The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-10-02
AMONG The PAGAN CHIPPEWAS

live on their allotments similar to the
White Earth and Cloquet Indians, but
nearly all live together in the village,
near Nett Lake, where they fish and
gather wild rice in September. They
raise potatoes and very little corn;
besides maple sugar, berries, and this
is the end of their industry.
Friday and Saturday evenings l said
the Rosary at the place where 1 said
Mass. / waited for someone to an
swer-"G Give us this day." etc., and
Holy Mary, Mother of od."-Great
silence! l had to say the entire Ros-
ary myself. These Indians were bap-
tized and this is all they know of
our holy religion. Things of this
kind are nothing new for the Indian
missionary.
During the recitation of the Rosary
the Indians in neighboring house
were beating the drum all the time,
so that it was hard for me after the
Rosary to give religious in
struction to the few women and chill
dren present. In nearly every pagan
house / entered / saw small drum,
about eighteen inches in diameter.
! The pagans have their medicine
dances and all the other hocus-pocus
connected with it. Poor people! The
Devil has a good hold on the Nett
Lakers, and it will be many years be-
fore Nett Lake has one hundred Cath
olic Indians. At Red Lake, the Gross
Lakers," the pagans had a priest as
early as 1858 in the Rev. Lawrence
Lavtizar, who was frozen on Red
Lake December 3, 1858, and to this day
they have remained pagans. The Nett
Lake Indians are at least two gener-
ations behind our Catholic Chippe-
was in Northern Minnesota, both ma
terially and spiritually.
Attendance on Sunday.
Sunday, September 12-Today be-
| ing Sunday, at least thirty Indians
will come to Mass, | thought. Fifteen
souls was my whole congregation.
Two received Holy Communion during
Mass which I said at 10 o'clock on
an old table with four candles burn
ing and two flowers a Catholic In
dian woman had made the day before.
Only once before it happened that I
had a smaller audience at Mass on
Sunday: it was Sunday, October 23,
1892, at the Indian village Of Cass
Lake; / had only two--a Catholic and
pagan, both old men,
you have number of small chill
dren at home where the father is
pagan and the mother a Catholic.
Please bring those little ones here this
afternoon for Baptism. If the father
| does not care to be a Catholic, at
least bring your children to God first,
the other people may come later.
| This is what the Chippewas have
done on other Reservations" / said
to them before the sermon, in the
beautiful melodious Odjibwe Ian
guage. How many children did l bap-
| tize, do you think? Not single one.
: For Sunday evening announced a
| sermon in English in the form of a
lecture for the ten white non -Catho-
lies and government employees. About
thirty persons came, also Mr. Daniel,
the Superintendent of the Reserva-
ton, typical Yankee from the State
of Mississippi, and formerly Indian
| Agent at Red Lake, MINI. spoke on
''The Catholic Church, the Only True
Church of Christ" All listened very
attentively for forty minutes. No
beating Of the drum nearby, as the
/ Agent forbids it on Sundays.
Monday morning, the last day, had
one more receiving Holy Communion,
and told them / would come again in
winter and then they should bring
their little children to Holy Baptism.
About eight persons, mostly women,
came to Mass that last morning.
i The Pioneer Catholics.
/ After some thirty years from now it
will be interesting for the Catholic
historian to know who had formed the
i nucleus of the Catholic congregation
at Nett Lake in its beginning. "Ad
perpetuam rel memoriam," put their
names here:
| Walter Pijikins (King) and Ida Ala
wakamigok, his wife; Katherine Was
Continued on page S.J