p215  "April 14, 1810.

"Right Rev. Sir:

". . . Last month I was sent to the Rough Creek congregation of St. Anthony, •about eighty miles from here.​3 There seems to be room in that circuit for about four hundred families, who might settle there and make a very good living. I am in hopes of getting •five hundred acres of land for the church, and our catholics are already circulating subscription lists to enable them to build three churches in that region. About forty families have actually settled there, and that number will soon increase if I go with them, for many suffer want here because straitened in too narrow a circuit. St. Anthony's is about half-way between our episcopal city [Bardstown] and an incipient settlement on the Ohio called Redbank,​4 where there are at present ten catholic families, and which has great prospects and a reasonable hope of becoming a very populous city. I have therefore resolved to select it as my resident station. . . .

"We hope our new Bishop will soon arrive. We expect him daily, together with some priests to help us. . . .

"I remain,

"Your Lordship's

"Humble and obedient servant,

"C. Nerinckx."

"Father Nerinckx' courage was unequaled. He feared no difficulties, and was appalled by no dangers. Through rain and storms; through snows and ice; over roads rendered almost impassable by the mud; over streams swollen by the rains, or frozen by the cold; by day and by night. In winter and summer, he might be seen traversing all parts of Kentucky in the discharge of his laborious duties. Far from shunning, he seemed even to seek hardships and dangers.

"He crossed wilderness districts, swam rivers, slept in the woods among the wild beasts;​17 and,  p224 while undergoing all this, he was in the habit of fasting and of voluntarily mortifying himself in many other ways. His courage and vigor seemed to increase with the labors and privations he had to indure. As his courage, so neither did his cheerfulness, ever abandon him. He seldom laughed or even smiled; but there was withal an air of contentment and cheerfulness about him which greatly qualified the natural austerity of his countenance and manners. He could, like the great Apostle, make himself "all to all, to gain all to Christ." He appeared even more at home in the cabin of the humblest citizen, or in the hut of the poor negro, than in the more pretending mansions of the wealthy.

"He was averse to giving trouble to others, especially to the poor. Often, when he arrived at a house in the night, he attended to his own horse, and took a brief repose in the stable, or in some out-house; and when the inmates of the house arose next morning they frequently perceived him already up, and saying his office, or making his meditation.​18 He made it an invariable rule never to miss an appointment whenever it was at all possible to keep it. He often arrived at a distant station early in the morning, after having ridden during all the previous night. On these occasions, he heard confessions,  p225 taught catechism, gave instructions, and said Mass for the people generally after noon; and he seldom broke his fast until three or four o'clock in the evening.

"In swimming rivers, he was often exposed to great danger. Once, in going to visit a sick person, he came to a stream which his companions knew to be impassable. Mr. Nerinckx took the saddle of his friend — who refused to venture — placed it on his own, and then remounting the horse, placed himself on his knees on the top of the two saddles, and thus crossed the flood, which flowed over his horse's back. On another occasion, he made a still more narrow escape. He was swept from his horse, which lost its footing and was carried away by the current; and the rider barely saved himself, and reached the other shore by clinging firmly to the horse's tail.

"On one of his missionary tours, he narrowly escaped being devoured by the wolves, which then greatly infested those portions of Kentucky which were not densely settled. While traveling to visit a distant station, in what is now Grayson county, but what was then almost an unreclaimed wilderness, he lost his way in the night. It was the dead of winter, and the darkness was so great that he could not hope to extricate himself from his painful situation. Meantime, whilst he was seeking a sheltered place, where he could take some repose, the famished wolves scented him, and came in hundreds, fiercely howling around him. With great presence  p226 of mind, he immediately remounted his horse, knowing that they would scarcely attack him while on horseback. He hallooed at the top of his voice, and temporarily frightened them off; but soon they returned to the charge, and kept him at bay during the whole night. Once or twice they seemed on the point of seizing his horse, and Mr. Nerinckx made the sign of the Cross and prepared himself for death; but a mysterious Providence watched over him, and he escaped, after sitting onº his horse the whole night.​19 With the dawn, the wolves disappeared.

"He had charge of six congregations, besides a much greater number of stations scattered over the whole extent of Kentucky. Wherever he could learn that there were a few catholic settlers, there he established a station or erected a church. The labor which he thus voluntarily took on himself, is almost incredible. To visit all his churches and stations generally required the space of at least six weeks.

"He never took any rest or recreation. He seemed always most happy, when most busily engaged. He seldom talked, except on business, or on God, on virtue, or on his missionary duties. On reaching a church or station, his confessional was usually thronged by penitents from the early dawn until midday. Before beginning to hear confessions he usually said some prayers with the people, and then gave them a  p227 solid and familiar instruction on the manner of approaching the holy tribunal. If he seemed austere out of the confessional, he was in it a most kind, patient, and tender father. He spared no time nor pains to instruct his penitents, all of whom, without one exception, were deeply attached to him. To his instructions, chiefly in the confessional, are we to ascribe the piety and regularity of many among the living catholics of Kentucky.

"God blessed his labors with fruits so abundant and permanent as to console him for all his toils and privations. He witnessed a flourishing church growing up around him, in what had recently been a wilderness, inhabited only by fierce, wild beasts and untamable savages. He saw, in the virtues of his scattered flock, a revival of those which had rendered so illustrious the christians of the first ages of the church. . . . The results of his labors prove how much one good man, with the blessing of God, can achieve by his single efforts, prompted by the lofty motive of the Divine glory, and directed with simplicity of heart to one noble end.

"We will close the present chapter by relating one more incident in the life of this good missionary. The catholics were so much dispersed that he was often called to a distance of •fifty and even a hundred miles, to visit the sick. On one occasion he was called to see a Mr. Keith, who lived in Bourbon county, •eighty  p228 miles off. The messenger arrived at the residence of Mr. Nerinckx early in the morning, and stated that he had left the sick man in a dying condition. Mr. Nerinckx lost not a moment. At five o'clock in the morning, he mounted his famous horse 'Printer;' and after riding the whole ensuing night reached the house of Mr. Keith at six o'clock the next morning.

"The poor man was already dead. He had just breathed his last. Ardently he had desired the succors of religion in his last struggle; repeatedly he had asked, 'whether the priest was coming?' In his anxiety he had dragged himself to the door of his cabin, to direct his straining eyes, now almost set in death, in the direction in which he expected the minister of God to approach.

"Mr. Nerinckx remained for some time with the afflicted family of the deceased, comforting them with the assurance that God had no doubt mercifully accepted the will for the deed in the deceased. He prayed with them over his remains, which he followed to their last resting place. He took occasion from the manner of his death to make a deep impression in the minds and hearts of the living, whom he exhorted 'to be always ready, for they knew not the day nor the hour,' when death might surprise them. After thus doing all the good he could accomplish, he returned, deeply affected by the scene he had witnessed."