Fathers on the Frontier, French Missionaries and the Roman Catholic Priesthood in the United States, 1789–1870 (review)

Abstract

American Fathers on Frontier, French Missionaries and Roman Catholic Priesthood in United States, 1789-1870. By Michael Pasquier. (New York: Oxford University Press. 2010. Pp. xii, 295. $74.00. ISBN 978-0-19537233-5.) With a fine command of rich array of primary sources, Michael Pasquier has crafted a distinctive narrative of experience [s] (p. 61) of French missionaries in United States from French Revolution to Civil War. He is committed to presenting the Private Lives of Priests (p. 19), symbolized by eighty-five pages of endnotes with citations of their letters and diaries. Pasquier's chapters are organized topically with more than a nod to chronology. The Sulpicians, who arrived in Baltimore in 1791, play various roles in narrative. They passed on ideals of priesthood in practical service of Church. Although Pasquier frequently refers to Order, Society of St. Sulpice, founded in France in 1642, is actually a community of diocesan priests on leave from their bishops to teach and form seminarians according to Sulpician ideals. In contrast to other seminaries that appointed one spiritual director for all students, Sulpician seminaries provided each student with his own spiritual director within context of sacrament of penance. This process forms a meaningful bond between director and penitent. Letters from priests of Sulpician seminaries voice a deep concern with missionaries' commitment to a life immersed in sufferings of Christ. Pasquier focuses on Benoit Joseph Flaget and Jean-Bap tiste David, Sulpicians on Kentucky frontier; Simon G. G. Brute in Emmitsburg, MD; and Louis G. B. Dubourg in New Orleans. Other prominent figures such as Bishop Jean-Baptiste Blanc of New Orleans and Jean-Marie Odin of San Antonio and later of New Orleans also are featured. Although seminaries were formative of vocations, they had not prepared these men for harsh realities of frontier. These French priests often failed to maintain integrity of their missionary ideology. . . . Hunger, sickness, fatigue, boredom, loneliness, isolation, indifference, all these physical and emotional states affected how French missionaries lived throughout dioceses of trans-Appalachian West (p. 61). Few in number, they became demoralized by scandalous behavior of other French priests, particularly in Louisiana and Texas. …