Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-08-09
His Life History.

Placidus Louis Chapelle, was a ma
tive of France, his birth having oc
Cured at Mende, in the department o
He descended from a French famil,
OF landowners, which also numbered
many members who found entrance in
to professional life, especially the
ministry. They belonged to the high
er middle class of that country anC
were very prominent in the church
An uncle OF Archbishop Chapelle was
sent on a special mission by the
Holy See to Hayti, where he succeed
ed in negotiating concordat between
the republic and the Holy See in the
year 1861.
Archbishop Chapelle pursued a
classical course of study in his native
town and afterward attended the Col
lege of Enghien, in Belgium. In 1859,
in company with his uncle before
mentioned, he came to America and in
81. Mary's Seminary of Baltimore,
maryland, he pursued his philosophic-
al and theological course, which he
completed In 1863. He was then too
young to be ordained, so he began
teaching the classics in St. Charles
College, Maryland, where he contin-
ued for two years. On the 29th of
June, 1865, he was ordained for the
priesthood by the Most Rev. M. J..
Spalding, Archbishop of Baltimore,
and through the succeeding five years
was engaged in missionary work in
Montgomery County, Maryland. In
1868, after due examination, he re-
ceived from St. Mary's University
TIe title of Doctor of Divinity, and in
1863 he accompanied Archbishop
Spalding to the Vatican Council as his
sc cretary. In 1870 ne was appointed
to take charge of st. Joseph's Church,
of Baltimore, and continued as pastor
of that church until 1882, at which
time he was made rector of st. Mat
thew's Church in Washington, D. c.,
one of the most important churches
of his denomination in the country.
While he was serving there, among
the communicates of his church were
General Sheridan, General Rosecrans,
the family of General Sherman, Gen
eral Vincent and many others of high
standing.
Becomes Archbishop of Santa Fe.
In 1891 he was appointed coadjutor
bishop to the Most Reverend Arch
bishop Salpointe of the arch diocese
of Santa Fe containing New Mexico,
Arizona and Colorado. He was pro-
noted archbishop (titular to Sebaste,
May, 1899. On the resignation of
Archbishop Salpointe he became arch
bishop of Santa Fe in January, 1894.
After arduous service as archbishop
of Santa Fe, in which he gained the
good will and respect and admiration
not only of the Catholics in the dio-
cese but also of the people generally
and especially of the educated class
es who hold him in high alteration
and respect, he was transferred to a
wider field of usefulness by appoint
ment as Archbishop of New Orleans
in 1897. In 1898 he was appointed by
Pope Leo XIII as apostolic delegate
to Cuba and Puerto Rico and did his
church excellent service in arranging
religious matters between the Vatican
and the Catholics of the two West In
dia islands After this service, while
retaining his Office as archbishop of
New Orleans, he was sent as special
papal delegate to the Philippine Is
lands and had much to do in bringing
about the satisfactory settlement OF
the many serious and vexed questions
which confronted the government of
the United States and the Vatican in
the Philippine Islands, especially the
transferring of the so-called "friars
lands" from the possession of the
monks and priestly orders, their own
ers for hundreds of years, to the gov
ernment of the United States.
Was Man Beloved BY All.
The dead prelate was a remarkable
linguist. He spoke and understood
fuently the English, French and Span
ish languages and was one of the
best scholars in the church in Latin
and Greek. He was also conversant
with Italian and had mastered a dia.
lect or two of the Tagolos in Luzon.
He was a scholar of great attainments
thoroughly well acquainted with the
jurisprudence of the Catholic Church
and a master Of rhetoric and eloQuence