THE HISTORY OF THE FORMATION
OF THE SECULAR FRANCISCANS IN SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI
INTRODUCTION
Compiled in 1995
CHAPTER ONE is a journey - a journey back in time to the 1500's and the founding of the Faith in our area - in order to bring you to our time today and to the history of the Secular Franciscans here in Southwest Mississippi.
CHAPTER ONE is meant to be a chronological layout of the events leading to the formation of the Secular Franciscian Order in Southwest Mississippi. The first part is a book report outlining the sufferings, hardships, and trials of the early Franciscan missionaries who, as it turns out, were the foundation of establishing the Faith in the Louisiana-Mississippi Valley. CHAPTER TWO is compiled from journals and memories of the participants. Some of their thoughts and findings are recorded here. These are not my words but the words of those who live the experiences.
Doing this project has been an inspiration to those of us who helped compile it. We hope it will be the same to those who read it. In a similar way, the sufferings, hardships, and trials of the early missionaries carried over to the Seculars who answered the same call that was sent out over 476 years ago.
An analogy developed through these formative years and surfaced several times. It was presented by several different persons and at different times.
It is this : The "Comet" hurls through the sky, on its journey, taking with it a trail of very different and assorted particles all held tight by the magnetism and brillance of the comet itself.
The comet is the Holy Spirit hurling through this area of Mississippi, and those dragged into its tail and held fast by its love, are all those in this story from Biloxi, Mississippi to Layafette, Louisiana, and even to Texas.
In Jan. 1992, at a fraternity meeting, Sr. Fidelis Hart,OSC, explained it this way: Franciscans are like the Gulf Stream. It moves above the waters and it warms the waters, giving life.
As the Spirit blows, so we go.
CHAPTER ONE
PRE-HISTORY
TO THE FORMATION OF THE SECULAR FRANCISCANS IN THE
LOUISIANA-MISSISSIPPI AREA
1519 to 1925
TAKEN FROM
"THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN LOUISIANA"
by Roger Baudier
(NOTE: LOUISIANA most times will mean LOUISIANA-MISSISSIPPI)
In 1519, Alonzo Alvares de Pineda searched for the Gulf of Mexico for a Western Passage in four caravels (small, light sailing ships). He anchored at the mouth of a larger river which he called the River of the Holy Ghost. Some maintain that this was the Mississippi River, but recent studies make it evident that this was Mobile Bay and Mobile River.
On April 15, 1528, Pamphilo de Narvaez and several secular priest and five Franciscans journeyed from Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. They met with sufferings, deprivations, and tragedy and missed contact with the Spanish fleet. In makeshift boats they journeyed westbound for Mexico. Fr. Juan Suarez, the first Bishop Designate of Florida, was in this group. He established a diocese along the Gulf Coast from Rio de las Palmas (the Rio Grande) to the Cape of Florida. It was established by the King of Spain not by the Holy See with approbation of Rome to come later as was the practice at that time. But the Mississippi Valley wound up in the Diocese of Quebec, under French rule, as we will see later. Three Friars drowned from this expedition near the mouth of the Mississippi River when their boat overturned.
Hernando de Soto brought a group of priests, one Secular, a Religious, a Trinitarian, a Franciscan, and a Dominican. Some were buried along the route of the expedition; the seeds of the Faith for future years.
In 1681, La Salle came from France with four Franciscan Recollects, Fr.Chrestien Le Clerq, Fr. Luc Buisset, Fr. Zenobuis Membre, Fr. Louis Hennepin. One of these, Fr. Zenobius Membre accompanied La Salle down the Mississippi River. He ministered to the Tensas Indians and gives us the first written record of efforts to Christianize the Indians of the Louisiana-Mississippi area. He gives written record of celebrating the first Mass in the lower end of the Mississippi Valley at the present site of Ford Adams in Southwestern Mississippi where the Koroa Indian Village was situated. He accompanied La Salle to the mouth of the Mississippi and planted a cross in the name of Louisiana for God and King Louis of France. The planting of the cross on the soil of Louisiana was prophetic of the deep-rooted Faith that was henceforth to develop in the state and to continue undying down the centuries, despite many difficulties, dangers, and dark days. It was symbolic of the fact that the time had come for the planting of the faith in Louisiana. The sway of Spain was removed for another century, and French religious customs would continue to dominate even under later Spanish priests. La Salle's coming established the Faith under the foundation of the French priests and affected the whole future of Catholicism in Louisiana.
In 1684, Abbe Jean Baptiste de la Croix Chevrieres de St. Vallier became Bishop of the Dioceses of Quebec and claimed the whole extent of the new territory as his dioceses. Rome had approved it as an independent Vicariate, but Bishop St. Vallier protested against the cutting off of his dioceses without his permission or without consulting him in the matter. The King of France Louis XIV appointed a commission to investigate the matter. The King asked the Holy See to abolish the Recollect Vicariate which resulted in grievous troubles in the later decade due to the Bishop being far removed and the section being governed from afar or through a Vicar-General for the next three-quarters of a century or more.
Paris held more power over ecclesiastics than Rome. It was the standing policy of the times to turn to Paris before going to Rome. The exercise of jurisdiction by the French king in Church matters and appointments of ecclesiastics and other acts were sheer usurpation, but Rome was almost powerless against the encroachments of the king. appointments to Bishoprics and ecclesiastical arrangements were made by the French court, and then referred to Rome for approval as a matter of form. Such arrangements were always for the benefit of the state rather than for the good of the Church or religion.
Bishop St. Vallier prior to his elevation to the See of Quebec through selection of the French court, had served as chaplain of the French king, and turned to Paris rather than Rome, but was a staunch adherent to the doctrine of the Church and regardless of his faults, was a man of piety and great charity. Nevertheless, he lacked tact and ability to handle those under him. Then again, he insisted upon recognition of this authority, brooking nothing to infringe upon it. He wanted to govern himself and as he wanted to. It is not surprising that he became embroiled in difficulties with all religious in his diocese, including the Jesuits.
He refused to allow the Jesuits to have any jurisdiction in the lower Mississippi Valley causing them to withdraw from this area leaving the Franciscans in authority through the next several eras. The Jesuits returned in 1723 after rearrangement of the territory but the Capuchins remained in authority.
In 1684, LaSalle sailed from France with an expedition to find the mouth of the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico and found a settlement there. This time, he missed the Mississippi River and landed in Texas where he, the Franciscan Fr. Zenobius Membre, the first priest to preach in Louisiana, and others were murdered by Indians.
Iberville, on his expedition, reached the Tensas Villages on March 18, 1700. Fr. St. Cosme and Fr. Montigny from the Quebec Seminary were already in the Tensas mission. Fr. St. Cosme was brutally killed by the Chetimaches Indians on the bank of the river near the present site of Donaldsonville. He was the first American born priest to be killed in North America by the Indians and the first to die in the state of Louisiana, but he was not the first priest of the Quebec Seminary mission in the lower valley to give up his life. In 1702, Fr. Nicholas Fouchalt was killed by two Koroa Indians while on his way to Mobile.
The best known priest from the Quebec Seminary was Fr. Antoine Davion, the apostle of the Tunica Indians. In 1716, the Tunicas established themselves on the Mississippi above the Red River. Fr. Davion kept Bienville posted on Indian situations. He worked with the Indians for a quarter of a century, ministering to the French as well, up and down the Mississippi from New Orleans to Natchez. A Bluff on which a cross was erected where Fr. Davion served, came to be known for years after as "La Roche a Davion". He was appointed by Bishop St. Vallier as his Vicar-General in the lower valley as the registers of the St. Louis Cathedral at New Orleans attest.
A French map of property along the Mississippi River above and below New Orleans, drafted not long after the founding of that city, disclosed a piece of property a short distance below New Orleans on the east bank as belonging to Father Davion and the seminary. It is possible that this property came into the hands of the Capuchins later and became their plantation.
The priest of the Seminary of Quebec and of the Paris Seminary of the Foreign Missions were not destined to organize the Church in the state of Louisiana, but they were the heroic pioneers who first blazed the trail with the Jesuits.
May 16, 1722, decree was given to establish a monastery in Louisiana under the authority of the Bishop of Quebec. They came from the Champagne province of France and had letters from the king with orders for the governor of the colony to furnish supplies to them. September 1772, three ships arrived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at Ship Island (the La Loire, the Les Deux Freres, and the l'Alexandre) and brought three Capuchins and one brother, Fr. Bruno de Langres, Fr. Christophe de Chaumont, Fr. Philibert de Viauden, and Bro. Esuebe de Chaumont. They arrived in New Orleans after the hurricane of Sept. 10-12, 1772. Thus there was no church, no housing, and considerable disorder in the city. They established themselves in a miserable shanty that had to serve as church and residence. The storm had demolished almost everything, and Governor de la Tour was in no hurry to provide church or housing to the Capuchins. Their condition was pitiful, but the zealous Friars took up their work without complaint and at once strove to bring order out of spiritual chaos. The four lived in one room, and the second room served as kitchen and chapel.
Fr. Bruno put Fr. Philibert in charge of the district from Chapitoula to Point Coupee, including Les Allemands and the German Coast and the intervening Concessions. This was a long stretch of territory that was demanding, long, and fatiguing.
On April 8, 1723, Fr. Raphael de Luxembourg arrived as the new Superior of the Capuchin Missions in Louisiana with two other Capuchins. One, Fr. Claude went to Mobile, the other died in the fall. The conditions in New Orleans were so deplorable that they almost died in the summer of 1723. Later in 1723, they were given a former beer tavern that was large enough for Mass and had a miserable shed, detached from the house, which they gladly occupied so that the whole house could be used as a church.
Shortage of missionaries and problems with officials caused slow increase in the Louisiana missions. The Friars were subjected to untold hardships and privations. They gave instruction and said Mass using ordinary tables in private homes.
In 1725, they were provided with the Army Officers barracks which was where Jackson Square is today. It housed 200 persons. A new church was being planned and building finally began May 15, 1725.
As of 1726, Fr. Bruno and another Friar were at New Orleans with Bro. Eusebe, while Fr. Christophe attended to the lower river settlements and La Balize. Fr. Philibert served the upper reaches of the river from Les Allemands to Point Coupee. Fr. Maximin, the Augustinian was at Natchez. Biloxi was served by Fr. Dorez. Fr. Claude later went to Mobile after the Carmelite Fathers left.
By 1726, nine years after their undertaking control of the spiritual welfare of the Mississippi Valley area, officials had given them a shack, an old beer tavern, the officers barracks at New Orleans, one house at Natchez, and was building a church at New Orleans, and had given support for ten missionaries. Mobile had a Church and presbytery. Most of the time during this period, the officials and subordinates in the colony had failed to furnish the missionaries with what they needed, even ordinary necessities of life.
At La Balize the missionary was lodged in a veritable chicken coop with no chimney or any accommodations. At Natchez, the commandant had driven the Capuchin out of the house he was using as a church to use it for himself, and the Friar was obliged to use a shack that had no flooring or windows and threatened to fall into the river. The chapel at Les Allemands was falling into ruin. At New Orleans, the Fathers were obliged to lodge wherever they could find a shack or shed. What difficulties the Capuchin suffered during the first years of the establishment of their mission in Louisiana-Mississippi took three more chapters in this detailed book.
It is to the credit of the Capuchins that they were the founders of the Faith in so many parts of the Louisiana colony, also establishers of the first regular parishes and the pioneers of the regular observance of the principles of religion. Their position in the colony was a trying one, what with constant bickerings of officials, difficulties interposed by colonial heads and lack of co-operation by these, and lack of sufficient funds for the establishment of more churches and missions, likewise decent houses and facilities as well as upkeep, for the missionaries. The division of the populace into factions, to which were added religious differences, further hampered their work. Lack of sufficient missionaries was another handicap. Another was the failing of some individual members of the group, added to which was the heretical Gallican spirit that caused lamentable discord between the missionaries and the Bishop of Quebec. (Gallicanism is a movement originating in France and advocating administrative independence from papal control of the Roman Catholic Church in each nation.)
However, whatever the failings of some of the Capuchins, the registers of the various churches where they worked are perhaps the most eloquent testimony of their fruitful missionary labors. The thousands of Baptisms, of black as well as whites and some Indians, the thousands of marriages performed according to the rite of the Church, the scores of group Baptisms of slaves, the thousands of Christian burials given to all classes and all races, the renouncing of heresies - all of these vividly tell the story of the work of the Capuchin Friars in Louisiana for nearly half a century. Remembering the primitive living conditions, the distance to be covered by most tedious and slow means, the scattered settlements and plantations, the lack of conveniences of all kinds and finally, the difficult type of people dealt with in a pioneer land, one better appreciate the work of these Friars and gauges their efforts in their true light. Not to be overlooked is their effort to provide Catholic education for boys in the colony. To the Capuchin goes the
credit of establishing the first school in the Mississippi Valley. The Capuchins established the first school in Louisiana at New Orleans around mid-April 1725.
The half dozen definitely established and organized parishes of the Capuchins in 1769 were a far cry from the heroic efforts of the priest of the Foreign Missions, but they represent a standing record of what the Friars had accomplished in nearly one-half century of labor in the lower valley. The stamp of French influence has never been removed - to this day. Even though the government of the colony became Spanish, the French Capuchins continued their work in Louisiana and it was more than a full decade before they were fully supplanted by their Spanish brethern.
But through it all, the first St. Louis Parish Church in New Orleans was finally dedicated on April 24, 1727 and destroyed by fire in 1788. It was replaced by the present St. Louis Cathedral dedicated in 1794 on the same spot. No building or church in the Mississippi Valley has played so important a role in the history of the Church in the central portion of what is now the United States as the St. Louis parish church of New Orleans and its successor, the venerable St. Louis Cathedral. It has been called the cradle of the Church in the Mississippi Valley and the most historic church in Louisiana, and deservedly so. More historic events have taken place on this spot, in the present church and its forebear, and more momentous incidents linked with ecclesiastical and political history, have been witnessed in it or immediately about it than in or around any other building from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1765 France secretly made arrangements to transfer the territories from the Pacific to the Mississippi River and from the Canadian border to South America to the King of Spain, cousin of the King of France, in order to keep it out of British hands. The French Capuchins did not know whether or not to remain under Spanish rule. During the transfer of authority in the colony around New Orleans, the colonist revolted against the Spanish takeover. The Capuchins found themselves in a difficult position. They, as Frenchman and just as the colonist, resented being placed under Spanish authority, yet as pastors they were required to uphold authority. So they performed Mass, marriages, and other church ceremonies for the Spanish. The register which is in the St. Louis Cathedral, for the Year 1769 records the taking possession of Louisiana by General Orrely (O'Reilly) in the name of the King of Spain on "August 10, 1769 at 12 o'clock sharp". The occupation of the territory by Spain did not bring about the end of the labors of the French Capuchin Fathers. Most of them remained in Louisiana. When the Capuchins learned of the terms of the cession, they forwarded a memoir to the King of France asking to transfer the debt of the Capuchins to the Spanish crown. They declared that Spain would profit from the religious system which they had established in the colony.
At this time, the king of Spain exercised certain jurisdiction over the friars and they were subject to their superior in Spain and not to the Superior-General of the Order in Rome. In 1794 the Governor now under Spanish Rule published a royal order which provided that the Capuchins were free to retire. By this time, a Bishop was finally appointed to be the first Bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana and the first resident Bishop of the Colony with full authority. At the same time, in November 1794, three Poor Clare Nuns came to New Orleans from New Madrid, Mo., where they had first taken refuge after escaping the horrors of the French Revolution. The Nuns were Sister Marie Genevieve de la Marche, Sister Marie Marguerite Celeste Leblond de la Roche, and Sister Marie Frances Chevalier. They were probably given housing by the Ursuline Sisters who were under the direction of the Jesuits. (Note: Angela Merci, who founded the Ursulines was a Third Order Franciscan.)
On December 8, 1794, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a fire swept through a number of houses in New Orleans, destroying 212 houses in three hours. The new Cathedral and rectory was spared. The house, being used as a temporary Church while the new one was being built, was destroyed. They were forced to use a chapel of the Ursuline Convent to perform the ceremonies of the Church.
While they awaited the arrival of the new Bishop Penalver, they prepared for the dedication of the new Cathedral. Since the Bishop's arrival was so long deferred, and since fire had destroyed the old church, and since it had taken almost five years and thousand of obstacles to complete the new cathedral, the dedication went forward and was done December 23, 1794. Governor Carondelet demanded the observance of all ceremonies connected with or due to his dignity of Governor of His Catholic Majesty, especially Church ceremonies that were seen and noted by the public. Spanish custom required that during High Mass, a lighted candle be presented to the governor who occupied a place in the sanctuary as Royal Vice-Patron. When Fr. Luis de Quintanilla (a Friar) declined to follow out the ceremony, claiming that it was improper and not according to rubrics, or directions in a liturgical book, Carondelet went to the Bishop of Cuba who was still in authority (the new Bishop had not been installed as of yet). The Bishop replied approving Carondelet's stand and reminded Fr. Luis that Holy Scripture taught respect for magistrates and that this should be shown to those who exercised Royal Patronage.
After nearly one year and a half Bishop Penalver arrived on the levee of New Orleans July 17, 1795 and was met by Carondelet, the clergy, all government officials, the military, and citizens.
Bishop Penalver brought the Capuchin religious Fr. Antonio de Sedella, popularly known as Pere Antoine, back with him to pastor the cathedral. Pere Antoine was a highly contradictory figure. When he was previously in the colony, he had been appointed assistant Visar-General, assistant Ecclesiastical Judge for the Province of Louisiana, and temporary paster of St. Louis parish church at New Orleans. He attracted criticism and praise, veneration and condemnation, eulogy and vituperation (sustained and bitter railing), lay adulation and ecclesiastical reprobation. He proposed to establish the Commissary of the Louisiana Inquisition with publicly signed documents. But his removal from the parish church and recall to Spain was due to his rebellious attitude, insubordination and actions, and his policy of "laissez faire" in regard to religion and observance of religious duties by his parishioners. He was charged by Bishop Cirillo and Bishop Echevarria and removed from New Orleans. Pere Antoine had drafted documents to the king in December 1793, to clear himself, and the king cleared him on October 22, 1794, but he was not returned to New Orleans by the Bishop in Havana. After his return, Pere Antoine was a simple pastor and held no other office in the new diocese. He later caused more disturbance and clashed with Bishop Duborg who became Bishop in 1817. Pere Antoine, who was the last Capuchin priest to labor in Louisiana, died in 1829 and the Recollect Franciscans withdrew just as the transfer of Louisiana was given to the French and then to the United States. Some Franciscans priest remained in their parishes under the new authority.
The treaty of San Ildefonso, signed October 1, 1800, provided for the restitution of Louisiana territory to France, but the Spanish regime in the colony continued. Spain was taking steps in 1803 to transfer the Louisiana colony back to France. Meanwhile, Napoleon had sold it to the United States. Thus authority, both political and ecclesiastical were in turmoil. The clergy and the Ursulines did not relish a return to French dominion, mindful as they were, of the dread events of less than a decade before during the evolution. And news of the impending transfer to the United States, a nation that recognized no Church, caused still more apprehension among the clergy.It was a period of excitement, rumor, fears, and uncertainties. Under the Spanish regime, the clergy received some stipends from the government, and their upkeep was generally provided for. The parishioners were generally opposed to their making such contributions. Under the French government, matters would be different, and under the coming American domination, the clergy realized, there would be no provisions for their upkeep. At this time, this was considered a radical departure from customary procedure. For a number of years now, the clergy had had experience with Americans, many of whom followed no religion at all. It is not to be wondered, then, that the majority of the clergy decided to withdraw. This left the colony with no Bishop, no approved ecclesiastical authority, and now only a handful of priest. Of the 26 priest in the dioceses, there were few Spanish Capuchins left. These had been gradually removed, Church officials being evidently aware of the impending change in government. Sixteen priests remained to man the churches of the vast diocese with 21 parishes. Thus records of deaths and burials without priest from 1807 to 1813 were made by layman in the parish registers.
Bishop William Dubourg became Administrator Apostolic in 1813. He pleaded for some of the Jesuits who had recently returned from Russia to be sent to the Louisiana area and also to get some in Maryland.
In 1823, the dioceses of Louisiana was to be divided into two dioceses within the next three years. Alabama and Mississippi were restored to their former status of being a part of the Baltimore See. Bishop Dubourg had looked after Mississippi , but little was done there except in Natchez and on the Gulf Coast.
In August 1875, two Poor Clares of the Monastery of St. Lawrence at Panisperna, Rome, were sent by His Holiness Pope Pius IX to found houses of the Order in the United States, wherein the primitive rule was to be observed. (Note: A booklet by the Poor Clare nuns titled "Seeds Sown in Sorrow" tells the whole life of Mother Maddalena (Magdalen), and it records that it was a Franciscan Third Order Sister, Mother Ignatius Hayes who went to Rome seeking religious who would return with her to help the enormous apostolate in the ever-growing new world of America.) In 1877, at the invitation of Archbishop Perche, Reverend Mother Mary Maddalena (Magdalen) of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mother Mary Constance Bentivoglio, her sister, came to New Orleans and took possession of the cottage on Flood street fitted out for them, principally through the efforts of Mrs. Gabriel Tujacque, whose niece, Miss Anna Moran, was their postulant received in New Orleans. Miss Elizabeth Bailey, who afterwards became Sister Mary Clare, accompanied the Mothers from Philadelphia. Miss Moran, who afterwards became Sister Mary Francis, and the Abbess of the new foundation shared with them the hardships of the pioneer days in the city. Mother Maddalena (Magdalen)had come to New York, intending to go to Minnesota to open a house, but the Franciscan appointed as their counselor and chaplain, advised them not to go to Minnesota then he returned to Rome. Mother Maddalena, who was to be the Abbess of the new foundation, and her sister, Mother Constance, refused to desert their mission. The Ordinary of New York refused their plea for a foundation in his See, saying it was out of keeping with the spirit of this country. After months of hunger and cold and fatigues and even insults, they were given hopes of a foundation in Philadelphia, but the Archbishop's council was opposed on the same grounds that the Order was out of keeping with the spirit of this country. When gloom appeared the heaviest, Archbishop Perche extended his invitation and the heroic little band, accompanied by novices who wished to join the Order, settled in New Orleans, but not for long. The Minister General at Rome had placed the little band under a Franciscan who was making the canonical visitations. He had promised Colettine Sisters, in exile in Holland, to seek a place for them in the United States. He ordered the New Orleans community to leave the city and come to Cleveland where the Franciscans had a house and could look after them. They obeyed, but no sooner were they organized in Cleveland than the Father Visitor ordered them to prepare their house for the Colettines one of whom was to be the Abbes and the other Poor Clares were to accept the new observance, even to changing their religious habit. The Minister General, however, disapproved of this radical procedure and permitted the older members to leave in order to attempt a foundation elsewhere. John Creighton of Omaha in 1878 promised Mother Maddalena (Magdelen) to help them make a foundation after the saintly Mother had suffered many humiliations and trials. The New Orleans house was reopened. But a veritable storm broke out against the American founderess, a storm that included even destructive false accusations, some by her own sisters. Even Propaganda, the Congregation of propagating the faith established by Pope Gregory XV, ordered her back to Rome, and when she and her sisters were ready to leave, news came of an order from Propaganda ordering a complete investigation of the charges through an ecclesiastical trial. Two of the chief accusers fled, the ringleader lost her mind. Mother Maddalena and Mother Constance were judged entirely innocent on September 24th. Mother Maddelana (Magdalen)went to Evansville, Indiana, and founded a house there, and there she died, on the floor of her cell, at 3 o'clock of a Friday afternoon, August 18, 1905. Her remarkable life, her patience in the face of terrible suffering, disappointments and obstacles and her piety and love of God merited for her the introduction of her Cause for beatification. Hearings have been held at various points where she lived, including New Orleans where the late Archbishop Shaw presided, and at Omaha, where Archbishop Rummel, then Bishop of Omaha, attended the final solemn sessions. Unfortunately indeed, that the life and virtues of Mother Maddalena, so closely connected with the Church in New Orleans, is not better and more widely known. She is in truth one of the glories of the history of the Church in Louisiana, one of God's chosen gifts to our own section of the South, a gift worth the reverence and devotion and the attention of all the devout Catholics.
In 1887, a square of ground bounded by Magazine, Constance and Calhoun Streets and Henry Clay Avenue, was bought and in 1891, a modest wooden building was erected.
This became the Monastery of St. Clare of the Blessed Sacrament.
In 1925 the Franciscans were invited to take charge of a new parish in New Orleans under Archbishop Shaw. This was St. Mary of the Angels (the parish were Fr. Emmran Frank O.F.M., who was spiritual assistant to the Seculars in the formative periods of 1980's, resided). Rev. Linus Braun, O.F.M. and Rev. Hubert Lorenz, O.F.M. were assigned to this task. They were the first Franciscans back in New Orleans since Pere Antoine's death. The Third Order of St. Francis (as the Seculars were called) was established in New Orleans and membership quickly grew. The Third Order had also been established earlier in 1890 from St. Theresa's parish by Fr. Ceuppen.
Chapter 2
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