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CAHOKIA: EARLY EDUCATION
MARVELOUS is the influence of a good example and of a brilliant mind. And still more marvelous is the fad that Cahokia, little hamlet in the American Bottoms should have had so eminent a succession of splendid missionaries and priests and educators, as history reveals. In its earliest days Cahokia felt the influence of all the great Jesuit and Recollet missionaries, and in the decade 1788 to 1798, it came under the influence of the learned Reverend Gabriel Richard, who later took so prominent a part in the upbuilding of Detroit and the State of Michigan. He it was who brought the first printing press into the state, he published the first newspaper in said state, organized several industries, and who was not only a spiritual but also a civic leader. He was elected to the Federal Congress, being the only Catholic priest ever elected to Congress. And there came to Cahokia also the learned and brilliant Reverend Donatien Olivier, who though not stationed there definitely, yet exercised great influence toward the development of culture and of education. His brother, Reverend John Olivier was stationed at Cahokia for a number of years. But Father Donatien Olivier for more than thirty years was the leading spirit and the principal proponent of the Christian religion in the states of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. He became the Vicar-General of Right Rev. Bishop John Carroll, D. D., of Baltimore, in the Illinois Territory and included Most Rev. Benedict Jospeh Flaget, D. D. into office when the diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, was established. Father Donatien was the Tribune of the people and the zealous promulgator of the ideals of true education, in the district where his influence was felt. In 1809, just a year after the first newspaper was established in St. Louis, Missouri, there came to Cahokia a lawyer, native of Kentucky, named Samuel Davidson, and he became one of its fir& teachers although he had studied law and was a qualified lawyer. He did not relish the practice of law, however, and turned his mind to teaching. He opened school in one of the rooms of Major Jarrott's residence, and was paid a salary of four hundred dollars from out of Major Jarrott's private purse. Mr. Davidson entered the military service in the war of 1812, and never returned to Cahokia.
COMING OF THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH On March 25, 1836, there arrived in this country six Sisters of St. Joseph, an Order of Teaching Sifters, eatablished in France. They were domiciled with the Sisters of Charity, at their hospital on Third street, in St. Louis, until April 7, 1836. It was then decided that three of these Sisters go to Cahokia, Illinois, where a parochial school was awaiting teachers. The Sisters chosen for this task were Mother Febronia Fontbonne, Sister Febronie Chaplion and Sister St. Protais Debville. The parish of Cahokia was at that time under the protection of the Holy Family, and the village was for a long time known as the Mission of the Holy Family. In 1836 the population of Cahokia numbered 1160, and was composed mostly of French-Canadians. The pastor at that time was Reverend P. J. Doutreluingue, S.C.M. He had for a long time been making preparations for the Sisters, and had secured for a school building and convent a large two-story frame house in the center of a four-acre lot. Each story was divided by a hall way into two large rooms, those on the first floor serving as class rooms and reception rooms; those on the second floor as community room and dormitory. A small one-room log cottage, a short distance from the main building, served as both dining room and kitchen. The Sisters were accompanied to Cahokia by Most Reverend Bishop Joseph Rosati, C.M., and Reverend Father Fontbonne. Crossing the river on boats, they found the good people of the village waiting for them at the banks of the river, and they were escorted through the woods by a numerous cortege on foot, on horseback as well as in carts and wagons. They reached the convent at noon, April 7, 1836. Their first visit was to the church after which they were conducted to the rectory where dinner awaited them. The rectory was a small, two-room house, and between the room's a passage way served for a kitchen. After dinner, the Sisters repaired to their own home, where, with the assistance of Bishop Rosati, Father Fontbonne and Father Doutreluingue, they set up their cooking stove. No time was lost in opening the school, for which Father Doutreluingue had made every preparation. The first enrollment consisted of thirty day-pupils, to which number were soon added five boarders. In the following year, 1837, the building was enlarged by the addition of another class-room. The people of Cahokia were very kind to the Sisters, and beside sending their children to school, aided materially by the donating of the products of their gardens. Among their benefactors were Mme. Nicholas Jarreau (Jarrott), Mme. Nicholas Turjon, and Mme. Nicholas Boismenue. Mme. Turjon, a wealthy lady, aided in building a chapel which was erected in 1838. The Sisters had brought from France many things needed for the chapel, and a bell was sent them by Mother John Fontbonne -from Lyons, France. (This is taken from the archives of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Mother House, Carondelet.) Click here for a bulletin on education in early Cahokia In the Fall of 1836, Sisters St. Protai, on account of ill-health was ordered by Bishop Rosati to return to Carondelet, until she should be able again to resume her work, and in the meantime Sister Philomene Vilaine was sent to Cahokia. Father Doutreluingue did not remain in Cahokia long after the arrival of the Sisters. He was succeeded by Reverend Father Nat. Condamine. By this time, it seems the unhealthiness of the climate was being felt by priests and Sisters. In August, 1836, Father Condamine fell ill and his death occurred in the Fall of said year. In 1844, the Sisters were obliged to leave Cahokia on account of the high water. The rise of the Missisippi flooded the village and almost submerged the convent. Mother Celestine, superior at Carondelet, chartered a boat and went with the boatmen to the rescue of the Sisters, who were taken out of the second story window. They returned to Carondelet. Several years later, the Sisters returned to Cahokia, but were again obliged to leave on account of the unhealthy condition of the village. This last move was made sometime in 1860. The property used by the Sisters of St. Joseph, was known for many years as the Abbey House. In a chronicle of Cahokia, written by a learned priest we read: "The only school worthy of the name, with Sisters educated in the best schools of France, was the Institute of St. Joseph, but for this school the Village Trustees had no money. Of the vast fortune of the Cahokians, only a pittance remains today, 1914, scarcely enough to buy stamps and stationery for the school board." In still another old chronicle we read of the hardships these good Sisters that first came to Cahokia, endured. Despite this their work soon began to show results and they soon won the love and respect of the simple and poor Canadian-French, and these welcomed the lessons which led their hitherto poorly instructed children to a knowledge of God. This love was manifested when Mother Fabronia was lost in the dense woods of La Pointe on a freezing night while trying to reach her convent. Men rushed from their homes when the little convent bell spread the alarm. They searched the dark woods crying: "Mother of Cahokia, don't be afraid, for your children are seeking you. We are coming ... we are coming to find you ...... They found her half-frozen, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, and joyfully led her back to the crude convent Cloister. The first American novice to join the Order of French Sisters was Miss Anna Eliza Dillon of St. Louis. She was received as a novice in 1837.
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