USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, the Spanish domination > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
* If capuchins are sworn to poverty and ought not to have silver spoons, why should regulations be made to prevent their ruin from being accomplished, and to enable them to retain possession of a plantation and of slaves ?
62
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
appointed commissioner for this province, I shall take care that this practice, which we observe once a week among ourselves, be introduced among the French Capuchins.
" The confessionals, in their shape and construction, are more decent and better than ours in Spain, and, far from changing any thing in them, I would recommend that those which may for the future be made here, be exactly on the same model. What is to be regretted is -that none of these priests confess in these confessionals, but in the vestry, where they sit in an arm chair, by the side of which the penitent kneels. On the first day of this month, when many ladies came to confession, it was done as I have related, with the exception of the Spanish ladies, who were shriven by us-the Spanish ladies con- fessing in the morning, the French in the evening. On witnessing such an abuse, I could not help asking for its cause, and I was answered that it was owing to the heat. But it is not the less a fact, that I shrove my penitents in the morning, in the confessionals of the church, not in the vestry, and, if I felt the heat, surely I had suffereu more from the same cause on other occasions and in - other places. With regard to the habits of these priests, I know very little; but I have remarked in them an independent spirit, which is not disposed to obedience and subjection. As to their going to balls, I do not see any probability in it, because the youngest of them is fifty years old; but they frequently attend dinner parties, particularly when they perform marriage cere- monies. This is always done, not in church but in private houses, where they usually remain to enjoy all the pleasures of the feast. This is contrary to our holy habits, and your Grace will order, no doubt, that, hence- forth, marriages be celebrated in church, except in case of ill-health in the parties, or for some other important
63
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
cause ; and, above all, that no priest be permitted to accept of any invitation to dinner, or to partake of any convivialities at the houses of those whom he may be called to unite in the bonds of wedlock.
" The report is, that these Capuchins play cards. It is for your Grace to put a stop to a practice, which is sc repugnant to the character of a minister of God and especially of a Capuchin. With regard to the Nuns, I cannot give you any information, unless it is that they live as they have always done, without being cloistered, and as if they were not nuns at all. They have for their ordinary confessor, father Prosper, who is seventy-two years old, but very strong and robust, and capable of directing them. As to any violations of rules and discipline, I shall say nothing, and satisfy myself with repeating, that no Pope's bulls and apostolic de- cretals ever reach this capital. What gives me the greatest concern is, that the slaves live and die in a state of concubinage ; and, what is worse, this is to the know- ledge and with the consent of their masters, who tolerate their living together like man and wife. Th :. evil must be immediately remedied. When Count O'Reilly was here, he prohibited this kind of scandalous connection, and he succeeded in having forty of these people married coram facie Ecclesia; but, since his departure, it is of this matter as heretofore. The reason which the slaves give for not getting married is, that they are exposed to be sold by their masters and to be thus separated. It seems to me that the most effective way to prevent the commission of such sins, is to impose upon the masters the obligation of watching over the morals of their slaves.
" Our holy fathers have no lack of negroes and mulat- tresses, since they have eighteen of them in the convent, of both sexes and of different ages, among whom there
64
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
are but two married couples, when eight women and two men are marriageable, and still are suffered to live in a state of celibacy. Besides, there are two boys and two girls, three of whom are the issue of a mulattress, who has the direction of the convent. This woman has a sister, who is in a delicate situation, and yet who is not known to have a husband. I felt so much solicitude on the subject, that I procured to see, one day, at four o'clock in the morning, a white man sallying out of the chamber of this mulattress, and I am informed by persons of high standing and of great religious zeal, such as the colonel of the regiment and others, that the young negresses and mulattresses, immediately after having attended us at supper, go out of the convent to meet their lovers, and spend with them the greater part of the night. If such of them as live under the immediate inspection of the fathers behave in this way, what must it be with those who live on the plantation ? It will be necessary to find a remedy to these scandals. I am of opinion, how- ever, that, to expel all these women from the convent. would be to inflict too painful a blow on father Dago- bert. Therefore he might, for the present, be permitted to retain his three black men and three black wenches or mulattresses, provided they are ascertained to be married, or get married-one man and his wife to be for the kitchen, two men to wait on us at table, and their wives, to take care of the house. And, as these women have their dwellings in the yard of the convent, it might be prescribed that, for no motive, and under no pretext whatsoever, they shall be authorized to enter the cham- bers occupied by the friars. The governor of this pro- vince has no black women nor mulattresses to wait upon him ! Why should they ? Your Grace and other per- sonages of exalted rank require no mulattresses. Why should the French Capuchins need any ? I do not hesi-
65
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
tate to say, that, in matters of this kind, the glory and service of God is the only thing to be regarded, without caring for worldly considerations. Let these women be expelled from the convent, and be sent to the plantation. There, if they cannot be useful (and I am of opinion that they are not wanted), let them be sold, and let those who may be retained, and who may be of age to wed, take husbands. This would be giving the good example, and let it be understood that, if they work on the plantation, they must be supplied with sufficient food and clothing, as justice requires ; and let it not be with them, as it is, if I am correctly informed, with the generality of slaves here, who are furnished by their masters but with one barrel of corn per month, which is less than is given to a horse. This barrel of corn is to be both food and clothing to them; and, as this is im- possible, their necessities drive them into prostitution and other shameful vices. But if your Grace should determine that any black woman or mulattress may be retained in the convent, I would suggest the propriety of her being put under lock and key every night, and recommend that the key be delivered to whomsoever you might designate."
The worthy friar Cirilo now goes into details, as to the measures which he thinks most advisable to be adopted for the better administration of the temporali- ties of the order, and says :
"I think that many other reforms will be necessary in the course of time, but I have mentioned, I believe, all that was most important to be attended to, in order to cure a body which has been diseased from its, very crea- tion ; for father Dagobert has allowed a free course to the distemper. It is certain that when he came to the colony, all those who saw him then say that he was poorer than we are, and that he had nothing but his 5
66
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
breviary and his gown, whilst the king has provided us with all our necessaries. But I know that I am a capu- chin ; that, as such, I cannot even own any of the things I need, and that only their temporary use is permitted to me. For this reason, as well as to save my soul, and in order that I may not have to answer before God for the souls of others, should it become my lot to organize and reform this mission, I would do the work with the most careful precision, and be the first to give the good example in my person ; because, if the said father Dago- bert, who has been Superior so long, had been a true capuchin and had behaved as such, there would have been no necessity for reforms in this convent, or mission. In all sincerity I entreat your grace not to think of me as vicar general of this province, not that I anticipate the fate of St. Benoit, who was murdered by the very monks who had elected him their abbot. I do not suspect these to be capable of such a crime, nor do I fear death, because I should be too happy to die for the greater glorification of the Lord ; but I think my abilities unequal to the task. I conclude with praying God to enlighten your Grace in this affair, as on those occasions in which you have dis- played so much zeal, prudence and gentleness of heart."
The governor's letter, to which father Cirilo refers, had been addressed by that functionary, on the 11th of July, to the bishop of Havana, and contained a detailed and minute statement of the ecclesiastical organization of the province of Louisiana. "Under the king of France, her former master, she enjoyed," said he, "the fullest and most entire liberty. Her inhabitants were subjected to no other authority than that of the laws, and were ruled by no other customs than those of Paris. The principal and almost only act of sovereignty exercised by the king. consisted in appointing the judges. The whole aim of the French government was to people and cause to flourish
-
67
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
a country, which gave the promise, through its fertility, of being converted into an immense and profitable realm, when its primitive wildness should have been subdued by the labors of cultivation. In order to accomplish this end, favors and rewards were granted to the colonists, to stimulate their exertions. They met with no impedi- ments, provided they were active, industrious, and labo- rious, and they were not controled in their religious sentiments, in order that the disturbances which a con- trary course would have produced, should not retard the increase of the population. The king used to pay out of his treasury a mission of capuchins, who ministered to the spiritual wants of the colony, under the superinten- dence of the bishop of Quebec. This bishop appointed for his vicar general a Jesuit, to whom he delegated the au- thority of granting dispensations with regard to marriage publications, and the impediments to wed arising from the blood relations of the parties. But the friar, Hilaire de Genoveaux, having been made Superior of the mission of capuchins by the provincial of the province of Cham- pagne in France, began to question the Jesuit's powers, which he pretended to be vested in him alone, as the high prelate and curate of this parish. He further asserted that the bishop's jurisdiction was limited to mere acts of supervision. This produced the noise which is the natural consequence of disputes of the kind. In the meanwhile, father Génoveaux went to France, and re- turned with the title of apostolic prothonotary, on .the strength of which he claimed such privileges, that he added new fuel to the Jesuit's rage, and their wranglings were renewed. The Jesuit, in his capacity of vicar gene- ral of the bishop of Quebec, asked of the Superior Coun- cil the expulsion of his antagonist as a perturber of the public peace and usurper of episcopal jurisdiction, and succeeded in his application. This event and the sub-
68
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
sequent exile of the Jesuits were the cause that father Dagobert became the Superior of the mission and the vicar general of the bishop. He is a pacific man, much liked by the people and by those placed under his juris- diction. Thus stood matters when his Majesty took possession of the province, and his excellency, Count O'Reilly, made no change in its religious organization beyond expelling some Jews and Protestants."
The Governor then went into an enumeration of the priests of the colony, of the places where they were located, and of the functions they discharged. " All those friars," said he, "are excellent men, and give the good example ; but among them there are some who are well informed, and others scarcely instructed as to the duties of their sacred calling ; all, however, labor zealously to the best of their abilities and knowledge, and they are familiar with the great poverty and destitution of their parishioners. Among them, father Dagobert obtained the esteem of Count O'Reilly and the good will of all the Spaniards by his kindness and the prudence of his de- portment. He is beloved by the people, and, on the grounds which I have stated, I consider him entitled to the favor of your Grace."
The Governor goes into many details as to the revenues of the church and the emoluments of the priests, who, to use his expressions, had more than enough to live with as much decency and decorum as their position required. " The Nuns, who are very few," said he, "are supported by the king on the same footing with the capuchins, and his Majesty pays them a pension for a certain number of orphans they educate. They possess a plantation with slaves, and another without any, under the administra- tion of the prioress, who lives cloistered, and under the direction of their chaplain. These plantations are as badly managed, through want of proper knowledge, as
69
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
that of the capuchins, and they are all a source of ex- pense both to the capuchins and the Nuns, rather than of revenue. The excessive kindness of father Dagobert permits, that there be in the convent of these friars young blackwomen and mulattresses, who are their slaves, and who were born on their plantation. This is contrary to the sacred dispositions of the canons of the church, and the prudence of your Grace will know how to cure this distemper without cauterizing the patient.
" The bishop of Quebec seems to have delegated to his vicar here the faculty of granting dispensations, with regard to marriage prohibitions, and the impediments to wed arising from consanguinity, and also the privilege of permitting the celebration of marriages, according to his judgment, at the residences of the parties either in the country or in the town. But in general that ceremo- ny is performed at church, in conformity with the wishes of the parties themselves. Marriage is a very solemn contract among the French, and a sacrament of felicities (y un sacramento de felicidadas). According to the laws and old customs of the territory, minors cannot marry without the express consent of their parents ; such marriages were declared null and clandestine, and repro- bated as conducive to seducing away young girls from the legitimate authority under whose keeping they were placed. This is harsh, and your Grace will determine what is suitable in so serious a matter, from which depends public tranquility.
" It is not the practice here to force any one to sub- mit to the Church, and the process of excommunication is held in utter abomination. I assure your Grace, how- ever, that those who live out of the pale of the Church are very few. These people are devout, respectful, and edifying in their deportment when in church. But, to go to confession and receive the sacrament, is a thing un-
70
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
known with the male part of the population. They look upon it as an act of hypocrisy, and as treating with levity the holiest sacrament, whose mystery they worship with the deepest and humblest veneration. Hence it results that they approach, for the first and last time, the communion table, on reaching the age of puberty.
" The Church here enjoys no immunities and privi- leges, and its jurisdiction is entirely confined to the spiritual. The affiancing of parties, the nullity or validity of the marriage contract, the granting of a perpetual divorce, or a temporary separation, all this falls under the cognizance of the secular power, to which the clergy itself is subjected for any crime which may be committed by one of its members. Marriage here was considered in the light of a civil contract only, and the clergy, as in France, exercised no judicial prerogative over their fellow-subjects. In order to establish in this province the ecclesiastical jurisdiction without any disturbance or scandal, it would be proper that your vicar-general should be satisfied with making known, verbally, what are the matters, among those of little importance, which he considers to be of his competency, and that he should proceed therein with moderation, without the bustling apparatus of a court of justice, and without costs to the parties. But in cases of a serious nature, such as those which may arise from the act of affiancing, from the alleged validity or nullity of a marriage, or an application for a final divorce, when the parties, or the facts of the case, are of sufficient import- ance to excite public attention, it would be advisable not to proceed here beyond the taking down of all the testimony required, and to submit it to your Grace, or to your vicar-general in Havana, for adjudication ; and, considering that father Dagobert, your vicar-general here, is no jurist, your Grace might advise him to
71
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
consult, in such matters, my auditor, &c. In this way, should my suggestions meet your approbation, our laws and customs would be introduced insensibly, without clashing too abruptly with those to which the people of this country have been accustomed."
The Governor went on informing the bishop of Ha- vana, that the ecclesiastical registries were in the greatest state of disorder, being kept in the most ridiculous and filthy manner, and recommended the adoption of the plan which was followed in Havana, for the keeping of similar records. He also said that it was customary in the province, to administer to those convicts who were sentenced to death the sacred sacrament of penitence only, but that he saw no inconvenience in following the regulations of the Spanish clergy on the subject.
" It seems proper to me," said he, "that all the Friars who have now some employment, should be retained in the same, and father Dagobert, for one year, in that of vicar-general. In the mean time, the Spanish Friars will have acquired all the knowledge they may want, and then one of them may be selected to succeed the present incumbent, on the ground that a man who has worked so long is entitled to repose. Nevertheless, he will always be glad to officiate, because singing in church is with him a passion. The other Friars will follow his orders, as to the discharge of their sacred functions. It is their duty to take charge of the souls, and, in its ac- complishment, they will move to the right or to the left, as the necessity of the case may require, and with that entire submission which is to be expected from the sons of obedience," (hijos de obediencia.)
It is evident, from the tone of these two letters, that father Cirilo was laboring under a delusion, as subsequent events will show, when he said that : "the governor and himself would always be of the same mind." On the
72
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
15th of September, he had become much exasperated, and expressed himself as follows to the bishop of Cuba.
" Most illustrious sir, I will proceed to make known to your Grace the circumstances which caused father Dago- bert to become the Superior of this province. When Louisiana was ceded to Spain, the chiefs of the insurrection which broke out shortly after, communicated their rebel- lious intentions to father Hilaire de Génoveaux, who was then the ecclesiastical superior of the colony, and requested him to lend them his assistance in driving the people into the premeditated revolution. He, who fully appre- ciated the consequences of such an act, would not con- sent to it, and then they applied to this father Dagobert, to whom they made the same proposition. This friar, who aimed at nothing but power, not only assented to what was asked of him, but did a great many other things. Matters being thus arranged, the chiefs of the sedition seized father Génoveaux, embarked him loaded with chains, and transported him out of the colony. Father Dagobert, having thus got rid of his Superior, wrote to the head of the order in Champagne, that this father Génoveaux had run away to the English, and, on this representation, got himself confirmed in the office to which he had been promoted. But, with regard to this father Dagobert, it happens that he has forgotten to notify the faithful of the coming of Ember weeks. His attention being called to this omission, he solved the difficulty by transferring the observance of these sacred days to the week following. We replied to him that we did not feel authorized to pursue such a course, and he then observed : " Very well; you may fast this week, if you please, but the public will on the next." Thus you see that he arrogates to himself more power than is possessed by the Pope, and that he changes, on his own private authority, all the regulations of the church.
73
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
After all, these things but confirm the truth of this axiom : where fails the fear of God, there fails every thing else. What remains for us to do is to write to the Court, to obtain the dismission of father Dagobert, and, perhaps, of some other persons. I think that it would require very little effort to obtain this dismission, and if, to replace these men, there did not come Capuchins enough from Castile, there would be no lack of them in my province of Cataloña that would come here."
This despatch had hardly been closed, when his in- dignation, it seems, gathering fresh strength with the passing hour, forced him to resume his pen on the very same day, and to disburthen himself in the following strain : "Illustrious sir, the evils by which we are sur- rounded compel us to expose the wicked actions which these monsters, rather than Capuchins, perpetrate against our persons,* against God and his holy things.+ It is not my intention, most excellent sir, to trouble you with trifles, and therefore, with regard to what concerns our- selves, I shall merely say that the very Spanish name is an object of abomination to these Friars, because they cannot even bear the sight of the things which are of God, and which appertain to our divine religion, and because these Friars or monsters think that we have come to repress the abuses which they love, and to re- form their evil ways. Therefore they hate us, and such is the reason why we cannot obtain from them even what is necessary to the so very limited wants of a poor Capuchin-such, for instance, as a table to write on, an humble box wherein to put our wearing apparel, paper, ink, quills and other trifles. When they have bags so full of dollars, we are obliged to have recourse to our friends to relieve our necessities.
* The Spanish Capuchins.
+ Y sus cosas sagradas.
74
THE CLERGY OF LOUISIANA IN 1772.
" What is most deplorable is to see in the convent the concubine of the friars, for such is the reputation she bears. She has three sons, although who her hus- band is God only knows. They eat at our table and off the plates of father Dagobert, who, without shame, or fear of the world at least, if not of God, permits them to call him papa. She is one of the mulattresses who are kept in the house. She is the absolute mistress of the whole establishment, and the friars have for her so much attachment, that they strive who shall send to the cherished paramour the best dish on the table, before any one of us is allowed to taste it. To witness such things, and to be silent out of the sheerest complaisance, is what gives additional poignancy to our grief. But these sufferings, being supported for the sake of God, to whose service we have consecrated ourselves, will make more meritorious the labors which we have undergone to please our God and our monarch (whom may God have in his holy keeping !). There are, however, greater evils which afflict our hearts, and which are the sins they clearly commit against God and his holy sacraments. Baptism is administered without any of the ceremonies prescribed by the Romish ritual, and the consecrated oil itself is impure and stale. Children are christened when it suits the whim or caprice of their parents, and hence months will elapse previous to the performance of this ceremony. But father Dagobert never fails eating at the house of the parents of the newly christened child. All of which things are unworthy of a man who is the ecclesiastical head of this province. As to the Eucharist, that mystery which makes the angels tremble with awe, we found that the sacramental elements were so full of insects which fed on them, and presented so disgusting an appearance, that it was necessary to fling them into the jakes, as if they had been the veriest filth. So great
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.