The
Meeting of
April 8, 1940
The
members of the congregation, having expressed generally their wish to have a
place adapted to Divine Service, and built to that effect, the members of the
committee have resolved to apply to the Very Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin, Vicar
General of this diocese, and founder of this congregation, to request him to
give by writing, in a legal form, a lot he had purposely bought for the church,
which lot contains one acre, designated in the map of Portland under the
numbers [not given].
Such
is the letter written in French by Rev. Perche, in the name of the committee,
literally translated, to Rev. Fr. Badin:
Rev. Sir:
You gave me hope some time ago that at our first
meeting you would give me a decisive answer about the lots you have bought in
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
N. J.
Perche, priest
Fr. Badin Gives the Land
Meeting of May 15, 1840
The
members of the committee have met to receive communication of a letter sent by
Fr. Badin in answer to the letter sent to him by the committee in date of the
eighth of April. Such is that
letter in the original:
Know all men by these presents, that I, Stephen Theodore
Badin, of Louisville, KY, do hereby bind myself, my heirs, executors,
administrators and assigns in the penalty of $6,000, to transfer by my last
will and testament, or otherwise, at my option, 100 square feet of ground, in
Portland, near Louisville, to the corporation of St. Mary’s College,
Marion County, Kentucky, for the purpose of erecting thereon a Roman Catholic
Church or Chapel. Provided, and be
it well understood, that no clergyman shall ever officiate therein without the
approbation of the ordinary having spiritual authority and the Diocese of
Bardstown, according to the faith and discipline of the Roman Catholic
Church. Done this sixth day of May,
1840, in the
Stephen Theodore Badin
Test.
Thos. Piquet, Ls. Mertain
The
trustees have acknowledged this copy to be alike to the original kept in the
records of the congregation, and have decided that according to the consent
already given orally several times by Bishop Chabrat for the construction of a
Catholic church in Portland they would begin to build as soon as possible. In consequence of it Rev. Perche, Mr.
Maquaire and Mr. Banon have been especially authorized to receive
subscriptions, to collect the money, to make the contracts, and superintend the
work.
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
N. J.
Perche, priest
Having
received by this document the assurance that the land would be deeded to
ecclesiastical authorities, the committee of management was free to begin the
work of erecting the
Deed of
Property
This
indenture, made this 26th day of February in the year of Our Lord
one hundred and forty–eight, between the Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin of
the first part, and the Right Rev. Bishop Benedict Flaget of Louisville,
Kentucky, of the second part, witnesseth: That for and in consideration of one
dollar to him in hand paid, and in consideration of his respect for an
attachment to the Catholic faith, the said Badin has and does here by give,
grant, bargain and sell to the party of the second part two certain lots of
land in the Town of Portland, Jefferson county, Kentucky, numbered on the map
of the said Town 102 and 103 and square 93, it being the same property on a
part of which now stands the Catholic Church. To have and to hold the said lots of
land, with all the appurtenances thereto belonging unto him, the said party of
the second part and to his successors, the future Bishops of the diocese in
which Portland maybe, forever in trust, however, for the use of the members of
the Roman Catholic Church, in the said Town of Portland forever, for the
purposes of religious worship and instruction according to the doctrine and
discipline of the Roman Catholic Church.
It
being understood, that no Catholic clergyman, or other person, shall ever be
permitted to officiate in the said church, or in any other church that may be
hereafter erected on said promises, without the approbation of the Ordinary of
the Diocese of Louisville having spiritual authority therein according to the
faith and discipline of the church aforesaid. But the said Badin reserves to himself
during his natural life the usufruct of one-half of said two lots, with the
right of ingress and egress. And he
binds himself that if the parishioners of
Stephen
Theodore Badin (seal)
B. J., Flaget, Bishop of
In presence of Paul Villier, N. Albert, Peter
Portman.
I,
Curran Pope, Clark of the County Court of Jefferson County in the State of
Kentucky, do certify that on this day the foregoing deed the from Stephen
Theodore Badin to Right Rev. Bishop Benedict Flaget was produced to me in my
office and proved to be the act and deed of said S. T. Badin and B. J. Flaget
by the oaths of Paul Villier, N. Albert and Peter Portman, the subscribing
witnesses thereto. And that I have
recorded the same and this certificate in my said office. Witness my hand this 28th day
of February, 1848.
Curran Pope
Meeting of
June 17, 1840
The
committee has been called to receive communication of the contract made the day
before with the brick maker by the building committee, composed of Rev. Perche,
Mr. Maquaire and Mr. Banon and especially authorized to make contracts for the
erection of the church. The
contract was made in the following manner, in English:
Be
known to all men that by this present writing I, James Miller, brick maker, and
undersigned trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, Louisville,
Kentucky, we bind ourselves mutually and respectively to what follows:
First,
I, James Miller, bind myself to supply the aforesaid trustees of the
congregation of Portland with 150,000 merchant bricks, such as are made use of
and good buildings, which bricks will be burnt in Portland, about the spot
where on the church is about to be built.
Second,
we trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, we bind ourselves to pay
to Mr. James Miller, 150,000 of good and valuable bricks, $637.50, that is
$4.25 for every thousand of bricks.
Those $637.50 will be paid in three terms. the first third will be paid while the
bricks will be made and burnt, that is for eight weeks, every week $26.56 on
the paid to Mr. Miller, so that eight weeks after the beginning of the work the
first third of the total sum will be paid, that is $212.50. The second third of the total sum will
be paid six months after the beginning of the work, and the last third six
months after the second one.
Written in
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
N. J.
Perche, priest
Meeting of
September 9, 1840
The
committee has been called to receive communication of a letter by which Bishop
Chabrat, Coadjutor of Bardstown, authorizes Rev. Perche to lay down the first
stone of his church, either by himself or by another priest, and on such day as
he will think proper. Accordingly
the ceremony has been appointed on the thirteenth of September. It has been resolved also the according
to the intention of the Bishop the church should be placed under the protection
of the Virgin, and the Assumption chosen as the Patronal Feast. Finally the committee has selected Mr.
Peter Portman to take the place of Mr. Fosse, who has retired.
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
N. J.
Perche, priest
Peter Portman
Peter
Portman, mentioned in the preceding meeting, was born in
A
few years later, Peter Portman visited his native
In
the early days, Mr. Portman lived on Front (Water) Street and was a
grocer. After the Civil War he
built the large brick house at the corner of
Meeting of
September 11, 1840
The
committee has been called to receive communication of the contract made the day
before with the bricklayer by the building committee. The contract is such as follows, in
English language:
Be
known to all men that by this present writing I, McColly Stout, and the
undersigned trustees of the Catholic Church of Portland, Louisville, Kentucky,
we bind ourselves mutually and respectively, as follows:
First,
I, McColly Stout, bind myself to raise a brick building for the use of the
Catholic congregation of Portland, 60 feet long inside, and 30 feet wide in the
inside, with pilasters and another ornaments, according to the instructions of
the trustees of the upper said congregation, at the rate of $3 the thousand by
measurement, without any extra charge, but only for the arches of the windows
and the corniche.
Second,
and we trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, we bind ourselves to
pay to Mr. McColly Stout $3 per thousand of bricks, laid in the aforesaid
building, and the extra charge for the arches of the windows and cornice:
one-third of the work is progressing, the second third six months after the
beginning of the work, and the last, six months after the second.
McColly
Stout
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
N. J.
Perche, Priest
Meeting of
September 12, 1840
The
committee has been called to receive communication of a contract, made the day
before, with a carpenter, by the building committee. The contract is such:
The
known to all men that by this present writing I, William Talbot, and we
undersigned, trustees of the Catholic congregation of
First,
I, William Talbot, bind myself to put on the church which is to be erected in
Second,
we trustees of the Catholic congregation of Portland, we bind ourselves to
furnish all the materials for the roof and floor, and the scaffold, and to pay to
Mr. William Talbot $225 for making and putting on the roof and the floor, and
$120 for making and fixing the door and the windows, under the following terms:
A half of the sum will be paid while the work is progressing, the third fourth
shall be paid four months after the beginning of the work, and the last fourth
four months after the third fourth.
William
Talbot
N. J.
Perche, Priest
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
The Cornerstone
Meeting of
September 14, 1840
The
committee has been called to write down and account of the ceremony, which has
taken place the day before, in laying down the cornerstone of the
Translation
of the foregoing writing:
In the year of Our Lord 1840, of American
independence, Gregory the sixteenth being Pope, Benedict Joseph Flaget being
Bishop of Bardstown, Guy Ignatius Chabrat, Bishop of Bolina, his Coadjutor,
Martin van Buren, president of the United States, Letcher, Governor of the
State of Kentucky, Johnson, Mayor of the City of Louisville, the Rev. John
McGill preaching, the Rev. Napoleon Joseph Perche, Pastor of the Catholic
congregation of Portland, being present with several priests and with a great
concourse of people, Misters Charles Maquaire, Eugene Perrot, William Banon and
Peter Portman being trustees of the church, the Rev. Joseph D’Achuer,
pastor assistant of the German congregation of Louisville, has blessed with
Salomon rite this cornerstone, on the thirteenth of September, and laid it down
in the foundations of a church dedicated to Almighty God, under the invocation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the congregation usually called Portland.
N. J.
Perche, Priest
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
Rev. Joseph
D’Achuer
No
more is known of Fr. D’Achuer than that which is given in the Minute Book. The
Rev. John McGill
Rev.
John McGill (photo left), who
delivered the sermon at the laying of the cornerstone in later at the
dedication of the church, was born in Philadelphia, November 4, 1808. He came to Bardstown in 1828, and was
ordained priest June 13, 1835. At
the time of the building of the
Rev. Walter Coomes
Shortly
after Christmas 1840, Fr. Perche went to
Fr.
Coomes was the son of Ignatius Coomes, who was among the earlier Catholic settlers
in
Meeting of
May 6, 1841
The
committee has been called to receive the accounts of Mr. Perche, who went to
N. J.
Perche, Priest
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
Meeting of
May 15, 1841
The
committee has been called to receive communication of a contract made this very
day with a plasterer by the building committee, the contract is such:
The
known to all men that by this present writing I, undersigned, Michael Watkins,
and we trustees of the Catholic Church of Portland,
First,
I, Michael Watkins, bind myself to plaster the ceiling and walls of the
Second,
we trustees of the Catholic Church in
N. J.
Perche, Priest
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
Michael
Watkins
E. Perrot
A
few weeks after Fr. Perche returned from
A fair for raising funds to complete the Catholic
Church at
A
notice appeared in The Catholic Advocate on June 26th
which stated:
The Ladies Fair at
A
priceless treasure in the Fichteman family of this parish is a small
statue. It came into the possession
of their maternal grandparents during the disposal of the religious articles at
the fair. The statue is as old as
the church, and years ago was frequently carried in the May procession at Our
Lady’s.
Meeting of July 25, 1841
The
committee has been called to receive communication of the result of the fair
which has taken place for the benefit of the church in the month of June. All expenses paid, the clear profit has
amounted to $454. By adding it to
$142 for articles sold since, the total amount is $596, in which are included
the $240 spent in
In
the same meeting Mr. Perche has given communication of a contract which he has
made under his own responsibility the fifteenth of this month, with a carpenter,
for the internal work of the church.
The contract is such, translated from the French:
I, undersigned, Anthony Mangin, and we trustees of
the Catholic church of
First, I, undersigned, Anthony Mangin, bind myself
to finish the carpenter work in the interior part of the Church of Portland as
follows: To finish the actual gallery, and to put up the staircase to go up
there, and to make another gallery, fronting the first one, two feet lower, six
feet long, and twenty feet wide, a confessional box with two rooms, a communion
table, with the top of cherry–tree wood, the altar with the platform, a
step all around, and little steps over the altar, 52 pews, five feet and a half
long, made exactly in the same manner as the pews of the Catholic Church of
Louisville; a gate with railings, all varnished, painted, and ironed, so that
the work will be perfectly completed, adding to that the pulpit.
Second, we undersigned trustees of the Catholic
Church of Portland, we bind ourselves to pay to Mr. Anthony Mangin the sum of
$400 on the following terms: $200 while the work is progressing, $100 three
months after the date of this contract, and $100 six months after the date of the
same contract, if the work is finished.
The contract is signed Anthony Mangin, N. J. Perche, Priest, in the name
of the trustees:
N. J.
Perche, Priest
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
Meeting of
September 20, 1841
The
committee has been called to receive communication of a letter by which the
Bishop promises to come himself and bless, on the third of October, the
N. J. Perche,
Priest
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
Dedication of the
Meeting of
October 6, 1841
The
committee has been called to give an account of the ceremony of the benediction
of the church, which took place, on the Sunday, third of this month. The ceremony has been performed by Right
Rev. Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown Bishop Chabrat, his Coadjutor, was
present. The Mass was sung by Very
Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin, Vicar General; and the sermon preached by Rev. J.
McGill, pastor of the Catholic Church of Louisville. Mr. Perche, pastor of the
N. J.
Perche, Priest
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
Rosary
Sunday, October 3, 1841, was a joyful day for the members of the congregation,
when Bishop Flaget, assisted by his Right Rev. Coadjutor, dedicated the first
The dedication of the new church, at
The
many persons assembled to witness the dedication seemed gratified, and much
impressed by the beauty and propriety of the solemn ceremonies, of which
“the building made by hands” is thus set apart from profane uses,
and declared “the house of the Lord,” where henceforward He will
deign “to do well with men,” in order to console them in their
servers, hear their petitions, and distribute the treasures of His sanctifying
grace.
We
shall not attempt to furnish our readers with a description of this edifice,
which is small and unpretentious, but very neat, and quite ample for the number
of Catholics at present in
A
unique circumstance worthy of special mention is the fact that the 150,000
bricks were made and burned on the spot whereon the church was about to be
built. Those bricks are in the
present
On
the day of the dedication, October 3, Joseph Jacquemin, born on the 26th
of September, child of Matthias and Mary Lambermont, his wife, was baptized.
The
first marriage with a natural High Mass to be solemnized in the new church was
that of Paul Villier and Thaise Eugenie Maquaire, May 27, 1843.
The
following letter was written by a Fr. Perche for The Catholic Advocate shortly after the dedication of the church:
October 11, 1841
Mr. Editor:
Now that our church has been dedicated and the
inside work nearly completed, I feel it is a duty to give a fair statement of
our proceedings in this matter to our friends who have helped us in the
accomplishment of the good work.
You will then, confer a particular favor on me by inserting this letter
in your valuable paper, in order to give it as much publicity as I wish.
When we laid the cornerstone of our church, we had
about $1,200 of donations and subscriptions. Today our donations and subscriptions
have reached the amount of $3,000.
When we will have completed our payments, our expenses will amount to
$3,000 and some forty or fifty dollars.
So that in the course of one year, having no other help them charity of
our brethren, we have completed a good substantial brick building… the
whole for about $3,000. We still
owe $500 but several of our friends have not yet paid their subscriptions. And as I have no doubt that all who have
subscribed will come up to their promise, we will have accomplished our work
without leaving the congregation one cent of debt which, in these hard times, I
considered as a special favor of Divine Providence.
About two-thirds of the subscriptions and donations
are due in part to the exertions of our poor congregation and mostly to the
liberality of the citizens of
In expressing my warmest feelings of gratitude to
all who have contributed to the erection and decoration of the church, a feel
gratified to tell them that at a meeting of our trustees it was resolved that
with the ascent of the Right Rev. Bishop, every year in the octave of the
assumption, which is our patronal feast, a High Mass would be said in the
Our church is a great benefit to
I remain, sir, very respectfully yours,
J. Perche
– pastor of Portland
Missions Attached to the Parish
As
seen in the preceding sections, the territory of the parish was quite
extensive. The Minute Book records that “Mr. Banon agrees to keep his
horse.” Indeed a horse was a
necessity for a priest in those days to carry him to the scattered Catholics
living in the outlying missions.
St. Clare’s Church in
From
the records of St. Clare’s Church, Colesburg, is the following written by
Fr. Perche:
By a letter of the Right Rev. Bishop Chabrat,
Coadjutor of Bardstown, the Rev. N. J. Perche was appointed pastor of the Clear
Creek congregation in place of Rev. M. Chambige. Mr. Perche began his monthly visits in
November, 1839, and bound himself to visit the congregation and keep church and
St. Clare’s Church once the month for one, two or three days, according
to the ones of the congregation.
His first care in conformity with the will of the Bishop was to compose
a regular committee of trustees for the management of temporal business. In consequence, he presented to the
Bishop as candidates for the committee, Misters John Brewer, John Ryan, Felix
Fowler and James Booth. By letter
in date January 1, 1840, the Bishop sanctioned the nomination of these four
gentlemen as trustees of Clear Creek congregation.
At the first meeting, January 29, 1840, Mr.
Perche promised to come every month for $40 a year.
From
church records, it is possible to trace the many miles covered in the
administration of the Sacraments.
The Wiser and Woods families lived “on the
The
records state that James Buckman married Margaret Ann Shepherd of
Shepherdsville. James Buckman had a
sister, Sarah, who married David Addison (
About
a mile above Shepherdsville was Paroquette Springs where John Colmesnil lived. In Centenary
of Catholicity in Kentucky, Ben Webb states that he was of a noble French
family. A relative by marriage to
the Tarascons, he engaged in business with them, became wealthy, but some years
later misfortune overtook him. In
1833 he purchased the watering place afterwards known as Paroquette Springs,
where he lived until shortly before his death in 1871. Mention is made in the records of the
others of the Colmesnil family, probably his children and his children’s
children: Codney, Lodoika, William, Blanche, another John who married Sarah
Taylor, a sister Susan, who married John Brown. These Colmesnils lived at “White
Fottage nine miles from Paroquette Springs.”
The
first pastors of Our Lady’s Church made frequent trips through Jefferson,
Hardin and
“To
keep the pastor’s horse” was there for almost as necessary as
“to pay for his lodging, fire and candle.” For several years the pastor of the
Fr. Perche
Leaves Our Lady’s
As
noted, When Fr. Perche was in
Meeting of December 15, 1841
The
committee has been called to receive communication of the resolution taken by
Mr. Perche to go to the South. On
his request the trustees have gone to the church to make an inventory of all
articles left in the church. They
have found the church, built, covered and plastered according to conditions
expressed in the foregoing contracts.
They have found also in the church two galleries build up according to
the plan which was given, a confessional box, 52 pews, an altar, the whole
according to the contract made with the carpenter, who has yet to make the
pulpit, and some other little jobs, before he has finished. On the altar they have also found a
tabernacle in marble. They went on
then to the inventories of the several articles; and they have called to that
in and tori Mr. Nicholas Albert, chosen as a trustee of the church in place of
Mr. Eugene Perrot, and nominated by the Bishop. The inventory is such as follows:
|
A chalice and patina in a leather box |
Several pieces of silk, linen and rubans |
|
An Ostensorium in a linen covering |
An exposition for the Blessed Sacrament |
|
A ciborium and two veils for it |
A glass, a lamp, a portative Holy Water font |
|
Two pairs of cruets |
A crucifix over the tabernacle and in the sacristy |
|
A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
A looking glass, a pincushion for the sacristy |
|
Fourteen flower pots |
Four pictures in the sacristy |
|
Eight bunches of flowers |
Nine engravings in the church |
|
Two crowns for the Blessed Virgin |
A crucifix at the bottom of the church |
|
Seven pairs of candlesticks |
Two charis, four benches in the sanctuary |
|
Ten wax preserves |
16 benches in the gallery |
|
A thurible |
A surplice |
|
Four boxes of incense in cartons |
A water bucket, a coal bucket and five brooms |
|
Three tablecloths for communion |
Two stoves, two shovels and two tongs |
|
Five altar underclothes |
Six curtains in the church, one in the sacristy |
|
Steven altar cloths |
A bookstand for the singing |
|
Three pairs of side altar cloths |
A Missal, a Book of Gospels, a Book of Canticles,
a gradual, a vesperal, all included in two chests, which are in the sacristy |
|
Two pastoral stoles |
One pair of table cloths for each altar and one
pair of upper cloths for the same |
|
Six towels |
Five palles |
|
Four surplices |
Seven corporals |
|
Nine albs |
Sixteen amices |
|
A cap |
22 purificators |
|
Four albs and two belts for the same |
24 finger towels |
|
Two cassocks for the children |
A bouse for the Blessed Sacrament |
|
Three cords |
A black antependium |
|
Three small corporals |
Two coverings for the altar |
|
Three altar cards |
Two coverings for the tabernacle |
|
A cope |
Seven chasubles, stoles, maniples, veils and
bourses |
|
A scarf for benediction |
A piece of muslin a careau |
|
Six candlesticks in wood |
Black for curtains |
|
Six banboches in crystal |
Two scarves |
|
One wreath of flowers and a bouquet |
A sac for the Sacrament |
In
the same time the trustees have made up the accounts of the church. The expenses made by Mr. Maquaire, the
treasure, for the construction of the church, reach $2,439, 29 ¾ and the
receipt by the same his $2,184, 86 ¼. It follows that Mr. Maquaire has allowed
$254, 43 ½ more then he has received an order to be even with the
payments. It is due more than that
by the subscribers, and when that money will come in a part of that should be
returned to Mr. Maquaire, who has advanced it for the church, and the other
part of those of the creditors who have not been yet paid. In all that is not included the expense
which Mr. Perche has made individually, nor the income he has got by himself
for the church.
N. J. Perche, Priest
N. Albert
C. Maquaire
William
Banon
Peter
Portman
Paintings & Statues
In
the Notes of the First Church by Mrs.
Josephine Villier Maryman, it notes that the church had two oil paintings; one
the Death of St. John the Baptist,
the other, St. Thomas placing his hands
in the wounds of Our Lord. When
the church was enlarged they were removed and never replaced. It is not known whether they were of
great value. They are gone and no
trace of them can be found.
Two
statues are mentioned in the notes: St. Charles Borromeo, imported from
Nicholas
Albert
Nicholas
Albert, who became a member of the committee of management in 1841, is listed
in the Centenary of Catholicity in
Kentucky among the early French settlers in
He
married Anna Hoin, whose people also came from
The
name of Nicholas Albert appears in the city directory: (1843) Nicholas Albert,
In
December, 1851 Mr. Albert was chairman of the board of trustees in the town of
Committee of Management 1851
William Banon, Nicholas Albert,
Charles Maquaire, pastor Rev. John Jerome Vital, Philip McAtee
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