Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1904-04-29
10 Be Made
An Abbot.

: : d
the Catholic church The occasion
will witness the elevation of the pre-.
sent we'll known and disting uished
Prior of st. Mary's, Richardton, to
The dignity Of abbot. Those " no are
best acquainted with. the Very Rev.
Father Vincent know best how worthy
he is of the great but uncoveted hoE-i
ors about to be conferred upon him..
His labors as an apostolic missionary,
in the Dakotas, his character as an
exemplary priest, his gifts of mind
and heart, reuder him well worthy of,
and well qualified to fill the highest
ecclesiastical Office. Endowed by
nature with strong personality, a
brilliant intact. wiry aid vigorous
constitution, and courage that no
difficulties or dangers can appall, it is
not surprising that he has long been
regarded as the ideal missionary
humble but Jealous and devoted sue
cessor of those glorious heroes who
first made sacred by their prayers and
labors, the VIRGIN soil of the grea
northwest. VS.
The career of such mana cur
sorry glance at his life and lapors-
cannot fail to possess an. absorbing
and abiding interest for many readers
of the Inter Ocean irrespective of
creed or national afinities. Space
will not permit us to give more
than brief resume of career that
is as full of incidentand merit as that
of the early soldiers of the cross who
first bore the banner Of faith to the
Indians of the plains.
Ordained at the cele bra ted monas
terry of Einsiedlehen, switzerland, in
1882. FIR. Vincent babe farewell to
home and friends to begin the life of
a missionary priest in the United
States.
After some years spent in prepare
ton for his apostolic work we find him
in South Dakota zealously working
with the good and sanity Bishop
Marty. There he was brought face
to face, for the first tine, with the
Indians and the many hardships and
difficulties attendant on missionary
life among the uncivilized children of
the prairies. But despite the diff
cnlties Of the Indian language, bodily
fatigue and privations, together with
disappointu'entsa and trials known only
to the true missionary, the young
priest never faltered in, or grew weary
of his apostolic work.
In the February of 1887, he came
to North Dakota at the earnest solicit
tation of Bishop Marty. The good
bishops diocese, at that tine, was not
a paradise, and could hardly be re-
garded as a land of promise; it was.
in truth, land las far as Catholicity
was concerned) inhospitable and IN.
promising where the reapers were but
few and the harvets not ABUNDANT
" Nevertheless, encouraged and sus-
tanned by the bishop, FIR. Vincent
bravely undertook the evangilization
of the German and English speaking
Catholics of Ramsey county and else.
where His labo1s, hardships and
struggles, in these days, as well as
/ those of the bishop. who often shared
them unfiinchingly, as such as would
seem Incl edible in our day of com
paratiye prosperity, and such as only
the bravest souls could have endured.
However, God blessed the work Of
this selfsacri6cing priest, SO tn at, in a
few years afterwards. in 1898, he was
enabled to found and build monas-
!. tary at Devils Lake, and open a col
lege for the better education of Catho-
.lic youth. While carrying on the
double work. Of missionary and pro-
fessor, at the Lake, it was made
known to him that, in the western
part of the state, there were many
German Catholics bereft of spiritual
guidance. Without money, without
any material MEANS and almost with
OoO AAOPS OI iuUoAS oAu1 IL. 1ANCAts
as once at Devils Lake so now at
Richardton, courageously undertook
the baildiDg of a monastery that was
destined to be an enduring monument
to his faith and zeal and uncounded
confidence in God. None but martyr
y spirit. an apostolic soul, could ever
muster sufficient courage to under
take such an apparently hopeless and
impossible task. Perhaps, Of all
places in Moth Dakota, there was
none SO uninviting and 50 utterly
without promise as Richardton then
was The Catholic population, few
in numbers and poor in worldly treas
ures. were scattered over an immense
tract Of territory; the country itself
MEXICAN
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