For,
when I was returning, I passed by the Indians of Peoria, where I was three
days announcing the faith, in all their cabins, after which, as we were
embarking, they brought me on the water's edge a dying child which I
baptized a little before it expired, by an admirable providence, for the
salvation of an innocent soul." [Footnote: Shea, "Discovery and
Exploration of the Mississippi Valley," 2d ed., p. 55.]
That was in 1673. It was more than a year before he again entered the
Chicago River, wishing to keep his promise to minister to the Illinois
savages and eager "to do and suffer everything for so glorious an
undertaking." In the "Jesuit Relations" [Footnote: 59:165-183.] the story
of those winter days at the Chicago portage has been kept for all time.
All through January his illness obliged him to stay in the portage cabin,
but early in February he "commenced Novena (Neufuaine) with a mass, at
which Pierre and Jacques [his companions], who do everything they can to
relieve me, received communion--to ask God to restore my health.
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