Lesne, Father James, New Orleans, Louisiana, to Father Stephen Rousselon, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1843 August 21

Lesne has a marriage to perform this evening between a Protestant and a Catholic. When they spoke to him last week, Lesne told them that such marriages were not performed with the exterior ceremonies of the Church. This reply greatly displeased them; they said Father Louis Moni had always performed these marriages like the others. Lesne replied that this rule was nothing new; that he himself during all the time he was at Mobile had seen this practice in force and that it was followed in all other states. They asked him to investigate and he said nothing but thought it wise to write Rousselon since if he performed the marriage according to the rules of the Council of Baltimore he would go counter to long standing usage. Rousselon knows how stirred up everyone is and the family is large and influential. Perhaps it would be prudent to stop such abuse gradually. :: V-4-o A.L.S. French 3pp. 4to.