This weekend, I’m giving a talk on Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J. Father De Smet was part of a notable chain of three great American missionaries: Father Charles Nerinckx, the Belgian secular priest and pioneer missionary of Kentucky, recruited De Smet into the Jesuit American mission; and De Smet, in turn, recruited Chicago’s Jesuit Apostle, the Dutch-born Father Arnold Damen. (In February of last year, Brother Maximilian and I had the privilege of reverencing the graves of Fathers Damen and De Smet.)

Readers who would like to know more are encouraged to read The Apostle of the Rocky Mountains: Father Pierre-Jean De Smet and Fr. De Smet, a short excerpt from the book, The Life of Father De Smet, by Fr. E. Laveille, S.J.