The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-06-28

Eof ARTICLES concludes. was established in
1876, xhen Dom Isidorus Robot was
name6-its first incumbent. This pio-
neer Missionary began his labors IN the
territs sy the wear previously, and among
/ his firt achievements was the erection
of a fhurch, residence and school at
@AtOk4 in the Choctaw nation. With
the exception Of one lay brother. Dom
Robofwas alone ON these missions until
1877, hen E.
THk BENED1or1NEs OF FRANCE
sent HIM ais allies two priests, a sub
deaco6 q lay brother and two novices.
Witha the aid of these newcomers a
mona4tery, small and unpretentious, of
cours4, was built in the Pottawattomle
natio&, and school opened for the
educdtion Of Indian children. When
the il inmates of this monastery wanted
their mail they had to ride thirty-tiVe
milesto thepost Office, while the nearest
proviSion store lay at double that dis
tancefrom them. In starting out on a
mlssibnary expedition the fathers were
liabl6to be absent weeks and months
at time. and the hardshlps they had
to endure on these trips may be readily
imagined. They had to suffer from
heat and cold from rain and snow, from
hunger and thirst. at times, and they
were, furthermore, in constant peril
from savage Indians. The devoted
missionaries have, nevertheless, accom-
plished avast deal OF good in the past
fifteen years, and there are now In the
prefecture some TWENTY priests, and a
numb5r OF fine academies and schools,
particularly those at the Sacred Heart
Mission, Usage agency, Krebs. Lehigh
and Purcell. The opening of the Okla
homa strip bids fair to add largely to
the Catholic population of the district,
and the Benedictines have already
opened churches at Guthrie and other
points in that locality. The sisterhoods
represented in the prefecture are the
franciscan, Benedictine and Mercy,
and, all told, there are about % churches,
chapels and stations. Dom lsid0re. the
first prefect, died in 1887, and was sue
ceeded by Dom Ignatius Jean, who re-
sides at
THE SACRED HEART MONASTERY. :
Dom Isidore, the founder of this insti
tuition, resigned the management IF the
prefecture a year before his death, how
ever, in order to apply himself exclu-
sively to the direction Of his religious
com munity. This pioneer missionary
came originally from France, and was
sent out to the Indian Territory by the
famous Abbey of Sainte Marie de la
Pierre qui Wire, in the diocese of Sens,
after the monks of st. Meinrad's, lndi-
ana. had withdrawn from these Indian
missions. The prefecture was formally
included in the Little Rock diocese, and
it was through the exertions Of Bishop
Fitzgerald of that see that the Benedlc-
tines undertook the evangelization Of
it. Now it is not attached economically
to any ecclesiastical province, but is
directly subject to the cardinal project
of the Propaganda. at Rome. Within
it's limits la comprised the entire Indian
Territory, and the monks who have
charge Of it's churches belong to the
Congregation Casinese of the Primitive
Observance. whose mother house is the
French abbey above mentioned.
According to the Indian Advocate, a
bright little Catholic quarterly issued
by the friars, there are nearly $4,000 In
dians in the prefecture. and these, the
Advocate adds. are divided Into civ
ilized tribes. the wild tribes Of the West,
and those that are no more wild,
and vet are not recognized by the gov
ernment as civilized" The civilized
Indians are the Creeks, Cherokees,
Seminoles. Cboctaws and Chickasaws,
and the uncivilized the CheYennes,
Arapahoes. Wichjtas. Kiowas, Com
aDches and Apaches. The total Cath
olic population is estimated at $500. Of
which number four. sevenths are In
dians.
The commercial travellers little
daughter had been taught always to
s:A%yo .~ro>,n~ s,r;%I, thea,