Spiritual Pioneers

Bishop McGovern

Turning to the pioneers in the spiritual order, the place of honor is assigned to Rev. Peter J. De Smet, S.J., whose name will ever be one of the brightest ornaments [6] in the field of American missionary endeavor. To him belongs the distinction of having celebrated the first Mass within the limits of Wyoming.

A delegation of Nez Percé (or Flathead) Indians from beyond the Rocky mountains had come to St. Louis to interview the ecclesiastical authorities, and beg that priests be sent to instruct their people in the Catholic faith. Finding their way to the Jesuit college, they explained their mission to the superior; Father De Smet was appointed to visit their habitat in order to prepare the way for the missionaries whom it was proposed to send. He set out for the scene of his labors at the end of April, 1840, with the annual caravan of the American Fur Company, under the leadership of Captain Andrew Drips. On Sunday, July 5, 1840, they reached the Green River Rendezvous, where Fr. De Smet celebrated Mass and preached in English and French to the traders, trappers and hunters, and through interpreters to the Snake and Flathead Indians.>No doubt he had already celebrated Mass at Fort Laramie, although this is not expressly mentioned in his writings. He does state, however, that he was accustomed to say Mass on Sundays and feast days during his missionary trips.> The Canadians sang a portion of the Mass in Latin and canticles in French; the Indians chanted hymns in their native tongues. The spot was known for years as La Prairie de la Messe. The next day a dozen Canadian hunters [7] followed Fr. De Smet and went to confession and communion.

The first permanent settlement in Wyoming was Fort Laramie, built by one of the fur trading companies in 1834-35 and sold several years later to the United States government. Parkman records that in 1846 a priest heard confessions at this post: it is morally certain that missionaries passing through on their way to the Oregon country likewise celebrated Mass. However, it was only with the building of the Union Pacific railroad in 1867 that the real pioneers came to cast their lot for weal or woe in the new territory. That very year Bishop O'Gorman of Omaha sent Rev. William Kelly to assume the spiritual care of all the Catholics from Sidney, Nebr. to' Wasatch canyon, Utah. An account of his pastorate will be found in the history of the Cheyenne parish. While the parochial register shows Fr. Kelly to have visited every point along the Union Pacific, it is not believed that he ever went to Fort Laramie; however, it is recorded that his successor, Fr. Erlach (1869-71), visited Forts Laramie and Fetterman as well as Atlantic City and South Pass.

Religious women, those powerful and almost necessary auxiliaries of the clergy in the spread and development of the Catholic faith in modern times, were found in Wyoming even before its formation as a separate diocese. As early as February, 1876, the Sisters [8] of Charity of Leavenworth had opened a hospital at Laramie, but it was abandoned in 1896. The religious of the Holy Child Jesus (of Sharon Hill, Pa.) established themselves in Cheyenne in 1884, opening a school temporarily in the old frame church that had been built by Fr. Kelly and later, on its completion, moving into the beautiful academy opposite the State capitol. At St. Stephen's mission, likewise, the Franciscan sisters from Glen Riddle, Pa. early came to the assistance of the Jesuits by taking charge of a school for Indian girls. In the intervening years the Leavenworth Sisters of Charity have come to teach in Sheridan, the Dubuque Sisters of Charity (B.V.M.) in Casper, and the Franciscans (St. Francis, Wis.) are caring for the orphans at Torrington.