THE DEATH OF MARQUETTE

By Father Claude Dablon.

FATHER MARQUETTE'S narrative of his voyages and discoveries in the valley of the Mississippi was prepared for publication in 1678 by Father Claude Dablon, Superior of the Missions of the Society of Jesus in Canada. To this Father Dablon added the account given here of Marquette's death and burial.

FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE, having promised the Illinois, called Kaskaskia, to return among them to teach them our mysteries, had great difficulty in keeping his word. The great hardships of his first voyage had brought on a dysentery, and had so enfeebled him that he lost all hope of undertaking a second voyage. Yet, his malady having given way and almost ceased toward the close of summer in the following year, he obtained permission of his superiors to return to the Illinois to found that noble mission.

He set out for this purpose in the month of November, 1674, from the Bay of the Fetid, with two men, one of whom had already made that voyage with him. During a month's navigation on the Illinois Lake he was pretty well; but, as soon as the snow began to fall, he was again seized with the dysentery, which forced him to stop in the river which leads to the Illinois. There they raised a cabin, and spent the winter in such want of every comfort that his illness constantly increased. He felt that God had granted him the grace he had so often asked, and he even plainly told his companions so, assuring them that he would die of that illness and on that voyage. To prepare his soul for its departure, he began that rude wintering by the exercises of Saint Ignatius, which, in spite of his great bodily weakness, he performed with deep sentiments of devotion and great heavenly consolation; and then spent the rest of his time in colloquies with all heaven, having no more intercourse with earth amid these deserts, except with his two companions, whom he confessed and communicated twice a week, and exhorted as much as his strength allowed.

Some time after Christmas, in order to obtain the grace not to die without having taken possession of his beloved mission, he invited his companions to make a novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Contrary to all human expectation, he was heard, and, recovering, found himself able to proceed to the Illinois town as soon as navigation was free. This he accomplished in great joy, setting out on the 29th of March. He was eleven days on the way, where he had ample matter for suffering, both from his still sickly state and from the severity and inclemency of the weather.

Having at last reached the town on the 8th of April, he was received there as an angel from heaven ; and after having several times assembled the chiefs of the nation with all the old men (anciens), to sow in their minds the first seed of the gospel, after carrying his instructions into the cabins, which were always filled with crowds of people, he resolved to speak to all publicly in general assembly, which he convoked in the open fields, the cabins being too small for the meeting. A beautiful prairie near the town was chosen for the great council. It was adorned in the fashion of the country, being spread with mats and bear-skins ; and the father, having hung on cords some pieces of India taffety, attached to them four large pictures of the Blessed Virgin, which were thus visible on all sides. The auditory was composed of five hundred chiefs and old men, seated in a circle around the father, while the youth stood without to the number of fifteen hundred, not counting women and children who are very numerous, the town being composed of five or six hundred fires.

The father spoke to all this gathering, and addressed them ten words by ten presents which he made them; he explained to them the principal mysteries of our religion, and the end for which he had come to their country; and especially he preached to them Christ crucified, for it was the very eve of the great day on which he died on the cross for them, as well as for the rest of men. He then said mass.

Three days after, on Easter Sunday, things being arranged in the same manner as on Thursday, he celebrated the holy mysteries for the second time ; and by these two sacrifices, the first ever offered there to God, he took possession of that land in the name of Jesus Christ, and gave this mission the name of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.

He was listened to with universal joy and approbation by all this people, who earnestly besought him to return as soon as possible among them, since his malady obliged him to leave them. The father, on his part, showed them the affection he bore them, his satisfaction at their conduct, and gave his word that he or some other of our fathers would return to continue this mission so happily begun. This promise he repeated again and again, on parting with them to begin his journey. He set out amid such marks of friendship from these good people that they escorted him with pomp more than thirty leagues of the way, contending with one another for the honor of carrying his little baggage.

AFTER the Illinois had taken leave of the father, filled with a great idea of the gospel, he continued his voyage, and soon after reached the Illinois Lake, on which he had nearly a hundred leagues to make by an unknown route, because he was obliged to take the southern [eastern] side of the lake, having gone thither by the northern [western]. His strength, however, failed so much that his men despaired of being able to carry him alive to their journey's end; for, in fact, he became so weak and exhausted that he could no longer help himself, nor even stir, and had to be handled and carried like a child.