Pierre-Jean De Smet
| Pierre-Jean De Smet | |
|---|---|
circa 1860-65, by Mathew Brady
|
|
| Born |
30 January 1801 Dendermonde, Belgium |
| Died | 23 May 1873 (aged 72) St. Louis, Missouri |
| Other names | Pieter-Jan De Smet |
| Education | White Marsh Novitiate, present-day Bowie, Maryland |
| Church | Catholic |
| Ordained | 23 September 1827 |
Pierre-Jean De Smet (30 January 1801 – 23 May 1873), also known as Pieter-Jan De Smet, was a Belgian Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), active in missionary work among the Native Americans of western North America in the mid-19th century, in the midwestern and northwestern United States and western Canada.
His extensive travels as a missionary were said to total 180,000 miles (290,000 km). He was known as the "Friend of Sitting Bull", because he persuaded the Sioux war chief to participate in negotiations with the United States government for the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.
Born in Dendermonde, in what is now Belgium, De Smet first came to the United States with eleven other Belgian Jesuits in 1821 to begin his novitiate at White Marsh, a Jesuit estate near Baltimore, Maryland. Part of the complex survives today as Sacred Heart Church in Bowie. De Smet moved west to St. Louis to complete his theological studies in 1823.
De Smet and five other Belgian novices, led by Charles Van Quickenborne, moved to Florissant, Missouri, at the invitation of bishop Dubourg. Several academic institutions were immediately founded, among which the St. Regis Seminary where De Smet had his first contacts with indigenous boys. After further studies, he was ordained priest on 23 September 1827. Until 1830, he learned about Indian customs and languages as a prefect at the seminary. In 1833 he had to return to Belgium due to health problems. It was 1837 before he could return to Missouri.
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