Charles Chiniquy

The original title of this post was, “Insights from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Chicago of 1850 how the Catholic Church took over America”. I first posted it on April 9, 2014. It’s an excerpt from chapter 47 of Charles Chiniquy’s classic book, “50 Years in the Church of Rome” I am reposting it now with more information because I consider this extremely important history that most Americans don’t know. I shared it a few weeks ago with a member of the Republican committee to re-elect the former Guamanian governor, Felix Camacho. He was very interested to hear it.

Synopsis

In 1850, Roman Catholic Priest Charles Chinquy from Quebec Canada was encouraged by the Bishop of Chicago to lead a group of Catholic immigrants to pioneer a settlement in the farm country of Illinois. The purpose was to populate the fertile US states of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas with Roman Catholic farmers. There were two reasons for this.

1. So that Catholics remain united together in settlements so that they are not so easily influenced by the Protestants and Protestant theology in order for them to remain in the Roman Catholic Church.

2. By populating the rich midwest US farmland with Catholics, the Roman Catholic Church will control the breadbasket of the USA and eventually the American government!

The settlement Charles Chiniquy pioneered, St. Anne Illinois, exists to this day. It’s about 40 miles south of where I was raised in Chicago. I never knew about St. Anne or Charles Chiniquy when I was young. I sure didn’t hear about him in the Chicago Catholic elementary school I attended! As a Catholic priest, he suffered much abuse from other priests and bishops of the Church and eventually left it to become a Protestant minister. And to a man, his entire parish of St. Anne followed him and left the Church of Rome with him! You can read about that on this website: “Hurrah for St. Anne, the grave of the tyranny of the Bishops of Rome in America!”

Introduction to the characters.

“Charles Chiniquy (1809-1899) was a Canadian Presbyterian convert from Roman Catholicism, born at Kamouraska, Quebec, Canada to Roman Catholic parents, and studied at the college of Nicolet, Canada, professor of belles-lettres there after graduation until 1833. in 1833 ordained a Roman Catholic priest, and until 1846 was vicar and curate in the province of Quebec where he established the first temperance (anti-drinking alcohol) society, winning the title “Apostle of Temperence of Canada.” In 1851 established an extensive Roman Catholic colony at Kankakee, Illinois. In 1858 left the church of Rome and joined the Canadian Presbyterian Church taking his congregation at Kankakee with him. Lectured in England and in Australia (1878-1882). Published a number of books and tracts on temperance and anti-Romanism, some of which became very popular and were translated into several languages.” (From “The Wycliffe Biographical Dictionary of the Church,” page 90, Elgin S. Moyer, 1982, ©Moody Press, Chicago, IL)

James Oliver Van de Velde (April 3, 1795 – November 13, 1855) was a U.S. Catholic bishop born in Belgium. He served as the second Roman Catholic Bishop of Chicago between 1849 and 1853. He is the Bishop who wrote the following letter to Charles Chiniquy in 1850.

James Oliver Van de Velde

Letter from the Rev. Bishop Vandeveld, of Chicago to Charles Chiniquy

On the 15th of December, 1850, I received the following letter:

“Chicago, Ill., December 1st, 1850.

“Rev. Father Chiniquy:

“Apostle of Temperance of Canada.

“Dear Sir: When I was in Canada, last fall, I intended to confer with you on a very important subject, but you were then working in the diocese of Boston, and my limited time prevented me from going so far to meet you. You are aware that the lands of the State of Illinois and the whole valley of the Mississippi are among the richest and most fertile of the world. In a near future, those regions, which are now a comparative wilderness, will be the granary, not only of the United States, but of the whole world; and those who will possess them will not only possess the very heart and arteries of this young and already so great republic, but will become its rulers.

“It is our intention, without noise, to take possession of those vast and magnificent regions of the west in the name and for the benefit of our holy Church. Our plan to attain that object, is as sure as easy. There is, every year, an increasing tide of emigration from the Roman Catholic regions of Europe and Canada towards the United States. Unfortunately, till now, our emigrants have blindly scattered themselves among the Protestant populations, which too often absorb them and destroy their faith.

“Why should we not direct their steps to the same spot? Why should we not, for instance, induce them to come and take possession of these fertile states of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, ect. They can get those lands now, at a nominal price. If we succeed, as I hope we will, our holy Church will soon count her children here by ten and twenty millions, and through their numbers, their wealth and unity, they will have such a weight in the balance of power that they will rule everything.

“The Protestants, always divided among themselves, will never form any strong party without the help of the united vote of our Catholic people; and that party alone, which will ask and get our help by yielding to our just demands, will rule the country. Then, in reality, though not in appearance, our holy Church will rule the United States, as she is called by our Saviour Himself to rule the whole world. There is, today, a wave of emigrants from Canada towards the United States, which, if not stopped or well directed, is threatening to throw the good French Canadian people into the mire of Protestantism. Your countrymen, when once mixed with the numberless sects which try to attract them, are soon shaken in their faith. Their children sent to Protestant schools, will be unable to defend themselves against the wily and united efforts made to pervert them.

“But put yourself at the head of the emigrants from Canada, France and Belgium; prevent them from settling any longer among the Protestants, by inducing them to follow you to Illinois, and with them, you will soon see here, a Roman Catholic people, whose number, wealth and influence will amaze the world. God Almighty has wonderfully blessed your labours in Canada in that holy cause of temperance. But now the work is done, the same Great God presents to your Christian ambition a not less great and noble work for the rest of your life. Make use of your great influence over your countrymen to prevent them from scattering any longer among Protestants, by inducing them to come here, in Illinois. You will then lay the foundation of a Roman Catholic French people, whose piety, unity, wealth and number will soon renew and revive, on this continent, the past and fading glories of the Church of France.

“We have already, at Bourbonnais, a fine colony of French Canadians. They long to see and hear you. Come and help me to make that comparatively small, though thriving people, grow with the immigrants from the French-speaking countries of Europe and America, till it covers the whole territory of Illinois with its sturdy sons and pious daughters. I will ask the Pope to make you my coadjutor, and you will soon become my successor, for I already feel too weak and unhealthy to bear alone the burden of my too large diocese.

“Please consider what I propose to you before God, and answer me. But be kind enough to consider this overture as strictly confidential between you and me, till we have brought our plans into execution.

“Truly yours, Olvi Vandeveld,
“Bishop of Chicago.”

(End of excerpt. You can read the entire chapter.)

Back to the 21st century: Ask yourself, did Bishop Vandeveld’s plan work? Catholics now outnumber any single Protestant denomination in the Senate and House of Representatives! Please see Catholics rise to prominence in Congress. This would have been unthinkable in the 19th century! Only a little over one hundred years ago, the Church of Rome was considered by Protestant Christians to be the enemy of American liberties! When you consider that the other Protestant denominations do not work with each other, it means the Vatican has quite a bit of control over the US government through their loyal members of the Church of Rome! The Supreme Court alone, six of out nine justices, are Catholics!

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