The Churches 283 



against these priests and the penalties very severe, he was 

 obliged to go in disguise and exercise great caution in minis- 

 tering to the people of his faith in and about the city of New 

 York before the Revolution. It was not until the year 1784 

 that the authorities permitted the unconcealed performance of 

 the rites of the Catholic Church. 



On July 1, 1 78 1, the French army arrived at Bedford from 

 Newport. There were several chaplains with it, the best 

 known being the Abbe" Robin, who has left some interesting 

 records of his impressions of the people and of the country in 

 letters sent to France and afterwards published there. On 

 July 3, 1 78 1, the French took part in the attack upon Kings- 

 bridge, and between that date and August twenty-fifth, the 

 Abbe" Robin and the other chaplains officiated at services at 

 several places within the county, and, perhaps, within the 

 Borough ; if so, these would have been the first open exercises 

 of the Catholic religion. 



As regards the subsequent history of Catholicism in the 

 county, up to the year 1840, the matter is almost entirely 

 traditional ; and Father D. P. O'Neil, who has made a thorough 

 study of the whole matter, and to whom the author is under 

 obligations for the greater part of this subject, could find very 

 few facts to go on previous to the above date. The Reverend 

 Mr. Bolton, who disliked the Catholic Church and its minis- 

 ters, took very few pains to inquire about its history, or else 

 antagonized its priests into not giving historic information 

 within their knowledge, owing to his antipathetic attitude, at 

 the time he was making researches for his comprehensive 

 History of Westchester County. As already stated above, the 

 laws against the Catholics were very rigorous in the later 

 colonial days, and in addition, there was also a strong pre- 

 judice, or dislike, on the part of the general population — this 



