Dom Basil Matthews was born in Trinidad, B.W.I., September 2, 1911, the son of Mr. And Mrs. James Lewis Matthews. He attended the elementary catholic schools in Trinidad from 1915 to 1924, and St. Mary’s College, Trinidad, 1924 to 1928.

He entered the Benedictine Seminary, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad, in 1928 and was professed August 6, 1930. He studied at the Benedictine College of Theology, Louvain, Belgium, from 1933 to 1935 and was ordained December 21, 1935, having the distinction of being the first colored priest in the Benedictine Order in all its fifteen hundred years of existence. After teaching theology and philosophy for five years in Trinidad, he came to the United States in 1941 to study at Fordham University and obtained his M.A. in political philosophy and sociology in 1943.

During the year 1942-1943, Father Matthews was assistant professor of Religion at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, New York City.

He has completed his studies for his doctorate at Fordham, and has returned to Trinidad to study Negro family organization, as a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Address: Benedictine Seminary, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad, B.W.I.

Africa and America meet in Trinidad. America 70:148-149 November 13, 1943. Social and economic life, developed under the colonial plantation system, have produced undernourishment, disease, and disreputable housing. Reconstruction of the social order in Trinidad is an urgent matter.

Calypso and Pan-America. Commonweal 37:91-93 November 13, 1942.

The British West Indies represent an organic mixture of Spanish, French, African, Anglo-Saxon manners and customs. The most striking symbol of this fact is the native folk-music, Calypso.

The Negro in the West Indies. Interracial Review 15: 43-45 March 1942.

An interesting summary of the ethnic development of the Creole in the West Indies and its effect upon social conditions.

Charles Barthelemy Rousseve

 Charles Barthelemy Rousseve was born November 4, 1902, in New Orleans, the son of Barthelemy and Valentine Mansion Rousseve. His great-great grandfather was Dominique Foster, a veteran of the battle of New Orleans in 1815. He is the older brother of Father Maurice Rousseve (q.v.) and he has a sister a religious, Sister Mary Theresa Vincent, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family, and principal of St. Paul's High School, Lafayette, La. Three other brothers and two more sisters are also engaged in educational work. His mother speaks both French and English and is an accomplished pianist.

Charles Rousseve completed his high school education in 1920, graduating from Xavier High School, New Orleans, and entered Marquette University which he attended for one year. He received his A.B. from Straight College, New Orleans, in 1926, accepting a position as Instructor in French and Education at McDonogh High and Normal School, New Orleans. During the summer session of 1928, he was an instructor at Straight College.

On February 2, 1924, he married Valerie Theresa Bowie of New Orleans who died January 3, 19Z9. On January 31, 1931, he married Mildred Celeste Robichaux of New Orleans. They have three sons and two daughters.

He continued his education, receiving his M.A. from Xavier University. In 1935. He has done graduate work toward his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Since 1931 he has been instructor in English and Education at Jones Normal School. During the summer session of 1934 he was an instructor at Southern University, and in 1935-l936, and 1937 at Xavier University .

He is a member of the Catholic Poetry Society of America, the Knights of Peter Claver, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Educational Association. He was vice president, 1937 to 1938, of the Xavier University Alumni Association, and president in 1940 of the New Orleans Teachers Federal Credit Union. Address: 1323 Columbus. Street, New Orleans, La.

WRITINGS

Domine' ut videam, "Napoleon's return": translation from the French of Victor Sejour, "Sequence," "The teacher," "To Alonza Pietro," "To her I love": translation from the French of Camille Thierry and "Vision": translation from the French of Joanni Questy, in Arrows of Gold, the Xavier University poetry anthology, ed by P W. Clark, q.v.

Seven poems

Madame Bernard Convent's vision. Mission Fields 27-8 N '31

A brief history of St. Louis School, New Orleans

The Negro in Louisiana, New Orleans, Xavier University Press, 1938

The Louisiana Negro in his true relation to his state, with evidence that the colored Creoles reached a high degree of culture.

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updated 3 November 2007