Elder, William Henry, Bishop of Natchez, Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Archbishop John Mary Odin, C.M., New Orleans, Louisiana, 1865 February 2

He has received Odin's letter of January 27 with the note for $442 in gold. He is quite willing to make the arrangement Odin proposes for Philip Rotchford. The Archbishop of Baltimore writes that Mr. Behan of Norfolk gas left $8000 to this diocese. The will is in the hands of lawyers in England; if he obtains it, it will pay his debts. He had written to Thomas Layton that if Odin gave him money he would like it turned into gold. Elder would rather leave it in Odin's hands. In Decree 5 of the Acts of the Council Elder takes the excommunication to be "ferendo sententio." Has Odin learned anything further concerning the application of the Council of Trent "de clandestinitate" to new congregations? He sees that Archbishop Kenrick of Baltimore holds the same view as his brother Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis. He asks Odin to tell the German priest from New York that he sent his inquiry to Father Mathurin Grignon at Natchez. There were families of Stantons at Natchez with whom Elder is not acquainted. He did not hear of Mr. Harmann. :: VI-2-i A.L.S. 2pp. 8vo.