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

Odin's letter of November 23 was received. Yesterday he looked over all of Archbishop Anthony Blanc's letters and found it, dated March 5, 1858. Blanc says he had received a rescript from Rome dated January 25, 1858 in answer to a petition for the faculties in casu complicis. The mission will continue to the 13th. He has not yet determined when to start for Europe. The rations are stopped and there is not sufficient provision for their orphans. Father Frederick Müller spoke to Elder of his idea of a Negro asylum. Elder did not encourage him much. He is better at temporal management than at spiritual care; he has some peculiar notions. Elder sends a copy of the Natchez Courier of today with a letter about the Free Masons. He has some thoughts of writing a fuller one about secret societies. :: VI-2-j A.L.S. 3pp. 12mo.