Letter XLIV.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
John Nobili.
UNIVERSITY OF ST. LOUIS, Jan. 18th, 1858.
REV. AND DEAR FATHER :
You published a short notice of Father Nobili in the Précis Historiques for 1857, page 284. Moreover, our very Rev. Father General has given you a token of his paternal kindness, by sending you a letter and copy of a correspondence with Father Congiato, the new superior of the mission, on the death of his predecessor, also published by you, page 293.
1 send you as a complement to these data, an extract from the San Francisco Herald of March 20, 1856, which consists in a biographical notice of Father Nobili. Will you be so good as to translate it if you find it sufficiently interesting.
_______________
On Monday, March 3d, funeral rites were rendered to Father John Nobili, of the Society of Jesus, superior of the college of Santa Clara.
The news of his death spread with great rapidity, in all the country around. This religious was generally known in the whole state, and all those who enjoyed his acquaintance could not refrain from entertaining the highest esteem for him, and, very often, a very profound attachment. It Can, therefore, be easily understood what lively sorrow this melancholy news excited. At San Francisco, in particular, when the telegraph transmitted this sad announcement, an indescribable mourning covered, so to speak, the whole city. The sadness and dejection manifested on every side, made known that all had lost all excellent friend, and that California had experienced a great, a public loss. Only a short time before, this worthy religious had been seen in the streets of San Francisco, and it was with great difficulty that we could be persuaded that he was no more, and that henceforth he would never appear in our midst.
Father Nobili was born in Rome, on the 8th of April, 1812. His parents, distinguished for their piety, educated their children in accordance with the correct principles of Christian morality. His mother, of whom he ever spoke with the most affectionate respect, was a model of all those virtues that form the ornament of a mother. His father was a lawyer.
John, while yet young, was confided to excellent masters. His progress, in the different studies to which he applied, could easily presage much that is elevated in riper years. Endowed with natural talents, of a superior order, he employed his efforts in developing them, and his masters found the task of adorning his faculties and increasing his information, easy and agreeable. but, at the same time that his understanding acquired maturity, his heart, that portion which is so neglected in our day in the plans of education, was not left to itself in order to be overrun, like an untilled soil, by noxious weeds. The seeds of virtue were planted betimes. They cast deep roots, and acquired a great strength long before the passions and a corrupt world could turn them aside with evil principles, or even give theirs a bad tendency. The pious counsels of his mother were always for John Nobili an efficacious stimulant to virtue, and he took care never to forget them. The pious wishes of his parents were realized, and all their tender cares fully recompensed by the progress of their son in fervor and in devotion, as well as in profane sciences.
But their joy was complete when he told them, at an age still tender, the generous resolution that he had taken of consecrating himself entirely to the service of God. He was then only sixteen years of age. Having finished his first course of studies in the Roman college, he entered the Society of Jesus on the , 14th of November, 1828.
During his novitiate (a period of probation destined to show whether the candidate possesses the qualities necessary for living in accordance with the rules of the society), he was distinguished for his regularity and his punctuality. Hip dispositions were noble. His superiors named hire Prefect of the Novices.
Later, his talents proved so brilliant that when he was studying humanities and rhetoric, his compositions in Latin poetry and other verse, were read in all the public sittings without being subjected to any previous correction. In 1831, he commenced the study of philosophy. In 1834, appointed to teach the humanities, he taught them in the Roman college, and in the colleges of Loretto, Piacenza, and Fermo. The superiors had so exalted an opinion of his acquisitions in rhetoric, that he was appointed to preside over the public exercises of five colleges of his order in Italy. He began his theological studies in 1840, and was ordained priest in 1843.
A short time after, he asked and obtained the permission to go and preach the Gospel to the savages of North America. In company with Father De Smet, he sailed to Oregon, by Cape Horn, towards the end of the year 1843.
During this irksome passage, which lasted nearly eight months, he was subjected to great privations, and was attacked by a disease of the pericardium. On arriving at Fort Vancouver, he was intrusted with the spiritual care of the Canadians, who are employed by the Hudson Bay Company, as well as of the Indians, the number of whom is very considerable along the shores of the Columbia. The ship in which he ascended was near perishing on the bar or the Columbia. The captain was three days in discovering the mouth of the river. At last it was indicated to him by the sight of a vessel which was coining out of it.
On arriving with his companions in Oregon, Father Nobili found himself in presence of an epidemic. It was a virulent type of dysentery, and it was considered contagious. The physicians attributed it to the deleterious qualities of the river water. A great number of savages died of it, especially among the Tchinooks, and the Indians of the Cascades. They were, for the most part, encamped along the rivers, in order to be able to go to Fort Vancouver and obtain the advice of a physician. This was a favorable opportunity of exercising the holy ministry, and Father Nobili seized it with the greatest zeal.
He applied carefully to the study of the language of the Indians, and, after a short time, he was capable of speaking several dialects. In the mouth of June, 1845, the Father set forth for Willamette, accompanied by a brother novice, to visit the tribes of New Caledonia, among which he made several apostolical excursions.
It would be impossible to give any other (in this notice) than a feeble idea of the miseries, privations, and sufferings of good Father Nobili during his sojourn among the savage tribes. The following description will furnish us with some information concerning the country. We extract it from the work of Father de Smet, entitled, "Oregon Missions," No. VII., p. 122. "We traversed waving forests of pine and cedar, in which daylight scarcely penetrated. Ere long we entered sombre forests in which we were obliged to clear a road, axe in hand, in order to avoid those collections of trees over thrown and piled up by the tempests of autumn. Some of these forests are so dense, that at the distance of twelve feet. I was unable to distinguish my guide. The safest means of extricating one's self from these labyrinths, is for the rider to trust to the sagacity of his horse. If the reins are abandoned to him, he will follow the foot, prints of other beasts of burden. This expedient has served me a hundred times. "Whatever the imagination can depict as frightful, appears to be aggregated here, to inspire dread. Precipices and ravines ready to swallow the traveller; gigantic summits and elevations of different hues; inaccessible peaks; fearful and impenetrable depths, in which noisy waters are continually precipitating; oblique and narrow paths, by which it becomes necessary to ascend; several times, indeed, I was obliged to take the attitude of a quadruped and walk on my hands.
"The natural pyramids of the Rocky Mountains, seem to challenge the efforts of human invention. They serve as a resting place for the clouds which, descending, surround their gigantic summits in sublime repose. The hand of Omnipotence laid their foundations, and suffers the elements to form them, and from age to age they proclaim his glory."
On whatever side Father Nobili turned his steps among these Indian tribes, he was received with open arms, and they brought him infants to be baptized. An extract from the Journal of Father Nobili, dated Fort Colville, June, 1856, and published in the Oregon Missions, No. XVII, reveals the zeal of the missionary.
"While I remained at Fort Vancouver, I baptized upwards of sixty persons, during a dangerous sickness which raged in the country. The majority of those who received baptism, died with all the marks of sincere conversion. Oil the ..th of July, I baptized nine children at Fort Okinagane - the children of the chief of the Sioushwaps were of the number. He appeared full of joy at seeing a Black-gown direct his course towards their country. On the 29th I left Okinagane, and followed the company. Every night I prayed with the whites and Indians. On the road, three old men came to me, and earnestly begged me to take pity on them, and prepare them for heaven!' Having instructed them in the duties and principles of religion, and the necessity of baptism, I administered to them, and to forty-six children of the same tribe, what seemed to be the height of their desires, the holy sacrament of regeneration.
"On the 11th of August, a tribe of Indians, residing about the Upper Lake on Thompson's River, came to meet me. They exhibited towards me all the marks of sincere and filial attachment. They followed me several days to hear my instructions, and only departed after having exacted a promise that I would return in the course of the following autumn or winter, and make known to them the glad tidings of salvation.
"At the Fort of the Sioushwaps, I received a visit from all the chiefs, who congratulated me on my happy arrival among them. They raised a great cabin to serve as a church, and as a place to teach them during my stay. I baptized twelve of their children. I was obliged, when the salmon fishing commanced, to separate for some months from these clear Indians, and continue my route to New Caledonia.
"I arrived at Fort. Alexandria on the 25th. All the tribes I met manifested towards me the same emotions of joy and friendship. To my surprise I found at the Fort a frame church. I returned in the fall and remained there a month, engaged in all the exercises of our holy ministry. The Canadians performed their religious duties-I joined several in marriage, and administered to many the holy communion. Twenty-four children and forty-seven adults received baptism.
"On the 2d of September, I ascended the River Frazer, and after a dangerous trip, arrived, on the 12th. at Fort George, where the same joy and affection on the part of the Indians attended me. Fifty Indians had come down from the Rocky Mountains, and patiently awaited my arrival for nineteen days, in order to have the consolation of witnessing the ceremony of baptism. I baptized twelve of their children, and twenty-seven others, of whom six were adults advanced in age. I performed there the ceremonies of the planting of the cross.
"On the 14th, the feast of the exaltation of the holy cross, I ascended the River Nesqually, and on the 24th, arrived at the Fort of Lake Stuart. I spent eleven days in giving instructions to the Indians, and had the happiness of abolishing the custom of burning the dead, and that of inflicting torments upon the bodies of the surviving wives or husbands. They solemnly renounced all their juggling and idolatries. Their great medicine-hall, where they used to practise their superstitious rites, was changed into a church. It wits blessed and dedicated to God under the patronage of St. Francis Xavier. The planting of the cross was solemnly performed with all the ceremonies proper to such occasions. Sixteen children and five old men received baptism.
"The 24th October, I visited the village of the Chilcotins. This mission lasted twelve days, during which time I baptized eighteen children and twenty-four adults, and performed eight marriages. I blessed here the first cemetery; buried, with all the ceremonies of the ritual, an Indian woman, the first converted to Christianity. I next visited two other villages of the same tribe-in the first I baptized twenty persons, of whom three were adults. In the second, two chiefs with thirty of their nation received baptism, and two were united in matrimony. Polygamy prevailed everywhere, and everywhere I succeeded in abolishing it. In a neighboring tribe I baptized fifty-seven persons, of whom thirty-one were adults. I also celebrated nine marriages.
"After my return to the Sioushwaps, I baptized forty-one persons, of whom eleven were adults. I visited five more villages among the neighboring tribes, among whom I baptized about two hundred persons. I performed the ceremony of the planting of the cross, in eight different places, and founded four frame churches which were constructed by the savages.
" On an average, each village or tribe consists of about two hundred souls.
"In the neighborhood of Fort Alexandria the number of souls amounts to 1255
About Fort George 343
In the neighborhood of Frazer's Lake 258
" Stuart's Lake 211
" McLeod's Lake 80
" Fort Rabine 1190
" Bear Lake 801
Total number of souls 4138
"Population on Thompson's River, or on the land of the Sioushwaps or Atnass.
"The number of Sioushwaps, so called, is 583
" of Okinaganes 685
Population on the North Branch 525
" on Lake Superior 322
" at the Fountain of Frazer Lake 1127
Number of Knife Indians 1530
Total number of souls 4772
During his sojourn in New Caledonia, Father Nobili had to endure great privations. Through the course of one whole year, his only subsistence was a sort of moss or grass and roots. His chief food was horse-flesh, and often he was reduced to eating the flesh of dogs and wolves. What he suffered from cold, hunger, and other privations is only known to God. To man, the reality would seem incredible.
After having dwelt among the savage tribes six years, during which he showed himself a worthy disciple of Jesus Christ, in bringing back souls to God, and in eradicating the, vices which predominate in them, in obedience to the orders of his superiors, he forsook his dear Indians and came to California, in 1849, with his health greatly enfeebled.
He remained some time in San Francisco, and afterwards went to San-Jose, in which place he tarried until the spring of 1851. The whole period of his residence there, he excited the admiration of that city, with its inhabitants of various religious denominations, by his indefatigable labors. When the cholera broke out in 1850, the horse of the man of God was saddled day and night, so as not to lose a minute of time, and to be able to visit without delay those who might call for his services. The labors of Father Nobili are well known in that place they will live forever in the memory of those who received his assistance, or who witnessed his consuming charity.
In the spring of 1851, His Grace Archbishop Alemany appointed him to a mission in Santa Clara. As soon as he entered on this new charge, he commenced founding the college of Santa Clara. This college succeeded so well, that it is known as the first educational institution in the State.
It is unnecessary to speak of his trials and his labors since the establishment of this college-the whole State knows and appreciates them. It is not an unmeaning phrase when we say that the "greater glory of God," device of the society, was the primum mobile of all has actions. How shall we express the deep solitude with which he watched over the college. He applied earnestly with an incessant attention to its increase, to the direction of its progress, to the promotion of its interests, and to the augmentation of its material resources. He exercised a paternal kindness and care towards the pupils intrusted to him. He was affable and complaisant towards those who visited him, and displayed a ready- religious hospitality. His conduct towards all was polite and agreeable, but full of a certain dignity which conciliated the respect and admiration, not only of Catholic laymen, but even of those who did not acknowledge his clerical character. He was scrupulously exact in fulfilling the
minor observances of the religious rule. Divine service had peculiar charms for him; he loved its offices and its liturgy, and he paid extreme attention to all that concerns the beauty of the sanctuary, for all that regards in any manner the exterior glory of the mysterious Daughter of the King of heaven. In fine, his strong faith, his irreproachable manners, his pure life, his zeal, his charity, and his other countless virtues, caused him to shine as a burning light before his own people, and before "those without."
All these traits, and a great number of others not less remarkable, are precious. iu the sight of God, full of edification for men, and do honor to the memory of the deceased. It is unnecessary that we should dwell longer upon them, or develop them more at length ; the radiance which already surrounds them, has bestowed a lustre to which no words of ours can add. However, we cannot refrain from relating One more circumstance ; it is the exemplary patience with which be supported troubles and endured sufferings, especially the pains of his last malady. The illness that snatched him away (the lock-jaw) is extremely painful. The sufferings that it ordinarily causes, were augmented by the irritability of the nervous constitution of the patient; nevertheless the Father endured the whole courageously, and with an entire resignation to the divine will. He requested the prayerful assistance of others, so that he might be favored with the grace of perfect resignation. In his last hour, during the moments that preceded his departure, when his eyes wandered from object to object as if to seek some aid, every time that they fell upon the crucifix they rested there, relieved and comforted by that image of the divine Redeemer, and by the recollection of the passion of Jesus. It was in the act of kissing this sacred emblem, that Father Nobili closed his eyes, and his spirit returned to its Creator.
After the death of this lamented Father, nothing wag omitted that the Catholic worship prescribes, or that the respect and affection of his religious companions could suggest, to honor his mortal remains. His body was directly carried to the church of the mission, and placed upon a catafalque before the grand altar. His Grace Archbishop Alemany celebrated the solemn mass of requiem, assisted by the Rev. Father Llebarra, vicar-general, Rev. Mr. Gallagher, pastor of St. Mary's cathedral, San Francisco, and some other Jesuit Fathers. The Rev. Mr. Gallagher pronounced the funeral oration, and gave an eloquent and touching abridgment of the religious and estimable career of father Nobili. It is to him that we are particularly indebted for the more important facts that we have presented in this imperfect notice of this illustrious apostle of California, who devoted himself without reserve to religion, and to the education of youth.
________________
Accept, Rev. Find dear Father, with this biographical notice of one of my Oregon companions, the assurance of my affectionate respect.
P. J. DE SMET, S. J.