The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-08-01

MINIsTERED CoNFIRMATIoN-
FATHERS KETcHAM AND
HUGHES OF THE INDIAN BU-
REAU AND INDIAN MISSION
ARIES ATTEND-MANY INDIAN
TRIBES AMONG THE 1900 WIS.,
TORS.
The prayer of the Assiniboine In
dams has been answered. On the
Fort Peck Reservation, above the
juncture of the Yellowstone and the
Missouri Rivers, in Northeastern Mon
tana, they held their first Catholic
Indian Congress, for four days during
| July ~ #a
They number about $50 Assiniboines,
who are of the great Sioux family
They were the hosts to about 1900
visitors, who spoke as many tongues
as the men in the Gospel times who
heard the apostles: Sioux from
| Standing Rock, South Dakota, and
Fort Totten, North Dakota; Cheyennes
from Tongue River, Montana; Assini-
BONES and eros Ventres from Fort
Belknap, Montana; eros Ventres,
Mandans and Arickarees from Elbo-
woods, North Dakota.
To the delight of the Indians, many
black robes were there, among them
their own missionary, Father Benedict
Seethaler, o. S. B., who came over
last year from Innsbruck, Austria
to take up the work of Indian mis-
sions His assistant, a lay brother,
was away building a church at Wolf
Point. Among the visiting priests
was Father Bernard Strassmaier, O.
S. B., of Standing Rock, who is a
master of oratory in the Sioux tongue;
Father Paul Letter, o. S. B., of Imma
culate Conception Mission, Elbo-
woods; Father M. A. Dinner, S. j., of
ST. Paul's Mission, Montana, with a
lay brother; and Father p F. Slain,
S. j., from far-off st. Stephens Mis-
ing. 1t took him five days each way
to go to the Congress. Father Slain
formerly worked among the Assini-
BONES and was received by them
with open arms.
The reception of the Bishop was a
fit subject for the moving pictures.
At the railroad station Bishop Wehrle
of Bismarck, North Dakota, was re-
ceived by delegation of Indian men,
headed by a brass band. At the
church the women and children and
many men were waiting in procession
! justly proud of the beautiful banners
belonging to the many branches of
the st. Joseph's and st. Mary's So
cieties which were here represented,
:. The Congress opened on Saturday,
July II, and closed on Tuesday.
Sunday morning, Solemn Pontifcal
High Mass was celebrated by Bishop
Wehrle under a bower in the Indian
fair grounds A choir of Indians from
Fort Totten and Standing Rock
chanted the Mass true to the rubric
and full of stirring devotion. Igna-
titus Court, a Sioux, educated by the
Sisters, played the organ.
After Mass, Bishop Wehrle, acting
for Bishop Lehman of Great Falls,
Montana, who is absent in Rome, con-
firmed fifty-two Indians, most of whom
were adults. Sixteen adults and eight
children had been baptized the day
before by Fathers Strassmaier and
Sialm The former had spent two
he inih in
their own tongue. In the afternoon
the Indians met again in the open
air with the speakers and leaders
gathered under the bower. The Bish-
op spoke in English and was inter
preted into Sioux Father Slain ap-
pealed to the Indians imagination by
his description of the Cross as the
sign of the true Christian. Father
Strassmaier stirred their souls by his
recital of, the glories of the Faith in
: the limpid, colorful language of the
Sioux Among the Indians who spoke
with effect were Martin MitZel, pre-.
sident of the st. Joseph's Society at
Poplar and James Garfield, who holds
the same position at Oswego.
When the Indians were invited to
: speak they showed considerable re
straint by suggesting that the business
of the Congress be first disposed of
The business included the details OF
, cost of travel and food which were
} provided for by the Indians them
, selves But more important were
i first, the request for an assistant
: priest to labor among the Assini
BONES; secondly, the request for a
Catholic School; thirdly, the desire to
; have one or two paid catechists who
would teach the children of old PEG
pie, in the only language they know
; the truths of our Holy Faith; and
} fourthly, the resolve to found branch
; es of the ST. Joseph's and st. Mary's
, Societies such as both the Benedictine
: and Jesuit Fathers have established
; with great success among the Indians
: of North and South Dakota.
Speaking of the need of catechists.