The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-11-21
A FLOWER IN THE WILDERNESS
(For Intermountain Catho


As one can notice it. by looking at a
map of the United States. Idaho is in
the intermountain west. Fremont
county, Idaho. area 10000 square miles,
is under the jurisdiction Of the under
signed priest 1t is land of lofty
mountain peaks and of beautiful val
| leys. of thirsty sand hills and of many
waters, of treeless plains and of wood
ed dells. the whole forming a Mosaic
! of Gods own make-one of exceeding
! beauty, having for its own much of
I the picturesque and sublime. yet
! peaceful scenery of the adjoining Tel
! lowstone National park.
! To this fair land, twenty-six years
| ago. came a young man, led thereto by
the spirit of enterprise. The luxuriance
of the vegetation pleased his eye, the
murmurings of the sparkliSg waters
charmed his ears, whilst the cloudless.
azured sky and blue-haloed hilltop won
| his admiration. There he would build
him a home. After some years of pa
| tient, laborious toiling, A NJ. Carter
returned to his native land Canada.
for the companion that would cheer
| him in his continued endeavors and
relieve the tediousness of that solitude
which for many makes life a burden
and every passing bubble a temptation.
1t was in 1886 that Mrs. A. NJ Carter
(nee Emma BarbeaU came to Fremont
county Educated in the Catholic
province of Quebec, in the very shadow
of the sanctuary, weary must have
been the Sunday hours thinking of the
beautiful church of Ste Marie de la
Beauce. where so often she had knelt
to speak to Jesus in the blessed sacrs-
ment heart to heart, as a sister is
wont to speak to a brother.
To Fremont county the nearest
church was in Boise, a distance of
$50 miles. Therefore, no blessed sac
rament, the heart of all Christian life:
no, only the vast temple Of surrounding
nature. with it's mountain spires, its
starry vault. the voices of it's singing
waters and chirping birds that seemed
to say: praise We the Lord, for he
is good" The extinct crater near by
must have told her of the God who
touched the mountains and they
smoked: the stars. those windows of
heaven. through which God sends us Il
glimmer of light, must have whispered
to her soul that I'VE have here no
singing birds and of the chanting wa
tiers would indeed cause her prayer to
ascend above the mountain heights
even into 1.-The golden walls of the four
and twenty ancients,' who, Frustrated
before the Lamb, offer HIN the prayers
of the saints; but, all these were not
the Real Presence; it was not Jesus
speaking to the mortal and pouring into
his soul through his human lips and
heart all the accumulated sweetness Of
his eternaIly pent-up love. These, they
only showed forth the glory of God
and declared the work of his hands
In her longings for the Real Pres
ence. Mrs. A NJ. Carter often wished
to return TO her native land, Canada.
and would have done so had it not
been for Bishop Glorieux's injunction.
You must stay here and keep the flag
of faith a-waving." The Divine Low
er did not however, keep her long in
waiting. He called her to himself in
1895. The. Woman of the Blessed Sac
rament' did not have the consolation
to receive him as Yiatieum in her jour
ney from the pathway of time into the
house of her eternity. Father Van der
DOnckt. the souvenir of whose apostolic
labors is northeastern Idaho is as fra
grant as the blooming rose, had visited
her home twelve days before her death.
She died in the early morning with the
corpse of her newborn baby in her
arms. Through the Pickering light of
her dying sight she perceived the Grim
scaing of the sky in the east, then:
''Veni Jesu. amor mi Come. Jesus
my love-. and for her had risen the
sun of the eternal day. She had
achieved her desire-ther Real Presence
of Jesus.
1t was only the other day that A. NJ.
Garter was conversing with us of
things of the past We mentioned to
him that on the morrow Fremont coun- !
ty would have the Real Presence as a |
permanent feature. He exclaimed. |
tears pearling down his cheeks, IF |
my wife could see that, how happy she |
would be-" The next morning, as we
bowed low before Jesus. in the taber |
nacle of his love, in that 2Ox3O church /
Of Rexburg, we bethought ourselves |
that. as that which is modest indthe /
human heart is not stunted but en- |
HANGED by the deaths of the just, Mrs. |
A. NJ Carriers soul must have joined |
the happy. adoring, praising throng of |
spirits that worship Jesus in his hum
BILE abode in Fremont county.
j. L. NJ. CAMPBELL,
Missionary Priest.
Rexburg, Ida. Nov. I, 1908.