Rev. Fr. E. Laveille - The Life of Father De Smet, SJ: Apostle of the Rocky Mountains

Nihil Obstat:	Remy Lafort, S.T.D.
Censor
Imprimatur:		John Cardinal Farley
Archbishop of New York
New York
November 18, 1915

Copyright 1915 by P. J. Kenedy & Sons, New York. Reprinted by Loyola University Press, Chicago in 1981 as a "Loyola Request Reprint." Reprinted in 2000 by TAN Books by arrangement with the Southern Belgian Province of the Society of Jesus and with the addition of the illustrations and of the subtitle: "Apostle of the Rocky Mountains."

ISBN 978-0-89555-666-0

Library of Congress Control No.: 00-131560

Illustrations courtesy of the Midwest Jesuit Archives, St. Louis, Missouri, and the Jesuit Oregon Province Archives, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington. Negative nos. for photos from the Jesuit Oregon Province Archives: p. 358-1 and frontispiece: neg. 802.09a; p. 358-2: neg. 802.21; p. 358-4: neg. 802.01; p. 358-6, 7: neg. 802.04a; p. 358-8: neg. 802.03; p. 358-9 and cover: neg. 802.08a and/or M.J.A. photo H4; p. 358-12: neg. 802.07a. Photo nos. for photos from the Midwest Jesuit Archives (IX De Smetiana photographs): p. 358-3: H2; p. 358-5: H1; p. 358-10: H11; p. 358-11: H3; p. 358-13: H17; p. 358-14: H24; p. 358-15: H22; p. 358-16: H6.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

2000

"For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts."

Malachias 1:11

Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J.
1801-1873
"The white man whose tongue does not lie."

"Black Robe, welcome to our country. Long have we desired to see you and be enlightened by your words. Our fathers worshiped the earth and the sun. I remember distinctly the day we first heard of the one and only true God. Since then it is to Him we have addressed our prayers and supplications, and yet we are much to be pitied. We do not know the teachings of the Great Spirit, and we sit in darkness. But now I hope you have come to bring us light. I have finished. Speak, Black Robe! Every ear is open and eager to hear your words."

Chief of the Coeur d'Alnes to Fr. De Smet, 1842
(See page 143).

"To suffer and die for the salvation of souls is the sole ambition of a true missionary."

Fr. De Smet Letter to his father August 26, 1823
(See page 54).

CONTENTS

TermondeThe Family"Honest De Smet"The Parish Priest of HeusdenPeter's BirthHis Childhood"Samson"His First StudiesBeirvelde, St. Nicolas, Alost, MechlinHis VocationFather NerinckxYoung De Smet with Eight Companions Leaves Secretly for AmericaHis Brother Charles is Sent to Find HimThe Police of King WilliamArrival at Georgetown

The Jesuits in New France and MarylandBishop CarrollWhitemarshFather Van QuickenbornePeter De Smet at the NovitiateDeparture for Missouri"A Floating Monastery"FlorissantMadam Duchesne"Samson," Architect and CarpenterFirst Vows

Father Van Quickenborne at once Superior, Professor, Parish Priest at Florissant, and Chaplain of the Sacred Heart ConventFather De TheuxPeter De Smet's StudiesConfidence Reposed in Him by His SuperiorsHis Taste for Natural ScienceThe PriesthoodJoost De Smet's DeathThe Third YearBeginning of Apostolic WorkFlorissant, St. Charles, etc.The "Indian College"The Plan for a "Reduction"Circumstances Preventing Its Accomplishment

St. Louis, "the Queen of the West"Building the CollegeFather De Smet, Prefect, Professor of English, and ProcuratorRapid GrowthThe College is Given the Title and Privileges of a UniversityFinancial EmbarrassmentFather De Smet is Sent to Europe to Obtain MoneyHis Health Requires a ChangeA Visit to His Family, to Benefactors, and to Mr. De NefA Financial SuccessFather De Smet Wishes to SailA Serious Illness Forces Him to Return to BelgiumHe Obtains Permission to Leave the SocietyServices Rendered to the Nuns at TermondeThe Foundation of the Carmelites at AlostHis Devotion to the MissionsAs Soon as His Health is Restored He Returns to Missouri, and is Readmitted to the Society of Jesus

Progress Made by the Jesuits in MissouriFather Van Quickenborne's Apostolate to the IndiansHis DeathFathers De Smet and Verreydt are Sent to Open a Mission for the Potawatomies at Council BluffsFirst Journey on the MissouriA Dinner at the OtoesThe Disposition of the IndiansTheir Conversion will be "a Work of God"The Missionaries' First SuccessesLoneliness and PrivationsFather De Smet Effects a Reconciliation between the Sioux and the PotawatomiesWhiskey"What Could One Do with Two Thousand Drunken Indians?"Father De Smet's Journey to St. LouisHe is Replaced at Council Bluffs by Father Christian Hoecken

The Growing Prosperity of the United StatesThe Indian SituationAdmirable Dispositions of the FlatheadsOld IgnatiusThe Indians Who Four Times Made a Three-thousand-mile Journey to Obtain the Black RobesFather De Smet is Sent to the Rocky Mountains to Prepare the Foundation of a New MissionHow One Traveled in 1840 Across the PrairiesA Meeting between Father De Smet and the FlatheadsOne of Napoleon's GrenadiersA Sojourn in the Camp of Big FaceThe Missionary's JoysOn the Summit of the RockiesSanctus Ignatius Patronus MontiumFather De Smet Leaves the FlatheadsDangers He Encountered in the YellowstoneTriumphant Reception by the SiouxHe Returns to St. Louis

Father De Smet Returns to the Mountains with Fathers Point and MengariniDifficulties of the JourneyA Cyclone on the PlatteHail, Majestic Rock!Arrival at Fort HallThe Bitter Root RiverFounding of St. Mary's MissionA New ParaguayThe First BaptismsSolemnization of MarriagesThe Blessed Virgin Appears to a ChildThe Order of the Day at the MissionFervor of the New ChristiansThe Winter HuntThe First CommunionDeath of Big Face

The Privations of the MissionariesFather De Smet Goes to Fort Colville to Get ProvisionsThe KalispelsBaptism of Some Old IndiansMessis quidem Multa, Operarii Autem PauciFirst Attempt at Farming at St. Mary'sJourney to Fort VancouverThe Cur d'AlnesFather De Smet Sees Five of His Companions Drowned in the ColumbiaOregon in 1840Fathers Blanchet and DemersA Mission Must Be Opened at WillametteFather De Smet's Return to St. LouisOn His Way Back He is Received by the CrowsDominus Memor Fuit Nostri, et Benedixit Nobis

Fathers De Vos and Adrian Hoecken are Sent to the MountainsFather De Smet and Daniel O'ConnellA National MeetingJourney to RomeFather De Smet Received by the PopeGregory XVI Wishes to Make Him a BishopNew MissionariesSisters of Notre DameFrom Antwerp to Vancouver around the HornA Seven Months' JourneyStorms, Shortage of Food, Reefs

The Jesuits and Sisters of Notre Dame at WillametteSt. Francis Xavier's MissionFather De Smet, Organizer of the MissionsHow He Encouraged and Aided His Fellow-MissionariesSt. Ignatius' Mission at the Kalispels; Father Adrian HoeckenThe Sacred Heart Mission at the Cur d'Alnes; Fathers Point and JosetLouise SighouinVisit to St. Mary's; Fathers Mengarini and ZerbinatiJesuits' Success at Willamette; Fathers Accolti, Ravalli, Vercruysse, and De VosFather Nobili is Sent to New CaledoniaFather De Smet's Visit to the Chaudires, Flatbows, and KootenaisThe Missions of St. Paul, Colville, St. Peter of the Lakes, St. Francis Regis, the Assumption, and the Immaculate Heart of MaryFather Ravalli Goes to Join Father Hoecken at St. Ignatius' MissionHow Account for Father De Smet's Success?A Would-be Murderer who Became a Model Neophyte