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THE GRAVE AND RELICS O5.EATHER MARQUETTE.
| 7 By Rev. zº. S.V. /ſ 3 & 2 ºf
bor Railway officials that what are sup-
posed to be the remains of Father Mar-
quette, the intrepid French missionary and ex-
plorer, have been exhumed by workmen near
Frankfort, Mich. Only the skull and some im-
perfect bones remained, and experts declare
them to be those of a white man. A streak of
rust and small remains close to the head are be-
lieved to have been the father's beads and cross.
“The find was made at a considerable depth,
while excavating for a big summer hotel. The
Michigan Historical Society claims to possess the
proof that Father Marquette was buried at this
point in the year 1675, in the bed of a small
Stream.
“It was, in changing the course of the stream,
that the remains were ſound. Great interest is
being taken in the find by Michigan historians.
A thorough investigation is being made.”
A NNOUNCEMENT is made by Ann Ar-
The above dispatch was printed by the
Associated Press throughout the country
on the 25th of December last. Since that
date the writer has received several com-
munications asking whether the bones
found could possibly be those of Father
Marquette, and whether Marquette Col-
lege, Milwaukee, where the genuine relics
were supposed to be preserved, would be
forced to forego its claims; and incident-
ally it has been asked, upon what docu-
mentary proofs does the college base these
claims ? -
To answer the first of these questions,
we must go back to records written two
hundred years ago; fortunately, owing to
the recent publication of the “Jesuit Re-
lations, ’’ these records are accessible to
all. In Vol. LIX of the “Relations, ’’
we have a detailed account of the death
of Father Marquette, and the removal of
his bones to the mission at Mackinac. On
the 25th of October, 1674, Marquette left
the Mission of St. Francis Xavier, near
the site of the present city of Green Bay,
to visit the Kaskaskias, of Illinois, whom
he had met when returning from his voy-
age of discovery. Owing to his weak con-
stitution and the severe winter storms,
which made traveling all but impossi-
ble, he did not reach the village until
Easter of the following year. Here he
instructed the Indians for three weeks,
when, perceiving that his health was
rapidly failing him, he set out for the
Mission of St. Ignatius, at Mackinac. He
died before he reached his destination, on
the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and
was buried there by his two companions.
Father Dablon writes thus of his voy-
age and death:
“As they sailed along the lake, he per-
ceived the mouth of a river, with an
eminence on the bank which he thought
suited for his burial, and told his com-
panions that it was the place of his last
repose. They wished, however, to pass
on, as the weather permitted it and the
day was not far advanced ; but God
raised a contrary wind, which forced
them to return and enter the river
pointed out by Father Marquette. They
then carried him ashore, kindled a little
fire and raised for him a wretched bark
cabin. As he knew them to be worn
out by the toil of the preceding days, he
bade them go and take a little rest, as-
suring them that his hour was not yet so
near ; that he would wake them when it
was time, as in fact he did, two or three
hours after, calling them when about to
enter his agony. He prayed his com-
panions to remind him, when they saw
him about to expire, to pronounce fre-
quently the names of Jesus and Mary.
When he could not do it for himself,
they did it for him ; and when they
thought him about to pass, one cried
aloud Jesus, Maria, which he several
times repeated distinctly and then, as if
at those sacred names, something had ap-
peared to him, he suddenly raised his
eyes above his crucifix, fixing them ap-
parently on some object which he seemed
to regard with pleasure, and thus with a
countenance all radiant with Smiles, he
expired without a struggle, as gently as
I65
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I66
if he had sunk into a quiet sleep. His
two companions, after shedding many
tears over his body, and having laid it
out as he had directed, carried it de-
voutly to the grave, ringing the bell ac-
cording to his injunction, and raised a
large cross near it to serve as a mark for
passers-by.”
“God did not choose to suffer so
precious a deposit to remain unhonored
and forgotten amid the woods. The
Kiskakon Indians, who, for the last ten
years, publicly professed Christianity, in
which they were first instructed by Father
Marquette, were hunting last winter on
the banks of Lake Illinois; and as they
were returning early in the spring, they
resolved to pass by the tomb of their
good father, whom they tenderly loved ;
and God even gave them the thought of
taking his remains and bringing them to
our church at the mission of St. Ignatius,
at Missilimakinac, where they reside.
“They accordingly repaired to the
spot and, deliberating together, resolved
to act with their father, as they usually
do with those they respect ; they accord-
ingly opened the grave, unrolled the
body, and though the flesh and intestines
were all dried up, they found it whole
without the skin being in any way in-
jured. This did not prevent their dis-
secting it according to custom ; they
washed the bones and dried them in the
sun, then putting them neatly in a box
of birch bark, they set out to bear them
to the house of St. Ignatius.
“The convoy, consisting of nearly
thirty canoes in excellent order, includ-
ing even a good number of Iroquois who
had joined our Algonquins to honor the
ceremony. As they approached our
house, Father Nouvel, who is superior,
went to meet them with Father Piersoon,
accompanied by all the French and In-
dians of the place, and having caused
the convoy to stop, made the ordinary
interrogations to verify the fact that the
body which they bore was really Father
Marquette's. Then before landing he
intoned the De Profundis in sight of
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The Grave and Relics of Father Marquette.
thirty canoes still on the water, and all
the people on the shores; after this the
body was carried to the church, observ-
ing all that the ritual prescribes for such
ceremonies. It was deposited in a little
vault in the middle of the church, where
he reposes the guardian angel of our
Ottawa missions.”
Although other authorities, Shea,
Parkman, etc., could be quoted, this one
letter of Father Dablon is sufficient to
prove beyond a doubt that the body of
Marguette was not left in its resting place
on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
A mistake was scarcely possible; the
body was buried near a small stream,
close to the lake, on an eminence that
was visible from the water, the spot was
marked by a cross; the Jesuit mission-
aries who received the precious remains
tell us that they were careful to verify
every particular in regard to them. But
even if the body had never been ex-
humed by the Indians, we would not
search for it at Frankfort. That town is
more than fifty miles north of the place
where the missionary was buried. The
body found at Frankfort was in the “bed
of a small stream ” ; Marquette’s grave
was on an eminence. The facts are so
evident against the Frankfort claims that
we are surprised that so many took the
dispatch seriously; it looked like an ad-
vertisement for the Ann Arbor Railroad
and the “big summer hotel.”
Let us turn now to our second ques-
tion | Are the fragments of bone pre-
served in the Jesuit College, Milwaukee,
a part of the remains of Père Marquette 2
That they are, we have the opinion of
two men who sifted the evidence thor-
oughly—the historian, Shea, and Father
Jacker, who discovered the grave at St.
Ignace. It has been objected that Fa-
ther Jacker was an enthusiast, that he
was anxious to make his find a success.
An enthusiast ! Strange would it seem
if he had not been, laboring as he did for
so many years among the old mission
scenes of the 17th century ! Where stood
his church was once the Christian Vil-
The Grave and Relics of Father Marquette.
lage of the Ottawas ; there had Mar-
quette toiled, there had he met Joliet
and prepared for his voyage of discovery,
there had the Indians chanted the Litany
of the Blessed Virgin as they laid their
father to rest beneath the little chapel.
Even the idle tourist as he strolls along
the beach to-day finds his thoughts borne
irresistibly to the history of the past—to
a history that has inspired the poet and
the artist. Is it strange that years of la-
bor, amidst such scenes, should have in-
spired the zealous priest who broke the
Bread of Life to the Ottawas still cluster-
ing around the hallowed spot, where
their ancestors first received the light of
Faith? Father Jacker was an enthusiast,
but, at the same time, he was a careful
student. “He was a cautious antiquarian
as well as a devoted priest,” says Shea;
“a loving gatherer of all that related to
early heralds of the faith, tracing their
footsteps, explaining much that was ob-
scure, leading us to the very spot where
Ménard labored and died.”
Father Jacker writes from St. Ignace,
September 3d, 1877 : “The report
concerning the discovery of Father Mar-
quette's remains is, I am glad to say,
not a fable or an exaggeration. I am
now writing within a few paces of the lit-
tle casket which contains all that is left
of the saintly Jesuit's perishable part.
But, alas, it is very little If the frag-
ments of bones gathered from the hum-
ble grave were to be given away for their
weight in gold, a person of moderate
means could easily acquire them. . . .”
Shea's opinion is given to us in lan-
guage that is equally plain : “The de-
tailed account of the final interment of
Father Marquette, the peculiarity of the
bones being in a bark box, evidently of
small size for convenient transportation,
the fact that no other priest died at the
mission who could have been similarly in-
terred, leads us irresistibly to the conclu-
sion that Father Jacker is justified in re-
garding the remains found as portion of
those committed to the earth two centu-
ries ago.”
167
Speaking before the Missouri Histori-
cal Society on July the 19th, 1878, Mr.
Shea briefly summed up the history of
the finding of the grave at St. Ignace : , ,
“Two years after the missionary's death
his Ottawa Indians took up his body,
cleansed the bones, and putting them in
a box of birch, conveyed them to Point
St. Ignace, where they were with solemn
rite deposited in a little vault in the mid-
dle of the church. This edifice was
burned down in 17oo, and all trace of
the site and of Marquette's tomb was
lost, till last year, when the Rev. Edward
Jacker discovered and identified both,
but only to find that the tomb had been
rifled, evidently by some medicine man,
who wished the bones of the great priest
as a magical power. The remnants of
the box and some fragments of bones
were gathered to be placed under a
monument in his honor.”
Against this double testimony of Shea
and Father Jacker not a single argument
has been given. Some doubted ; some
who knew Father Jacker said that his en-
thusiastic love for anything connected
with the old missions had outweighed his
judgment. But this was a mere assertion ;
besides, unfounded enthusiasm would not
have persuaded Shea to add the weight
of his authority.
Father Jacker has left on record two
accounts of the discovery of the grave;
one appeared in the Woodstock Letters
(1877), and the second in the Catholic
World, vol. 26 (1877). The two nar-
ratives are models of clearness and sim-
plicity; the priest states just what hap-
pened under his own eyes. There seemed
but one conclusion. The birch box and
the fragments of bone unearthed by him
within the foundation of the old church
at Mackinac were no other than those
buried there two hundred years before.
That Father Jacker valued these relics as
treasures is seen from his desire to place
them where they would be duly appreci-
ated and preserved.
The two letters which he wrote to
Marquette College to offer them to
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168 The Grave and Relics
that institution are here published for
the first time.
HANCOCK, Mich., Aug. 15th, 1882.
Rev. FATHER LALUMIERE, S. J.
Milwaukee.
Rev. DEAR FATHER:—Considering the uncer-
tainty of life, I would like to place my collection
of memorials from Father Marquette's grave in
good hands, and knowing of no other place where
these articles would be appreciated better than in
your college, I offer them, through you, to that
institution.
When my successor, Father Kilian, insisted on
my delivering up to him what I possessed of Fa-
ther Marquette's (reputed) remains, I sent him
about one-fourth of the fragments of bone, to-
gether with a small selection from the diverse ar-
ticles (pieces of evidence, as we might call them)
found in the cellar and in the grave.
Will your Reverence please let me know
whether the Rev. Father Rector and the faculty
of your college are willing to receive my collec-
tion as a sacred deposit to be preserved in that
institution ?
Should circumstances allow me to go to Mil-
waukee, I would prefer to bring that treasure
thither personally, and might on that occasion,
answer any questions about the signification of
of Father Marquette.
the several articles contained in the collection —
as far as my ability goes.
Very sincerely,
EDw. JACKER.
HANcock, Aug. 25th, 1882.
REv. FATHER LALUMIERE, S. J.
REV. DEAR FATHER:—Here are all the bones
left in my hands, after sending about seven simi-
lar fragments to Fr. Kilian of St. Ignace.
The other articles—pieces of bark, wood, iron,
etc., I shall either send or bring you ºn a short
time, Deo volente,
Very sincerely,
E. JACKER.
Marquette College would be unfaithful
to her trust if she belittled in the least
the treasure committed to her keeping.
The institution received the treasure di-
rect from the man who discovered it
after years of patient research—received
it as a sacred deposit; unless further in-
vestigation contradicts the data given by
Father Jacker we are justified in saying
that the bones of Père Marquette are pre-
served in the college which bears his
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The grave...and...relics
of Father Marquette
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UNIVERSITY OF MISHIGAN
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