Office of the Historian

File No. 812.404/97.

The Archbishop of Mexico to the Secretary of State.

New Orleans, March 12, 1915.

Before all, I am obliged to state that I left the City of Mexico May 11, 1914, on my way to Rome in order to settle some very serious and [Page 1023] urgent affairs. For this reason I was not able to be a witness to what I tell you, but I have known it either from letters received from well-known persons or on the testimony of those worthy of belief. I have this to state:

1.
That the Very Rev. D. Francis C. Kelley, D. D., holds the statement of a nun who, flying from Mexico for fear of such outrages, went to Havana—a statement made before his excellency the Archbishop of New Orleans, Monsignor Blenk.
2.
I know, through persons who merit entire confidence, that in truth there were some nuns outraged, not exactly in the City of Mexico but in the northern part of the country ruled by the Carrancistas.
3.
A lady of the Mexican White Cross assured a parish priest that in the Maternity Home of Mexico she had seen eleven violated nuns.
4.
I have seen in Havana nuns of the order of Jesus and Mary, Servants of Mary, Little Sisters of the Poor, Teresians, Carmelites, Capuchins, and others, all of whom left the Republic of Mexico for fear of these savage attacks.
5.
It is moreover known publicly that all these outrages are spoken of and commented on in public, although no names of persons are given.
6.
I have been told with entire certitude of the violation of honest maids who have suffered this outrage.
7.
I know, also by a person to whom it was told, that certain nuns were thrown out of their house in the city of Mexico, and taken to a barracks where they passed the night.

With all that goes above, if the great number of attacks by these revolutionaries is taken into account, I believe that in reality there have been many violations of nuns, perhaps not in the exact amount which some have assigned, but certainly enough to make evident the lack of shame on the part of these men, and their savagery.

It can well be that Señor Paredes was not a witness to these facts, but that does not hinder them from having taken place.

[Not signed.]

By Archbishop of Mexico.
Delivered to State Dept by Monseigneur Russell.