Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/193

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 133 ried from St. Louis to Ste. Genevieve and New Orlenns. The social life and condition of these peo- ple must always be a matter of the very great- est interest. It is unfortunate that we do not have more complete records of their real con- dition. Enough, however, remains for us to form some idea of their surroundings, and the things in which they took the deepest and most vital interest. It is quite evident that one of these things was religion. We have seen before this time that the first service ever held within the limits of the state was that celelirated by De Soto and his com- panions at the request of the Indians. That religious service was held in 1541. It was destined to be man.y years before another was celebrated. We cannot be certain as to the date when the next religious celebration was held within the limits of the state. We have no accurate account as to the coming of any missionaries until, at least, the time of ]Iar- quette. We cannot, indeed, be certain that Marquette landed and held services on the soil of the state. We know, however, that he passed along its border upon the bosom of the great river, and we know that he was a most devout Christian and sincerely interested in spreading the Gospel among the Indians. In fact, he had vowed that should he discover the river, he intended to name it The Immacu- late Conception, and to name the first post planted within the territory in the same way. He fulfilled this vow, and the Mississippi was known for a number of years, as the "River of the Conception." We may rightfully in- fer, from these circumstances, that he did land in Missouri and hold religious services; but even if such was the case, it was like the service held so long before by De Soto, only an incident, long separated in time, from any regular series of religious services. We are unable to fix the date when regular religious services were firet held here. We may suppose that, as soon as settlers began to live about the mines and at Ste. Genevieve, the priests at Kaskaskia and Fort Chartres came to Mis-souri to hold services. There is one reference in the Jesuit Relations which seems to confirm this supposition. We do not, however, reach a certain period until the be- ginning of the church records of Ste. Gene- vieve. This was in the year 1759. It should be said, of course, that all the early religious services held in the section were Catholic. The French dominated the territory until its transfer to Spain, and so long as the PVeneh were here, religious con- trol was vested in the priests of the Jesuit order. After the transfer to Spain an order was issued banisliing the Jesuits from Louisi- ana and the religious control of the territory was claimed by the Capuchin fathers whose estal)lishment in this country was in New Or- leans. The laws of Spain were very strict with regard to the settlement of Protestants in the territory and, of course, forbade under penalty the immigration of Protestant clergy- men and the holding of Protestant services. It must be said, however, that the Spanish of- ficials, who were charged with the execution of these laws, were very rarely bigoted, and they seem to have had little desire to enforce the laws in a harsh manner. What these laws were, may be ascertained from the fol- lowing instructions issued by Manuel Gayoso, the governor of Louisiana, to the command- ants of the various posts : "6. The privilege of enjoying liberty of conscience is not to extend be.yond the first