Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/704

 KENTUCKY

624

KENTUCKY

Grass Region. By 1796 it is estimated that there were 300 Catholic familes in Kentucky.

The first missionary priest to reach Kentucky was the Rev. M. Whelan, who came in the year 1787 with a band of immigrants under the leadership of Edward Howard. In 1790 Father Whelan returned to Mary- land. Six months later the Rev. \\'m. De Rohan ar- rived, but without faculties and unaccredited to Ken- tucky. He performed such service as he could, but the settlements were without full priestly attention until 1793, at which time the Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin (q. v.) and the Rev. M. Barrieres were sent to Kentucky by the Bishop of Baltimore. Father Bar- rieres remained but four months, but Father Badin laboured in the mission for about twenty-six years. After the departm-e of Father Barrieres, for three years Father Badin was the only priest in the whole of Kentucky. In 1797 the Rev. Si. J. C. Fournier and, in 1799, the Rev. Anthony Salmon joined Father Badin, but the latter of these two companions of Father Badin was killed by a fall from a horse nine months after his arrival, and Father Fournier died in 1S03. Again Father Badin was alone in Kentucky until 1S05, when the Rev. Charles Nerinckx, a native of Belgium, joined him. Father Nerinckx laboured in the state for nineteen years, sharing with his associate all the hardships of this most trying mission, and by his wonderful zeal and great piety materially promot- ing the progress and prosperity of the Church. A French colony under the leadersliip of John A. and Louis Tarascon arrived at Louisville in the year 1806 and settled near the Falls of the Ohio, to engage in the milling business, utilizing the falls for power. These colonists were, or at least should have been, Catho- lics, but the early missionaries do not appear to have considered them very faithful children of the Church. However, when the first church was built, in 1811, the name of J. A. Tarascon appears on the list of trustees for the new parish. F'ather Badin was the first pastor, and continued as such until 1817, when he was suc- ceeded by the Rev. G. I. Chabrat, like him, a French- man, who was in turn succeeded by the Rev. Philip Horstman, a native American.

In 1808 the Diocese of Bardstown was erected, to in- clude in its jurisdiction the whole of Kentucky as well as Tennessee (see Louisville, Diocese of). In 1841 the see was transferred to Louisville, and in 1853 the establishment of the Diocese of Covington (q. v.) brought into existence the present ecclesiastical di- vision of the State of Kentucky into the two dioceses of Louisville and Covington.

Kentucky enjoys the distinction of having been the first great nursery of the Faith in the LTnited States west of the .\lleghenies. Closely connected with this fact (which will be more especially dealt with in the article Louisville, Diocese of) was a remarkably early development of new reUgious congregations in the old Diocese of Bardstown. In Marion County, the Sisterhood of Loretto, founded in 1812 as "Friends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross ", and, in Nelson County, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, founded in the same year, were almost, if not quite, the earliest religious institutes to originate in the United States (see Lo- retto, Sisters of; Nazareth, Sisters of CH.\RiTy of). Of the older institutes of women, the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic have been established in Kentucky since 1822; the Sisters of the Good Shep- herd, since 1842; TJrsuline Nuns, since 1858; Bene- dictine Nuns, since 1S59; Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, since 1860; Visitandines, since 1864; Sisters of Mercy, since 1867; Little Sisters of the Poor, since 1869; the Sisters of Notre Dame and others have come into the state more recently, .^mong the religious orders of men, the Order of Preachers found their first home in the United States near Springfield, Washing- ton County, Kentucky (St. Rose of Lima, 1806), where they are still fiouri.shing; the Trappists founded

their famous Abbey of Gethsemani (q. v.), in Nelson County, in 1848; the Franciscans took charge of the parish of St. Boniface, Louisville, in 1849; the Bene- dictines came to Covington in 1858. Other male re- ligious orders and congregations in Kentucky are the Passionists, Xaveriau Brothers, Brothers of Mary, and Fathers of the Resurrection. The total Catholic population of the state is estimated at 189,854, about three-fourths of that number (which includes up- wards of 4000 coloured Catholics) being in the Diocese of Louisville.

Legislation Directly Affecting Religion.— The Bill of Rights of the Constitution of Kentucky guarantees to all citizens the right to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, and it also provides that no pubhc funds raised for educational purposes shall be used in the aid of any church, or any sectarian or de- nominational school. It is further provided by statute that no sectarian, infidel, or immoral publications shall be used or distributed in the common schools of the state; nor shall any sectarian, infidel, or immoral doctrine be taught therein. The court of last resort in Kentucky, in construing these provisions of the Con- stitution and Statutes (Hackett v. Graded School, 120 Ky. 608), held that they are not violated by reading verses from the King James Version of the Bible, without note or comment, nor by the recital of the following prayer: "Our Father who art in heaven we ask Thy aid in our day's work. Give us wisdom and strength and patience to teach these children as they should be taught, may teacher and pupil have mutual love and respect. Watch over these children both in the schoolroom and on the playground. Keep them from being hurt in any way, and at last when we come to die may none of our number be missing around Thy throne. These things we ask in Christ's name."

The laws of the state provide that no work or busi- ness shall be done on Sunday except the ordinary household offices or other work of necessity or charity, or work required in the operation of a ferry, skiff, steamboat, or steam or street railway. But persons who belong to a religious society which observes some other day than Sunday are not liable for the penalties provided in this act if they actually observe as a Sab- bath one day in each seven. There are specific enact- ments penalizing the sale of liquor, barbering, pool and bilhard playing, and hunting. The enforcement of the law with reference to Sunday observance is very lax, particularly in the cities. So also with reference to the sale of liquor on Sunday. In some of the cities this law is not enforced at all, in others some effort is made towards its enforcement, and in some places it is rig- idly enforced. The law provides that if any proceed- ing is directed by law to take place, or any act is di- rected to be done on a particular day of the month, and that day happens to fall on Sunday, the proceed- ing shall be had, or the act done, on the following day.

Oaths may be administered by any judge of a court, notary public, clerk of a court, examiner, master com- missioner, or justice of the peace within his district or county. Persons refusing for conscientious reasons to take an oath may affirm. The oath is ordinarily ad- ministered by the officer and the person to be sworn, both raising their right hands, the officer repeating the oath and the person responding: I do. Testimony taken out of the state, to be used in proceedings in the courts of the state, may he taken before a commis- sioner appointed by the governor or by any other per- son empowered by commission directed to him by con- sent of the parties, or by order of a court; or before the judge of a court, justice of the peace, mayor of a city, or a notary public.

Any person profanely cursing or swearing is liable to a fine of one dollar for each offence, and every oath is deemed a separate offence. If the offence is com- mitted in the presence of a court of record or justice of the peace, the said court or justice may instantly,