going to launch a new steamboat which he had named De Smet. He besought Father De Smet to be present and bless the boat and at the same time visit his family. Though not at all well he did not feel like declining the request of his friend, particularly as the boat was named in his honor and was soon to visit those regions that he knew and loved so well.
Upon returning home in the evening he was taken quite ill and grew rapidly worse. His malady took a new form which necessitated an operation; and while it brought temporary relief, it made manifest the fact that death was not far away. On the 20th of May Father De Smet himself asked that the last sacraments be administered to him, and from that time on he lived only in prayer. The end came at a quarter after two on the morning of May 23, 1873.
The death of Father De Smet produced a deep grief in the city of St. Louis where he had made his home for almost exactly fifty years. His funeral was one of the most largely attended ever held in that city, and among the audience were many distinguished people. The funeral oration was pronounced by Monseigneur Ryan, Bishop Coadjutor of Monseigneur Kendrick, Archbishop of St. Louis, and was well worthy of its subject. (1) The press universally gave testimony of the high estimation in which the departed Jesuit was held.
Father De Smet was buried in the little cemetery of the Novitiate at Florissant, at the foot of the grave of Father Verhaegen, who had come to this place with him just fifty years before.
In the year 1878, on the fifth anniversary of Father De Smet's death, there was unveiled in Termonde, his native place, a fine statue of the great missionary. It is in bronze, designed by A. Frakin and executed by Charles Alker, director of the works at Haeren, Belgium. The
(1) See page 1592 of the Letters.