The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky #228493

Fifteen years ago the historical record herewith presented to the Catholic public of the country was suggested to me by a clerical friend, now deceased, of the Archdiocese of Boston. Too much occupied at the time with business affairs to give thought to the matter, I allowed it to pass from my mind. Toward the close of the year 1876, I was again approached on the subject, this time by a number of Kentucky priests, all personal friends. They were importunate, and nothing I could say in Opposition to their views had any effect to moderate their persistency. They argued that the work suggested was called for in justice to the memory Of the dead, and in the interests of the living children of the Church, not only in Kentucky, but in every part of the country; that the past Of the Church in our State had been an era of true christian heroism, and that the part taken in its foundation and early extension by both priests and people, if faithfully chronicled and set before the eyes of their successors and descendants, would furnish both with motives for increased zeal in the service of God. My fitness for the task proposed was assumed by these friends from the fact, that having been, either as publisher or editor, connected with the Catholic press of the diocese for more than forty years, I had necessarily acquired something of facility as a writer, and something, too, of skill in the arrangement Of matter supposed to be of general Catholic interest. Finally, as they expressed it, to none other than myself had there been given Opportunities to learn what was absolutely necessary to a faithful record of facts bearing on the subject involved, and of incidents relating thereto and hence it was their conviction that the consummation of the work depended solely upon my willing ness to undertake it.