Blog: Cross Recalls Event 1699 (1/11/22)
The Cape LaCroix Cross, October 1947. (GD Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missouri Archives)
I’m sure when the Cape LaCroix cross was unveiled on October 12, 1947, members of the associated committees of historic Cape Girardeau – the organization sponsoring the event – and the crowd of people who attended the dedication thought that the memorial would remain in this location for generations to come.
This, of course, did not happen, and the cross has been moved twice since it was first erected.
What seems to have been lost in the movements is why the cross was created in the first place.
Posted Saturday, October 11, 1947 in southeastern Missouri:
THE CROSSING OF CAP LaCROIX STREAM WILL BE PLANTED ON SUNDAY
The accompanying article, written by the late Allan H. Hinchey and published in the Missourian in January 1932 is of particular interest now because part of it recounts the planting of the cross on Cape LaCroix Creek , and the event to be commemorated Sunday afternoon at exercises organized by the Committees (Associates) of the Historic Cape Girardeau. When the cross was placed by missionaries 248 years ago, Cape LaCroix Creek was emptying into the Mississippi River near Gray’s Point. Since then, due to the arrival of drainage systems, it has been diverted and flows into the creek at South Cape Girardeau. However, it remains the same historic waterway and the cross that will be erected where it intersects with Route 61 will symbolically mark the erection of another cross nearby more than two centuries ago.
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Fathers Jean François Buisson de Saint Cosme, François Joliet de Montigny and Ambroise Davion, members of the Canadian order of the “Seminary of Foreigners” in Quebec, were sent as missionaries (Catholics) to the great unknown region located along the river Mississippi. They went through the Great Lakes, through the Illinois River, then further south through the Mississippi.
They were accompanied by a group of French soldiers and boatmen and Indian guides. Their journey was a tedious and hazardous undertaking and it took nearly a year before they reached the part of the country we now call the Cape Girardeau district in December 1699.
As they slowly descended the river, their Indian guides spoke to them at length of the strange country into which they were entering. Among the information given to them was the story of a place on the river cursed by Manitou, their Great Spirit, and where evil spirits lived to catch and destroy those who stopped at their hiding place.
Great cross erected
They arrived at this place on December 11, 1699, and despite the protests of the Indian guides they stopped and climbed a large rock surrounded by water on the west bank (Missouri side), under which the evil spirits were supposed to live.
Father Saint-Cosme decided to erect a large cross on top of this rocky island. The terrified Indians would not approach the place, so the French soldiers and boatmen were forced to do the work of cutting down a large tree, making the cross and planting it on top of the rock.
But let’s read the story told by Father Saint-Cosme in the report he made to his bishop of Quebec. His report reads as follows:
“There is a rock on the right side of the stream (Missouri side), which juts into the river and forms an island or rather a rock 200 feet high, which turns the river back very quickly and enters the channel, forms a kind of whirlpool, where it is said that a canoe engulfed there at high sea. Fourteen Miamis were once lost there, which made the place formidable to the Indians.
“We saw no figure there as we were told. You climb this rock up a hill with some difficulty. We planted a fine cross there, chanting the Vexilla Regis, and our people fired three rounds of musketry God grant that the cross, which has never been known in this region, may triumph there and that Our Lord pours out abundantly on them the merits of his holy passion, so that the Indians may know him and serve him.”
For many years this cross, erected by Father Saint-Cosme in December 1699, stood on this rock as a beacon of encouragement to adventurers passing along the river, to tell them that Christian men were been there before them.
The place was known to early adventurers and woodsmen as “La Roche de la Croix”, Le Rocher de la Croix. It can be seen today, this Rock of the Cross, by passengers on steamboats or Frisco Railroad trains. It is a picturesque place and knowing its history is all the more interesting.
The brook of the Cross named
The three seminarians, with their retinue of soldiers and Indian guides, continued their journey up the river, passing the promontory which we know as Cape Rock, until they reached another promontory, a large rock south of the current site of Cape Girardeau. On this point Father Montigny presided over a ceremony for the erection of another cross, naming the place Cap LaCroix and calling the small stream of sparkling water which flows near the La Croix stream, and this stream, crossing the town of Cap Girardeau, is to this day known by the name given to it by Father Montigny (248 years ago).
The following year, 1700, another missionary priest, Father (Jacques) Gravier, came down the river and in a report said, “We doubled Cap LaCroix. It is a small ro_ forming a small island on the north side of the river, on which Monsier Montigny had a cross erected.
Posted Monday, October 13, 1947 in southeastern Missouri:
Some of the groups that participated in the drills related to the unveiling of a cross at a point on Highway 61 where it is cut by Cape LaCroix Creek are pictured above. Children and young people in Indian dress added color to the ceremony, during which a National Guard squad fired a volley and the choir from St. Vincent’s College sang. Dr. WW Parker of State College, Reverend TJ Murphy of St. Saint-Vincent and Monsignor HF Schuermann de Saint-Louis, former parish priest of Sainte-Marie church. (GD Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missouri Archives)
UNVEILING OF THE HISTORICAL EVENT MARQUES-CROIX DISTRICT
Attended by a crowd of 250 people interested in Cape County’s rich historic past, Cape LaCroix Cross was unveiled Sunday afternoon during ceremonies held at the base of the 9-foot monument erected near the intersection of Cape LaCroix Creek and Highway 61. The cross was planted on the banks of Cape LaCroix Creek by the Associated Committees of Historic Cape Girardeau to preserve one of the county’s most significant events, the establishment of a cross near Gray’s Point in 1699 by three French missionaries.
When the cross was unveiled, a three-gun volley was fired by a squad of the National Guard, as did the French musketeers when the original cross was planted. The cross was blessed by Reverend Thomas J. Murphy, pastor of St. Vincent’s Catholic Church, and the inscription was read by Stephen Limbaugh of Alpha Phi Omega State College.
The former pastor speaks
State College President W. W. Parker presided over and introduced the speaker, Monsignor HF Schuermann of St. Louis, who, as a former pastor of St. Mrs. DJ Keller, who, prior to her death on May 3, spearheaded efforts towards the erection of the cross.
Monsignor Schuermann drew attention to the relevance of the day chosen for the dedication, Columbus Day, since, he said, it was Columbus who began the penetration into this then new country. He spoke of the first Catholic missionaries who sailed the Mississippi River and gave an account of the actual erection of the cross by French priests “to encourage those who followed the Mississippi route”.
He reviewed the history and struggle of this country ever since, and in conclusion said that this cross symbolizes the early founding of this nation. “This Christian heritage must live on throughout this nation,” he said.
The college choir sings
His speech was followed by a hymn sung by the St. Vincent’s College Choir conducted by the Reverend JS Saracini, and the benediction was delivered by the Reverend Bayard S. Clark, Rector of Christ Episcopal Church.
The cross was erected and prepared for the ceremonies at the last minute by the project committee, led by Professor Felix Snider. The 9-foot monument sits on a concrete base, on which the 14-inch by 18-inch bronze plaque is placed. It bears the following inscription: “In 1699, Fathers Montigny, Davion and Saint-Cosme, French missionaries, erected a cross at the place where this stream enters the Mississippi, and prayed that this would be the beginning of the Christianity among the Indians. The creek has since known as Cape LaCroix Creek.”
The ceremony completed another historic group project, and the BC Hardesty Executive Committee, Chairman, SBHunter and George Naeter expressed their gratitude to those who assisted in the physical labor of erecting the monument.
The next project of the historical committee is a terminal in the old cemetery of Lorimier which is already in the making. Although this is the only other project for this year, Hardesty said more are in the planning stages.
Published Tuesday, October 14, 1947 in the Southeastern Missourian:
Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts dressed in Indian regalia added atmosphere to the scene when a cross marking a historic event in Cape Girardeau was unveiled during ceremonies on Sunday afternoon. The cross was erected on Route 61 at a point where it crosses Cape LaCroix Creek, as the event commemorated was the erection of a cross by French missionaries at the mouth of the creek in 1699. As the photo has been taken, Reverend. TJ Murphy was speaking and others on the platform included President WW Parker of State College, Reverend Bayard Clark of Christ Episcopal Church and Monsignor HF Schuermann of St. Louis, former pastor of St. Mary’s Church. (GD Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missouri Archives)
Just to clarify, the Revs. Saint Cosme, Montigny and Davion planted a cross on top of Tower Rock in December 1699. Some online sources say this event happened in 1698.
In 1700, Reverend Gravier copied their example by erecting a cross at Gray’s Point, where Cape LaCroix Creek later emptied into the Mississippi River.
