NEW ORLEANS
10
NEW ORLEANS
Louisiana say that lio was never consecrated; others
that he w;is. ami ilioil on the eve of leaving Rome.
Bishop Portion i,8paklins's "Life of Hishop I'laget "),
sjus that he wa-s translated to the See of Tarrazona.
The See of New Orleans remaincil vacant many years
after the departure of Bishop I'cnalver.
In 1798 the Due d'OrU'ans ^a^ter^vards King Louis- Philipi)eof i-'rance) with liis two brothers, the Due de MimtpensicT and the Count de Bcaujolais, visited New Orleans. They were received with honour, and when Louis-Philippe became King of France lie re- membered many of those who had entertained him when in exile, and was generous to the Church in the old French province.
IIL FuKNCH .\ND American Period. — By the Treaty of San Ildefonse, the Spanish King on 1 Octo- ber, ISOO, engaged to letrocede Louisiana to the French Kepublic .«ix months after certain conditions and stipulations had been executed on the part of France, and the Holy See deferred the appointment of a bi.shop.
On 30 April, 1803, without waiting for the actual transfer of the province, Napoleon Bonaparte by the Treaty of Paris sold Louisiana to the United States. De Laussat, the French Commissioner, had reached New Orleans on 26 March, 1S03, to take possession of the province in the name of France. Spain was pre- paring to evacuate and general confusion prevailed. Very Rev. Thomas Hasset, the administrator of the diocese, was directed to adclress each priest and ascer- tain whether they preferred to return with the Si^an- ish forces or remain in Louisiana; also to obtain from each parish an inventory of the plate, vestments, and other articles in the Church which had been given by the Spanish Government. Then came the news of the cession of the province to the United States. On 30 April, 1803, De Lau.ssat formally surrendered the col- ony to the United States commissioners. The people felt it keenly, and the cathedral archives show the dif- ficulties to be surmounted. Father Hasset, as admin- istrator, issued a letter to the clergy on 10 June, 1803, aimouncing the new domination and notifying all of the permission to return to Spain if they desired. Sev- eral priests signified their desire to follow the Spanish standard. The question of withdrawal was also dis- cussed by the Ursuline Nuns. Thirteen out of the twenty-one choir nuns were in favour of returning to S[)ain or going to Havana. De Laussat went to the convent and assured them that they could remain un- molested. Notwithstanding this Mother St. Monica and eleven others, with nearly all the lay sisters ap- plied to the Marquis de Casa Calvo to convey them to Havana. Six choir nuns and two lay sisters remained to begin again the work in Louisiana. They elected Mother St. Xavier Fargcon as superioress, and re- sumed all the exercises of community life, maintaining their academy, day school, orphan asylum, hospital and instructions for coloured people in catechism. Fa- ther Hasset wrote to Bishop Carroll, 23 December, 1803, that the retrocession of the province to the United States of America impelled him to present to his consideration the present ecclesiastical state of Louisiana, not doubting that it would soon fall under his jurisdiction. The ceded province consisted of twenty-one parishes some of which were vacant. "The churches were", to use his own words, "all de- cent temples and comfortably supplied with orna- ments and everything necessary for divine services. ... Of twenty-six ecclesiastics in the province only four had agreed to continue their respective stations under the French Government; and whether any more would remain under that of the Uni(r<l States only God knew." Father Ha.sset .said thai for his own part he felt that lie could not with projiricty, reliii(|uish his post, and con.sequentlv awaited suiicriiirorders to take his departure. He said that the Rev. Patrick Walsh, vicar-general and auxiliary governor of the diocese,
Iiad declared that lie would not abandon his post pro-
vitling he could hold it with propriety. Father 1 las.set
died in April 1804. Father Antonio Sedclla had re-
turned to New Orleans in 1791, and resumed his du-
ties as parish priest of the St. Louis Cathedral to
which he had Ix'cii apjiointcd liy Bishop Cirilo. After
the (session a dispute arose between him and Father
Walsh, and the latter, 27 March, 180.5, established the
Ursuline Con\-ent as the only place in the parish for
the administration of the sacraments and the cele-
bration of the Divine Office. On 21 March, 1804,
the Ursulines addressed a letter to Thomas JefTerson,
President of the United States, in which they solicited
the passage of an Act of Congress guaranteeing their
property and rights. The president replied reassuring
the Ursulines. "The principles of the constitution of
the United States", he wrote, "are a sure guaranty
to you that it will be preserved to you sacred and
inviolate, and that your Institution will be per-
mitted to govern itself according to its own voluntary
rules without interference from the civil authority.
Whatever diversity of shades may appear in the re-
ligious opinions of our fellow citizens, the charitable
objects of your Institution cannot be of indilTerence to
any; and its furtherance of the wholesome purpose by
training up its young members in the way they should
go, cannot fail to insure the patronage of the govern-
ment it is under. Be assured that it will meet with all
the protection my office can give it."
Father Walsh, administrator of the diocese, died on 22 August, 1806, and was buried in the UrsuHne chapel. The Archiepiscopal See of Santo Domingo, the metro- poUtan of the province, to which the Diocese of Louis- iana and the Floridas belonged, was vacant, and not one of the bishops of the Spanish province would in- terfere in the New Orleans Diocese, though the Bishop of Havana extended his authority once more over the Florida portion of the diocese. As the death of Father Walsh left the diocese without any one to govern it. Bishop Carroll, who had meanwhile informed himself of the condition of atTairs, resolved to act unfler the decree of 1 Sept., 1805, and assume administration. Father Antoine had been openly accused of intriguing against the Government; but beyond accusations made to Bishop Carroll there is nothing to substantiate them. He was much loved in New Orleans and some of his friends desired to obtain the influence of the French Government to have him appointed to the Bishopric of Louisiana. However, there is in the archives of the New Orleans cathedral a letter from Father Antoine to the Bishop of Baltimore declaring that having heard that some members of the clergy and laity had applied to Rome to have him appointed to the Bish- opric of Louisiana, he hereby declared to the Bishop of Baltimore that he could not consider the proposi- tion, that he was unworthy of the honour and too old to do any good. He would be grateful to the bishop if he would cut short any further efforts in that direction.
Bishop Carroll wrote to James Madison, secretary of State (17 November, 1806) in regard to the Church in Louisiana, and the recommending of two or three clergymen one of whom might be appointed Bishop of New Orleans. Mr. Madison replied that the matter being purely ecclesiastical the Government could not interfere. He seemed, however, to share the opinions of Bishop Carroll in regard to the character and rights of Father Antoine. In 1806 a decree of the Propaganda confided Louisiana to the care of BLshop Carroll of Bal- timore, and created him administrator Apostolic. He appointed Rev. John Olivier (who had been at Caho- kia until 1803), Vicar-General of Louisiana and chap- lain of the LTrsuline Nuns at New Orleans. Father Olivier presented his documents to the Governor of Louisiana, and also wrote to Father Antoine Sedclla apprising him of the action of the Propaganda. leather Antoine called upon Father Olivier, but he was not satisfied as to Bishop Carroll's authorization. The
