Crawford County WI Archives Church Records.....St. Gabriel's Parish
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 27, 2007, 7:52 pm

Centennial History of St. Gabriel's Parish
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN WISCONSIN
1836       1936
DR. P. L. SCANLAN, M. D.


CENTENNIAL HISTORY
[Drawing of Father Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli]

3

DEDICATION

TO THE BISHOPS 
THE PRIESTS, SECULAR AND REGULAR .
AND THE RELIGIOUS WOMEN
WHO HAVE KEPT THE LIGHT OF FAITH BURNING 
FOR ONE HUNDRED YEARS AT ST. GABRIEL'S PARISH
PRAJRIE DU CHIEN, WISCONSIN
THIS CENTENNIAL HISTORY IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED AND INSCRIBED BY
THE EDITORS


CENTENNIAL HISTORY

[Photo of His Excellency Archbishop Beckman of Dubuque]

PORTRAIT OF A PRIEST
Here was no eagle lying in the sun,
No swift greyhound, whose eyes and feet aflame
Dripped mystic joy across men's trails of shame,
Where souls are strewn like worthless carrion.
His was no crown by arms of battle won;
In God's vast vineyard no one knew his name
But One, who watched him till his work was done.
He was a candle lighted in a place
Where sly winds tried but could not quench its fire.
A candle is so quiet—ah! his face
"Was quiet too, and humble. No desire
Possessed his heart but God's—he was a man
Who burned his life for the publican.
                    J. Corson Miller


BISHOP OF LA CROSSE
[Photo of Most Reverend A. J. McGavick]


A PREFACE

   June 17, 1673, is the date recorded in the handwriting of Pere Marquette,
when in company with Joliet he saw for the first time the 'Great River' and
named it 'Immaculate Conception.'

   Whatever significance the discovery of the Upper Mississippi may have for the
historian, we may be allowed to see in it, as handed down to us by Marquette,
the secret workings of a divine providence. The record of Joliet, the explorer,
was lost; that of Marquette, the priest, is still extant. Moreover, it was in
his official capacity as priest, that the missionary took possession of the
'Great River' in the Name of the King of Kings and claimed it for His Mother.

   To the reverent-minded these two facts mean much. Indeed, if one accepts
their providential bearing, he is in a fair way to grasp the true significance
of all Christian exploration. In the present instance, however extensive the
material importance of the discovery made by the Joliet expedition, the credit
of directing it to higher purposes and thereby giving it permanent value is due,
in the providence of God, unreservedly to Pere Marquette.

   Providentially, then, the Jesuit Marquette, two hundred and sixty-three years
ago opened the way into the interior of 'New France.' His name heads a long list
of intrepid men, who followed where he had led, bearing with them the same
gospel of peace that he had borne. The blessings of that gospel-message were
shared in by Indian and White alike, and the torch of Christian civilization
lighted up the wilderness wherever the black-robed followers of Marquette had
penetrated.

   Had Marquette known what we are privileged to know today, two and a half
centuries later, the far-flung influence for good to which his discovery has
led; had he been enabled to see, by some divine clairvoyance, the spiritual
growth to which he had given the initial impulse—the mustard seed grown to a
tree—the soul of the great explorer-priest would have been stirred to its depths.

   We may in fancy suppose that as he lifted high the Cross to call down a
special blessing upon the region where the discovery had been made, he was given
to see enacted before the roving eye of his imagination the part it was destined
to play in the evangelization of the great Northwest.

   The following pages represent an endeavor to set down the onward march, step
by step, toward that blessed consummation, in as far as we are warranted by the
records to believe it would have unrolled itself in Marquette's fancied vision.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Centennial History of St. Gabriel's Parish
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN WISCONSIN
1836       1936
DR. P. L. SCANLAN, M. D.


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