Pierre-Jean De Smet

Pierre-Jean De Smet
photograph by Mathew Brady, circa 1860-1865.
Born	(1801-01-30)30 January 1801 Dendermonde, Belgium
Died	23 May 1873(1873-05-23) (aged 72) St. Louis, Missouri
Other names	Pieter-Jan De Smet
Education	White Marsh Novitiate in present-day Bowie, Maryland
Church	Roman Catholic
Ordained	23 September 1827 (1827-09-23)

Pierre-Jean De Smet (30 January 1801 – 23 May 1873), also known as Pieter-Jan De Smet, was a Belgian Roman Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), active in missionary work among the Native Americans of the Midwestern United States and Western United States in the mid-19th century.

His extensive travels as a missionary were said to total 180,000 miles. He was known as the "Friend of Sitting Bull", because he persuaded the Sioux war chief to participate in negotiations with the United States government for the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

Early life

De Smet was born in Dendermonde, in what is now Belgium. He first came to the United States with eleven other Belgian Jesuits in 1821 to begin his novitiate at White Marsh, a Jesuit estate near Baltimore, Maryland. Part of the complex survives today as Sacred Heart Church in Bowie.

De Smet and five other Belgian novices, led by Charles Van Quickenborne, moved to Florissant, Missouri, at the invitation of bishop Dubourg. Several academic institutions were immediately founded, among which the St. Regis Seminary where De Smet had his first contacts with indigenous boys. After further studies, he was ordained priest on 23 September 1827. Until 1830, he learned about Indian customs and languages as a prefect at the seminary. In 1833 he had to return to Belgium due to health problems. It was 1837 before he could return to Missouri.

De Smet's map of the Council Bluffs, Iowa area, 1839. De Smet's mission is labeled "St. Joseph's", The area labeled 'Caldwell's Camp' was a Potawatomi village led by Sauganash; this was at or near the later town of Kanesville, the precursor of Council Bluffs.^[1]

Mission work in Iowa Territory

In 1838 and 1839, De Smet helped to establish St. Joseph's Mission in what is now Council Bluffs, Iowa. Taking over the abandoned Council Bluffs Blockhouse military fort, De Smet worked primarily with a Potawatomi band led by Billy Caldwell, also known as Sauganash (of Irish and Mohawk descent, he was born in Canada and spoke English as well as some Indian languages.).

De Smet was appalled by the murders and brutality resulting from the whiskey trade, which caused much social disruption among the Indian people. He tried to protect them. During this time, he also assisted and supported Joseph Nicollet’s efforts at mapping the Upper Midwest. De Smet used newly acquired mapping skills to produce the first detailed map of the Missouri River valley system, from below the Platte River to the Big Sioux River. His map shows the locations of Indian villages and other cultural features, including the wreck of the Steamboat Pirate.^[2][3]

First missionary tour

After discussion with Iroquois Indians, the Flathead Nation had gained a slight knowledge of Christianity, and became so convinced of its truth that at three times they sent delegations of their tribe over 3000 miles to St. Louis, MO, to request "black-robes" to be sent among them to baptize their children, sick, and dying. The first three delegations failed due to disease and massacre, while passing through the Territory of the Sioux, but the fourth was successful. Fr. de Smet was then assigned to accompany the messengers back to the Indian territory, to ascertain the nation and establish a mission among them.

On 5 July 1840, Father Pierre-Jean De Smet offered the first Holy Mass in Wyoming, one mile east of Daniel, a town in the west-central part of the state. A monument to the event stands on its site.^[4]

1845-1846 expedition

Engraving of a Kaw (Kansas) village by De Smet, showing earthlodges and other traditional house forms.

One of De Smet's longest explorations began in August 1845. He started from Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho and crossed into the Kootenay River valley. From there he followed the valley, eventually crossing over to the source of the Columbia River. He traversed a portion of that valley, followed Sinclair Pass, recrossed the Kootenay and, using White Man’s Pass, reached the Bow River valley, near the site of present-day Canmore, Alberta. From there he headed north to Rocky Mountain House. By this time it was October and he fulfilled one of his goals; to meet with the Cree, Chippewa, and Blackfeet of the area. At the end of the month, De Smet traveled to the east to search for more Natives. He was fortunate to find his way back to Rocky Mountain House and was guided from there to Fort Edmonton, where he spent the winter of 1845-1846.

In the spring, De Smet returned to Jasper House and, with terrible suffering, he reached the Columbia River and Fort Vancouver. He returned to his mission at Sainte-Marie on the Bitterroot River. Finally he returned to St. Louis, Missouri. His time as a missionary in the Rockies was over.

Society of Jesus

History of the Jesuits Regimini militantis Suppression Jesuit Hierarchy Superior General Adolfo Nicolás Ignatian Spirituality Spiritual Exercises Ad majorem Dei gloriam Magis Notable Jesuits St. Ignatius of Loyola St. Francis Xavier St. Peter Faber St. Aloysius Gonzaga St. Robert Bellarmine St. Peter Canisius St. Edmund Campion Pope Francis

Later years and death

Statue of Pieter-Jan de Smet in Dendermonde

In his remaining years, De Smet was active in work regarding the missions he helped establish and fund. During his career, he sailed back to Europe eight times to raise money for the missions among supporters there.

In 1868 he persuaded Sitting Bull to accept the Treaty of Fort Laramie.

He died 23 May 1873 in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was originally buried with some fellow early Jesuit explorers at St. Stanislaus Seminary near Florissant. In 2003, after some controversy, his remains and those of the other Jesuits were moved and reinterred at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, the burial site for many Missouri Province Jesuits.

Legacy

• De Smet's papers, with accounts of his travels and missionary work with Native Americans, are held at two separate locations:
  Jesuit Archives - De Smetiana series in Saint Louis, Missouri,^[5] and the
  Pierre Jean De Smet Papers at the Washington State University Archives in Pullman, Washington.^[6]

Namesake places

Several places are named in honor of De Smet, including:

• De Smet, Idaho, a populated place
• DeSmet, Montana, a populated place near the Missoula International Airport
• De Smet, South Dakota,^[7] the later childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder
• De Smet Jesuit High School in Creve Coeur, Missouri
• De Smet Range and Roche de Smet in Canada
• Lake Desmet, between Buffalo, Wyoming and Sheridan, Wyoming

See also

• Red Fish, Oglala chief

References

Sources

• Killoren, John J. "Come, Blackrobe": De Smet and the Indian Tragedy, The Institute of Jesuit Sources (2003), reprint of the University of Oklahoma Press (1994); ISBN 1-880810-50-6

External links

• Jesuit website
• Biography from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913
• Biography at Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Biographies and other publications of Father De Smet
• The Apostle of the Rocky Mountains: Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J. by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary