Defiance of Elphege Daignault

...He inspired it by announcing that he would appeal to the Apostolic Delegate at Washington for permission to bring suit in the civil courts, recognizing that to do so without permission was to lay himself open to probable excommunication...

...In some dioceses where similar corporations exist, acknowledgment of the regulations and discipline are made a part of the by-laws...

...His claims as a politician have to be weighed against the amount of influence he can exert among those of similar ancestry and speaking the same language as himself...

...Not so very long ago it was necessary for Bishop Fallon, of London, Ontario, to curb activities in his diocese which were enlisting the services of some of his priests...

...But there are other newspapers printed in French in New England besides La Sentinelle and most of these have been outspokenly hostile to the course pursued by that publication...

...A question which doubtless will receive the attention of the Court is the extent to which the regulations and discipline of the Catholic Church have been accepted on other matters by these bodies...

...Named with the Bishop in the proceedings instituted in the Superior Court are the vicar-general of the diocese, Monsignor Peter E. Blessing, and the corporations of five churches in Woonsocket, three in Pawtucket, and one each in Central Falls and Manville...

...In the middle of January, one of these, La Justice, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, demanded to know why, when so much had been promised from this appeal to the Apostolic Delegate, nothing had been heard of a decision which many had reason to believe had been given...

...He has made this move in the face of a ruling by the Sacred Congregation of the Council and against the opinion of the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, both of which were sought by him...

...Following the methods employed with general approval and uniform success in other dioceses, he set a quota for each parish to raise, spreading the contributions over a period of three years...

...He was unsuccessful...

...Daignault to the Press Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference for the news service of that organization and readers of the early issues of La Sentinelle were informed that this excellent news service had been obtained...

...Now who is Elphege Daignault and why should he have taken this stand against his bishop...

...Daignault, he should take the matter to Rome and compel its abandonment...

...Daignault is at pains to assure the Apostolic Delegate that he is "a practising Catholic in all the meaning of that term—a Catholic who believes that the commandments of the Church must be obeyed as the commandments of God," but to this he adds these very significant words: "This, which may appear pharisaical, will be considered by Your Excellency, I hope, in the circumstances, as a legitimate defense...

...Daignault and others made inflammatory speeches...

...Which for a practising Catholic of the kind disclosed to the Apostolic Delegate is, to say the least, astonishing...

...It began to be rumored that an answer had been received but the readers of La Sentinelle were not informed on the subject...

...This question does not worry us a bit...

...He also knew that where parish property was administered by priests, or by mixed bodies of priests and laymen, the discipline of the Church gave him full power to change or modify any action of his subordinates...

...The Americanization of the FrenchCanadian is not the easiest of tasks and it is complicated by the fact that organizations in Canada committed to the spread of the French language and French customs, which have sought by colonization and other methods to spread their gospel in the English-speaking provinces of the Dominion, have not overlooked the fertile field in nearby sections of the United States...

...In everything we are doing and which has been described to you as "uncatholic agitation," we have but one object—to aid the cause of the Church which, in our diocese, suffers from crying abuses, and to promote the salvation of the generations of our compatriots who will follow us...

...Daignault that he could not purchase the service...

...This last document read as follows: On my return to Washington, I read with displeasure your letter to me under date of October 30, relative to the collections for the diocesan high schools in Providence...

...When Bishop Hickey proposed to substitute for this school a modern college with every convenience and ample grounds, it was easy to arouse sentiment...

...But the N. C. W. C. news service is a service maintained and financially aided by the bishops of the United States and one of the regulations under which it is supplied is that new subscribers shall have the sanction of the head of the diocese in which the publication is to appear...

...Immediately the National Catholic Welfare Conference became another target for attack...

...Charles, Patrick...

...Daignault will not recognize that he is simply Brother Josephus...

...Such a manner of interpreting the rights of Catholics of this country, in a purely administrative matter, will be harmful to the Church if it be finally admitted as her policy...

...In the early days of the "crusade," much assistance was received from the province of Quebec where the impression in some quarters seemed to be that an effort was being made to stifle the speaking of French and the perpetuation of French traditions in the diocese of Providence...

...About the time he began the controversy with Bishop Hickey which he has now taken to the civil courts, he was seeking the Republican nomination for judge of the Superior Court...

...Daignault broke his silence...

...Bishop Hickey has no prejudice against those of French-Canadian ancestry in his diocese...

...it was to be a daily and was to fight anybody or anything which it thought ought to be fought...

...It was some time before this action was taken and it was longer still before those whom it was sought to stiffen learned of the result...

...Ten suits in equity have been brought in the Superior Court of Rhode Island...

...Later, Mr...

...So he went on building high schools...

...The blow was a severe one to the "Crusaders," who had been led to believe that there could be no question that a decision would be given in their favor...

...Now it happens that the worthy teacher is of mixed Irish and French-Canadian descent and his name outside religion is Denis McGarry...

...In one or two cases, the "Crusaders"—as the followers of the Woonsocket lawyer began to call themselves—were even encouraged by priests...

...New hope had to be furnished to his surprised followers...

...In speech, in habits, in every tendency he inclines to the French side of his parentage...

...If it were not, said Mr...

...That this practising son of the Church who regards its commandments as the commandments of God has reason to fear that some may consider him pharisaical is shown in the editorial which appeared in the issue of La Sentinelle in which this second letter to the Apostolic Delegate was printed...

...He based his demand on the ground that money could not be taken from one parish and applied to purposes by which another might more directly benefit...

...One Elphege Daignault, in conjunction with other Catholics of French-Canadian ancestry, has brought a suit in equity, in the civil courts against his bishop, the Right Reverend William A. Hickey, charging unlawful use of church funds in ten parishes...

...Here let it be said that these quotas were met or exceeded by all but two or three of the parishes...

...According to the census reports of 1920 there were in the New England states some 240,000 residents who had been born in the French-speaking parts of Canada, with, of course, several times that number of FrenchCanadian ancestry...

...In a pastoral letter, Bishop Hickey gave the ruling of the Sacred Congregation of the Council and the answer which His Excellency Archbishop Fumasoni-Biondi had made to Mr...

...They seek an accounting of the use of funds in certain parishes and name as respondents Bishop Hickey, Monsignor Peter E. Blessing, the vicar-general of the diocese, and the corporations of the various churches...

...Realizing that higher education makes for a fuller comprehension of American ideals and American standards, and that high schools take boys and girls at an age when their future as good citizens of America is largely determined, Bishop Hickey, four years ago, organized a "drive" for funds with which to build such high schools to make better Catholics and better Americans...

...Meetings were held frequently at which Mr...

...This fight was not confined to the columns of the newspaper...

...He would think it strange if the use of French was not common in many homes and if societies such as that of Saint Jean Baptiste did not flourish...

...In this he said: If Your Excellency considers our proceedings "an uncatholic agitation," it is another way of forbidding American Catholics to demand recognition of American laws...

...He is now a candidate for city solicitor of Woonsocket...

...It is a matter of surprise to me that, while you profess to be a loyal Catholic, you are an active participant in this agitation against your bishop, especially in view of the fact that the Holy See rejected your recourse...

...Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of a most unusual and deplorable situation was the action of a clergyman from lower Canada who, preaching a mission in the diocese with the permission of the Bishop, took advantage of the opportunity to embolden those who were making the fight against his episcopal host...

...Each of these corporations consists of the bishop, the vicar-general, the parish priest, and two laymen...

...Those who told you otherwise misled you odiously...

...The appeal of the Woonsocket lawyer was denied...

...Charles College has continued to this day and always, directly or indirectly, the impression is conveyed that this splendid new structure, built for their benefit, is for others than French-Americans...

...But he does think that every opportunity for the full understanding of America and American ideals should be afforded all of his people...

...The plan to make La Sentinelle a dailv had to be dropped and it became just one of the several weeklies published in French in New England...

...A little more than a year ago, the decision of Rome was forwarded to Bishop Hickey and to Mr...

...This was quite an ambitious project in its beginnings...

...Application had been made by Mr...

...As the Bishop went right on with his plans for high schools, Daignault had to find some means of circulating and intensifying the opposition of which he constituted himself the champion...

...But Daignault had gone too far, by this time, to retreat...

...He decided to start a newspaper and La Sentinelle was born...

...It soon found someone to fight in addition to the Bishop...

...It is high time you abandoned your uncatholic agitation and in a spirit of true and practical loyalty give your bishop the support he deserves in furthering the cause of our Holy Faith...

...But Mr...

...He notified the Press Department of the Conference that he could not endorse the application for a franchise for La Sentinelle and the department was obliged to inform Mr...

...on every possible occasion he refers to him by his Irish name...

...It is only fair to say that this ardent nationalist later heard from his ecclesiastical superior in Quebec and will not have opportunity to repeat his offense...

...For example, the Bishop placed in charge of this new school Brother Josephus...

...Naturally, Bishop Hickey did not pay any attention to this order from the attorney...

...Elphege Daignault carried out his original threat and took his alleged grievance to Rome, applying first to the Sacred Tribunal of the Rota and when that body declined jurisdiction, to the Sacred Congregation of the Council...

...But we have no thought of violating the love of the old fatherland, which is a sacred feeling...

...But announcement by the Bishop of this plan to provide adequate high schools for the Catholic youth of his diocese met with an unusual response from Elphege Daignault, a lawyer of Woonsocket, who wrote to the Ordinary telling him the proposal must be abandoned...

...Our readers," he says, "no doubt expect us to say a word about the question of excommunication, as it is on every lip and is being discussed in all the newspapers...

...Acknowledging that this reply had been received from the Apostolic Delegate, he made public a further communication he had addressed to His Excellency...

...More, the very name of the college is added to whenever it is spoken of—it becomes Mount St...

...True, it had only a few boarders, was a wooden structure near a carline, and had little ground around it—still it was a college and only those who know the province of Quebec, dotted with these institutions which may grade from a good grammar school to a near-university know what such a school means in a French-speaking community...

...The brief of Pope Gregory XVI, issued in 1841 when the claims of church trustees in certain sections of the United States had demanded the attention of the Holy See, laid emphasis on the fact that all rights of inferior administrators depend entirely upon the bishop who is in charge of the diocese, and those within his jurisdiction can do only what he empowers them to do...

...Of the 240,000 actually born in the province of Quebec, 28,887 were in the tiny state of Rhode Island...

...His fight against the new Mount St...

...458 Then Mr...

...He knew that under Church law he had complete control of all property of the Church within the boundaries of his diocese and that he was responsible for what he did with it to the Holy See and only to the Holy See...

...On the following Sunday, in every church in the diocese, that decision was read...

...When Bishop Hickey launched his high-schools project, there was in Woonsocket a small college which was the pride of most of the oldtime French-Americans of the town...

...Perhaps he recalls the words of Cardinal Gibbons published in a German newspaper at the height of the Cahensly agitation: "We are striving for a certain homogeneity in the United States, whose outward expression is the possession of one common language—the English...

...He is a lawyer who aspires to public office, a fluent speaker and a leader in the activities of certain of the French-speaking groups in Rhode Island...

...But it continued the fight against Bishop Hickey's plan for high schools although that plan was becoming more of an actual fact every day with the building of new schools...

...It was scarcely to be expected that Bishop Hickey would approve a publication which was not under his control and which was published by one who was openly opposing him...

...El457 phege lost no time in arousing it...