Excerpt from First Report of the New England Catholic Historical Society, 1901 The lack of concerted action as regards Catholic historical work in New England has long been noticed. Local chronicles, parish sketches and diocesan histories have from time to time come before the public, but their character has not been such as to give entire satisfaction, as they did not exhibit the depth of research that such work calls for. The philosophy of history has not been given due consideration, nor can this be done until practically all the data that lie hidden shall have been brought to light. To reach final results in so broad a field, the delvers must be many, their inquiries thorough, and their conclusions verified, correlated and compiled methodically. A necessary means to such an end is the impulse of organization, which, moreover, serves as a splendid guide to individual effort. This thought has been the inspiration of those who have brought into corporate being the New England Catholic Historical Society, and who have thereby determined to retrieve, if possible, past negligence, to foster honest research, and to provide the future with accurate material for real history. It is not the purpose of this society to content itself with parochial or diocesan chronicling, though this is an integral part of its scheme. Its aim is deeper and broader. It is to strive towards the perfecting of a complete presentation Of Catholic events, and to show more clearly the influence of the Church in the New England States. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.