6/2/2010:
This month the Catholic Church is celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the Diocese of Bismarck. In addition to centennial events planned for later in June, the Diocese published three books, (four, really if you count both volumes of the huge cookbook!). One of those books, titled "I Will Appoint You Shepherds," is a necrology...an account of the lives of the bishops and priests, now deceased, who served the Roman Catholic Church in western North Dakota.
The Reverend Christian Hoecken, S.J. was a Jesuit priest, and the first missionary to come to Dakota Territory, arriving in June of 1840...170 years ago. Father Hoecken performed the first sacraments in what would become the Diocese of Bismarck, performing 78 baptisms on his one and only trip to Dakota Territory. He intended on returning, but In June of 1851, while accompanying Father DeSmet on a Missouri River steamboat headed toward the Rocky Mountains on a similar mission, Father Hoecken contracted cholera and died.
The name De Smet may be familiar to you as the South Dakota home of Laura Ingalls Wilder of "Little House on the Prairie" fame. De Smet is also the name of perhaps the best known and most influential priest on the Northern Plains. The Reverend Peter DeSmet, like Father Hoecken, a Jesuit priest, arrived in the area in the fall of 1840. He only baptized a few children on that first trip, but would return to Dakota Territory many more times over the next 30 years. Father DeSmet was a charismatic figure. Known among Native Americans as "Blackrobe," he visited nearly every tribe on the Northern Plains and is remembered to this day as a special friend of Native Americans. It is reported that one day in June of 1864 Father DeSmet baptized 292 children at Fort Berthold...and the next day had a severe backache! The legendary Father DeSmet died on May 23 1873 in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Reverend Chrysostom Foffa arrived in Dakota Territory in 1876, joining his abbot, Father Martin Marty with missionary work. At the time, they were the only priests west of Devils Lake. Father Chrysostom visited several forts and missions that first year, and in 1877 he became the first resident pastor of Bismarck. He built a school in Bismarck and helped found a Catholic school in Fort Yates. Worn out by long and difficult travels to the many missions of the area, Father Chrysostom died on this date, June 2, 1889.
The Diocese of Bismarck's major centennial celebration is June 11 through 13 at the Bismarck Civic Center.
Dakota Datebook written by Merrill Piepkorn
Source: "I Will Appoint You Shepherd," by the Rev. Msgr. Gerald J. Walsh