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JESUITS RISE AGAIN: New Pope Symbolizes Rebirth, Restoration Michigan Needs

First Catholic, Lutheran Christmases in Midland Recalled by Historians

March 16, 2013       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Statue of Father Marquette overlooks the Straits of Mackinac.
 

More than 300 years ago an order of priests came to Michigan from France, conquered the wilderness, converted the natives and founded the world we have come to know.

The order was the Jesuits, the same as the new pope of the Roman Catholic church, Francis I. He is the first Jesuit to ascend to the papacy.

And the same order that was first to visit the Bay City, Midland, Saginaw area to engage the Indians in Christian ways for the first time.

The culture the Jesuits created in Michigan caused immigrants to thrive here through cooperation and civil behavior. Perhaps the most prosperous industrial society the world has known resulted.

Although the Empire of New France ended in 1763 with cession to the English and Dutch, the French left their mark on the North American territory many ways. By clearing and dividing the land, establishing villages and cities, building a network of roads and trails, and developing the territory with varied types of construction, they transformed and adapted environments and laid foundations for future growth.

The Jesuit heritage in America also includes educational institutions like the University of Detroit-Mercy, Marquette, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Holy Cross, Fordham and many others.

Father Jacques Marquette S.J., (called Père Marquette) was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and St. Ignace.

Another Jesuit, Father Henri Nouvel (1621-1701), visited Midland a quarter century before Detroit was founded. The historic 22-day trip here by canoe from the Straits of Mackinac was documented in the Jesuit Relations, a history of their North American missions compiled by the priests.

His Chippewa Indian friends paddled Father Nouvel in bitter cold south on Lake Huron to Saginaw Bay, up the Saginaw River to its junction with the Tittabawassee River and then northwest to the Little Forks (the confluence of the Tittabawassee and Chippewa rivers, site of today's Tridge) in Midland.

The text of the Jesuit Relations is available free online through Creighton University of Omaha Nebraska at:

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=269

The head of the Jesuit order in New France (America) each year sent an annual report to Paris. These eyewitness accounts of the activities of priests living in the wilderness among many different Indian nations are the earliest and most compelling written records of North America at the time of white contact.

Harold and Norman Moll, Midland historians, in their "Stories of White Men Who Traveled Through Midland Before 1835," commented on the momentous arrival Dec. 7, 1675, based heavily on the reports in the Jesuit Relations.

The cabin of bark Father Nouvel built was described: "The foundation of the chapel consisted of three logs from a great oak on which the chapel was built in the form of a bower."

The Christmas celebration of 1675 was recalled: "We made a small cradle beside our altar, to which our Christians came at midnight; and during the day they made the forest resound with their hymns in honor of new-born Jesus. What joy it was for us, both during the midnight mass and during the morning mass, to see the child Jesus acknowledged and adored by the savages of this country, where the demon had so long reigned."

After the mid-19th century arrival of white settlers, Baierlein, a Lutheran missionary, likewise recounted a Protestant celebration of Christmas in 1848 near Midland: "A suitable Christmas song was to be sung, so the missionary translated Luther's song, 'From Heaven Above to Earth I Come,' into the Chippewa language. This was not easy. The language has a unique mystery."

At the sight of the brightly lighted Christmas tree, full of fruit in the middle of the winter, the Indians exclaimed 'Toyah!' in unexpected joy. Even Chief Bamessikeh smiled and was as a child. He exclaimed that he had never found a tree like that in all his forest."

The children were allowed to come forward and were given tin plates each with a cookie, an apple and some nuts besides an item of handmade clothing. "There was great joy and after they sang their Widi gishegong ishpiming, etc., once more with happy hearts, they were allowed to pick the fruit from the tree. Such was the first Christmas in the forest."

Thus the religious basis of society in this area evolved through the efforts and foresight of missionaries, Catholic and Protestant.

As the new pope has counseled, the concerns of the poor and youth should be considered in the midst of our prosperity and opulence. Hopefully, the church will take its own counsel regarding exploitation of youth, end its denial and purge violators from its midst.

Even as the church itself struggles to renew itself and find a new direction under Pope Francis, civil society must also seek redemption from excesses and greed.

The recent trends of political and social intolerance in our nation and state need to be reversed if Michigan and other declining states are to regain their vitality through unified action.

The examples set by these early religious explorers can help lead the way to a more cooperative and civil society benefiting all.

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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