PORTLAND
287
PORTLAND
work, Sabatier defends the Indulgence, although in
his world-famous "Vie de S. Francois" (Paris, 1804),
he had denied its historicity (412 sqcj.); he explains
the silence of St. P'rancis and his companions and
biographers as due to reasons of discretion etc.
Others seek to accord more weight to the later testi-
monies by accentuating their connexion with the
first generation of the order; others again find al-
lusions to the Indulgence in the old legends of St.
Francis. On the other hand, the opponents regard
the gap between 1216 and 1277 as unbridgable, and
hold that the grounds brought forward by the de-
fenders to explain this silence had vanished long
before the latter date. No new documents have
been found recently in favour of the authenticity of
the Indulgence.
ViTALis, Paradisus seraphicus: Partiuncula sacra (Milan, l&4o^ : Growels, Hist. crit. sacra indulgenticB B. Marice Angelorum (Ant- werp. 1726): Actit SS., II. Oct., 545 sqq.; A^•>^B.\u de L.\tlra, Dissertaiiones critico-historioB (Rome, 17S4) : Amedeo d.a Solero, Gloria deUa sacra Porziuncula, ossia compendia storico di S. Maria degli Angeli (Perugia, 1858); Barnab^ d'Alsace (Meister- uank). La Portionctde ou hist, de Ste-Marie des Anges (Foligno, 1884), Ital. tr. (Foligno. 1884): German tr. (Riiheim, Alsace, 1884); new Ital. ed. Sta Maria degli Angeli (1895); Sabatier, Etude criiique sur la concession de V Indulgence de la Port, in Revue hist.. LXII (Paris, 1896), 282-318 (for the authenticity of the origin of the Indulgence) ; Paclus, Die Bewilligung des Portiuncula-Ablasses in Die Katholik. I (Mainz, 1899), 97-125 (for): Idem, Ibid., II (1901), 185-7 (against the authenticity of the origin of the Indulgence); SATt^l^^^■o (Mencherini) da Caprese, L'addio di S. Francesco alia Verna etc. (Prato, 1901), with documents: D'ALExgoN in Etudes francisc, XI (Paris. 1903), 585 sqq.; Faloci. Gli storici della Porziuncula in Misc. francesc, X (Foligno. 1906). 63 sqq.. 97 sqq., 129 sqq., 161 sqq.; KlRSCH, Die Portiuncula-Ablass in Theolog. Quartalschr.. LXXXVIII (Tubingen, 1906), 81-101; 211-91, published separately (Tu- bingen. 1906), against; Ideu, Litt. Beilaged. Koln. Volksztg., LXIX. n. 10 (5 March, 1908), against; Van Orthoy in Anal. Bolland.. XXI (1902). 372-80, doubtful: XXVI (1907), 140-1. against: Lemmexs, Die attesten Zeugnisse far d. Portiunkutaablass in Die Katholik. 1 (1908). 169-84, 253-67, for; Holzapfel, Die Enlste- hungd. Port. Ablasses in Archir. francisc. hist., I (Quaracchi. 1908), 31—45, for; Bihl in Archir. francisc. hist., I. 653 sqq.; Fierens, De Geschiedkundige Oorsprong ran het Afloat van Portiunkula (Ghent, 1910), re-edited critically all desirable documents, for. See also bibUognaphy, Francis of Assisi, Saint.
Michael Bihl.
Portland, Diocese of, in the State of Maine, suiTragan of Boston, estabhshed by Pius IX, 8 Dec., 18.54. \^"hen erected it included the territorial limits of the present States of Maine and New Hampshire. Pre\'ious to that time it was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Baltimore and later of the Bishop of Boston. In 1884 the diocese was divided. New Hampshire being made a separate diocese and the episcopal see located at Manchester (q. v.). The present Diocese of Portland includes all the State of Maine. It has an area of 29,89.5 square miles, and a Cathohc population of 125,000, or one-sixth of the total population. The diocese is organized in the form of a corporation sole, the title of which is "Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland".
Earlv History. — The earliest attempts at Cath- olic colonization in the north or east of what is known as the United States took place in Southern Maine. In 1604, sixleen years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Henn,- IV, King of France, gave authority to Pierre du Gaust, Sieur de Monts, to establish colo- nies between the 40th and 46th degrees of north lati- tude. He landed at Cape La Heve, on the southern part of the Nova Scotian coast, and after making several expeditions to the north in the \'icinity of the St. LawTence, sailed .south and discovered and named the River St. John, thence south to an island which he named Ste-Croix, or Holy Cross, and now called De Monts Island. The Ste-Croix River derived its name from this island, and to-day flows by the east- ernmost part of the United States. A colony was established on this island, and in their chapel in July, 1604, Holy Mass was offered for the first time in New England by the Rev. Nicholas Aubray of Paris. The hardships of the severe winter were such that seventy- nine of the colonists died before the opening of spring.
From Ste-Croix Island on 12 September, 1605,
Chaniplain set out on a voyage of discovery. He
sailed west along the coast as far as the Penobscot
River, which he ascended to the mouth of the Ken-
duskeag Stream, the present site of Bangor. The
falls, a mile above, prevented further progress. De-
scending the Penobscot River, Champlain sailed west
to the mouth of the Kennebec and then returned to the
Island of Holy Cross. No doubt Holy Mass was
offered up on this voyage. This was the first foothold
of France and Cat holicism in t he North. Potrincourt
who succeeded De Mont, after receiving a blessing on
his labours from the pope, applied himself to the work
of colonization and Christianizing the natives. Two
Jesuits, Fathers Peter Biard and Enemond Mass6,
who were sent to him after some work among the
Micmacs of Nova Scotia, came to Maine, and began
their verj- successful labours among the Abenaki. In
a vessel under the command of La Saussaye, having
on board also Fathers Quentin and Lalemant, and the
lay brother Du Thet, who had lately come from
France, they sailed to the west and came to Mt.
Desert Island, where they landed, and having erected
a cross, set up an altar, and, after offering the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mas.s, founded a settlement which they
called St. Sau\-eur, or Holy Redeemer. This settle-
ment was destroyed by Argall, who came from Vir-
ginia. The Fathers were taken prisoners, and after
many hardships were finally returned to France.
Brother Du Thet was killed and buried on this island.
Some Capuchins were afterwards stationed along
the coast in the French posts, and had a convent at
Castine, and some settlements along the Kennebec.
In 1646, Father Gabriel Druillettes was sent to the
Kennebec and established the mission of the Assump-
tion among the Abenaki, obtaining wonderful results
from this docile people. In 1652, he returned to
Canada, but in 1656 and 1657, came again and con-
tinued his work. Rev. Laurent Molin, a Franciscan,
laboured at Pentagoet. In 1667, Father Morain was
successful with the Penobscots and Passamaquoddj'
Indians. In 1667, Father Thiu'y, a secular priest,
came to the Penobscots and laboiKed successfully
among them to the close of his life. In 1668, he estab-
lished the mission at Panawaniski, at Oldtown. He
was succeeded by Fathers Gaudin and Rageot, who
remained among the Penobscots until 1703. In 1668,
Father Bigot erected a chapel at Narantsouac, now
Norridgewock, restoring the mission. The Jesuits,
Fathers Joseph de la Chasse, Julian Binneteau,
Joseph Auben.-, Sebastian Rasle. Sebastian Lauvergat
and Loyard, laboured in turn. Of these Father Rasle
is the best known. He came to Norridgewock in
1695. There he found a chapel and had the Indians
instructed. In 1705, the English destroyed the chapel
and village. They were rebuilt in 1722, were once
more destroyed, and Father Rasle's treasures were
carried off, including his dictionary of the Abenaki
language, now in Harvard College. Father Rasle
was murdered and scalped on 23 August, 1724, and his
scalp carried to Boston. His body was buried on the
spot where the altar had stood. Father James de
Sirenne restored the mission at Norridgewock in 1730.
For a long period during the wars the Indians were
without missionaries, yet they remained faithful.
Numbers of the Abenaki fought for the Colonies dur-
ing the War of Independence. After the war, when
Bishop Carroll was consecrated first Bishop of the
United States, the Indians sent a deputation to him
for a priest. Father Ciquard, a priest of St. Sulpice,
was sent in answer to this appeal and remained for
ten years, until 1794. In 1797, the Rev. John Chev-
erus, then a missionarj' at Boston, came to visit the
Indians and remained three months, and while priest
and first Bishop of Boston, visited them every year
until 1804, built them a church and gave them Father
Romagne aa their pastor. The latter devoted him-
