Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1889-12-05
Saint HarJ's Beacon.
Early Jesuit Missionaries IN Horth
America.

ana tuHeTinge Oh jesuit missionaries.
In these western wilds they were the
earliest pioneers Of civilization and
faith. The Wild hunter or the adven-
turous traveller. who. penetrating the
forests, came TO new and strange
tribes; often found that years before,
the disciples Of Loyola had preceded
him in that wilderness. Traditions
of the BLACK Robes" still fingered
among the Indians, On come moss-
grown tree they pointed cut the traces
Of their work, and in wonder they
drciphered, carved side by side on it's
trunk, the emblem of our salvation
and the lilies Of the Bourbons. Amid
the SHOWS of Hudscn's Bay, among
the woody islands ard beautiful In
let's Of the st. Lawrence, by the coun-
Gil fires Of the Hurons and the Al
Ronquins, at the scource Of the Mis-
sissippi, where, frat Of the white men,
their eyes looked upon the Falls of
st. Anthony, and traced down the
course Of the bounding river, as it
rushed onward to earn it's title of
Father OF Waters"-on the vast
prairies Of Illinois and Missouri,
among the blue hills which hem in
the salubrious dwellings OF the Cher.
okees, and 10 the thick eanebrakes of
Louisiana-everywhere were found
the members of the Society of Je-
sus." Marquette. Joliet, BreSeuf.
Jogues, Lallemand, Rasles, and Ma.
rest, are the names which the West
should ever hold in remembrance.
But il was only BY suffering and trial
that these early lsborers won their
triumphs. Many of them, too, were
men who had stood high in camps
and courts, and could contrast their
dssolate state in the solitary wigwsm
with the refinement and affluence
which had waited on them in past
years. But now all these were gone.
Home, the love of kindred. the golden
ties Of relationship. all were to be
forgotten by these stern and high
wrought men. and they were often to
90 forth into the wilderness without
an adviser on their way. save their
God. Through long and sorrowful
years they were obliged to "sow in
tears" before they could "reap in joy"
Every self-denisl gathered around
them which could wear upon the
spirit and cause the heart to fail.
Mighty forests were TO be threaded
on foot. and the great lakes of the
West passed in the feeble bark canoe.
Hunger and cold and disease were to
be encountered. until nothing but the
burning zeal within could keep alive
the wasted and sinking frame. Most
Of them, too, were martyrs to their
faith. It will be noticed in reading
their lives how few of their number
"died the common death of all men,"
or slept at Last in the ground which
their Church had consecrated.-
Some. like Jogues. and du Poisson,
and Souel, sunk beneath the blows of
the Infatuated savsges, and their bod.
les were thrown out to feed the vul-
ture. whose shrek, as he tapped his
wings above them, had been sheir
only requiem. Others, like Brebeuf
and Lallemand and Sanet, died at the
stake, and their ashes "fiew, no mar.
bic tells US WHITTIER" while the dusky
sons of the forest stood around, and
mingled their wild yells of triumph
with the martyrs dying prayers.
Others again, like the aged Marquette,
sinking beneath years of toll, fell
asleep in the wilderness, and sorrow.
ing companions dug their graves in
the green turf, where for many years
the rude forest ranger stopped to in.
woke their names, and bow in PRAYER
before the cross which marked the
spot. But did these things stop the
progress of the Jesuits2 The sons of
Loyola never reiterated. The mission
they founded in tribe ended only
with the extinction of the tribe itself.
Their lives were made up Of fearless
devotedness and self.sacrifice. Though
sorrowing for the dead. they pressed
forward at once to occupy their places.
and if needs be, share their fate.
Nothing" wrote Father LIE Petit
after describing the msrtyrdom of two
OF his brethren, nothing has happen
ed TO these two excellent missionaries
for which they were not prepared,
when they devoted themselves to the
Indian Missions" IF the flesh trem-
bled, the spirit seemed never to falter.
Each one. indeed, felt that he was
baptized for the dead" and that his
own blood. poured out in the mighty
forests OF the West, would bring down
perhaps greater blessings on those for
whom he died, than he could win for