 |  1842
Pierce departed Grand Coteau for Rome to seek the Pope's permission to enter the Catholic priesthood. He took with him his eldest child, Merty, then only nine years old. Cornelia and Bishop Blanc opposed taking Merty from his mother and his home in Grand Coteau but Pierce had his way leaving with Merty by way of Philadelphia. On the way they stopped in England where Lord Shrewsbury had offered to pay for Merty's education at an English boarding school (Oscott). This fit well into Pierce’s dream of making Merty into a proper English gentleman. Alone in a foreign country, Merty did not prosper in school.
Go and accept whatever God sends, whether it be joy or suffering, praise or humiliation. –CC |