Byrne, Bishop Andrew, Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Archbishop Anthony Blanc, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1857 January 17

This is the first line Byrne has been able to write since September. He thanks Blanc for his invitation to visit New Orleans in order to gain strength. He will leave for Little Rock as soon as he can get a boat. Father Richard Nagle is a most disobedient and refractory priest. Byrne last August removed him from Post Arkansas and Napoleon to act as an assistant to Father Patrick McGowan of New Gascony. When Nagle received the letter he started on horseback for Little Rock where he informed Byrne that he did not want to obey but would suspend himself and leave. He heard Mass on Monday among the laity and left for the South. Nagle married a young couple at Napoleon in opposition to a positive order from Byrne. After Nagle performed the ceremony, he went to James V.? Johnson, a new convert, to plead for him. Nagle remained inactive at Post Arkansas for months and got chills and fever. He was in Philadelphia before he came to Byrne. Byrne is not going to continue to educate and ordain men and let them go wherever they please. Therefore he cannot give a line to Nagle by which any Bishop could allow him to officiate. :: VI-1-l A.L.S. 3pp. 4to.