Old Missoula

Deeds of Father D’Aste Recounted by Woman Who Knew Him For Years

Mrs. Peter Ronan Tells of Beautiful Life Lived by Priest Whom She Revered With Thousands for His Many Fine Attributes

Beginning at 6:30 o’clock this morning the last rites over the body of Father d’Aste will be said at the St. Ignatius mission, where the beloved priest died at noon on Thursday, the obsequial ceremonies being conducted according to the special celebration accorded to Jesuit priests. The first service will be the chanting of the office of the dead, followed by the requiem mass said for the repose of the soul, after which the casket will be conveyed to the grave which has been prepared alongside of the mounds which mark the burial spots of Father Ravalli and Father De Smet, old-time friends of and workers with Father d’Aste. Father Albert Trivelli left here yesterday morning for St. Ignatius to attend the last rites of Father d’Aste and to aid in conducting the offices of the dead. Lay friends in a considerable number also left here yesterday for St. Ignatius and will be present at the obsequies. In addition to these there will be a large number of Catholic clergy from Spokane and other points in Washington, Idaho and western Montana, present to pay their last respects to the dead priest. Father Lawrence B. Palladino of Missoula, and a man who was particularly close to Father d’Aste in all of his labors in this district, is now in Dillon and unable to attend the closing ceremonies. Acting Superior Father Ambrose Sullivan will be in charge of the rites in the absence of Superior Father DelaMotte, who is in New York, on his way from Rome, where he has been for the past three months attending a conference held at the holy see.

Knew Priest Well.

In Missoula there are many residents who were personally acquainted with Father Jerome d’Aste and the work he conducted in Helena, the Bitter Root valley and at the St. Ignatius mission – Judge Frank H. Woody, William Murphy, Major Samuel Bellew and a host of others. But none were more closely in touch with the priest and his labors than Mrs. Peter Ronan of 318 West Pine. Mrs. Ronan, the wife of Major Ronan, now dead, for many years lived on the reservation where Major Ronan conducted the important Indian affairs. Mrs. Ronan knew Father d’Aste in his early work in Montana and was closely associated in Catholic mission work with the priest at Helena when that city of the present was known as “Last Chance,” and was merely a mining camp in Indian territory. Yesterday morning Mrs. Ronan was found at her home, unable to attend the funeral ceremonies of her friend, Father d’Aste, she having been stricken by a particularly severe attack of rheumatism, which confined her to her home. But even the severe pain which she suffered could not prevent Mrs. Ronan from tendering her respects to the dead priest in words of exaltation and regard.

Mrs. Ronan’s Tribute.

“I wish,” said Mrs. Ronan, “that I might tell you of all the good things Father d’Aste has done among ‘my people,’ as he was wont to term the Indians, but my heart is so full at this moment that I can not find the words which adequately express my sentiments. He was a good, noble, righteous and sincere man; he was cheerful always and ever the friend of both the white and the red man. I have never, in all the years I knew him, heard him utter an unkind word and I never knew him to give cause for complaint. His was the hand of charity, and his life was devoted entirely to the labor of love to which he consecrated himself in his early life.

At Helena.

“It was early in the ’60s that I first became acquainted with Father d’Aste, I being then a small girl, living with my father and mother in Helena. I was a member of the Last Chance mission choir, an organization in which Father d’Aste took great delight. In 1869 our family moved to California, and it was about this time that Father d’Aste was transferred to St. Mary’s mission, near Stevensville. There he remained until a short time after the Indians were taken to the reservation by General Carrington; then he followed, too, and has been at St. Ignatius ever since.

Ever Cheerful.

“Father d’Aste was a man whose sole object in the world was to do good and bring enlightenment to the uncivilized. He was unobtrusive and beautiful in his character and a man whose influence was great with his people. The welfare of the Flatheads was ever his great concern, and he could not long abide away from the tribesmen. Last summer he was ill and feeble and was brought to St. Patrick’s hospital for treatment. While in the institution his disposition was sunshine itself, but he chafed under the restraint which kept him from his work among the Indians. One day I called at the hospital to see my old confessor and found him rather disturbed. He wanted the mission and his people, but he was weak from his illness and unable to go. I asked him why he did not stay where he could have care and medical attention, but he answered in a way that was simply his own: ‘I have now only a little while to stay and the Master will call me to Him; I must get back to my work with my people.’

“Father d’Aste always was delicate of physique, but no matter how greatly he needed strength he never failed to answer a call from one in distress. Although he was frail of stature he was strong in courage, and his gentle, kindly hand has soothed many a fevered brow in the time of death. The miners all loved him, and it was to Father d’Aste that they flew when in need or distress.

Chieftain’s Friend.

“With the chieftains of the Flathead and Bitter Root tribes the priest had great influence. The late Charlo and Father d’Aste were the closest of friends, and it was the hand of d’Aste that ministered to the chieftain when he had come to the close of his career, and it was the gentle priest’s touch which prepared the noted Indian for consignment to the earth. Michel, the blind interpreter; Chief Arlee and many other prominent Indians of the past and present were numbered among the personal friends of the priest, and it was from him, a brilliant conversationalist in the Flathead language, that these people sought advice.

“In his everyday life Father d’Aste was as simple and unaffected as a child. His personality was an attribute which drew to him many friends in all walks of life, and to know the man was to adore him for his great Christianity and strong mentality. When I conversed with him last summer he talked just as interestingly as he did when I knew him during my earlier days. There was not the least sign of mental decay. He died after nearly a half century of service in this district and his deeds will stand forever as a living monument to the man who has devoted the greater part of his life to the work of Christianizing, and uplifting the Indians.”

 

The above article appeared in the Missoulian on November 12, 1910.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349160717/?terms=daste

 

Rev. Jerome d’Aste, S. J. was born in Genoa, Italy in 1829.

In his Master’s thesis, “Musical history of the St. Mary’s Mission community, 1841-1891,” Gary Lee Gillette, stated the following regarding Father d’Aste:

“He had been studying higher mathematics in Paris when Father DeSmet addressed the Jesuit community there and successfully recruited D’Aste into Indian mission work. . .

“His most remarkable act was accomplished in 1877, when Chief Joseph’s forces passed through the Bitterroot Valley enroute to Canada; it was Father D’Aste who convinced the Flatheads to remain neutral, and thus much bloodshed was avoided.”

Gillette also noted that D’Aste wrote a series of diaries during his tenure at St. Ignatius.

“Of limited musical importance but of interest to this writer are the diaries of Father D’Aste. Many researchers have examined these original documents, currently included in the holdings of the Oregon Province Archives room at The Crosby Library in Spokane, Washington. In spite of their relative inaccessibility and illegible script, the diaries have been regularly quoted in published literature. Yet they remain in manuscript form. They are difficult to read and understand without historical and explanatory footnotes to put the information into perspective. Similar to the journals of Major John Owen, these diaries should be edited and published.”

Gary Gillette’s Master’s thesis, “Musical history of the St. Mary’s Mission community, 1841-1891,” submitted in 1987 at the University of Montana, is available on the internet at the following link:

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/3045/