Grignon, Father Mathurin Francis, Natchez, Mississippi, to Archbishop Anthony Blanc, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1856 January 31

Grignon has just learned that a marriage is being planned. The parties seem to be strangers in Natchez. Some say they are French; Grignon imagines they are German. They talk of going to the civil magistrate; the girl seems to object and would prefer to go to Grignon but they wish to keep it secret up to the very moment. All this comes to Grignon through a Protestant gentleman who seems interested in the girl whom he does not wish to name. Since they wish to go away right after their marriage, Grignon foresees that all will coincide with Lent. So he should have the faculty to dispense from the three banns and also the time. Grignon had these faculties to dispense for two years but since Bishop Vandevelde put in force the decrees of the last Council of Baltimore, he does not believe that he has them. He asks Blanc to grant these dispensations and even to send them by telegraph. P.S. Grignon believes he has not acknowledged Blanc's message and letter about some dispensations; he has received all. The vague terms of Grignon's message came from the fact that he did not know the dispositions of the young man. He knew only that he was a German refugee and feared that he had had difficulty because of the opposition of the father-in-law. But all turned out well. Last week a young German girl came to Confession and Communion and then gave her name and that of her future husband, a Protestant. She said she would come to be married the next day which was Sunday. But that same day Grignon learned that they invited the Presbyterian minister to preside at their marriage. It seems that false friends and the family for whom she works, have taken advantage of her simplicity. :: VI-1-j A.L.S. French 3pp. 4to.