The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-07-28
TRIBUTES TO THE LATE FATHER
josef.

All the Catholic papers of the country
pay fitting tribute to the life work of
the late Jesuit Father Joseph Josef,
whose death at the Occur d'Alene Mis-
sion in Northern Idaho was recorded in
The Intermountain two weeks ago.
His whole life was devoted to the ele-
waiting and development of the Indian
! character, and in his passing he leaves
name that for good will be associated
with the other great Catholic Indian
missionaries who have gone before.
Father Cronin, in the Buffalo New
York; Union and Times, says:
After fifty years of apostolic labores
among the Couer d'Alene Indians, the
Jesuit Father Josef, confrere and
friend of the famous Father de Smet,
has at last gone to his reward. We
read that calmly, peacefully. as one
In sweet sleep, he gave up his great
soul into the hands of his Maker, ex-
hausted by long years of faithful serv-
ice. Oh, for a blessed death like
his! Such are the Catholic mission
aries that lead to heaven, r1ot to wars"
Probably one of the most beautiful
tributes to the memory of the deceased
missionary from the secular press APP
peared recently in the editorial COL
umns of the st. Paul Globe, as follows:
Father Joseph Josef went to his
work before Minnesota was on the map
before two-thirds of the people of the
United States were born. He never
held public office, never made a polit-
ical speech, never shot off a gun or sunk
ship. He went among people whose
business was war, and whose hands.
red with the blood of neighbors, he
taught to build homes, schoolhouses
and churches, and hold the plow His
weapons were the Book and the Word,
the Golden Rule, an earnest heart and
an honest purpose.
He was not known outside the little
world in which he lived for nearly two
generations as time is measured in the
life of man. He sat by the bed of the
sick and dying and spoke words of com
fort. No night was too dark, no road
too wild and rough and long to prevent
his attending every call He baptized
the babies, performed the marriage rite !
for the youth and buried the old. The |
people Venerated him, and when they |
stood by his grave there was genuine |
sorrow in every heart and every lip |
said prayer for his soul.
He was an upright man, and con-
quered people by peaceful means: he
did not destroy, as the average hero
does He found them savages and Iiv-
ing by the chase. When he died they
lived from the products of farm life,
and many of them had bank accounts
This man was Father Joseph Josef
4 Jesuit priest among the Couer d'Alene
INDIANS OF northern Idaho. He was
one of the unknown heroes, and the
story of his privations and dangers
may never be told and his name will
lot live in books with heroes of daring
out chance incidents, trif1ing in their
'esults; but he was a hero whose hero
SIN covered time extending far he
,oho the average period of human life.
Inc hrst church he preached in. and
is IN plain view from the train on the
louer d Alene branch of the Northern
1aclfle railway, was put up by the In
lans forty years ago under his s1nar-
'lslon, and it stands today a suhstan-
lal structure, in which not nail or .
'lece OF iron was used. The church ,
nder which he was buried at Me-,
ilsslon was built twelve years apo .+ {
cost or over $4,000. For him its An
eius bells will no longer ring b,,t III
'''o"eis WIZ continue to bow at their t