St Marys College - Dial Yearbook (St Marys, KS)

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 few years the Peorias, the Chippewas, the Piarikeshaws and the Ottawas had been converted and baptized; visits were made by the fathers to the white settlements of Deepwater, Westport, and Council Bluffs; and in June, 1846, a sister mission was established in the Osage reservation at St. Paul, Kansas. In addition a number of prayer books, ‘grammars, and dictionaries in the Pottawatomie language had been printed and distributed. Father Gailland made the translation into the language of the Indian. MIGRATION While returning from Council Bluffs in May, 1846, Father Hoecken was joined by delegates of the American government who were commissioned to purchase the Indian lands of the Pottawatomies. June 17, 1846, saw the signing of an agreement whereby the Pottawatomies were to relinquish their rights to the Sugar Creek lands in return for a sum of money and a reservation on the Kansas (Kaw) river, 30 miles square, on both sides of the river, immediately west of where Topeka now stands. Early in November Father Verreydt, accompanied by a party of Indians, set out to explore the assigned lands with a view to selecting a suitable and central location for the mission; and not earlier than November 11, 1847, the Fathers and Religious repaired to the new location. They did not remain here long, for on June 20. 1848, a site on the north side of the Kaw was definitely settled upon and on September 7th Fr. Verreydt, accompanied by the Religious of the Sacred Heart, crossed over to the new building prepared by Fr. Hoecken and the Indians and there permanently established themselves on the ground where St. Mary’s of today stands. In the transfer and the sale of the Indian lands, no provision had been made by the government for the Fathers and the Religious. The Indians, however, voluntarily contributed $1,700.00 and this sum was considerably augmented by donations and other means. Save during the period of transmigration, the work of education was carried on. We find that in the winter of 1848 five new boarders were received at the mission. The happy news was received November 11, 1848, that arrangements for the erection of a school at the mission had been effected between St. Louis University and the Federal government. Thus ample assurance was given that the work of instruction was to be perpetuated and that St. Mary’s ground was ever to remain sacred to the cause of education. In November, 1849, the first church at St. Mary’s was completed and placed under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. Rev. Felix L. Verreydt, S. J. 5 DIAL ANNUAL One Hundred Seventy-Six

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 HISTORICAL Mr i three weeks. Some weeks after his return to his headquarters at the Kickapoo settlement, word was received from the Reverend Father Provincial that Father Iloecken might establish himself permanently among the Pottawatomies. Soon after his arrival, a church was constructed and temporary huts were built to house the bronze sons of the plains until a suitable site for a settlement had been found. SUGAR CREEK MISSION In March, 1838, the entire band removed to the bank of Sugar Creek and a village was established on the present site of Gentreville. The first work accomplished in the new settlement was the erection of a log church in which services were held during the remainder of Lent. This structure soon proved to be inadequate, however, for a considerable contingent of the tribe, numbering several hundred, arrived at the mission late in 1840 from Indiana. To accommodate this influx a new church was built which was blessed on Christmas day, 1840. As early as the year 1839 a school was erected for the education of the Indian boys, but it was not opened until 1840 and then only for a short time. By July 8, 1841, a school for girls had been erected and opened. Towards the close of this year a school for boys was again built and opened early in 1842. Back through an uninterrupted sequence of years to this tiny mission school can St. Mary’s trace its actual origin—less than 66 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. During the following year, 1843, Rev. F. Verreydt organized some of the Indians into an anti-liquor brigade. “They were instructed to keep watch that no liquor was brought into the village; and if any one had been observed with liquor they were to surround the place, search for liquor, break the bottles and spill the liquor.” Then follows a quaint little remark of Father Hocckcn, from whose diary this excerpt is taken, which is somewhat amusing, as is the entire incident, in the light of after events in Kansas. “This they constantly did, and the custom is kept up to the present day.” (1846.) In May of the same year the arch-confraternity, in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for the conversion of sinners, was organized; in November a “Society of Jesus and Mary” set on foot, and late in the year a spiritual retreat of eight days was preached to the Indians, according to the method of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. In 1842 the United States government which had taken an active interest in the mission from its very beginning, assigned the sum of $300.00 annually for teachers and school purposes, stipulating, however, that annual school reports be forwarded to Washington. Even at this early date the influence of St. Mary’s had begun to reach out past the narrow confines of the reservation. Within the next 01= 22 DIAL ANNUAL One Hundred Seventy-Five

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HISTORICAL BISHOP MIEGE On the 24th of May, 1851, Rt. Rev. J. B. Miege, S. J., having been raised March 25, 1851, to the dignity of Bishop of Messenia and Vicar Apostolic over the country inhabited by the red man, lying between the Rockies and what might l e called the western boundary of civilization, arrived in St. Mary’s to make the humble mission church his Pro-cathedral. About this time the towns along the Kaw began to spring into being. Father Gailland, writing of this particular period, says: “This region took on a new aspect. Before this it had seemed a vast desert. Now villages and towns are rising on all sides and the country is being filled with a multitude of people. The population of the city of Leavenworth, which on account of its favorable situation surpasses all others, has within the space of two years increased by 2.000. The more important towns that have lately sprung into being are Doniphan, Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, and Osawatomie. On the 9th of August, 1855, Bishop Miege left St. Mary’s to establish the seat of his bishopric in Leavenworth, that flourishing town being more in keeping with the dignity of his office and affording him more ample opportunity for carrying on liis work. Rt. Rev. J. B. Miege, S. J. The little Indian shrine which graces the eastern slope of observatory hill and looks out over the athletic fields was erected during these early mission days. An earnest desire to foster the spirit of Christian piety and to enkindle devotion to the Blessed -Mother of God were the motives which prompted Father Diels, S. J., to erect this modest shrine of the Blessed Virgin. THE CHARTER Again the endless sequence of years mechanically pursue their silent course. Throughout thirty-two years of persevering endeavor, unremitting toil and zealous exertion the mission had continued in its fierce struggle with the vicissitudes of fortune and the unsettled conditions, adapting itself to the needs of the shifting and everchanging character and habits of the race to which it ministered. From 1851 when Kansas was made a territory, and left to decide the slavery question for itself, until the close of the Civil War, the entire community had witnessed the chaotic conditions that accompanied the long and bloody conflict. By 1865, however, peace had finally been established and the constant influx of whites liad metamorphosed the quiet plains, and a thriving town had grown up within the very shadow of the college. It was decided upon, therefore, by the provincial, Rev. Father Cossemans, S. J., that a boarding school should lie founded at St. Mary’s. On May 12, 1869, Rev. Maurice Gailland, S. J. 5 DIAL ANYMUAL One Hundred Seventy-Seven