ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



399 



tawas, Chinpewas, Sacs, Foxes, Menotninees, Winne- 

 bagoes. father Marquette souglit to extend Chris- 

 tianity tc the Illinois, Miauiis, and other tribes in the 

 valley of the Mississippi, and accompanied Joliet on 

 his exploration of the Mississippi to the Arkansas. 

 He died after founding a mission in Illinois. These 

 Jesuit missions under Dreuillettes, Jogues, Lamberville, 

 Menard. Altouez, Gravier form a remarkable chapter 

 in American history. The Franciscan Recollects fol- 

 lowed with missions in Illinois, and churches at Niagara 

 and Detroit, Father Hennepin reaching the country of 

 the Sioux and naming St. Anthony's Falls. Priests 

 of the Foreign Missions from Quebec then established 

 parishes among the colonists at Cahokia and Mobile, 

 and attempted Indian missions among the Natchez 

 and other tribes. When Louisiana was settled, the 

 care of the settlements was confided to the Capuchin 

 Fathers and the Indian missions to the Jesuits, several 

 of whom perished at the hands of the Natchez and 

 their allies. All these parishes and missions were sub- 

 ject to the Vicar Apostolic of Canada (165M), who be- 

 came Bishop of Quebec in 1674. The Indian missions 

 were annihilated by the hostility of the French gov- 

 ernment to the Society of Jesus and the loss of the 

 country in 1703. 



The colonies of Virginia, Plymouth, and Massachu- 

 setts Bay excluded Catholics, and they were not toler- 

 ated by the Dutch in New netheriud. Projects of 

 Catholic settlement were attempted by Sir Thomas 

 Gerard under Sir Humphrey Gilbert and by Lurd 

 Arundell of Wardour under Capt. Weyuiouth, but 

 failed. Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, after 

 being repulsed from Virginia as a Catholic, obtained a 

 patent lor lands lying south of that colony in his own 

 name and that of Sir Thomas Arundell, and when that 

 patent was revoked obtained another for Maryland, 

 lying north. Here his aim Cecil founded the colony 

 of Maryland, most of the landed gentry and many of 

 the settlers being Catholic, and ministers of no other 

 religion appearing for years. The services of the 

 Catholic Church began on St. Clement's Island, on the 

 Potomac, March 'J5, 1633, under Revs. Andrew White 

 and John Altham. This was the nucleus from which 

 the organization of the church in the British prov- 

 inces in colonial days grew. The Catholic Church in 

 Maryland enjoyed a period of comparative freedom till 

 1645, when Clayborne overthrew the power of Lord 

 Baltimore, carried off Father White and others to 

 England, and compelled the rest of the Catholic priests 

 to seek refuge in Virginia, where they lay concealed, 

 suffering greatly, two dying soon after. When Ix>rd 

 Baltimore's authority \v;is restored, other priests came 

 over, and in 1649, under the impulse of the lord pro- 

 prietor, a general act of religious toleration was 

 passed. But in 1652 Clayborne and Bennett in the 

 name of the Commonwealth overthrew the proprietary 

 government, excluded Catholics from the Assembly, 

 which then passed an act disfranchising them com- 

 pletely. The priests again took refuge in Virginia, 

 from which they visited their flocks by stealth. On 

 the Restoration the Jesuit Fathers resumed their work 

 in Man-land, and in 1672 the English Franciscans 

 founded a mission in that province which lasted about 

 half a century. When James. Duke of York, took 

 possession of New Netherland and made it the English 

 colony of New York, religious liberty was granted and 

 Catholic officers and settlers arrived. Jesuit Fathers 

 came over in 1683, and the services of the Catholic 

 Church commenced. A Latin school was established 

 here as one had been in Maryland, the New York As- 

 sembly in its Bill of Rights establishing religious free- 

 dom. Penn, in settling Pennsylvania, adopted the 

 smie liberal policy, and Catholics began to settle in that 

 province. Ihc Revolution of 1688 was followed by 

 a reaction. Lord Baltimore was deprived of the ad- 

 ministration of Maryland ; Catholics were again disfran- 

 chised there and in most of the colonies ; in Marylanc 

 they were compelled to support Protestant clergy anc 



contribute to the erection of Protestant churches, sub- 

 jected to double taxes ; and in Virginia their testimony 

 :ould not be received in any case, civil or criminal. 

 This state of things continued to the American llevo- 

 ution. No churches could be erected, and Catholics 

 lad only private chapels connected with houses and 

 under the same roof. In Pennsylvania alone were 

 -here Catholic churches, at Philadelphia, Lancaster, 

 'Jonewago, Goshenhoppen. 



The conquest of Canada by England in 17C3 crippled 

 ;he church in that province, and the churches at De- 

 troit, Vincennes, and other points in the West suffered ; 

 the action of the French government against the So- 

 ciety of Jesus cut off the supply of priests for the 

 Jesuit missions among the Indian ; and the complete 

 suppression of the order by Pope Clement XI V. in 

 1773 left the Catholics in Maryland with no source for 

 a supply of priests. They had been subject to the 

 Vicar Apostolic of the London District in England, 

 who had no means of sending clergymen. Bishop 

 Challoner endeavored to have a bishop appointed as 

 Vicar Apostolic lor Maryland and Pennsylvania, but 

 failing in this, sought to have the Catholics there 

 after 1763 placed under the control of the Bishop of 

 Quebec. England obtained Fjorida also by cession 

 from Spain, but the old population withdrew. Minor- 

 cans were introduced at New Smyrna by Dr. Ttirnbull 

 and they were accompanied by priests. This colony 

 finally rebelled against their cruel treatment and re- 

 moved to Saint Augustine, accompanied by the priests, 

 and their descendants at this day form part of the 

 nopulation. Mobile also passed into the hands of 

 England, but the French settlers and their priest re- 

 mained. This was the posit ion of the Catholic body in 

 British territory when, in 1774, the Quebec Act recog- 

 nized the Catholic Church in the country north-west 

 of the Ohio and reannexed that district to Canada, a 

 step which precipitated the American Revolution and 

 gave that movement in its early stages a strong anti- 

 Catholic character. 



When the struggle between the Thirteen Colonies 

 and Great Britain actually began, the desire of con- 

 ciliating and winning the Canadians, who actually raised 

 two regiments, as well as the hope of gaining sym- 

 pathy, if not direct aid from France and Spain, dic- 

 tated a more kindly policy. Washington checked in 

 his camp the celebration of Pope-Day on Nov. 5, and 

 Congress appointed a Catholic chaplain in the army. 

 Envoys from France and Spain, the service of the 

 Catholic Church by French army and navy chaplains, 

 attended by State and Federal officials, soon made the 

 once hated church less odious, while the adherence of 

 Catholics to the national cause secured a degree of 

 favor. At the close of the Revolutionary war there 

 were bodies of Catholics scattered through the 

 country, chiefly in the large ports. The number in 

 all probability exceeded 50000 : the clergy in Mary- 

 land, who during the war had been disowned by the 

 Vicar Apostolic of the London District, applied to the 

 Pope for a national organization and a local superior. 

 A French intrigue sought to subject American Catho- 

 lics to a bishop nominated by the French king, but 

 Pius VI. in 1784 appointed the patriotic Rev. John 

 Carroll Prefect Apostolic in the United States, and in 

 1789 erected the see of Baltimore, creating as first 

 bishop the Rev. Mr. Carroll, who had been nominated 

 by the almost unanimous voice of the clergy. At this 

 time there were Catholics not only in Maryland, Penn- 

 sylvania, and New Jersey, with a few in Virginia, but 

 also in Boston, New York, Charleston, and Savannah, 

 Catholic Indians in Maine and New York, and a consid- 

 erable body of French origin north-west of the Ohio 

 and on the banks of the Mississippi. Bishop Carroll, 

 whose diocese was coterminous with the limits of the 

 republic, soon asked to have it divided, as the number 

 of Catholics was gradually increasing by emigration 

 from Europe. A coadjutor was at first assigned to 

 him, but in 1808 new sees were erected at New York, 



