July 9, 1909.
Mr. Anthony Matre,
Secretary, American Federation of Catholic Societies, St. Louis, Mo.
Dear Sir: The American Red Cross is in receipt of the expected reply from the American Ambassador at Rome to an inquiry of the Embassy adverted to in my letter to you dated April 12, 1909.
Mr. Griscom states that there was no true basis for the statement published in the Catholic Transcript in Rome and quoted by you in the open letter, whereby you charged the American Red Cross with grave wrong to the Italian children made orphans by the earthquake of December 28, 1908, the offense consisting in the assignment of the control of the American Red Cross Italian Orphanage, and the instruction and rearing of these orphans to non-Catholics, such as Hebrews, Masons, and Socialists.
AFTER WORKING HOURS, MESSINA.
Mr. Griscom, to whom I sent a copy of your attack upon the Red Cross, brought the matter to the attention of Countess Spalletti Rasponi, the President of the Queen’s Orphanage, who, as such, has general supervision over the branch of the same known as the American Red Cross Orphanage, and for which latter Mr. Bruno Chimerri is Chairman of the Executive Committee.
The following is a translation of a quotation from a letter from the Countess Spalletti to Mr. Griscom, the American Ambassador, dated Rome, April 19, 1909:
“After reading the article published in the Catholic Transcript of March 25, 1909, I consider myself, as the President of the Queen’s Orphanage, bound to reassure your excellency, and send you some information regarding the system pursued by those placed in control of the orphans in choosing a place for the orphans and abandoned minors, with the tutelage of whom we have been charged by the royal decree, dated January 14, 1909.