USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume II > Part 36
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
were rejected, but occasionally the story is revived that his heirs intend to set up claim to these vast possessions. A beautiful elevation about one mile above Ste. Genevieve, near what is known as "Little Rock Landing," overlooking the Mississippi, the bottom lands on both sides of the river, and the railroads now passing through these fertile fields, is yet known as "Maxwell's Hill," perpetuating his name.
Father Gibault no doubt visited St. Louis on his missionary tours, looking after the spiritual welfare of the people there, although there is no evidence that he resided in St. Louis from 1770 to 1772 as stated by Scharff.47 During this period Father Gibault resided at Kaskas- kia, traveling far and wide in Illinois country in the performance of his apostolic mission, nor is it likely that the Spanish ecclesiastical authorities would then have allowed a priest of the Diocese of Quebec, to actually reside and exercise his spiritual functions in the Spanish territory, without intervention. Probably, however, no objection was made to an occasional visit by a priest of that diocese, to supply the spiritual needs of the people, in the absence of the regular priest, appointed by the Bishop of Havanna. The first resident priest of St. Louis, as shown by the records of church burials, was Father Valentine, who, on the 6th of June 1773, officiated there at the funeral of William Bissette. In 1772 he was at Arkansas Post, and appears to have removed from there to St. Louis.48 The records also show that Father Valentine remained there for two years, until June 7, 1775, officiating on that day at the funeral of Joseph DuBreuil. From St. Louis, he was transferred or removed to Kaskaskia. It is not explained why the Bishop of Quebec allowed him to take up his spiritual functions in his diocese, when apparently the dignitaries of the Spanish church were so jealous of the priests of the diocese of Quebec. Nevertheless it appears from the church records of Kas- kaskia that he was probably a parish priest there until 1783, when he was superceded by Father Bernard who had been his successor at St. Louis. Father Valentine was a Capuchin Friar and, while officiating at St. Louis, describes himself as "priest of the parish of St. Louis and its dependencies." As priest at St. Louis, he officiated on December 27, 1774, at the funeral of Louis de St. Ange, "Cap- tian attached to the Battalion of Louisiana"-thus incidentally show- 47 2 Scharff's History of St. Louis, p. 1630.
48 In Unzaga's Report, dated July 11, 1772, of the religious conditions of Louisiana, he enumerates among the priests Father Valentine, as of the "parish of San Luis de los Ilinnesses, at the place commonly called Pancorto."
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FIRST CHURCH BELL
ing that St. Ange, at the time of his death, was an officer of the Spanish military establishment of Louisiana. A few days before the death of St. Ange, a bell, the first church bell of St. Louis, was duly baptised "Pierre Joseph Felicite," in honor of Pierre Joseph de Piernas and, Lady Felicite de Portneuf de Piernas, his wife, - god-father and god-mother of said bell - by Father Valentine, all of which was duly attested by the said god-father and god-mother, and Barrois and Benito Vasquez, as witnesses. Before the advent of this bell, which was probably sent from France or Spain, the congregation of St. Louis was summoned to devotion by means of a large iron mortar, beaten by a heavy iron pestle.49 But in 1799, according to Moses Austin, the church was only "a frame building,"making an "indifferent appearance," and having, he says, "neither steeple nor bell." From 1775 to 1776, no regular priest was stationed at St. Louis, but Father Hilaire, parish priest of Ste. Genevieve, made occasional visits to the town, to solemnize marriages and perform the ceremony of baptism. Father Hilaire was also a Capuchin priest and Apostolic prothon- otary.
The possession of a church bell was apparently the means of bringing home to the St. Louis congregation the necessity of a new church, because two days after the bell had been baptised, on the 26th day of December 1774, the people assembled in the Govern- ment building, and in the presence of Governor Piernas and Father Valentine as well as the church warden M. Sarpy, determined to build a new church. It was resolved that the dimensions of this edifice should be 30 by 60 feet, and further that the ash posts should be eighteen feet long, hewed on both sides above the ground, to the width of six inches. The wooden material for this structure was to · be furnished by the people, according to an assessment "made on each white and black person of the age of fourteen years and up- wards," widows and those over sixty years old only excepted. Pierre Baron, who was present, was made "superintendent of the building and of the assessment," and promised "to do his duty.""50 His assistants in this work, which undoubtedly then was considered an undertaking of great magnitude, were Rene Kiercereau, Antoine Rivière dit Baccane, Joseph Taillon and Jacques Noise dit DesNoyer. Baron, the superintendent, died soon afterward and consequently, in January 1776, Francesco Cruzat as commandant of the post, award-
49 2 Scharff's History of St. Louis, p. 1649.
50 2 Scharff's History of St. Louis, p. 1646.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
ed the contract to build the church to Juan Cambas as the lowest bidder, the work to be completed for 1,480 livres, which was to be paid in shaved deer skins.
In 1776 Father Bernard de Limpach, a native of Liege, undoubt- edly a German whose real name was Bernhardt Von Limbach, was appointed parish priest by Friar Dagobert de Langwy, Superior and Vicar-General of Louisiana, to be duly inducted into office as "parish priest of St. Louis of Illinois, Post of Paincourt, with all its rights and appendages, upon condition of actual personal residence there, and
FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST. LOUIS AND PAROCHIAL RESIDENCE. FROM A PICTURE BELONGING TO MR. PIERRE CHOUTEAU
not otherwise." This order of appointment Father Bernard duly deposited for safe keeping in the Government office of St. Louis, as certified by Don Francesco Cruzat, Commandant. Father Bernard remained in St. Louis until 1787, and during his administration of the parish a new stone parochial residence was built for him, in place of the old log building in which his predecessor had resided. This new building was forty feet long by twenty seven wide. It was begun by Jean Cambas and Juan Ortes, the contractors, in July 1777, and completed the next spring. To this building Father Bernard contrib- uted 437 livres in peltries, a sum he had received at New Orleans to pay his passage to St. Louis. An assessment was also made on all the inhabitants of the town over fourteen years of age, widows and per-
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PRIESTS OF ST. LOUIS
sons oyer sixty years of age excepted, for the balance of the amount necessary to build.this parochial residence. Where Father Bernard was stationed after he left St. Louis, we have not been able to ascer- tain. While at St. Louis he seems to have visited Kaskaskia, at any rate the church records of that parish show that he officiated there occasionally.
Father Ledru succeeded Father Bernard as parish priest of St. Louis. Before he came to St. Louis he was stationed at Kaskaskia, and Major Hamtramck writes General Harmer, in 1789, that he leaves Kaskaskia on account of the lawlessness prevalent there, and that he regrets his departure. Father Ledru remained until 1794. In 1789 he urged that the church of St. Louis ought to be rebuilt and Lieuten- ant-Governor Perez in a letter to Miro says, that the "habitans do not refuse to do it," but that the majority are not able to contribute "as they would like to" because of their poverty."51 After 1794 Father Ledru was succeeded by Father Pierre Joseph Didier, a priest of the religious order of the Benedictines of the congregation of St. Maur, who from time to time, officiated until April 1799. Father Didier, before he came to St. Louis, was a missionary priest at Florissant. It may be noted that in 1797, Auguste LeClerc brought suit against Father Didier to adjust his liability on a note of 2,050 livres, which Father Didier denied owing. The matter was referred by consent to arbitrators, Father Didier saying, "If my refusal is not a just one, I consent to pay." After Father Didier's departure in 1799 from St. Louis, Father Janin was in charge of the parish until the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States. Father Janin came to St. Louis from Arkansas Post, where he was parish priest from 1796 to 1798. In 1798, Father Maxwell, by order of the Bishop of Louisiana, made an examination of the church building at St. Louis and reported that "it is too small for the village," that "its timbers are rotted" and that "it can not be kept from falling into the river," that the church has only 1,213 pesos in cash available for a new church, and no fixed in-
51 Letter of Perez to Miro, dated Nov. 9, 1787. Father Ledru came from France. In a letter found in the New Madrid Archives, Bishop Carroll gives his real name as Father Jacobin, called Ledru. In this letter he says: "that according to an agreement with the Father Provincial he was to send me a letter testifying to the good conduct of Father Jacobin and authorizing him to stay in America," but that on the contrary he had "received by way of New York information on the conduct of this religieuse in Acadia, which makes me feel very sad and causes me to reproach myself for having given him even limited power. Kindly inquire about him and send me as soon as convenient any information you can get about his behaviour at Kaskaskia." He was also curé of Cahokia for a time.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
come, and that the well-to-do inhabitants are obliged, "under the laws of these kingdoms," to contribute "to the construction of the temple." This report was submitted to Governor Gayosa by the Bishop, but with no results.52
The church of St. Ferdinand, at Florissant, a wooden structure, was built in 1792, but it is certain that long before that time religious services were held in this neighborhood. The first entry made by Father Didier, in the St. Ferdinand church-record is dated August 2, 1792, recording the baptism of Claude Pallot, in the church. Af- ter the departure of Father Didier, Father Lusson, priest of "St. Charles of the little Hills f- Surson 1 Jour By law of charles Du missouri of Missouri," served the people of Florissant as well as St. Charles where a small chapel also existed, which, it is claimed, was erected as early as 1772. This parish was created by the Bishop of Louisiana in 1797.53 The Bishop never visited the parishes of upper Louisiana.
After the removal of Father Gibault to New Madrid, he organized the parish of " St. Isidore" there, as already stated, and built a church (fabrique), and for this purpose received a sum of money from the Intendant Morales at New Orleans. The total value of the church property in 1804 was estimated to be 1,620 pesos. The church was an edifice 60 feet long, 28 feet wide, and 16 feet high between the ground and ceiling. "Its carpenter work" says the report of the commissioners, made at the time of the cession, "is con- structed of cypress timber, doubled on the outside with planks of the same wood. It has a partition in its width for the sacristy, ten openings with their windows and gratings; an altar, with a tabernacle of cherry wood; a picture of the Holy Virgin Mary, 8 feet high, by 52 feet wide, framed in wood; a railing in front where communion is taken; a pulpit of cherry wood; a belfry with a metal bell weighing 50 pounds," and was estimated to be worth 1,200 pesos. The parochial residence was a building 21 feet long and 16 feet wide, "doubled without and within with cypress plank, the floor and ceiling and a wall of cypress planks, a double brick chimney; four openings
52 See Maxwell's Report to Bishop of Louisiana, dated February 14, 1798. General Archives of the Indies, Seville.
53 Report of the Bishop of Louisiana for 1789-1797 - Audiencia of Santo Domingo, - General Archives of the Indies, Seville,
3II
CHURCH CEDED
with their windows and doors and gratings; a gallery in front, with floor and ceiling; a cellar under said house, and a stairway to mount the garret. In addition, to this parish residence, was attached a build- ing near by, used as a kitchen, 18 feet long by 15 feet wide, estimated to be worth 350 pesos, and also a bake house, 15 feet long and ten feet wide, with a brick chimney, and an oven 30 feet in circumference, with frames complete made of brick, a roof made of carpenter work to cover it, and this bake house was equipped with a bread maker, flour sieve. shovels, poker, casks, canvasses and sheets for covering the bread and other utensils, all valued at 120 pesos.54 In the parochial residence surrounded by a large garden Father Gibault lived in ease and comfort with his colored servants, well able to entertain the Vicar-General of upper Louisiana, Father Maxwell, as well as Father Lusson of St. Charles, who occasionally during this period visited him at New Madrid on spiritual errands, then long and laborious journeys.
During the Spanish government, the parish priests of Ste. Gene- vieve (including the adjacent settlements of Nouvelle Bourbon, Saline, Old Mine and St. Michael) St. Louis (including certainly Carondelet), St. Charles (including it would seem the church of St. François at Portage des Sioux and the church of St. Ferdinand at Florissant) and the parish of St. Isidore or New Madrid, (including Arkansas Post and other settlements), received a regular salary of $600 per annum, and in addition the burial and marriage fees, which were not inconsiderable. This afforded a very decent support for that time. The expense of building and maintaining the several churches was paid by the Government.55
With the cession of the country to the United States the small annual stipend to the established clergy and the governmental care of the church buildings, of course, ceased, and the priests became directly dependent upon the support of their respective congrega- tions. The church buildings with the other property belonging to the church was ceded to the several Catholic congregations. Thus the church property at Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, St. Charles, St. Ferdi- nand, of Portage des Sioux, New Madrid and some vacant ground in Little Prairie (now Caruthersville) was granted to the Catholics of those villages. In Ste. Genevieve the Catholic congregation also
54 Report of Inventory of Royal Property at New Madrid-Archives of the Indies, Seville.
55 Stoddard's Louisiana, p. 316.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
claimed and was allowed a tract of land three arpens in front by fifty in depth, - land which is still the property of the church and the rents of which go to its support.
Among the Catholic priests of the newly acquired territory of upper Louisiana Rev. James Maxwell, of Ste. Genevieve, was the most active, being "a learned and practical Irish Catholic priest. " 5 He took a deep interest in public and political affairs. In the Act of 1808, incorporating the Ste. Genevieve academy, he is named as one of the trustees, and in 1813 he was appointed by Jefferson a member of the Territorial Council, and was elected president of the same. At the time of the cession he was Vicar-General of upper Louisiana, but - how long after the cession he remained Vicar-General is not certain. He died in 1814. Rev. Patrick Walsh who was appointed his Vicar- El Obispo dela Ruinanad General by the Right Reverend Penalver y Cardenas, Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas, re- siding in New Orleans, when the territory was transferred to the United States, appears to have remained in charge of the whole diocese, and it is likely that for a time at least Rev. James Maxwell also remained Vicar-General of upper Louisiana. Rev. Patrick Walsh, as Vicar-General after the cession, removed a priest at New Orleans, but the latter refused to recognize his authority and appealed to the congregation who then elected him.57 This led to litigation. The Vicar-General appealed to Governor Claiborne, praying for such relief against the "schismatic and rebellious conduct" of this priest as could be afforded.
Bishop Cardenas did not reside at New Orleans after 1801, but removed to Guatamala, having been appointed Archbishop of that diocese, but in a letter addressed to the Very Reverend Canon Thomas Hassett, making him administrator of the bishopric, he styles him- self "Bishop of Louisiana and Archbishop of Guatamala." It is said by Bishop Spaulding that after the appointment of Bishop Cardenas to Guatamala, a second Bishop was appointed for "New Orleans, " although Bishop Cardenas styled himself "Bishop of Louis- iana," but that the name of this Bishop is not now known. Spaulding 56 Life of Bishop Flaget, p. 60.
57 Gayarre's Louisiana, American Domination, vol. 3, p. 106. He removed a Spanish priest named Antonio de Sedella, "the same who attempted to intro- duce the Inquistion into Louisiana in 1789."
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ABBÉ DUBOURG
says that the Archbishop of Baltimore was canonically charged with the administration of this diocese after Cardenas resigned the charge, and that Archbishop Carroll appointed Rev. Olivier, Vicar-General of this diocese with ample jurisdiction, very likely succeeding the Very Reverend Patrick Walsh. The Vicar-General Olivier was a brother of the venerable missionary priest Father Donatian Olivier, parish priest of Prairie du Rocher, who after the death of Father Maxwell occasionally visited Ste. Genevieve and administered to the spiritual wants of the people there until October 1815, when Bishop Flaget of Bardstown who then administered the affairs of the diocese of Louisiana appointed Father Henri Pratte 58 as parish priest. Father Olivier died on the 29th day of January, 1841, at St. Mary's of the Barrens, aged 95 years.59 Rev. M. Sibourd suc- ceeded Vicar-General Olivier, and succeeding him Dr. Dubourg was placed in charge of the diocese. The Bishop of New Orleans or Louisiana was considered at Rome as a suffragen of the Archbishop of Havanna, and this connection was not officially dissolved until 1826, a very short time before Bishop Dubourg departed for Europe. If Bishop Carroll had charge of the bishopric of Louisiana, for by that name it was then known, it must have been at the request of the Archbishop of Havanna. In 1807 on the recommendation of Bishop Carroll four new sees were erected in the United States, but the bull which created the see of Bardstown strictly speaking only embraced the states of Kentucky and Tennessee and the country northwest of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi,80 leaving the country west of the Mississippi within the diocese of New Orleans, or Louisiana, and the western Floridas. When the Rev. Patrick Walsh ceased to be Vicar-General of Louisiana is just as uncertain as when the Rev. James Maxwell ceased to act. But it is recorded that in 1815 Abbé Dubourg as the highest ecclesiastical dignitary of the church then residing at New Orleans received General Jackson at the door of the "time-honored cathedral" of that city. Dr. Dubourg was at this time, says Bishop Spaulding, "administrator of the diocese of New Orleans," evidently meaning "diocese of Louisiana."
58 Father Henri Pratte was born January 19th 1778 at Ste. Genevieve and died there September 7, 1822. He in 1803 entered the College of Montreal, Can- ada, where he was ordained priest. He was very energetic in attending to the affairs of the church, and during his pastorate the church was much enlarged and improved. In addition he served as pastor of the church at Old Mines and St. Michael, frequently visiting these places.
58 Life of Bishop Flaget, p. 128.
60 Ibid., p. 60.
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When in 1814 Bishop Flaget of Bardstown visited upper Louisiana, he did so at the request of Dr. Dubourg.61 The Bishop crossed the river in a canoe at St. Louis on June 30, 1814, but on this visit found a cool reception, and the days spent there, says his biographer, were days of "great sadness for him." General religious apathy prevailed, "the rich, the fathers, the mothers, the children over 15 years of age staid away from the confessional," and he complains that he could make "no impression whatever on their callous hearts." 62 Perhaps this spir-
itual condition could be attributed to BISHOP FLAGET the fact that shortly after the cession Father Pierre Janin left the St. Louis parish, and that no priest re- sided there from 1804 to 1813. The interments only were recorded in the church register by Jean Baptiste Trudeau, the school teacher. From 1806 and 1810 Father James Maxwell of Ste. Genevieve occa- sionally visited St. Louis on spiritual errands. In 1808, '09, '10, and'II, Father Urban Guillet, a Trappist, residing at the monastery of "Notre Dame de Bon Secours," near Cahokia, made like visits; so also did the Rev. Marie Joseph Dunand, another Trappist missionary, in 1808, '10, '11 and '13. Father Bernard, too, who had formerly lived in St. Louis, came up from Kaskaskia in 1810. In 1813 Father Savigné, who before this time occasionally had vis- ited St. Louis, permanently located there. Father Savigné, it is said, was the last priest sent west by the Canadian mission. When Bishop Flaget came to Cahokia on his way to St. Louis, as he entered his house he found Father Savigné there, "holding the handle of a skillet to make an omelette."63
From St. Louis, in 1814, Bishop Flaget went to Florissant where the "entire population turned out with joy to welcome him" - and a procession headed by chanters was formed, to escort him to the church. Among those present on this occasion, he records, were two men, respectively 107 and 108 years of age. He was much affected by the firm faith of the people here, "who seem to have been true
61 Life of Bishop Flaget, pp. 129, 132.
62 Ibid., p. 132.
63 Life of Bishop Flaget, p. 132.
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BISHOP FLAGET
Israelites in whom there was no guile." He remained in Florissant three days, then crossed the Missouri river, sitting in an arm chair in "a canoe decorated with flowers," and visited another congrega- tion divided into hostile factions, probably a congregation on the Dar- denne. From there he went to St. Charles, arriving there on the 18th of July. On the 21st, he departed for Portage des Sioux, remaining there until the 28th, when he returned to St. Charles. Here, also, the congregation was at war with its priest. From St. Charles he returned to St. Louis, where he arrived August 3, 1814, but he says that his "sojourn here will be almost useless." He was treated, however, with every possible attention by Governor Clark, who prevailed on him to baptize three of his children. Although the good Bishop was not satisfied with the result of his spiritual visit to St. Louis, he no doubt accomplished great good, and brought back into the fold many who had wandered away or had become indifferent, and also restored harmony in some of the congregations. From St. Louis on the 14th of September, he departed for Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia.
On the 21st of September he arrived at Ste. Genevieve where he was received with great honor. Here he delivered a powerful sermon against the violation of the laws of abstinence, and against balls and dancing, the favorite amusement of the people. From Ste. Gene- vieve he made a visit to the Catholic-American settlement "in the Barrens," in what is now Perry county. On his return to Ste. Gene- vieve he preached to an assembly of five hundred negroes, and found that marriage was not common amongst them. "He threatened their masters with privation of the sacraments unless they afforded their servants every facility to enter lawfully into this holy contract." The people of Ste. Genevieve presented him with a new suit of clothes and fifty dollars in money. During this "episcopal campaign," as he calls it, Bishop Flaget says that he traveled 900 miles in order to visit ten or twelve thousand Roman Catholics, scattered on the borders of the Missouri and Mississippi, sometimes traveling for days with- out a human habitation in sight.
In 1815 Bishop Dubourg was consecrated Bishop of upper and lower Louisiana at Rome; but he then urged that upper Louis- iana be detached from his diocese, and Bishop Flaget be made first Bishop. To this change Bishop Flaget did not object, but the plan was frustrated by the opposition and loud protest of the people of New Orleans against the appointment of Bishop Dubourg. This
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
unpleasant situation induced Bishop Dubourg to locate his episcopal residence at some place in upper Louisiana to be determined upon, at least temporarily. In a letter to Bishop Flaget, he requested him to ascertain from the Catholic residents of Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis in upper Louisiana, what they would do to meet his requirements to secure the residence of a Bishop among them. These requirements, which seem modest to us now, were, however, not so easy for that time. They consisted of (1) three thousand dollars to defray his trav- eling expenses and those of missionaries from Europe, (2) a necessary donation of land for a cathedral and episcopal mansion, BISHOP DUBOURG and (3) suitable salaries for the missionaries. Bishop Flaget, accompanied by Fathers DeAndreis and Rosati, and the lay brothers Blanca, and a Mr. Tucker as guide, visited upper Lou- isiana on this mission. They found that in upper Louisiana also con- siderable prejudice had been created against Bishop Dubourg among the Catholics. In Ste. Genevieve, where the first overture was made to locate the seat of the Bishopric, he was received with much coldness and indifference. In St. Louis the people took no more interest, says Bishop Flaget in a letter to Father David, in the matter of the reception of Bishop Dubourg "than about that of the Emperor of China," and he describes the presbytery as without doors, windows, floors or furniture, and the church as in a still worse condition. He says that "the people were filled with prejudice against their Bishop whom they had never seen." But subscriptions were started, and the example of Jeremiah O'Con- nor who gave a thousand dollars, at that time a princely sum, had a good influence with the rest of the population. Bishop Flaget was shown great consideration by non-Catholics. Colonel Benton called on him, and many others, and thus his mission was finally made success- ful. He returned to Bardstown awaiting the return of Bishop Dubourg. The latter had sailed from Bordeaux on the Ist of July 1817, and landed at Annapolis on the 4th of September, accompanied by five priests, twenty six young men, some of whom were candidates for the ministry, and others destined to become lay brothers to assist the missionaries in temporal affairs. On December 2nd he arrived at Bardstown, and on the 12th departed on the steamboat "Piqua" for St. Louis, accompanied by Bishop Flaget and a company of priests.
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