There are even more, but let me consider these three and how their lives, and deaths, seem to fit very well into this category. On the Trail of Death website it is written.
Petit again took ill on the journey. With three open sores draining his strength, he rode east from Jefferson City, Missouri, in an open wagon, the roads rough and the rain frequent. He reached the Jesuit seminary at St. Louis University on Jan. The fathers gave him all the medical attention and care they could, but he grew weaker and weaker. Father John A.
Elet, then rector โ president of St. He lay in agony and finally expired 20 minutes before midnight, February 10, , a martyr to his duty and his extraordinary devotion and love for his Potawatomi family. He had lived but 27 years and 10 months. The second example is that of Father Vincent Bacquelin.
Another young French priest who came to Indiana with Bishop Brute. Here is how he met his end:. It seemed, however, that many of the early missionaries, especially those who seemed to be so zealous, died before their time.
While on a sick call on September 2, in Rush County, Fr. Bacquelin was thrown from his horse against a tree and was killed instantly. He was buried at St. He served the people, particularly the Irish along the canal near Joliet, Illinois. Traveling through Troy Township, just west of Joliet, back towards Joliet on a stormy 14th of March , Father Plunkett was riding with two other men in escort. Blinded by the storm he hit a low hanging branch.
