The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-10-01

SHREvE

a
To tho Editor Of Morning Star:
Finding the leisure moments, ana assuM ,
ing the ability, cannot refuse 70 comply
With your compaiBentary request 20 tur
nish gov, once . month. with iester lfOm
q neat Il. On the desire and hope Of adding
force and feetneas to the "CATHoLIc
could not II would, ana
would not if could, withhold breath
that might assist to swell the sails OF that
gallant bark, the MoeNiMe sr IA T,n anu
aid her onward In her course Oh AFutn,
Right and Religion.
Leaving. of course and OF duty, her
management and the seaworthiness OF her
hull to that very able and learned corps OF
high officials with whose names she 10 Pc
breezes added to the winds that watt her
onward, and must, therefore, be essentially
light and airy. Singly they may not oe
felt, but combine them as they como IN
from the compass point, and her masts
may feel their force.
cheerfuliy utter, then, the "Voice
from Caddo," hoping it may not die away
UNDECIDED and ineffective upon the stormy
sea DER which the MORNING STAR must
glide. cheerfully and freely offer Shreve.
ports "miten toward the advancement
and success of that noble worker in the
noblest cause, the MORNING. STAR AND "a
rHoL1c MESSENGER.
Very many of your readers are, doubt
less. already familiar with our city and her
Catholic element; but they know and see
that element only as it is, not as it was
they cannot retrospect thrO' the sweat OF
iabors and the mist of weary years it has
required to make our Church here what 1t
| is Of what it was.
The stranger visiting Shreveport or
passing through, could scarcely credit the
| assertion that, where now hOurishes our
thriving city of ten thousand inhabitants,
with her immense trade, her nne schools
and churches, her street railroads and
manufactures, was, but thirty years ago or
little more, a point of unblazed bluffs,
canned by the wigwams of the Caddoes-
crowned by tho wreathing smoke of their
camp-fr The Catholic visiting here,
onr converts and schools, would almost
hesitate to believe that but fourteen years
ago. these Caddo Hills were strangers to
the Mass and Vesper bell. And yet these
are indisputable facts. Fourteen years
ago, on a cold and dismal day OF February,
Mace at that time noted more for its crimes
, than its commerce, and known better BY
its gambling than its godliness-unheralded
and alone, poorly-cla little priest,
stranger to the land and language and
$ and purple hillsn of France. He had come
by land from Natchitoches, with only hi!
Breyiary. a scanty change of clothing, and
the sacred Accomplishments Of the Catholic
d missionary in his saddie-bags, and nothing
y in his pocket save o letter OF lnstrnctloni
from his Bishop, ordering him to shreve
9 port. On his arrival, by dint OF inquiry
II be found few of Erin's faithful soma
!. whose doors and purses are ever open VIII
10 o reverentiai welcome to the Cathoh
priest. With one Of these ne TOOK up
d brated, for the first time, the HOLY Sacrl
20 fee in Shreveport. From twelve 10 twenc
y. Catholics were all that could then De mum
bered at Mass there were by no mean
enough here to support their priest, now
70 soever willing they might haze oeen; nc
n, church, money or means, and stranger
,a the people and their language, was the
little priest discouraged, think you1 an
did he desert this seemingly. God-forsake
e. town. Far from it; he had enlisted IN
go cause whose soldiers know no desertion;
.c- was under orders, the which there was =
re- disobeying, for he recognized them as fro
-, n far higher authority than Bishops pc
and we'll lie knew and felt that he
whose name he had come, and who " Iee'
s. field,n would not leave him uncared for
me with an Independence native to MN,
not refused to live on charity, and, Win
~ energy characteristic of his Calling,
H. sought and obtained admission, as tescht
i've into the family of prominent memoe ..
lies gress: and Judge of this District), whe
the he both learned and taught, earning
nd. bread by his daily labor, independent mt,
~, his embryo congregation. But, WIN
led teaching there, he did not for none
It's /; forget, or fail to prosecute the object OF
ter coming; by the middle of the year fo. lI;
ing his arrival here, that lone little PR
Are had succeeded in building neat br'
and church on one of the most eligible sites es
ana town, having lot of ground l2o feet IF,
nich by $50 deep, purchased and PAID
ade and the church finished complete, res
the for servics-the same we are still usi
ono tho now too small, capable of seating
Inns to 500 persons. The opening OF the
'n"' church was quite an event" IN
town, and !" as good as show" to I'm mi
own of the inhabitants, who had never seen
our side of a Catholic church before.
legs building of the church was soon follow
boy by the purchase of adjoining lots LOT Ho,
his purposes Of convent and day sch
Ao which was soon established thro' a bra
man of the Daughters of the Cross" t
the having their mother house at Marksv
- IL I,.~~ n