He had been three years and one month among the Penosbscot warriors. With all their waywardness they loved the Black Robe. On the September day that he withdrew from the island they followed him to the river bank and showed by no uncertain signs that they mourned his departure. A weeping Indian is a rare sight.
It was common on that day when the brave Swiss Jesuit priest Father John Bapst left his charges and transferred his residence to Eastport. He was not abandoning them altogether, he told them, as they crowded to the river's edge. They were still his parishioners, and he would come to them from time to time and minister to them.
Link (here) to the mentioned portion of an essay entitled, Father John Bapst, S.J. and the "Ellsworth Outrage" by Fr. Gerald C. Treacy, S.J.
No comments:
Post a Comment