Placide Louis Chapelle

Placide Louis Chapelle (August 28, 1842 – August 9, 1905) was a French-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Santa Fe (1894–1897) and later Archbishop of New Orleans (1897–1905). Following the Spanish–American War, he also served as Apostolic Delegate to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Early life and education Chapelle was born in Fraissinet-de-Lozère to Jean Pierre and Sophia (née Viala) Chapelle. His mother died in childbirth in 1847, when Chapelle was five years old. He received his early education in Mende and completed his classical studies at Collège Saint-Augustin in Enghien, Belgium.

At age 17, he was brought to the United States by his uncle Jean Chapelle, a missionary priest in Haiti who worked on the Vatican's concordat with the Haitian government and was on the eve of being appointed Archbishop of Port-au-Prince before his death in 1861. He studied for the priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, graduating in 1863. At that point he was still too young to be ordained and therefore taught at St. Charles College for two years.

Priesthood Chapelle was ordained a priest on June 28, 1865, by Archbishop Martin John Spalding. His first assignment was as pastor of St. Mary's Church in Rockville, which included several missions throughout Montgomery County. One of his assistant pastors was Jeremiah O'Sullivan, later Bishop of Mobile (1885–1896). While there he furthered his studies at St. Mary's Seminary and earned a doctorate in theology in 1868. His educational pursuits led his parishioners in Rockville to petition Archbishop Spalding for a new pastor, complaining that Chapelle was "invisible during the week and incomprehensible on Sundays."

Archbishop Spalding took a great interest in Chapelle and brought him to the First Vatican Council (1869–1870) as a theological consultant. Gibbons chose Chapelle as his secretary for the investigation, and Archbishop Francis Xavier Leray was so impressed with Chapelle that he requested to have him for a coadjutor bishop.

Upon Salpointe's retirement on January 7, 1894, Chapelle succeeded him as the third Archbishop of Santa Fe. That same year he persuaded Saint Katharine Drexel to reopen St. Catherine's Indian School, a boarding school for Native American children in Santa Fe, under the control of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. He consecrated the then-unfinished Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi in October 1895. He confirmed approximately 40,000 people during his six years in New Mexico.

Archbishop of New Orleans Francis Janssens, who had been chosen over Chapelle to lead the Archdiocese of New Orleans a decade earlier, died in June 1897. Fifteen days after Janssens' death, Chapelle had an audience with Pope Leo XIII, who made it clear that he intended to appoint Chapelle to the post. The priests of New Orleans also put forward Chapelle's name as their top choice for a new archbishop. Chapelle was officially appointed the sixth Archbishop of New Orleans on December 1, 1897. The debt was erased by the end of 1903, but not without complaint from his priests about the new tax he imposed on them. Chapelle also reopened the diocesan seminary, which had closed due to financial pressure in 1881. Under the treaty, which was signed on December 10 that year, Spain ceded the heavily Catholic colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. Chapelle was credited with the clause in Article 8 guaranteeing the Church's right to keep its properties in those territories. When the Treaty of Paris rejected the Philippine Declaration of Independence and annexed the Philippines to the United States, it also protected the property rights of the Church (and therefore the friars) — thanks in part to Chapelle's contributions. This helped fuel the Philippine Revolution, during which the friars were driven from their churches and their property was confiscated by Emilio Aguinaldo and his fellow revolutionaries. Chapelle protested this policy, accusing General Otis' advisers of being "animated with a narrow-minded spirit of hostility to the Catholic Church, whilst they should look at the question presented to them from a disinterested and American point of view."

Chapelle's actions were seen as worsening relations between the Church and the Filipinos, and his mission was regarded by many as a failure.