INDIANS, Catholic Education of the.
Upon the discovery of America in 1492, the various religions orders of the Roman Catholic Church hastened to send missionaries to the new field. A small school for the education of the natives was an accompanying feature of each mission station, and after Cortes had con Mexico, Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits in course of time educated and con verted the natives to Christianity, and founded missions and schools which exist there to-day, and in California, now an integral portion of the United States, but formerly part of Mexico. North and south the missions and schools were established and as germs of diocesan organi zations bore fruit in the foundation of the see of Caracas in Venezuela in 1531; that of Lima, Peru, in 1539; of Chiquisaca, Bolivia in 1551; and of Santiago, Chile, in 1561. Brazil was en tered in 1500 by Franciscans who were followed half-a-century later by Jesuits. The first Bra zilian see was founded at Bahai in 1561; in La Plata, now Argentina, the see of Cor dova was founded in and there in course of time the Jesuits built up a magnifi cent college. In Central America, Franciscans began their work of education and conversion in Costa Rica in 1560, and during the last 30 years of the century friars labored successfully m Guatemala, teaching the arts of civilized life along with the doctrines of salvation. Early
in the 17th century, Jesuit fathers entered Acadia (Nova Scotia) and Canada, and in 1659 the first episcopal diocese in the region was organized at Montreal. Torture and martyr dom did not deter these brave champions and pioneers of Christianity and civilization, and the development of the United States followed the pioneer growth of Catholic congregations and schools among the native Indians. In the first half of the 19th century, the Indian na tions of the Rocky Mountains and Northwest Territories (American and Canadian) were pagan. The Jesuit Father De Smet made the long and dangerous journey from Saint Louis, Mo., to the headquarters of the Flathead nation in Montana, inaugurated the introduction of Christianity and prepared the way for the ad vent of younger members of the order. See CATHOLIC INDIAN MISSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.