Independence and Obedience:

The First Five Years of the in the United States of America

A thesis submitted to the of the

Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

Master of Arts (Theology)

By

Nathanael L. Mudd

Cincinnati, Ohio

August 2021

Abstract

French missionary priests of religious orders experienced, during their work in the antebellum United States, a tension between independence and obedience. Separated by time and distance from their superiors in France, missionaries were forced to make decisions that would ordinarily require the approval of a religious . They could only then wait to hear whether their actions were approved or disapproved of by their community in France. The first members of the Fathers of Mercy, who came to the

United States in 1839, are a prime example of this.

Due to the lack of any secondary sources studying the Fathers of Mercy in this light, much less any overarching synthetic history of the Congregation as a whole, the research for this has consulted primary sources in the form of letters of different Fathers of Mercy and American prelates. Secondary sources which contained mention of the

Fathers of Mercy and the apostolates they undertook in their first five years in the United

States were generally diocesan histories or biographies of American prelates. These provided valuable information and tended to fill in gaps left by the letters themselves.

The primary example of the tension between independence and obedience experienced by the Fathers of Mercy was in the acquisition of in

Mobile, . This was undertaken by Father Bach without permission from his superiors in France, and this first act of independence led to several other decisions in which the superiors in France would have wished to be involved but were only informed of after the fact. This led to the failure of the apostolate, and the eventual recall of several

Fathers of Mercy priests back to France.

This thesis by Fr. Nathanael L. Mudd fulfills the thesis requirement for the master’s degree in Theology and is approved by:

Advisor: Rev. David J. Endres, Ph.D.

Readers: Rev. Ryan Ruiz, S.L.D.

Rev. Andrew Moss, J.C.L.

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Dedication

This thesis is dedicated to Father Ferdinand Bach, Father Edmond Aubril, Father

Victor Auriac, and those other early Fathers of Mercy who braved a New World apart from their community in order to spread the Gospel.

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Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 1 A Note Concerning the Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America ...... 3 Chapter 1: The Fathers of Mercy and the Connection to the United States ...... 7 1.1 Who Were the Fathers of Mercy? ...... 7 1.2 Bishop Forbin-Janson: The American Connection ...... 10 Chapter 2: The Call to America: Finding a Foundation ...... 14 2.1 Bishop Forbin-Janson Decides to Go to the United States ...... 14 2.2 Initial Reception in the United States ...... 17 2.3 Southern Explorations ...... 21 Chapter 3: A Foundation at Spring Hill College ...... 24 3.1 Purchasing Spring Hill College ...... 24 3.2 Missionary Work ...... 33 3.3 The Fourth Provincial Council of ...... 34 Chapter 4: Expanding the Establishment ...... 38 4.1 Touring the United States ...... 38 4.2 South Bend, Indiana ...... 39 4.3 Bishop Forbin-Janson: The Founding of the Church of St. Vincent de Paul ...... 42 4.4 Return to Spring Hill ...... 44 4.5 The School Year of 1841 ...... 47 Chapter 5: The Difficult Trials ...... 52 5.1 Problems in the College ...... 52 5.2 Friction with Father Levasseur ...... 56 5.3 Troubles Accumulate ...... 58 5.4 The Last Year, 1842 ...... 66 5.5 After Spring Hill: The Diaspora of the Fathers of Mercy ...... 74 Conclusion ...... 77 Bibliography ...... 82

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Introduction

French clerics formed an important part of the in the antebellum

United States. Whether they were missionary priests, pastors, or bishops, they played a large role in the formation of early American Catholicism. One of the clerical

Congregations which came to the United States during this period was the Fathers of

Mercy. Their first five years in the United States can be used as an example of the tension between independence and obedience which many missionary religious from France endured.

Because of the troubled history of the Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy, no overarching synthetic history has ever been attempted, either of their work in France or their work in the United States. They have time and again been contributors to the history of the Church in both France and America, but it is only as individual priests that the memory of their significance has survived. To date, the only mention of them or their lives, outside of the Archives of the Fathers of Mercy, has only been the inclusion of some names in history books concerned with local or institutions.1

This thesis will construct a story that has yet to be told regarding the first members of the Fathers of Mercy to arrive in the United States of America. This story is similar to that of other French missionaries in the United States in the nineteenth century.

This thesis aims to show that the Fathers of Mercy struggled with reconciling their with the unexpected independence caused by the great distance, in time as well as space, between them and their superior in France.

1 A glance at the bibliography will show this to be the case, as most of the sources used for this thesis have come from diocesan histories. 1

To achieve this aim, information will be synthesized from a large range of texts, mostly histories of American dioceses, to piece together a historical narrative. This narrative will show forth the tension in which these priests and brothers lived, and how this reflected the very same tension which their fellow missionary-countrymen experienced.

This author hopes to advance the work of the historian Michael Pasquier, who wrote, “French missionary priests responded to lifeways of the United States by practicing a missionary form of Catholicism among people and in circumstances that rarely resembled what they hoped to experience as foreign priests in a foreign place.”2

This thesis explores how the Fathers of Mercy experienced the United States and navigated their Constitutions, missionary vocations, and new surroundings in the United

States.

The first chapter of this thesis will introduce the Society of the Fathers of Mercy, their organization and purpose, as well as the first members of the Society to go to the

United States. Chapter Two will begin the narrative of their first six months in the United

States and demonstrate the conflicting conceptions of what the priests of the Fathers of

Mercy were expected to do there. The third chapter will describe how the purchase of

Spring Hill College provided the Fathers of Mercy with a stable foundation and was at first approved by the Superiors in France. Chapter Four will explain the tension in which

Father Bach, the acting superior for the Fathers of Mercy in the United States, found himself as he expanded Fathers of Mercy interests in the United States and sought a balance between working as an itinerant preacher, implementing a long-term plan for the

2 Michael Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier: French Missionaries and the Roman Catholic Priesthood in the United States, 1789-1870 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 206. 2

Fathers of Mercy in the United States , and leading an institution of higher learning. The fifth chapter will demonstrate how the superiors of the Fathers of Mercy in France began to view the American project with suspicion, and how they ultimately forced Father Bach to relinquish his ideas and leadership. The conclusion will point out how Father Bach’s struggle with being independent in the United States while trying to remain obedient to superiors in France as well as bishops in the United States was an experience he shared with other French missionaries.

A Note Concerning the Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America

The yet-to-be-published correspondence of the early Fathers of Mercy in the

United States forms the foundation for this thesis. While the handwritten originals are not in the archives of the Fathers of Mercy, two typewritten manuscripts, one in French and the other in English, are found in the archives. Father Jude Mead, CP, an Apostolic

Visitor who helped the Fathers of Mercy rewrite much of their Constitutions in 1987, sent some form of the French originals to Immaculata University in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where they were transcribed and translated.3 Of the forty-three letters which this collection contains, thirty-one are written by Father Ferdinand Dominic Bach, who acted as the local superior for the members of the Fathers of Mercy during their first four years in the United States, 1839-1842.

Because his correspondence forms so much of the corpus of these letters, it is largely the reflections of Father Bach as a local superior dealing with his superiors in

France that form the basis of the argument of this thesis. This seems to require a

3 There is no written record to indicate this series of events; it was learned through conversations with the former archivist of the Fathers of Mercy, Father Louis Caporiccio. There is no doubt, however, that Father Mead was instrumental in reviving interest in the history of the Fathers of Mercy. 3 cautionary note about the tone of his letters, which mirror the correspondence of other

French prelates in America regarding their struggles:

Fortunately, the candor of missionary correspondences allows for a close look at how these ordained associates imagined themselves as fathers, struggled to maintain a paternal persona before a diverse American laity, and tried to reconcile their missionary experiences with the demanding expectations of their European counterparts. By focusing on how French missionary priests received religious instructions from and responded to the quotidian circumstances of life in the United States, one may reflect upon the unstable perspectives of even the most authoritative missionary leaders.4

It could be said that Father Bach’s letters develop in three stages, which outline his relation to the community in France. His first letters are positive and optimistic concerning the situation as he found it in the United States. His letters, after he acquires

Spring Hill College and spends his first year there, then reflect his confusion over the lack of direction and communication from his superiors in France. Finally, his last letters in this collection are laced with anger and disappointment with the Congregation’s disapproval of the Spring Hill Project.

In a sense, these three stages are akin to Pasquier’s claims regarding the clerical correspondence of French missionaries. In France, there is no doubt that Father Bach had been exposed to the letters by French missionaries in America which were published by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. These letters, as Pasquier shows, were written by missionaries and edited by the publishers to excite public interest and inspire other priests to join the missionary effort.5 For this reason, they were extremely positive

4 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 6. 5 Ibid., 92. 4 in tone and focused on the adventures of the missionary priests.6 This is, no doubt, the type to which Father Bach felt his letters must conform.

The lack of response from France early on, followed by the concerned tone of the first responses, probably indicated to Bach uncertainty as to whom his letters were reaching and the effect they were creating. His worried confusion is betrayed in the questioning and pleading tone his letters began to take.7 As time went on, “the growing difference between the representation and experience of missionary life had a way of leaving French missionary priests feeling somewhat alienated from their ecclesiastical cohort in France.”8 Father Bach indeed felt that alienation.

As the responses to these letters took a disciplinary tone, Bach knew that his letters were not being publicized. As he realized that only his superiors were reading these, he became more truthful and forcefully expressed himself concerning the

Congregation’s handling of Spring Hill from overseas. He began to express himself more forcefully, even admitting that he held some things back in earlier letters.9 In some of these, he expressed himself quite strongly regarding even the bishop,10 which he asked

6 Ibid., 107. “Between 1822 and 1865, French missionary priests attempted to write an accurate depiction of the foreign missions of the United States while simultaneously maintaining their opportunistic agenda to gain the support of lay donors and ecclesiastical decision-makers in France and Rome.” 7 Ibid., 59. “It demonstrates the limited influence of authorities in Rome, , and Baltimore to endow French missionary priests with institutional stability, self-confidence, and moral rectitude.” 8 Ibid., 123. 9 Ibid., 94. “The candor of missionary correspondences allows for historians to explore the identity politics of priests and thus to notice how much French missionaries recognized their complicity in the artificial formulation of what a priest should be.” 10 Father Ferdinand Dominic Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, September 10, 1841, in Louis Caporiccio, CPM, ed., Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 1839-1841 (South Union, KY: Archives of the Fathers of Mercy, 1985), 101. 5 not to be mentioned, as was standard practice for other French prelates who complained about the state of the Church in the United States.11

11 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 110. “French missionary priests sometimes requested that their letters remain confidential because of the unflattering content that they contained about the state of the church in the United States.” 6

Chapter 1: The Fathers of Mercy and the Connection to the United States

1.1 Who Were the Fathers of Mercy?

In 1808 the Archdiocese of , France, was suffering from a loss of the

Catholic faith, as was most of France. Cardinal , of Lyons and uncle of , had judged that domestic missions would be the most helpful in bringing back fallen-away Catholics. Before this, he had already ordered some retreats and missions which were led by priests of the , but he wanted something more stable.12 Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan was suggested to him as the possible head of a band of mission priests, and it is from the time that he agreed to help with the Cardinal’s project that the Fathers of Mercy date their founding in 1808.

Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan was born in 1757 in , France. He discerned the priesthood while studying law, and was ordained a priest for the diocese of Bordeaux on May 25, 1782.13 In 1792 he fled abroad from the , and after his return in 1800, he preached and taught catechism classes in Bordeaux, Paris, and Lyons.

His preaching in Lyons attracted the attention of Cardinal Fesch, who saw in him all that was needed to lead a series of domestic missions.14

The band of priests gathered together by Father Rauzan and Cardinal Fesch were first known as the Missionnaires de France (Missionaries of France). When their

Constitutions were ratified by the in 1833, they became an society of the Church known as the “Society of the Fathers of Mercy under the Patronage of

12 Albert Delaporte, Vie du Très-Révérend Père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan: Fondateur et Premier Supérieur-Général de la Société des Prêtres de la Miséricorde Sous le Titre de l’Immaculée Conception, Supérieur de la Congrégation des Dames de Sainte-Clotilde, Etc. (Paris: J. Lecoffre et cie, 1857), 50, http://archive.org/details/viedutrsrvrendp00delagoog. 13 Ibid., 8. 14 Ibid., 51. 7

Blessed Mary Immaculate in her Conception.”15 They were an exclusively clerical society, governed by a Superior General, elected for life,16 who was advised by a First

Assistant and up to four other Assistants.17

During the period this thesis studies, the Superior General was the founder, Father

Jean-Baptiste Rauzan. In 1839, Father Ferdinand Dominic Bach was the First Assistant, the senior adviser to the Superior General.18 Father Bach joined the Fathers of Mercy in

1819 as a priest; he was fifty years old when he left for the United States.19 After Father

Bach’s departure for the United States, Father Jacques Levasseur, who had joined the

Fathers of Mercy in 1818,20 became the First Assistant in his place.21

The appointment of Father Levasseur would prove to be of great consequence for

Father Bach, as he would be writing letters not just to Father Rauzan, who was eighty-

15 Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, Constitutions of the Society of the Fathers of Mercy, trans. John McMahon (Archives of the Fathers of Mercy, 1834), Apostolic Letter approving the Constitutions. The Apostolic Letter of Gregory XVI promulgating the Constitutions is attached as a foreword. According to the 1917 or Pio-Benedictine Code of Law, the “Society of the Fathers of Mercy . . .” would have been considered a society living in common without vows, clerical, and of . The Society of the Fathers of Mercy was such because they did not at this time profess the vow of poverty, although after the of their constitutions in 1834 they publicly professed vows of stability, obedience, and . They are anachronistically referred to as “religious” because of their current status as a . See Edward N. Peters, ed., The 1917 or Pio-Benedictine Code of in English Translation with Extensive Scholarly Apparatus (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2001), c. 673. 16 Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, 55. 17 Ibid., 47–48. 18 Delaporte, Vie du Très-Révérend Père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, 403. In the literature, he has also been identified as Dominic Ferdinand Bach. There is also confusion in the literature concerning his position. Several sources in English identify him as for the Congregation; however, the Vicar General was only a temporary position, either elected in the case of the death of a Superior General in order to preside over the election of the next Superior General [Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, Part VII, Chap. 1, §1.], or appointed by the Superior General or the Society to assist him in his age and infirmity[Ibid., Part VIII, Chap. 2, 5.]. 19 Maria Riasanovsky, “The Trumpets of Jericho: Domestic Mission and Religious Revival in France, 1814-1830” (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 2001), 400. 20 Ibid., 401. 21 Delaporte, Vie du Très-Révérend Père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, 445. According to DeLaporte, he was made Vicar General upon the death of Father Rauzan (pg. 432) and a month later was elected the new Superior General (pg. 445). 8 two years old, but also to Father Levasseur, who would be Father Rauzan’s closest adviser in governing the Community.22

The primary apostolate of the Community was the preaching of domestic missions. These often took the appearance of the

grande mission, a series of daily sermons and ceremonies spanning a period of two months. . . . It was an ambitious and militant effort with two major goals: to reinsert traditional Catholic observance into the fabric of French life and to eradicate the legacy of the French Revolution by means of intensive Christian education and participation in rituals of repentance and reconciliation.23

The other works mentioned in their Constitutions were apostolates which they carried out when they could not preach missions:

To direct spiritual exercises, whether for priests or for others of the Christian faithful; To teach Christian doctrine; To educate the young, whether in colleges or in minor seminaries; To set up missions in non- Christian lands. Our Society undertook this ministry right from its inception.24

These works could only be carried out, of course, by missionaries who were obedient to their superiors. Father Rauzan wrote of obedience: “Preeminent among is the vow of Obedience, whose force and importance are fully recognized on theological grounds which are accepted by all religious orders.”25 He had experienced in the early days of the Community the problems that arose when missionaries were too independent, and how that created internal problems in the community and could also stir up unnecessary political controversy. For this reason, he would elaborate on obedience being “blind”:

22 From this point, when referring to the Fathers of Mercy as an aggregate group, this thesis will use the term “Community” so as to match their designation in their letters and to avoid confusion with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. 23 Riasanovsky, “Trumpets of Jericho,” 1–2. 24 Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, Part I, Chap. 4. 25 Ibid., Part VI, Chap. 2, §2, 5. 9

Obedience knows no argument or evasion, for it submits the intellect along with the will. As soon as it grasps that an order has been given, it assents immediately, and the will embraces it as excellent and perfect. No craftsman’s tool was ever more obedient to the direction of its master, nor does a walking staff follow in more perfect manner the hand that moves it. For whether the hand takes up the staff, or puts it down, or takes it up again, or whirls it around, it encounters no resistance.26

It was with this in mind that the missionaries would carry out their spiritual exercises, their apostolates, their studies, in all, their lives as Fathers of Mercy.

1.2 Bishop Forbin-Janson: The American Connection

Charles Auguste-Marie-Joseph de Forbin-Janson was born of a noble family in

France, and after being ordained a priest, felt a great call to missionary work. When he visited Pope Pius VII in 1814, he was advised to take up the work of domestic missions.

It was this which led him to become associated with Father Rauzan, the founder of the

Missionaries of France.27 He spent ten years with the Missionnaires de France.

In 1824, Father Forbin-Janson was chosen to replace the deceased bishop of

Nancy and Toul in France. After several years, due to political and ecclesiastical problems in Nancy, Bishop Forbin-Janson was forced to leave his diocese and he traveled around Europe, at one point arriving in Rome and seeking the advice of Pope Gregory

XVI, who seems to have mentioned North America to him.28

While in Rome, or during his time in France, Bishop Forbin-Janson may have met some American bishops. Bishop of Cincinnati almost certainly knew

26 Ibid., Part VI, Chap. 2, §2, 18. 27 Philipin De Riviere, Vie De Mgr. De Forbin-Janson: Missionnaire, Éveque de Nancy et de Toul, Primat de Lorraine, Fondateur de La Sainte-Enfance (Paris: J. Leday et Co., 1892), 73–74. 28 Ibid., 340, 348. 10 of the Fathers of Mercy before they came to the United States.29 He spent time in Paris finishing his studies for the priesthood at the seminary of Saint-Sulpice from March 30,

1824, till his ordination to the priesthood on May 20, 1826.30 He might have been present at Forbin-Janson’s on June 11, 1824, as was the French-born Bishop

Jean-Louis Anne Madelain Lefebvre de Cheverus, of Boston. 31 Later, as the Bishop of

Cincinnati, Purcell would go to Europe “for finance and missionaries.”32 He spent some time in Paris, from September 7, 1838, to the end of November.33 Around May 25, 1839, he passed through and Lyons on his way back from Rome and spent more time in Paris, leaving France on July 9, 1839.34 During this time, he may have again crossed paths with Bishop Forbin-Janson and asked him to come to the United States.

Another American bishop who knew the Fathers of Mercy was Celestin de La

Hailandière, whose episcopal consecration was at the hands of Bishop Forbin-Janson on

August 18, 1839.35 He was the newly appointed bishop of Vincennes, Indiana, and would leave a month later with Forbin-Janson and the Fathers of Mercy missionaries who volunteered to go with him.

29 Apparently Purcell mentioned, in his first letter after arriving in Paris that there were “pious priests and missionaries” who were a bright light in an otherwise darkened practice of the faith. See Purcell to Nicholas Wiseman, March 31, 1824 in Rev. Anthony H. Deye, “Archbishop John Baptist Purcell of Cincinnati: Pre-Civil War Years” (Ph.D. diss., University of Notre Dame, 1949), 25. The Fathers of Mercy had just concluded a grand mission in Paris in December 1823, and of course had their main house in the city. 30 Ibid., 24, 32. 31 The biography of his life mentions that “NN. SS. de Cincinnati et de Saint-Brieuc prirent également part à la cérémonie avec les Missionnaires de France et nombre d'ecclésiastiques distingués.” [De Riviere, Vie De Mgr. De Forbin-Janson, 165.] Another source, which is an English translation of chapters from de Riviere’s book, says in the introduction that Purcell assisted in the consecration. This is a mistake, however, as Purcell was still a seminarian. Philipin De Riviere, Right Reverend de Forbin-Janson, Bishop of Nancy and Toul, Primate of Lorraine; His Work in North America (The Association of Holy Childhood, 1892), 4. 32 Deye, “Archbishop John Baptist Purcell of Cincinnati,” 202. 33 Ibid., 211–212. 34 Ibid., 214–215. 35 Charles N. Bransom, Ordinations of U.S. Catholic Bishops, 1790-1989: A Chronological List (Washington, D.C: United States Catholic Conference, 1990), 17. 11

Whether these American bishops asked Bishop Forbin-Janson to come to North

America, or whether it was the suggestion of Pope Gregory XVI, is difficult to determine, though it was probably a combination of the two. But it is certainly the case that

American bishops of French origin knew of the activity of the Missionnaires de France in their home country. One example we know of comes from letters that Bishop Cheverus of Boston received from friends and family in France, praising the work of the missionaries.36 Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget spoke to Father Bach of having known

Father Rauzan,37 and Bishops Purcell of Cincinnati38 and Hailandière of Vincennes knew

Bishop Forbin-Janson personally.39

These bishops knew, some from experience and others, like Hailandière, from hearsay, that the Catholic Church in the United States in the early 1800s was a mission territory in formation. The number of dioceses was still small; sixteen in all under the

Province of Baltimore.40 Each of these struggled to have enough priests; for example, in

1838, the diocese of Boston had twenty-six priests.41 In the period between 1820 and

1840, several bishops went overseas to seek money and priests; several of these had been born and ordained priests in France and returned there to seek help from the Church’s

“eldest daughter.” There they were able to find a few of their brothers in the clergy who

36 Annabelle Melville, Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus, 1768-1836 (, WI: Bruce Publishing Company, n.d.), 194. 37 “ . . . from there to Bardstown, to Flaget; with whom I spoke at length about Father Rauzan, which he remembers still with great interest . . .” Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, May 31, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 49. 38 Purcell was a co- of Bishop Forbin-Janson’s coadjutor, Bishop Menjaud, on June 2, 1839. De Riviere, Vie De Mgr. De Forbin-Janson, 343. 39 Hailandiere was consecrated bishop by Bishop Forbin-Janson on August 18, 1839. Bransom, Ordinations of U.S. Bishops, 17. 40 Peter Guilday, A History of the Councils of Baltimore (1791-1884) (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1932), 120. 41 Robert H. Lord, John E. Sexton, and Edward T. Harrington, History of the Archdiocese of Boston in the Various Stages of Its Development, 1604-1943, In Three Volumes, vol. 2, History of the Archdiocese of Boston (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1944), 266. 12 were willing to come help. Whether the priests who volunteered to come were religious or secular did not matter; what mattered was that they came. The Fathers of Mercy would be among those religious who came seeking a new mission field.

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Chapter 2: The Call to America: Finding a Foundation

2.1 Bishop Forbin-Janson Decides to Go to the United States

Bishop Forbin-Janson’s decision to visit the United States and investigate a role for the Fathers of Mercy was not entirely his idea; several bishops in the United States had been requesting his presence: “The bishops of the distant countries knew that his house, table, purse and heart were always open to them. Those of Canada and the United

States especially had been calling him for a long time.”42 It seems that

Bishop Flaget of Bardstown, Bishop Purcell of Cincinnati, Bishop Turgeon, Coadjutor of Quebec, and Bishop Bourget of Montreal met him several times, both at Paris and Rome, where he preached the lenten [sic] sermons . . . All pressed the Bishop of Nancy, to visit America, assuring him of accomplishing greater good.43

Bishop Forbin-Janson’s trip was in response to this urgent appeal of American prelates to Pope Gregory XVI on behalf of French immigrants.44

Bishop Forbin-Janson sought the approval of Pope Gregory XVI before leaving for North America, for he had some qualms about being so long gone from his diocese.45

After receiving the Holy Father’s approval, he made his way to France, where he asked

Father Rauzan for permission to take with him some members of the Priests of the

Society of Mercy,46 formerly known as the Missionnaires des France.47

42 De Riviere, Vie De Mgr. De Forbin-Janson, 337. The English translation is from: Fanchon Royer, The Power of Little Children (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954), 45. It should be noted that in Royer’s work she misattributes the quote. 43 De Riviere, Right Reverend de Forbin-Janson, Bishop of Nancy and Toul, Primate of Lorraine; His Work in North America, 5. 44 “ . .. at the request of Bishops Flaget and Purcell, Pope Gregory XVI sent him on a missionary tour through the United States in 1839.” Michael Kenny, Catholic Culture in Alabama: Centenary Story of Spring Hill College, 1830-1930 (New York: The America Press, 1931), 102. 45 De Riviere, Vie De Mgr. De Forbin-Janson, 348. 46 Henceforth referred to as the Fathers of Mercy, as they are even in the literature of the time. 47 Delaporte, Vie du Très-Révérend Père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, 403. “Exiled form his diocese, the thoughts of Monsignor Forbin-Janson frequently reverted to the apostolic works which had brought joy and 14

Bishop Forbin-Janson’s exact purpose in making this request remains a mystery.

No direct reason has been proposed. It is not certain whether he imagined a simple preaching trip or if he had in mind a permanent foundation for the Society of the Fathers of Mercy in the New World.48 It seems, from the letters of Father Ferdinand Bach that as soon as he landed in the United States, Bishop Forbin-Janson began to speak with

American bishops about the Fathers of Mercy founding a house of missions or staffing a school.49 Staffing a college was considered at the time to be a stable way to begin a religious foundation in the United States, even if that was not their first intention when coming overseas.50

It would seem that the Fathers of Mercy Superior General had the impression that this would be primarily a preaching trip, during which his priests would function as

“missionaries in a new world composed of heretical Protestants, lapsed Catholics, savage

Indians, and miserable slaves.”51 He had known times when the Fathers of Mercy because of the political climate were unable to minister in France, and so looked forward to sending missionaries overseas:

light to the early years of his priesthood. One day he came to call upon Father Rauzan, his old friend, and asked him for permission to take with him to America a few members of the Society. Father Bach, first assistant [on the General Council] and another offered themselves immediately, and Monsignor Forbin- Janson set out with them. That was in 1839. The three travelers arrived safely in New York.” (Unless otherwise noted, all English translations of Delaporte’s Vie du très-révérend père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan are taken from a translation by Father Patrick Branigan, which is in the Archives of the Fathers of Mercy, South Union, Kentucky). 48 This quote from a letter of Bishop Forbin-Janson indicates a foundation was primarily his intention: “That I may be . . . that we may be blessed so that as a consequence of this voyage of survey and religious exploration some establishments may be made through calling the attention of all to the most urgent spiritual lacks of these rapidly growing populations.” Paul Lesourd, Monseigneur de Forbin-Janson (Paris: Ernest Flammarion, 1944), 180–181. Quoted in English by Royer, The Power of Little Children, 47. 49 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, October 16, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 4. 50 Philip Gleason, “From an Indefinite Homogeneity: Catholic Colleges in Antebellum America,” The Catholic Historical Review 94, no. 1 (January 2008): 61. 51 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 5. 15

And since the operation of our missions in France has for the time being been suspended, we will be able to devote more attention to those foreign and remote peoples, who have not yet been illuminated by a ray of Gospel light.52

But all they planned to do, apparently, was preach, and not establish foundations.

In a letter of reprimand to Father Bach three years later, Father Rauzan wrote: “On your departure for the United States we could not have imagined that you would get an establishment there before coming back to bring us all we would desire to know in advance.”53 The expectations of Father Rauzan and Bishop Forbin-Janson might have been the same at the time of their meeting in France, as Forbin-Janson did mention in a letter the intent of initiating a “survey and religious exploration,” but it would seem something changed for Bishop Forbin-Janson upon his arrival in the United States.54

Father Ferdinand Bach, the First Assistant on the General Council of the

Community, volunteered to accompany Bishop Forbin-Janson, as did Father Victor

Auriac, another priest of the Community who had only been with them a short while.55

They left Le Havre on September 5, 1839, in the French ship Burgandy.56 Accompanying them on this ship was also the newly consecrated bishop of Vincennes, Indiana, Bishop

Célestine Guynemer de la Hailandière, who had just been consecrated by Forbin-Janson in Paris.57 They spent thirty-six days at sea, arriving in New York City on October 11.

The three clerics performed their priestly ministries on board the ship, beginning with

52 Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, Part I, Chap. 4. 53 Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan to Father Ferdinand Bach, January 30, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 223. 54 Lesourd, Monseigneur de Forbin-Janson, 180. 55 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, October 12, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 1. 56 Ibid..As for the identity of the ship, this was ascertained by the dates of departure and arrival in New York City, and verified by examination of the passenger list. Ship: Burgandy; from Le Havre to New York; arrival October 12, 1839. 57 Charles Blanchard, History of the Catholic Church in Indiana: In Two Volumes (Logansport, IN: A. W. Bowen and Co., 1898), I: 62. 16

Mass of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8, offered by Forbin-

Janson. Confessions were also heard, and they ministered to the sick on board.58

2.2 Initial Reception in the United States

When they arrived in New York City, the two bishops and two priests were welcomed by Bishop John Dubois and his coadjutor, Bishop . Bishop

Dubois had been born in France, and as a bishop, he made at least one trip to Europe in

1829 to recruit priests and raise money; he stayed overseas for two years.59 There could easily have been a meeting between him and Bishop Forbin-Janson during that time.

Bishop Hughes was the coadjutor bishop and the primary administrator of the

Diocese of New York from 1839-1842. He handled most of the affairs of the diocese, for

Bishop Dubois had suffered a series of strokes beginning in January 1838, leaving “him disoriented at times.”60 Bishop Hughes would become the new bishop of New York upon the death of Dubois in 1842.61

Bishop Hughes was himself preparing for a trip to Europe on behalf of the diocese, and agreed to carry with him Father Bach’s first letters, and a promise to speak with Father Rauzan.62 In these first two letters, Father Bach let Father Rauzan know of

Bishop Hughes's plans to talk to Father Rauzan, as well the Bishop’s suggestions for the

Fathers of Mercy to minister in New York. Hughes had plans for a college, a seminary, a mission house, and a French church which he wished to construct and have staffed by the

58 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, October 12, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 2. 59 Florence D. Cohalan, A Popular History of the Archdiocese of New York, 2nd ed. expanded to include years 1969-1999. (Yonkers, NY: United States Catholic Historical Society, 1999), 62. 60 Ibid., 71. 61 Ibid., 72. 62 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Rauzan, October 12, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 3. 17

Fathers of Mercy. Bishop Forbin-Janson made plans to return in Lent of 1840, to preach to the French people of the city to raise funds for Hughes’ planned French church.63

The effort to build a French church in New York City was the most concrete of

Hughes’ plans. Father Bach wrote to his superior Father Rauzan, “The Church built for the French; Monsignor is giving us charge of it; it is ours; we are established there; it is understood. Then the seminary would be established beside this Church and it would be under our direction . . .”64 The Community would only have to supply one thing: the priests to take charge of the and school. Father Bach wrote Father Rauzan: “Only do not forget that all this is yours, if you can supply the men. We are the first to whom the proposition was made. Others will be sought only if we refuse.”65

Father Bach delayed answering the request of Bishop Hughes, waiting for an answer from France. In the meantime, other offers were made. Bishop Hailandière of the frontier diocese of Vincennes, Indiana, had also made an offer, claiming that his diocese was more central to the expanding United States and so more ideal. 66 The Bishop of New

Orleans, , had also asked Forbin-Janson and Father Bach to visit, an invitation which they planned on accepting. Bishop Forbin-Janson and the two Fathers of

Mercy planned to leave New York City for a tour of the United States, going to

Vincennes and from thence by river traffic to New Orleans.67 This itinerary, of visiting different American Sees and cities, seemed to indicate that their intention was merely to see the United States. Father Bach mentioned that he was “firmly determined to refuse

63 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, October 16, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America,4. 64 Ibid., 5. 65 Ibid. 66 Ibid. In the letter, he is identified as “Msgr. de Nimenner”: this is a butchering of “Vincennes” by the transcriber/translator of the letters into English. It becomes clear from the context of the later letters that this is the Bishop of Vincennes, Indiana. 67 Ibid., 6. 18 nothing and to reject nothing, but to ask for time in order to see and act with certainty,” as he had exhibited with Bishop Hughes’s offer.68 But in the very next sentence, he demonstrates his willingness to carry out Bishop Forbin-Janson’s requests: “If, however,

Msgr. de Janson wants to buy us a piece of ground of five or six hundred acres in Indiana,

I will not only accept it but I will pledge my word to do something with it . . .”69 Bishop

Forbin-Janson’s intention at this point seems to have been to establish the Fathers of

Mercy in the United States, and it could be that his status as a bishop formerly of the

Community made him, in Bach’s mind, a legitimate superior to whom he owed obedience.

Fathers Bach, Auriac, and Bishop Hailandière left New York together for

Philadelphia and arrived on October 22.70 Bishop Forbin-Janson arrived a day later.71 On

Sunday, October 27,72 Father Bach acted as any other missionary, and presided at

Vespers and preached, after being invited to do so by Philadelphia’s Bishop Francis

Patrick Kenrick.73 During their time there, Bishop Kenrick told them of two parishes that were French in origin and needed a priest who could speak the language. At this point the three Frenchmen first separated. Father Auriac, who was particularly moved by the bishop’s appeal, asked permission of Father Bach to stay and evangelize these parishes.74

68 Ibid., 7. This is, interestingly, a paraphrase of a quote from St. which Father Rauzan himself used in a letter to a female religious. Delaporte, Vie du Très-Révérend Père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, 269. 69 Ibid. 70 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 7, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 9. 71 Francis Patrick Kenrick, Diary and Visitation Record of the Rt. Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick, Administrator and Bishop of Philadelphia, 1830-1851, Later, Archbishop of Baltimore (Lancaster, PA: Wickersham Printing Co., 1916), 186. 72 Date and days of the week were synchronized using “Year 1839 Calendar – United States,” accessed August 26, 2019, https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1839&country=1. 73 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 7, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 9. 74 Ibid., 10. 19

Father Bach, it seemed, had the authority to grant this permission. Father Bach and

Bishop Forbin-Janson then planned to rejoin him after giving a mission in New Orleans.

Father Auriac used as the base of his operations the town of Frenchville, Pennsylvania, where he remained for nearly a year and founded at least one church.75

On October 28, Father Bach left with Bishop Hailandière, with whom he set forth for Vincennes, a French settlement on the Western frontier in Indiana and Bishop

Hailandière’s new see. Bishop Forbin-Janson was to meet them there but as circumstances would turn out, he was unable to make it. Father Bach was not to see

Bishop Forbin-Janson for nearly two months till he arrived in New Orleans on December

26.76

Father Bach and Bishop Hailandière arrived in Vincennes on November 13, 1839, in a terrible downpour and in mud “up to their loins.”77 Promptly the next day Bishop

Hailandière was installed in his cathedral.78 As he was waiting for Bishop Forbin-Janson,

Father Bach preached a retreat for the clerics who had gathered for the installation of their new bishop. They asked if he would return the next year to do the same again. At this time, Bishop Hailandière again offered him an establishment, which he postponed accepting; this was probably the future site of the University of Notre Dame in South

Bend, Indiana.79

75 “[1840] July the eighth day. I blessed a church near Frenchville, in the French colony in Clearfield county, under the invocation of the Most Holy Virgin. I was assisted by the Rev. Victor Auriac, who for some months now has been doing good service in this mission.” Kenrick, Diary and Visitation Record of Bishop Kenrick, 189. 76 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 17. 77 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 7, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 11. 78 Blanchard, History of the Catholic Church in Indiana: In Two Volumes, 65. 79 This becomes clear in later letters. 20

2.3 Southern Explorations

Father Bach was eager to get to New Orleans, so he left on his way, and began to travel down the Mississippi River by steamboat. From Vincennes, he traveled with

Bishop , bishop of St. Louis, Missouri, to the Mississippi River, and was pleased to find that the good bishop was “filled with esteem for our congregation.”80

During this trip from the frontier West to the South, Father Bach had many interactions with Protestants, whom he described as “more eager to hear a Catholic priest than are the Catholics themselves,”81 a common experience for French missionaries.82 He saw this state of affairs as an opportunity for the apostolate, saying: “A group of missionaries who would traverse the country would do an immense good or rather would win it all over after them.”83 It was preaching which he saw as his work, but forming an establishment was also in the back of his mind: “As for an establishment for our

Congregation, we have only the difficulty of choosing.”84 This establishment could take two forms, either that of a mission house or a school.

Father Bach arrived in New Orleans on Saturday, December 7, after roughly thirteen days of steamboat travel, and was warmly greeted by Bishop Antoine Blanc.

Bishop Blanc was another of the French-Born bishops in the United States. When he was consecrated bishop of New Orleans in 1835, there were only twenty-four priests for the entire state of Louisiana.85 Hence, he made a trip to Europe in 1836 to recruit clergy and

80 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 7, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 12. 81 Ibid. 82 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 162. 83 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 7, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 12. 84 Ibid., 13. 85 Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (New Orleans, LA: A.W. Hyatt Stationery Mfg. Co., 1939), 328. 21 raise money.86 It is likely that he met Bishop Forbin-Janson at this time, and this would account for New Orleans having been on Bishop Forbin-Janson’s itinerary.

On meeting Bishop Blanc, Father Bach was informed by him that Bishop Forbin-

Janson planned to arrive on December 10 or 12. Since Bishop Forbin-Janson had not arrived, Father Bach was asked to begin preaching the Advent exercises,87 which he did to great acclaim.88 Like other French missionaries, Father Bach was concerned for the souls of his fellow priests.89 This may have also been the reason he and other Fathers of

Mercy were constantly invited back to New Orleans to do clerical retreats, on which

Bishop Blanc placed a high value.90

Bishop Forbin-Janson did not arrive until December 26, jesting to Father Bach that his watch got behind, or that in the United States the season of Advent (for which he had promised to preach the retreat) came after Christmas.91 The decision was made to make up this loss to Bishop Blanc and the Catholics of New Orleans by staying in New

Orleans to preach during Lent.92 In February 1840 Bishop Forbin-Janson preached a retreat at a Jesuit College and a boarding school of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart near

New Orleans. His time in New Orleans

bestirred the entire town, but he has only fished in troubled waters and although he has done a great deal of good, there is an infinite amount more to be done. And I believe that with a little more order and prudence

86 Ibid. 87 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 7, 1839, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 16. 88 Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana, 338. 89 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 48. “Those French missionaries responsible for the organization of retreats focused on the prevention of sin and the practice of virtue in the lives of their fellow priests.” 90 Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana, 331. 91 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 17. 92 Ibid. 22

several difficulties could have been avoided and more good would have been done.93

Since they had apparently promised Bishop Hughes to return to New York City by Easter to found a French church there, and this was now impossible, Father Bach took it for granted that an establishment in New York City would never happen,94 and consequently was open to suggestions for new opportunities.

In early February of 1840 Bishop Michael Portier of Mobile, Alabama, came to

New Orleans to bring Father Bach to Mobile to preach Lenten exercises there. From

February 13 to 28, Father Bach was preaching and resting.95 It was at this time that

Bishop Portier showed Father Bach the institution of higher education which he had founded, Spring Hill College.

At this point, Father Bach had visited several dioceses over his short time in the

United States, in urban and rural areas. He knew for himself the needs of the Catholic

Church in the United States, and was seeking a way by which to do the most good.

Bishop Portier’s need for priests and Father Bach’s growing desire for a stable establishment would find an answer when Bishop Portier showed Father Bach Spring Hill

College.

93 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 14, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 32. 94 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 17. 95 Ibid., 18. 23

Chapter 3: A Foundation at Spring Hill College

3.1 Purchasing Spring Hill College

Bishop Michael Portier was born in France and ordained a priest in Lyons. No doubt he knew of or had even heard Father Rauzan’s preaching. It is no surprise then, that when he heard there were Fathers of Mercy in New Orleans he went to bring them to

Mobile. After all, he needed priests, especially for his pet project of Spring Hill College.

Spring Hill College was only nine years old when Bishop Portier first brought

Father Bach to its campus. July 2, 1830, was considered the founding date of the college, although buildings had been erected and teaching begun a few months before.96 It was staffed for its first nine years by priests of Mobile, but after the sudden death of the president of the college, and the dearth of priests in the diocese capable of running such a school, Bishop Portier had to turn elsewhere.97 He saw clearly

that the only alternative was to entrust Spring Hill to a Religious institution or to such a teaching society as would insure its permanence. Scarcely had they determined on this solution of their difficulties when an opportunity arose which seemed to have been Heaven-sent by Providence to meet the situation.98

The religious sent by Divine Providence were the Fathers of Mercy, represented in the person of Father Bach. During those days of “preaching and resting” in Mobile,

Father Bach and Bishop Forbin-Janson were shown Spring Hill College. In Father Bach’s eyes, it was “a magnificent property,” “beautiful,” and “grand.” There were three buildings, enslaved persons who worked in agriculture and domestic duties, and livestock all as part and parcel of the college offered to Father Bach. The reason for placing it in

96 Kenny, Catholic Culture in Alabama, 54. 97 Oscar H. Lipscomb, “The Administration of Michael Portier, Vicar Apostolic of Alabama and the Floridas, 1825-1829, and First Bishop of Mobile, 1829-1859” (Ph.D. diss., Catholic University of America, 1963), 200. Bishop Portier wished to assign his priests to take care of pastoral ministry, although he was utterly convinced of the paramount importance of having a Catholic college. 98 Kenny, Catholic Culture in Alabama, 101. 24 his name is unclear in Father Bach’s correspondence, but Bishop Portier in a letter says that he “could not legally sell the school to a religious corporation not recognized by state law.”99 The school was impressive, but the “most beautiful, most admirable” fact, according to Father Bach’s correspondence, is that it would all belong to him.100

Father Bach had, with the help of fifty-thousand francs (equivalent to $10,000 at the time, or about $300,000 today) from Bishop Forbin-Janson, purchased the whole property from Bishop Portier in February of 1840.101 This purchase, and the money involved, became one of the main points of tension between Father Bach and his superiors in France. It was the beginning of Father Bach’s responsibility for the debts not only of Spring Hill, but also of the diocese of Mobile.102 The reason Father Bach became responsible for these debts was that Spring Hill had been, up to this point, an important source of revenue for the diocese of Mobile, and so it was thought that it would easily be able to provide the money to pay off diocesan debts.103

The contracts were made in Father Bach’s name alone, and not in the name of the

Fathers of Mercy. Father Bach claimed that the contract was such that if during the first two years of the Fathers of Mercy possession they deemed themselves unable to staff it,

99 Bishop Portier to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Paris, March 18, 1843. Quoted in Lipscomb, “The Administration of Michael Portier,” 238. 100 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 18. 101 Kenny, Catholic Culture in Alabama, 103. The pricing of the college is a difficult matter to ascertain, although it will become more important later on. The letters of Father Bach are extraordinarily consistent in labelling Bishop Forbin-Janson’s contribution as 50,000 francs; Kenny here gives the money given by Forbin-Janson as $10,000. All values will be given in the dollar amount of 1840’s, as calculated by Father Bach in his letter to Father Francois DuMesnildot, December 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 140. “Take as a rule that the piaster [a New Orleans term for ‘dollar’] equals 5 francs even though a five-franc piece from France is only worth 95 cents in Mobile . . .” 102 It would appear that this $30,000 debt was actually that of the diocese, which Father Bach had agreed to take on as part of the contract. See Lipscomb, “The Administration of Michael Portier,” 209. 103 Gleason, “From an Indefinite Homogeneity,” 58. Lipscomb, “The Administration of Michael Portier,” 200. 25 they would return it to the bishop along with the funds they had paid.104 Bach wrote optimistically,

Besides, if we should not succeed, or if we were not to be pleased with it we have the right to give back everything and Mgr. Portier pledges to reimburse to us all our advance payments. Thus I have everything to gain, nothing to lose, nor even to risk; I don’t know if I can be in a more favorable position. I let you be the judge. 105

Father Bach saw the opportunity for the Community to begin carrying out their apostolates in the United States, and he took it. Later, he would say that

When Mgr. de Jan[s]on, who had seen Spring-Hill in passing, first proposed that I take it, I replied no, we cannot accept. But he made me see so well that it was the place to found the community in a solid and glorious manner, offering the first payment of 50,000 francs himself and desiring to be the founder of the community in America, that I let myself be won over and consented without being able to wait for the advice of the community but instead taking the advice of Mgrs. Janson and [Portier] because it was necessary to leave for the Council of Baltimore.106

The contract was signed, and Father Bach was the proud owner of the school. He had arranged it such that the Fathers of Mercy were completely free of responsibility if the college were to close.

Along with the college came a few other privileges in the civil law of the United

States. The purchase of the property, even if by a member of the Community, enabled the

Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy (as they were to be called in the United States) to be

recognized as a corporation by the state. By a special charter, having the force of law . . . the institution has the right to buy, sell, prosecute in court, receive all kinds of bequests and donations without any limit or distinction, administer and establish all kinds of rules for its own

104 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, September 10, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 102. 105 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 14, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 33. 106 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, December 22, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 155. 26

government with no interference in its administration without agreement. In addition it enjoys the privilege of establishing a university and of confering [sic] the and rights of doctor in the three faculties of theology, medicine and law, and a diploma with the seal of our congregation has full effect in all the states of America. Note also that our congregation is the only in all of America to have such extensive privileges.107

Bishop Portier sent to Rome, with the helpful recommendations of Bishop Forbin-Janson and Father Rauzan, a request for the Holy See to also recognize Spring Hill College as a university. This was promptly granted on August 20, 1840.108

Father Bach’s new attachment to the Bishop of Mobile did not mean all his needs were supplied. Spring Hill had many things, but for it to succeed, it needed support in several areas. Like other French missionaries, Father Bach looked to his Community in

France to supply those needs, and during their time at Spring Hill, the Fathers of Mercy

“never stopped looking to France for new recruits, monetary donations, personal encouragement, and spiritual fortification.”109 They did not have to raise money to buy a property and construct buildings; here, it was handed to them complete. All that had to be done was supply men and pay the debts; that being done, it would provide for several of the Fathers of Mercy apostolates.110 It was

First, a college, which we have the right to place on the highest spot, even as a university, if we wish; Secondly, a seminary. There are no seminarians, it is true, but they may come; third, a mission house which we must prepare in order to go to the aid of so many thousands of souls who live and die like brutes.111

107 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 20. 108 Kenny, Catholic Culture in Alabama, 104. 109 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 91. 110 “1) To set up missions wherever the legitimate authorities will allow us to do so . . . 4) To educate the young, whether in colleges or in minor seminaries;” Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, Part I, Chap. 4. 111 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, March 10, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 27. All capitalizations are as in the original. 27

There were only a few things needed to make Spring Hill function well, and

Father Bach, like other French missionaries, had a difficult time persuading his superiors in France that such was the case.112 Father Bach said that with anything from five to twelve teachers, whether priests or laity, as long as they had talent, wit, and devotion to the Fathers of Mercy, would do wonders.113 They needed to be able to teach a wide variety of fields, ranging from theology to the humanities to the natural sciences. He also wanted preachers, at least two, to begin preaching throughout the nearby state of

Louisiana, heavily Catholic and French-speaking, to carry on the missions and to encourage people to send their sons to Spring Hill.114 That was not the only reason, however. Father Bach needed three names to be on the title for the college, “following the law and even following the title of the religious corporation.”115 If two priests did not come, then he would use one of the other young men he hoped Father Rauzan would send, such as a seminarian or a layman. Father Bach also sought to relieve their minds as to health, as “they will find themselves in an excellent climate here, one never fears yellow fever as in New Orleans even though we are only 180 miles away; it’s never been seen here.”116

He again repeated this request in his letter of February 1840. He wanted to make the point, by reasoned argument and repetition, that it was teachers and staff which he

112 For a comparison, see Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 42. “The establishment of St. Thomas Seminary placed considerable burdens on both priests and seminarians in Kentucky, burdens that missionaries were unable to convey effectively to their Sulpician associates in France.” 113 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 20. 114 Ibid., 21. 115 Ibid. “Second, five or six young professors; third, two or three associate fathers to form the board of the corporation.” 116 Ibid., 22. 28 needed more than anything. His first concern was with the teaching of the college, not missions; hence, he asked for professors:

If only our good Master would allow you to find a good young man with a true vocation and a liking and knowledge, not too deep, of mathematics, a little physics, chemistry, etc., in a word a little versed in natural science. Oh! Do all you can to send him to me, all the better if there are several of this type and some who know a little music and drawing if they can be found.117

But he also needed men for staffing the seminary, as the enslaved persons which had been part of the purchase of the college were deemed inefficient in their work:118

I would also need three or four good, pious and devoted brothers in whom one can have firm confidence, who don’t flinch at work . . . men of intelligence and concern who can take on with zeal the concerns of the house. . . . In any case do all you can to send me three or four good, young hard-working men, especially one who understands the cultivation of soil and little flower gardening.119

Father Bach even had a schedule for when they should arrive, determined by what he knew of the school year: “[T]wo or even three young priests who would be ready to leave by the end of April or the beginning of May to arrive in Mobile . . . Secondly, in the month of September, the departure of five or six other ecclesiastics and three or four brothers for Mobile too.”120 He continued to repeat this request throughout 1840, sometimes adding even more detail: “Oh, with just five or six people this year we could begin in a magnificent and resounding manner for the country. . .”121

To further solidify an American foundation, Father Bach begged for a new superior to be sent to direct the new mission:

117 Ibid., 20. 118 Ibid., 24. 119 Ibid. 120 Ibid., 25. 121 The discrepancy between digits and spelled numbers was present in the source. Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, March 10, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 28. 29

Besides you must send a superior named by yourself who can perfectly fulfill your goals and the great designs of providence. Certainly I am well disposed to consecrate all my strength, feelings and life to the interests of religion and my dear congregation; but you know very well that I am incapable of fulfilling that responsibility, especially in the present situation. A man is needed here . . . first of all, a good superior, a capable man of ability.122

This was something he asked for time and again, as he recognized his shortcomings in leading a large institution: “Doubtless you cannot count on me for this great work (I am a poor man only good at the most for scouring dishes) but I am counting on you; ah, don’t abandon me now.”123

The fifty to sixty students with which he anticipated starting the year would not supply enough tuition money to run the College, much less begin to pay off the debt.124

Because of his need for money, Father Bach asked for Father Rauzan’s intercession with the Church aid association, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, with contacts in

Paris, Lyons, and Rome.125

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith (Oeuvre de Societe de la propagateur de fe) had been founded in Lyons by Pauline Jaricot in 1820.126 This was not the Vatican curial office of the Propaganda Fide, which directed bishops in mission territory, of which America was still considered a part. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith was a lay organization that financed missionary work by collecting subscriptions from members and distributing funds to bishops and religious institutions.127 It is no surprise,

122 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 22. 123 Ibid., 20. 124 Ibid., 21. 125 Ibid., 24. 126 Theodore Roemer, Ten Decades of Alms (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1942), 23. 127 Katherine Burton, Difficult Star: The Life of Pauline Jaricot (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1947), 73. 30 then, that Father Bach would turn to them for funds and ask for Father Rauzan to intercede with them. He would continue to repeat this request throughout 1840.

Without doubt work so that we might have some good men devoted to the work, but also work very diligently for the Propagation of the Faith in Paris and . . . . Besides, I only ask to [be] assisted during the first two or three years. After that I think that we will not need them. They haven’t done anything for us yet; everyone has received from them, only we have received nothing; they should now consider the payment overdue us. Ah! If they knew the extreme needs of the country where we are, all the good which there is to be done, all that such a work which is offered to us can produce for the honor of religion, and the good of souls, they would not hesitate to contribute even generously. And if they did not fear that their help would be poorly used or misappropriated: what one entrusts to a community is always in safe-keeping. Besides if they see our plan, is it not worth the approbation of all the true children of the faith?128

Spring Hill College, with the thirty-thousand dollar debt to the bishop and in debt for school supplies, was desperately in need of money. It was necessary so they could begin the school year well; otherwise, there would be more problems. “If MMrs [sic] of the Propagation of the Faith really want to help us, all will proceed rather quickly; but if they don’t show good will, all will proceed slowly . . .”129

Father Bach, thinking that funds from the Propagation of the Faith would not be denied him, had great plans for this foundation in the United States. Spring Hill was first a college and university, but Father Bach saw that it could also function as a seminary and even a house of missions.130 He continually stressed that they needed a strong

128 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, May 31, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 52. 129 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, June 24, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America,, 58. 130 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, March 10, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 27. It is only a supposition that Father Jacques Levasseur is the one to whom this letter is written, for it lacks a name for an addressee. There are three reasons for thinking it is Father Levasseur: 1) the internal evidence of the letter – Father Bach asks for the intercession of the recipient with Father Rauzan, and it is known that Father Levasseur was his assistant at this time; 2) He mentions Father Francois DuMesnildot in this letter; 3) In his next letter to Father Rauzan, Father Bach mentions that he wrote letters to both Fathers DuMesnildot and Levasseur. 31 beginning in America, for “to begin in a rather passable way would be a complete triumph which would easily put us in a position to go on constantly growing.”131 His continued insistence on this point not only comes from the debt he took on but maybe some familiarity with American clergy that had been educated by the Order of Saint-

Sulpice.

This religious community had been founded in 1642 Father Jean-Jacques Olier as society of ordained educators who specialized in seminary formation.132 Many of the

French clergy in the United States had been formed by them, and because of this were trying to imitate them in the United States, and looked to the Order in France for support.

But “French missionary priests sometimes found it difficult to impose Sulpician rules of clerical behavior in an American context, due in no small measure to the fact that

Sulpician leaders in France were often reluctant to expend already scarce resources on unproven missionary ventures.”133 Father Bach no doubt had heard of these trials from some of the bishops he visited, and did not want to have the same experience at the hands of his superiors.

For Father Bach, Spring Hill College was the foundation of a mission house, from which priests would go out from to the whole South, to Americans, Englishmen,

Spaniards, Italians and Frenchmen, and even the Native Americans, whom he greatly loved.134 Ministering to the non-Catholics, that is, the Native Americans and Protestants, was for Father Bach a source of joy. When he ministered to them he was living what he

131 Ibid., 28. 132 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 28. 133 Ibid., 25. 134 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 23. 32 had read of other French missionaries doing, although it was only a few times that he was able to carry out this apostolate.135

3.2 Missionary Work

Yet, despite his insistence on making a good start, Father Bach did not let administrative duties at the College constantly occupy him. He continued his work as a missionary, giving a religious retreat in New Orleans in early March. This work absorbed much of his time, as he was preaching “two or three times a day.”136 Despite some disturbances,137 New Orleans became one of Father Bach’s favorite places to visit and preach as a way of continuing missionary work even while in charge of Spring Hill.

During his time in New Orleans (March through April 1840) Father Bach met

Father Cessent, a priest of the Community who had arrived from France to help him at

Spring Hill. Father Cessent, a young priest from Savois, France, brought a letter from

Father Rauzan to Father Bach with him.138 Father Bach sent Father Cessent to a place where he would be forced to learn English so that when he arrived at Spring Hill in the

135 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 115. “Descriptions of missionary contact with Native Americans struck such a chord in France because of the widely known reputation of Jesuits in the Relations and Lettres édifiantes. Yet no matter how recognizable were the stories of missionary exploits among les sauvages, the fact of the matter was that only a handful of French missionary priests actually worked of long periods of time, if at all, with Native American groups in the early American republic. To be a missionary of American Indians, in other words, was an exceptional experience during the early nineteenth century, which in turn made the Annales all the more important to the creation of an image of missionary life.” 136 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 14, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 32. 137 Father Ferdinand Bach to unknown, April 14, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 36. “I have had the honor of a quasi-riot; several took it into their heads that I was going to be shot at in the pulpit; so there . . . all the people rose up en masse . . . some negroes with strong fists fling themselves on the supposed perpetrator or perpetrators of this racket, they drag them out of the church . . . The punishment was rather severe.” 138 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 14, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 33. Father Cessent’s first name is unknown. Other spellings of his surname are: Casseurs Cassens, Cessane, Cessens, Cressans, Cessant. These alternate spellings are in the Letters in the Fathers of Mercy Archives. The spelling above is taken from the Calendar of the Archives of the University of Notre Dame, two letters of Father Bach from 1841 to Bishop Blanc of New Orleans. 33 fall, he could teach in that language.139 But one priest was not enough. Spring Hill needed still more, in the estimation of Father Bach:

It seems to me you could recruit 5 or 6 [priests] rather easily, especially since the MR [Monsieur] the Superior doesn’t seem to be able to receive many of them at his house in Paris. I shall receive these ‘castoffs’ with great joy, provided, however, and you can well understand this, that they are not too old, nor that they be minus habens [mentally lacking] . . . I still count on you for 3 or 4 Brothers, or domestics, as you may think best. But here, even more so than for the ecclesiastics, it is necessary to choose carefully, that they be men of good will who can be trusted. . . . Jean, the gardener, wrote me to ask that I take him. . . . a good gardener would be very useful to me if not being an absolute necessity. But I fear that his feeble health would go against his desire. Would you look into it and talk to him and also try to add to him another who is strong and vigorous. . . . A cook, who is honest, thrifty and reasonable is becoming a necessity for me. However, that is not as urgent as a gardener.140

Father Bach then provided a planned travel itinerary for Father Rauzan, based on

Bishop Forbin-Janson’s plans. On Monday, April 20, the day after Easter, they were to set sail for , , and from there go to Baltimore for the Fourth Provincial

Council. After that, the plan was to go to Philadelphia, New York, Montreal, Detroit

(after crossing the Great Lakes), St. Louis, and then down the Mississippi to New Orleans to get to Mobile. In the words of Father Bach, “That is the plan: but it is not the first and probably will not be the last that Mgr. de Janson has changed.”141

3.3 The Fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore

Father Bach looked forward to attending a meeting of the bishops of the United

States, the Fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore, which began on May 17. His role at

139 Ibid. 140 Ibid., 37. 141 Ibid., 34. 34 the Council was “in the capacity of Grand Vicar and theologian of Mgr. Portier.”142 Here

Father Bach met several of the bishops in the United States and elicited a favorable impression for the Fathers of Mercy. Father Bach wrote to Father François DuMesnildot,

Procurator General of the Fathers of Mercy:

Enlist Mgr. Portier to recount to you the anecdotes of our voyage to Baltimore and also the evidence of my knowledge in English through my quiproquo [sic] at the Archbishop’s table. You will have a good laugh, as I myself still laugh over it and all my good Bishops have laughed.143

Bishop Forbin-Janson was an honorary visitor at the Council and had little business to carry out. Although Rome had asked Bishop Forbin-Janson to act as temporary Vicar-General for Detroit since the ordinary Bishop Frederic Rese was attempting to resign, this decision was left to the American bishops who decided that he would not be able to carry out the duties. He was also asked to distribute funds from the

Society for the Propagation of the Faith, but the American bishops decided otherwise.144

Bishop Hailandière of Vincennes took advantage of meeting Father Bach again at the Council to offer again to Father Bach the site in northern Indiana that was to become the University of Notre Dame. Father Bach explained his response to the offer:

I really am tempted to accept; here are the facts; a Church, a house with 400 or 500 acres of land, on the boundaries of Indiana, of Michigan, near Canada and the lakes, in a location that they say is magnificent. . . . All this land is being given gratis in order to form a religious establishment; a Community, a College, etc. What would lead me to say yes is (1) the good that there is to be done in these regions where Protestantism has not yet penetrated, (2) For several years there would be a need for only one or two missionaries, (3) As the climate of the South might not be right for everyone, it’s essential to have an establishment in the central part towards the North, and that place exactly towards 42 degrees latitude north and 85

142 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, March 10, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 30. 143 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Francois DuMesnildot, May 26, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 44. 144 Robert Frederick Trisco, “The Holy See and the Nascent Church in the Middle Western United States: 1826-1850” (Ph.D. diss., Gregorian University Press, 1962), 369. 35

degrees longitude; (4) I’m going to go there from here and I shall see everything myself, and as there is an excellent young priest there who wishes to leave in order to become a Jesuit, I shall try to gain him for our Community.145

This was one of several offers from bishops, some of which he mentioned in detail, yet without giving the names of those extending offers or their whereabouts.146 At this juncture, in May 1840, Father Bach gently refused these propositions. One of his reasons for turning them down was his need for staff for Spring Hill, and he had not heard any assurance that additional confreres were coming to assist him, or even that his purchase of Spring Hill was approved.

Having attended the Council and seen it end on May 24, Bishop Portier prepared to visit Europe, leaving Father Bach to rejoin Bishop Forbin-Janson. Father Bach took the opportunity to send with Bishop Portier a detailed letter to Father François DuMesnildot of things needed from France. DuMesnildot was in charge of the business affairs of the

Community.147 What occasioned this request for items from France was Father Bach’s visits to several other “colleges and establishments in America – the Lazarists, the

Sulpicians, the Jesuits, and others;” having seen how they functioned, he understood more clearly what he needed for Spring Hill.148 Father Bach, after this tour undertaken on his way to the Council, was devising his plan for Spring Hill. Optimistically looking forward to receiving confreres and money from France, he said, “I’m confident that in 3 or 4 years we shall be better than any I’ve seen and I tell you this without

145 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Francois DuMesnildot, May 26, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 40-41. 146 Ibid., 41. Another proposal was made for “a foundation in the most beautiful countryside in the universe, the state would give us 20, 30, 40 thousand acres of land, of our choice, if we wanted to establish ourselves there that would be a magnificent thing to do. I did not accept at all, and without refusing absolutely I have indefinitely postponed giving a reply.” 147 Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, Part VII, Chap. 1, § 5. 148 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Francois DuMesnildot, May 26, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 40. 36 presumption.”149 With his foundation at Spring Hill, Father Bach felt confident that a little help from his Community would solidly set them in the United States.

The land which Father Bach had, and the relationships he established with bishops, gave Father Bach a feeling of stability. He could now begin to work on the apostolate and expand the field of work for the Fathers of Mercy in the United States.

149 Ibid. 37

Chapter 4: Expanding the Establishment

4.1 Touring the United States

Meeting the bishops of the United States was an incentive to take up more missionary work, and many had extended invitations to Father Bach and Bishop Forbin-

Janson. Before returning to Spring Hill, Bishop Forbin-Janson persuaded Father Bach to accompany him on a mission journey across the United States, visiting cities and bishops who had no doubt expressed an invitation. From Baltimore Bishop Forbin-Janson and

Father Bach would go to Detroit, and thence to Dubuque, and then St. Louis.150

Bishop Forbin-Janson and Father Bach left on their second journey across the

United States. They visited New York City, arriving in late May, then they passed through Detroit and South Bend on their way to Chicago. In late June they were in

Chicago, dealing with a scandalous priest,151 and according to Father Bach, this was the fourth or fifth case of dealing with a problem priest.152 A common experience of French missionary priests was to complain of these scurrilous priests who ruined efforts at evangelization.153The scandalous actions of bad priests were one of Father Bach’s complaints.

Without a doubt, the great scourge of America is the lack of priests, etc., nevertheless in the few who are here, half should be sent to the antipodes [the opposite side of the earth]. You must see it to believe to what degree of degradation the priesthood has fallen in many of them. . . . If America

150 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, June 24, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 59. 151 This was probably Father O’Meara, the only acting priest in Chicago in the summer of 1840 and who was leading the faithful into schism. Three days after Father Bach sent his letter from Chicago, Father O’Meara submitted to Bishop Hailandière his resignation as pastor. Gilbert J. Garraghan, The Catholic Church in Chicago: 1673-1871: An Historical Sketch (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1921), 105–106. 152 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, June 24, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 55. 153 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 70. “Priests, according to Nerinckx, were largely to blame for the failure to convert Protestants and reform Catholics on the American frontier.” 38

were provided with priests, real priests, even though the number be not much greater than there is now, in a short time all America would be Catholic.154

But of Chicago, New York, and Detroit, important cities though they were, it was the little mission in South Bend, Indiana which excited Father Bach.

4.2 South Bend, Indiana

Bishop Hailandière had offered the property at South Bend to Father Bach at the

Council, and when Father Bach saw it in June 1840, he realized a plan for the Fathers of

Mercy in the United States. Between the property in South Bend and Bishop Flaget’s offer of some land for a foundation at New Albany, in southern Indiana (across the Ohio

River from Louisville, Kentucky), which Bishop Forbin-Janson was seeking to buy,

Father Bach saw a providential occurrence:

Thus on an almost straight line of three or four hundred miles, we will have three beautiful locations: one in the south, one in the north and the other in the center of America, separated from each other by 150 to 200 miles, all three having easy and extensive communication. Those whom the climate of the north does not suit will be able to come to the house in the center or the south; those whom the climate of the south does not suit will be able to go to the center or north, and so on.155

Father Bach wished to establish the college and mission house at Spring Hill first, then a mission house at South Bend, and finally a church and mission house at New

Albany. But before these grand plans could be realized, Spring Hill had to be concretely established. It would only take a few of the missionary priests to staff Spring Hill College well: “And so from this year on first a , second a seminary and third a college and that college (on which we must work in the first place), if you send me only three or

154 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, June 24, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 55. 155 Ibid., 57-58. 39 four good men, can soon become of the greatest importance.”156 Only the lack of priests needed to be remedied, according to Father Bach, for his dreams of an American foundation to come true: “To realize all that I need you to send me four or five good missionaries and the rest as I have indicated for Spring Hill;”157

From Chicago Bishop Forbin-Janson and Father Bach left to visit Bishop Loras in

Dubuque. Bishop Loras had been born in Lyons, France, in 1792, just as the French

Revolution erupted.158 He came to the United States as a priest in 1829 with Bishop

Portier to minister in Alabama till he was consecrated on December 10, 1837, as the first bishop of Dubuque.159 As a new bishop of an ill-defined and little-evangelized territory, his first task was to go to France to recruit priests and religious; “and above all, the object of his solicitude was the erection of a college, he emphasized, ‘but God knows when.’”160

In 1838 he spent eight months in Europe, raising money and recruiting missionaries.

Given his roots in Lyons, as well his time spent traveling, it could be surmised that he knew Father Rauzan and crossed paths with Bishop Forbin-Janson. This would explain

Bishop Forbin-Janson’s desire to visit Bishop Loras as he and Father Bach toured the northern part of the United States

After they visited Dubuque, Bishop Forbin-Janson and Father Bach planned to visit, in order, St. Louis, Vincennes, New Albany, Bardstown, Montreal, Quebec, and finally New York.161 Providence, it would seem, had other plans. It is not clear where the two missionaries went after Dubuque, but on August 3 they split up; Father Bach went to

156 Ibid., 56. 157 Ibid., 58. 158 M. M. Hoffmann, The Church Founders of the Northwest: Loras and Cretin and Other Captains of Christ (Milwaukee, WI: Bruce Publishing Company, 1937), 1. 159 Bransom, Ordinations of U.S. Bishops, 16. 160 Hoffmann, Church Founders of the Northwest, 84. 161 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, May 31, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America,49. 40

Vincennes and Bishop Forbin-Janson to Canada. While in Vincennes, Father Bach received the deed to the property in South Bend from Bishop Hailandière, “with the stipulation that Father Bach would establish a college there.”162

Father Auriac rejoined Father Bach at South Bend, coming from Pennsylvania, where he had just finished constructing a church in Frenchtown for the small French community there. Father Bach had planned to recruit him for missions after attending the

Fourth Provincial Council of Baltimore, but then his travel plans changed.163 Instead, they met at South Bend in late August before returning to Alabama.164

Fathers Bach and Auriac at first thrived in South Bend, as they enjoyed ministering to the Native Americans there who had become Catholic.165 It was, in a sense, a fulfillment of a general wish of French missionaries to imitate the first Jesuit missionaries who had died as martyrs at the hand of Native Americans.166 However, it also became a place of great suffering. In early September, as he was experiencing the frontier missionary life with its joys, Father Bach succumbed to a “bilious fever” for three weeks and experienced suffering. After eight days of being ill in the Native

American village, and realizing he was getting worse, he and Father Auriac left to find a doctor.167 He said of that trip, “I will always remember Monday, [September] 14th, Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In view of my weakness, I had a considerable enough

162 Arthur Hope, Notre Dame: One Hundred Years (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1943), 51. 163 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, February 28, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 26. 164 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 14, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 33. 165 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, October 13, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 60. 166 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 115. 167 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, October 13, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 60. 41 portion of the cross of my good Master.”168 Finally able to see a doctor in South Bend, he spent the next two weeks recovering, before he and Father Auriac traveled for nine days to reach St. Louis. After staying there four or five days, they boarded a steamboat for

New Orleans.

4.3 Bishop Forbin-Janson: The Founding of the Church of St. Vincent de Paul

After he left Father Bach on August 3, Bishop Forbin-Janson continued to carry out mission work across North America. Bishop Forbin-Janson tirelessly moved around, letting himself “become involved in everything and that is what is killing him, and thus, is killing his ministry.”169 Bishop Forbin-Janson visited the Great Lakes by way of the

Mississippi River, and stopped in St. Paul, , to minister to Father Lucien

Galtier, a priest of the Diocese of Dubuque.170 After visiting the Great Lakes area, he made his way to Cincinnati sometime around August 16, 1840.171 From there he made a trip to Quebec and Montreal, in which he preached missions and retreats.172 From

Montreal, he returned to New York City.

In February of 1841 Bishop Forbin-Janson again arrived in New York City. He was assigned as a guide, by Boston’s bishop, , Father John

Fitzpatrick, who had some connections with France. In 1837 John Fitzpatrick had been sent to Saint-Sulpice in Paris to study by Bishop Fenwick.173 Father Fitzpatrick returned

168 Ibid. 169 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 14, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 32. 170 Hoffmann, Church Founders of the Northwest, 157. From a memoir by Father Galtier, who is writing twenty years after the fact, and while he assigns the visit to mid-August, this does not accord with the other dates for Bishop Forbin-Janson’s travels. 171 De Riviere, Vie De Mgr. De Forbin-Janson, 381. 172 Royer, The Power of Little Children, 55–59. 173 Lord, Sexton, and Harrington, History of the Archdioces of Boston, Vol. 2, 2:142. 42 in 1840 to begin ministry, after having become familiar with the Church in France.174 The combination of him being a native of America and his familiarity with France and the

French Church made him an ideal companion to assist Bishop Forbin-Janson while he preached in New York City in February of 1841.175

On February 28, 1841, Bishop Forbin-Janson delivered a sermon in St. Peter’s

Church which convinced the French Catholics of the city that they needed their own church.176 Pierre Toussaint, a slave from Haiti and well-known hairdresser in the city, was present, and he was so grateful for the opportunity to have a church dedicated to the

French-speaking populace of New York City that “his one hundred dollars was the first contribution received for St. Vincent de Paul Church . . .”177 St. Vincent de Paul Church was built and dedicated by Bishop Hughes on August 21, 1842.178

174 Ibid., 2:267. 175 Ibid., 2:399. “Late in February 1841, Bishop Fenwick assigned him to accompany Count de Forbin-Janson, the Bishop of Nancy, France, to New York, to assist him while the Bishop preached a series of sermons to the French residents in that city. This was a work that the prelate had been engaged in for about a year; he had already given about five hundred discourses in various dioceses, and had finally undertaken this apostolate to the New York French, many of whom were ‘indifferent to their religion.’ (John Gilmary Shea, A History of the Catholic Church within the Limits of the United States from the First Attempted Colonization to the Present Time (New York, 1892), IV, 117; Father Fitzpatrick to Eleanor Fitzpatrick, March 4, 1841 (Boland Collection)). It was the young priest’s duty to organize a choir and assist in hearing confessions. . . .” 176 Leo Raymond Ryan, Old St. Peter’s: The Mother Church of Catholic New York (1785-1935), United States Catholic historical society. Monograph series. XV 15 (New York: The United States Catholic historical society, 1935), 180. “On February 28, 1841 he delivered a sermon in St. Peter’s church. The following Wednesday he began a retreat. Convinced of the need of a church for Catholics of a French extraction he appealed on Easter Sunday for contributions. Enthusiasm for the enterprise was at once demonstrated and the organization meetings of the ‘Catholic Association for the erection of the French Church, Canal Street,’ which became the Church of St. Vincent de Paul, were held at St. Peter’s. The church, which was erected at a cost of $38,000, was dedicated in 1842. Although it was an auspicious occasion it temporarily meant a further division of St. Peter’s congregation, with the task of debt liquidation of St. Peter’s made all the more difficult.” 177 Arthur Sheehan and Sheehan, Elizabeth, Pierre Toussaint (New York: P. J. Kenedy and Sons, 1955), 207. 178 James Roosevelt Bayley, A Brief Sketch of the Early History of the Catholic Church on the Island of New York, 2d ed. (New York: U.S. Catholic Historical Society, 1973), 138. 43

Shortly after Easter 1841, Bishop Forbin-Janson made a second trip through

Canada, and after revisiting some of the American bishops with whom he had become friends,179 he set sail from New York for France on December 8, 1841.180

4.4 Return to Spring Hill

The two Fathers of Mercy arrived in New Orleans on Saturday, October 10, after eleven days on the river. For Father Bach, it was a recuperative time: “this trip did me a great deal of good. I had some sleep, regained my appetite, and strength; hardly any more of my malady appeared.”181 Father Auriac, on the other hand, was exhausted. Father

Bach was buoyed up by what he found waiting for him in New Orleans: letters from his confreres. There was a letter from Father Armand-Benjamin Caillau, a member of the

Community who was compiling a collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and would towards the end of his life begin a biography of Father Rauzan.182 There was also a letter from Bishop Forbin-Janson in which he stated that “he had given the ecclesiastical retreat in Montreal and that he is leaving for Quebec.”183 Finally, there was a letter from

Father Rauzan letting him know that more priests would be coming.

Father Bach’s impression of this second letter from Father Rauzan was very positive. He responded,

Oh, how it comforted my heart, and reassured my mind, making clear to me the zeal of my dear Confreres in procuring the [necessities] to make the work move along. . . . When I read [your letter] entirely, I thanked God

179 De Riviere, Vie De Mgr. De Forbin-Janson, 422. 180 Royer, The Power of Little Children, 63. 181 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, October 13, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 63. 182 Delaporte, Vie du Très-Révérend Père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, 395. 183 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, October 13, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 64. 44

for His goodness in regard to this work and no longer doubted a single moment its success.184

He read nothing but approval in that letter and was left with no questions about whether or not he should be pursuing the Spring Hill project. His only question concerned a point of obedience regarding money: “There is one point on which I need a formal and precise response: how to provide and up to what point, the needs of our confreres.”185 The reason for this request is the great difference in value between francs in the United States and in France; Father Bach stated that the custom was to give the confreres three hundred francs apiece, but in the United States “300 francs are not worth

100 francs.” 186 Father Bach, after explaining the matter, left the decision entirely in

Father Rauzan’s hands. After a few days in New Orleans, visiting families with prospective students for Spring Hill, Fathers Bach and Auriac returned to Spring Hill and joyfully prepared to receive the additional priests from France.187

While at Spring Hill Father Bach received another offer of land mediated through

Bishop Forbin-Janson, but this time from Canada. It was the offer of a house, property, and income for the upkeep and expenses of missionaries. This offer was tempting, as it would place the Community and Father Bach into a much better position regarding finances. But Father Bach had grown attached to Spring Hill or at least wanted to see if he could make it succeed. He wrote to Father Rauzan that Bishop Forbin-Janson

asked me to make the trip to Canada and to discuss this affair myself with the Bishops. But I am at Mobile, and this trip is entirely out of the question. Besides, I would not have been able to decide to accept

184 Ibid., 62. 185 Ibid., 63. 186 Ibid. 187 Ibid. 45

anything. . . . I am writing to Msgr. de Janson that this matter should be taken care of separately between him and you.188

Father Bach did not wish to accept it, as he had already taken on significant responsibilities at Spring Hill. He preferred to leave the matter between Bishop Forbin-

Janson and Father Rauzan.189 This seemed to contradict his actions when he decided to accept Spring Hill. Did Father Bach have the authority to accept property for an apostolate? While it seems he thought so when accepting Spring Hill and South Bend, it is not the case here. Whatever was decided, he would carry out. If they did take the

Montreal offer, he begged, “Only do not take them [priests] away from Spring Hill, we do not have too many, not even enough, and when you meet someone who has a real vocation for our work, do not fail to send them to us; there will be enough work for all.”190

That work became Father Bach’s primary concern in November. Spring Hill

College was scheduled to begin classes again on January 10, 1841. He began to recruit teachers and managed to get enough for the upcoming year.

I think we have what is necessary for the moment, except a good professor of English and Spanish that I have not been able to find yet . . . See how good God is, my dear Father; since writing this, Providence has sent me a good Professor of Spanish; I am interrupting here to show you how God spoils us.191

He also hired a Belgian priest, Father Wouters, also called “Dubois,” who talked of possibly joining the congregation. He would end up leaving Spring Hill College in

188 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, November 17, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 65. 189 Ibid. 190 Ibid., 66 191 Ibid. 46

April 1841.192 Some of the priest-professors were ill in late November, which did not bode well for the beginning of the school year. Father Cessent had contracted an illness while he was away learning English, but Father Bach expected him back at Spring Hill before the end of November. Father Auriac had not recovered from the trip from

Pennsylvania to Mobile – Father Bach believed that “his chest is not good. Without letting him know what I think, I have made him take precautions and I am going to take good care of his health.”193

Bishop Portier returned from his trip to Europe on November 7, bringing Father

Bach good news of the community, after having met Father Rauzan and spoken to him about his decision to entrust Spring Hill to the Fathers of Mercy.194 For Father Bach, this was wonderful, as he knew that no letter could adequately convey the state of Spring Hill

College and its needs. Bishop Portier also brought news of the elevation of Spring Hill

College to the rank of university by Pope Gregory XVI.195

4.5 The School Year of 1841

The beginning of the school year was close, and Father Bach still needed funds from the Propagation of the Faith in Lyons and Paris. He was (personally, as he assured

Father Rauzan in no uncertain terms) $20,000 in debt to Bishop Portier. Father Bach

192 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 15,1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 81. Father Wouters remains an obscure character, as no other documentation concerning him exists. 193 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, November 17, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 67. 194 Ibid. 195 Kenny, Catholic Culture in Alabama, 103–104. “To further strengthen his hands he presented through Father Rauzan a petition to the Holy Father to raise Spring Hill to University rank and so enable its Seminary Department to grant theological degrees recognized throughout Christendom. Owing, no doubt, to the powerful influence in Rome of Bishop Forbin-Janson and of Father Rauzan and also of Father Bach himself, a favorable response quickly arrived, thus bestowing on Spring Hill a privilege rarely granted even to ecclesiastical seminaries on the continent.” 47 asked that the money from the Propagation of the Faith be given to him so that the debt might be paid by the school and the books might all balance.196

Despite Father Bach’s protests, Father Rauzan informed him, in a letter of

September 24, that he would continue to be the superior of Spring Hill. Father Bach’s only consolation was the knowledge that his superior was praying for him.197

Father Bach was surprised on December 5, 1840, by the arrival of three of his confreres, for he had not heard of their landing at New Orleans. Fathers Benjamin Saint-

Yves, Benedict Madeore, and Edmond Aubril, and a layman simply known as Francois had landed at New Orleans on December 1, and quickly made their way to Spring Hill.

Fathers Francois Paraudier and Annet Lafont198 would arrive two days later, along with

Favre, a seminarian,199 and Jean, the erstwhile gardener of the community’s house in

Paris. Father Lafont and the seminarian Favre were both in the process of joining the

Community; Jean and Francois were laymen. The priests were confreres of Fathers Bach and Auriac, having known each other in France, and for them, it was a happy reunion.

With them came liturgical articles which Father Bach had requested from Paris because they were hard to come by in the United States.200 One of these, the statue of the

Immaculate Conception, was of special importance because she was the patroness of the

Fathers of Mercy. This arrived on December 8, 1840, and

196 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, November 17, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 68. 197 Ibid. 198 From circumstantial evidence in Father Bach’s letters, it would appear that Lafont was a priest, but was still in the process of joining the Community when he came to the United States. He is referred to as a , and later Father Bach speaks about him professing vows. 199 His first name is unknown. 200 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 67. “French missionary priests worried about the lack of and devotional articles in their possession. Without suitable chalices and crucifixes, they lamented their inability to exhibit the sacredness of Catholic rituals. . . . but because there were few ways to manufacture the necessary religious articles on the frontier, French missionary priest relied upon their counterparts in Europe and sometimes Baltimore to provide them.” 48

everyone began to work and in the evening the was constructed, very solidly; one made the pieces of timber into squares; another planed the planks; this one sawed them; that one nailed them and in the same evening the [statue] having been unpacked, was carried to the altar, ornamented with lights, and very beautiful natural flowers and the whole community recited the at the feet of our good Mother.201

Five days later, the reunited confreres took a week-long retreat for which Bishop

Portier and some priests of the Diocese of Mobile appear to have joined them.202

Everybody pitched in to complete the readiness of the buildings for the semester, and on January 13 they were able to begin classes. By the end of March 1841, Father

Bach expected to have some eighty students.203 He had managed, between his confreres and some hired laymen, to fill out a full complement of professors. Between classes and spiritual exercises, the college was quite busy, and the students were consequently forced into a disciplined schedule. Father Paraudier, however, was already yearning to return to

France. English “upsets him” and he refused to learn it, and was consequently unable to preach. Father Bach said that “his uniqueness has not been appreciated.”204 During this first semester Father Bach grew very homesick, and was repeatedly tempted to think that he would probably not see France again.205

By April 1841, Spring Hill was doing well. There were some issues, “thorns” as

Father Bach called them, but he was “very hopeful.”206 The students were “extremely difficult. There is no comparison with our young men in France, as far as disposition,

201 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 9, 1840, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 72. 202 “Msgr. Portier and his holy co-workers want to make [the retreat] with us. Instead of the 27th as I had intended we will begin it on Sunday, the 13th.” Ibid. 203 Father Ferdinand Bach to unknown, March 31, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 73. 204 Ibid., 75. 205 Ibid., 76. 206 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 15, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 78. 49 way of life, obedience, etc. are concerned.”207 They were ignorant of studies, of good morals, and religion in Father Bach’s estimation. Despite this, the priests had won the respect and confidence of the students and were seeing great improvements in discipline.

The facilities were also being maintained and growing. Jean and his assistant

Francois were improving the grounds immensely. The enslaved persons who worked on the college grounds were participating in morning and evening prayers and were offered religious instruction in the evenings. But this supervision and management of the land, buildings, and lay employees weighed heavily on Father Bach. He stated that it “gives me lots of headaches sometimes to the point that I can no longer think clearly, being, so to speak, blind. Then I lock myself away for a few moments.”208 However, he said, “no one

[of the other Fathers of Mercy] complains about being overburdened.”209 This was something which later would be seen to be untrue.

Father Bach described the life of the small Community of priests as regulated and centered around prayer, and as similar to life in France as possible. They had one hour of prayer in the morning, examination of conscience at noon,210 rosary and evening prayer, a spiritual conference every Friday,211 as well as a “first conference” every month.212

Confreres were diligent about asking permissions, silence was observed, and obedience

207 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 15, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 79. 208 Ibid., 80. 209 Ibid. 210 Constitutions, Part 3, Chap. 2, § 5, 1) “Each of us ought diligently to make a particular examination of conscience before the midday meal, and a general examination of conscience during our afternoon prayers.” 211 Constitutions, Part 3, Chap. 3, § 2, 1) “In all our houses, a spiritual conference is held each week.” 212 Constitutions, Part 3, Chap. 3, § 2, 7) “At the first conference of each month, this order is reversed, with the superior, or whoever is in charge, speaking first. He recounts, without naming anyone, whatever faults or negligence he has noticed during the preceding month. He exhorts the others to avoid such imperfections, however small they may be, and he himself promises to do likewise. With gentleness and kindness he teaches them how to begin and how to carry out the task of improving themselves.” 50 was simple and friendly.213 Father Bach detailed all this for Father Rauzan to inform him that the Fathers of Mercy in the United States were still living in obedience in the savage

New World.

The Fathers of Mercy at Spring Hill were trying, as they lived together as a community of educators, to also live their community life. Any connection back to

France was often a touching experience for them. So, when they received a letter on April

19, 1841, relating to them a recent illness of Father Rauzan, many broke out in tears.

Father Bach was so overcome that Father Saint-Yves had to finish the reading of it.214

They also looked forward to celebrating the Feast of St. John the Baptist – a feast of great significance for the Community – in spiritual unity with their brothers in France.

Although the running of a college was not something the Community had undertaken up to this point, Father Bach and the Fathers of Mercy priests with him tried by their way of life to feel a connection to their confreres in France.

Having a small community now present at Spring Hill College did not instantly produce a perfect life for the Fathers of Mercy. In fact, for those in the United States, it was after they were all together and working to run the school well that problems began to arise. These would be problems in the college and with their superiors in France.

213 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 15, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 81. 214 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, May 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 84. 51

Chapter 5: The Difficult Trials

5.1 Problems in the College

The summer of 1841 was the beginning of Father Bach’s trials, which would culminate in the end of the Fathers of Mercy’s presence at Spring Hill. In late April,

Father Bach was struck again with a bilious fever, which kept him in bed for close to two weeks. In early May, before he had recovered, Father Madeore was also afflicted, though to a lesser degree.215 No one else suffered bodily infirmities; although the mysterious

Father Wouters and the uncooperative Father Paraudier decided to leave, which did not displease Father Bach. He apparently never thought that Father Wouters would be a good fit for the Fathers of Mercy. Father Paraudier left to preach in New Orleans, and from there would leave for New York and thence back to France. This whim on his part seems to have been characteristic; Father Bach told Father Rauzan, “You are then going to see him again, which won’t surprise you.”216 Father Cessent was asked to leave after creating a scandal, for he was “caught by a student in a criminal act with a black woman.”217

Father Jean Etienne Bazin, a diocesan priest who had earlier been president of Spring Hill

College and who may have taken over after the Fathers of Mercy left,218 was recalled by

Bishop Portier to Mobile.219 The other priests began to feel the toll of the heavy workload.

Even as he lost these four priest-professors, the school still needed many supplies, a new chapel was needed, and additional staff so that those already employed

215 Ibid., 86. 216 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 15, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 82. 217 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, August 23, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 95. 218 Kenny, Catholic Culture in Alabama, 107. 219 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, August 23, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 95. 52 would not be constantly burdened. To achieve these things, more funding was needed.

Father Bach voiced concern for the school’s financial status:.

The College of Spring Hill has a debt of 150,000 francs to Bishop Portier. . . . But the college, which was only just reborn from its ashes, not only won’t be able, for a long time to repay the debt, either in part or all of it, but it is probable that, in order to function, will be obliged to make new debts. So, if we don’t get help, the college is in danger of going down . . .220

Father Bach made the case that having a successful and debt-free college was the only solution, as Spring Hill would only be able to function as a center of Catholic life and missionary outreach if funding were supplied. This was his argument to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Paris making a funding request, for which he competed with many dioceses in the United States which also needed donations.

As acting superior, Father Bach also decided on other future assignments.

Although he had been given the tasks of sacristan and French professor, Father Benedict

Madeore was not content at Spring Hill College. Bishop Loras of Dubuque had asked for a missionary to work with the Sioux Indians.221 Although Father Bach did not think he could spare him, Father Madeore’s discontent and restless spirit made him a candidate.

The bright side, for Father Bach, was that the Native American mission was close to

South Bend, which would benefit from having a Father of Mercy nearby.222 This did not come to fruition in 1841, however, because there was no money to support a missionary, and Bishop Loras never sent any money to pay for Father Madeore’s travel. Father

Madeore’s sickness in May had also left him very weak, and he remained at the college

220 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, May 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 87. 221 Father Benedict Madeore to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, March 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 77. 222 Father Ferdinand Bach to unknown, March 13, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 74. 53 through the summer, though both he and Father Bach had originally meant to spend the summer at South Bend.223

The original decision to send two priests to South Bend, even though they could hardly be spared, was made after a discussion with Father Auriac concerning his time in

Frenchville. Father Bach decided it would not be prudent to send missionaries on extended trips alone, and

. . . Father Auriac agrees with it wholeheartedly. It is even from that experience and the advice of several men that I resolved not to let one missionary go alone, at least for a long period of time; there should be at least two. It is even one of the definite directions agreed upon by Bishop Portier for future missions in his diocese. I hope that the community will strongly approve that resolution which will become the rule in the future.224

Unfortunately because of illness, neither Father Bach or Father Madeore would take the trip to South Bend. Father Bach fell ill again on Pentecost, after returning from a visit to New Orleans. He was seriously ill for two weeks and then began recovering.

Father Madeore also fell ill again himself at about that time, unable even to eat. As Father

Bach started to recover from this relapse, he pushed himself too hard into work and suffered another bout of illness on June 25. This kept him down for a couple of weeks as well, and just as he had succeeded in getting out of bed, but not back to work, an intestinal infection afflicted him and he was again ill through mid-August. Both he and

Father Madeore went into the country for a few days, for fresh air and exercise, and both came back somewhat better, but neither fully restored to health.225

223 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, May 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 89. 224 Ibid., 90-91. 225 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, August 23, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 94. 54

Despite all these setbacks, Father Bach was still thinking of ways to improve the staffing of Spring Hill. Early in May, perhaps before he got sick the second time, he organized a “military school” division. About forty students participated and did drills for about two months. In the end, he

fitted them with military dress: coat, trousers, caps, satchels, guns, etc. . . . And on July 4, a day celebrated in all America, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I sent them to Mobile in the parade. . . . So, the whole city was enthusiastic about the Military Company of the College of Spring Hill. . . . The General in Chief of the State of Alabama Guard wanted to greet them in full dress, accompanied by his general staff. He wanted, at his expense, to treat the whole company.226

Father Bach saw this as a success for the college and one that was sure to inspire parents to send new students to the school. But he wrote to Father Rauzan: “I don’t know if you are going to disapprove or approve me.”227

Bishop Forbin-Janson promised to send a certain Father deCoutannes to Father

Bach to help him.228 This would be helpful, as Father Bach needed more professors. He also needed more books and teaching supplies, for which both he and Father Saint-Yves sent lists back to the community in France.229 They depended a great deal on the Fathers of Mercy in France, as did many French missionary priests from their respective orders, to supply them with school and liturgical supplies that were more easily obtained or cheaper in France.230

226 Ibid., 97. 227 Ibid., 96. 228 Ibid., 97. His first name, and anything else about him, is unknown. 229 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, August 23, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 99. 230 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 50. 55

5.2 Friction with Father Levasseur

In the summer of 1841 those in France, specifically Father Levasseur, wondered at the many requests they were getting from Spring Hill. To the new First Assistant,

Father Levasseur, Father Bach had boasted in his early letters of how well-supplied

Spring Hill College was, and how well everything was proceeding. Why would they need more supplies? Father Bach defended his request. Of course they needed more liturgical articles; sometimes there were up to fifteen priests in the house who needed to celebrate

Mass.231 According to Father Bach, one of the reasons why Bishop Portier offered them the college was that he was a poor administrator, and the diocese was terribly in debt and could not support the school.232 Father Bach was experiencing what many other French missionary priests experienced. As the historian Michael Pasquier described:

Three general positions held by three different parties – the intention of French priests in America to recruit new missionaries in France, the apprehension of some church leaders in France to provide the American missions with priests, and the willingness of some young men to become missionaries – generated tension between Catholic interests in France and the United States, ultimately making it difficult to identify a clear source of ecclesiastical authority and a common image of what a missionary should be in an American setting.233

Father Bach’s administration of Spring Hill lacked the benefit of oversight from his superiors in France. Father Levasseur’s primary critique was that Father Bach had accepted the work of Spring Hill College without any approbation from his superiors in

France. Father Bach’s response was to say that he had not wanted to accept the college:

“One more secret I have to tell you: I took the College of Spring Hill against my will. I

231 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, September 10, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 100. 232 Ibid., 102. “He owes everyone . . . he has been owing money to many people for 3 or 4 years and has been unable to pay even part of the debts.” While it is true that he was in debt, this was more probably due to the financial panic of 1837 and the construction of the Cathedral which Portier had begun in 1837. Lipscomb, “The Administration of Michael Portier,” 175. 233 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 91. 56 agree with you and I always did: we should have started in a small way, and rather with missions, rather than with a college.”234 Father Bach’s primary reason for accepting the college was to strengthen Catholicism in Mobile; secondarily, there had been pressure from Bishops Forbin-Janson and Portier. To reassure his superior, he reminded him of certain conditions that went with the purchase of the college:

That is why I accepted only as a trial, so that, if after one or two years we found that we couldn’t succeed, we would put everything back in the hands of the Bishop and that he would pay us back for what we already would have paid for him [sic]. But besides this, as that poor bishop claimed, in order to do away with his episcopal duties, the care of the college, I told him that we were accepting the administration of the college on the condition that he would be free to devote himself completely to his apostolic ministry and that, when the college would be doing well, we would strive to go with him around his vast diocese.235

With these conditions, Father Bach was sure that he would not lose money through the college.236

Father Bach’s attitude at the end of the summer of 1841, was fairly positive. He still thought of the Community’s attitude toward Spring Hill as one of support and affirmation. Because of this, he felt no qualms in briefly relaying the financial condition of the college. From December 1, 1840, to December 1, 1841, Spring Hill College received approximately $26,000. However, the expenses of the college were about

$23,000. Although the college appeared to be in the black, Bishop Portier required Father

Bach to remit $5,400 as the “first installment in the purchase price.”237 This was roughly

234 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, September 10, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 102. 235 Ibid. 236 Bishop Portier, in a letter to the Propaganda Fide, August 8-10, 1840, gave slightly different conditions: to assume diocesan debt to a limit of $30,000; to continue the high educational standards of the college; and to assume charge of the diocesan seminary. See Lipscomb, “The Administration of Michael Portier,” 238. 237 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, September 10, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 104. 57 one-sixth of the $30,000 debt owed to the bishop, but Father Bach still voiced his positivity, certain that if they had one hundred and twenty students the next term they would come out ahead.238

However, between September 10 and 26, Father Bach received a second letter from Father Levasseur. This letter purported to show the judgments and attitude of the community in France, especially of Father Rauzan. It appeared they had a “sad opinion of our manner of governing the affairs of Spring Hill” and this caused Father Bach once again ask for a replacement as provincial.239

Father Levasseur apparently complained about the debt of the college, the poor management, and unclear information in Bach’s letters. Father Bach responded to these accusations vehemently, pointing out that he had heard that the Society for the

Propagation of the Faith had given $2,300 to the Fathers of Mercy for Spring Hill, and only $360 had made it to the college.240 Although they had tried to economize, debts incurred by Bishop Portier, as well as ones that Father Bach had to contract to feed students and pay staff, were a continual drain on the college’s resources. Consequently,

Father Bach constantly asked for money, materials, and more confreres from France.

5.3 Troubles Accumulate

Favre, the seminarian who had considered joining the Fathers of Mercy and had come to Spring Hill College and taught classes for the year of 1841, was getting ready to leave. He had been refused ordination to the subdiaconate by Bishop Portier, for

238 Ibid. 239 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, September 26, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 109. 240 Ibid., 110. 58 unknown reasons. Father Bach was at peace with him going, even though he had no replacement because Favre had been independent, arrogant, and intolerable in every way.

Father Bach mentioned that he did not want any more strange priests in the congregation; he had met too many of them.241 In October, Favre suffered a fall from a second-story window and sprained his foot badly; he was laid up in bed for three weeks and was consequently unable to leave.242

Bishop Hailandière of Vincennes had also become anxious at the fact that there had not yet been any work done by the Fathers of Mercy at South Bend during the year the property had been in their possession. He wrote a letter to Father Bach in September

1841 asking them to relinquish the property, but Father Bach was not yet ready to give it up.243 He argued that Father Levasseur needed to send more men to the United States so that his projected plans of mission houses in South Bend, New Albany, and Spring Hill would be able to come to fruition.

In the fall of 1841 it took several months for letters to go back and forth between

France and the United States, which had a palpable impact on relations between the

Fathers of Mercy in Alabama and their superiors in Paris. The conciliatory and explanatory letters of Father Bach from September had not even been written when

Father Levasseur wrote again in August, with demands that seemed unreasonable and even contrary to the Constitutions of the Community; specifically, asking for the signatures of Fathers Lafont and Saint-Yves to be appended to the financial report of

Spring Hill. Father Levasseur threatened to go to the Society for the Propagation of the

241 Ibid., 114. 242 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Francois DuMesnildot, unknown date, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 120. 243 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, September 26, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 115. 59

Faith in Paris to tell them of the Community’s work in Spring Hill, for reasons which were not clear, and Father Bach begged him not to: “And I should tell you that if our conduct needs justification, the spirit which dominates your letters will be, for us, sufficient motive for not choosing you as our lawyer.”244 Father Bach had seen in Father

Levasseur’s letters a lack of a spirit of cooperation regarding Spring Hill College. He feared that if Father Levasseur spoke to them, the money which the Society for the

Propagation of the Faith had already promised would be taken away.

This led Father Bach to another point: Why were the finances of Spring Hill in shambles? – Because Father Levasseur had retained the funds given by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith for the college. Father Bach blamed their new debts, incurred for maintenance and schoolbooks, on Father Levasseur.245 The financial failure of Spring

Hill would be the fault of the Fathers of Mercy because of Father Levasseur’s malicious attitude in withholding funds given specifically for the college. In Father Bach’s mind, the evidence for this malicious attitude was Father Levasseur’s refusal to send more confreres to the United States: “You tell me that you don’t have anyone to send us! We are not able to believe that, however.”246 If it is because they have problems in the

Community, then so be it; after all, admits Father Bach, “according to God, it is our community which is dear to us and more dear than life.”247 This was Father Bach’s demonstration of loyalty. After all, he was certain that this was not the attitude of the

Community, but merely Father Levasseur: “But [Father] Levasseur, you see yourself as the community? You are strangely mistaken. Otherwise I know in part what the

244 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, October 3, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 123. 245 Ibid., 124. 246 Ibid. 247 Ibid., 125. 60 community thinks and soon I will know this through a formal and direct means.”248 This last piece meant that he was expecting a letter from Father Rauzan himself.

The issues of obedience and finances became Father Bach’s primary dispute with

Father Levasseur, who claimed to represent the Community. Father Levasseur demanded

“an exact state of our finances, signed by Mr. Saint-Yves and [Lafont].” This was not merely on Levasseur’s authority, however; Levasseur said it was by order of the

Community, from the Superior General. Bach replied, “See his signature, you say. Yes, I see it and I see that this signature condemns your letter, and that you abuse the age and weakness of our venerable Superior . . .”249 Father Bach had already sent a statement, not in detail, in early September, which Father Levasseur had of course not seen when writing his reprimanding letter of August 28. Father Bach promised to send a detailed financial report to Father DuMesnildot, the Procurator General, not Levasseur because that was what the Constitutions demanded.250 Nor would Father Bach have Father Saint-

Yves and Father Lafont sign it, as Father Levasseur demanded, for the Constitutions only asked for the signature of the local superior.251

Father Bach wrote to Father Rauzan to complain of Levasseur, his letters, and his handling of the funds from the Propagation of the Faith. The reply which he expected was the “formal and direct means” of knowing what the Community thought of which he

248 Ibid., 123. 249 Ibid. 250 Ibid. 251 “At least once a year, the steward of each house should render to the Procurator a written account of the revenues and expenditures of the house. This account must be signed by the house superior.” Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, Part VII, Chap. 1, §5, 8. 61 wrote to Father Levasseur. Other than this complaint concerning money, Father Bach wrote a glowing letter to his superior of the work Spring Hill was accomplishing.252

In writing to France, there were three complaints of the little community of Spring

Hill. First, the books which they requested and needed from France had not been sent, and they would start the new year in January 1842 without necessary texts.253 Second, money intended for Spring Hill which was received by the Fathers of Mercy in Paris from the Propagation of the Faith had not been forwarded.254 Third, Father Levasseur demanded a detailed financial statement with three signatures attesting to it, those of

Father Bach, Father Saint-Yves, and Father Lafont.255 It seemed to Father Saint-Yves, judging from these points and the attitude of Father Levasseur’s letters, that his superiors in Paris wanted Spring Hill to fail.256

Father Bach’s trials, as he wrote to Father Rauzan, seemed to be less about the actual state of affairs in Spring Hill and more concerned with Father Levasseur’s attitude.

As Father Bach mentioned each of the setbacks he connected them back to Father

Levasseur.257 Father Bach explained his actions regarding things like the financial statement that was requested by Father Levasseur: he sent one to the Procurator General as the Constitutions requested, not the triple-signed one which Levasseur requested

252 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 136. 253 Father Benjamin Saint-Yves to Father Jacques Levasseur, unknown date, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 129-130. 254 Ibid., 131. 255 Ibid., 133. 256 Ibid. 257 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 137. 62

“against all kinds of law.”258 If demanded by Father Rauzan, such a copy would be sent in February, but it seemed extraordinary to the Community members in Spring Hill.

Father Bach also complained of his personnel problems. He would have liked to send both Fathers Auriac and Madeore to South Bend, for they were both experiencing discouragement concerning Spring Hill, and Bishops Hailandière and Loras had written letters demanding he act regarding South Bend. But Father Bach could not spare them since he had no one to replace them as teachers. During the winter of 1841, Father Bach stated that even the loss of two more teachers would have caused the school to close.259

But the question of the financial statement was the thorn in Father Bach’s side. He prepared and sent to Father DuMesnildot the financial statement prescribed by the

Constitutions, but he had not taken the extra steps demanded by Father Levasseur. 260

Was he in debt? Yes, but that was because funds had been held back from him and Father

Levasseur had placed hurdles in his way. Father Bach wrote to Father DuMesnildot: “But then, understand this well, I have ceased to be responsible. [emphasis in original] Not only am I not free in my administration, but you place all kinds of obstacles before me.”261 If Father Bach had a “certificate signed” assuring that funds of the Society for the

Propagation of the Faith would be put at the disposal of Spring Hill, the creditors of

Father Bach would have had some assurance of being repaid and would not have pressed him so closely.262

258 Ibid. 259 Ibid., 138. 260 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Francois DuMesnildot, December 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 140. 261 Ibid., 145. 262 Ibid., 146. 63

The financial statement which Father Bach sent to Father DuMesnildot was depressing for Father Bach to send and no doubt shocking to his superiors in France.

Father Bach informed them that the college had only $726.263 It was a sad tale of debts incurred to board students and deficits caused by students whose families had not paid for their education. Besides this, the future payments over the next four years of $5,000 each, with $400 yearly interest, hung over Father Bach’s head. Debt stalked Father Bach, despite his optimistic outlook concerning the possibility of paying it off: “With one hundred students there would be a real and positive profit of 50 or 60 [dollars] per student at the least, and that could satisfy previous debts. We hope to arrive at this result and everything tells us that we will reach it, even this year. But once again, these are hopes, not yet reality.”264

Father Levasseur’s letters were a source of depression to the small community at

Spring Hill. Father Bach, according to his account, was “forced by order”265 to read the letters to the other priests, and the impression was that they have “overturned everything, destroyed all the foundations [of hope]. And the first idea that came to Saint-Yves and

Lafont, reading your letters together, is that the community had secretly decided to abandon the work of Spring Hill.”266 It seemed that the major cause of Levasseur’s disgruntlement was the debt into which the college had fallen, which would precipitate its failure.267 Father Bach defended himself, reminding his superior that he had not wanted to assume responsibility for the college in the first place; it was Forbin-Janson’s advice

263 Ibid., 140. 264 Ibid., 147-150. 265 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, January 5, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 152. Emphasis in original. 266 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, December 22, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 155. 267 Ibid., 156-159. It seems that Father Levasseur had eleven points to pick with Father Bach, nine of which Father Bach responded to. Six of these were financially related. 64 that persuaded him to do so. He kept the college in his name so the community would be free of responsibility, but felt undermined by the Community:

the community puts itself foreward [sic], cracks its whip loudly, declares everywhere that it alone is charged with this work, that it alone will administer it, even from as far as 2000 miles, without having any idea of the location of the delicate and difficult circumstances in which the work finds itself.268

In the end, if the college failed, Father Bach would blame the Community, especially Father Levasseur.

You want to throw me in the abyss while saying you want to stop me from falling in; I don’t claim to be there. I know that in Paris they will say again, ‘It is his fault, he wanted it that way.’ For me it is very different. Later on in Paris, as here, they will know on whom all the blame and the responsibility should fall.269

After all, funds had been held back, books which were needed never arrived, and members of the Community who were promised to come were never sent.270

Father Levasseur’s letters had a deleterious effect on the morale of the little community at Spring Hill. Fathers Lafont and Madeore were very discouraged. Lafont said, “You don’t even have an idea of the work and you want to direct it . . . You want to destroy it.” Father Madeore began to dream of work elsewhere since he saw their plans as disrupted.271 The seminarian Favre, however, was recovering his health and expressed a desire to stay and teach the next year, which was encouraging, as Father deCoutannes, whom Bishop Forbin-Janson had promised to send to Spring Hill, had been sent

268 Ibid., 156. 269 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jacques Levasseur, January 5, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 153. 270 Ibid. 271 Ibid., 152. 65 elsewhere.272 They were despondent, and their only hope was that more students would enroll.

Father Saint-Yves, in a letter to Father Rauzan, agreed with Father Bach’s assessment of the situation: “Surely we cannot understand how for several months you pretend to abandon us and you seem to have taken on the task of denying us all kind of help, either men or money.”273 In the view of their American confreres, their superiors in

France seemed to be acting unreasonably, especially Father Levasseur who denied all help. But this would not depress them entirely; the Fathers of Mercy priests spent the winter break of 1841 doing mission work. Father Saint-Yves preached in New Orleans and Father Aubril in the Alabama wilderness to a few Catholic families. Fathers Lafont and Madeore stayed with an American family to learn English, which left Father Auriac and Bach as the only Fathers of Mercy at Spring Hill.274 Bishop Forbin-Janson had written that a priest was coming from New York to help them, but he would never arrive.

Thankfully, since his accident, the young seminarian Favre had been acting more reasonably.275 He even desired to stay and teach.276

5.4 The Last Year, 1842

Father Bach’s letter complaining of Father Levasseur’s conduct, merited a lengthy response from Father Rauzan. His first complaint was lack of news from Father Bach; if

272 Ibid. 273 Father Benjamin Saint-Yves to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, January 5, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 163. 274 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, December 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 136. 275 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Rauzan, December 20, 1841, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 138. 276 Father Benjamin Saint-Yves to Father Jacques Levasseur, unknown date, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 134. 66

Father Bach’s letters could travel to Paris in less than a month as his last one did, then he should write more, argued Rauzan. Father Rauzan offered positive news. He had spoken to the directors of the Propagation of the Faith, and they were impressed that the priests at

Spring Hill were spending their break conducting mission work; maybe they would provide more funds.

These were Father Rauzan’s last positive words for Father Bach. He saw in Father

Bach’s actions a spirit of independence which was inherited from the world, or perhaps more specially, the New World: “Unfortunately, everyone wants to act by himself; it is the disease of the century and it is very necessary that you be exempt from the illness while your ideas are alive and alluring.” For this reason, they, “that is to say the brethren of Mobile, should submit your concerns to the motherhouse and to its Superior General with submission, obedience, respect.” 277 He then ordered Father Bach to send an immediate reply, and after that to send short letters updating the Community in France on the situation in Spring Hill every fifteen days.278

There were two reasons for these reprimands. First, Father Rauzan had imagined the presence of the Fathers of Mercy in the United States as a sort of exploratory mission, not a permanent foundation:

On your departure for the United States we could not have imagined that you would get an establishment there before coming back to bring us all we would desire to know in advance. Suddenly you informed us that the college of Spring Hill belongs to you; everything is concluded without us being able to intervene in any way. This business should not have been handled in this way. . . . I was not surprised by your satisfaction, . . . yet I remained persuaded that you were making a mistake.279

277 Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan to Father Ferdinand Bach, January 30, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 224. 278 Ibid., 225. 279 Ibid., 223. 67

It seemed to Father Rauzan that Father Bach was being too independent in the

United States. Hence he also ordered him to give up the property in South Bend; Bishop

Forbin-Janson had persuaded Father Rauzan to instead take the Church of St. Vincent de

Paul, which Bishop Forbin-Janson had “prepared . . . for us in the diocese of New York.

What is so fortunate in that location is that there one will have what is necessary for living.”280

The second reason was the funds received from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Both Bishop Portier and Father Bach claimed the money, and Father Rauzan found himself between the two. Father Rauzan replied, “We asked you and him for explanations and nothing arrived. Very well, we will wait.”281

Father Rauzan finished the letter with a strong emphasis on obedience: “I am writing to you as a Superior General in the name of God, absolutely desiring that everything be governed in our house according to our constitution.”282

Father Rauzan found fault with Father Bach for reading Father Levasseur’s letters to Fathers Madeore and Lafont. Father Rauzan wrote that Father Bach created the Spring

Hill community’s depressed attitudes:

How then did you explain the letters from the community and the orders which we gave? Isn’t it evident that you tried to have good Abbe Lafont say what you would like to say yourself and claim that everything was upset at Spring Hill because, according to your thinking, we dare to hinder your will? . . . This is the effect of your confidences. You are very guilty, my dear Bach since, having our letters in hand and not giving any explanation in our name, you only managed to produce these horrible results.283

280 Ibid., 225. 281 Ibid., 224. 282 Ibid., 225. Emphasis in original. 283 Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan to Father Ferdinand Bach, February 15, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 220-221. 68

Before this, Father Rauzan’s letters had been positive and encouraging, reflecting

Father Bach’s own perspective. The change might have been due to Father Rauzan seeing

Father Bach’s responses to Father Levasseur, as he quoted from them several times in his

February 1842 epistle.

Father Rauzan’s letters of reprimand discouraged Father Bach and the other confreres in Spring Hill. They had only forty students for the year, and so Spring Hill was once again taking on more debt, and this was coupled with a financial downturn.284

Father Saint-Yves offered an easy solution: “If you don’t think [Father Bach] is fit for financial administration, why do you leave him here, when he asks you for a bursar?”285 If Father Rauzan simply sent a new superior, as Father Bach had consistently asked for, Spring Hill’s finances could be corrected, or at least the school shut down and costs recouped. But leaving Father Bach in the position of local superior seemed to indicate that the superiors in France approved of the college’s work, which confused

Father Saint-Yves, as he heard contradictory things: “[Father DuMesnildot] says in his last letter that you never consented to the establishment of Spring Hill, that [Father Bach] alone wanted it and concluded the sale without your consent and that consequently he has no right demand assistance. Why then was I made to come here from Rome?”286 Father

Saint-Yves imprudently wrote to Father Rauzan that if he was not going to help the

American mission, then he should “at least abstain from a course of resistance and remain neutral.”287

284 Father Benjamin Saint-Yves to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, March 2, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 192. 285 Ibid., 193. 286 Ibid. 287 Ibid. 69

But the “resistance” continued. Father Bach replied and tried to explain that his anger and frustration came from thinking that Father Rauzan was so infirm that others, namely Levasseur, were making important decisions for him.288 Father Bach admitted that he was wrong, sincerely apologized, and conveyed his obedience: “I entreat them, I entreat you even more, tender father, on both knees, my face pressed against the ground, to pardon [me] for all my errors. . . . Only speak and you will see if we know how to obey.”289 In an effort to appease Father Rauzan over the financial issue, Father Bach expressed confidence that in April 1842 he would have “almost paid off all debts in arrears,” although they had fewer students than expected.290 The priests at Spring Hill still took on some mission work, but they looked forward to receiving two or three more priests from France, as they had heard rumors they would be coming. He was also happy to announce the ordination of the seminarian Favre to the diaconate on April 4, 1842.

Because of Father Bach’s attachment to Spring Hill, Father Rauzan’s concern for

New York rankled him. He brought up obstacles, such as the contradictory Irish clergy and the need for a very prudent superior.291 He did not know what to do with South Bend, and Bishop Hailandière was angered at the fact that no priest had as yet been sent there.292 But Father Bach preferred staffing South Bend to New York.

There were high hopes, on Father Bach’s part, that many misunderstandings would be cleared by the visit of Father Gabriel Chalon, the nephew of Bishop Portier, to

Paris. Chalon would, according to Bach, “undertake all our verbal and written

288 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Rauzan, March 28, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 204. 289 Ibid., 206. 290 Ibid., 207. 291 Ibid., 208 292 Ibid., 209. 70 agreements.”293 Letters could only do so much, he reasoned, and Father Bach hoped that

Father Chalon would be able to dismiss confusion in Paris: “Have him talk about Spring

Hill. He will inform you about everything with frankness and full knowledge of the causes. Favorable or unfavorable, I have asked him to tell you everything and to respond directly to all your questions.”294

But even as Father Bach sent his emissary, his superior in France responded to his defensive letters of December 1841. Bach’s letters contained contradictions: did he have to act immediately in taking Spring Hill, or did he have two to four months to decide?295

The debt of the college was anticipated, yet he had said the college would be self- sufficient.296 Father Bach had written multiple times that there was a cancellation clause in the contract of deed for the college between Bishop Portier and Father Bach; yet

Bishop Portier denied it and said that this was done outside of the contract, and Father

Rauzan, looking at the copy of the contract Father Bach sent him, agreed that the clause was absent.297 Father Bach had also put the Community into a terrible position with the funds from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith; these funds could only be given to “Bishops and heads of Ecclesiastical Congregations for their missions,” and with

Bishop Portier and Father Bach demanding them for the college, the Community was unsure which to relinquish them to as the rightful proprietor.298 The status of the college as a mission of the Community or the Diocese of Mobile was apparently an open question.

293 Ibid. 294 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Levasseur, April 8, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 211. 295 Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan to Father Ferdinand Bach, April 10, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 187. 296 Ibid. 297 Ibid., 190. 298 Ibid., 187. 71

Father Bach’s seeming deceptions, his continued disobedience regarding having three signatures assigned to the financial reports, and apparent refusal to meet with

Bishop Portier to work out the financial matters, left the Superior General in a state of

affliction and bitterness . . . with the approbation of the Superior General it becomes the will of the members of the Council who express to you with complete agreement their thoughts. Given the state of things, the Superior General charges us to make known to you in his name a public disapproval of all your conduct.299

For Father Bach, the hammer had fallen, though not yet informed of the decision, because the letter had not reached him, he prepared a defense.

At the same that Father Rauzan’s came, Father Bach’s written apologia was on its way to France with Father Chalon. He was relying entirely on Father Chalon to speak to Father Rauzan, but he also wanted to reiterate several points: he had desired to be replaced as local superior; the two bishops, Portier and Forbin-Janson, urged him to sign the contracts quickly; and the funds from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith would have solved the debts of Spring Hill.300 But more importantly, Father Levasseur had written to Bishop Portier, and the bishop claimed that Levasseur’s letter “contains sufficient to make the community responsible. And in his need, he declares that he is keeping this letter and will know how to make use of it. And if he is driven beyond his patience, he is the man to do it.”301 That is, Bishop Portier would sue the Fathers of

Mercy to obtain both the funds from the Propagation of the Faith and the rest of what he was owed.

299 Ibid., 191. 300 Father Ferdinand Bach to Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, April 18, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 197-201. 301 Ibid., 202. 72

Father Bach’s trust was betrayed. Father Chalon, arriving in Paris in late May

1842, arranged to meet Father Rauzan, after having first conversed with Father

Levasseur. But in arranging to meet Father Rauzan, Father Chalon mentioned, contrary to

Father Bach’s promises in his letters, that he was

not charged by anyone, neither [Bishop Portier] nor [Father] Bach, to answer the least question which would have a bearing on the business of Spring Hill. [Father] Bach asked me only to give you topographical details, etc. . . . in case these details would please you, or even more to give you some knowledge of the customs and habits of a country in which I have lived for eighteen years.302

And apparently, that is what happened. Father Chalon explained little, and Father

Rauzan, frustrated with Father Bach and the whole situation, ordered Father Bach to relinquish Spring Hill. Father DuMesnildot showed the contracts which Father Bach had sent him to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith,303 and the Society gave the funds to the Fathers of Mercy, which was probably used to satisfy a dispute with Bishop Portier over the debt of the college and the money they had paid him for it.304

Finally, in July 1842, the final decision was rendered. If there was a letter to

Father Bach informing him, it is lost. The only surviving letter informing the American

Community of the verdict was from Father Rauzan to Fathers Madeore and Lafont.

Father Rauzan, addressing Father Lafont, said, “[Father Bach’s] work at the college is finished. Father Bach will do what he wants but I cannot entrust him with any administration or consequently submit you to his direction.”305 Father Bach left for New

Orleans to work for Bishop Blanc. Of the other priests, Deacon Favre had already left the

302 Father Gabriel Chalon to Father Rauzan, May 23, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 213. 303 Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan to Fathers Annet Lafont and Benedict Madeore, July 30, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 216. 304 Lipscomb, “The Administration of Michael Portier,” 242. 305 Father Jean-Baptiste Rauzan to Fathers Annet Lafont and Benedict Madeore, July 30, 1842, in Caporiccio, Letters of the Early Fathers of Mercy in America, 216. 73

Community, and Father Saint-Yves was preparing to return to Paris. Father Lafont was appointed the head of the Fathers of Mercy remaining in the United States, and Father

Rauzan suggested that Fathers Madeore, Auriac, and Aubril carry out missions together.306 Their presence at Spring Hill was over.

5.5 After Spring Hill: The Diaspora of the Fathers of Mercy

The Fathers of Mercy resigned their roles at the college and gave up the property, most likely at the end of the school year. It was not necessarily a peaceful transition. The finances provided one last trial with Bishop Portier:

In 1842 they resigned, in accordance with the clause in the contract permitting them to withdraw from the management of the College at their choice, on condition of returning the title deeds and property to the Bishop. Here a regrettable misunderstanding arose between Father Bach or Father Rauzan and the Bishop, which unfortunately resulted in a lawsuit. Father De Laporte states that Father Bach bought the College property for 150,000 francs, of which 50,000 was provided by Bishop Forbin-Janson, and the rest was to be paid by installments with the help of the Propagation of the Faith. The lawsuit seems to have been entered for the recovery of Bishop Forbin-Janson’s . It was decided in Bishop Portier’s favor; but a mutually satisfactory settlement must have been reached out of court, for Bishop and Fathers parted without any diminution of friendship.307

Father Bach, it would seem, saw the school year to a close. In 1843, Father Bach returned the deed for the South Bend property to Bishop Hailandière, who had transferred the property to the Holy Cross Father Edward Sorin who would found the University of

Notre Dame on the South Bend site.308 On January 22, 1843, Father Bach was appointed by Bishop Blanc, with whom he had become a good friend over the past two years of

306 Ibid., 217. 307 Kenny, Catholic Culture in Alabama, 105. 308 Hope, Notre Dame: One Hundred Years, 51. 74 preaching retreats in New Orleans, as pastor of St. Louis Cathedral.309 This was an effort to appease the marguilliers, as the rebellious wardens of the Cathedral property were called.310 Father Bach was successful at appeasing them and bringing some peace between them and the bishop, though the involvement of several of the marguilliers in the Masonic Order threatened that peace.311 It was not Father Bach’s problem for long, however. On September 19, 1843, Father Bach succumbed to yellow fever.312 He was buried under the floor of the very cathedral in which he had served for eight months.313

Father Lafont made his way to New York City and was given charge of the

Church of St. Vincent de Paul, which Bishop Forbin-Janson had founded and had recently been dedicated by Bishop Hughes.314 In staffing the church, the Fathers of

Mercy were finally fulfilling Bishop Forbin-Janson’s vision from when they first landed.

In 1844, Fathers Madeore and Aubril were sent to St. Augustine, Florida, by

Bishop Portier.315 There, they built several mission churches and worked zealously for the rights of the Catholic Church there. They found themselves with a sparse Catholic population, but with many Protestant preachers trying to spread heresy: “‘There is to be seen,’ wrote Father Aubril, ‘a minister of error in the least village; and if you count the

309 Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana, 338. 310 Ibid., 336. 311 Ibid., 339. 312 Delaporte, Vie du Très-Révérend Père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, 413. Though another source has that he died of apoplexy. Edgar J. Bruns, “Antoine Blanc: Louisiana’s Joshua in the Land of Promise He Opened,” in Cross, Crozier, and Crucible: A Volume Celebrating the Bicentennial of a Catholic Diocese in Louisiana, ed. Glenn R. Conrad (New Orleans, LA: Archdiocese of New Orleans, 1993), 131. 313 Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana, 340. 314 Bayley, A Brief Sketch of the Early History of the Catholic Church on the Island of New York, 138. 315 “In 1844 Bishop Portier placed the Parish of St. Augustine and the missions of East Florida in the charge of two French Fathers of Mercy, Benedict Madeore and Edmond Aubril, who were seeking assignments after their Order had given up an attempt to manage Portier’s Spring Hill College near Mobile. Father Madeore, the older of the two, was appointed pastor of St. Augustine and Vicar-General of East Florida; Father Aubril took up residence on Amelia Island, at the northernmost point of East Florida.” Michael Gannon, The Cross in the Sand: The Early Catholic Church in Florida, 1513-1870 (Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1965), 151. 75 books with which they flood the country, how many missionaries there are against us.”316

Both Fathers Madeore and Aubril found their ministry to be not only to Catholics but the

Protestants and especially enslaved persons who were very open to instruction.

The other Fathers of Mercy priests who had been at Spring Hill College returned to France. The four left in the United States tried their best to live in obedience to their

Superiors in France as well as the bishops in whose diocese they found themselves. Not again would they be accused of having a spirit of independence.

After the departure of the Fathers of Mercy, Spring Hill College was given briefly to the Eudists, and after they hastily resigned the Jesuit order was given charge of it.

Though this shifting of hands and early instability was not uncommon for Catholic colleges in the United States in the nineteenth century, it was not ideal.317 Father Francis

Gautrelet, SJ, was able to give the college the stability it needed to grow into a fine institution of Catholic higher learning.318

316 Delaporte, Vie du Très-Révérend Père Jean-Baptiste Rauzan, 417. 317 Edward J. Power, “The Formative Years of Catholic Colleges Founded Before 1850 and Still in Existence as Colleges or Universities,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society off Philadelphia 65, no. 4 (December 1954): 243. 318 Ibid., 250. 76

Conclusion

Religious orders throughout the centuries have touted the value of obedience. In the thirteenth century, St. Thomas Aquinas would state that

Religious perfection consists chiefly in the imitation of Christ, according to Matt. 19:21, If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and follow Me. Now in Christ obedience is commended above all according to Phil. 2:8, He became obedient unto death. Therefore seemingly obedience belongs to religious perfection.319

And obedience to bishops was mentioned explicitly:

The subjection of religious is chiefly in reference to bishops . . . hence neither nor religious superiors are exempt from obedience to bishops; and if they be wholly or partly exempt from obedience to the bishop of the diocese, they are nevertheless bound to obey the Sovereign Pontiff . . .320

This was no doubt part of the formation for many churchmen in seminaries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, both diocesan and religious. French missionaries to the United States would have been no exception, since they came from these two groups.

All the Fathers of Mercy, as diocesan priests before they joined the Community, had taken the promise of obedience to their respective diocesan bishops. This promise of obedience, an amplification of the obedience all Catholics are called to exercise toward the hierarchy, helped keep order in the hierarchy and society of the Church.

Although they were not technically religious, the Fathers of Mercy desired to live a life similar to that of active religious. To facilitate this, they took the vow of obedience for the same motive as religious had: to imitate the salvific obedience of Christ in every action which they undertook as commanded by their superiors.321 The vow of obedience

319 Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, ed. John Mortensen and Enrique Alarcón, trans. Laurence Shapcote, /English Edition of the Works of St. Thomas Aquinas v. 18 (Lander, WY: Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, 2012), IIa-IIae, Q. 186, A. 5, sed contra. 320 Ibid., IIa-IIae, Q. 186, A. 5, ad. 3. 321 Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, Part V, Chap. 2, §2, 8-9. 77 differed from the promise of obedience to a bishop by its motive and the new mode of life it gave. The motive of more solemnly participating in Christ’s obedience by entering into a life in imitation of his, the religious life, outweighed on a theological and spiritual level the promise of obedience which merely produced order.

This order was still important for the Church, though the vow of obedience contained and surpassed it. For the Church as a whole in the nineteenth century, the order caused by obedience to the authority appointed by God was a primary battleground, a point which was defended again and again in a society that was being pushed to atheism and radical expressions of freedom:

Being Catholic meant to submit to the authority of God as mediated through the church – its Pope, bishops and pastors. In such a culture, the rights of the individual conscience were deemphasized, as each person was conditioned to submit to the external authority of the church.322

This emphasis on obedience and authority helped provide a unified face of

Catholic culture to the world: “Obedience and docility, not dissent and independence, were the ideals cherished in the Catholic community.”323 After the revolutions which

Europe had experienced, watching the American Revolution and then suffering through the French Revolution, obedience became a more treasured aspect of Catholic life, especially for religious orders.

Father Rauzan and other priests of his age had seen firsthand in the French

Revolution what havoc an atheistic emphasis on liberty was capable of wreaking on the

Church.324 Thus it is no surprise that Father Rauzan included several long paragraphs on

322 Jay P. Dolan, The American Catholic Experience: A History from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Doubleday, 1985), 223. 323 Ibid., 225. 324 They had also seen the Pope taken prisoner by Napoleon, and the authority of Church downtrodden in French society. Ibid., 221. 78 obedience in the Constitutions of the Society of the Priests of Mercy. One of them, however, probably had unforeseen consequences regarding the priests sent on the

American missions. It was a paragraph that stressed the importance of obedience and respect for bishops:

Wherever we may go, we accept the reverend bishops as fathers and masters, and this we pledge to them with a sincere heart. If they should disapprove of or have misgivings about anything that we do in the course of our missionary work, we believe that obedience to their commands and counsels is not only the necessary and more secure path, but also that it is more abundant in the fruits of salvation, a fact that has been proven through happy experience. As for whatever advantage there may be in those things which we forego through obedience, we are undisturbed, for, as far as we are concerned, obedience is always the greater good.325

It is no wonder then that Father Bach suffered some confusion while he was in the United States traveling with Bishop Forbin-Janson. Father Bach often followed his advice as well as the requests of other American bishops. Concerning Spring Hill, however, once Father Bach had settled there he became unwilling to move, even when other apostolates, such as the French church in New York City were suggested as more suitable for the Fathers of Mercy.

There were, in the end, two major points of tension when it came to obedience and independence. The first was the decision to buy Spring Hill College. Although Father

Rauzan and Father Levasseur did not at first express disapproval, they later claimed that they had not given approbation and thought it a poor idea. The properties at South Bend and New Albany acquired by Father Bach without the ability to station priests there were also a cause of concern for his superiors in France. One wonders if the question of religious and their obedience in regard to property ownership which came under discussion at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore was due to this situation or others

325 Rauzan, Constitutions of the Fathers of Mercy, Part I, Chap. 3, §1, 2. 79 similar.326 Since this was brought up forty years after the Fathers of Mercy had left

Spring Hill, it was apparently not forgotten.

Part of what bothered Father Rauzan and Father Levasseur was the debt into which Father Bach fell while running the school. This was a combination of debts accrued in purchasing the property, in providing room and board for students who had not paid tuition upfront, and the purchase of school supplies.

The financial report demanded by Father Levasseur to help the Community in

France understand the situation in Spring Hill became, in the last year, the major source of conflict. It was on this point that arguments sprung up in which the Constitutions were quoted by Father Bach, Father Saint-Yves, and in response, Father Rauzan. This request and the lack of trust which the superiors in France displayed in the Fathers at Spring Hill became very personal at times and stretched Father Bach’s obedience to the breaking point.

An aspect of the dispute which emphasized Father Bach’s spirit of independence in the eyes of his superiors was the debate between him, Bishop Portier, Father Rauzan, and Father Levasseur over the distribution of the funds from the Society for the

Propagation of the Faith. The allocation of the funds to a bishop or religious superior, as opposed to Father Bach or the college, became a major source of tension and ill will.

Combined with Father Bach’s lack of leadership skills and a national financial crisis, these difficulties led the Fathers of Mercy to return Spring Hill College to Bishop

Portier. While this was not the case for all French religious orders which founded schools in the United States, the demise of the mission at Spring Hill serves as a dramatic

326 Gerald P. Fogarty, “The Bishop versus Religious Orders: The Suppressed of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore,” Jurist 33, no. 3 (1973): 385, HeinOnline. 80 example of the issues which French missionaries had to deal with as they suffered separation from superiors in France. Their desire to lead lives of religious obedience met with a confusing network of members of the hierarchy whose plans for the missionaries could conflict. Because the missionaries met with situations that demanded immediate decisions, their actions seemed stubbornly independent to overseas superiors in whose hands major decisions, such as buying and selling property, usually lay. These types of trials waned as the Catholic Church in America concretized its hierarchy and as religious orders learned to properly work with the separation of time and distance, although

European superiors would never fully understand the flexibility some thought necessary in America.327 Sometimes, this came about by priests on both sides of the Atlantic gradually accepting that French priests could

make decisions about the development of an American church with less direct oversight of their former superiors in French seminaries and dioceses. . . . which in turn set in motion a gradual movement of French missionary priests toward an increased reliance upon the support of their American hosts and less reliance upon their French benefactors.328

However, some older priests, like Father Bach, would not live to see harmonious interactions between community members overseas and those in the United States. It was his younger confreres whose obedience and compliance would set a foundation for the

Fathers of Mercy in the United States that would last for a century.

327 An example of this would be the joining of the in the United States with the Daughters of Charity in France in the 1840’s, when the European superiors demanded that the newly assimilated American sisters begin to strictly adhere to the European rules. See Jacqueline Willy Romero, “‘Scheming and Turbulent’: An Analysis of Obedience and Authority in the Founding of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati,” American Catholic Studies 130, no. 1 (2019): 47. 328 Pasquier, Fathers on the Frontier, 132. 81

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