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| Category: Fiction:Historical:Colonial America |
(requires Adobe Reader)
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| About the Book | |
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French Jesuit missionary, Father Sebastien Rale S.J. (1657-1724) arrived in Quebec, Canada. He quickly learned the native languages and started his dictionary for his school at his assignment in Maine among the Wabanaki people of the Norridgewock Tribe. He constructed a Church and the first school at the tribal home near the Kennebec River. The people quickly learned English and were able to read and understand the English way of handling treaties. More of their land was being taken for the natural forests, trees, wildlife and seafood. Shipbuilding along the coasts produced ships for England. The Massachusetts Bay Colony wanted Father Rale out of their way, so attacks happened several times. With a bounty of silver on his head, Father Rale and his people were attacked by the English soldiers. During the final attack resulting in the death of many tribal families, Father Rale was massacred on August 23, 1724.
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| Reviews | |
"The death of this most famous Jesuit in Colonial New England caused his enemies throughout the region to rejoice in their triumph. This is the inspiring story of Maine's first, early Roman Catholics, the Wabanaki tribes, and their saintly leader which Louise Ketchum Hunt has wonderfully captured in this comprehensive little volume." "This early history of our country is important. Louise Hunt's book should be in every school library." "This book is fantastic!" "Louise makes an important contribution to the story of early indigenous people living on the east coast of the United States and Canada, as she blends her ancestral stories with solid historical data. She does this as she tells us a beautiful love story of God's love and her Catholic faith." "What emerges from this narrative of heroic fidelity to Christ and His Church is a message for our own time. We are reminded that in days of darkness and of light, this world is not our home. Father Rale gave his life to serve a people for thirty years, living among them as friend, fellow laborer, teacher, spiritual leader and giver of Sacraments." "While her service in the U.S. military did not compare to the brutality of the massacre of the Indian Chiefs and Father Rale, it did provide a poignant backdrop for storytelling and the depiction of war." "My mother, Louise Ketchum Hunt, wrote this story. Her work is fiction based on historical data. In the spirit of Maxmillian Kolbe and other saints like him, Fr. Sebastien Rale gave his life for the Norridgewock tribal people and the Chiefs gave their lives to protect the one who embodied Jesus Christ."
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| About the Author | |
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Louise Ketchum Hunt attended grammar school at the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation St. Anne's School, Old Town, Maine. She completed twelve grades with graduation from Old Town High School. Then Louise completed her nurses training and studies with graduation from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Portland, Maine. Upon receiving her Registered Nurse degree, Louise entered the US Army Nurse Corps and received her Nurse Officer Lieutenant assignment for Fort Ord, California and later, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. She met her husband, James Hunt, and was married in California. Over the years while marriage and family occupied much of her time, Louise continued her nursing interests in various school and community involvements. In 1986 Louise was awarded an Indian Health Service (IHS) Scholarship. Upon graduation for her BSN degree at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, she accepted her Commission to serve as a Nurse Officer in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). For two years Lt. Hunt served at the IHS Hospital in Claremore, Oklahoma, as a high-risk Obstetrical Nurse. Following her return to Virginia, Louise served in an administrative capacity in the IHS Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, at the time of the IHS becoming a new agency of the USPHS. Her work in IHS Commissioned Personnel included writing the manual and developing the Office of the Commissioned Awards program. Her duties included a year as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff, Office of the Surgeon General of the USPHS, Washington, DC. Louise and her husband live in Atlanta, Georgia. They enjoy their family of two sons and two daughters and grandchildren. |