Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/194

 134 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI generation. The children of those who en- joy it must positively be Catholic. Those who will not conform to this rule are not to be admitted, but are to be sent back out of the Province immediately, even though they possess much property." "7. In the Illinois, none shall be admitted but Catholics of the class of farmers and ar- tisans. They must, also, possess some prop- erty, and must not have served in any public character in the country from whence they came. The provisions of the preceding ar- ticle shall be explained to the emigrants al- ready established in the Province who are not Catholics, and shall be observed by them." "8. The commandants will take particu- lar care that no Protestant Preacher, or one of any sect other than Catholics, shall intro- duce himself into the Province. The least neglect in this respect will be a great repre- hension. ' '* It must be kept in mind, however, that these rigid instructions were not rigidly en- forced. The commandants of the various posts understood the very great desire of Spain for settlers in the new territory. That desire for settlers extended to the Americans, and it was the understanding that Americans should be admitted without any too rigid in- quiry into their religion. Some questions were asked, but those questions could be an- swered in the affirmative by almost any be- liever in the Christian religion. Any person who answered these questions satisfactorily was pronounced a good Catholic and per- mitted to enter the settlement. This took the place, it seems, of a declaration in form that the settler was a Catholic. It was explained to all of these settlers that their children must be brought up in the Catholic faith. Of course the open practice of the Protestant re- ligion — the holding of public services — was forbidden. It seems, however, that no great diligence was exercised to prevent the hold- ing of prayer meetings, and other assemblies within private houses. Occasionally a minis- ter from the settlements of Illinois crossed the river and conducted these private services. It is said that more than one of these men was more than once warned, but the warnings usually came at the close of the visit, and no great effort was made to arrest or punish for the violation of the law. Of course, under these circumstances, no Protestant church house could be erected and no formal organ- ization made. For this reason the early re- ligious history of the state is a history of the Catholic church. That history began, as we have seen, in 1759, when there began to be kept in the village of Ste. Genevieve a record of church affairs. The records mentioned show the fol- lowing persons to have had charge of the church in Ste. Genevieve at the dates given : Fathers P. F. Watrin, J. B. Salveneuve and John La Morinie, from 1760 to 1764 ; Father J. L. Meurin, from 1764 to 1768 : Father Gi- bault, from 1768 to 1773; Father Hiliarie, from 1773 to 1777 ; Father Gibault, from 1778 to 1784; Father Loiiis Guiques, from 1786 to 1789 ; Father St. Pierre, from 1789 to 1797 : and Father James Maxwell, from 1797 to 1814. Father Meurin was a Jesuit, and was the only priest exempt in the order of 1763 which expelled the Jesuits from Louisiana. He re- mained in charge, and continued missionary work among the settlers and Indians for a number of years. He labored under exceed- ingly great difficulties. The propert.v of the order to which he belonged had been confis-
 * History of Southeast Missouri, p. 521.