DE SMET, PIERRE-JEAN. — Jesuit missionary, born at Termond (Belgium) on 30 January 1801; died at St Louis (Missouri) on 23 May 1873. He emigrated to the United States (1821) out of a desire to devote himself to the missions and, having entered the Society of Jesus, began in 1830 the long series of journeys (he travelled more than 180,000 miles) that were to bring him into contact with numerous Native American tribes, including the most fearsome and warlike, scattered throughout the Rocky Mountain region. The Indians loved him and showed themselves receptive to his exhortations and advice; they called him “the great blackrobe.” He thus became the peacemaker among the tribes at war and the intermediary between the Indians and the United States government, preventing massacres and bringing about peace treaties. On behalf of his Indians he crossed the Ocean nineteen times, collecting missionaries and alms.
The conversions he effected, the missions he founded, the scientific observations, and the providential adventures are recounted in his many writings, among the principal ones: Letters and sketches (Philadelphia 1843); Oregon missions and travels over the Rocky Mountains in 1845-46 (New York 1847); Voyage au grand désert en 1851 (Brussels 1853); Western missions and missionaries (New York 1863); New indian sketches (there 1865). To these must be added: H. M. Chattenden-A. T. Richardson, Life, letters and travels of P. J. De S. (4 vols., New York 1905), and the unpublished Linton Album, containing his itineraries from 1821 until his death.