LETTER XLI.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
John Baptist Smedts, S. J.
CINCINNATI, February 19, 1855.
REVEREND FATHER:
I think you will give pleasure to the relatives and friends, as well as to the former acquaintances of Father Smedts in the seminary of Mechlin, if you would allow
space in your Precis Historiques to the following notice. His Eminence, the Cardinal was professor in the ecclesiastical seminary at the time of the departure of the deceased; Mgr. De Ram, the Very Rev. MM. Bosmans, Van Hemel, etc., were perfectly well acquainted with him. The rector magnificus, of the university of Louvain, my intimate friend at college, accompanied Father Smedts and myself as far as Contich or Waelhem.*
Father John Baptist Smedt, of the Society of Jesus, flied in America, at St. Louis, Missouri, February 19, 1855. Born at Rotselaer, in Brabant, on the 11th of April, 1801, he formed part of the colony of missionaries, who recommenced in 1823, on the banks of the Missouri and the Mississippi, the labors of the former Jesuits, which had been interrupted in the last century by the suppression of the society. He left his country in 1821, with some other
(* Mr. De Ram, there asked me for a souvenir, and for want of something better I bent a piece of money with my teeth, and he had it still in 1848.)
young Belgians, MM. Felix Verreydt, of Diest; Josse Van Asche, of St. Amand; Peter Joseph Verhaegen, of Haecht; John Anthony Elet, of St. Amand, and Peter John de Smet, of Termonde; all were under the conduct of the venerable Mr. Nerinckx, a Belgian secular priest, a distinguished missionary in America, and the apostle of Kentucky. As it was necessary to be cautious with a suspicious government, inimical to the Catholic religion, and particularly hostile to missions, the departure was as secret as possible. On this account Father Smedts saw himself forced to make a sensibly painful sacrifice, and to set out (as well as his companions), without proffering a last adieu to all that was dearest to him on earth,-parents, brothers, sisters, and friends. They were obliged to beg, for the love of God, and the salvation of souls, the money necessary for a long voyage. Arrived at Amsterdam, the 27th of July, he repaired from thence to the isle of Texel, to shelter himself from the government of Holland, which had instituted a pursuit. On the vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he quitted the island, and embarked in an open fisherman's bark, which conducted him on board of the American ship "Columbia," which was waiting for the missionaries at a great distance from the coast.
On the 6th of October, in the same year, Father Smedts began his novitiate at White-Marsh, Prince George's county, Maryland, where the Jesuits had a mission for many years. He was yet a novice when the provincial, at the special request of Mgr. du Bourg, bishop of Louisiana, and of all the great territories west of the Mississippi, sent him to Missouri, with the five Belgians who came with him, as well as father Van Quickenborne, of Peteghem (master of novices), Father Timmermans, of Turnhout, and three lay brothers, namely : Peter de Meyer, from the vicinity of Audenarde, Henri Rieselman, of Amsterdam, and one American. One can with difficulty imagine the fatigues attendant upon this journey of 1200 miles, made on foot, and through a country which was as yet scarcely inhabited, and in the slow-moving, uncomfortable flat-boats of the Ohio River.
The early years of his residence in Missouri were passed in a poor cottage, our novitiate, situated-near the village of St. Ferdinand, about eighteen miles from St. Louis. Ordained priest in 1826, he passed several years in the missions in the rising cities and villages of Missouri, constantly distinguishing himself by his great desire for the salvation of souls, and by an indefatigable zeal, which induced him to surmount joyfully all the fatigues attached to the missions of a new country, and almost destitute of priests. Later, he filled during several years, the important charge of master of novices, until 1849. He passed the remainder of his life, either in the missions, or in fulfilling the functions of minister, or of spiritual father in the colleges. He held this last-named charge in the university of St. Louis, and was the spiritual director of a great number of pupils, when he was attacked by the slow consumption of which he died.
His whole life was irreproachable and exemplary. Shunning the world, simple in his manners, patient in sufferings, he bad, besides, exhausted his strength in the service of the Lord. For him death had no terrors, he perceived it approaching with a holy peace of soul, and with a strong confidence in the divine mercy; he longed to break the bonds of earth, and be united to his God. Let us indulge the hope that be has gone to meet in heaven the first companion of his missionary toils and sacrifices, Father Elet, and the whole troop of holy pioneers in the laborious missions of the New World.
P. J. DE SMET, S. J.