Great Conversion Stories
By John Janaro
This is the moving story of Chief Tjolzhitsay of the Salish People, who in a sense personified the patience, magnanimity, and hope of countless generations of his own Native American ancestors. In the twilight of his once-great nation, he was blessed to receive the fulfillment of Christ who had shaped the lives of his forbears in so many hidden ways, and to lead the remnant of his people into the Catholic Church, to which most of their descendants adhere to the present day.
The advent of European colonization permanently changed these ancient peoples in more ways than history can recount. By far the most catastrophic earthly force was the wave of Eurasian diseases that unintentionally arrived with the ships, sweeping away up to 90% of the pre-Columbian indigenous population. Nevertheless, this era of immense suffering also opened up a way for Catholic missionaries to bring the “pearl of great price” to places where it may have long been implicitly sought and desired.
The first Jesuits of North America were met with mortal violence, but their heroic martyrdom had a profound impact on the wider experience of indigenous Canadians, and drew many of the Iroquois and other nations to baptism and the Catholic faith. The miraculous charity and courage of the “Blackrobes” inspired the converted Indians to become bearers of the Gospel to other native peoples from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Northwest.
When Christian Iroquois accompanied European fur traders deep into the interior of North America in the early 19th century, they met the Salish and other peaceful tribes and settled among them. They brought their own testimony to the faith they had received from the Blackrobes. By God’s grace, Chief Tjolzhitsay and his people were powerfully moved by what they heard and learned from the Iroquois, and they sent four delegations between 1831 and 1839 all the way from Western Montana to Saint Louis, Missouri — then the westernmost Catholic diocese in the country — requesting that Blackrobes be sent to teach them the full truth about the Creator.
Only in 1840 was it possible for missionaries to return with them: a group led by the great Belgian Jesuit Pierre de Smet, who was just beginning his long labors for the Native Americans of the West.
At nearly ninety years old, Chief Tjolzhitsay greeted the Blackrobes with immense joy in Montana, and immediately became the leader and primary example for hundreds of his people as Father De Smet taught catechism and prayers every day during the summer of 1840. In August, the elderly chief was the first of 350 Salish to be baptized at the Three Forks of the Missouri River. Months later, after receiving his first Holy Communion, “Paul” Tjolzhitsay died.
Although the Salish would be further diminished in earthly lands by the American government in the decades to come, Chief Paul and Father De Smet had led them to the hope of an eternal inheritance.