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Pere Marquette: Priest, Pioneer, and Adventurer
Father Pere Marquette, S.J., a Jesuit Priest in the early 1600's on the North American Continent, gained the confidence of the Indians, not only with his Catholic Religion, but his wisdom and understanding of the American Indian, and his major achievements being his exploring expeditions, most notably the exploring expedition down the Mississippi River.
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1929
About the author
Agnes Repplier
53 books17 followersAmerican essayist. Educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Eden Hall at Torresdale, Philadelphia, and later at the Agnes Irwin School. Repplier was reportedly expelled from two schools for "independent behaviour" and illiterate until the age of ten. She received mentoring in writing by a nun who was herself a noted writer, Mary Paulina Finn, who published books, poetry and plays under the pseudonym M. S. Pine.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 16, 2022
This is actually the 1928 version...
And it's quite an enjoyable look at the time. Little is really known about Marquette himself, so probably 2/3's of the book is about other French notables of the period and the Indians themselves...at least how they were perceived by the whites, a point that Repplier takes pains to point out, partially because she attributes Marquette's success with the natives to his friendly and accepting nature. The only thing he really couldn't stand about them, was their supposed penchant for torturing their prisoners. Oddly, with most of the critiques leveled at the natives' characters by other priests and settlers, Repplier points out these are universal to humans...however, she somehow misses any correlation of the indians brutality and the Catholic Church's foray into torture a few hundred years earlier during the Inquisition.
Regardless, a light, charming book, that made me wish I was on a canoe trip looking to discover the Mississippi with a few buddies.
And it's quite an enjoyable look at the time. Little is really known about Marquette himself, so probably 2/3's of the book is about other French notables of the period and the Indians themselves...at least how they were perceived by the whites, a point that Repplier takes pains to point out, partially because she attributes Marquette's success with the natives to his friendly and accepting nature. The only thing he really couldn't stand about them, was their supposed penchant for torturing their prisoners. Oddly, with most of the critiques leveled at the natives' characters by other priests and settlers, Repplier points out these are universal to humans...however, she somehow misses any correlation of the indians brutality and the Catholic Church's foray into torture a few hundred years earlier during the Inquisition.
Regardless, a light, charming book, that made me wish I was on a canoe trip looking to discover the Mississippi with a few buddies.
August 25, 2022
This was an amazing book that I couldn't put down. Agnes Repplier's writing style, sentence structure and vocabulary were infectious. A joy to read. Did everyone speak (or write) this way in the 19th and early 20th century? She was 74 years old and a prolific writer by the time she authored this book. The subject she wrote about (French Jesuits attempt, in the 17th century, to convert the 'savages' of Canada to Christianity while exploring what natural resources they could exploit for France, including a search for a water route to China) was intriguing and captivating - a bonus, on top of her beautiful prose. She relied heavily on the journals (the Relations) the Jesuits sent back to France which chronicled their daily lives and accomplishments. She also cited other authors, including Edna Kenton's editing of The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1925) as source material. Her comprehensive index, at the back of the book, provides a glimpse of the many Native American tribes that were encountered by Marquette (and other Jesuit priests) as well as people and places that were discussed in this book.
I found this book at an estate sale and am now on the hunt for more books by Agnes Repplier.
I found this book at an estate sale and am now on the hunt for more books by Agnes Repplier.
February 10, 2021
If you can get past the way Repplier refers to American Indians, the book is quite good. She really tried to encourage a sense of adventure in her authorship. And in her defense, she goes out of her way to defend Indians, too, instead of just insisting they need to be "civilized."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews