Kenrick, Peter Richard Coadjutor, Bishop of St. Louis St. Louis Missouri., to Bishop Peter Paul Lefevere, Detroit, Michigan, 1842 February 23

Kenrick sympathizes with Lefevere in his many trials but has no doubt that God will enable him to remedy the evils of the past and make religion flourish. He is edified by Lefevere's zeal to eradicate intemperance. He refers to his own pastoral, accompanying the letter, in which he approves of temperance societies and mentions the work started in that line by Father George Hamilton. Things were in a neglected condition when Kenrick arrived in St. Louis. He has made so many changes that he fears Bishop Joseph Rosati will be surprised. Father Edmund Saulnier has quit the diocese, and is replaced by Father James Fontbonne. The transparencies have been removed from the windows of the church, which were a nuisance. More important, English sermons have been substituted for French at Sunday Mass. Kenrick knows Lefevere would not blame him for this if he were aware of the circumstances. In six months the English congregation would abandon the cathedral when the Jesuits open their new church; in that event Rosati would be a bankrupt. His debts are upwards of $50,000. The ten small houses which Rosati built near the site of Trinity Church are untenanted. Kenrick wants to know when to expect Lefevere in the spring as he intends to visit Arkansas early in the season. :: III-2-g A.L.S. 4pp. 8vo