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1800 Aug. 22

(Penalver y Cardenas), Bishop (Luis)
New Orleans, Louisiana

to Father Mig(ue)l Bernardo Barriere
(Attakapas, Louisiana)

Confidential. Barriere keeps in his house as a servant, a woman whom many regard as a concubine. Also it is said that Barriere does not go to Confession although there are two priests in the vicinity.

A. Draft (Spanish)

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1800 Oct. 24

Barriere, Father Mig(ue)l Bern(ar)do
Atakapas, (Louisiana)

to Bishop (Luis Penalver y Cardenas)
(New Orleans, Louisiana)

Barriere received (Penalver)'s letter of August 22 on October 20. As soon as the waters permit he will go down to the city and satisfy (Penalver) on the matter of confession. It is true that he has a woman to keep his house. But he would not have taken her if she had not been of a competent age. There is no ruling in this diocese but Barriere's diocese of Bordeaux rules that pastors take housekeepers only over 40 years of age. His servant is fifty as can be seen from the baptismal register of St. Francis Xavier of Ouabach for 1786: On December 21, 1753, was baptized Anne Perron, born December 20 to Pierre Perron and Marie Francoise Dufournel; the godparents being Antoine Guilbert son of Toussaints Guilbert and Anne du Devoir, signed by Father ( ) Vivier, S.J.. Barriere, as pastor of St. Martin's of Atakapas, affirms on October 24, 1800, that this is a true copy. If a woman of this age is not competent, it would have to be a negress or a mulatto of 25 or 30 who would always be doing everything possible to get her master to buy her liberty by her sacrifices and who would undoubtedly have children. It would take a thousand pesos to buy a slave. He has only one slave.

A.L.S. (Spanish)

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1801 Feb. 16

(Penalver y Cardenas), Bishop (Luis)
New Orleans, Louisiana

to Father Miguel Bernardo Barriere
(Attakapas, Louisiana)

If Barriere does not come, he will look for a more precise answer saying he has dismissed the woman.

A. Draft (Spanish)

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1801 Mar. 1

Barriere, Father Mig(ue)l Bern(ar)do
Atakapas, (Louisiana)

to Bishop (Luis Penalver y Cardenas)
(New Orleans), Louisiana

Barriere received (Penalver's) letter on February 25; he discharged the woman and she left the house the next morning.

A.L.S. (Spanish)

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1802 Feb. 1

Hassett, Father Thomas
New Orleans, (Louisiana)

Hassett had Barriere appear in the presence of Father Ubaldo Delgado, (O.M.Cap.), appointed as notary, to admonish him fraternally on the two points treated in the preceding letters of the bishop. Immediately Barriere promised to make permanent the dismissal of the woman who was his servant. The reason he had not been to Confession was because he had no confidence in the two priests cited in the letters. He overcame this difficulty by confessing many times since then to Father (Alexander) Viel. Barriere was warned to say nothing of what had been discussed.

D.S. (Spanish)

V-3-e A. Draft, A.L.S., D.S. (Spanish) 11pp. 8vo. and 4to.
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