The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-02-12
SOUTH AMERICAN
MISSIO NARIES
WRITER SAYS
THE MOST INTERESTING THING
HE SAW IN SOUTH AMERICA
WAS A BAND OF CAPUCHIN MIS-
SICNARIES IN THE PERUVIAN
WlLDS.

In an article which appeared in the
New York Sun on South America, J.
l.. Seward writes that the most in
teresting thing he saw in that coun-
try was hand of Capuchin Mission
airy Fathers.
The last outposts of the fathers sis
many hundreds Of miles up the Ca
quota River" These priests are sim
pie in their faith, fearless of heart
utterly regardless of the thousand
hardships incidental to the arduous
life in this wilderness" and are de
voting their entire life to the advance
ment of humanity. Had the priests
not pioneered ahead of us it would
have been impossible for us to reach
these practically unknown water
Sheds" They "have carved trail
in the sides of tremendous precipices
across the Andes" They were the
only moral force which stood between
and scattered remnants Of the tribes
and the brutality of the caucheros,'
or rubber pirates"
Mr.. Seward thinks that it requires
a sublimity of faith to do what these
"Christian heroes" do, giving their
lives for fifty Or so savages dwelling
in a clearing of the danger infested
Jungle" Ee had his own ideas of the
decadence in cities of the religion Of
the Nazarene, but thinks that the
teachings of Christ blossom into
practical, Virile ennobling lives in the
purer and more primitive breath of
the Wilderness" He adds that 'if
ever railroads and electric lights and
telephones make these desolate wastes
flower with civilization, you may be
sure it will all rest upon the religious
foundation which these devout pio-
neers are now laying"
Mr.. Seward writes with the enthusi-
asm Of the man who has made a
discovery for himself But the thing
he has discovered, religion fertiliZ-
ing virgin soil with the sweat and the
blood, of Catholic pioneers, is no new
thing. In other days and in other
jungles, other Catholic priests have
done was these sturdy soldiers of
Christ are doing, and such history
will repeat itself as long as there are.
"Other sheep" to be brought into the
fold In our own country, from the
day that Columbus dedicated to the
Holy Saviour the new world he dis
covered, Catholic missionaries have
blazed the trail Of the civilization
that is associated with such Catholic
names as Maryland and San Francisco
and ST. Paul and San Antonio.
Jesuits and Franciscans did in the
northern hemisphere what the Capu-
chins are now doing in the southern
wilderness. They Christianized and
civilized the savages to whom they
went as real bearers of messages of
light and love, and did not attempt
to exterminate them, as did band of
hardy colonizers whose eulogizers of
today presume to think that Catholics
in the United States have no rights
that should be respected.
If history is going to repeat itself,
then, if the daSOlate wastes of South
America flower with civilization, the
latest brand of bigots will drive all
the priests from the new garden of
liberty and Protestant ministers from
the United States will descend en-
masse, with all the comforts of home
upon the Incas and try to steal, from
their hearts the real Christianity that
was sowed as a seed by the Catholic
missionaries who were pioneers.