Elder, William Henry, Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi, to Archbishop John Mary Odin, C.M., New Orleans, Louisiana, 1865 February 20

On his return home, he received Odin's letters of the 2nd with the Encyclical and papers, and his reply of the 14th. In regard to Decree V, "sciant se excommunicationem incurrere" indicates an excommunication ipso facto or latae sentential. Elder has forgotten what their intention was when it was drawn up. Concerning the Council of Trent, it is not whether the Council is published in these parts but whether the publication extends to new settlements or is confined to the old places. The two Archbishops Kenrick think that congregations formed since then do not fall under the law. Odin thinks differently and it appears to Elder that they ought all to agree., According to Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick's Moral Theology the law would be binging only in New Orleans and a few other old settlements. Elder will enquire of their Commander about sending the articles to Father John Baptist Baasen and to the Sisters of Mobile. If Odin sends Bishop Quinlan's copy of the Encyclical to Mother de Sales Browne, R.S.M., Vicksburgh or to Elder, they will try to pass it along. Are they not all too loose about marrying persons from a distance? He has found it to have a good effect to require evidence of earnestness. He is waiting for a Diocesan Synod to propose some general regulation. ` P.S. He has been studying the conditions of the Jubilee. He states his questions about it and refers to the letter of 1846. :: VI-2-i A.L.S. 3pp. 4to.