Bessonies, Father Augustus, Administrator, Indianapolis, Indiana, to Archbishop John Baptist Purcell, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1877 September 21

Bessonies acknowledges Purcell's letter at Purcell's request he will investigate the charges against Father William Doyle . He had already made inquiries and the priests of the vicinity say there is nothing serious. He then asked them to wait until the new bishop was appointed since he had no other priest to send the people and no other place for Father Doyle. The action of the clergy of Vincennes and not of Father Julius Duddenhausen seems to have urged the bishops of the province. Bessonies does not think Rome will look on the matter in the same light and if Purcell reads the passage in Smith's Notes on the Second Plenary Council he will agree with him. As to what Purcell learned from a layman in Indiana it is an insult to the priests of Vincennes to suppose that they have acted through fear or favor. Some laymen ask if every bishop must come from Ohio. The information wanted by Cardinal Alexander Franchi is proper and he hopes that Purcell will be satisfied to get it. At Leopold there is Father J.B. Unverzagt in a parish ⅔ French and Father James Stremler at Floyds Knobs Indiana which is ⅓ French, ⅓ Irish, and ⅓ German. It is Bessonies' opinion that the new bishop should speak German and if his name has been proposed by the priests of the diocese it was not at his instigation, since he regards himself as not fit for many reasons. :: II-5-f A.L.S. 4pp. 12mo.