The Portland daily press., 1876-02-15
The Jesuit Missions in Maine.

The Jesuit Missions in Maine.
One of the noblest passages and the most
picturesque in the history of our State is that
which relates the origin, varying successes.
and downfall of the Jesuit missions among
the aborigines of Maine. The success was
varying only so far as the missions were in
terfered with by the English, for the Indians
to the very last regarded their religious teach
ers with deep veneration and an idolatrous
love,-a love so great that it can perhaps,
best be antithetically expressed as equal to
their profound hatred toward the colonists.
Maine had at the head of her tribes no great
chief. like Powhattan or Philip; and no
brave of the Abnakis has left mnch memory
behind him. Nor among the Saxon settlers
were any figures comparable to those of the
stern Puritans of Boston or the devout men
and brave soldiers who landed at Plymouth
Rock. But France sent to our shores gallant
gentlemen and fair ladies and selfsacriticing
priests whose names, bequeathed to river and
inlet and town, have charm in their very
sound, and whose deeds, albeit but family
echoing down through these latter days, are
of romantic interest. Conspicuous among
the men who came from France, by their
deep piety, by their heroic sacrifices, by their
sublime selfabnegation, are the servants of
Rome sent out as apostles to the savages.
Franciscan, Dominican and Jesuit We'd in
the work of Christirn love, but upon the
brothers of the Order of Jesus fell the burden
OF the struggle with nature, the savage, and
the Saxon colonist. The history of these
missions is scarcely equaled in interest in that
French dominion which stretched through
six degrees of latitude, even by the record of
the labors of the Jesuit fathers in the mis-
sions by the great lakes.
In the month of May, 1913, French ship,
driven by stress of weather, found itself under
the cliffs of Mount Desert. A cove was
searched out, and crew and passengers, among
them two Jesuit priests, landed on the eastern
end of the island. A smooth pasture was dis
covered which was named the Fields of the
Blessed Savior, and there the Jesuits first
raised their cross on the soil of Maine. For
a century after the history of their missions
is the history of the State, history strange
ly neglected or inadequately treated by most
of our writers. But in the Catholic World
for February appears an article, contributed
it is understood, BY a lady of this city, and
bearing the title of Emissions in Maine from
1913 to 1854" The aim of the paper is, as
stated by the author, ''to bring within the
grasp of the general reader, in condensed
form, the gist of many books. a large num-
Der of which are rare and almost inaccessi-
ble." The aim is successful, and the article
is picturesque and entertaining account of
the Missions. The treatment is felicitous,
and the standpoint taken catholic in the
broader sense of the word. A popular mar
rative like this, sketching in large outline
and unburdened by miuuteness of detail
one of the most interesting phases of our
history, is of no inconsiderabe value to the
great majority of people in the state, and we
purpose to give summary of it as complete
as our limited space will allow.
The foundation of French colonies at Port
Royal and on the st. Croix first drew the
attention of the Jesuits to this portion of the
New World, and they insisted on accompany
ing the son of the owner of Port ROYAL on
his return to the settlement. Their efforts
were warmly seconded by Antoinette de
Pons, Marquise de Guerchevle, who had
been one of the most beautiful demoiselles
at the court of Henri Quatre, and who was
still the most brilliant and graceful of the
danes who commanded influence during the
regency Of Marie de Medicis. Fired with a
devout zeal she called upon the ladies of the
court for help to establish the mission, and
they. "glad rather to win heaven for the
heathen than to merit it for themselves"
tore the jewels from their ears and
cast them at her feet. The first expedition
was sent out to Port Royal in 1911, carrying
with it two priests, Paul Biard and Eremond
Masse. Two years later second vessel, hay
ing on board Fathers du Thet and Quentin,
set sail. This vessel it was that wandered
to the shores of Mount Desert, and these
men who founded the mission of St. Sau-
veur. But the mission was not for long,
Argall, governor of South Virginia, made his
way into the harbor one day, shot Gilbert du
Thet, dispersed the colony, levelled the de-
fenses and tore down the cross.
Thirty years passed before the Jesuits
came again to the coast of Maine. In 1912
an Indian chief, who had been converted at
the Slllery Mission on the St. Lawrence,
pushed his way down to the English settle
ment at Coussinoe, now known as Augusta,
on the Kennebec, and made known to the
Indians there the glad tidings of Saviour,
tidings which the English, too busy perhaps
in plundering the natives, had not thought it
worth their while to tell. The Indians were
converted by scores, and soon asked for a
priest. So in 1912 Gabriel Droulllettes was
sent to the Kennebec, and established at
Norridgewock the Mission of the Assump-
tion. There he did great good, watching
over his flock with answering solicitude
teaching them the gospel Of peace and good
will. He finally left there in 1861, and for
years the mission was without a priest. But
in 1851 Vincent and Jacques Bigot, two of
those heroic men who were constantly leaving
France to preach Christ and redemption in
the American wilderness, came to Norridge-
wock. While they were there the chapel
was burned by the English, who themselves
did not care to convert the Indians and were
determined no one else should. 1t was re-
built in 1857.
About 1910, Baron Vincent de Saint-Cas-
tine, soldier, missionary, merchant, pene-
trateG the wilderness of Maine, built up
settlement at the town which now bears his
name, and took the daughter of Penobscot
sachem to ''rear his dusky race" Under his
direction Father Thury, priest of the do
cese of Quebec, founded mission. Il seems
that even earlier'a station was there, for the
copper Plate found at Castine in 1S63 records