LOUISIANA
Parts 1 & 2
MISSIONS
UNDER THE BISHOP OF QUEBEC
The discoverers and pioneers De Soto, Iberville, La Salle and Bienville were accompanied by missionaries in their expeditions through the Louisiana Purchase, and in the toilsome beginnings of the first feeble settlements, which were simply military posts, the Cross blazed the way. From the beginning of its history, Louisiana had been placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Quebec. In 1696 the priests of the seminary of Quebec petitioned the second Bishop of Quebec for authority to establish missions in the west, investing the superior sent out by the seminary with the powers of vicar-general. The field for which they obtained this authority (1 May, 1698), was on both banks of the Mississippi and its tributaries. They proposed to plant their first mission among the Tamarois, but when this became known, the Jesuits claimed that tribe as one already under their care; they received the new missionaries with personal cordiality, but felt keenly the official action of Bishop St-Vallier, in what they regarded as an intrusion. Fathers Jolliet de Montigny, Antoine Davion and François Busion de Saint-Cosme were the missionaries sent to found the new missions in the Mississippi Valley. In 1699 Iberville, who had sailed from France, with his two brothers Bienville and Sauvolle, and Father Du Ru, S.J., coming up the estuary of the Mississippi, found Father Montigny among the Tensus Indians. Iberville left Sauvolle in command of the little fort at Biloxi, the first permanent settlement in Louisiana. Father Bordenave was its first chaplain, thus beginning a long line of zealous parish priests in Louisiana.
In 1703, Bishop St-Vallier proposed to erect Mobile into a parish, and to annex it in perpetuity to the seminary; the seminary agreed, and the Parish of Mobile was erected 20 July, 1703; and united to the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris and Quebec. Father Roulleaux de la Vente, of the Diocese of Bayeaux, was appointed parish priest and Father Huve his assistant. The Biloxi settlement being difficulty of access from the sea, Bienville thought it unsuitable for the headquarters of the province. In 1718, taking with him fifty men, he selected Tchoutchouma, the present site of New Orleans, about 110 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, where there was a deserted Indian village. Bienville directed his men to clear the grounds and erect buildings. The city was laid out according to the plans of the Chevalier Le Blondde La Tour, chief engineer of the colony, the plans including a parish church, which Bienville decided to dedicate under the invocation of St. Louis. The old St. Louis cathedral stands today on the site of this first parish church, and the presbytery in Cathedral Alley is the site of the first modest clergy house. Bienville called the city New Orleans after the Duc d'Orléans, and the whole territory Louisiana, or New France.
In August, 1717, the Duc d'Orléans, as Regent of France, issued letters patent establishing a joint-stock company to be called "The Company of the West", to which Louisiana was transferred. The company was obliged to build churches at its own expense wherever it should establish settlements; also to maintain the necessary number of duly approved priests to preach, perform Divine Service and administer the sacraments under the authority of the Bishop of Quebec. Bienville experienced much opposition from the Company of the West in his attempt to remove the colony from Biloxi. In 1721 Fr. Francis-Xavier de Charlevoix, S.J., one of the first historians of Louisiana, made a tour of New France from the Lakes to the Mississippi, visiting New Orleans, which he describes as "a little village of about one hundred cabins dotted here and there, a large wooden warehouse in which I said Mass, a chapel in course of construction and two storehouses". But under Bienville's direction the city soon took shape, and, with the consent of the company, the colony was moved to this site in 1723. Father Charlevoix reported on the great spiritual destitution of the province occasioned by the missions being scattered so far apart and the scarcity of priests, and this compelled the council of the company to make efforts to improve conditions. Accordingly, the company applied to the Bishop of Quebec, and on 16 May, 1722, Louisiana was divided into three ecclesiastical sections. The district north of the Ohio was entrusted to the Society of Jesus and the Priests of the Foreign Missions of Paris and Quebec; that between the Mississippi and the Rio Perdito, to the Discalced Carmelite Fathers with headquarters at Mobile. The Carmelites were recalled, not long after, and their district was given to the Capuchins.
A different arrangement was made for the Indian and new French settlements on the lower Mississipi. Because of the remoteness of this district from Quebec, Father Louis-François Duplessis de Mornay, a Capuchin of Meudon, was consecrated, at Bishop St-Vallier's request, coadjutor Bishop of Quebec, on 22 April, 1714. Bishop St-Vallier appointed him vicar-general for Louisiana, but he never came to America, although he eventually succeeded to the See of Quebec. When the Company of the West applied to him for priests for the lower Mississipi Valley he offered the more populous field of colonists to the Capuchin Fathers of the province of Champaigne, who, however, did not take any immediate steps, and it was not until 1720 that any of the order came to Louisiana. Father Jean-Matthieu de Saint-Anne is the first whose name is recorded. He signs himself in 1720 in the register of the parish of New Orleans. The last entry of the secular clergy in Mobile is that of Rev. Alexander Huve, 13 January, 1721. The Capuchins came directly from France and consequently found application to the Bishop of Quebec long and tedious; Father Matthieu therefore applied to Rome for special power for fifteen missions under his charge, representing that the great distance from the Bishop of Quebec made it practically impossible for him to apply to the Bishop. A brief was really issued (Michael a Tugio, "Bullarium Ord. FF. Minor. S.P. Francisci Capucinorum", Fol. 1740-52; BLI., pp. 322, 323), and Father Matthieu seems to have assumed that it exempted him from episcopal jurisdiction, for, on 14 March, 1723, he signs the register "Père Matthieu, Vicaire Apostolique et Curé de la Mobile".
In 1722 Bishop Mornay entrusted the spiritual jurisdiction of the Indians to the Jesuits, who were to establish missions in all parts of Louisiana with residence at New Orleans, but were not to exercise any ecclesiastical function there without the consent of the Capuchins, though they were to minister to the French in the Illinois District, with the Priests of the Foreign Missions, where the superior of each body was a vicar-general, just as the Capuchin superior was at New Orleans. In the spring of 1723 Father Raphael du Luxembourg arrived to assume his duties as superior of the Capuchin Mission in Louisiana. It was a difficult task that the Capuchins had assumed. Their congregations were scattered over a large area; there was much poverty, suffering and ignorance of religion. Father Raphael, in the cathedral archives, says that when he landed in New Orleans he could hardly secure a room for himself and his brethren to occupy pending the rebuilding of the presbytery, much less one to convert into a chapel; for the population seemed indifferent to all that savoured of religion. There were less than thirty persons at Mass on Sundays; yet, undismayed, the missionaries set to work and saw their zeal rewarded with a greater reverence for religion and more faithful attendance at church. In 1725 New Orleans had become an important settlement, the Capuchins having a flock of six hundred families. Mobile had declined to sixty families, the Apache Indians (Catholic) numbered sixty families. There were six at Balize, two hundred at St. Charles or Les Allemandes, one hundred at Point Coupée, six at Natchez, fifty at Natchitoches and the other missions which are not named in the "Bullarium Capucinorum" (Vol. VIII, p. 330).
The founder of the Jesuit Mission in New Orleans was Father Nicolas-Ignatius de Beaubois, who was appointed vicar-general for his district. He visited New Orleans and returned to France to obtain Fathers of the Society for his mission. Being also commissioned by Bienville to obtain sisters of some order to assume charge of a hospital and school, he applied to the Ursulines of Rouen, who accepted the call. The royal patent authorizing the Ursulines to found a convent in Lousiana was issued on 18 September, 1726. Mother Mary Trancepain of St. Augustine, with seven professed nuns from Rouen, Le Havre, Vannes, Ploermel, Hennebon and Elboeuf, a novice, Madeline Hauchard, and two seculars, met at the infirmary at Hennebon on 12 January, 1727, and, accompanied by Fathers Tartarin and Doutreleau, set sail for Louisiana. They reached New Orleans on 6 August to open the first convent for women within the present limits of the United States of America. As the convent was not ready for their reception, the governor gave up his own residence to them. The history of the Ursulines from their departure from Rouen through a period of thirty years in Louisiana, is told by Sister Madeline Hauchard in a diary still preserved in the Ursuline convent in New Orleans, and which forms, with FatherCharlevoix's history, the principal record of those early days. On 7 August, 1727, the Ursulines began in Louisiana the work which has since continued without interruption. They opened a hospital for the care of the sick and a school for poor children, also an academy which is now the oldest educational institution for women in the United States. The convent in which the Ursulines then took up their abode still stands, the oldest conventual structure in the United States and the oldest building within the limits of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1824 the Ursulines removed to the lower portion of the city, and the old convent became first the episcopal residence and then the diocesan chancery.
Meanwhile Father Mathurin le Petit, S.J., established a mission among the Chocktaws; Father Du Poisson among the Arkansas; Father Doutreleau, on the Wabash; Fathers Tartarin and Le Boulenger, at Kaskaskia; Father Guymonneau among the Metchogameas; Father Souel, among the Yazoos; Father Baudouin, among the Chickasaws. The Natchez Indians, provoked by the tyranny and rapacity of Chopart, the French commandant, in 1729 nearly destroyed all these missions. Father Du Poisson and Father Souel were killed by the Indians. As an instance of the faith implanted in the Iroquois about this time there was received into the Ursuline order at New Orleans, Mary Turpin, daughter of a Canadian Father and an Illinois mother. She died a professed nun in 1761, at the age of fifty-two, with the distinction of being the first American-born nun in this country. From the beginning of the colony at Biloxi the immigration of women had been small. Bienville made constant appeals to the mother country to send honest wives and mothers. From time to time ships freighted with girls would arrive; they came over in charge of the Grey Nuns of Canada and a priest, and were sent by the king to be married to the colonists. The Bishop of Quebec was also charged with the duty of sending out young women who were known to be good and virtuous. As a proof of her respectability, each girl was furnished by the Bishop with a curiously wrought casket; they are known in Louisiana history as "casket girls". Each band of girls, on arriving at New Orleans, was confided to the care of the Ursulines until they were married to colonists able to provide for their support. Many of the best families of the state are proud to trace their descent from "casket girls".
The city was growing and developing; a better class of immigrant was pouring in, and Father Charlevoix, on his visit in 1728, wrote to the Duchesse de Lesdiguières: "My hopes, I think, are well founded that this wild and desert place, which the reeds and trees still cover, will be one day, and that not far distant, a city of opulence, and the metropolis of a rich colony". His words were prophetic; New Orleans was fast developing, and early chronicles say that it suggested the splendours of Paris. There was a governor with a military staff, bringing to the city the manners and splendour of the Court of Versailles, and the manners and usages of the mother country stamped on Louisiana life characteristics in marked contrast to the life of any other colony. The Jesuit Fathers of New Orleans had no parochial residence, but directed the Ursulines, and had charge of their private chapel and a plantation where, in 1751, they introduced into Louisiana the culture of the sugar-cane, the orange, and the fig. The Capuchins established missions wherever they could. Bishop St-Vallier had been succeeded by Bishop de Mournay, who never went to Quebec, but resigned the see, after five years. His successor, Henri-Marie Du Breuil de Pontbriand, appointed Father de Beaubois, S.J., his vicar-general in Louisiana. The Capuchin Fathers refused to recognize Father de Beaubois's authority, claiming, under an agreement of the Company of the West with the coadjutor bishop, de Mornay, that the superior of the Capuchins was, in perpetuity, vicar-general of the province, and that the bishop could appoint no other. Succeeding bishops of Quebec declared, however, that they could not, as bishops, admit that the assent of a coadjutor and vicar-general to an agreement with a trading company had forever deprived every bishop of Quebec to act as freely in Louisiana as in any other part of his diocese. This incident gave rise to some friction between the two orders which has been spoken of derisively by Louisiana historians, notably by Gayarré, as "The War of the Capuchins and the Jesuits". The archives of the diocese, as also the records of the Capuchins in Louisiana, show that it was simply a question of jurisdiction, which gave rise to a discussion so petty as to be unworthy of notice. Historians exaggerate this beyond all importance, while failing to chronicle the shameful spoilation of the Jesuits by the French Government, which suddenly settled the question forever.
In 1761 the Parliaments of several provinces of France had condemned the Jesuits, and measures were taken against them in the kingdom. They were expelled from Paris, and the Superior Council of Louisiana, following the example, on 9 July, 1763, just ten years before the order was suppressed by Clement XIV, passed an act suppressing the Jesuits throughout the province, declaring them dangerous to royal authority, to the rights of the bishops, and to the public safety. The Jesuits were charged with neglecting their mission, with having developed their plantation, and with having usurped the office of vicar-general. To the first charge the record of their labours was sufficient refutation; to the second, it was assuredly to the credit of the Jesuits that they made their plantation so productive as to maintain their missionaries; to the third the actions of the bishops of Quebec in appointing the vicar-general and that of the Superior council itself in sustaining him was the answer. Nevertheless, the unjust decree was carried out, the Jesuits' property was confiscated, and they were forbidden to use the name of their Society or to wear their habit. Their property was sold for $180,000. All their chapels were levelled to the ground, leaving exposed even the vaults where the dead were interred. The Jesuits were ordered to give up their missions, to return to New Orleans and to leave on the first vessel sailing for France. The Capuchins forgetting their differences interfered on behalf of the Jesuits; and finally their petitions unavailing went to the river bank to receive the returning Jesuits, offered them a home alongside their own, and in every way showed their disapproval of the Council's action. The Jesuits deeply grateful left the Capuchins all the books they had been able to save from the spoilation.
Father Boudoin, S.J., the benefactor of the colony, who had introduced the culture of sugar-cane and oranges from San Domingo, and figs from Provence, a man to whom the people owed much and to whom Louisiana today owes so much of its prosperity, alone remained. He was now seventy-two years old and had spent thirty-five in the colony. He was broken in health and too ill to leave his room. They dragged him through the streets when prominent citizens intervened and one wealthy planter, Etienne de Boré, who had first succeeded in the granulation of sugar, defied the authorities and took Father Boudoin to his home and sheltered him until his death in 1766. The most monstrous part of the order of expulsion was that, not only were the chapels of the Jesuits in lower Louisiana – many of which were the only places where Catholics, whites and Indians, and negroes, could worship God – levelled to the ground, but the Council carried out the decree even in the Illinois district which had been ceded to the King of England and which was no longer subject to France or Louisiana. They ordered even the vestments and plate to be delivered to the king's attorney. Thus was a vast territory left destitute of priests and altars, and the growth of the Church retarded for many years. Of the ten Capuchins left to administer this immense territory, five were retained in New Orleans; the remainder were scattered over various missions. It is interesting to note that the only native Louisiana priest at this time, and the first to enter the holy priesthood, Rev. Bernard Viel, born in New Orleans 1 October, 1736, was among the Jesuits expelled from the colony. He died in France, 1821. The inhabitants of New Orleans then numbered four thousand.
UNDER THE BISHOP OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA
In 1763 Louisiana was ceded to Spain, and Antonia Ulloa was sent over to take possession. The colonists were bitterly opposed to the cession, and finally rose in arms against the governor, giving him three days in which to leave the town. The Spanish Government resolved to punish the parties which had so insulted its representative, Don Ulloa, and sent Alexander O'Reilly to assume the office of governor. Lafrénière, President of the Council, who chiefly instigated the passing of the decree against the Jesuits from the colony, and the rebellion against the Government, was tried by court martial and with six of his partners in his scheme, was shot in the Palace d'Armes. O'Reilly reorganized the province after the Spanish model. The oath taken by the officials shows that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was then officially recognized in the Spanish dominions: "I swear before God to maintain the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, the Virgin Mary".
The change of government affected ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The Province of Louisiana passed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Santiago de Cuba, the Right Rev. James José de Echeverría, and Spanish Capuchins began to fill the places of their French brethren. Contradictory reports reached the new bishop about conditions in Louisiana and he sent Father Cirilo de Barcelona with four Spanish Capuchins to New Orleans. These priests were Fathers Aleman, Francisco, Angel de Revillagades and Louis de Quitanilla. They reached New Orleans on 19 July, 1773. The genial ways of the French brethren seemed scandalous to the stern Spanish disciplinarian, and he informed the Bishop of Cuba concerning what he considered "lax methods of conduct and administration". Governor Unzaga, however, interfered on behalf of the French Capuchins, and wrote to the bishop censuring the Spanish friars. This offended the bishop and both referred the matter to the Spanish Court. The Government expressed no opinion, but advised the prelate and governor to compromise, and so preserve harmony between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Some Louisiana historians, Charles Gayarré among others, speak of the depravity of the clergy of that period. These charges are not borne out by contemporary testimony; the archives of the cathedral witness that the clergy performed their work faithfully. These charges as a rule sprang from monastic prejudices or secular antipathies. One of the first acts of Father Cirilo as pastor of the St. Louis Cathedral was to have the catechism printed in both French and Spanish.
The Bishop of Santiago de Cuba resolved to remedy the deplorable conditions in Louisiana, where confirmation had never been administered. In view of his inability to visit this distant portion of his diocese, he asked for the appointment of an auxiliary bishop, who would take up his abode in New Orleans, and thence visit the missions on the Mississippi as well as those in Mobile, Pensacola, and St. Augustine. The Holy See appointed Father Cirilo de Barcelona, titular bishoo of Tricali and auxiliary of Santiago. He was consecrated in Cuba in 1781 and proceeded to New Orleans where for the first time the people enjoyed the presence of a bishop. A saintly man, he infused new life into the province. The whole of Louisiana and the Floridas were under his jurisdiction. According to official records of the Church in Louisiana in 1785, the church of St. Louis, New Orleans, has a parish priest, four assistants; and there was a resident priest at each of the following points: Terre aux Boeufs, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. James, Ascension, St. Gabriel's at Iberville, Point Coupee, Attakapas, Opelousas, Natchitoches, Natchez, St. Louis, St. Genevieve, and at Bernard or Manchac (now Galveston). On 25 November, 1785, Bishop Cirilo appointed as parish priest of New Orleans Rev. Antonio Ildefonso Morenory Arze de Sedella, one of the six Capuchins who had come to the colony in 1779. Father Antonio (popularly known as "Père Antoine") was destined to exert a remarkable influence in the colony. Few priests have been more assailed by historians, but a careful comparison of the ancient records of the cathedral with the traditions that cluster about his memory show that he did not deserve on the one hand the indignities which Gayarré and Shea heap upon him, nor yet the excessive honours with which tradition had crowned him. From the cathedral archives it has been proven that he was simply an earnest priest striving to do what he thought his duty amid many difficulties.
In 1787 a number of unfortunate Acadians came at the expense of the King of France and settled near Plaquemines, Terre aux Boeufs, Bayou Lafourche, Attakapas, and Opelousas, adding to the already thrifty colony. They brought with them the precious register of St. Charles aux Mines in Acadia extending from 1689 to 1749 only six years before their cruel deportation. They were deposited for safe keeping with the priest of St. Gabriel at Iberville and are now in the diocesan archives. St. Augustine being returned to Spain by the treaty of peace of 1783, the King of Spain made efforts to provide for the future of Catholicism in that ancient province. As many English people had settled there and in West Florida, notably at Baton Rouge and Natchez, Charles III applied to the Irish College for priests to attend to the English-speaking population. Accordingly Rev. Michael O'Reilly and Reverend Thomas Hasset were sent to Florida. Catholic worship was restored, the city at once resuming its own old aspect. Rev. William Savage, a clergyman of great repute, Rev. Michael Lamport, Rev. Gregory White, Rev. Constantine Makenna, Father Joseph Denis and a Franciscan with six fathers of his order, were sent to labour in Louisiana. They were distributed through the Natchez and Baton Rouge districts, and were the first Irish priests to come to Louisiana, the pioneers of a long and noble line to whom this archdiocese owes much. In 1787 the Holy See divided the Diocese of Santiago de Cuba, erected the bishopric of Christopher of Havana, Louisiana, and the Floridas, with the Right Ver. Joseph de Trespalacios of Porto Rico as bishop, and the Right Rev. Cirilo de Barcelona as auxiliary, with the special direction of Louisiana and the two Floridas. Louisiana thus formed a part of the Diocese of Havana.
Near Fort Natchez the site for a church was purchased on April 11, 1788. The earliest incumbent of whom any record was kept was Father Francis Lennan. Most of the people of Natchez were English Protestants or Americans, who had sided with England. They enjoyed absolute religious freedom, no attempt to proselytize was ever made. On Good Friday, 21 March, 1788, New Orleans was swept by a conflagration in which nine hundred buildings, including the parish church, with the adjoining convent of the Capuchins, the house of Bishop Cirilo and the Spanish School were reduced to ashes. From the ruins of the old irregularly built French City rose the stately Spanish City, old New Orleans, practically unchanged as it exists today. Foremost among the public-spirited men of that time was Don Andreas Almonaster y Roxas, of a noble Andalusian family and royal standard bearer for the colony. He had made a great fortune in New Orleans, and at a cost of $50,000 he built and gave to the city the St. Louis Cathedral. He rebuilt the house for the use of the clergy and the charity hospital at a cost of $114,000. He also rebuilt the town hall and the Cabildo, the buildings on either side of the cathedral, the hospital, the boys' school, a chapel for the Ursulines, and founded the Leper Hospital.Meanwhile rapid assimilation had gone on in Louisiana. Americans began to make their homes in New Orleans and in 1791 the insurrection of San Domingo drove there many hundreds of wealthy noble refugees.
DIOCESE OF LOUISIANA AND THE TWO FLORIDAS (1793)
The archives of the New Orleans Diocese show that the King of Spain petitioned Pius VI on 20 May, 1790, to erect Louisiana and the Floridas into a separate see, and on April 9, 1793, a decree for the dismemberment of the Diocese of Havana, Louisiana, and the Provinces of East and West Florida was issued. It provided for the erection of the See of St. Louis of New Orleans, which was to include all the Louisiana Province and the Provinces of East and West Florida.
The Bishops of Mexico, Agalopi, Michoacan and Caracas were to contribute, pro rata, a fund for the support of the Bishop of New Orleans, until such time as the see would be self-sustaining. The decree left the choice of a bishop for a new see to the King of Spain, and he on 25 April, 1793, wrote to Bishop Cirilo relieving him of his office of auxiliary, and directing him to return immediately to Catalonia with a salary of one thousand dollars a year, which the Bishop of Havana was to contribute. Bishop Cirilo returned to Havana and seems to have resided with the Hospital Friars, while endeavouring to obtain his salary, so that he might return to Europe. It is not known where Bishop Cirilo died in poverty and humiliation.
The Right Rev. Luis Ignatius Peñalver y Cárdenas (1794-1801) was appointed first bishop of the new See. He was a native of Havana, born 3 April, 1719, and had been educated by the Jesuits of his native city, receiving his degree in the university in 1771. He was a priest of irreproachable character, and a skillful director of souls. He was consecrated in the Cathedral of Havana in 1795. The St. Louis parish church, now raised to the dignity of a cathedral, was dedicated on 23 December, 1794. A letter from the king, 14 August, 1794, decreed that its donor, Don Almonaster, was authorized to occupy the most prominent seat in the church, second only to that of the vice regal patron, the intendant of the province, and to receive the “kiss of peace” during the Mass. Don Almonaster died in 1798 and was buried under the altar of the Sacred Heart. Bishop Peñalver arrived in New Orleans, 17 July, 1795. In a report to the king and the Holy See he bewailed the indifference he found as to the practice of religious duties. He set faithfully to work, and on 21 December, 1795, called a synod, the first and only one held in the diocese of colonial New Orleans. He also issued a letter of instruction to the clergy deploring the fact that many of his flock were more than five hundred leagues away, and how impossible it was to repair at one and the same time to all. He enjoined the pastors to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and in all things to fulfill their duties. This letter of instruction bearing his signature is preserved in the archives of the diocese, and, with the call for the synod, forms the only documents signed by the first Bishop of New Orleans. In 1798 the Duc d'Orléans (afterwards King Luis-Philippe of France) with his two brothers, the Duc de Montpensier and the Count de Beaujolais, visited New Orleans. They were received with honour and when Louis-Philippe became King of France he remembered many of those who had entertained him when in exile, and was generous to the Church in the old French province. Bishop Peñalver everywhere showed himself active in the cause of educational progress and was a generous benefactor of the poor. He was promoted to the See of Guatemala, 20 July, 1801. Before his departure he appointed, as vicars-general, Rev. Thomas Canon Hasset and Rev. Patrick Walsh, who became officially recognized as "Governors of theDiocese".
Right Rev. Francis Porró y Reinado (1801-1803), a Franciscan of the Convent of the Holy Apostles, Rome, was appointed to succeed Bishop Peñalver. But he never took possession of the see. Some old chronicles in Louisiana say that he was never consecrated; others that he was, and died on the eve of leaving Rome. Bishop Portier (Spalding's "Life of Bishop Flaget"), says that he was translated to the See of Terrazona. The See of New Orleans remained vacant many years after the departure of bishop Peñalver.
Territorially from this ancient see have been erected the Archbishoprics of St. Louis, Cincinnati, St. Paul, Dubuque and Chicago; and the bishoprics of Alexandria, Mobile, Natchez, Galveston, San Antonio, Little Rock, St. Augustine, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Davenport, Cheyenne, Dallas, Winona, Duluth, Concordia, Omaha, Sioux Falls, Oklahoma, St. Cloud, Bismark, and Cleveland.
LOUISIANA BECOMES AMERICAN
By the Treaty of San Ildefonse, the Spanish King on 1 October, 1800, engaged to retroced Louisiana to the French Republic six months after certain conditions and stipulations had been executed on the part of France, and the Holy See deferred the appointment of a bishop.
On 30 April, 1803, without waiting for the actual transfer of the province, Napoleon Bonaparte by the Treaty of Paris sold Louisiana to the United States. De Laussat, the French Commissioner, had reached New Orleans on 26 March, 1803, to take possession of the province in the name of France. Spain was preparing to evacuate and general confusion prevailed. Very Rev. Thomas Hasset, the administrator of the diocese, was directed to address each priest and ascertain whether they preferred to return with the Spanish forces or to remain in Louisiana; also to obtain from each parish an inventory of the plate, vestments, and other articles in the church which had been given by the Spanish Government. Then came the news of the cession of the province to the United States. On 20 April, 1803, De Laussat formally surrendered the colony to the United States commissioners. The people felt it keenly, and the cathedral archives show the difficulties to be surmounted. Father Hasset, as administrator, issued a letter to the clergy on 10 June, 1803, announcing the new domination, and notifying all of the permission to return to Spain if they desired. Several priests signified their desire to follow the Spanish standard. The question of withdrawal was also discussed by the Ursuline nuns. Thirteen out of the twenty-one choir nuns were in favour of returning to Spain or going to Havana. De Laussat went to the convent and assured them that they could remain unmolested. Notwithstanding this Mother Saint Monica and eleven others, with nearly all the lay sisters applied to the Marquis de Casa Calvo to convey them to Havana. Six choir nuns and two lay sisters remained to begin again the work in Louisiana. They elected Mother St. Xavier Fargeon as superioress, and resumed all the exercises of community life, maintaining their academy, day school, orphan asylum, hospital and instructions for coloured people in catechism. Father Hasset wrote to Bishop Carroll on 23 December, 1803, that the retrocession of the province to the United States of America impelled him to present to his consideration the present ecclesiastical state of Louisiana, not doubting that it would soon fall under his jurisdiction. The ceded province consisted of twenty-one parishes some of which were vacant. Father Hasset died in April 1804. Father Antonio Sedella had returned to New Orleans in 1791, and resumed his duties as parish priest of the St. Louis Cathedral to which he had been appointed by Bishop Cirilo. After the cession a dispute arose between him and Father Walsh, and the later, on 27 March, 1805, established the Ursuline convent as the only place in the parish for the administration of the sacraments and the celebration of the Divine Office. On 21 March, 1804, the Ursulines addressed a letter to Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, in which they solicited the passage of an Act of Congress guaranteeing their property and rights. The president replied reassuring the Ursulines. "The principles of the Constitution of the United States" he wrote, "are a sure guaranty to you that it will be preserved to you sacred and inviolate, and that your institution will be permitted to govern itself according to its own voluntary rules without interference from the civil authority. Whatever diversity of shades may appear in the religious opinions of our fellow citizens, the charitable objects of your Institution cannot be of indifference to any; and its furtherance of the wholesome purpose by training up its young members in the way they should go cannot fail to insure the patronage of the government it is under. Be assured that it will meet with all the protection my office can give it. "
Father Walsh, administrator of the diocese, died on 22 August, 1806, and was buried in the Ursuline chapel. The Archiepiscopal See of Santo Domingo, the metropolitan of the province, to which the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas belonged, was vacant, and not one of the bishops of the Spanish province would interfere in the New Orleans Diocese, though the Bishop of Havana extended his authority once more over the Florida portion of the diocese. As the death of Father Walsh left the diocese without anyone to govern it, Bishop Carroll, who had meanwhile informed himself of the condition of affairs, resolved to act under the decree of 1 Sept., 1805, and assume administration. Father Antoine had been accused of intriguing openly against the Government; but beyond accusations made to Bishop Carroll there is nothing to substantiate them. In 1806 a decree of the Propaganda confided Lousiana to the care of Bishop Carroll of Baltimore, and created him administrator apostolic. He appointed Rev. John Olivier (who had been at Cohokia until 1803), Vicar-general of Louisiana and chaplain of the Ursuline Nuns at New Orleans. Father Olivier presented his documents to the Governor of Louisiana, and also wrote to Father Antoine Sedella apprising him of the action of the Propaganda. Father Antoine called upon Father Olivier, but he was not satisfied as to Bishop Carroll's authorization. The vicar-general published the decree and the bishop's letter at the convent chapel. The Rev. Thomas Flynn wrote from St. Louis, 8 Nov., 1806, that the trustees were about to install him. He describes the church as a good one with a tolerably good bell, a high altar, and commodious pews. The house for the priest was convenient but in need of repair. Except Rev. Fr. Maxwell there was scarcely a priest in Upper Louisiana in 1807.
As the original rescript issued by the Holy See to Bishop Carroll had not been so distinct and clear as to obviate objections, he applied to the Holy See asking that more ample and distinct authorizations be sent. The Holy See placed the Province of Louisiana under Bishop Carroll who was requested to send to the New Orleans Diocese either Rev. Charles Nerinckx, or some secular or religious priest, with the rank of administrator Apostolic and the rights of an ordinary to continue only at the good will of the Holy See according to instructions to be forwarded by the Propaganda. Bishop Carroll did not act immediately, but on 18 August, 1812, appointed Rev. Louis Dubourg AdministratorApostolic of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. Rev. Dubourg's authority was at once recognized by Fr. Antoine and the rest of the clergy. The war between the United States and Great Britain was in progress, and as the year 1814 drew to a close, Father Dubourg issued a pastoral letter calling on the people to pray for the success of the American arms. During the battle of New Orleans (8 Jan., 1815) Gen. Andrew Jackson sent a messenger to the Ursuline convent to ask for prayers for his success. When victory came he sent a courier thanking the sisters for their prayers, and he decreed a public thanksgiving; a Solemn High Mass was celebrated in the St. Louis Cathedral on 23 January, 1815. The condition of religion in the diocese was not encouraging, seven out of fourteen parishes were vacant. Funds were also needed and Father Dubourg went to Rome to ask for aid for his diocese. There the Propaganda appointed the Rev. Louis-Guillaume-Valentin Dubuourg (1815-1825) as the third bishop on 18 September, 1815, and on 24 September he was consecrated by Cardinal Joseph Pamfili.
Bishop Dubourg proposed the division of the diocese and the erection of a see in Upper Louisiana, but the news of troubles among the clergy in New Orleans and the attempt of the trustees to obtain a charter depriving the bishop of his cathedral so alarmed him that he petitioned the Propaganda to allow him to take up his residence in St. Louis and establish his seminary and other educational institutions there. He sailed from Bordeaux for New Orleans (28 June, 1817), accompanied by five priests, four subdeacons, eleven seminarians and three Christian Brothers. He took possession of the church at St. Genevieve, a ruined wooden structure, and was installed by Bishop Flaget. He then established the Lazarist seminary at Bois Brule ("The Barrens"), and brought from Bardstowm, where they were temporarily sojourning, Father Andreis, Father Rosati, and the seminarians who accompanied him from Europe. The Brothers of the Christian Doctrine opened a boys' school at St. Genevieve. At his request the Religious of the Sacred Heart, comprising Madames Philippe Duchesne, Berthold, André, and two lay sisters reaching New Orleans, 30 May, 1818, proceeded from St. Louis and opened their convent at Florissant. In 1821 they established a convent at Grand Coteau, Louisiana. The faith made great progress throughout the diocese. On 1 January, 1821, Bishop Dubourg held the first synod since the Purchase of Louisiana. Where he found ten superannuated priests there were now forty active, zealous men at work. Still appeals came from all part of the immense diocese for priests; among others he received a letter from the banks of the Columbia in Oregon begging him to send a priest to minister to 1500 Catholics there who had never had anyone to attend to them. The Ursuline Nuns, frequently annoyed by being summoned to court, appealed to the legislature claiming the privileges they had enjoyed under the French and Spanish dominations. Their ancient rights were recognized and a law was passed, 28 January, 1818, enacting that where the testimony of a nun was required it should be taken at the convent by commission. It had a far-reaching effect in later days upon legislation in the United States in similar cases.
Spain by treaty ceded Florida to the United States, 22 February, 1818, and Bishop Dubourg was then able to extend his episcopal care to that part of his diocese, the vast extent of which prompted him to form plans for the erection of a metropolitan see west of the Alleghenies. This did not meet with the approval of the bishops of the United States; he then proposed to divide the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, establishing a see at New Orleans embracing Lower Lousiana, Mississipi, Alabama and Florida. Finally on 13 August, 1822, the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississipi and Alabama was formed with the Reverend Joseph Rosati, elected Bishop of Tenagra, as Vicar Apostolic. But Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal remonstrated because in establishing this vicariate the propaganda had inadvertently invaded the rights of theArchbishop of Baltimore as the whole of those states except a small portion south of the thirty-first degree between Perdido and Pearl Island belonged to the Diocese of Baltimore. Bishop Rosati also wrote representing the poverty and paucity of the Catholics in Mississippi and Alabama, and the necessity of remaining at the head of the seminary. Finally his arguments and the protests of the Archbishop of Baltimore prevailed and the Holy See suppressed the vicariate, appointing Dr. Rosati coadjutor to Bishop Dubourg to reside at St. Louis. Bishop Rosati was consecrated by Bishop Dubourg at Donaldsonville on 25 March, 1824, and proceeded at once to St. Louis. In 1823 Bishop Dubourg took up the subject of the Indian missions and laid before the Government the necessity of a plan for the civilization and conversion of the Indians west of the Mississippi. His plan met with the approval of the Government and an allowance of $200 a year was assigned to four or five missionaries, to be increased if the project proved successful.
ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS (Dioc. 1826; Arch. 1850)
On 29 August, 1825, Alabama and the Floridas were erected into a Vicariate Apostolic, with Rev. Michael Portier the first bishop. The Holy See divided the Diocese of Louisiana (18 July, 1826), and established the See of New Orleans with Louisiana as its diocese, and the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi to be administered by the Bishop of New Orleans. The country north of Louisiana was made the Diocese of St. Louis, Bishop Rosati being transferred to that see. Bishop Dubourg, though a man of vast projects and of great service to the church, was little versed in business methods; discouraged at the difficulties that rose to thwart him he resigned his see and was transferred to Mantauban. Bishop Rosati, appointed to the See of New Orleans, declined the appointment, urging that his knowledge of English qualified him to labour better in Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas, while he was not sufficiently versed in French to address the people of New Orleans with success. On 20 March, 1827, the papal brief arrived allowing him to remain in St. Louis but charging him for a while with the administration of the See of New Orleans. He appointed Rev. Leo Raymond de Neckere, C. M., vicar-general, and strongly recommended his appointment for the vacant see. Father Leo Raymon de Neckère (1829-1833), then in Belgium wither he had gone to recuperate his health, was summoned to Rome and appointed fourth bishop of New Orleans. Bishop de Neckere was born, 6 June, 1800, at Wevelghem, Belgium, and while a seminarian at Ghent, was accepted for the Diocese of New Orleans by Bishop Dubourg. He joined the Lazarists and was ordained in St. Louis, Missouri, 13 October, 1822. On 23 February, 1832, he convoked a synod attended by twenty-one priests. Regulations were promulgated for better discipline and steps were taken to form an association for the dissemination of good literature.
Americans were now pouring into New Orleans. The ancient French limits had long since disappeared. Such was the enterprise on all sides that in 1832 New Orleans ranked in importance immediately after New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. It was the greatest cotton and sugar market in the world. Irish emigration also set in, and a church for the English-speaking people was an absolute necessity as the cathedral and the old Ursuline chapel were the only places of worship in New Orleans. A site was bought on Camp Street near Julia, a frame church, St. Patrick's, was erected and dedicated on 21 April, 1833. Rev. Adam Kindelon was the pastor of this, the first English-speaking congregation of New Orleans. The foundation of this parish was one of the last official acts of Bishop de Neckere. The year was one of sickness and death. Cholera and yellow fever raged. The priests were kept busy day and night, and the vicar-general, Father B. Richards and Fathers Marshall, Tichitoli, Kindelon fell victims to their zeal. Bishop de Neckere, who had retired to Convent, La., in hope of restoring his shattered health, returned at once to the city upon the outbreak of the epidemic, and began visiting and ministering to the plague-stricken. Soon he too was seized with fever and succumbed ten days later on 5 September, 1833. Just before the bishop's death there arrived in New Orleans a priest who was destined to exercise for many years an influence upon the life and progress of the Church and the Commonwealth, Father James Ignatius Mullen; he was immediately appointed to the vacant rectorship of St. Patrick's. Upon the death of Bishop De Neckere, Fathers Anthony Blanc and V. Lavadière, S.J., became the administrators of the diocese. In November, undismayed by the epidemic which still continued, a band of Sisters of Charity set out from Emmitsburg, to take charge of the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. The sisters had come into the diocese about 1832 to assume the direction of the Poydras Asylum, erected by Julian Poydras, a Huguenot. Seven of the new colony from Emmitsburg were sent to the asylum, and ten to the Charity Hospital. Bishop de Neckere had invited the Tertiary Sisters of Mount Carmelto make a foundation in New Orleans, which they did on 22 October, 1833, a convent school and an orphanage being opened.
Father Augustine Jeanjean was selected by Rome to fill the episcopal vacancy, but he declined, and Father Anthony Blanc (1835-1860) was appointed fifth Bishop of New Orleans (later first archbishop) and consecrated on 22 November, 1835. Bishop Blanc knew the great want of the diocese, the need of priests, whose ranks had been decimated by age, pestilence, and overwork. To meet this want, Bishop Blanc asked the Jesuits to establish a college in Louisiana. They arrived on 22 January, 1837, and opened a college at Grand Coteau on 5 January, 1838. He then invited the Lazarists and on 20 December, 1838, they arrived and at once opened a seminary at Bayeaux Lafourche. In 1836, Julian Poydras having died, the asylum which he founded passed entirely under Presbyterian auspices, and the Sisters of Charity being compelled to relinquish the direction, St. Patrick's Orphan Asylum, now New Orelans Female Orphan Asylum was founded and placed under their care. In 1841 the Sisters Marianites of the Holy Cross came to New Orleans to assume charge of St. Mary's Orphan Boys Asylum. They opened also na academy for young ladies and the orphanage of the Immaculate Conception for girls. The wants of coloured people also deeply concerned Bishop Blanc and he worked assiduously for the proper spiritual care of the slaves. After the insurrection of San Domingo in 1793 a large number of coloured people from that island who were slaveholders themselves took refuge in New Orleans. Thus was created a free coloured population among which successive epidemics played havoc leaving aged and orphans to be cared for. Accordingly in 1842 Bishop Blanc and Father Rousselon founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, whose duty was the care of the coloured orphans and the aged coloured poor. It was the first coloured sisterhood founded in the United States and one of the only two that exist.
Bishop Blanc planned the erection of new parishes in the city of New Orleans, and St. Joseph's and the Annunciation were founded in 1844. The foundation of these parishes greatly diminished the congregation of the cathedral and the trustees seeing their influence waning entered upon a new war against religion. Upon the death of Father Aloysius Moni, Bishop Blanc appointed Father C. Maenhaut rector of the cathedral, but the wardens refused to recognize his appointment, claiming the right of patronage formerly enjoyed by the King of Spain. They brought an action against the bishop in the parish court, but the judge decided against the trustees, and the case was appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that the right to nominate a parish priest, or the jus patronatus of Spanish law, was abrogated in the state, and the decision of the Holy See was sustained. But the wardens refused to recognize this decision and the bishop ordered the clergy to withdraw from the cathedral and parochial residence. One of the members of the board, who was a member of the city council, obtained the passage of a law, punishing by fine any priest who should perform the burial service over a dead body except in the old mortuary chapel erected in 1826 as part of the cathedral parish. Under this ordinance Rev. Bernard Permoli was prosecuted. The old chapel had long outlived its purpose, and on 18 December, 1842, Judge Preval decided the ordinance illegal, and the Supreme Court of the United States sustained his decision. The faithful of St. Patrick's parish having publicly protested against the outrageous proceedings, the tide of public opinion set in strongly against the men who thus defied all church authority. In January, 1843, the latter submitted and received the parish priest appointed by the bishop. Soon after the faithful Catholics of the city petitioned the legislature to amend the Act incorporating the cathedral, and bring it into harmony with ecclesiastical discipline. Even after the decision of the Legislature the bishop felt he could not treat with the wardens as they defied his authority by authorizing the erection of a monument to Freemasons in the Catholic cemetery of St. Louis. To free the faithful, he therefore continued to plan for the organization of parishes and the erection of newchurches. Only one low Mass was said at the cathedral, and that on Sunday. Bishop Blanc convened the third synod of the diocese on 21 April, at which the clergy were warned against yielding to the illegal claims of the trustees, and the erection of any church without a deed being first made to the bishop was forbidden. For the churches in which the trustees system still existed special regulations were made, governing the method of keeping accounts. At the close of 1844, the trustees, defeated in the courts and held in contempt by public opinion throughout the diocese, yielded completely to Bishop Blanc.
The controversy terminated, a period of remarkable activity in the organization of parishes and the building of new churches set in. In 1843, anxious to provide for the wants of the increasing German and Irish immigration, Bishop Blanc had summoned the Congregation of the Redemptorists to the diocese and the German parish of St. Mary's Assumption was founded by Rev. Czackert of that congregation. The cornerstone of St. Mary's, intended to replace the old Ursuline chapel attached to the bishop's house, was laid on 16 Feb., 1845; that of St. Joseph's on 16 April, 1846; that of the Annunciation on 10 May, 1846. The parish of Mater Dolorosa at Carrollton (then a suburb) was founded on 8 Sept. The population of New Orleans now numbered over fifty thousand, among whom were many German immigrants. Bishop Blanc turned over the old Ursuline chapel to the Germans of the lower portion of the city, and a church was erected which finally resulted in the foundation of the Holy Trinity parish on 26 October, 1847. That of Holy Name of Mary at Algiers on 18 Dec., 1848. In 1849 the College of St. Paul was opened at Baton Rouge. In 1849 St. Stephen's parish in the then suburb of Bouligny under the Lazarist Fathers and St. Peter and St. Paul came into existence. The cornerstone of the Redemptorist church of St. Alphonsus was laid by the famous Apostle of Temperance, Father Theobald Mathew, on 11 April, 1850; two years later it was found necessary to enlarge this church, and a school was added. In 1851 the foundation-stone of the church of the Immaculate Conception was laid, on the site of a humbler edifice erected in 1848. This is said to have been the first church in the world dedicatedto the Immaculate Conception. The parishes of St. John the Baptist in uppertown and of St. Anne in the French quarter were organized in 1852.
In 1849 Bishop Blanc attended the seventh council of Baltimore at which the bishops expressed their desire that the See of New Orleans be raised to metropolitan rank. On 19 July, 1850, Pius X established the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Bishop Blanc being raised to the Archepiscopal dignity. The Provinceof New Orleans was to embrace New Orleans with Mobile, Natchez, Little Rock, and Galveston as suffragan sees. The spirit of “Knownothingism” invaded New Orleans as other parts of the United States, and Archbishop Blanc found himself in the thick of the battle. Public debates were held, conspicuous among those who did yeoman service in crushing the efforts of the party in Louisiana being Hon. Thos. J. Semmes, a distinguished advocate, Rev. Francis Xavier Leray and Rev. N. J. Perche, both afterwards Archbishop of New Orleans. Father Perche founded (1844) a French diocesan journal "Le Propagateur Catholique", which vigorously assailed the “Knownothing” doctrines. On June 6 a mob attacked the office of the paper, and also made a fierce attack on the Ursuline convent, breaking doors and windows and hurling insults at the nuns.
In 1853 New Orleans was decimated by the worst outbreak of yellow fever in its history, seven priests and five sisters being among its victims. On 6 March, 1854, the School Sisters of Notre Dame Dame arrived in New Orleans to take charge of St. Joseph's Asylum, founded to furnish homes for those orphaned by the epidemic. St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum was also opened as a home for foundling and infant orphans, and entrusted to the Sisters of Charity. On 29 July, 1853, the Holy See divided the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which at that time embraced all of Louisiana, and established the Diocese of Natchitoches. The new diocese contained about twenty-five thousand Catholics, chiefly a rural population, for whom there were only seven churches. The Convent of the Sacred Heart at Natchitoches was the only religious institution in the new diocese. In 1854 Archbishop Blanc went to Rome and was present at the solemn definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In his report to Propaganda he describes his diocese as containing forty quasi-churches, each with a church and one or two priests and a residence for the clergy; the city had eighteen churches. The diocese had a seminary under the Priests of the Mission with an average of nine students; the religious orders at work were theJesuits with three establishments, Priests of the Mission with three, and the Redemptorists with two. The Catholic population of 95,000 was made up of natives of French, Spanish, Irish, or American origin, French, Germans, Spaniards, and Italians. Distinctive Catholic schools were increasing. The Ursulines, Religious of the Sacred Heart, Sisters of Holy Charity, Marianites of the Holy Cross, Tertiary Carmelites, School Sisters of Notre Dame and the Coloured Sisters of the Holy Family were doing excellent work. Many abuses had crept in especially with regard to marriage, but after the erection of the new churches with smaller parochial school districts, religion had gained steadily and the frequentation of the sacraments was increasing.
In 1855 the Fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Cross came to New Orleans to establish a manual industrial schoolfor the training of the orphan boys who had bee rendered homeless by the terrible epidemic of 1853. They established themselves in the lower portion of New Orleans and became inseparably identified with religious and educational progress. In 1879 they opened their college, which is now one of the leading institutions of Louisiana. On 20 January, 1856, the First Provincial Council of New Orleans was held, and in January, 1858, Archbishop Blanc held the fourth diocesan synod. In 1859 the Sisters of the Good Shepherd were called by Archbishop Blanc to New Orleans to open a reformatory for girls. Bishop Blanc opened another diocesan seminary in the same year, and placed it in charge of the Lazarist Fathers. He convoked the second provincial council on 22 January, 1860. Just before the second session opened he was taken so seriously ill that he could no longer attend the meetings. He rallied and seemed to regain his usual health, but he died 20 June following.
Right Rev. John Mary Odin (1861-1870), Bishop of Galveston, was named second archbishop and arrived in New Orleans on the Feast of Pentecost, 1861. The Civil War had already begun and excitement was intense. All the prudence and charity of the Archbishop were needed as the war progressed. An earnest maintainer of discipline, Bishop Odin found it necessary, on 1 January, 1863, to issue regulations regarding the recklessness and carelessness that had prevailed in the temporal management of the churches the indebtedness of which he had been compelled to assume to save them from bankruptcy. The regulations were not favourably received, and the archbishop visited Rome, returning in the spring of 1863, when he had obtained the permission of the Holy See for his course of action. It was not until some time later that through his charity and zeal he obtained the cordial support he desired. His appeals for priests while in Europe were not unheeded and early in 1863 forty seminarians and five Ursulines arrived with Bishop Dubuis of Galveston. Among the priests were Fathers Gustave A. Rouxel, later auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans under Archbishop Chapelle, Thomas Heslin, afterwards Bishop of Natchez, and J. R. Bogaerts, vice-general under Archbishop Janssens. In 1860 the Dominican Nuns from Cabra, Ireland came to New Orleans to take charge of St. John the Baptist School and open an academy. In 1864 the Sisters of Mercy came to the city to assume charge of St. Alphonsus' School and Asylum and open a convent and boarding school, and the Marists were offered the Church of St. Michael at Convent, La. On 12 July, 1864, they assumed charge of Jefferson College founded by the state in 1835 and donated to them by Valcour Aime, a wealthy planter. The diocese was incorporated on 15 August, 1866, the legal name being "The Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of New Orleans". In 1867 during a terrible epidemic of yellow fever and cholera, Fathers Speesberger and Seelos of the Redemptorists died martyrs of charity. Father Seelos was regarded as a saint and the cause of his beatification was introduced in Rome (1905). In 1866, owing to financial trials throughout the South, the diocesan seminary was closed. In February, 1868, Archbishop Odin founded "The Morning Star" as the official organ of the diocese, which it has continued to be.
During the nine years of Bishop Odin's administration he nearly doubled the number of his clergy and churches. He attended the Council of the Vatican, but was obliged to leave Rome on the entry of the Garibaldian troops. His health was broken and he returned to his native home, Ambierle, France, where he died on 25 May, 1870.
Archbishop Odin was succeeded by Rev. Napoleon Joseph Perché (1870-1883) as third archbishop of New Orleans. He was born at Angers, France, January, 1805, and died on 27 December, 1883. The latter completed his studies at the seminary of Beaupré, was ordained on 19 September, 1829, and sent to Murr near Angers where he worked zealously. In 1837 he came to America with Bishop Flaget and was appointed pastor of Portland. He came to New Orleans with Bishop Blanc in 1841, and he soon became famous in Louisiana for his eloquence and learning. Archbishop Odin petitioned Rome for the appointment of Father Perche as his coadjutor with the right of succession. His request was granted and, on 1 May, 1870, Father Perche was consecrated in the cathedral of New Orleans. He was promoted to the see on 26 May, 1970. One of his first acts was the re-establishment of the diocesan seminary. The Benedictine Nuns were received into the diocese in 1870.
The Congregation of the Immaculate Conception, a diocesan sisterhood, was founded in the year 1873 by Father Cyprian Venissat, at Labadieville, to afford education and assistance to children of families impoverished by the war. In 1875 the Poor Clares made a foundation, and on 21 November, 1877, the Discalced Carmelites Nuns of St. Louis sent two members to make a foundation in New Orleans, their monastery being opened on 11 May, 1878. In 1878 the new parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was organized and placed in charge of the Holy Cross Fathers from Indiana. On 12 October, 1872, the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration opened their missions and schools in New Orleans. In 1879 the Holy Cross Fathers opened a college in the lower portion of the city. Owing to the financial difficulties it was necessary to close the diocesan seminary in 1881. Archbishop Perche was a great scholar, but he lacked administrative ability. In his desire to relieve Southern families ruined by the war, he gave to all largely and royally, and thus plunged the diocese into a debt of over $600,000. He was growing very feeble and an application was made to Rome for a coadjutor.
Bishop Francis Xavier Leray (1883-1887) of Natchitoches was transferred to New Orleans as coadjutor and Apostolic administrator of affairs on 23 October, 1879, and at once set to work to liquidate the immense debt. It was during the administration of Archbishop Perche and the coadjutorship of Bishop Leray that the Board of Trustees of the cathedral that formerly had caused so much trouble passed out of existence in July 1881, and transferred all the cathedral property to Archbishop Perche and Bishop Leray jointly, for the benefit and use of the Catholic population. Archbishop Leray was born at Château Giron, Brittany, France, 20 April, 1825. He became the fourth archbishop of New Orleans in 1883. His most difficult task was the bringing of financial order out of chaos and reducing the enormous debt of the diocese. In this he met with great success. During his administration the debt was reduced by at least $300,000. His health, however, became impaired, and he went to France in the hope of recuperating, and died at Château Giron, on 23 September, 1887.
The see remained vacant for nearly a year, Rev. Rouxel administering the affairs of the diocese, until Right Rev. Francis August Anthony Joseph Janssens (1888-1897), Bishop of Natchez, was promoted to fill the vacancy on 7 August, 1888, and took possession on 16 September, 1888. Archbishop Janssens was born at Tillbourg, Holland, on 17 October, 1843. At thirteen he began his studies in the seminary at Bois-le-Duc; he remained there ten years, and in 1866 entered the American College atLouvain, Belgium. He was ordained on 21 December, 1867, and arranged to come to America. He arrived at Richmond in September, 1868, and became pastor of the cathedral in 1870. He was administrator of the diocese pending the appointment of Right Rev. James (later Cardinal) Gibbons to the vacant see; Bishop Gibbons appointed him vicar-general and five years later when he was appointed to the Archiepiscopal See of Baltimore, Father Janssens became again administrator of the diocese. On 7 April, 1881, the See of Natchez became vacant by the promotion of Right Rev.William Elder as Bishop of Cincinnati and Father Janssens succeeded. Not the least of the difficulties that awaited him as Archbishop of New Orleans was the heavy indebtedness resting upon the see and the constant drain thus made which had exhausted the treasury. There was no seminary and the rapid growth of the population augmented the demand for priests. He at once called a meeting of the clergy and prominent citizens, and plans were formulated for the gradual liquidation of the debt of the diocese, which was found to be $324,759. Before his death he had reduced it to about $130,000. Notwithstanding this burden, the diocese, through the zeal of Archbishop Janssens, entered upon a period of unusual activity. One of his first acts, March, 1890, was a to fund a little seminary, which was opened at Pounchatoula, La., 3 September, 1891, and placed under the direction of the Benedictine Fathers. He went to Europe in 1889 to secure priests for the diocese and to arrange for the sale of bonds for the liquidation of the debt. In August, 1892, after the lynching of the Italians who assassinated the chief of police, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, founded in Italy by Mother Cabrini for work among Italians immigrants arrived in New Orleans and opened a large mission, a free school, and na asylum for Italian orphans, and began also mission work among the Italian gardeners on the outskirts of the city and in Kenner, La. The same year a terrific cyclone and storm swept the Louisiana Gulf Coast, and laid low the lands among the Caminada Cheniere where there was a settlement of Italian and Spanish ans Malay fishermen. Out of a population of 1500 over 800 were swept away. Rev. Father Grimaud performed the burial service over 400 bodies as they were washed ashore. Father Bedel at Beras buried over three hundred and went out at night to succour the wandering and helpless. Archbishop Janssens in a small boat went among the lonely and desolate island settlements comforting the people and helping them to rebuild their broken homes.
In 1893, the centenary of the diocese was celebrated with splendor at the St. Louis Cathedral; Cardinal Gibbons and many of the hierarchy were present. Archbishop Janssens was instrumental, at this time, in establishing the Louisiana Leper's Home at Indian Camp, and it was through his officers that the Sisters of Charity at Emmitsburg took charge of the home. He was deeply interested in the work of the Coloured Sisters of the Holy Family, now domiciled in the ancient Quadroon Ball Room and Theatre of antebellum days, which had been turned into a convent and boarding-school. Through the generosity of a coloured philanthropist, Thomy Lafon, Archbishop Janssens was enabled to provide a large and more comfortable home for the aged coloured poor, a new asylum for the boys, and through the legacy of $20,000 left for this purpose by Mr. Lafon, who died in 1883, a special home, under the care of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, for the reform of coloured girls. The St. John Berchman's Chapel, a memorial to Thomy Lafon, was erected in the Convent of the Holy Family which he had so befriended. At this time Archbishop Janssens estimated the number of Catholics in the diocese at 341,613; the value of church property at $3,861,075; the number of baptisms a year 15,000 and the number of deaths, 5000. Anxious to liquidate entirely the debt of the diocese he made arrangements to visit Europe in 1897, but died aboard the steamer Creole, 19 June, on the voyage to New York.
Most Rev. Placide Louis Chapelle (1897-1905), Archbishop of Santa Fé, was appointed to the vacant See of New Orleans, 1 December, 1897. Shortly after coming to New Orleans he found it imperative to go to Europe to effect a settlement for the remainder of the diocesan debt of $130,000. While he was in Europe, war was declared between Spain and the United States, and, upon the declaration of peace, Archbishop Chapelle was appointed Apostolic delegate extraordinary to Cuba and Porto Rico and charge d'affaires to the Philippine Islands. Returning from Europe he arranged the assessment of five percent upon the salaries of the clergy for five years for the liquidation of the diocesan debt. In October 1900 he closed the little seminary at Ponchatoula, and opened a higher one in New Orleans, placing it in charge of the Lazarist Fathers. The Right Rev. G. A. Rouxel was appointed auxiliary bishop for the See of New Orleans, and was consecrated 10 April, 1899. Right Rev. J. M. Laval was made vicar-general and rector of the St. Louis Cathedral on 21 April, and Very Rev. James H. Blenk was appointed Bishop of Porto Rico and consecrated in the St. Louis Cathedral with Archbishop Barnada of Santiago de Cuba, 2 July, 1899. Archbishop Chapelle was absent from the diocese for the greater part of his administration, duties in the Antilles and the Philippines in connection with his position as Apostolic Delegate claiming his attention, nevertheless he accomplished much for New Orleans. The diocesan debt was extinguished, and the activity in church work which had begun under Archbishop Janssens continued; returning to New Orleans he introduced into the diocese the Dominican Fathers from the Philippines. In the summer of 1905, while the archbishop was administering confirmation in the country parishes, yellow fever broke out in New Orleans, and, deeming it his duty to be among his people, he returned immediately to the city. On the way from the train to his residence he was stricken, and died 9 August, 1905. Auxiliary Bishop Rouxel became the administrator of the diocese pending the appointment of a successor.
The Right Rev. James Herbert Blenk (1906-1917), Bishop of Porto Rico, was promoted to seventh Archbishop of New Orleans, 20 April, 1906. A native of Neustadt, Bavaria, Germany; converted to Catholicism in New Orleans in 1869; entered the Marist Fathers in 1878; ordained a priest, at Dublin, Ireland, in 1886; served as professor and later president of Jefferson College and pastor of Holy Name of Mary Parish in Algiers; consecrated Bishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, at New Orleans, in 1899; transferred to the Archbishopric of New Orleans in 1906; died in New Orleans in 1917.
The eighth archbishop of New Orleans was the Most Rev. John William Shaw (1918-1934). A native of Mobile, Alabama; ordained a priest at Rome in 1888; served as a pastor, cathedral rector, and Chancellor in the Diocese of Mobile (1888-1910); consecrated titular Bishop of Catabala and Coadjutor Bishop of San Antonio at Mobile in 1910; Bishop of San Antonio (1911-1918); transferred to the Archbishopric of New Orleans in 1918; died in New Orleans in 1934.
The Most Rev. Joseph Francis Rummel (1935-1964) was appointed nineth Archbishop of New Orleans. A native of Steinmauern, Baden, Germany; immigrated to New York City as a young boy; ordained a priest at Rome in 1902; served in pastoral work in Archdiocese of New York (1903-1928); consecrated Bishop of Omaha, Nebraska, at New York City in 1928; transferred to the Archbishopric of New Orleans in 1935; died in New Orleans in 1964.
Pope Paul VI named the Most Rev. John Patrick Cody (1964-1965) as tenth Archbishop of New Orleans. A native of St. Louis, Missouri; ordained a priest at Rome in 1931; served in the Vatican Secretariate of State and Archdiocese of St. Louis (1931-1947); consecrated titular Bishop of Apollonia and Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis in 1947; Coadjutor Bishop of St. Joseph, Missouri (1954-1956); Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri (1956-1961); titular Archbishop of Bostra and Coadjutor Archbishop of New Orleans (1961-1962); Apostolic Administrator of New Orleans (1962-1964); Archbishop of New Orleans (1964-1965); transferred to the Archbishopric of Chicago in 1965; named a Cardinal-Priest in 1967; died in Chicago in 1982.
The eleventh Archbishop of New Orleans, the Most Reverend Philip Matthew Hannan (1965-1988), A native of Washington, D.C.; ordained a priest at Rome in 1939; served as a paratroop chaplain during World War II and served briefly as pastor of the Cathedral in Cologne during the American occupation; engaged in pastoral and administrative work in the Diocese of Washington (1945-1956); consecrated titular Bishop of Hieropolis and Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, D.C. at Washington in 1956; transferred to the Archbishopric of New Orleans in 1965; retired in 1989.
Pope John Paul II named the Most Rev. Francis Bible Schulte (1988-2002) as twelfth Archbishop of New Orleans. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ordained a priest in 1952 for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; served as a teacher, school superintendent, and pastor (1952-1981); consecrated titular Bishop of Afufenia and Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia at Philadelphia in 1981; Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia (1981-1985); Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia (1985-1989); transferred to the Archbishopric of New Orleans in 1989.
On January 3, 2002, the Most Reverend Alfred Clifton Hughes (2002-2009) became the thirteenth Archbishop of New Orleans. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, ordained a priest at Rome in 1957 for the Archdiocese of Boston; received a doctorate in spiritual theology at Rome's Gregorian University; served as a faculty member, spiritual director and then rector of St. John's Seminary (1962-1981); consecrated titular Bishop of Massimiana in Bizacena and Auxiliary Bishop of Boston at Boston in 1981; Auxiliary Bishop of Boston (1981-1993), serving as regional bishop for Boston's Merrimack Region (1986-1990) and Vicar of Administration (1990-1991); Bishop of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana (1993-2001); installed as Coadjutor Archbishop of New Orleans in 2001.
On June 12, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed the Most Reverend Gregory Michael Aymond as the fourteenth Archbishop of New Orleans. Archbishop Aymond was Bishop of Austin, texas, since 2001. He was installed on August 20, 2009.
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