HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIANA. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOLUME I. ILLUSTRATED EDITED AND COMPILED BY COL. CHARLES BLANCHARD. LOGANSPORT, IND. A. W. BOWEN & CO. 1898. BIBLIOTHECA OLDENBURG ADS. FAMILIAM HARVARD FROM THE PRESS OF WILSON, HUMPHREYS & CO., FOURTH ST., LOGANSPORT, IND. PREFACE. C HE Publishers offer this history of the Catholic Church in Indiana, two volumes, to the public, but especially to the Catholics of the state, conscious that while it may not. prove to be all that might have been expected, it is nevertheless meritorious in that through much labor and research a degree of completeness and exactness has been attained. Nothing of great importance has been overlooked or minimized nor has any considerable number of lesser matters been either neglected or exaggerated. Facts and events are eloquent even when simply narrated, and they are argumentative, too, when presented in the relation of cause and effect. As set forth in this history they tell of a Providence that directs the affairs of the church and bids Christians hope for the increase of the kingdom of God on earth. Being connected even as instruments in the furtherance of these things a great distinction when properly considered-may we not indulge the hope also that our labors may meet with the approval and receive the substantial support of those in whose interests they have been performed? The history proper was prepared by Mr. M. W. Carr, of Indianapolis, and Rev. Bonaventure Hammer, of LaFayette, ably assisted by Very Rev. Chancellor Denis O'Donaghue, rector of St. Patrick's church, Indianapolis. The parochial sketches, mentions |