\n-\n
\nAlthough I do not have the honor of being personally known by Your Most Illustrious and Reverend Lordship, I take the liberty of writing to you this present letter, and I am certain—as certain as I am of your goodness and zeal for the Religion, the propagation of which you labor with such zeal—that you will not be displeased. In the letter that I wrote to the Sacred Congregation immediately following my Consecration, I gave to those Most Eminent Lords a detailed brief regarding the State in which the Religion finds itself in these Lands: several times the thought has occurred to me to write another, which describes in detail the part of this Diocese specifically under my immediate care, but the fear of perhaps bothering Their Eminences has dissuaded me from carrying out this plan of mine. I present it now to Your Most Illustrious and Reverend Lordship; if you deem it suitable, the Sacred Congregation will deem it the same.\n
\n-\n
\nThe portion of the Diocese of Louisiana specifically entrusted to me comprises: 1st The State of Missouri, 2nd The Territory of Arcansas [sic], 3rd The parishes of the State of Illinois that border the Mississippi, which, though they do not make up part of the Diocese, have been conferred to the care of the Bishop of Louisiana by the Bishop of Kentuky [sic], who is the Administrator of them.\n
\n-\n
\nIn the State of Missouri there are the following Parishes: 1st St. Louis, an important city and the largest in the…\n
"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/3c651fc0-354c-4975-9b6f-56aa22c37c54/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_2","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p040","height":4711,"width":3605,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/5a68f21c-3f40-4519-ac07-7b7315379276/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/5a68f21c-3f40-4519-ac07-7b7315379276","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":2048,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4]}]},"height":4711,"width":3605},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_2","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…state: French is spoken by the old inhabitants and English by the Americans and Irish, who in recent times have established themselves there. At present there is only one Priest. At least two more are needed. There is some difficulty. In the time that Mons. Du Bourg has resided here, a subscription was created for building a Church. The expense was enormous; and, owing to various circumstances, the funds were gone before it could be completed, which greatly weakened sales and diminished the number of new inhabitants that subscribed. Four of the leading citizens who had been chosen as Administrators of the construction were obliged to pay a debt of five or six thousand scudi to fulfill their bonds to the builders; and to reimburse themselves, they have obtained authorization from the Legislature to sell the parcel of land adjoining the Church, which contains the house that serves as the Habitation of the Bishop and the Priests, the garden, etc., etc. These men are threatening to proceed with the sale if they are not reimbursed what they have paid. Thus, the affairs in St. Louis are in a poor state.\n\n-\n
\n2nd Little Zuide, a village five miles from St. Louis, composed of about a hundred very poor French Catholic families. When there were more Priests in St. Louis, one of them went every Saturday and Sunday to that village to hear confession, to preach, and to celebrate the Holy Mass. Now it is abandoned.\n
\n-\n
\n3rd Florissant, a French village 16 miles from St. Louis: Here there are more American Catholics. This parish has the good fortune of possessing two Religious Communities. The first is run by the Jesuits, who have an establishment on a beautiful plot that was given to them by Monsig. Du Bourg. The Superior is the only priest, having had the misfortune of losing one who was still young last year. Their family is composed of…\n
"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/5a68f21c-3f40-4519-ac07-7b7315379276/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_3","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p041","height":4610,"width":3512,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/30df3812-f4d6-4c45-8815-0d85873cb2bc/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/30df3812-f4d6-4c45-8815-0d85873cb2bc","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4610,"width":3512},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_3","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…five clerical students of Theology and two lay brothers. They have in their house six little savages whom they are teaching how to read, write, and work and whom they are also instructing in the Religion. The American government furnishes them with an annual pension to do this. The other Community in Florissant is the house of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, who educate young girls, hold school, and render great service to the Religion.\n\n-\n
\n4th St. Charles, a French village about 16 miles from St. Louis, on the Missouri River, an important place. There is no priest there.\n
\n-\n
\n5th Portage de Sioux, a French village of around 100 families, on the Mississippi, 9 miles from Florissant. There is no priest there.\n
\n-\n
\n6th Dardenne, a small French village, about 9 miles from St. Charles. There is no priest there.\n
\n-\n
\n7th Cotes sans Dessein, French village about 90 miles from St. Louis. There is no priest there.\n
\n-\n
\n8th The lead mines, there are around 200 Catholic families; they are almost 50 miles from St. Genevieve. There is a Church, but there is no priest. The Curate of St. Genevieve goes to visit them various times a year.\n
\n-\n
\n9th St. Michel, a French village, about 30 miles from St. Genevieve. There is a Church there without a priest.\n
\n-\n
\n10th St. Genevieve, a large French village, about 60 miles from St. Louis. There is a Parish.\n
\n-\n
\n11th The Barrens, a parish composed of about 200 Catholic families who speak English and who are most exemplary. In the center of this population, contained within a boundary of 20 miles and more, is the Seminary of St. Mary of the Congregation of the Mission, my current residence. The family is composed of around fifty individuals. Of these, there are priests, of whom only one is…\n
"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/30df3812-f4d6-4c45-8815-0d85873cb2bc/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_4","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p042","height":4595,"width":3469,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/9c75be78-7aa5-482d-b88f-fbc7db1c583c/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/9c75be78-7aa5-482d-b88f-fbc7db1c583c","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4595,"width":3469},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_4","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…capable of working, since, of the other two, one still has not had time to learn the languages, English and French, and the other, although young, is in very poor health. There are 16 Seminarians, eight of whom are studying theology, and eight the Latin, English, and French languages. Ten lay brothers of the Congregation of the Mission are employed in the service of the Seminary; they farm the land and perform various tasks, altogether they form the main and almost the only support for the Seminary with regards to the temporal. We have, in addition, a small number of young secular Catholic boys who are being raised at the Seminary. The lack of qualified people needed for exercising the Ministry and for teaching mean the few we do have are overburdened. I am nevertheless forced by necessity to teach three classes a day, oversee temporal and spiritual matters of the Seminary, and the serve the parish; being that it is sparsely populated over a wide tract of land, and being that the inhabitants are very scrupulous in their practicing of their Religion, there is much to do. To our great consolation we see ourselves besieged by a great throng at the Confessional, so much so that on Sundays and other festive days it is not possible to listen to the Confessions of everyone who presents themselves between dawn until the hour of the sung Mass, which is celebrated an hour before midday. The church is always full, even in the heart of winter, despite the excessive cold and though a large part of this good people must come from seven, eight, nine, ten, and even fifteen miles away. The divine service is performed with decorum, and the ceremonies follow each other with the greatest exactitude. On Sundays, about two hours before the Sung Mass, one of the Seminarians, a student in Theology…"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/9c75be78-7aa5-482d-b88f-fbc7db1c583c/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_5","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p043","height":4636,"width":3510,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/bfd78b66-ba8b-4705-8b70-ba1b9cbfdc07/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/bfd78b66-ba8b-4705-8b70-ba1b9cbfdc07","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4636,"width":3510},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_5","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…says the catechism in Church for an hour and a half; after all the people recite the Acts of the Theological Virtues, the Commandments of God and the Church, and various prayers, we say the Rosary to 11 o’clock; after sprinkling with holy water, we sing the Mass; after the Gospel the Sermon is said; the Mass is finished with various prayers for the Supreme Pontiff, for good causes, for the Dead, etc., etc. Every first Sunday of the Month, the Holy Sacrament is exhibited and blessed. Around 4 o’clock, after midday, Vespers are sung, after which one of the Seminarians teaches a Lesson. After lunch, only those who live nearby remain at Church. Those who live farther away stay at home, where they say the Rosary, teach the doctrine to their children and slaves, read some spiritual book; in short, they spend the rest of the day in pious exercises. On feast days, they are concerned whether it is permitted to hunt or fish; in this respect, the state’s laws are very favorable to us, in that they punish with pecuniary fines whoever does the least work on Sundays or also goes hunting or fishing. Every Thursday, a day of rest at the Seminary, one of our priests, accompanied by a Seminarian, makes an excursion to the adjacent countryside, 12 or 15 miles away, to say the Mass and listen to confessions, while the Seminarian does the doctrine. The locations change throughout the district of the Parish, so that the elderly, the infirm, and women who could not leave their families have the comfort of attending the Sacraments, listening to the word of God, and being instructed in Christian Doctrine. The…"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/bfd78b66-ba8b-4705-8b70-ba1b9cbfdc07/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_6","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p044","height":4735,"width":3485,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/9ac14b27-cb91-4b29-abeb-ddab9cd254fb/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/9ac14b27-cb91-4b29-abeb-ddab9cd254fb","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4735,"width":3485},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_6","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…Protestants themselves benefit from these little Missions: often they have Conferences with them, which, after dispelling the prejudices they hold against the Catholic Religion, have happier effects that lead to frequent conversions. \n\n-\n
\nA fourth of a mile from the Seminary, there is a convent of Religious sisters that I worked to found about three years ago. Originally, I obtained twelve from Kentucky, now they number 17, not counting the various postulants. The spirit of poverty, fervor, and zeal for the health of souls in this Monastery is remarkable. They live by the work of their hands and the meagre pensions their students pay; and although exceedingly poor, they maintain 24 poor orphan girls, who are entirely cared for by the Monastery; they receive in that same Monastery girls who have not yet had their first communion, they maintain them for all the time it takes to instruct and prepare them; and by this they are doing an incalculable good, as those who live far from the Church could not otherwise benefit from the instructions that they give there for that purpose. It still happens often that Protestant spinsters who go there solely for school, convert to the Catholic Religion. I still lack priests whom I might entrust with the direction of the Monastery, it is necessary for me to task them with the spiritual rather than the temporal: however, when I consider the great services that the Monastery renders to the Religion, it makes me bear the burden of overseeing it with pleasure.\n
\n-\n
\nI can truthfully say that the sterile earth of the Barrens is a land of benediction and consolation. The poverty of the area is certainly great. It offers only poor resources.\n
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\nThe final parish of the state of Missouri is New Madrid, a place populated by more than eighty French Catholic families at a distance of 130 miles from the Seminary. There is no church or priest there.
"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/ae4bc995-2fa1-4b27-9dad-74ecd23b8754/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_8","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p046","height":4577,"width":3478,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/6e9e6d40-8569-42e7-b281-9919ad41c598/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/6e9e6d40-8569-42e7-b281-9919ad41c598","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4577,"width":3478},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_8","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"Several times I have sent a priest from the Seminary there. The population demonstrates a strong desire to have a local priest more permanently. They would like two of them because of the large distance and the considerable number of Protestants, who show beautiful dispositions for embracing the Catholic Religion and are disgusted by their own ministers, of whom they take little notice, while on the contrary they think highly of Catholic priests.\n\n-\n
\nIn the territory of Arckansas [sic] there are around one hundred French Catholic families; last year I sent them a priest who baptized more than two hundred people, performed many weddings, etc., etc., and I found good dispositions not only among the Catholics, but also among the Protestants, who desire to have a resident priest there. There is a tribe of savages very well disposed toward Civilization and the Religion; they demonstrate the greatest contentment upon seeing priests, and their chief made the most remarkable appeals to induce them to stay. A single priest would not be enough in this vast territory with its rapidly growing population and distance of more than 500 miles from the Seminary. If it does not waste time, the Religion would have much to gain there, since the Protestant ministers are not thought of highly, but have certainly not neglected to establish their sects. Up to now, I have been in the impossible position of doing something without having priests or means. \n
\n-\n
\nFinally, the parishes of the state of Illinois, which are on the Mississippi, and which have been put under the care of the Bishop of Louisiana by the Bishop of Kentucky, and which are currently under my direction, are the following: 1st Kaskaskias, a French village of about 150…\n
"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/6e9e6d40-8569-42e7-b281-9919ad41c598/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_9","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p047","height":4661,"width":3559,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/38c5e7a5-b751-4aff-958c-c427c97db2d8/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/38c5e7a5-b751-4aff-958c-c427c97db2d8","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4661,"width":3559},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_9","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…families, 16 miles from the Seminary. There is a church, but no priest. Sometimes I send a priest from the Seminary there. 2nd Prairie du Kocher, a French village of around 100 families, 30 miles from the Seminary. There is a church and priest: this is Signor Olivier, a respectable old man of 75, almost blind, and unable to perform some services to that parish. I have offered him a room in the Seminary, and he promised me he would retire here at the beginning of the coming November, he is a saint who has worked for many years in the service of all the Catholics in this region, where for a long time he was the only support of the Religion, and he has impressed the Protestants with his truly holy life. His coming to the Seminary will be a special blessing of the Lord to us. 3rd Ohara Settlement, where there are many Catholic families who speak English, very pious, and who receive as if he were an angel from the Lord the priest I sometimes send there from the Seminary, which is around 40 miles away from that place. 4th Caokias, French village of around 200 families. There is a church and a priest who is already elderly.\n\n-\n
\nThese are the principal places where the Catholics have gathered, only three of which have Churches and have had for some time a resident priest; for the most part, they are deprived of both. The reason is that these places are poor, and their inhabitants find it very difficult to make the sacrifices necessary to maintain the priest. In the time of the Spanish government, the Curate was paid by the Spanish Crown, but since these enormous provinces joined the United States, the only means of sustaining the priest is…\n
"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/38c5e7a5-b751-4aff-958c-c427c97db2d8/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_10","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p048","height":4593,"width":3469,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/8ee13309-f77b-495a-92f5-4f017a8c066f/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/8ee13309-f77b-495a-92f5-4f017a8c066f","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4593,"width":3469},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_10","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…an annual contribution that the inhabitants put in the hands of three or four of their number who are chosen every year and who the French call and who the English call . These same men rent out the pews in the Churches, they oversee the temporal affairs of the parish, and they have free reign over them; so as to make the priest entirely dependent on them. It is not rare to find among these various men that they have no Religion and still others who have declared themselves the enemy of every Religion, and they take pleasure in contriving to humiliate the Curate at every occasion. In the state of Missouri the Church cannot own immovable property, but given that the laws of the United States do not function retroactively, those parishes which at the time of the Spanish Government owned land and other immovable property have the right to keep it, but not the right to add to it. The communities are not recognized as capable of ownership. Their goods are ordinarily overseen by the Superior, who can immediately administer wills and leave the said property to another member of the Community. The Bishops in similar circumstances do the same. Our Seminary was recognized by the Legislature of the State of Missouri, and permitted to own property of every kind, not as an Ecclesiastical or Religious Community, but as a House of education.\n\n-\n
\nAfter everything I have written, You Most Illustrious Lordship sees the great difficulties in which I find myself. We could do great, good works, but we do not have the means. If the House and Seminary of the Congregation of the Mission were able to support five or six priests, to provide them with Horses, and the necessary cash…\n
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An even greater number of Missouri’s inhabitants do not profess to any Religion at all; in general they are very inquisitive, and they love to be taught: they have a great respect for priests, and without doubt if one could make excursions among them, one would convert a large number. But it is a truly heavy blow to see the Protestant ministers profiting from such favorable circumstances, while we find ourselves helpless to prevent them. This lack of pecuniary means has convinced Monsignor Du Bourg that it would not be convenient to divide the Diocese according to what was decreed by the brief of Pius VII. I was invited by him to go down to New Orleans to confer with him about establishing a new Seminary in Lower Louisiana, where there is a tract of land that was given by a former Capuchin to this effect and where he would like to purchase a house adjoining the said land, which is very suitable for this project: he would like me to transport the majority of my household there, along with the Seminarians, who are currently at the Seminary of the Barrens, and for me to reside there myself; and he believes that given that the region is richer and the land more fertile, this new Seminary could help the other. But in the meantime, what would become of poor…"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/6175a646-2aa5-414d-8d49-30e72ead8d35/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_12","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p050","height":4686,"width":3546,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1978cdaa-343a-4be7-b8ea-97fb6e4554b6/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/1978cdaa-343a-4be7-b8ea-97fb6e4554b6","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":1024,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4,8]}]},"height":4686,"width":3546},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_12","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…Missouri? It would be almost abandoned, deprived of every aid at a time when it needs them most; it would lose the only resource that is now found in the subjects of the Seminary and that it would have had for only a short time; the same Catholics would think it a very bad idea; our Community, thanks be to God, functions perfectly as far as the spiritual goes, it would fall to ruin if it were obligated to send the subjects that should sustain it to Lower Louisiana. I have explained all this to Monsignor Du Bourg, but he continues to believe that it is absolutely necessary: he insists upon the difficulty of keeping the Seminary of the Barrens afloat and that the Bishop in Missouri has no other aid. I did not judge it appropriate to oppose it outright, but I feel the greatest repugnance in the execution of the project. I commend myself to Your Most Illustrious and Reverend Lordship in order that it might please you to carry out the division already decreed by the Brief of Pius VII of glorious memory; however, I would not like Monsignor Du Bourg to know that I have written to this effect, I would not wish to disgust the worthy Prelate whose Coadjutor I am and for whom I have the greatest respect. His intentions are the purest; he desires only the greatest good, and believes that the only way of obtaining it is to carry out this plan. I therefore hope that Your Most Illustrious Lordship will grant me the favor that I have so warmly asked for, and which will come to the aid of the Religion in these poor regions, by exerting your influence over the Sacred Congregation. Certainly without some aid it is very difficult to move forward. But I hope…"}]}],"thumbnail":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1978cdaa-343a-4be7-b8ea-97fb6e4554b6/full/500,500/0/default.jpg","@type":"dctypes:Image","height":500,"width":500}},{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_13","@type":"sc:Canvas","label":"CMC0565_02_015_002_p051","height":4706,"width":3579,"images":[{"@type":"oa:Annotation","motivation":"sc:painting","resource":{"@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/e6f28cd9-1fbc-47d3-8b69-c1a68bafe181/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/e6f28cd9-1fbc-47d3-8b69-c1a68bafe181","profile":"http://iiif.io/api/image/2/level2.json","tiles":[{"width":2048,"scaleFactors":[1,2,4]}]},"height":4706,"width":3579},"on":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/depaul/iiif/1cd91abd-7e5e-477b-9b7a-ad10f9c334bf/canvas/_13","metadata":[{"label":"Translations","value":"…that Providence will not neglect to provide it. The munificence of the regnant Supreme Pontiff Leo XII allowed me to obtain a considerable subsidy last year, which I had thought was reserved for the construction of the new Church of the Barrens, for which we nevertheless are making the necessary arrangements. I was obliged to use this sum of money for more urgent needs, finding it opportune to pay various debits contracted for the subsistence of the Seminary, for travels of the Missionaries sent to various places, and for myself to make visits to the parishes to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is true that Monsignor Du Bourg has left me the possessions he acquired in Missouri, but these are a very poor resource; they consist of some sites adjacent to the City of St. Louis, which will be able to return something when the City expands to those places; and in a small farm in the vicinity of St. Louis, which provides about sixty scudi annually. This is all our income.\n\n-\n
\nI fear going on, having taxed you enough. I beg you to forgive me for the liberty that I have taken and to enjoy the sentiments of obsequiousness, of veneration, and of respect with which I am inviolably \n
\n-\n
\nYour Most Illustrious and Reverend Lordship’s\n
\nNew Orleans 1 November 1825\n
\n-\n
\nP.S. Finding myself in need of asking the Holy Father for a spiritual grace for the Seminary, I have included the petition here, and I take yet another liberty of beseeching Your Most Illustrious and Reverend Lordship to deign to…
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\nMissouri State, North America\n
\n-\n
\nYour Most Humble and Obedient Servant\n
\nGiuseppe Rosati B. of Tenagra and Coadjutor of New Orleans \n
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