Evening star., 1909-09-12
# ALLY
Nr4R TIE CATHEDRAL

dering, hot-headed vicar general serving
under the Baltimore bishop. and he sus-
pended Padre Antonio from exercising his
priestly functions.
To the Spanish residents of New Or
leans the monk was Padre Antonio, to
the French and American he was Pere
Antoine. When, one Sunday, Pere An
toine did not appear in the cathedral the
news went through the. city that ne had
been suspended by the vicar general, there
was an outpouring of the people such as
had not been seen in many months. New
Orleans was French, it must be remem-
bered. and more French i'm those days
than it is today. And where it was not
French 1t was largely Spanish, and the
French and Spanish had intermarried and
had become reconciled. To both the sale
to the United States of the land they
loved was tragedy. To them the Ameri-
can was rough and arrogant, and in the
punishment of Pere Antoine they saw
what they fancied to be an act of inso-
lence such as they must resent. So they
went through the form of everturning the
act of the vicar general by electing Pere
Antoine parish priest. and making New
Orleans his parish. Pere Antoine, proud.
no doubt, of the conduct of his people,
and possibly not bit dissatisfied because
the vicar general, who was Irish, and
who was viewed with little favor by
French and Spanish alike. was spurned.
accepted the decision of the people, and
went about his daily services and his
Sunday sermons in the cathedral as be-
fore.
<
Strange how much of trouble comes out
of the folly of one man. The vicar gen.
eral. enraged by the support given to the
venerable monk, appealed to the courts to
keep Pere Antoine out Of the cathedral,
whereupon the Marquis of Casa Calvo, he
who; with a lordly retinue of mobiles and
functionaries, had formally turned Louis
lana over to France and few weeks later
had taken part in the transfer by France
to the United States, took it upon HIM
self to denounce the vicar general and to
declare the suspension of Pere Antoine
an outrage. Thereupon the vicar general
called upon Gov. Claiborne to aid
him against 1.-The ambition of a refractory
monk. supported in his apostacy by the
fanaticism of misguided populace, and
by the countenance of an individual (the
Marquis of Casa Calvo), whose interfer-
ence was to be attributed less to zeal for
religion than to the Indulgence of private
passions and the promotion of views
equally dangerous to religion and civil
order" Then the vicar general added
that two agents were en- route for Ha-
vana to secure assistance from the Span
ish prelates there. SO that more members
of the Capuchin order should be sent into
Louisiana to stir the Spanish and French
residents into rebellion against both
church and state.
Gov. Claiborne looked upon the af-
fair as church squabble brought on by
silly man, but having some doubt of the
loyalty of the Spanish. and having reason
to doubt the French, he summoned the
old monk before him and demanded that
he take the oath of allegiance TO the
United States. This Pere Antoine did.
II anything. the conduct of the vicar
general added to the power and influence
of Fere Antoine and increased the vener-
alton in which he was held by the people.
1t did not matter to the people that the
church.. authorities as matter of form
and to maintain discipline had to support
the vicar general. The people knew
Pere Antoine and loved him. and they
had no respect for the vicar general and