BISHOP O’REGAN SELLS THE PARSONAGE OF THE FRENCH CANADIANS OF CHICAGO,
POCKETS THE MONEY, AND TURNS THEM OUT WHEN THEY COME TO COMPLAIN—HE
DETERMINES TO TURN ME OUT OF MY COLONY AND SEND ME TO KAHOKIA—HE
FORGETS IT THE NEXT DAY, AND PUBLISHES THAT HE HAS INTERDICTED ME—MY
PEOPLE SEND A DEPUTATION TO THE BISHOP—HIS ANSWERS—THE SHAM
EXCOMMUNICATION BY THREE DRUNKEN PRIESTS.
The Holy Scriptures say that an abyss calls for another abyss (_abyssus
abyssum invocat_). That axiom had its accomplishment in the conduct of
Bishop O’Regan. When once on the declivity of iniquity, he descended to
its lowest depths, with more rapidity than a stone thrown into the sea.
Not satisfied with the shameful theft of the rich vestments of the
French Canadian Church of Chicago, he planned iniquity, which was to
bring upon him, more than ever, the execration of the Roman Catholics of
Illinois. It was nothing less than the complete destruction of the
thriving congregations of my French Canadian countrymen of Chicago and
St. Anne. The removal of the French-speaking priest of Chicago from his
people, as well as my removal from my colony, were determined.
Our churches were, at first, to be closed, and after some time sold to
the Irish people, or to the highest bidder, for their own use. It was in
Chicago that this great iniquity was to begin.
Not long after Easter, 1856, the Rev. Mons. Lemaire was turned out,
interdicted and ignominiously driven from the diocese of Chicago without
even giving the shadow of a reason, and the French Canadians suddenly
found themselves without a pastor.
A few days after, the parsonage they had built for their priest in Clark
street, was sold for $1,200 to an American. The beautiful little church
which they had built on the lot next to the parsonage, at the cost of so
many sacrifices, was removed five or six blocks southwest, and rented by
the bishop to the Irish Catholics for about $2,000 per annum, and the
whole money was pocketed, without even a word of notice to my
countrymen.
Though accustomed to his acts of perfidy, I could not believe at first
the rumors which reached me of those transactions. They seemed to be
beyond the limits of infamy, and to be impossible. I went to Chicago,
hoping to find that the public rumor had exaggerated the evil. But alas!
nothing had been exaggerated!
The wolf had dispersed the sheep and destroyed the flock. The once
thriving French congregation of Chicago was no more! Wherever I went, I
saw tears of distress among my dear countrymen, and heard cries of
indignation against the destroyer. Young and old, rich and poor among
them, with one voice, denounced and cursed the heartless mitred brigand
who had dared to commit publicly such a series of iniquities, to satisfy
his thirst for gold and his hatred of the French Canadians.
They asked me what they should do; but what could I answer? They
requested me to go again to him and remonstrate. But I showed them that
after my complete failure, when I had tried to get back the sacerdotal
vestments, there was no hope that he would disgorge the house and the
church. The only thing I could advise them was to select five or six of
the most influential members of their congregation to go and
respectfully ask him by what right he had taken away, not only their
priest, but the parsonage and the church they had built and transferred
them to another people. They followed my advice. Messrs. Franchere and
Roffinot (who are still living) and six other respectable French
Canadians were sent by the whole people to put those questions to their
bishop. He answered them:
“French Canadians: You do not know your religion! Were you a little
better acquainted with it, you would know that I have the right to sell
your churches and church properties, pocket the money, and go eat and
drink it where I please.”
After that answer they were ignominiously turned out from his presence
into the street. Posterity will scarcely believe those things, though
they are true.
The very next day, August 19th, 1856, the bishop having heard that I was
in Chicago, sent for me. I met him after his dinner. Though not
absolutely drunk, I found him full of wine and terribly excited.
“Mr. Chiniquy,” he said, “you had promised me to make use of your
influence to put an end to the rebellious conduct of your countrymen
against me. But I find that they are more insolent and unmanageable than
ever; and my firm belief is that it is your fault. You, and the handful
of French Canadians of Chicago, give me more trouble than all of my
priests and my people of Illinois. You are too near Chicago, sir; your
influence is too much felt on your people here. I must remove you to a
distant place, where you will have enough to do without meddling in my
administration. I want your service to Kahokia, in my diocese of Quincy;
and if you are not there by the 15th of September next, I will interdict
and excommunicate you, and forever put an end to your intrigues.”
These words fell upon me as a thunderbolt. The tyranny of the bishop of
my church and the absolute degradation of the priest whose honor,
position and life are entirely in his hands, had never been revealed to
me so vividly as in that hour. What could I say or do to appease that
mitred despot? After some moments of silence, I tried to make some
respectful remonstrances, by telling him that my position was an
exceptional one; that I had not come to Illinois as his other priests,
to be at the head of any existing congregation; but that I had been
invited by his predecessor to direct the tide of emigration of the
French-speaking people of Europe and America. That I had come to a
wilderness which, by the blessing of God, I had changed into a thriving
country, covered with an industrious and religious people. I further
told him that I had left the most honorable position which a priest had
ever held in Canada, with the promise from his predecessor that, as long
as I lived the life of a good priest, I should not be disturbed in my
work. As I soon perceived that he was too much under the influence of
liquor to understand me, and speak with intelligence, I only added:
“My lord, you speak of interdict and excommunication! Allow me to
respectfully tell you that if you can show me that I have done anything
to deserve to be interdicted or excommunicated, I will submit in silence
to your sentence. But before you pass that sentence, I ask you, in the
name of God, to make a public inquest about me, and have my accusers
confront me. I warn your lordship that if you interdict or excommunicate
mu without holding an inquest, I will make use of all the means which
our holy church puts in the hands of her priests, to defend my honor and
prove my innocence. I will also appeal to the laws of our great
Republic, which protects the character of all her citizens against
anyone who slanders them. It will then be at your risk and peril that
you will pass such a sentence against me.”
My calm answer greatly excited his rage. He violently struck the table
with his fist, and said:
“I do not care a straw about your threats. I repeat it, Mr. Chiniquy, if
you are not at Kahokia by the 15th of next month, I will interdict and
excommunicate you.”
Feeling that it was a folly on my part to argue with a man who was
beside himself by passion and excess of wine, I replied:
“With the help of God, I will never bear the infamy of an interdict or
excommunication. I will do all that religion and honor will allow me to
prevent such a dark spot from defiling my name, and the man who does try
it, will learn at his own expense that I am not only a priest of Christ
but also an American citizen. I respectfully tell your lordship that I
neither smoke, nor use intoxicating drinks. The time which your other
priests give to those habits, I spend in the study of books, and
especially of my Bible. I found in them not only my duties but my
rights; and just as I am determined, with the help of God, to perform my
duties, I will stand by my rights.”
I then immediately left the room to take the train to St. Anne.
Having spent a part of the night praying God to change the heart of my
bishop, and keep me in the midst of my people, who were becoming dearer
and dearer to me, in proportion to the efforts of the enemy to drive me
away from them, I addressed the following letter to the bishop:
TO THE RT. REV. O’REGAN, Bishop of Chicago.
MY LORD:—The more I consider your design to turn me out of the colony
which I have founded and of which I am the pastor, the more I believe it
a duty which I owe to myself, my friends and to my countrymen, to
protest before God and man against what you intend to do.
Not a single one of your priests stands higher than I do in the public
mind, neither is more loved and respected by his people than I am. I
defy my bitterest enemies to prove the contrary. And that character
which is my most precious treasure you intend to despoil me of by
ignominiously sending me away from among my people! Certainly, I have
enemies, and I am proud of it. The chief ones are well known in this
country as the most depraved of men. The cordial reception they say they
have received from you, has not taken away the stains they have on their
foreheads.
By this letter, I again request you to make a public and most minute
inquest into my conduct. My conscience tells me that nothing can be
found against me. Such a public and fair dealing with me would confound
my accusers. But I speak of accusers, when I do not really know if I
have any. Where are they? What are their names? Of what sin do they
accuse me? All these questions, which I put to you last Tuesday, were
left unanswered! and would to God that you would answer them to-day, by
giving me their names. I am ready to meet them before any tribunal.
Before you strike the last blow on the victim of the most hellish plot,
I request you, in the name of God, to give a moment’s attention to the
following consequences of my removal from this place at present.
You know I have a suit with Mr. Spink at the Urbana Court, for the
beginning of October. My lawyers and witnesses are all in Kankakee and
Iroquois counties; and in the very time I want most to be here to prove
my innocence and guard my honor, you order me to go to a place more than
300 miles distant? Did you ever realize that by that strange conduct you
help Spink against your own priest? When at Kahokia, I will have to bear
the heavy expenses of traveling more than 300 miles, many times, to
consult my friends, or, be deprived of their valuable help! Is it
possible that you thus try to tie my hands and feet, and deliver me into
the hands of my remorseless enemies? Since the beginning of that suit,
Mr. Spink proclaims that you help him, and that, with the perjured
priests, you have promised to do all in your power to crush me down! For
the sake of the sacred character you bear, do not show so publicly that
Mr. Spink’s boastings are true. For the sake of your high position in
the church, do not so publicly lend a helping hand to the heartless land
speculator of L’Erable. He has already betrayed his Protestant friends
to get a wife; he will, ere long, betray you for less. Let me then live
in peace here, till that suit is over.
By turning me away from my settlement, you destroy it. More than
nine-tenths of the emigrants came here to live near me; by striking me
you strike them all.
Where will you find a priest who will love that people so much as to
give them, every year, from one to two thousand dollars, as I have
invariably done. It is at the price of those sacrifices that, with the
poorest class of emigrants from Canada, I have founded here in four
years a settlement which cannot be surpassed, or even equaled, in the
United States, for its progress. And now that I have spent my last cent
to form this colony, you turn me out of it. Our college, where 150 boys
are receiving such a good education, will be closed the very day I
leave. For, you know very well the teachers I got from Montreal will
leave as soon as I will.
Ah! if you are merciless towards the priest of St. Anne, have pity on
these poor children. I would rather be condemned to death than to see
them destroy their intelligence by running in the streets. Let me then
finish my work here, and give me time to strengthen these young
institutions, which would fall to the ground with me.
If you turn me out or interdict me, as you say you will do, if I disobey
your orders, my enemies will proclaim that you treat me with that rigor
because you have found me guilty of some great iniquity, and this
necessarily will prejudice my judges against me. They will consider me
as a vile criminal. For who will suppose, in this free country, that
there is a class of men who can judge a man and condemn him as our
Bishop of Chicago is doing to-day, without giving him the names of his
accusers or telling him of what crimes he is accused.
In the name of God, I again ask you not to force me to leave my colony
before I prove my innocence, and the iniquity of Spink, to the honest
people of Urbana.
But, if you are deaf to my prayers, and if nothing can deter you from
your resolution, I do not wish to be in the unenviable position of an
interdicted priest among my countrymen. Send me, by return mail, my
letters of mission for the new places you intend trusting to my care.
The sooner I get there, the better for me and my people. I am ready!
When on the road of exile, I will pray the God of Abraham to give me the
fortitude and the faith he gave to Isaac, when laying his head on the
altar, he willingly presented his throat to the sword. I will pray my
Saviour, bearing His heavy cross to the top of Calvary, to direct and
help my steps towards the land of exile you have prepared for your
Devoted Priest,
C. CHINIQUY.
This letter was not yet mailed when we heard that the drunkard priests
around us were publishing that the bishop had interdicted me, and they
had received orders from him to take charge of the colony of St. Anne. I
immediately called a meeting of the whole people and told them: “The
bishop has not interdicted me as the neighboring priests publish; he has
only threatened to do so, if I do not leave this place for Kahokia, by
the 15th of next month. But though he has not interdicted me, it may be
that he does to-day falsely publish that he has done it. We can expect
anything from the destroyer of the fine congregation of the French
Canadians of Chicago. He wants to destroy me and you as he has destroyed
them. But before he immolates us, I hope that, with the help of God, we
will fight as Christian soldiers, for our life, and we will use all the
means which the laws of our church, the Holy Word of God, and the
glorious Constitution of the United States allow us to employ against
our merciless tyrant.
“I ask you, as a favor, to send a deputation of four members of our
colony in whom you place the most implicit confidence, to carry this
letter to the bishop. But before delivering it, they will put to him the
following questions, the answers of which, they will write down with
great care in his presence, and deliver them to us faithfully. It is
evident that we are now entering into a momentous struggle. We must act
with prudence and firmness. Messrs. J. B. Lemoine, Leon Mailloux,
Francis Bechard and B. Allaire, having been unanimously chosen for that
important mission, we gave them the following questions to put to the
bishop:
1st. “Have you interdicted Mr. Chiniquy?
2nd. “Why have you interdicted him? Is Mr. Chiniquy guilty of any crime
to deserve to be interdicted? Have those crimes been proved against him
in a canonical way?
3rd. “Why do you take Mr. Chiniquy away from us?
[Our deputies came back from Chicago with the following report and
answers, which they swore to, some time after before the Kankakee
court.]
1st. “I have suspended Mr. Chiniquy on the 19th inst., on account of his
stubbornness and want of submission to my orders, when I ordered him to
Kahokia.
2nd. “If Mr. Chiniquy has said mass since as you say, he is irregular
and the pope alone can restore him in his ecclesiastical and sacerdotal
functions.
3rd. “I take him away from St. Anne, despite his prayers and yours,
because he has not been willing to live in peace and friendship with the
Revs. Messrs. Lebel and Cartevel.
[The bishop, being asked if those two priests had not been interdicted
by him for public scandals, was forced to say, “Yes!”]
4th. “My second reason for taking Mr. Chiniquy from St. Anne, and
sending him to his new mission, is to stop the law-suit Mr. Spink has
instituted against him.
[The bishop being asked if he would promise that the suit would be
stopped by the removal of Mr. Chiniquy, answered: “I cannot promise
that.”]
5th. “Mr. Chiniquy is one of the best priests in my diocese, and I do
not want to deprive myself of his services. No accusation against his
morality has been proved before me.
6th. “Mr. Chiniquy has demanded an inquest to prove his innocence
against certain accusations made against him; he asked me the names of
his accusers, to confound them. I have refused to grant his request.
[After the bishop had made these declarations, the deputation presented
him the letter of Mr. Chiniquy. It evidently made a deep impression upon
him. As soon as he had read it, he said:]
7th. “Tell Mr. Chiniquy to come and meet me to prepare for his new
mission, and I will give him the letters he wants, to go and labor
there.
FRANCIS BECHARD,
(Signed) J. B. LEMOINE,
BASILIQUE ALLAIRE,
LEON MAILLOUX.”[E]
-----
Footnote E:
Those gentlemen, with the exception of Mr. Allaire, are still living,
1886.
-----
After the above had been read and delivered to the people, I showed them
the evident falsehood and contradictions of the bishop when he said in
his second answer: “If Mr. Chiniquy said mass since I interdicted him,
he is irregular, and the pope alone can restore him in his
ecclesiastical functions,” and then in the seventh, “Tell Mr. Chiniquy
to come and meet me to prepare for his new mission, and I will give him
the letters he wants to go and labor there.”
The last sentence, I said, proves that he knew he had not interdicted me
as he said at first. For, had he done so, he could not give me letters
to administer the sacraments and preach at Kahokia before my going
before the pope, who alone, as he said, himself, could give me such
powers, after he (the bishop) knew that I had said mass since my return
from Chicago. Now, my friends, here is the laws of our holy church, not
the saying or the law of a publicly degraded man, as the Bishop of
Chicago: ‘If a man has been unjustly condemned, let him pay no attention
to the unjust sentence; let him even do nothing to have that unjust
sentence removed.’ (_Canon of the Church_, by St. Gelase, Pope.)
“If the bishop had interdicted me on the 19th, his sentence would be
unjust, for from his own lips we have the confession, ‘that no
accusation has ever been proved before him; that I am one of his best
priests; that he does not want to be deprived of my services.’ Yes, such
a sentence, if passed, would have been unjust, and our business, to-day,
would be to treat it with the contempt it would deserve. But that unjust
sentence has not even been pronounced, since, after saying mass every
day since the 19th, the bishop himself wants to give me letters to go to
Kahokia and work as one of his best priests! It strikes me, to-day, for
the first time, that it is more your destruction, as a people, than
mine, which the bishop wants to accomplish. It is my desire to remain in
your midst to defend your rights as Catholics. If you are true to me, as
I will be to you, in the impending struggle, we have nothing to fear;
for our holy Catholic church is for us; all her laws and canons are in
our favor; the Gospel of Christ is for us; the God of the Gospel is for
us; even the pope, to whom we will appeal, will be for us—for I must
tell you a thing which, till to-day, I kept secret, viz.: The Archbishop
of St. Louis, to whom I brought my complaint, in April last, advised me
to write to the pope and tell him, not all, for it would make too large
a volume, but something of the criminal deeds of the roaring lion who
wants to devour us. He is, to-day, selling the bones of the dead which
are resting in the Roman Catholic cemetery of Chicago! But if you are
true to yourselves as Catholics and Americans, that mitred tyrant will
not sell the bones of our friends and relatives which rest here in our
burying ground. He has sold the parsonage and the church which our dear
countrymen had built in Chicago. Those properties are, to-day, in the
hands of the Irish; but if you promise to stand by your rights as
Christian men and American citizens, I will tell that avaricious bishop:
‘Come and sell our parsonage and our church here, if you dare!’
“As I told you before, we have a glorious battle to fight. It is the
battle of freedom against the most cruel tyranny the world has ever
seen. It is the battle of truth against falsehood; it is the battle of
the old Gospel of Christ against the new gospel of Bishop O’Regan. Let
us be true to ourselves to the end, and our holy church, which that
bishop dishonors, will bless us. Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, whose Gospel
is despised by that adventurer, will be for us, and give us a glorious
victory. Have you not read in your Bibles that Jesus wanted his
disciples to be free, when He said: ‘If the son of man shall make you
free, you shall be free indeed.’ Does that mean that the Son of God
wants us to be the slaves of Bishop O’Regan? ‘No!’ cried out the whole
people.
“May God bless you for your understanding of your Christian rights. Let
all those who want to be free, with me, raise their hands.
“Oh! blessed be the Lord,” I said, “there are more than 3,000 hands
raised towards heaven to say that you want to be free! Now, let those
who do not want to defend their rights as Christians and as American
citizens, raise their hands. Thanks be to God,” I again exclaimed,
“there is not a traitor among us! You are all the true, brave and noble
soldiers of liberty, truth and righteousness! May the Lord bless you
all!”
It is impossible to describe the enthusiasm of the people. Before
dismissing them, I said:
“We will, no doubt, very soon witness one of the most ludicrous comedies
ever played on this continent. That comedy is generally called
excommunication. Some drunkard priests, sent by the drunkard Bishop of
Chicago, will come to excommunicate us. I expect their visit in a few
days. That performance will be worth seeing, and I hope that you will
see and hear the most amusing thing in your life.”
I was not mistaken. The very next day, we heard that the 3rd of
September had been chosen by the bishop to excommunicate us.
I said to the people: “When you see the flag of the free and the brave
floating from the top of our steeple, come and rally around that emblem
of liberty.”
There were more than 3,000 people on our beautiful hill when the priests
made their appearance. A few moments before, I had said to that immense
gathering:
“I bless God that you are so many to witness the last tyrannical act of
Bishop O’Regan. But I have a favor to ask of you, it is that no insult
or opposition whatever will be made to the priests who come to play that
comedy. Please do not say an angry word, do not move a finger against
the performers. They are not responsible for what they do, for two
reasons:
“1st. They will probably be drunk. “ The priests arrived at about 2
o’clock P. M., and never such shouting and clapping of hands had been
heard in our colony as on their appearance. Never had I seen my dear
people so cheerful and good-humored as when one of the priests,
trembling from head to foot with terror and drunkenness, tried to read
the following sham act of excommunication, which he nailed on the door
of the chapel:
The Reverend Monsieur Chiniquy, heretofore curate of St. Anne, Colonie
of Beaver, in the Diocese of Chicago, has formally been interdicted by
me for canonical causes.
The said Mr. Chiniquy, notwithstanding that interdict, has maliciously
performed the functions of the holy ministry, in administering the holy
sacraments and saying mass. This has caused him to be irregular and in
direct opposition to the authority of the church, consequently he is a
schismatic.
The said Mr. Chiniquy, thus named by my letters and verbal injunction,
has absolutely persisted in violating the laws of the church, and
disobeyed her authority, is by this present letter excommunicated.
I forbid any Catholic having any communication with him, in spiritual
matters, under pain of excommunication. Every Catholic who goes against
this defense, is excommunicated.
(Signed) ✠ ANTHONY,
Bishop of Chicago, and Administrator of Quincy.
Sept. 3rd, 1856.
As soon as the priests, who had nailed this document to the door of our
chapel, had gone away at full speed, I went to see it, and found, what I
had expected, that it was not signed by the bishop, neither by his grand
vicar, nor any known person, and consequently, it was a complete
nullity, according to the laws of the church. Fearing I would prosecute
him, as I threatened he shrank from the responsibility of his own act,
and had not signed it. He was probably ignorant of the fact that he was
himself excommunicated, _ipso facto_, for not having signed the document
himself, or by his known deputies. I learned afterwards, that he got a
boy 12 years old to write and sign it. In this way, it was impossible
for me to bring that document before any court, on account of its want
of legal and necessary forms. That act was also a nullity, for being
brought by three priests who were not _mentis compos_, from their actual
state of drunkenness. And again, it was a nullity, from the evident
falsehood which was its base.
It is alleged that the bishop had interdicted and suspended me on the
19th of Aug., for canonical causes. But he had declared to the four
deputies we had sent him: “That Mr. Chiniquy was one of my best priests,
that nothing had been proved against him,” consequently, no canonical
cause could exist for the allegation. The people understood very well
that the whole affair was a miserable farce, designed to separate them
from their pastor. It had just, by the good providence of God, the
contrary effect. They had never shown me such sincere respect and
devotedness as since that never-to-be-forgotten day.
The three priests, after leaving, entered the house of one of our
farmers, called Bellanger, a short distance from the chapel, and asked
permission to rest a while. But after sitting and smoking a few minutes,
they all went out to the stables. The farmer finding this very strange,
went out after them to see what they would do in his stables: to his
great surprise and disgust, he found them drinking the last of their
whiskey. He exclaimed: “Is it not a shame to see three priests, in a
stable, drinking rum?”
They made no answer, but went immediately to their carriage and drove
away as quickly as possible, singing with all their might, a
bacchanalian song! Such was the last act of that excommunication, which
has done more than anything else to prepare my people and myself to
understand that the Church of Rome is a den of thieves, a school of
infidelity and the very antipodes of the Church of Christ.