The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1873-06-08
Tho Great Indian Missioner.
SPLENDID EULoer BY BISHOP RYAN.

mas ever In Its exig0ncies been able to pro
duce from its ample BOSOM. and that es
well as belauded Order Of Jesuits, has gone
to receive his reward. 1t is of Worldwide
notoriety, that Of the various paths Of use.
fulness that are open to the Christian Mis-
| sioner, Father DeSmet chose to enter upon
that which necessitates the leaving civil
hardships and of perils, that may be i'm.
agined but cannot be described. He went
| with the seff-deyotedness of o martyr, and
In the spirit Of the ever illustrious men
that made Paraguay historic word, to
give temporal and eternal salvation to the
| wild tribes OF the prairie. He found the
red man to be but 40 clay in his hands.
| Civilization and Christianity from the lips
| Of Father DeSuet, found ready access. to
the Indian ear. And there can be7 little
doubt that had the illustrious Order of the
Jesuits been permitted to prosecute their
BY the arm Of relentless persecution, and
free from the obloQuy thaa was ever heap
ed upon them, reviled as they have been
with pertinscisy and malignity that could
only have emansted frem the bosom Of the
prince OF demons, that the pure spirit Of
thraliment here, have rejoiced in the con
temptation OF an Indian nation civilized,
Christian and coptented.
The history of Father DeSmet is briefly
as follows: he was born at DAndermonde,
Belgium, In 1901. Having completed his
studies in 1872, he met Father Nerinckx of
Kentucky, who induced him to come to
America. After two years preparatory
study near Baltimore, he went to St. Louis,
then small town of 1000 Inhabitants, and
in Its neighborhood he followed his holy
calling, principally among the Indian
tribes who In those days were numerous in
that region, and even far east of it. From
tho Of
23d 1873, his life may be summed in the
few words that he devoted himself en-
strety to the Indians" His obsequies were
attended by the Archbishop of St. Louis,
hls coadjutor, Bishop Ryan, and many
priests, besides thousands of the faithful.
qnent Bishop Ryan, we select the follow
ing passages which have great weight as
showing what the great missioner after
fifty years Of intimate Intercourse, thought
OF the bloodthirsty (f) red man:
Fifty years he devoted to the great mission
for which God he'd sent him upon this eartll
Half century with the pure intention to
serve God alone, and to save souls, in order to
Increase the glory of that God whom he served
what life! And devoted to the children Of
ted to strangers with whom at first, he could
have little sympathy. For Fifty years-or
may say for bis entire life, for the previous
.ro years were bus ss preparations for this great
ited Europe he sent forth missionaries to aid
them he collected moneys for tho support of
those misaions. The Indians we're as tho ap-
pie OF his eye. he loved them he learned TO
sympsthize with them; he defended them in
places where they had but few defenders and
when on one occasion heard some one AK
90 long amidst those savagesf" u" savages!S
said the devoted missionary, ",you know nos
those simple people. I have found more saw
Europe, than I ever found in the siidesness u
And, surely it is true brethren. The civilized
sayageIthe man to whom the truths Of Chris
tianisy have been preached, and who has re-
graces from God-this man is moro o savage
than the poor, untaught children of the desert
VINO nave not had these advantages. And
these men show themselves great savages in
their lives and in their crimes. The men that
murdered the Archbishop of Paris-they were
gfeater savages than you will find in the wilds
the advantages that these men have had with
the darkness and the desolation-the absence
Sarhag Sa me light Of truth among those who sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death n-we
Will surely believe with our departed friend.
that the greatest savages are those around the
great cities who ought to know better, and
who are wicked in spite of the advantages
which they enjoy. II have known them.
said the deceased missionary, when I con-
veTted body of men from one of>those Indian
tribes, when they came to me in their simpli-
CITY ana received the waters of baptism. And |
wnen after year, returned to give them an |
opportunity Of receiving the sacramento, and |
When asked them, as they came to me, what |
sins they had committed since their baptism,
they looked with wonder, with panied aston, |
lehment at me, and asked: "Do You think |
Father, that after all God hath done for us, |
creating rs, redeeming US with the blood OF |
His ewn Son, sending You amongst us to |
preach the truth and the consultations Of roii- |
gion, do you think that after ono year. we
would come again guilty of great Grimes to |
yonr teeti They were psined at the suppo-
sition that they could be 90 ungratefnf to
God, and they had no crimes to confess How
practical Catholics could say the same sftor
even even one year Of their lives 7 He defended
them; and We ought, in Justice, to piaoe our
selves In their position, If we would judge Of
them. "Ihey feel that they have been driven
from TO h the Atlantic and win be driven yet into
the Pacific; they feel that foot by foot, they
nave lost the land that belonged to them, and
VI we onght g, to consider these things They feel,
to to q governor of India WHO was seeking their
lanos ana possessions. He said to him "Who
was IT," said he, " that caused this river to
rise rise in the high mountains, and empty itself
! intS the oceanf Who was it that caused to
DloW, the loud winds of winter and calm than |