The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902 Page: 206
370 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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206 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
FATHER EDMOND JOHN PETER SCHMITT.
I. J. COX.
The subject of this sketch, the Reverend Father Edmond John
Peter Schmitt, the son of Peter and Magdalen (Mouth) Schmitt,
was born at New Albany, Indiana, March the 16th, 1865, and
died at San Antonio, Texas, May the 5th, 1901. In his compara-
tively short career of thirty-six years he has left a sufficiently
strong impress upon the religious and intellectual life of his native
State and of our own, to warrant a review of some of its leading
features in the pages of THE QUARTERLY.
The events of his early life may briefly be summarized. At the
age of five, he entered the parochial schools of his native town,
where by his modest diligence, he soon became a favorite pupil.
At fourteen, forced by pecuniary losses of his father to enter active
business, he still continued his studies privately and began to col-
lect a library. When he passed his eighteenth birthday, having as-
sisted in relieving his father's financial embarrassments, he entered
the college of St. Meinard to prepare himself for his chosen career,
the priesthood. This latter step was not taken without strenuous
opposition from his father, who feared the rigors of a devoted
priest's life would prove too much for his delicate son. But the
prattled desire of the boy of eight had strengthened into the firm
purpose of serious youth, and that purpose was not to be gainsaid.
Such had been the careful self-instruction of the young student,
and such was his industry that he was able to complete the regular
five years' course in two, and at the close of this short period he
found himself considering the special field for his life work. A
short trial as a novice of the order of Benedictines, at St. Meinard,
convinced him that his particular field should be the secular priest-
hood. He then entered the seminary of St. Meinard, and applied
himself, with his usual diligence, to the regular course in philoso-
phy and theology. During this period began his historical labors,
of which the published results did not cease until death itself
ended them.
Ordained in 1890 by the Bishop of Indianapolis, the Right Rev-
erend F. S. Chatard, a week later he offered his first mass in the
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902, periodical, 1902; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101021/m1/212/?rotate=90: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.