Botti, Dr. Joseph L., Louisville, Kentucky, to Archbishop Martin John Spalding, Louisville, Kentucky, 1856 March 5

Spalding in his letter of December 31, 1855 enjoined Botti to put himself under the direction of the Trappists. Botti betook himself to Gethsemani on January 2, 1856. After a retreat of one week, in order to pay for the miserable bread he ate, Botti was charged with the care of the sick monks and of the lodgers in the neighboring place, prescibing the necessary medicines and even the surgico-pharmaceutical preparation of which the supplies of the monks were extremely lacking. He asked the Abbot for a recompense, that he obtain from Spalding permission to say Mass. The Abbot told him that he had done so and hoped to receive it soon. Botti was astonished to hear on January 26, 1856 that Spalding would never permit him to say Mass in his diocese. This made Botti decide to go to New Orleans to sue the Bishop. But Botti found the river frozen and had to wait. In the meantime Monsignor Joseph Deprez ? showed himself willing to talk to Spalding for Botti and will bring this letter. A.L.S. Italian :: VI-1-j A.L.S., A.L.S. Italian 5pp. 12mo. 4to.