[178] Incredible as this may seem, it is nevertheless true.
[179] “Nomine loci videtur intelligi superficies realis corporis circumdantis, non tamen secundum se solum, sed prout immobilis, hoc est, prout est affixa tali spatio imaginario” (De Sacr. Euch., disp. 5, sect. 4).
[180] Loc. cit., sect. 5, n. 123.
[181] Corpus Christi non est in hoc sacramento sicut in loco, sed per modum substantiæ.… Unde nullo modo corpus Christi est in hoc sacramento localiter.—Summ. Theol., p. 3, q. 76, a. 5.
[182] Sed contra: omnia duo loca distinguuntur ad invicem secundum aliquam loci contrarietatem, qua sunt sursum et deorsum, ante, retro, dextrum et sinistrum. Sed Deus non potest facere quod duo contraria sint simul; hoc enim implicat contradictionem. Ergo Deus non potest facere quod idem corpus localiter sit simul in duobus locis.—Quodlib. 3, q. 1, a. 2.
[183] A bird in hand, etc.
[184] Full title of the original publication: Origine et Progrès de la Mission du Kentucky (Etats-Unis d’Amérique). Par un Témoin Oculaire. Prix, 1 fr. au profit de la Mission. A Paris: chez Adrien Le Clere, Imprimeur de N. S. P. le Pape, et de S. E. Mgr. le Cardinal Archevêque de Paris. Quai des Augustins, No. 35. 1821.
[185] And even now, for one or two dollars an acre, fertile land can be purchased in the vast extent of country watered by the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Arkansas, etc.—that land which Bonaparte sold to the United States in 1801 for ten million dollars. Kentucky produces in abundance all sorts of grain, especially corn, and also sweet potatoes, tobacco, cotton, flax, hemp, and indigo. In the month of February the inhabitants tap the maple tree, in order to procure a liquid which they boil until it is reduced to syrup or sugar. The wild grape-vine grows to the height of thirty or forty feet, but the grapes are small and the wine acrid; moreover, Americans do not understand the culture of the vine.
[186] When it is necessary to cross a desert, or when the guide loses his way in the forest—which is of frequent occurrence—then the missionaries are obliged to spend the night in the woods, to sleep on the ground near a large fire, by the light of which they read their Breviary.
[187] The city of Detroit and the church were accidentally burned seventeen years ago. The city was afterwards rebuilt and captured by the English, assisted by the savages, during the last war with the United States. Since the conclusion of peace there has been a cathedral built, to which the Sovereign Pontiff has attached an episcopal seat in perpetuity. The missions of Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, and Post Vincennes were then almost entirely formed of French Canadians. With regard to all the territory mentioned in this narrative, one can consult M. Arrowsmith, an American geographer, whose work can be found in Paris at Dezauche’s, Rue des Noyers, No. 40.