  one  of  the  early 
Mayors  of  Philadelphia.  But  Jones  or  his  grantee  was  the 
neighbor  of  the  Catholics,  Meade  and  Brown,  near  Nicetown, 
where  a  Catholic  chapel  is  traditionally  reported  to  have  ex 
isted  on  ground  once  possessed  by  him.  It  is  certainly  a 
curious  fact  that  his  name  is  thus  connected  with  two  spots 
where  Catholics  are  reported  to  have  gathered  to  worship 
'God.1  Moreover,  as  early  as  1698,  Jones  was  suspected  of 
disaffection,  and  was  arrested  as  the  writer  of  a  petition  fa 
voring  the  Anglican  Church.5 

We  are  up  to  this  time  equally  in  the  dark  as  to  the  priest 
who  officiated  for  the  Catholics  of  Philadelphia  in  1708  ; 
no  evidence  has  yet  been  found.  None  of  those  who  have 
written  on  the  Jesuit  missions  in  Maryland  mention  any 
Father  of  the  Society  as  laboring  in  Pennsylvania  prior  to 
Father  Greaton,  whose  name  does  not  appear  on  the  Mary 
land  mission  before  1721.3  It  may  have  been  Father  Man- 
sell  from  Bohemia,  or  the  English  Franciscan  Father,  James 


1  "  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History,"  ii.,  p.  447  ;  iv.,  p.  423. 

2  Perry,  "  Papers  relating  to  the  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  Pennsylvania,"  p.  10.     A  stepdaughter  of  Jones  seems  to 
have  married  into  the  Catholic  family  of  Willcox.     "  Penn.  Mag.  of 
Hist,"  x.,  p.  124. 

3  F.   Treacy,   "  Catalogue  of   our   Missionary  Fathers,"   1634-1805  ; 
"  Woodstock  Letters,"  xv.,  p.  93. 


368  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

Haddock,  or  one  of  the  Scotch  Fathers  of  that  order,  Peter 
Gordon,  or  Clement  Hyslop,  or  indeed  some  secular  priest.1 

Induced  probably  by  the  hostility  of  the  Maryland  au 
thorities,  the  Catholics  in  the  province  seem  to  have  moved 
towards  the  friendly  borders  of  the  territories  of  William 
Penn,  taking  up  grounds  and  settling  in  the  northern  parts 
of  both  shores.  The  clergy  took  steps  to  extend  their  minis 
try  to  this  new  flock.  As  already  stated,  Father  Thomas 
Mansell,  a  native  of  Oxfordshire,  who  had  entered  the  Soci 
ety  of  Jesus  in  1686,  and  after  his  ordination  had  been  sent 
to  Maryland  in  1700,*  is  said  to  have  taken  up  his  residence 
about  1704  in  Cecil  County,  near  the  manor  of  Augustine 
Herman.  Two  sisters  of  the  name  of  O'Daniel  had  obtained 
a  warrant  for  lands,  which  they  bequeathed  to  Father  Man- 
sell  and  William  Douglass.  On  the  10th  July,  1706,  Father 
Mansell  obtained  a  patent  for  458  acres,  under  the  name  of 
Saint  Xaverius.  It  lay  a  few  miles  southeast  of  the  junction 
of  the  Great  and  Little  Bohemia  Eivers.  The  estate  was  sub 
sequently  enlarged  by  the  purchase  of  the  St.  Inigo  tract 
from  a  neighboring  Catholic  proprietor,  James  Heath.3 
Here  the  manor-house  became  at  once  a  residence  for  the 

1  Oliver,  "  Collections  illustrating  the  History  of  the  Catholic  Relig 
ion,"  etc.,  London,  1857,  p.  541.  "  Cong.  Int.,"  Lond.,  January  30, 1699- 
1700,  p.  167. 

Watson's  traditional  account  was  accepted  by  Catholics  generally,  and 
no  one  seems  to  have  questioned  it.  Col.  Bernard  U.  Campbell,  Bishop 
O'Connor,  Archbishop  Kenrick,  all  adopted  it,  and  Henry  de  Courcy 
de  La  Roche  Heron,  finding  it  accepted  by  men  of  such  standing 
in  the  Church,  gave  it  on  their  authority  in  his  Sketch  of  the  Church 
which  I  translated.  Dishonest  writers  attack  this  last  gentleman  as  though 
he  had  invented  the  story.  They  even  cite  Mr.  de  Courcy's  words 
as  mine  ;  I  had  written  nothing  on  the  history  of  the  Church  in  Penn 
sylvania  except  in  private  letters,  having  called  Mr.  "Westcott's  attention 
to  Brittain's  conversion  and  the  presence  of  Recollect  Fathers. 

*  Foley,  "  Records  of  the  English  Province,"  vii.,  p.  487. 

3  Geo.  Johnston,  "  History  of  Cecil  County,  Maryland,"  pp.  195-199. 


THE  BOHEMIA  MISSION.  369 

missionaries  and  a  chapel  for  the  Catholics  in  the  vicinity, 
while  those  residing  at  other  points  on  the  peninsula  were 
visited  at  stated  periods  by  the  priests  stationed  at  Bohemia, 
which  was  known  as  "  St.  Xavier's  Residence  on  the  Eastern 
Shore."  '  The  stations  attended  from  Bohemia  were  not  as 
numerous  as  those  in  the  older  Catholic  parts  and  the  duty 
more  laborious.  The  priests  of  St.  Xavier's  mission  laid  the 
foundation  of  Catholicity  in  Delaware  by  establishing  a  mis 
sion  at  Apoquinimink,  where  mass  was  said  at  stated  times, 
perhaps  at  the  residence  of  the  Holohan  family,  who  had 
settled  on  Mount  Cuba.2 

We  get  an  idea  of  the  labors  of  the  priests  at  Bohemia 
from  a  description  by  Father  Mosley  several  years  later, 
when  things  must  have  improved  somewhat. 

"  Ye  congr  .  .  .  .  ns  are  fewer  but  ye  rides  much  longer. 
On  ye  1st  Sunday  50  mile  where  I  pass  ye  whole  week  in  that 
Neighbourhood  in  close  Business  with  ye  Ignorant.  On  JK 
2nJ  I  go  down  ye  Chesapike  Bay  40  mile  farther,  which 
makes  me  90  mile  from  Home  ;  yn  other  2  Sundays  are 
easier." 

"When  Father  Mansell  began  his  establishment  at  Bohemia, 
"  it  is  highly  probable  that  he  brought  with  him  the  ancient 
cross,  which  has  been  at  Bohemia  ever  since.3  This  cross  is 
about  five  feet  high,  and  is  said  to  have  been  brought  to  St. 

1  Father  Mosley  speaks  of  Bohemia  as  a  fine  plantation  "  nigh  Phila 
delphia,  which  is  a  vast  advantage."    The  lands  at  Bohemia  were  be 
queathed  by  Father  Mansell  to  Thomas  Hodgson,  February  20,  1723. 
The  founder  of  the  Bohemia  mission  died  March  18,  1724,  aged  55, 
having  been  Superior  of  the  Mission  in  1714  and  for  several  years 
thereafter.     Foley,  "  Records,"  vii.,  p.  487  ;  "  Woodstock  Letters,"  xv., 
p.  93. 

2  Perry,  "Papers  relating  to  the  Church  in  Pennsylvania,"  p.  313; 
"  Woodstock  Letters,"  xv.,  p.  223. 

3  Geo.  Johnston,  "  History  of  Cecil  County,"  p.  199. 

24 


370  THE  CHURCH  IN  MAR YLA  ND. 

Mary's  by  the  first  settlers  who  came  there  from  England. 

It   is   made   of   wrought-iron    and   certainly   looks   ancient 

enough  to  have  been  brought  over  by  the  Pilgrims  who 

came  over  in  the  '  Ark '  and  '  Dove.' ': 

There  seems  to  have  been  some  ground  for  hope  of  better 

times  for  the  Church  in  1711, 
as  four  Fathers  of  the  Soci- 

-p  ,     A,4 

ety  01  J  esus,  1  eter  Att wood, 

FAC-SIMILE    OP    THE    SIGNATURE    OF    ,-,.•,•,  r\\        \ 

Francis   Beaumont,    Charles 

FATHER  PETER  ATTWOOD. 

Brockholes,      and      Thomas 

Hodgson,  were  sent  out  in  that  year.  The  zealous  Fathers 
Hunter  and  Brooke,  the  latter  Superior  of  the  Mission,  with 
Mansell,  Wood,  and  Thorold, 
seem  to  have  composed  the 
Jesuit  body. 

Father  George  Thorold  was 

i        j    •       \H    i\  J     FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE   SIGNATURE  OF 

sent  to  Maryland  m  1700,  and        PATHER  GEORGE  THOROLD. 
labored   there  for  more  than 

forty  years,  after  having  done  service  in  England.  He  was, 
with  slight  interruption,  Superior  of  the  Mission  from  1725 
to  1734.  He  was  of  a  Berkshire  family,  born  February  11, 
1670,  and  died  at  St.  Thomas  Manor,  November  15,  1742.3 

1  The  kitchen  at  Bohemia  is  believed  to  be  Father  Mansell's  house  and 
chapel.     A  larger  chapel-house  was  soon  erected. 

"In  1705  the  present  house  of  St.  Inigoes  was  erected,  under  Father 
Ashbey,  with  the  bricks  of  the  old  Church  of  St.  Mary's,  which  had 
been  brought  from  England.  About  the  same  time  a  small  church  was 
erected  in  the  chapel  field  and  a  graveyard  attached  to  it."  Bishop  Fen- 
wick,  "  Brief  Account  of  the  Settlement  of  Maryland." 

2  Henry  Foley,  "Records  of  the  English  Province  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,"  vii.,  pp.  23,  43,  87,  91,  364,  385,  487,  774.     The  young  Father 
Henry  Poulton  died  September  27, 1712,  at  the  age  of  33.     Ibid.,  p.  623  ; 
Treacy,  "  Catalogue  of  our  Missionary  Fathers  ";  "  Woodstock  Letters," 
xv.,  p.  93;  xiv.,  p.  378. 

3  Foley,  "  Records,"  vii.,  p.  774  ;  "  Woodstock  Letters,"  xv.,  p.  95. 


A  CALVERT 'S  APOSTASY.  371 

Father  Peter  Attwood,  an  active  and  zealous  missionary  of 
this  period,  was  the  son  of  George  Attwood,  Esq.,  of  Beverie, 
and  Winifred  Petre.  He  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus  when 
about  twenty-one,  and  coming  to  Maryland  in  1711  was  on 
active  duty,  showing  ability  in  the  management  of  affairs. 
He  was  on  two  occasions  Superior  of  the  Mission,  and  died 
while  still  in  office  on  Christmas  day,  1734.' 

Lord  Baltimore  at  this  time,  and  perhaps  on  other  occa 
sions,  contributed  to  the  support  of  the  missionaries  who 
were  exposed  to  the  persecution  of  governors  in  whose  ap 
pointment  he  had  no  voice.  In  his  "  Instructions,  power 
and  authority  to  Charles  Carroll,  dated  September  12,  1712," 
he  directs  that  gentleman  as  his  agent  to  pay  yearly  eight 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  to  "  Mr.  Robert  Brooke  and  the 
rest  of  his  brethren,  being  in  all  eight  persons,"  and  he  or 
ders  the  payment  of  another  thousand  pounds  to  "  Mr.  James 
Haddock,"  the  Franciscan  missionary  already  mentioned.2 

In  1713  the  cause  of  Catholicity  in  Maryland  received  a 
sad  blow.  Benedict  Leonard  Calvert,  heir  to  the  Barony,  in 
the  hope  of  recovering  in  time  the  control  of  the  Province 
of  Maryland,  for  which  the  English  Government  required 
apostasy  from  the  true  faith,  weakly  yielded,  and  on  the 
third  day  of  January  renounced  his  religion.  His  father  de 
plored  the  step  and  deprived  his  son  of  his  income,  till  the 
Government  compelled  him  to  make  an  allowance.  The 
young  man's  apostasy  did  not  secure  the  boon  that  he  cov 
eted  ;  he  survived  his  father  only  a  short  time,  and  died 
without  recovering  his  rights  in  Maryland.  His  infant  son, 
Charles  Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore,  was  brought  up  a  Protest 
ant.  "When  he  came  of  age  he  was  acknowledged  as  Lord 

1  Foley,  "  Records,"  vii.,  p.  23  ;  "  Woodstock  Letters,"  xv. ,  p.  94. 
8  Kilty,  "  Land-Holder's  Assistant,"  p.  129.    The  eight  seems  to  include 
only  those  in  the  lower  counties,  omitting  Mansell,  who  was  at  Bohemia. 


372  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

Proprietor,  and  the  house  of  Calvert  till  it  ended  in  dishonor 
was  one  of  the  Protestant  powers  of  the  province. 

The  influence  of  this  desertion  was  naturally  great.  There 
were  in  Maryland  weak  Catholics  who  had  been  borne  up 
and  strengthened  hitherto  by  the  courageous  fidelity  of  the 
Lords  Baltimore  and  their  families.  Some  of  these  began  to 
waver  ;  some  even  thought  it  no  shame  to  follow  the  sad  ex 
ample  of  the  late  Lord  Proprietary,  and  sacrifice  their  faith 
in  order  to  secure  immunity  from  dangers  which  seemed  to 
threaten  the  whole  Catholic  body,  or  obtain  civil  rights  and 
offices.1 

The  alarm  among  the  adherents  of  true  religion  was  in 
creased  by  the  course  of  the  Assembly  in  exacting  new 
oaths  from  all  who  held  any  office  in  the  province.  A  law 
of  April  26,  1715,  required  every  official  to  take  oaths  ab 
juring  all  allegiance  to  the  son  of  the  exiled  king,  James  II., 
and  swearing  allegiance  to  George  I.  This  did  not  affect 
Catholics,  as  such,  but  the  Act  of  July  17,  1716,  effectually 
excluded  Catholics  from  any  even  the  humblest  office  in  the 
province  which  they  had  built  up  by  their  industry  and  en 
nobled  by  their  liberality.  To  hold  an  office  every  man  was 
required  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  King  George  ;  an 
oath  of  abhorrence  of  the  Pope's  right  to  depose  sovereigns ; 
an  oath  abjuring  James  III.,  and  an  oath  that  he  did  not  be 
lieve  in  Transubstantiation. 

Even  after  taking  this  string  of  oaths  an  officer  in  Mary 
land  was  not  yet  sure  of  his  position.  For  if  he  should  at 
any  time  thereafter  "  be  present  at  any  Popish  Assembly, 
Conventicle,  or  Meeting,  and  joyn  with  them  in  their  Ser 
vice  at  Mass,  or  receive  the  Sacrament  in  that  Communion,"  * 

1  Scharf,  "  History  of  Maryland,"  i.,  p.  379. 

'2  "  A  Compleat  Collection  of  the  Laws  of  Maryland,"  Annapolis,  1727, 
pp.  74,  161-4. 


CATHOLICS  DISFRANCHISED.  373 

he  forfeited  his  office,  and  became  disqualified  for  any 
other. 

To  prevent  an  increase  of  the  Catholic  body  by  immigra 
tion,  a  tax  of  twenty  shillings  was  imposed  in  1716,  on  every 
"  Irish  papist "  servant  introduced  into  the  province,  and 
this  tax  was  doubled  the  next  year.1 

This  was  followed  by  the  complete  disfranchisement  of 
the  Catholics.  An  act  regulating  the  election  of  delegates 
begins,  "  And  whereas  notwithstanding  all  the  measures  that 
have  been  hitherto  taken  for  preventing  the  Growth  of 
Popery  within  this  Province,  It  is  very  obvious,  that  not 
only  profest  Papists  still  multiply  and  increase  in  Number, 
but  that  there  are  also  too  great  numbers  of  others  that  ad 
here  to  and  espouse  their  Interest  in  opposition  to  the  Prot 
estant  Establishment,"  and  after  reciting  the  dangers  to  be 
feared  from  Catholics  electing  a  candidate  the  statute  enacted, 
"  That  all  profest  Papists  whatsoever,  be  (and  are  hereby  de 
clared)  uncapable  of  giving  their  vote  in  any  Election  of  a 
Delegate  or  Delegates,"  unless  they  took  the  oaths  required 
of  office-holders.8 

Yec  the  Catholic  clergy  only  nerved  themselves  to  greater 
zeal,  and  that  their  labors  were  not  without  fruit  is  evident 
from  a  letter  addressed  by  Governor  Hart  to  Bishop  Robin 
son,  of  London,  where  speaking  of  the  Anglican  clergy  he 
wrote  :  "  I  am  sorry  to  represent  to  your  lordship,  that  there 
are  some  whose  education  and  morals  are  a  scandal  to  their 
profession,  and  I  am  amazed  how  such  illiterate  men  came 
to  be  in  holy  orders.  The  advantage  which  the  Jesuits  have 
from  their  negligence  is  but  too  evident  in  the  many  prose- 


1  "A  Compleat  Collection  of  the  Laws  of  Maryland,"  Annapolis,  1727, 
p.  192. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  197. 


374  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

lytes  they  make."  '  And  the  same  governor  addressing  the 
Anglican  clergy  in  1718,  expressed  his  regret  that  "  Jesuits 
and  other  Popish  emissaries  "  were  gaining  proselytes,  and 
the  assembled  ministers  admitted  the  fact  as  they  had  done 
two  years  before.2 

The  transportation  to  the  plantations  in  America  of  many 
Scotchmen  who  had  taken  part  in  the  rising  in  favor  of  the 
son  of  James  II.,  must  have  thrown  some  Catholics  into 
Maryland,  and  the  two  Scotch  Recollects  were  apparently 
still  in  the  country  and  may  have  ministered  to  them.3 

The  observance  of  the  holidays  of  the  Church  by  Cath 
olics  in  the  midst  of  a  Protestant  population  has  always 
raised  difficulties.  The  Jesuit  Fathers  in  Maryland  in  1722, 
through  their  provincial  Father  Hill,  sought  the  decision  of 
Bishop  Gi-ffard.  Finding  that  many  Catholics  took  the  lib 
erty  of  working  on  holidays  of  obligation  in  a  most  disedify- 
ing  manner,  because  such  labor  was,  under  certain  contin 
gencies,  a  matter  of  necessity,  the  missionaries  submitted  to 
the  Yicar-Apostolic  regulations  which  they  had  adopted, 
aiming  to  carry  out  the  spirit  of  the  church  by  enforcing  the 
proper  observance  of  all  the  festivals  she  prescribed,  but 
authorizing  servile  labor  by  farm-hands  employed  in  getting 
in  the  crops,  on  any  holidays  that  occurred  between  the  be 
ginning  of  May  and  the  end  of  September,  excepting,  how 
ever,  Ascension,  Whitmonday,  Corpus  Christi,  and  Assump 
tion,  on  which  no  work  was  allowed.  On  all  holidays  with 
out  exception  Catholics  were  required  to  hear  mass,  if  said 
at  a  chapel  within  their  reach,  and  when  there  was  no  mass 
said  at  any  place  which  they  could  conveniently  attend, 

1  Maryland  MSS.  in  Records  at  the  Episcopal  Palace,  Fulham,  cited 
by  Dr.  Hawks,  "Contributions,"  ii.,  p.  139. 
'2  Hawks,  "Contributions,"  ii.,  pp.  149,  161. 
3  Scharf,  "History  of  Maryland,"  i.,  p.  385. 


BONAVENTURE        GIEEARD. 


BISHOP  GIFFAR&S  REGULATION*. 

parents  and  masters  were  to  have  public  prayers,  catechism, 
and  spiritual  reading. 

Bishop  Gitiurd  approved  the  regulation*,  -is  equally  pru 
dent  ami  pi«ms,  "because,"  he  writes,  "there  Ua  due  regard 
to  religious  duties  and  corporal  necessities.  Wherefore  I 
approve  of  the  said  regulations  and  order  then;  to  be  ob 
serve*  i.  London,  December  21,  1722." 

These  regulations  remained  in  force  apparently  till  the 
number  of  holidays  for  the  Catholics  of  England  w.-.s  re 
duced  by  Pope  Pius  VI.  (March.  9,  1777). 

Dr.  Bonaventufa  Giffard,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Mad.uira  and 
Vicar-Apostolic  of  the  London  District,  who  thus  showed 
his  zeal  and  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  transatlantic  flock, 
was  a  prelate  of  piety  and  learning  long  connected  with  the 
church  in  England.  He  was  born  at  Wolverhampton  of  an 
ancient  family  in  1642,  and  at  an  early  age  loath  father, 
who  was  killed  fighting  for  the  king.  After  a  course  at 
Douay  College  he  pursued  h  -t^u"  -r  Paris, 

and  took  his  degree  from  the  SorWiu*  He  was 

appointed  chaplain  to  James  II.,  and  on  th>  12ti.  of  -iamiary, 
1688,  was  elected  by  the  Propaganda  Vicar- Ap^f- •He  of  the 
Midland  District,  and  was  consecrated  Aprii  22d,  apparently 
by  the  Pope's  Nuncio.  James  made  him  also  President  of 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford.  He  was  ejected  on  the  accession 
of  William  III.,  and  was  confined  for  nearly  two" years  in 
Newgate  Prison,  and  then  in  Hertford  jail.  In  17<>3  lie  was 
transferred  to  the  London  District,  over  which  he  presided 
to  his  death,  on  the  12th  of  March,  1734,  governing  also 
from  1708  to  1713  the  Western  District, 

He  was  such  an  object  of  persecution  that  he  was  com 
pelled  to  change  his  dwelling-place  fourteen  times  in  a  HJJ 
gle  year,  large  rewards  tempting  the  priest- hunters  to  procim- 
his  arrest. 


376  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND 

In  1720  Henry  Howard,  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
was  appointed  Bishop  of  Utica,  and  coadjutor  to  Bishop  Gif- 
fard,  but  he  did  not  live  to  receive  episcopal  consecration, 
dying  of  a  fever  contracted  in  visiting  the  sick  poor  of  his 
flock,  in  March,  1721.  The  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  Petre  appoint 
ed  coadjutor,  succeeded  Bishop  Giffard,  in  the  London  Yica- 
riate  and  the  charge  of  the  American  mission.  Bishop  Gif- 
fard  was  interred  at  St.  Pancras'  Church,  London,  but  his 
heart  was  taken  to  Douay.1 

About  this  time  Catholics  and  Catholicity  seemed  to  have 
invaded  the  very  capital  of  the  Province  of  Maryland,  as  the 
Carrolls  not  only  had  a  residence  at  Annapolis,  but  actually 
had  a  Catholic  chaplain,  Father  John  Bennet.  The  Calverts, 
though  they  had  conformed  to  the  State  Church,  showed  a 
kindly  interest  in  those  who  had  suffered  for  their  fidelity  to 
the  house  of  Baltimore.  Though  an  intolerant  legislature 
could  disfranchise  Catholics  and  deprive  them  of  office,  it 
could  not  prevent  the  Lord  Proprietor  from  employing  Cath 
olics  in  his  private  business.  Charles  Carroll  as  agent  of 
Lord  Baltimore  enjoyed  a  kind  of  immunity  which  greatly 
incensed  the  foes  of  the  Catholics. 

In  1723  there  were  twelve  Jesuit  Fathers  on  the  Mary 
land  mission,  and  as  a  Catalogue  notes,  "  scattered  through 
this  immense  tract  of  country,  they  strenuously  labor  in  pro 
tecting  and  propagating  the  Catholic  faith.  Four  temporal 
coadjutors  attended  to  the  care  of  their  domestic  affairs,  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  land,  the  produce  of  which  is  sufficient 
to  support  all  the  members.  Besides  the  land,  there  is  no 
other  source  of  support  belonging  to  the  mission." 

In   1725  we  obtain  another  gleam  of  the  zeal  of  the  Cath- 

1  Brady,  "  Annals  of  the  Catholic  Hierarchy,"  Rome,  1883,  pp.  203, 
149.  Besides  the  rare  portrait  here  copied  there  is  said  to  be  one  by 
Du  Bosc. 


CLOSE  OF  THE  FEANCISCAN  MISSION.        37? 

olic  clergy  in  Maryland.  "  The  Jesuits  were  not  idle," 
writes  Dr.  Hawks.  "  Their  number  had  increased,  and  they 
not  unfrequently  challenged  the  Protestant  clergy  to  public 
doctrinal  disputations,  such  as  have  often  occurred  in  the 
history  of  the  Church ;  and  of  no  one  of  which  can  it  be 
truly  recorded  (as  we  believe)  that  it  has  accomplished  any 
good  purpose."  .  .  .  .  "  The  clergy  of  the  establishment, 
however,  did  not  decline  the  challenge." 

That  Father  Atwood  maintained  the  truth  against  the  Rev. 
Giles  Rainford,  we  glean  from  a  letter  of  that  Protestant 
clergyman.1  The  little  body  of  missionaries  lost  FatherWilliam 
Hunter  in  1Y23,  and  Father  Mansell,  the  founder  of  Bohemia, 
in  the  year  following,  but  their  number  was  increased  in  1T24  by 

the  arrival  of  Fath 
ers  John  Ben  net, 
James  Whitgrave, 

(^-r'  i  Francis         Floyd, 

/SiC.  OO  UO  Henry  Whetenhall, 

^>*-  Peter    Davis,   and 

,     I  James  Case. 

^""T"    7*  *)  rt  rJ.Sl^J^         ^  the  deatl1  °f 
/*((""}  Cy^L   Father     Haddock, 

•  ^—^        ^ — '  who        apparently 

F AC-SIMILE  OF  SIGNATURE  OF  FATHER  HADDOCK,     exT)jrec[      jn       1*7<>0 
ON    THE    FLY-LEAF    OF    A    BOOK    AT    WOOD 
STOCK,  among   the    Jesuit 

Fathers  to  one  of 

whose  houses  he  had  retired,  closed  the  Franciscan  Mission 
in  Maryland,2  and  the  whole  care  of  the  Catholics  in  the  Brit- 

1  Hawks,  "Contributions,"  ii.,  p.  180,  citing  Maryland  Manuscripts, 
Fullmm  ;  Perry,  "Historical  Collections,"  iv.  (Maryland),  pp.  251-252. 

2  Father  Haddock  signs  himself  in  one  place,  "Jacobus  Haddock,  O. 
Min.  Strict.  Ob.  Prov.  Angliae  in  terra  Mariana  et  coateris  partibus  occi- 
dentalibus  missionarius,"  which  seems  to  indicate  that  some  of  his  work 


378  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

ish  provinces  devolved  on  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  who  had  from  the 
outset  alone  constantly  and  persistently  adhered  to  this  field  of 
mission  labor.1  In  England  the  missions  confided  to  the  Soci 
ety  were  at  times  in  charge  of  secular  priests  under  their  ap 
pointment.  It  is  not  impossible  that  secular  priests  may 
have  been  similarly  employed  by  them  on  the  Maryland  mis 
sion,  but  no  evidence  exists  to  justify  a  probable  suspicion  of 
any  actual  case. 

Upon  the  accession  of  George  II.  to  the  throne  of  England 
in  1727,  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  sent  over  a  congratulatory 
address  to  the  king,  in  testimony  of  their  fidelity  and  duty. 

This  document  is  worth  inserting,  as  one  of  the  few  docu.- 
ments  in  which  the  Catholics  of  the  province,  as  a  body,  ad 
dressed  the  throne. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  their  sincerity,  as  the  Lords 
Baltimore  and  the  Maryland  Catholics  had  not  been  especially 
favored  by  James  II.,  and  had  never  taken  any  active  part 
or  shown  any  open  sympathy  in  the  attempts  made  by  his 
son  to  regain  the  throne. 

"  To  THE  KING'S  MOST  EXCELLENT  MAJESTY. 

"  The  humble  address  of  the  Koman  Catholics  of  the 
Province  of  Maryland. 

"  MOST  GRACIOUS  SOVEREIGN  : 

"  We  your  Majesty's  most  dutiful  subjects  the  Roman 
Catholic  inhabitants  of  the  Province  of  Maryland,  under  the 
government  of  the  Lord  Baltimore,  Lord  and  Proprietary 
thereof,  out  of  our  true  and  unfeigned  sense  of  Gratitude  for 
the  great  clemency  and  goodness  of  your  late  Royal  Father 

in  the  ministry  was  outside  of  Maryland.  He  was  in  that  province  in 
1G99-1700.  "Archives  Prov.  Neo-Eb.  Maryland  S.J." 

1  Treacy,  "  Catalogue  of  our  Missionary  Fathers,"  Woodstock  Letters, 
xv.,  p.  91  ;  "  Regist.  F  F.  Min.  Prov.  Anglic,"  p.  210. 


THE  FIRST  CENTENNIAL.  379 

toward  us,  humbly  beg  leave  to  express  to  your  Majesty  the 
share  we  bear  with  the  rest  of  your  Majesty's  subjects  in  the 
general  grief  of  the  British  Empire  on  the  death  of  our  late 
most  gracious  sovereign,  and  as  we  have  the  same  happiness 
with  them  to  see  your  Majesty  peaceably  succeed  to  the 
crown  of  your  great  Father,  we  humbly  beseech  your  Maj 
esty  to  give  us  leave  to  join  with  them  in  our  hearty  con 
gratulations  and  in  all  humility  we  beg  your  Majesty's  gra 
cious  acceptance  of  our  constant  allegiance  and  duty  according 
to  our  utmost  capacity  in  this  remote  part  of  your  Majesty's 
Dominions  and  we  humbly  hope  by  our  Loyalty  and  a  steady 
and  constant  adherence  to  our  duty  to  deserve  some  share 
in  that  tender  concern  your  Majesty  has  been  so  graciously 
pleased  to  express  for  all  your  subjects.  We  are 

"  May  it  Please  your  Majesty,  your  Majesty's  most  dutiful 

Subjects  and  Servants." 

This  address  was  presented  by  Lord  Baltimore,  who  at  the 
time  held  a  position  at  Court. 

The  centenary  of  the  settlement  of  Maryland  did  not  pass 
unnoticed.  A  "  Carmen  Seculare  "  was  addressed  to  Lord 
Baltimore  by  a  Mr.  Lewis,  of  which,  however,  only  an  extract 
was  printed.  The  poet  thus  speaks  of  Cecilius,  the  second 

Lord: 

"  Maturest  wisdom  did  his  act  inspire, 

Which  ages  must  with  gratitude  admire, 
By  which  the  Planters  of  his  land  were  freed 
From  feuds  that  made  their  native  country  bleed  1 
Religious  feuds  which  in  an  evil  hour, 
"Were  sent  from  hell  poor  mortals  to  devour  ! 
Oh  !  be  that  rage  eternally  abhor'd 
"Which  prompts  the  worshippers  of  one  mild  Lord, 
For  whose  salvation  one  Redeemer  died, 
By  wars  their  orthodoxy  to  decide  ! 
Falsely  religious  human  blood  to  spill 
And  for  God's  sake  their  fellow-creatures  kill ! 
Horrid  pretence  ! 


380  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

Long  had  this  impious  zeal  with  boundless  sway, 
Most  direful  urged  o'er  half  the  earth  its  sway, 
Tyrannic  on  the  souls  of  men  to  prey  ! 
'Til  great  Cecilius,  glorious  Hero,  broke 
Her  bonds,  and  cast  away  her  yoke  ! 
What  praise,  oh  !  Patriot,  shall  be  paid  to  thee  ! 
Within  thy  province,  Conscience  first  was  free 
And  gained  in  Maryland  its  native  Liberty." 1 

This  laudation  of  the  spirit  of  religious  liberty  which  ani 
mated  Cecilius,  Lord  Baltimore,  would  not  have  been  ad 
dressed  to  his  successor  had  he  been  in  sympathy  with  the 
spirit  of  persecution  then  dominant  in  Maryland. 

When,  in  1733,  Charles  L,  Lord  Baltimore,  came  over  in 
person  to  assume  the  government  of  the  province  and  adjust 
the  border  disputes  which  had  long  existed  with  the  neigh 
boring  colony  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Catholics  addressed  him 
and  again  renewed  the  expression  of  their  loyalty  and  fidelity 
to  the  ruling  dynasty. 

Though  he  had  abandoned  their  communion,  Lord  Balti 
more  could  not  but  bear  testimony  to  their  loyalty.  "  I 
thank  you,"  he  says  in  his  reply,  "  for  your  kind  address  and 
cannot  but  be  in  a  particular  manner  pleased  with  that  duti 
ful  regard  which  you  express  for  his  Majesty  and  the  royal 
family,  the  continuance  of  which,  will  always  secure  to  you 
my  favour  and  protection." 2 

All  this  helped  the  Catholics  in  darker  days  to  show  that 
when  men's  minds  were  not  heated  by  prejudice  and  passion, 
none  thought  of  ascribing  to  them  any  conduct  incompatible 
with  their  duties  as  subjects  and  colonists. 

The  forty  pounds  of  tobacco  per  poll  granted  to  each 

1  "Gentleman's  Magazine,"  December,  1737.  A  note  refers  to  the 
famous  Act  allowing  Liberty  of  Conscience  and  punishing  the  use  of  op 
probrious  names. 

*  Rev.  George  Hunter,  "A  Short  Account,"  etc. 


THE  MINISTERS'  TOBACCO  TAX.  381 

clergyman  of  the  Established  Church  from  every  one  in 
his  parish  proved  most  disastrous.  They  became  tobacco 
dealers,  and  incurred  the  hatred  of  all  classes,  while  all  the 
efforts  of  their  superiors  failed  to  make  the  Maryland  clergy 
of  the  Establishment  worthy  of  the  respect  of  their  own 
flock.  A  historian  of  that  body  says,  under  date  of  1734  : 
"  The  papists  did  not  fail  to  take  advantage  of  the  trouble  in 
the  church  of  which  we  have  spoken.  The  number  of  their 
priests,  most  of  whom  were  Jesuits,  greatly  multiplied,  and 
they  liad  several  places  of  worship  in  different  parts  of  the 
province ;  indeed,  in  some  parts,  they  were  more  numerous 
than  the  protestants.  They  flattered  themselves  that  they 
were  about  to  acquire  the  ascendancy,  as  under  the  adminis 
tration  of  Governor  Calvert,  many  of  them  had  been  put 
into  offices  of  honor  and  profit  which  they  still  retained. 
Most  diligent  were  the  priests  also  in  distributing  pamphlets 
among  the  people,  the  object  of  which  was  to  maintain  the 
Church  of  Rome  ;  and  in  all  cases  when  a  female  of  the. 
Romish  communion  intermarried  with  a  protestant,  it  was 
customary  to  make  a  previous  contract  that  all  the  daughters 
of  the  marriage  should  be  educated  as  papists.  By  thus  se 
curing  the  future  mothers  of  the  country,  the  priests  felt 
that  they  had  very  quietly  accomplished,  what  has  ever  been 
with  them  the  great  end,  of  directing  the  early  education  of 
the  country.  Their  prospects  were  certainly  never  more 
promising  than  at  this  time,  for  in  some  counties  they  were 
compared  with  the  protestants,  in  the  proportion  of  three  to 
one  :  throughout  the  province,  however,  the  latter  were  the 
more  numerous  body." ' 

In  Pennsylvania  there  is  no  notice  of  any  priestly  service 
for  the  Catholics  from  1708  to  1729,  at  which  time,  accord 

1  Hawks,  "  Contributions,"  ii.,  p.  221. 


382  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

ing  to  a  tradition  recorded  by  Watson,  there  was  a  Catholic 
chapel  near  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  "  At  that  time  Eliza 
beth  McGawley,  an  Irish  lady  and  single,  brought  over  a 
number  of  tenantry  and  with  them  settled  on  the  land  (now 
Miss  Dickinson's)  on  the  road  leading  from  Nicetown  to 
Frankford.  Connected  with  her  house  (now  standing  oppo 
site  Gaul's  place)  she  had  the  said  chapel."  ' 

Bernard  U.  Campbell  records  in  the  following  words  a 
tradition  ascribed  to  Archbishop  Neale,  who,  while  serving 
in  Philadelphia,  had  opportunities  of  hearing  accounts  from 
aged  Catholics : 

"  The  Superior  of  the  Jesuits  in  Maryland  having  been 
informed  that  there  were  many  Catholics  in  the  capital  of 
Pennsylvania,  resolved  to  endeavor  to  establish  a  mission 
there.  The  priest  designed  for  this  duty  had  an  acquaint 
ance  in  Lancaster  of  the  name  of  Doyle,  whom  he  visited 
and  requested  to  furnish  him  the  name  of  some  respectable 
Catholic  in  Philadelphia.  Being  referred  to  a  wealthy  old 
lady  remarkable  for  her  attachment  to  the  ancient  faith,  he 
waited  on  her  in  the  garb  of  a  Quaker,  and  after  making  in 
quiries  about  the  various  denominations  of  Christians  in  the 
city,  asked  first  if  there  were  any  Catholics,  and  finally,  if 
she  was  one  ;  to  which  she  answered  in  the  affirmative.  He 
informed  her  that  he  also  was  of  the  same  communion. 
Being  informed  that  the  Catholics  had  no  place  of  worship, 
he  desired  to  know,  if  they  would  wish  to  have  a  church. 
To  which  the  lady  replied,  they  would  most  certainly,  but 
the  great  difficulty  would  be  to  find  a  clergyman  ;  for  al 
though  there  were  priests  in  Maryland,  it  was  impossible  to 
procure  one  from  thence.  He  then  informed  the  lady  that 
he  was  a  priest  and  of  the  intention  of  his  visit.  Overjoyed 

1  Watson,  "Annals  of  Philadelphia,"  i.,  p.  453. 


THE  NICETOWN  CHAPEL.  383 

at  the  sight  of  a  priest  after  many  years'  privation  of  that 
consolation,  she  communicated  the  intelligence  to  her  Cath 
olic  acquaintance  and  invited  them  to  meet  him  at  her  house. 
A  considerable  number  assembled,  the  most  of  whom  were 
Germans.  The  priest  explained  to  them  the  object  of  his 
visit,  and  a  subscription  was  immediately  commenced  to  pro 
cure  the  means  to  purchase  ground  and  build  a  church. 
With  the  money  raised  they  purchased  the  house  and  lot  be 
longing  to  the  lady,  who  also  acted  very  generously  in  pro 
moting  the  pious  undertaking."  : 

These  two  traditions  seem  to  refer  to  the  same  chapel ;  a 
lady  has  mass  at  her  house,  and  a  chapel  is  raised  by  sub 
scription.  Archbishop  Neale's  statement  cannot  apply  to  St. 
Joseph's,  which  was  begun  some  years  later,  on  another  plan, 
by  a  Jesuit  Father  purchasing  land  and  rearing  a  house. 

Mr.  Thompson  Westcott  could  find  no  documentary  evi 
dence  to  substantiate  Watson's  statement,  no  Miss  McGawley 
appearing  as  a  holder  of  land  in  that  vicinity,  and  finding 
that  a  Catholic  gentleman  living  near  the  place  conveyed 
lands  to  Father  Greaton  in  1747,  he  says:  "If  there  ever 
was  any  Roman  Catholic  Chapel  near  Kicetown,  it  must  have 
been  built  on  this  ground  bought  by  Father  Greaton  and 
after  1747."  :  But  this  is  very  illogical ;  a  purchase  of  land 
in  1747  is  perfectly  compatible  with  the  existence  of  a  chapel 
on  other  ground  in  1729. 


1  Campbell,  "Life  and  Times  of  Archbishop  Carroll,"  U.  S.  C.  M., 
iv.,  pp.  252-3.  He  does  not  tell  how  or  where  this  was  first  recorded. 
It  is  presumed  to  refer  to  Father  Greaton  and  St.  Joseph's,  but  seems 
more  properly  to  refer  to  the  earlier  chapel  near  Xicetown,  which  a  lady 
is  said  to  have  had  on  her  own  ground.  In  those  days  there  are  fre 
quent  allusions  to  Catholics  passing  as  Quakers,  with  how  much  founda 
tion  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  Perry,  p.  202. 

3   '  History  of  Philadelphia." 


384  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

According  to  Townsend  "Ward,1  the  Priests'  Chapel  was  on 
Crump's  land,  north  of  the  property  owned  by  Dr.  Brown. 
Watson  cites  the  authority  of  Deborah  Logan  and  Thomas 
Bradford,  who  remembered  to  have  seen  the  ruins  of  such  a 
chapel,  and  there  is  not  the  slightest  documentary  evidence 
or  tradition  to  sustain  the  theory  of  a  Catholic  chapel  on  the 
ground  conveyed  to  Father  Greaton  in  1747.2 

As  early  as  1744  Father  Schneider  visited  the  Catholics 
near  Frankford  and  Germantown,  and  was  at  the  house  of 
Doctor  Brown,  performing  a  baptism  there,  recording  it  in 
terms  that  show  that  his  host  was  regarded  as  a  person  of 
some  consequence.3  There  is  evidence,  therefore,  that  there 
were  Catholic  services  in  that  vicinity  before  the  deed  of 
1747. 

A  mystery  hangs  over  another  matter  connected  with  the 
early  mission  in  Pennsylvania.  Sir  John  James,  apparently 
of  Crishall,  ESPCX,  who  was  knighted  May  14,  1665, 
established  a  fund  of  £4,000,  which  was  held  by  the  Vicar- 
Apostolic  of  London,  and  by  his  direction  forty  pounds  a 


1  "  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History,"  iv.,  p.  423. 

8  The  statement  of  the  tradition  as  to  the  chapel  given  by  Watson  was 
accepted  by  Bishop  Kenrick,  who  wrote  to  B.  U.  Campbell  in  1845  that 
it  was  "  conformable  to  local  tradition,  although  the  inscription  on  the 
tombstone  does  not  determine  the  priestly  character  of  Brown.  The 
Natives  were  so  convinced  of  the  fact  that  they  mutilated  the  stone  in 
the  late  riots."  Campbell  on  this  guarantee,  and  Bishop  O'Connor  in  his 
Seminary  Report,  accepted  it.  Henry  de  Courcy  accepted  it  and  so  gave 
it  ;  and  I  cannot  see  that  Mr.  Westcott  has  disproved  it,  though  he 
showed,  what  Father  Schneider's  Register  shows,  that  Dr.  Brown  was  a 
married  man.  Yet  Mr.  de  Courcy  has  been  assailed  in  his  honored  grave 
with  brutal  insult  because  he  stated  what  Bishops  Kenrick  and  O'Connor 
and  Colonel  Campbell  had  endorsed. 

3  "  i744i  30  Apr. — in  domo  Dni  Dris  Brown  Bapt.  est  Christiana  nigra 
adulta,  scrva  ejusdem  Dris  Brown,  Patr.  eraiit  idem  Dr.  Brown  et  uxor 
ejus."  Register  of  F.  Schneider. 


THE  "SIR  JOHN  JAMES  FUND."  385 

year  were  to  be  applied  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  Catholics 
of  London,  and  the  residue  to  support  the  Catholic  mission- 
ers  in  Pennsylvania.  Tt  was  regarded  as  annexed  to  the 
church  in  Lancaster,  and  for  many  years  gave  twenty  pounds 
annually  to  four  missions  in  Pennsylvania.1 

The  founder  of  the  fund  was  a  convert  won  to  the  faith 
by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Challoner,  and  Archbishop  Carroll  im 
plies  that  the  German  Fathers  were  introduced  into  Penn 
sylvania  to  attend  their  countrymen  by  means  of  it.  "  I 
know  nothing  more  of  the  generous  founder,"  wrote  Bishop 
Kenrick  in  1845,  "  but  this  is  certainly  an  evidence  of 
zeal."  2 

That  there  were  Catholics  in  the  province  in  1729  is  evi 
dent  from  the  fact  that  a  boy,  born  in  Pennsylvania  Septem 
ber  22  in  that  year,  John  Royall,  entered  the  Society  of 
Jesus  abroad,  and  died  in  England  in  1770.  He  is  probably 
the  first  native  of  Pennsylvania  ordained  to  the  priesthood.3 

It  is  claimed,  too,  that  mass  was  said  about  1730  at  the 
residence  of  Thomas  Willcox,  at  Ivy  Mills,  Delaware  County, 
the  ancestor  of  a  well-known  Catholic  family,  and  strangely 
enough  the  Willcoxes  seem  to  have  been  related  to  Griffith 
Jones. 

After  this  period  of  obscure  beginnings  of  Catholicity  in 
Pennsylvania,  on  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  some  patient  and 
thorough  local  investigator  may  in  time  throw  light,  we  come 
to  the  more  definite  fact  of  the  establishment  of  a  congrega 
tion  in  Philadelphia  which  persists  to  this  day. 

From  the  station  established  at  Bohemia,  the  Fathers  of 

1  "  U.  S.  Oath.  Hist.  Mag  ,"  ii.,  p.  86. 

5  Smyth,  "  Present  State  of  the  Catholic  Mission,"  gives  an  absurd  ac 
count  of  the  origin  of  the  fund,  which  he  did  not  know  to  have  been 
created  in  England  and  held  by  the  Vicar- Apostolic. 

3  Foley,  "  Records  of  the  English  Province,"  vii.,  p.  674. 
5 


386  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  Society  of  Jesus  in  Maryland  in  time  extended  their 
missions  into  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately 
no  contemporaneous  documents  are  known  which  record  the 
name  of  the  first  missionary  or  the  time  and  place  where  his 
services  began. 

"When  the  Rev.  John  Carroll  was  appointed  Prefect-Apos 
tolic,  he  was  directed  by  the  Propaganda  to  send  an  account 
of  the  Church  in  the  United  States.  He  drew  up  a  paper, 
as  he  himself  states,  "  from  very  imperfect  memoirs,"  and  it, 
of  course,  contained  many  inaccuracies,  for  as  most  of  his  life 
had  been  spent  in  Europe,  he  had  not  enjoyed  the  opportu 
nity  of  conversing  with  the  older  missionaries  who  had  passed 
away  during  the  quarter  of  a  century  of  his  absence.  His 
statement,  diffidently  put  forward  by  the  illustrious  author, 
is,  however,  the  basis  of  nearly  all  that  has  since  been  written 
in  regard  to  the  Church  in  Philadelphia  : 

"  About  the  year  1730  or  rather  later,  Fr.  Greaton,  a  Jesuit, 
(for  none  but  Jesuits  had  yet  ventured  into  the  English  colo 
nies)  went  from  Maryland  to  Philadelphia,  and  laid  the  foun 
dations  of  that  congregation,  now  so  flourishing :  he  lived 
there  till  about  the  year  1750,  long  before  which  he  had  suc 
ceeded  in  building  the  old  chapel,  which  is  still  contiguous 
to  the  presbytery  of  that  town,  &  in  assembling  a  numerous 
congregation,  which  at  his  first  going  thither,  did  not  consist 
of  more  than  ten  or  twelve  persons.  I  remember  to  have 
seen  this  venerable  man  at  the  head  of  his  flock  in  the  year 
1748.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Fr.  Harding,  whose 
memory  remains  in  great  veneration  ;  under  whose  patronage 
and  through  his  exertions  the  present  church  of  St.  Mary's 
was  built. 

"  In  the  year  1741  two  German  Jesuits  were  sent  to  Penn 
sylvania  for  the  instruction  and  conversion  of  German  Emi 
grants  who  from  many  parts  of  Germany  had  come  into  that 


FATHER  THEODORE  SCHNEIDER.  387 

province.  Under  great  hardships  and  poverty  they  began 
their  laborious  undertaking,  which  has  since  been  followed 
by  great  benedictions.  Their  names  were  Fr.  Schneider  from 
Bavaria  and  P"  Wapeler,  from  the  lower  Rhine.  They  were 
both  men  of  much  learning  &  unbounded  zeal.  Mr.  Schnei 
der,  moreover,  was  a  person  of  great  dexterity  in  business, 
consummate  prudence  and  undaunted  magnanimity.  Mr. 
Wapeler  having  remained  about  eight  years  in  America  & 
converted  or  reclaimed  many  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  was 
forced  by  bad  health  to  return  to  Europe.  He  was  the  per 
son  who  made  the  first  settlement  at  the  place  now  called 
Conewago.  Mr.  Schneider  formed  many  congregations  in 
Pennsylvania,  built  by  his  activity  and  exertions  a  noble 
church  at  Coshenhopen  &  spread  the  faith  of  Christ  far  and 
near.  He  was  used  to  visit  Philadelphia  once  a  month  for 
the  sake  of  the  Germans  residing  there,  till  it  was  at  length 
found  proper  to  establish  there  permanently  a  German  priest 
as  the  companion  of  Fr.  Harding.  The  person  appointed 
was  the  venerable  Fr.  Farmer  who  had  come  from  Germany 
some  years  before  &  had  lived  an  apostolical  life  at  Lancas 
ter,  in  the  same  province  of  Pennsylvania.  This  event  took 
place,  I  believe,  about  the  year  1760  or  rather  later." l 

No  register,  record,  or  report  of  Father  Greaton  exists  to 
throw  light  on  his  ministry  or  fix  the  period  when  it  began. 
Some  papers  are  said  to  have  existed  down  to  recent  times, 
but  their  character,  antiquity,  and  contents  are  known  only 
by  recollection  too  vague  to  serve  the  historian. 

That  some  priest  acquired  property  near  Walnut  Street 
about  1734  is  attested  by  a  public  act. 

When  the  Provincial  Council  met  on  the  25th  of  July, 
1734,  Patrick  Gordon,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  who  pre- 

1  Account  in  the  handwriting  of  Archbishop  Carroll  still  preserved. 


388  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

sided,  informed  the  Board  that  "  he  was  under  no  small  con 
cern  to  hear  that  a  house,  lately  built  on  Walnut  Street,  in 
this  city,  had  been  set  apart  for  the  exercise  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion,  and  is  commonly  called  the  Romish  Chap- 
pel,  where  several  persons,  he  understands,  resort  on  Sundays 
to  hear  mass  openly  celebrated  by  a  Popish  priest ;  that  he 
conceives  the  tolerating  of  the  publick  exercise  of  that  relig 
ion  to  be  contrary  to  the  laws  of  England,  some  of  which 
(particularly  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  of  King  William  the 
Third)  are  extended  to  all  his  Majesty's  dominions.  But 
those  of  that  persuasion  here,  imagining  they  have  a  right  to 
it  from  some  general  expressions  in  the  charter  of  privileges, 
granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  thik  Government  by  our  late 
honorable  Proprietor,  he  was  desirous  to  know  the  sentiments 
of  the  Board  on  the  subject." 

It  was  observed,  hereupon,  that  if  any  part  of  the  said 
charter  was  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  England,  it  could 
be  of  no  force,  it  being  contrary  to  the  express  terms  of  the 
royal  charter  to  the  Proprietary.  But  the  council  having  sat 
long,  the  consideration  thereof  was  adjourned  to  the  next 
meeting,  and  the  said  laws  and  charters  were  then  ordered  to 
be  laid  before  the  Board. 

At  the  next  meeting  on  the  31st  of  July,  "  it  was  ques 
tioned  whether  the  said  statute  (11  &  12  William  III.,  ch.  4), 
notwithstanding  the  general  words  in  it,  '  all  others  his  Maj 
esty's  dominions,'  did  extend  to  the  plantations  in  America, 
and  admitting  it  did,  whether  any  prosecution  could  be  car 
ried  on  here  by  virtue  thereof,  while  the  aforesaid  law  of 
this  province,  passed  so  long  since  as  the  fourth  year  of  her 
late  Majesty  Queen  Anne,  which  is  five  years  posterior  to 
the  said  statute,  stands  unrepealed.  And  under  this  difficulty 
of  concluding  upon  anything  certain  in  the  present  case,  it  is 
left  to  the  Governor,  if  he  thinks  fit,  to  represent  the  matter 


ST.  JOSEPH'S  CHURCH.  389 

to  our  superiors  at  home,  for  their  advice  and  directions 
in  it." 

The  Catholics,  however,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  mo 
lested,  as  no  law  or  proclamation  issued  against  them. 

Apparently  on  the  statement  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  it  is 
generally  assumed  that  this  house  was  erected  by  Father 
Joseph  Greaton,  and  is  said  to  have  been  on  land  purchased 
by  him  of  John  Dixon,  south  of  Walnut  Street  and  east  of 
Fourth,  May  15,  1733,  but  no  deed  is  known  to  be  in  exist 
ence. 

It  is  certain  that  prior  to  17-iO  the  Jesuit  missionaries  in 
Maryland  had  learned  the  condition,  numbers,  and  residence 
of  scattered  Catholics  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey. 
Finding  that  many  were  Germans,  application  was  evidently 
made  through  the  Provincial  in  England  to  the  Provincials 
of  the  Order  in  Germany  for  some  zealous  priests  able  to 
minister  to  their  countrymen  in  the  colony  founded  by  "Will 
iam  Penn.  Several  zealous  and  worthy  priests  responded  to 
the  call,  and  came  over  evidently  with  faculties  from  the 
Vicar- Apostolic  of  London.  The  first  of  these  pioneers  of  the 
German  priests  in  the  United  States  was  Father  Theodore 
Schneider,  who  arrived  in  1741.  He  was  followed  the  next 
year  by  Father  William  Wapeler.  In  174:0-1  Pennsylvania 
appears  in  the  records  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  as  a  distinct 
mission,  under  the  title  of  Saint  Francis  Borgia,  the  saint 
who  sent  the  first  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  to  Florida 
and  Virginia.  Father  Joseph  Greaton  appears  as  the  Supe 
rior  of  the  new  mission.  The  plan  adopted  in  Maryland  was 
pursued  also  in  Pennsylvania.  Lands  were  acquired  by  the 
missionaries  with  their  own  means,  and  held  almost  always 
in  the  name  of  Father  Greaton,  as  his  associates,  generally 
Germans,  being  aliens,  could  not  take  title  to  land,  and  as 


390  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

Catholics  were  excluded  from  naturalization  as  British  sub 
jects.1 

Father  Joseph  Greaton,  according  to  the  most  probable 
accounts,  was  born  in  London,  February  12,  1679,  and  en 
tered  the  Society  of  Jesus  on  the  5th  of  July,  1708.  After 
making  his  solemn  profession  eleven  years  later,  he  was  as 
signed  to  the  Maryland  mission2  in  1721.3  He  was  certainly 
for  many  years  pastor  of  Saint  Joseph's  Church.  Philadel 
phia,  and  Superior  of  the  Pennsylvania  missions.  It  is  to 
be  lamented  that  we  have  so  little  that  is  authentic  in  regard 
to  the  long  labors  of  this  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  mission. 

Of  the  two  German  Jesuits  who  were  his  first  auxiliaries, 
Father  William  Wapeler  was  a  native  of  ^Neuen  Sigmariu- 
gen,  Westphalia,  and  was  born  January  22,  1711.  He  eii- 


1  Deeds  to  Father  Greaton,  therefore,  do  not  show  his  presence.  I 
have  met  a  receipt  dated  May  4,  1752,  acknowledging  payment  in  full  by 
Father  Greaton  on  lands  at  Colebrookdale,  Goshenhopen,  and  Hanover. 
If  the  letters  appealing  to  the  German  provinces  can  be  found  they  will 
undoubtedly  contain  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  Catholics  in 
Pennsylvania. 

An  Act  of  Parliament  passed  in  1740  (13th  George  II.),  for  naturaliz 
ing  foreign  Protestants  and  others  therein  mentioned,  as  are  settled  or 
shall  settle  in  any  of  his  Majesty's  colonies  in  America,  excluded  from 
naturalization  all,  except  Quakers  and  Jews,  who  did  not  receive  com 
munion  in  some  Protestant  or  Reformed  Church  within  three  months 
before  taking  the  oath  and  making  the  declaration. 

'2  Foley,  "  Records  of  the  English  Province,"  vii.,  p.  318. 

J  Treacy,  "  Woodstock  Letters,"  xv.,  pp.  93-4.  In  Mr.  Foley's  Tables, 
vii.,  p.  cxxiii. ,  there  is  no  mention  of  Pennsylvania  till  "1740-1.  Mission 
of  Saint  Francis  Borgia,  F.  Joseph  Greatou,  Superior  FF.  4,"  and  iii., 
p.  396,  he  says  :  "  We  had  opened  a  mission  here  about  this  year  (1741), 
called  Missio  S.  Fran.  Borgise,  Pennsylvania?."  As  a  sign  of  Catholic 
progress  we  may  note  that  complaint  was  made  in  1741  that  "  a  native 
Irish  bigotted  Papist  was  set  up  as  schoolmaster  at  Chester"  by  the 
Quakers.  Perry,  pp.  216,  220. 


CONE W AGO  AND  LANCASTER.  391 

tered  the  Society  of  Jesus  at  the  age  of  seventeen.1  Arriv 
ing  in  Pennsylvania  in  17-il,  he  founded  the  mission  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  at  Conewago,  by  erecting  a  log-house.  Early 
in  1742  he  purchased  some  lots  in  Lancaster,2  and  began  to 
terect  a  chapel  there,  for  this  building  seems  to  have  been  rec 
ognized  as  a  church  from  the  very  outset,  and  was  dedica 
ted  to  Saint  John  Xepomucene.3  Of  Father  Wapelers 
labors  we  have  scanty  notices.  After  a  few  years  the  severe 
work  of  the  mission,  the  constant  journeys,  extending  appar 
ently  beyond  the  Maryland  frontier  told  on  his  health.  His 
church,  at  Lancaster  perished  by  sacrilegious  hands,  Dec.  15, 
1760,  but  the  Catholics  at  once  began  to  rebuild.3  The  au 
thorities  to  their  credit  offered  a  reward  for  the  incendiaries.4 
As  to  Conewago  we  have  less  precise  information.  Ac 
cording  to  a  statement  in  the  history  of  a  neighboring  Prot 
estant  church,  a  party  of  German  emigrants  in  1734-5 
passed  a  log  mass-house  near  Conewago,  but  the  statement 
seems  vague.  This  district  was  settled  under  a  Maryland 
grant  of  ten  thousand  acres  by  John  Digges,  in  1727,  and 

1  Foley,  "Records,"  vii.,  p.  813. 

'2  The  beginning  of  the  Church  in  Lancaster  is  fixed  by  a  letter  of  the 
Anglican  minister,  Rev.  Richard  Backhouse,  June  14,  1742.  "  In  Lan 
caster  Town  there  is  a  Priest  settled  where  they  have  bought  some  Lotts 
and  are  building  a  Mass-House,  and  another  Itinerant  Priest  that  goes 
back  in  ye  country.  This  is  a  just  and  faithful  account,  which  I  re 
ceived  last  February  in  Lancaster  Town  from  ye  Prothonotary  and  some 
of  the  principal  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  that  county." 

3  The  church  is  said  to  have  been  completed  in  1762.  "Popery  has 
gained  considerable  ground  in  Pennsylvania  of  late  years.  The  profes 
sors  of  that  religion  here  are  chiefly  Germans,  who  are  constantly  sup 
plied  with  missionarys  from  the  Society  of  Jesus  as  they  are  pleased  to 
style  themselves.  One  of  that  order  resides  in  this  place,  and  had  influ 
ence  enough  last  summer  to  get  a  very  elegant  chapel  of  hewn  stone 
erected  in  this  Town."  Thomas  Barton  to  the  Secretary,  Lancaster, 
Nov.  8,  1762.  Perry,  p.  343. 
4  S.  M.  Sener,  "An  Ancient  Parish,"  in  "New  Era." 


392  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

some  Catholics  may  have  come  in  with  the  earliest  colonists. 
The  first  mass  is  said  to  have  been  offered  in  the  house  of 
Robert  Owings,  on  a  slight  elevation,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
nrile  north  of  the  present  church  of  the  Sacred  Heart  which 
occupies  the  site  of  Father  Wapeler's  humble  chapel.  Here 
by  his  zeal  he  converted  and  reclaimed  many  from  sin  and 
error.1  Father  Wapeler  returned  to  Europe  in  1748,  and 
was  apparently  succeeded  by  Father  Neale,  who  did  not  sur 
vive  long,  and  by  Father  Sittensperger  (Manners).  Many 
of  the  English  and  Irish  settlers  above  Pipe  Creek,  and 
most  of  the  Germans,  were  Catholics  at  this  time.3 

Of  the  third  of  the  early  missioners  in  Pennsylvania, 
who  is  referred  to  (in  an  ancient  obituary  list  of  the  Province, 
and  in  a  manuscript  of  Father  Farmer)  as  the  founder  of  the 
missions  in  that  colony,  Father  Theodore  Schneider,  we  have 
more  satisfactory  knowledge.  He  was  a  native  of  the  Uni 
versity  city,  Heidelberg,  Germany,  where  he  was  born,  April 
7,  1703.  He  is  said  to  have  been  Eector  of  the  University, 
and  professor  of'  philosophy  and  polemics  at  Liege.  His 
labors  in  Pennsylvania  began  in  1741,  so  that  he  renounced 
a  brilliant  future  in  the  learned  circles  of  his  native  land  to 
devote  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  toilsome  work  among 
obscure  emigrants  in  America.3  His  precious  Register  pre 
served  at  Goshenhopen  is  entitled,  "Book  of  those  Baptized, 
Married,  and  Buried,  at  Philadelphia,  in  Cushenhopen,  Max- 
etani,  Magunschi,  Tulpehaken,  etc.  Begun  Anno  Domini 
1741." 

He  was  pastor  of  the  German  Catholics  in  Philadelphia 

1  Reily,  "  Conewago,  A  Collection  of  Catholic  Local  History,"  Mar- 
tinsburg,  1885,  pp.  44,  45.  The  oldest  Register  in  Conewago  begins  half 
a  century  after  the  foundation  of  the  mission. 

*  "  Affidavit  of  Henry  Cassells  of  Frederic  County,"  May  30,  1751. 
3  Foley,  "  Records,"  vii.,  p.  691. 


393 


for  many  years,  and  his  flock  formed  the  majority  of  the 
faithful  in  that  city  ;  but  besides  this  he  visited  the  scattered 
Catholics  through  many  parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  Kew  Jer 
sey,  extending  apparently  into  Delaware.  The  first  entry 
records  a  baptism  at  the  house  of  John  Utzman  in  Falkner's 


Cb 
* 


,  /rt&a#^fa& 

/v 


o 


111/- 


FAC-SIMILE   OF  THE  TITLE   OF  FATHER  SCHNEIDER'S  REGISTER. 

Swamp,  now  called  Pottsgrove,  near  the  famous  Ringing 
Hill,  in  Berks  County.1  Then  follows  a  marriage  at  Phila 
delphia  "  in  sacello  nostro,"  being  undoubtedly  the  oldest 
official  record  of  any  ecclesiastical  act  in  Saint  Joseph's 

'See   Schoepf's    "Travels    through    Berks    County,    1783."     Penn. 
Mag.  of  Hist.,  v.   p.  81. 


394  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

Church.  Then  we  trace  him  to  the  Swedish  settlements, 
to  Bethlehem  County,  Germantown,  and  in  the  spring  of 
174:2  to  Cedar  Creek,  and  a  cheerless  district,  where  some 
Catholics  had  settled,  so  utterly  unproductive  as  to  obtain  the 
title  of  "  Allemangel "  or  "  Lackall."  '  Toward  the  close 
of  the  year  he  returned  by  way  of  Lebanon  and  North 
Wales  to  Philadelphia  and  Germantown.  He  soon,  however, 
was  in  the  Oley  Hills,  at  Cedar  Creek,  New  Furnace,  and 
Maxetani,  and  in  February,  1743,  notes  his  coming  to  Cush- 
enhopen,  where  he  in  time  reared  an  humble  house,  rather  a 
chapel  for  the  Catholics  of  that  district  than  a  home  for  him 
self,  though  he  never  gives  it  the  name  of  church  or  chapel. 
The  land  he  purchased  of  Beidler,  a  Mennonist,  who  had 
fallen  out  with  the  Brotherhood,  and  to  mortify  them  sold 
his  property  to  a  Catholic  priest.  At  the  last  moment  he 
demanded  security,  but  Father  Schneider  at  once  handed 
over  the  full  amount  and  took  the  deed.2  Here  he  soon  had 
a  school.  In  May  he  founded  the  mission  at  Haycock,  cele 
brating  the  feast  of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  the  house  of  Thomas 
Garden.  Then  we  find  him  at  Frankfort  and  his  regular 
stations.  Possessing  medical  skill,  he  travelled  about  as  a 
physician,  being  thus  enabled  to  avoid  suspicion  and  danger. 
Laboring  constantly  to  extend  the  benefit  of  his  ministry  to 
the  poor  miners  and  iron-workers,  he  crossed  into  New  Jersey, 
and  was  at  the  house  of  Maurice  Lorentz  in  August,  1743,  and 
in  October,  at  the  Glass  House  s  near  Salem.  The  next  year 


1  Rupp,  "  History  of  the  Counties  of  Berks  and  Lebanon,"  Lancas 
ter,  1844,  p.  122. 

-  Tradition  recorded  in  a  letter  of  Father  Lekeu,  February  11,  1824. 
Deeds  of  Ulrick  Beidler  to  Francis  Neale,  1747,  for  122  acres  ;  Thomas 
and  Richard  Penn  to  Joseph  Greaton,  1752,  for  373  acres  100  perches. 

3  Carkesse  to  Hill,  July  31,  1740.  "New  Jersey  Archives/'  vi., 
p.  98.  Acton,  "  A  short  History  of  the  Glass  Manufacture  in  Salem 


GEIGER'S  HOUSE,  NEW  JERSEY. 


395 


he  repeated  his  visits  to  that  colony,  was  at  Branson's  Iron 
Works,  at  the  Glass  House,  and  in  June  records  a  baptism 
in  the  house  of  Matthew  Geiger,  which  in  his  time  and  his 
son  Adam's,  was  periodically  visited  by  Father  Schneider, 
and  later  by  Father  Farmer.1  Before  the  close  of  the  sum 
mer  Father  Schneider  began  a  mission  at  Bound  Brook. 


The 
for  in 


OF   MATTHEW   AND   ADAM   GEIGER,    SALEM   CO.,    N.    J.,  WHEKE 
MASS   WAS   CELEBRATED   FROM    1744. 

Church  was,  however,  under  the  ban  in  'New  Jersey, 
the  Instructions  to  Lewis  Morris,  Governor  of  that 


Co.,  X.  J."    Perm.  Mag.  of  Hist.,  ix.,  p.  343.     It  was  about  a  mile  from 
Alloway.     Shourds,  "  History  of  Fenwick's  Colony,"  p.  360. 

1  This  house,  one  of  the  earliest  associated  with  Catholicity  in  New 
Jersey,  is  still  standing,  and  I  give  an  engraving  from  a  photograph 
made  for  me.  The  old  Registers  of  Father  Schneider  and  Father  Far 
mer  enabled  .me  to  determine  its  proximity  to  Salem  and  Wister's  Glass 
House.  Investigation  led  to  the  house  itself,  still  known  in  the  neigh 
borhood  as  one  where  Catholics  held  service  in  the  olden  time.  A  Mr. 
Adam  Ki jar,  a  descendant  of  the  early  Geigers,  still  resides  in  Salem. 
Father  Farmer's  first  visit  to  it  noted  in  his  register  is  June  27,  1759. 


396  THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK. 

colony  in  1738,  we  read :  "  You  are  to  permit  a  Liberty  of 
Conscience  to  all  Persons  (except  Papists)."  ' 

In  the  next  colony,  New  York,  Catholicity  was  virtually 
extinct.  The  little  body  gathered  there  while.  James  was  in 
authority  as  Duke  of  York  and  King,  had  been  scattered, 
and  no  indications  are  found  of  any  Catholic  residents. 
No  priest  visited  the  colony  except  some  one  brought  in  as  a 
prisoner  on  a  prize  captured  by  a  privateer.  In  the  earliest 
New  York  newspapers,  an  examination  of  the  files  for  several 
years  gave  only  the  following  : 

u  Ean  away  the  18th  August,  1733,  from  Jacobus  Van 
Cortlandt  of  the  city  of  New  York,  a  negro  man  slave,  named 
Andrew  Saxton — the  shirts  he  had  with  him  and  on  his 
back  are  marked  with  a  cross  on  the  left  breast.  He  pro- 
fesseth  himself  to  be  a  Eoman  Catholic,  speaks  very  good 
English." 2 

Some  years  after  Backhouse,  an  Episcopal  clergyman, 
speaking  of  the  colony,  wrote  :  "  There  is  not  in  New  York 
the  least  face  of  Popery."  3 

Somewhat  later  Leary,  who  kept  a  livery  stable  in  Court- 
land  Street  and  imported  fine  horses  for  ofiicers  and  others, 
was  one  of  the  few  avowed  Catholics. 

In  the  Caroliuas  and  Georgia  Catholicity  was  practically 
unknown,  for  though  a  statement  is  printed  of  a  Catholic 
settlement  in  North  Carolina,  it  seems  evidently  fictitious, 
nothing  being  found  to  support  it.4 

New  England  was,  of  course,  closed  to  the  Church.     In 

1  "  New  Jersey  Archives,"  i.,  pp.  vi,  38.  Papists  and  Quakers  had 
already  been  excluded  from  Liberty  of  Conscience  in  1702.  Stille,  "  Re- 
ligious  Tests,"  Penn.  Mag.  of  Hist.,  ix.,  pp.  374-7. 

'2  "New  York  Gazette,"  1733. 

3  "  Letter  from  Chester,"  June  26,  1748. 

4  In  Bricknell,  "History  of  North  Carolina." 


THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  39? 

1631  Sir  Christopher  Gardner  on  suspicion  of  being  a 
Papist  was  seized  and  sent  out  of  Massachusetts ;  and  when 
a  minister  in  that  year  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Church 
of  Rome  was  a  true  Church  of  Christ,  the  General  Court 
denounced  the  opinion  in  a  formal  act.  In  1647  a  positive 
law  enacted  that  all  Jesuits  should  be  forbidden  to  enter 
their  jurisdiction.  They  were  to  be  banished  if  they  did, 
and  put  to  death  if  they  returned.1 

Even  in  the  days  of  James  II. ,  when  the  city  of  Boston 
gave  the  Catholic  governor  of  New  York  and  a  Jesuit  Fa 
ther  an  escort  of  honor,  few  Catholics  entered  New  England. 
A  French  Protestant  Refugee,  who  was  in  Boston  in  1687, 
wrote  :  "  As  for  Papists,  I  have  discovered  since  being  here 
eight  or  ten,  three  of  whom  are  French,  and  came  to  our 
church,  and  the  others  are  Irish ;  with  the  exception  of  the 
Surgeon  who  has  a  family,  the  others  are  here  only  in 
Pa&age."  2 

During  the  border  wars  with  Canada,  New  England  pris 
oners  taken  to  Canada  in  some  cases  became  Catholics,  and 
not  unfrequently  remained  there.  Those  who  returned  to 
New  England,  however,  almost  always  relapsed. 

Such  was  the  case  of  Christine  Otis,  who  was  brought  up 
as  a  Catholic  in  Canada  by  her  convert  mother  and  married 
there.  Left  a  widow  she  was  won  by  Captain  Thomas 
Baker,  of  Massachusetts,  a  commissioner  sent  to  obtain  a  release 
of  prisoners  in  that  colony.  Returning  with  him  she  be 
came  his  wife,  leaving  her  mother  and  a  daughter  in  Canada. 
The  Rev.  Francis  Segueuot,  one  of  the  Sulpitian  priests  at 

1  "General  Laws  and  Liberties  of  Massachusetts  Colony,"  p.  67.  It 
expressly,  however,  exempted  from  imprisonment  any  Jesuit  shipwecked 
on  the  coast. 

4  Fisher,  "  Report  of  a  French  Protestant  Refugee,"  Brooklyn,  1868, 
p.  30.  The  Surgeon  was  apparently  Dr.  Le  Baron. 


398  THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Montreal,  hearing  that  she  had  renounced  the  faith,  addressed 
a  long  letter  to  her  in  June,  1727,  urging  her  to  repent  and 
return.  This  letter  seems  to  have  attracted  no  little  atten 
tion,  as  a  translation  was  printed  at  Boston  in  1729,  with  a 
reply  which  is  ascribed  to  Governor  Burnett.  Se^uenot's 
letter  was  undoubtedly  the  first  argument  on  the  Catholic 
side  which  had  ever  issued  from  the  press  of  New  England.1 

The  Church  in  the  English  colonies  was  then  confined 
mainly  to  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  with  a  few  Catholics 
in  Virginia  and  New  Jersey. 

"While  Catholicity  was  then  struggling  to  secure  a  perma 
nent  foothold  in  Pennsylvania,  the  foreign  relations  and  in 
ternal  troubles  of  England  had  their  effect  on  the  position  of 
Catholics  in  all  the  colonies.  War  broke  out  with  Spain  in 
1739,  and  Spanish  privateers  menaced  all  the  exposed  places 
on  the  coast,  and  levies  were  made  for  expeditions  against 
the  colonies  of  the  Catholic  King  in  America.  At  the 
South,  Oglethorpe  aided  by  Carolina  was  actively  engaged 
with  the  Spaniards  in  Florida. 

A  revival  of  anti-Catholic  feeling  was  soon  apparent.  In 
1740  or  thereabouts  the  upper  House  in  Maryland  took 
ground  against  the  Catholics,  but  in  this  instance  the  lower 
House  showed  a  friendly  disposition,  and  returned  for  an 
swer,  "  that  they  were  well  assured  that  the  few  of  those 
people  here  amongst  us  had  it  neither  in  their  power  or  in 
clination  to  disturb  the  peace  or  safety  of  the  Province." 

Yet  the  Catholics  had  done  nothing  to  give  offence  either 
to  the  Government  or  their  Protestant  neighbors.  In  an 

"Letter  from  a  Romish  Priest  in  Canada,  to  one  who  was  taken  cap 
tive  in  her  infancy,  and  instructed  in  the  Romish  faith,  but  some  time 
ago  returned  to  this  her  native  country  ;  with  an  answer  thereto.  By  a 
person  to  whom  it  was  communicated,"  Boston,  1729.  See  American 
Catholic  Quarterly  Review,  vi.,  pp.  216-228. 


THE  NEW  YORK  NEGRO  PLOT.  399 

address  some  years  later  they  said  :  "  From  the  year  1.717  or 
1718,  to  the  year  1751,  we  were  undisturbed,  and  though 
deprived  of  our  rights  and  privileges,  we  enjoyed  peace  and 
quiet." 

In  New  York  the  mad  feeling  against  Catholics  in  1741 
caused  the  death  of  an  unfortunate  nonjuror  Protestant  cler 
gyman.  The  misconduct  of  a  few  slaves  had  filled  the  minds 
of  the  people  with  the  idea  that  a  fire  which  destroyed  in 
part  the  chapel  in  the  fort  of  that  city,  was  the  result  of  a 
negro  plot  for  the  massacre  of  the  whites  and  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  city.  In  the  height  of  this  excitement  a  letter 
arrived  from  General  Oglethorpe,  then  hotly  engaged  with 
the  Spaniards.  He  wrote  warning  the  northern  governments 
against  Spanish  spies,  chiefly  priests,  who  were  to  burn  the 
principal  towns  and  magazines.  Although  a  white  man 
named  Hughson,  with  his  wife,  and  one  Peggy  Carey,  with 
many  negroes,  had  already  been  convicted  and  executed  for 
a  supposed  plot  of  which  Hughson  had  been  sworn  to  be  the 
originator,  Oglethorpe' s  letter  set  the  authorities  to  find  a 
priest.  The  unfortunate  nonjuring  Episcopal  clergyman,  Rev. 
John  Ury,  a  mild,  inoffensive  man,  who  lived  by  teaching, 
was  arrested  and  brought  to  trial  as  the  chief  conspirator, 
and  also  for  being  a  Roman  Catholic  priest  remaining  in  the 
province  in  violation  of  Bellomont's  law.  The  second  charge 
was,  of  course,  only  to  increase  odium  against  him.  The 
witnesses  who  on  the  previous  trials  had  made  Hughson  the 
arch  conspirator  and  never  alluded  to  Ury  at  all,  now  con 
cocted  an  entirely  new  tale.  Ury,  like  the  rest  of  the  ac 
cused,  was  not  permitted  to  have  any  counsel.  In  spite  of 
the  glaring  inconsistency  of  the  witnesses  and  the  weakness 
of  the  evidence  against  him,  the  jury,  after  hearing  the  in 
vectives  of  the  prosecutor  and  the  violent  charge  of  Judge 
Horsmanden,  deliberated  only  fifteen  minutes,  and  then 


400  THE  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK. 

brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty.  Ury  was  hanged  on  the 
15th  of  August,  1741.  Among  those  executed  were  several 
Spanish  negroes,  taken  prisoners  of  war,  who  claimed  to  be 
free,  but  were  sold  as  slaves.  While  the  negroes  brought  up 
in  the  colony  died  without  any  sign  of  Christianity,  the  his 
torian  of  the  Negro  Plot,  Horsmanden  himself,  tells  us  that 
Juan,  the  Spanish  negro,  was  "  neatly  dressed,"  "  behaved 
decently,  prayed  in  Spanish,  kissed  a  crucifix,  and  died  in 
sisting  on  his  innocence  to  the  last." 

Of  his  Catholicity  there  is  no  doubt :  but  Ury  was  evi 
dently  what  he  claimed  to  be,  a  nonjuror.1 

Pennsylvania  had  receded  somewhat  from  the  broad  ground 
of  religious  freedom  assumed  by  William  Penn.  From  1693 
to  1775  no  one  could  hold  even  the  most  petty  office  in  the 
province  without  taking  an  oath  denying  the  Real  Presence 
and  declaring  mass  idolatrous.  None  but  Protestants  were 
allowed  by  the  Act  of  1730  to  hold  land  for  the  erection  of 
churches,  schools,  or  hospitals,  and  as  we  have  seen,  none  but 
Protestants  could  be  naturalized.  The  efforts  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  governors  and  assemblies  to  enlarge  -the  religious 
freedom  were  constantly  thwarted  by  the  home  government. 
The  Pennsylvania  authorities,  though  they  submitted,  seem 
to  have  made  the  laws  virtually  inoperative  in  many  cases. 
German  Catholics  certainly  held  lands  and  had  churches, 
without  any  attempt  to  dispossess  them.  In  1746  Daniel 
Horsmanden  complained  that  many  of  Zinzendorf's  German 
"  countrymen  have  for  several  years  successively  been  im 
ported  into  and  settled  in  Pennsilvania,  Roman  Catholics  as 


'  Horsmanden,  "  The  New  York  Conspiracy,  or  a  History  of  the  Ne 
gro  Plot,"  New  York,  1744  ;  "The  New  York  Negro  Plot  of  1741," 
N.  Y.  Common  Council  Manual,  1870,  p.  764;  Chandler,  ''American 
Criminal  Trials,"  Boston,  1844,  i.,  p.  222.  Ury's  language  is  uumistak 
ably  Protestant  in  tone. 


FATHER  MOLYNEUX.  401 

well  as  Protestants,  without  Distinction,  where  it  seems  by 
the  Indulgence  of  the  Crown,  their  Constitution  granted  by 
Charter,  all  Perswasions,  Eoman  Catholicks  as  well  as  others, 
are  tollerated  the  free  Exercise  of  their  Religion." 

o 

The  Pennsylvania  authorities  went  further.  On  their 
western  frontier  were  Indians,  more  or  less  under  French 
influence,  who  menaced  the  exposed  settlements.  They  knew 
that  the  French  influence  was  acquired  at  first  by  the  zealous 
labors  of  Catholic  priests,  and  they  prudently  resolved  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers  in  the  province  to  win 
the  favor  of  the  native  tribes. 

The  Senecas  and  other  Western  Indians  were  always  well 
received  at  Philadelphia  and  encouraged  to  visit  the  Catholic 
missionaries.  "  When  any  of  them  come  to  Philadelphia," 
wrote  Count  Zinzendorf  in  1743,  "  they  go  to  the  Popish 
chapel  to  Mass."  The  famous  Madame  Montour,  wife  of  an 
Oneida  chief,  and  on  many  occasions  interpreter  for  the 
English,  came  to  Philadelphia  in  her  own  carriage,  and  on 
one  of  the  visits  had  her  granddaughter  baptized  at  Saint 
Joseph's.1 

Jesuit  Fathers,  evidently  by  the  wish  and  in  the  interest 
of  the  Pennsylvania  government,  attended  conferences  with 
the  Indians.  The  Superior  of  the  Maryland  mission,  Father 
Kichard  Molyneux,  was  with  the  Indians  at  Lancaster,  just 
before  the  treaty  made  there  in  June  and  July,  1744.  As 
the  Pennsylvanians  did  not  venture  to  avow  their  policy,  this 
visit  subjected  Father  Molyneux  to  suspicion  in  Maryland.2 

1  Reichel,  "  Memorials  of  the  Moravian  Church,"  i.,  pp.  120,  99. 

"It  is  certain  that  about  a  fortnight  before  our  treaty  with  ye  Six 
Nations  of  Indians  at  Lancaster,  Father  Molyneux  ye  principal  of  our 
Jesuits  was  with  them  and  there  is  good  reason  to  suspect  that  he  went 
as  an  agent  for  ye  French,  and  that  his  business  was  no  other  than  to 
dissuade  ye  Indians  from  making  peace  w'h  us."  "  Maryland  Memorial 
to  the  Earl  of  Halifax." 
26 


402  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

In  that  province,  notwithstanding  the  general  hostility  of 
the  legislature  and  the  dominant  church,  Catholicity  held  its 
own,  and  succeeded  in  establishing  a  seat  of  learning,  the 
fame  of  which  is  still  preserved.  Apparently,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  alarm  excited  by  Oglethorpe,  a  committee 
was  appointed  by  the  Town  Meeting,  Boston,  Sept.  22,  1746, 
u  to  take  care  and  prevent  any  Danger  the  Town  may  be  in 
from  Roman  Catholicks  residing  here." 


Father  Richard  Molyneux  was  born  in  London  March  26,  1696,  and 
after  mission  services  in  England  was  sent  to  Maryland  in  1733.  Having 
been  Superior  of  the  Mission  in  1736  and  again  in  1743,  he  returned  to 
England  in  1749.  He  enjoys  the  honor  of  having  been  arraigned  for  his 
faith  before  a  civil  tribunal.  He  died  at  Bonham,  England,  May  18, 
1766.  "Woodstock  Letters,"  xv.,  94-97  ;  Foley,  "Records,"  vii.,  p.  514. 


^^^^/^^^Wi/ 

a2^fa^  *£  ~ ,-        <f 


FAC-8IMILE  OP  FIKST  ENTRY  IN  FATHER  SCHNEIDER'S  REGISTER. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

THE    CHURCH    IN    THE    COLONIES,    1745-1755. 

THE  war  between  England  and  France,  which  began  in 
17-44,  however,  greatly  inflamed  the  minds  of  the  Protestant 
colonists  against  the  Catholics.  The  French  in  Canada  men 
aced  the  English  colonies,  and  Indians  in  their  interest  lay 
on  their  frontiers  from  Lake  Ontario  to  the  Tombigbee. 
Catholics  were  believed  by  the  prejudiced  colonists  to  be 
ready  to  join  the  French  against  their  countrymen,  although 
there  were  no  facts  or  examples  to  sustain  the  prevalent 
opinion. 

When  Charles  Edward  in  1745  raised  his  standard  in 
Scotland  and  endeavored  to  regain  for  his  father  the  throne 
of  England,  every  Catholic  in  the  colonies  was  believed  to  be 
a  Jacobite  and  ready  to  commit  any  atrocity  on  his  neighbors. 
The  Catholics  could  only  show  by  their  conduct  that  the  sus 
picions  of  their  merciless  persecutors  were  groundless. 

The  mission  at  Bohemia  prospered,  and  offered  such  ad 
vantages  of  seclusion,  and  such  a  ready  means  of  removing 
beyond  the  reach  of  Maryland's  persecuting  laws,  should  any 
necessity  arise,  that  it  was  decided  to  remove  to  it  the  acad 
emy  which  the  Jesuit  Fathers  had  maintained  whenever  it 
was  possible.1 


1  Young  people  were  sent  from  Maryland  to. Catholic  schools  in  Eng 
land,  as  well  as  to  those  on  the  continent.  "  Present  State  of  Popery  in 
England,"  London,  1733,  p.  19. 

(403) 


404  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

The  classical  school  at  Bohemia  was  opened  in  1745  or  the 
following  year,  under  the  supervision  of  Father  Thomas 
Poulton,  who  joined  the  Maryland  mission  in  1738,  and 
from  1742  to  the  commencement  of  1749  was  in  charge  at 
Bohemia.  The  terms  for  education  at  this  early  academy 
were  £40  per  annum  for  those  who  studied  the  classics  and 
£30  for  those  who  did  not.  Peter  Lopez,  Daniel  Carroll, 
Edward  Xeale,  and  others  sent  their  sons  to  this  Catholic 
seat  of  learning.  Among  the  earliest  known  pupils  were 
Benedict  and  Edward  Neale,  James  Heath,  Robert  Brent, 
Archibald  "Richard,  and  "  Jacky  Carroll,"  a  future  arch 
bishop  of  Baltimore.  The  highest  number  of  pupils  did  not 
apparently  exceed  forty.  "  Bohemia  seems  to  have  been 
for  a  long  period  in  the  early  history  of  the  American 
Church  the  Tusculum  of  the  Society  of  Jesus." 

Father  John  Kingdon  and  Father  Joseph  Greaton  were 
subsequently  at  Bohemia,  and  we  can  see  from  hostile  sources 
that  the  academy  was  accomplishing  a  good  work.  It  would 
be  consoling  to  state  that  this  early  seat  of  learning  had  sur 
vived  to  our  day  ;  but  every  vestige  of  it  has  disappeared, 
although  it  is  well  known  that  it  stood  on  the  lawn,  a  few 
feet  south  of  the  manse,  and  that  the  bricks  that  composed 
its  walls  were  used  in  1825  in  erecting  the  dwelling-house.1 

In  1760  a  Protestant  clergyman  in  Delaware  wrote  that 
"  there  was  a  very  considerable  Popish  Seminary  in  the 
neighboring  Province  of  Maryland,"  and  that  "  this  Semi 
nary  is  under  the  direction  of  the  Jesuits." 2 

The  Protestant  rector  of  St.  Stephen's  parish,  near  the 
Jesuit  Academy,  was  a  Rev.  Hugh  Jonee,  who  regarded  his 
neighbors  with  no  favorable  eye.  In  1739  he  wrote  to  the 

1  "  Bohemia"  in  "  Woodstock  Letters,"  vi.,  pp.  4-5,  xiv.,  p.  354;  B. 
U.  Campbell  in  "  U.  S.  Cath.  Mag.,"  1844,  p.  34. 

2  Perry,  p.  313. 


REV.  HUGH  JONES.  405 

Secretary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
for  books  :  "  Since  the  Jesuits  in  my  parish  with  them  they 
favored  and  settled  in  Philadelphia  seem  to  combine  our  ruin 
by  propagation  of  schism,  popery  and  apostacy  in  this  neigh 
borhood,  to  prevent  the  danger  of  which  impending  tempest, 
'tis  hoped  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  contribute  your  extensive 
charitable  benevolence,  by  a  set  of  such  books  of  practical 
and  polemical  divinity  arid  church  history  as  you  shall  judge 
most  suitable  for  the  purpose."  ' 

The  apparent  prosperity  of  the  Jesuits  at  Bohemia  did  not 
render  him  more  charitable.  In  1745  he  preached  a  sermon, 
which  he  published  in  the  "  Maryland  Gazette  "  at  Annapolis, 
as  "  A  Protest  against  Popery." 

The  Jesuit  Fathers  really  had  circulating  libraries  at  their 
missions  and  encouraged  the  reading  of  good  books.  Mem 
oranda  exist  as  to  loans  of  volumes,  and  Father  Attwood,  in  a 
letter  to  England,  ordered  a  list  of  standard  books  for  one  of 
his  flock.2 

Yet  bravely  as  the  clergy  were  struggling  to  meet  the 
wants  of  their  flock,  Catholics  were  liable  at  any  moment  to 
arrest.  Thus  in  the  "Annapolis  Gazette  "  of  March  25, 1746, 
we  read : 

"Last  week  some  persons  of  the  Romish  Communion, 
were  apprehended,  and  upon  examination,  were  obliged  to 
give  security  for  their  appearance  at  the  Provincial  Court." 

The  temper  of  the  times  may  be  seen  in  the  following 
proclamation  of  the  Governor  of  Maryland : 


1  Letter  July  30,  1739. 

2  "  Woodstock  Letters,"  xiii.,  p.  72.     The  order  of  Father  Attwood 
included   the    "Rheims   Testament,"  Parson's    "Three   Conversions," 
"Catholic  Scripturist,"   "Touchstone  of    the ^ Reformed   Gospell,"  the 
Whole  "  Manual,"  with  Mass  in  Latin  and  English. 


406  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

"  A    PROCLAMATION. 

"  Whereas  I  have  received  certain  information,  that  sev 
eral  Jesuits  and  other  Popish  priests  and  their  emissaries 
have  presumed  of  late,  especially  since  the  unnatural  rebel 
lion  broke  oat  in  Scotland,  to  seduce  and  pervert  several  of 
his  Majesty's  Protestant  subjects  from  their  religion,  and  to 
alienate  their  affections  from  his  Majesty's  royal  person 
and  government,  altho'  such  practises  are  high  treason,  not 
only  in  the  priests  or  their  emissaries  who  shall  seduce  and 
pervert,  but  also  in  those  who  shall  be  seduced  or  perverted. 
I  have  therefore  thought  fit,  with  the  advice  of  his  Lord 
ship's  Council  of  State  to  issue  this  my  Proclamation,  to 
charge  all  Jesuits  and  other  Popish  priests  and  their  emis 
saries  to  forbear  such  traitorous  practises,  and  to  assure  such 
of  them  as  shall  dare  hereafter  to  offend,  that  they  shall  be 
prosecuted  according  to  law.  And  all  magistrates  within 
this  province  are  hereby  strictly  required  and  charged,  when 
and  as  often  as  they  shall  be  informed,  or  have  reason  to  sus 
pect,  of  any  Jesuit  or  other  Popish  priests,  or  any  of  their 
emissaries,  offending  in  the  premises,  to  issue  a  warrant  or 
warrants  against  such  offender  or  offenders  to  take  his  or 
their  examinations,  and  the  examinations  or  depositions  of 
the  witnesses  against  them ;  and  if  need  be,  commit  such 
offender  or  offenders  to  prison,  until  he  or  they  shall  be  de 
livered  by  due  course  of  law.  And  I  do  hereby  strictly 
charge  and  require  the  several  Sheriffs  of  this  province  to 
make  this  my  Proclamation  public  in  their  respective  coun 
ties,  in  the  usual  manner,  and  as  they  shall  answer  the  con 
trary  at  their  peril. 

"  Given  at  the  City  of  Annapolis,  this  3d  day  of  July, 
Annoque  Domini,  1746.  T.  BLADEN."  ' 

1  '^Maryland  Gazette,"  July  22,  1746. 


REV.  HUGH  JONES.  407 

It  is  interesting  to  know  who  were  the  terrible  Jesuits 
against  whom  Maryland  Protestantism  and  Maryland  brains 
were  so  ineffectual.  They  were  Fathers  Kichard  Molyneux, 
Thomas  Poulton  in  his  Bohemia  school,  Vincent  Phillips, 
Robert  Harding,  James  Farrar,  Arnold  Livers,  Thomas 
Digges,  Benedict  Neale,  James  Ashbey,  and  James  Le  Motte. 
Jones'  "  Protest  against  Popery,"  and  Bladen's  Proclamation 
do  not  seem  to  have  alarmed  these  good  Fathers.  Some  one 
of  them  prepared  an  answer  to  Jones'  "Protest  against 
Popery  "  ;  of  course  no  printer  would  have  dared  to  issue  it 
from  his  press,  and  accordingly  it  was  circulated  in  manu 
script.  It  leaked  out  that  there  was  such  a  paper,  and  Jones 
was  unhappy.  He  relieved  his  mind  by  inserting  the  fol 
lowing  advertisement  in  a  newspaper  : 

"  To  the  Jesuits  established  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania. 

"  LEARNED  SIRS  : 

"  Imagining  myself  principally  concerned  in  the  applauded 
answer  to  my  Protest  against  Popery,  that  has  been  handed 
about  by  some  of  you  in  these  parts,  I  have  used  all  means 
in  my  power  to  procure  one ;  in  order  for  which  I  applied 
to  the  gentleman  on  whom  it  is  fathered,  but  he  having  in  a 
very  handsome  manner  disowned  it,  I  presume  I  may  be  ex 
cused  from  making  this  my  public  request,  that  some  one  of 
you  would  vouchsafe  to  transmit  me  one  of  the  books,  that 
I  may  rejoin  to  any  sophistical  fallacies  or  sarcastical  false 
hoods  (those  usual  tropes  of  St.  Omer)  that  I  hear  this  smart 
performance  (as  your  friends  call  it)  abounds  with  ;  assuring 
you  that  any  assertions  of  mine  that  it  truly  demonstrates  to 
-be  erroneous,  shall  readily  be  recanted.  Your  compliance 
with  my  request  will  confer  a  great  favor  on, 

"  Learned  Gentlemen,         Your  humble  servant, 

"  Bohemia,  Sept,  15,  1746."  '  "  H.  JoNES. 

1  "  Maryland  Gazette,"  Dec.  2,  1746. 


408  CATHOLICITY  IN  VIRGINIA. 

Among  those  arrested  about  this  time,  was  the  Superior  of 
the  Maryland  mission,  Father  Richard  Molyneux,  a  native  of 
London,  who  had  been  in  America  from  1733,  and  been 
twice  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Fathers  laboring  in  this  coun 
try.  He  had  shown  his  zeal  for  the  public  good  by  using 
his  influence  with  the  Indians  at  Lancaster.  The  proceed 
ings  against  him  cannot  be  found  in  the  Maryland  archives, 
and  there  is  no  Catholic  record  known.  In  a  document  of 
the  time  strongly  opposing  the  Catholics  the  affair  is  referred 
to  in  these  terms : 

"  In  ye  time  of  ye  Rebellion  this  same  Fr  Molyneux  was 
taken  up  for  treasonable  practises,  being  carried  before 
ye  Provincial  Court.  He  was  so  conscious  of  his  guilt  that 
he  begged  for  liberty  to  leave  the  Province  :  the  Judge, 
however,  resolving  to  make  an  example  of  him,  in  order  to 
get  the  fittest  and  clearest  evidence  of  ye  facts,  postponed 
the  affair  for  a  few  days,  but  Mr.  Carroll,  a  Popish  Gent",  hav 
ing  bailed  him  out,  the  Council  called  Mr.  Molyneux  before 
themselves,  and  having  examined  him  privately,  discharged 
him  without  any  public  mark  of  resentment."  ' 

The  panic  spread  to  Virginia,  which  trembled.,  as  its  colo 
nists  read  on  walls  and  fences  such  proclamations  as  this  : 

"  VIRGINIA,  ss.  : 

"  By  the  lion.  William,  Gooch,  Esqr.,  His  Majesty's  Lieu 
tenant  Governor,  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  this  Do 
minion. 

"  A   PEOCLAMATION. 

"Whereas  it  has  been  represented  to  me  in  Council,  that 
several  Roman  Catholic  priests  are  lately  come  from  Mary-. 


1  "  Memorial  to  the  Earl  of  Halifax."     He  undoubtedly  convinced  the 
Maryland  Council  that  he  was  really  carrying  out  the  wishes  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  authorities. 


PENAL  LAWS.  409 

land  to  Fairfax  county  in  this  Colony,  and  are  endeavouring 
by  crafty  Insinuations,  to  seduce  his  Majesty's  good  subjects 
from  their  Fidelity  and  Loyalty  to  his  Majesty,  King  George, 
and  his  Royal  House  ;  I  have  therefore  thought  fit,  with  the 
advice  of  His  Majesty's  Council,  to  issue  this  Proclamation, 
requiring  all  Magistrates,  Sheriffs,  Constables,  and  other  His 
Majesty's  Liege  People,  within  this  colony,  to  be  diligent 
in  apprehending  and  bringing  to  Justice  the  said  Romish 
Priests,  or  any  of  them,  so  that  they  may  be  prosecuted  ac 
cording  to  law. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  in  the  Council  Chamber  in  Will- 
iamsburg,  this  24th  day  of  April  in  the  Nineteenth  Tear  of 
his  Majesty's  Reign. 

"  WILLIAM  GOOCH. 
"  God  Save  the  King." 

Some  Catholic  families  had  settled  on  the  southern  shore 
of  the  Potomac  at  Aquia  Creek  and  above  it,  and  priests 
ministering  to  this  remote  portion  of  their  flock  entered  Vir 
ginia  from  time  to  time. 

Virginia  seemed  loth  to  be  outdone  by  her  sister  colony, 
and  had  also  placed  on  her  statute-books  a  series  of  penal 
laws  against  the  Catholics  which  are  unparalleled  in  history. 
They  began  in  January,  1641,  when  a  Popish  recusant  was 
forbidden  to  hold  office  under  a  penalty  of  a  thousand  pounds 
of  tobacco.  The  next  year  an  act  required  every  priest  to 
leave  Virginia  on  five  days  notice.  Another  statute  of  1661 
required  all  persons  to  attend  the  service  of  the  Established 
Church  under  a  penalty  of  £20.  In  1699  Popish  recusants 
were  deprived  of  the  right  to  vote,  and  when  the  act  was 
subsequently  re-enacted,  the  fine  for  voting  in  defiance  of 
law  was  five  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco.  An  act  of  1705 
made  Catholics  incompetent  as  witnesses,  and  when  this  fear- 


410  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

ful  act  was  renewed  in  1753,  it  was  extended  to  all  cases  what 
ever.1  Not  even  England  herself  sought  to  crush,  humble, 
and  degrade  the  Catholic  as  Virginia  did  ;  he  was  degraded 
below  the  negro  slave,  for  though  the  negro,  mulatto,  or 
Indian,  could  not  be  a  witness  against  a  white  person,  a 
Catholic  could  not  be  put  on  the  stand  as  a  witness  against 
white  man  or  black,  the  most  atrocious  crime  could  with  im 
punity  be  committed  in  the  presence  of  a  Catholic  on  his 
wife  or  child,  whom  he  was  made  powerless  to  defend,  and 
his  testimony  could  not  be  taken  against  the  murderer.2 

In  the  year  1750  a  quarrel  between  two  private  gentlemen 
set  all  Maryland  aflame,  and  enkindled  the  most  bitter  anti- 
Catholic  movement  known  in  the  annals  of  the  country. 

Charles  Carroll,  barrister  and  father  of  the  future  signer, 
and  Dr.  Charles  Carroll,  who  had  abandoned  the  Catholic 
faith,  were  co-trustees  of  an  estate,  the  legatees  of  wrhich 
were  priests.  The  Catholic  trustee  wished  to  close  up  the 
estate,  and  was  ready  to  account.  He  called  upon  his  co-trus 
tee  to  hand  in  his  accounts  and  pay  the  amount  in  his  hands. 
Dr.  Carroll  offered  a  small  sum  to  compromise  the  matter, 
but  the  Catholic  said  that  it  was  a  matter  of  accounting,  not  of 
compromise.  On  this  the  dishonest  trustee  intimated  that  he 
would  resort  to  the  penal  laws,  and  he  actually  endeavored 
to  have  the  Act  of  11-12  William  III.  enforced  in  Maryland, 
so  as  to  prevent  the  legatees  from  compelling  him  to  account. 
How  honorable  Protestants  could  have  lent  their  aid  to  so 
disgraceful  a  plot  is  inexplicable,  but  they  took  the  matter 


1  Hening's  "  Statutes  at  Large,"  i.,  p.  268 ;  ii.,  p.  48 ;  iii.,  p.  172,  238, 
299  ;  vi.,  p.  338.  In  1652  the  Commissaries  of  the  Commonwealth  ordered 
"  Irish  women  to  be  sold  to  merchants  and  shipped  to  Virginia,"  but  I 
can  find  no  traces  of  them  in  that  colony. 

•  "Acts  of  Assembly  now  in  Force  in  the  Colony  of  Virginia,"  Will- 
iamsburg,  1769,  pp.  300-333. 


ATTEMPTED  LEGISLATION.  411 

up  warmly,  and  an  act  passed  the  lower  House.  By  its 
provisions  every  priest  convicted  of  exercising  his  functions 
was  to  suffer  perpetual  imprisonment ;  and  all  persons  edu 
cated  in  or  professing  the  Popish  religion,  who  did  not  within 
six  months  after  attaining  the  age  of  eighteen  take  the  oath 
of  supremacy  and  make  the  declaration  prescribed,  were  dis 
abled  from  taking  any  property  by  inheritance.1 

Though  this  bill  failed  to  pass  the  upper  House  and  reach 
the  governor  for  his  sanction,  the  House  of  Delegates,  ad 
dressing  Governor  Ogle,  said  :  "  We  see  Popery  too  assidu 
ously  nurtured  and  propagated  within  this  Province  as  well 
by  the  professors  thereof  as  their  teachers,  preventing  and 
withdrawing  many  of  his  Majesty's  Protestant  subjects  both 
from  our  holy  religion  and  their  faith  and  allegiance  to  his 
Majesty's  royal  person,  crown  and  family. 

"  That  ye  number  of  Jesuits  or  popish  priests  now  within 
this  province  and  yearly  coming  in  together  with  the  estab 
lished  settlements  they  have  here  and  several  youths  sent 
from  hence  to  St.  Omers  and  other  popish  foreign  seminaries 
out  of  his  Majesty's  obedience  to  be  trained  up  in  ways  de 
structive  to  the  Establishment  of  Church  and  State  in  his 
Majesty's  dominions,  some  of  whom  return  here  as  Popish 
priests  or  Jesuits  together  with  others  of  like  kind  who  live 
in  societies  where  they  have  Publick  Mass  Houses  and  with 
great  industry  propagate  their  Doctrines,  will  if  not  timely 
prevented  endanger  ye  Fundamental  Constitution  of  our 
Church  as  well  as  the  peace  of  this  government." 

The  fanatics,  who  wished  to  keep  Catholics  in  ignorance, 
accordingly  introduced  a  bill,  which,  in  the  legal  verbiage  of 

1  Father  George  Hunter,  "A  Short  Account  of  ye  State  and  Condition 
of  ye  Rom.  Cath,  in  y"  Prove.  of  Maryland  "  That  Dr.  Charles  was 
brought  up  a  Catholic  and  became  a  Protestant  is  stated  in  the  ' '  Mary 
land  Gazette,"  October  2,  1755. 


412  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

the  day,  was  entitled,  "  An  Explanatory  Act  to  ye  act  enti 
tled  an  Act  to  repeal  a  certain  Act  of  Assembly  entitled  an 
Act  to  prevent  the  Growth  of  Popery."  It  passed  the  lower 
House,  but  was  laid  on  the  table  in  the  upper  House.  The 
lower  House  remonstrated,  but  the  upper  House  declined  to 
act  upon  the  bill  on  account  of  the  "  great  penalties  and  in 
capacities  "  it  contained. 

The  Catholics  then  addressed  the  upper  House  to  thank 
them,  and  in  their  petition  they  say  :  "  That  several  malicious 
Lies  and  Groundless  Clamours  continuing  still  to  be  spread 
against  us,  among  others,  that  persons  of  the  Eoman  Cath- 
olick  persuasion  had  misbehaved  in  such  a  manner  in  some 
counties  as  to  give  his  Majesty's  loyal  subjects  just  cause  to 
fear  an  insurrection,  and  further  it  was  intimated  that  some 
Roman  Catholick  priests  of  this  Province  had  been  lately 
absent  from  their  usual  Place  of  Residence  a  considerable 
time,"  and  they  proceed  to  state  that  "  orders  had  been  sent 
out  to  bind  over  such  turbulent  Catholicks  and  to  arrest  any 
such  priests,  but  that  not  a  single  definite  charge  had  been 
made  against  any  Catholic  priest  or  layman." 

Most  of  the  Catholics  in  Maryland  at  that  time  resided  in 
St.  Mary's  and  Charles  Counties,  and  the  magistrates  of  the 
former,  replying  to  the  governor  a  few  years  later,  not  only 
declared  the  charges  against  the  Catholics  unfounded,  but 
added  :  "  We  are  not  yet  informed  who  have  been  the  Au 
thors  of  those  reports  mentioned  in  your  Excellency's  letter 
which  have  been  in  some  places  so  industriously  spread,  if 
we  should  discover  them,  we  would  take  proper  measures  for 
their  being  brought  to  justice,  as  enemies  to  their  country's 
peace  and  friends  to  a  faction  who  labour  to  foment  animosi 
ties  among  us  to  the  endangering  our  common  security."  ' 

1  Petition  of  sundry  Roman  Catholics. 


DEER  CREEK  MISSION. 

And  the  governor  expressly  said  :  "  The  Magistrates  assure 
me  that  after  a  careful  inquiry  and  scrutiny  into  the  conduct 
of  the  people  of  the  Eomish  faith,  who  reside  among  us,  they 
have  not  found  that  any  of  them  have  misbehaved  or  given 
just  cause  of  offence." 

The  attack  on  the  Catholic  body  was  all  the  more  ungen 
erous  because  they  responded  generously  when  the  legislature 
failed  to  provide  for  the  protection  of  the  frontiers  against 
the  French,  and  a  subscription  for  that  purpose  was  set  on 
foot.  The  petition  says  boldly :  "  The  Eoman  Catholics  were 
not  the  men  who  opposed  this  subscription,  on  the  contrary 
they  countenanced  it,  they  promoted  it,  they  subscribed  gen 
erously  and  paid  their  subscriptions." 

It  was  apparently  while  the  future  of  Catholicity  looked 
so  dark  that  Thomas  Shea  left  to  the  missioners  in  Maryland 
in  176-i  a  tract  of  115  acres  on  Deer  Creek,  near  a  spot  still 
called  Priest's  Ford,  in  Harford  County.  Here  they  estab 
lished  the  mission  of  Saint  Joseph,  and  erected  a  house  such 
as  the  laws  then  permitted,  embracing  a  chapel  under  the 
roof  of  the  priest's  house.  The  first  missionary  stationed 
here  of  whom  we  have  any  note  was  the  Rev.  Benedict 
Neale  in  1747,  and  he  was  probably  the  one  who  erected 
the  building  which  is  still  standing,  and  which  was  referred  to 
about  the  time  we  mention  as  "  Priest  Keale's  Mass  House."  ; 
The  building  has  passed  out  of  Catholic  hands,  but  remains 
unaltered,  and  the  graveyard  where  the  faithful  were  interred 
has  been  respected  by  the  present  owners. 

The  building  stands  on  an  eminence  and  is  a  long  one  of 
stone,  giving  room  for  a  chapel,  which  is  now  the  kitchen. 
The  walls  are  of  great  strength  and  solidity,  nearly  three  feet 
thick,  and  the  roof  and  woodwork  seem  to  have  been  made 

1  Examination  of  William  Johnson,  1756.  "Woodstock  Letters," 
xv..  p.  55. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

of  most  durable  and  well-seasoned  wood.  A  room  below  at 
one  end  was  the  reception-room,  above  it  the  priest  slept, 
most  of  the  interior  being  devoted  to  the  chapel.1 

But  the  enemies  of  the  Maryland  Catholics  had  not  aban 
doned  their  hostile  measures.  They  passed  through  the  lower 
House  an  act  laying  a  double  tax  on  the  unfortunate  class. 
So  alarmed  were  the  Catholics  at  the  passage  by  the  lower 


ST.   JOSEPH'S  CHAPEL  HOUSE,   DEER    CREEK,    HARFORD    co.,   MD. 

FROM  A   SKETCH  BY   GEO.    A.    TOWNSEND. 

House  of  this  act,  that  they  resolved  to  appeal  to  the  king 
himself,  and  the  following  petition  was  drawn  up  : 

"  To  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty : 

"  The  humble  petition  of  the  merchants  trading  in  Mary 
land,  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  their  correspondents  who 
are  Koman  Catholics. 

"  Humbly  sheweth : 

"  That  the  province  of  Maryland  was  granted  to  Csecilius 
Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore,  a  Eoman  Catholick  : 

u  That  the  propagation  of  the  Christian  religion  was  one 

1  In  the  early  part  of  this  century  the  place  was  sold,  and  St.  Ignatius' 
Church  at  Hickory  erected  for  the  benefit  of  the  Catholics  in  those  parts. 


PROPOSED  EMIGRATION.  415 

of  the  motives  for  granting  the  said  province  to  the  said 
Lord  Baltimore. 

"  That  all  persons  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ 
were  invited  into  the  said  province. 

"  That  in  order  to  encourage  all  persons  believing  in  Jesus 
Christ  to  settle  in  the  said  Province  an  Act  of  Assembly  was 
passed  in  the  said  Province  in  the  year  1640,  entitled  an  Act 
concerning  Religion,  by  which  Act  amongst  other  things  it 
was  enacted  that  no  person  in  the  said  province  should  be 
disturbed  for  or  on  account  of  religion. 

"  That  an  Act  of  Assembly  hath  lately  passed  in  the  said 
Province  entitled  an  Act  for  granting  a  supply  of  £40,000  to 
your  Majesty,  etc.,  by  which  the  lands  of  all  Roman  Cath- 
olicks  are  double  taxed. 

"  We  therefore  humbly  beg  leave  to  represent  to  your 
Majesty  our  fears  that  this  and  other  hardships  laid  on  the 
Roman  Catholicks  in  the  said  Province  may  oblige  them  to 
remove  into  the  dominions  of  the  French  or  Spaniards  in 
America,  where  they  will  cultivate  Tobacco  and  rival  our 
Tobacco  Colonys  in  that  valuable  branch  of  Trade  to  the 
great  detriment  of  the  Trade  of  your  Majesty's  Kingdoms. 

"  Wherefore  your  Petitioners  humbly  pray  that  taking  the 
Premisses  into  consideration,  your  Majesty  will  be  graciously 
pleased  to  afford  such  Relief  as  to  your  Majesty  shall  seem 
fit." 

What  a  strange  fact !  that  a  quarter  of  a  century  before 
the  Revolution,  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  were  compelled 
to  appeal  to  the  English  throne  for  protection  against  the  in 
tolerance  and  tyranny  of  their  Protestant  fellow-subjects  in 
that  Province. 

The  war  on  the  Catholics  in  Maryland  had  become  by  this 
time  so  unrelenting,  that  a  general  desire  prevailed  to  aban 
don  the  province  which  they  had  planted.  Many  of  those 


416  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

who  owned  property,  seeing  it  daily  wrung  from  them  by 
double  taxes,  by  the  money  extorted  for  the  support  of  the 
state  clergy  and  under  other  pretexts,  determined  to  emigrate. 
Charles  Carroll,  the  father  of  the  future  signer  of  the  Dec 
laration  of  Independence,  actually  proceeded  to  Europe  in 
1752,  as  the  representative  of  the  oppressed  Catholics  of 
Maryland  to  lay  their  sad  case  before  the  King  of  France. 
It  was  not  a  time  when  a  sense  of  faith  or  chivalry  prevailed 
in  that  court.  Carroll  asked  the  French  minister  of  state  to 
assign  to  the  Maryland  Catholics  a  large  tract  of  land  on  the 
Arkansas  River,  as  unwise  a  selection  as  he  could  well  have 
made.  But  when  he  pointed  it  out  upon  the  map,  the  min 
ister,  startled  at  the  extent  of  the  proposed  cession,  threw 
difficulties  in  the  way,  and  Mr.  Carroll  left  France  without 
being  able  to  effect  anything  in  his  project  for  securing  a 
new  home  for  the  victims  of  Protestant  intolerance  and  op 
pression.1 

The  excitement  against  the  followers  of  the  true  faith  and 
their  devoted  clergy  did  not  die  out  in  Maryland.  The 
House  of  Delegates  in  1754  addressed  Governor  Sharpe, 
asking  him  in  view  of  "  the  impending  dangers  from  the 
growth  of  Popery,  and  the  valuable  and  extensive  possessions 
of  Popish  priests  and  Jesuits,"  to  "  put  into  all  places  of 
trust  and  profit  none  but  tried  Protestant  subjects."  To  this 
the  governor  replied,  "  that  his  concurrence  should  not  be 
wanting  to  any  measures  looking  to  the  safety  of  his  Maj 
esty's  good  Protestant  subjects." " 

It  was  even  discussed  in  the  papers  whether  all  the  prop 
erty  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits  ought  not  to  be  seized  and 
applied  to  the  establishment  of  a  college,  and  laws  enacted 
to  prevent  Catholics  from  sending  their  children  abroad  to 

1  B.  U.  Campbell,  "  U.  S.  Cath.  Magazine,"  1844,  p.  40. 

2  "Maryland  Gazette,"  March  14,  1754. 


ANTI-CATHOLIC  EXCITEMENT.  417 

obtain  an  education.1  A  bill  introduced  by  the  Committee 
on  Grievances  passed  the  lower  House.  Its  object  was  to 
create  a  commission  to  inquire  into  the  affairs  of  the  Jesuits 
in  the  Colony,  and  also  to  ascertain  by  what  tenure  they  held 
their  laud.  They  were  also  enjoined  to  tender  the  oaths 
of  allegiance,  abhorrence,  and  abjuration  to  members  of  the 
Society.  The  bill  was,  however,  rejected  by  the  upper 
House. 

Catholics  were  next  charged  with  obstructing  the  raising  of 
his  Majesty's  levies,  and  Governor  Sharpe  issued  a  proclama 
tion  on  the  30th  of  May,  offering  a  reward  for  the  arrest  of 
two  persons  named.  The  Legislature  in  the  same  spirit 
passed  a  law  to  check  the  too  great  immigration  of  Irish  ser 
vants,  being  Papists.2 

W  ith  all  the  offices,  all  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judic 
ial  power  in  their  hands,  with  a  State  church  supported  by 
taxes  levied  on  Catholics  and  plate  bought  with  money  aris 
ing  from  the  sale  of  mulatto  infants  and  their  mothers,3  with 
a  virulent  newspaper  press,  and  vehement  pulpit  orators,  the 
Protestants  in  Maryland  could  not  hold  their  own.  One 
newspaper  writer  asks : 

"  Does  Popery  increase  in  this  Province  ?  The  great  num 
ber  of  popish  chapels,  and  the  crowds  that  resort  to  them,  as 
well  as  the  great  number  of  their  youth  sent  this  year  to 
foreign  popish  seminaries  for  education,  prove  to  a  demon 
stration  that  it  does.  Moreover,  many  popish  priests  and 
Jesuits  hold  sundry  large  tracts  of  land,  manors,  and  other 


1  Richard  Brooke  in  "Maryland  Gazette."  May  16,  1754. 
»  "Maryland  Gazette,"  May  30,  Aug.  5,  1754;  "New  York  Gazette," 
June  24,  1754. 

3  Gambrall,   "  Church  Life  in  Colonial  Maryland,"  Baltimore,  1885, 
pp.  72,  125. 

27 


418  THE  CHURCH  IN  MARYLAND. 

tenements,  and  in  several  of  them  have  dwelling-houses 
where  they  live  in  a  collegiate  manner,  having  public  Mass- 
Houses,  where  they  exercise  their  religious  functions,  etc., 
with  the  greatest  industry,  and  without  controul."  ' 

One  of  the  last  efforts  against  the  Catholic  body  was  the  in 
troduction  of  an  act  in  the  lower  House  at  the  session  of 
1755,  intended  to  prevent  the  "  importation  of  Germans  and 
French  papists  and  Popish  priests  and  Jesuits,  and  Irish 
papists  via  Pennsylvania,  or  the  Government  of  Newcastle, 
Kent,  and  Sussex  on  the  Delaware."  But  it  failed  to  find  a 
place  among  the  statutes  of  Maryland. 

Of  the  feeling  toward  Catholics  on  the  Potomac  at  this 
time,  and  especially  toward  their  clergy,  we  have  an  instance 
in  a  paper  by  the  famous  Daniel  Dulany,  written  at  Annap 
olis,  December  9,  1755.  "  One  of  our  (Maryland)  priests 
had  like  to  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  army,  when  the 
troops  were  at  Alexandria,  and  if  he  had,  I  believe  he  would 
have  been  hanged  as  a  spy.  The  man  had  been  sauntering 
about  in  the  camp,  and  some  one  from  Maryland  whispered 
that  he  was  a  priest.  This  was  soon  noised  about,  and  the 
priest  thinking  himself  not  very  safe  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Potomack,  made  all  the  haste  he  could  to  a  boat  which  was 
waiting  for  him,  and  had  but  just  put  off  when  he  discovered 
a  party  of  soldiers  running  to  the  place  where  the  boat  had 
waited  for  him.  The  officer  who  commanded  the  party 
called  to  the  boatsmen  to  return,  but  the  priest  prevailed 
upon  them  to  make  all  the  expedition  they  could  to  the 
opposite  shore.  Something  ought  to  be  done  in  regard  to 
these  priests,  but  the  present  heat  and  ferment  of  the  times 
are  such  that  nothing  short  of  a  total  extermination  of  them, 
and  an  absolute  confiscation  of  all  their  estates  will  be  heard 

1  "  Maryland  Gazette,"  Oct.  17,  1754. 


CATHOLICITY  IN  PHILADELPHIA.  419 

of  with  temper,  and  that  the  Romish  laity  might  be  laid 
under  some  restraints  in  the  education  of  their  children  is 
greatly  to  be  wished,  but  all  moderate  and  reasonable  propo 
sitions  for  this  end  would  now  be  at  once  rejected."  ' 

In  Pennsylvania  the  decade  from  1745  to  1755  was 
marked  by  progress.  Beside  the  lot  on  Walnut  Street  on 
which  St.  Joseph's  church  had  been  erected,  a  lot  adjoining 
it,  and  facing  on  Willing's  alley,  was  obtained  by  Father 
Robert  Harding  by  deed  of  June  5,  1752,  being  forty-eight 
on  the  alley  by  forty  feet  in  depth.  Kalm,  in  his  Travels, 
mentions  that  the  Catholics  had  a  great  house,  well  adorned 
with  an  organ,  so  that  the  original  structure  had  evidently 
been  enlarged. 

Father  Greaton  had  closed  his  laborious  pastorship  at  Saint 
Joseph's,  with  which  his  name  had  been  so  long  identified. 
His  associate,  Father  Henry  Neale,  who  had  been  at  Cone- 
wago  and  Philadelphia  for  several  years,  died  in  the  latter 
city  in  1748,  and  he  himself  retired  two  years  afterward  to 
Bohemia,  where  he  died  piously  August  19,  1753,  Father 
John  Lewis  officiating  at  his  requiem. 

Rev.  Robert  Harding,  S. J.,  was  born  in  Nottinghamshire, 
England,  October  6,  1701,  and  entering  the  Society  of  Jesus 
at  the  age  of  21,  was  sent  to  Maryland  in  1732.  Selected 
about  1750  to  succeed  Father  Greaton  in  Philadelphia,  he 
was  for  more  than  twenty  years  rector  of  St.  Joseph's.  He 
identified  himself  with  the  people,  devoted  himself  to  his 
own  flock,  and  in  his  large  heart  found  sympathy  for  every 
good  work.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  to  encourage  the 
American  painter,  Benjamin  West ;  by  his  love  of  the  poor 
acquired  the  highest  reputation  as  a  philanthropist ;  seconded 


'  Dulany,  "  Military  and  Political  Affairs  in  the  Middle  Colonies  in 
1755,"  Penn.  Mag.  of  Hist.,  iii.,  p.  27. 


420  THE  CHURCH  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  claims  of  the  colonists  for  their  rights  under  Magna 
Charta,  and  gave  Philadelphia  a  second  Catholic  Church. 

Father  Schneider  from-Goshenhopen  attended  the  German 
Catholics  in  Philadelphia,  and  continued  his  apostolical  jour 
neys,  visited  the  scattered  Catholics,  saying  mass,  hearing 
confessions,  baptizing,  instructing,  and  encouraging.  His 
Register  shows  such  constant  activity  as  to  excite  wonder. 

Father  Manners  was  in  charge  of  Conewago  from  about 
1753,  and  Father  Steynmeyer,  known  on  the  mission  as 
Father  Ferdinand  Farmer,  soon  began  his  six  years'  pastor 
ship  at  Lancaster.1 

'Foley,  "Records,"  vii.,  pp.  333,  701;  "Woodstock  Letters,"  xv., 
pp.  95-6;  v.,  pp.  202-213;  "Register  of  Goslienhopen ";  Molyneux, 
"Funeral  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  the  Rev.  Ferdinand  Farmer,"  Phila 
delphia,  1786,  p.  4  ;  Kalm,  "Travels  into  North  America,"  Warrington, 
1770. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

THE    ACADIAN   CATHOLICS   IN   THE   COLONIES,    1755-1763. 

WHILE  the  dominant  party  in  Maryland  was  thus  paving 
the  way  for  modern  communists  by  advocating  a  seizure  of 
property  in  disregard  of  vested  rights,  and  was  seeking  to 
prevent  the  entrance  of  Catholics,  and  expel  those  already  in 
the  province,  a  large  body  of  persons  of  that  faith,  ruthlessly 
torn  from  their  happy  homes,  deprived  of  all  their  property, 
of  liberty,  and  home,  without  any  warrant  of  law,  or  form 
of  trial,  were  flung  as  paupers  upon  the  shores  of  Maryland, 
and  the  other  colonies  from  New  Hampshire  to  Georgia. 

Acadia,  our  modern  Nova  Scotia,  was  ceded  to  England 
by  France  at  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  May  22,  1713,  and  its 
population,  industrious,  thrifty,  and  peaceable,  passed  under 
a  foreign  flag ;  a  Catholic  population  passed  to  the  rule  of  a 
government  actuated  by  the  most  envenomed  hatred  of  their 
religion.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  the  settlers  were  per 
mitted  to  remove  from  the  province  within  a  year,  or  if  they 
chose  to  remain  and  submit  to  British  rule,  England  guaran 
teed  them  their  property,  and  the  free  exercise  of  their  relig 
ion  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  "  as  far 
as  the  laws  of  England  do  allow  the  same."  If  this  clause 
referred  to  Great  Britain  it  was  a  fraud  and  a  treachery,  as 
there  the  laws  did  not  permit  it  at  all.  If  England  acted  in 
good  faith,  it  must  mean  as  far  as  England  permitted  it  in 
the  plantations  and  in  Catholic  districts  falling  into  her 
power  by  force  of  arms.  The  capitulation  of  Port  Royal 

(421) 


422  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

confirmed  by  Queen  Anne  was  even  more  general  in  its 
character. 

During  the  year  granted  France  sent  no  vessels,  and  Eng 
land  refused  to  permit  the  Acadians  to  leave  the  province  on 
English  vessels.  By  no  fault  of  their  own  they  were  forced 
to  stay.  Nor  could  they  sell  their  lands  or  stock,  for  as  they 
were  the  sole  inhabitants  there  were  none  to  purchase  from 
them.1  In  vain  did  they  ask  to  be  removed ;  the  English 
authorities,  loth  to  leave  so  fine  a  province  a  desert  before 
they  could  plant  other  settlers  there,  deemed  it  bad  policy  to 
let  them  depart,  and  to  the  very  end,  as  their  advocates  do 
now,  made  it  a  crime  in  French  officers  and  priests  who 
urged  them  to  leave  all  they  possessed  so  as  to  preserve  their 
nationality  and  religion.2 

Indeed,  Queen  Anne  by  a  letter  in  which  she  referred  as  a 
motive  for  her  action  to  the  release  of  Protestants  by  the 
French  king,  allowed  the  Acadians  to  retain  their  lands, 
without  fixing  any  limit  as  to  time,  or  to  sell  them  if  they 
chose  to  remove.3 

Lulled  thus  into  a  fatal  security  the  Acadians  made  no 
further  effort  to  depart,  but  lived  contentedly  till  about  1720, 
when  they  were  called  upon  to  take  an  absolute  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  British  crown.  As  is  evident  from  the 
sequel  it  was  one  of  those  embodying  the  oath  of  supremacy 
and  abjuration  which  no  Catholic  could  take.  The  Aca- 
diaus,  simple  peasants  as  they  were,  saw  the  difficulty,  and 
upon  their  remonstrance  the  oath  was  modified  by  Governor 
Mascarene  and  taken  by  the  people. 

1  Akins,  "Nova  Scotia  Archives," p.  15  ;  Murdoch,  "History of  Nova 
Scotia,"  ii.,  p.  341. 

8  Akins,   "Nova  Scotia  Archives,"  pp.  4,  265;  6-13;  33-41.     Mur 
doch,  ii.,  pp.  340-2. 

3  Akins,  "  Nova  Scotia  Archives,"  p.  15. 


THE  ACADIAN  SUFFERERS.  423 

Time  ran  on,  another  generation  grew  up,  born  on  Eng 
lish  soil,  and  undoubtedly  entitled  to  all  the  rights  of  Brit 
ish  subjects ;  but  they  were  held  in  a  kind  of  vassalage,  gov 
erned  by  military  law,  disfranchised  as  Catholics,  and  with 
no  legislative  assembly  where  they  were  represented.  Each 
settlement  sent  delegates  from  time  to  time  to  the  governor 
to  receive  his  commands. 

In  their  religion  they  were  constantly  hampered.  Their 
province  was  part  of  the  diocese  of  Quebec,  and  they  were 
attended  by  priests  receiving  faculties  from  the  Bishop  of 
that  see.  But  these  priests  were  arbitrarily  imprisoned  or 
expelled  by  the  Nova  Scotia  governors,  and  treated  with  the 
utmost  contumely.1  The  governors  drew  up  a  most  extraor 
dinary  "  Collection  of  Orders,  Eules  and  Regulations  in 
relation  to  the  Missionary  Komish  Priests  in  His  Britannick 
Majesty's  Province  of  Nova  Scotia."  Under  these  regula 
tions  no  priest  could  say  mass  at  the  chapels  of  one  who  had 
been  expelled,  and  as  in  some  cases  a  priest  would  be  kept 
a  prisoner  in  or  out  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  people  were  for 
months  and  years  without  priest  or  sacrament,  before  a  priest 
could  reach  them  who  proved  acceptable  to  the  ruling  gover 
nor.  No  wonder  Acadians  feared  that  they  would  be  treated 

1  Of  the  twenty  priests  allowed  to  attend  the  Catholics  at  Annapolis, 
Minas,  Chignecto,  Pigiguit,  from  1713  to  1755,  eight  were  at  one  time  or 
another  banished  from  the  province,  and  three  carried  off  as  prisoners  at 
the  general  seizure.  Father  Justinian  Durand  was  nearly  two  years  a 
prisoner  in  Boston,  1711-3,  and  expelled  from  Nova  Scotia  in  1720. 
Father  Charlemagne  was  arrested  and  expelled  for  not  warning  the 
authorities  of  an  Indian  attack,  of  which  there  is  nothing  to  show 
knowledge  by  the  priests.  He  was  expelled  and  a  chapel  destroyed. 
Though  no  other  charge  was  then  made,  eight  years  after  they  were  ac 
cused  of  having  planned  a  massacre.  The  series  of  priests  and  their 
fortunes,  and  the  treatment  they  underwent,  can  be  traced  in  Murdoch, 
ii.,  pp.  409-484;  Akins,  "Nova  Scotia  Archives."  It  is  lamentable  to 
find  any  one  in  the  face  of  these  facts  write  :  "Priests  and  sacraments 
had  never  been  denied  them."  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  i.,  p.  244. 


424  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

like  the  Irish,  and  denied  their  priests  altogether  as  Governor 
Phillips  wrote  in  1720. 

When  war  broke  out  with  France,  the  Acadians  refused 
to  furnish  French  officers  on  the  frontiers  with  supplies : 
but  in  1749,  Governor  Cornwallis  announced  that  his  Maj 
esty  "  is  graciously  pleased  to  allow  that  the  said  inhabitants 
shall  continue  in  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  as  far  as 
the  laws  of  Great  Britain  doe  allow  the  same,  as  also  the 
peaceable  possession  of  such  lands  as  are  under  cultivation, 
Provided  that  the  said  inhabitants  do  within  three  months 
take  the  oaths  of  allegiance  appointed  to  be  taken  by  the 
laws  of  Great  Britain,  and  likewise  submit  to  such  rules  and 
orders  as  may  hereafter  be  thought  proper  to  be  made." 

In  the  face  of  such  vague  statements  they  asked  to  be 
guaranteed  the  presence  of  priests,  inasmuch  as  they  were 
frequently  deprived  of  their  clergy  in  a  most  arbitrary  man 
ner,  and  they  begged  not  to  be  required  to  bear  arms  against 
the  French.  They  were  answered  harshly :  "  From  the 
year  1714-,  you  became  subject  to  the  laws  of  Great  Britain, 
and  were  placed  precisely  upon  the  same  footing  as  the  other 
Catholic  subjects  of  his  Majesty."  They  earnestly  sought 
permission  and  means  to  emigrate.  Then  Cornwallis  ren 
dered  this  testimony  to  their  worth  :  "  We  frankly  confess 
that  your  determination  to  leave  gives  us  pain.  "We  are  well 
aware  of  your  industry  and  your  temperance,  and  that  you 
are  not  addicted  to  any  vice  or  debauchery.  This  province 
is  your  country,  you  and  your  fathers  have  cultivated  it : 
naturally  you  yourselves  ought  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  your 
labor,"  and  again  he  endeavored  to  beguile  them  with  vague 
promises.2 

1  "Nova  Scotia  Archives,"  p.  174. 

»  Cornwallis,  May  25,  1750.     Ibid.,  p.  189,  "N.  T.  Col.  Doc.,"  x.,  pp 
155,  164. 


CONFISCATION  PLANNED.  425 

Yet  almost  at  that  time  the  English  authorities  were  dis 
cussing  plans  for  a  wholesale  spoliation  of  the  entire  Aca 
dian  population,  determined  to  strip  them  of  everything,  and 
deport  them  without  process  of  law. 

The  fact  that  these  Acadians  of  French  origin  occupied  the 
best  lands,  was  considered  as  keeping  other  settlers  out.  The 
question  of  confiscating  their  land  was  discussed.  "  But  the 
mischief  of  dispossessing  them,"  writes  one,  "  is  that  it  would 
be  an  unpopular  Transaction  and  against  the  Faith  of  Trea 
ties."  1 

The  English  did  not  wish  any  of  the  Acadians  under  their 
authority  to  escape.2  They  complained  that  French  officers 
and  clergymen  were  persuading  the  inhabitants  to  leave  the 
province  :  the  English  authorities  in  every  way  allured  those 
who  went  to  return,  and  to  this  day  the  Bishop  of  Quebec 
and  his  clergy  are  censured  for  having  advised  those  Aca 
dians  who  had  emigrated,  not  to  return  without  a  specific 
pledge  of  religious  liberty.3 

There  were  three  classes  of  Acadians,  the  distinction  be 
tween  whom  should  be  borne  in  mind,  although  recent  writ 
ers  endeavor  to  confuse  the  minds  of  readers  by  stating  of 
one  class  what  referred  to  another.  There  were  Acadians 
who  had  all  along  remained  under  the  French  flag,  who  had 
no  obligations  whatever  to  the  English ;  then  there  was  a 
body  comparatively  small,  who  having  been  under  the  Eng 
lish  flag  in  Nova  Scotia,  had  gone  over  to  French  territory, 


1  "A  Genuine  Account  of  Nova  Scotia,"  Dublin,  1750,  p.  12. 

*  Lords  of  Trade  to  Lawrence,  Akins,  p.  207. 

3  Albemarle  to  Puysieulx,  "N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.,"  x.,  p.  216.  In  "Mont- 
calm  and  Wolfe,"  i.,  p.  256,  the  Bishop's  letter  is  not  fairly  cited.  Aca 
dians  were  fined  in  1750  for  attempting  to  leave  the  province  with  their 
effects.  "  New  York  Post  Boy,"  Oct.  15,  1750. 


426  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  lastly,  those  who  remained  peaceably  under  the  English 
flag,  giving  no  just  cause  of  complaint. 

During  the  war  which  terminated  at  the  peace  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  (1748)  the  British  Acadians  had  given  no  cause  of 
complaint  as  a  body.  Some  young  men  undoubtedly  went 
across  the  line  and  fought  on  the  French  side,  but  no  arrests 
were  made  at  the  peace,  none  were  tried  for  having  given 
information  or  aid  to  the  enemy.  During  a  period  of  six 
years  no  charge  of  the  kind  was  made,  although  the  British 
had  the  power  to  try  summarily  and  punish  any  offenders, 
or  make  examples  of  some  to  terrify  the  rest.  That  no  steps 
were  taken  during  that  period  shows  that  modern  writers 
who  make  the  charge  against  a  whole  community  are  merely 
framing  a  special  plea,  not  acting  as  the  impartial  judges 
whom  history  requires.1 

England  by  attacking  French  vessels  at  sea,  and  Fort  Beau- 
sejour  on  land  opened  the  way  for  a  new  war.  Then  she 
resolved  to  carry  out  a  plan  already  formed  for  the  seizure 
and  deportation  of  the  Acadians  who  had  remained  constantly 
or  been  born  on  English  soil.2  When  all  was  ready  for  the 
blow,  Lawrence,  Governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  issued  a  peremp 
tory  order  requiring  the  Acadians  to  take  certain  oaths.  Some 
writers  without  citing  any  authority  declare  that  it  was  a 
simple  pledge  of  fidelity  and  allegiance  to  George  II.3  Such 
an  oath  had  been  frequently  taken  by  the  Acadians,  and 

1  The  oath  required  after  the  war,  in  1749,  was  simply  one  of  allegiance, 
that  a  Catholic  might  take.     "  New  York  Post  Boy,"  Oct.  9,  1749. 

2  A  letter  from  Halifax,  dated  August  9,  1755,  which  appeared  in  the 
"New  York  Gazette,"  Aug.  25,  and  in  the  "Pennsylvania  Gazette," 
Sept.  4,  1755,  announced  the  intended  removal.     The  Lords  of  Trade, 
however,  notified  Lawrence  that  if  in  the  opinion  of  the  Chief  Justice 
they  had  forfeited  their  lands,  he  was  to  take  measures  to  carry  it  into  exe 
cution  by  legal  process.     Letter,  Oct.  29,  1754. 

3  Parkman,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,"  i.,  p.  265. 


PUNISHED  AS  CATHOLICS.  427 

there  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  it  would  have  been  re 
fused  at  this  time.1  Moreover,  the  refusal  to  take  a  pledge 
of  fidelity  and  allegiance  would  not  have  constituted  them 
Popish  recusants.  When  the  delegates  from  the  Acadian 
settlements  came,  oaths  were  tendered  to  them,  but  no  record 
thereof  is  preserved  in  the  minutes  of  the  council.  From  Law 
rence's  subsequent  language  it  is  evident,  however,  that  they 
were  some  or  all  oaths  then  prescribed  by  the  penal  laws 
against  Roman  Catholics,  and  which  no  Catholic  could  consci 
entiously  take.  The  delegates  of  the  Acadians  remonstrated, 
and  asked  assurances  on  their  side,  but  were  dismissed,  and 
when  they  agreed  the  next  day  that  the  oaths  should  be 
taken,  the  reply  was  that  the  offer  came  too  late.  The  oaths, 
whatever  they  were,  were  never  tendered  to  the  Acadians  in 
dividually  nor  refused  by  them.  The  delegates  were  told, 
"  that  as  there  was  no  reason  to  hope  that  their  proposed 
Compliance  proceeded  from  an  honest  mind,  and  could  be 
esteemed  only  the  Eflect  of  Compulsion  and  Force,  and  is 
contrary  to  a  clause  in  an  Act  of  Parliament  of  1  George  II., 
c.  13,  whereby  Persons  who  have  once  refused  to  take  the 
Oaths  cannot  be  afterwards  permitted  to  take  them,  but  are 
considered  Popish  Recusants ; 3  Therefore  they  would  not  be 
indulged  with  such  Permission."  ' 

It  was  thus  distinctly  avowed  that  the  action  taken  against 
them  was  as  Catholics,  and  under  the  English  penal  laws. 
This  is  corroborated  by  the  fact  that  instructions  were  sent 
to  take  special  care  to  seize  the  priests. 

1  Akins,   "Nova  Scotia  Archives,"  i.,  pp.  84,  21,  69,  91,  121,  167,  188, 
263-7,  309,  353-4. 

2  These  words,  which  give  a  clue  to  the  nature  of  the  oath  tendered, 
and  to  the  penalty  incurred,  if  any,  are  suppressed  in  Murdoch,  "  His 
tory  of  Nova  Scotia,"  ii.,  p.  282;  Parkman,  "Montcalm  and  Wolfe," 
i.,  p.  264. 

3  "  Nova  Scotia  Archives,"  pp.  256,  260,  261. 


428  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Ilaliburton,  more  honest  than  later  writers,  admits  that  the 
Acadians  were  tried  by  their  accusers  as  judges,  without  any 
opportunity  to  put  in  a  defence.  Seven  thousand  British 
subjects  were  thus  tried  in  their  absence  by  a  governor  and 
four  councillors,  without  any  indictment  framed,  on  a  charge 
of  refusing  to  take  oaths  never  tendered  to  them  individually, 
never  refused  except  by  deputy,  and  of  the  seven  thousand 
cases  not  a  single  record  was  drawn  up  from  which  they 
could  frame  an  appeal.  Every  principle  of  English  law  was 
disregarded,  but  this  is  not  all.  Every  step  of  Lawrence  was 
illegal  and  a  crime.  No  such  law  as  that  of  "  1  Geo.  II.,  c. 
13,"  exists  on  the  Statute  Book  of  Great  Britain  which  can 
apply  to  the  case  of  the  Acadians.  No  severe  laws  against 
the  Catholics  in  England  were  enacted  at  that  time,  and  in 
Ireland  the  existing  penal  statutes  were  actually  mitigated. 
The  law  was  a  pure  invention  of  Governor  Lawrence. 
Moreover,  the  penal  laws  against  the  Catholics  in  England 
did  not  extend  to  the  colonies,  unless  specially  enacted 
there.  "We  have  seen  how  an  attempt  was  made  in  Maryland 
to  enact  them  by  surprise  in  a  bill  which  did  not  betray  the 
design,  and  how  sanction  to  that  law  was  refused  in  England. 
"We  have  seen  how  at  this  very  time  the  lower  House  in 
Maryland,  at  successive  sessions,  made  repeated  efforts  to  ex 
tend  the  penal  laws  of  "William  III.  against  the  Roman  Catho 
lics  to  that  province. 

It  can  be  irrefragably  asserted  that  no  law  against  the  Cath 
olics,  1  Geo.  II.,  c.  13,'  existed ;  that  no  law  existed  making 

1  It  may  be  said  that  the  act  referred  to  was  really  1  Geo.  I.,  c.  18  ;  but 
this  does  not  help  the  matter.  That  act  refers  to  Catholics  holding 
office  ;  the  only  penalty  for  refusing  the  oaths  is  the  loss  of  the  office, 
and  so  far  from  its  preventing  one  who  had  once  refused  the  oath  from 
subsequently  taking  it,  this  statute  of  George  I.  expressly  exempts  a 
Catholic  who  had  once  refused  from  all  the  consequences  of  recusancy 
on  his  subsequently  taking  the  oath. 


THE  CRIME  ACCOMPLISHED.  429 

forfeiture  of  real  estate  and  personal  property  absolute  on  re 
fusal  of  any  oath  ;  that  no  law  made  a  community  guilty  of 
refusing  oaths  tendered  merely  to  a  committee  ;  that  no  law 
made  married  women  and  infants  guilty  of  refusing ;  that 
under  no  law  was  real  property  confiscated  without  legal  pro 
ceedings  in  each  case.  And  that  cruel,  heartless,  and  inhu 
man  as  the  English  laws  against  the  Catholics  were,  it  was  a 
recognized  principle  that  they  had  no  force  in  America  until 
they  were  formally  adopted  there. 

The  means  to  execute  the  long-meditated  sentence  were 
ready  before  the  farce  of  tendering  the  oaths  under  a  pre 
tended  English  law,  which,  if  real,  would  have  had  no  force 
in  Nova  Scotia.  The  troops  to  carry  out  the  sentence  were 
at  hand,  with  a  fleet,  and  provisioned  transports.  The  whole 
number  of  these  doomed  Catholics  was  seven  thousand. 
From  Minas,  Piziquid  and  Cobequid,  and  Riviere  du  Canard, 
five  hundred  were  to  be  sent  to  North  Carolina ;  one  thou 
sand  to  Virginia  ;  two  thousand  to  Maryland.  From  Annap 
olis  River  three  hundred  were  to  be  sent  to  Philadelphia, 
two  hundred  to  New  York,  three  hundred  to  Connecticut, 
and  two  hundred  to  Boston. 

The  nefarious  scheme  was  carried  out  promptly  and  se 
cretly.  The  Acadian  men  at  the  different  points  were  sum 
moned  to  meet  the  English  officials,  and  were  at  once  sur 
rounded  and  disarmed,  only  five  hundred  escaping  to  the 
woods.  Their  cattle  were  slaughtered  or  divided  among 
English  settlers  ;  then  the  women  and  children  were  forced 
to  leave  their  homes  and  march  to  the  shore,  seeing  behind 
them  their  houses,  barns,  and  churches  blazing  in  one  general 
conflagration.1  The  unfortunate  people  were  then  marched 

1  After  burning  181  houses  and  barns  they  proceeded  to  the  Mass 
House,  which,  with  what  was  therein  contained,  "  was  burnt  to  ashes." 
At  Petcoudiack,  the  Acadians  who  had  escaped  and  a  party  of  Indians 


430  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

on  board  the  ships,  no  regard  being  paid  to  ties  of  kindred 
and  affection.  The  priests  in  Acadia,  though  French  sub 
jects,  and  there  under  the  faith  of  a  treaty,  were  seized,  ex 
cept  the  Abbe  Miniac,  who  for  a  time  eluded  capture ;  but 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  Chauvreulx,  Daudin,  and  Le  Maire  were 
conveyed  to  Admiral  Boscawen's  fleet  as  prisoners  of  war. 
Then  after  being  detained  some  months  at  Halifax,  they 
were  taken  to  Portsmouth,  and  finally  sent  to  Saint  Malo.1 

A  large  body  of  Catholics,  nearly  one-third  as  many  as 
there  were  in  the  English  colonies,  were  thus  suddenly  landed 
from  Massachusetts  to  Georgia,  All  the  vessels  reached  their 
destinations  except  one,  on  which  the  Acadians  overpowered 
the  crew  and  escaped.  Two  thousand  apparently  of  these 
Catholics  were  landed  in  Massachusetts,  and  that  colony,  un 
able  at  once  to  provide  comfortably  for  so  large  a  number, 
appealed  on  grounds  of  humanity  to  New  Hampshire  to  re 
lieve  her  of  a  portion,  but  that  province  declined  on  the  pre 
text  that  she  was  on  the  frontier  of  Canada.2 

Though  the  brutal  falsifier,  Lawrence,  wrote  to  Boston  to 
urge  the  people  to  proselytize  the  children  of  the  exiles,  the 
unhappy  Acadians  found  sympathy  in  Massachusetts.  Lieu- 


saw  their  houses  fired,  but  when  the  English  advanced  to  the  church  to 
include  it  in  the  conflagration,  they  opened  fire,  killing  or  wounding  23. 
"  New  York  Gazette,"  October  6-13,  1755. 

1  "  Historical  Magazine,"  iv.,  p.  42  ;  "  Nova  Scotia  Archives,"  p.  282  ; 
Letter  of  Abbe  de  1'Isle  Dieu,  October  23,  1755  ;  Ferland,  "  Cours  d'His- 
toire,"  ii.,  p.  521.     A  writer,  on  the  authority  of  Pichon,  who,  though  a 
French  officer,  carried  on  a  treacherous  correspondence  with  the  English, 
Boishebert  and  other  officers,  who  had  constantly  urged  priests  in  French 
territory  to  attract  Acadians  from  English  territory,  accuses  the  priests 
seized,  who  were  on  English  territory,  with  being  the  cause  of  the  woes 
of  the  Acadians.     This  is  confounding  two  sets  of  people,  and  is  far  less 
candid  than  Murdoch,  who  acknowledges  that  Pichon,  Boishebert,  etc., 
were  freethinkers,  constantly  attacking  the  clergy. 

2  "  New  Hampshire  Provincial  Papers,"  vi.,  pp.  445,  452. 


GOVERNOR  HUTCHINSON.  431 

tenant-Governor  Hutchinson  was  so  affected  by  their  suffer 
ings  that  he  prepared  a  representation  proper  for  them  to 
make  to  the  British  Government,  to  be  signed  by  the  chief 
men  in  the  name  of  the  rest,  praying  that  they  either  might 
have  leave  to  return  to  their  estates  or  might  receive  a  com 
pensation,  and  he  offered  to  forward  it  to  England  to  a  per 
son  who  would  take  up  their  case.  The  unhappy  Acadians 
had  lost  all  faith  in  English  honor,  and  trusting  that  the 
French  monarch  would  exert  himself  for  them  declined 
Hutchinson's  offer,  little  dreaming  that  the  war  would  last 
seven  years  and  end  in  the  disappearance  of  French  authority 
in  America. 

Hut  chin  son  says  distinctly  :  "  In  several  instances  the  hus 
bands  who  happened  to  be  at  a  distance,"  when  the  Acadians 
were  seized,  "  were  put  on  board  vessels  bound  to  one  of  the 
English  colonies,  and  their  wives  and  children  on  board  other 
vessels  bound  to  other  colonies  remote  from  the  first." 
"  Five  or  six  families  were  brought  to  Boston,  the  wife  and 
children  only,  without  the  husbands  and  fathers,  who  by  ad 
vertisements  in  the  newspapers,  came  from  Philadelphia  to 
Boston,  being,  till  then,  utterly  uncertain  what  had  become  of 
their  families."  '  The  father  of  Monseigneur  Prince,  Bishop 
of  Saint  Hyacinthe  in  Canada,  was  landed  alone  at  Boston, 
where  a  kind  family  took  him,  and  he  did  not  discover  his 
parents  till  after  several  years'  search.2 

Private  persons  at  Boston  provided  houses  where  the  aged 
and  infirm  who  were  in  danger  of  perishing  were  received. 
Hutchinson  himself  in  vain  endeavored  to  save  the  life  of 
one  poor  woman ;  but  his  care  came  too  late.  Then  a  law 
was  passed  authorizing  justices  of  the  peace  and  other  offi- 

1  Hutchinson,  "  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay,"  iii.,  p.  40. 

2  Ferland,  "  Cours  d'Histoire,"  ii.,  p.  520. 


432  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

cers  to  employ  the  Acadians  at  labor,  and  bind  them,  in  fact 
treat  them  as  paupers.  Those  advanced  in  years,  and  some 
who  had  evidently  enjoyed  a  higher  position  in  Acadia,  were 
allowed  support  without  labor.  Yet  if  an  Acadian  attempted 
to  visit  his  countrymen  in  another  town  without  leave  of  the 
selectmen,  he  was  fined  or  whipped. 

Lands  were  offered  to  them  to  settle,  but  as  they  would 
be  deprived  of  the  consolations  of  religion,  these  sincere 
Catholics  declined.  Hutchinson  says :  "  No  exception  was 
taken  to  their  prayers  in  their  families,  in  their  own  way, 
which  I  believe  they  practiced  in  general,  and  sometimes 
they  assembled  several  families  together;  but  the  people 
would  upon  no  terms  have  consented  to  the  public  exercise 
of  religious  worship  by  Roman  Catholic  priests."  "  It  was 
suspected  that  some  such  were  among  them  in  disguise,  but 
it  is  not  probable  that  any  ventured." 

When  at  last  they  despaired  of  being  restored  to  their  own 
estates,  they  endeavored  to  reach  parts  where  they  could 
find  priests  of  their  own  faith,  and  if  possible  of  their  own 
language.  Many  went  from  New  England  to  Saint  Do 
mingo  and  Canada.1  Yet  in  1760  there  were  still  more  than 
a  thousand  in  Massachusetts  and  the  District  of  Maine.  The 
prejudiced  Williamson  insults  them  as  "  ignorant  Catholics,"  a 
conscious  that  their  religion  was  their  only  crime.  Even  in 
1702  French  Neutrals  were  shipped  from  Nova  Scotia, 
"  their  Wives  and  Children  were  not  permitted  with  them, 
but  were  ship'd  on  board  other  vessels."  :  When  the  French 

1  Hutchinson,  "  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay,"  iii.,  pp.  41-2.     "X.  E. 
Gen.  Register,"  xxx.,  p.  17.     P.  H.  Smith,  ibid.,  1886. 

2  "History  of  Maine,"  ii.,  p.  311.     "Collections,  Maine  Hist.  Soc'y," 
vi.,  p.  379. 

3  "N.  Y.  Mercury,"  Aug.  30,  1762.    Seven  hundred  arrived  at  Boston, 
Aug.  25th.     Ib.,  Sept.  6,  1762,  but  were  subsequently  sent  back.     Ib., 
Oct.  11,  25. 


ACADIANS  IN  NEW  YORK.  433 

came  as  our  allies  some  years  later  no  mention  is  made  of 
these  Acadians.  They  had  perished  or  emigrated,  leaving 
their  sufferings  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  future  Church 
of  Massachusetts. 

The  Acadians  landed  at  New  York  were  treated  no  better 
than  those  in  New  England ;  the  adults  were  put  to  labor, 
and  the  children  bound  out  "  in  order  to  make  the  young 
people  useful,  good  subjects,"  that  is,  Protestants.  One 
hundred  and  nine  children  were  thus  scattered  through 
Orange  and  Westchester  Counties.  In  1757  a  party  who  had 
been  in  "Westcheater  County  made  their  escape,  and  attempted 
to  reach  Crown  Point,  but  were  captured  near  Fort  Edward.1 
A  considerable  number  of  Acadians  were  at  one  time  quar 
tered  in  a  house  at  Brooklyn  near  the  ferry ;  but  no  distinc 
tion  was  made  in  New  York  in  favor  of  those  who  had  occu 
pied  a  higher  position  in  their  own  country.  On  the  slightest 
pretext  they  were  arrested,  and  at  one  time  by  a  general  order 
all  throughout  the  colony  were  committed  to  the  county 
jails.2  Even  as  late  as  1764,  when  Fenelon,  Governor  of 
Martinique,  sent  an  agent  to  bring  150  Acadians  to  the  "West 
Indies,  Lieutenant-Governor  Golden  refused  to  permit  them 
to  go.3 

On  the  18th  of  November,  1755,  three  vessels  ascended 
the  Delaware  bearing  454  of  these  persecuted  Catholics, 
most  of  them  with  insufficient  clothing,  many  of  them  sickly 
and  feeble,  some  actually  at  the  point  of  death.  The  crime 
of  Lawrence  had  in  the  eternal  counsels  been  punished  by  the 
overthrow  of  a  British  army  on  the  Monongahela,  and  Phila 
delphia  saw  in  these  wretched  Acadians,  men  who  with  the 

1  "  New  York  Mercury,"  July  11,  1757. 

8  "K  Y.   Col.  Doc.,"  vii.,  p.  125;  "Calendar  K  Y.  Hist.  MSB.," 
pp.  658-678. 
3  "  Golden  Papers,"  ii.,  pp.  333,  etc. 

28 


434  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Irish  and  Germans  were  to  slaughter  the  Protestants.1  But 
Benezet  dispelled  the  fears  and  aroused  the  benevolence  of 
the  people  of  Pennsylvania.  Best  of  all  they  saw  a  priest, 
the  Jesuit  Father  Harding,  come  to  minister  to  them.  More 
than  half  died  within  a  short  time  after  their  arrival,  but 
they  died  consoled  and  fortified  by  the  sacraments  of  the 
Church.2  Many  thus  charitably  received  remained  and  made 
new  homes,  and  soon  lost  their  identity  in  the  general  popu 
lation.  Others  made  their  way  to  Canada  and  the  West 
Indies,  but  the  Catholic  body  in  Pennsylvania  certainly  re 
ceived  some  additions  from  this  body  of  Acadian  Confessors 
of  the  Faith. 

Of  the  nine  hundred  who  reached  Maryland  many  were 
suffering  from  sickness  and  insufficient  clothing,  and  their 
wants  were  to  some  extent  relieved.  The  President  of  the 
Council  acting  as  Governor  retained  one  vessel  at  Annapo 
lis,  sent  one  to  Baltimore  and  to  the  Patuxent  River,  one 
to  Oxford,  and  one  to  "Wicomico.  The  Council,  however, 
commanded  all  the  justices  to  prohibit  the  Roman  Cath 
olic  inhabitants  to  lodge  these  poor  Acadians,  and  any  who 
were  of  necessity  placed  in  the  houses  of  Catholics  were 
promptly  removed. 

One  gentleman,  Mr.  H.  Callister,  relying  on  the  honor  of 
government  to  reimburse  him,  incurred  considerable  expense 
in  relieving  their  wants,  but  he  was  never  reimbursed.  He 

1  "Pennsylvania  Archives,"  ii.,  p.  506.  "W.  B.  Read  in  "Memoirs 
Penn.  Hist.  Soc.,"  vi.,  p.  292. 

5  Walsh,  "  Appeal  from  the  Judgments  of  Great  Britain,"  pp.  87-92, 
437.  Westcott,  "  History  of  Philadelphia,"  ch.  193  ;  Smith  in  "  N.  E. 
Hist.  Gen.  Reg.,"  1886.  Walsh  gives  the  Petition  of  the  Acadians  in 
Pennsylvania  to  the  King  of  England  ;  but  the  pathetic  appeal  produced 
no  effect.  Yet  the  facts  show  that  intelligent  public  men  in  Massachu 
setts  and  Pennsylvania  then  believed  that  the  Acadiacs  had  a  just  claim 
on  the  English  Government  for  compensation. 


FIRST  MASS  IN  BALTIMORE. 


435 


also  drew  up  a  petition  for  them  to  the  King  of  England, 
but  nothing  was  ever  heard  of  it. 

A  law  was  passed  in  1756  empowering  the  justices  in  each 
county  to  make  provision  for  these  Acadians,  but  the  peo 
ple  were  not  dis 
posed  to  hear  the 
burthen.  Talbot 
County  addressed 
the  Assembly,  in 
a  most  bigoted 
document,  urp;- 

o 
ing   some    action 

for  their  removal 
from  the  province. 
Those  in  Balti 
more  seem  to  have  FOTTERAL'S  HOUSE>  WHERE  MASS  WAS  FIRST  SAID 

IN  BALTIMORE.      PROM  MOALE'S  DRAWING. 

found    more    be 
nevolent  people.    Some  were  lodged  in  private  houses,  and  a 
number  were  sheltered  in  a  large  unfinished  structure,  the 
first  brick  house  in  Baltimore,  begun  by  Mr.  Edward  Fotteral, 


FAC-SDHLE   OF   THE   SIGNATURE   OF  FATHER   JOHN  ASHTON. 

an  Irish  gentleman,  who  subsequently  returned  to  his  native 
country.  The  Acadians  occupied  all  that  was  habitable,  and 
hearing  that  there  was  a  priest  at  Doughoregan,  the  seat  of 


436  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Charles  Carroll,  the  Barrister,  they  sent  imploring  the  priest 
to  extend  his  care  to  them.1 

The  Jesuit  Father  Ashton  responded  to  their  appeal,  and 
mass  was  said  for  the  first  time,  and  was  maintained  for  a 
considerable  period  in  Baltimore  in  this  house,  where  a  room 
was  prepared  for  use  as  a  chapel,  and  a  rude  altar  reared 
each  time  the  priest  arrived,  bringing  his  vestments  and 
sacred  vessels.  The  first  congregation  in  the  city  which  be 
fore  the  lapse  of  two  score  years  was  to  be  the  see  of  a  bishop, 
and  in  little  more  than  a  century  to  be  presided  over  by  a 
Cardinal  of  Holy  Roman  Church,  was  a  little  body  not  more 
than  forty  in  all,  chiefly  Acadians,  with  a  few  Irish  Catholics, 
among  the  latter  Messrs.  Patrick  Bennet,  Robert  "Walsh,  and 
William  Stenson.* 

The  Acadians  who  reached  Maryland,  finding  that  they 
could  practice  their  religion,  and  obtain  the  services  of  priests, 
remained,  and  "being  accustomed  to  the  sea,  found  employ 
ment  as  coasters,  fishermen,  etc. ;  but  their  faith  which  stood 
the  persecutions  of  Protestantism  was  much  weakened  by 
the  horde  of  freethinking  Frenchmen  who  came  during  and 
after  our  war  of  Independence.  Many  then  were  corrupted 

'  Scharf,  "History  of  Maryland,"  i.,  pp.  474-9. 

-'  A  rough  pen  and  ink  sketch  of  Baltimore  in  1752,  by  Moale,  preserv 
ed  by  the  Maryland  Historical  Society,  shows  this  house.  Our  sketch  is 
made  carefully  from  it,  without  alteration.  The  house  where  7nnss  was 
said  for  the  Acadians  by  Father  Ashton,  is  the  large  house  at  the  left. 
It  was  near  the  northwest  corner  of  Fayette  and  Calvert  streets.  See 
Campbell,  "Desultory  Sketches  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Maryland," 
in  Religious  Cabinet,  184?,  p.  310. 

Robin,  "Xouveau  Voyage  dans  1'Amerique  Septentrionale,"  Phila 
delphia,  1782,  p.  99,  speaks  of  the  Acadians'  attachment  to  their  faith,  and 
the  loving  remembrance  of  their  former  priests,  mentioning  especially 
a  Rev.  Mr.  le  Clerc  (?  Le  Maire),  who  when  they  came  away  gave  them 
a  chalice  and  vestments.  This  seems  doubtful,  as  no  priest  of  that  uam» 
was  in  Acadiu  at  the  time. 


ACADIANS  IN  VIRGINIA,  ETC.  437 

and  lost  the  faith  they  had  so  nobly  witnessed  unto.'  Yet 
there  was  some  emigration.  Captain  Ford,  of  Leonardtown, 
Maryland,  sailed  with  a  number  for  Louisiana,  and  was 
driven  on  the  coast  of  Texas,  where  they  were  seized  by  the 
Spaniards  and  carried  to  New  Mexico,  suffering  greatly  till 
a  priest  learned  their  history  and  obtained  their  release.' 

Many,  however,  remained  at  Baltimore,  where  their  de 
scendants  are  to  be  found  to  this  day. 

Virginia,  considering  that  the  Governor  of  IS^ova  Scotia 
had  no  right  to  throw  the  great  mass  of  the  inhabitants  of 
his  colony  on  other  colonies  to  be  supported  as  paupers,  and 
knowing  that  it  would  be  useless  to  look  to  England  or  Xova 
Scotia  for  compensation,  refused  to  receive  the  deported  Aca- 
dians.  She  remonstrated  so  firmly  with  the  English  Gov 
ernment,  that  336  were  transported  to  Liverpool,  where  they 
were  detained  for  seven  years  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  sub 
jected  to  many  temptations  to  abandon  their  faith.  At  the 
peace  they  were  claimed  by  France,  and  obtained  lands  in 
Poitou  and  Berry,  still  occupied  by  their  descendants.3 

The  1,500  sent  to  South  Carolina  were  at  first  scattered 
through  the  parishes,  but  the  compassion  for  their  misfor 
tune  was  such  that  vessels  were  obtained  at  the  public  charge 
in  which  many  went  to  France.  A  few  remained  in  the 
colony ;  others  sought  to  reach  Louisiana,  or  endeavored  to 
return  to  their  former  homes.4 

Georgia  by  its  charter  positively  excluded  Catholics,  not 

1  Letter  of  Archbishop  Carroll. 

2  Smyth,  "Tour  in  the  United  States," ii.,  p.  377. 

3Brymner,  "Report  on  Canadian  Archives,  1883,"  p.  145  ;  "Memoire 
sur  les  Acadiens,"  Niort,  1867. 

4  Cooper,  "Statutes,"  iv. ,  p.  31.  Two  parties  attempted  to  escape 
early  in  1756,  but  were  retaken.  "  N.  Y.  Mercury,"  Mar.  1,  1756.  Yet 
in  1760.  300  Acadians  are  reported  as  having  had  the  small-pox,  115 
dying  of  it  in  South  Carolina.  "  Maryland  Gazette,"  April  17. 


438  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

one  of  whom  was  allowed  to  settle  within  its  limits.  When 
Governor  Reynolds,  who  was  attending  an  Indian  Council, 
heard  that  the  Governor  of  Nova  Scotia  had  thus  thrown 
four  hundred  Catholics  upon  his  colony  he  decided  that  they 
could  not  remain.  As  winter  had  set  in  he  gave  them  shel 
ter  till  spring.  Then  they  were  permitted  to  build  rude 
boats,  and  numbers  set  out  to  coast  along  to  Nova  Scotia, 
encouraged  by  the  help  and  approval  of  the  Christian  men 
of  the  South.1  Toiling  patiently  along,  a  party  of  seventy- 
eight  reached  Long  Island  in  August,  1756.  but  though  they 
bore  passports  from  the  Governors  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  they  were  seized  by  the  brutal  Sir  Charles  Hardy, 
who  distributed  them  in  the  most  remote  parts  of  the  colony, 
putting  adults  to  labor,  and  binding  out  children,  so  that 
they  should  be  brought  up  Protestants.2  Ninety  who  reached 
the  southern  part  of  Massachusetts  in  July,  were  similarly 
treated  by  Lieut.-Gov.  Phips. 

Though  the  fear  was  expressed  that,  exasperated  at  the 
cruel  and  inhuman  treatment  to  which  they  had  been  sub 
jected,  these  people  might  take  some  terrible  revenge,  no  case 
of  crime  is  charged  to  these  noble  confessors  of  the  faith  in 
any  of  the  colonies.  They  suffered,  but  not  as  evil-doers.3 

Gradually  during  the  war,  and  after  its  close  in  1763, 
Acadians  made  their  way  from  Pennsylvania,  Carolina,  and 
Georgia,  as  well  as  from  Halifax  to  the  French  West  Indies, 
where  many  sank  under  the  climate.  Most  of  the  survivors 
removed  thence  about  1765  to  the  colony  of  Louisiana,  where 
they  settled  in  Attakapas,  and  Opelousas.  Here  land  was 
allotted  to  them ;  six  hundred  and  fifty-six  being  thus  pro- 

1  Stevens,  "History  of  Georgia,"  i.,  pp.  413-417. 

2  "New  York  Colonial  Documents,"  vii.,  p   125. 

3  "Nova  Scotia  Archives,"  pp.  301-304. 


FEW  ACADIANS  REMAINED.  439 

vided  in  the  early  months  of  1765.  This  body  with  others 
who  joined  them  from  time  to  time  constitute  the  source  of 
the  great  Acadian  body  in  Louisiana,  which  retains  to  this 
day  the  peculiarities  of  speech  and  manners  that  character 
ized  their  ancestors.1 

Of  those  who  in  time  reached  Nova  Scotia  or  its  neighbor 
hood,  or  who  escaped  from  the  hands  of  Lawrence,  some 
fearing  fresh  cruelties  struck  into  the  woods  on  the  upper 
Saint  John,  and  formed  the  Madawaska  settlement.  Strangely 
enough,  in  1842  England  claimed  this  part  of  the  State  of 
Maine,  on  the  ground  that  it  had  been  settled  by  the  Neutral 
French,  who  were  British  subjects.2 

The  largest  body  of  Catholics  that  in  one  year  reached  our 
shores  did  not  materially  alter  the  position  of  the  adherents 
of  the  true  faith  in  the  existing  British  colonies.  A  small 
body  remaining  at  Baltimore,  a  few  in  Philadelphia,  the 
Acadian  settlement  in  Louisiana,  which  did  not  come  into 
the  United  States  for  some  years  after  the  recognition  of  in 
dependence,  and  the  little  Madawaska  colony,  overlooked  by 
the  authorities  for  years,  and  ministered  to  as  their  fathers 
had  been  by  priests  from  Canada,  alone  were  permanent. 

The  fact  that  such  an  act  could  have  been  perpetrated  by 
Governor  Lawrence  under  the  pretence  that  it  was  in  accord 
ance  with  the  penal  laws  against  the  Catholics,  shows  how 
bitter  the  feeling  of  the  time  was. 

1  "Nova  Scotia  Archives,"   pp.    347-350;  Gayarre,  "Histoire  de  la 
Louisiane,"  ii.,  pp.  127-128. 

2  See  "  The  Acadian  Confessors  of  the  Faith,  1755,"  by  me  in  "Am. 
Cath.  Quarterly,"  ix. ,  p.  592.     ' '  Acadia,  a  Lost  Chapter  in  American  His 
tory,"  by  Philip  H.   Smith,  Pawling,  1884;  and  a  paper  by  the  same 
author,   "  K  E.  Hist.  Gen.   Register,"  1886.    H.  R.   Casgrain,   "Un 
Pelerinage  au  Pays  d'Evangeline." 


CHAPTER  Y. 

CATHOLICITY   IN   THE   BRITISH   COLONIES,    1755-1Y63. 

THE  war  against  the  French  was  one  against  Catholicity, 
and  as  after  a  few  years  hostilities  also  began  against  Spain, 
England  was  arrayed  against  the  two  Catholic  powers  in 
America,  and  every  hostile  movement  tended  to  inflame  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  the  colonies  against  all  who  professed 
the  faith.  The  conquest  of  Canada  was  especially  sought  in 
order  to  extirpate  Catholicity  utterly.  The  position  of  the 
faithful  in  the  English  colonies  was  one  of  constant  peril  and 
annoyance. 

The  newspapers  teemed  with  diatribes  against  the  Cath 
olics,  and  ministers  like  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brogden  preached 
series  of  sermons  against  Popery,  and  any  reply  or  protest 
only  made  their  tirades  more  virulent.1 

Stimulated  in  this  way  a  strong  public  feeling  grew  up 
against  the  Catholic  body,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  Prot 
estants  of  Sassafrax,  Middle  Neck,  and  Bohemia  Manor,  to 
whom  the  proximity  of  the  Jesuits  was  very  galling,  peti 
tioned  the  legislature  at  the  session  of  1756,  praying  that 
stringent  measures  might  be  taken  against  the  Jesuits.  At 
all  events  the  lower  House  at  this  session  was  about  to  pass  a 
very  stringent  bill  prohibiting  the  importation  of  Irish  Papists 
via  Delaware  under  a  penalty  of  £20  each,  and  denouncing 
any  Jesuit  or  Popish  priest  as  a  traitor  who  tampered  with 

1  "  Maryland  Gazette,"  Annapolis,  Feb.  26,  1755,  May  16, 1754,  Marcli 
14,  1754. 

(440) 


MARYLAND  HOSTILE.  441 

any  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  in  the  colony  ;  but  the  bill  did 
not  pass,  the  governor  having  prorogued  the  legislature 
shortly  after  it  was  introduced.1 

Yet  for  all  this  hostile  legislation  there  was  no  pretext 
whatever.  A  writer  of  that  period  in  England  could  say 
boldly :  "  In  Maryland  they  have  always  shown  a  fidelity 
and  remarkable  submission  to  the  English  Government,  and 
have  particularly  avoided  a  correspondence  with  the  enemies 
of  Great  Britain." 3 

The  Catholics  in  Maryland  were  accused  of  sympathizing 
with  the  French,  but  in  proof  of  their  innocence,  and  as  a 
testimony  of  their  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  the  country,  they 
appealed  to  their  conduct  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  fron 
tier,  who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes  after  that  disaster. 
Addressing  the  upper  House  of  Assembly  in  1756  the  Cath 
olics  said :  "  The  Roman  Catholics  were  not  the  men  who 
opposed  the  subscription  :  on  the  contrary  they  countenanced 
it,  they  promoted  it,  they  subscribed  generously,  and  paid  their 
subscriptions  honourably  :  and  if  our  numbers  are  compared 
with  the  numbers  of  our  Protestant  fellow-subjects,  and  the 
sum  paid  on  this  occasion  by  the  Roman  Catholicks  be  com 
pared  with  the  sum  total  collected,  it  may  be  said  the  Roman 
Catholicks  contributed  prodigiously  beyond  their  proportion 
to  an  aid  so  seasonable  and  necessary." 

Yet  the  lower  House  in  1755  had  presented  Governor 
Sharpe  a  furious  address  against  the  Roman  Catholics,  and 
passed  a  resolution  that  all  the  Penal  laws  mentioned  in  the 
Toleration  Act  were  in  force  in  Maryland,  although  some  had 
actually  been  repealed.  The  Governor  writing  to  Charles 


1  Johnston,  "History  of  Cecil  County,  Md.,"  p.  202. 
-  "  Considerations  on  the  Penal  Laws  against  Roman  Catholics  in  Eng 
land,  and  the  new  acquired  Colonies  hi  America."    London,  1764,  p.  51. 


442  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Calvert  bore  testimony  to  the  good  conduct  of  the  Catholica 
"  For  my  part  I  have  not  heard  but  the  Papists  behave  them 
selves  peaceably  and  as  good  subjects.  They  are,  I  imagine, 
about  one-twelfth  of  the  people,  and  many  of  them  are  men 
of  pretty  considerable  fortunes.  I  conceive  their  numbers 
do  not  increase,  though  I  have  reason  to  think  the  greater 
part  of  the  Germans  which  are  imported  profess  that  re 
ligion."  ' 

In  the  session  ending  May  22,  1756,  a  law  was  passed  for 
raising  an  amount  to  defend  the  frontiers,  which  the  Assem 
bly  had  long  neglected  to  do.  They  seized  the  opportunity 
to  insert  a  clause  imposing  a  double  tax  on  all  Catholic 
property  owners  in  Maryland.  The  Governor  and  upper 
House  made  no  effort  to  save  the  Catholics,  and  this  iniqui 
tous  system  once  inaugurated  was  continued  during  the  colo 
nial  period.* 

A  law  was  even  introduced  to  make  it  high  treason  in  any 
priest  who  converted  a  Protestant  to  the  true  faith,  and  to 
deprive  of  all  right  of  inheriting  any  Catholic  educated  at 
a  foreign  popish  seminary  ;  but  these  violent  measures  failed 
to  pass,  the  upper  House  in  1758  even  attempting,  though  in 
vain,  to  relieve  Catholics  from  the  double  tax  as  "  not  to  be 
defended  upon  a  principle  of  justice  or  policy."  The  lower 
House  stimulated  by  the  Protestant  clergy,  whom  Catholics 
were  heavily  taxed  to  support,  adhered  to  the  spirit  of  per 
secution,8  and  Governor  Sharpe,  himself  a  Protestant,  writ 
ing  to  the  Lord  Proprietor  indignantly  details  the  oppres 
sions  suffered  by  the  Maryland  Catholics  from  their  enemies, 

1  Scharf,  "History  of  Maryland,"  i.,  p.  461. 

*  The  Catholics  in  vain  appealed  to  the  Governor  to  withhold  his  sanc 
tion  to  this  bill. 

3  "Votes  and  Proceedings  of  the  lower  House  of  Assembly,  Apl.. 
May,  1758." 


FATHER  BE ADN ALL'S  ARREST.  443 

"  and  states  that  many  were  made  such  by  envy  or  the  hope 
of  reaping  some  advantage  from  a  persecution  of  the  Papists," 
and  he  bore  his  testimony  that  since  he  had  administered  the 
colony  the  conduct  of  the  Catholics  had  been  most  unexcep 
tionable.1 

Besides  these  cruel  laws  a  new  method  of  persecution  had 
been  undertaken.  Complaint  was  made  before  a  magistrate 
against  Father  James  Beadnall,  and  two  writs  were  issued  on 
which  he  was  arrested  by  the  Sheriff  of  Queen  Anne's  County, 
on  the  22d  of  September,  1756.  He  was  obliged  to  give  bail 
in  £1,500  for  his  appearance  before  the  Provincial  Court  to 
be  held  at  Annapolis  on  the  19th  of  October.  Two  indict 
ments  were  laid  before  the  Grand  Jury  against  him,  the  first 
for  celebrating  mass  in  a  private  family,  and  the  second  for 
endeavoring  to  bring  over  a  dissenter,  Quaker,  or  non juror  to 
"  the  Romish  persuasion."  The  Grand  Jury  did  not  act  on 
the  matter,  and  he  was  brought  before  the  Grand  Jury  of 
Talbot  County,  but  that  body  on  the  16th  of  April,  1757, 
refused  to  indict  him  ;  they  held  that  as  to  the  first  charge 
he  was  justified  by  the  order  issued  by  Queen  Anne,  at 
Whitehall,  January  3.  170£ ;  and  as  to  the  second  charge  they 
found  the  evidence  insufficient.8 

This  good  priest  who  enjoys  the  privilege  of  having  been 
arrested  for  discharging  his  duty  was  a  native  of  Northum 
berland,  born  April  8, 1718,  and  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus 
at  "Watten,  September  7.  1739.  His  name  appears  first  at 


1  Gov.  Sharpe's  Letter,  Dec.  16.  1758,  in  "Ridgeley's  Annals  of  An 
napolis,"  p.  95. 

'2  Father  George  Hunter,  "  A  Short  Account  of  ye  State  and  Condi 
tion."  "A  Short  Account  of  ye  Proceedings  of  ye  Assembly  of  Mary 
land."  The  Maryland  Archives  have  no  record  of  this  prosecution  of 
P.  Beadnall. 


444  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

St.  Thomas'  Manor  in  1749,  and  after  many  years'  service  on 
the  mission,  he  died  at  JSTewtown,  September  1,  1772.' 

There  were  at  this 
•  ^LL       rf    ^"^     time    fourteen     Fa- 

I,  <*7-o  tf     *»•,«£*>?     thers  on  tlie  Mary 

"  land  and  Pennsylva- 

FAC-SIMILE    OP    THE    SIGNATURE    OF    FATHER 

GEORGE  HUNTER,  s.j.  ma   mission,   Father 

George  Hunter  be 
ing  the  Superior,  and  returning  to  England  for  a  time  this 
year. 

Father  Beadnall  was  not  the  only  one  of  the  Jesuit  Fa 
thers  molested  at  this  time.  A  man  was  arrested  at  Fort 
Cumberland  as  a  spy, 

and  admitted  that  he      ^  J£  .     /#  C\        ^ 

.       Jar*-*     </jeaj<^^e<£e,     />^* 
had     been     in     the  / 

French  service  at  FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE  SIGNATURE  OF  FATHER 
Fort  Dn  Quesne,  hav-  JAMES  BEADNALL. 

ing  been  carried  oft'  by  a  party  of  Indians.  The  man  swore 
that  a  certain  priest  had  maintained  correspondence  by  let 
ter  with  the  French ;  that  he  had  been  up  in  the  country 
among  them,  and  that  several  Catholic  laymen  whom  he 
named  had  with  the  priest  notified  the  French  that  they 
would  give  them  all  aid  in  their  attempts  against  the  prov 
ince.  The  accused  priest  was  taken  into  custody  to  be  tried 
at  the  Annapolis  Assizes  in  February,  1757.  The  case  broke 
down,  however.  When  the  man  was  put  on  the  stand,  he 
was  asked  whether  he  knew  a  Catholic  layman  pointed  out 
to  him.  He  replied  that  he  did,  that  he  was  the  priest,  and 
that  he  had  seen  him  say  mass  in  Baltimore  County,  and  had 
often  carried  letters  from  him  to  the  French.  He  made 


1  Foley,  "Records  of  the  English  Province,"  vii.,  p.  42.     Treacy, 
"  Catalogue,"  p.  98,  thinks  he  died  in  1775. 


PENNSYLVANIA  FEARS.  445 

similar  answers  in  regard  to  other  laymen  introduced  into 
the  room.  When  the  priest  actually  came,  he  swore  that  he 
did  not  know  him,  and  had  never  seen  him  in  his  life.  The 
Governor  and  Council  before  whom  the  examination  took  place 
knew  the  priest  personally,  and  saw  the  knavery  of  the  wit 
ness.  The  priest  and  the  Catholic  laymen  were  acquitted, 
and  the  informer  was  sent  to  Lord  London  as  a  deserter.1 

The  alarm  caused  by  the  French  operations  on  the  Ohio 
had  already  excited  suspicion  and  odium  against  the  Cath 
olics  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Justices  of  Berks  County,  Con 
rad  Weiser  being  one  of  them,  unfolded  their  foolish  fears 
in  an  address  to  Governor  Morris,  July  23,  1755.  "  We 
know,"  say  these  sapient  magistrates,  "  that  the  people  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  are  bound  by  their  principles  to 
be  the  worst  subjects  and  worst  of  neighbours,  and  we  have 
reason  to  fear,  just  at  this  time,  that  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
Cussahopen— where  they  have  a  very  magnificent  chapel,  and 
lately  have  had  long  processions— have  bad  designs."--'4 The 
priest  at  Reading  as  well  as  at  Cussahopen  last  Sunday  gave 
notice  to  the  people  that  they  could  not  come  to  them  again 
in  less  than  nine  weeks,  whereas  they  constantly  preach  once 
in  four  weeks  to  their  congregations :  whereupon  some  im 
agine  they  have  gone  to  consult  with  our  enemies  at  Du 
Quesne."  *  And  a  publication  of  the  time  says  :  "  There  are 
near  one-fourth  of  the  Germans  supposed  to  be  Roman  Cath 
olics  who  cannot  be  supposed  Friends  to  any  Design  for  de 
fending  the  Country  against  the  French."  : 

1  F.  George  Hunter,  "A  Short  Account  of  the  State  and  Condition." 
The  name  of  the  Father  is  not  given  ;  and  the  State  Archives  have  no 
papers  in  the  case.  It  was  probably  Father  Hunter  himself. 

*  "  Provincial  Records,  1755,"  p.  125  ;  Rupp,  "  History  of  the  Counties 
of  Berks  and  Lebanon,"  Lancaster,  1844,  p.  151. 

3  "  Brief  State  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania,"  London,  1755,  p.  35. 


446  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

An  inquiry  instituted  by  Lord  Loudon  gives  us  the  Cath 
olic  population  of  Pennsylvania  in  1757.  In  and  near 
Philadelphia  there  were  72  men,  78  women,  Irish  or  Eng 
lish  ;  and  in  Chester  County  18  men,  22  women  under  the 
care  of  Father  Eobert  Harding.  His  associate  Father  Theo 
dore  Schneider  residing  at  Goshenhopen,  had  under  his  care 

107  men  and    121  women,  all 
Germans,  in  and  about   Phila- 
delpliia,  and  198  men  and   166 
FAC-SIMILE  OP  THE  SIGNATURE  women  iii  Philadelphia,  Berks, 

OF  FATHER  THEODORE  SCHNEI-    AT       ,-,  TI       T 

DER>  .Northampton,  Bucks,  and  Ches 

ter  Counties ;  while  Father  Fer 
dinand  Farmer,  then  at  Lancaster,  had  208  Irish  and  Ger 
man  men  and  186  women  in  Lancaster,  Berks,  Chester,  and 
Cumberland  Counties,  and  Father  Matthias  Manners,  the 
missionary  at  Conewago,  had  99  men  and  100  women,  in 
cluding  both  Irish  and  Germans,  in  York  County.1 

When  precisely  the  church  was  built  at  Goshenhopen  is 
not    determined.      The 
house  mentioned  by  Fa- 

C1       -j         .        ,. 

ther   Schneider   in    his 

register,    had    evidently   FA(>SIMILE  OF  THE   SIGNATURE  OF  FA- 

•f  THER  FERDINAND  FARMER. 

been     replaced     by     a 

church,  which  must  have  been  of  some  size s  and  beauty  to  be 
styled  even  in  prejudiced  exaggeration,  "  a  very  magnificent 
chapel."  With  a  respect  for  antiquity  worthy  of  praise,  the 
walls  of  the  old  chapel  of  the  last  century  were  retained  as 
part  of  the  present  church. 

The  congregation  at  St.  Joseph's  Church,  Philadelphia, 

1  F.  Harding  to  Peters,  "National  Gazette,"  Philadelphia,  June  14, 
1820.     "  Woodstock  Letters,"  xv.,  p.  58. 

2  Father  Enoch  Fenwick,  in  his  notes  on  Goshenhopen    says  it  was 
55  by  32. 


GOSHENHOPEN. 


447 


had  increased  so  that  the  original  chapel  is  said  to  have  been 
enlarged  or  rebuilt  in  1T57.1  Moreover  as  ground  was  re 
quired  for  a  cemetery,  and  also  to  make  provision  in  time 
for  the  erection  of  a  second  church,  a  lot  extending  from 
Fourth  to  Fifth  Street,  sixty-three  feet  in  front,  and  three 
hundred  and  ninety-six  feet  deep,  was  conveyed  May  10, 


CHTTRCII  OF  THE  MOST  BLESSED  SACRAMENT,  GOSHENHOPEN,  NOW 
BALLY,  PA.,  BEING  IN  PART  ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  ERECTED  BY 
FATHER  THEODORE  SCHNEIDER,  S.J. 

1759.  to  two  Roman  Catholics,  James  Reynolds  and  Bryan 
O'Hara,  evidently  in  trust  for  the  desired  object.  It  was  re- 
conveyed  the  next  year  to  Daniel  Swan  and  others,  and  a 
declaration  of  trust  was  made  by  the  direction  and  appoint- 

1  This  seems  very  doubtful.     The  enlargement  more  probably  preced 
cd  Kalm's  visit. 


448  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

ment  of  the  members  or  congregation  professing  the  Eoman 
Catholic  religion,  and  belonging  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
chapel  on  the  south  side  of  Walnut  Street,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  designated  as  St.  Joseph's. 

The  purchase  money,  £328.  16.  G,  was  contributed  by 
Rev.  Robert  Harding  and  eighty-one  other  subscribers; 
and  the  ground  was  stated  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  chapel, 
especial  reference  being  made  to  its  use  as  a  burial  place,  as 
by  law  Catholics  could  hold  land  for  that  object.  A  second 
subscription  was  begun  in  1762,  and  was  so  successful  that  in 
the  following  year  the  erection  of  a  church  was  begun  on 
this  property,  the  future  St.  Mary's.1 

Father  Ferdinand  Farmer  after  six  years'  service  at  Lan 
caster  and  its  dependent  missions,  doing  his  part  in  complet 
ing  the  church  in  that  town,  was  transferred  to  Philadelphia. 
The  first  entry  in  his  register  there  is  on  the  17th  of  Septem 
ber,  1758,  and  he  seems  to  have  entered  at  once  on  part  of 
the  labors  previously  borne  by  Father  Schneider,  as  the  next 
year  we  find  him  at  Concord,  and  at  Geiger's  in  Salem 
County,  New  Jersey.  His  labors  at  Philadelphia  as  assistant 
to  Father  Harding  were  evidently  onerous,  but  down  to  the 
close  of  the  period  we  are  considering,  his  visits  to  Geiger's 
and  the  Glass  House  in  Salem  County  were  constant."1 

Small  as  this  scattered  body  was,  the  militia  act  of  1757 
required  that  in  enrolling  the  people,  their  religion  should  be 

1  So  stated  in  "A  Letter  to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Philadelphia," 
Philadelphia,  1822,  pp.  24-6,  a  Hoganite  pamphlet  aiming  to  show  that 
the  Society  of  Jesus  had  not  contributed  largely  to  the  erection  of  St. 
Mary's. 

'*  Father  Farmer's  Register.  He  visited  Geiger's  June  27,  Aug.  22, 
Oct.  3,  1759  ;  Jan.  1-2,  Mar.  12,  June  11,  Oct.  1,  1760  ;  Mar.  11  ;  Gei 
ger's  and  Glass  House,  May  14 ;  Geiger's,  June  17,  Aug.  12,  Oct.  14, 
1761 ;  June  24,  New  Jersey,  Aug.  24,  Geiger's  Nov.  23, 1762.  His  other 
visits  were  to  Concord  and  Chester  Co. 


CATHOLIC  POPULATION.  449 

taken  down  to  ascertain  the  Papists,  who  were  to  be  excluded 
from  the  militia ;  by  a  special  clause  every  Catholic  was  re 
quired  within  a  month  to  surrender  all  arms,  accoutrements, 
gunpowder,  or  ammunition,  under  the  penalty  of  three 
months'  imprisonment ;  and  every  Catholic  who  would  have 
been  liable  to  military  duty  was  compelled  to  pay  a  militia 
tax  of  twenty  shillings — a  heavy  amount  for  the  times — to  the 
captain  of  the  company  in  which,  no  matter  how  willing,  he 
was  not  allowed  to  serve.1 

About  this  same  time  Father  George  Hunter,  the  Supe 
rior  of  the  Maryland  mission,  estimated  the  total  adult  Cath 
olic  population  of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  at  10,000. 
"We  count  about  10,000  adult  customers  sive  comnits,  & 
near  as  many  under  age  or  non  comni" .  Each  master  of  a 
residence  keeps  about  2  Sundays  in  ye  month  a  home,  ye  rest 
abroad  at  ye  distance  of  more  or  fewer  miles,  as  far  some 
times  as  20  or  30  &  y"  other  Gentlemen  all  abroad  every 
such  day."  *  "  Pennsilvany  has  about  3,000  adult  customers 
sive  comrn'3  near  as  many  under  age  or  no11  comm'" .  The 
extent  of  their  excursions  is  about  130  miles  long  by  35 
broad." 

"  Our  journeys  are  very  long,  our  rides  constant  and  ex 
tensive.  We  have  many  to  attend  and  few  to  attend  'em. 
I  often  ride  about  300  miles  a  week,  and  ne'er  a  week  but  I 
ride  150  or  200,  and  in  our  way  of  living  we  ride  almost  as 
much  by  night  as  by  day  in  all  weathers,  in  heats,  colds,  rain, 
frost,  and  snow,"  writes  Father  Joseph  Mosley  from  K^ew- 
town,  September  1,  1759. 

"  I  find  here  business  enough  upon  my  hands  in  my  way 
of  trade,"  wrote  this  same  Jesuit  priest  from  Newtown, 

1  Westcott,  "History  of  Philadelphia,"  ch.  193. 

2  F.  George  Hunter,  "  Report,"  July  23,  1765.     "  Customers  "  meant 
communicants. 

29 


450  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

September  8,  1758.  "I've  care  of  above  fifteen  hundred 
souls."  ....  "I  am  daily  on  horseback,  visiting  ye  sick, 
comforting  the  infirm,  strengthening  ye  pusillanimous,  etc." 
This  same  Father  attending  Sakia  and  Newport  in  1763,  re 
ported  873  Easter  communions. 

The  mission-stations  from  which  the  priests  attended  the 
faithful  in  their  districts  were,  the  Assumption  at  St.  Inigoes, 
where  one  missionary  resided ;  St.  Xavier's  at  Newtown, 
three  missionaries  ;  St.  Ignatius  at  Port  Tobacco,  three ;  St. 
Francis  Borgia  at  Whitemarsh,  two ;  St.  Joseph's  at  Deer 
Creek,  one;  St.  Stanislaus  at  Fredericktown,  one;  St. Mary's 
at  Queenstown,  or  Tuckaho,  one ;  St.  Xavier's  at  Bohemia, 
one ;  St.  Joseph's,  Philadelphia,  two  ;  St.  Paul  at  Cushenho- 
pen,  one ;  St.  John  Nepomucene  at  Lancaster,  one ;  St. 
Francis  Regis  at  Conewago,  one. 

Of  most  of  these  missions  we  have  spoken  at  some  length. 
The  mission  of  St.  Francis  Borgia  at  Whitemarsh  is  said  to 
have  been  founded,  but  was  probably  revived,  in  1760. 

Whitemarsh  mission  was  fourteen  miles  from  Annapolis, 
on  the  top  of  a  hill  about  one  hundred  feet  high,  nearly  half 
a  mile  from  the  Patuxent  River,  a  cultivated  field  extending 
from  the  foot  of  the  hill  to  the  stream  which  was  crossed  by 
"  The  Priest's  Bridge."  The  circular  plateau  on  top  of  the 
hill  was  nearly  five  hundred  feet  in  diameter  and  well  shaded. 
Here  rose  the  mission  of  Saint  Francis  Borgia,  with  extensive 
plantations  in  the  plain  below. 

In  1751  five  or  six  Catholic  families  in  Dover,  Delaware, 
were  attended  once  a  month  by  a  Maryland  priest.' 

Soon  after  1750  Charles  Carroll,  Esq.,  purchased  12,000 
acres  watered  by  the  Potomac  and  Monocacy,  and  let  it  out 
in  small  farms.  Many  of  those  who  became  tenants  came 

1  Perry,  "Historical  Collections,"  v.  (Delaware),  p.  97. 


CHURCH  AT  FREDERICK.  451 

from  St.  Mary's,  Charles,  and  Prince  George  Counties,  as  the 
names  of  Darnall,  Boone,  Abell,  Payne,  Brooks,  Jameson,  and 
Jarboe,  show.  These  Catholics  were  at  first  attended  from 
St.  Thomas'  Manor,  near  Port  Tobacco,  but  in  1703  Father 
John  Williams,  a  native  of  Flintshire,  in  "Wales,  purchased 
a  lot  and  in  the  following  year  erected  a  house,  still  standing, 
and  forming  part  of  the  novitiate.  This  was  the  mission  of 
St.  Stanislaus.  "  It  was  a  two-story  building ;  it  included  on 
the  first  floor  three  rooms  and  a  passage,  thus  giving  a  front 
of  about  fifty  feet."  "The  second  floor  was  used  as  a 
chapel." 

This  small  chapel  was  for  nearly  forty  years  the  only  place 
of  worship  for  Catholics  in  Frederick  County.1 

The  Jesuit  estates  not  only  supported  the  missionaries, 
and  paid  all  the  expense  of  maintaining  divine  worship  in 
the  chapels  at  their  residence  and  the  stations,  but  also  ena 
bled  them  to  send  over  to  England  £200  to  repay  previous 
advances,  and  the  passage  of  Fathers  coming  to  or  returning 
from  Maryland.* 

The  project  of  seizing  the  property  held  by  the  mission 
aries  which  was  constantly  urged  at  this  time,  aimed  there 
fore  at  suppressing  at  a  single  blow  all  Catholic  worship  in 
Maryland,  depriving  the  faithful  of  their  principal  chapels 
and  the  clergy  of  their  only  sure  source  of  income.  Some 
advised  that  this  property  when  confiscated  should  be  applied 
to  found  a  college. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Catholics  in  the  colonies  as 
the  Seven  Years'  War  drew  to  a  close.  The  faithful  op 
pressed,  ground  down  with  taxes  and  disabilities,  liable  at 

1  St.  John's  Church  and  Residences,  Frederick,  Md.  "  Woodstock 
Letters,"  vol.  v.,  pp.  29-36.  The  deed  to  Rev.  George  Hunter  was  not 
executed  till  Oct.  2,  1765. 

5  V.  Rev.  Henry  Corbie,  "  Ordinations  and  Regulations  for  M — y — d." 


452  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

any  moment  to  have  all  their  property  wrested  from  them, 
had  lost  all  energy  and  hope. 

A  writer  of  the  time  says :  "  The  yearly  repeated  Bills  of 
late  for  putting  Penal  Laws  in  execution,  have  already  pro 
duced  this  Effect  in  some  measure,  one  Gentleman  of  an  af 
fluent  Fortune  having  already  sold  part  of  his  lands  with 
intention  to  quit  the  country,  and  many  others  judging  they 
shall  be  necessitated  to  follow  his  Example  unless  assured  of 
enjoying  their  possessions  in  greater  peace  and  quiet  than  for 
these  eight  years  past."  ' 

There  is  no  trace  of  any  mission  work  about  this  time  in 
Virginia  and  New  York.2  The  Catholics  in  Pennsylvania 
were  comparatively  free.  They  had  churches  openly  at 
Philadelphia,  Conewago,  Lancaster,  and  Goshenhopen,  and 
proposed  to  erect  one  in  Easton.  They  were,  however,  com 
paratively  poor,  few  of  their  communion  being  possessed  of 
any  large  means,  but  they  contributed  money  to  erect  and 
maintain  churches  and  support  the  priests  who  attended 
them.  _N"ew  Jersey  was  a  mission  field  without  a  church, 
and  the  perquisites  of  the  priests  who  penetrated  into  it 
must  have  been  scanty  indeed. 

In  Maryland  the  Catholic  population  was  more  rural,  com 
prising  the  owners  of  plantations  with  their  slaves,  and  the 

1  "  The  Case  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Maryland,  1759." 

2  Accounts  of  visits  of  priests  to  New  York  at  this  period,  are,  so  far 
as  I  can  discover,  absolutely  unfounded.    The  Virginia  penal  act  of  1756 
was  very  comprehensive.     The  usual  oaths  were  to  be  rendered  to  all 
Papists  ;  no  Catholic  could  have  arms  under  penalty  of  three  months' 
imprisonment,  forfeiture  of  the  arms,  and  a  fine  of  three  times  their 
value.    Any  Protestant  who  did  not  report  a  Catholic  neighbor  for  keep 
ing  arms  was  subject  to  the  same  penalties.     A  Catholic  owning  a  horse 
worth  more  than  £5  was  liable  to  three  months'  imprisonment  and  a  fine 
of  three  times  the  value  of  the  horse.    Henings'  "  Statutes  at  Large,"  vii., 
p.  37.     The  few  Virginia  Catholics  of  that  day  were,  it  is  said,  visited  at 
times  by  the  holy  Father  George  Hunter. 


GENERAL  CONDITION.  453 

tradesfolk  near  them.  The  wealthy  Mr.  Carroll  had  a  house 
in  Annapolis  with  a  private  chapel,  but  in  no  town  except 
Frederick  was  there  even  a  priest's  house  for  a  congregation. 
Private  chapels  on  plantations  of  Catholic  proprietors  or 
owned  by  the  missionaries,  were  the  stations  attended  from 
each  central  point.  Beyond  the  few  cases  of  private  chapels, 
the  Catholics  did  nothing  to  erect  or  maintain  churches  or 
support  the  clergy,  and  under  the  pressure  of  persecution 
were  becoming  inert,  and  losing  the  energy  of  faith  that 
shows  itself  in  self-sacrifice. 

In  both  provinces  the  services  of  the  Church  were  con 
ducted  apparently  in  the  plainest  manner,  without  pomp, 
and  in  most  cases  without  music.  Sermons  were  read  from 
manuscript  in  the  English  style.  Cemeteries  existed  on  the 
priests'  farms,  but  many  interments  were  made  in  private 
burial  plots  in  the  grounds  of  Catholics.  A  funeral  sermon 
was  generally  delivered. 

It  was  not  possible  for  all  to  hear  mass  every  Sunday  and 
holiday,  and  the  list  of  holidays  then  far  exceeded  those  now 
kept.  It  included  the  Circumcision,  Epiphany,  Purification, 
the  Finding  of  the  Holy  Cross,  the  Assumption,  Nativity 
of  the  Blessed  Yirgin,  All  Saints  and  Christmas,  St.  Mathias, 
St.  Joseph,  St.  Philip  and  St.  James,  St.  John  the  Baptist,  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul,  St.  James,  St.  Anne,  St.  Lawrence,  St. 
Bartholomew,  St.  Matthew,  St.  Michael,  St.  Simon  and  St. 
Jude,  St.  Andrew,  St.  Thomas,  St.  Stephen,  St.  John  the 
Evangelist,  Holy  Innocents,  St.  Sylvester,  and  St.  George. 

The  missionaries  were  certainly  zealous  and  devoted,  and 
so  far  as  we  can  glean,  communions  were  frequent,  many 
who  had  strayed  away  from  their  duties  were  reclaimed, 
conversions  were  constantly  made ;  but  when  the  struggle  of 
England  and  her  colonies  against  France  closed,  the  little 
band  of  missionaries  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  and  their 
flocks,  saw  not  a  ray  of  cheering  hope  in  the  future. 


BOOK  IV. 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  THE  SPANISH 
COLONIES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    CHURCH    IN   FLORIDA,    1690-1763. 

FLORIDA,  after  a  struggle  for  existence  of  a  century  and  a 
quarter,  was  menaced  with  ruin.  The  English  colony  of 
Carolina  was  already  an  enemy  at  its  very  door;  the  little 
settlement  at  St.  Augustine  was  menaced  by  the  sea,  which 
threatened  to  wash  away  its  fortifications,  and  by  the  Span 
ish  government,  which  seeing  its  slow  progress,  proposed  to 
abandon  it,  and  transfer  the  inhabitants  to  Pensacola,  so  as  to 
prevent  any  encroachments  by  the  French  on  the  west.1 

In  its  parish  church  the  Kev.  Alonzo  de  Leturiondo,  who 
had  been  in  temporary  charge  for  some  years,  was  made  par 
ish  priest  and  proprietary  rector  in  July,  1694,  and  he  dis 
charged  the  duties  in  person  or  by  deputy  till  early  in  1707.2 

A  famous  native  of  Florida,  baptized  in  all  probability  in 
the  parish  church  of  Saint  Augustine,  died  in  Mexico  about 
1695.  This  was  the  Jesuit  Father  Francis  de  Florencia,  born 
in  Florida  in  1620,  who  took  the  habit  of  the  Society  of  Je 
sus  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  and  who,  after  being  professor 
of  philosophy  and  theology  in  the  College  of  Saint  Peter  and 
Saint  Paul,  and  having  rendered  great  services  to  the  Bishops 

1  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  299,  301. 

2  "  Noticias  relativas  a  la  Iglesia  Parroquial  de  San  Agustin." 

(454) 


FLORIDA  IN  EARLY  SPANISH  DAYS. 


CHURCH  AT  PENSACOLA.  455 

whose  confidence  he  enjoyed,  was  sent  as  procurator  of  the 
Mexican  province  to  Madrid  and  then  to  Rome.  He  was 
subsequently  appointed  procurator  at  Seville  of  all  the  prov 
inces  of  his  order  in  the  Indies,  but  finally  returned  to  Mexi 
co,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of  75. 

He  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  an  author,  having  pub 
lished  a  Menology  of  the  illustrious  members  of  the  Society 
in  New  Spain,  a  work  on  the  Shrine  of  Our  Lady  de  los 
Remedies,  a  still  more  important  work  on  the  Apparition 
and  Shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe,  a  History  of  the  So 
ciety  of  Jesus  in  New  Spain,  and  other  works.1 

In  1693  Don  Andres  de  Pes  proceeded  to  Pensacola  in  a 
frigate,  accompanied  by  a  famous  priest,  Don  Carlos  de  Si- 
guenza  y  Gongora,  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  University 
of  Mexico.  The  frigate  and  a  smaller  vessel  entered  the  bay 
on  the  8th  of  April,  and  the  Spanish  commander  retaining 
its  ancient  title,  given  in  honor  of  Our  Lady,  named  the  har 
bor  Santa  Maria  de  Galve,  after  the  chaplain  had  chanted  a 
Te  Deum  before  a  statue  of  Our  Lady.  Father  Siguenza 
made  a  careful  survey  of  the  bay,  and  a  site  having  been  de 
termined  upon  for  a  settlement,  he  said  the  first  mass  on  St. 
Mark's  day,  April  25th,  and  the  Spaniards  marched  in  pro 
cession,  chanting  the  Litany  of  Loretto,  to  the  spot  selected, 
where  a  cross  was  set  up.  This  was  the  beginning  of  Pensa 
cola,  the  second  Spanish  town  in  Florida.  The  settlement 
was  actually  made  in  1696  by  Don  Andres  de  Arriola,  who 
erected  Fort  San  Carlos  on  the  Barrancas  of  Santo  Tome. 
Quarters  for  the  men  and  a  frame  church  were  immediately 
erected.2 

At  the  instance  of  the  Bishop  of  Santiago  de  Cuba,  Don 

1  "  Diccionario  Universal  de  Historia  y  Geografia."      Mexico,    1853, 
vol.  iii. 

2  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  308-311,  316. 


456  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Diego  Eveliuo  de  Compostela,  a  band  of  twenty  Franciscan 
missionaries,  under  Father  Felician  Lopez,  were  sent  over  to 
found  new  Christian  communities  in  tribes  which  professed 
a  desire  of  embracing  the  Christian  faith.  Eight  wrere  sent 
to  the  new  conversions  of  Mayaca,  Tororo,  Afiacapi,  San  An 
tonio,  and  St.  Joseph ;  six  were  selected  for  the  province  of 
Carlos,  a  son  of  the  Cacique  having  visited  Saint  Augustine 
to  solicit  missionaries  for  his  people  :  the  rest  were  sent  to 
other  parts 

The  Fathers  entered  on  their  work  with  zeal,  and  at  first 
success  seemed  to  encourage  them,  but  in  October,  1696,  the 
heathen  Indians  of  Tororo  and  the  four  other  towns  of  that 
district  rose"  against  the  Spaniards,  killed  one  of  the  religious, 
with  a  soldier  and  five  Indian  converts,  burned  the  churches 
and  mission  settlements,  and  retired  to  the  woods.  The  sur 
viving  missionaries,  left  without  shelter  or  a  flock,  returned 
to  Saint  Augustine.  The  field  was  not  abandoned,  however. 
Five  religious,  with  an  experienced  Superior  versed  in  the 
language,  were  sent  to  reclaim  the  Indians,  and  apparently 
succeeded.1 

The  conversion  of  the  Carlos  Indians  was  undertaken  by 
Father  Felician  Lopez  himself.  He  sailed  from  Havana  on 
the  llth  of  September,  1697,  with  five  other  religious  and 
supplies  of  all  kinds  for  the  projected  missions,  and  after 
touching  at  Key  West,  proceeded  to  the  town  of  Cayucos. 
The  old  Cacique,  who  was  very  ill,  earnestly  solicited  bap 
tism,  and  after  instruction  the  sacrament  of  regeneration  was 
conferred  upon  him,  as  death  seemed  imminent.  Meanwhile 
a  house  was  erected  for  the  residence  and  chapel  of  the  Fran 
ciscan  Fathers.  But  no  attention  was  paid  to  their  instruc- 


1  Letter  of  F.  Martin  de  Alcano,  Provincial,  and  others  to  the  king, 
July  18,  1697.     Report,  August  15,  1698. 


FLORIDA  MISSIONS.  457 

tions ;  a  hut  used  for  idolatrous  ceremonies  was  thronged,  and 
the  Indians  even  called  upon  the  missionaries  to  give  food 
and  clothing  for  their  gods.  "When  the  Franciscans  refused, 
and  urged  the  Indians  to  abandon  their  idolatry,  the  young 
Cacique  told  them  that  his  gods  were  offended  at  them,  and 
required  them  to  leave  the  country.  The  missionaries  en 
deavored  to  hold  their  ground,  but  they  were  seized  and 
robbed  of  their  provisions;  vestments,  and  chapel  service,  and 
taken  from  Key  to  Key,  till  at  last  they  were  left  naked  at 
Matacumbe.  There  the  vessel  which  had  brought  these  en 
voys  of  Christianity  over,  found  them  on  a  return  voyage, 
and  rescued  them.  Processions  of  the  religious  at  night  are 
said  to  have  alarmed  the  Indians  at  first,  and  were  then  made 
a  pretext  for  their  expulsion.  The  missionaries  who  left 
Havana  in  September,  1697,  reached  that  port  again  on  the 
21st  of  February.1 

"We  get  some  glimpses  of  the  Church  and  her  missions  in 
Florida  in  1699,  from  an  unexpected  source.  The  barken- 
tine  "  Reformation  "  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Florida  in 
September,  1696,  and  Jonathan  Dickenson  drew  up  a  jour 
nal  of  their  adventures  till  they  were  rescued  on  the  coast  by 
a  Spanish  party,  conveyed  to  Saint  Augustine,  and  then  sent 
northward  along  the  coast,  from  one  Indian  mission  to  an 
other. 

Near  where  they  were  wrecked  a  zealous  Franciscan  Father 
had  converted  a  chief,  but  his  tribe  demanded  that  he  should 
renounce  it  and  put  the  Friars  to  death.  On  his  refusal  they 


1  A  despondent  letter  of  F.  Felician  from  Florida,  Sept.  21,  1697.  Let 
ters  of  F.  Francis  de  Contreras,  Oct.  16,  1697;  Mar.  5,  1698.  Report, 
August  15,  1698.  "  Extractos  de  Varias  Relaciones. "  The  companions 
of  F.  Felician  were  FF.  Ferdinand  Samos,  Michael  Carrillo,  Francis  of 
Jesus,  and  Francis  of  San  Diego,  lay  brother. 


458  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

killed  him  and  (me  of  the  Franciscans,  two  others  who  were 
.there  escaping. 

The  shipwrecked  men  received  very  kind  treatment  at 
Saint  Augustine,  and  in  September  set  out  with  an  escort. 
At  Santa  Cruz  mission,  two  or  three  leagues  from  Saint 
Augustine,  they  found  a  large  chapel  with  three  bells,  and  a 
Franciscan  in  charge.  The  Indians  went  as  constantly  to 
their  devotions  at  all  times  and  seasons  as  any  of  the  Span 
iards.  The  party  were  lodged  in  a  large  house,  kept  as  a 
warehouse  and  general  place  of  meeting.  San  Juan,  on  an 
island  thirteen  leagues  further,  had  its  chapel  and  priests. 
St.  Mary's  was  next  reached,  where  they  found  a  Franciscan 
with  his  church,  and  his  school  of  Indian  boys.  Near  it  was 
another  mission,  St.  Philip's,  which  was  soon  reached,  and  so 
they  made  their  way  to  St.  Catharine's  Island — "a  place 
called  St.  Catalina,  where  hath  been  a  great  settlement  of 
Indians,  for  the  land  hath  been  cleared  for  planting  for  some 
miles  distant."  It  was  in  fact  the  old  mission  station  where 
church  and  convent  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Carolina  In 
dians.1  Yet  Dickenson's  narrative  shows  that  these  mission 
stations  along  the  coast  not  only  civilized  the  Indians  and 
reformed  their  savage  character,  but  were  a  life-saving  organ 
ization  on  the  coast  where  the  shipwrecked  found  Christian 
welcome  and  aid ;  yet  the  neighboring  English  colonies 
destroyed  them. 

The  Apalache  Indians  had  been  forced  to  come  and  labor 
on  the  fortifications  and  sea  wall  at  Saint  Augustine,  and  a 
letter  signed  by  Patricio,  chief  of  Ybitacucho,  implores  Don 
Juan  de  Ayala  to  represent  their  case  to  the  king.  But  the 
fortifications  saved  Florida,  for  though  the  English  from 

1  Dickenson,  "God's  Protecting  Providence,  Man's  Surest  Help  and 
Defence,"  Philadelphia,  1699.  It  ran  through  many  editions  in  England 
and  America. 


FLORIDA  MISSIONS  DESTROYED.  459 

Carolina  in  1702  took  and  fired  the  city,  the  fort  resisted 
their  efforts.1 

The  war  of  the  Spanish  succession  gave  South  Carolina  a 
pretext  for  hostility  against  its  Catholic  neighbor,  Florida, 
and  Governor  Moore  was  eager  for  the  plunder  of  a  Spanish 
town,  and  for  Indian  converts  to  enslave.  He  instigated  the 
Apalachicolas.  to  invade  the  Apalache  country,  where,  after 
professing  friendship,  they  attacked  Santa  Fe,  one  of  the 
chief  towns  of  the  province  of  Timuqua,  on  the  20th  of  May, 
1702,  just  before  dawn.  The  Apalachicolas  burned  the 
church,  but  the  Indian  Catholics  succeeded  in  saving  the  vest 
ments  and  pictures.  A  Spanish  force  pursuing  the  enemy 
was  defeated  and  the  commander  slain.  Governor  Moore 
then  induced  his  colony  to  fit  out  an  expedition.  A  land 
force  of  militia  and  Indians  under  Colonel  Daniel  attacked 
St.  Augustine  in  the  rear  by  way  of  Pilatka,  while  Governor 
Moore  operated  against  it  with  vessels.  Daniel  occupied  the 
town,  the  inhabitants  retiring  to  the  fort.  Governor  Moore 
coming  in  his  vessels  by  sea,  spread  devastation  along  the 
coast.  The  Christian  Indians  on  the  islands,  from  Saint 
Catharine's  to  Amelia,  had  in  consequence  of  previous  hos 
tilities,  withdrawn  to  St.  Mark's  Island,  where  they  formed 
three  towns.  These  were  now  committed  to  the  flames  with 
their  churches  and  convents,  three  devoted  Franciscan  Fa 
thers  falling  as  prisoners  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  while 
the  Indian  converts  fled  from  their  savage  foe  to  St.  Augus 
tine."  Moore  having  reached  the  Spanish  city  with  fourteen 
or  fifteen  vessels,  and  effected  a  junction  with  Colonel 
Daniel,  endeavored  on  the  22d  of  October,  1702,  to  capture 
the  fort.  But  the  brave  Governor,  Joseph  de  Zufiiga,  who  had 

'Barcia,  "Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  320. 
2  Letter  of  Governor  Zuniga,  Sept.  30,  1702. 


460  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

received  a  few  soldiers  to  reinforce  his  little  garrison,  held 
out  bravely,  the  fort  resisting  all  the  efforts  of  the  English. 
Moore  sent  to  the  West  Indies  for  heavier  artillery ;  but  be 
fore  it  arrived  Spanish  ships  appeared  in  the  harbor  with  re 
inforcements  under  Captain  Stephen  de  Berroa.  Moore 
raised  the  siege,  which  had  lasted  more  than  fifty  days,  and 
finding  escape  by  sea  impossible,  set  fire  to  his  vessels  and  re 
treated  overland.'  "  Before  withdrawing,"  says  a  modern 
writer,  "  he  committed  the  barbarity  of  burning  the  town." 
The  parish  church,  the  church  and  convent  of  the  Franciscan 
Fathers,  and  other  shrines  perished  in  the  general  conflagra 
tion  ; 2  but  the  plate  to  the  value  of  a  thousand  dollars  was 
carried  off.  A  Protestant  clergyman  writing  at  the  time  records 
one  act  of  vandalism  which  we  cannot  omit  to  state.  "  To 
show  what  friends  some  of  them  are  to  learning  and  books, 
when  they  were  at  Saint  Augustine,  they  burned  a  library  of 
books  worth  about  £600,  wherein  were  a  collection  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Fathers,  and  the  Holy  Bible  itself  did  not 
escape,  because  it  was  in  Latin.  This  outrage  was  done  as 
soon  as  they  arrived,  by  the  order  of  Colonel  Daniel." 

This  was  evidently  the  fine  library  in  the  Franciscan  con 
vent  at  Saint  Augustine,  and  it  is  most  creditable  that  a  little 
place  like  the  capital  of  Florida,  then  possessed  a  library  of 
ecclesiastical  works  that  could  win  for  its  extent  and  value 
such  encomium  from  an  enemy ;  Father  Martin  de  Aleano, 
guardian  of  the  convent,  proceeded  to  Spain  to  portray  to 
the  king  the  ruin  of  the  ancient  place.4 


1  Letter  of  Don  Joseph  de  Zuniga,  San  Marcos,  Jan.  6,  1703. 
2 Fairbanks,  "History  of  Florida,"  p.  174. 

8  Rev.  Edward  Marston  to  Rev.  Dr.  Bray,  Charlestown,  Feb.  2,  170$. 
"Documentary  History  P.  E.  Church,  i.,  pp.  11,  12. 

4  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico, "  p.  324.     Royal  Decrees  of  April  21, 
1714,  and  Nov.  7,  1720. 


APALACHE  MISSIONS  DESTROYED.  461 

That  the  wanton  destruction  of  a  defenceless  town  was  re 
garded  by  the  Spanish  monarch  as  a  mark  of  English  pro 
vincial  hatred  against  the  Church  of  God  is  evidenced  by  a 
public  act.  The  antipathy  to  the  true  faith  with  which 
unprincipled  rulers  in  England  had  imbued  the  ignorant 
settlers  of  Carolina  prompted  them  to  the  work  of  devasta 
tion.  The  Spanish  monarch  at  once  ordered  the  income  of 
vacant  bishoprics,  the  revenues  that  the  episcopate  of  Spain 
would  have  enjoyed  had  every  see  been  filled,  to  be  applied 
to  rebuild  the  church  and  convent,  the  hallowed  shrine  and 
the  domestic  hearth  that  Carolinian  bigotry  had  laid  in  ashes. 

The  greed  of  Governor  Moore  prompted  another  expedi 
tion.  If  he  could  not  take  a  Spanish  fort  he  could  carry 
off  the  Indian  converts  of  Spanish  priests  to  sell  as  slaves. 
He  raised  a  force  of  English  and  Indians,  and  made  a  sudden 
inroad  into  the  territory  of  the  Apalaches.  Lieutenant  John 
Ruiz  Mexia,  who  commanded  the  little  Spanish  garrison,  pre 
pared  with  the  Apalaches  to  meet  the  enemy.  Father  John 
de  Parga,  the  missionary  at  Patali,  addressed  the  Indians, 
urging  them  to  light  bravely,  for  God's  holy  law,  as  no  death 
could  be  more  glorious  than  to  perish  for  the  faith  and  truth. 
When  he  had  given  all  absolution,  Mexia  advanced  on  the 
enemy  with  thirty  Spanish  soldiers  and  four  hundred  Apa 
laches.  They  wished  Father  Parga  to  remain  behind,  but 
he  would  not  desert  his  flock.  Mexia  twice  repulsed  the  as 
sailants  near  Ayubale,  January  25,  1704,  but  his  ammunition 
failing,  most  of  his  force  were  killed  or  taken.  He  himself 
was  wounded  and  taken  with  Father  John  de  Parga  and  Fa 
ther  Angel  Miranda.  Many  of  the  prisoners  were  at  once 
tied  to  stakes,  tortured  and  burned  to  death.  Father  Miranda 
appealed  in  vain  to  Governor  Moore  to  prevent  such  horri 
ble  cruelties  on  prisoners  before  his  very  eyes  ;  but  to  no 
purpose.  Father  Parga  was  burned  at  the  stake,  beheaded, 


4o2  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  his  leg  hacked  off.  Another  religious,  Marcos  Delgado, 
endeavoring  to  save  Father  Parga,  was  slain. 

A  party  of  the  enemy  then  approached  Patali,  and  an 
apostate  Indian  called  to  Father  Manuel  de  Mendoza,  who 
opened  a  window  in  the  palisade,  but  was  at  once  shot 
through  the  head.  The  town  was  then  fired. 

Consternation  prevailed  throughout  the  Apalacbe  towns ; 
those  which  had  not  been  taken,  to  escape  the  cruelties  they 
saw  perpetrated  on  their  countrymen,  submitted  to  the  Eng 
lish  and  their  allies,  and  of  the  eleven  towns,  Ybitacucho 
alone  escaped.  Moore  sent  to  Perez,  who  still  held  the 
block-house  at  San  Luis,1  offering  to  give  up  Mexia,  Father 
Miranda,  and  four  soldiers ;  but  as  the  Spanish  officer  could 
not  furnish  the  ransom  demanded,  they  were  all  burned  at 
the  stake.  Several  of  the  Indians  while  undergoing  the  tor 
ture  showed  in  prayer  and  exhortation  the  heroism  of  Chris 
tian  martyrs,  especially  Anthony  Enixa,  of  the  town  of  San 
Luis,  and  Amador  Cuipa  Feliciano,  of  the  same  town. 

Moore  retired  at  last,  carrying  off  nearly  a  thousand  Apa- 
laches  to  sell  as  slaves,  besides  the  numbers  he  had  put  to 
death  in  and  after  the  battle  near  Ayubale. 

When  he  had  retired,  Father  John  de  Villalba  went  with 
others  to  the  ruined  towns.  A  scene  of  unparalleled  horror 
met  them  on  every  side,  bodies  half  burned  hanging  from  the 
stakes  or  pierced  by  them,  men  and  women  scalped,  mutila 
ted,  and  burned.  Father  Parga's  mangled  body  was  found 
and  carried  to  Ybitacucho ;  that  of  Father  Mendoza  was  found 
amid  the  ruins  of  Patali,  half  burned  away,  his  beads  and 
partly-melted  crucifix  sunk  into  the  very  flesh.  Of  Father 
Miranda  and  Marcos  Delgado  no  trace  seems  to  have  been 
found.2 

1  Two  miles  west  of  the  Tallahassee  (Fairbanks). 

s  Letter  of  Governor  Zuniga,   March  30,  1704.     "  Extractos  de  una 


A  VISITATION.  463 

The  martyrdom  of  Ayubale  has  no  parallel  in  our  annals 
except  in  the  deaths  of  Fathers  Brebeuf,  Lalemant,  Daniel, 
and  Gamier,  in  the  Huron  country,  which  has  been  so  often 
and  so  pathetically  described  ;  but  the  butcheries  perpetrated 
there  were  not  enacted  before  the  eyes  and  by  the  order  of 
the  Governor  of  a  Christian  colony. 

The  mission  of  Ybitacucho  was  maintained  for  a  while, 
but  the  Indians  feeling  that  Spain  could  not  protect  them, 
fled  westward,  and  sought  refuge  under  the  cannon  of  the 
new  French  fort  at  Mobile. 

The  missions  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  from  St.  John's  to  the 
Savannah,  had  been  already  broken  up,  the  Apalache  country 
was  a  desert,  and  others  nearer  to  Saint  Augustine  had  been 
already  invaded.1 

In  the  Apalache  country  alone  there  had  been  thirteen 
considerable  towns,  each  with  a  very  good  church  and  a  con 
vent  for  the  missionary  ;  but  all  were  now  destroyed,2  and  it 
is  asserted,  and  is  probable,  that  the  churches  were  plundered 
by  the  invaders  of  all  their  plate  and  vestments,  of  every 
thing  indeed  that  could  tempt  cupidity.3 

In  January,  1704,4  Bishop  Compostela  sent  the  Licentiate 
Antonio  Ponce  de  Leon  to  make  a  visitation  of  the  afflicted 
Florida  portion  of  his  diocese,  and  the  report  of  that  dele 
gate  seems  to  have  led  to  what  had  long  been  desired,  the 

inforrnacion  fecha  en  San  Augustin  de  la  Florida  en  9  dias  de  Junio  del 
afio  1705,  por  orden  de  fr.  Lucas  Alvarez  de  Toledo,"  including  testi 
mony  of  several  eye-witnesses. 

1  San  Joseph  de  Ocuia,  Pilitiriba,  and  San  Francisco. 

5  Don  Juan  de  la  Valle,  1729. 

8  Fairbanks,  "History  of  Florida,"  says,  that  "the  remains  of  these 
mission  stations  may  be  traced  at  several  localities  in  Florida,"  and  the 
outlines  of  the  earthworks  around  them  can  be  distinctly  seen  at  Lake 
City  and  elsewhere. 

4  Auto  de  14  de  Enero  de  1704. 


464  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

appointment  of  a  bishop  to  reside  in  Florida.  The  first  one 
selected  for  tins  position  was  Don  Dionisio  Rezino,  a  native 
of  Havana,  who  was  preconized  Bishop  of  Adramitnm,  and 
auxiliar  to  the  Bishop  of  Santiago  de  Cuba.  He  was  conse 
crated  at  Merida  in  Yucatan,  in  1709.1  Bishop  Rezino  pro 
ceeded  at  once  to  Florida,  and  conferred  confirmation  in  the 
parish  church  at  Saint  Augustine,  on  the  26th  of  June, 
1709,  to  a  multitude  of  persons  of  every  rank.  On  the  10th 
of  the  following  month  he  made  his  formal  visitation  of  that 
church,  of  which  Rev.  Peter  Lawrence  de  Acevedo  was  the 
proprietary  parish  priest.2  Of  the  length  of  the  Bishop's 
stay  in  Florida  at  this  time  documents  have  not  yet  been 
found  to  give  any  definite  account. 

In  1720,  Bishop  Valdez,  of  Santiago  de  Cuba,  sent  one  of 
his  priests,  John  Stephen  Romero  y  Montafiez,  to  make  a 
visitation,  which  he  did  strictly,  Nov.  7,  1720,  censuring 
somewhat  severely  the  manner  in  which  the  Registers  had 
been  kept  by  the  Proprietary  parish  priest,  Acevedo.  The 
chaplain  of  the  fort  had  occasionally  acted  for  the  pastor, 
and  now  by  the  visitor's  permission  the  Sacristan  Mayor, 
Francisco  Gabriel  del  Pueyo,  who  was  also  notary  of  the  vis 
itor,  acted  temporarily,  and  at  a  later  period  Rev.  John  de 
Paredes,  and  John  Joseph  Solana.  The  long  pastorship  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Acevedo  ended  August  13,  1735. 

The  venerable  shrine  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Leche  erected 
in  the  Indian  town  at  Xombre  de  Dios,  where  the  first  mass 
was  celebrated  on  the  8th  of  September,  1565,  was  now  to 
feel  the  results  of  the  proximity  of  a  nation  of  hostile  faith. 

1  D.  Rosain,    "Necropolis  de  la  Habana,"  1875,  p.  133.     Bp.  Rezino 
died  in  Havana,  Sept.  12,  1711,  and  was  interred  under  the  sanctuary 
of  the  Clmrch  of  St.  Catharine. 

2  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  363,  places  the  visitation  of  Bishop 
Ilezino  in  1721,  but  the  entry  of  visitation  and  confirmations  in  the  Reg 
ister  of  Saint  Augustine  show  that  it  was  in  1709. 


&fo&2S, 

FRANCIS  DE  SAN  BUENAVENTURA  TEJADA,  O.S.F. 

BISHOP  OF  TRICALI  ,  YUCATAN  ,  GUADALAJARA. 


'  NUESTRA  SE$ORA.  DE  LA  LECttE 

According  to  a  statement  of  a  modern  historian,  (  «  >« .•<• 
Palmer  with  a  party  of  Georgians  made  a  mid  into  F'-n  i  • 
and   approached   St.  Augustine.     His   men   plundered   tin 
chapel,  carrying  off  the  church  plate,  votive  offerings, 
everything  of •  value.     One  of  the  soldiers  took  the  figure  of 
the  Infant  Saviour  from  the  arms  of  the  statue  of  Our  Lady, 
and  carried  it  to  Colonel  Palmer,  then  at  Fort  Mosa,  who  re 
buked  his  men  for  their  sacrilegious  act,  telling  them  that 
they  would  in  time  atone  it,  but  he  took  the  figure  and  threw 
it  from  him  on  the  ground. 

The  next  year  as  the  city  was  again  menaced,  the  Governor 
of  Florida,  to  prevent  Xombre  de  Dios  from  bring  again  oc 
cupied  by  the  Georgians,  commanded  the  town  and  chapel  to 
be  demolished  on  the  20th  of  March,  1728,  and  a  new  chapel 
was  erected  in  a  safer  spot. 

The  account  proceeds  to  state  that  in  1735  Colonel  Palmer 
was  slain  on  the  very  S[>ot  where  he  threw  the  Holy  Child.' 

In  the  war  with  Carolina  the  Christian  Indians  were  nearly 
exterminated,  only  three  hundred  survivor,-  inhered  under 
the  guns  of  the  fort  at  Saint  Augustine,  remaining  to  repre 
sent  the  once  numerous  happy  towns  of  native  converts. 

The  missionaries  turned  their  attention  to  tribes  which  had 
hitherto  shown  little  disposition  for  the  faith.1  In  1726  they 
had  made  such  progress  that  there  were  three  Yamassee  mis 
sions,  two  dedicated  to  St.  Anthony,  and  one  to  St.  Diego, 
each  with  a  convent  and  church  of  palmetto ;  three  towns  of 


1  This  account  is  given  by  Williams,  "Territory  of  Florida,"  New 
York.   1837,  pp.   182-4,  citing  "  Spanish  Historians, "  but  to  whom  he 
refers  I  do  not  know.    He  gives  the  date  of  the  profanation  of  the 
as  1725,  but  see  Stevens'  "  History  of  Georgia,"  New  York,  1847,  pp.  14'». 
173.  where  it  is  given  as  1727 ;  the  site  of  the  first  chapel,  place 
first  mass,  and  of  the  second  chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Milk  are  g 
on  page  137  of  this  work. 

'  Letter  of  F.  Anthony  Florencia  to  the  King,  1724. 
30 


460  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

the  Yguasa  nation,  Santa  Catalina,  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe, 
and  St.  Joseph,  chiefly  of  old  converts,  Guadalupe  having  a 
church  of  boards.  Kornbre  de  Dios,  a  Chiluca  town  of  old 
Christians,  had  its  church  of  stone ;  Santa  Fe,  a  Tiniuquan 
town  ;  San  Luis,  an  Apalache  town  ;  and  San  Antonio,  a 
Casapulla  town ;  another  San  Antonio  among  the  Costas, 
and  a  third  in  the  Apalache  country.  Besides,  there  were 
a  mission  among  the  Macapiras,  and  one  in  the  Praya  nation, 
and  San  Juan  mission  in  the  province  of  Apalache,  estab 
lished  for  all  who  joined  it  from  the  Apalache  nation,  and 
the  Yamassees.  The  church  in  Florida  could  stiil  report 
more  than  a  thousand  Christians.1  These  Indians  had  no 
arms  to  defend  themselves,  and  the  heathen  Indians  all  sided 
with  the  English.  Each  of  six  new  towns  had  its  missionary. 

A  complaint  was  made  at  this  time  that  natives  of  Florida, 
who  were  ordained  under  the  title  of  missions,  went  to  other 
places  to  receive  holy  orders,  and  did  not  return  to  the  penin 
sula.3 

St.  Mark  was  fortified  in  March,  1718,  to  protect  the  In 
dian  converts  in  that  district,  and  steps  taken  to  restore  Pen- 
sacola,  where  church,  houses,  and  fort  were  all  insecure. 
The  Confraternity  of  Our  Lady  of  Soledad  maintained  the 
services  of  the  church  and  funeral  expenses.8 

Steps  were  taken  to  found  a  new  Apalache  mission  of  La 
Soledad,  near  St.  Mark,  and  two  Franciscan  Fathers  were 
placed  in  charge  of  it.  On  Santa  Rosa  Island  a  fortification 
was  thrown  up,  and  a  chapel  erected,  which  Father  Manuel 
de  Hoaliso  attended.  When  in  1719  Pensacola  was  invested 
by  the  French  under  Bienville,  and  captured,  Father  Joseph 

1  Visita,  Dec.,  1726. 

2  Letter,  May  15,  1729,  of  Don  Juan  de  la  Balle. 

3  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  pp.  336-7,  340, 


468 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


Usache,  and  Father  Joseph  del  Castillo,  of  the  order  of  St. 
Francis,  the  chaplains,  were  taken  to  Havana.1  The  Span 
iards  recovered  the  place  soon  after,  only  to  lose  it  a  second 
time,  Sept.  18,  1719,  when  Pensacola  was  taken  by  the  Count 
de  Charapmeslin  with  a  powerful  squadron.  Finding,  how 
ever,  that  he  could  not  easily  hold  the  place,  he  set  fire  to  the 
fort  and  town,  laying  Pensacola  completely  in  ashes,  not  even 

sparing  the  church,  and 
carrying  off  the  sacred  vest 
ments  and  plate.  When 
the  site  was  restored  to 
Spain,  Pensacola  was  re 
built  in  a  new  position  near 
the  western  extremity  of 
Santa  Rosa  Island.  A  sub 
stantial  fort  with  palisades 
stood  near,  and  the  church 
and  government  house 
were  suitable  buildings. 
A  view  of  the  city  taken 
by  Dom.  Serres  in  1743, 
shows  that  the  second  Pen 
sacola  church  was  a  pecul 
iarly  shaped,  octagon  struc- 

ANCIENT      SILVER      CRUCIFIX     IN     THE     , 

ture. 

CHURCH  AT  PEXSACOLA. 

Some    years    later    the 

city  was  transferred  to  its  present  position,  and  Santa  Rosa 
Island  was  abandoned,  no  trace  now  remaining  of  the  town 
or  church. 

1  Barcia,  "  Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  361  ;  Morn,  "Memorias  para  la 
Historia  de  Texas,"  p.  84. 

2  Barcia,  "Ensayo  Cronologico,"  p.  361;  Roberts,  "An  Account  of 
the  first  Discovery  and  Natural  History  of  Florida,"  London,  1763,  pp. 
11,  91. 


BISHOP  TEJADA.  469 

Of  the  earlier  churches  of  Pensacola,  dedicated  it  would 
seem  to  Saint  Michael,  a  relic  was  preserved  to  our  times. 
It  was  an  elegant  silver  crucifix  of  ancient  work,  probably 
the  gift  of  some  benefactor  of  the  Church  in  the  last 
century. 

A  most  important  event  for  Florida  was  the  appointment 
as  Bishop  of  Tricali,  and  auxiliar  to  the  Bishop  of  Santiago 
de  Cuba,  of  Father  Francis  of  Saint  Bonaventure  Martinez 
de  Texada  Diez  de  Yelasco,  a  native  of  Seville,  a  member  of 
the  Recollect  reform  of  the  Franciscan  order.  He  had  been 
professor  of  philosophy  and  theology,  and  guardian  of  the 
convent  at  Seville.  After  his  consecration  he  crossed  over 
to  Florida  in  1735,  making  a  visitation  of  the  whole  prov 
ince,  as  there  are  evidences  of  his  having  done  in  1 742  and 
1745.  He  resided  for  ten  years  at  Saint  Augustine,  in  a 
house  occupying  the  site  which  the  United  States  Govern 
ment,  in  disregard  of  its  being  property  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  bestowed  on  the  Protestant  Episcopal  body. 

On  his  arrival  he  found  the  population  of  Saint  Augus 
tine  to  be  1,509  souls,  attended  by  the  parish  priest,  Peter 
Lawrence  de  Acevedo,  then  more  than  eighty  years  of  age 
— too  old  to  officiate ;  the  Sacristan  Mayor,  Francis  Gabriel 
del  Pueyo ;  John  Joseph  Solana  as  assistant,  and  a  chap 
lain  in  the  fort.  Before  the  close  of  April,  1736,  the 
Bishop  had  confirmed  630  Spaniards  and  143  slaves  and  free 
negroes. 

From  the  time  of  the  Carolinian  invasion  the  Hermitage — 
the  Shrine  of  La  Soledad,  which  had  too  been  used  as  an  hos 
pital — had  served  as  a  parish  church.  This  seemed  unbecom 
ing  to  the  good  bishop,  and  knowing  that  the  English  colonists 
mocked  at  the  Spaniards  on  account  of  the  poverty  to  which 
Governor  Moore  had  reduced  them,  he  restored  this  chapel, 
strengthening  the  walls,  and  adding  a  stone  sacristy  so  as  to 


470  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

serve  more  worthily  till  the  real  parish  church  was  erected. 
He  also  obtained  suitable  vestments.  The  classical  school 
which  he  opened  soon  gave  him  young  clerics  whom  he 
trained  to  assist  in  the  sanctuary,  and  to  whom  he  gave  the 
habit.1 

The  occupation  of  Georgia  by  Oglethorpe  completed  the 
ruin  of  the  Indian  missions,  the  natives  abandoning  their  vil 
lages  from  fear  or  interest. 

The  bishop  in  his  letters  makes  no  allusion  to  the  Indian 
missions  of  which  the  Governor,  Manuel  Joseph  de  Justiz, 
draws  a  deplorable  picture.  The  scanty  remnant  of  the  once 
flourishing  missions  was  in  the  hands  of  young,  inexperi 
enced,  and  indifferent  religious,  so  that  the  Indians  showed 
little  piety  or  knowledge  of  their  faith.  The  governor  bears 
testimony  to  the  zeal  and  exertions  of  Bishop  Tejada,  who 
had  aroused  piety  among  the  Spanish  settlers,  having  proces 
sions  of  the  Rosary  on  holidays,  reviving  the  frequentation 
of  the  sacraments,  and  omitting  no  means  to  draw  all  to  the 
fear  of  God.  His  school  was  the  only  one  in  Florida,  all  the 
rest  having  been  closed  since  the  English  invasion.2 

Although  the  king  had  appropriated  forty  thousand  dol 
lars  to  rebuild  the  parish  church,  there  was  nothing  to  show 
for  it  but  four  bare  walls,3  and  though  Bishop  Tejada  and 
others  exerted  themselves  to  have  the  church  completed,  it 
was  never  done,  and  remained  in  an  unfinished  condition  till 
Florida  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Catholic  king. 

1  Letters  of  Bishop  Tejada  to  the  king,  April  29,  Aug.  31,  1736.  The 
salary  of  the  parish  priest  was  $389  ;  the  sacristan  mayor,  $200  ;  the 
chaplain  of  the  troops,  who  was  vicar  of  the  parish  priest,  $320  ;  an  or 
ganist,  $275.  Letter  of  Gov.  Monteano.  The  little  chapel  was  about 
fifty  feet  by  thirty-six.  Most  of  the  congregation  remained  in  the  street. 

•  Letter  of  Gov.  Justiz,  Nov.  14,  1737. 

3  Letter  of  Gov.  Monteano,  Nov.  31,  1738. 


THE  RIGHT  OF  SANCTUARY.  471 

A  question  of  the  right  of  sanctuary  occurred  at  Saint 
Augustine  soon  after  the  coming  of  the  Bishop.  Francis  del 
Moral  had  been  superseded  as  governor  by  Manuel  Joseph 
de  Justiz  in  1737,  yet  he  not  only  refused  to  recognize  his 
successor,  but  even  to  allow  him  to  land.  As  not  unfrequently 
happens,  Moral  contrived  to  form  a  party  who  regarded  him 
as  an  injured  man,  the  victim  of  a  conspiracy,  and  he  gath 
ered  his  adherents  in  the  fort.  The  temperate  course  of  the 
new  governor,  however,  caused  the  band  of  malcontents  to 
decrease  rapidly,  and  Moral  finding  himself  deserted,  fled  to 
the  convent  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers,  where  he  claimed  the 
right  of  sanctuary.  Kot  to  violate  the  prerogatives  of  holy 
Mother  Church,  Governor  Justiz  appealed  to  the  Bishop  to 
suspend  the  right  of  sanctuary  so  as  to  enable  him  to  arrest 
the  offender  and  send  him  to  Spain  for  such  trial  as  the  king 
might  appoint.  Having  obtained  it  he  proceeded  to  the  con 
vent,  when  Moral  surrendered  himself  a  prisoner.1 

As  we  have  seen,  money  had  been  sent  from  Spain  to  re 
build  the  Franciscan  convent;  but  official  dishonesty  pre 
vailed,  the  money  was  misapplied.  Indeed,  up  to  this  time 
nothing  had  been  done  except  to  run  up  a  wretched  chapel 
with  four  stone  walls  and  a  palmetto  roof, -while  near  by  stood 
huts  like  those  of  the  Indians,  to  serve  for  a  convent.  The 
eight  Indian  towns  near  the  city2  .were  as  badly  off,  each  mis 
sionary  living  in  a  hut  like  his  flock,  with  a  chapel  but  little 
better. 

At  St.  Mark's  on  the  Apalache  River,  there  was  a  small 
garrison  in  charge  of  a  Franciscan  Father,  who  attended  also 

1  Letter  of  Governor  Justiz,  Mar.  22,  1737. 

2  Nombre  de  Dios  at  Macariz,  43  souls  ;  San  Antonio  de  la  Costa,  23  ; 
N".S'.  de  Guadalupe  at  Tolomato,  29  ;  N;l.Sa.  de  la  Asuncion  at  Palicia, 
48  ;  N".Sa.  de  la  Concepcion  at  Pocotalaca,  44;  Na.Sa  del  Rosario  at  la 
Punta,  51  ;  Santo  Domingo  de  Chiquito,  55  ;  San  Nicolas  de  Casapullas, 
71.     Letter  of  Gov.  Monteano,  Mar.  3,  1738. 


472  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

eight  Indian  families  at  Tamasle.  The  Fathers  here  had  a 
well-built  convent.1 

St.  Joseph's,  near  Point  Escondido,  had  also  a  handsome 
church. 

The  province  of  the  Franciscans,  known  as  "  Santa  Elena 
de  la  Florida,"  was  disturbed  from  about  this  time  by  na 
tional  rivalries,  the  religious  born  in  Spain  and  those  born  in 
America  forming  two  parties.  The  elections  held  at  the 
chapters  brought  out  these  rivalries.  That  held  in  17-15  was 
declared  by  the  higher  authorities  to  be  null,  and  a  Provincial 
was  named  by  the  Commissary  General  of  the  Indies.2 

In  1743  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  Joseph  Mary  Monaco  and 
Joseph  Xavier  de  Alana,  sailed  from  Havana  to  attempt  a 
mission  in  Southern  Florida,  and  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Kio  de  Ratones,  near  Cape  Florida,  on  the  13th  of  July. 
The  Indians  there,  at  the  Keys  and  of  Carlos,  and  Santa 
Lucia  and  Mayaca  at  the  north  were  to  be  the  field  for  their 
zeal.  "With  the  help  of  the  sailors  the  mission  priests  reared 
a  hut  for  a  dwelling  and  chapel,  and  began  their  ministry. 
A  fish  painted  on  a  board  was  worshipped  in  a  hut  by  these 
Indians,  the  chief  medicine-man  calling  himself  bishop.  Sac 
rifices  of  children  on  important  occasions  were  common,  and 
the  Indians  were  cruel,  lewd,  and  rapacious.  They  showed 
no  inclination  to  listen  to  the  missionaries,  whom  they  toler 
ated  only  from  fear  of  the  Governor  of  Havana.  His  favor 
they  wished  to  conciliate  in  order  to  be  able  to  sell  fish  at 
that  port.  Discouraging  as  the  first  attempts  were,  the  Jesuit 

1  The  statement  that  there  was  a  Jesuit  house  here,  made  by  Capt. 
Robinson  (Roberts'  "Florida,"  p.  97),  is  certainly  wrong.  But  where 
sober  historians  can  talk  of  an  adventurer  like  Priber  as  being  a  Jesuit 
(Stevens'  "Georgia"),  we  may  expect  any  absurdity.  There  may  have 
been  at  St.  Mark's,  the  house  of  a  secular  parish  priest. 

-' Fogueras,  "  Satisfaccion  que  se  da  sobre  cl  derecho  fuudado  a  la 
devolucion  que  declaro  de  las  elecciones  del  capitulo,"  etc.  Mexico,  1747. 


OGLETHORPE'S  SIEGE.  473 

missionaries  persevered,  and  a  community  of  Catholic  Indians 
was  formed  there  in  time,  and  retained  the  faith  till  the 
period  of  the  Seminole  War,  when  they  were  transported  to 
Indian  Territory,  although  these  Spanish  Indians  had  taken 
no  part  in  the  hostilities  against  the  whites.1 

Fugitive  slaves  from  Georgia  and  Carolina  reached  Florida, 
and  Bishop  Tejada  extended  his  care  to  them  at  Fort  Mose, 
where  they  were  placed,  assigning  a  young  ecclesiastic  to  in 
struct  and  prepare  them  for  baptism. 

In  1740  General  Oglethorpe  with  2,000  regulars,  provin 
cials,  and  Indians,  and  a  fleet  of  five  ships  and  two  sloops, 
laid  siege  to  Saint  Augustine,  but  the  stout  Governor  Mon- 
teano,  who  refused  to  surrender,  held  out  bravely  till  pro 
visions  came  to  save  the  garrison  and  citizens  from  starvation, 
when  the  founder  of  Georgia  raised  the  siege.2  During  these 
days  of  trial  Bishop  Tejada  roused  the  zeal  and  piety  of  the 
people,  and  offered  constant  prayers  for  the  deliverance  of 
the  city.  When  the  enemy  retired,  and  the  citizens  could 
replace  their  prayers  for  Divine  aid  by  a  joyous  "  Te  Deum," 
he  wrote  a  Relation  of  the  Siege  which  was  printed  at  Seville. 
It  opens  with  the  words,  "  Ave  Maria ! " 

After  his  visitation  in  1745,  Bishop  Tejada,  who  had  done 
so  much  for  religion  in  Florida,  was  presented  for  the  see  of 
Yucatan,  and  departed  from  the  scene  of  his  first  episcopal 
labors.4 

1  Letter  of  FF.  Joseph  Mary  Monaco,  S.J.,  etc.,  to  Governor-Gen,  of 
Cuba. 
IJ  Stevens,  "  Hfcto^y  of  Georgia,"  New  York,  1847,  i.,  pp.  170-179. 

3  "Ave  Maria  !     Relacion  que  hace  el  Ilus.  Senor  D.  Fray  Francisco  de 
San   Buenaventura,    Recollecto  de  la  orden  de   X.    P.    S.    Francisco, 
Obispo,  etc."     Seville,  1740.     M.  de  Civezza,  p.  534. 

4  He  took  possession  of  the  see  of  Yucatan,  June  15,  1746,  and  made 
two  visitations  of  the  diocese,  not  omitting  the  smallest  ranches.     He 
erected  a  diocesan  seminary,  rebuilt  several  parish  churches  from  his 


474  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Saint  Augustine  was  saved,  but  the  country  had  been  rav 
aged  on  all  sides ;  the  little  Indian  missions  had  been  again 
and  again  decimated,  till  in  1753  there  were  only  four,  Tolo- 
inato,  Pocatalapa,  Palica,  and  La  Punta,  the  whole  contain 
ing  only  136  souls.1 

The  parochial  charge  of  the  ancient  church  had  devolved 
in  February,  1743,  on  Kev.  Francis  Xavier  Arturo,  a  parish 
priest  who  administered  for  eight  years  assisted  by  the  Kev. 
John  Joseph  Solana,  and  the  Deputy  John  C.  Paredes,  after 
whose  services  in  December,  1752,  Fathers  belonging  to  the 
Franciscan  mission,  Uriza,  Ortiz,  and  the  Commissary  Visitor 
Francis  Eabelo  and  Father  John  Anthony  Hernandez,  alone 
ministered  to  the  Catholic  body  till  June,  1754,  when  Kev. 
Mr.  Solana  resumed  his  duties  and  discharged  them  with  oc 
casional  aid  for  the  next  nine  years. 

Reduced  as  Saint  Augustine  was,  and  almost  stripped  of 
the  great  circle  of  Indian  missions,  which  had  been  the  dia 
dem  of  the  Florida  church,  it  had  not  been  deprived  of  epis- 

own  income  ;  adorned  others.  His  charity  extended  to  Spain,  where  he 
erected  and  endowed  a  refuge  for  female  penitents.  In  1752  he  was 
translated  to  the  see  of  Guadalajara,  and  on  taking  possession  hung  his 
jeweled  cross  on  the  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  wearing  a  wooden  one 
instead.  There,  as  in  Florida  and  Yucatan,  he  was  diligent  in  visitations, 
zealous  for  the  worship  of  God,  building  and  adorning  churches,  and  to 
facilitate  pilgrimages  to  the  Shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Tzapopan,  erected 
three  fine  bridges  on  roads  leading  to  it.  He  also  spent  large  sums 
to  enlarge  and  beautify  the  church.  Always  deeply  pious,  mortified, 
content  with  the  poorest  food  and  raiment,  this  most  apostolic  bishop 
died  Dec.  20,  1760,  after  the  second  visitation  of  his  diocese,  from  disease 
contracted  in  riding  on  horseback  to  all  the  missions  of  Texas,  then  em 
braced  in  the  diocese  of  Guadalajara.  He  is  to  this  day  regarded  as  one  of 
the  holiest  men  who  have  adorned  the  Mexican  hierarchy.  He  began  and 
closed  his  episcopal  career  in  parts  now  in  the  United  States.  I  owe  the 
portrait  here  engraved  to  the  extreme  kindness  of  Father  Macias,  who 
had  the  photograph  taken  from  the  original  painting  still  preserved.  "  Con- 
cilios  Provinciales  de  Mexico,"  II.,  pp.  348-9,  364. 
1  From  Manuel  de  San  Antonio,  1753. 


BISHOP  MORELL  IN  FLORIDA.  475 

copal  care  and  vigilance.  As  successor  to  the  venerated  Bishop 
Tejada  of  Tricali,  came  the  Rt.  Rev.  Peter  Ponce  y  Car- 
rasco,  Bishop  of  Adramitum,  and  auxiliar  of  Cuba,  who  re 
sided  in  the  province  from  1751  to  1755,  and  with  his  Secre 
tary  Justo  Lorenzo  Lopez  Barroso  began  a  formal  visita 
tion  of  that  part  of  the  diocese,  June  8,  1754. 

But  the  grasp  of  Catholic  Spain  on  her  ancient  province 
became  daily  more  precarious,  and  seemed  paralyzed  when 
the  city  of  Havana  fell  into  the  hands  of  England  in  1762. 
That  event  led  indirectly  to  an  episcopal  visitation  of  Florida, 
the  last  it  was  to  enjoy  for  many  years.  When  Havana  was 
captured  by  the  English,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Peter  Augustine 
Morell  de  Santa  Cruz,  a  learned  and  zealous  prelate,  occupied 
the  see  of  Santiago  de  Cuba,  and  as  he  resided  at  the  time  in 
Havana,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  dignitary 
of  the  Catholic  Church  was  treated  with  the  usual  insolence 
by  the  Earl  of  Albemarle,  the  British  commander.  When 
he  declined  to  aid  that  nobleman  in  extorting  forced  levies 
from  the  clergy  of  his  diocese.  Bishop  Morell  was  accused  of 
conspiracy,  and  summoned  to  appear  before  the  representa 
tive  of  the  British  crown.  Declining  to  acknowledge  such 
arbitrary  measures,  he  was  seized  by  a  file  of  soldiers,  Nov. 
4,  1762,  and  carried  in  his  chair  amid  the  tears  of  his  flock 
to  a  man-of-war  which  sailed  off  with  him  as  a  prisoner  to 
Charleston,  South  Carolina.  He  was  thus  the  first  Catholic 
bishop  to  enter  the  limits  of  the  British  colonies.1 

After  being  kept  on  the  vessel  in  that  port  for  two  weeks, 
Bishop  Morell  was  sent  to  Saint  Augustine,  which  was 


1  The  arrest  of  Bishop  Morell  was  the  subject  of  an  oil  painting  in  the 
Cathedral  at  Havana:  he  was  represented  as  seated  in  his  chair  in  his  epis 
copal  robes  and  carried  by  four  British  soldiers.  This  painting  with  the 
portraits  of  the  previous  bishops  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  was  destroyed  by 
order  of  Bishop  Espada.  The  arrest  is  the  subject  of  a  very  curious 


476  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

still  under  the  flag  of  Spain.1  Feeling  that  this  stay  might 
be  but  a  brief  one,  the  zealous  prelate  made  the  term 
of  his  unexpected  residence  in  Florida  a  season  of  revived 
devotion  and  discipline  in  that  part  of  his  diocese.  He  be 
gan  a  formal  visitation  at  Saint  Augustine,  January  30, 1763, 
recording  his  approval  of  the  regularity  of  the  parochial 
service  and  records.  Between  the  29th  of  December,  1762, 
and  the  llth  of  April,  of  the  following  year,  he  conferred 
the  sacrament  of  confirmation  on  639  persons.2  In  fact,  his 
zeal  and  eloquence  rendered  his  sojourn  a  mission  for  the 
faithful. 

In  order  to  recover  the  city  of  Havana,  Spain  ceded  Flor 
ida  to  England,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1763.  After  a 
time  the  clergy  in  Cuba  obtained  a  vessel  which  was  sent  to 
convey  the  Bishop  back  to  his  see.3 

poem  by  Don  Diego  de  Campos,  printed  at  the  press  of  the  Compute 
Eclesiastico,  Havana,  8vo,  23  pp.,  with  an  illustration  by  Baez.  This 
poem  in  the  dialect  of  the  Cuban  peasantry  has  been  reprinted  in  the 
"  Parnaso  Cubano,"  by  the  elegant  scholar  Don  Antonio  Lopez  Prieto. 
I  am  indebted  for  a  copy  and  information  to  Senor  Bachiller  y  Morales, 
and  Senor  Guiteras  of  Philadelphia.  As  an  illustration  of  an  event  con 
nected  with  the  church  in  this  country  the  poem  is  extremely  curious. 
1  He  arrived  in  Florida  the  7th  or  8th  of  December. 

"Noticias  relativas  a  la  Iglesia  Parroquial  de  San  Agustin  de  la 
Florida." 

3  Rt.  Rev.  Peter  Morell  de  Santa  Cruz  was  born  in  1694  in  Santiago  de 
los  Caballeros,  in  the  island  of  Santo  Domingo,  of  which  his  ancestors 
were  early  colonists.  He  was  ordained  April  24,  1718,  was  Canon  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Santo  Domingo,  Dean  of  the  Chapter  of  Santiago  de  Cuba, 
was  nominated  in  1745  to  the  See  of  Nicaragua,  and  became  Bishop  of 
Santiago  de  Cuba  in  1753,  receiving  episcopal  consecration,  Sept.  8,  1755. 
He  founded  an  hospital  at  Guanabacoa,  and  began  a  similar  institution 
at  Guines.  He  distributed  $800  a  month  to  the  poor,  and  $60  every 
Saturday.  For  the  negroes  he  showed  great  charity,  taking  measures  to 
secure  their  religious  instruction.  He  died  at  Havana,  Dec.  30.  1768, 
his  last  hours  being  disturbed  by  a  fearful  hurricane  in  which  he  thought 
only  of  his  poor.  Rosain,  "  Necropolis  de  la  Habana,"  Habana,  1875,  pp. 
153-7. 


ENGLISH  IN  FLORIDA.  477 

At  the  time  of  the  cession  most  of  the  Spanish  inhabitants 
remained,  but  the  arbitrary  and  rapacious  conduct  of  the  first 
English  commander  led  to  a  general  emigration.  The  un 
finished  walls  of  the  parish  church,  the  church  at  Tolemato, 
sole  remnant  of  the  Indian  towns  near  the  city,  the  Francis 
can  convent  and  the  temporary  parish  church,  both  in  a 
ruinous  state,  and  a  steeple  of  a  church  west  of  the  town 
alone  remained  to  betoken  the  long  Catholic  occupation.  It 
was  at  this  time  probably  that  the  ornamentation  around  the 
entrance  to  the  chapel  in  the  fort,  as  too  Catholic  to  suit  the 
temper  of  the  new  occupants,  was  defaced  and  mutilated ; 
reduced  to  the  condition  in  which  it  has  long  been.1 

The  accompanying  plan  of  the  city  of  St.  Augustine  in 
1763,  will  enable  the  reader  to  see  the  position  of  the  spots 
connected  with  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  that  ancient  place.2 

1  Romans,  "Florida,"  p.  268. 

2  (M.)  The  unfinished  Parish  Church,  6  varas  high,  35x40,  to  replace 
that  destroyed  by  Gov.  Moore.     (G.)  Temporary  stone  Parish  Church 
fitted  up  and  enlarged  by  Bishop  Tejada  ;  47  x  66  varas.    (2.)  Church  of 
Tolemato,  Indian  town.     (C.)  Franciscan  Convent  and  Chapel,  wrested 
from  the  Catholic  Church  by  the  United  States  Government,  and  still  re 
tained.     (H.)  Hospital,  44x51  varas.     (Q.)   Gate  leading  to  chapel  of 
Nuestra  Senora  de  la  Leche.    (I.)  House  of  the  Auxiliary  Bishop,  35  x  51 
varas,  wrested  from  the  Catholic  Church  by  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  and  given  to  the  Episcopalians.  House  of  the  Confraternity 
of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  37  x  31  varas,  third  block  from  hospital  on  op 
posite  side  of  street. 


— — — X^=£b==  AS  Fn  r 
_?•- K*i/  a-fHRfc^l*^VAT 


CHAPTEE  II. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  TEXAS,  1690-1763. 

THOUGH  the  first  religious  ministrations  in  Texas,  of  which 
we  have  any  definite  historical  information,  were  those  of 
the  French  secular  and  regular  priests,  who  accompanied  the 
wild  and  unfortunate  expedition  of  La  Salle  to  conquer  the 
Spanish  mining  country,  the  church  which  grew  up  in  that 
province,  and  has  left  the  names  drawn  from  the  calendar 
to  town,  and  headland,  and  river,  was  connected  with  that  of 
Mexico. 

The  pioneer  Spanish  priest  was  the  Franciscan  Father 
Damian  Mazanet,  who  accompanied  the  expedition  of  Alonso 
de  Leon  in  1689.  So  promising  a  field  for  the  Gospel  labor 
ers  opened  there  before  this  son  of  Saint  Francis,  that  he 
bent  all  his  energies  to  effect  the  establishment  of  permanent 
missions  beyond  the  Rio  Grande.1 

He  depicted  the  success  of  missions  among  the  Asinais  in 
such  sanguine  colors,  that  he  obtained  the  needed  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  authority  for  his  undertaking.  The  Apostolic 
College  of  Queretaro,  founded  by  Father  Anthony  Linaz, 
had  at  this  time  formed  a  new  corps  of  missionaries  replete 
with  energy,  and  inspired  by  all  the  fervor  of  the  earliest 
period  of  the  Franciscan  order.  It  was  from  these  exem 
plary  religious  that  the  little  body  was  selected  to  evangelize 

1  Arricivita,  "  Cronica  Seraficay  Apostolica  del  Colegio  de  Santa  Cruz 

de  Queretaro,"  p.  213. 

(479) 


480  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

the  province  of  Texas.  Father  Damian  Mazanet's  auxilia 
ries  were  Fathers  Michael  Fontcubierta,  Francis  Casanas  of 
Jesus  Mary,  regarded  in  life  and  death  as  eminent  in  sanc 
tity,  Anthony  Bordoy  and  Anthony  Perera.  The  mission 
aries  left  Monclova  on  the  27th  of  March,  1690,  and  crossing 

'  o 

the  Rio  Grande,  proceeded  to  the  country  of  the  Asinais, 
which  they  reached  about  the  middle  of  May.  The  friendly 
Indians  received  them  with  joy,  and  the  mission  of  San 
Francisco  de  los  Texas  was  established.  A  temporary  chapel 
was  reared  on  the  24th,  and  the  next  day,  the  feast  of  Cor 
pus  Christi  was  celebrated  with  great  solemnity.  A  site  was 
selected  for  a  church  and  convent,  which  were  erected  within 
a  month.  Father  Damian  then  returned  to  Mexico,  leaving 
Father  Fontcubierta  as  Superior  of  the  Texas  mission.  The 
docility  of  the  Indians  in  receiving  instruction  in  the  truths 
of  Christianity  encouraged  the  missionaries  so  much,  that 
Father  Casafias  founded  a  second  station  under  the  invoca 
tion  of  Jesus,  Mary,  and  Joseph,  building  his  house  and 
chapel  with  his  own  hands,  and  studying  the  language  with 
such  zeal  that  he  was  soon  able  to  preach  to  his  flock  in  their 
native  tongue.  Affliction  soon  came.  Small-pox  broke  out 
and  ravaged  the  villages.  The  sick  became  the  especial  care 
of  the  Franciscans,  who  were  unremitting  in  their  devotion 
to  the  afflicted,  most  of  whom  received  baptism  before  death. 
Father  Fontcubierta,  the  Superior,  sparing  himself  in  noth 
ing,  was  stricken  down  by  the  disease,  and  expired  in  the 
arms  of  his  weeping  companions,  February  5,  1691.' 

Meanwhile  Domingo  Teran  de  los  Rios  was  appointed 
Governor  of  Coahuila  and  Texas,  and  as  preparations  were 

1  Life  of  Father  Fontcubierta  in  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica  y 
Seraphica,"  p.  258  ;  Life  of  Father  Casanas,  p.  278  ;  Life  of  Father 
Perera,  p.  309;  Morfl,  "Memorias  para  la  Historia  de  la  provincia  de 
Texas,"  pp.  54-83. 


THE  TEXAN  MISSIONS.  481 

made  to  found  eight  new  missions,  Father  Mazanet  set  out 
with  Father  Hidalgo,  two  other  Fathers  from  the  college  at 
Queretaro,  two  Observantine,  and  two  Discalced  Franciscans. 
These  Fathers  reached  the  mission  of  San  Francisco  on  the 
2d  of  August,  and  chanted  a  Te  Deum  in  thanksgiving.1 
The  next  Superior,  Father  Francis  Hidalgo,  set  to  work  to 
establish  new  missions,  but  Teran  acted  with  little  judgment. 
He  took  no  proper  steps 
to  maintain  communication 
with  Spanish  posts,  so  as 
to  secure  supplies  for  the 
missionaries.  Worse  still 

he  left  a  party  of  dissolute  FAC.SIMILE    op   THE    SIGXATURE    op 
soldiers,  who,  instead  of  be-  FATHER  FRANCIS  HIDALGO. 

ing  a  protection  to  the  mis 
sionaries,  excited  the  Indians  against  them.  Several  of  the 
Fathers  retired,  but  the  more  zealous  remained,  and  encour 
aged  by  their  success,  deputed  Father  Casaiias  to  proceed 
to  Mexico,  in  order  to  obtain  a  regular  establishment  of  the 
mission  "by  royal  order,  which  was  in  fact  done,  though  too 
late,  Dec.  30,  1692.' 

The  second  winter  proved  especially  severe,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1693  the  soldiers  abandoned  their  posts.  Father 
Francis  Hidalgo  and  his  associates  had  visited  the  Caddoda- 
chos  and  the  Chomas,  the  tribe  called  Jumanas  in  New  Mex 
ico.  But  as  winter  approached,  the  Franciscans  finding 
themselves  isolated,  exposed  to  attack  from  the  French  and 
their  allies,  and  hearing  no  tidings  of  Father  Casaiias,  re- 

1  Letter  of  Father  Damian  Mazanet,  Mision  de  8.  Fco.  de  los  Tejas, 
Aug.  20,  1691  in  "  Documentos  para  la  Historia  Eclesiastica  y  Civil  de  la 
Provincia  de  Tejas,"  vol.  I.  "  Parecer  del  P''Comisario,  F.  Damian  Mag 
net,"  ibid.,  p.  173  ;  "  Diario  del  Viaje,"  p.  177. 

*  Altamiro,  "  Testimonio  "  in  Yoakum,  "  History  of  Texas,"  i.,  p.  390. 
31 


482  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

solved  to  retire  to  the  missions  south  of  the  Rio  Grande  till 
the  authorities  in  church  and  state  placed  the  Texas  mission 
on  a  solid  basis.  To  this  the  Indians  made  every  opposition, 
asking  whether  they  had  not  done  all  that  the  Fathers  re 
quired,  and  shown  docility  to  their  instructions.  The  Fran 
ciscans  consoled  them  by  promises  that  they  should  not  be 
forsaken,  and  burying  the  bells  and  heavier  objects  of  their 
chapels  and  houses,  the  Fathers  set  out  in  October,  1693,  for 
the  nearest  post  or  mission  amid  their  own  tears  and  those  of 
their  neophytes.1 

Father  Hidalgo  did  not  abandon  the  project  of  converting 
the  Texas  Indians.  He  drew  up  a  statement  of  the  import 
ance  of  the  work,  and  forwarded  it  to  the  King  of  Spain. 
War  delayed  a  reply,  but  a  royal  decree,  August  18,  1708, 
authorized  him  to  proceed  in  its  establishment.5 

Meanwhile  the  Franciscans  of  the  Apostolic  College  of 
Zacatecas  were  at  work.  They  founded  a  mission  of  San 

Juan  Bautista  on 
^ie  Sabinas,  and 
pushing  on  open- 
a  new  mission 
on  the  first  day  of 
January,  1700,  on 
the  banks  of  the 

F  AC-SMILE     OF     THE     SIGNATURE     OF     FATHER       -,-,. 

OLIVARES.  Rl°    Grande,    to 

which  that  on  the 

Sabinas  was  transferred,  retaining  its  name.  The  Franciscan 
Father  who  effected  this  was  anxious  to  carry  the  mission 

1  Espinosa,    "  Chronica  Apostolica  y   Seraphica,"    pp.    255-59,    279, 
309,  407;   Arricivita,    "  Cronica  Serafica  y  Apostolica,"  pp.   214,  219. 
The  Fathers  who  went  to  Texas  in  1691  with  Father  Hidalgo  were  Nico 
las  Revo,  Michael  Estrelles,  Peter  Fortuni,  Peter  Garcia,  Ildephonsua 
Monge,  Joseph  Saldana,  Anthony  Miranda,  and  John  de  Garayooechea. 

2  Arricivita,    p.  221. 


THE  EIO  GRANDE  MISSIONS.  483 

work  still  further,  and  leaving  bis  two  companions  at  San 
Juan  Bautista,  Father  Anthony  de  San  Buenaventura  y 
Olivares,  with  Father  Isidro  Felis  de  Espinosa,  crossed  the 
Rio  Grande,  and  with  a  small  escort,  advanced  to  the  Rio 
Frio,  where  he  found  the  Indians  docile  and  ready  to  listen 
to  instructions.  He  remained  some  time  among  them,  teach 
ing  them  the  prayers  which  they  recited  with  him.  Re 
turning  to  the  Rio  Grande  he  informed  his  associates  of  the 
favorable  aspect  of  the  country,  and  proceeded  to  Coahuila, 
where  Philip  Charles  Galindo,  Bishop  of  Guadalajara,  was  then 
on  a  visitation,  to  propose  a  mission  beyond  the  Rio  Grande. 

The  Bishop  extended  the  visitation  of  his  diocese  at  this 
time  to  the  mission  of  Dolores,  where  he  held  a  meeting  of 
the  missionaries  and  civil  officers.  By  general  consent  steps 
were  taken  to  establish  four  missions  on  the  Rio  Grande. 
These  were  maintained  till  1718,  when  the  chief  mission  was 
transferred  to  the  San  Antonio.1 

The  royal  officers  and  soldiers,  however,  in  the  time  of  the 
former  mission  had  not  only  under  one  pretext  and  another 
misappropriated  the  funds  and  stores  intended  for  the  work 
of  Christianizing  the  Indians,  but  had  continued  to  make  so 
many  claims  against  the  Fathers,  that  the  missionaries,  who 
had  suffered  every  privation,  were  reluctant  to  expose  them 
selves  to  a  similar  experience.  For  some  years  Father  Hi 
dalgo  found  his  efforts  to  re-establish  the  mission  fruitless. 
Still  with  Father  Salazar  in  1698  he  was  instrumental  in 
establishing  churches  for  converting  the  Indians  at  La  Punta 
and  on  the  Sabinas,  which  bore  the  names  of  Dolores  and 
San  Juan  Bautista.  These  missions,  though  south  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  were  finally  transferred  to  San  Antonio,  in  Texas.2 

!  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica  y  Seraphica,"  i.,  pp.  416,  461-6. 
2  Arricivita,  pp.  215,  216. 


484  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

In  1715  it  was  at  last  determined  to  revive  the  mission 
among  the  Texas  or  Asinais  Indians.  The  Venerable  An 
thony  Margil  had  founded  the  Apostolic  College  of  Our 
Lady  of  Guadalupe  at  Zacatecas,  and  that  institution  with  the 
college  at  Queretaro  undertook  the  spiritual  conquest.1 

The  missionaries  from  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe  had  as 
Superior  the  Venerable  and  holy  Father  Anthony  Margil, 
"  President  of  the  Conversions  of  Zacatecas,"  while  those 


FAC-8IMTLE  OF  THE   SIGNATURE  OF  THE  V.   FATHER  ANTHOXY  MARGIL. 

from  the  College  of  the  Holy  Cross  were  directed  by  Father 
Isidro  Felis  de  Espinosa,  his  future  biographer. 

The  two  bodies  met  at  the  Mission  of  San  Juan  Bautista 
which  had  been  already  transferred  to  the  banks  of  the  Rio 
Grande,2  and  after  mass  on  the  25th  of  April  all  assembled 
to  give  the  viaticum  to  the  Venerable  Anthony  Margil,  who 
lay  at  the  point  of  death  with  fever.  His  fellow  missiona 
ries  deeming  it  impossible  for  him  to  recover  or  take  part  in 
the  new  effort  to  win  the  Texas  Indians  to  the  faith,  sorrow 
fully  bade  him  farewell  and  proceeded  on  their  way.  It  was 
not  till  the  28th  of  June  that  they  reached  the  Texas  Indians, 
who  chanted  the  calumet  of  welcome  to  them.  The  mission 
of  San  Francisco  was  restored,  and  a  wooden  church  erected 


1  The  latter  institution  sent  five  religious,  Fathers  Francis  Hidalgo,  Ga 
briel  de  Vergara,  Benedict  Sanchez,  Manuel  Castellafios,  Peter  Perez  de 
Mesquia  ;  the  new  college  at  Zacatecas,  Fathers  Mathias  Sanz  de  San 
Antonio,  Peter  de  Mendoza,  and  Augustine  Patron.     Morfi,  "Memorias 
para  la  Ilistoria  de  Texas,"  p.  101. 

2  Margil,    "Informe,"    Presidio  Real,  Feb.  26,  1716.     "  Documentor 
para  la  Ilistoria  Eclesiastica  y  Civil,"  i.,  pp.  278,  333. 


THE  ASINAIS.  485 

with  a  thatched  roof.  Then  Father  Espinosa  selected  a  site 
some  twenty  miles  distant  among  the  friendly  Ainai,  where 
he  planted  the  ..mission  cross  of  "  La  Purisima  Concepcion." 
Each  mission  had  its  banner  with  its  name  emblazoned  on  it, 
and  each  had  all  requisites  for  divine  service  in  the  chapel. 

The  next  step  was  to  erect  a  temporary  structure  for  that 
purpose.  The  missionary  and  a  single  companion  at  once 
set  to  work  to  erect  a  temporary  structure  of  puncheons,  with 
a  thatched  roof  for  church  and  house.  The  rainy  season 
compelled  the  Fathers  ere  long  to  select  more  suitable  sites 
and  put  up  more  solid  structures. 

The  Asinais  worshipped  Caddi  or  Ayi,  the  great  Captain, 
and  had  a  kind  of  temple  in  which  a  sacred  fire  was  kept. 
The  medicine-men  exercised  great  influence,  and  were  soon 
arrayed  against  the  missionaries,  accusing  them  of  killing 
children  by  baptism.  The  Franciscan  Fathers,  though  aban 
doned  by  most  of  the  soldiers,  sent  especially  to  succor  them 
in  danger,  and  deprived  of  most  of  the  provisions  intended 
for  their  maintenance,  began  their  labors  zealously.  They 
made  lists  of  the  inmates  of  every  ranch  and  house,  and  gave 
instructions  not  only  in  the  chapel,  but  at  each  dwelling. 
The  women  showed  more  docility  than  the  men,  who  were 
more  influenced  by  the  chenesi  or  medicine-men.  Disease 
was  frequent,  and  after  mass  the  missionary  would  ascertain 
the  name  of  the  sick  in  order  to  visit  them.  The  first  year 
the  great  chief  of  the  Texas  Indians  fell  sick,  and  listened  to 
the  instructions  of  Father  Espinosa,  from  whom  he  finally 
solicited  baptism.  "I  gave  it,"  says  the  missionary,  "  in 
creasing  with  my  tears,  the  water  in  the  vessel  I  used." 
The  converted  chief  Francis  survived  several  days,  exhort 
ing  his  kindred  and  tribe  to  listen  to  the  missionaries.  Fa 
ther  Vergara  converted  Sata  Yaexa,  a  great  medicine-man, 
the  keeper  of  the  sacred  fire,  who  becoming  a  Christian 


486  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

made  open  acknowledgment  of  the  impostures  he  had  prac 
tised.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  dying  infants  constituted  the 
greater  part  of  those  baptized,  and  then  the  mothers,  won  by 
the  interest  the  missionaries  showed  in  their  little  ones,  lis 
tened  to  the  words  of  the  Gospel.1 

Father  Margil  had  been  left  by  his  dejected  companions 
apparently  in  his  agony  on  the  banks  of  the  Eio  Grande, 
but  it  was  not  in  the  designs  of  God  that  Texas  was  to  be 
deprived  of  the  labors,  the  example,  and  the  merits  of  that 
illustrious  and  holy  disciple  of  the  seraphic  Saint  Francis  of 
Assisium. 

The  illustrious  servant  of  God,  the  Venerable  Father 
Anthony  Margil  of  Jesus,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  in  America,  whether  we  regard 
his  personal  sanctity,  the  gifts  with  which  he  was  endowed, 
or  the  extent  and  importance  of  his  labors  for  the  salvation 
of  souls.  His  life  in  all  its  details  has  been  subjected  to  the 
rigid  scrutiny  and  discussion  of  a  process  of  canonization  at 
Koine,  so  that  no  national  or  local  exaggeration  can  be  sus 
pected. 

He  was  born  at  Valencia,  August  18,  1655,  of  pious  pa 
rents,  John  Margil  and  Esperanza  Eos,  receiving  in  baptism 
the  name  Agapitus  Louis  Paulinus  Anthony.  His  home 
was  a  school  of  virtue,  where  he  learned  piety,  devotion, 
mortification,  and  a  love  for  the  poor.  As  a  child  he  de 
prived  himself  of  food  to  give  to  the  needy  :  his  recreations 
evinced  his  piety.  From  the  age  of  reason  he  placed  him 
self  in  the  arms  of  his  Crucified  Lord,  and  showed  such  a 
comprehension  of  religious  truths,  that  at  the  age  of  nine  he 
was  allowed  to  make  his  first  communion:  From  that  mo- 


1  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica  y  Seraphica,"  Mexico,  1746,  pp.  410- 
413,  440-2. 


YEN.  ANTHONY  MARGIL.  487 

ment  the  Church  became  a  home.  He  served  all  the  masses 
he  could,  and  the  hours  not  spent  in  school  or  study,  or  in 
services  required  by  his  parents  were  passed  before  the  altar. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen,  with  the  approval  of  his  parents,  he 
sought  admission  into  the  strict  Franciscan  convent,  known 

O 

as  the  "  Crown  of  Christ."  As  a  novice  he  wished  to  do  the 
humblest  and  most  laborious  duties  in  the  house,  was  obe 
dient,  mortified,  full  of  prayer,  strict  in  fulfilling  all  points 
of  the  rule,  but  always  cheerful  and  affable.  When  sent  to 
Denia  to  study,  he  pursued  the  same  course,  giving  his  lei 
sure  to  the  service  of  others,  his  nights  ,to  prayer.  Though 
he  appeared  to  give  to  study  only  occasional  moments,  when 
he  might  be  seen  reading  by  the  sanctuary  lamp,  he  never 
showed  any  want  of  knowledge  of  the  studies  pursued  in  his 
class.  While  pursuing  his  theological  course  his  life  was  the 
same,  his  gentle  piety  winning  him  the  nickname  of  the 
"  Nun  "  among  his  fellow-students.  When  the  time  for  his 
ordination  approached,  he  prepared  for  it  with  extreme  rec 
ollection  and  the  deepest  reverence.  So  high  was  the  esti 
mate  of  his  learning,  piety,  and  prudence,  that  at  the  next 
provincial  chapter,  the  young  priest  was  empowered  to 
preach  and  hear  confessions.  On  receiving  his  faculties  he 
began  his  missionary  career  at  Onda  and  Denia,  where  his 
eloquence  in  the  pulpit,  and  his  wisdom  in  the  confessional 
produced  great  fruit. 

When  Father  Anthony  Linaz  appealed  for  twenty-four 
Fathers  for  the  American  mission,  Father  Anthony  Margil 
offered  Ids  services,  and  with  the  consent  of  his  superiors, 
prepared  to  embark.  His  mother  felt  his  going  deeply,  but 
he  comforted  her,  promising  to  assist  her  at  death.  He 
joined  Father  Linaz  in  Cadiz,  and  after  a  long  voyage,  which 
he  made  a  constant  mission,  he  reached  Yera  Cruz,  to  find  it 
a  mass  of  smoking  ruins,  the  city  having  been  fired  by 


488  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

French  pirates.  He  proceeded  on  foot,  trusting  to  charity, 
and  reached  the  Convent  of  the  Holy  Cross  in  Queretaro,  in 
August,  1G83.  Though  young  he  was  at  once  associated 
with  older  and  experienced  Fathers  in  giving  missions  at 
Queretaro  and  Mexico,  edifying  all  by  his  zeal  and  mortifi 
cation.  Having  been  selected  to  labor  in  Yucatan,  he  jour 
neyed  on  foot  to  Yera  Cruz,  where  he  embarked,  and  reach 
ing  his  destination,  began  with  Father  Melchior  of  Jesus,  his 
mission  life  among  the  Indians,  till  the  two  apostles  sank  un 
der  their  labors  and  mortifications  near  Chiapa,  and  received 
extreme  unction.  Kecovering  by  what  seemed  a  miracle, 
they  traversed  Central  America,  giving  constant  missions  in 
what  are  now  the  Kepublics  of  that  part  of  the  Continent, 

He  converted  the  Talamancas,  Terrabas,  and  other  tribes, 
and  was  preparing  to  confirm  his  labors  by  establishing  solid 
missions,  when  he  and  his  associate  were  summoned  back  to 
the  college.  The  two  Franciscans,  full  of  obedience  at  once 
set  out,  resigning  the  Indian  missions  into  the  hands  of  the 
Bishop  of  Nicaragua.  Their  superior,  learning  the  import 
ant  work  on  which  they  were  engaged,  revoked  his  order, 
and  the  Bishop  of  Nicaragua  assigned  to  them  the  district  of 
Yera  Paz,  where  they  labored  among  the  Choles  and  Lacan- 
dones,  though  their  lives  were  in  constant  danger.  Such 
was  the  ability  of  Father  Margil  in  acquiring  languages, 
in  comprehending  the  pagan  ideas  and  refuting  them,  in 
giving  solid  instruction,  and  in  guiding  neophytes  in  the 
path  of  Christian  life,  that  bishops  placed  bodies  of  mission 
aries  even  of  other  orders  under  his  direction,  though  the 
humble  religious  in  vain  endeavored  to  avoid  such  a  position. 
He  crowned  his  labors  by  establishing  a  Missionary  College 
de  Propaganda  Fide  in  the  city  of  Guatemala,  of  which  he 
was  elected  Guardian.  His  labors  and  his  knowledge  seemed 
supernatural :  in  many  cases  he  appeared  to  be  laboring  in 


YEN. ANTHONY   MARGI  L  OF  J  ESUS,  0.  S.F 

FOUNDER    OF    THE    TEXAS     MISSIONS. 


YEN.  ANTHONY  M  ARGIL. 

two  places  at  once,  and  the  secret  idoiatrir-' 
escaped  the  knowledge  of  others  he  exp— 

From  Guatemala  he  was  summoned  to  /Cat  H 
ize  an  Apostolic  College  in  that  city,  and  in  n  ol» 

labor  lie  seemed  again  to  multiply  himself*  din-'-; 
Btitution  under  his  care,  preaching,  giving  missi 
and  reclaiming  neglected   hamlets,  as   well   as   dir* 
many  special  duties  assigned  to  him  by  the  Cominisjwrj 
eral  of  the  Indies,  for  with  all  his  prodigious  activin 
minis-try,  Father  Margil's  accuracy  in  all  theological  p-   i 
was  as  great  as  though  his  days  were  spent  in  constant  sth.j 

He  next  by  order  of  the  king  established  missions  in  !Nrt\;> 
rit,  which  had  long  defied  all  efforts  to  convert  thr  tribe.    ! 
had  been  the  labors  of  this  great  man  who?)  lit-  went  w:t 
his   little   band   of    Fathers   to   found    n;K-:<  u-    in   Tex, 
Though  left  in  a  dying  state  he  recover 
other   missionaries,   founded   the   m ••*•*»» 
Guadalupe  arn«tn^  th»;  N«oilg|MlH|||  N|IP  •''-VUt>v 
cepcion,   from   which 

wretched  hut  was  the  convent  of  the  four  Za^atecas 
but  as  happy  as  in   a  palace,  they  recited  tire  onic-e  in  com 
mon,  had  their  hours  of  meditation,  hours  for  the  study  < 
the  Indian  language,  and  time  for  cultivating  the  ground  for 
their  own  support,  and  time  for  working  on  their  church 
and  convent.2 

1  Espinosa,  "  El  Pf-re^rmo  Septentrional  Atlante,"  Mexieo,  1737  ;  \» 
lencia,  1742;  "  Xuev  H  ."  Mexico,  1747;  Viilaplana, 

Portentosa  del  American"  Septentrional  ApostoL  El.  V.  P.  F.  Ant.  • 
gil,"  Madrid,  1775  ;  Velasco,  "  Tiernn  Reeuerdo."  Mexico,  172fi  ; 
"Segunda  Nube,"  Mexico,  1?2«;  A s^uado,  "Voc-.es  que  hki- -r..  • 
Mexico,    1726  ;    Guzman.   "  Notizie  della  Vita  del  Ven.    $*t'< 
Fr.  Antonio  Margil  de  Jesus."  Rome,  1836  ;  Arricivita,  ' 
tica  y  Apostolica,"  Mexico,  1792,  ii  ,  ppvl-98. 

-  Carta  del  Mui  Rev.  y  Ven.  Padre  Antonio  Mar#ii 
de  Guadalupe  de  los  Texas.  "  Documentos,"  i.,  p.  337 


490  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Soon  after  the  mission  of  San  Jose,  seven  leagues  northeast 
of  Concepcion,  was  founded  among  the  JS^assonis.1 

In  January,  1717,  the  Venerable  Father  Anthony  Margii ; 
suffering  from  cold  and  hardship,  founded  the  Mission  of 
Nuestra  Seiiora  de  los  Dolores — Our  Lady  of  Dolors — among 
the  Ays  Indians  west  of  the  Sabine ;  but  the  floods  of  spring 
prevented  his  reaching  the  Yatasees,  where  he  had  projected 
another  mission.  In  March,  however,  he  reached  the  Adayes 
Indians  on  the  Arroyo  Honda,  fifty  leagues  from  Dolores. 
Here  within  the  limits  of  the  present  State  of  Louisiana,'  and 
near  the  sheet  of  water  still  called  Spanish  Lake,  this  vener 
able  servant  of  God  founded  the  mission  of  San  Miguel  de 
Linares,  stationing  as  missionary  at  that  most  advanced  post 
of  his  Christian  conquest  Father  Augustine  Patron  de  Guz 
man  with  a  lay  brother.  Returning  to  Dolores  he  was 
deprived  by  death  of  the  services  of  his  humble  com 
panion,  Brother  Francis  of  San  Diego.  A  mission  among 
the  Caddodachos  was  concerted  by  him  and  Father  Fran 
cis  Hidalgo,  but  the  guides  on  whom  they  depended  failed 
them.2 

Laboring  among  his  Indians  at  Adayes,  good  Father 
Margii  heard  that  the  French  at  Natchitoches  had  never 
had  a  priest  there.  His  charitable  zeal  impelled  him  to 
journey  fifty  miles  on  foot  in  order  to  say  mass  for  the 
French,  preach  to  them,  and  hear  their  confessions  so  as 
to  enable  them  to  receive  holy  communion.  So  fruitful 
were  the  labors  of  the  Spanish  priest  at  the  neglected 
post,  that  the  Vicar-General  at  Mobile  wrote  to  thank  him 


1  "Representacion,"  July  22,  1716,  in  Documentos,  i.,  p.  278. 

2  Representacion    hecha  por  el    muy   Rev.    Padre    Antonio  Margii, 
Dolores,  Feb.  13,  1718.     "  Documentos,"  p.  360.     Carta  del  Padre  Hi 
dalgo.     Ib.,  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica  y  Serapkica,"  p.  413. 


MISSIONS  ON  THE  SAN  ANTONIO.  491 

warmly  for  his  Christian  charity  to  the  French  at  Xatchi- 
toches.1 

The  missionaries  endured  great  privations.  As  the  corn 
crop  in  Texas  had  failed,  they  lived  on  herbs  and  nuts  which 
they  gathered,  eked  out  by  an  occasional  largess  of  a  bit  of 
meat  from  their  Indians.  Supplies  had  indeed  been  sent  by 
the  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  and  the  caravan  set  out  accompanied 
by  a  new  band  of  missionaries ;  but  when  the  slow  moving 
expedition  reached  Trinity  River  in  December,  1717,  they 
found  it  so  swollen  that  they  were  unable  to  cross  it.  TLe 
carriers  of  the  supplies  made  a  cache  at  Rio  de  las  Cargas, 
and  the  missionaries  before  returning  dispatched  letters  by 
Indian  hunters  to  inform  the  Fathers  among  the  Asinais  of 
what  had  befallen  them,  with  information  as  to  the  place  of 
the  cache.  It  was  not,  however,  till  the  following  July  that 
tidings  of  the  proximity  of  the  needed  provisions  reached  the 
famishing  missionaries.8 

Soon  after  the  Viceroy  of  New  Spain  ordered  the  forma 
tion  of  two  Spanish  settlements  in  Texas.  One  of  these  was 
to  be  on  the  Rio  San  Antonio :  but  as  usually  happened, 
there  were  interminable  delays.  The  missionaries  at  last 
took  the  initiative.  Father  Anthony  de  San  Buenaventura 
y  Olivares  transferred  his  Xarame  Indian  Mission  of  San 
Francisco  Solano  from  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande  to  the 
San  Antonio  on  the  1st  of  May,  1718,  by  order  of  the  Marquis 
of  Yalero,  then  Viceroy.  He  at  once  attracted  the  Payayas, 
who  spoke  the  same  language  as  the  Xarames.  Here  this  mis 
sionary  remained  for  a  year  laboring  to  gain  the  neighboring 
Indians,  and  preparing  the  foundation  of  the  future  town. 
Unfortunately,  while  one  day  crossing  a  rude  bridge,  his  horse 

1  Arricivita,  "  Cronica  Serafica  y  Apostolica,"  p.  98;  La  Harpe,  p. 
139.     The  Vicar-General  must  have  been  the  Abbe  de  la  Vente. 
2Morfi,  "Memorias,"  p.  108. 


492  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

broke  through  and  threw  the  missionary,  causing  a  fracture 
of  his  leg.  Father  Peter  Murioz  hearing  of  his  mishap,  has 
tened  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  support  his  place  and  give  him 
the  necessary  attention.  When  Father  Olivares  recovered  he 
transferred  his  mission  from  its  original  site  to  one  on  the  op 
posite  side  of  the  river  which  it  maintained  for  years.1 

The  multiplicity  of  small  tribes  in  Texas  almost  surpasses 
belief,  and  to  this  day  ethnologists  have  made  no  attempt  to 
classify  them.  At  the  San  Antonio  mission  alone  there  were 
Indians  of  nearly  thirty  tribes.  One  of  these  tribes,  the  Hy- 
erbipiamos,  was  so  numerous  that  the  mission  of  San  Fran 
cisco  Xavier  was  undertaken  for  them  about  1720. 

Though  no  formal  settlement  was  begun,  Spaniards  began 
to  gather  around  the  presidios.  Nacogdoches,  even  at  this 
early  day  began  its  existence.  Father  Margil  had  been  elected 
Guardian  of  the  College  of  Zacatecas  in  1716,  but  when  he 
was  notified  of  the  appointment  two  years  afterwards,  he  re 
nounced  the  office,2  and  spent  four  years  in  his  Indian  work. 
To  this  day  the  people  of  Nacogdoches  of  Spanish  origin 
point  to  a  spring  of  pure  water  which  their  ancestors  named  the 
"  Fountain  of  Father  Margil,"  asserting  that  it  was  due  to  the 
prayers  of  that  holy  man  in  a  season  when  all  springs  had 
failed.3 


1  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica  y  Seraphica,"  pp.  449-450,  466.  The 
mission  of  San  Francisco  Solano  was  founded  in  1703  ;  was  transferred 
to  San  Ildephonso,  then  back  to  the  Rio  Grande  at  San  Joseph,  then  to 
the  San  Antonio,  taking  that  name,  with  the  addition  de  Valero.  The 
Register  still  preserved,  begins  Oct.  6,  1703,  with  a  baptism  by  Father 
Estevez  ;  the  first  baptism  at  San  Antonio  being  by  Father  Michael 
Nunez.  On  the  4th  of  Feb.,  1720,  there  is  a  baptismal  entry  signed  by 
the  Ven.  F.  Anthony  Margil. 

5Arricivita,  p.  99. 

3  Letters  of  Bishop  of  San  Antonio,  formerly  parish  priest  of  Nacog- 
doches,  and  of  the  present  rector. 


MISSION  AT  AD  AYES  BROKEN  UP.  493 

When  a  Governor  was  appointed  for  Texas,  be  did  not  ad 
vance  beyond  San  Antonio,  so  tbat  tbe  way  was  not  opened  to 
tbe  remote  missions.  Tbe  six  Fathers  seeing  this,  assembled 
and  deputed  Fathers  Espinosa  and  Sanz  to  lay  the  whole 
matter  before  the  Viceroy.  They  set  out,  but  Espinosa  meet 
ing  at  San  Antonio  Don  Martin  de  Alarcon  on  his  way  to 
Espiritu  Santo  Bay,  let  Father  Sanz  proceed,  and  returned 
to  his  mission  with  Alarcon ;  but  that  officer's  visit  gave  lit 
tle  relief  to  the  missionaries.  Then  again  in  1T18  Father 
Mathias  was  sent  to  Mexico  to  urge  the  necessity  of  active 
steps  by  the  government,  as  the  Indians  were  constantly  ob 
taining  arms  from  the  French,  who  would  soon  be  masters  of 
the  whole  territory.  Nothing  was  done,  and  war  having  been 
declared  between  France  and  Spain,  the  mission  at  Adayes 
was  invaded  by  St.  Denis  from  Natchitoches,  who  captured  a 
soldier  and  a  lay  brother  there,  the  Venerable  Father  Anthony 
Margil  being  absent  at  the  time.  The  French  officer  plundered 
the  mission,  carrying  off  even  the  vestments  and  altar  service. 

The  lay  brother  managed  to  escape,  and,  reaching  Father 
Margil,  announced  that  the  French  intended  to  break  up  all 
the  other  missions.  Father  Margil  accordingly  with  his  re 
ligious  retired  from  the  stations  they  conducted,  carrying  all 
they  could  and  burying  what  was  too  heavy  to  transport.  The 
missionaries 'of  the  College  of  Queretaro,  011  learning  from 
Father  Mara^l  the  dangerous  condition  of  the  frontier,  adopted 
the  same  course.  A  statement  of  their  reasons  for  abandon 
ing  their  stations  was  drawn  up  and  transmitted  to  the  Vice 
roy. 

The  Indians  were  very  reluctant  to  allow  the  Franciscans 
to  depart  from  the  mission  of  San  Francisco,  and  to  meet 
their  wishes  Fathers  Margil  and  Espinosa  returned  to  the 
mission  of  the  Conception,  allowing  the  rest  of  the  party  to 
proceed.  After  a  time  they  followed,  and  with  Fathers  Jo- 


494  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

seph  Rodriguez,  Joseph  Albadesa,  and  Joseph  Pita  took  up 
their  abode  in  temporary  huts  near  San  Antonio. 

It  was  not  till  March,  1721,  that  in  consequence  of  further 
representations  to  the  Court,  the  Marquis  San  Miguel  de 
Adayo  arrived  to  settle  the  country  and  restore  the  missions. 
Fathers  Margil  and  Espinosa  set  out  with  him  to  renew  their 
apostolic  work.  The  mission  of  San  Francisco  was  re-estab 
lished  on  the  5th  of  August,  with  great  solemnity,  and  Fa 
ther  Joseph  Guerra  was  placed  in  charge.  Three  days  after, 
that  of  La  Purisima  Conception  was  restored. 

The  Yen.  Father  Margil  proceeded  in  person  to  rebuild 
the  church  of  Guadalupe  which  had  been  destroyed.  He 
erected  the  new  shrine  of  Our  Lady  in  a  beautiful  plain 
surrounded  by  tree-clad  mountains,  near  the  point  where  the 
.Bailita  flows  into  the  Nana.  Placing  Father  Joseph  Rodri 
guez  here  as  missionary,  and  Father  Benedict  Sanchez  at 
San  Jose  de  los  Nazonis,  he  went  on  the  19th  to  rebuild  the 
mission  of  Nuestra  Senora  de  los  Dolores.  As  no  vestige  of 
the  former  structure  remained,  he  erected  a  new  chapel  on 
an  eminence  by  the  bank  of  a  stream,  and  after  dedicating  it 
confided  the  mission  to  Father  Joseph  Abadejo. 

On  the  26th  the  expedition  crossed  the  Sabine,  and  cut 
ting  their  way  with  axes  through  the  woods  reached  San 
Miguel  de  los  Adayes.  The  Indians  who  had  retired  to  a 
dense  forest  to  escape  the  French  and  their  Indian  allies 
were  recalled,  and  a  fort  or  presidio  was  laid  out.  About 
a  mile  from  it  the  mission  of  San  Miguel  de  Cuellar  was 
restored.  The  church  in  the  fort  at  Adayes  was  dedicated 
to  Our  Lady  del  Pilar,  the  patroness  of  the  expedition,  on 
September  12th  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Cadallos,  the  chap 
lain,  who  offered  the  holy  sacrifice,  the  Yen.  Father  Anthony 
Margil  preaching.  To  enable  the  Indians  to  revive  the  mis 
sion,  they  were  supplied  with  provisions  till  they  could  gather 


DEATH  OF  FRIAR  JOSEPH  PITA.  495 

in  the  next  year's  crop,  and  many  cattle  and  sheep  were  left 
with  them. 

This  was  not  done  at  the  other  missions,  and  no  effectual 
means  were  adopted  to  keep  open  communication  between 
the  old  Spanish  settlements  and  the  missions,  so  as  to  ensure 
them  supplies  from  time  to  time,  or  necessary  aid  in  case  of 
invasion. 

The  missionaries,  however,  began  their  labors  hopefully, 
many  soon  to  sink  under  the  hardships  of  their  life,  victims 
to  the  climate  or  to  the  savage  Indians  of  the  plains,  espe 
cially  the  Apaches,  who  made  constant  raids.  Brother  Joseph 
Pita  thinking  that  the  presence  of  troops  in  the  country  had 
made  travel  safe,  in  the  ardor  of  his  zeal  overlooked  the  dan 
ger,  and  undertook  without  an  escort  to  reach  the  missions 
for  which  he  had  volunteered.  At  a  place  which  has  since 
borne  the  name  of  Carniceria,  about  sixty  miles  from  San 
Xavier  River,  and  on  a  site  where  a  mission  was  subsequently 
erected,  he  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of  Lipan  Apaches.  He 
might  have  escaped,  but  to  deliver  a  soldier,  he  begged  the 
Indians  to  turn  on  him,  as  they  did,  killing  him  and  all  his 
companions.  He  was  the  first  Spanish  religious  who  died 
by  the  hands  of  Indians  in  that  province.1 

As  the  Indians  of  Texas  lived  in  scattered  ranches  or  ham 
lets,  often  changing  their  place  of  abode,  their  agriculture, 
being  without  irrigation,  was  precarious.  The  great  object  of 
the  missionaries  was  to  form  reductions  where  large  bodies 
of  Indians  could  be  drawn  together,  and  formed  to  persistent 

1  Morfi,  "  Memorias  para  la  Historia  de  la  provincia  de  Texas,"  iii., 
pp.  132-7.  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica  y  Serapliica,"  pp  414- 
478.  Among  the  earliest  to  die  were  Brother  Dominic  de  Urioste,  the 
lay  brother  Francis  de  San  Diego,  and  in  1718,  Fathers  Peter  de  Men- 
doza,  Manuel  Castellanos,  John  Suarez,  Lorenzo  Garcia  Botello,  Father 
Joseph  Gonzales,  of  San  Antonio,  and  Brother  Louis  de  Montesdoca, 
who  perished  in  a  prairie  fire. 


496  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

agriculture  and  mechanical  arts  as  well  as  be  educated  in 
Christian  doctrine,  morals,  and  life.  This  required  a  cer 
tain  degree  of  restraint,  for  which  a  military  force  was  essen 
tial  in  order  to  keep  them  on  the  reservation,  a  system  now 
maintained  by  our  government. 

The  Spanish  authorities  in  Mexico  gave  each  mission  a  few 
soldiers,  to  protect  the  Fathers  from  sudden  raids  of  hostile 
Indians,  but  would  not  establish  the  reduction  or  reservation 
system.  To  this  the  missionaries  ascribed  the  comparatively 
slow  progress  of  Christianity  among  the  Indians.  The  mis 
sionaries  of  the  College  of  Holy  Cross  at  Queretaro  finding 
their  efforts  not  only  not  sustained  but  actually  hampered  by 
the  military  authorities,  at  last  asked  that  three  missions 
which  they  had  for  fourteen  years  maintained  among  the 
Asinais  or  Texas  Indians  should  be  transferred  to  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  San  Antonio  River,  where  there  were  num 
bers  of  unconverted  Indians  who  could  easily  be  reached, 
especially  the  Pacaos,  Paalat,  and  Pitalaque.  The  Viceroy, 
Marquis  of  Casa  Fuerte,  approved  the  plan,  and  sites  of  the 
three  missions  were  selected  by  Father  Gabriel  de  Yergara 
on  the  banks  of  the  San  Antonio.1 

When  the  College  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe  at  Quei^taro 
removed  its  missions  to  the  San  Antonio,  those  which  had 
been  founded  by  the  Venerable  Father  Anthony  Margil 
were  maintained.  These  were  the  mission  of  Our  Lady  of 
Guadalupe  near  the  present  city  of  Nacogdoches,  the  mis 
sion  among  the  Ays,  not  far  from  the  present  town  of  San 
Augustin,  and  the  mission  of  San  Miguel  de  los  Adayes. 
Xear  this  was  the  Spanish  frontier  presidio  or  military  post, 
which  the  missionaries  attended  as  chaplains,2  as  they  did 
also  Xacogdoches  when  it  was  made  a  parish. 

1  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica  y  Seraphica,"  pp.  458-9. 
"2  Ibid.,  pp.  459-460. 


NEW  MISSIONS.  497 

The  venerable  founder  was  not  content  with  these  mis 
sions  ;  he  selected  Father  Michael  Nunez  to  found  another 
in  honor  of  St.  Joseph,  and  that  priest  proceeding  to 
the  San  Antonio  selected  a  populous  rancheria,  and  estab 
lished  the  mission  of  San  Jose  with  great  care  and  judgment. 
He  erected  a  church  and  house,  and  began  to  instruct  the 
Indians,  inducing  them  to  dig  acequias  or  trenches  to  irri 
gate  their  fields.  The  site  was  subsequently  transferred  to 
the  other  side  of  the  river,  but  the  mission  prospered  so  that 
it  became  the  finest  one  belonging  to  the  Zacatecas  College. 

When  the  Marquis  of  Valero  in  1722  established  a  post  at 
Bahia  del  Espiritu  Santo,  on  the  site  of  La  Salle's  fort,  this 
same  missionary  college,  by  direction  of  the  Venerable  Father 
Margil,  who  had  become  Prefect  of  the  missions  de  Propa 
ganda  Fide,  sent  Father  Augustine  Patron  to  rear  a  chapel 
and  convent  there  for  the  service  of  the  Spaniards  and  In 
dians.  This  mission  of  Guadalupe  remained  there  till  1727, 
when  it  was  transferred  to  the  Rio  Guadalupe,1  but  not  be 
fore  two  Fathers,  Diego  Zapata  and  Ignatius  Bahena,  had 
died  in  their  apostolical  labors  victims  to  the  malarious  dis 
trict. 

1  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica  y  Seraphica,"  p.  467;  Arricivita, 
"  Cronica  Serafica  y  Apostolica,"  ii.,  p.  102;  Morfi,  "Memorias."  The 
Venerable  Father  Margil  re-elected  Guardian  of  the  College  of  Guadalupe 
at  Zacatecas  completed  his  term,  and  then  resumed  his  missions  in  the 
Spanish  cities  and  towns  of  Mexico.  There  he  continued  till  he  was 
stricken  down  by  illness.  He  was  conveyed  to  Mexico,  and  reaching 
the  great  Convent,  insisted  on  entering  the  church  to  adore  our  Lord  in 
the  Sacrament  of  his  Love.  Then  he  entered  his  cell,  and  making  a 
general  confession  of  his  innocent  life  with  great  compunction,  he  re 
ceived  Holy  Communion  and  Extreme  Unction,  and  expired,  August 
6,  1726.  The  fame  of  his  virtues  and  miracles  led  the  City  of  Mexico 
to  petition  for  his  canonization.  The  cause  was  introduced,  and  in  1778 
his  remains  were  enshrined  by  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico  (Arricivita,  ii., 
p.  157).  His  virtues  were  declared  heroic  by  Pope  Gregory  XVI.,  in 
1836  ;  and  on  proof  of  two  miracles  he  may  be  solemnly  beatified. 
32 


498  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Balria  became  second  only  to  San  Antonio  in  importance, 
having  a  secular  parish  priest ;  Nacogdoches,  though  a  parish, 
remaining  under  the  care  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers.1 

While  the  Franciscans  were  endeavoring  to  convert  the 
Indian  tribes  of  Texas,  thwarted  too  often  by  the  Spanish 
officials,  who  were  a  greater  obstacle  than  the  heathenism  and 
inconstancy  of  the  Indians  or  the  raids  of  enemies  like  the 
Apaches,  little  was  done  to  colonize  the  territory,  important 
as  it  was  to  the  Spanish  frontier.  On  the  14th  of  February, 
1729,  the  King  of  Spain  ordered  four  hundred  families  to  be 
transferred  from  the  Canary  Islands  to  San  Antonio.  Four 
teen  families  arrived  the  next  year,  and  the  city  of  San  Fer 
nando  was  founded.3  Near  it  was  the  presidio  or  garrison  of 
San  Antonio,  which  in  time  gave  its  name  to  the  city  also. 
Its  ecclesiastical  records  date  almost  to  its  origin,  though  un 
fortunately  some  pages  are  lacking  in  the  venerable  parish 
register.  A  chapel  was  at  once  raised  as  a  place  of  worship 
till  a  proper  parish  church  could  be  built.  The  records  of 
the  church  now  date  back  to  August  31,  1731,  when  Bach- 


FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE   SIGNATURE  OF  REV.    JOSEPH  DE  LA   GARZA. 

elor  Joseph  de  la  Garza  was  parish  priest,  and  by  his  leave 
Father  Ignatius  Augustine  Cyprian  baptized  a  child  of  Span 
ish  parentage. 

The  next  year  the  church  itself  must  have  been  opened,  for 
for  the  first  time  a  baptism  is  recorded  as  performed  within  its 
walls  on  the  17th  of  July,  1732. 

1  Arispe,  "  Memoria,"  Cadiz,  1812,  pp.  12-3. 

sAltamiro,  "  Parecer  "  in  Yoakum,  app.  Morfi,  "  Memoria,"  p.  178. 


PARISH  CHURCH  OF  SAN  FERNANDO.        499 

But  the  life  of  the  city  of  San  Fernando  was  feeble.  The 
population  fell  away  instead  of  gaining.  There  were  twenty- 
two  baptisms  in  1733 ;  fifteen  the  next  year ;  then  twelve ; 
and  for  1736  only  eleven  are  recorded.  Evidently  some  of 
the  original  settlers  moved  away,  harassed,  it  is  said,  by  the 
Apaches,  and  none  came  to  replace  them.  The  last  entry 
of  the  first  known  parish  priest  of  the  first  city  of  Texas  is 
dated  June  7,  1736  ;  and  then  there  is  a  gap  of  more  than 
seven  years.  The  few  Spaniards  who  remained  were  proba 
bly  attended  from  the  neighboring  missions. 

The  new  town  was  strengthened  in  1731  by  the  removal 
to  its  vicinity  by  order  of  the  Viceroy  of  the  Asinais  mis 
sions  of  San  Francisco,  Purisima  Concepcion,  and  San  Jose, 
the  last  often  called  San  Juan  Capistrano.  Yet  so  little  care 
had  been  taken  for  the  subsistence  of  the  Indians  that  the 
missionaries  maintained  the  transferred  Indians  only  by  pro 
visions  they  solicited  in  Coalmila. 

The  mission  of  San  Antonio  was  founded  on  the  San  Pe 
dro,  but  was  subsequently  transferred  to  the  Alamo,  and  its 
name  has  prevailed  over  that  of  the  city  subsequently  founded. 

Under  the  violent  and  oppressive  rule  of  Governor  Fran- 
qui  the  missions  suffered.  Yet  in  1734  the  three  missions 
on  the  Rio  Grande  and  four  on  the  San  Antonio  reported 
2,170  baptisms.  They  took  new  life  again  about  1740,  when 
many  of  the  Tacanes  were  gained  to  the  missions  at  San  An 
tonio.1 

In  1744  another  effort  was  made  to  revive  the  city  of  the 
holy  king  Saint  Ferdinand.  By  this  time  fifty  families  of 
Islanders,  as  the  emigrants  from  the  Canaries  were  called, 

1  Espinosa,  "  Chronica  Apostolica,"  p.  466.  The  king  allowed  the  par 
ish  priest  $400  a  year  ;  the  tithes  were  applied  to  the  church. 

The  mission  of  La  Purisima  Concepcion  was  founded  March  5,  1731. 
Father  Vergara's  first  marriage  entry  is  July  9,  1733. 


500  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  some  Tlascalan  Indians  had  arrived,  and  we  find  Bachelor 
John  Francis  de  Esproiizeda  beginning  the  year  as  parish 
priest  (cura  vicario)  and  ecclesiastical  judge  of  the  city  of  San 
Fernando  and  the  garrison  of  San  Antonio.  His  baptisms  in 
that  year  were  twenty-two. 

On  the  3d  of  December,  1746,  Bachelor  Francis  Manuel 
Polanco  makes  an  entry  that  he  began  on  that  day  "  to  ad 
minister  the  holy  sacraments  in  this  Royal  Garrison,"  and 
with  occasional  aid  from  neighboring  Franciscan  friars,  Bar 
tholomew  and  Diego  Martin  Garcia,  he  continued  till  August 
5,  1753.  Then  Rev.  Ignatius  Martinez  seems  to  have  come 
in  as  acting  parish  priest. 

On  the  13th  of  November,  1754,  Bachelor  John  Ignatius 
de  Cardenas,  Pinilla  y  Ramos,  became  parish  priest  "  in  com- 
mendam,"  and  replaced  for  a  time  by  the  Licentiate  Manuel 
de  Caro  y  Seixas,  continued  till  the  visitation  of  Bishop  Te- 
jada. 

An  Edict  of  Rt.  Rev.  John  Gomez  de  Parada,  Bishop  of 
Guadalajara,  issued  on  the  24th  of  March,  1746,  fixed  the 
holidays  of  obligation  as  follows  :  All  the  Sundays  of  the 
year,  Easter  Sunday  and  Monday,  "Whitsunday,  Ascension, 
Corpus  Christi ;  Circumcision,  Epiphany,  Purification,  An 
nunciation,  Nativity  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  St.  James,  Assumption,  Nativity  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  All  Saints,  Conception,  Christmas,  and  St.  Stephen.1 
.Meanwhile  Father  Maria  Ano  Francis  de  los  Dolores  had 
penetrated  to  a  valley  between  the  San  Xavier  and  Animas, 
where  he  found  a  large  town  made  up  of  Bidays  and  other 
tribes,  to  whom  he  announced  the  Gospel.  They  heard  it 
willingly,  and  sent  subsequently  to  San  Antonio  to  solicit 
missionaries.  The  authorities  spent  a  year  in  discussing  the 

1  Register  of  the  Church  of  St.  Fernando,  San  Antonio. 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  GANZABAL. 


501 


question  of  the  new  foundation ;  but  meanwhile  Father 
Maria  Ano  began  his  labors.  At  last,  on  the  1st  of  February, 
174:7,  the  Viceroy  Revillagigedo  ordered  the  establishment  of 
the  missions  of  San  Francisco  Xavier  de  Orcasitas,  ISuestra 
Sefiora  de  Candelaria,  and  San  Ildefonso.  "When  the  legal 
authorization  came,  the  President  of  the  Mission,  Father  Ben 
edict  Fernandez  de  Santa  Ana,  went  up  and  founded  the 
mission  of  San  Ildefonso,  and  laid  plans  for  that  of  Cande 
laria,  which  was  soon  begun.  These  missions  prospered  for  a 


FAC-SIMILE   OP  THE   SIGNATURE  OF  FATHER  GANZABAL. 

time  and  gave  great  hopes ;  but  the  arbitrary  and  cruel  con 
duct  of  the  officer  stationed  at  the  neighboring  presidio  or 
military  post  drove  the  Indians  from  the  missions.  That  of 
San  Ildefonso  was  completely  deserted  by  the  Cocos  in  1749. 
Father  Benedict  Fernandez  de  Santa  Ana  followed  the  tribe 
and  induced  them  to  settle  at  Candelaria.  Father  Mariano 
An  da  and  Joseph  Pinella  continued  their  labors  at  San  Xavier 
amid  constant  oppression,  but  they  with  Father  Manuel 
Mariano  were  at  last  compelled  to  leave,  Father  Parrilla  re 
maining  alone  at  that  mission.  In  1752  Father  Joseph 


502  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Francis  Ganzabal,  missionary  of  San  Ildefonso,  went  on  As 
cension  Day,  May  11,  to  pass  the  festival  with  his  fellow  re 
ligious  at  Candelaria.  At  nightfall  three  Fathers  were  in 
the  little  room  at  the  mission  and  a  Spaniard  standing  at  the 
door,  when  some  Cocos  fired  and  killed  the  Spaniard,  who 
fell  at  the  feet  of  one  of  the  Fathers.  The  missionary  has 
tened  to  aid  him,  but  when  Father  Ganzabal  called  out  to 
learn  who  they  were,  he  received  an  arrow  through  his  heart. 
The  third  religious  being  unseen,  escaped. 

From  that  time  the  missions  in  the  valley  of  the  San  Xav- 
ier  declined,  the  Indians  scattered,  and  finally  the  government 
ordered  the  military  post  and  the  missions  to  be  transferred 
to  San  Saba.1 

The  Franciscans,  besides  gaining  some  of  the  coast  Indians 
among  whom  the  Eosario  mission  was  established,  had  made 
strenuous  efforts  to  gain  Apaches.  Among  the  earnest  la 
borers  in  this  field  was  Father  Cajetan  Aponte  y  Lis.2  At 
last  some  prospect  of  the  conversion  of  the  tribe  appeared. 
The  Viceroy  agreed  to  maintain  a  mission  at  San  Saba  for 
three  years.  It  was  to  be  established  by  Father  Alonso  Gi- 
raldo  de  Terreros  of  the  College  of  Queretaro  with  missiona 
ries  from  that  college  and  that  of  San  Fernando  of  Mexico. 
In  December,  1756,  Father  Terreros  with  Fathers  Joseph 
Santiesteban  and  Michael  Molina  were  joined  by  Fathers 
Joachim  Baiios  and  Diego  Ximenez  from  Queretaro  and 
reached  San  Antonio. 

The  mission  of  San  Saba  was  founded  in  March,  and  on 
the  17th  of  April,  1757,  that  of  San  Luis  de  Amarillas  was 
established ;  but  the  Apaches  would  not  settle  at  the  mission, 

1  Arricivita,  "  Cronica  Serafica,"  ii.,  p.  334;  Morfi,  "Memorias." 
*  Arricivita,    "Cronica  Serafica,"  p.   368 ;  Morfi,    "Memorias."    Fa 
ther  Cajetan  Aponte  y  Lis,  a  native  of  Pontevedra,  came  to  America  in 
1730,  was  ten  years  in  the  Texan  mission,  and  died  May  25,  1791. 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  TERREROS. 

md  in  July  Father  Terreros  wrote  very  despondingly,  Fa 
ther  Benedict  Yarela,  sent  to  the  Apaches,  having  failed  in 
his  mission,  and  subsequent  negotiations  proving  ineffectual. 

The  friendly  intercourse  with  the  Apaches  seems  to  have 
aroused  hostile  feelings  in  the  Texan  tribes,  who  regarded 
them  as  their  natural  enemies.  Father  Silva  was  killed  near 
the  Rio  Grande  by  a  party  of  Indians  who  were  recognized 
as  belonging  to  tribes  under  the  care  of  missionaries.1 

On  the  16th  of  March,  1758,  Father  Alonso  Terreros  had  of 
fered  the  holy  sacrifice  at  daybreak,  and  Father  Santiesteban 
had  just  put  on  his  vestments,  when  their  ears  were  saluted  by 
the  yells  of  a  large  Indian  force,  with  occasional  gunshots. 


FAC-SIMILE  OF  THE   SIGNATURE  OF  FATHER  TERREROS. 


When  the  Indians  reached  the  mission  many  were  recognized 
as  Texas  and  Bidais.     They  professed  friendship,  and  asked 

1  In  1759  there  was  received  in  Texas  and  promulgated  through  the 
parishes  and  missions  the  edict  of  Rt.  Rev.  Friar  Francis  De  San  Buena 
ventura  Martinez  de  Tejada  Diez  de  Velasco,  Bishop  of  Guadalajara, 
the  new  Kingdom  of  Galicia,  and  Leon,  the  Provinces  of  Nayarit,  Cali 
fornia,  Coahuila,  and  Texas,  making  a  holiday  of  obligation  of  De 
cember  12th,  the  feast  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe.  Pope  Benedict  XIV. 
at  the  petition  of  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico  and  Bishop  of  Michoacan 
had  made  the  Blessed  Virgin  under  that  title  Patroness  of  all  the  prov 
inces  of  Mexico.  Register  of  Church  of  San  Fernando,  San  Antonio, 
Dec.  12,  1759. 


504  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

a  letter  to  the  commandant  of  the  garrison  a  few  miles  off. 
This  Father  Terreros  gave,  but  they  insisted  on  his  accom 
panying  them.  He  mounted  a  horse,  but  had  ridden  only  a 
few  feet  from  the  gate  when  he  was  shot,  and  with  a  groan 
fell  dead  from  his  horse.  Then  the  Indians  made  a  general 
attack,  killing  the  soldiers  stationed  at  the  mission.  The 
other  Fathers  at  once  sought  refuge.  Father  Santiesteban 
fled  to  the  store-room,  but  that  was  the  first  place  the  assail 
ants  visited.  He  perished,  undoubtedly,  under  the  blows  of 
their  weapons,  as  they  carried  off  his  habit,  and  his  dying 
cries  were  heard.  Father  Michael  Molina  with  the  mission 
attendants  took  refuge  in  the  room  which  Father  Terreros 
had  occupied,  and  here  the  Spaniards  held  out,  escaping  with 
their  lives,  although  Father  Molina  and  some  others  were  se 
verely  wounded.  At  night  with  the  room  on  fire  they  escaped 
through  the  blazing  church,  and  each  for  himself  made  their 
way  to  the  presidio.1 

This  was  a  great  blow  to  the  projected  Apache  mission, 
but  it  did  not  defeat  it.  The  Commissary-General,  lest  the 
Indians  at  San  Saba  should  disperse,  sent  Father  Francis 
Aparicio  and  Father  Peter  Parras,  with  Fathers  Juniper  Ser- 
ra  and  Francis  Palou  to  continue  the  work.  But  as  the  tribe 
objected  to  San  Saba,  a  new  site  was  selected  in  the  valley  of 
San  Jose,  and  there  on  the  9th  of  January,  1761,  Father  Jo 
achim  Bafios  and  Diego  Ximenes  founded  the  mission  of 
San  Lorenzo,  and  soon  after  that  of  Candelaria ;  but  they 
were  planned  and  arranged  by  the  civil  authorities  with  little 
regard  to  the  views  or  system  of  the  missionaries.  The  mis- 

'Arricivita,  "  Cronica  Serafica,"  ii.,  pp.  375-8 ;  Morfi,  "Memorias." 
Father  Morfi  says  that  F.  Santiesteban's  headless  body  was  found  by  F. 
Molina  in  the  church,  and  that  the  bodies  of  the  two  missionaries  were 
interred  together  in  the  cemetery.  Father  Arricivita  writing  a  few  years 
later  says  the  body  of  Santiesteban  was  never  found,  so  that  some  thought 
he  was  carried  off  alive. 


VISITATION  BY  BISHOP  TEJADA.  505 

sions  were  maintained,  however,  for  eight  years  till  the  in 
vasion  of  the  Cornaiiches  broke  them  up.1 

In  these  Texan  missions  the  Franciscans  and  the  Spanish 
authorities  had  always  entertained  different  views.  The 
Franciscans  wished  the  Indians  placed  on  reservations,  and 
kept  by  military  force  from  wandering  oil.  The  officials 
wished  the  missionaries  to  instruct  the  Indians  when  and 
where  they  could.  The  latter  plan  kept  the  missionaries 
completely  in  the  hands  of  the  officials  for  their  maintenance 
and  the  supplies  needed  by  the  mission,  and  from  official 
corruption  missionaries  often  suffered  greatly. 

All  these  missions  enjoyed  in  1759  the  presence  of  a 
Bishop,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Francis  de  San  Buenaventura  Tejada 


FAC-SIMILE   OF   THE   SIGNATUKE   OF   BISHOP   TEJADA. 

of  Guadalajara  in  his  visitation  of  his  diocese,  having  trav 
ersed  the  whole  of  Texas.  The  report  of  his  official  examin 
ation  would  give  a  most  authentic  picture  of  the  state  of 
religion  at  that  time,  but  unfortunately  it  is  not  accessible. 

On  the  19th  of  November,  1759,  Bishop  Francis  de  San 
Buenaventura  Tejada  made  his  visitation  of  the  Church  of  San 
Fernando  in  the  city  now  known  as  San  Antonio.  He  wras 

1  "  Informe  of  F.  Ximenez,"  Arricivita,  p.  386.  "  Relacion  que  hizo 
el  R.  P.  Predicador  Fr.  Manuel  Molina  sobre  las  muertes  de  los  PP.  Fray 
Alonso  Giraldo  de  Terreros  y  Fr.  Jose  de  Santiesteban  en  San  Saba. 
Mexico,  Abril  de  1758." 


506  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

duly  received  according  to  the  prescribed  forms  by  the  parish 
priest,  Bachelor  Cardenas.  All  was  done  in  due  form.  His 
secretary,  Dr.  Mathias  Joseph  de  Arteaga,  while  he  sat  in 
the  sanctuary,  read  the  edict  for  the  general  visitation  of  the 
diocese,  and  against  public  sins.  Then  the  good  bishop,  in  a 
sermon  explained  the  object  of  the  visitation,  and  the  nature 
and  graces  of  the  sacrament  of  confirmation,  and  the  neces 
sity  of  proper  preparation  for  it. 

The  visitation  of  the  church  showed  a  condition  of  oreat 

O 

neglect.  There  was  no  tabernacle  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament ;  the  baptistery  lacked  door  and  window, 
as  well  a  proper  vessel  for  pouring  the  holy  water,  and  he 
ordered  one  to  be  obtained  of  silver ;  it  also  lacked  an  ambrv 
with  lock  and  key  for  the  holy  oils.  He  directed  also  that 
a  painting  of  Saint  John  Baptizing  our  Lord  in  the  Jordan 
to  be  placed  there.  Then  the  Bishop  in  a  black  cope  made  a 
commemoration  of  the  faithful  departed. 

The  church  had  but  one  altar,  with  a  picture  of  Saint 
Ferdinand,  but  no  other  adornment.  The  sacristy  showed 
a  lack  of  vestments,  of  proper  church  plate,  procession 
cross,  candlesticks,  missal,  censer  and  boat,  in  fact  of  every 
thing.  There  was  not  even  a  ritual  or  a  repository  for  Holy 
Thursday. 

This  destitution  in  a  church  with  five  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  -parishioners  pained  the  good  Bishop  deeply. 

The  faculties  of  the  incumbent  were  regular,  but  the  Bishop 
continued  them  merely  till  the  next  conference  of  the  clergy, 
when  he  was  to  appear  personally,  evidently  regarding  him 
as  one  ignorant  or  careless  of  his  duties.  The  Kev.  Mr.  Car 
denas  thereupon  resigned  the  parish,  and  the  Bishop  ap 
pointed  Bachelor  Casimir  Lopez  de  Lara,  who  produced 
his  faculties,  including  power  to  preach  in  Spanish  and 
Mexican. 


STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH.  507 

Don  Toribio  de  Urrutia  then  solicited  and  obtained  the 
privilege  of  erecting  an  altar  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
in  one  of  the  transepts  with  the  privilege  of  making  it  a  bur 
ial-place  for  his  family  on  payment  of  four  dollars  at  each  in 
terment,  and  making  an  offering  of  wax,  bread,  and  wine  on 
Ail  Souls'  Day. 

The  Bishop  also  forbade  the  people  of  the  city  to  receive 
the  sacraments  at  the  churches  of  the  Indian  missions,  gave 
orders  for  the  maintenance  of  a  proper  school  and  school 
master,  and  of  catechetical  instructions  to  the  young  on  Sun  - 
days  and  holidays  by  the  parish  priest. 

Such  was  the  visitation  of  a  Catholic  Bishop  in  Texas  in 
1759.  He  then  examined  the  candidates  for  confirmation, 
and  conferred  that  sacrament  on  644,  devoting  the  19th  of 
November  and  the  ensuing  days  to  the  25th  to  this  duty. 
The  long  list  of  names  preserved  includes  several  Indians, 
some  of  them  Apaches.1 

The  Bishop  made  the  visitation  of  the  missions  of  San  An 
tonio  de  Yalero  and  La  Purisima  Concepcion  on  the  21st  of 
November,  and  entered  on  the  Register  of  each  his  approval 
of  the  management  by  the  Franciscan  Fathers  in  charge, 
Joseph  Lopez  and  Francis  Aparicio.3 

The  Spanish  population  of  Texas  at  this  time  consisted  of 
about  3,000  souls,  at  San  Antonio,  the  presidios  and  ranches. 
Besides  the  parish  at  San  Antonio  with  its  priest,  there  were 
secular  priests  also  at  Sacramento  and  Nacogdoches,  and  gen 
erally  a  chaplain  for  the  troops.  There  was  also  a  priest  at 

1  "  Auto  General  de  Visita,"  signed  by  Bp.  Tejada  in  the  Register.    On 
March  13,  1763,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Casimir  Lopez  de  Lara  transferred  the 
Registers,  etc.,  to  Bach.  Joseph  Ildephonsus  de  la  Pena. 

2  The  Indian  missions  were  visited  not  only  by  the  Bishop, 'but  by  Vis 
itors  of  the  Franciscan  order.     There  were  such  in  Texas  in  June,  1745, 
June,  1756,  April,  1759.     Registers  of  the  missions  of  San  Antonio  Va 
lero  and  La  Purisima  Concepcion. 


508  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Bahia.  Adayes  was  a  place  of  some  importance  with  forty 
houses,  and  a  church  attended  by  the  Franciscan  Father  at 
tached  to  the  Indian  mission.  It  was  maintained  as  a  frontier 
post  and  town,  but  declined  after  Spain  acquired  Louisiana, 
and  was  suppressed  in  1772.1 

In  January,  1761,  Fathers  Diego  Ximenez  and  Joachim 
Baiios  renewed  the  almost  hopeless  attempt  to  convert  the 
Apaches.  On  the  banks  of  the  Rio  San  Jose  they  founded 
the  mission  of  San  Lorenzo,  which  they  maintained  for 
eight  years,  baptizing  in  danger  of  death  eighty  persons  as 
the  result  of  all  their  toil.  It  was  found  almost  impossible 
to  induce  these  Lipan  Apaches  to  remain  at  the  mission, 
and  settle  down  to  cultivate  the  soil  or  learn  trades.  The 
missionaries  indeed  gained  their  good-will,  so  that  San  Lo 
renzo  was  regarded  as  their  reserve  by  about  three  thousand, 

four    hundred    re- 
maining  actually  at 

the    mission    with 
,  . 

some     degree      of 

FAG-SIMILE     OF     THE     SIGNATUBE     OF     FATHEK    permanence.        But 
DIEGO  XIMENEZ. 

from  time  to  time 

they  would  insist  on  going  to  the  bison  plains,  or  forming  war 
parties  against  the  Comanches.  In  1763  Father  Diego 
Ximenez,  President  of  the  Texas  missions,  writing  from  San 
Lorenzo,  reported  that  they  were  beginning  to  listen  to  the 
instructions,  brought  their  children  to  be  baptized,  notified 


1  Morfl,  "Memoria  para  la  Historia  de  Texas"  :  Onys,,"Memoria  so- 
brelas  Negociaciones,"  Mexico,  1826,  p.  52.  The  presidio  of  Orquisaco 
near  Dolores  was  also  suppressed.  As  some  guide  to  the  work  of  the 
Texas  missions,  the  numbers  of  baptisms  to  1761  are  given.  San  An 
tonio,  1,772;  Purisima  Concepcion,  792;  San  Jose,  1,054  ;  San  Juan  Capi- 
strano,  847  ;  San  Francisco  de  la  Espada,  815  ;  Rosario,  200 ;  Espiritu 
Santo,  623. 


FATHER  GARCIA  AND  HIS  WORK.  509 

the  missionary  when  any  adults  were  sick,  and  on  setting 
off  to  hunt,  brought  their  wives  and  children  to  the  mis 
sionaries  for 
protection.1 

Father  Bar- 
tholomew  Gar- 
cia  and  Joseph 
Guadalupe 

Prado  were  FAC.SIMILE  OP  THE  SIGNATURE  OP  FATHER  GARCIA. 
veteran  mis 
sionaries  in  Texas  about  this  time.  The  former  published 
a  manual  to  aid  his  fellow-missionaries  of  the  college  of 
Queretaro  in  administering  the  sacraments  to  the  Indians  on 
the  San  Antonio  and  Rio  Grande.  It  gives  some  idea  of  the 
number  of  tribes  which  even  then  were  attended  by  the 
missionaries.8 

The  mission  of  San  Jose  was  the  centre  of  the  Texas  mis 
sions  and  residence  of  the  President  or  Superior,  and  in  time 
a  fine  church  was  erected  here,  and  nearly  as  elegant  struc 
tures  at  San  Francisco  de  la  Espada  and  La  Purisima  Con- 
cepcion. 

Soon  after  the  year  1T63  the  college  of  Queretaro  with 
drew  from  Texas,  leaving  that  field  to  the  colleges  of  Zaca- 
tecas  and  Guadalajara.3 

1  Letter  of  F.  Ximenez,  San  Lorenzo,  January  24,  1763,  in  Arricivita, 
"  Cronica  Serafica  y  Apostolica,"  pp.  386-9  ;  also  390-3.     The  mission 
and  presidio  were  suppressed  in  1767. 

2  He  names  the  Pajalates,  Orejones,  Pacaos,  Pacoas,  Telijayas,  Alasa- 
pas,  Pausanes,  Pacuaches,  Pampopas,  Tacarnes,  Chayopines,  Venados, 
Pamaques,  Pihuiques,  Borrados,  Sanipoas,  and  Manos  de  Perro.    Gar 
cia,    "Manual   para  administrar    los  Santos   Sacramentos,"  etc.,  1760. 
There  is  a  copy  in  Harvard  College.     See  Pilling,  p.  281. 

3  Arricivita,  p.  437. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   CHTJKCH   IN   NEW   MEXICO,    1692-1763. 

FOE  a  period  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century 
all  evidence  of  Catholicity  had  been  swept  from  the  soil  of 
New  Mexico,  and  the  expeditions  undertaken  by  Spain  to 
recover  that  province,  had  been  merely  incursions.  To  such 
an  extent,  however,  had  the  revolted  tribes  by  civil  war,  and 
the  hostility  of  the  Apaches,  been  reduced  in  numbers  and 
spirit  that  every  one  of  the  pueblo  nations  submitted  at  last 
without  striking  a  blow  to  Yargas  and  a  handful  of  Spaniards. 

Diego  de  Vargas  Zapata  Luxan  Ponce  de  Leon  was  ap 
pointed  Governor  of  New  Mexico  in  1692,  and  prepared 
to  take  possession  of  the  province.  The  whole  force  he  had 
been  able  to  gather  amounted  to  fifty-four  Spaniards  and  one 
hundred  friendly  Indians.  On  the  16th  of  August  the  van 
left  El  Paso,  and  Vargas  after  awaiting  in  vain  for  a  de 
tachment  of  fifty  men  promised  from  Parral  joined  his  van 
and  entered  New  Mexico,  his  little  force  being  attended  as 
chaplains  by  Father  Francis  Corvera,  President  of  the  Mis 
sion,  Fathers  Michael  Muniz  and  Christopher  Alphonsus 
Barroso.  Establishing  a  camp  for  his  supplies,  at  a  ruined 
estate,  where  he  left  fourteen  Spaniards  and  fifty  Indians, 
he  pushed  on  through  an  utterly  deserted  country  by  way  of 
the  ruined  towns  of  Cochiti  and  Santo  Domingo  to  Santa 
Fe.  Camping  at  night  by  a  ruined  chapel,  the  little  force 
the  next  morning  (Sept.  13th)  heard  mass,  and  received  abso 
lution  before  moving  upon  the  city.  There  the  Tanos  of 
(510) 


NEW  MEXICO  MISSIONS  RESTORED.  511 

Galisteo  had  planted  a  new  town.  Yargas  cut  off  the  water 
supply,  and  prepared  to  besiege  Santa  Fe.  Troops  of  In 
dians  appeared  on  the  hills  to  relieve  the  town,  but  Vargas 
drove  these  off,  and  before  night  the  city  surrendered. 

On  the  14th,  the  feast  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
Vargas  with  Father  Corvera  and  six  soldiers  entered.  The 

O 

Indians,  who  had  been  told  that  the  main  object  of  the  expe 
dition  was  to  restore  them  to  the  Catholic  faith,  had  already 
erected  a  large  cross  in  the  plaza.  There  Vargas  announced 
that  King  Charles  II.  had  sent  him  to  pardon  the  New 
Mexico  Indians  for  their  apostasy,  the  sacrilegious  murder 
of  the  missionaries,  the  profanation  of  the  churches  and  sa 
cred  things,  and  the  massacre  of  the  Spaniards,  if  they  would 
return  to  the  bosom  of  holy  Mother  Church,  which  like  a 
fond  mother  implored  them  to  return,  and  then  renew  their 
allegiance  to  the  Spanish  crown. 

To  this  the  Tanos  agreed,  the  standard  of  Spain  was  flung 
to  the  breeze,  amid  the  vivas  of  the  assembly,  and  while  all 
knelt  around  the  cross  Father  Corvera  intoned  the  Te 
Deum.  The  next  day  mass  was  solemnly  offered  in  the 
plaza,  the  President  of  the  mission  made  the  Indians  a  touch 
ing  exhortation,  and  absolved  them  from  their  apostasy. 
Then  the  children  born  during  the  revolt  were  brought  to 
the  missionaries  and  baptized,  to  the  number  of  969.  Soon 
after  this  the  detachment  from  Parral  arrived,  and  Luis 
Tupatu,  who  upon  the  death  of  Pope  and  Catiti  had  been 
recognized  as  chief  by  one  portion  of  the  insurgents,  came  in 
and  submitted.  He  was  ready  to  aid  in  reducing  to  the 
Spanish  authority  the  Pecos,  Queres,  Taos,  and  Jemes,  who 
had  refused  to  acknowledge  him.  Before  setting  out  to  the 
other  towns  Vargas  forwarded  to  Mexico  an  account  of  his 
success.  The  tidings,  utterly  unexpected,  filled  that  capital 
with  the  utmost  joy.  The  Count  of  Galve,  Viceroy  of  New 


512  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Spain,  proceeded  with  all  the  high  officials  to  the  Cathedral 
to  return  thanks  to  God  and  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  for  this 
peaceful  recovery  of  the  province, 

Meanwhile  Yargas  with  Fathers  Corvera  and  Barroso  ad 
vanced  to  Pecos,  where  some  reluctance  was  shown  by  that 
tribe,  but  they  finally  submitted.  They  were  then  absolved, 
and  248  children  baptized.  In  the  tribes  which  acknowl 
edged  Tupatu  the  reception  of  Yargas  was  more  cordial. 
Near  the  Canada  of  Cochiti  were  the  people  of  San  Marco, 
Cochiti,  and  San  Felipe  gathered  in  one  town;  here  103 
children  were  baptized  ;  the  remnant  of  the  people  of  the 
pueblos  of  Cia  and  Santa  Ana  also  lived  together  in  one 
town;  there  and  at  Santo  Domingo,  the  people  after  being 
received  again  into  the  Church  brought  123  children  to  be 
baptized. 

On  a  high  mesa  a  band  of  Queres,  Jemes,  and  Apaches 
at  first  defied  the  Spaniards,  but  they  too  finally  yielded, 
were  absolved,  and  brought  to  the  sacred  font  117  children. 

In  this  tour  through  the  province,  completed  by  the  close 
of  October,  Yargas  without  firing  a  shot  had  restored  the 
Spanish  authority  and  Christianity.  Forty-three  Spaniards, 
chiefly  ^omen  and  their  children  born  in  captivity,  were  res 
cued,  with  some  half-breeds. 

Early  in  November  he  reached  Acoma,  a  town  never 
friendly  to  the  Spaniards.  In  spite  of  a  defiant  attitude,  it 
soon  yielded,  when  the  Governor  with  two  Friars  and  only 
fifteen  men  fearlessly  clambered  to  the  pueblo.  The  new 
Zuni  pueblo  on  the  Galisteo  cliff  was  next  gained,  the  peo 
ple  absolved  and  29±  children  christened  as  87  had  been  at 
Acoma.  At  Zuni  the  first  and  only  sign  of  respect  for  re 
ligion  was  found.  Here  Yargas  was  taken  to  a  room  with 
a  very  dimimitive  door.  "Within  on  a  table  two  tallow  can 
dles  were  burning  on  a  kind  of  altar  covered  with  pieces  of 


THE  NEW  MISSIONARIES.  513 

vestments.  Beneath  them  were  two  crucifixes,  an  oil  paint 
ing  of  the  Crucifixion,  and  one  of  Saint  John  the  Baptist,  a 
monstrance  with  its  luna,  four  silver  chalices,  and  three 
patens,  a  missal  and  other  books  with  two  bells.  Some  of 
the  Zunis  who  had  clung  to  the  faith  amid  the  general  apos 
tasy  had  secured  these  hallowed  objects,  and  kept  them  with 
all  due  honor  in  absolute  secrecy,  waiting  till  religion  reas 
serted  her  authority.  With  deep  emotion  the  missionaries 
received  these  relics  of  their  martyred  brethren.  Yargas 
then  proceeded  to  the  Moqui  towns,  which  all  submitted  ex 
cept  Oraybi,  a  town  he  was  induced  no,t  to  visit  on  account 
of  its  pretended  distance.  The  baptisms  were  273. 

Before  the  close  of  December,  Yargas  re-entered  El  Paso, 
having  restored  the  Spanish  influence  in  the  province,  by  a 
singular  display  of  prudence,  judgment,  and  courage.1 

With  all  this  apparent  success  the  Governor  of  New 
Mexico  felt  that  the  moral  influence  acquired  would  soon  be 
lost  unless  the  province  was  actually  reoccupied.  The  Yice- 
roy  professed  great  earnestness  in  the  matter,  but  the  year 
1693  was  rapidly  passing,  and  no  effectual  steps  were  taken. 
Yargas  then  collected  all  the  old  inhabitants  of  Xew  Mexico, 
and  other  settlers  whom  he  could  influence,  and  set  out  from 
El  Paso  on  the  13th  of  October,  with  seventy  families,  and 
many  single  persons,  in  all  800  souls.  They  were  accom 
panied  by  Father  Salvador  of  San  Antonio  as  Gustos,  who 
went  to  restore  the  missions  with  Fathers  John  de  Zavaleta, 
Francis  Casanas  de  Jesus  Maria,  John  de  Alpuente,  John 
Mufioz  de  Castro,  John  Daza,  Joseph  Diez,  Anthony  Car- 


1  Letters  of  Vargas  to  the  Viceroy,  Oct.  16,  1692.  Narrative  of  Ex 
pedition,  "  Documentos  para  la  Historia  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  129-137  ; 
Sigueuza  y  Gongora,  "Mercuric  Volante  con  las  Noticias  de  la  Recu- 
peracion  de  las  provincias  del  Nuevo  Mexico,"  1693-4.  Letter  of  F.  Sil- 
vestre  Velez  de  Escalante  to  F.  Morfi,  Santa  Fe,  Apl.  2,  1778. 
33 


514  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

bone!,  Francis  Corvera,  Jerome  Prieto,  John  Anthony  del 
Corral,  Anthony  Vahomonde,  Anthony  de  Obregon,  Dom 
inic  of  Jesus  Mary,  Bonaventure  de  Contreras,  Joseph  Nar- 
vaez  JBalverde,  and  Diego  Zeinos.  Escorted  by  soldiers  from 
El  Paso  and  other  posts,  Yargas  advanced  to  the  vicinity  of 
Socorro,  where  leaving  his  heavier  baggage  and  slower-mov 
ing  settlers  he  pushed  on.  The  Queres  at  San  Felipe,  Santa 
Ana,  and  Cia,  renewed  their  submission  to  him,  but  other 
tribes  at  once  began  to  plot  against  the  Spaniards,  though 
they  professed  submission  and  a  desire  for  missionaries.  On 
the  10th  of  December,  Yargas  entered  Santa  Fe,  and  bear 
ing  the  banner  which  Ofiate  bore  when  he  made  the  first 
conquest,  he  followed  the  religious,  who  in  procession  moved 
to  the  cross  chanting  psalms.  There  the  Te  Deum  and  the 
Litany  of  Loreto  were  sung  with  the  thrice  repeated ''  Praised 
forever  be  the  most  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Altar."  Yargas 
then  officially  reinstated  the  Gustos  in  possession  of  the  mis 
sions  of  New  Mexico. 

As  the  city  and  government  buildings  were  still  occupied 
by  the  Tanos,  Yargas  encamped  on  the  side  of  Mount  Te- 
zuque.  He  had  been  warned  of  a  conspiracy  of  tribes  to 
attack  him  on  the  way,  or  in  Santa  Fe.  His  movements 
hitherto  had  disconcerted  their  plans.  The  parish  church  in 
Santa  Fe  had  disappeared,  the  walls  of  that  of  San  Miguel  de 
los  Tlascaltecas  were  still  standing,  and  the  church  was  capa 
ble  of  restoration.  After  examining  it  with  Anthony  Bolsas, 
chief  of  the  Tanos  in  Santa  Fe,  Yargas  ordered  the  Indians 
to  proceed  to  repair  and  restore  it,  to  serve  as  the  church  for 
white  and  Indian  till  spring,  promising  that  his  people  should 
join  in  the  work.  Bolsas  evaded  the  order  under  the  pretext 
that  the  snows  were  too  heavy  in  the  mountains  to  cut  tim 
bers  for  roofing  the  church,  but  he  offered  for  use  as  a  chapel 
one  of  the  Indian  estufas  erected  and  used  for  their  idola- 


DANGERS  DISREGARDED.  515 

trous  rites.  This  the  missionaries  declined,  believing,  and 
not  without  some  ground,  that  the  Indians  made  the  offer 
only  in  hope  of  secretly  carrying  on  their  heathen  worship 
in  the  estufa  while  pretending  to  take  part  in  the  Catholic 
service.1 

Several  of  the  pueblos  began  to  ask  for  resident  mis 
sionaries,  and  Yargas  seeing  that  the  towns  readily  fur 
nished  Indian  corn  for  his  use,  was  inclined  to  accede  to 
their  request,  and  Fathers  were  actually  named  for  Santa 
Fe,  Tezuque,  Nambe,  San  Ildefonso,  San  Juan,  San  Lazaro, 
Picuries,  Taos,  Jemes,  Cia,  Pecos,  and '  Cochiti.  The  mis 
sionaries,  however,  who  had  all  been  mingling  with  the  In 
dians,  and  endeavoring  to  win  their  confidence,  had  learned 
that  the  object  of  the  Indians  was  to  get  the  missionaries  into 
their  power  so  as  to  massacre  them  when  they  rose  on  the 
Spaniards.  Ye,  governor  of  Pecos,  whose  timely  warning 
had  saved  many  in  1680,  had  now  given  them  distinct  infor 
mation  of  the  plot.  Yargas  had  promised  Bishop  Montene 
gro  not  to  expose  the  lives  of  the  missionaries  rashly,  and  on 
the  18th  of  December,  the  Franciscan  Fathers  in  a  formal  act 
laid  the  matter  before  him  representing  the  danger  of  attempt 
ing  missions  at  once.2  Yargas  replied,  accusing  them  of 
"feigned  obedience  and  envy,"  and  tauntingly  offered  to 


1  This  secret  idolatry,  called  by  Spanish  writers  Nagualism,  was  con 
ducted  with  the  utmost  cunning.  The  idols  or  fetishes  of  the  medicine 
men  were  concealed  under  the  altars,  in  the  altar-lamps,  behind  pictures 
and  in  ornamental  work  of  the  churches,  and  the  Indians  were  really 
worshipping  these, while  apparently  hearing  mass.  The  adherents  of  the 
old  idolatry  formed  a  secret  society,  and  some  by  great  professions  of 
piety  managed  to  gain  the  confidence  of  missionaries,  and  so  aid  in  main 
taining  the  old  heathen  ideas.  The  Ven.  Anthony  Margil  apparently  by 
supernatural  light  often  detected  the  presence  of  these  idols,  and  un 
masked  the  hypocrites. 

'2  Representation  of  the  missionaries. 


f>16  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

escort  them  in  safety  to  the  central  mission  stations  assigned 
to  each.1 

Meanwhile  the  Tauos  showed  no  disposition  to  return  to 
their  old  pueblo  at  Galisteo,  and  the  settlers  in  the  Spanish 
camp  were  suffering  severely,  many  children  dying.  On  the 
28th  the  Tanos  openly  declared  war,  closed  the  gate  of  the 
town,  defying  the  Spaniards  from  the  walls,  shouting  out 
that  the  Devil  was  more  powerful  than  God  and  Mary.  "  All 
our  friends  are  coming,  and  we  will  kill  all  the  Spaniards 
and  not  let  one  escape.  The  Fathers  shall  be  our  servants 
for  a  time.  We  will  make  them  carry  wood,  and  bring  it 
down  from  the  mountain ;  and  when  they  have  served  us  we 
will  kill  them  all,  as  we  did  when  we  drove  the  Spaniards  out 
before." 

Yargas  saw  that  his  confidence  had  been  overweening  and 
that  prompt  action  was  required.  He  prepared  to  storm  the 
town.  Father  Zeinos  said  mass  and  exhorted  the  troops. 
Then  bearing  aloft  the  banner  of  Our  Lady  of  Refuge,  and 
chanting  the  Praise  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  the  Spanish 
soldiers  rushed  to  the  assault.  Under  a  shower  of  stones  and 
arrows  they  carried  a  tower  by  scaling  it,  and  set  fire  to  the 
great  door  of  the  town.  An  entrance  to  some  houses  was 
gained,  loopholes  were  made  in  the  walls,  and  a  fire  kept  up 
on  the  Indians.  Auxiliaries  of  the  besieged  approaching  the 
town  were  twice  driven  off.  By  this  time  the  Tanos  were 
completely  hemmed  in,  so  that  at  daybreak  they  gave  up  the 
struggle,  and  began  to  excuse  their  conduct ;  but  they  had 
shown  their  hatred  of  religion  when  they  demolished  the 
cross  and  beat  to  a  shapeless  mass  a  statue  of  Our  Lady.  Yar 
gas  felt  at  last  that  he  must  strike  terror  into  the  Indians  or 
prepare  for  constant  outbreaks.  Bolsa  and  the  men  taken  in 

1  "  Documentos  para  la  Historia  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  142-3. 


FATHER  JOHN  OF  JESUS.  517 

arms  were  condemned  to  be  shot,  and  after  Father  Alpuente 
had  prepared  them  for  death,  the  sentence  was  executed. 
The  rest  of  the  Tanos  were  distributed  as  slaves  among  the 
settlers,  each  captive  being  allowed  to  select  his  own  master. 
Regulation's  required  that  none  should  be  sold  or  taken  out  of 
the  city,  or  be  ill-treated,  and  all  were  to  be  sent  daily  to  the 
missionaries  for  instruction.  Santa  Fe  was  once  more  in  full 
possession  of  the  Spaniards,  and  then  apparently  the  Church 
of  San  Miguel  was  restored,  to  be  rebuilt  in  the  last  century 
and  remain  to  our  day. 

The  severity  of  Vargas  did  not  crush  the  spirit  of  insur 
rection.  The  early  part  of  1694  was  taken  up  in  operations 
against  the  Indians,  in  which  he  was  not  always  successful. 
But  he  was  cheered  by  the  intelligence  that  Father  Francis 
Farfan  was  at  El  Paso  with  seventy-six  families  of  settlers. 
As  he  durst  not  detach  any  portion  of  his  force,  he  was  un 
able  to  furnish  them  an  escort,  but  he  sent  them  provisions 
and  they  reached  Santa  Fe  in  June.  The  military  operations 
continued  during  the  summer,  but  amid  them  he  captured 
two  Jemes,  who  were  pardoned  on  their  offer  to  show  where 
Father  John  of  Jesus  was  buried  and  the  church  plate  hid 
den.  With  the  banner  of  Our  Lady  of  Refuge,  and  his 
principal  officers,  Yargas  proceeded  to  the  spot  to  which 
they  guided  him.  Then,  after  chanting  the  Salva  Regina, 
he  ordered  the  ground  to  be  opened.  The  bones  of  a  person 
of  small  stature  were  found,  an  arrow  fixed  in  the  spine,  the 
skull  recognized  by  some  present  as  resembling  the  mission 
ary.  Deeming  them  sufficiently  identified,  Fathers  Alpu 
ente,  Obregou,  and  Carbonel  collected  the  precious  remains 
of  their  mortified  and  apostolical  predecessor,  and  carried 
them  reverently  to  Santa  Fe,  where  they  were  placed  in  a 
box  of  cedar,  covered  with  damask  and  fine  linen,  and  on 
the  llth  of  August,  after  a  solemn  service  in  presence  of  all 


518  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

the  people,  they  were  deposited  on  the  gospel  side  of  the 
chapel  which  served  temporarily  as  the  parish  church.1 

The  Jemes  at  this  time  asked  peace,  and  Vargas  agreed 
on  condition  that  they  returned  to  their  old  pueblo,  where 
they  were  to  erect  a  chapel  and  house  for  the  missionary  as 
signed  to  them,  Father  Francis  Casanas.  That  holy  mission 
ary,  whom  we  have  seen  already  laboring  in  the  unfruitful 
soil  of  Texas,  appealed  to  Yargas  for  the  release  of  the 
Jemes  held  by  him  as  prisoners,  and  these,  after  the  tribe 
had  shown  its  good-will  by  co-operation  in  the  field,  were  re 
leased  by  the  Governor. 

Then  the  Tehuas  and  Tanos  who  had  restored  their  old 
pueblos,  solicited  missionaries.  On  the  5th  of  October,  1694:, 
Father  John  Munoz  de  Castro,  the  vice-custos,  set  out  to  in- 
stal  the  missionaries  in  their  towns.  Father  Francis  Cor- 
vera  remained  at  San  Ildefonso,  from  which  he  was  to  attend 
Jacona,  Father  Jerome  Prieto  in  charge  of  Santa  Clara,  Fa 
ther  Anthony  Obregon  to  reside  in  San  Cristobal  and  take 
charge  of  San  Lorenzo.  Xo  chapel  or  house  had  been  as  vet 
erected  in  any  of  the  towns,  and  the  missionaries  took  up 
their  abode  in  hastily  constructed  huts.  In  each  pueblo  Yar 
gas  explained  to  the  people  the  veneration  and  obedience  due 
the  missionaries,  and  urged  the  Indians  to  erect  churches  and 
houses  for  them  at  once.  He  undoubtedly  believed  the 
presence  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers  the  best  means  of  making 
the  submission  of  the  Indians  sincere  and  lasting.  The  mis 
sionaries  were  less  sanguine;  yet  they  remained  cheerfully 
to  exercise  the  ministry,  though  conscious  that  the  Indians 
had  not  laid  aside  their  hostile  feelings,  and  regarded  them 
with  no  friendly  eye. 

Shortly  after   Father  Diego  Zeinos  was  installed  in  the 

1  "  Documentos  para  la  Historia  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  143-161. 


PROGRESS  OF  MISSIONS.  519 

mission  of  Our  Lady  of  Portiuncula  at  Pecos,  where  the  peo 
ple  had  already  built  him  a  house,  and  were  roofing  a  tem 
porary  chapel.  Father  Anthony  Carbonel  was  placed  at  San 
Felipe  and  Father  John  Alpuente  at  Cia.  The  Queres  of 
Santo  Domingo  submitted,  and  were  absolved  by  their  mis 
sionary,  Father  Francis  of  Jesus,  for  whom  they  had  pre 
pared  a  convenient  residence. 

Having  thus  restored  the  missionaries  to  the  most  import 
ant  points  in  the  territory,  Father  Salvador  proceeded  to  El 
Paso,  where  he  resigned  his  office  and  was  succeeded  as  cus- 
tos  of  the  mission  by  Father  Francis  Vargas,  who  had  arrived 
with  four  other  priests.  The  work  of  re-establishing  the 
missions  went  on;  the  Indians  returning  with  apparent  readi 
ness  to  the  old  Catholic  practices.  Fathers  John  Mimoz  de 
Castro  and  Anthony  Moreno  remained  in  Santa  Fe  ;  Father 
Joseph  Diaz,  who  had  completely  gained  the  good-will  of  the 
people  of  Tezuque  by  his  devoted  affection,  remained  with 
the  Indians  of  that  pueblo  ;  Father  Joseph  Garcia  Marin  be 
gan  his  labors  at  Santa  Clara ;  Father  Carbonel,  at  the  voice 
of  his  superior,  left  San  Felipe  for  Cochiti,  where  the  Indians 
had  reared  a  chapel  and  house,  more  fortunate  than  Father 
Michael  Tirso,  who  found  at  Santo  Domingo  no  chapel  or 
house,  and  a  miserable  hut  as  his  only  refuge. 

In  1695  a  new  city  styled  Villa  Kueva  de  Santa  Cruz  was 
founded  at  La  Canada  with  sixty  families  from  Mexico,  and 
Father  Anthony  Moreno  became  the  first  rector.  During 
the  same  year  Father  Anthony  Azevedo  was  stationed  at 
Nambe,  and  missionaries  at  last  restored  Catholic  service  at 
Picuries  and  Taos. 

All  seemed  so  quiet  that  Spaniards  scattered  unsuspect 
ingly  through  the  country :  but  the  missionaries  being  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  pueblos,  discerned  and  reported  that  a 
new  revolt  was  brewing.  Vargas  charged  them  with  pusil- 


520  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

lanimity,  and  the  Franciscans  silently  submitted.  Yet  in 
March,  1696,  Father  Yargas,  the  custos,  represented  to  the 
Governor  the  evident  danger  of  the  missionaries,  who  were 
alone  and  unprotected,  and  who  would  certainly  be  the  first 
victims,  as  the  Governor  could  not  in  case  of  outbreak  send 
a  force  to  rescue  them  all.  He  asked  a  small  body  of  soldiers 
at  each  mission,  but  the  Governor  professed  his  inability  to 
send  them.  When  further  representations  of  danger  were 
made  to  him,  Yargas  said  that  any  missionary  who  felt  he 
was  in  danger  might  come  to  Santa  Fe,  if  he  chose.  A  few 
did  so,  but  as  Yargas  in  writing  to  the  Governor  and  Bishop 
accused  them  of  cowardice,  and  said  that  their  withdrawal 
and  removal  of  vestments  and  church  plate  would  excite  sus 
picion  and  cause  the  very  danger  they  feared,  the  missionaries 
returned  to  their  posts,  offering  their  lives  a  sacrifice  to  God. 

The  result  was  not  long  delayed.  On  the  4th  of  June, 
1696,  the  Picuries,  Taos,  Tehuas,  Tanos,  Queres,  and  Jemes 
rose  in  rebellion.  Their  first  act  was  to  profane  the  churches 
and  sacred  vessels  and  objects,  their  next  to  butcher  the  mis 
sionaries.  At  San  Cristobal  the  Tanos  killed  Father  Joseph 
de  Arbizu  and  Father  Anthony  Carbonel,  missionaries  of 
Taos.  Father  Francis  Corvera  and  Father  Anthony  Moreno, 
missionaries  at  Xambe,  were  shut  up  in  a  cell  in  San  Ilde- 
fonso  by  the  Tehuas,  who  closed  every  window  and  opening, 
then  set  fire  to  the  convent  and  church,  leaving  the  religious 
to  die,  suffocated  by  the  heat  and  smoke.  The  holy  Father 
Casafias  was  lured  out  of  Jemes,  under  the  pretext  that  a 
dying  man  wished  a  priest  to  hear  his  confession.  Then  the 
war-chief  of  the  pueblo  and  the  interpreter  killed  him  with 
their  macanas  or  clubs,  the  holy  missionary  repeating  the 
names  of  Jesus  and  Mary  till  he  expired. 

Besides  the  missionaries,  isolated  Spaniards  were  every 
where  cut  down. 


MISSIONARIES  PUT  TO  DEATH.  521 

Vargas  at  last  saw  that  the  conspiracy  had  long  been 
formed,  and  embraced  all  but  four  or  five  pueblos.  Once 
more  he  took  the  field,  and  a  long  war  was  maintained  by 
him  and  his  successor  Cubero.  During  this  period  all  the 
peaceful  efforts  of  the  missionaries  were  paralyzed.1 

After  the  reduction  of  the  revolted  pueblos,  the  missions 
were  restored,  and  for  some  years  the  Franciscans  continued 
their  labors  undisturbed,  the  increasing  number  of  Spanish 
settlers  giving  them  an  overpowering  strength  which  held 
the  Indians  in  check. 

In  1700  Father  John  de  Garaicoechea  won  the  Zunis, 
and  induced  them  to  leave  the  rocky  fortress  and  return  to 
their  old  pueblo  in  the  fertile  plain,  and  the  same  year  Fa 
ther  Anthony  Miranda,  a  religious  of  singular  virtue  and 
zeal,  obtained  similar  success  at  Acoma,  and  established  a 
chapel  at  Laguna,  which  he  visited  regularly.  To  protect 
these  apostolic  men  the  Governor  sent  a  small  detachment 
of  soldiers,  but  as  frequently  happened  these  men  were  more 
a  detriment  than  a  benefit  to  the  missions,  creating  ill-will 
and  setting  an  example  of  vice.  Father  John  in  vain  solic 
ited  their  removal,  but  on  Sunday,  March  4,  1T03,  while  he 
was  chanting  the  versicle  in  praise  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
after  mass,  the  Indians  killed  one  Spaniard  in  the  choir,  and 
two  more  at  the  door  of  the  church  in  Zuili.  The  interpre 
ter  and  some  others  saved  the  missionary,  and  an  Indian 
woman  hurried  him  to  her  house,  where  she  concealed  him 
for  three  days  in  a  chest.  When  all  had  become  quiet  in  the 
pueblo  he  reappeared,  and  was  received  with  joy  by  his  flock, 
the  great  part  of  which  were  ignorant  of  the  plot  which  was 
the  work  of  seven  men.  Governor  Cubero  sent  troops  to 
Zuni,  who  conveyed  Father  Garaicoechea  most  unwillingly 

1  " Document os para  la  Historia  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  161-177. 


522  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

to  Santa  Fe,  for  lie  deemed  his  presence  more  essential  than 
ever  at  Zuui  to  maintain  the  faithful  in  their  religion.  He 

c1* 

was  not  able  to  return  till  1705,  when  he  was  well  received, 
and  resumed  his  missionary  duties ;  but  Zufii  was  soon  added 
to  the  already  onerous  duties  of  Father  Miranda.1 

In  1706  the  city  of  San  Francisco  de  Alburquerque  was 
founded,  the  name  being  subsequently  changed  to  San 
Felipe.  It  began  with  thirty-five  Spanish  families,  and 
steps  were  taken  at  the  outset  to  meet  their  religious  wants, 
a  church  being  erected,  which  the  king  supplied  with  the 
requisite  vestments,  plate,  and  other  articles  required  in  the 
services  of  the  altar. 

.  The  temporary  chapel  erected  by  Governor  Vargas  on  re 
capturing  Santa  Fe,  had  served  as  a  parish  church  till  this 
time,  but  was  in  a  wretched  condition,  and  far  too  small  for 
the  increasing  number  of  the  people  and  the  garrison.  The 
Marquis  de  la  Penuela  y  Ahnirante,  who  was  Governor  of 
New  Mexico  in  1708,  proposed  to  the  Viceroy  of  Xew  Spain 
to  erect  a  suitable  parish  church  at  his  own  expense,  if  he 
was  permitted  to  employ  the  Indians  of  the  neighboring 
towns.  This  was  permitted,  but  the  Viceroy  made  it  a  con 
dition  that  the  workmen  were  to  be  paid,  and  that  they 
should  not  be  required  to  work  on  the  church  at  the  time 
their  services  were  required  to  gather  in  their  crops.  The 
Marquis  then  began  the  new  church. 

In  1 709  the  pueblo  of  Jemes  was  sacked  by  the  Xavajos, 
who  carried  off  all  the  vestments  and  church  plate.  The 
same  year  the  energetic  Gustos,  Father  John  de  la  Pena,  col- 

"  Documentos para  la  Historia  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  177-186,  190, 
194.  Letter  of  Father  Garaicoechea,  Zuni,  March  7,  1703  ;  of  Father 
Miranda,  Laguna,  March  12,  1703.  In  1707  Father  Francis  de  Irazabal 
appears  as  missionary  at  Alona  or  Zuni ;  and  in  1713  Father  Carlos  Del- 
gado,  a  young  and  zealous  missionary,  at  Acoma  and  Laguna 


EPISCOPAL  VISITATIONS.  523 

lected  the  Teliuas,  who  were  scattered  in  different  pueblos, 
and  even  among  the  Apaches,  and  revived  their  old  mission 
at  Isleta,  obtaining  all  needed  vestments  and  plate  for  the 
chapel.  He  also  made  a  careful  visitation  of  all  the  missions, 
accompanied  by  a  secular  priest.  He  suppressed  many  abuses, 
superstitions,  and  heathen  observances  among  the  converted 
Indians,  especially  scalp-dances  and  the  estufas.1 

The  civil  authorities  took  up  the  matter,  and  rigorous 
means  were  taken  to  suppress  the  estufas,  which  were  origin 
ally  vapor  baths,  but  became  the  secret  scene  of  heathen 
rites,  and  plots  against  the  Christian  religion  and  the  whites, 
fomented  by  the  medicine-men.  From  time  to  time  active 
governors  aided  by  the  missionaries  would  make  the  attempt 
to  eradicate  this  secret  idolatry,  but  after  a  while  vigilance 
would  relax,  and  the  old  heathenism  would  revive. 

[New  Mexico  upon  its  settlement  was  for  a  brief  term  in 
cluded  in  the  diocese  of  Guadalajara,  but  when  the  see  of 
Durango,  or  Guadiana,  was  erected  by  Pope  Paul  V.,  on  the 
llth  of  October,  1620,  it  was  included  in  the  limits  of  the 
new  diocese.  The  Kt.  Rev.  Benedict  Crespo  took  posses 
sion  of  the  see  on  the  22d  of  March,  1723.  A  bishop  of 
energy  and  devotion  to  duty,  he  made  three  visitations  of  his 
extensive  diocese  during  the  eleven  years  that  he  filled  the 
see,  and  during  the  second  visitation  he  penetrated  to  ISTew 
Mexico,  and  was  the  first  bishop  who  had  strength  and 
courage  to  overcome  all  the  difficulties  in  his  way.  His 
presence  encouraged  the  missionaries  and  strengthened  the 
faith  of  all. 

His  successor,  Et.  Rev.  Martin  de  Elizacochea,  who  be 
came  Bishop  of  Durango  in  1Y36,  followed  the  example  of 
Bishop  Crespo.  He  made  a  visitation  of  New  Mexico,  and 

1  "Documentos  para  la  Historia  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  192,  196-7. 


524  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

a  record  of  his  visit  is  graven  on  Inscription  Rock  near  the 
Rio  Ziiili.  "  On  the  28th  day  of  September,  1737,  the  most 
Illustrious  Dr.  Don  Martin  de  Elizacochea,  Bishop  of  Du- 
rango,  arrived  here,  and  the  29th  he  proceeded  to  Zufii."  ' 

In  1733  missions  were  begun  among  the  Jicarilla  Apaches 
near  Taos,  by  the  Father  Gustos  John  Ortes  de  Yelasco,  but 
the  Governor  broke  them  up,  as  the  mission  diminished  the 
fur  trade.  In  1742  Father  John  Menchero  attempted  to  re 
store  religion  among  the  Moquis  and  Navajos.  The  next 
year  Fathers  Delgado  and  Pino  settled  four  hundred  and 
forty-one  souls  from  Moqui,  in  the  mission  of  San  Agus- 
tin  de  la  Isleta,  although  the  Governor  refused  to  encourage 
the  Franciscans.  Attempts  were  also  made  to  win  the 
Navajos.8 

Then  the  notices  of  the  state  of  religion  in  New  Mexico 
became  few  and  vague.  In  1748  the  churches  are  reported 
as  in  good  condition,  and  comparing  favorably  with  those  of 
Europe.  Missionaries  officiated  in  suitable  churches  at  Santa 
Cruz,  Pecos,  Galisteo,  El  Paso,  San  Lorenzo,  Socorro,  Zia,  Can- 
deleras,  Taos,  Santa  Ana,  San  Agustin  de  Isleta,  Tezuque, 
Nambe,  San  Ildefonso,  Santa  Clara,  San  Juan  de  los  Cabal- 
leros,  Picuries,  Cochiti,  Jemes,  Laguna,  Acoma,  and  Guada- 
lupe.3 


1  "  Concilios  Provinciates  Primero  y  Segundo  celebrados  en  la  ... 
ciudad  de  Mexico,"  Mexico,  1769,  pp.  373-4.     Gams,  "  Series  Episcopo- 
rum,"  p.  149.     Rt.  Rev.  Peter  Tamarou,  Bishop  of  Durango,  1757-1768, 
who  addressed  to  the  king  a  full  description  of  his  diocese,  and  who  died 
in  Sinaloa,  during  a  visitation,  also  apparently  reached  New  Mexico,  but 
the  acts  of  these  visitations  are  not  in  the  archives  of  the  Diocese,  which 
were  examined  for  me  by  the  present  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  ;  and  Bishop 
Tamaron's  report,  though  recently  seen,  could  not  now  be  found  for  me 
in  Spain. 

2  Morn,  "Descripcion  Geografica  del  Nuevo  Mexico,"  1782. 

3  Villasenor,  "  Teatro  Americano,"  pp.  411-422. 


NEW  MEXICO  TOWNS. 


525 


The  Spanish  settlements  were  Santa  Fe,  San  Miguel  del 
Bado,  Alameda,  Alburquerque,  Tome,  Belen,  Sabinal,  So- 
corro,  Abiquiu,  with  several  smaller  places.  Santa  Fe  had 
its  secular  parish  priest,  as  El  Paso  also  had  ;  all  other 
churches  whether  of  Spanish  or  Indians  were  attended  by 
the  Franciscan  Fathers,  numbering  about  twenty-two. 


RECORD   OP   BISHOP   ELIZACOCHEA'S   VISITATION   ON   INSCRIPTION   ROCK, 


CHAPTEE  IY. 

THE    CHUKCH    IN   ARIZONA,    1690-1763. 

THE  Franciscan  missions  in  New  Mexico  had  never  ex 
tended  successfully  to  the  tribes  beyond  the  limits  of  that 
province,  although  efforts  were  made  at  times  from  Texas  and 
New  Mexico  to  win  the  fierce  Apaches.  The  Society  of  Je 
sus,  after  relinquishing  Florida,  founded  a  province  in  Mexi 
co  which  has  a  glorious  history.  At  an  early  day  the  Church 
began  to  evangelize  Sinaloa,1  then  pushed  northward  and  es 
tablished  her  great  Sonora  mission  in  1590,  winning  many 
tribes  to  the  Church. 

The  remarkable  missionary,  Father  Eusebius  Francis 
Kiihn,  called  in  Spanish  Kino,  was  the  apostle  of  Pimeria 
Alta,  the  Upper  Pirn  a  country,  embracing  much  of  our 
present  territory  of  Arizona.  He  was  a  native  of  Trent,  and 
entered  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  Bavaria.  After  being  Su 
perior  of  the  Fathers  who  served  as  chaplains  in  the  fleet  of 
Admiral  Obando,  he  was  appointed  to  found  the  Pima  mis 
sions. 

He  entered  Upper  Pimeria  March  13,1687,  and  established 
his  first  mission  at  Nuestra  Senora  de  los  Dolores,  having 
gained  a  chief  named  Coxi  as  his  first  convert.  From  this 
point  he  extended  his  influence  in  all  directions,  evincing 
wonderful  ability  in  gaining  the  Indians,  and  in  presenting 
the  truths  of  Christianity  in  a  way  to  meet  their  comprehen 
sion  and  reach  their  hearts. 

1t  was  founded  in  1590  by  Saint  Francis  Borgia,  a  saint  identified  also 
the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Florida. 

(526) 


FATHER  KUHN'S  LABORS.  527 

Xo  life  has  been  written  of  this  Father,  who  stands  with 
the  Venerable  Anthony  Margil  as  the  greatest  missionaries 
who  labored  in  this  country,  extraordinary  as  were  the  ser 
vices  of  Fathers  White,  Fremin,  Bruyas,  Allouez,  and  Druil- 
lettes.  Of  Father  Kiilm,  the  historian  of  California  says : 

u  He  labored  with  apostolic  zeal  in  converting  and  civiliz- 
ino-  the  heathen  Indians.  He  made  constant  excursions  into 

o 

their  territory  with  intrepid  valor  and  unattended.  He  as 
sembled  many  in  towns,  forming  them  to  agriculture  and  the 
keeping  of  herds ;  because  this  was  a  step  towards  maintain 
ing  missionaries  for  their  conversion  an(J.  spiritual  good,  and 
for  their  civilization.  Overcoming  the  tedious  difficulties, 
he  learned  their  different  languages,  translated  the  catechism 
and  prayers,  which  he  then  taught  them  orally,  undeterred 
by  their  boorishness  and  indocility.  He  formed  vocabularies 
and  instructions  for  his  fellow-laborers  and  successors ;  at 
tracted  the  Indians  by  his  wonderful  gentleness  and  affability, 
till  they  all  confided  in  him,  as  though  he  were  the  father  of 
each  one  individually.  He  built  houses  and  chapels ;  formed 
missions  and  towns;  conciliated  hostile  nations;  and  if  he 
could  have  obtained  the  auxiliary  missioners  whom  he  repeated 
ly  solicited,  and  not  been  hampered  by  constant  impediments,, 
calumnies,  and  false  reports,"  "  he  would  then  easily  have  con. 
verted  all  the  tribes  lying  between  Sonora  and  the  rivers  Gila 
and  Colorado."  l  Clavigero  affirms  all  this,  and  states,  more 
over,  that  he  travelled  more  than  twenty  thousand  miles,  and 
baptized  more  than  48,000  infants  and  adults.  "  On  his  long 
and  toilsome  journeys  he  carried  no  provision  but  some 
parched  corn  ;  he  never  omitted  to  say  mass,  and  nevei 
slept  in  a  bed.  He  journeyed  on,  communing  with  God  in 
prayer,  or  chanting  psalms  and  hymns." ' 

1  Venegas,  "  Noticia  de  la  California,"  Madrid,  1757,  ii.,  p.  88. 
4  Clavigero,  "Storia  della  California,"  Venice,  1789,  i.,  pp.  263-4. 


528  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

He  was  a  man  of  constant  prayer,  visiting  our  Lord  in  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  a  hundred  times  in  the  day,  gifted  with 
tears,  and  spending  his  nights  in  contemplation  or  austere 
exercises,  yet  finding  time  for  mission  work,  such  as  few 
would  have  attempted  and  no  other  man  could  have  sustained. 

An  Indian  outbreak,  in  which  Father  Saeta  was  cruelly 
put  to  death,  convulsed  all  Sonora,  and  for  a  time  checked 
the  progress  of  the  missions  in  Upper  Pimeria,  but  when 
quiet  was  restored  at  the  close  of  1696,  Father  Kiilm  obtained 
fellow-laborers,  founding  missions  at  Guevavi,  Cocospera,  San 
Cayetano,  and  San  Xavier  del  Bac.  The  last  was  the  largest 
rancheria  in  Upper  Pimeria,  with  176  houses  and  803  souls. 
Hearing  of  the  Casas  Grandes  near  the  Gila,  Father  Kiihn 
visited  those  remarkable  ruins,  and  in  1698  descended  the 
Gila  to  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado,  announcing  the  Gospel 
to  Pima,  Papago,  Cocomaricopa,  and  Yuma.  Yet  the  lives 
of  missionaries  were  in  constant  peril,  for  in  January  of  that 
year  Cocospera,  where  Father  Peter  Ruiz  de  Contreras  was 
stationed,  was  sacked  and  burned  by  the  Apaches  and  Yu- 
mas. 

His  appeals  for  aid  were  traversed ;  the  converts  he  col 
lected  were  driven  away  to  the  mines  by  Spanish  officials,, 
till  by  his  complaints  to  the  king  a  check  was  put  to  the  un 
christian  course.  Four  Fathers  are  said  to  have  come  in 
1701,  two  of  whom  were  sent  to  Guevavi  and  San  Xavier 
del  Bac,  but  it  was  probably  only  an  intention  never  carried  out. 
His  only  permanent  fellow-laborer  was  Father  Augustine  de 
Campos,  who  joined  him  in  1693.  Though  something  was 
done  in  1704,  and  some  churches  were  rebuilt  in  Sonora,  the 
movement  does  not  appear  to  have  reached  Arizona. 

Undeterred  by  his  reverses,  Father  Kiihn  founded  the 
mission  of  Santa  Maria  Soamca,  or  St.  Mary  Immaculate, 
and  restored  those  at  Guevavi  and  San  Xavier  del  Bac  He 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  KUHN.  529 

induced  the  Indians  to  settle  around  missions  and  stations 
where  he  erected  adobe  churches  and  houses.  He  encouraged 
them  to  build  regular  houses,  dig  irrigating  trenches,  and 
cultivate  the  soil.1 

Early  in  1711  his  devoted  fellow-laborer,  Father  Campos, 
who  had  completed  the  church  of  Saint  Francis  Xavier  at 
Magdalena,  invited  Father  Kiihn  to  its  dedication.  Praying 
before  the  altar  over  which  hung  the  picture  of  his  patron 
and  model,  the  Apostle  of  the  Indies,  Father  Kiihn  felt  that 
his  lifework  was  ended,  and  prepared  for  a  death  which  was 
the  holy  crown  of  his  devoted  life. 

After  his  death  in  1711  his  work  was  maintained  by  Father 
de  Campos,  but  when  he,  too,  was  called  away,  none  came  to 
continue  their  labors  till  1720.  ]^ine  missionaries  sent  in 
that  year  found  much  to  be  done.  Churches  had  fallen  to 
decay ;  little  trace  of  former  teaching  could  be  discerned  in 
the  Indians,  who  had  relapsed  into  their  old  pagan  ways. 

In  1727  the  Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  Crespo,  Bishop  of  Durango, 
visited  this  portion  of  his  diocese.  He  was  pained  to  see  that 
the  missions  had  not  been  sustained,  and  that  so  many  In 
dians  were  left  without  instruction.  He  resolved  to  make  an 
appeal  to  the  King  of  Spain.  Philip  V.  ordered  three  cen 
tral  missions  to  be  established  at  the  royal  expense.  In  1731, 
to  the  joy  of  the  Bishop,  three  Jesuit  Fathers  were  sent — Fa 
ther  Ignatius  Xavier  Keler,  Father  John  Baptist  Grashoffer, 
who  took  up  his  residence  at  Guevavi,  and  Father  Philip 
Segesser,  who  revived  the  mission  at  San  Xavier  del  Bac.  Of 
the  last  two,  one  soon  died,  and  another  was  prostrated  by 
sickness,  but  Father  Ignatius  Keler  became  the  leader  of  the 
new  missions  in  that  district,  taking  possession  of  Santa  Maria 
Soamca  April  20,  1732.  The  pious  Marquis  of  Yillapuente, 

1  Letter  of  FF.  Bcrnal,  Kiiio,  etc.,  Dec.  4,  1697.  " Documentos  para  la 
Historia  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  804-7. 
34 


530  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

who  died  in  February,  1739,  left  funds  to  found  two  other 
missions.1 

San  Xavier  del  Bac  was  the  largest  mission,  surrounded  by 
Sobaipuris,  Papagos,  and  Pimas,  with  the  presidio  of  Tucson 
not  far  off,  which  the  Jesuits  also  attended,  no  secular  priest 
accepting  the  dangerous  ministry. 

Guevavi  had  as  stations  Sonoitac,  Calabazas,  Tumacacori, 
and  Aribaca,  with  a  presidio  or  military  station  at  Tubac. 

These  central  missions  and  many  of  the  stations  visited 
from  them  had  neat  adobe  churches,  supplied  with  becoming 
vestments  and  altar  service  of  silver;  several  of  them  had 
organs,  obtained  by  the  missionaries  to  gratify  the  Indian 
love  of  music.  At  each  of  these  churches  and  chapels  the 
children  recited  an  abridgment  of  the  Christian  Doctrine 
every  day  in  their  own  language  and  also  in  Spanish,  while 
old  and  young  did  so  on  Sundays  and  holidays  after  mass,  at 
which  an  instruction  had  been  given.  During  Lent  there 
were  regular  courses  of  sermons. 

Yet  so  dull  were  the  minds  of  these  Indians,  that  an  old 
Sonora  missionary  once  declared  that  there  were  no  Christians 
in  the  world  who  recited  the  Christian  Doctrine  more  con 
stantly,  or  who  really  knew  it  less  than  these  Indians. 

On  Saturday  the  Rosary  and  Litany  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
were  recited. 

In  1744  Father  Keler  reported  that  he  had  baptized  more 
than  two  thousand,  and  had  a  Christian  flock  of  one  thousand 
brave,  industrious  Pimas,  who  had  well-tilled  fields  with 
herds  and  flocks.  Father  Keler  extended  his  mission  labors 
at  the  peril  of  his  life  to  the  Gila  and  beyond  it. 

In  1742  the  moving  camp  of  San  Felipe  de  Jesus,  estab- 


1  "  Apostolicos  Afanes,"  pp.  340-3.     Pfefferkorn,  "  Beschreibung  der 
Landschaft  Sonora,"  p.  327. 


DEATH  OF  FF.  TELLO  AND  RUHEN.  531 

lished  to  protect  the  missions,  was  fixed  permanently  at  Te- 
renate,  to  be  a  bulwark  against  the  Apaches,  and  that  presidio 
or  garrison  fell  under  the  care  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries ; 
but  of  so  little  avail  was  it,  that  on  the  16th  of  February,  1746, 
the  Apaches  attacked  Cocospera,  one  of  the  dependent  mis 
sions,  and  burned  the  church.  Father  Keler  was  succeeded 
in  time  by  Father  Diego  Joseph  Barrera. 

In  1750  Father  Keler  was  still  at  Soamca,  Father  Joseph 
Garrucho  at  Guevavi,  and  Father  Francisco  Paver  at  San 
Xavier  del  Bac.  The  next  year  the  Pimas  rose  and  destroyed 
several  missions,  killing  two  missionaries,  Fathers  Tello  and 
Ruhen,  in  Sonora.  They  also  destroyed  Aribaca,  killing 
many  of  the  Catholic  Indians  there. 

Father  Keler  opposing  the  injustice  of  an  official  was  mis 
represented,  and  for  a  time  was  compelled  to  leave  his  mis 
sion,  but  his  services  were  too  much  needed,  and  he  was  soon 
permitted  to  return. 

Soon  after  this  tragedy  we  find  Father  Barrera  at  Santa 
Maria  Soamca,  Father  Ildefonso  Espinosa  at  San  Xavier, 
and  Father  Ignatius  Pfefferkorn  at  Guevavi.1  But  they  be 
held  the  Indians  of  their  missions  decreasing,  many,  from 
fear  of  the  Apaches  or  other  enemies,  leaving  their  towns  to 
seek  refuge  in  the  woods.3 

About  this  time  Father  Sedelmayr,  at  the  instance  of 
the  Spanish  Government,  was  evangelizing  the  tribes  on  the 
Gila,  erecting  seven  or  eight  churches  in  the  villages  of  the 
Papagos,  among  whom  the  German  Father  Bernard  Midden- 
dorf  also  labored,  and  Father  Keler  was  endeavoring  to  reach 
the  Moquis,  who  were  willing  to  receive  missionaries  of  any 
kind  but  Franciscans.3 

1  "Rudo  Ensayo,"  pp.  148-152. 

2 "  Doc.  para  la  Hist,  de  Mexico,"  III.,  i.,  pp.  686-7. 

3  "  Noticias  de  la  Pimeria  del  ano  de  1740."    Letter  of  Sedelmayr. 


532  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

While  the  Fathers  were  thus  employed,  the  terrible  order 
came  from  the  King  of  Spain,  tinder  which  every  member  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  was  seized  at  his  mission  as  a  criminal, 
and  hurried  off  to  a  prison-ship.  Father  Barrera  was  the 
last  at  Santa  Maria  Soamca;  Custodius  Ximeno,  an  Arra- 
gonese,  at  Guevavi ;  Father  Anthony  Castro,  an  Andalusian, 
at  San  Xavier  del  Bac.  Father  Pfefferkorn,  a  native  of 
Manheim  in  Germany,  who  has  left  us  a  most  interesting 
account  of  the  Sonora  mission,  had  been  transferred  to  Cu- 
curpe  in  1757.1 

Up  to  1763  no  considerable  Spanish  town  had  grown  up 
in  Arizona,  and  though  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  rich 
mineral  wealth  attracted  settlers,  the  fierce  and  constant  in 
roads  of  the  Apaches  made  life  insecure,  and  caused  many 
places  to  be  abandoned. 

By  the  summary  act  of  the  Spanish  monarch  every  church 
in  Arizona  was  closed,  and  the  Christian  Indians  were  de 
prived  of  priests  to  direct  them. 

In  the  vast  portion  of  our  territory  which  had  been  subject 
to  the  Catholic  kings,  the  state  of  religion  about  1763  was 
not  one  to  inspire  any  sanguine  hopes.  Florida  had  been 
ceded  to  Protestant  England,  and  religion  was  menaced  there 
with  utter  extinction — the  Indian  missions  had  been  almost 
annihilated  ;  in  Texas  progress  was  slow,  the  Indian  missions 
grouped  around  a  few  Spanish  settlements ;  Kew  Mexico 
seemed  to  need  a  local  bishop  to  reanimate  the  faith  of  the 
people ;  Arizona  was  deprived  of  its  clergy. 


'Pfefferkorn,  i.,  p.  335. 


BOOK  VI. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  FRENCH  TERRITORY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    CHURCH   IN   THE    MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY,    1690-1763. 

BISHOP  ST.  YALLIEB,  of  Quebec,  was  of  a  family  that  had 
seen  several  members  honored  with  the  mitre  in  France,  and 
was  full  of  the  spirit  of  the  episcopate  of  that  country.  With 
none  of  that  charm  of  personal  sanctity  which  enabled  Bishop 
Laval  to  accomplish  so  much  good,  Bishop  St.  Vallier  sought 
to  bring  everything  in  his  vast  diocese  into  strict  regularity 
by  precise  rules  and  regulations,  and  suffered  no  infringement 


FAC-SIMILE   OP  THE   SIGNATURE  OF  BISHOP  SAINT  VALLIER. 

on  what  he  regarded  as  the  rights  of  his  see.  His  administra 
tion  was  a  succession  of  personal  trials  and  troubles,  arising 
from  the  protests  made  by  him  or  against  him.  The  difficul 
ties  became  such  that  the  king  insisted  on  his  resignation  of 
the  See  of  Quebec,  and  the  Bishop's  attempted  return  to 
Canada  was  prevented  by  his  capture  at  sea  and  a  long  cap 
tivity  in  England,  where  he  was  detained  as  a  hostage  for  the 
surrender  of  the  Provost  of  Liege. 

Many  of  his  general  and  particular  acts  affected  the  Church 

(533) 


534  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

in  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  elsewhere  within  the  present 
limits  of  the  Kepublic. 

He  prepared  and  published  a  catechism  and  ritual  for  his 
diocese,  and  in  1690  he  held  a  diocesan  synod,  in  which  seven 
statutes  were  adopted,  the  most  important  prohibiting  the 
celebration  of  mass  or  the  conferring  of  baptism  in  private 
houses  in  any  place  where  there  was  a  church,  and  in  places 
where  there  was  yet  no  church  mass  was  not  to  be  said  in 
any  house  but  one  selected  for  the  purpose  and  approved  by 
the  Bishop.  The  attendance  of  the  faithful  at  mass  on  Sun 
days  and  holidays  was  to  be  rigorously  maintained.  In  a 
second  synod  held  at  Montreal,  March  3,  1694,  seven  other 
statutes  were  adopted,  chiefly  instructions  to  confessors. 
The  statutes  adopted  in  the  third  synod  held  at  Quebec,  Feb 
ruary  23,  1698,  were  twenty-nine  in  number.1  Among  other 
points  they  directed  exclusion  from  communion  of  those  who 
refused  to  pay  tithes ;  insisted  on  regular  catechetical  instruc 
tions,  the  proper  registration  of  baptisms,  marriages,  and  in 
terments,  and  the  suitable  adornment  of  churches.  They 
also  regulated  "  Blessed  Bread,"  censured  the  abuse  of  many 
in  leaving  the  church  during  sermon,  urged  the  establishment 
of  the  Sisters  of  the  Congregation  in  all  parishes  to  direct  the 
schools,  and  exhorted  the  faithful  to  liberality  in  almsgiving.2 

We  have  seen  that  he  protested  against  the  dismember 
ment  of  his  diocese  by  the  erection  of  Vicariates- Apostolic  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  this  was  apparently  prior  to  his 

"  Statuts  publics  dans  le  premier  Synode  term  le  9e  Novembre,  1G90." 
Archives  de  Quebec,  A.,  p.  285. 

2  "  Statuts  II.  Synod."  Ib.,  A.,  p.  522  ;  "  III.  Synod,"  A.,  p.  683.  He 
issued  pastorals  in  1692,  1694,  and  1695,  announcing  Jubilees  proclaimed 
by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff.  Bishop  St.  Vallier's  Statutes  remained  in 
force  in  all  parts  of  our  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi,  embraced  in  the 
diocese  of  Quebec  down  to  the  erection  of  the  see  of  Baltimore,  and  the 
recognition  of  the  authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Santiago  in  the  West. 


FATHER  GRAVIER,   VICAR-GENERAL.        535 

consecration  as  Bishop  in  1688.  Over  the  missions  in  the 
remote  parts  of  the  diocese  he  seems  to  have  watched  with 
great  care. 

In  the  Illinois  Father  James  Gravier  succeeded  the  veteran 
Allouez  about  1689,  and  in  December  of  the  following  year 
Bishop  St.  Vallier  appointed  him  his  Vicar-General.  The 
preamble  of  this  document  says :  "  Having  recognized  since 
we  took  possession  of  this  see,  that  the  Fathers  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  who  are  engaged  in  the  conversion  of  the  Indians 
of  this  country,  devote  themselves  thereto  with  all  care,  and 
take  all  pains  that  we  can  desire,  without  sparing  their  labors 
or  even  their  life,  and  in  particular  as  we  know  that  for  the 
last  twenty  years  they  have  labored  on  the  mission  of  the 
Illinois  whom  they  first  discovered,  to  whom  Father  Mar- 
quette  of  the  same  Society  published  the  faith  in  the  year 
1672,  and  subsequently  died  in  this  glorious  task  which  had 
been  confided  to  him  by  our  predecessor,  and  that  after  the 
death  of  Father  Marquette,  we  committed  it  to  Father  Al 
louez,  also  a  Jesuit,  who  after  laboring  there  for  several  years 
ended  his  life,  exhausted  by  the  great  hardships  which  he 
underwent  in  the  instruction  and  conversion  of  the  Islinois, 
Miamis,  and  other  nations,  and  finally  as  we  have  given 
the  care  of  this  mission  of  the  Islinois  and  other  surrounding 
nations  to  Father  Gravier  of  the  same  Society,  who  has  em 
ployed  himself  therein  with  great  benediction  bestowed  by 
God  on  his  labors,  for  this  cause  we  confirm  and  ratify  what 
we  have  done,  and  anew  confide  the  missions  of  the  Islinois 
and  surrounding  nations,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Miamis, 
Sious,  and  others  in  the  Ottawa  country,  and  towards  the 
AVest  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  give  the 
Superiors  of  the  said  missions  all  the  authority  of  our  Vicars- 
General,"  etc.1 

1  "  Archives  de  1'Archevgche  de  Quebec."    Kegistre,  A.,  p.  502. 


536  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  Miami  mission  on  St.  Joseph's  River,  also  prospered. 
Governor  Denonville  had  granted  to  the  missionaries  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus  a  concession  of  twenty  arpents  along  the 
river,  by  twenty  arpents  in  depth,  at  such  spot  as  they  should 
deem  most  suitable  to  erect  a  chapel  and  house.1  Father  de 
Carheil  was  at  the  church  at  Michilimackinac,  and  the  aged 
Father  Henry  Nouvel  at  Green  Bay.  Around  these  posts 
French  were  gathering  slowly,  and  in  Illinois  several  had  set 
tled  down,  taking  wives  among  the  converted  Indians. 

During  Gravier's  absence  an  old  convert  summoned  the 
Catholic  Indians  morning  and  evening  to  prayers.  Toward 
the  end  of  April  the  missionary  blessed  a  new  chapel  which 
he  had  erected  outside  of  the  French  fort 2  for  the  greater 
convenience  of  the  Indians,  and  erected  a  tall  cross.  The 
Peoria  tribe,  which  he  also  visited,  were  less  fervent,  for  the 
chief,  Assapita,  who  was  a  medicine-man,  used  all  his  influ 
ence  to  thwart  the  missionary.  Gravier  planned  missions  to 
the  Cahokia  and  Tamarois  bands  of  Illinois,  which  he  subse 
quently  carried  out,3  as  well  as  to  the  Osages  and  Missouris, 
tribes  who  kept  up  a  friendly  intercourse  with  the  Illinois, 
and  sent  ambassadors,  whom  Father  Gravier  welcomed.  The 
French  at  the  post,. whose  lives  drew  down  the  reproof  of 
the  missionary,  prejudiced  the  Indians  against  him  ;  Michael 
Ako,  the  old  comrade  of  Father  Hennepin,  who  sought  to 
marry  Aramipinchicwe,  the  daughter  of  the  Kaskaskia  chief, 
Rouensac,  her  parents  compelling  her  most  unwillingly  to 
become  his  wife,  especially  labored  to  diminish  the  influence 

1  Gravier,  "Lettre  en  forme  de  Journal  de  la  Mission  de  1'Immaculee 
Conception  de  N.  D.  aux  Illinois,  15  Fevrier,  1694  ";  Margry,  "  Etablisse- 
ments  et  Decouvertes,"  v.,  p.  35. 

2  This  was  evidently  Fort  Peoria;  see  St.  Cosme  in  "Relation  de  la 
Mission  du  Mississippi,"  p.  26. 

3  "  Relation  de  la  Mission  du  Mississippi,"  p.  35. 


ILLINOIS  MISSIONS.  537 

of  Father  Gravier,  till,  touched  by  conscience,  lie  recanted  all, 
and  urged  the  chief  to  become  a  Christian,  promising  to 
amend  his  own  life.1  Rouensac  and  his  family  embraced 
the  faith,  and  the  Quebec  missionaries  a  few  years  afterward 
attested  his  progress  in  civilization  and  Christianity.  Father 
Gravier  adapting  himself  to  Indian  usage  went  regularly 
through  the  town,  giving  his  cry  to  invite  the  converts  and 
the  well-disposed  heathen  to  prayer ;  he  also  gave  banquets, 
that  he  might  without  offense  censure  anything  which  he 
found  amiss. 

Besides  the  Kaskaskia  town,  there  was  a  Peoria  town  near, 
and  several  smaller  villages,  all  of  which  Father  Gravier  visit 
ed  regularly.  Sickness  prevailed,  and  he  was  ever  on  the 
watch  to  instruct  adults  and  baptize  dying  children.  His 
baptisms  between  March  30,  1693,  and  November  29,  num 
bered  two  hundred  and  six. 

In  1696  he  was  joined  by  Father  Julian  Binneteau,  who 
apparently  remained  at  Kaskackia,  while  Father  Gravier 
descended  to  Montreal,  and  subsequently  devoted  himself  to 
the  more  distant  missions,  and  Father  Peter  Pinet  founded 
the  Miami  mission  of  the  Angel  Guardian  at  Chicago, 
where  there  were  two  villages  containing  in  all  some  300 
cabins,  and  where  he  converted  the  Peoria  chief  who  had 
resisted  Father  Gravier's  exhortations.  Yet  the  Count  de 
Frontenac,  Governor  of  Canada,  compelled  Father  Pinet  to 
abandon  his  mission,  until  the  influence  of  Bishop  Laval  en 
abled  him  to  resume  his  Gospel  labors.  The  next  year  Fa 
ther  Gravier  was  confirmed  in  his  powers  as  Vicar-General 
by  Bishop  St.  Vallier,  and  was  soon  after  joined  by  Father 

1  The  records  of  the  baptisms,  etc.,  in  his  family,  beginning  Mar.  20, 
1695,  are  the  first  extracts  in  the  ancient  Register  of  Father  Gravier's 
mission  preserved  at  Alton.  They  show  that  the  descendants  of  the 
young  convert  of  Father  Gravier  were  long  prominent  in  Illinois. 


538 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


Gabriel  Marest,  who  learned  the  Illinois  language,  and 
adapted  himself  to  his  new  duties  with  remarkable  facility. 
The  venerable  Bishop  Laval  was  so  interested  in  this  mission 
that  he  gave  the  last  pieces  of  silver  which  he  had  retained 
for  his  table,  in  order  to  make  a  chalice  for  it,  and  he  pre 
sented  a  ciborium  to  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Concep 
tion  at  Kaskaskia.1  Prior  to  1TOO  the  famous  Father  Rale 
arrived  in  the  Illinois  missions,  where  he  spent  two  vears.2 

The  priests  of  the  Seminary  of  Quebec,  which  was  an  out 
growth  of  that  of  the  Foreign  Missions  at  Paris,  felt  it  incum 
bent  on  them  to  do  something  for  the  conversion  of  those 
tribes  in  the  West,  among  whom  no  permanent  establish 
ment  had  yet  been  made.  Bishop  St.  Vallier  entered  into 
their  plans,  and  on  the  1st  of  May,  1698,  officially  authorized 
them  to  establish  missions  in  the  West,  investing  the  Supe 
rior  sent  out  by  the  Seminary  with  the  powers  of  Yicar- 
General.  The  field  they  solicited  was  that  inhabited  by  na 
tions  on  both  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries.3 

They  purposed  to  plant  their  first  mission  among  the 
Tamarois,  but  when  this  was  known  the  Fathers  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  claimed  that  tribe  as  one  already  under  their 
care.  The  Seminary  regarded  the  Tamarois  territory  as 
"  the  key  and  necessary  passage  to  reach  the  more  distant 
nations,"  and  therefore  highly  important  to  them.  Bishop 
St.  Vallier  accordingly  by  letters  of  July  14,  1698,  confirmed 

"Lettre  du  p.  Jacques  Gravier  A,  Mgr.  de  Laval,  Sept.  17,  1697." 
"  Lettre  du  p.  Julien  Binneteau,  1699."  "  Relation  des  Affaires  du  Can 
ada,''  pp.  24,  34,  57.  "  Extrait  des  Registres  de  Baptesme  de  la  Mission  des 
Illinois,"  show  Gravier  officiating  in  1695,  1712  ;  Binneteau,  1697  ;  Ga 
briel  Marest,  1699,  1703,  1709  ;  Mermet,  1707,  1712.  Letter  of  F.  Ga 
briel  Marest  (Kip,  pp.  206-7). 

2  Letter  of  Oct.  12,  1723,  in  "  Lettres  Edifiantes  "  (Kip,  p.  42). 

"  Mandement  de  Mgr.  de  St.  Vallier  "  in  "Relation  de  la  Mission  du 
Mississippi,"  New  York,  1861,  pp.  9-12. 


THE  SEMINARY  OF  QUEBEC.  539 

those  previously  granted,  and  specially  empowered  the 
Seminary  to  send  missionaries  to  the  Tamarois  and  establish 
a  residence  there.1 

To  found  the  new  missions  on  the  Mississippi,  the  Semi 
nary  selected  V.  Rev.  Francis  Jolliet  de  Montigny,  Rev. 
Anthony  Davion,  and  Rev.  John  Francis  Buisson  de  Saint 
Cosine.  The  outfit  for  this  Christian  enterprise  amounted  to 
more  than  ten  thousand  livres,  nearly  one-half  being  furnished 
by  Messrs.  Montigny  and  Davion.  The  party  set  out,  and 
reaching  Mackinac  in  September,  passed  by  Father  Pinet's 
Chicago  mission,  and  by  Father  Marest's  near  Fort  Peoria, 
where  they  obtained  an  Illinois  catechism  and  prayer-book. 
On  the  5th  of  December  they  entered  the  Mississippi  River, 
and  guided  by  Tonty,  they  visited  the  Tamarois,  on  the 
feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  and  then  sailed  down 
the  great  river  to  the  villages  of  the  Arkansas,  Tonicas,  and 
Taensas,  planting  crosses  at  several  points. 

The  Yery  Rev.  Mr.  Montigny  took  up  his  residence  among 
the  Taensas,  a  tribe  allied  to  the  Natchez.  These  Indians 
had  a  temple  in  which  they  worshipped  nine  gods.  In 
March,  1700,  Iberville,  who  had  sailed  from  France  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  while  ascending  it  found  the  mis 
sionary  erecting  a  chapel,  encouraged  by  his  having  been 
able  to  baptize  eighty -five  children  in  his  first  year.  He  sub 
sequently  went  to  the  Natchez,  retaining  his  care  of  the 
Taensas.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Davion  established  his  residence 
and  chapel  on  a  hill  near  the  Tonica  village,  at  the  foot  of  a 
cross  planted  on  a  rock  which  for  a  long  time  bore  his 


1  "  Lettres  Patentes  de  Mgr.  de  St.  Vallier  " ;  Archives  de  Quebec.  Fron- 
tenac,  by  his  Letters  Patent,  July  17,  1698,  authorized  Rev.  Messrs. 
Montigny,  Davion,  and  St.  Cosme,  to  go  to  the  Mississippi.  Archives 
of  the  Propaganda.  America  Septentrionale,  i.,  1669-1791. 


540  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

name.'  He  extended  his  labors  also  to  the  Ounspik  and 
Yazoo  Indians,  who  numbered  together  about  a  hundred 
cabins;  and  nearly  lost  his  life  by  destroying  the  idols  in 
the  Yazoo  temple."  The  Eev.  Mr.  Saint  Cosme  went  up  the 
river  again  to  begin  a  mission  at  Tamarois. 

All  these  priests  were  at  first  prostrated  by  fevers,  but 
none  thought  of  abandoning  the  work  which  they  had  un 
dertaken.  Hearing  of  the  arrival  of  a  French  expedition  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  the  Very  Eev.  Mr.  Montigny  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Davion  embarked  in  bark  canoes,  and  reached 
Biloxi  on  the  1st  of  July,  but  finding  the  little  post  ill-pro 
visioned,  they  returned  to  their  missions.3 

While  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  Taensa  language,  the 
Very  Rev.  Mr.  Montigny  visited  the  Natchez,  and  was  there 
when  the  Great  Sun  or  head  chief  of  the  nation  died.  When 
the  good  priest  saw  these  savages  prepare  to  put  several  per 
sons  to  death,  that  they  might  attend  the  Sun  in  the  next 
world,  he  made  the  tribe  presents  to  induce  them  to  abandon 
so  cruel  and  foolish  a  custom.  The  Natchez  promised  to 
consult  his  wishes,  but  Ouachil  Tamail,  the  Female  Sun, 
persuaded  the  priest  to  leave  the  village  for  a  time,  pretend 
ing  that  the  noise  would  be  very  annoying  to  him.  When 
he  had  departed  the  cruel  ceremony  was  carried  out  in  the 
usual  manner.4 

The  next  year  the  Seminary,  to  give  the  Mississippi  mis- 

1  Roche  a  Davion,   afterward  called  Loftus  Heights,  and  now  Fort 
Adams.     Claiborne,  "  Mississippi,"  Jackson,  1880,  p.  21. 

2  Penicaut  in  Margry,  v. ,  p.  438. 

8  Benard  de  la  Harpe,  "Journal  Historique,"  p.  1C.  Cardinal  Tas- 
chereau,  "Mission  du  Seminaire  de  Quebec  chez  les  Tamarois  ou  Illi 
nois  sur  le  bord  du  Mississippi,"  written  in  1849.  De  la  Potherie,  "His- 
toire  de  1'Amerique  Septentrionale,"  Paris,  1722,  i.,  p.  238.  Margry, 
"  Decouvertes  et  Etablissements,"  v.,  pp.  401-8. 

4  Gravier,  "  Relation  on  Journal  du  Voyage,"  New  York,  1859,  p.  39. 


A  QUESTION  RAISED.  541 

sion  an  effective  force,  sent  out  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Bergier 
Bouteville  and  Saint  Cosme,  the  last  named  a  younger  broth 
er  of  the  missionary  already  at  Tamarois,  but  not  yet  in 
priest's  orders.  These  clergymen  were  accompanied  by  three 
pious  men  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  work,  and 
went  to  attend  to  the  menial  work.  On  their  arrival  the 
elder  St.  Cosme  descended  to  Natchez.1 

The  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  received  the  Quebec 
missionaries  with  personal  cordiality,  but  notwithstanding 
the  official  action  of  Bishop  Saint  Vallier,  they  showed  much 
feeling  in  regard  to  what  they  regarded  as  an  intrusion  into 
a  district  occupied  by  tribes  among  which  their  religious  had 
already  begun  to  labor.  The  proximity  to  the  Jesuit  mis 
sions  in  the  other  bands  of  the  Illinois  nation,  certainly  made 
the  choice  injudicious.  Ere  long  the  Very  Eev.  Mr.  Mon- 
tigny  found  his  position  so  embarrassing  and  unpleasant  that 
he  began  to  foresee  only  loss  and  failure  in  the  mission  on 
which  he  had  embarked  so  zealously  and  given  his  means  so 
freely.  In  the  hope  of  being  able  to  adjust  all  matters  in  re 
gard  to  it  satisfactorily  in  France,  he  embarked  with  Iber- 
ville,  in  May,  1700,  and  returned  to  France  by  way  of  New 
York.2 

On  his  departure,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bergier  became  Superior 
of  the  secular  missionaries  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  made 
Tamarois  his  residence,  Rev.  Mr.  St.  Cosme  remaining  at 
Natchez.  After  reaching  the  mouth  cf  the  Mississippi  in 
1699,  d'Iberville  built  a  little  fort  at  Biloxi,  and  left  Mr. 


1  Benard  de  la  Harpe,  "  Journal  Historique,"  p.  28.    Margry,  v.,  p.  404. 

5  Penicaut,  "  Relation  Veritable,"  in  Margry,  v.,  p.  444.  He  was  in 
Paris  in  September,  1700,  when  Rev.  Mr.  St.  Cosme  wrote  complaining 
that  Fathers  Gravier  and  Binneteau  wished  to  prevent  his  officiating  in 
the  chapel  at  the  fort,  and  Gravier  wrote  complaining  of  the  Quebec 
priests. 


542  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Sauvolle  in  command.  At  tins  little  post,  the  first  French 
settlement  in  Louisiana,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bordenave  was  chap 
lain,  and  he  begins  the  line  of  zealous  priests  in  that  terri 
tory.  Sauvolle  bears  testimony  to  his  exemplary  life,  and 
records  that  he  said  mass  daily  for  the  French,  and  gathered 
them  morning  and  evening  to  prayers,  as  on  board  ship. 
Thus  began  the  regular  services  of  the  church  in  Louisiana, 
in  May,  1699.1 

D'Iberville,  on  his  second  voyage  in  1700,  was  accom 
panied  by  the  Jesuit  Father  Du  Ru,  who  on  the  14th  of  Feb 
ruary,  erected  a  cross,  offered  the  holy  sacrifice,  and  blessed 
a  cemetery  at  Fort  Mississippi,  seventeen  leagues  from  the 
mouth  of  the  great  river.  When  a  post  at  Biloxi  was  decided 
upon,  Father  Du  Ru  took  up  his  residence  there,  and  began 
to  visit  the  neighboring  tribes  of  Indians,  but  he  removed 
to  Mobile  when  that  post  arose.  Hearing  of  the  arrival, 
Father  Gravier  set  out  from  Chicago  on  the  8th  of  Septem 
ber,  1700,  and  visiting  the  various  posts  and  missions  on  the 
way,  reached  Fort  Mississippi  on  the  17th  of  December. 
At  the  Tonica  village  he  found  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davion  danger 
ously  ill,  and  remained  with  him  till  Rev.  Mr.  Saint  Cosme 
arrived  from  Natchez  to  minister  to  his  associate. 

The  Jesuit  Father  de  Limoges,  appointed  to  found  a  mis 
sion  among  the  Oumas,  was  descending  the  Mississippi  when 
his  canoe  drifted  at  night  from  the  shore  to  which  it  had 
been  made  fast,  and  borne  along  by  the  current  struck  a 
floating  tree.  He  saved  nothing  but  his  chalice,  and  clinging 
to  a  floating  branch  was  finally  driven  ashore  near  a  village 
of  the  Arkansas  Indians.  Having  obtained  relief  he  pursued 
his  journey,  and  planting  a  cross  at  the  Oumas  village,  be- 


1  Sauvolle  in  Margry,  iv.,  p.  447  ;  French's   "  Historical  Collections," 
iii.,  p.  237. 


ITS  SETTLEMENT.  543 

gan  in  March,  1700,  to  erect  a  chapel  forty  feet  long,  an 
nouncing  the  Gospel  to  that  tribe  and  the  Bayagoulas.1 

With  missions  among  the  Illinois,  and  at  the  month  of 
the  Mississippi  the  Jesuit  Fathers  solicited  from  Bishop 
Saint  Yallier  the  exclusive  direction  of  the  French  posts  in 
Louisiana,  and  asked  that  the  Superior  of  the  mission  should 
always  be  appointed  Yicar-General  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec.3 
At  the  same  time  they  complained  to  the  king  of  France  of 
the  intrusion  into  their  mission  district  of  missionaries  who 
belonged  to  another  body. 

Bishop  Saint  Yallier  consulted  several  members  of  the 
French  hierarchy  on  the  point,  among  others  the  Bishop  of 
Chartres,  and  by  their  advice  declined  to  give  any  religious 
order  the  complete  and  exclusive  direction  of  Louisiana, 
deeming  it  better  to  assign  districts  to  religious  or  collegiate 
bodies,  or  secular  priests,  all  to  be  subject  to  a  Yicar-General, 
named  from  time  to  time  by  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  till  such 
time  as  the  state  of  the  church  would  warrant  the  establish 
ment  of  a  see  at  New  Orleans.3  He  also  withdrew  the  pow 
ers  of  Yicar-General  from  Father  Gravier,  and  conferred 
them  on  Rev.  Messrs.  Colombiere,  Montigny,  and  Bergier, 
requiring  all  priests,  regular  and  secular,  to  apply  to  them. 

Meanwhile  the  appeal  of  the  Jesuits  with  a  memoir  of 
Bishop  Saint  Yallier  had  been  referred  by  the  king  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Auch,  but  as  he  declined  to  decide  the  ques 
tion  alone,  the  Bishops  of  Marseilles  and  Chartres,  with  the 
king's  confesssor,  were  associated  with  him.  On  the  4th  of 

1  Gravier,  "  Eelation  on  Journal  du  Voyage,"  New  York,  1859  ;  Mar- 
gry,  iv.,  pp.  418,  422. 

2  "  Ministre  de  la  Marine  S  Mr.  1'Evgque  de  Quebec,"  17  Juin,  1703. 
Margry,  iv.,  pp.  634-5. 

3  "  Memoire  de  Mgr.  I'Eve'que  de  Quebec  sur  les  missions  de  Missis 
sippi."    Archives  de  1'Archeveche  de  Quebec.     Margry,  iv.,  p.  431. 


544  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

June,  1701,  this  commission  decided  that  the  Seminary  of 
Quebec  was  entitled  to  the  Tamarois  mission,  and  their  de 
cision  was  accepted  and  signed  by  all  parties  interested. 

The  Y.  Rev.  Mr.  Montigny  had,  however,  become  com 
pletely  discouraged,  his  management  of  the  mission  not  being 
fully  approved.  He  never  returned  to  America,  but  went 
to  the  East,  where  he  rendered  signal  services  to  religion. 

The  Mississippi  question  having  been  satisfactorily  ad 
justed,  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  reappointed  the  Superior  of 
the  Jesuits  in  Illinois  Yicar-Greneral  in  his  district. 

In  1700  Rev.  Nicholas  Foucault,  sent  by  the  Seminary, 
took  up  his  residence  among  the  Arkansas  Indians,  and  be 
gan  to  announce  the  faith  to  them. 

The  news  that  the  French  had  settled  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  produced  a  commotion  among  the  tribes  in  Illi 
nois.  The  Kaskaskias  resolved  to  go  and  settle  near  them. 
The  Peorias  remained  around  the  church,  but  Father  Ma'rest 
accompanied  the  Kaskaskias,  who  finally  on  the  advice  of 
Father  Gravier,  who  assembled  them  in  council,  abandoned 
their  project,  and  took  up  their  abode  at  the  place  which  now 
bears  their  name.1  Some  of  the  Tamarois  also  left  their  old 
village  ground,  and  Father  Pinet  became  their  missionary, 
succeeded  ere  long  by  Father  Binneteau,  who  attended  them 
and  others  on  their  long  buffalo  hunts  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Bergier  remained  at^he  Tamarois  post,  with 
Thaumur  de  la  Source  devoting  himself  more  especially  to 
the  French,  who  had  by  this  time  become  numerous.  The 
expenses  of  the  missions  had  been  so  great  that  V.  Rev.  Mr. 
Bergier,  the  new  Superior,  was  urged  to  exercise  judgment 
and  economy.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Saint  Cosme  had  projected 

1  In  the  Extracts  from  old  Registers  prefixed  to  the  Kaskaskia  register 
is  the  entry,  "  1703  Apr.  25.  Ad  ripam  Metchigamea  dictam  venimus," 
apparently  giving  the  date  of  the  removal  of  the  Kaskaskias. 


REV.  N.  FOUCAULT  KILLED  545 

a  mission  to  the  Pawnees  or  Missouris,  but  he  was  instructed 
to  prevent  him,  as  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  send  sup 
plies  to  so  remote  a  station.1 

The  Rev.  Nicholas  Foucault  was  an  aged  priest,  in  poor 
health,  but  he  devoted  himself  to  the  Mississippi  mission  in 
place  of  Rev.  Mr.  de  la  Colombiere,  whom  the  people  of 
Quebec  would  not  allow  to  go.  He  had  already  accomplished 
much  good  among  the  Arkansas,  when,  in  1702,  he  set  out 
for  Mobile  with  his  servant  and  two  Frenchmen  who  had 
just  established  peace  between  the  Chickasaws  and  Illinois. 
They  took  as  guides  two  Indians  of  the  Coroa  tribe,  akin  to 
the  Arkansas.  They  killed  all  the  Frenchmen  to  rob  them, 
and,  as  they  pretended,  to  punish  the  priest  for  leaving  the 
Arkansas.  Rev.  Mr.  Davion  at  the  time  was  ascending 
the  Mississippi  and  discovered  on  the  banks  of  the  river  the 
bodies  of  these  victims  of  Indian  ferocity.  He  interred  them 
with  the  rites  of  the  Church,  but  the  memoirs  of  the  time  do 
not  fix  the  last  resting-place  of  this  first  martyr  of  the  Sem 
inary  of  Quebec  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.2 

The  first  attempt  by  the  French  to  establish  any  industrial 
work  on  the  Mississippi  was  that  of  the  Sieur  Juchereau, 
who  undertook  to  conduct  a  tannery  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio.  Here  Father  John  Mermet  erected  his  altar  for  the 
little  Catholic  settlement,  but  it  did  not  prosper,  and  by  1T04: 


1  The  king  of  France  gave  3,000  livres  toward  the  Seminary  missions, 
but  Bishop  St.  Vallier  now  ceased  to  give  the  annual  donation  of  2,000 
livres,  on  the  ground  that  so  few  missionaries  were  maintained  there. 
Cardinal  Taschereau,  "  Memoire." 

2 Cardinal  Taschereau,  "Memoire";  Benard  de  la  Harpe,  "Journal 
Historique,"  pp.  38,  73,  87.  Nicholas  Foucault  was  born  in  the  diocese 
of  Paris,  ordained  at  Quebec  Dec.  3,  1689,  and  was  Cure  of  Batiscan  in 
1690.  Tainguay,  "Repertoire,"  p.  65.  Penicant  (Margry,  v.,  p.  458) 
puts  his  death  in  1705,  evidently  erroneously.  It  was  announced  by 
Daviou  in  October,  1702.  B6nard  de  la  Harpe,  p.  73. 
35 


546  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

the  founder  was  dead,  and  the  project  abandoned.  While 
Juchereau's  establishment  lasted  Father  Mermet  ministered 
to  the  French,  and  made  earnest  efforts  to  convert  the  Mas- 
coutin  Indians,  who  had  planted  their  cabins  around  the 
post ;  but  his  mission  work,  though  carried  out  at  the  risk  of 
his  life,  resulted  only  in  the  conversion  of  a  few  dying  adults 
and  the  baptism  of  some  infants.1 

Bishop  Saint  Vallier  in  1703  proposed  to  the  Seminary  at 
Quebec  to  erect  Mobile  into  a  parish,  and  to  annex  it  in  per 
petuity  to  that  institution.  The  Seminary  agreed  to  supply 
clergy  for  the  new  parish,  which  the  Bishop  formally  erected 
on  the  20th  of  July,  1703,  uniting  it  to  the  Seminary  of  the 
Foreign  Missions  at  Paris  and  Quebec,  The  Rev.  Henry 
Roulleaux  de  la  Yente,  a  priest  of  the  diocese  of  Bayeux> 

•?• 

%, 

SIGNATURE   OP   REV.    HENRY  ROULLEAUX  DE  LA  VENTE. 

was  then  appointed  parish  priest,  and  Rev.  Alexander  Huve> 
curate.  While  awaiting  their  appearance,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Davion  discharged  the  parochial  functions  till  they  arrived 
with  other  priests  on  the  "  Pelican,"  July  24,  1704.  In  the 
same  vessel  came  two  Gray  Nuns  (Sieurs  Grises),  but  not  to 
remain  in  the  colony ;  a  number  of  marriageable  girls  had 
been  placed  in  their  care,  and  after  seeing  them  properly 
placed,  the  Sisters  returned.2 


'"Relation  des  Affaires  du  Canada,  1696,"  p.  31.  Margry,  "  Etab- 
lissements  et  Decouvertes,"  v.,  p.  215.  F.  Gabriel  Marest.  Letter  from 
Cascaskia  (Kip's  "Jesuit  Missions,"  p.  202). 

2Benard  de  la'IIarpe,  pp  84-5.  Penicaut,  "Relation"  in  Margry,  v.s 
pp.  456,  470.  Rev.  Mr.  La  Vente's  first  entry  in  the  Register  is  Sept.  18, 
1704,  and  Huve's,  the  19th. 


MOBILE,  A  PARISH.  547 

The  first  entry  in  the  ancient  Register  of  Mobile,  a  volume 
of  great  historical  interest  and  value,  records  the  baptism  of 
an  Apalache  girl  by  Rev.  Mr.  Davion,  on  the  6th  of  Septem 
ber. 


PAC-8IMILE  OP  THE  FIRST  ENTRY  IN  THE  PARISH  REGISTER  OF  MOBILE. 

The  maintenance  of  the  clergy  was  expected  from  the 
king,  who  was  to  pay  the  parish  priest  one  thousand  livres  a 
year,  and  the  curate  six  hundred  livres  a  year.  They  found  that 
Rev.  Mr.  Davion  had  already  taken  steps  to  erect  a  church 
and  parochial  residence  at  Mobile.  The  parish  priest  on  his 
arrival  found  Rev.  Mr.  Davion  and  the  Jesuit  Father  Peter 
Donge  lodged  in  a  new  house,  built  on  credit,  and  still  with 
out  door  or  window.  They  borrowed  seven  hundred  livres 
of  Father  Donge  to  enable  them  to  complete  it.1 

On  the  28th  of  September  the  Rev.  Mr.  de  la  Yente  was 
formally  inducted  into  his  parish,  as  appears  by  the  follow 
ing  entry  in  the  ancient  parochial  register  of  the  Church  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception  at  Mobile  : 

"I,  undersigned,  Priest  and  Missionary  Apostolic,  attest 
to  all  whom  it  may  concern  that  in  the  year  of  our  salvation 
1704,  on  the  28th  of  the  month  of  September,  by  virtue  of 
letters  of  provision  and  collation  granted  and  sealed  on  the 
20th  of  July  of  last  year,  by  which  Monseigneur  the  most  Illus 
trious  and  most  Reverend  Bishop  of  Quebec  erects  a  par- 


1  Fathers  Donge  and  Limoge  embarked  for  France  in  the  "  Pelican," 
in  1704.  Penicaut,  "  Relation  "  in  Margry,  v.,  p.  456 ;  but  Father  Donge 
died  at  Havana  in  September.  Benard  de  la  Harpe,  p.  85. 


fi48  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

ish  church  in  the  place  called  Fort  Louis  de  la  Louisi- 
ane,  and  the  cure  and  care  of  which  he  gives  to  Mr.  Henry 
Koulleaux  de  la  Yente,  Missionary  Apostolic  of  the  diocese 
of  Bayenx,  I  have  placed  the  said  priest  in  actual  and  cor 
poral  possession  of  the  said  parish  church  and  of  all  the 
rights  thereto  belonging,  after  observing  the  accustomed  and 
requisite  ceremonies,  namely,  the  entry  into  the  church,  the 
sprinkling  of  holy  water,  the  kissing  of  the  high  altar,  the 
touching  of  the  missal,  the  visit  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament  of 
the  altar,  the  ringing  of  the  bells,  which  taking  of  possession 
I  attest  that  no  one  opposed. 

"Given  in  the  parish  church  of  Fort  Louis,  the  day 
of  the  month  and  year  aforesaid,  in  presence  of  John 
Baptiste  de  Bieville,  Lieutenant  of  the  King,  and  Com 
mander  of  the '  said  fort ;  of  Peter  du  Quay  de  Boisbriant, 
major;  Nicolas  de  la  Salle,  scribe  and  acting  commissary  of 
the  Marine. 

"  D  AVION,  BIENVILLE,  BOISBRIANT,  DE  LA  SALLE." 

Late  in  the  year  1705  Father  Gravier  was  attacked  by  the 
Illinois,  among  whom  he  had  labored  so  long  and  so  devot 
edly.  Instigated  by  the  medicine-men,  whose  knavery  the 
priest  had  denounced,  they  discharged  a  shower  of  arrows  at 
him.  One  flint-headed  weapon  pierced  his  ear,  but  another 
struck  him  in  the  elbow,  and  the  stone  head  was  so  embedded 
in  the  muscle  that  it  could  not  be  extracted.  He  also  received 
a  hatchet  wound  in  the  arm.  The  arm  swelled  fearfully,  and 
the  suffering  of  the  missionary  was  intense :  but  his  misery 
did  not  touch  the  hearts  of  the  obdurate  Illinois.  They 
came  at  night  to  the  number  of  two  hundred  to  complete 
their  fell  design.  Tearing  down  the  palisades  around  the 
house  they  hoped  to  find  him  alone  and  kill  him.  Provi 
dentially  two  Frenchmen  were  there,  who  after  preparing 


REV.  MR.  GERVAISE 'S  PROJECT.  549 

for  death,  resolved  to  let  one  remain,  while  the  other  hastened 
to  the  neighboring  camp  of  the  Pottawatomies.  A  chief 
of  that  tribe  hastened  up  and  overawed  the  murderers. 
For  three  months  his  brother  missioners,  Mermet,  and  John 
Mary  de  Yille,  endeavored  "to  extract  the  arrow-head,  but 
finding  their  eiforts  vain,  he  was  sent  to  Mobile,  whence  he 
proceeded  to  Paris,  and  even  there  the  surgeon  gave  him  no 
hope  of  its  extraction,  though  the  treatment  diminished  the 
pain.' 

He  then  returned  to  Louisiana  in  the  "  Renommee,"  which 
reached  the  roadstead  at  Isle  Massacre,  February  12,  1708.2 

At  this  time  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gervaise,  a  wealthy  young 
priest  in  France,  wished  to  devote  some  of  his  patrimony  to 
found  a  mission  in  Louisiana  in  concert  with  the  Seminary 


SIGNATURE   OF  REV.   F.   LE  5IAIRE. 


of  the  Foreign  Missions.  He  drew  into  his  project  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Le  Maire,  a  virtuous  priest,  who  resigned  a  good  position 
at  Paris,  that  of  Vicar  of  St.  Jacques  de  la  Boucherie,  in  or 
der  to  come  to  America  and  announce  the  gospel  to  the  In 
dians.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gervaise  sent  out  provisions  for  three 
years,  and  three  workmen  to  erect  a  house  and  chapel,  and 
set  apart  sufficient  of  his  estate  to  form  a  fund  for  the  sup- 


1  Letter  of  F.  Mermet ;  Letter  of  F.  Gravier,  Paris,  March  6,  1707,  for 
which  I  am  indebted  to  the  venerable  Father  Felix  Martin;.  Benard  de  la 
Harpe,  "  Journal  Historique,"  p.  95. 

2  "  Lettre  du  Pere  Jacques  Gravier,  le  23  Fevrier,  1708."    NCTV  York, 
1865. 


550  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

port  of  the  mission.  At  the  last  moment  when  Rev.  Mr.  Le 
Maire  and  all  the  rest  were  on  board  the  vessel  bound  to 
Louisiana,  an  uncle  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gervaise  obtained  an 
order  to  prevent  his  departure.  He  was  compelled  to  remain 
in  France,  but  Rev.  Mr.  Le  Maire  came  over,  and  was  for 
several  years  on  the  mission  in  Louisiana.  The  zealous  young 
priest  was  never  able  to  follow  out  his  original  intention  or 
take  part  in  the  good  work  he  founded. 

Meanwhile  the  priests  of  the  Seminary  were  thinned  by 
death.  The  Rev.  J.  B.  cle  St.  Cosrae  started  late  in  1706 
from  his  Natchez  mission  for  Mobile,  but  while  asleep  at 
night  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  his  party  was  attacked  and 
murdered  by  the  Sitimachas  about  fifty  miles  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi.  He  was  a  native  of  Canada,  born  at 
Quebec,  February  6,  1667,  and  was  the  first  American  priest 
who  fell  by  the  hands  of  savages  in  this  country.  He  en 
tered  the  preparatory  seminary  at  Quebec,  July  22,  1675, 
and  was  ordained  on  the  feast  of  the  Purification.  After 
being  missionary  at  Minas  in  Nova  Scotia,  he  was  sent  with 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Montigny  to  the  Mississippi.  Rev.  Mr.  St. 
Cosine,  accustomed  to  Indian  corn  and  other  native  fare, 
stood  the  hardships  of  the  mission  better  than  priests  from 
France,  but  his  health  at  last  gave  way,  and  he  was  suffering 
from  a  cruel  infirmity  when  he  set  out  for  Mobile.1 

On  New- Year's  day,  1707,  the  Very  Rev.  Mr.  Bergier, 
V.G.,  who  had  set  out  from  his  Tamarois  mission,  reached 
Mobile  with  tidings  of  the  death  of  the  Canadian  priest  of 
Natchez  ;  *  but  on  his  return  to  his  mission  he  fell  ill.  Father 

'Cardinal  Taschereau,  "Memoire";  Bienville  to  the  Minister,  1707. 
Le  Page  du  Pratz  "  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane,"  i.,  p.  106.  Penicaut, 
'  Relation  "  in  Margry,  v.(  p.  433.  Claiborne,  "  Mississippi,"  Jackson' 
1880,  p.  23,  thinks  he  was  killed  near  the  present  Donaldsonville. 

2Benard  de  la  Harpe,  p.  101. 


THE  ABBE  DE  LA  VENTE.  551 

Gabriel  Marest  hearing  of  his  condition,  hastened  from  Kas- 
kaskia,  and  remained  a  week,  till  seeing  his  brother  priest  ap 
parently  regaining  his  health  and  out  of  danger,  he  set  out  for 
his  own  mission,  but  was  almost  at  once  summoned  back  to 
celebrate  the  requiem  mass  for  Eev.  Mr.  Bergier,  who  sud 
denly  grew  worse  and  expired.  This  zealous  and  austere  priest 
died,  according  to  a  memorandum  in  an  ancient  breviary  in 
the  Seminary  of  Quebec,  on  the  9th  of  November,  1TOT. 
The  medicine-men  exulted  over  his  death  as  a  triumph,  each 
one  ascribing  it  to  his  own  incantations,  and  they  broke  down 
his  cross  to  make  the  people  believe  that  the  mission  was 
closed  forever.1 

Louisiana  was  increasing  in  population,  but  the  settlers 
were  not  of  the  sturdy,  industrious  character  found  in  those 
who  built  up  Canada.  Times  had  changed,  too ;  less  respect 
was  paid  to  religion,  and  officials  instead  of  upholding  the 
Church  and  its  ministers,  or  setting  an  example  of  respect  for 
morality  and  religion,  frequently  afforded  a  pretext  for  those 
viciously  inclined  to  plunge  into  every  kind  of  excess.  In 
the  documents  of  the  time  instances  constantly  occur  where 
the  ministers  of  religion  were  openly  treated  with  contempt. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  de  la  Vente  was  a  man  of  eloquence,  and 
entered  on  his  duties  earnestly  ;  but  his  censure  of  the  open 
profligacy  in  the  colony  made  him  many  enemies,  not  the 
least  being  Governor  Bienville,  who  withheld  the  salaries  due 
the  clergy.  Those  who  sold  liquor  without  limit  to  the  In 
dians,  encouraging  them  in  drunkenness  and  violence,  and 
all  the  loose  livers,  were  arrayed  against  the  first  pastor  of 
Mobile.  In  1707,  however,  something  was  done  for  religion  at 
that  post.  A  larger  residence  was  erected  for  the  priests  at  the 


1  Cardinal  Taschereau,  "Histoire  des  Missions  du  Serninaire  de  Que 
bec":  F.  Gabriel  Marest,  Letter  (Kip,  pp.  211-4). 


>? 
Ctre 


552  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

left  of  the  fort  on  an  eminence  overlooking  all  the  surround 
ing  country.1 

It  is  said  that  after  the  arrival  of  Father  Gravier  from 
France  in  1708,  Bienville  wished  to  instal  him  in  the  parish 
church,  and  maintained  him  there  till  orders  came  from  France 
to  restore  the  church  to  the  priests  of  the  Seminary  of  the 
Foreign  Missions  to  which  it  was  canonically  united  ;  but  the 
Kegister  of  Mobile  has  no  entry  by  Father  Gravier.  The 
Eev.  Mr.  de  la  Vente  was  suffering  from  a  painful  disease 
and  soon  after  returned  to  France,  where  he  arrived  in  Oc 

tober,  1T10,  in  a  dy- 
ing  condition." 

The       Kev.       Mr. 

SIGNATUKE  OP  KEV.    ALEXANDER  HTTVE.         IIuVC,    wllO    Came    OUt 

as  Yicar,  besides  as 

sisting  in  the  parish  church,  had  taken  charge  of  a  band  of 
fugitive  Apalaches.  These  flying  from  English  persecution, 
had  settled  about  ten  miles  from  Mobile.3 

They  were  Catholics,  and  had  erected  a  chapel  and  house 
for  a  missionary,  but  Kev.  Mr.'  Huve  having  no  ability  for 
acquiring  Indian  languages,  was  never  able  to  instruct  them 
in  their  own  tongue. 

In  1709,  La  Yigne  Yoisin  began  a  fort  on  Isle  Dauphine, 

1  Penicaut  (Margry  ,  v.  ,  p.  471). 

'2  Not  only  Bienville  and  Father  Gravier,  but  also  de  Boisbriant  censure 
the  course  pursued  by  Rev.  Mr.  de  la  Vente  ;  but  that  clergyman  in  a 
memoir  to  Pontchartrain  (Gayarre,  i.,  pp.  116-121),  draws  a  terrible  pic 
ture  of  the  prevalent  profligacy,  neglect  of  religious  observances,  and 
contempt  for  the  ministers  of  religion.  He  solicited  permission  to  marry 
settlers  to  converted  Indian  women  so  as  to  prevent  illicit  connections, 
but  this  was  refused.  (Ib.,  p.  148.) 

3  Penicaut  (Margry,  v.,  p.  460)  says  they  arrived  near  Mobile  toward 
the  end  of  1705.  After  Rev.  Mr.  Huve,  the  Carmelite  Father  Charles, 
and  the  Recollect  F.  Victorin  Dupui  were  missionaries  of  the  Apalaches, 
and  the  latter  also  of  the  Mobilians.  Register  of  Mobile. 


THE  APALACHES.  553 

and  more  attentive  to  religion  than  most  colonizers  of  Louisi 
ana,  lie  erected  a  fine  church  near  the  redoubt.  It  faced  the 
port  where  the  vessels  anchored,  so  that  all  on  board  could  in 
a  moment  land  to  hear  mass.  This  church  drew  many  set 
tlers  to  the  island.1  Here  the  Rev.  Mr.  Huve  became  chap 
lain,  but  was  nearly  killed  in  Xovember,  1710,  by  the  Eng 
lish  who  made  a  descent  on  the  island,  and  lost  all  his  effects. 
He  then  retired  to  the  Mississippi  with  the  French,  but 
wearying  of  their  little  respect  for  religion,  solicited '  permis 
sion  to  undertake  an  Indian  mission.2 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Davion  maintained  his  Tonica  mission  till 
1708,  when  parties  of  English  Indians  menaced  it,  and  he 
withdrew  to  Mobile,  preparing  to  return  to  France  ;  but  the 
destitute  condition  of  the  colony  induced  him  to  remain  for 
several  years.3 

Rev.  Mr.  Le  Maire  acted  also  as  chaplain  in  the  fort. 

The  little  village  of  the  Apalaches  showed  that  the  mis 
sions  of  the  Spanish  Fathers  had  not  been  fruitless.  Their 
old  enemies,  the  Alibamons,  pursued  them  and  destroyed  their 
new  village,  but  Mr.  de  Bienville  assigned  them  another  re 
serve  and  grain  to  plant  their  fields.  When  the  French  left 
their  first  Mobile  fort 4  these  Indians  followed,  and  Bienville 

'Penicaut,  "Relation"  (Margry,  v.,  p.  482). 

2  He  struggled  on  for  some  years,  till  having  become  almost  blind,  he 
returned  to  France  in  1727. 

3  He  left  Louisiana  in  1725,  and  died  of  gout  among  his  kindred  in 
France,  April  8,  1726.     Le  Page  du  Pratz  asked  Mr.  Davion  whether  his 
zeal  for  the  salvation  of  the  Indians  was  regarded  by  progress.     "  He  re 
plied  almost  in  tears,  that  notwithstanding  the  profound  respect  which 
these  people  bore  him,  he  could  with  great  difficulty  succeed  in  baptizing 
some  children  at  the  point  of  death  ;  that  those  who  had  attained  the  age 
of  reason  excused  themselves  from  embracing  our  holy  religion  by  say 
ing  that  they  were  too  old  to  subject  themselves  to  rules  so  difficult  to  ob 
serve."     "  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane,"  i.,  p.  123. 

4  The  original  fort  at  Mobile  was  above  the  present  city,  with  store- 


f)54  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

assigned  them  ground  on  Saint  Martin's  River,  a  league  above 
the  post.  Penicaut,  a  worthy  chronicler  of  the  early  French 
days  of  Louisiana,  says  they  were  the  only  Christian  nation  who 
came  to  them  from  the  Spanish  territory.  He  gives  inter 
esting  details:  "The  Apalaches  have  public  service  like 
Catholics  in  France.  Their  great  feast  is  Saint  Louis's  day. 
On  the  eve  they  come  to  invite  the  officers  of  the  fort  to  the 
festivities  in  their  village,  and  they  offer  good  cheer  that  day 
to  all  who  come,  especially  the  French. 

"  The  priests  of  our  fort  go  there  to  say  the  high  mass, 
which  they  hear  with  much  devotion,  chanting  the  psalms  in 
Latin  as  they  do  in  France,  and  after  dinner  Vespers  and 
Benediction  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  The  men  and  women 
are  very  properly  dressed  that  day.  The  men  wear  a  kind 
of  cloth  coat  and  the  women  mantles,  petticoats  of  silk  in 
French  style,  except  that  they  wear  no  head-dresses,  going 
bareheaded.  Their  long,  jet-black  hair  is  plaited,  and  hangs 
down  the  back  in  one  or  two  plaits,  such  as  Spanish  girls 
wear.  Those  whose  hair  is  too  long,  turn  it  up  to  the  mid 
dle  of  the  back,  and  tie  it  with  ribbon. 

"  They  have  a  church  where  one  of  our  French  priests 
goes  on  Sundays  and  holidays  to  say  mass.  They  have  a 
baptismal  font  to  baptize  their  children,  and  a  cemetery  be 
side  their  church,  with  a  cross  erected,  and  there  they  bury 
their  dead."  ' 

The  efforts  of  the  Seminary  of  the  Foreign  Missions  in  the 
Mississippi  had  produced  little  result ;  the  station  at  Tama- 
rois,  or  Cahokia,  as  it  was  generally  called,  alone  showing  any 
indication  of  permanent  good,  a  French  population  having 
gathered  there,  numbering  forty-seven  families  in  1715. 

houses  and  docks  below  it.      The  removal  was  made  of  both  to  the 

present  site. 

1  Penicaut,  "  Relation  "  in  Margry,  v.,  pp.  486-7. 


V.  REV.  DOMINIC  M.  VARLET,   V.G. 


555 


The  Directors  of  the  Seminary  at  Paris,  in  hope  of  giving 
new  life  to  a  mission  which  had  cost  life,  and  toil,  and  out 
lay,  selected  as  Superior  of  their  priests  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  the  Rev.  Dominic  Mary  Varlet,  a  man  of  energy 
and  ability,  who  had  been  ordained  for  six  years,  and  was  in 


YERT     REV.     DOMINIC     MARY    VARLET,     VICAR-GENERAL, 
AFTERWARDS   BISHOP   OF   BABYLON. 

Mgh  repute  as  a  priest  of  virtue  and  piety.  He  went  to  the 
Tamarois  mission  by  way  of  Canada.  On  the  6th  of  Octo 
ber,  1717,  Bishop  Saint  Vallier,  reciting  his  learning,  energy, 
probity,  and  other  virtues,  appointed  him  Vicar-General, 
especially  for  Fort  La  Mobile  or  Fort  Louis,  and  the  places 


5o6  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  missions  near  and  along  the  river  Mississippi,  with  juris 
diction  over  all  priests  secular  or  regular,  except  priests  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  were  subject  to  their  own  Superior. 
He  gave  him  power  to  make  a  visitation,  to  grant  and  with 
draw  faculties,  to  absolve  in  reserved  eases,  and  generally 
exercise  in  full  all  powers  of  Vicar-General.1  As  the  V.  Rev. 
Mr.  Varlet  represented  to  the  Bishop  that  a  considerable 
time  might  elapse  before  he  could  reach  the  Tamarois  mis 
sion,  and  that  meantime  the  Seminary  might  be  unable  to 
send  a  successor  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bergier  at  that  place,  he 
therefore  solicited  a  confirmation  of  the  original  Letters 
Patent  granted  to  the  Seminary  for  the  Mississippi  missions, 
and  especially  for  that  of  the  Tamarois,  for  fear  that  the 
original  might  be  treated  as  obsolete,  and  possession  of  the 
mission  disputed  by  clergymen  of  some  other  organization. 
The  bishop  accordingly  renewed  his  Letters  of  May  10  and 
July  14,  1698.2 

The  Yery  Rev.  Mr.  Varlet  proceeded  to  his  mission,  but 
of  his  labors  in  the  Mississippi  Yalley  we  find  no  details, 
though  his  name  appears  in  a  few  entries  in  the  Register  of 
Mobile,3  showing  that  he  visited  the  country  from  Cahokia 
to  the  gulf.  He  is  said  to  have  spent  six  years  on  the  mis 
sion,  and  returning  to  Europe,  was  appointed  in  1718  Bishop 
of  Ascalon,  and  Coadjutor  to  the  Bishop  of  Babylon,  and 
after  receiving  episcopal  consecration,  set  out  for  the  East, 
Meanwhile  evidence  had  reached  Rome,  that  Mgr.  Varlet 
was  an  active  adherent  of  the  doctrines  of  Jansenius.  The 
Sovereign  Pontiff  recalled  Mgr.  Varlet,  now  by  succession 


1  "  Archives  of  the  Archbishopric  of  Quebec,"  Registre  C,  p.  112. 

*  Ibid.,  Registre  C,  p.  113. 

3  The  entries  extend  from  March  2,  1713,  to  Jan.  13,  1715,  his  signa 
tures  in  1715  being  as  Vicar-General,  which  supposes  an  appointment 
prior  to  that  of  1717. 


ILLINOIS  MISSIONS.  557 

Bishop  of  Babylon,  but  he  withdrew  to  Utrecht  in  Holland, 
where  he  took  an  active  part  in  establishing  the  schismatical 
Jansenist  Church,  consecrating  four  successive  pretended 
archbishops,  and  died  near  that  city  in  1742,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-four,  after  having  been  excommunicated  by  several 
Popes. 

AVhen  the  Company  of  the  West  established  Fort  Char- 
tres  in  1718,  a  little  French  settlement  soon  grew  up  around 
it,  and  near  the  Indian  villages.  The  missionary  of  the  Kac- 
kaskias  was  Father  John  Le  Boullenger,  who,  studying  pro 
foundly  the  language  of  the  Illinois  Indians,  drew  up  a  Gram 
mar  and  Dictionary,  with  a  very  full  Catechism  and  prayers. 
The  manuscript  of  what  I  believe  to  be  his  work  is  still  ex 
tant  in  a  large  folio  volume,  formerly  in  the  possession  of 
Hon.  Henry  C.  Murphy,  now  in  the  Carter  Brown  Library 
at  Providence.  This  eminent  missionary  opens  the  Kegister 


k 


<~*  ft 


'  7    ^*''<     '/  ^ 

TITLE   OF   THE   PARISH   REGISTER   OF    KASKASKIA. 

of  "  the  Church  of  the  Mission  and  Parish  of  the  Concep 
tion  of  Our  Lady,"  on  the  17th  of  June,  1719,  styling  him 
self  "  chaplain  of  the  troops,"  of  which  Pierre  de  Boisbriant, 
the  king's  lieutenant,  was  commander.  The  next  year  Fa 
ther  Xicholas  Ignatius  de  Beaubois,  S.J.,  signs  as  parish 
priest,  as  though  the  parish  had  been  then  canonically  erected 
and  he  installed.  Thenceforward  the  banns  of  marriage 


558  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

were  regularly  published,  and  all  the  regulations  of  Canadian 
parishes  observed.1 

In  1721  Father  P.  Francis  X.  de  Cliarlevoix,  S.J.,  the  His 
torian  of  New  France,  made  a  tour  to  the  Lakes  and  down 
the  Mississippi.  At  Cahokia  and  Tamarois  he  found  Kev. 
Dominic  Anthony  Thaumur  de  la  Source  and  Kev.  Mr. 
Mercier.  There  were  two  Kaskaskia  missions,  one-half 
a  league  above  Fort  Chartres,  under  the  care  of  Father 
John  Le  Eoullenger  and  Father  Joseph  Francis  de  Kereben  ; 
the  other  two  leagues  distant  under  Father  John  Charles 
Guymonneau,  who  was  about  this  time  Superior  of  the 
mission. 

There  was  a  priest  at  the  Yazoo,  in  1723,  the  Abbe  Juif, 
but  at  Natchez  mass  had  not  been  said  for  five  years,  and 
people  were  joined  together  merely  by  a  civil  marriage. 
Father  Cliarlevoix  heard  the  confessions  of  all  who  chose  to 
avail  themselves  of  his  presence.2  In  fact  children  born  at 
New  Orleans  and  Natchez  were  baptized  at  Kaskaskia.3  But 
the  Jesuit  Father  de  Ville  seems  to  have  been  sent  soon 
after  to  Natchez.4 

The  French  in  the  Illinois  country  were  so  profligate  at 
this  time,  and  made  so  light  of  the  reproofs  of  the  mission 
aries,  that  Father  Gabriel  Marest  appealed  in  1711  to  Gov- 


"Registre  des  BaptSmes  faits  dans  1'Eglise  de  la  Mission  et  dans  la 
Paroisse  de  la  Conception  de  N.  Dame."  I  was  about  to  publish  Le 
Boullenger's  Dictionary  in  my  Library  of  American  Linguistics,  and  had 
begun  the  printing  when  the  volume  was  recalled.  Another  Dictionary, 
supposed  to  be  the  work  of  Father  Gravier,  is  in  the  possession  of  Hon. 
J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  of  Hartford,  Conn. 

*  Charlevoix,  "  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  iii.,  pp.  392-4. 

3  "Registre  de  la  Conception  de  X.  Dame,"  Mar.  15,  Nov.  19,  1720, 
May  18,  1721. 

4  Le  Page  du  Pratz,  "  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane,"  i.,  p.  130. 


ILLINOIS  MISSIONS.  559 

ernor  Bienville,  who  sent  up  a  sergeant  and  twelve  men  to 
maintain  order.  Those  who  wished  to  marry  Indian  wives 
were  encouraged,  and  many  did  so,  as  several  had  done  be 
fore  at  the  old  town.  The  Kaskaskias  were  industrious  ;  the 
Jesuit  Fathers  had  taught  them  to  use  the  plough  in  their 
fields  near  Lake  Pimiteouy,  and  when  they  began  to  obtain 
horses  from  the  Caddoes,  they  raised  large  fields  of  grain, 
which  they  ground  at  the  three  mills  in  their  district.  The 
women  made  a  cloth  of  bison  wool,  and  wore  a  waist  and 
petticoat,  with  a  long  robe  above,  the  work  of  their  own 
hands. 

The  majority  of  the  Illinois  were  at  this  time  Christians. 
They  had  a  very  large  church  in  their  village,  with  a  high 
altar  and  two  lateral  ones,  a  baptismal  font  and  a  bell.  They 
attended  mass  and  vespers  regularly,  singing  the  psalms  and 
hymns  in  their  own  language;  the  French  when  they  at 
tended,  singing  alternate  verses  in  Latin.1 

The  influence  of  religion  can  be  seen  in  some  pious 
children  brought  up  in  the  Illinois  country.  Mary  Turpin, 
daughter  of  a  Canadian  father  and  an  Illinois  mother,  re- 

O 

markable  for  her  modesty,  piety,  and  industry,  became  a 
nun  in  the  Ursuline  Convent,  New  Orleans,  where  she  died 
in  1761,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two.  She  was  certainly  the  first 
American-born  nun  in  this  country.2 

Fort  Chartres,  a  log  structure  near  the  river,  begun  by  de 
Boisbriant  in  1718  was  long  the  chief  French  post  on  the 
northern  Mississippi,  though  not  rebuilt  in  stone  till  1757.  It 
became,  too,  the  centre  and  seat  of  government  of  the  Illinois 
country.  The  chapel  was  dedicated  to  Saint  Anne,  and  as 


1  Penicaut,  "  Relation  "  in  Margry,  v.,  pp.  490-1. 

2  "Lettre  Circulaire  de  sa  mort." 


560  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

settlers  selected  grounds  near  the  fort,  the  little  village  that 
grew  up  formed  in  time  the  parish  of  St.  Anne.1 

Another  village  was  formed  at  Prairie  du  Rocher  five 
miles  from  the  fort  on  land  granted  to  Boisbriant.  Here  a 
church  was  dedicated  to  Saint  Joseph,  and  village  and  church 
remain  to  this  day  with  the  old  title,  although  the  church 
and  village  of  Saint  Anne  de  Fort  Chartres  were  in  time  so 
invaded  by  the  Mississippi  in  its  floods  that  they  were  aban 
doned,  and  the  inhabitants  removed  chiefly,  it  would  seem, 
to  Prairie  du  Rocher. 

Two  of  the  chaplains  of  the  Fort,  the  Abbe  Joseph  Ga- 
gnon,  parish  priest  of  Cahokia,  and  Father  Luke  Collet,  a  Rec 
ollect,  died  there,  and  were  buried  in  the  church  of  Saint 
Anne,  but  when  that  edifice  threatened  to  fall  with  the 
crumbling  earth  into  the  river,  their  bodies  were  piously 
transferred  to  the  church  of  Saint  Joseph.2 

The  spiritual  condition  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  called 
forth  this  year  the  following  pastoral  from  Bishop  Saint  Yal- 
lier : 

"  ^Vre,  John,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  of  the  Holy  Apos 
tolic  See,  Bishop  of  Quebec,  to  our  most  beloved  brethren  in 
Jesus  Christ,  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  scat 
tered  throughout  the  extent  of  Micicipi,  and  to  the  faithful 
who  are  under  their  guidance,  Health  and  Benediction  in  Our 
Lord. 

"  The  reports  which  reach  us  from  all  sides,  from  France 

1  The  Register  beginning  Sept.  13,  1721,  is  still  preserved  at  Prairie 
du  Rocher. 

2  The  Abb 3  Gannon,   ordained  April  23,  1730,    died  in  July,  1759. 
Leonard  Philibert  Collet,  who  took  in  religion  the  name  of  Luke,  was 
chaplain  at  the  French  posts  in  Pennsylvania,  Presquile,  and  Riviere  aux 
Boeufs.  He  was  born  Nov.  3,  1715,  and  ordained  in  1753.  Tanguay,  "  Re 
pertoire  General."    Their  bodies  were  removed  by  Father  S.  L.  Meuriii, 
S.J.,  in  1768. 


BP.  SAINT  VALUER' H  PASTORAL.  5t>i 

as  well  as  from  the  upper  country,  of  the  disregard  of  religion 
and  purity,  in  which  the  French  recently  come  fn>m  Franc-*.-, 
of  every  kind  of  condition,  live  in  the  vast  count  is    vliu.  »f 
they  liave  come  to  inhabit  along  that  great  river,  making-  -^ 
fear  that  they  will  draw  down  upon   us  the  maledk-ri-.u*  <rf 
God.  fulminated  against  those  who  will  not  live  (  Ln  T,;I, 
lives,  and  according  to  their  state,  instead  of  the  bh- 
promised  in  many  places  of  the  sacred  books  to  .men  of  g<  *  •«' 
who  seek  to  serve  God  well,  We  have  resolved   to  wi'tl^UM-: 
with  all  our  .strength  the  public  vices  and  dii*or»lti!>,  wlm 
might  be  calculated   to  draw  down  misfortunes   upon    u.-. 
Wherefore  to  apply  most  efficacious  remedies,  we  or<.U-rn  »••*--. 
who  under  our  authority  have  the  conduct  of  souk,  to  d«-<-iaif 
to  them,  that  it  is  our  intention  to  regard  *»  giving  f.v  -.•• 
scandal  all  who  in  contempt  <-t  diviw  and  hmi>ai;   L-.w-  ^-.- 
far  as  to  commit  wai  >i-i  >i-   ir«j>i«t; 

their  action?,  or  by  pu!0:*  v'^..  h\  ilUrt- 

ganl  of  all  probii»iti«m-   iii!jni6twti   t.    ik  -01    ,****&  in  fne>- 
quenting  and  even  dw-.-ilit^  i^xi-t'h*.!      \\ >   ilo  ••»      ^*in^  chat 
the?*1  classes. of  jwrsoiii?  be  admitted  in  t!ii.    *••.?,' :.   «r  ti«  the 
sacraments,  but  that  they  should  be  subjtruxi  t«.«  j>u»ti.«-  pc: 
ance,  which  shall  be  imposed  upon  them  by  our  Vicw-lTeu 
eral,  conformably  to  the  desire  of  the  Holy  Council  of  ln:nt, 
which   wished  public   penance  imposed  on   public  sinners 
Given  at  Quebec  under  our  hand  and  that  of  our  Sec-retarv.. 
sealed  with  the  seal  of  our  arms  this  19th  day  of  Jah  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-one. 

"  JOHN,  BISHOP  OF  QIKM«  . .' 

This  was  apparently  the  last  official  act  of  Bishop  8*<:. 
ValJier  referring  directly  to  the  church    in  the  Miv^ 


•'  Archives  <:•.         .          <.'•<  ' 
86 


562  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Valley  in  which  he  had  taken  such  interest  in  his  long  and 
eventful  administration.1 

The  country  of  the  Illinois  having  been  attached  by  the 
French  government  to  Louisiana,  negro  and  Indian  slavery 
was  introduced,  not  without  detriment  to  the  moral  tone  of 
the  community.  This  connection  involved  that  part  of  the 
country  in  the  Indian  wars,  and  the  Register  of  Kaskaskia 
chronicles  requiem  masses  offered  for  families  and  individuals 
who  fell  victims  to  savage  fury  while  descending  the  Missis 
sippi." 

In  August,  1717,  the  Regent  Duke  of  Orleans  in  the  name 
of  Louis  XV.,  issued  Letters  Patent  establishing  a  joint  stock 
company  called  the  "  Company  of  the  West,"  to  which 
Louisiana  was  transferred.  The  fifty-third  clause  reads  as 
follows :  "  As  in  the  settlement  of  the  countries  granted  to 
the  said  Company  by  these  Presents,  We  regard  especially 
the  glory  of  God  by  procuring  the  salvation  of  the  inhabit 
ants,  Indians,  savages  and  negroes,  whom  we  desire  to  be  in 
structed  in  the  true  religion,  the  said  Company  shall  be 
obliged  to  build  at  its  expense  churches  at  the  places  where  it 
forms  settlements  ;  as  also  to  maintain  there  the  necessary 
number  of  approved  ecclesiastics;  either  with  the  rank  of 
parish  priests  or  such  others  as  shall  be  suitable,  in  order  to 
preach  the  Holy  Gospel  there,  perform  Divine  service,  and 


1  As  we  shall  see,  Bishop  Saint  Vallier  relinquished  the  care  of  Louisiana 
to  the  coadjutor  assigned  to  him  a  few  years  after  this  date.  He  died  on  the 
26th  of  December,  1727,  at  the  age  of  64,  at  the  General  Hospital  of 
Quebec,  which  he  had  founded.  Bishop  Saint  Vallier's  charity  and  love 
of  the  poor  were  extreme,  and  he  is  said  to  have  expended  on  his  diocese 
200,000  crowns.  "  Monseigneur  de  Saint  Vallier  et  1'Hopital  General  de 
Quebec,"  Quebec,  1882,  pp.  1-291.  The  name  is  frequently  written 
Saint  Valier,  but  Saint  Vallier  is  evidently  the  proper  form.  Ib. .  p.  709. 

-  Register  of  Kaskaskia,  April  29,  1723,  Dec.  18,  1719,  June  22,  1722, 
etc. 


THE  COMPANY  OF  THE  WEST.       563 

administer  the  sacraments ;  all  under  the  authority  of  the 
Bishop  of  Quebec,  the  said  colony  remaining  in  his  diocese, 
as  heretofore  ;  and  the  parish  priests  and  other  ecclesiastics 
which  the  said  Company  shall  maintain  there,  shall  be  at  his 
nomination  and  patronage." 

Meanwhile  the  Report  of  Father  de  Charlevoix  as  to  the 
spiritual  destitution  of  the  colony  had  induced  efforts  to  re 
lieve  it.  The  Commissaries  of  the  Council  of  the  "Western 
Company  by  an  ordinance  of  May  16,  1722,  professed  to 
have  been  issued  by  the  consent  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec, 
divided  Louisiana  into  three  ecclesiastical  sections.  The  part 
north  of  the  Ohio  and  corresponding  to  it  on  the  west  of  the 
Mississippi  was  left  in  the  care  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  and 
the  Seminaries  of  the  Foreign  Missions  of  Quebec  and  Paris, 
who  had  already  permanent  establishments  there. 

For  the  new  French  settlements  on  and  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  a  different  arrangement  was  made.  A  coad 
jutor  had  been  appointed  to  Bishop  Saint  Vallier  in  the  per 
son  of  a  Capuchin  Father  of  Meudon,  Louis  Francis  Duples- 
sis  de  Mornay,  who  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Eumenia  in 
Phrygia  and  coadjutor  of  Quebec,  in  the  church  of  the  Ca 
puchins  at  Paris  on  the  22d  of  April.  1714.  This  prelate  never 
came  to  America,  although  he  in  time  succeeded  to  the  see  of 
Quebec.  He  remained  in  France,  and  as  Bishop  Saint  Yal- 
lier  appointed  him  Yicar-General  for  Louisiana,  he  assumed 
the  direction  of  the  Church  in  that  province. 

When  the  Company  of  the  West  applied  to  him  for  priests 


1  Le  Page  du  Pratz,  "  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane,"  i.,  pp.  77-8.  By  the 
"Black  Code"  (1724),  all  worship  but  the  Catholic  was  forbidden. 
Slaves  were  to  receive  religious  instruction,  but  they  were  not  to  be  married 
by  any  clergyman  without  the  permission  of  the  masters  ;  marriage  be 
tween  whites  and  blacks  was  severely  prohibited,  and  clergymen  sec 
ular  or  regular  forbidden  to  officiate  at  such  unions. 


564  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

to  minister  to  the  settlers  in  the  province,  and  continue  the 
work  among  the  French  and  Indians  begun  by  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  and  the  Priests  of  the  Foreign  Missions,  Bishop 
de  Mornay  offered  the  more  populous  field  to  the  order  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  and  in  1717  the  Capuchin  Fathers 
of  the  province  of  Champagne  undertook  the  charge,  Royal 


SIGNATURE    OF   FATHER   JOHN   MATTHEW. 

letters  having  been  obtained  in  April  of  that  year  to  authorize 
their  acceptance  of  the  mission. 

No  immediate  steps  were  taken,  however ;  years  passed, 
and  it  was  not  till  the  commencement  of  1721  that  any  Fa 
thers  of  the  Capuchin  order  appeared  in  Louisiana. 

The  last  entry  of  the  secular  clergy  at  Mobile  was  that  of 
Rev.  Alexander  Huve,  on  the  13th  of  January,  1721,  and 


SIGNATURE   OF   FATHER   MATTHEW   AS   VICAR-APOSTOLIC. 

with  him  ceased  the  work  of  the  priests  of  the  Seminary. 
On  the  18th  the  Capuchin  Father,  John  Matthew,  signs  as 
Parish  Priest  of  Mobile.1  As  these  Fathers  came  directly 
from  France,  and  had  no  personal  relations  with  the  Bishop  of 
Quebec,  they  found  applications  to  him  long  and  tedious. 

1  Register  of  Mobile,  Jan.  18,  1721. 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.    565 

Father  John  Matthew  was  evidently  the  Norman  Capuchin 
who  applied  to  Rome  for  special  powers  for  fifteen  missions 
under  his  charge,  representing  that  the  great  distance  at 
which  he  was  from  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  made  it  impracti 
cable  to  apply  when  necessary.1  A  brief  was  really  issued,  and 
Father  John  Matthew  construed  the  powers  it  conferred  so 
liberally  as  to  assume  that  it  exempted  him  from  episcopal 
jurisdiction,  and  made  him  a  Vicar-Apostolic,  for  he  signs 
himself  from  January  9,  1722,  to  March  14,  1723,  F.  Mat 
thew,  Vicar- Apostolic  and  Parish  Priest  of  Mobile. 

New  Orleans  was  commenced  by  Bienville  in  1718,  and  a 
plan  for  the  new  city  was  laid  out  by  La  Tour,  the  engineer. 
It  was  a  rectangle,  eleven  squares  along  the  river,  and  five 
in  depth.  In  the  centre  on  the  river  a  square  was  reserved 
as  the  "  Place  d'Armes,"  and  the  square  behind  it  on  the  Rue 
de  Chartres  was  reserved  for  the  parish  church.  But  when 
Father  Charlevoix  arrived  there  in  January,  1722,  the  city 
consisted  of  about  a  hundred  temporary  sheds ;  there  were 
only  two  or  three  fairly  built  houses.  No  chapel  had  yet 
been  erected ;  half  of  a  wretched  warehouse  had  at  first  been 
assigned  for  the  chapel,  but  he  says  though  "  they  had  kindly 
consented  to  lend  it  to  the  Lord,  he  had  scarcely  taken  pos 
session,  when  he  was  requested  to  withdraw,  and  seek  shelter 
under  a  tent."  Yet  some  rude  structure  was  soon  put  up, 
for  the  hurricane  of  September  12,  1722,  which  prostrated 
thirty  log-huts  or  houses,  demolished  also  the  church.2  This 
first  church  is  said  to  have  been  dedicated  to  Saint  Ignatius, 
and  to  have  been  attended  by  a  Capuchin  Father  Anthony. 


'Michael  a  Tugio,  "Bullarium  Ord.  FF.  Minor.  S.P.  Francisci  Ca- 
pucinorum."  Fol.  1740-52  ;  vii.,  pp.  322-3. 

'  Charlevoix,  "  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  ii.,  pp.  434,  458  ;  iii., 
p.  430.  Shea's  Translation,  vi.,  pp.  40,  69. 


563  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Iu  1724  or  '5  a  brick  church  was  at  last  erected,  which  stood 
for  about  sixty  years.1 

The  Company  by  its  ordinance  of  1722  assigned  the  dis 
trict  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Rio  Perdido,  with  the 
country  northward  to  the  Ohio,  to  the  Discalced  Carmelite 
Fathers,  who  were  to  have  their  chief  station  at  Mobile 
This  order  never  seems  to  have  entered  on  the  field  heartily, 
although  one  member,  Father  Charles,  acted  for  a  time  as 
missionary  to  the  Apalaches.2  It  is  asserted  that  the  Bishop 
of  Quebec,  dissatisfied  with  their  inaction,  assigned  their  dis- 


SIGNATURE  OF  THE   CARMELITE   FATHER   CHARLES. 

trict  also  to  the  Capuchins  by  an  ordinance  of  December  19, 
1722. 

The  Capuchin  Father  Bruno  de  Langres  set  out  from 
France  as  Superior  with  several  religious  in  1722 ;  but 
the  next  year  Father  Raphael  de  Luxembourg,  Superior  of 
the  Mission,  who  arrived  in  the  spring,  could  obtain  only  a 
single  room  for  a  chapel  and  another  for  the  four  Capuchins 
who  were  in  Louisiana.  So  indifferent  were  the  people  that 
only  thirty  or  forty  attended  the  parochial  mass  on  Sunday.8 

A  memoir  favorable  to  the  Capuchins  says  :  "  The  Com 
pany  accordingly  seeing  that  they  did  not  furnish  as  many 
priests  as  were  necessary,"  "  resolved  to  place  Capuchins  in 
all  the  French  posts,  and  to  entrust  the  spiritual  direction  of 

1  Loewenstein,  "History  of  the  St.  Louis  Cathedral  of  New  Orleans," 
p.  16. 

'  Register  of  Mobile,  Apl.  18-25,  1721. 
'"  U.  S.  Cath.  Hist.  Mag.,"  ii.,  pp.  295-300. 


THE  CAPUCHINS.  567 

the  Indians  to  the  Jesuits,  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Bishop 
of  Quebec,  who  in  his  letters  highly  approved  this  arrange 
ment."  l 

Meanwhile  the  exclusive  district  of  the  Jesuits  and  Semi 
nary  priests  had  been  extended  down  to  Natchez.  The  Fa 
thers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  were  thus  left  to  establish 
Indian  missions  in  all  parts  of  Louisiana,  with  a  residence  at 
New  Orleans,  but  were  not  to  exercise  any  ecclesiastical  func 
tions  there  without  the  consent  of  the  Capuchins,  and  to  min 
ister  to  the  French  in  their  Illinois  district  with  the  Priests 
of  the  Foreign  Missions,  where  the  Superior  of  each  body 
was  Yicar-General,  as  the  Capuchin  Superior  was  at  New 
Orleans. 

The  Company  on  the  27th  of  June,  1725,  issued  a  formal 
diploma  to  the  Capuchins,  which  was  approved  by  the  king 
at  Chantilly,  July  15,  in  the  same  year." 

As  the  colony  increased,  churches  were  erected  at  Mobile, 
New  Orleans,  and  other  settlements.  A  few  years  later 
the  Capuchins  in  Louisiana  had  charge  of  New  Orleans, 
which  had  now  become  the  most  important  place,  and  con 
tained  a  flock  of  six  hundred  Catholic  families ;  Mobile  had 
declined  to  merely  sixty  families;  the  Apalache  Indians 
numbering  thirty  families  ;  six  at  Balize,  two  hundred  at  Les 
Allemands,  one  hundred  at  Pointe  Coupee,  six  at  Natchez, 

1  "Memoire  concernant  1'Eglise  de  la  Louisiane  (1722-1728)  du  21 
Novembre,  1728,"  in  Gravier,  "Relation  du  Voyage  des  Dames  Relig- 
ieuses  Ursulines,"  Paris,  1872,  p.  113.  This  "Memoire"  is  unsigned, 
and  contains  evident  errors,  so  that  its  authority  cannot  be  considered 
great.  No  ordinance  of  Bp.  Saint  Vallier  on  the  matter  exists  at  Quebec, 
and  the  whole  affair  seems  to  have  been  managed  by  Bp.  de  Mornay. 
The  first  Capuchins  certainly  took  possession  at  Mobile  in  1721,  one  as 
Cure  or  parish  priest,  and  no  Carmelite  appears  as  parish  priest. 

°-  Michael  a  Tujrio,  "  Bullarium  Ord.  FF.  Minor.  S.P.  Francisci  Ca- 
puciuorum,"  1740-52,  vii.,  pp.  328-9. 


568  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

and  fifty  at  Natchitoches,  besides  three  other  missions  which 
are  not  named,  comprised  the  whole.1 

The  founder  of  the  Jesnit  mission  in  Louisiana  was  Father 
Nicholas  Ignatius  de  Beaubois,  born  at  Orleans,  October  15, 
1689,  who  entered  the  Society  just  after  completing  his  sev 
enteenth  year.  He  was,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  Illinois  mis 
sion  in  1720,  when  he  was  selected  to  establish  the  new  and 
difficult  work  assigned  to  his  order,2  and  was  appointed 
Vicar-General.  After  visiting  Louisiana  he  returned  to 
France  to  obtain  Fathers  of  the  Society  for  the  missions  to 
be  established,  and  also  to  obtain  Sisters  of  some  order  who 


jfr'/ 


SIGNATURE   OF  FATHER  DE  BEATTBOIS. 

would  be  brave  enough  to  cross  the  ocean  to  assume  the 
charge  of  an  hospital  and  open  an  academy.  He  applied 
with  the  consent  of  Bishop  Saint  Yallier  to  the  Ursulines  of 
Eouen.  Those  devout  ladies  accepted  the  call  to  the  distant 
field  of  labor,  but  at  the  end  of  a  year  little  progress  was 
made,  so  many  difficulties  were  raised  by  one  and  another. 
In  one  case  it  was  even  necessary  to  obtain  the  authority  of 
Cardinal  Fleury.  The  Koyal  Patent  authorizing  the  Ursu 
lines  to  found  a  convent  in  Louisiana  was  issued  September 
18,  1726.8 

The  Company  of  the  West  agreed  to  maintain  six  nuns, 
to  pay  their  passage  and  that  of  four  servants.     Two  sisters 

"Bullarium   Capuciuorum,"  vii.,  p.  330.     Two  Capuchin   Fathers 
arrived  on  the  "  Venus  ''  in  1722.     Dumont,  "  Memoires,"  ii.,  p.  82. 
'-'  F.  Felix  Martin,  Liste  in  Carayon,  "  Bannissement,"  pp.  120,  126. 

"  Brevet  en  favour  des  Religieuses  Ursulines  de  la  Louisiane  ";  Tran- 
chepain,  "  Relation  du  Voyage,"  p.  61. 


MOTHER  MARY  TRANCHEPAIN.  569 

were  to  have  the  care  of  the  sick,  one  to  be  ready  to  replace 
either  of  them  in  case  of  necessity  ;  a  fourth  was  to  manage 
the  domestic  affairs  of  the  hospital,  and  one  was  to  conduct 
a  free  school  for  the  poor. 

At  last  on  the  12th  of  January,  1727,  Mother  Mary  Tran- 
chepain  of  Saint  Augustine,  with  seven  professed  nuns  from 
Kouen,  Havres,  Van- 
nes,  Ploermel,  Hen- 

nebon,  and  Elbceuf,   c  ^7 

with   a    novice   and     SIGNATUKE  OF  MOTHEB  DE  TKANCHEPAIN. 
two  seculars,  met  at 

the  infirmary  of  the  Ursulines  at  Hennebon,  ready  to  embark 
for  Louisiana.  They  set  sail  on  the  22d  of  the  ensuing 
month,  accompanied  by  Fathers  Tartarin  and  Doutreleau. 
After  a  long  and  tedious  voyage,  stopping  at  Madeira  for 
provisions,  they  reached  Louisiana,  and  in  boats  slowly  made 
their  way  to  New  Orleans,  and  on  the  6th  of  August,  Mother 
Tranchepain  reached  that  city  to  begin  the  first  convent  of 
religious  women  within  the  present  limits  of  the  Republic. 
Father  de  Beaubois  received  the  Sisters,  and  escorted  them  to 
their  temporary  home,  where  the  Ursuline  Convent  of  Xew 
Orleans  was  founded  August  7,  1727,  to  begin  the  work  of 
education  and  cliarity,  which  has  been  continued  under  live 
different  national  flags  in  its  existence  of  more  than  a  cen 
tury  and  a  half. 

The  building  hired  for  them  was  to  be  occupied  till  their 
convent  and  hospital  were  completed.  It  was  small  and  in 
convenient,  and  stood  in  the  square  now  bounded  by  Ursu 
line,  Hospital,  Decatur,  and  Chartres  Streets,  in  the  south 
west  of  the  city.  The  six  months  in  which  the  new  build 
ings  were  promised,  and  as  many  years,  passed  before  the 
convent  was  ready  to  receive  them,  one  of  the  professed  nuns 


570  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

dying  before  the  wished-for  day.1  It  is  even  stated  that  the 
nuns  occupied  for  a  time  a  second  convent  on  a  short  street 
opening  on  the  levee,  and  still  called  "  Nun  Street,"  as  a 
neighboring  one  is  "  Keligious  Street."  2 

At  last  on  the  17th  of  July,  1734,  a  procession  issued  from 
the  temporary  convent,  twenty  young  girls,  attired  as  angels, 
one  to  represent  Saint  Ursula,  eleven  to  portray  her  host  of 
martyred  disciples.  The  scholars  and  orphans  followed, 
then  came  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  de  Beaubois  and  Petit,  and 
the  Capuchin  Father  Philip  bearing  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
under  a  canopy.  Behind  it  came  the  nineteen  Ursuline  nuns 
in  their  choir-mantles,  veiled,  each  carrying  a  lighted  taper. 
Governor  Bienville,  with  the  Intendant  and  officers,  followed, 
and  then  the  citizens,  the  procession  being  flanked  on  either 
side  by  the  military  force  of  the  colony,  the  drums  and  in 
struments  blending  their  sounds  with  the  religious  chants  as 
they  moved  along.  At  the  parish  church  Father  Petit  de 
livered  a  sermon  on  the  importance  of  Christian  education. 
Then  after  receiving  the  benediction  of  the  Blessed  Sacra 
ment  the  procession  moved  to  the  convent,  the  bells  of 
which  rang  out  a  welcome  as  it  approached. 

The  cloister  was  then  established,  and  the  Ursuline  Com 
munity  began  its  labors.  The  buildings,  in  spite  of  the  time 
taken  to  erect  them,  and  the  money  ostensibly  expended, 
were  by  no  means  adequate  to  the  wants  of  the  community, 


1  Tranchepain,  "  Relation  du  Voyage  des  premieres  Ursulines,"  New 
York,  1859.  Gravier,  "  Relation  du  Voyage  des  Dames  Religieuses  Ur 
sulines  de  Rouen  &  la  Nouvelle  Orleans."  This  work  gives  letters  of 
Marie  Hacherd,  a  novice,  to  her  father,  and  embodies  the  account  of 
Mother  Tranchepain. 

'  "  Ursulines  of  New  Orleans/'  New  Orleans,  1886.  One  of  the  nuns, 
Marianne  Boullenger  de  Ste.  Angelique,  was  a  sister  of  the  Jesuit  Father 
of  the  same  name  in  Illinois. 


THE  URSULINE  CONVENT. 


571 


who  were  compelled  at  once  to  begin  another  structure  for 
their  day-school.  By  prudence  and  patience  the  Ursuliues 
at  last  had  hospital  and  schools  on  a  solid  basis,  but  they 
were  grieved  to  see  the  people  so  indifferent  to  the  educa 
tional  advantages  their  academy  afforded.  The  hospital  un 
der  their  management  gave  such  general  satisfaction  that  it 
was  resorted  to  by  all.  The  daughters  of  the  better  class  were 
educated  in  their  academy,  many  in  time  marrying  French 


TTRSUI-INE    CONVENT,    NEW   ORLEANS,    BEGUN    IN    1727,    NOW   RESI 
DENCE   OF   THE   ARCHBISHOP. 

and  Spanish  officials  of  rank,  and  doing  honor  in  other  lands 
to  their  training  by  the  exhibition  of  Christian  graces. 

The  Ursuline  Convent  thus  erected  still  stands,  and  is  the 
oldest  building  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  as  it  is  the  oldest 
conventual  structure  in  the  United  States.  Occupied  for  some 
years  past  as  the  residence  of  the  Archbishop,  it  has  not  lost 
its  religious  character.  It  stands  on  Ursuline  Street,  near 
Coiide. 


572  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

As  we  have  seen  by  the  arrangement  of  the  trading  Com 
pany,  the  highly  educated  Jesuits  were  confined  to  the  In 
dian  field,  and  were  not  allowed  to  exercise  the  ministry 
among  the  settlers  of  Louisiana,  who  were  assigned  to  a  less 
cultured  body. 

The  first  Father  who  arrived  to  take  part  in  the  Louisiana 
missions  was  the  Canadian  Michael  Baudouin,  followed  in  1726 
by  Fathers  Mathurin  le  Petit,  Paul  du  Poisson,  John  Souel, 
Alexis  de  Guyenne,  and  John  Dumas.  The  next  year,  as 
we  have  seen,  Fathers  Tartarin  and  Doutreleau  arrived  on 
the  "  Gironde  "  with  the  Ursulines. 

Father  Dumas  went  up  to  the  Illinois  missions ;  Father 
du  Poisson  was  sent  to  the  Arkansas,  who  had  received  no 
instruction  since  Eev.  Nicholas  Foucault's  death  ;  Father  de 
Guyenne  undertook  to  plant  a  mission  among  the  Aliba- 
mons,  and  Father  le  Petit  among  the  Choctaws. 

A  chaplain  had  been  sent  out  by  Law  to  attend  the  set 
tlers  whom  he  planted  on  his  grant  upon  the  Arkansas,  but 
this  clergyman  died  just  as  the  vessel  reached  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  Father  du  Poisson  found  not  only  In 
dians  but  French  settlers  who  required  his  services.  He  be 
gan  to  study  the  language  of  the  Arkansas  Indians  in  order 
to  instruct  them,  and  Father  Souel,  though  often  prostrated 
by  disease,  was  equally  diligent  among  the  Yazoos,1  the  neigh 
boring  French  post  having  been  in  1723  attended  by  the 
Abbe  Juif,  who  had  served  as  chaplain  in  the  French  army, 
and  who  in  a  terrible  drought  induced  his  people  at  the 
Yazoo  to  make  a  general  fast  and  attend  the  Forty  Hours 
Devotion  to  obtain  rain  from  heaven." 

In  1728  the  Capuchins  were  thus  distributed :  Y.  Rev. 

1  Letter  of  Father  Du  Poisson,  "  Lettres  Edifiantes  "  (Kip,  pp.  231-257). 

2  Dumont,  "Memoires  Historiques  sur  la  Louisiane,"  i.,  pp.  164,  174. 


THE  NATCHEZ  MASSACRE.  573 

Father  Eaphael,  Vicar-General  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec, 
and  parish  priest  of  New  Orleans,  with  Father  Hyacinth 
vicar,  and  Father  Cecilius,  schoolmaster,  were  at  the  capital  ; 
Father  Theodore  at  Chapitoulas  ;  Father  Philip  at  Les  Alle- 
mands  ;  Father  Gaspar  at  Balize  ;  Father  Mathias  at  Mobile  ; 
with  Father  Victorin  Dupui,  a  Recollect,  as  parish  priest  of 
the  Apalaches  ;  Father  Maximin  at  Natch  itoches,  and  Father 
Philibert  at  Natchez,  described  by  Father  le  Petit  as  a  worthy, 
zealous  priest.  While  the  Jesuits,  whose  Superior,  Father 
de  Beaubois,  had  been  recalled,  awaited  the  arrival  at  New 
Orleans  of  the 
newly  appointed 
Superior,  Father 
Mathurin  le  Pe 
tit,  from  his  mis-  _j£  £/<:*<:  A 


3    SIGNATURES  OF  THE  JESUIT  FATHER  MATHURIN  LE 

Choctaws,       Fa-     PETIT,  AND  THE  RECOLLECT  FATHER  VICTORIN. 
ther  da  Poisson 

was  among  the  Arkansas  Indians;  Fathers  Tartarin  and 
le  Boullenger  at  Kaskaskia  ;  Father  Guymonneau  among 
the  Metchigameas  ;  Father  Doutreleau  on  the  Ouabache  ; 
Father  Souel  among  the  Yazoos  ;  and  Father  Baudouin  at 
tempting  the  dangerous  task  of  establishing  a  mission  among 
the  treacherous  Chickasaws. 

These  Indian  missions  were,  however,  nearly  broken  up  in 
1729  by  the  Natchez.  Provoked  by  the  tyranny  and  ra 
pacity  of  Chopart,  the  French  commandant,  that  tribe  rose 
against  the  French  and  massacred  all  they  met.  Father  du 
Poisson,  on  his  way  to  New  Orleans  to  explain  to  Governor 
Perrier  the  wants  of  his  mission,  reached  Natchez  on  the 
26th  of  November,  and  finding  the  Capuchin  Father  absent, 
remained  at  the  request  of  the  people  to  officiate  for  them 
on  the  following  day,  the  first  Sunday  of  Advent.  He  also 


574  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

attended  the  sick,  and  on  Monday,  after  offering  the  Holy 
Sacrifice,  was  carrying  the  Blessed  Sacrament  to  some  sick 
persons,  when  the  signal  for  the  massacre  was  given.  A 
gigantic  chief  sprang  upon  the  unsuspecting  priest,  hurled 
him  to  the  ground,  and  by  repeated  blows  of  his  tomahawk 
severed  his  head  from  his  body.  The  only  words  the  mis 
sionary  could  utter  were  :  "  Ah  !  my  God  !  ah  !  my  God  !  " 
An  officer  who  tried  to  save  him  was  shot  down.  In  a  few 
moments  every  Frenchman  but  two  was  slain,  arid  most  of 
the  women ;  the  rest  were  reduced  to  a  wretched  slavery. 

The  Yazoos,  drawn  into  a  general  conspiracy  against  the 
French  by  the  Natchez,  lay  in  wait  for  Father  Souel  on  the 
llth  of  December,  as  he  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  chief. 
As  the  Jesuit  Father  entered  a  ravine,  he  fell  dead,  riddled 
by  a  volley  of  musket-balls.     One  of  the  murderers  arrayed 
himself  in   the   missionary's  clothes,  and    hastened   to   the 
Natchez,  to  show  that  the  Yazoos  had  fulfilled  their  pledge. 
The  rest  plundered  the  house  of  Father  Souel,  and  the  next 
day  surprised  and  murdered  the  garrison  of  the  French  post. 
Father  Doutreleau  had  set  out  from  Illinois  for  Father 
Souel's  station,  but  landed  on  the  river-side  on  New- Year's 
Day,  1T30,  to  say  mass.     He  had  set  up  his  altar,  and  was 
about  to  begin  the  mass,  when  some  Yazoos  landed  near  the 
party.     The  French  boatmen  of  the  missionary  were  igno 
rant  of  the  Indian  outbreak,  and  allowed  the  Yazoos  to  kneel 
down   behind   them.     The  mass  began,  and  as  the  priest  ut 
tered  the  u  Kyrie  Eleison,"  the  Indians  fired  a  volley,  wound 
ing  Father  Doutreleau,  and  killing  one  of  his  boatmen.     The 
others  fled,  and  Father  Doutreleau  knelt  to  receive  the  final 
blow ;  but  when  the  Indians  firing  wildly  missed  him  again 
and  again,  he  followed  his  boatmen,  vested  as  he  was.     He 
reached  the  boat  by  wading,  and  though  as  he  climbed  in  he 
received  a  discharge  of  shot  in  the  mouth,  he  took  the  rud- 


JES  UIT  MISSION  A  RIES.  575 

der,  and  the  boatmen  plying  their  paddles  with  superhuman 
energy,  soon  left  their  murderous  assailants  far  behind.  Fa 
ther  Doutreleau  reached  New  Orleans  safely,  and  there  his 
wounds  were  treated.1 

A  naval  officer  of  this  period,  who  must  be  regarded  as 
impartial,  draws  this  picture  of  these  missionaries  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley :  "  I  cannot  help  doing  the  justice  due 
the  Jesuit  Fathers  in  regard  to  their  missions.  [Nothing  is 
more  edifying  for  religion  than  their  conduct,  and  the  un 
wearied  zeal  with  which  they  labor  for  the  conversion  of 
these  nations.  Picture  to  yourself  a,  Jesuit  four  hundred 
leagues  away  in  the  woods,  with  no  conveniences,  no  provis 
ions,  and  most  frequently  with  no  resource  but  the  liberality 
of  people  who  know  not  God,  compelled  to  live  like  them, 
to  pass  whole  years  without  receiving  any  tidings,  with  sav 
ages  who  have  only  the  countenance  of  human  beings,  among 
whom,  instead  of  finding  society  or  relief  in  sickness,  he  is 
daily  exposed  to  perish  and  be  massacred.  This  is  done  daily 
by  these  Fathers  in  Louisiana  and  Canada." ' 

The  French  authorities  immediately  prepared  to  punish 
the  Natchez,  and  arrayed  all  the  tribes  under  their  influence 
against  that  tribe  and  the  Chickasaws,  who  espoused  their 
cause.  The  Indian  nations  on  the  Mississippi  were  all  in 
volved  in  the  war,  and  mission  work  for  the  time  was  neces 
sarily  suspended. 

"When  the  Natchez  were  finally  overthrown,  Father  de 
Guyenne,  and  subsequently  Father  Carette,  continued  Father 


1  Father  le  Petit  in  "  Lettres  Edifiantes  "  (in  Kip,  pp.  267,  etc.).  Du 
mont,  "Memoires  Historiques,"  ii.,  pp.  144,  163.  Le  Page  du  Pratz, 
"  Histoire  de.la  Louisiane,"  iii.,  pp.  257,  263. 

-  "  Relation  de  la  Louisiane  ou  Mississippi,"  Amsterdam,  1734,  p.  25  : 
"Memoire  sur  la  Louisiane,  ou  le  Mississippi,"  in  Recueil  B.,  Luxem 
bourg,  1752,  p.  144. 


576  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

du  Poisson's  labors  among  the  Arkansas.  The  missionary, 
Carette,  learned  the  language  of  his  flock,  and  underwent 
great  hardships  in  his  efforts  to  instruct  them  ;  but  his  efforts 
were  neutralized  by  the  corrupt  French  at  the  post.  At  the 
fort  there  was  no  chapel,  and  no  place  where  he  could  offer 
the  holy  sacrifice  but  a  room  open  to  all,  even  to  the  poultry, 
so  that  a  hen  once  flew  on  the  altar  just  as  he  concluded  the 
mass.  Even  this  did  not  induce  those  in  authority  to  erect  a 
suitable  chapel.  His  remonstrance  only  led  really  to  further 
derision  arid  mockery  of  religion.1 

Hopeless  of  effecting  any  good,  Father  Carette  withdrew 
till  such  time  as  a  suitable  chapel  was  prepared.2 

Bishop  de  Mornay  succeeded  to  the  see  of  Quebec  on  the 
death  of  Bishop  Saint  Yallier  in  1727,  but  though  he  held 
the  see  till  his  own  resignation  five  years  later,  there  is  no 
trace  of  any  action  on  his  part  in  regard  to  the  province 
which  was  his  especial  care. 

On  the  recall  of  the  Abbe  Varlet,  the  Seminary  of  the 
Foreign  Missions  sent  to  the  Tamarois  mission  two  young 
priests,  Eev.  Thaumur  de  la  Source  and  Eev.  Mr.  Mercier,  the 
expenses  of  the  voyage  and  outfit  amounting  to  6,641  livres. 
To  give  permanence  to  their  religious  work,  these  two  clergy 
men  obtained  from  Dugue  de  Boisbriant,  the  Command 
ant,  and  Mark  Anthony  de  la  Loere  des  Ursins,  Commis- 


1  A  curious  relic  of  the  Jesuit  missions  at  the  South  is  preserved  in 
Timber-lake's  "  Memoirs,"  London,  1765,  p.  96.  It  is  described  on  the 
title-page  as  "  A  Curious  Secret  Journal  taken  by  the  Indians  out  of  the 
pocket  of  a  Frenchman  they  had  killed  ";  but  was  really  taken  from  a 
French  Indian.  It  is  simply  one  of  the  sheet  almanacs  commonly  given 
in  missions  with  the  Sundays,  Holidays,  Fast  and  Abstinence  days 
marked  by  signs,  so  that  Indians  when  off  hunting  can  keep  up  with  the 
calendar ! 

"  Bannissement  des  Jesuites  de  la  Louisiane,"  p.  19  ;  Father  Watrin 
to  the  Propaganda. 


REV.  MR.  GASTON  KILLED.  577 

saire,  a  tract  four  leagues  square,  a  quarter  of  a  league  above 
the  little  river  Caliokia,  which  was  conceded  in  legal  form  to 
the  Seminary  of  Quebec.1 

This  land  was  nearly  all  granted  out  to  settlers,  and  a  pros 
perous  little  community  grew  up,  mills  and  other  works  of 
general  use  being  established  by  the  Seminary  priests. 

After  ten  years'  service,  the  Rev.  Thaumur  de  la  Source 
returned  to  Canada  in  1728,  and  the  Rev.  Joseph  Courrier 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gaston,  ordained  in  1730,  were  sent  from 
Quebec.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Gaston  was  killed  by  Indians  soon 
after  reaching  Tamarois ;  Rev.  Mr.  Courrier  labored  at  his 
post  for  several  years,  regarded  as  a  man  of  extraordinary 


SIGNATURE  OP  REV.    MR.   FORGET  DUVERGER. 

sanctity.  Broken  by  disease,  he  went  to  New  Orleans  to  ob 
tain  medical  treatment,  and  died  among  the  Capuchins  in 
the  autumn  of  1735.* 

The  Abbe  Mercier  was  again  left  almost  alone,  and  saw 
most  of  his  buildings  destroyed  by  fire.  His  associate,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Gagnon,  sinking  under  age  and  infirmities,  wished 
to  return  to  Canada,  but  was  too  devoted  to  depart  before 

1  "  Extrait  des  Registres  du  Conscil  Provincial  des  Illinois";  La  Tour, 
"  Memoire  sur  la  Vie  de  M.  de  Laval,"  p.  101. 

2  Laval,  "  Memoires  sur  la  Vie  de  M.  Laval,"  Cologne,  1761,  p.  101. 
Cardinal  Taschereau,  "Memoire." 

37 


578  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

other  priests  came.  In  1739  the  Abbe  Laurens,  a  priest  of 
Chartres,  in  France,  was  sent  out,  the  Seminary  expending 
on  his  outfit  and  improvements  of  the  parish  no  less  than 
25,000  livres.  Like  his  predecessors  he  attended  not  only 
the  parish  of  the  Holy  Family  at  Tamarois  or  Cahokia,  but 
that  of  Saint  Anne  at  Fort  Chartres.1  In  1754  the  last  priest 
was  sent  by  the  Seminary.  He  was  the  Rev.  Francis  Forget 
Duverger,  and  attended  only  the  parish  of  the  Holy  Family. 

The  French  post  at  Ouiatenon  on  the  Wabash  was  followed 
up  about  1735  by  the  establishment,  under  the  authority 
of  Louisiana,  of  another  post  destined  to  enjoy  a  perma 
nent  existence.  This  was  soon  afterward  known  as  Poste 
Yincennes.  A  few  settlers  clustered  around  these  posts,  and 
priests  ere  long  set  up  a  temporary  altar  for  these  early  back 
woodsmen.  The  earliest  whose  name  is  recorded  is  the  Rec 
ollect  Father,  Pacome  Legrand,  who,  after  a  term  of  service 
at  Yincennes,  died  while  returning  to  Niagara  on  the  6th  of 
October,  1742."  It  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  it  was  he 
who  baptized  at  Fort  Ouiatenon,  on  the  22d  of  July  in  the 
preceding  year,  Anthony,  son  of  John  Baptist  Foucher,  who 
became  in  time  the  first  priest  ordained  from  the  West.3 

Yincennes  grew  slowly  on,  and  its  regular  parish  records 
began.  On  the  21st  of  April,  1749,  a  marriage  entry  of 
Julian  Trottier  des  Rivieres  and  Josette  Marie  begins  the 
records  of  the  church.  The  Jesuit  Father,  Sebastian  Louis 
Meurin,  destined  to  be  the  last  survivor  of  his  order  in  the 
West,  discharged  the  duties  of  parish  priest  at  the  post,  and 


1  The  Abbe  Laurens  died  in  1758  or  the  following  year.  The  food  of 
the  country  never  agreed  with  him,  and  he  was  a  great  sufferer. 

'*  Tanguay,  "  Repertoire  General,"  p.  78. 

3  He  was  ordained  October  30,  1774,  and  died  in  1812  at  Lachenaie, 
Canada,  of  which  he  was  parish  priest,  as  he  had  been  at  St.  Henri  de 
Mascouche,  and  Sainte  Anne  de  La  Pocatiere.  Ib.,  p.  126. 


VINCENNES'  REGISTER.  579 

proclaimed  the  banns  in  the  usual  form.     The  settlers  came 
from  the  Canadian  parishes,  and  not  a  few  from  Ouiatenon 
and  Detroit,  which  were  under  the  Canadian  government. 
In  1752  Father  Peter  du  Jaunay  records  a  baptism  at 


FIRST   ENTRY   IN   THE   PARISH  REC  TSTER   OF   VINCENNES. 

Ouiatenon.  The  next  year  Father  Louis  Vivier,  who  in 
1750  contributed  a  letter  from  Illinois  to  the  "  Lettres  Edifi- 
antes  et  Curieuses,"  began  a  three  years'  pastoral  charge  at 
Vincennes,  succeeded  in  November,  1756,  by  Father  Julian 
Devernai.1 

Of  the  state  of  religion  in  the  French  settlements  of  Louis 
iana  for  some  years,  there 
are  in  fact  no  documents  C^  ^~ 

to  guide  the  historian.  . — ^?  -  •&  PIS  te/y*  s  S*  / 
The  Capuchin  Fathers  // 

seem  to  have  discharged          SIGNATURE  OF  FATHER  VIVIER. 
their    functions    quietly, 

as  we  rarely  find  any  allusion  to  them  in  the  official  dispatches 
or  in  the  writings  of  men  like  Le  Page  du  Pratz,  Dumont, 
Penicaut,  Benard  de  la  Harpe,  writers  who  took  an  active  part 

1  "  Registre  de  la  Paroisse  de  St.  Francois  Xavier  au  Poste  Vincennes." 


580 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


in  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  Religion  certainly  did  not  gain  ; 
vice  increased  unchecked  ;  no  public  institutions,  religious  or 
charitable,  were  established,  that  show  a  community  imbued 
with  faith.  One  of  the  Capuchin  Fathers  who  labored  long 
est  on  the  mission  was  Father  John  Francis,  who  was  at 
Pointe  Coupee  in  1737"  and  was  parish  priest  of  Mobile,  with 
little  interruption  from  1736  to  1755.  Father  Mathias  de 
Sedan  was  parish  priest  from  1726  to  1736,  and  was  Superior 
and  Vicar-General  from  1734  ;  Father  Anselm  de  Langres 


/ 


^o^^z, 

/         G* 


SIGNATURE  OF   FATHER  JOHN  FRANCIS. 

in  1738  erected  the  oratory  of  St.  Francis  at  Pointe  Coupee, 
dedicated  it  on  the  16th  of  March,  and  blessed  the  bells  on 
Holy  Saturday. 

The  Recollect  Father,  Yictorin,  was  for  some  years  in 
Louisiana,  and  his  name  appears  at  Mobile  from  1728  to  1735  ; 
and  a  secular  priest,  Rev.  Mr.  Didier,  was  at  Pointe  Coupee 
in  1756,  but  they  are  solitary  cases,  the  parishes  generally 
being  directed  by  the  Capuchin  Fathers,  who  numbered  from 
ten  to  fifteen. 

The  Jesuit  Fathers  at  New  Orleans  had  no  parochial  du 
ties,1  but  directed  the  Ursulines  from  the  foundation  of  the 

'A  "Memoire"  in  Gravier,  "Relation  du  Voyage,"  says  that  Father 
de  Beaubois,  after  becoming  Vicar-General,  "  made  himself  superior  of 
the  Ursuline  community  and  seized  all  authority  there,"  p.  116.  Sister 
Hachard's  Letters  and  Mother  Tranchepain's  "  Narrative,"  as  well  as  the 
account  of  her  death,  show  on  the  contrary  that  he  brought  the  commu 
nity  out,  and  was  their  Superior  and  Director  exclusively.  "  If  we  had 
the  misfortune  to  lose  him  either  by  illness  or  otherwise,"  wrote  Sister 
Hachard,  "  we  should  be  deeply  afflicted  and  greatly  to  be  pitied." 


MOTHER  DE  TRANCHEPAIN.  581 

convent,  and  beyond  that,  had  charge  merely  of  their  pri 
vate  chapel  and  a  plantation  where  they  introduced  the 
orange-tree  and  the  sugar-cane.  Father  de  Beaubois  re 
mained  at  New  Orleans,  assisted  from  time  to  time  by  Fa 
ther  Peter  Yitry  and  others.  From  some  cause  Father  de 
Beaubois  was  interdicted,  and  that  year  the  foundress  of  the 
Ursulines  was  prostrated  by  a  fatal  illness  on  St.  Ursula's 
day,  1733.  After  suffering  for  eighteen  days,  she  asked  to 
receive  Extreme  Unction,  which  the  Capuchin  Father  Ra 
phael,  Vicar-General  of  the  Bishop,  permitted  Father  Beau 
bois  to  administer,  to  the  great  consolation  of  the  dying  relig 
ious.  Fortified  by  all  the  sacraments,  she  expired  on  the  llth 
of  November,  1733,  "  after  having  given  evidence  of  all  the 
virtues  that  could  be  desired  in  a  worthy  and  perfect  Superior." 
She  was  born  of  a  Protestant  family  at  Rouen,  and  was 
strongly  attached  to  her  family  and  home,  where  she  was  a 
favorite.  The  truth  of  the  Catholic  faith  became  so  clear  to 
her,  however,  that  she  presented  herself  at  the  Ursuline  Con 
vent  to  receive  instruction,  and  there  made  her  abjuration. 
Editied  by  all  she  saw  in  the  religious,  she  soon  after  solicited 
admission  and  became  a  novice  in  1699.  From  the  first  she 
was  filled  with  the  idea  of  founding  a  convent  in  America, 
and  according  to  the  circular  on  her  death,  was  enlightened 
superuaturally  as  to  the  plan  of  Father  Beaubois.  That  relig 
ious,  learning  of  her  desire  to  aid  the  missions  by  her  services, 
wrote  to  her,  and  it  was  through  the  energy,  address,  and 
tact  of  Mother  Mary  Tranchepain  of  Saint  Augustine  that 
the  difficulties  raised  against  the  project  were  finally  over 
come.  The  long  voyage  and  the  trials  attending  the  establish 
ment  of  the  convent  at  New  Orleans,  brought  out  all  her  ad 
mirable  qualities,  and  added  to  her  merit.  The  injustice 
done  to  her  director,  Father  de  Beaubois,  was  not  the  least 
of  the  crosses  she  was  called  upon  to  bear. 


582  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

She  established  her  convent,  her  community  directing  the 
hospital  for  the  sick,  an  academy  for  young  ladies,  a  poor- 
school,  an  orphan  asylum,  and  catechism  for  negroes,  old  and 
young.  She  found  the  greatest  ignorance  among  the  white 
girls  born  in  the  country,  and  the  instruction  of  the  future 
mothers  in  the  colony  in  their  religion  was  one  of  the  duties 
of  the  Ursulines. 

When  the  Natchez  massacre  filled  the  province  with  or 
phan  girls,  these  nuns  opened  their  doors  to  them.1 

In  time  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  appointed  Father  de  Beau- 
bois  his  Vicar-General  in  Louisiana,  but  the  Capuchin  Fa 
thers  refused  to  recognize  his  authority.  They  claimed  that 
under  the  agreement  with  the  Company  the  Bishop  of  Que 
bec  had  in  perpetuity  made  the  Superior  of  the  Capuchins 
his  Vicar-General,  and  could  appoint  no  other.  The  colony 
was  divided  into  two  parties,  and  a  disedifying  struggle  en 
sued.  The  Capuchins  succeeded  in  inducing  Bishop  Mornay 
to  suspend  Father  de  Beaubois,  and  to  ask  the  Provincial  of 
the  Jesuits  to  recall  him  to  France. 

But  subsequent  Bishops  of  Quebec,  finding  it  impossible  to 
exercise  any  control  over  the  Capuchins  in  Louisiana  through 
their  Superior,  to  maintain  discipline  or  to  carry  out  the  rules 
of  the  diocese,  constantly  insisted  on  confiding  the  office  of 
Vicar-General  to  some  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  there 
being  no  other  regulars,  and  no  secular  priests  at  New  Orleans. 
They  could  not  as  bishops  admit  that  the  assent  of  Bishop  de 
Mornay,  a  coadjutor,  and  Vicar-General,  to  an  agreement  be 
tween  a  trading  company  and  a  religious  order,  deprived 
every  Bishop  of  Quebec  of  the  right  to  act  as  freely  in  Louis 
iana  as  in  any  other  part  of  his  diocese.2 

1  "  Lettre  Circulaire  "in  "  Relation  du  Voyage,"  pp.  54-60.     Gravier, 
"  Relation  du  Voyage,"  pp.  85,  97,  122. 

2  Letters  of  Bp.  Briand,  June,  1767,  April  26,  1769. 


THE  VICAR-GENERALSHIP.  583 

In  the  year  1739  the  Eight  Eev.  Henry  Mary  Du  Breuil 
de  Pontbriand,  Bishop  of  Quebec,  deemed  it  proper  for  the 
interest  of  religion  to  appoint  Father  Peter  Vitry  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  his  Vicar-General  for  Louisiana,  and  suc 
cessor  to  Father  Mathias,  the  Capuchin,  who  had  held  that 
office,  and  his  Letters  to  that  effect  were  duly  registered  by 
the  Superior  Council  of  the  Province.  Even  then  Father 
Hilary  posted  up  a  document  in  which  he  assailed  the  Coun 
cil  so  violently  that  they  insisted  on  his  returning  to  France. 

When  all  became  quiet  Father  Vitry  acted  as  Vicar-Gen 
eral  till  his  death  in  1750.  When  the  Bishop  of  Quebec, 


SIGNATURES  OF  FATHERS  BAUDOUIN  AND  VITRT. 

April  29,  1757,  appointed  the  Jesuit  Father,  Michael  Bau 
douin,  his  Vicar-General,  the  Capuchin  Fathers  protested,  and 
again  maintained  that  their  Superior  by  the  treaty  with  the 
Company  of  the  West  was  entitled  to  the  appointment.1  The 
Fathers  of  the  Society  wished  to  yield  the  point,  but  Mgr. 
Pontbriand  insisted.  The  matter  was  argued  before  the  Su 
perior  Council  of  Louisiana,  which  finally  registered  the 

1  Bishop  de  Pontbriand's  powers  to  Father  Baudouin  were  most  explicit. 
They  recite  that  he  had,  from  the  commencement  of  his  administration, 
made  the  Superior  General  of  the  Jesuits  his  Vicar-General  in  all  parts 
of  Louisiana,  and  specifically  gives  Father  Baudouin  full  powers  over  all 
priests,  whether  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  or  Order  of  St.  Francis,  to  give 
or  withhold  faculties  at  his  discretion.  The  Letter  of  Appointment  is  in 
the  archives  of  the  Archbishop  of  Quebec,  C.  224. 


584 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


appointment,   and   recognized   Father   Baudouin   as  Vicar- 
General.1 

Father  Baudouin  had  been  for  eighteen  years  on  the  Choc- 
taw  mission,  aided  for  a  time  by  Father  Lefevre.  If  his 
labors  did  not  convert  the  tribe,  he,  at  least,  retained  their 
friendship  for  the  French,  whom  they  could  annihilate  in  a 
day  if  they  had  turned  against  them.  Father  William  Francis 
Morand,  who  arrived  in  1735,  took  charge  of  the  Alibamon 
mission  for  several  years,  but  was  recalled  to  New  Orleans  to 


SIGNATURES    OP    FATHERS    LE    BOULLENGER,     GUYMONNEAU,    AND 
TARTARIN. 

succeed  Father  Doutreleau  as  chaplain  of  the  Ursulines  and 
their  hospital.2  Father  Le  Roy,  another  missionary  among 
the  Alibamons,  when  he  denounced  the  sale  of  liquor  to  the 
Indians,  which  led  to  drunkenness  and  crime  of  every  kind, 
was  forced  to  leave  by  the  French  officer  at  Fort  Toulouse, 
Montberaut,  whom  Bossu  describes  as  "  an  avowed  enemy  of 


1  Father  Baudouin  laid  the  matter  before  the  Propaganda  in  1759,  but 
no  decision  was  reached. 

"  Bannisaement  des  Jesuites  de  la  Louisiane,"  pp.  30-1  ;  Vivier  in 
"Lettres  Ediflantes,"  Kip,  p.  316;  Bossu,  "  Nouveaux  Voyages"  ii 
p.  99. 


FATHER  SEN  AT  KILLED.  585 

those  missionaries." '  This  mission  was  probably  near  the 
present  town  of  Cahaba,  where  old  French  works  were  visi 
ble  a  few  years  ago." 

The  missions  in  Illinois  went  quietly  on,  seldom  marked 
by  any  event  requiring  special  notice.  The  older  mission- 
•aries  had  dropped  away,  Father  Gabriel  Marest  dying  in 
September,  1715,  and  Father  John  Mermet  in  1718.  Their 
bodies  were  transferred  by  Father  Le  Boullenger  to  the 
church  at  Kaskaskia,  on  the  18th  of  December,  1727.3  The 
Jesuit  Fathers,  Dumas  and  Tartarin,  were  laboring  there  in 
the  following  years.  When  the  massacre  at  Natchez  in 
volved  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  in  Indian  wars  an  expe 
dition  of  French  and  Illinois  was  sent  against  the  Chicka- 
saws  in  1736,  and  Father  Antoninus  Senat,  S.J.,  accompanied 
the  force  as  chaplain.  After  some  success,  the  French  corps, 
which  was  to  co-operate  with  another  from  the  South,  was 
attacked  by  the  whole  Chickasaw  army.  Yincennes  the 
commander,  d'Artaguiette,  Father  Senat,  and  others  were 
taken,  though  the  missionary  might  readily  have  escaped. 
He  would  not,  however,  abandon  those  who  needed  his  min 
istry,  and  was  burned  at  the  stake  on  Palm  Sunday,  1736,4 
most  probably  in  Lee  County,  Mississippi.5 

In  1750  Fathers  Guyenne,  Yivier,  Watrin,  and  Meurin 
were  on  the  mission  in  Illinois,6  where  all  but  the  second  re- 

1  Bossu,  ii. ,  p  16  ;  Father  Watrin  to  the  Propaganda. 

2  Brewer,  "Alabama,"  Montgomery,  1872,  p.  209.     I  find  nothing  to 
fix  the  exact  position  of  the  Choctaw  mission,  but  it  was  apparently  near 
the  French  fort  Tombecbe,  at  Jones'  Bluff,  in  Sumter  County,  Ala. 
Ib.,  p.  526. 

3  Register  of  Kaskaskia. 

4  "  Bannissement  des  Jesuites,"  p.  24;   Dumont,  "MSmoires  Histo- 
riques,"  ii.,  p.  229. 

'  Claiborne,  "  Mississippi,"  Jackson,  1880,  p.  62. 
6  F.  Vivier  in  "  Lettres  Edifiantes"  (Kip,  p.  316). 


583  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

m  amed  for  several  years.  Two  years  later  the  Weas  and 
Piankeshaws,  two  Miami  tribes,  won  by  the  English,  plotted 
the  destruction  of  the  five  French  settlements  in  Illinois. 
The  conspiracy  was  discovered  before  Christmas  day,  the  time 
lixed  for  its  execution.  The  French  officers  of  Fort  Chartres 
had  their  men  ready  and  suddenly  attacked  the  Miamis.' 
Some  took  refuge  in  the  house  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  and 
held  out,  but  were  finally  taken.  The  French  in  Illinois 
were  thus  exposed  to  the  dangers  of  Indian  war,  and  a  gen 
eral  order  was  given  that  settlers  coining  to  mass  should 
bring  their  firearms,  and  as  these  were  stacked  outside,  a 
sentinel  was  appointed  to  keep  guard.' 

Meanwhile  some  of  the  French  in  Illinois,  allured  by  the 
fertile  lands  west  of  the  Mississippi,  began  about  1735  the 
settlement  of  Sainte  Genevieve,  and  to  them  also  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  ministered. 

The  little  settlement  there  in  time  had  its  church,  and 
its  register  begins  on  the  24th  of  February,  1T60,  with 
a  baptism  performed  by  Father  P.  F.  Watrin,  S.J.  Fathers 
Salleneuve  and  La  Morinie,  driven  by  war  from  their  own 
missions,  subsequently  officiated  at  this  church.2 

In  1763  there  were  seven  little  French  villages  in  Illinois, 
three  under  the  spiritual  care  of  the  Jesuits,  and  four  directed 
by  the  Seminary  priests.  The  Jesuit  Fathers  still  attended 
the  five  villages  of  the  Kaskaskias,  Metchigameas,  Cahokias, 
and  Peorias  ;  the  last  tribe  had  obstinately  rejected  their 
teaching ;  the  Cahokias  reluctantly  yielded  for  a  time,  but 
abandoned  the  faith,  as  did  the  Metchigameas.  The  Kaskas 
kias  persevered,  and  Father  Watrin  ascribes  their  persever- 


1  Bossu,  "Nouveaux  Voyages,"  i.,  pp.  132,  133. 

2  Rozier,  "  Address  at  the  150th  Celebration  of  the  Founding  of  Saint 
Genevieve,"  St.  Louis,  1885,  pp.  10,  11. 


THE  SUPERIOR  COUNCIL  OF  LOUISIANA.     587 

ance  to  the  zeal  and  courage  of  Father  Guyenne,  who  died 
in  1762.1 

Meanwhile  the  Parlements  in  several  provinces  of  France, 
beginning  with  that  of  Paris  in  1761,  had  condemned  the 
Jesuits,  and  measures  were  taken  for  their  suppression 
throughout  the  kingdom.  Imitating  their  example  the 
Superior  Council  of  Louisiana,  in  1763,  resolved  to  act,  and 
on  the  9th  of  June,  this  insignificant  body  of  provincial  offi 
cers,  assuming  to  decide  in  matters  ecclesiastical  of  which 
they  were  profoundly  ignorant,  issued  a  decree.  In  this  ex 
traordinary  document,  these  men  pretending  to  be  Catholics 
condemned  the  Institute  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which  had 
been  approved  by  several  Popes,  and  by  the  General  Coun 
cil  of  Trent.  They  declared  the  Institute  to  be  dangerous 
to  the  royal  authority,  to  the  rights  of  bishops,  to  the  public 
peace  and  safety,  and  they  consequently  declared  the  vows 
taken  in  the  order  to  be  null  and  void.  Members  of  the 
Society  were  forbidden  to  use  its  name  or  habit.  It  then 
ordered  all  their  property  except  the  personal  books  and 
clothing  of  each  one  to  be  seized  and  sold  at  auction.  The 
vestments  and  plate  of  the  chapel  at  Kew  Orleans  were  to  be 
given  to  the  Capuchin  Fathers.  Although  the  Illinois  coun 
try  had  been  ceded  to  the  King  of  England,  and  was  no 
longer  subject  to  France  or  Louisiana,  they  ordered  the  vest 
ments  and  plate  there  to  be  delivered  to  the  king's  attorney. 
The  most  monstrous  part  of  the  order  was,  that  the  chapels 
attended  by  Fathers  of  the  Society  in  Louisiana  and  Illinois, 
many  being  the  only  places  where  Catholics,  white  and  In 
dian,  could  worship  God,  were  ordered  by  these  men  to  be 
levelled  to  the  ground,  leaving  the  faithful  destitute  of  priest 
and  altar. 

1  Father  Watrin  to  the  Propaganda. 


588  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Every  Jesuit  Father  and  Brother  was  then  to  be  sent  to 
France  on  the  first  vessels  ready  to  sail,  a  sum  of  about  8^20 
being  allowed  to  each  one  for  his  passage  and  six  months' 
subsistence.  Each  one  was  ordered  to  present  himself  to  the 
Duke  de  Choiseul  in  France.1 

As  though  convinced  that  more  definite  grounds  should  be 
stated  for  their  action,  the  council  added  three  motives  for  their 
action,  charging  the  Jesuits  with  having  neglected  their  mis 
sions,  developed  their  plantation,  and  usurped  the  office  of  Vic 
ar-General.  To  the  first  charge  the  record  of  their  labors  was  a 
sufficient  answer :  to  the  last  the  decision  of  the  Superior  Coun 
cil  itself  in  the  matter  of  the  office  refuted  the  charge  made ; 
and  at  all  events  only  one  Father  was  Yicar-General,  and  oth 
ers  could  not  be  punished  for  his  act.  That  the  Jesuits  had 
made  their  plantation  so  productive  as  to  maintain  their  mis 
sionaries  was  creditable,  and  could*  not  be  punished  by  any  law. 

But  the  unjust  decree  was  carried  out.  The  Jesuits  were 
arrested,  their  property  sold,  their  chapel  at  New  Orleans 
demolished,  leaving  the  vaults  of  the  dead  exposed.  It  was 
one  of  the  most  horrible  profanations  committed  on  this  soil 
by  men  pretending  to  be  Catholics.  Of  these  enemies  of 
religion,  the  name  of  de  la  Freniere  alone  has  come  down  to 
us  :  and  to  the  eye  of  faith  his  tragic  fate  in  less  than  six 
years  seems  a  divine  retribution.2 

Father  Carette  was  sent  to   Saint   Domingo:  Father   le 

O       " 

Roy  reached  Mexico  by  way  of  Pensacola ;  the  aged  Father 
Baudouin,  broken  by  labors  and  illness,  a  man  of  seventy-two, 
was  about  to  be  dragged  to  a  ship,  when  men  of  position  in- 

1  I  have  sought  in  vain  the  Records  of  this  Superior  Council  to  obtain 
the  exact  text  of  this  anti-Catholic  and  anti-Christian  decree  ;  but  the 
proceedings  have  apparently  perished. 

2  He  was  executed  at  New  Orleans,  charged  with  conspiracy  against 
the  very  royal  power  he  pretended  to  uphold. 


WAR  ON  RELIGION.  589 

terfered  and  arrested  the  brutality  of  sending  an  American 
to  France,  where  he  had  no  kindred  or  friends.  A  wealthy 
planter  named  Bore  claimed  the  right  to  give  the  aged  priest 
a  home.  Father  John  James  le  Predour,  who  had  been  labor 
ing  since  1754  in  his  distant  Alibamon  mission,  did  not  hear 
the  cruel  order  for  a  long  time,  and  then  it  was  months  be 
fore  he  could  reach  New  Orleans  to  be  sent  off  as  a  criminal. 
On  the  night  of  September  22cl,  the  courier  reached  Fort 
Chartres  in  English  territory,  but  as  the  fort  had  not  yet 
been  transferred,  the  king's  attorney  proceeded  the  next  day 
to  carry  out  an  order  which  he  knew  it  was  illegal  on  his 
part  to  enforce.  He  read  the  decree  to  Father  Watrin,  a 
man  of  sixty-seven,  and  expelled  him  and  his  fellow-mission 
aries,  Aubert  and  Meurin,  from  the  house  at  Kaskaskia.  They 
sought  refuge  with  the  missionary  of  the  Indians.  The  Kas- 
kaskias  wished  to  demand  that  the  missionaries  should  be 
left  among  them,  but  Father  Watrin  dissuaded  them.  The 
menacing  attitude  of  the  Indians,  when  it  was  proposed  to 
demolish  the  chapel  in  their  village,  had  its  effect.  The 
French  at  Kaskaskia  asked  in  vain  that  Father  Aubert,  their 
pastor,  should  be  left  to  them,  but  the  king's  attorney  seized 
not  only  the  plate  and  vestments  of  the  Illinois  churches,  but 
those  brought  during  the  war  by  Father  Salleneuve  from 
Detroit,  and  Father  de  la  Morinie  from  St.  Joseph's  River. 
In  a  few  days  the  vestments  used  in  the  august  sacrifice  were 
cut  up  and  seen  in  the  hands  of  negresses.  and  the  altar  cruci 
fix  and  candlesticks  in  a  house  that  decent  people  had  always 
shunned.  He  sold  the  property,  pretending  to  give  a  French 
title  for  land  in  an  English  province,  and  requiring  the  pur 
chaser  to  do  what  he  apparently  feared  to  do,  demolish  the 
chapel.  He  even  sent  to  Yincennes,  where  the  property  of 
the  Jesuits  was  seized  and  sold,  and  Father  Devernai,  though 
an  invalid  for  six  months,  carried  off. 


590  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  Jesuits,  torn  from  their  missions,  were  then  taken  down 
to  New  Orleans,  meeting  sympathy  at  every  French  post, 
the  Capuchin  Father  Irenaeus,  at  Pointe  Coupee,  doing  for 
them  all  that  he  could  have  done  for  the  most  esteemed  of 
his  own  brethren.  The  Capuchins  at  New  Orleans  came  to 
receive  them  with  every  mark  of  sympathy,  and  obtained  a 
house  adjoining  their  own  to  shelter  them,  and  in  gratitude 
the  books  which  had  been  spared  to  the  Jesuits,  and  which 
formed  a  little  library,  were  given  by  them  to  the  Capuchin 
Fathers. 

The  Illinois  Jesuit  Fathers  were  put  on  the  first  ship,  the 
"  Minerve,"  which  sailed  February  6th.  All  were  sent  away 
except  Father  de  la  Morinie,  who  was  allowed  to  remain  till 
spring,  and  Father  Meurin,  whose  request  to  be  permitted  to 
return  to  Illinois  was  sustained  so  strongly,  that  the  council 
yielded.1  But  he  was  not  suffered  to  ascend  the  Mississippi 
to  minister  to  the  Catholics  from  Yincennes  to  St.  Genevieve, 
destitute  of  priests  and  of  every  requisite  for  divine  service, 
till  he  signed  a  document  that  he  would  recognize  no  other 
ecclesiastical  superior  than  the  Superior  of  the  Capuchins 
at  New  Orleans,  and  would  hold  no  communication  with 
Quebec  or  Rome.2 

The  Illinois  territory  had  lost  also  the  Priests  of  the  For 
eign  Missions.  When  the  Eev.  Francis  Forget  Duverger 
saw  the  country  ceded  to  England,  and  beheld  the  French 
officials  from  New  Orleans  make  open  war  on  religion,  seize 
church  vestments  and  plate,  and  order  the  Catholic  chapels 
to  be  razed  to  the  ground,  he  seems  to  have  thought  that  all 
was  lost,  and  that  religion  in  Illinois  was  extinct.  Without 

"  Bannissement  des  Jesuites  de  la  Louisiane,"  pp.  1-50. 
2  Letter  of  F.  Meurin  to  Rt.  Rev.  Oliver  Briand,  Bishop  of  Quebec, 
March  23,  1767.     Archives  of  Archbishop  of  Quebec.     "  Bannisseuient 
des  Jesuites,"  p.  62. 


LOUISIANA  IN  1763.  591 

any  authority  he  sold  all  the  property  of  the  Seminary,  in 
cluding  a  good  stone  house  erected  by  him,  and  a  lot  of 
about  seven  acres,  with  mills,  slaves,  and  all  implements, 
though  of  course  his  deed  conveyed  no  title.  His  parishion 
ers  remonstrated,  but  he  persisted,  and  abandoning  his  parish 
descended  the  Mississippi  with  the  Jesuit  prisoners,  whom 
he  accompanied  to  France. 

After  the  Jesuit  Fathers  were  carried  off  from  Louisiana 
the  population  of  New  Orleans,  estimated  at  about  four 
thousand,  including  slaves,  and  all  the  Catholics,  French  and 
Indians  in  the  Illinois  country,  depended  on  the  Recollect,  F. 
Luke  Collet,  and  nine  or  ten  Capuchin  Fathers,  on  whom  all  the 
parochial  work  and  the  Indian  missions  devolved,  as  well  as  the 
care  of  two  hospitals  and  the  Ursuline  Convent,  with  its  acad 
emy  and  free  schools.  Five  were  employed  in  New  Orleans. 

It  was,  of  course,  utterly  impossible  for  them  to  meet  all 
the  wants  of  so  large  a  district.  They  had  already  withdrawn 
from  the  chapel  at  the  fort  below  the  city  of  New  Orleans 
and  from  Chapitoulas.  Father  Barnabas  was  stationed  at 
the  fine  church  at  the  Cote  aux  Allemands ;  Father  Irenseus 
still  directed  that  at  Poiiite  Coupee.  Another  Father  was 
stationed  at  Natchitoches,  near  which  the  remnant  of  the 
Apalaches  had  settled.  Mobile  had  been  ceded  to  England, 
and  Father  Ferdinand  was  preparing  to  withdraw  as  soon  as 
the  French  flag  was  lowered.1 


1  Father  Philibert  Francis  Watrin,  "Memoire  Abregee  sur  les  Missions 
de  la  Colonie  nommee  Louisiane,"  transmitted  to  the  Propaganda  in  1765. 
On  the  14th  of  April,  1766,  Father  Simon  ex  Parey,  Provincial  of  the 
Capuchin  province  of  Champagne,  wrote  from  Sedan  to  the  Propaganda 
soliciting  special  powers,  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  being  dead  and  Canada 
in  the  hands  of  the  English.  Archives  of  the  Propaganda. 

The  only  priest  of  Louisiana  birth  I  trace  in  this  period,  is  Father 
Stephen  Bernard  Alexander  Viel,  S.J.,  a  poet  and  scholar,  born  at  New 
Orleans,  Oct.  31,  1736,  died  in  France  in  1821. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   CHURCH    IN    MAINE,    1690-1T63. 

THE  earlier  mission  work  within  our  limits  performed  by 
the  regular  and  secular  clergy  connected  with  the  Church  in 
Canada  was  purely  an  outgrowth  of  Catholic  zeal  for  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen,  a  desire  to  save  some  of  the 
almost  countless  tribes  of  Indians  scattered  over  the  country. 

At  the  period  we  have  now  reached,  however,  the  menac 
ing  character  of  the  English  colonies  led  to  a  change.  The 
government  both  in  France  and  Canada  had  for  a  time 
shown  itself  less  disposed  to  favor  the  missionaries,  and  if 
from  1690  an  interest  is  evinced  in  their  work,  it  was  rather 
to  use  them  as  instruments  of  the  government  to  further  its 
political,  military,  or  commercial  views  than  for  any  real  in 
terest  in  the  spread  of  the  gospel. 

As  the  English  colonies  were  constantly  hounded  on  by 
their  magistrates  and  ministers  against  everything  Catholic, 
laws,  proclamations,  newspapers,  sermons,  and  religious  tracts, 
all  breathing  the  most  unchristian  hatred  of  the  Church,  its 
clergy  and  faithful,  the  position  of  missionaries  in  tribes 
along  the  frontier  of  the  French  and  English  possessions  be 
came  one  of  constant  danger,  and  they  could  continue  their 
labors  only  by  conforming  to  the  wishes  of  the  Canadian  au 
thorities,  if  they  looked  to  them  for  protection  and  support.1 

1  A  Massachusetts  statute  in  1692  forbade  any  French  Catholic  to  reside 
or  be  in  any  of  the  seaports  or  frontier  towns  in  the  province  without 
license  from  the  governor  and  council.  Williamson,  ii. ,  p.  25. 

(592) 


A  FALSE  POSITION.  593 

"  If  the  interest  of  the  gospel  did  not  induce  us  to  keep 
missionaries  in  all  the  Indian  villages,  Iroquois,  Abnaki,  and 
others,"  wrote  the  Marquis  de  Denonville  in  1690,  "  the  in 
terest  of  the  civil  government  for  the  benefit  of  trade  ought 
to  lead  us  to  contrive  always  to  have  some  there,  for  these  In 
dian  tribes  can  be  controlled  only  by  missionaries,  who  alone 
are  able  to  keep  them  in  our  interest,  and  prevent  them  any 
day  turning  against  us.  I  am  convinced  by  experience  that 
the  Jesuits  are  the  only  ones  capable  of  controlling  the  mind 
of  all  these  Indian  nations,  being  alone  masters  of  the  differ 
ent  languages,  to  say  nothing  of  their  ability  acquired  by 
long  experience  among  them  successively  by  the  mission 
aries,  whom  they  have  had  and  continue  to  have  in  consider 
able  numbers  among  them." 

This  placed  the  missionaries  in  a  deplorable  position. 
From  the  neighboring  English  they  could  expect  only  hatred 
and  hostility ;  from  the  French,  support  only  on  conditions 
repugnant  to  them  as  priests,  and  made  endurable  only  by 
national  feeling.  France  had  retained  a  foothold  in  Maine 
at  Pentagoet,  the  present  Castine,  but  her  statesmen  neglected 
to  fortify  the  position  or  form  a  strong  colony  there,  as  they 
might  easily  have  done  by  sending  over  impoverished  farmers 
from  the  overcrowded  districts  of  France.  Pentagoet  had 
but  a  feeble  life,  and  though  the  parish  of  the  Holy  Family 
was  erected  there,  population  declined  rather  than  increased, 
especially  after  the  death  of  the  Baron  de  Saint  Castin. 

At  last,  however,  the  French  Government  saw  the  danger 
that  was  born  of  its  neglect.  The  English  by  possessing  the 
Kennebec  and  other  rivers  had  an  open  path  to  attack  Quebec 
and  wrest  Canada  from  France. 

The  Abnakis  in  Maine,  from  the  days  of  the  Capuchin 
missions   and   the   labors  of   Father  Druillettes,   had   been 
friendly  to  the  French.     If  in  the  wars  that  were  now  inev- 
38 


594  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

itable  England  could  gain  this  tribe  and  use  it  against  Can 
ada,  that  province  would  soon  be  lost.  Acting  on  this  belief, 
the  government  in  Canada  encouraged  the  establishment  of 
missions  from  the  Kennebec  to  the  Saint  Johns,  to  which 
they  had  previously  been  indifferent.1 

The  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus  who  had  gathered 
Abnakis  at  Sillery,  and  subsequently  founded  for  them  the 
mission  of  Saint  Francis  on  the  Chaudiere,  revived  their  mis 
sion  in  Maine  in  1688,  when  Father  Bigot  erected  a  chapel  at 
Karaiitsouac,  now  Norridgewock  on  the  Kennebec,  and  about 
the  same  time  the  Recollect  Father  Simon  established  a  mis 
sion  at  Medoctec  on  the  River  St.  John,  near  the  present 
Maine  border.2 

The  Jesuit  Father,  Peter  Joseph  de  la  Chasse,  was  for 
twenty  years  connected  with  the  Indian  missions  in  Maine,  on 
which  also  Fathers  Julian  Binneteau  and  Joseph  Aubery  also 
labored  earnestly.  By  their  exertions  the  Canibas,  Etechemins, 
and  Penobscots  were  all  gained,  and  became  Catholic  tribes.3 

The  parish  at  Pentagoet  had  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
Seminary  of  Quebec,  but  the  white  population  was  so  trifling 
that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thury  found  most  of  his  flock  to  be  In 
dians.  He  devoted  himself  to  their  service,  preparing  prayers 
and  hymns  in  their  language,  and  exercising  a  most  beneficial 

1  Where  clergy  are  paid  by  the  State,  the  Government  and  its  officials 
always  regard  them  as  a  sort  of  underlings  whom  they  can  on  all  occa 
sions  require  to  act  as  they  see  fit.  Every  commandant  of  a  post  like 
Cadillac,  Villebon,  etc. ,  considered  missionaries  bound  to  leave  or  change 
missions,  go  or  come  at  his  option.  "Coll.  de  Manuscrits,"  ii.,  pp. 
148,  155. 

-  "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  Quebec,  1884,  ii.,  p.  2. 

" "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  Quebec,  1884,  ii.,  p.  127.  The  zeal  of 
Father  Aubery  so  offended  the  English  that  a  price  was  offered  for  his 
head.  Ib.,  p  53.  "Parollesdes  Sauvages  de  la  Mission  de  Pentago 
et,"  ib.,  pp.  C4,  33.  Aubery  was  near  Pentagoet  between  1700  and  1709. 
Maurault,  p.  488. 


THE  MAINE  MISSIONS.  595 

influence.  He  was,  however,  called  upon  to  gather  and  in 
struct  the  Nova  Scotia  Indians,  and  died  at  Chebucto,  June 
3, 1699,  mourned  by  the  Indians  there  as  a  father  and  a  friend.1 

The  Kev.  James  Alexis  de  Fleury  d'Eschambault,  who  re 
placed  the  great  missionary,  died  in  his  labors  in  1698  ;*  but 
his  place  was  taken  by  Kev.  Philip  Kageot,  who  continued  till 
1701,  aided  for  a  time  by  Kev.  Mr.  Guay,  who  retired  with 
him,  and  by  Kev.  Anthony  Gaulin,  a  pious  and  esteemed 
priest,  who  closed  his  pastorship  in  1703.3 

The  Seminary  of  Quebec  had  been  urged  by  Bishop  Saint 
Vallier  in  1693  to  assume  the  charge  of  all  the  Indian  mis 
sions  in  Maine,  but  had  declined  the  responsibility.  At  this 
time  they  felt  that  the  missions  should  be  in  the  hands  of 
one  body,  and  relinquished  the  post  at  Pentagoet  to  the  Jesuit 
Fathers.  From  this  time  it  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  a  parish, 
and  an  Indian  fort  further  up  the  river  became  the  seat  of 
the  mission. 

The  organizing  of  church  work  among  the  Maine  Indians 

'Diereville,  "Voyage,"  pp.  55,  180. 

5  "Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  ii.,  pp.  78,  306,  386.  Cardinal  Tasche- 
reau,  "Memoire  sur  la  Mission  del  Acadie  du  Seminaire  de  Quebec." 
"Archives  de  1'Archeve'che  de  Quebec."  "New  England  Hist.  Gen. 
Register,"  1880,  p.  92.  Villebon  wrote  to  the  Minister  in  France,  Oct.  27, 
1699  :  "Of  the  five  priests  whom  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  ought  to  main 
tain  here,  there  is  one  at  Pentagoet,  who  has  with  him  a  young  eccle 
siastic,  who  does  not  yet  say  mass.  I  humbly  beg  you,  my  Lord,  to 
see  to  this  and  send  me  a  chaplain  from  France.  There  are  very  worthy 
Irish  priests,  and  it  would  be  very  advantageous  to  have  some  of  that 
nation  with  reference  to  the  Irish  Catholics  who  are  in  Boston,  and  who 
not  being  well  treated  there,  would  much  more  readily  decide  to  come 
among  us,  if  they  knew  we  had  a  priest  of  their  nation."  "  Collection 
de  Manuscrits,"  ii.,  p.  330.  The  remains  of  the  old  fort  are  still  visible 
at  Castine,  and  the  position  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Famity  could  be 
easily  fixed.  See  plan  in  Wheeler,  "  History  of  Castine,  Penobscot  and 
Brooksville,"  Bangor,  1875,  p.  186. 

3  Williamson,  "  History  of  Maine,"  i.,  pp.  648-9. 


596  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

had  not  been  unnoticed  by  the  authorities  of  Massachusetts, 
which  then  claimed  jurisdiction  over  Maine.  In  1698  com 
missioners  from  the  Bay  Colony  meeting  the  Indians  in  con 
ference  at  Pentagoet,  required  them  to  dismiss  the  mission 
aries  at  that  place,  Norridgewock,  and  Aridroscoggin,  but  the 
Indians  replied :  "  The  good  missionaries  must  not  be  driven 
away." ' 

In  1699  Father  Vincent  Bigot,  who  had  been  stationed  at 
Narantsouac  on  the  Kennebec,  was  prostrated  by  sickness, 

and  compelled  to  retire  to 

VinienJJuJ  l/)(fo4-  /.  4     Quebec  ;  but  his  place  was 
L-X  filled  by  his  brother  James, 

SIGNATURE     OP     FATHER    YIKCENT        ^     accompanied    ^    Iu_ 
BIGOT. 

dians   down   the   river    to 

the  coast,  the  Abnakis  wishing  to  obtain  some  of  the  tribe 
who  were  held  as  prisoners  by  the  English  in  exchange  for 
prisoners  in  their  hands,  and  also  to  make  purchases  of 
necessaries  of  which  they  were  destitute. 

Narantsouac  at  this  time  had  its  chapel,  erected  in  1698,  well 
attended  by  the  fervent  converts.2  The  missionary  here  was 
Father  Sebastian  Rale,  a  native  of  Franche  Comte,  who 
reached  Quebec  October  13,  1689,  and  had  prepared  himself 
for  his  work  by  spending  several  years  at  the  St.  Francis  mis 
sion  and  in  Illinois.  He  was  stationed  next  at  Narantsouac,  now 
Indian  Old  Point,  a  sequestered  spot  on  the  Kennebec  River. 
Here  he  began  a  pastoral  care  which  closed  only  when  his 
body,  riddled  by  New  England  bullets,  sank  in  death  at  the 
foot  of  his  mission  cross.  He  attended  his  flock  at  the  village, 
to  which  he  soon  drew  a  neighboring  tribe  of  kindred  origin, 
the  Amalingans.  His  daily  mass,  catechetical  instructions, 

1  "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  ii.,  p.  312  ;  "  Lcttre  clu  pore  Jacques  Bi 
got,  1699,"  in  "  Relation  des  Affaires  du  Canada,"  New  York,  1865,  p.  63. 

2  Apparently  in  1693  or  1694. 


FATHER  RALE.  597 

visits  to  the  cabins  to  attend  the  sick  or  rouse  the  tepid,  these 
formed  his  daily  round  of  care,  with  his  duties  in  the  confes 
sional,  his  sermons,  and  the  more  pompous  celebration  of  the 
great  festivals.  Of  the  language  he  was  an  earnest  student, 
and  while  at  Saint  Frangois  in  1691,  began  a  dictionary  of 
the  Abnaki,  completed  as  years  rolled  by,  and  which  is  still 
preserved  in  Harvard  College.1 

While  Father  Rale  was  laboring  on  the  Kennebec  in  1700, 
Father  Yincent  Bigot  was  again  at  his  mission  near  Penta- 
goet.  A  letter  of  that  time  tells  how  he  was  edified  by  the 
zeal  and  piety  of  the  converts.  An  epidemic  scourged  their 
villages,  but  they  showed  the  depth  and  solidity  of  the  Chris 
tian  teaching  which  they  had  received,  attending  mass  and  the 
prayers  in  the  chapel  when  scarcely  able  to  drag  their  bodies 
from  their  cabins.2 

In  1Y01  the  New  England  authorities  treating  with  the 
Abnakis,  again  ordered  them  to  send  away  the  three  French 
Jesuit  Fathers  who  were  in  their  villages  and  receive  Protest 
ant  ministers  from  New  England.  The  Indians  would  not 
listen  to  the  proposed  change,  and  said  to  the  English  envoy: 
"  You  are  too  late  in  undertaking  to  instruct  us  in  the  prayer 
after  all  the  many  years  we  have  been  known  to  you.  The 
Frenchman  was  wiser  than  you.  As  soon  as  we  knew  him, 
he  taught  us  how  to  pray  to  God  properly,  and  now  we  pray 
better  than  you."  ! 

The  missionaries  were  not  blind  to  their  own  danger,  and 


1  It  was  published  by  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  in 
the  volume  of  Memoirs  for  1833,  under  the  editorship  of  John  Pickering. 

2  V.  Bigot,  "Relation  de  la  Mission  des  Abnaquis,"  1701,  New  York, 
1858. 

3  Bigot,  "  Relation  de  la  Mission  Abnaquise,"  1702.     New  York,  1865, 
pp.  23-4.     Father  Bigot  is  said  to  have  been  recalled  in  1701.     "  Collec 
tion  de  Manuscrits,"  ii.,  p.  386. 


598  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

seeing  the  false  position  into  which  the  government  was 
forcing  them,  urged  that  lands  should  be  assigned  in  Canada, 
to  which  the  Abnakis  could  remove  and  practice  their  relig 
ion  in  peace.  An  attempt  was  made  by  Vaudreuil  to  carry 
out  this  idea,  but  as  his  course  was  censured,  it  was  aban 
doned.1 

Massachusetts  claimed  all  Maine  as  English  territory,  and 
the  Abnakis  as  subjects  ;  but  in  attempting  to  settle  that  dis 
trict  she  paid  no  regard  to  the  Indian  title  and  made  no  at 
tempt  to  purchase  any  portion  of  their  lands.  The  Abnakis 
resented  the  intrusion  of  settlers  by  killing  cattle  and  at  last 
burning  the  houses  of  the  unwelcome  New  Englanders. 
The  French  Government  encouraged  the  Indians  to  prevent 
English  settlement  on  their  lands,  and  the  missionaries  used 
their  influence  under  the  direction  of  the  Governor-General 
of  Canada.  This  could  not  but  lead  to  disastrous  results. 

In  1 704—5  Massachusetts  expeditions  were  fitted  out  to 
destroy  the  mission  stations.  One  under  Major  Church  rav 
aged  the  villages  on  the  Penobscot,  and  another  under  Col. 
Hilton  penetrated  to  Father  Rale's  mission,  but  finding  the 
Indians  absent,  burnt  all  the  wigwams,  as  well  as  the  church 
with  its  vestry  and  the  residence  of  the  missionary,  after  they 
had  pillaged  and  profaned  all  that  Catholics  revere.2  Be 
sides  the  Indians  at  Norridgewock  other  bands  were  visited 
by  Father  Eale.  One  of  these  at  Lake  Megantic  removed 
to  Canada  and  founded  the  mission  at  Becancour  in  1T08.3 

When  peace  was  restored  the  Indians  prepared  to  rebuild 


1  "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  ii.,  pp.  406,  447. 

2  Penhallow,  "History  of  the  "Wars  of  New  England"  (Cincinnati 
ed.),  pp.  29,  38  ;  Church,  "  History  of  the  Eastern  Expeditions,"  p.  120  ; 
Williamson,  "  History  of  Maine,"  ii.,  pp.  47,  49. 

3  See  Concession  in  Maurault,  "  Histoire  des  Abenakis,"  Sorel,  1866, 
p.  285. 


THE  BURNT  CHURCH  RESTORED.  599 

their  church,  and  as  the  English  were  nearer  to  them  the 
Abnakis  sent  a  delegation  to  Boston  to  solicit  carpenters, 
promising  to  pay  them  well.  The  Governor  of  Massachu 
setts  offered  to  rebuild  the  church  at  his  own  expense  if  they 
would  dismiss  Father  Rale  and  accept  a  Protestant  minister. 
The  Abnakis  declined,  and  again  contrasted  the  indifference 
of  the  English  to  their  salvation  with  the  zeal  shown  by  the 
French.  A  temporary  bark  chapel  was  then  built,  and  the 
Governor-General  of  Canada,  on  hearing  of  their  loss,  sent 
mechanics  who  erected  a  new  church.  Of  this  edifice  Father 
Rale  wrote  :  "  It  possesses  a  beauty  which  would  win  admi 
ration  for  it  even  in  Europe,  and  we  have  spared  no  pains  to 
adorn  it."  l  This  church  in  the  wilderness  was  supplied  with 
sets  of  vestments,  copes,  and  plate  for  the  altar.  The  mis 
sionary  had  trained  forty  Indian  boys  who  served  as  acolytes 
in  cassock  and  surplice.  On  the  altar  were  candles  made  by 
the  missionary  from  the  wax  of  the  bayberry. 

The  Indians  all  attended  his  daily  mass  and  met  there  in 
the  evening  for  prayers. 

During  the  hunting  season  and  the  fishing  season  on  the 
coast  the  missionary  moved  with  his  flock,  and  a  tent  became 
the  chapel  of  the  tribe.2  On  one  of  his  journeys  he  fell  and 
broke  both  his  legs.  To  obtain  proper  treatment  he  was 
conveyed  in  his  helpless  condition  to  Canada.  Recovering 
there  he  returned  to  the  Kennebec,  although  he  knew  that  a 
price  had  been  set  on  his  head. 

The  church  was  completed  in  1718,  at  which  time  the 
French  king  gave  also  means  to  complete  the  church  at  Me- 
doctec,  on  the  St.  John's.3  Father  Lauverjat  had  his  chapel 

1  Rale,  Letter  of  October  12,  1723.          *  Letter  of  October  15,  1722. 

3  This  spot  was  east  of  the  Maine  boundary  on  the  St.  John's,  where 
the  Eel  River  enters  ;  but  the  Malecite  tribe  who  attended  it  were  Maine 
Indians.  Williamson,  i.,  p.  477.  "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  iii..  pp. 
28,  42,  44,  48,  54. 


600  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

above  Pentagoet,  so  that  there  were  two  Catholic  churches 
then  in  Maine,  with  one  just  beyond  the  present  line. 

The  New  England  feeling  against  Father  Rale  was  so  in 
tense  that  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  resolved  to 
have  him  brought  to  Boston  a  prisoner  or  a  corpse.  A  proc 
lamation  was  issued  requiring  the  Indians  to  surrender  Rale 
and  every  other  Jesuit  priest.1 

Governor  Shute  had  written  to  Vaudreuil,  the  Governor- 
General  of  Canada,  to  recall  the  missionaries,  but  he  replied  : 
"As  to  Father  Rale  and  the  other  missionaries  whom  you 
wish  me  to  recall,  permit  me,  sir,  to  tell  you  that  I  do  not 
know  that  any  one  of  them  is  on  territory  under  the  sway  of 
Great  Britain  ;  and  as  the  Abnakis  among  whom  the  mission 
aries  are,  at  whom  you  take  umbrage,  have  never  had  any 
but  Roman  Catholic  priests  to  instruct  them,  since  they  have 
been  enlightened  with  the  rays  of  the  gospel,  they  will  have 
just  ground  to  complain  of  me,  and  I  believe  that  God  would 
hold  me  accountable  for  their  souls,  and  the  king  would  cen 
sure  me  severely,  if  I  deprived  these  Indians  against  their 
will  of  the  spiritual  succor  which  they  receive  from  their 
pastors,  and  whom  they  need  to  persevere  in  the  religion  in 
which  they  have  been  brought  up." 

Shute  in .  replying  April  3,  1722,  says  of  Father  Rale : 
"  All  that  I  have  to  say  to  him,  and  to  say  to  you  in  regard 
to  him,  is,  that  Norridgewock,  which  is  his  mission,  is  de 
pendent  on  the  territory  of  King  George,  and  that  by  a  law 
of  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  and  the  laws  of  this  prov 
ince  all  Jesuits  or  Roman  Catholic  priests  are  forbidden  to 
preach  or  even  to  remain  in  any  part  of  the  kingdom."3 
Shute  endeavored  to  create  a  rival  mission,  and  sent  a 
learned  and  able  Protestant  minister,  Rev.  Mr.  Baxter,  to 

1  Williamson,  ii.,  p.  107. 

*  "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  ii.,  pp.  66,  77. 


FATHER  RALE'S  DANGER.        601 

found  an  Abnaki  mission  in  1717,  but  the  envoy  was  soon 
disheartened  and  abandoned  the  field,  after  a  controversy 
with  Father  Rale  on  doctrinal  matters. 

Again  it  was  determined   to   strike  a  blow  at  the  two 

& 

churches  and  their  priests.  In  February,  1722,  Colonel 
Westbrook,  appointed  by  Governor  Dummer  to  command 
in  the  East,  marched  to  the  Penobscot,  and  ascending  to 
the  Indian  fort,  from  which  the  Indians  retired,  set  fire 
in  March  to  the  church  and  wigwams.  The  shrine  of 
Catholicity  at  that  point,  a  handsome,  well-finished  chapel, 
sixty  feet  by  thirty,  probably  on  Fort  Hill,  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Kenduskeag,  with  the  neat  house  of  the 
priest,  was  again  laid  in  ruins.'  Father  Lauverjat,  unde 
terred  by  the  danger,  still  continued  his  mission  among  the 
Indians  there,  and  Father  Loyard,  of  Medoctec,  proceeded 
to  France  in  1723  to  plead  the  cause  of  these  Indian  Cath 
olics.  In  the  autumn  of  1722,  Colonel  Westbrook  led  a 
force  of  230  men  against  Norridgewock.  Fortunately  two 
young  Indians  saw  the  party  and  hastened  to  the  village  to 
give  the  alarm.  Father  Kale  consumed  the  consecrated 
Hosts  in  the  ciborium  of  his  chapel  and  escaped  into  the 
woods  bearing  the  sacred  vessels.  A  cripple  and  burthened, 
he  was  not  able  to  penetrate  far  into  the  forest  without  snow- 
shoes.  Crouching  at  last  behind  a  tree,  he  commended  him 
self  to  God.  The  enemy,  finding  his  church  and  house 
vacant,  pushed  on  in  keen  pursuit,  but  though  they  passed 
his  lurking-place,  failed  to  detect  him.  Abandoning  the 
search,  at  last  they  returned  to  the  village  and  pillaged  the 
church  and  house,  carrying  off  everything  they  were  able  to 


1  Penhallow,  "The  History  of  the  Wars  of  New  England,"  p.  94; 
Williamson,  "History  of  Maine,"  ii.,  pp.  120-1;  "Mass.  Hist.  Coll.," 
II.,  viii.,  p.  264 ;  Hutchinson,  "  History  of  Mass.,"  ii.,  p.  273. 


602  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

transport  —  his  strong  box,1  papers,  letters,  his  Indian  diction 
ary,  and  even  his  writing  materials.  Father  Kale  underwent 
great  sufferings  in  the  woods,  and  well-nigh  perished  before 
relief  reached  him  from  Quebec.  His  correspondence  with 
the  Governor-General  of  Canada,  which  was  captured,  in 
flamed  the  New  England  authorities  still  more,  and  his  life 
was  in  constant  danger.  His  Indians,  unable  to  cultivate 
their  grounds,  lived  most  precariously,  and  he  bore  them 
company  in  their  wanderings,  often  with  no  food  but  acorns.  ' 


v-e. 


FAC-SIMILE   OF   OPENING   WORDS   OF   FATHER   RALE'S   DICTIONARY 
AND  OF  HIS  SIGNATURE. 

That  the  Canadian  Government  did  not  recall  him  and 
assign  lands  to  the  flock  which  had  so  manfully  adhered  to 
the  French  cause  seems  unpardonable.  Father  Rale,  him 
self,  in  spite  of  his  sixty-seven  years  and  his  crippled  condi 
tion,  would  not  abandon  his  Indians.  When  Father  de  la 
Chasse  urged  him  to  provide  for  his  own  safety,  he  replied  : 
"  God  has  committed  the  flock  to  my  care,  and  I  will  share 

1  This  strong  box  has  long  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Waldron  fam 
ily,  and  was  for  some  years  in  tho  rooms  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society. 


FATHER  RALE'S  DEATH.  603 

its  lot,  only  too  happy  if  I  am  allowed  to  lay  down  my  life 
for  it."  When  the  Indians,  in  the  spring  of  172-4,  wished  to 
convey  him  to  a  safe  retreat  on  the  route  to  Quebec  he  said : 
"  Do  you  take  me  for  a  cowardly  deserter  ?  What  would 
become  of  your  faith  if  I  should  forsake  you  \  Your  salva 
tion  is  dearer  to  me  than  life." 

In  the  summer,  Colonel  Moulton  at  the  head  of  another 
force  of  whites  and  Mohawks  cautiously  made  his  way  up 
the  Kennebec,  and  under  cover  of  the  thick  brushwood 
reached  the  Indian  hamlet  uiiperceived.  A  volley  from  their 
muskets  riddling  the  cabins,  completely  surprised  the  Abna- 
kis.  There  were  but  few  braves  in  the  village  ;  they  hastily 
seized  their  weapons  and  hastened  to  meet  the  enemy  and 
cover  the  flight  of  their  women  and  children.  Conscious 
that  he  was  the  chief  object  of  the  invasion,  Father  Kale 
went  fearlessly  forth ;  and  as  soon  as  the  assailants  perceived 
the  devoted  priest  they  raised  a  shout,  and  a  host  of  gleam 
ing  barrels  were  levelled  at  him.  The  next  moment  he  fell 
at  the  foot  of  his  mission  cross  pierced  by  their  balls.  Seven 
Indians  who  had  gathered  around  him  fell  by  his  side,  but 
with  their  fall  all  resistance  ceased.  While  some  of  the  as 
sailants  pursued  the  fugitives,  others  pillaged  the  church, 
profaning  the  sacred  vessels ;  others  wreaked  their  vengeance 
on  the  dead  missionary,  who  was  scalped,  his  head  cloven 
open,  his  limbs  broken.  After  setting  fire  to  the  church  and 
houses,  Colonel  Moulton  retired.1 

The  Indians  returned  the  next  day,  and  washing  the  mu- 


1  The  scalping  is  recorded  by  Penhallow  without  disguise.  Massa 
chusetts  constantly  offered  rewards  for  scalps  even  of  women  and  chil 
dren,  and  ministers  who  accompanied  expeditions,  like  Rev.  Mr.  Fry, 
scalped  those  whom  they  killed.  See  "New  York  Post-Boy,"  Sept.  2, 
1748,  and  July  23,  1750  ;  "  New  York  Mercury,"  June  23,  1755. 


604  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

tilated  body,  interred  it  at  the  spot  where  he  had  offered  the 
holy  sacrifice  the  day  before. 

The  Norridgewock  Indians,  after  burying  the  slaughtered 
missionary  and  their  kindred,  retired  to  the  Abnaki  villages 
in  Canada,  and  for  some  years  no  measures  were  taken  to 
restore  the  mission.  Church  plate  and  vestments,  with  fur 
niture  for  a  mission-house  asked  of  the  King  of  France  the 
year  before,  were  granted  in  1738,  but  the  Indians  had  already 
begun  to  occupy  once  more  their  old  home,  and  the  Jesuit  Fa 
ther  de  Syresme,  apparently  in  1730,  erected  a  chapel  on  the 
Kennebec.  When  he  visited  the  St.  Lawrence  the  next 
year,  there  was  a  general  movement  among  the  Abnakis  to 
return  to  the  Kennebec,  and  the  government,  to  prevent  it, 
proposed  to  recall  the  missionary.1 

Soon  after  Father  Lauverjat,  who  had  been  endeavoring 
to  uphold  religion  on  the  Penobscot,  which  the  young  St. 
Castins  dishonored  by  their  disregard  of  all  morality,  was 
transferred  to  Medoctec ;  but  he  was  still  in  charge  of  the 
Indians  at  Panawamske  in  1727,"  though  the  French  Gov 
ernment  was  endeavoring  to  induce  the  Indians  there  and  at 
Medoctec  to  remove  to  Canada. 

After  the  retirement  of  Fathers  Syresme  and  Lauverjat,  we 
find  no  evidence  of  any  other  resident  pastor  of  the  Cath 
olic  Indians  of  Maine.  Their  intercourse  with  the  missions 
at  Saint  Francis  and  Becancour  was  constant,  and  Father 
Charles  Germain,  who  was  stationed  at  St.  Anne's  mission 
on  the  Saint  John's  Kiver,  exercised  a  beneficent  control 
over  the  Indians  on  the  Kennebec  and  Penobscot,  and  appar 
ently  visited  them  from  time  to  time,  saying  mass  for  them 


1  "Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  iii.,  pp.  136-7,  141,  147,  153,  155,  160; 
Le  Beau. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  135  ;  "  N.  Y.  Colonial  Documents,"  x.,  p.  128. 


CLOSE  OF  THE  MAINE  MISSION.  605 

by  stealth  like  his  fellow-religious  in  Virginia.  He  may  be 
regarded  as  the  last  of  the  old  missioners  to  the  Indians  of 
Maine,  who  planted  the  faith  so  firmly  in  the  hearts  of  that 
Algonquin  race  that  neither  privation  of  priest  and  altar,  nor 
the  allurements  of  prosperous  and  pretentious  error  could 
lure  them  from  it.1 

1  Father  Charles  Germain,  born  May  1, 1707,  entered  the  Gallo-Belgic 
Province,  Sept.  4,  1728,  and  came  to  America  in  1738. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

THE  CATHOLI6  CHURCH  IN  NEW  YORK,  1690-1763.— FRENCH 

CLERGY. 

WHEN  William  III.  was  acknowledged  as  king  by  the 
Colony  of  New  York,  the  only  Catholics  in  the  territory  of 
the  Five  Nations  were  the  still  few  lingering  converts  made 
by  the  Jesuit  Fathers  in  the  period  of  the  missions,  and  the 
French  and  Indian  captives  brought  in  by  the  war  parties  of 
braves,  many  of  them  to  die  in  torments  at  the  stake,  after 
enduring  the  most  refined  torture  at  the  hands  of  their  own 
people  rather  than  gainsay  the  faith  that  was  in  them. 

The  only  priest  in  the  Iroquois  cantons  was  the  Jesuit 
Father  Peter  Milet,  a  prisoner  himself  at  Oneida.  His  very 
life  was  at  first  in  constant  peril,  but  his  old  converts  pro 
tected  him,  and  having  been  adopted  as  a  member  of  the 
tribe  by  a  female  Agoyander,  he  received  the  hereditary 
name  of  one  of  the  sachemships  of  the  tribe.  The  Iroquois 
woman  who  thus  gave  him  a  place  in  the  councils  of  the 
League  was  apparently  Susan  Gouentagrandi.  His  position 
was  thus  a  curious  one :  he  was  still  a  prisoner,  but  as  Otas- 
sete  he  took  his  seat  in  the  councils  of  the  Oneidas.  His  in 
fluence  was  so  great  that  the  English  made  every  effort  to 
put  an  end  to  his  captivity,  and  the  French  to  prolong  it. 
Whether  he  was  able  to  obtain  vestments  and  a  chalice  in 
order  to  say  mass,  is  not  certain ;  but  as  early  as  1691  he  had 
a  little  grotto  or  chapel  in  Susanna's  cabin  dedicated  to  Our 
Dying  Lord— "Christo  Morituro,"  where  he  assembled  the 
(606) 


IROQUOIS  MARTYRS.  607 

Christians  to  celebrate  the  Sundays  and  holidays.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  year  1690,  the  Mohawks  invited  him  to  their 
canton  to  hear  the  confessions  of  Christians  there  who  desired 
his  spiritual  aid.  But  Susanna  would  not  allow  him  to  de 
part,  fearing  treachery ;  "  the  Catholic  Mohawks,"  she  said, 
"  could  always  see  Otassete  in  her  cabin."  Father  Milet  had 
a  mournful  duty  to  discharge  in  attending  the  French  and 
Iroquois  prisoners  brought  in  by  the  braves  of  the  League. 
Many  of  these  died  at  the  stake  supported  and  encouraged 
by  the  brave  missionary  amid  their  exquisite  torments.  Rec 
ognized  by  the  Canadian  authorities  as  parish  priest  of 
Oneida,  he  received  their  verbal  wills,  which  he  subsequently 
proved  in  Canada.  His  captivity  and  mission  lasted  till  Oc 
tober,  1C94,  when  he  reached  Montreal,  followed  by  Tarcha 
and  an  Oneida  delegation  to  treat  of  peace. 

It  would  be  wrong  not  to  give  some  details  of  the  Chris 
tians  who  died  in  torments,  displaying  a  holy  fortitude 
worthy  of  record.  Stephen  Tegananokoa,  captured  by  a 
Cayuga  party,  was  taken  to  Onondaga ;  he  was  a  fervent 
Christian,  and  had  long  edified  the  mission  at  Sault  Saint 
Louis.  When  reproached  on  the  scaffold  with  having  left 
his  canton  to  join  the  mission,  he  replied :  "  I  am  a  Christian, 
and  I  glory  in  being  one.  Do  with  me  what  you  will :  I 
fear  neither  your  outrages  nor  fires.  I  willingly  give  my 
life  for  a  God  who  shed  all  his  blood  for  me."  On  hearing 
this  courageous  answer  his  countrymen  sprang  upon  him, 
cutting  and  mutilating  his  body  in  every  part.  One  then 
cried  out  tauntingly  :  "  Pray."  "  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  I  will 
pray,"  and  as  well  as  his  fettered  hands  permitted,  he  made 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  saying :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Furious  at  this, 
his  tormentors  hacked  off  many  of  his  fingers,  yelling: 
"  Kow  pray  to  your  God."  Again  he  made  the  sign  of  the 


608  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

cross,  and  they  cut  off  all  the  remaining  fingers,  and  for  the 
third  time  with  every  opprobrious  epithet  bade  him  pray. 
Once  more  he  endeavored  to  form  on  his  body  the  symbol 
of  redemption  with  the  stump  of  his  hand,  but  it  was  in 
stantly  severed  at  the  wrist,  and  every  spot  he  had  touched 
was  scored  with  slashes.  This  was  but  the  prelude  to  a  long, 
terrible  torture,  which  he  bore  without  a  murmur,  till  feel 
ing  that  his  end  was  near,  he  asked  a  moment's  respite,  and 
commending  his  soul  to  God  in  fervent  prayer,  received  the 
death  stroke. 

Two  years  after  the  pious  Frances  Gonannhatenha,  who 
had  been  baptized  at  Onondaga,  was  made  a  prisoner  with 
her  husband  and  some  others  near  the  mission  of  the  Sault. 
She  was  taken  to  Onondaga  and  given  to  her  own  sister,  but 
that  pagan,  deaf  to  the  cry  of  nature,  gave  Frances  up  to 
death.     On  the  scaifold  she,  too,  professed  the  faith  with 
holy  fortitude,  and  again  that  hatred  of  the  Cross,  which 
caused  the  death  of  Rene  Goupil  fifty  years  before,  was  dis 
played.     One  of  her  kinsmen  sprang  on  the  scaffold,  and 
tearing  off  the  crucifix  that  hung  on  her  breast,  cut  a  cross 
deep  in  her  flesh.     «  There,"  he  cried,  « is  the  cross  you 
love  so  much,  and  which  kept  you  from  leaving  the  Sault 
when  I  took  the  trouble  to  go  for  you."     "Thank  you, 
brother,"  replied  the  holy  sufferer,  "  the  cross  you  wrenched 
from  me  I  might  lose  ;  but  you  give  me  one  I  cannot  lose 
even  in  death."     She  urged  her  clansmen  to  become  Chris 
tians,  assured  them  of  her  forgiveness,  and  prayed  fervently 
for  them  ;  but  they  prolonged  her  torture  for  three  days,  and 
after  burning  her  from  head  to  foot  with  red-hot  gun-barrels, 
scalped  her,  and  covering  the  bleeding  head  with  hot  coals, 
unloosed  her,  hoping  to  enjoy  her  frantic  efforts  to  escape. 
But  she,  witness  to  the  faith,  knelt  calmly  down  to  pray. 
Then  a  shower  of  stones  ended  her  heroic  life. 


IROQUOIS  MISSIONS.  609 

The  Onondagas  did  not  even  spare  young  Margaret  Garan- 
gouas,  daughter  of  the  Tododaho,  hereditary  chief  of  the 
Iroquois  league.  Taken  prisoner  in  her  field,  she  was  hur 
ried  away  to  her  native  town.  There  she  was  slashed  from 
head  to  foot  with  knives  and  left  for  a  time  to  endure  the 
pain  of  her  wounds.  When  she  was  a  few  days  after  con 
demned  to  die,  she  endured  the  fearful  torments  writh  heroic 
constancy,  the  names  of  "  Jesus,  Mary,  Joseph,"  alone  escap 
ing  her  lips.  Once  she  asked  for  water,  but  reflecting  a 
moment  she  told  them  to  refuse  her  :  "  My  Saviour  suffered 
great  thirst  when  dying  for  me  on  the  cross ;  is  it  not  just 
that  I  should  suffer  the  same  torment  for  him  ? "  Her  tor 
ture  lasted  from  noon  to  sunset ;  when  scalped  and  released, 
she  too  knelt  to  pray.  They  tried  to  stab  her  and  to  beat 
her  to  death  ;  but  finally  threw  her  still  quivering  body  on  a 
pile  of  wood  and  consumed  her.1 

Onondaga  with  Oneida  was  ravaged  by  Count  Frontenac 
at  the  head  of  a  large  force  in  1696,  and  when  hostilities 
ceased  the  next  year  after  the  proclamation  of  the  peace  of 
Ryswick,  the  cantons  were  more  disposed  to  respect  the 
French.  Negotiations  were  begun  under  the  Count  de  Fron- 
teuac  and  concluded  by  his  successor,  de  Callieres,  in  1  TOO. 
During  the  negotiations  the  veteran  Father  James  Bruyas 
was  sent  with  Mr.  Maricour  to  Onondaga.  He  was  received 
with  great  cordiality,  and  after  addressing  them  as  envoy  of 
the  French  Governor,  and  delivering  the  appropriate  belts, 
he  begged  the  Onondagas  to  give  especial  attention  to  a  third 
belt  which  he  gave  them  in  the  name  of  Asendase,  that  is, 
the  Superior  of  the  Jesuit  missions  in  Canada.  He  expatiated 
on  the  love  which  the  Superior  had  always  felt  for  his  Iro- 

1  Charlevoix,  "History  of  New  France,"  iv.,  pp.  296-303  ;   "  Lettres 
Edifiantes,"  Paris,  1720,  xiii.  ;  Kip,  "  Jesuit  Missions,"  p.  117  ;  "  Relation 
des  Affaires  da  Canada,"  New  York,  1865,  p.  17. 
39 


610  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

quois  children,  although  the  sun  had  been  eclipsed  so  many 
years.  "  '  lie  wished  to  revive  the  knowledge  which  he  first 
gave  you  of  the  Lord  God  of  armies,  the  Master  of  the  Uni 
verse.  You  are  to  be  pitied/  says  Asendase  by  my  lips. 
Since  the  Blackgowns  left  you,  your  children  die  without 
medicine,  and  what  is  more  to  be  lamented  without  bap 
tism.  You  sachems,  you  warriors  and  women  knew  how  to 
pray,  but  you  have  entirely  forgotten,  yet  you  know  the 
Master  of  Heaven.  Your  Father  Asendase  exhorts  you  by 
this  belt  to  deliberate  whether  you  desire  a  Blackgown. 
There  are  some  ready  to  come.  Do  not  refuse  the  offer 
which  he  makes  you."  ' 

The  Indians  avoided  a  direct  reply  to  this  proposition,  as 
Governor  Bellomont,  of  New  York,  had  been  exerting  his 
influence  to  prevent  the  revival  of  the  missions,  and  secured 
the  passage  of  a  law  by  the  New  York  Legislature  punishing 
with  perpetual  imprisonment  any  Catholic  priest  who  should 
attempt  to  announce  Christ  to  the  heathen  within  limits 
claimed  by  that  colony. 

The  missionary  returned  to  Onondaga  again  in  June,  1701, 
but  was  even  less  successful ;  when  he  attended  the  great 
council  of  all  the  Indian  nations  held  at  Montreal  in  August, 
he  again  delivered  the  words  of  Governor-General  Callieres 
to  the  Iroquois. 

The  next  year  Catholicity  in  the  cantons  sustained  a  loss 
in  the  death  of  the  younger  Garakonthie,  inferior  in  ability 
to  his  brother  Daniel,  but  an  earnest  and  unswerving  Chris 
tian,  upholding  the  missionaries  and  the  cause  of  morality. 
In  1702  the  cantons,  of  their  own  accord,  responded  to  the 


1  De  la  Potherie,  "  Histoire  de  I'Amerique  Septentrionale,"  iv.,  pp. 
152-3,  186,  241  ;  Smith,  "  History  of  Canada  from  its  First  Discovery/'" 
Quebec,  1815,  i.,  pp.  187-9. 


LAST  EFFORTS.  611 

appeal  of  the  venerable  Father  Bruyas.  They  sent  to  solicit 
the  return  of  missionaries. 

To  restore  the  church  in  the  cantons  the  Superior  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  in  Canada  selected  as  missionary  to  Onon- 
daga  the  veteran  Father  James  de  Lamberville,  who  set  out 
with  a  lay  brother.  Father  Julian  Gamier  proceeded  to  the 
Senecas  with  Father  Yaillant  du  Gueslis.  Early  in  October, 
with  hearty  thanks  to  God,  the  Jesuit  missionaries  reached 
Onondaga,  and  the  chapels  of  truth  were  again  opened  for 
sacrifice  and  prayer.1 

The  missions  thus  restored  were  maintained  during  several 
years,  for  though  England  and  France  again  declared  war, 
the  Iroquois  had  been  won  to  neutrality,  and  that  fierce  na 
tion  remained  at  peace  with  civilized  men  warring  around 
them.  Father  Gamier,  broken  by  years  of  labor,  was  after 
a  time  replaced  by  Father  James  d'Heu,  and  Father  Peter 
de  Mareuil  went  to  assist  Father  de  Lamberville  at  Onondaga. 

The  English  viewed  the  presence  of  Catholic  priests  with 
no  good-will,  and  labored  to  induce  the  Iroquois  to  arm  against 
the  French  ;  the  young  braves  longed  to  go  on  the  war 
path,  and  the  existence  of  the  missions  became  precarious. 

In  1709  Colonel  Schuyler  waited  on  Father  de  Lamber 
ville  at  Onondaga  and  won  his  confidence  by  a  show  of 
friendly  interest.  Expressing  regret  that  the  English  Gov 
ernor  had  induced  the  cantons  to  join  in  the  war,  he  advised 
the  missionary  to  visit  Canada  in  order  to  confer  with  the 
Governor  of  Canada.  No  sooner  had  Father  de  Lamberville 
departed,  however,  than  he  incited  some  drunken  Indians  to 
plunder  the  mission  church  and  house  and  set  them  on  fire. 
Still  professing  the  greatest  friendship  for  the  missionaries, 


1  "X.  Y.  Colonial  Documents,"  ix.,  p.  737;   "  Eelation  des  Affaires 
du  Canada,"  p.  35  ;  Charlevoix,  "  History  of  New  France,"  v.,  p.  155. 


612  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

he  persuaded  Father  de  Mareuil  that  his  life  was  no  longer 
safe,  and  that  his  only  way  of  escape  was  to  accompany  him 
to  Albany.  He  concealed  the  fact  that  the  Colonial  Govern 
ment  had,  on  the  29th  of  June,  issued  an  order  for  his  arrest. 
Father  de  Mareuil  accompanied  Schuyler  to  Albany,  where 
provision  was  made  for  his  maintenance,  but  he  was  detained 
as  prisoner  till  1710. ' 

The  Onondaga  mission  was  thus  finally  broken  up.  the 
church  and  residence  were  in  ashes,  the  missionaries  had 
been  lured  aw^ay  by  deceit,  and  never  returned. 

Father  d'Heu  alone  remained  on  his  Seneca  mission,  but 
even  the  influence  of  Joncaire  could  not  ensure  his  safety, 
though  it  effected  his  being  escorted  to  Montreal  before  the 
close  of  the  year  1709.2 

Thus  closed  the  Jesuit  missions  among  the  Five  Xations 
in  their  own  territory. 

Roused  at  last  to  the  vital  importance  of  securing  commu 
nication  with  the  West  and  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
France  in  1720  began  a  fort  at  Niagara,  and  in  1731  of  an 
other  at  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Champlain.  Feeble  at  first, 
these  posts  became  in  time  formidable  fortresses.  At  each 
of  these  strongholds  there  was  a  chapel,  and  a  Recollect 
Father  was  maintained  as  chaplain.  The  Register  of  Xiag- 
ara  was  probably  carried  off  by  Sir  William  Johnson  ;  that 
of  Fort  Saint  Frederic  survives  like  the  walls  of  the  old  out 
post  of  France,  and  shows  a  series  of  Recollect  Fathers  minis 
tering  there,  from  John  Baptist  La  jus  in  1732  to  Father 
Anthony  Deperet  in  1759.  The  holy  sacrifice  was  therefore 

1  "  New  York  Colonial  Documents,"  ix.,  pp.  829,  836,  838,  845  ;  Char- 
levoix,  "  History  of  New  France,"  iv.,  p.  215  ;  "  Calendar  N.  Y.  MSS. 
Eng.,"  p.  365  ;  "  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  i.,  p.  621. 

'2  "New  York  Colonial  Documents,"  ix.,  p.  830.  He  had  replaced 
Father  Vaiilant  in  1707. 


CHAPLAINS  AT  THE  FORTS.  G13 

offered  at  Crown  Point,  under  the  protection  of  the  French 
flag,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  As  no  settlement 
of  any  importance  formed  around  either  post,  the  services  of 
the  chaplains  were  evidently  confined  to  the  garrison.  Of 
the  priests  at  these  two  posts,  one,  Father  Emmanuel  Ores- 
pel,  was  three  years  at  Xiagara,  probably  from  1730  to 
1733,  and  from  November  17,  1735,  till  the  21st  of  Septem 
ber  in  the  following  year  at  Fort  Saint  Frederic.  He  was 
then  sent  back  to  France,  but  the  vessel  was  wrecked  on 
Anticosti,  and  nearly  all  perished  by  drowning  or  from  the 
hardships  they  endured  after  reaching  that  desolate  island. 
The  Recollect  Father  was  one  of  the  few  survivors,  and  he 
published  an  account  of  his  shipwreck  and  of  his  missionary 
career  in  America.1 

In  1749  the  Jesuit  Father,  Joseph  Peter  de  Bonnecamp, 
who  had  been  professor  of  hydrography  at  Quebec,  accom 
panied  an  expedition  under  de  Celoron,  who  was  sent  by  the 
Canadian  Government  to  deposit  evidences  of  French  pos 
session  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  The  party  descended  the 
Ohio  as  far  as  the  great  Miami,  and  then  crossed  to  Lake 
Erie.  Father  Bonnecamp  was  the  first  priest  apparently 
who  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  in  the  southern  part  of  Ohio.2 

In  1 753  and  the  following  year  the  French  erected  Fort 
Presquile  on  the  bay  opening  into  Lake  Erie  that  still  bears 
the  name  ;  the  Fort  de  la  Riviere  aux  Boeufs,  near  the  pres 
ent  AVaterford  ;  Fort  Machault,  and  at  the  confluence  of  the 


1  The  other  missionaries  at  Fort  St.  Frederic  were  FF.  Peter  B.  Resche, 
1733:  Bernardine  de  Gannes,  1734;  Peter  Verquaillie,  1736;  Daniel, 
1741  ;  Alexis  du  Buron,  1743 ;  Bonaventure  Carpentier,  1747 ;  Hypolite 
Collet,  1747  ;  Didacus  Cliche,  1754  ;  Anthony  Deperet,  1758. 

-  Celoron's  Journal  in  Lambing,  "  Catholic  Historical  Researches,''  ii., 
pp.  60,  etc.,  to  iii.,  p.  32  ;  O.  H.  Marshall,  "  De  Celoron's  Expedition  to 
the  Ohio,"  in  "  Mag.  American  Hist,,"  March,  1878. 


614  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Alleghany  and  Honongahela,  Fort  Duquesne.  The  Kegister 
of  the  last  fort  is  still  preserved,  and  from  it  we  learn  that 
Father  Luke  Collet,  a  Kecollect,  was  chaplain  at  Forts  Pres- 
quile  and  Kiviere  aux  Boeufs,  and  Father  Denis  Baron  at 
Fort  Duquesne.  A  small  silver  chalice,  used  in  all  probabil 
ity  by  Father  Luke,  was  dug  up  at  Waterford,  near  the  ruins 
of  the  old  fort,  in  1804,  and  was  purchased  by  Mrs.  Yankirk, 
a  pious  Catholic  lady,  to  save  it  from  profanation.  Besides 
these  posts  the  Jesuit  Father,  Claude  Francis  Yirot,  who  had 
labored  on  the  Abnaki  missions,  was  sent  to  the  Ohio  to 
found  a  mission  among  the  Delawares,  who  had  settled  near 
the  French.  He  planted  his  mission  cross  at  Sakunk,  as  the 
Indians  styled  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Beaver.  Here  he  per 
severed  in  his  good  work  till  Pakanke,  Chief  of  the  Wolf 
tribe,  drove  him  off.1 

With  the  fall  of  the  French  powrer  the  service  of  the 
Church,  maintained  at  Crown  Point,  Niagara,  Erie,  Water- 
ford,  and  Pittsburgh,  ceased. 

Another  French  post  was  connected  with  a  great  Indian 
mission  and  deserves  a  more  extended  notice.  This  was  Fort 
Presentation,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Ogdensburg,  with 
the  mission  founded  there  by  the  Sulpitian,  Abbe  Francis 
Piquet.  This  energetic  priest,  while  serving  in  1745  as 
chaplain  to  an  expedition  against  Fort  Edward,  conceived 
the  project  of  establishing  near  Lake  Ontario  a  mission  like 
those  at  Sault  Saint  Louis  and  the  Lake  of  the  Two  Moun 
tains.  From  his  intercourse  with  the  Iroquois  still  in  their 


1  Zeisberger,  Journal,  April  23,  1770.  Maurault,  "  Histoire  des  Abe- 
nakis,"  p.  400.  Father  Claude  F.  Virot  was  born  February  16,  1721,  en 
tered  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  the  province  of  Toulouse,  October  10,  1738, 
was  sent  to  Canada  in  1750.  After  his  Delaware  mission  he  acted  as 
chaplain  to  Aubry's  force,  and  was  killed  in  the  attempt  made  to  relieve 
Fort  Niagara  in  July,  1759.  Pouchot,  "  Memoires,"  i.,  pp.  109,  110. 


THE  ABBE  PIQUET'S  MISSION. 


615 


old  homes,  he  felt  that  a  desire  for  Christianity  lingered 
among  them,  and  that  many  could  be  won  to  join  a  new 
mission  station. 

His  design  was  encouraged  by  Governor  de  la  Jonquiere, 
who  accompanied  him  in  May,  1748,  to  select  a  site.     The 


PORTRAIT   OF  REV.    FRANCIS  PIQUET. 

harbor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oswegatchie,  with  fertile  lands 
and  abundant  woodlands,  offered  every  advantage.  Here  a 
palisaded  work  soon  rose,  and  near  it  a  chapel,  named  in 
honor  of  the  patronal  feast  of  the  Sulpitians,  La  Presenta 
tion.  He  visited  the  cantons  as  far  as  Niagara,  inviting  the 


616 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


well-disposed  to  join  his  mission.  In  the  erection  of  the 
necessary  buildings  and  defences  at  the  spot  he  had  selected, 
the  Abbe  Piquet  expended  thirty  thousand  livres,  and  was 
about  to  reap  the  reward  of  his  zealous  exertion  when,  in 
October,  1749,  a  Mohawk  war  party  made  a  sudden  raid  and 
gave  the  place  to  the  flames.  They  could  not,  however, 
drive  the  stout  priest  from  the  work  he  had  undertaken. 
The  Presentation  mission  rose  from  the  ashes,  and  began 


V  0 


'/»  —  —  -         •»**fc'<*3"rr~\<-fC  "     '*t 


FOET    PRESENTATION    (OGDENSBURG),    WITH    CHAPEL,    OP    REV.    FRANCIS 

PIQUET. 

with  six  families ;  but  in  two  years  there  had  gathered 
around  the  altar  of  the  Presentation  three  hundred  and 
ninety-six  families,  numbering  three  thousand  souls,  drawn 
chiefly  from  Onondaga  and  Cayuga,  the  fruit  of  Piquet's 
visits  and  exhortations.  Those  who  had  mocked  the  efforts 
of  the  zealous  priest  to  revive  the  early  mission  spirit  were 
silenced.  The  Mission  of  the  Presentation  of  Our  Lady  was 
a  triumph  for  the  Church  and  a  defence  to  Canada.  Bishop 


THE  PRESENTATION  MISSION.  617 

Du  Breuil  de  Pontbriand  visited  the  mission  in  May,  1752, 
and  took  part  in  instructing  the  neophytes.     Then  he  bap 
tized  one  hundred  and  twenty  and  confirmed  many.     It  was 
undoubtedly  the  first  confirmation  within  the  limits  of  the 
State  of  !New  York.     The  ladies  of  Montreal  wished  to  en- 
courao-e  the  good  work,  and  sent  to  the  mission  a  beautiful 
banner,  still  preserved  at  the  Mission  of  the  Lake  of  the  Two 
Mountains.     It  bears  the  totems  of  the  Iroquois  clans— the 
Bear,  the  Wolf,  and  the  Turtle,  their  council  tires,  and  the 
monogram  of  Christ.     The  new  Iroquois  town  was  governed 
by  twelve  chiefs,  and  became  a  model.     Every  visit  of  the 
Abbe  Piquet  to  the  cantons  drew  new  accessions  to  the  mis 
sion.    With  a  few  zealous  coadjutors,  all  that  was  not  utterly 
degraded  in  the  cantons  might  have  been  won.     Sir  William 
Johnson  called  on  the  Indians  to  extinguish  the  fire  at  Oswe- 
gatchie.     "  We  have  no  nearer  place  to  learn  to  pray  and 
have  our  children  baptized,"  answered  the  chieftain  Eedhead. 
The  Abbe  Piquet  went  to  France  to  obtain  needed  coad 
jutors,  but  he  had  scarcely  returned  when  the  war  began 
which  was  to  close  the  chapter  of  French  power.     During 
that  struggle  the  Indians  of  all  the  missions  were  called  to 
the  field,  and  as  the  tide  of  success  turned  against  them,  Mr. 
Piquet  and  his  Indians  in  1759  abandoned  Fort  Presentation 
and  made  a  new  home  on  Grand  Isle  aux  Galops,  sometimes 
called  Isle  Piquet,  where  he  erected  a  chapel  for  his  flock. 
When  all  seemed  lost  the  devoted  missionary,  after  making 
a  final  entry  in  his  Register,  May  10,  1760,  returned  to 
France  by  way  of  Louisiana.     His  successor,  the  Sulpitian, 
Rev.  John  Peter  Besson  de  la  Garde,  acting  as  chaplain  in 
Fort  Levis,  was  taken  by  the  English,  but  was  allowed  to 
resume  his  labors  as  an  Indian  missionary. 

The  site  of  the  mission  of  The  Presentation  has  become  in 
our  day  a  thriving  town,  the  see  of  a  Catholic  Bishop.     The 


618  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

corner-stone  of  Abbe  Piquet's  chapel  was  found  some  years 
ago,  and  now  occupies  an  honorable  place  in  the  chief  build 
ing  of  the  city. 

It  bears  the  inscription  :  "  In  nomine  •%•  Dei  omnipotentis 
huic  habitation!  initia  dedit  Fran.  Picquet  1749."  u  In  the 
name  of  Almighty  God,  •%.  Francis  Picquet  began  this  edi 
fice  in  1749."  ' 

Just  as  this  mission  was  about  to  remove  from  the  soil  of 
New  York  the  Jesuit  Father,  Mark  Anthony  Gordon,  selected 
Aquasasne,  "the  place  where  the  partridge  drums,"  and 
there,  with  part  of  the  people  of  the  Caughuawaga  mission  at 


CORNER-STONE   OP  REV.    FRANCIS  PIQUET'S    CHAPEL,    STILL    PRESERVED 
AT  OGDENSBURG. 

Sault  St.  Louis,  founded  that  of  Saint  Francis  Regis,  erecting 
a  log-house  for  a  temporary  chapel.  This  perished  by  fire 
just  before  the  close  of  the  war,  so  that  the  year  1763  saw  no 
chapel  at  the  spot. 

1  The  Abbe  Piquet  was  at  Corunna  in  1762,  and  on  reaching  his  native 
land  received  the  approval  of  the  French  clergy  and  of  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff.  After  spending  years  in  the  active  discharge  of  the  ministry  in 
France,  he  died  at  Verjon,  July  15,  1781,  in  his  seventy-third  year,  hav 
ing  been  born  at  Bresse,  December  6,  1708.  "  Memoire  de  la  Lande  "  in 
"  Lettres  Edifiantes."  Pouchot,  "  Memoires,"  ii.,  p.  284  ;  Bossu,  "  Xou- 
veaux  Voyages,"  ii.,  pp.  284-5.  Notes  from  Register  of  La  Presenta 
tion;  Smith,  "A  History  of  the  Diocese  of  Ogdensburg,  New  York," 
1886,  p.  53. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE     CHUECH     IN    MICHIGAN,    INDIANA,    WISCONSIN,    AND     MIN 
NESOTA,  1690-1763. 

THE  intercolonial  struggle  which  is  coeval  with  the  acces 
sion  of  William  III.,  seriously  affected  Catholicity  in  the 
northwest,  as  the  French  authorities  in  Canada,  absorbed  in 
the  effort  to  preserve  the  province  to  France,  could  do  little 
to  extend  civilization  in  the  remote  Lake  region.  The  early 
spirit  of  faith,  too,  had  waned.  If  missionaries  were  main 
tained  it  was  less  to  aid  them  in  the  conversion  of  the  heathen, 
than  to  make  them  agents  in  keeping  tribes  friendly  from 
whom  traders  might  obtain  peltries. 

There  was  not  in  1690  any  French  settlement  on  the  Upper 
Lakes ;  the  projected  Recollect  missions  had  been  abandoned ; 
the  Jesuit  Fathers  of  whom  Father  Enjalran  was  Superior, 
had  their  Huron  and  Ottawa  mission  at  Michilimackinac, 
where  that  Father  and  the  veteran  de  Carheil  still  labored ; 
Father  Aveneau  was  at  the  Miami  mission  on  the  Saint  Jo 
seph's  ;  the  aged  Father  Nouvel  conducted  the  Christian  In 
dians  on  Green  Bay ;  Father  Joseph  John  Marest  was  en 
deavoring  to  found  a  mission  among  the  Dakotas,  near  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Croix  and  St.  Peter's.  Fathers  Albanel 
and  Bailloquet  were  the  only  other  missionaries  in  the  West. 

Mission  labor  was  daily  becoming  more  difficult,  and  the 
danger  of  the  missionaries  increased.  Even  at  Michilimacki 
nac  the  Jesuit  Fathers  were  regarded  as  exposed  to  danger, 
till  Louvigny,  in  1691,  encompassed  their  church  and  resi 
dence  with  a  palisade. 

(619) 


G20  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

The  government  grant  for  land  on  which  to  erect  a  chapel 
and  house  near  the  banks  of  the  Saint  Joseph's  had  been  con 
firmed,  and  the  chief  centre  of  mission  work  on  the  Lakes 
was  likely  to  be  at  that  point. 

The  appointment  of  La  Motte  Cadillac  as  commandant  at 
Michilimackinac,  in  1694,  foreboded  ill  to  the  cause  of  West 
ern  missions.  Chimerical,  grasping,  overbearing,  regarding 
religion  only  as  an  element  to  be  used  for  purposes  of  gov 
ernment  or  trade,  he  displayed  qualities  that  subsequently 
made  his  administration  in  higher  position  so  stormy  and 
unprofitable.1  The  missionaries  had  already  learned  his  char 
acter,  when  in  1700  he  was  selected  to  found  not  a  mere 
trading-post,  but  a  fort  and  settlement  on  the  Detroit  Eiver, 
where  temporary  establishments  had  already  been  made,  and 
where  formal  possession  had  been  taken  in  1687. 

When  peace  had  been  made,  and  the  West  was  again  open, 
Father  Enjalran  was  dispatched  to  the  West  to  invite  the 
tribes  on  the  Lakes  to  send  their  delegates  to  a  general 
council.8 

In  the  summer  of  1701  Cadillac,  appointed  command 
ant  at  Detroit,  and  in  all  the  western  parts,  and  made  Seign 
eur  of  the  projected  settlement,  set  out  from  Three  Eivers 
with  soldiers  and  settlers.  The  expedition  was  accompanied 
by  Father  Nicholas  Bernardino  Constantine  Delhalle,  a  Rec 
ollect,  who  was  to  serve  as  chaplain  to  the  troops  and  pastor 
to  the  people,  and  the  Jesuit  Father  Francis  Vaillant  du 
Gueslis  to  act  as  missionary  to  the  Indians.  Detroit  was 
founded  July  21,  1701  ;  Fort  Pontchartrain,  a  solid  work 


1  Cadillac  to  the  Minister,  Aug.  3,  1695,  condemning  missionaries  for 
checking  sale  of  liquor;  Margry,  "  Decouvertes  et  Etablissement,"  v., 
pp.  31,  33,  35,  50,  54,  63;  "New  York  Colonial  Documents,"  ix.,  p. 
418. 

2  De  la  Potherie,  "  Histoire  de  1'Amerique  Septentrionale,"  iv.,  p.  102. 


FIRST  CHURCH  AT  DETROIT.  621 

of  timber,  was  at  once  begun,  and  five  days  later,  on  the  feast 
of  Saint  Anne,  a  cliapel  in  her  honor  was  commenced  near 
it.  Here  the  Kecollect  priest  began  the  first  permanent  ser 
vice  for  his  countrymen  in  a  white  settlement  at  the  West.1 

On  learning  during  the  route  Cadillac's  ideas  and  proposed 
system,  Father  Yaillant,  who  seems  to  have  come  with  some 
misgivings,  abandoned  all  intention  of  undertaking  an  Indian 
mission,  and  returned  to   Quebec.     The  project  of  Cadillac 
was  to  gather  at  Detroit,   the  Hurons   and    Ottawas  from 
Michilimackinac ;  the  Miamis  from  St.  Joseph's  Kiver  ;  and 
other  western  bands,  to  form  the  men  into  military  organiza 
tions,  teach  the  young  Indians  French,  by  means  of  the  mis 
sionaries  and  Ursuline  Nuns,  whom   he  was  to   introduce, 
and  to  cause  the  settlers  to  take  wives  among  the  educated 
Indian  girls.     He  gave  out  that  he  was  a  Moses  raised  up  to 
lead  these  people  out  of  their  bondage ;  as  commandant  he 
claimed  complete  control  over  all  within  his  jurisdiction,  and 
regarded  a  missionary  as  a  soldier,  whom  he  could  change  as 
he  would  a  sentry.8     The  missionaries  appointed  to  their  sev 
eral   stations   by  their   Superior,  in    concurrence   with   the 
Bishop  of  Quebec,  and  in  his  name,  could  not  recognize  a 
new  and  independent   authority.     When  Cadillac   ordered 
the  missionaries  at  Michilimackinac  and  St.  Joseph's  River 
to  come  to  Detroit  with  the  tribes  to  whom  they  had  minis 
tered,  they  did  not  feel  bound  to  comply.     They  left  the  In 
dians  to  decide  for  themselves  on  the  question  of  removal. 
The  Ottawas  were  the  first  to  transfer  their  wigwams  to  De 
troit.     A  portion  of  the  Hurons  also  went,  till  in  1703  only 
twenty-five  of  tire  tribe  remained  near  Father  de  Carheil's 
chapel,  and  Cadillac  wrote,  "  I  am  convinced  that  this  ob- 


1  Margry,  v.,  p.  191. 

2  This  is  clear  in  Margry,  v.(  pp.  229,  287,  295. 


622  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

stinate  parish  priest  will  die  in  his  parish  church  without 
having  a  parishioner  to  bury  him."  '  Father  Aveneau,  who 
had  been  joined  by  Father  Mermet  on  the  St.  Joseph's,  was 
soon  after  driven  from  his  mission  by  Cadillac,  Mermet  pro 
ceeding  to  the  Weas  to  attempt  a  mission  among  them.  In 
1705  Fathers  de  Carheil  and  James  J.  Marest,  and  ap 
parently  Enjalran,  finding  themselves  without  a  flock  at 
Michilimackinac,  and  not  wishing  the  chapel  to  be  profaned 
by  bushlopers  or  Indians  who  passed  that  way,  set  fire  to 
their  buildings,  and  went  down  to  Quebec,  but  their  course 
was  sharply  censured  by  the  government  in  France.  An 
order  was  sent  out  that  they  should  return  and  rebuild  their 
chapel ;  but  as  it  seemed  useless  to  maintain  a  church  where 
there  was  no  congregation,  the  matter  was  dropped. 

The  Jesuit  mission  on  the  Lakes  was  thus  reduced  to  that 
at  Green  Bay,  whither  Father  John  B.  Chardon  had  gone 
in  1701,  to  aid  the  venerable  Henry  Nouvel,  who  had  been 
for  nearly  forty  years  on  the  mission  there,  arid  who  died  at 
his  post  in  1702.1 

The  next  year  the  little  town  of  Detroit  suffered  from  its 
first  conflagration ;  a  barn  near  the  fort  took  fire,  and  the 
flames  spreading,  destroyed  the  church  with  the  house  of  the 
Recollect  Father,  and  the  residences  of  Cadillac  and  Tonti. 

1  Cadillac  in  Margry,  p.  304. 

2  Margry,  v.,  pp.  215-219  ;  Martin,  "Catalogue  par  Ordre  Chronolo- 
gique."     The  question  of  the  sale  of  liquor  to  the  Indians  entered  largely 
into  the  disagreement  between  Cadillac  and  the  missionaries.     The  Jes 
uit  Fathers,  carrying  out  the  rules  of  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  condemned 
it.     Cadillac,  following  the  views  of  Frontenac,  favored  it,  but  only  as  a 
monopoly  in  his  own  hands.     His  reverence  for  the  old  Governor  was 
intense  :  "  Raising  my  eyes  to  heaven,"  he  writes,  "  I  sometimes  cry  in 
the  weakness  of  my  faith  :  Sancte  Frontenac,  ora  pro  me."    Margry, 
v.,  p.  316.     He  was  perpetually  writing,  and  some  of  his  imaginary  con 
versations  with  Pontchartrain  have  been  ludicrously  cited  by  Sheldon, 
Campbell,  and  others,  as  though  real  and  genuine. 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  DELHALLE.      623 

The  earliest  Register  of  Detroit  perished  with  this  primitive 
shrine,  October  5,  1T03. 

Cadillac,  who  had  in  his  arbitrary  and  grasping  course 
seized  the  property  of  two  traders,  was  compelled  to  go 
down  to  Quebec  in  1704,  to  defend  the  civil  suit  brought 
by  those  whom  he  had  wronged,  and  he  used  all  the  arts  of 
chicanery  to  prevent  their  obtaining  redress.1 

After  the  fire  another  church  was  erected,  and  Father 
Constantine  resumed  his  labors.  His  Registry,  opening 
February  2,  1704,  with  the  baptism  of  Maria  Teresa,  a  child 
of  Cadillac,  but  covering  only  three  pages,  is  still  preserved, 
and  is  the  oldest  of  the  early  French  parish  Registers  of  the 
West,  beginning  some  months  prior  to  that  of  Mobile.2 

The  withdrawal  of  the  Indian  missionaries  was  soon  fol 
lowed  by  a  dangerous  feeling  in  the  various  tribes.  The 
Ottawas  were  especially  inclined  to  join  the  English  and 
Iroquois,  and  were  full  of  suspicion  of  the  French.  While 
Father  Marest  in  1706  was  on  his  way  to  Michilimackinac, 
the  crisis  came,  hastened  by  the  rashness  of  de  Bourgmont, 
the  commandant  at  Detroit.  Provoked  at  a  trifle,  he  beat 
an  Ottawa  so  violently  that  the  man  died.  Convinced  that 
the  commander  meditated  an  attack  on  them,  that  tribe  pre 
pared  to  fight  the  French  and  the  tribes  favorable  to  them, 
especially  the  Miamis,  of  whom  they  were  jealous. 

Some  of  the  Ottawa  braves  meeting  a  party  of  Miamis 
killed  five,  only  one  succeeding  in  escaping  to  the  French 
fort.  The  Miamis  hearing  this,  all  fled  from  their  village 
to  the  fort,  under  a  heavy  fire  from  the  Ottawas.  Father 
Constantine  was  walking  in  his  garden  unconscious  of  dan 
ger.  He  was  immediately  seized,  and  bound  by  some  of  the 

1  The  Abbe  Verreau  has  detailed  the  whole  case,  which  is  far  from 
creditable  to  Cadillac. 

2  I  owe  access  to  it  to  the  kindness  of  R.  R.  Elliott,  Esq. 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  CONSTANTINE.  625 

Ottawas,  but  John  le  Blanc,  one  of  their  chiefs  who  had  at 
tended  the  great  congress  at  Montreal,  interposed  and  re 
leased  him.  Le  Blanc  asked  Father  Constantine  to  go  and 
tell  Mr.  Bourgmont  that  the  Ottawas  had  no  designs  against 
the  French,  and  to  ask  him  to  suspend  the  fire  from  the  fort. 
As  the  Recollect  Father,  anxious  to  put  an  end  to  the  hostil 
ities,  was  entering  the  fort,  some  Miamis  joined  him,  and  the 
Ottawas  opened  fire  on  them.  A  ball  struck  Father  Con 
stantine,  and  he  fell  dead  on  the  spot,  and  a  soldier  near  him 
ATas  badly  wounded.  The  fire  was  then  renewed,  and  was 
maintained  till  the  Ottawas  withdrew  with  heavy  loss. 

The  first  pastor  of  the  first  French  town  in  the  West  was 
thus  slain  in  the  noble  effort  to  prevent  the  further  effusion 
of  blood.  Unfortunately  little  is  known  of  him.  He  ar 
rived  in  Canada  June  1,  1696,  and  had  been  engaged  in  pa 
rochial  work  at  Longueuil  and  St.  Frangois  de  Sales,  before 
he  was  appointed  chaplain  to  Fort  Pontchartrain.  He  was 
interred  in  the  church  where  he  had  ministered.' 

Father  Dominic  de  la  Marche,  a  Recollect  Father  who  had 
just  arrived  from  France,  was  sent  the  same  year  to  Detroit 
to  replace  the  one  whose  life  had  been  sacrificed  by  the  in 
capacity  of  the  civil  officials.  He  was  missionary  at  Fort 
Pontchartrain  from  August  16,  1706,  to  May  1,  1708. 

Meanwhile  Father  Marest  had  returned  to  Michilimack- 
inac,  and  Father  Aveneau  to  his  mission  on  the  Saint  Jo 
seph's,  for  the  latter  was  sent  to  his  old  flock  when  an  expe 
dition  against  the  Miamis  failed.  There  the  missionary 
labored  to  revive  the  faith  among  the  Indians  who,  amid  all 
this  turmoil,  had  sadly  retrograded.  Charlevoix  assures  us 
that  Father  Aveneau,  who  spent  eighteen  years  with  the 


1  Charlevoix,    "History  of  New  France,"  v.,  pp.    185-6;  "  N.  Y. 
Colonial  Documents, "  ix. ,  p.  810  ;  Tanguay,  "  Repertoire  General,"  p.  70. 


SIGNATURES  OP  PRIESTS  AT  DETROIT. 


ST.  ANNE'S,  DETROIT.  627 

Miamis,  by  unalterable  mildness  and  invincible  patience, 
succeeded  in  obtaining  great  influence  over  them.1  He  did 
not  live,  however,  long  after  being  restored  to  his  mission, 
having  died  in  Illinois  on  the  14th  of  September,  1711. 
Father  Chardon  was  then  for  a  time  at  the  old  mission  sta 
tion. 

The  next  year  Father  Marest  erected  a  church  on  the  south 
shore,  at  what  is  now  known  as  Old  Mackinac,  where  de 
Louvigny  in  1712  built  a  fort. 

The  French  needed,  indeed,  to  strengthen  their  position 
in  the  West,  for  the  Foxes  had  drawn  the  Kickapoos  and 
Mascoutens  into  a  plot  to  destroy  Detroit  and  the  French 
settled  there,  and  hold  the  place  for  the  English,  who  had  in 
cited  them.  Du  Buisson,  the  commandant,  seeing  their  in 
creasing  numbers  and  insolence,  sent  to  summon  the  allies  of 
France,  and  prepared  to  defend  the  post  with  his  little  gar 
rison  of  fifty  men.  The  church  where  Father  Delhalle  re 
posed  stood  outside  the  fort,  with  a  storehouse  and  dwell 
ing  near  it.  After  removing  the  grain  laid  up  there,  the 
commandant,  to  prevent  the  Indians  from  using  the  buildings 
to  attack  the  fort,  or  endangering  it  by  setting  them  on  fire, 
ordered  the  church  and  adjacent  houses  to  be  demolished  ; 
and  in  a  few  hours  this  second  church  was  destroyed.  The 
Recollect  Father  Cherubin  Deniau,  the  missionary  of  this 
little  flock  of  whites  from  1707,  erected  within  the  palisade 
a  new  chapel  dedicated  to  Saint  Anne.  When  after  a  series 
of  desperate  engagements  the  Foxes  were  nearly  extermina 
ted  by  the  allies  and  Detroit  was  saved,  Father  Cherubin  cele 
brated  a  solemn  high  mass  of  thanksgiving,  and  the  Te 
Deum  was  chanted  in  the  palisade  fort.2 

1  Charlevoix,  v.,  p.  202. 

-  Du  Buisson's  Report,  June  15,  1712,  in  Smith,  "  History  of  Wiscon 
sin,"  iii.,  pp.  317,  332. 


628  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

During  the  troublous  days  when  the  turbulent  Fox  tribe 
menaced  the  power  of  France  in  the  country  of  the  Lakes, 
the  Rev.  Father  Leonard  Vatier,  also  a  Recollect,  is  said  to 
have  been  cut  off  by  the  Foxes  and  Sioux,  but  unfortunately 
we  have  no  details  of  his  death.1 

The  Recollect  Fathers  were  generally  sent  to  stations  for  a 
term  of  three  years,  and  the  isolation  of  the  post  at  Detroit 
was  such  that  few  apparently  sought  to  prolong  their  stay. 
Thus  Father  Hyacinth  Pelfresne  served  from  1715  to  June 
3,  1717.  Father  Anthony  Delino,  who  soon  styled  himself 
"Recollect  priest  discharging  parochial  functions  at  the 
Royal  fort  of  Detroit,  Lake  Erie,  and  Lake  Huron,"  began 
in  Nov.,  1719,  but  was  recalled  in  March,  1722.2  Detroit 
meanwhile  had  declined,  and  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas  who 
had  settled  near  it,  though  many  had  their  children  baptized, 
were  fast  losing  all  trace  of  Christianity.3 

However,  the  mission  among  the  Miamis  had  been  main 
tained  under  the  Jesuit  Father  John  de  Saint  Pe,  who  was 
stationed  there  in  1721,  but  the  tribe  had  begun  to  move 
eastward,  and  the  French  had  already  two  years  previous 
taken  steps  to  establish  Fort  Ouiatenon  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  Wabash,  a  few  miles  from  the  present  town  of  Lafay 
ette/  The  missionaries  of  Saint  Joseph's  River  probably 
accompanied  their  band  on  its  migrations. 

Father  Bonaventure  Leonard  arrived  in  Detroit  in  June, 
1722.  He  is  the  first  to  speak  of  St.  Anne's  as  a  parish.  He 

1  Tanguay,  "Repertoire  General,"  p.  71.  The  date  of  his  death  is 
given  as  Feb.,  1713. 

•  Parish  Register  of  Detroit.  Calvarin,  V.G.,  Mercier  and  Thaumur, 
of  Tamarois,  were  at  Detroit  in  August,  1718. 

3  Charlevoix,  "  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  iii.,  p.  257. 

4  Vaudreuil  to  the  Council  of  the  Marine,  "  New  York  Colonial  Doc 
uments,"  ix.,  p.  892;  Beckwith,  "Historic  Notes  of  the  Northwest," 
Chicago,  1879,  p.  104. 


SIOUX  MISSION.  629 

began  a  new  church  within  the  palisades,  which  occupied,  it  is 
said,  a  site  on  the  present  Jefferson  Avenue,  between  Gris- 
wold  and  Shelby  Streets.1  When  the  church  was  sufficiently 
advanced  he  took  steps  to  translate  to  it  the  remains  of  the 
first  pastor,  Father  Constantine  Delhalle.  The  Sieur  Delisle, 
who  had  aided  in  interring  the  Recollect  Father,  guided  the 
new  pastor  of  Detroit  to  the  spot,  and  two  men  set  to  work. 
The  coffin  was  soon  found,  and  his  skull-cap,  portions  of  his 
Franciscan  habit  and  cord,  and  his  hair  cloth  were  enough 
to  identify  the  remains,  which  were  removed  to  the  new 
church  on  the  14th  of  May,  1723,  and  placed  under  the  plat 
form  of  the  altar.3 

Father  Chardon  seems  to  have  remained  at  Green  Bay  till 
about  1728,  the  solitary  priest  on  the  old  mission  ground 
west  of  Lake  Michigan  for  several  years  ;  but  he  apparently 
withdrew  when  the  expedition  under  de  Lignery  was  sent 
against  the  Foxes.  The  forces,  consisting  of  four  hundred 
French  and  twice  as  many  Indians,  were  attended  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Peset,  a  secular  priest ;  Father  Emmanuel  Crespel,  a 
Recollect,  and  Father  James  Quentin  de  la  Bretonniere,  a 
Jesuit  Father.  The  expedition  entered  Green  Bay,  and 
ascended  Fox  River  to  the  Indian  town,  which  they  found 
deserted.  On  the  homeward  march,  de  Lignery  demolished 
the  French  fort  at  Green  Bay,  and  the  mission  there  was  ap 
parently  then  abandoned.3 

On  the  17th  of  May,  1727,  the  French  under  Laperriere 
began  the  erection  of  Fort  Beauharnois  on  Lake  Pepin,  the 
first  post  in  our  Minnesota.  The  government  made  an  ap 
propriation  for  the  support  of  two  Jesuit  priests  there,  and 

1  Farmer,  "History  of  Detroit  and  Michigan,"  Detroit,  1884,  p.  529. 

2  Entry  in  Detroit  Register. 

3  Crespel,  "  Voiages  dans  le  Canada,"  Francfort,  1742,  pp.  15-29. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Father  Louis  Ignatius  Guignas,  who  accompanied  the  expe 
dition,  founded  the  mission  of  Saint  Michael  the  Archangel 
among  the  Sioux.  He  was  the  first  priest  after  Father  Ma- 
rest  to  attempt  to  gain  souls  to  Christ  among  the  Dakotas. 
Father  Guignas,  after  beginning  hi^  mission  labors,  attempted 
to  reach  the  Illinois  country  in  1728,  but  was  captured  on 
his  way  down  the  Mississippi  by  the  Mascoutens  and  Kicka- 
poos,  allies  of  the  Foxes.  He  remained  a  prisoner  in  their 
hands  for  five  months,  and  was  at  one  time  condemned  to 
die  in  torture  at  the  stake,  but  was  saved  by  an  old  man  who 
adopted  him.  His  captors  finally  took  him  to .  the  Illinois, 
where  they  left  him  on  parole  till  November,  1729,  when 
they  removed  him  to  their  own  town.  On  recovering  his 
liberty,  he  seems  to  have  returned  to  his  Dakota  mission, 
where  he  was  still  laboring  in  1736.1 

About  1730  Father  Crespel  visited  Detroit  and  describes 
his  fellow-religious,  Father  Bonaventure,  as  a  zealous  priest, 
given  to  study,  rendering  service  as  priest  and  teacher  to  his 
people,  and  conversant  with  the  language  of  the  Indians  with 
whom  he  came  most  frequently  in  contact.2 

The  Indians  around  Detroit  had  been  without  a  missionary 
from  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  the  place.  Father  Char- 
levoix  represented  strongly  the  necessity  of  reviving  the  early 
efforts  to  Christianize  them.  The  Huron  mission  was  revived 
in  1728,  and  soon  after  Father  Armand  de  la  Richardie  ap 
pears  as  their  spiritual  guide. 

Father  Charles  M.  Mesaiger  had  been  succeeded  at  the 
Miami  mission  on  the  St.  Joseph's  by  Father  Peter  du 


1  Guignas  in  "  Early  Voyages  up  and  down  the  Mississippi,"  Albany, 
1861,  pp.  167-175;    "New  York  Colonial  Documents,"  ix.,   pp.   995, 
1016-7,  1051. 

2  Crespel,  "  Voiage,"  pp.  34-5. 


THE  HURON  S.  631 

Jaunay,1  while  Fathers  John  B.  La  Morinie  and  Godfrey 
Coquart  appear  at  Mackinac. 

The  Jesuit^  were  still  in  the  advance  with  the  French  ex 
plorers  of  the  West.  In  1T31  Father  Charles  Mesaiger  set 
out  from  the  mission  at  MicMlimackinac  to  accompany  Pierre 
Gaulthier,  Sieur  de  la  Verendrye,  on  his  exploration  through 
Minnesota  to  Rainy  Lake,  Lake  Winnipeg,  and  the  country 
of  the  Mandans. 

Father  Peter  Aulneau,  accompanying  a  son  of  the  Sieur 
de  la  Verendrye  in  a  subsequent  exploration,  was  killed  by 
the  Indians  at  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  in  1736." 

The  leading  Huron  chiefs  at  Detroit  were  hostile  or  indif 
ferent  to  religion,  and  though  Father  Potier  established  a 
mission  on  Bois  Blanc  Island  in  1Y42,  he  was  forced  to  leave 
them  five  years  afterward.  Father  de  la  Richardie,  thor 
oughly  discouraged,  had  returned  to  Quebec,  but  was  recalled 
in  1747.  In  their  winterings  the  Huron  tribe  frequently  en 
camped  at  Sandusky,  allured  by  the  pure  water  found  there. 
In  1751  Father  de  la  Richardie  induced  a  portion  of  the  tribe 
to  go  and  settle  there  permanently.  They  were  the  Indians 
least  able  to  restrain  their  appetite  for  spirituous  liquors. 
''"This  mission  was  maintained  here  for  several  years.  Chief 
Nicholas,  an  ally  of  the  English,  at  last  drove  Father  Potier 
from  his  chapel  on  the  Sandusky,  and  the  mission  closed, 
though  the  faith  was  preserved  among  the  Hurons  till  the 
present  century. 

The  rest  of  the  tribe  gathered  at  Sandwich,  where  a  church 

1  In  1738.  He  was  at  Mackinac  in  1742,  Detroit  in  1754.  He  died 
February  17,  1781.  Martin,  "  Catalogue";  Tanguay,  "  Repertoire  Gene 
ral." 

-Martin,  "Catalogue  par  ordre  Chronologique  " ;  Mallet,  "  Origin  of 
the  Oregon  Mission,"  "  Proceedings  U.  S.  Cath.  Hist.  Soc.,  February  11, 
1886,"  p.  11. 


632 


THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 


had  been  erected  for  them  in  1748  ;  and  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  period  we  are  treating,  this  Canadian  band  was 
under  the  care  of  Father  J.  B.  Salleneuve.1 

Detroit  had  taken  new  life.  The  population  was  increas 
ing,  so  that  the  Kecollect  Father,  Simplicius  Bocquet,  who 
had  entered  on  his  duties  as  parish  priest  on  the  18th  of  Sep 
tember,  1754,  undertook  to  build  a  larger  church.  It  stood, 


SIGNATURE  OF  FATHER   SIMPLICIUS  BOCQUET. 

according  to  the  historiographer  of  the  city,  west  of  the 
present  Griswold  Street,  on  ground  now  included  in  Jefferson 
Avenue.  The  new  Church  of  Saint  Anne  was  so  far  com 
pleted  in  the  summer  after  his  arrival,  that  on  the  13th  of 
July,  1755,  he  transferred  to  it  the  remains  of  the  first  pastor 
of  Detroit,  depositing  them  under  the  steps  of  the  altar,  to 
remain,  however,  only  till  the  completion  of  the  church. 
"  Which,"  says  the  entry  in  the  Eegister,  «  will  permit  us  to 
give  him  a  permanent  and  becoming  sepulture  conformable 
to  his  merit,  and  to  the  miracles  which  many  trustworthy 
persons  have  reported  to  us  to  have  been  wrought  through 
his  intercession  in  favor  of  the  whole  parish." 2 

The  little  French  city  of  the  West  was  honored,  says  Far- 

"  Collection  de  Manuscrits,"  iii.,  p.  348 ;  "  N.  Y.  Colonial  Docu 
ments,"  x.,  pp.  114-116  ;  "History  of  the  Catholic  Missions,"  p.  203. 
There  are  still  extant  two  copies  of  a  Huron  Grammar  written  by  Father 
Potier,  a  work  on  Huron  Radicals,  and  a  Census  of  the  Hurons.  Father 
Potier  died  at  Sandwich,  July  16,  1781. 
2  Register  of  the  parish  of  St.  Anne,  Detroit. 


BISHOP  DE  PONTBRIAND. 


633 


mer,  by  the  presence  of  the  Kt.  Rev.  Henry  Mary  du  Breuil 
de  Pontbriand,  who  extended  his  visitation  to  Detroit.  He 
dedicated  the  new  church  on  the  16th  of  March,  1755,  and 
remained  for  some  weeks  in  this  portion  of  his  diocese. 


RT.    REV.    HENRY   MARY   DU   BREUIL   DE   PONT 
BRIAND,    SIXTH   BISHOP   OF   QUEBEC. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Mary  du  Breuil  de  Pontbriand,  sixth 
Bishop  of  Quebec,1  deserves  especial  mention  in  a  history  of 

1  Mgr.  Peter  Herman  Dosquet,  a  native  of  Lille,  was  consecrated  Bishop 
of  Samos  at  Rome  on  Christmas  day,  1725,  by  Pope  Benedict  XIII.  and 
appointed  Coadjutor  to  Bishop  Mornay,  whom  he  succeeded  in  1734. 
He  resigned  the  next  year,  having  spent  less  than  six  years  in  Canada. 


634  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

the  Church  in  the  United  States,  as  he  was  the  first  incum 
bent  of  that  see  who  performed  any  episcopal  function  with 
in  our  limits,  having  conferred  confirmation  at  Ogdensburg 
and  Detroit,  and  exerted  himself  earnestly  to  place  the  religious 
affairs  of  Louisiana  on  a  sounder  basis  by  committing  author 
ity  in  that  province  to  more  zealous  and  responsible  hands. 

He  was  born  at  Yannes  in  Brittany,  of  a  family  of  posi 
tion,  and  was  only  thirty-two  years  of  age  when  he  was  ap 
pointed  to  the  see  of  Quebec.  Notwithstanding  his  youth 
he  was  already  Yicar-General  and  Canon  of  Saint  Malo,  and 
a  Doctor  in  the  Sorbonne.  Having  obtained  his  bulls  from 
the  great  Pope  Benedict  XIV.  on  the  6th  of  March,  1741, 
he  was  consecrated  at  Paris  on  the  9th  of  April  by  Mgr. 
Gaspar  William  de  Vintimille,  archbishop  of  that  city.  He 
proceeded  immediately  to  Canada  and  took  possession  of  his 
see  on  the  30th  of  August,  1741.  He  was  the  last  Bishop  of 
Quebec  under  the  French  sway.  After  an  active  and  zealous 
administration,  in  which  he  visited  remote  parts  of  his  dio 
cese,  lie  beheld  his  episcopal  city  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
English.  He  retired  to  the  Sulpitian  Seminary  at  Montreal, 
where  grief  at  the  misfortunes  of  the  flock  confided  to  him 
hastened  his  end.  He  expired  on  the  8th  of  June,  1760. 

Father  Simplicius  as  vicar  to  Father  Bonaventure,  and  as 
pastor  and  Vicar-General,  presided  long  enough  over  the 
Church  of  Saint  Anne  to  see  the  flag  of  France  lowered  in 
Canada  and  on  the  Lakes,  and  to  see  England  lose  the  col 
onies  for  whose  sake  she  had  so  long  struggled  to  deprive 
France  of  her  northern  colony. 


Mgr.  Francis  Louis  Pourroy  de  1'Aube  Riviere,  consecrated  December 
21,  1739,  arrived  at  Quebec  on  the  7th  of  August,  1740,  and  died  on  the 
20th,  at  the  age  of  29,  of  a  fever  contracted  while  attending  the  sick  on 
the  ship.  I  trace  no  act  of  either  of  these  bishops  relating  to  our  part  of 
the  country. 


RELICS  OF  OLD  MISSIONS.  635 

Far  less  tranquil  was  the  lot  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries 
around  him.  As  the  tide  of  war  seemed  to  turn  against 
France,  the  Indians  were  alienated,  and  at  some  missions  the 
Fathers  were  in  want  of  the  merest  necessaries.  Father  de 
la  Morinie  left  the  mission  on  St.  Joseph's  Eiver  and  minis 
tered  to  the  settlers  at  St.  Genevieve,  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
Father  Salleneuve  had  retired  in  1761  for  a  similar  reason 
from  the  Huron  mission  near  Detroit,  bearing  the  chapel 
service.  When  the  irreligious  Council  of  Louisiana,  veiling 
its  hypocrisy  under  a  specious  pretext  of  zeal  for  the  Church, 
sent  men  to  Illinois  to  enforce  its  shameful  decree,  both  these 
Fathers,  with  the  property  of  the  missions  in  their  hands, 
were  seized,  although  on  British  soil.  The  enemies  of  relig 
ion  even  sent  and  kidnapped  Father  Julian  Devernai  at  Vin- 
cennes,  and  selling  his  winter  provisions  dragged  him,  al 
though  he  had  been  suffering  from  disease  for  six  months,  to 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  men  who  pretended  that  the  Jesuits  had  neglected 
their  missions  tore  them  from  their  churches,  profaned  them, 
broke  up  the  missions,  and,  so  far  as  they  could,  deprived  the 
Catholics  of  the  West  of  priest  and  altar,  of  all  means  of 
worshipping   God    or 
approaching  the  sacra 
ments  of  the  Church. 

Fathers  du  Jaunay  J 
and    Le    Franc    alone          SIGNATURE  OF  FATHER  DEVERNAI. 
were  left  in  the  north 
west,  though  Father  Meurin,  as  we  have  seen,  succeeded  in 
returning  to  the  scene  of  his  labors. 

Michilimackinac  was  the  central  point  of  the  missionaries 
at  the  close  of  this  period,  and  the  church  at  Pointe  St. 
Ignace  preserved,  to  our  times,  a  fine  set  of  heavy  velvet 
vestments,  elaborately  worked,  in  which  perhaps  mass  was 


636  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

said  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV.  Equally  curious  is  another 
relic  of  the  past  there  preserved,  a  bread-iron,  wrought  per 
haps  in  the  West  by  the  lay  brother  whose  forge  did  good 
service  for  white  and  Indian.  It  is  a  rude  piece  of  work, 
and  the  lettering  was  evidently  first  cut  into  the  iron  by  the 
unskilled  but  earnest  artist.  The  introduction  of  the  figure 


BREAD-IKON  PRESERVED  AT  MICHILIMACKINAC. 


in   one   of  the  large   dies  presented  a  difficulty  that   was 
strangely  surmounted. 

The  Church  in  the  northern  parts  where  the  French  nag 
had  floated,  was  in  a  pitiable  condition.  The  Indian  Cath 
olics  in  Maine,  New  York,  and  Ohio,  and  the  few  French 
lingering  near  them,  were  without  a  single  priest,  or  anything 


THE  WEST  IN  1763. 


637 


worthy  the  name  of  a  church.  The  parish  of  Detroit  had, 
indeed,  its  priest ;  two  Jesuit  Fathers  attended  the  Catholics 
on  the  Great  Lakes  beyond.  The  parishes  of  Yincennes, 
Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  Prairie  du  Roeher,  and  Fort  Chartres, 
as  of  St.  Genevieve,  were  without  a  priest  to  minister  at 
their  altars.  The  work  of  six-score  years,  from  the  visit  of 
Fathers  Jogues  and  Raymbaut,  was  recorded  rather  in  the 
graves  of  the  Faithful  Departed,  than  in  the  living  children 
of  the  Church  and  their  pastors. 


/r »        /tc      /  &MVI><L<J 


SIGNATURES    OP    FATHER    DTT    JAUNAY    AND    REV.    MESSRS.    THAUMUR, 
CALVARIN,    AND   MERCIER. 


CONCLUSION. 

THE  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  our  present  terri 
tory,  from  the  first  landing  of  colonists  in  Florida,  under 
Ponce  de  Leon,  to  the  year  1763,  has  been  traced ;  various 
as  were  the  national  differences,  the  language,  the  ideas  of 
government  in  those  who  came  to  settle,  or  in  those  whom 
they  found,  the  Church  one  in  her  government,  her  doctrine, 
her  sacrifice,  everywhere  established  the  same  Christianity 
that  she  had  planted  among  the  Gaul,  the  Celt,  the  Saxon, 
the  Teuton,  the  Iberian.  Many  as  are  the  tongues  of  men, 
the  Church  has  but  one,  that  of  unerring-  truth. 

O 

The  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  claims  all  the 
early  struggles  of  the  first  apostles,  their  weary  marches, 
their  untiring  toil  to  instruct  the  rude  and  the  savage,  the 
constant  offering  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  the  imparting  of  the 
sacraments  to  men  of  all  races,  as  part  of  her  glorious  heri 
tage,  the  heroic  days  of  her  history.  Her  priests  were  the 
pioneers,  first  to  thread  the  great  arteries  of  the  continent, 
to  plod  over  the  Indian  trail,  to  study  the  grandeur,  the  veg 
etable  and  mineral  wealth  of  the  land,  to  learn  and  perpet 
uate  in  scientific  form  the  unwritten  languages  of  our  count 
less  Indian  tribes,  to  discharge  unflinchingly  the  ministry  of 
the  altar  and  the  Word,  and  to  die,  as  full  a  hundred  did.  by 
savage  hands,  while  heroically  discharging  their  duty. 

Ever  counsellors  of  peace,  toleration,  and  harmony,  hold 
ing  the  shield  of  the  crucifix  between  the  oppressed  and  the 
oppressor,  we  see  them  with  their  flocks  in  the  English  col 
onies  pursued  for  a  hundred  years  by  the  bloodhounds  of  in- 
(638) 


CONCLUSION.  639 

satiate  fanaticism,  victims  of  penal  laws  that  did  not  gratify 
the  whole  venom  of  their  inventors,  although  they  left  the 
unhappy  Catholic  hardly  aught  but  life  itself. 

Where  the  Catholic  flags  of  France  and  Spain  floated 
there  were  trials,  too,  from  the  jealousy  or  greed  of  officials, 
as  well  as  from  the  barbarism  of  the  tribes  among  whom 
the  priests  of  old  labored. 

The  Church  was  not  planted  without  tears,  and  at  this  day 
the  homage  of  respect  is  freely  paid  to  the  early  apostles  of 
the  faith.  But  the  old  colonial  feeling  of  misrepresentation 
still  shows  itself  in  two  charges  frequently  made,  the  utter 
mendacity  of  which  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  notice. 

The  first  charge  is,  that  the  Catholic  missionaries  baptized 
the  Indians,  and  received  them  into  the  Church  without  in 
struction.  As  one  elegant  writer  expresses  it,  contrasting 
Catholic  and  Protestant  missionaries :  "  While  the  former 
contented  themselves  with  sprinkling  a  few  drops  of  water 
on  the  forehead  of  the  warlike  proselyte,  the  latter  sought 
to  wean  him  from  his  barbarism,  and  penetrate  his  savage 
heart  with  the  truths  of  Christianity." 

But  this  charge  is  absolutely  false.  The  records  of  the 
missionaries,  English,  French,  and  Spanish,  show  that  instruc 
tion  always  preceded  baptism  in  those  who  had  attained  the 
age  of  reason,  and  that  when  the  fundamental  truths  were 
implanted  in  the  minds  of  the  catechumens,  baptism  was, 
except  in  rare  cases,  long  deferred  in  order  to  test  the  con 
stancy  of  the  candidate.  Baptismal  registers  frequently  refer 
specially  to  previous  instruction.  The  catechisms  prepared  for 
missionary  use  in  Florida,  Texas,  Maine,  New  York,  Michigan, 
Illinois,  are  extant  to  this  day,  and  show  how  laboriously 
the  missionaries  endeavored  to  convey  to  the  catechumens 
the  fundamental  doctrines  in  terms  that  an  Indian  mind 
could  grasp,  and  with  these  truths  the  whole  scheme  of 


640  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  COLONIES. 

Christian  morality.  The  Spanish  confesonarios,  too,  show 
how  the  minds  were  trained  to  distinguish  in  detail  between 
right  and  wrong. 

Those  who  make  and  repeat  the  charge  cite  no  proof ;  the 
statements  of  the  missionaries  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
show  its  utter  falsity. 

Another  charge  is  that  the  French  missionaries  taught  the 
Indians  that  they  would  assure  eternal  happiness  by  killing 
the  English  heretics.  Bancroft,  Parkman,  and  others,  who 
have  examined  all  the  printed  statements  of  the  early  mis 
sionaries,  and  numberless  papers  from  their  pens,  will  attest 
that  no  such  doctrine  can  be  found  anywhere.  There  is  not 
the  slightest  proof  that  can  be  cited,  that  Catholic  priests  in 
culcated  any  such  ideas.  Canada  never  sought  war ;  she  con 
stantly  proposed  colonial  and  especially  Indian  neutrality. 
Her  clergy  did  not,  as  their  writings  show,  make  denunci 
ations  of  Protestantism  and  Protestants  a  topic  for  constant 
pulpit  use.  These  same  writers,  from  their  familiarity  with 
early  New  England  history,  will  substantiate  the  assertion 
that  books  like  the  "  Simple  Cobbler  of  Aggawam,"  by  "Ward, 
and  sermons  by  other  New  England  divines,  teem  with  mat 
ter  intended  and  calculated  to  arouse  the  hatred  of  the  peo 
ple  of  New  England  against  Catholics  personally,  and  that 
more  specimens  of  this  unchristian  spirit  can  be  found  in  six 
New  England  tracts  than  in  all  Canadian  literature. 

The  feeling  of  hostility  to  Catholics  in  the  English  col 
onies  was  kept  up  and  maintained  for  political  ends,  and  was 
a  bond  of  harmony  between  the  Puritan  of  New  England 
and  the  Episcopalian  of  Yirginia  and  Maryland.  To  what 
cruel  legislative  acts  it  stimulated  the  Protestants  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  to  what  bloody  deeds  it  incited  the  men  of  South 
Carolina,  we  have  had  the  sad  necessity  of  stating. 

At  the  period  where  our  narrative  ends  this  spirit  had  ap- 


CONCLUSION.  641 

parently  triumphed.  Canada  was  humbled  in  the  dust,  her 
great  missionary  organization  had  been  broken  up  ;  the  Cath 
olics  in  Florida  saw  no  hope  except  in  emigration.  England 
had  the  will  and  the  power  to  deprive  the  Catholics  through 
out  the  land  of  churches,  clergy,  even  of  real  and  personal 
property,  and  deport  them  all  as  paupers  to  some  distant  part 
as  she  had  done  the  Acadians. 

A  tract  printed  at  Edinburgh  in  1763,  but  voices  the  gen 
eral  feeling  which  had  been  created  against  Catholics,  when 
it  advised  the  government  "  chiefly,  to  search  out,  with  re 
wards  for  discovery,  and  make  public  examples  of  those 
plagues  of  society,  disturbers  of  mankind,  and  constant  source 
of  mischief  to  us  in  these  parts — whatever  Jesuits,  Monks, 
Priests,  etc.,  can  be  apprehended  anywhere  throughout  the 
whole  country  eastward  from  the  Mississippi  and  Iberville."  ' 

The  country  west  and  southwest  of  the  Mississippi  was 
still  in  Catholic  hands,  but  the  suppression  of  the  provinces 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  French  and  Spanish  territory,  left 
many  districts  without  priests,  and  the  faith  of  the  people 
was  gradually  yielding  to  decay  like  the  crumbling  tenant- 
less  churches. 

Darkness  as  of  night  was  settling  on  the  land,  but  it  was 
the  darkness  that  precedes  the  dawn. 

1  "  The  Expediency  of  Securing  our  American  Colonies." 


41 


ADDITION  TO  PAGES  195,  200. 

The  band  of  missionaries  who  set  out  in  1628  reached  Santa  Fe  on  Whit 
sunday,  one  of  the  number,  Father  Martin  Gonzales,  dying  on  the  way. 
Missions  were  at  once  begun  among  the  Humanas,  Piros,  and  Tompiros 
by  Fathers  Anthony  Artiaga,  Francis  of  the  Conception,  Thomas  of 
San  Diego,  Francis  Letrado,  Diego  de  la  Fuente,  and  Francis  de  Azevedo. 
An  Apache  mission  was  undertaken  by  Fathers  Bartholomew  Romero 
and  Francis  Munoz.  Father  John  Ramirez  planted  his  mission  cross  at 
Acoma.  Father  Roque  de  Figueredo,  a  missionary  of  great  ability  and 
experience,  already  versed  in  several  Indian  languages,  and  a  good  mu 
sician,  undertook  the  conversion  of  the  Zufii  nation,  taking  up  his  resi 
dence  at  the  town  of  Cibola,  with  Father  Augustine  de  Cuellar.  The 
Franciscans  encountered  great  opposition  here,  the  people  being  strong 
ly  attached  to  their  idolatrous  rites  ;  but  they  finally  triumphed.  Some 
of  the  leading  chiefs  sought  instruction,  and  after  being  tested  were  bap 
tized  on  St.  Augustine's  day,  1629,  Father  Roque  having  on  that  day 
erected  an  altar  in  the  plaza,  and  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  before  ad 
ministering  the  sacrament  to  them  and  to  the  infants  of  some  catechu 
mens. 

Father  Porras  and  his  companion,  Father  Andrew  Gulierrez,  encounter 
ed  similar  obstacles  at  Moqui,  but  at  last  triumphed  by  what  seemed  to 
Father  Perea,  a  miraculous  change  (Perea,  "  Verdadera  Relacion,"  "  Se- 
gunda  Relacion  "). 


INDEX, 


ABADEJO,  Father  Joseph 494 

ABNAKIS.  .238,  337,  594,  596,  603-4 

ABIQUITJ 525 

ACADIA 421-8 

ACADIANS 422-9 

ACEVEDO,  Father  Anthony  de, 

212 ;  Rev.  Peter  L 464,  469 

ACOMA 119,  186,  200,  208,  512, 

521,  525 

Acuco 119 

ADAYES 490-6 

ADRIAN  VI.,  Pope 103 

AGREDA,  Ven.  Maria  de 197-8 

AGRESKOUE 290 

AGRETTL,  Mgr.  Claudius .  68,  79,  80 
AHASISTARI,  Huron  Chief. . . .  229 

AINAI 485 

AKO,  Michael 536 

ALABAMA,  Church  in.  112,  129-131, 
545-555,  564-7,  580,  591 

ALAMEDA 525 

ALAMO,  Father  Gonzalo  del. . .  143 

ALAMO 499 

ALANA,  Joseph  Xavier  de 472 

ALBADESA,  Father  Joseph 494 

ALBANEL,  Father  Charles . .  284,  328 
ALBURQUERQUE,  San  Francis 
co  or  San  Felipe  de 522,  525 

ALEMAN    Y    HURTADO,    Rev. 

J.  M 181 

ALGONQUINS 316 

ALIBAMONS 553,  572,  584,  589 

ALLEMANGEL,  Pa 394 


PAGE 

ALLOUEZ,  Father  Claude,  267  ; 
Vicar  General,  268,  274,  276, 
277,  320 ;  Death,  331 ;  Bishop 

St.  Vallier  on 535 

ALMENDAREZ  de  Toledo,  Rt. 

Rev.  Alonzo  Henriquez 162 

ALPUENTE,  Father  John  de . . .  513 
ALTHAM,  Father  John.  .40,  42, 

53,  54  ;  Death 54 

AMALINGANS 596 

ANACAPI 456 

ANACOSTAN  Indians.   58 

ANALISA,     Father    Lawrence, 

killed 207,  208 

ANDA,  Father  Mariano 501 

ANDRE,  Father  Louis 275,  277 

ANDREW  of  the  Assumption, 

Father 215 

ANNE,  Queen  of  England,  pro 
tects  Maryland  Catholics,  360; 

Acadians 422 

ANNE  Arundell  Co 69 

ANSELM  de  Langres,  Father. . .  580 
ANTHONY  of  the  Ascension,  F.  215 

ANTHONY,  Father 566 

ANTONICO , . , 157 

APACHES 204,  502,  504,  508 

APALACHES.  .108, 164, 167, 180, 
458, 461,  463  ;  at  Mobile,  552,  554, 
568,  573,  591 

APARICTO,  Father  Francis. .  504,  507 
APONTE  Y  Lis,  Father  Cajetan.  502 
APOQTJINIMINK,  Mission  at ....  369 
(643) 


644 


INDEX. 


ARAMIPINCHICWE,  Mary 586 

ARANA,  John  de 125 

AKBIZU,  Father  Joseph,  killed.  520 

ARCHIIIAU    .  .    42 

ARGAL,  Samuel 222 

ARIBACA   529 

ARIZONA,  Church  in 526 

ARK,  The,  and  The  Dove,  bring 

out  Pilgrimi  to  Maryland. . .     39 

ARKANSAS,  Church  in.. 539,  544-5, 

572,  576 

ARKANSAS  Indians. 315,  539,  544-5, 
572,  576 

ARRIOLA,  Don  Andre  de 455 

ARROYO  Honda 490 

ARTEAGA,  Rev.  Mathias  Joseph  506 

ARTUR,  Rev.  Ricardo 153 

ARUNDELL  of  Wardour,  Thom 
as,  Lord 25,  30,  33 

ASAO 155,172,  178,  179 

ASAPISTA 325 

ASHBEY,  Father  James 407 

ASHTON,  Father  John 435 

ASINAIS    Indians    (see    Cenis, 

Texas) 214,  480,  485 

ASOPO,  Ossibaw  Island 154 

ASSAPITA 537 

ASSENDASE,  Peter 297-8 

ASTURIANO,  a  Priest 110 

ATTAKAPAS,  Louisiana 438 

ATT  WOOD,  Father  P.  .370,  371,  405 

ATJBERT,  Father  John  B 589 

ATJBERY,  Father  Joseph 594 

ATJBRY,  Rev.  Nicholas 218 

Aucit,  Archbishop  of. 543 

AULNAY  de  Charnisay 240 

AULNEAU,  Father  Peter 629 

AUNON;  Father  Michael,  152  ; 

killed,  154  ;  Father  Peter  . . .   152 
AURIESVTLLE,  Ossernenon  . . .     230 

AVALON,  Newfoundland 30-1 

AVENEATT,  Father  Claude.  .328,  624 
AVILA,  Father  Francis  de.  .152,  155 


PAGE 

AXACAN 132,  147-150 

AYALA,  Juan  de,  Governor  of 

Florida 458 

AYETA,  F.  Francis.  .181-2,  206,  211 
AYLLON,  Lucas  Vasquez  de, 

104-7  ;  Rev.  Simon  de 162 

AYS 490,  494 

AYUBALE 462-3 

AZEVEDO,  Father  Anthony. . . .  519 

BADAJOZ,     Brother    Anthony, 

152  ;  killed 154 

BAEZ,  Brother  Dominic  Augus 
tine '. 143,  144 

BAHENA,  Father  Ignatius 497 

BAHIA  del  Espiritu  Santo,  Tex 
as  497,  498 

BAILLOQTJET,  Father  Peter  . . .  328 

BALIZE 568,  573 

BALTHAZAR,  Father 187 

BALTIMORE,  Benedict  Leonard.  371 
BALTIMORE,  Sir  George  Cal- 

vert,  Lord 28,  30,  32,  34 

BALTIMORE,  Cecil,  Lord. 87-51,  379 
BALTIMORE,  Charles  Calvert, 

•  Lord 371 

BALTIMORE,    Charles   Calvert, 

Lord 371-380 

BALTIMORE,  Third  Plenary 
Council  of,  solicits  Canoniza 
tion  of  Father  Jogues,  Rene 
Goupil,  and  Catharine  Tega- 

kouita 234 

BAL VERDE,  Father  Joseph  Nar- 

vaez 514 

BANGS,  F.  Joachim. .  .502,  504,  508 

BARNABAS,  Father 591 

BARON,  Father  Denis 614 

BARRERA,  Father  Diego  Joseph  531 
BARROSO,  Father  Christopher 

Alphonsus 510,  512 

BATTDOUIN,  Father  Michael, 
572  ;  Vicar-General 583 


INDEX. 


645 


BAXTER,  Jervis 88 

BAYAGOULAS 543 

BEADXALL,  Father  James,  ar 
rested 443 

BEAUBOIS,  Father  Nicholas  Ig 
natius 558,  569 

BEAULIEU  Rapids 266 

BEAUMONT,  Father  Francis —  370 

BELEX,  K  M 525 

BELLOMONT,  Earl  of . . .  356-8,  610 
BELTRAN,  Father  Bernardine, 

185-6  ;  Father  Manuel,  killed  212 
BENAYIDES,  F.  Alonso  de.  .195,  199 
BEXEZET,  Anthony,  sympathy 

for  Acadians 434 

BEXXET,  Father  John,  376-7 ; 
Puritan  Commissioner ....;.     73 

BERASCULA,  Father 159 

BERGIER,  Rev.  J.  .541,  543,  551,  558 
BERXABE  de  los  Angeles,  F . .  172 
BERXARDINE  de    Crespy,   Fa 
ther 238,  243 

BERXAL,  Father  John,  Gustos 
of  New  Mexico,  205;  killed.  207 

BERXALDEZ,  Rev.  Peter 167 

BERROA,  Captain  Stephen  de. .  460 
BESCHEFER,  Father  Thierry. . .  283 
BESSON  de  la  Garde,  Rev. 

John  Peter 617 

BETETA,  Father  Gregory  de . .  122, 
125,  132 

BIARD,  Father  Peter 219-222 

BIDAIS 500,  503 

BIEXCOURT,  Sieur  de ...  221 

BIENVIKLE,  John  de,  Governor 

of  Louisiana 548,  551-2,  560 

BIG  Beaver,  Mission  at 614 

BIGOT,  Father  James,  337  ;  Fa 
ther  Vincent 594,  596-' 

BIXXETEAU,  Father  Julian.  . .  537 
544,  594 

BLACK  Code,  The 564 

BLADEN,  T.,  Governor  of  Ma 


ryland,  Proclamation  against 

Catholics 406 

BOCQUET,  F.  Simplicius.  .  630,  632 
BOHEMIA,  Md. . .  .368-9,  403-4,  440 
BOISBRIANT,  Pierre  du  Guai 

de 548,  558,  561 

BOLSAS,  Chief 514,517 

BOXIFACE,  Father 295-8 

BOXILLA,  Father  Francis,  152  ; 

Captain  Louis 186 

BOXXECAMP,  de,  Father  Joseph 

Peter..., 613 

BORDENAVE,  Rev.  M 542 

BORDOY,  Father  Anthony.. 214,  480 

BOUND  Brook 395 

BOURDON,  John 232 

BRAVO,  Father  Diego 172 

BRAY,  Rev.  Dr.,  Commissary.  352 
BREBEUF,  F,  John.  .  .224,  243,  248 

BREXT,  George 97 

BRESSAXI,  Father  Francis  Jo 
seph 231-2 

BRETTON,  William 70,  76,  78 

BRITTAIN,  Lionel,  convert. . .  .  366 
BROCK,  Father  John  (Poulton 

Ferdinand),  Superior 53,  55 

BROCKHOLES,     Anthony,    87 ; 

Father  Charles 370 

BROOKE,  F.  Robert,  first  Mary 
land  Priest.  .84,  349,  354,  363,  371 

BROWN,  Doctor 382-4 

BROWNE,  Richard 70 

BRUYAS,  Father  James .  . .  284,  290, 
292,  294^5,  297-8,  304,  609 

BUENO,  Father  Salvador 182 

BUIL,  Father. . . ". 101 

BUISSON,  Father  Luke 321 

CABEZA  de  Vaca HO 

CABEZAS  de  Altamirano,  Rt. 
Rev.  John,  Bishop  of  Santi 
ago  de  Cuba,  159 ;  makes 
visitation  of  Florida 160 


646 


INDEX. 


CABOT 12,  100 

CABRERA,  John  Marquez,  Gov 
ernor  of  Florida. .  . .  173,  178,  179 
CADALLOS,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  . .  494 
CADILLAC,  Gov.  La  Motte  ....  620 

CADDODACHOS 481 

CADINA,  Father  Francis  Gomez 

de 206 

CAHABA  585 

CAHOKIA 536,  559,  561,  578,  586 

CALABAZAS 529 

CALDERON,  Rt.  Rev.  Gabriel 
Diaz  Vara,  Bishop  of  Santi 
ago  de  Cuba,  makes  a  visita 
tion  of  Florida 168 

CALLISTER,  H 434 

CALSADA,  Father,  killed 207-9 

CALVERT,    Benedict   Leonard, 

apostasy  of 371 

CALVERT,  Charles  79 

CALVERT,  Sir  George  (see  Lord 

Baltimore) 28 

CALVERT,  Leonard  .  .38,  51,  54,  62, 
68,  69 

CALVO,  Rev.  Antonio 163-4 

CAMARDA,  Rev.  Pedro  de  la. . .  162 
CAMPANA,  Father  John  B.  . . .  172 
CAMPOS,  Father  Augustine  de  .  527 

CANARY  Islands 499 

CANCER,  Father  Louis,  123-5  ; 

killed 126 

CANCO,  Governor  of  Florida.  .157-8 

CANDELERAS 524 

CANIBAS 594 

CAPILLAS,   Father  John,    first 

Provincial  of  Santa  Elena  de 

la  Florida 161 

CAPUCHINS. 236-8,  243,  565,  568,  etc. 
CARBONEL,  Father  Anthony, 

513,  517,519;  killed 520 

CARDEXAS,   Pinilla  y  Ramos, 

Rev.  John  Ignatius 500 

CARETTE,  Father  Louis 575 


PAUK 

CAREW,    Father    Henry,     82 ; 

President  of  the  Mission 96 

CARHEIL,  Father  Stephen  de.  .286- 

294,  297,  303,  328,  332,  536 

CARLOS,  Province.. .  .163,  172,  179, 

456,  472 

CARNICERIA 495 

CARO  T  SEIXAS,  Rev.  Manuel . .  500 
CARRERA,  Father  John  de  la. .   143 
CARROLL,  Charles. .  371,  376-7,  408, 
410,  416,  450,  453 
CARROLL,    Dr.    Charles,   apos 
tate  410-1 

CARROLL,  Most  Rev.  John 386 

CASANAS,  Father  Francis  of 
Jesus  Mary,  214,  480,  481, 

513,  518  ;  killed  520 

CASAS  Grandes us 

CASE,  Father  James 377 

CASTANON,  Capt 186 

CASTELLANOS,  Father  Manuel .  484 
CASTILLO,  Juan  del,  Bishop  of 

Santiago  de  Cuba 144 

CASTRO,  Father  John  Munoz 
de,  513;  Custos,  518,  519; 

Father  Anthony 532 

CATAROCOUY. 320 

CATHOLICS,  excluded  from 
Maryland  Assembly  in  1652, 
73 ;  deprived  of  Chapel  at 
St.  Mary's,  356  ;  disfranchised 

in  all  the  colonies 365 

CATITI,  Alonzo. ......   . .  206,  511 

CAVELIER,  Rev.  John 340 

3AYUGA  Mission. 255,  286,  297,  303, 
607,  616 

^ECILIUS,  Father 573 

}EDAR  Creek,  Pa 394 

]ENIS 214 

?ERON,  George 130-1 

CERVANTES,  Father  Anthony  de  106 
!HALLONER,  Rt.  Rev.  Richard, 
Vicar-Apostolic  of  London . .     95 


INDEX. 


647 


CHAMPLAIN,  Samuel  de...  .223,  225 
CHAPEL-HOUSE,  used  in  Mary 
land  to  comply  with  Queen 

Anue's  permission 363-4 

CHAPITOULAS.  ... 591 

CHAKDON,  F.  John  B. 622,  625,  627 

CHARLEMAGNE,  Father 423 

CHARLES,  F.,  Carmelite. .  .552,  562 

CHARLES  V 103,  106 

CHARLESFORT,  S.  C 134 

CHARLEVOIX,    Father   Francis 

X.  de 559,  564 

CHARLOTTE  Harbor 143 

CHARTRES,  Bishop  of 543 

CHAUCHETIERE,  Father  Claude  309 
CHAUMONOT,  Father  Peter  J. 

M 248,  250,  255 

CHAUVREULX,  Rev.  Mr 430 

CHEFDEVILLE,  Rev.  Mr 340-1 

CHEGOIMEGON 267,  271,  272 

CHERES 190 

CHICAGO 537,  539 

CHICKASAWS 573,  575,  585 

CHILOMACON  or  Chitomachen, 

Chief  of  Piscataway 53 

CHIPPEWA  Creek 322 

CHIPPEWA  Mission 268 

CHIPPEWAS  228,  268,  316 

CHOCTAWS 572,  584 

CHOMAS  or  Jumanas 481 

CHOPART 573 

CHOZAS,  Father  Peter  Fernan 
dez  de 152-3,  159 

CHURCH,  Major  598 

CHURCH  of  England  established 

in  Maryland 346,  380 

CIA 186,  190,  194,  512,  519 

CIBOLA 115-7,  118,  119 

CICUYE  or  Old  Pecos  . .  .119, 121-2 

CIPIAS 200 

CISNEROS,  Rev.  John  de 173 

CLAROS,  Father 187,  190 

CLATBORNE  . .  .32-3,  44,  48,  62,  73 


CLERKE,  Robert 50,  70 

COCHITI 512,  519,  525 

Cocos 512 

COLIGNY,  Admiral 134 

COLLET,  Rev.  Luke 561,  614 

COLOMBIERE,  M.  de 543 

COLUMBUS,  Christopher    . .  11,  100 
COMPANY  of  the  West. 558,  563,  569 
COMPOSTELA,  Rt.  Rev.  Diego 
Evelino  de,  Bishop  of  Santi 
ago  de  Cuba,  sends  Visitors 

to  Florida 181,  463 

CONCEPCION,  La  Purisima. . . .  507 

CONCHO& . .  .186,  212 

CONCORD 448 

CONEWAGO 391,  420 

CONFIRMATION  in  Florida,  160, 
170,  469,  476  ;  in  New  Mex 
ico,  213  ;  in  Texas,  506  ;  in 
New  York,  617;  at  La  Prairie  307 

CONNER,  Philip 20 

CONTRERAS,  Father  Bonaven- 
ture  de,  514  ;  Father  John  de  132 

COODE,  97  ;  Rev.  John 345 

COOPER,  Father  John 66 

COOSA 128-9 

COPLEY,     Sir    Lionel,     Royal 

Governor  of  Maryland 346 

COPLEY,  F.  Thos.  (Philip  Fish 
er).. 38,  46-7,  53,  56,  58,  63,  69,  75 

COQUART,  Father  Godfrey 629 

CORCHADO,  F.  Andrew.. .  .187,  190 
CORNWALEYS,  Thomas.39, 49,  62, 63 

CORNWALLIS,  Governor 424 

COROAS 545 

CORONADO,    Francis    Vasquez 

de 114,  118,  120 

CORDOBA,  Father  Peter  de. . . .  102 
CORPA,  Father  Peter  de,  152 ; 

killed 153 

CORRAL,  Father  Anthony  de  .  514 
CORVERA,  Father  Francis,  510- 
13,  518;  killed 520 


INDEX. 


COSA  129-180 

COURRIER,  Rev.  Joseph 577 

COUTURE,  William 229 

Coxi 526 

CREES 316 

CRESPEL,  F.  Emmanuel. 613,  627-8 
CRESPO,    Rt.    Rev.    Benedict, 
Bishop    of    Duraugo,    visits 
New  Mexico,  523  ;  visits  So- 

nora 528 

CROWN  Point,  Fort  at. 612-3 

CUBERO,    Governor    of    New 

Mexico 521 

CULUACAN 122 

CUMBERLAND  Island 142 

CUPAYCA,  Apalache  town 164 

CURIAMES 186 

CUSIIENHOPEN,      Cussahopen, 

(see  Goshenhopen) 445 

CYPRIAN,   Rev.   Ignatius   Au 
gustine  497 

DABLON,  F.  Claude. ..  248,  252,  272 
DAKOTAs(see  Sioux).. 316,  619,  627-8 

DALE,  Sir  Thomas 222 

DANDRADE,  Rev.  V.  F 158 

DANIEL,  Colonel 459,  460 

D'ARGENSON,  Viscount,  Gov.- 

Gen.  of  Canada 281 

D'ARTAGUIETTE 585 

DAUDIN,  Rev.  Mr.  430 

DAVION,  Rev.  Anthony. .  .539-542, 
545,  553 

DAVIS,  Father  Peter 877 

DAZA,  Father  John 513 

DE  BEAUBOIS,  Father  Nicholas 

Ignatius 570,  573,  581-2 

DE  BOURGMONT    623-4 

DE  BREBEUF,  Father  John 224 

DE  CALLIERES,  Governor 609 

DE  CARHEIL,  F.  Stephen.  .619,  621 
DE  COURCELLES,  Governor  of 
Canada 283 


DEER  Creek,  Md 413 

DE  GUYENNE,  Father  Alexis. . .  572, 
575,  585,  587 
DE   LA  BARRE,   Governor    of 

Canada 330 

DE  LA  BRETONNIERE,  Father 

James  Q 627 

DE  LA  CHASSE,  F.  Joseph. .  594,  602 

DE  LA  FRENIERE 588 

DE  LA  LANDE,  John 233 

DE  LA  MARCHE,  Father  Dom 
inic..    624 

DE      LAMBERVILLE,      Father 
James,  298-9,  312,  333,  611 ; 

Father  John 295,  297,  332-4 

DE  LA  MORINIE,  Father  John  B .  586, 
589,  590,  629,  633 
DE  LA  RIBOURDE,  Father  Ga 
briel,  321-3;  killed 325 

DE  LA  RICHARDIE,  Father  John  629 

DE  LA  VERENDRYE,  Sieur 629 

DELAWARE,     Early    Catholic 
ity  in 369,450 

DEL  CAMPO,  Andrew 121 

DELHALLE,    Father    Nicholas 
Bernardine  Constantine,  620  ; 

killed 624,  627 

DELGADO,  Friar  Marcos,  killed  462 
DE  LIMOGES,  Father  Joseph. . .  542 
DELINO,  Father  Anthony.  .  . .  626 

DE  MONT'S  Island 218 

DENIAU,  Father  Cherubin 625 

DENONVILLE,  Governor...  .536,  593 

DE  NOUE,  Father. 225 

DEPERET,  Father  Anthony 612 

D'ESCIIAMBAULT,  Rev.JamesA.  595 

DE  SAINT  CASTIN,  Baron 336 

DE  SAINT  COSME,  Rev.  John 

Francis,  540-2,  544  ;  killed . .  550 
DE  SAINT  VALLIER,  John  Bap 
tist  de  la  Croix  de,  Second 
Bishop  of  Quebec. 327,  842,  534-5, 
538,  543,  546,  557,  561,  563,  595 


INDEX. 


649 


D'ESMANVILLE,  Rev.  Mr. 


PAGE 

.  340 


DURAND,     Father     Justinian, 


DE  SYRESME,  Father 604  j      prisoner  in  Boston 423 

DETROIT. 620   DURANGO 523-4,  528 

DEVERNAI,  F.  Julian.. 579,  589,  633    Du  Ru,  Father  Paul 

D'HEU,  Father  James 611-12  j  Du  THET,  Brother,  killed 222 

DIAZ,  Father  Joseph. 519 

EASTON,  Pa 452 

ECIJA 106 

ELIZACOCHEA,  Rt.  Rev.  Mar 
tin  de,  Bishop  of  Durango, 
visits  New  Mexico 523-4 


DICKENSON,  John 457 

DIDIER,  Rev 580 

DIEPPE.  .    134 

DIEZ,  Father  Joseph 513 

DIGGES,  Father  Thomas 407 


D'OLBEAU,  Father  John 224 

DOLLIER  de  Cassou.Rev.Mr.  284,311 
DOMINIC  of  the  Annunciation, 

Father 128-131 

DOMINIC  of  Jesus  Mary,  Father  514 
DOMINIC  of  St.  Dominic,  F —  128 
DOMINIC  of  St.  Mary,  Father. .  127 
DONGAN,   Col.    Thomas,   Gov 
ernor  of  New  York..    .89,  97,  333 

DORANTES 

Dor  AY,  Father  Anastasius.. .  .340-1 
DOUGHOREGAN  Manor.   . .  .363,  435 

DOUGLAS,  William 89,  368 

DOUTRELEAU,  Father. 570,  572,  574 

DRUILLETTES,  F.  Gabriel — 238-9, 

241-2,  258,  275-7,  317 

Du  Bois,  Rev.  Mr 283 

Du    BREUIL    de    Pontbriand, 

Bishop 583,616,631 

DUJAUNAI,  F.  Peter  .  .579,  629,  633 
Du  LHUT,  Daniel  Greysolon. . .  324 

DUMAS,  Father  John 572,  586 

Du  PLESSIS  de  Mornay,  Rt. 
Rev.  Louis  Francis,  Coadju 
tor  of  Quebec,  and  Vicar- 
General  for  Louisiana 564 

Du  POISSON,  Father  Paul,  572  ; 
killed 573 


EL  PASO 211,519,524-5 

ELZEARde  St.  Florentin,  Bro. .  243 
ENJALRAN,  Father  John.  .326,  328, 
334,  619,  621 

ERIWOMECK,  N.  J 86 

ESCALONA,  Father  John  de,  191, 
193  ;  Brother  Louis  (John  of 
the  Cross),  118,  120  ;  killed..  122 

ESCAMBIA  River 129 

ESCOBAR,  Father  Francis 193 

ESPEJO,  Antonio  de 185 

ESPINOSA,  F.  Ildefonso,  530  ;  F. 
Isidro  Felis  de,  483-5,  493 ; 
F.  John  of  Jesus,  killed .  .  207-8 
ESPIRITU  Santo,  River  (Missis 
sippi),  108  ;  Bay 340 

ESPRONZEDA,  Rev.  John  Fran 
cis ^OO 

ESTRADA,  Brother  Peter  de.   .  .  106 
ETECHEMINS,  Mission  to.    .837,  594 
EVELINO  de    Compostela,    Rt. 
Rev.  Diego,  Bishop  of  San 
tiago  de  Cuba 456 

FALKNER'S  Swamp  (Pottsgrove)  393 

FARFAN,  Father  Francis. .  .206,  517 

FARMER,  Father  Ferdinand. .  .387, 

420,  446,  448 


DUPUI,  F.  Victorin.  .  .552,  573,  580  |  FARRAR,  Father  James ^ 


DUPUIS,  Zachary 252 

DURAN,  Father  Andrew,  206 ; 
Father  Roderic 


FENWICK,  Cuthbert .  .49,  62,  70,  72 

FERDINAND,  Father 591 

FERIA,  Father  Peter  de.. .  .128,  IX) 


650 


INDEX. 


FERNANDEZ  de  Santa  Ana,  Fa 
ther  Benedict 501 

FERNANDINA  (Pensacola  Bay) .  128 

FIGUEROA,  Father,  killed 207-8 

FISHER,    Father    Philip    (see 

Copley). 

FITZIIERBERT,  F.  Francis.75,  76,  79 
FITZWILLIAM,  Father  John. ...  79 
FLORENCIA,  F.  Francis  de . . .  454-5 

FLORIDA,  Church  in 100,  454 

FLOYD,  Father  Francis 377 

FONTCUBIERTA,  Father  Michael, 

Superiorof  Texas  Mission,  dies  480 
FORGET      DTJVERGER,      Rev. 

Francis 578,  590 

FORSTER,  F.  Michael. 79,  83,  90,  95 

FORT  Beauharnois 627 

FORT  Caroline 134, 139 

FORT  Chartres. .  .558,  560,  578,  588 

FORT  Crgvecceur 323 

FORT  de  la  Riviere  aux  Beeufs.  613 

FORT  Duquesne 614 

FORT  Frontenac 320 

FORT  Hill 601 

FORT  Louis,  La 548 

FORT  Machault 613 

FORT  Mose 473 

FORT  Ouiatenon 626 

FORT  Peoria 539 

FORT  Presentation 614 

FORT  Presquile ,  613 

FORT  St.  Anne 283-4 

FORT  St.  Frederic,  Chapel  in. .  612 
FORT  St.  Louis,  328;  (Texas)..  340 

FORT  Toulouse 584 

FOUCAULT,  Rev.  Nicholas,  544 ; 

killed 545 

FOUCHER,  Rev.  John  Baptist. .  578 

FOXES  (Outagamis) 274,  625 

Fox  River 277 

FRANCIS  of  Jesus,  Father. 519 

FRANCISCO  ALONSO  of  Jesus, 
Father,  Provincial  of  Florida  163 


PAGE 

FRANKFORT 394 

FRASQUILLO,  Chief  of  Moquis.  209 

FREDERICK,  Md.,  Mission  at. .  451 

FREMIN,  Father  James.  .  .253,  284, 

286,  305,  308,  311,  332 

FRONTENAC,  Count  de 320,  609 

FUENTES 125 

GABRIEL  de  Joinville,  Father. .  240 

GAGE,  Father  Charles 91-2 

GAGNON,  Rev.  Joseph 561,  577 

GALINDO,  Rt.  Rev.  Philip 
Charles,  Bishop  of  Guadala 
jara 483 

GALINEE,  Rev. Rene  Brehaut  de  311 

GALISTEO 511,  524 

GALLEGOS,  Rev.  John  de Ill 

GALVE,  Count  of 511 

GANDAOUAGUE 284,  295,  298 

GANNAGARO 295,  334 

GANNEAKTENA,  Catharine.      805-7 
GANZABAL,      Father      Joseph 

Francis,  501  ;  killed 502 

GARACONTHIE,  Daniel,  287-8, 
293;  death,  302-3;  the 

younger 610 

GARAICOECHEA,  F.  John  de . . .  521 

GARANGOUAS,  Margaret 609 

GARAY,  Francis 108 

GARCIA,  Rev.  Bartholomew, 
163  ;  Father  Bartholomew, 
500,  509  ;  Father  Diego  Mar 
tin,  500  ;  Father  John 124 

GARCIA  de  Palacios,  Rt.  Rev. 
John,  Bishop  of  Santiago  de 
Cuba,  convenes  a  Synod  ....  174 

GARDAR,  See  of 16 

GARDNER,  Luke 74 

GARNIER,  Father  Charles,  kill 
ed,  243,  248  ;  Father  Julian.. 285, 
297,  303,  332,  611 
GARONHIAGUE  (see  Hot    Cin 
ders). 


INDEX. 


651 


PAGE 

GARREAU,     Father     Leonard, 

258;  killed 258 

GARRUCHO,  Father 530 

GARZA,  Eev.  Joseph  de  la 497 

GASPAR,  Father 573 

GASPESIANS,  Mission  to 337 

GASTON,  Rev.  Mr.,  killed 577 

GATJLIN,  Rev.  Anthony 595 

GAWEN,  Father  Thomas,  Supe 
rior  in  Maryland 82 

GEIGER'S  House,   Salem   Co., 

N.  J 395,  448 

GEORGIA,  Catholicity  in.  154-5, 172, 
178-9,  437-8,  458 

GERARD,  Richard 39 

GERARD,  Sir  Thomas 19-20 

GERRARD,  Thomas 76 

GERMAIN,  Father  Charles 604-5 

GERMANTOWN 394 

GERVASE,  Rev.  Mr.,  549,  550  ; 

Thomas 40,  48 

GIFFARD,  Rt.  Rev.  Bonaven- 
tura,  Vicar- Apostolic  of  Lon 
don,  95,  375  ;  death  of 376 

GILA  River 118 

GILBERT,  Sir  Humphrey.  .19,  22-3 
GLASS  House,  Salem  Co.,  N.  J.  448 
GODINO,  Rev.  Manuel. .......  158 

GOLDING,  Father  Edward.   . .       82 
GOMEZ,  Francis,  107;  Brother 

Gabriel,  147  ;  killed 149 

GOMEZ  de  Palma,  Rev.  John . .  163 
GOMEZ  de    Parada,    Rt.   Rev. 

John,  Bishop  of  Guadalajara  500 
GONANNHATENHA,  Frances —  608 
GONZALES,  Brother  Vincent. . .  150 

GOOCH,  Gov.  of  Virginia 408 

GORDILLO,  Francis 104 

GORDON,    Father    Mark    An 
thony,    615;    Father    Peter, 
368  ;  Lieut. -Gov.  Patrick.. . .  387 
GosHENHOPEN.387,  392,  420,  445-6 
GOIIENTAGRANDI,  Susan 606 


PAGE 

GOUPIL,  Rene,  229  ;  killed. ...  230 
GRANDFONTAINE,  Chevalier  de  336 
GRASHOFFER,  F.  John  Baptist.  529 
GRAVIER,  Father  James,  328 ; 

Vicar-General 535,  548-9,  552 

GRAY  Nuns 546 

GREATOX,  Father  Joseph. 386,  390, 
404,  419 

GREEN  Bay 274,  276,  329,  619, 

622,  627 

GREEN,  Thomas,  49  ;  Govern 
or  of  Maryland 69-70 

GUADALAJARA,  Bishop  of 203 

GUADALQUINI 172,  178 

GUADALUPE,  N.  M 525 

GUALE  (Amelia)  Island.. .  .144,  158, 
171,  178 

GUANDAPE,  San  Miguel  de 106 

GUAY,  Rev 595 

GUERCHEVTLLE,  Antoinette  de 

Pons,  Marchioness  de. . .  .220-222 
GUERRA,  Father  Antonio,  212  ; 

Father  Joseph 494 

GUEVAVI 526-9 

GUIGNAS,  F.  Louis  Ignatius. . .  627 
GULICK,  Father  Nicholas. .  .82,  348 
GUTIERREZ,  Father  Andrew . .  200 
GUYMONNEAU,  F.  John  Charles  559 

HACKETT,  Rev.  Mr 31 

HADDOCK,  Father  James  .  371,  377 
HARDING,  Father  Robert  .386,  407, 
419,  446,  448 
HARDY,  Sir  Charles,  Governor 

of  New  York. 438 

HARLAY,  Most  Rev.  Francis, 

Archbishop  of  Rouen 246 

HARRISON,  F.  Henry...  .91-2,  97-8 
HARTWELL,  Father  Bernard . .  65-6 
HARVEY,  Father  Thomas,  in 

New  York 90,  97-8,  349 

HATTON,  Eleanor 74 

HAWKINS,  Sir  John 134 


652 


INDEX. 


PAQE 

HAWLEY,  Jerome 89 

HEBRON,  John  and  Joseph 78 

HENNEPIN,  F.  Louis. .  .88,  321-324 
HENRY  a  Sancto  Francisco,  F. .     82 
HERNANDEZ,   Rev.   John  An 
thony. 474 

HICKORY  Mission ....  413 

HIDALGO,  F.  Francis.  .481,  484,  490 

HITA,  Rev.  Pablo  de 172 

HOALISA,  Father  Manuel  de .  . .  466 
HOBART,  Father  Basil,  82,  96, 

348  ;  dies  351 

HODGSON,  Father  Thomas 370 

HOLIDAYS  of  Obligation  .175-6,  269, 
374,  453,  503 
HOLY  Cross  Island,  first  Chapel 

in  New  England  on 218 

HOLY  Family,  confraternity  of 

the 302 

HOLY  Orders,  first  conferred  in 

1674 170 

HONORATUS,  Father 115 

HOT  CINDERS,  Chief. .    . .  300,  306 

HOTHERSALL,  Thomas 83 

HOWARD,  Henry,  Bp.  of  Utica, 

Coadjutor  of  Bishop  Giffard.  376 
HUNTER,  Father  George,  444, 

449  ;  Father  William 348-350, 

354,  363,  377 

HURONS 243,  264,  268,  619-23, 

626,  629 

HUTCHINSON,    Lt.-Gov.,    sym 
pathy  with  Acadiaus 431 

HUVE,  Rev.  Alex.  .  .546,  552-3,  565 

HYACINTH,  Father 573 

HYSLOP,  Father  Clement 368 

ICELAND,  Catholicity  in 16 

ICHTJSE  or  Santa  Rosa  Bay 129 

IGNATIUS  of  Paris,  Father 239 

ILLINOIS  Indians 273,  276 

ILLINOIS,  Church  in 316-7,  320, 

324,  328,  535-9,  541^,  etc. 


IMMACULATE  Conception,  Mis 
sion  of  the  (Kaskaskia).  .538,  558 
INDIAN  Reservation  (Maryland)     73 

INDIANA,  Church  in 323,  536, 

579,  626 

INGLE,  Captain 62 

INSCRIPTION  Rock 524 

IREN^US,  Father 590,  591 

IRISH  Papists 373,  440 

ISLE  la  Motte 283 

ISLETA 199,  206,  524 

JACKER,  V.  Rev.  Edward 319 

JAMAY,  Father  Denis 224 

JAMES  II 97 

JAMES,  Sir  John 384 

JEME/.119,  190,  194,  517,  518,  520, 
522,  525 

JICARILLA  Apaches 524 

JOGUES,  F.  Isaac  .  .57, 128-233,  235 

JOHN  FRANCIS,  Father 580 

JONES,  Griffith 367 

JOHN  MATTHEW,  Father,  565  ; 

styles  himself  Vicar- Apostolic  565 
JOHN  of  Jesus,  F.,  killed.  .208,  517 
JOHN  of  St.  Mary,  F.,  killed.  .  184 

JOLLIET,  Louis 312-5 

JONES,  Rev.  Hugh 404-7 

JUBILEE,  First  in  Canada 246 

JUCHEREAU,  Sieur 545 

JUIF,  Abbe,  at  Yazoo 559,  572 

JUMANAS  (Patarabueyes,  Cho 

mas) 186,  481,  197,  212 

KASKASKIA 558-9 

KASKASKIAS  .  .316-7,  320,  544,  557, 

560,  586,  589 

KELER,  Father  Ignatius  Xavier  529 

KENNEBEC 220 

KENT  Island 44,  78 

KEREBEN,  Father  Joseph  Fran 
cis  de 559 

KEWEENAW  Bay 263 


INDEX. 


KEY  West 456 

KICKAPOOS 625 

KIEFT,  William 231 

KINGDON,  Father  John 404 

KlTTAHAQJJINDI 53 

KNOLLES,  F.  John,  46  ;  dies  . .     47 
KRYN,  "  The  Great  Mohawk"  296, 

306 

KUHN  or  Kino,  Father  Euse- 
bius  Francis,  526  ;  death 528 

LA  BAZARES,  Guido  128 

LA  CANADA  (Villa  nueva    de 

Santa  Cruz) 519 

LA  COLOMBIERE,  Rev.  Joseph 

de 545 

LA  DURANTAYE 330 

LAGUNA 525 

LAJUS,  Father  John  Baptist. . .  612 

LAKE  Erie 311 

LAKE  Ganentaa 249 

LAKE  George 232 

LAKE  Megantio 598 

LAKE  Pimiteouy 560 

LALEMANT,     Father     Charles, 

224  ;  Father  Jerome 246 

LA  MOTTE,  Sieur  de. 321 

LANCASTER,  Pa 391,  420 

LA  POINTE  du  St.  Esprit 267, 

271,  275 

LA  PRAIRIE 300,  305 

LA  ROCHE  DAILLON,  F.  Joseph  224 

LAS  ALAS,  Stephen  de 140 

LA  SALINETA 206 

LA    SALLE,    Robert    Cavelier, 

Sieur  de  la. 311,  322-3,  326,  340-1 
LASTRA,  Father  Peter  de  la. . .  172 

LA  SAUSSAYE,  Sieur  de  221-2 

LAUDONNIERE,  Rene  de 134 

LAURENS,  Rev 578 

LATJVERJAT,  Father  Stephen  .  599, 

601,  604 

LAVAL  de  Montigny,  Rt.  Rev. 


PAGE 

Francis,  Bishop  of  Petrsea, 
and  Vicar- Apostolic  of  New 
France,  259,  262,  268,  270, 
307,  309,  312  ;  resigns,  342  ; 

death 343 

LA  VENTE,  Rev.  Henry  Roul- 
leaux  de,  first  parish  priest 

of  Mobile 546-7,  551-2 

LA  VIGNE  VOISIN 552-3 

LE  BARON,  Dr 94 

LE  BOULLENGER,  F.  John .  . .  558-9 

LE  CARON,  Father  Joseph 224 

LE  CLERC,  Rev.  Mr 436 

LE  CLERCQ,  Father  Maximus.  340 
LEFEVRE,  Father  Nicholas. . . .  584 
LE  FRANC,  Father  Marin  Louis  633 
LEGRAND,  Father  Pacome. . . .  578 

LEISLER,  Jacob 97 

LE  JEUNE,  Father  Paul 225 

LE    MAIRE,   Abbe,   430,   436; 

Rev.  F    549,550,553 

LE  MERCIER,  Father  Francis. .  253 

LE  MOTTE,  Father  James 407 

LE  MOYNE,  Father  Simon,  247, 

251,  281;  death 282 

LEO  of  Paris,  Father 238 

LEONARD  of  Chartres,  Father  .  237 
LEONARD,  Father  Bonaventure  626 

LE  PETIT,  Father 570,  572 

LE    PREDEUR,    Father    John 

James 589 

LERDO,  Rev.  John  de 162 

LE  ROY,  Father 584 

LES  ALLEMANDS 568,  573,  591 

LETRADO,  F.  Francis,  killed  . .  200 

LEWGAR,  John   50,  54 

LEWIS,  Father  John 419 

LEYBURN,  Rt.  Rev.  John,  Vic 
ar-Apostolic  of  England,  and 

then  of  London 95 

LIBERTY,  religious,  established 
in  Maryland  by  Catholics, 
49,  70  ;  abolished  by  Puritans  74 


654 


INDEX. 


LINARES,    Brother    Peter    de, 

143;  killed 149 

LIPAN  Apaches     495 

LIVERS,  Father  Arnold 407 

LOMBARDE,  Father,  killed    ...  20 

LONGVILL,  Rev.  Mr 3] 

LOPEZ,       Father      Balthazar, 

152-3,  157 ;  Father  Felician, 

457  ;  F.  Francis,  183  ;  killed, 

184,  190,  195;  F.  Nicholas. .  212 

LOPEZ  de  Lara,  Rev.  Casimir  .  506 

LORETTE,  Catholic  Iroquois  at.  305 

Louis  XIII 221 

Louis,  Father 118 

LOUISIANA.  .438,  543,  564,  565,  583 

LOTARD,  Father 601 

LUGO,  Father 187,  190 

LUNA,  Father  Peter  de 172 

LUNA   Y   ARELLANO,    Tristan 
de  127-132 

MACHADO,  Dr.  Juan  Ferro,  vis 
itation  of  Florida 181 

MADAWASKA 439 

MAGUNSCHI 392 

MAINE,  Catholicity  in .  22-28,  218-9, 

221-3,  234-243,  310,  592-605 

MALDONADO,  Father,  killed . . .  207 

MAITRE,  Rev.  Mr.,  killed 281 

MANCIIOT,  Oneida  Chief 334 

MANNERS,  George 70 

MANNERS,  Father 420 

MANSELL,  Father  Thomas,  363, 

368  ;  dies 377 

MANTE,  Father  Cosmas  de .  238,  240 

MAQUACOMEN 48 

MAREST,  Father  Gabriel,  538, 
539,  551,  560  ;  dies,  585  ;  Fa 
ther  James  Joseph  .328,  619,  621, 
623-5 

MAREUIL,  Father  Peter 611-12 

MARGIL  of  Jesus,  Ven.  Father 
Anthony 486-497 


MARIA  ANO  FRANCIS  de   los 

Dolores,  Father 500 

MARIANO,  Manuel 501 

MARIN,  Father  Joseph  Garcia.  519 

MARK  of  Nice,  Father 115-118 

MARQUETTE,  Father  James 272, 

275-6,  312-319,  535 

MARQUEZ,  Father  Diego 187 

MARRON,  Father  Francis    . .  .152-3 
MARSEILLES,  Bishop  of.  .  .543,  547 
MARTINEZ,     Father     Alonso, 
187-8,  191  ;  Father  Francis, 
341  ;    Father  Ignatius,   509 ; 

Father  Peter,  killed 142 

MARYLAND,  Catholicity  in,  34- 
84,  345-379,  406-442  ;  Map  of    45 

MASCOUTINS 274-5,  278,  313, 

546,  625 

MASSACHUSETTS,  Catholicity  in.  397, 
430-1..  438 
MASSE,  Father  Enemond    219-222 
MASSEY  a  Sancta  Barbara,  Fa 
ther  Massaeus 81,  96 

MATACUMBE 163,  457,  472 

MATHEWS,  Sir  Toby 86 

MATHIAS  de  Sedan,  Father 580 

MATHIAS,  Father,  573 ;  Vicar- 
General 583 

MATIENZO 104,  106 

MATTAPANY,  Mattapauien,  67 ; 

Indians 73 

MATTHEWS,  Thomas 72 

MAUILA ill 

MAUNSELL,  John 70 

MAXETANI 392,  394 

MAXIMIN,  Father 573 

MAYACA 157,  165,  182,  457 

MAZANET,  Father  Damian.  .479-81 
MAZUELAS,  Father  John. .  .128,  130 
MCGAWLEY,  Miss  Elizabeth. . .  382 

MEADE  Family 367 

MEDOCTEC 594,  599,  601,  604 

MEGAPOLENSIS,  Dominie 231 


INDEX. 


655 


MEMBRE,     Father     Zenobius, 

321-6,  339-40  ;  killed 341 

MENCHEKO,  Father  John 524 

MEXARD,   Father    Rene,    253, 

255,  262-3;  death 266 

MENDEZ,  Brother  John  Bap 
tist,  143;  killed 149 

MENDOZA,  Antonio  de,  Viceroy 
of  New  Spain,  114;  Father 
Manuel  der  killed,  462 ;  Fa 
ther  Peter  de 484 

MENDOZA  -  GRAJALES,       Rev. 
Francis  de,  first  parish  priest 
of  St.  Augustine. .    .  .  136,  140-1 
MENENDEZ,  Peter..  133,  135-6,  139- 
143,  145,  150-1 

MENOMONEES 274-5,  278 

MERCIER,  Rev  John 559,  576 

MERMET,  F.  John,  545-6  ;  dies  585 

MESAIGER,  F.  Charles  M 628-9 

MESO'RCOQTJES..  . 53 

METCHIGAMEAS 315,  586 

MEURIN,  Father  Louis  Sebas 
tian  578,  585,  589,  590 

MEXIA,  Lt.  John  Ruiz 461 

MEXICO,  See  of 11 

MIAMIS 276,  313,  325,  334,  536, 

586,  623-4,  626,  628 

MICHIGAN,  Church  in 228,  262, 

271,  276,  620,  etc. 

MICHILIMACKIN AC.. 276-7,  313,  318, 
536,  619,  620,  633 

MILET,  Father  Peter 286,  288, 

302,  332,  334 

MINIAC,  Abbe 430 

MINNESOTA,  Church  in. .  .324,  619, 

627 

MIRANDA,  Father  Angel,  burn 
ed  alive,  462  :  F.  Anthony. .  521-2 
MISSISSIPPI  River.    .  .  311-2,  314-5 

MISSISSIPPI,  Catholicity  in 129, 

541-2,  550,  558,  572-4 
MISSOURI,  Catholicity  in  . .  589,  633 


PAGE 

MISSOURI  River 120 

MISSOURIS 530,  545 

MOBILE. 463,  490,  546,  568,  573,  591 
MOBILIANS 552 

MOCANA. 171 

MOHAWK  Mission. 232,  284-6,  295-9 

MOHAWKS 603,  616 

MOINGONAS 314 

MOLIN,  Father  Lawrence 336 

MOLINA,  Father  Michael 502 

MOLYNEUX,  Richard.  .401,  407,  408 
MONACO,  Father  Joseph  Mary.  472 
MONTE,  Father  Bias  Rodriguez 

de,  143  ;  killed 144 

MONTEREY,  first  Mass  at 215 

MONTESINOS,  Father  Anthony 

de 101,  106-7 

MONTIGNY,  Very  Rev.  Francis 

Jolliet  de 539-550 

MONTOUR,  Madame 401 

MONTS,  Pierre  du  Guast,  Sieur 

de,  218 ;    first  settlement  on 

Neutral  Island 218 

MOORE,  Governor  459 

MOQUI 186,  193,  200,  513,  524 

MORA,  Father,  killed 207 

MORADOR,     Father    John     of 

Jesus,  killed 207 

MORAL,  Father  Alonso  del.  170, 172 

MORAIN,  Father 337 

MORAND,  Father  William  F. . .  584 
MORELL  de  Santa  Cruz,  Rt. 

Rev.  Peter  Augustine,  Bishop 

of  Santiago  de  Cuba 475-6 

MORENO,  Father  Anthony,  519; 

killed 520 

MORNAY,  Bishop  Du  Plessis. . .  576 

MOSLEY,  Father  Joseph 449 

MOULTON,  Col 603 

MOUNTAIN,  Mission  of  the. . . .  305 

MUNIZ,  Father  Michael 510 

MUNOZ,  Father  Francis,   642  ; 

Father  Peter..  492 


656 


INDEX. 


NACOGDOCHES.  .  .492,  495,  496,  507 

NAMBE 519 

NANIPACNA 129 

NAPOCHIES 129 

NARVAEZ,  Pamfilo  de 108 

NASSONIS 490 

NATCHEZ          559,  569,  573 

NATCHITOCHES.  .  .490,  569,  573,  591 

NAVAJOS 201,  524 

NEALE,  Archbishop 382 

NEALE,  Father  Benedict,  392, 

407,  413  ;  Father  Henry 419 

NEGRO  Plot,  New  York 399 

NEUTRAL  Island,    Chapel  on, 

218  ;  Map  of 217 

NEW  Albion,  Plowden's  Colony    86 

NEW  Amsterdam 231 

NEW  Jersey,  Catholicity  in.  .89,  448 

NEW  Mexico,  Catholicity  in 189 

etc.,  510  etc. 

NEW  ORLEANS 566-7,  573,  591 

NEWTOWN,  Md 76,  78,  444 

NEW  YORK,  Catholicity  in .  90-1,  97, 

247-302,  322,  334,  433,  438,  607-16 

NIAGARA,  Chapels  at.  322, 334,  612-3 

NICOLAS,  Father  Louis. .    270 

NICETOWN,  Pa 382 

NICHOLSON,  Lieut. -Gov 97,  347 

NOMBRE  de  Dios,  at  St.   Au 
gustine.  .  .137,  151,  165,  464,  466 
NORKIDGEWALK,        Norridge- 

wock 241-2,  594,  596,  603 

NORTHMEN,  Catholic 11 

NORUMBEGA 22 

NOUVEL,  Father  Henry 276-7, 

317-8,  328,  536,  622 
NUESTRA  Sehora  de  la  Leche, 

Chapel  of 137-8,  464-5 

NUNEZ,  Father  Michael 497 

OBREGON,  F.  Anthony  de..514,  517 

OCUTE 159 

OGLETHORPE,  General  ....  399,  473 


O'HARA,  Bryan 449 

OLD  Village  Point 263 

OLEY  Hills 394 

OLIER,  Ven.  John 226 

OLIVA,  Rev.  John  de  la 167 

OLIVARES,  Father  Anthony  de 

San  Buenaventura  y 483,  491 

ONATE,  John  de,  186 ;  prayer 

of 188 

ONEIDA 285,  302,  606,  609 

ONONDAGA 247-254,  256-7,  281, 

285,  297,  607-11,  616 

OPELOTJSAS 433 

ORAYBI 513 

ORE,  F.  Louis  Jerome  de. .  155,  162 

ORISTA 144 

ORTEGA,  Father  Diego  de 198 

ORTIZ,  Rev.  Alonzo,  162;  F.  .  474 

OSAGES 536 

OSPO 155 

OSSERNENON 229,  232-3,  285 

OTERMIN,   Governor  of    New 
Mexico,  205 ;    Cuts  his  way 

out  of  Santa  Fe 206 

OTTAWA  River. 333 

OTTAWAS.  . .  262,  267,  269,  272,  318, 
619-624,  626 

OUACHIL  TAMAIL 540 

OUIATENON 578,  586 

OUMAOTJHA,  Illinois  Chief 324 

OUMAS 542 

OUNSPIK 540 

PADILLA,  Father  John  de,  118- 

120  ;  death 121 

PALMER,  Colonel 465 

PALOS,  Brother  John  de 108 

PALOU,  Father  Francis 504 

PAPAGOS 530 

PAREDES,  Rev.  John  de. .  .464,  474 
PAREJA,  F.  Francis.  142,  156-7, 159 
PARGA,  Father  John  de,  461  ; 
burned 461 


INDEX. 


657 


PARKAS,  Father  Peter 504 

PARILLA,  Father 501 

PATRICK),  Chief  of  Ybitacucho  458 

PATALI 461 

PATRON   de    Gusman,   Father 

Augustine.. 484,  490,  497 

PATUXENTS 48,  51,  58,  76 

PAVER,  Father  Francis 530 

PAWNEES 545 

PAYAYAS    491 

PEAKE,  Walter 70 

PEASLEY,  Mrs 60 

PECKHAM,  Sir  George. ...  19,  20,  24 

PECOS..189,  190,  199,  205,  513,  515, 

519,  524 

PEINADO,  Father  Alonso 194 

PELCON,  F.  Peter  (Manners). . .  79 
PELFRESNE,  Father  Hyacinth.  626 
PELHAM,  Father  William,  79  ; 

Father  Henry 79 

PEN  A,  Father  John  de  la 522 

PENAL  Laws  against  Catholics 
in  England,  18 ;  in  New 
York,  356-7 ;  Massachusetts, 
358  ;  Maryland,  351,  359  ;  in 

Virginia 409,  452 

PENALOSA,  Diego  de,  Govern 
or  of  New  Mexico.  .204,  338,  340 

PENARANDA,  Alonso  de 159 

PENICAUT 554 

PENUELA  Y  ALMIRANTE,  Mar 
quis  de  la 522 

PEORIAS 314,  536 

PENN,  William 92-4,  365 

PENNINGTON,  Father  Francis, 

82  ;  Superior. 95-6,  348-9 

PENNSYLVANIA,       Catholicity 

in 365-6.  433,  445 

PENOBSCOTS 594,  601,  604 

PENSACOLA 128,  130,  466-7 

PENSACOLA  Bay 128,  1 30 

PENTAGOET..  .is87-8,  310,  335,  337, 
593,  595,  597 
42 


PAGE 

PEORIAS 586 

PEREA,    Father    Stephen    de, 

195;  Custos 196 

PERDOMO,  Father 215 

PERERA,  Father  Anthony  ....  480 

PERETE,  Father  Francis 170 

PEREZ,  Father  Francis 165 

PEREZ  de  la  Cerda,  Rev.  Sebas 
tian 170,  172 

PEREZ  de  Mesquia,  F.  Peter. .  484 

PERROT,  Nicholas 328,  329 

PERSONS,  Father  Robert 27 

PERTH,  James,  Earl  of 87 

PESET,  Rev.  Mr C37 

PETATLAN  110,  115 

PFEFPERKORN,  F.  Ignatius.  . .  531 

PHILADELPHIA 366,  447-8 

PHILIBERT,  Father 573 

PHILIP  II 133,  142 

PHILIP  III 159 

PHILIP,  Father 570,  573 

PHILLIPS,  Father  Vincent 407 

PlANKESHAWS 586 

PICURIES 190,  199,  205-6,  519, 

520,  525 

PIERRON,  Father  John. 81-2,  285-6, 
303-4,  332 

PIERSON,  Father 318,  326 

PILABO 200 

PIMAS 530 

PINEDA,  Father  Joseph 501 

PINELLA,  Father  Joseph 501 

PINET,  Father  Peter,  537,  539  ; 

Rev.  Mr 544 

PIQUET,  Rev.  Francis 614-18 

PIROS  200,  205,  211,  642 

PISCATAWAY,  Md  .  .  42,  53,  55,  57 
PITA,  Friar  Joseph,  494  ;  killed  495 
PIZARRO,  F.  John  Moreno. .  .  168 

|  PLOWDEN,  Sir  Edmund 86 

POALA,  Puaray 185,  189 

I  POINTS  Coupee. .  ,   568,  580,  590-1 
j  POINTE  Saiut  Ignace 323,  633 


6o8 


INDEX. 


POLANCO,  Rev.  Francis  Manuel  500 

POLE,  Father  George .    '. . '  79 

PONCE  Y   CARASCO,  Rt.  Rev.   . 

Peter .  475 

PONCE  de  Leon,  Antonio,  463  ; 

John 100-3 

PONCET,  Father  Joseph .  . .  244,  247 

POPE,  El. 205-6,  511 

PORRA?    Father  Francis. .  200,  642 
PORT  Royal,  S.  C.,  134,  140, 

144  ;  (Acadia) .219-221 

PORT  Tobacco 57,  58,  63,  75 

POSADAS,  Father  Alonso 204 

POTAXO 158,  165 

POTTER,  Father  Nicholas,  328  ; 

Father 629 

POTOMAC 56 

POTOPACO.   63 

POTTAWATOMIES,  Mission  to  . .  268, 
274,  278 

POTTS,  John 32 

POULTON,    Father    Ferdinand, 

alias  Brock,  55  ;  F.  Thomas.  407 
POUTRINCOURT,  Sieur  de.. . . . .  219 

POZADA,  Rev.  Toribio  de 163 

PRADO,  Father  Joseph  Guada- 

lupe 509 

PRAIRIE  du  Rocher,  Parish  at.  561 

PRIESTS'  Ford,  Md 413 

PRIETO,  Father  Jerome. .  .514,  518 

PRICE,  John  70 

PRINCE,  Mgr 431 

PROPAGANDA  Fide,  Congrega 
tion  de 52,  59 

PUEYO,  Rev.  Francis  Gabriel 

del 464,469 

QUAPPAS 315,  326 

QUEBEC 223,  225 

QUENTIN,  F.,  221 ;  in  Virginia  223 
QUERETARO,  College  of  Holy 

Cross  at 496,  509 

QUERECIIOS,  110 


PAGE 

QUERES..194,  199,  200,  211,  519,  520 

QUEXOS,  Peter  de ..  104,  106 

QUIS-ONES,  F.  Bartholomew. . .  183 

QUINTE  Bay.  . .  226 

QUIROGA  Y  LOZADA,  Diego  de, 

Governor  of  Florida  179 

QTJIROS,  Father  Louis  de,  147  ; 

killed 149 

QUIVIRA 119-121 

READING,  Pa 445 

RABELO,  Rev.  Francis. 474 

RAFFEIX,  F..284,  294,  295,  297,  303 

RAGUENEAU,  Father  Paul 256 

RAGEOT,  Rev.  Philip..   595 

RALE,  Father  Sebastian,  538, 
598,  598,  600,  602  ;  killed..  .  603 

RAMIREZ,  Father  John 642 

RAPHAEL,  Father 573,  581 

RAPIDE  des  Peres 277 

RAYMBAUT,  Father  Charles .  . .  2S3 
REBOLLEDO,  Diego  de,  Govern 
or  of  Florida 165 

RECOLLECTS 234,  321,  etc. 

REDONDO,  Brother  Christopher, 

143;  killed 149 

REYNOLDS,  James 447 

REYNOSO,  Father  Alonzo 151 

REZINO,    Rt.    Rev.    Dionisio, 

Auxiliar  Bishop  of  Cuba 464 

RICHELIEU,  Cardinal 236-7 

RIDDELL,    Father    Peter,    79 ; 

Father  William 349 

RIGBIE,  Father  Roger,  57  ;  dies    66 

Rio  DE  PALMAS 108 

Rio  DE  RATONES 472 

Rio  GRANDE  Missions 483 

RIVERA,  Rev.  Christopher  B.  .   167 

RIVIERE  DU  LOUP 337 

RODRIGUEZ,  Brother  Augus 
tine,  183,  189;  killed,  185; 
Father  Bias,  152  ;  killed,  154 ; 
Father  Joseph 494-5 


INDEX. 


659 


ROGEL,  Father  John 142-4 

ROMERO    Y  MONTANEZ,    Rev. 

John  Stephen 464 

ROQUE,  Father 200 

ROSAS,  Father 187,  190 

ROSETTI,  Mgr.  Dom 59 

ROSIER,  James 25 

ROUEN,  Archbishop  of..  ..226,  234, 
246,  259,  338 

ROUENSAC 536 

ROYALL,  Rev.  John 385 

RUHEN,  F. ,  killed  in  Sonora  . .  530 
Ruiz,  Brother  Peter,  143  ;  kill 
ed,  149;  Father  Peter,  152, 
158  ;  Father  Francis 101 

SABINAL 525 

SACRAMENTO 507 

SACS 274,  278 

SAINT  AMAND 334 

SAINT  ANNE  de  Fort  Chartres.  561 

SAINT  ANTHONY 465 

SAINT  AUGUSTINE,  Florida.  .136-7, 
151,  156,  164-5,  169,458 

SAINT  AUGUSTIN,  Texas  496 

SAINT  CLEMENT'S  Island,  first 

Mass  in  Maryland  at 41 

SAINT  FRANCIS,  Mission 594 

SAINT  FRANCIS  BORGIA 142, 

147,  150 

SAINT    FRANCIS    REGIS,    Mis 
sion  of 618 

SAINT  FRANQOIS  de  Sales,  Ab- 

naqui  Mission 337 

SAINT  GENEVIEVE 586,  633 

SAINT  HELENA 128,  132 

SAINT  INIGOES 43,  63 

SAINT  JOHN  the  Baptist,  River 

and  Land  of 104,  106 

SAINT  JOHN'S  River 134 

SAINT  JOSEPH'S  Church,  Phila..386, 

388,  393,  401,  419,  447 

SAINT  JOSEPH,  Fla.  .  .456,  466,  472 


SAINT  JOSEPH'S  River 323,  619, 

626,  628 

SAINT  LAWRENCE  River 223 

SAINT  MARK 466 

SAINT  MARTIN'S  River 554 

SAINT  MARY'S,  City  of.  .43,  51,  53, 
348,  356 

SAINT  MARY'S,  Florida 458 

SAINT  MARY'S  Church,  Phila 
delphia 447 

SAINT  MARY  of  Ganentaa .  .253,  257 
SAINT     MICHAEL'S     (Seneca), 

Church  at,  burned 293 

SAINT  PETER'S   (Cumberland) 

Island 155 

SAINT  Pius  V 143-5 

SAINT  THOMAS'  Manor 444 

SAKUNK 614 

SALAS,  Father  John  de 197-8 

SALAZAR,  Father  Christopher, 

187-8  ;  dies,  191 ;  Father , 

483  ;  Father  Dominic 128-9 

SALCEDO,  Brother  John. 143 

SALEM 394 

SALLENEUVE,  Father  John  B . .  586, 
589,  630,  633 
SALMERON,  Father  Jerome  de 

Zarate 194 

SALVADOR    de    San    Antonio, 

Father 513,  519 

SAN   ANTONIO,    Florida,    456, 

466  ;  Texas 483,  497,  507 

SAN  BUENAVENTURA  de  Goa- 

dalquibi 165,  172,  178 

SAN  ANTONIO,  presidio  of  ....  497 

SAN  CRISTOBAL 205 

SANDIA 195,  199 

SAN  DIEGO  465 

SANDUSKY 629 

SANDWICH •  629 

SAN  FELIPE  de  Jesus 531 

SAN  FELIPE..  140,  197,  206,  512,  519 
SAN  FERNANDO 498-9 


660 


INDEX. 


SAN  FRANCISCO  de  los  Texas. .  480 
SAN  GABRIEL,   second   Settle 
ment  in  New  Mexico 191 

SAN  GREGORIO,  F.  Peter  de. . .  152 

SAN  ILDEFONSO 194 

SAN  JOSE  de  Zapala 165,  172, 

178,  179 

SAN  JUAN  BAUTISTA,  first  Set 
tlement  in  New  Mexico.   ...  189 
SAN  JUAN  de  los  Caballeros.  . .  525 

SAN  JUAN  Mission,  Florida 156, 

458,  466 

SAN  LAZARO 205 

SAN  LORENZO 206,  504,  524 

SAN  Luis 462,  466 

SAN  Luis  de  Amarillas 502 

SAN  Luis  OBISPO  (N.  Mexico)..  200 

SAN  MARCOS 512 

SAN  MATHEO 139 

SAN  MIGUEL,  Father  Francis, 

187;  atPecos 190,  192 

SAN  MIGUEL,  Church  of 516 

SAN  MIGUEL  de  Adayo,  Mar 
quis,  Governor  of  Texas 494 

SAN  MIGUEL  de  Guandape,  Va.  106 

SAN  MIGUEL  del  Bado  525 

SAN  MIGUEL  de  Linares 490 

SAN  PEDRO  Mission,  Fla...l56,  165 

SAN  PEDRO  del  Mocarno 165 

SAN  SABA 502 

SAN  SEBASTIAN 151 

SANTA  ANA 194,  524 

SANTA  CATALINA  de  Guale 165, 

172,  178,  458 
SANTA  CLARA,  519,  525 ;    de 

Capoo 201 

SANTA  ELENA,  (S.  C.). . .  .128,  130, 
132,  144,  147 

SANTA  CRUZ 129-130,  178,  524 

SANTA  FE,  (N.  M.),  194,  199, 
206,  211,  510,  511,  514,  522, 

525  ;  Santa  Fe,  (Florida) 466 

SANTA  LUCIA  .  472 


SANTA  MARIA  SOAMCA 528 

SANTA  ROSA,  Bay,  129  ;  Island  466 
SANTIAGO  de  Cuba,  erection  of 

See  of 11 

SANTIESTEBAN,  Father  Joseph, 

'  502;  killed 503 

SANTO    DOMINGO,    Provincial 

Council  of , 162 

SANTO   DOMINGO   de   Talege, 

165  ;  in  New  Mexico 519 

SAN  XAVIER  del  Bac 527 

SANZ,  Father  Mathias  of  San 

Antonio 484,  493 

SAONCHIOGWA 280,  293 

SAPALA  165,  179 

SATA  YAEXA 485 

SATURIOVA 134 

SAULT  ST.  MARY  .  .271-2,  275,  277, 
312,  316,  334 

SCHNEIDER,  Father  Theodore.. 387, 
389,  392,  420,  446,  448 

SCHUYLER,  Colonel 611-2 

SCOBAR    de    Sambrana,    Rev. 

Diego 153 

SEDELMAYR,  Father 531 

SEDENO,  Father  Antonio 143-5 

SEGESSER,  Father  Philip 529 

SEGUENOT,  Rev.  Francis 397-8 

SEGURA,  Father  John  Baptist, 

Vice-Provincial  of    Florida, 

143;  killed 149 

SEMINARY  of  Quebec,  Missions 

of 538 

SENAT,  F.  Antoninus,  killed . .  585 

SENECA  Mission 286,  297,  303, 

311,  612 

SENECU 200 

SEVILLE 11 

SEVILLETA 200 

SEYMOUR,  John,  Governor  of 

Maryland 354,  356,  358 

SUARPE,  Horatio,  Governor  of 
Maryland 416,  417,  441-2 


INDEX. 


661 


SIGUENZA,  Father  Charles    ...  455 

SILLERY 337,594 

SILVA,  Father  John  de,  152 ; 

Father ,  killed 503 

SILVY,  Father  Anthony 279 

SIMON,  Father.. 594 

SIMON  of  Jesus,  P.,  killed.. 207,  209 
Sioux. .  .  .269,  316,  324,  619,  627-8 

SlTIMACHAS 550 

SITTENSPERGER  (Manners),  F..392, 
420,  446 

SKALHOLT,  John,  Bishop  of. . .  11 
SMITH,  Rev.  Peter,  88;  Rev.  —  349 

SMYTH,  Anthony 31 

SOCORRO 200,  211,  524-5 

SOKOKI  Mission 337 

SOLANA,  Rev.  John  Joseph 464, 

469,  474 
SOLEDAD  Hospital,  164;  Chapel, 

469  ;  Mission    466 

SOLIS,  Brother  Gabriel,  143  ; 
killed,  149  ;  Rev.  Lorenzo. . .  167 

SOLIS  de  Meras,  Rev 138 

SONOITAC 529 

SOTO,  Hernando  de 111-113 

SOTOLONGO,  Rev.  Francis  de . .  168 
SOUEL,  F.  John,  572  ;  killed. .  574 
SOUTH  CAROLINA,  Catholicity 

in 140,  144 

STARKEY,  Father  Lawrence. .  69,  75 

STENSON,  William 436 

STEPHEN,  Negro...  .110,  114-5,  117 
STEYNMEYER    (Farmer),     Fa 
ther  Ferdinand 420,  446,  448 

STONE,  William,  Governor  of 

Maryland 69 

STOURTON,  Rev.  Mr 31 

SUSQUEHANNAS 43,  57 

SWAN,  Daniel 447 

SYNOD  of  Santiago  de  Cuba. 
1684,  174 ;  regulations  for 
Florida,  176  ;  of  Quebec 534 


TACANES , 499 

TACATACURU  (Cumberland  Isl 
and) 142 

TAENSAS 539,  540 

TALON 341 

TAMA 159,172 

TAMAROIS.  .536,  539-541,  544,  550, 
557-559,  578 
TAMARON,  Rt,  Rev.  Peter, 

Bishop  of  Durango 524 

TAMPA  Bay 125,  140 

TANOS.  .  .199,  205-6,  212,  510,  511, 
516,  518,  520 
TAGS,  Mission  of  San  Geroni- 
mo. .  .200,  205,  211,  519,  520,  524 

TARAGICA  166,  171 

TARTARIN,   Father   Rene 570, 

572,  586 

TEGAKOTTITA,  Catharine..  299,  300, 

307-9 
TEGANANOKOA,  Stephen  ....  607 

TEHUAS 518 

TEJADA,  Rt.  Rev.  Francis  de 
San  Buenaventura,  Bishop  of 
Tricali,  469-471  ;  Bishop  of 

Guadalajara .474,  505 

TEJUAS,  Tehuas  .205,  all,  520,  523 

TELLO,  Father,  killed 530 

TEOAS,  Tejuas,  Teguas. .  .194,  199, 
201,  205,  211 

TEOTONHARASON 249 

TEQUESTA  144 

TERAN  de  los  Rios,  Domingo, 

Governor  of  Texas 480 

TERREROS,  F.  Alonso  Giraldo 

de,  502  ;  killed  503 

TESUQUE 519,  524 

TEXAS,  ChurcL  in.  339-41,  479-509 

TEXAS  or  Asinais 212,  503 

THAUMUR  de  la  Source,  Rev. 
Dominic  Anthony.  .544,  559,  576 

THEVET,  Father  Andrew 216 

THOMAS  of  Aquin,  Father 215 


662 


INDEX. 


THORNBOROUGH,  Thomas 70 

THOROLD,  Father  George.  .363,  370 
THURY,  Rev.  Louis  Peter.  .337,  594 

TIDDER,  Father  Edward 79 

TIGUEX 119-121 

TIMUQUANS 161,  178,  180 

TIOAS,  Tiguas,  199,  211;  submit 

to  Otermin 211 

TIONONTOGUEN,  Mission  at  . .  .285, 
296,  304 

TIRSO,  Father  Michael  519 

TLASCALANS 500 

TOCOBAGA 144 

TOCOY 157 

TOLEMATO  (1)  on  Amelia  Isl 
and,  153  ;  (2)  near  St.  Augus 
tine 477 

TOLOSA,  Father  Diego  de,  124 ; 

killed 125 

TOME 535 

TOMPIRAS 198,  211 

TONICAS 539,  553 

TONTY,  Henri  de 323-4,  539 

TOPOQUI 153 

TORORO 456 

TORRE,  Nicholas  de  la,  Bishop 

of  Santiago  de  Cuba  164 

TOTONTEAC 116 

TRACY,  Marquis  de 283 

TRANCHEPAIN  de  St.  Augustin, 
Mother  Mary,  founds  Ursu- 
liae  Convent,  New  Orleans, 

569-570;  death 581 

TRUXILLO,  Rev.  Rodrigo  Gar 
cia  de 152 

TUBAC 539 

TUCSON,  Presidio 530 

TULPEHAKEN 392 

TUMACACORI 529 

TUPATTT,  Louis  511 

TURPIN,  Mary,  becomes  an  Ur- 
suline 560 

TUSAYAN 191 


URANGO,  John  de,  Bishop  of 

Santiago  de  Cuba 127 

URCHIA,  Father  Anthony  de.. .   170 

URIZA,  Father 474 

URRUTIA,  Don  Toribio  de 507 

URBULINE   Convent,  New  Or 
leans 570-1 

URY,  Rev.  John 399 

USACHE,  Father  Joseph 467 

USEDA,  Father  John  de 172 

VACAPA 115 

VAHOMONDE,  Father  Anthony.  514 
VAILLANT  du  Gueslis,  Father.. 304, 
611,  620 

VALLARDE,  Father,  killed 207 

VARELA,  Father  Benedict 503 

VARGAS,  Rev.  Alonso  de,  163 ; 

Father  Francis 519 

VARGAS  Zapata  Luxan  Ponce 

de  Leon,  Diego,  reconquers 

New  Mexico 510-6 

VARLET,   Very  Rev.   Dominic 

Mary,    Vicar-General,    555 ; 

Bishop  of  Ascalon 556-7 

VARREDO,  Father  Joseph 168 

VATIER,  Father  Leonard  ....  626 
VEGA    CASTRO,    Damiau    de, 

Governor  of  Florida 164 

VELASCO,    Louis,   Viceroy    of 

Mexico 127 

VELASCO,  Don  Luis,  Indian .  . .  140, 
147,  150 
VELASCO,    Father   Ferdinand, 

205  ;  Father  Francis 192 

VELASCOLA,    Father    Francis, 

152  ;  killed 155 

VERA  CRUZ 128 

VERDUGO  de  la  Silveyra,  Rev. 

Peter 164 

VERGARA,  Father  Gabriel  de, 

484-5,  496 ;  Brother 192 

VERMONT,  Catholicity  in    ...  283-4 


INDEX. 


663 


VlCARIATE-APOSTOLIC  of  New 

France,  259;  Vicariates- Apos 
tolic  established  in  Missis 
sippi  Valley  and  suppressed. .  327 

VlCAR-APOSTOLIC 565 

VICTORIA,  Father  Anthony ..  .  118 
VILLALBA,  Father  John  de. . . .  462 

VILLAFANE,  Angel  de 132 

VILLANCEVA  de  Santa  Cruz. .  .  519 
VILLAREAL,  B.  Francis  de. .  142, 144 
VILLE,  Father  John  Mary  de  .  559 

VINCENNES  Register 579 

VINIEGRA,  Brother 157 

VIRGINIA,  Catholicity  in. ...  32,  57, 
97,  106,  408-9,  418,  437 
VIROT,  F.  Claude  Fran.,  killed.  614 
VITRY,  Father  Peter  de,  581  ; 

made  Vicar-General 583 

VIVIER,  Father  Louis 579,  585 

VIZCAINO,  Sebastian 215 

WALSH,  Robert -.  436 

WAPELER,  F.  William.387,  389,  390 

WARREN,  Father  William 79 

WATRLN,  Father  P.  F..585,  586,  589 
WATTEAUX,  Father  Melithon.  .321-2 

WEAS 586 

WESTBROOK,  Colonel 601 

WEYMOUTH,  Capt.,  voyage 
connected  with  Catholic  Set 
tlement 25-6 

WHETENHALL,  Father  Henry. .  377- 
WHITE,       Father       Andrew, 
founder    of    the    Maryland 

Mission 40-2,  48-9,  53-4,  64 

WHITEMARSH,  Mission  of  Saint 

Francis  Borgia 450 

WHITGRAVE,  Father  James . . .  377 
WICKSTED,  Father  Polycarp  . .  82 

WILKINSON,  Rev.  Mr 84 

WILLART,  Brother  Nicholas  . .  351 

WILLCOX  Family 367,  385 

WILLIAM  III..  .  345 


WILLIAMS,  Father  John 451 

WINNEBAGOES  274,  278 

WlNSLADE 25 

WISCONSIN,  Church  in 265-6, 

274-9,  328-9,  619,  622 
WOOD,  Father  William 363,  370 

WOODBRIDGE,    N.  J 90 

WRIOTHESLEY,  Henry,  Earl  of 
Southampton 25 

XARAME  Mission 491 

XIMENEZ,  F.  Diego. .  .502,  504,  508 

XIMENO,  Father  Custodius 532 

XUAREZ,  Father  John.  108,  110,  111 
XUMANAS  (see  Jumanas). 

YAMASSEES  179,  465,  466 

YASCOMOCOS 43,  46 

YA.TASES 490 

YAZOOS 540,  559,  572,  574 

YBARRA,  Governor  of  Florida.  161 

YBITACUCHO 458,  462-3 

YE,  John,  Gov.  of  Pecos.  .205,  515 

YEO,  Rev.  Mr 84 

YGUASA  Nation 466 

YONG,  Capt.  Thomas 86 

YUMAS 212 

YUQUAYUNQUE  (San  Gabriel) . .  119 

ZABOLETA,  Father  John  de . .  .  212 
ZACATECAS,  Apos.tolic  College 

of,  founded  by  Ven.  Father 

Margil 482-4 

ZAMORA,  Father  Francis,  187  ; 

atPicuries 190,  192 

ZAP  ATA,  Father  Diego 497 

ZAPOTECA  Indians 121 

ZAVALETA,  Father  John 513 

ZEINOS,  Father  Diego. 514,  516,  518 
ZEVALLOS,  Brother  Sancho, 

147;  killed 149 

ZIA 524 

ZUNI .186,  193,  200,  512,  521 

Zu5n:GA,  Governor  Joseph  de. .  459 


A   HISTORY 


CATHOLIC  CHURCH 


WITHIN   THE 


LIMITS  OF   THE    UNITED   STATES, 


FROM   THE    FIRST    ATTEMPTED    COLONIZATION    TO    THE 
PRESENT   TIME. 


WITH    PORTRAITS,    VIEWS,    MAPS,    AND    FAC-SIMTLES. 


NEW    YORK  : 

JOHN    G.     SHEA, 

1886. 


COPYRIGHT,  1886,  BY 
JOHN   GILMARY   SHEA. 


The  ilhtstrations  in  this  work  is  copyrighted,  and  reproduction  is  forbidden. 


EDWARD  o.  JENKINS'  SON, 
Printer,  Stereotyper,  and  Electrotyper, 
20  North  William  St.,  New  York. 


BX  1402  .S52  1886 

SMC 

Shea,  John  Gi Imary , 

1824-1892. 
The  Catholic  church  in 

colonial  days  :  the 
AKE-2969  (mcsk)