River of the Conception
Its incriminating Presence on the map
The appearance of the Rivière de La Conception on this map goes far to demonstrate that the map was created in the 19th century. This name for the Mississippi is found on no map or in no text during the French colonial period.
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A Divine Coincidence What in 1844 was believed to be the newly discover "real" Marquette narrative (upon which the 1681 published narrative was based as an abridgement), rejoices in Jolliet having arrived to meet Marquette in 1672 on December 8th, auspiciously coincidental with the day of the Feast of Immaculate Conception. The day "was precisely the Day on which Monsieur Jollyet [Page 89] arrived with orders from Monsieur the Count de Frontenac, Our Governor, and Monsieur Talon, Our Intendant, to accomplish This discovery with me."* There is no evidence that an "order" ever existed with Marquette's name on it. The records of a 1673 expedition, Governor Frontenacs brief mention in letters to minister Colbert in Paris, mention Jolliet only. The map and the texts were fabricated in 1844 were intented to lay mutually beneficial paper trails. |
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For the Catholic Church at mid-19th century, a revitalized focus on the adoration of the Virgin moved the Pope to designate the Immaculate Conception an article of faith:
The U.S. bishops dedicated this nation to the Immaculate Conception in 1846. In 1854, it was proclaimed dogma, one of two times in post-medieval history that a pope [Pius IX] has claimed to have made an infallible declaration.*
In 1842 Chicago was created as diocese. The growth of the Church in the Midwest was increasingly significantly.
The midwest was burgeoning with European Catholic immigrants. The Jesuits, long having been banished from Canada, had been allowed to return in 1842. The appeal to the faithful of the Virgin Mother offered the Jesuits an inspired opportunity to redraft the historical record, and aver falsely that Marquette not only had been on an expedition of discovery in 1673, but he had named the Mississippi La Conception.