WAS LAS CASAS THE FIRST PRIEST ORDAINED IN AMERICA?

New Zealand Tablet, 1 April 1920, Page 13

WAS LAS CASAS THE FIRST PRIEST ORDAINED IN AMERICA?

Was Father Las Casas, the defender of the Indians, the first priest ordained in America, as has frequently been asserted? (says the Fort nightly Review, U.S.A.) One of the latest to make or repeat the statement is the Rev. James Higgins, a priest of the archdiocese of Boston, in a book for Catholic schools, entitled Stories of Great Heroes, published with the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Boston. But if .Father Las. Casas was ordained in America before 1514.” The Review writer thinks that he was ordained “toward the end of 1510,” but this can hardly be, for, as the Catholic Historical Review pointed out a year or two ago, “we know of no bishop in Spanishpossibly Casas said his first Mass here, “but an authentic record of his ordination is not forthcoming.” If a new edition of Father Higgins’ book should .appear, it is to be hoped that either the chapter title,, “The First Priest Ordained in America,” will be changed, or that the authority for the assertion will be given. It serves no good purpose to' teach children in Catholic schools “facts” of history which they may have to unlearn later.