eans.
The last of the many benefits he had conferred upon Missouri was a
foundation for a little company of Jesuit Fathers and scholastics, to
whom he donated his farm at Florissant. They arrived just at this time,
and on account of their connection with the prelate met with a cool
reception from many of the people. This was another heavy affliction for
Mother Duchesne, who felt that, in view of the good they could surely do
in the country, neither she nor any one else could do too much for them.
Their poverty was very great, and she did not hesitate to beg for them.
The friends she still had left in St. Louis responded generously to her
appeal, and sent her whatever they could afford to give. From others,
however, to whom she had recourse, she met with harsh refusals. She
despoiled herself and her community of all she could manage to do
without. She took care of the altar linen and vestments for their
domestic chapel, and spent part of her nights mending and making clothes
for them. In the beginning she sent them their meals already prepared,
and later on she supplied them with many articles for their missionary
outfit. In fact, the Jesuit Mission of Missouri might have perished at
its birth had it not been for her fostering care. It was to her an
immense joy to see the abundant fruits the zeal and devotedness of the
Fathers soon began to reap in the country around, to the distance of a
hundred miles and more. She considered it a priceless benefit to have
their Superior, Father Van Quickenborne, as chaplain, and above all, as
confessor for the community.

After the coming of the Jesuit Fathers, Bishop Rosati's missionaries
seldom made any stay at Florissant, but they were constantly passing
through it to and from their missions, and Mother Duchesne continued to
keep open house for them as heretofore.

Her apostolic longings for the work of the evangelization of the Indians
had never died out, and great was her delight when, one day, Father Van
Quickenborne brought her two little Indian girls, shyly hiding under his
cloak, and asked her to take them and educate them. This was the
beginning of the Indian school which, while it lasted, was the joy of
her heart. However, it never counted more than twenty children, and came
to an end in two years, the Indians being driven back further and
further by the inflowing tide of white immigration.

CHAPTER IV

ST. MICHAEL'S ESTABLISHED

In 1825, Mother Duchesne was called