Penalver y Cardenas, Luis, Bishop
Proceedings to correct a complaint made by the canons about the defrauding of the assistants by the Collector of fees.
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1797 Dec. 29
Penalver y Cardenas, Luis, Bishop of
New Orleans, Louisiana
The vicar general, Father Thomas Has(s)et(t) and Father Fran(cis)co Perez Guerrero, canons of the cathedral, informed Penalver yesterday that the assistants of the cathedral considered themselves defrauded in the receiving of fees and that the collector, Father Ramon Palao, makes up verbal orders which Penalver has not given. This information, which reached Penalver today, demands investigation. Therefore Penalver orders that the assistants, the pastor and the rest of the clergy appear and testify. This is certified by Father Isidro Quintero as secretary.
D.S. (Spanish)
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1797 Dec. 29
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father Luis de Quintanilla, O.M.Cap. appeared and swore that he did not consider himself defrauded by Palao, that he could not cite a particular case of his having given orders in (Penalver's) name nor taken any kind of authority or preeminence in church functions.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1797 Dec. 29
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father Claude Nicolas Gerbois, pastor of Pointe Coupee, former assistant at the Cathedral, appears and swears that he was satisfied with his share of the fees and that it did not seem to him that Palao had given false orders.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1797 Dec. 29
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father Antonio Sedella (O.M.Cap.), pastor of the Cathedral, appears and swears that he has no reason to consider himself defrauded nor that Palao gave orders not given by (Penalver).
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1797 Dec. 29
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father Augustin Lamare, (O.F.M.), chaplain of the Regiment at (New Orleans), appeared and swore that his fees as chaplain had been paid in full and he remembered only that a year and a half ago he assisted two or three times in the parish and had not been paid but it was for a child and he had not been sent for. As to the assumed orders, the collector had never given him any and he knew of no others who had been given any.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1797 Dec. 30
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father Sebastian Gili, chaplain of the Second Battalion of the Mexican Infantry, appeared and swore that Palao had always paid fees for those buried in the parish church or cemetery and that he had never heard of anyone being defrauded. As to the false orders, he had never been given any nor knew of them being given to others. He had heard one time from Guerrero the expression that Palao was the second bishop.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 3
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father Ubaldo Delgado, O.F.M. appeared and swore that he had assisted at burials and had never been defrauded by the collector nor seen another defrauded or given assumed orders.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 5
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father (Patrick Walsh) Patricio Walhs appeared and swore that he knew nothing about the defrauding from his own experience, not having served at the Cathedral, but that he had heard the assistants Father Jerome Blace, (O.F.M.) and Father John Brady, O.Carm.) complain quite often about the apportionment made by Palao. As to the verbal orders, Walsh remembers hearing that Palao had given despotic orders in a way that made others believe that he and the bishop were in accord in everything. Since (Penalver) does not give despotic orders, Walsh believes that those given by Palao must have been false.
D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 5
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father Juan de Dios Valdes appeared and swore that he had not served as assistant so he had not been defrauded of fees and knew of no others who had, that he lived in the bishop's palace as chaplain and it would not be likely that this collector would come and give orders.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 5
(Penalver y Cardenas, Luis), Bishop of
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
A letter is to be sent to Blace so that he may come down to testify concerning the particulars of the decree of December 29. Quintero certifies this.
D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 5
(Penalver y Cardenas, Luis), Bishop of
New Orleans, Louisiana
to Father Jerome Blace
( )
Blace has complained that Palao defrauded him of fees belonging to the assistantship and that, taking (Penalver)'s name he gave false orders to Blace and the other assistants and priests of the parish. (Penalver) wishes to find out the truth, therefore Blace is to testify.
L.S. Copy (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 8
(Penalver y Cardenas, Luis), Bishop
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Blace having arrived, he is to appear to give testimony, Quintanilla acting as interpreter in French; Brady who has arrived from Vera Cruz, (Mexico), in the frigate "Luciana," is to do the same and the Auditor of Fees is to certify if there are any difficulties in the allocation made.
D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 9
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Blace appeared and swore that he had not been defrauded by Palao but had only complained because he had needed money to make various payments before leaving for the parish of St. Charles, which was December 21, 1797; 80 pesos being due him according to a letter in his possession dated January 4 and only 15 being given him; that Palao had given orders in the church and sacristy as to which parts were to be sung which, it seemed to Blace, belonged to the pastor; that the people blamed him for giving the orders about corpses not being brought to the Cathedral unless they came directly from the hospital to the church and from there to the cemetery because of the ceremonies and Mass. But Blace never said that any of the above orders were false.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1797(?) Jan. 10
Bermudez, Fran(cis)co
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Bermudez, auditor of fees for the Cathedral of St. Louis, certifies that the settlement made for the quarter ending December 21, 1797 was in his charge and entered in the books with no thought of defrauding anyone.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 18
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Brady, assistant at the Cathedral, appeared and swore that he was not defrauded as far as he knows and that (Palao) had never given him orders as coming from the bishop.
D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 24
(Penalver y Cardenas, Luis), Bishop
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Father T(h)omas Hassett and Father Fran(cis)co Perez Guerrero, canons of the Cathedral, are to appear in compliance with the decree of December 29.
D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 24
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Quintero notified Hassett and Guerrero of the above decree and read the proceedings explaining that Brady and Blace had complained that they had had more funerals than they had received fees for and that despotic orders had been given.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 25
(Penalver y Cardenas, Luis), Bishop
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Quintero is to find out if, in addition to those priests who have testified, there are more in the city.
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1798 Jan. 25
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Quintero certifies that those priests who have given testimony are all there in the city. The only ones who have not done so are Hassett and Guerrero who brought up the case and Father J(ose)ph Serrano and Father J(ose)ph Briones who arrived in the colony December 10, 1797.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 27
Penalver y Cardenas, Luis, Bishop
New Orleans, Louisiana
Since nothing has resulted from the testimony, Penalver orders that Hassett and Guerrero be notifies so that Palao's honor be restored.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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(1798) ( )
Palao, Father Ramon
(New Orleans, Louisiana)
to Bishop (Luis Penalver y Cardenas
New Orleans, Louisiana)
Palao asks that the proceedings be given over to him,.
A.L.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Jan. 31
Penalver y Cardenas, Luis, Bishop
(New Orleans), Louisiana
The proceedings are to be given.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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(1798) (Jan. ?)
Hassett, Father Thomas and Father Fran(cis)co Perez Guerrero
(New Orleans, Louisiana)
to Bishop (Luis Penalver y Cardenas
New Orleans, Louisiana)
On the 29th of this month, Hassett and Guerrero were informed of the decree declaring Palao free and innocent of the charges of defrauding and giving despotic orders and they rejoice but it was never their intention to take any judicial step against Palao and so they do not know why they have been notified. Their complaint was only that which Guerrero told (Penalver) on December 25 about the treatment received from Palao on that day in the sacristy. When (Penalver) asked them both to appear on December 28 and they told the incident in the sacristy, they mentioned incidentally the repeated charges of Palao's defrauding and orders, as they thought it their duty and their only object was to establish peace.
A.L.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Feb. 1
Penalver y Cardenas, Luis, Bishop
New Orleans, Louisiana
Judicial action was taken on the offense of defrauding and giving false orders and the notice given was to inform them of the result. Perez's grievance will be taken care of separately.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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(1798) ( )
Palao, Father Ramon
(New Orleans, Louisiana)
to Bishop (Luis Penalver y Cardenas
New Orleans, Louisiana)
Palao asks (Penalver) to have Blace and Brady appear and have the first one say whether he in his declaration of the 9th and the second in his declaration of the 18th give the reasons the canons and Wlches[?????] had for making the charges. Palao acted as master of ceremonies mainly when there was no chanter(?) in the choir. As to Blace, whose parish is 8 leagues away, Palao asks that Penalver have him appear at a time when his absence will not work harm to his faithful.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Feb. 12
Penalver y Cardenas, Luis, Bishop
New Orleans, Louisiana
The petition is granted and they are to appear.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Feb. 14
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
Brady appeared and swore that he had not made the statements attributed to him; that he did not know what motive these gentlemen had; that he had seen Palao act as Master of Ceremonies and that the function of this office is to direct ceremonies both in and out of the choir.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Mar. 9
Quintero, Father Isidro
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
By virtue of the decree of February 12, Blace appeared and swore that he ratifies his statements of January 9 and that he does not believe that the canons and Walsh had any other motives except that he had told them several times that he believed that he had had more burials than he had been paid for but that was at the beginning of his assistantship when he thought that he was to receive 12 reales at each burial but he learned that the assistant received nothing. He had never said that Palao defrauded him. He had seen Palao giving orders in the choir but did not know if he had been named master (of ceremonies) but knows that if he had such a title he has a claim to direct.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Apr. 15(?)
Palao, Father Ramon
New Orleans, (Louisiana)
to Bishop (Luis Penalver y cardenas
New Orleans, Louisiana)
Palao appeared and said that he had returned the declarations of Blace and Brady and (gives justifications of his actions). Although forgiving the injuries, he asks (Penalver) to clear his name publicly.
A.L.S. (Spanish)
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1798 Apr. 17
Penalver y Cardenas, Luis, Bishop
(New Orleans). Louisiana
The testimony is to be given as asked.
A.D.S. (Spanish)
V-l-g D.S., A.D.S., L.S. Copy, A.L.S. (Spanish) 29pp. 4to.
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