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 NEW ORLEANS

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NEW ORLEANS

credit of the Jesuits that they made their plantation BO productive as to inaintiiin tlu-ir missionaries; to the tliird. the aetion of tl\e liishops of (tuelicc in a])p<iiiit- ing the vicar-^eneral and tli;it of llie Suiicrior C'ouncil itself in sustaining him wast lie answer. Nevertheless, the unjust decree was carried out, the Jesuits' prop- erty was confiscated, and they were forbidden to use the name of their Societv or to wear their habit. Their property was sold" for .?1S0,000. -Ml their chapels were levelled to the ground, leaving exjjosed even the vaults where the dead were interred. The Jesuits were ordered to give up their missions, to re- turn to New Orleans and to leave on the first vessel sailing for France. The Capuchins forgetting their difTorcnce interfered in behalf of the Jesuits: and find- ing their petitions unavailing went to the river bank to receive the returning Jesuits, offeretl them a home alongside of their own, and in every way showed their disapproval of the Council's action. The Jesuits deepl}- grateful left the Capuchins all the books they had been able to save from the spoliation.

Father Boudoin, S.J., the benefactor of the colony, who had introduced the culture of sugar-cane and oranges from San Domingo, and figs from Provence, a man to whom the people owed much and to whom Louisiana to-day owes so much of its prosperity, alone remained. He was now seventy-two years old and had spent thirty-five in the colony. He was broken in health and too ill to leave his room. They dragged him through the streets when prominent citizens in- tervened and one wealthy planter, Etienne de Bor(5, who had first succeeded in the granulation of sugar, defied the authorities, and took Father Boudoin to his home and sheltered him until his death in 1766. The most monstrous part of the order of expulsion was that, not only were the chapels of the Jesuits in lower Louisiana — many of which were the only places where Catholics, whites and Indians, and negroes, could worship God — levelled to the ground, but the Council carried out the decree even in the Illinois district which had been ceded to the King of England and which was no longer subject to France or Louisiana. They ordered even the vestments and plate to be de- livered to the king's attorney. Thus was a vast terri- torj' left destitute of priests and altars, and the growth of the Church retarded for many years. Of the ten Capuchins left to administer to this immense terri- tory, five were retained in New Orleans; the remainder were scattered over the various missions. It is inter- esting to note that the only native Louisiana priest at this time and the first to enter the holy priesthood. Rev. Bernard Viel, born in New Orleans 1 October, 1736, was among the Jesuits expelled from the colony. He died in France, 1821. The inhabitants of New Orleans then numbered four thousand.

II. Spanish Period. — In 1763 Louisiana was ceded to Spain, and Antonio Ulloa was sent over to take pos- session. The colonists were bitterly opposed to the cession and finally rose in arms against the governor, giving him three days in which to leave the town. (See LotJisiAN.\.) The Spanish Government resolved to purush the parties who had so insulted its represent- ative, Don Ulloa, and sent Alexander O'Reilly to as- sume the office of governor. Lafr^niere, President of the Council, who chiefly instigated the passing of the decree expelUng the Jesuits from the colony, and the rebelhon against the (Government, was tried by court martial and with six of his partners in his scheme, was shot in the Place d'Ariries. O'Reillj' reorganized the

Crovince after the Spanish model, The oath taken y the officials shows that the doctrine of the Immacu- late Conception was then officially recognized in the

Spanish dominions. "I appointed

swear before God. . .to maintain. . . the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, the Vir- gin Mary."

The change of government affected ecclesiastical

jurisdiction. The Province of Louisiana passed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Santiago de Cuba, the Right Rev. Jaime Jo.s6 de Echeverrla, and Spanish Cajjuchins began to fill the places of their French brethren. Contradictory reports reached the new bishop about conditions in Louisiana and he sent Father Cirilo de Barcelona with four Spanish Capu- chins to New Orleans. These priests were Fathers Francisco, Angel do Revillagades, Louis de Quintan- ilia, and Alenian. They reached New Orleans, 19 July, 1773. The genial ways of the French brethren seemed scandalous to the stern Spanish disciplinarian, and he informed the Bishop of Cuba concerning what he considered "lax methods of conduct and adminis- tration". Governor Unzaga, however, interfered in behalf of the French Capuchins, and wrote to the bishop censuring the Spanish friars. This offended the bishop and both referred the matter to the Spanish Court. The Government expressed no opinion, but advised the prelate and governor to compromise, and so preserve harmony between the civil and eccelsiasti- cal authorities. Some Louisiana historians, Charles Gayarr^ among others, speak of the depravity of the clergy of that period. These charges are not borne out by contemporary testimony; the archives of the cathedral witness that the clergy performed their work faithfully. These charges as a rule sprang from monastic prejudices or secular antipathies. One of the first acts of Father Cirilo as pastor of the St. Louis Cathedral was to have the catechism printed in French and Spanish.

The Bishop of Santiago de Cuba resolved to remedy the deplorable conditions in Louisiana, where confirm- ation had never been administered. In view of his inability to visit this distant portion of his diocese, he asked for the appointment of an auxiliary bishop, who would take up his abode in New Orleans, and thence visit the missions on the Mississippi as well as those in Mobile, Pensacola, and St. Augustine. The Holy See appointed Father Cirilo de Barcelona titular Bishop of Tricali and auxiliary of Santiago. He was conse- crated in Cuba in 1781 and preceded to New Orleans where for the first time the people enjoyed the presence of a bishop. A saintly man, he infused new life into the province. The whole of Louisiana and the Flor- idas were under his jurisdiction. According to official records of the Church in Louisiana in 1785, the church of St. Louis, New Orleans, had a parish priest, four assistants; and there was a resident priest at each of the following points: Terre aux Boeufs, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. James, Ascension, St. Ga- briel's at Iberville, Point Coupee, Attakapas, Ope- lousas, Natchitoches, Natchez, St. Louis, St. Gene- vieve, and at Bernard or Manchac (now Galveston). On 25 November, 178.5, Bishop Cirilo appointed as parish priest of New Orleans Rev. Antonio Ildefonso Morenory Arze de Sedella, one of the six Capuchins who had come to the colony in 1779. Father Antonio (popularly known as "Pere Antoine") was destined to exert a remarkable influence in the colony. Few priests have been more assailed by historians, but a careful comparison of the ancient records of the cathe- dral with the traditions that cluster about his memory show that he did not deserve on the one hand the in- dignities which Gayarr6 and Shea heap upon him, nor yet the excessive honours with which tradition has crowned him. From the cathedral archives it has been proven that he was simply an earnest priest striving to do what he thought his duty amid many difficulties.

In 1787 a number of unfortunate Acadians came at the expense of the King of France and settled near Plaquemines, Terre aux Boeufs, Bayou Lafourche, Attakapas, and Opelousas, adding to the already thrifty colony. They brought with them the precious Register of St. Charles aux Mines in Acadia extending from 1689 to 1749, only six years before their cruel