\n-\n
\nI have received several letters from Your Lordship. The only reason that I have not responded is because I believed you had departed for Caldea. Now that I have heard from ours coming from Rome that you will probably stay some years in Rome, I believe it my duty to not neglect to respond to you. I have received everything that you have been so good as to send to Marseilles. I thank you with all my heart and I will always be most obliged to you.\n
\n-\n
\nI have finally arrived at my post. The end of this past autumn I, along with all the seminarians that were with me in Kentucki [sic], left for Louisiana. After a rather easy journey by water we arrived at the Barrens Place where the seminary is being built. These barrens are in the state of Missoury [sic] and in the county of St. Genevieve, twenty miles from this city, and 90 from St. Louis, capital of the state and residence of the Bishop. Our seminary sits on farmland covered by oak trees; and other species, but not very thickly, for which this land is called Barrens, which means sterile, not because of what it produces but solely because of the trees. We are in the center of 90 Catholic families, who speak English and each live on their own plots of land and are consequently scattered here and there. They are the best people in the world, they very much love to hear the word of God, to frequent the Sacraments, and lead a life that is very…
"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/d1327221-81b9-4c67-8b22-92c2dead0542/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/0c5a0a6f-729b-4024-b81c-f285ccbf7a9c/canvas/_2","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p004","height":4853,"width":6912,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/95f86d86-7350-4b03-99bc-e9945db7bfe4/full/full/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/tif","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/95f86d86-7350-4b03-99bc-e9945db7bfe4","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":2048,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4]}]},"height":4853,"width":6912},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/0c5a0a6f-729b-4024-b81c-f285ccbf7a9c/canvas/_2","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…simple. The church is a poor shack made of tree trunks stacked one on top of the other in the shape of a parallelogram, and the gaps between one trunk and another are filled with stones and mud and bits of plaster. The population increases excessively everyday as a result of those coming from other regions to live here and the multiplication of those who are here already, which is almost beyond belief. Nothing is more common than finding fathers of families who have 10, 12, 15 and more children all living, and if they marry very young, you can imagine how rapidly the population grows. The air is healthy, but the climate is unstable; very cold in winter, and extremely hot in summer. The mode of living is very simple; they do not know what soups, sauces, etc. are. Meat, especially pork, is the main nourishment of these inhabitants; bread made from corn is the most common, tea and coffee take the place of wine, which costs 15 paoli [type of coinage] a bottle. The country’s products are corn in great quantities, grains, legumes, and potatoes. The pasture is excellent, and in consequence there is an abundance of cows, horses, and even sheep. They do not have donkeys here. They harvest a little cotton, linen, hemp. There are trees there from which they make sugar. In the months of February and March, they drill a hole about a span and a half from the ground, there they insert small tubes, when the weather is mild and the nights are icy, when the sun comes out, a liquor clear as water and a little sweet pours into the little tubes and falls into the pails underneath. They collect this water…"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/95f86d86-7350-4b03-99bc-e9945db7bfe4/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/0c5a0a6f-729b-4024-b81c-f285ccbf7a9c/canvas/_3","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p005","height":4669,"width":3569,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/8f345bec-421a-4cf9-a688-3d160ddaace3/full/full/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","format":"image/tif","service":{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/context.json","@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/8f345bec-421a-4cf9-a688-3d160ddaace3","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4669,"width":3569},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/0c5a0a6f-729b-4024-b81c-f285ccbf7a9c/canvas/_3","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…boil it until it evaporates and the particles of sugar remain at the bottom of the cauldron. This sugar can be refined so that it is like the costly kind, and it is rather good. It sells for 17 or 18 bajocchi [type of coinage] a pound.\n\n-\n
\nMoving onto religious news, things are going very well. The coming of Monsignor du Bourg with a considerable number of ecclesiastics has changed the face of the country. A large number of parishes, which are here called Congregations, that have never had a priest, and which have never seen one itinerantly, or which have been without one for 19, 20 years, are now provided for. The cathedral already built in St. Louis, a clergy sufficient to give majesty to the divine cult, frequent sermons and instructions, the frequency of the sacraments, a noticeable change of costume, and above all the instruction of the youth are the fruits of the zeal of our holy pastor and of the labor of the ecclesiastics who work under his command. The establishments that he has built are incredible. A convent of religious women has already been built in a village around 20 miles from St. Louis. A large number of young women are instructed in piety and in other branches of education appropriate to their sex. A college for the education of secular scholars has begun to be established in St. Louis. They already hold school. Our seminary will be completed by the beginning of next autumn. Signor De Andreis resides in St. Louis, and he is to open it with our novitiate. He works very hard and is greatly respected…
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\nAt present our seminary is composed of about ten young men, since those who were here last year and who studied theology are almost all priests and employed in the exercise of the holy ministry. Once the building of the seminary is completed, there will be space for sixty. Here is the method that we follow. We receive young men not only for the ecclesiastical state, but also those who remain secular: it is necessary to begin by teaching them how to read. Of these youths, those who show talent, good conduct, and other signs of the ecclesiastical state, after some years, are vested with the clerical habit and kept separate from the others, as the seminary is constructed in such a manner that two communities can live there without any communication between them. May the Lord wish to bless these projects. Certainly, all appears well. But how many difficulties and how many things we lack there are. Books are very rare in these parts, and those that are found, very costly. I have thought of asking you to write a request to Propaganda and send it to Monsignor Secretary for a few books, such as scripture, Latin authors for instruction, etc. It will be necessary for us to teach Greek and Hebrew since the Protestants are proficient in these languages. Propaganda has some books of this kind. I suggest it to Your Lordship as I am convinced that you will be able to do much on our behalf. In these parts, there is a need for the youth...
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\nI believe that you now know English and French. I ask you to send my compliments to Monsieur the Abbot George. Tell him, please, to not forget me in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I am, Monsieur, with the sincerest sentiments of respect and attachment:\n
\n-\n
\nSt. Mary’s Seminary 6 March 1819\n
\nYour very humble servant,\n
\nJ. Rosati. Priest of the Congregation of the Mission.
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