A popular history of the Catholic church in the United States

CONTENTS Prefaces, v, xxv. Letters, ix. Press Notices, xviii. Contents, xxix. Biographical Index, xxxvi. BOOK I. INTRODUCTION. THE EARLY CATHOLIC DISCOVERIES — COLUMBUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. Our Centennial — Poetry — Catholicity no Stranger in the New World — Found Everywhere — Its Present Numbers — Bird's-eye View of Europe in the Fifteenth Century — Protestantism Unknown — Catholic Progress — Columbus — The Mysterious Atlantic — The Lofty Motives of America's Discoverer — His Difficulties — The Discovery Due to a Lady, a Mariner, and a Monk — The Voyage — The first Hymns heard on the Atlantic — San Salvador — Homeward Bound — A TempeSt. and a Vow — The Great Admiral safely home — Rejoicing, and Grand Reception by the Spanish Sovereigns — The Catholic Successors of Columbus — The Cabots — Ojeda — Ponce de Leon — Balboa — Magellan — Cartier — De Soto — Champlain — Marquette — La Salle 1 CHAPTER I. THE INDIANS AND THEIR APOSTLES. The Wild Scenes of Four Centuries Ago — The Indians — The Various Tribes, Languages, and Customs — The Lord's Prayer in four Indian Languages — How they made War and Built Fortresses — Indian Government and Religion — The Apostles of the Indians — How the Spaniards established their Missions — The English — The French — How the French Jesuits Lived — Missionary Difficulties and Heroism — Winter Trials of the Blackrobe — Magic — The Shadows of Indian Life — The Priests suspected of being Conjurors — Oddity of the Indian Mind — Character of the Red Men and their Apostles 31 CHAPTER II. THE EARLY INDIAN MISSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. A.D. 1528 — 1776. The Mysterious Ways of God — Columbus — The first Catholic Church in America — Many Millions of Converts — Las Casas — The Spanish Missions, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, California — The English Missions, Maryland — The French Missions, Maine, New York — Vermont — Wisconsin and Michigan — The Mississippi Valley — Catholicity and the Indian — A Comparison — Something to Ponder. 99 CHAPTER III. THE COL