William Maher

Eagle Man and More Missionaries William Maher

Many figures in American history - Kateri Tekakwitha, President Ulysses S. Grant, Father Pierre DeSmet, S. J. - play roles in this story of the Catholic Church and the American Indians. The central character, however, is a Benedictine missionary who has worked 65 years in North and South Dakota. Father Stanislaus Maudlin, O. S. B. recorded and wrote dozens of stories, some sad, some amusing. The book tells how five tribes held ceremonies and gave him Indian names, among them "Eagle Man."Wintertime sick calls deep in the bush, saying Mass in a burning church, adminstering a boarding school for Indian children, searching for a phantom wolf, coping with the Indian "medicine men," learning how to create a religious TV program, building a parish near the city dump - all are described in "Eagle Man and More Missionaries."There are stories of missionaries, both men and women, hardworking American Indians and laypersons whose lives together form an inspiring picture of the Catholic Church in the Dakotas during the last century.