Jesuits vs. Germans: Attacks on the Jesuit Order Through the Eyes of Peter De Smet and Ferdinand Helias
Attacks on Jesuits were particularly prevalent in Missouri after the large flood of Immigrants fleeing from European economic crises and wars around 1848. Missouri, as a hub for frontier trade and commerce, was the obvious choice for many new immigrants arriving in New Orleans and New York. This large influx of immigrants didn’t go unnoticed by previously established settlers of cities like Saint Louis, who began to attack and ridicule the foreigners for “invading” their cities. Osage County and Westphalia were very different from Saint Louis in various ways, but most notably saw a big difference in the treatment of Jesuits by German Immigrants who shared their new spaces.
Peter De Smet was born on January the thirtieth 1801 in the Hainaut province of Belgium. His father was a priest who in his second marriage married Marie Jeanne Budyens. It was among nine other siblings that young Peter went through his schooling and eventually met a man named Father Nerinckx, who would prove to be a great influence on his future career. A Missionary who spent around seventeen years in Kentucky from ~1800 to 1817, he hand selected Peter and a few other applicants from Peter's theological seminary to become missionaries to the new world. Once in the new world, the group settled in the Maryland Province to be further spread out throughout the states. One of the biggest concerns of the Jesuit order was the conversion of the American “Indians”, and Missouri was one of the best places to do so because of the large native population. For more on the life of Father De Smet click here.
After establishing themselves in Missouri, the group of Jesuits spread out and began to do their missionary tasks, including reaching out to Native groups like the Sioux and the Blackfoot peoples. While spending time in Saint Louis, however, Father De Smet claimed that many German people who fled from Europe were radical political activists, socialists and visionaries who came to shake off the world they left behind. He notes Henry Boernstein, who was particularly harsh against the Jesuit order, stating that they were responsible for fixing elections and legacy hunting, among various other corruptions.
The emergence of the Know Nothing's in the Saint Louis Area only worsened tensions against Catholics and Germans alike, as De Smet claimed they murdered and burned fanatically, only just getting around to starting a political party. This violence against Catholics and Germans was seen to be exponentially stronger in cities like Cincinnati, which saw groups of up to thirty Catholics burned alive in front of their homes by fanatical nationalists. Republicans were also seen to be taking part in this violent mistrust of all things German, with both Lutherans and Catholics being caught in the crosshairs. They were viewed as being the enemies of civil liberty, and needed to be expelled because of it. With how violent and dangerous the rest of the country was for German and Catholic immigrants, how does Osage County, and particularly the town of Westphalia treat those same groups?
The German and Belgian immigrants who moved to and thrived in Westphalia weren’t the same as those who moved to Saint Louis or Kansas City. In his own words and in correspondence with a variety of missionaries, including De Smet, Helias noted the incredible piety and strength of the immigrants. Many were devoted Catholics who supported his efforts and monetarily financed his work. This pleasant perception was marred by the arrival of the American Civil War and the short occupation of Westphalia by Confederate Armies. For years, Helias was attacked by a small yet vocally outspoken group of German liberals and freethinkers calling themselves “Latin Farmers”. They opposed his work, calling him a secessionist, and forced him to take shelter in Westphalia from the intimidation of the radical German mob. This idea stems from the Jesuit tradition of slave holding, a practice which Helias himself despised.
Westphalia found itself in a unique situation. Similarly to Saint Louis, it was found that religious bias was the root cause of struggles that Ferdinand Helias faced while doing mission work. However, they were for two separate reasons. In Saint Louis, Jesuits were seen to be enemies of progress, and were attacked by both nationalists and radical Germans alike.
On the other hand, in Westphalia, most German-American and Belgian-American immigrants that lived in the area were cooperative with catholic presence in their area, and even supported the founding of Catholic Missions. It was only until the American Civil War when any significant opposition to the Jesuit presence was found. Groups like the Latin Farmers believed that because Father Helias was a Jesuit, he would be a strong supporter of slavery and slave holding, and would therefore want to succeed from the Union. This is very interesting because in both cases, German-Americans were both persecuted against and also persecuted Catholics and Jesuits in their areas.
Despite common misconceptions that German-Americans wholly innocent in matters of persecution, it is clear here through the unique perspectives of Jesuit missionaries that many German-Americans attempted to act out their own form of radical change. It is why Jesuit priests have proven to be such an interesting angle for study, as they are often at odds with multiple ethnic groups at once.
