Sebastian Rale-A Maine Tragedy of the Eighteenth Century: Comments of Historical Writers Page 151-159 John Francis Sprague Boston, Mass. Printed by the Heintzemann Press 1906 Comments of Historical Writers During these discussions the Indians, who had been instigated by the French, again gave cause for difficulties. The chief villain in this scheme was Sebastian Rasles (Rale), a Jesuit missionary, who had falsely ac- cused the New England colonists of encroaching on territory belonging to the tribes." - George Lowell Austin's " History of Massachusetts." " Sebastian Rasle (Rale) succeeded the bigots in the mission to Norridgewock. He was a gentleman by birth, education and culture. Re- ligious zeal incited him, also, to leave the en- dearments of a home of opulence and congenial companionship, and to spend thirty-five years in the then unbroken wilderness of Maine. His remarkable character deserves more particular notice." Abbot's " History of Maine " (2d Ed.) page 171. "At Norridgewock, on the banks of the Kennebec, the venerable Sebastian Rale, for more than a quarter of a century the companion and instructor of savages, had gathered a flourishing village, founded a church, which, rising in the desert, made some pretentions to magnificence. Severely ascetic, - using no wine, little food ex- cept pounded maize, a rigorous observer of the days of Lent, - he built his own cabin, tilled his own garden, drew himself wood and water, prepared his own hominy, and, distributing all he received, gave an example of religious pov- erty. " -Bancroft's " History of the Colonization of the United States, Vol. 3, p. 333. RLA, the famous Jesuit, was deemed the principal instigator of these insults. He was a man of talents and learning; and by his condes- cending manner, religious zeal and untiring per- severance, he had greatly endeared himself to his tribe. He had resided with them and had been their tutelar father thirty years; and many of them he had taught to read and write. To render their devotion an incentive to violence, it is said, he kept a banner figured with a cross, which was encircled by bows and arrows, and while he was giving them absolution before they pro- ceeded to war or upon any hostile expedition, he was in the habit of suspending the flag from a tall standard at the door of his chapel; aware of the advantages gained, if he could give every bold sally of the Indians the character of a crusade. "Fond of epistolary correspondence, he kept up a constant intercourse with Vaudreuil, the Governor of Canada, giving him an account of every settlement, fort or other enterprise com- menced by the English." - Williamson's " His- tory of Maine," Vol. 2, page 101. A PART OF CHARLEVOIX'S EULOGY. " Father Rale was of good family in Franche- Comte, and died in his sixty-seventh year; he was of a robust constitution, but fasting and con- tinual hardships had greatly enfeebled him, espe- cially after the accident which befell him nineteen years before. "In that long and tedious illness, I often ad- mired his patience, and we could not see how he could endure such a cruel operation without uttering a single cry. "He knew almost all the languages spoken in this vast continent, and he had labored for the salvation of almost all the nations that inhabit it. "Three years before his death, on his su- perior suggesting that it was time for him to withdraw from the fury of England, who had sworn to destroy him, he replied that his meas- ures were taken. 'God has confided his flock to me, I will follow its lot, too happy to lay down my life for it.' He often repeated the same thing to his Neophites." - Charlevoix's " His- tory of New France " (1900), Vol. 5, page 281. "Rale was of a strong, enduring form and a keen, vehement, caustic spirit, and of the genu- ineness of his zeal there is no doubt, nor of his earnest and lively interest in the fortunes of the wilderness flock of which he was the shepherd for half of his life. The situation was critical for them and for him. The English settlements were but a short distance below, while those of the French could be reached only by a hard journey of twelve or fourteen days." - "A Half Cen- tury of Conflict," by Francis Parkman, Vol. I, page 211. " Father Rasles had been dead for almost half a century when the papal suppression of the Jesuits took effect. He must have become a member of that order during its golden period, when Jesuit professors and tutors were in their greatest efficiency and most commanding repu- tation, when the youth under their direction were candidates, not only for membership in what was distinctly the most learned and influential order in Christendom, but for special service under the direction of that order, according to individual character and ability. " Rasles was, of course, trained in the old faith, and in opposition to the reforming ideas. He was of the Franche-Comte, the same department to which our associate, Mr. Allen, traces the Huguenot settlers in what is now Dresden. He could not have failed to be deeply impressed with the fact that the papal programme of his day an- nounced two leading aims, namely, the extirpa- tion of heresy, even by means of persecution, and the conversion of the heathen in America, even at the cost of martyrdom. No doubt Father Rasles was heartily in accord with both these aims. " The History of French and English coloni- zation in the New World, taken by itself, is not an edifying story of peaceful competition. It is very largely a military history; but merged in the history of Europe, of which it was a subor- dinate part, it offers the distressing spectacle of adventurous and loyal subjects always exposed, never adequately supported, harassed in their common industries by savage incursions, or turned aside into forlorn'. if not futile, military expeditions, while from time to time the petty raiding is exchanged for something approaching the dignity of civilized warfare, when the great protagonists display their colors upon the field. " From the year of Rasles' arrival, at the be- ginning of what is called King William's War, down to the surrender of Canada to the English, settled by treaty in 1763, war between France and England is the regular order, though there was one breathing time of considerable duration, for the contestants to recover their strength, after the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, which ended what here was 'Queen Anne's War)' and in Europe the War of the Spanish Succession." - F. C. Cummings, in the " Collections of the Maine His- torical Society," Series II, Vol. IV, page 146. The following inscription is upon the South side of the Rale monument: " Rev. Sebastianus Rasles natione Galluse So- cietate Jesu Missionarius, per aliquot annos I1- lionois et Huronibus primum evangelanus,deinde per 34 annos Abenaquis, fide et charitate Christi verus Apostolus, periculis armorum intenitus se pro suis Ovibus mori paratum scepius testificans, inter arma et cocdes ac Pagi Nantrantsouak Nor- ridgewock, et Ecclesice suac minas, hoc in ipso loco, cecidit tandem optimus Pastor, die 23 Au- gusti, A. D. 1724. Ipsi et filius suis in Christo defunctis Monumentum hoc posuit Benedictus Fenwick, Episcopus Bostoniensis dedicavitque 23 Augusti, A. D. 1833. A. M. D. G." The English translation is: " Rev. Sebastian Ralle, a French Jesuit mis- sionary, for many years the first evangelist among the Illinois and Hurons, and afterwards for thirty- four years a true apostle in the faith and love of Christ, among the Abenakies, - unterrified by danger, and often by his pure character, giving witness that he was prepared for death, - this most excellent pastor, on the 23d day of August, 1724, fell in this place, at the time of the de- struction and slaughter of the town of Norridge- wock, and the dangers to his church. To him, and to his children, dead in Christ, Benedict Fen- wick, Bishop at Boston, has erected and dedicated this monument, this 23d of August, A. D. 183 3 -" - Hanson's " History of Norridgewock and Ca- naan," published in 1849, page 47. Hon. Turner Buswell, of Solon, Maine, in a letter to the author, describes this monument as follows: "The monument is a plain granite, pyramidal shaft or obelisk, eleven feet in height, and three feet square at the base, standing on a table stone five feet in height and four feet square. An iron cross, four feet in height, surmounts the shaft." RALE'S CHAPEL BELL. "As the dim light of the lofty ceiled room where it reposes in silence, but for the touch of strange hands, falls upon it, visions of ascetic vigil, savage tumult and massacre, yes, and mis- guided prayers are painted upon the bronze sides. "Every dent and scar upon its time-worn sur- face are epics of adventure and war panting to be translated - love lyrics too, and low-voiced chants, and songs of triumph and defeat smoth- ered in the smokes of countless council-fires." Herbert Milton Sylvester's " Casco Bay," 1904. " He was a man of heroic courage, of an earn- est and self-sacrificing spirit, possessed indeed of qualities, which, in spite of some of his miscon- ceptions of the real spirit of Christianity, entitle him to a measure of respect and admiration." James Phinney Baxter. (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society & Somerset County Maine US Gen Web Project ************************************************* NOTICE: Printing the files within by noncommercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. 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