It was to be some years before the nativistic frenzy that led to the burning of nunneries in New York and Boston would reach its peak, but as early as 1828 Josiah Priest, publishing in Albany, was calling the Catholic Church “Babylon the Great.” Rochester, next door to Palmyra, blistered the Roman Church at every opportunity, theRochester Observer calling it “the Beast” and “the mother of abominations.” When Catholic stagecoach- owners refused to abolish Sunday mails at the request of ^Protestant owners, theRochester Album published on February 29, 1828 an obviously counterfeit letter bearing
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