Letters from the Rocky Mountain Indian Missions

Philip Rappagliosi, Robert Bigart, Robert J. Bigart

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780803239531
• eBook ISBN: 9781496208545
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Letters from the Rocky Mountain Indian Missions reveals the life of an Italian Jesuit as he worked at three missions in the northern Rocky Mountains from 1874 to 1878. Meticulously translated and carefully annotated, the letters of Father Philip Rappagliosi (1841–78) are a rare and rich source of information about the daily lives, customs, and beliefs of the many Native peoples that he came into contact with: Nez Perces, Kootenais, Salish Flatheads, Coeur d'Alenes, Pend d'Oreilles, Blackfeet, and Canadian Métis. These never-before-translated letters reveal the shifting, sometimes volatile relationship between the missionaries and the Native Americans and also provide a window into the complex lives of the Jesuits. After requesting to work among the Native peoples of the American West, Rappagliosi arrived at Saint Mary's Mission in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana in 1874, where he spent much time among already converted members of the Salish Flathead Nation. The energetic Rappagliosi journeyed next to Canada to visit some Kootenai Indian bands and then was reassigned to Saint Ignatius Mission, where he interacted with the Upper Pend d'Oreilles Indians. Rappagliosi's final and most difficult assignment was at Saint Peter's Mission among the Blackfeet in Montana, who were not converts. There he became embroiled in disputes with a controversial former Oblate priest, and foul play was suspected in his death at the age of thirty-seven.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Every Indian is a friend and brother
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Editor’s Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Cultural and Historical Landscape
• Map: Father Rappagliosi’s Missions during the 1870s
• 1. Calling to the Society of Jesus
• 2. The Call to Be a Missionary
• 3. On the Same Topic
• 4. Travels in England
• 5. Departure for America
• 6. Transatlantic Crossing and Arrival in New York
• 7. Journey from New York to St. Louis
• 8. Journey to and Arrival at the Rocky Mountains
• 9. First News from the Missions
• 10. Customs of the Indians
• 11. First Good Deeds
• 12. Piousness of the Catholic Indians at Easter
• 13. Way of Life among the Indians and Good Deeds
• 14. Attitudes of the Indians
• 15. Beliefs of the Indians
• 16. Dress, Living Arrangements, and Foods of the Missionaries
• 17. Mission to the Canadian Kootenai Tribe
• 18. Hardships of Winter in These Missions
• 19. Death of a Young Indian
• 20. Dealings with an Indian Chief
• 21. Devotion of the Indians to Holy Mary
• 22. St. Peter’s Mission at the Blackfeet
• 23. Those Indians’ Ways of Life and Their Superstitions
• 24. Attitudes of the Indians toward Religious Instruction and the Life of the Missionaries among Them
• 25. Letter from Pius IX to the Catholic Indians of St. Ignatius
• 26. Mission Work among the Blackfeet and Pend d’Oreilles Indians
• 27. Children’s Baptisms among the Non-believing Indians
• 28. Apostolic Works at St. Peter’s Mission
• 29. On the Occasion of the Death of His Brother Luigi
• 30. The Encampment of the Métis
• 31. On the Occasion of the Death of His Other Brother, Stanislao
• 32. Words of Comfort to His Relatives
• 33. Departure for the Last Mission
• Appendix A. Obituary
• Appendix B. Questions Surrounding Rappagliosi’s Death
• Appendix C. Biographical Glossary
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• Index
• Photographs