USA > Kansas > Linn County > A centenary of Catholicity in Kansas, 1822-1922 ; the history of our cradle land (Miami and Linn Counties) ; Catholic Indian missions and missionaries of Kansas ; The pioneers on the prairies : notes on St. Mary's Mission, Sugar Creek, Linn County; Holy Trinity Church, Paola, Miami County; Holy Rosary Church, Wea; Immaculate Conception, B.V.M., Louisburg; St. Philip's Church, Osawatomie; Church of the Assumption, Edgerton, Johnson County; to which is added a short sketch of the Ursuline Academy at Paola; the diary of Father Hoecken, and old Indian records > Part 2
USA > Kansas > Miami County > A centenary of Catholicity in Kansas, 1822-1922 ; the history of our cradle land (Miami and Linn Counties) ; Catholic Indian missions and missionaries of Kansas ; The pioneers on the prairies : notes on St. Mary's Mission, Sugar Creek, Linn County; Holy Trinity Church, Paola, Miami County; Holy Rosary Church, Wea; Immaculate Conception, B.V.M., Louisburg; St. Philip's Church, Osawatomie; Church of the Assumption, Edgerton, Johnson County; to which is added a short sketch of the Ursuline Academy at Paola; the diary of Father Hoecken, and old Indian records > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
In this dark hour the colonial cause found its only support at the hands of Catholic France, Catholic Spain, Catholic Ireland and Catholic Poland. This is all a matter of historic record and need not be dwelt on here, but the fact will throw much light on the position which the Church assumed in the affairs of the New Nation, and the esteem of the more enlightened amongst its people. In the formation of the Ex- ecutive Division of our Government the Benedictine Rule for the gov- ernment of monasteries was closely followed; in the Legal Division, the spirit of Magna Charta and the common law of Catholic times in Eng- land were retained; finally, freedom of worship as practiced in Catholic Maryland was incorporated into the Constitution of the New Government and afterwards was embodied in the Constitution of each state admitted to the Union.
The foundations for peace and prosperity were thus laid and the Church began her career in the New Commonwealth under most favor- able auspices.
The Most Reverend John Carroll was appointed first bishop of the United States and was consecrated in England on August 15th, 1790. Baltimore, Maryland, became the first See. New York became an Epis-
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copal See in 1808, and Boston and Bardstown at the same time. Upper and Lower Louisiana came next on the list. Rt. Reverend Louis Wil- liam Dubourg, D.D., was consecrated in Rome on September 24th, 1815, and thus became the bishop of Upper and Lower Louisiana. The most of the territory now known as Kansas fell within the limits of this vast diocese. Providentially, Bishop Dubourg was led to St. Louis in 1818, and there established his residence.
Bishop Dubourg came to America in 1817. Bishop Flaget of Bards- town, Kentucky, and Francis Niel, a student in theology, made the cele- brated journey with him down the Ohio and up the Mississippi, landing at St. Louis January 5th, 1818. January 6th he took possession of his See, which he held until August 13th, 1826.
The vastness of the field entrusted to his care was thus impressed upon his mind. No tongue or pen could have revealed this to him. No European mind could have grasped the vastness of the newly acquired territory known as Louisiana. It began at the Gulf of Mexico but where it ended no one seemed to know.
In coming to St. Louis, Bishop Dubourg saw the need of a supreme effort to meet the situation. He was poor and helpless-almost friend- less when he came to St. Louis. He conceived the idea of returning to Europe to beg for help-for men and means to aid him in his vast mis- sionary labors amongst the white settlers as well as amongst the un- counted thousands of aborigines. He searched Italy, France, and Bel- gium to find men who might be willing to devote their lives to the con- version of the Indians. His visit to Europe was only partly successful. In the ultimate results, however, that visit produced marvelous fruit. We can now see very clearly the finger of God in it all. Bishop Du- bourg was an instrument in the hand of Divine Providence to "make straight the way of the Lord." He was as one crying in the wilderness with unfeigned confidence that, "every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; that the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain, and all flesh shall see the salvation of Israel."
A few truly great men and noble women harkened to the call of the Apostolic bishop, but what were thesc among so many? Unknown to Bishop Dubourg, however, God was directing the course of events so that his most sanguine hopes were fulfilled in an unexpected manner. The Revolutions in Europe had sent to our shores a band of young Bel- gian Jesuits who found shelter with their brethren in Maryland. They were waiting to be called into the vineyard, anxious to go forth like St. Francis Xavier to spend and to be spent for the glory of their Di- vine Master. This band of young Jesuits-exiles and refugees as they were- are destined to figure largely in the following pages as they fig- ure in all subsequent literature of historic valne throughout the Western States of North America.
The first Catholic priest, however, to enter the mission field in what
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INTRODUCTION
is now known as the State of Kansas was Reverend Charles de la Croix in 1822. He was not a member of the Jesuit Order, but a worthy precursor, a brave and zealous priest who, all alone, penetrated as far as the Neo- sho River and converted many of the warlike tribe known as the Great Osages. Father de la Croix in after years returned to Belgium and ended his days as a Canon Regular in the city of Ghent.
The path thus made was afterwards followed in 1827 by the renown- ed Jesuit, Father Charles Felix Van Quickenborne. He labored amongst the Osages, the Miamis and the Kickapoos. He was the first if not the greatest of the Jesuit missionaries.
No less glorious is the name of Father Christian Hoecken, S.J., the providential link between the dead past of paganism and the living pres- ent. God called him to be the Apostle of the Pottawatomies and his labors bore fruit and that fruit remains, as the sequel will show.
The co-laborers and successors of Father Hoecken were the Jesuit Fathers, Felix L. Verreydt, Anthony Eysvogels, Herman Gerard Aelen, Francis Xavier De Coen, Henry Van Mierlo, Charles Truyens, Oliver Van de Velde, John Schoenmakers, John J. Bax and Paul Mary Ponziglione. All these splendid men labored at one time or other in this part of Kan- sas and within the confines of what is now known as the parish of the Holy Trinity at Paola.
In 1851 the Jesuit priest, John Baptist Miege, was consecrated at St. Louis bishop of a wild and almost unlimited territory beyond Mis- souri. He found shelter at Father Hoecken's Mission at St. Mary's, and his first Cathedral was a log chapel built by the Pottawatomie Indians. From that humble hut came the Church of Kansas.
The following pages make but a single chapter in a beautiful tale as yet untold. Let us, therefore, "gather up the fragments lest they be lost."
What may seem of slight importance now will grow with the years into items of historic value, or may enter as an element of truth into the legends that are inseparable from the twilight days of every people's history.
The records of the Indian Missions are preserved in those marvelous Jesuit Relations that are gradually coming to light in our day, but with the formation of the new Territories and States came the white man with his methods of government-ecclesiastical and civil, which evolved a new era and a new form of history. The family, the parish, and the diocese keep their own records, often meager and seemingly unimportant but as generations pass, these records assume an importance far beyond the dreams of the humble chronicler.
It is here that the "History of Our Cradle Land" may seem prosaic or overburdened with details, but the reader will be patient; coming generations will value every scrap of history here set down and will thank us for the efforts made to preserve the story of the pioneers, of their priests and bishops who lived and labored with them and for them.
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INTRODUCTION
and who "died unwept, unhonored and unsung," during the turmoil of the formative period on these vast plains.
The grateful remembrance of posterity is due the men who "trod the winepress alone," and toiled in sunshine and storm to carry the message of hope and to break the bread of life to a famished people. Good shepherds truly they were, and they gave their lives for the sheep; but wherever they ceased to guard, guide and cherish the flock the Faith died out and the spirit of indifference prepared the way for every evil. Worldliness, social climbing, mixed marriages, secret societies, extrava- gance in dress and amusement, saying nothing of graver erimes soon ac- complish what ages of persecution failed to attain. The landmarks of Faith are soon frittered away and men come to despise even their own race and nationality.
What took place in many parts of the South in other days is now transpiring in sparsely settled districts of the West, and all because of a lack of priests, schools, and churches, or in one word, because of a lack of that Catholic atmosphere which is necessary to the well-being of the home from which the future generations issue forth for the weal or woe of the Kingdom of God on Earth.
PART I INDIAN DAYS
3
THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
THE INDIAN DAYS.
Establishment of the Catholic Missions in the Indian Territory-Direct Fruit of Bishop Dubourg's Exertions and Immediately Con- nected With the Jesuit Fathers at Florissant.
From The Catholic Cabinet, St. Louis, Mo., November, 1843
The government of the United States having deemed it good policy to concentrate the aborigines of the country, commonly called Indians, assigned for this purpose a territory, beyond which, within a distance of 1500 miles, no suitable habitation for white men can be made. This Indian territory is bounded by the States of Missouri and Arkansas towards the east, by the so-called American desert on the west; by Texas on the south; and by the Missouri and Platte rivers to the north. It has been assigned as the permanent abode of the various Indian tribes scat- tered throughout the Union. (This was in 1830.)
The Pawnees, Omahaws, Kanzas, Osages and Missourians roamed at large over the lands of this territory, before this plan was adopted by our Government, which as a necessary consequence of the new appropri- ation, was obliged to confine them within certain limits; and to persuade them to cede part of their lands to their red brethren east of the Missis- sippi. In consequence of this arrangement the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Senecas, Pottawatomies, Ottaways, Chippe- ways, Otoes, Miamis, Shawanees, Delawares, Kickapoox, Ioways and Foxes, emigrated-some by force, others by persuasion, but all most un- willingly from the various States of the Union to the respective portions of the territory assigned to them by the U. S. Government. The original inhabitants of this territory are called the indigenous tribes, and are savage and wretched to the extreme; the emigrant tribes are more or less civilized, according to the different relations they have had with the set- tlers of the States.
The whole number of the Indians of this territory amounts to about 80,000 souls. With regard to their numbers, it may be observed that they appear gradually to decrease, owing to their inordinate mode of living, their vicious habits, the unsuitableness of the soil, the change of air by emigration, etc. So that they may be said, in the language of the Prophet Osee, (c. 13, 3), "to disappear as early dew that passeth away-as the dust that is driven with a whirlwind out of the floor-and as the smoke out of the chimney." Of their character, it may be said in general, that "they are the sinful nation," described by Isaias (1:4), "a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children." It is true that the emigrant tribes have some civilization ; but, generally speaking, with all the vices of the white men, they have brought few or none of their vir- tues over to the Indian wilds.
The state of our Holy Religion is truly deplorable among these un-
4
THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
happy people. Almost all the tribes are in favor of Catholic Missioners, and feel a kind of natural aversion to Protestant preachers. And yet, in the absence of the former the latter are almost everywhere to be found, and the whole territory has about 30 Protestant Missionary establishments. But every plantation not made by the hand of the Father shall be rooted out. Vain are the efforts of these unsent apostles to make proselytes among the Indians.
They may, indeed, scatter hundreds of Bibles among the savages; but these are neither prized nor understood. The principle that faith is to be conceived by the Bible-and by the Bible alone-proves quite in- comprehensible to the illiterate and savage mind ; and the consequence is that all the Protestant congregations of the Indian territory do not amount to 500 souls.
While a few of the Indians, whose devotion is bought and paid for, like any other marketable commodity, are nominal adherents to Protes- tantism ; while thousands daily worship their Manitos. and indulge in all the excesses of unbridled licentiousness ; the voice of the Catholic Church is almost unheard, except on the banks of Sugar Creek, a tributary stream of the north fork of the Osage river. We would, however, willingly indulge the hope that within a few years a line of Catholic Missions may be estab- lished from the Missouri River down to Texas-a plan by no means dif- ficult of execution, and one which would be of incalculable advantage to religion. The field is large and the harvest promising, but the laborers are by far too few.
RESULTS OF BISHOP DUBOURG'S EFFORTS IN THE FOUR YEARS FROM 1822 TO 1826.
The order chosen by Bishop Dubourg for the evangelization of the Indian tribes of the West was the Society of Jesus. The Govern- ment of the United States was glad to receive the co-operation of the Catholic Church in civilizing these barbarians, who were liable to cause endless trouble ; and the Church gladly accepted the proffered aid of the Government.
John M. Odin, then only in deacon's order, wrote to the Di- rector of the seminary at Lyons, March 30, 1822:
"Bishop Dubourg, en route for Baltimore, stopped at Washington, to confer with the President of the United States, concerning the mis- sion to the savages which he is planning to establish. The question was carried to the Senate, and although nearly all the members were Protes- tants, they resolved to grant a sum of money for the furtherance of this project. They promised, moreover, to pay a small pension to the mis- sionaries, and to furnish them with the necessary agricultural imple- ments. The savages themselves show the most favorable dispositions."
On October 21, 1822, Father Odin wrote from the Barrens in regard to earlier efforts made for the conversion of the Indians :
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INDIAN DAYS
"We have the consolation of seeing a mission opened, or at least, begun, among the savages. Father LaCroix, chaplain to the Ladies of the Sacred Heart of Florissant, near St. Louis, has made two journeys to the Great Osages. He was cordially received, and conceived great hopes of seeing the faith prosper among this tribe. Forty persons, chil- dren and old people, received the waters of baptism.
"The second visit was short. He preached, however, before the en- tire tribe and the chiefs, answering, said that they were happy to hear the word of the Great Spirit. He pushed on further, also, along the banks of the stream, a hundred leagues beyond the nation of the Osages, among a great number of other savages. The fever, from which he suf- fered almost constantly, during this second mission, prevented him from prolonging his sojourn, and obliged him also to abandon his intention of building a church in this part of the country. The poor savages exist in great numbers. There are thirty or forty thousand very large tribes, between the Arkansas river and the Columbia river and the Pacific Ocean.
"Their affection for the black-robes is touching, especially for the French priests. Some time ago, a great number of savages were in St. Louis. One of them was taken on some errand to a house where the Bishop happened to be. The moment he perceived the Bishop, he ran to him, seized his hand and kissed it with every demonstration of friendship. Having departed without remembering to go through the same ceremony, he recalled his mistake, only when already at some dis- tance from the house. He turned back immediately, running all the way. and uttering loud cries, kissed the Bishop's hand and departed once more."
Bishop Dubourg himself writes on this subject to his brother in Bordeaux March 17, 1823 :
"Providence deigns to grant a success to this negotiation, far in excess of my hopes. The government bestows upon me two hundred dollars a year for each missionary and that for four or five men, and it promises to increase the number gradually, and I am sure that it will do so. For an enterprise such as this, it was essential that I should have men especially called to this work, and I had almost renounced the hope of ever obtaining such, when God, in His infinite goodness, has brought about one of these incidents which He alone can foresee and direct the results. The Jesuits of whom I speak had their institution in Maryland, and finding themselves excessively embarrassed for lack of accommodation, were on the point of disbanding their novitiate, when I obtained this pecuniary encouragement from the government. They have seized this opportunity and have offered to transport the whole no- vitiate, master and novices, into Upper Louisiana and form there a pre- paratory school for Indian missionaries. If I had had my choice, I could not have desired anything better. Seven young men, all Flemings, full of talent and of the spirit of Saint Francis Xavier, advanced in their studies, about twenty-two to twenty-seven years of age, with their two
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
excellent masters and some brothers; this is what Providence at last grants to my prayers.
"Near the spot where the Missouri empties into the Mississippi, out- side the village of Florissant, already so happy as to possess the prin- cipal intitution of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, I have a good yield- ing farm, excellent soil, which if well cultivated (which it is not at present), could easily provide sustenance for twenty persons, at least, so far as the important question of nourishment is concerned. True, there is only a small house on the place, but in this country a big cabin of rough wood, such as will be suitable for the apostles of the savages, is quickly built. It is there that I will locate this novitiate, which will be, for all time, a seminary especially intended to form missionaries for the Indians, and for the civilized and ever growing population of Mis- souri. As soon as the actual subjects are ready, we will commence the mission, in good earnest. In the meantime, I propose to receive in the seminary a half-dozen Indian children from the different tribes, in order to familiarize my young missionaries with their habits and lan- guage, and to prepare the Indians to serve as guides, interpreters and aides to the missionaries when they are sent to the scattered tribes."
NOTE-"For forty-one years, from 1773, the Jesuits were suppressed and dis- banded. On August 7, 1814, they were officially restored by Pope Pius VII. After their restoration, the Maryland Jesuits were the first to organize in the United States. In 1823, Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans, whose jurisdiction embraced Upper and Lower Louisiana, applied to Very Rev. Father Charles Neale, S.J., Provincial of the Jesuits in Maryland, to supply him with Jesuit missionaries for educating and civilizing the In- dians in the territories west of the Mississippi. Accordingly, on April 11, 1823, under the guidance of Rev. Charles Van Quickenborne. S.J., superior, and of Rev. Peter J. Timmermans, S.J., assistant superior, six Jesuit scholastics, and some Jesuit lay broth- ers, set out from Maryland, and arrived at St. Louis on May 31, 1823. The Jesuit scholastics were: F. L. Verreydt, F. G. Van Assche, P. J. Verhaegen, P. J. De Smet. J. A. Elet, and J. B. Smedts. In June, 1823, the two Jesuit Fathers, with their six novices and the lay brothers, took possession of a farm near Florissant. Mo., donated to them by a Mr. O'Neil of Florissant, and there established their Novitlate. Of these six novices, two-P. J. Verhaegen, and J. B. Smedts- were ordained priests in 1825. The other four were ordained priests in 1827. Father Van Quickenborne made occasional visits during the years 1828, 1829 and 1830 to the Osage Indians in Southern Kansas; but the Osage Mission in Kansas was not permanently established until 1847. Father Van Quickenborne also established the Kickapoo Indian Mission near Fort Leaven- worth in 1837. That same year (1837) Father Van Quickenborne died (August 17) at Portage des Sioux, Mo. In 1838, Father De Smet, with the assistance of Father Verreydt, established a mission among the Pottawatomie Indians at Council Bluffs."
(From the notes of Rt. Rev. John Joseph Hogan, in Catholic History Review, Vol. III, P. 326 (1917) by Very Rev. Wm. Keuenhof, V. G.)
THE FIRST CATHOLIC MISSIONARY.
In the spring of 1822 Father De la Croix, chaplain of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, came on horseback from Florissant, Missouri, to preach the gospel to the Great Osages on the Neosho River in Kansas.
The trail to the West crossed Missouri from St. Louis and entered the Indian country at or near where the Miami Indian village once stood. This spot is about eight miles southeast of Paola on the Marais des Cygnes River. It is supposed that Father De la Croix followed the usual trail and entered Kansas at this point. It is worthy of note that he was the first priest to enter this vast region since the days of Father
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INDIAN DAYS
Juan de Padilla in 1541 as far as any written records show.
Miami county claims the distinction of being the scene of Father De la Croix's first labors in Kansas for he, no doubt, tarried among such tribes as lay in his path. His first thought was to bless the land, "beseeching the Lord to visit it (habitationem istam) and drive far from it all the snares of the enemy; he asked that the holy Angels might dwell therein and guard its peace and that this blessing might remain forever?" The good man's heart was filled with admiration at all the natural beauty that lay around him on every side for, as is well known, there is nothing on earth more beautiful than the Kansas prairies in the late spring. Pushing on through this paradise of birds and flowers for a distance of abont eighty miles he came at last to the Neosho River and found the object of his laborious searchings-the Great Osage tribe, one of the noblest band of savages within the confines of Kansas.
The following extract from the article published in the St. Louis Catholic Cabinet, November, 1843, gives a delightful account of this and a subsequent visit :
"On the occasion of his first visit, as they were about to depart on a hunt- ing expedition, he could only see one village. He was very well received and baptized a great many children. As he had promised to visit all the villages of that nation of Indians, he was obliged to return last summer. He left Florissant, which is situated five leagues from St. Louis, on the 22nd of July. After traveling twelve days on horseback across prairies, broken by forests and streams, he reached the first village which he had already visited in the spring of 1822.
"They were delighted to see him again. He was accompanied by several per- sons who intended to trade with the savages. All the warriors came to meet them.
"They were conducted, with great honor, to the head chief and invited to feasts, prepared by the savages, and so were kept going until evening, from cabin to cabin. At these repasts they were presented with a wooden dish, filled with boiled maize or buffalo meat (boeuf sauvage); but each dish had to be duly tasted.
"The head chief and six of his principal warriors offered to accompany the missionary in his visit to the other villages. Ten days were passed thus, and the missionary was received everywhere with the same eagerness. At one of these villages more than a hundred warriors, covered from head to foot with their handsomest ornaments, came quite a distance to meet him. They rode finely trained horses. The occupations of the men are war and hunting. The women are very hard working. They it is who build the cabins, and carry the loads of firewood on their backs. The quantity they take at one time is astonish- ing. The whole nation is clothed, decently at least. Everyone is covered with a robe.
"Polygamy is practiced among them, for it is the custom that when a savage demands a girl in marriage and is accepted, not only she, but all her sisters also belong to him and are looked upon as his wives. They pride themselves greatly upon having several wives. Another great obstacle to their civilization lies in their strong distaste for the cultivation of the soil and for all kinds of work. They care for nothing but war and hunting.
"One day the missionary celebrated the Holy Sacrifice. All the chiefs were
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THE HISTORY OF OUR CRADLE LAND
present and also as many savages as the place would hold. He has told me that he was greatly moved by the respectful attention which they showed, and the exactitude with which they rose and knelt, raising their arms and eyes to heaven. After Mass he distributed to all the chiefs a number of crosses, fas- tened to ribbons, which he threw around their necks. He also baptized several children.
. "For several years Protestant missionaries, sent out and well paid by the American government, had been settled among these savages, and had built up establishments where they cared for the children of this nation for a certain time. But they were not successful, and nearly a year ago the Indians took away all their children, saying that they had realized that they were not black robes, as they had thought they were at first.
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