Guide to Documents Relating to French and British North America in ...

and important literature, whose scope reached far beyond a simple history of the order. In his Storia
delle missioni dei Cappuccini,82 which appeared between 1867 and 1909, Rocco da Cesinale was the
first to deal with North America on the basis of Propaganda documentation. He clearly divided his
work into the pre-Propaganda period (vol. 1), and a later one dealing with the period following the
establishment of the Congregation (vols. 2-4). This having been said, we must note that Rocco, even
though he had the advantage of living in Rome, did not make a systematic search in the Propaganda
archives. He restricted himself to citing documents taken from printed works or those from Acta, which
is certainly the easiest series to consult. As well, North America represented a relatively marginal area
of interest for Rocco. Out of his four volumes, only about twenty pages are devoted to North America
and to the West Indies. s3 However, Rocco's work remains a rather useful reference point for a general
understanding of the Capuchin missions. 84
More or less at the same time, but without knowledge of each other (at least in the beginning),
Candide de Nant and John M. Lenhart, both Capuchins, were working on a history of their order in
North America in the seventeenth century. The first one to undertake the task was Candide, who in
1903 had been led to the documents of Propaganda by a seventeenth-century report dealing with the
Capuchins in Acadia. He was not able to complete his research in the archives of Propaganda until
after World War I. In the meantime, he had become aware of the parallel work of Lenhart,S5and had
availed himself of Fish's Guide. He had also published a number of articles using some documents of
Propaganda. 86
In his unassuming work, Pages glorieuses,87 Candide made a nevertheless important contribution
to historical knowledge not only concerning the Capuchins in Acadia, but also about the general
expansion of Catholicism in the New World. 88 It is, in Morin's words, "Ie premier ouvrage d'histoire
canadienne qui soit Ie fruit d'une veritable utilisation des sources romaines."89[See Appendix A for
translation.] Candide limited his investigation to the French Capuchins, and according to that interest
searched the archives of Propaganda for any pertinent documentation. His documents all come from
Acta, and the corresponding documents of SOCG, or again from the volumes of SOCG where the
French content is evident. One of the documents on which his work is based is "Brevis ac dilucida,"90
the starting point of his earlier research, which he had already published separately.91But one must be
careful of the considerable liberties Candide took in the transcription of the documents. It was not
uncommon for him to forget certain words, change their order, or modernize their spelling following
inconsistent criteria. 92 We will recall that the numbering of folios has changed since Candide's time,
and that the series he calls Lettere is now called SOCG.
Throughout his works,93Lenhart's thesis is that Propaganda had already established a jurisdiction
over the American territories by creating a prefecture entrusted to the Capuchins, whatever the practical
outcome of this may have been. This, according to Lenhart, was accomplished well before the bishop
of Debra, Richard Challoner, was given jurisdiction over the British colonies in 1756,94and also before
the appointment of John Carroll as superior of the missions in the American Provinces in 1784. 95
Lenhart, who knew Candide,96Rocco, Fish and Hughes, shows a good knowledge of the archives of
Propaganda, even though he seems not to have made any systematic search (having drawn from Acta
and SOCG only).97The documents he transcribes are very interesting. Unfortunately, the transcription
of certain documents is iQcorrect,because Lenhart was not very familiar with the early history of North
America. This ignorance is blatant when one reads his explanatory footnotes. 98
Another work on the Capuchins is Claude Vogel's book, which we will discuss later. 99 One must
also consult an article by Odoric-Marie Jouve, the historian of the Recollets, devoted to Fran~ois-
Joseph Du Tremblay -- better known as Pere Joseph or "L'Eminence grise" -- and his activities relating
to New France during the years 1632-33. 100 In this article, the attitude of Propaganda is briefly
described, although Jouve did not base it upon Propaganda documents, except for very few instances.
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