credit of the Jesuits that they made their plantation so productive as to maintain their missionaries; to the third, the action 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 difference interfered in behalf of the Jesuits; and finding their petitions unavailing went to the river bank to receive the returning Jesuits, offered them a home alongside of 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.

The

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 to-day 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. 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 to this immense territory, five were retained in New Orleans; the remainder were scattered over the 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.

II. SPANISH PERIOD.—In 1763 Louisiana was ceded to Spain, and Antonio 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. (See LOUISIANA.) The Spanish Government resolved to punish the parties who 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 expelling 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 Place 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- appointed 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. Jaime 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 Francisco, Angel de Revillagades, Louis de Quintanilla, and Aleman. They reached New Orleans, 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 in 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 eccelsiastical 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 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 Bishop of Tricali and auxiliary of Santiago. He was consecrated in Cuba in 1781 and proceded 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, had a parish priest, four assistants; and there was a resident priest at each of the following points: Terre aux Bœufs, 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 has 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. These 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 the English-speaking population. Accordingly Rev. Michael O'Reilly and Rev. 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 St. Christopher of Havana, Louisiana, and the Floridas, with the Right Rev. 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 Ha

vana.

Near Fort Natchez the site for a church was purchased on April 11, 1788. The earliest incumbent of whom any record was kept was Rev. 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 to-day. 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. The archives of the New Orleans Diocese show that the King of Spain petitioned Pope 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, Agalopli, 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 the 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 Čirilo died in poverty and humiliation.

The Right Rev. Luis Peñalver y Cárdenas was appointed first bishop of the new See of Saint Louis of New Orleans. 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 1793. The St. Louis parish church, now raised to the dignity of a cathedral, was dedicated 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 viceregal 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 condemned the laxity of morals among the men, and the universal custom of concubinage among the slaves. The invasion of many persons not of the faith, and the toleration of the Government in admitting all classes of adventurers for purposes of trade, had brought about disrespect for religion. He deplored the establishment of trading posts, and of a lodge of French Freemasons, which counted among its members city officials, officers of the garrison, merchants and foreigners. He believed the people clung to their French traditions. He said that the King of Spain possessed "their bodies but not their souls". He declared that "even the Ursuline Nuns, from whom good results were obtained in the education of girls, were so decidedly French in their inclinations that they refused to admit Spanish women, who wished to become members of their order and many were in tears because they were obliged to read spiritual exercises in Spanish books". It was a gloomy picture he presented: but 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 fulfil 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.

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. uly, 1801. Before his departure he appointed, as vicars-general, Rev. Thomas Canon Hasset and Rev. Patrick Walsh, who became officially recognized as "Governors of the Diocese".

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, Bismarck, and Cleveland.

Right Rev. Francis Porro y Peinade, 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 Tarrazona. The See of New Orleans remained vacant many years after the departure of Bishop Peñalver.

In 1798 the Duc d'Orléans (afterwards King LouisPhilippe 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.

III. FRENCH AND AMERICAN PERIOD.-By the Treaty of San Ildefonse, the Spanish King on 1 October, 1800, engaged to retrocede 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 ascer tain whether they preferred to return with the Spanish forces or 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 30 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 St. Monica and eleven others, with nearly all the lay sisters applied to the Marquis de Casa Čalvo 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, 23 December, 1803, that the retrocession of the province to the United States of America impelled him to present to his consideration the preser 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. "The churches were", to use his own words, "all decent temples and comfortably supplied with ornaments and everything necessary for divine services. Of twenty-six ecclesiastics in the province only four had agreed to continue their respective stations under the French Government; and whether any more would remain under that of the United States only God knew." Father Hasset said that for his own part he felt that he could not with propriety, relinquish his post, and consequently awaited superior orders to take his departure. He said that the Rev. Patrick Walsh, vicar-general and auxiliary governor of the diocese,

had declared that he would not abandon his post providing he could hold it with propriety. 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 latter, 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 any one 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 openly accused of intriguing against the Government; but beyond accusations made to Bishop Carroll there is nothing to substantiate them. He was much loved in New Orleans and some of his friends desired to obtain the influence of the French Government to have him appointed to the Bishopric of Louisiana. However, there is in the archives of the New Orleans cathedral a letter from Father Antoine to the Bishop of Baltimore declaring that having heard that some members of the clergy and laity had applied to Rome to have him appointed to the Bishopric of Louisiana, he hereby declared to the Bishop of Baltimore that he could not consider the proposition, that he was unworthy of the honour and too old to do any good. He would be grateful to the bishop if he would cut short any further efforts in that direction.

Bishop Carroll wrote to James Madison, secretary of State (17 November, 1806) in regard to the Church in Louisiana, and the recommending of two or three clergymen one of whom might be appointed Bishop of New Orleans. Mr. Madison replied that the matter being purely ecclesiastical the Government could not interfere. He seemed, however, to share the opinions of Bishop Carroll in regard to the character and rights of Father Antoine. In 1806 a decree of the Propaganda confided Louisiana to the care of Bishop Carroll of Baltimore, and created him administrator Apostolic. He appointed Rev. John Olivier (who had been at Cahokia 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. Father 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 authorization 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 regular 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 the Rev. Louis G. V. Dubourg Administrator Apostolic of the Diocese of Louisiana and the two Floridas. Dr. Dubourg's authority was at once recognized by Father Antoine and the remainder of the clergy. The war between the United States and Great Britain was in progress and as the year 1814 drew to a close, Dr. Dubourg issued a pastoral letter calling upon the people to pray for the success of the American arms. During the battle of New Orleans (8 January, 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, 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 Dr. Dubourg went to Rome to ask for aid for his diocese. There the Propaganda appointed him bishop, 18 September, 1818, and on 24 September he was consecrated by Cardinal Joseph Pamfili (see DUBOURG).

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 solicited 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 Bardstown, where they were temporarily sojourn ing, Father Andreis, Father Rosati, and the seminarians who had 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 Mesdames Philippe Duchesne, Berthold, André, and two lay sisters reaching New Orleans, 30 May, 1818, proceeded to 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 had found ten superannuated priests there were now forty active, zealous men at work. Still appeals came from all parts 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 Cath

olics there who had never had any one 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 Alleghanies. 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 Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Finally, 13 August, 1822, the Vicariate Apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama was formed with the Rev. Joseph Rosati, elected Bishop of Tenagra, as vicar Apostolic. But Archbishop Maréchal of Baltimore remonstrated because in establishing this vicariate, the Propaganda had inadvertently invaded the rights of the Archbishop of Baltimore as the whole of those States except a small portion south of the thirty-first degree between Perdido and Pearl River 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 his 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, 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.

On 29 August, 1825, Alabama and the Floridas were erected into a vicariate Apostolic, with the 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 Montauban. 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 permitting him to remain in St. Louis but charging him for a while with the administration of the See of New Orleans. He appointed the Rev. Leo Raymond de Neckere, C.M., vicar-general, and strongly recommended his appointment for the vacant see. Father de Neckere, then in Belgium whither he had gone to recuperate his health, was summoned to Rome and appointed bishop. Returning to New Orleans he was consecrated, 16 May, 1830. 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 1830 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 Martial, Tichitoli, Kindelon fell victims to their zeal. Bishop de Neckere, who had retired to a convent at 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, 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 Carmel to make a foundation in New Orleans, which they did on 22 October, 1833, a convent school and orphanage being opened. Father Augustine Jeanjean was selected by Rome to fill the episcopal vacancy, but he declined and Father Anthony Blanc was appointed and consecrated on 22 November, 1835 (see BLANC, ANTHONY). 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 diocesan seminary at Bayou 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 Orleans Female Orphan Asylum, was founded and placed under their care. In 1841 the Sisters Marianites of Holy Cross came to New Orleans to assume charge of St. Mary's Orphan Boys' Asylum. They opened also an Academy for young ladies and the Orphanage of the Immaculate Conception for girls. The wants of the 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 free coloured people from that island who were slave-holders 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, V.G., 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 19 December, 1842, Judge Preval decided the ord nance 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 that 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 new churches. 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 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.

This controversy terminated, a period of remarkable activity in the organization of parishes and the building of new churches set in. 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 Redemptorists founded the parish of the Assumption, and were installed in its church on 22 Oct., 1847. The parish