Jean-Pierre Pernin (February 22, 1822 – October 9, 1909), also known as Peter Pernin in America, was a
French Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
, who came to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1864 as a
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
, working in
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, and
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. As Catholic pastor of
Peshtigo, Wisconsin, he survived the
Peshtigo fire on October 8–9, 1871. His survivor’s
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
, written originally in
French, published simultaneously in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
translation
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
, and
entitled
An entitlement is a provision made in accordance with a legal framework of a society. Typically, entitlements are based on concepts of principle ("rights") which are themselves based in concepts of social equality or enfranchisement.
In psycholog ...
''Le doigt de Dieu est là!'' / ''The Finger of God Is There!'', is a document important to the history of the fire.
Early life and career in France
Jean-Pierre Pernin was born February 22, 1822, in
Flacey-en-Bresse
Flacey-en-Bresse (, literally ''Flacey in Bresse'') is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
Geography
The Vallière forms part of the commune's north-western border.
Notable p ...
, an agricultural village in
Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part.
Saône-et-Loire is Bo ...
. He studied
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
and developed his writing skills at Collège de
Meximieux
Meximieux () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France.
Geography
Located 35 km north east of Lyon and 10 km from Ambérieu-en-Bugey, the town is where the Dombes plateau meets the plain of the river Ain. Historically, Me ...
(
Ain
Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...
), graduating in 1842, then studied
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
at the Grand séminaire (
Major seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
) of
Autun
Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...
(Saône-et-Loire), his home diocese. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood December 19, 1846, by Autun Bishop .
Over the next 18 years Pernin held diocesan assignments in the diocese of Autun: ,
Mâcon
Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as M ...
, December 1846 – January 1851;
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
of 1851–1853; and St. Just,
Rancy, February 1863 – February 1864. At a time when thousands of French priests were leaving France to work as missionaries abroad all over the world, including in North America, Pernin departed France as a diocesan missionary to the United States in September 1864.
Missionary career in America
Illinois
Pernin came to America at the invitation of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
bishop
James Duggan
James Duggan (May 22, 1825 – March 27, 1899) was an Irish-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Chicago from 1859 to 1869, officially resigning in 1880.
Biography
Early years
James D ...
, who was concerned to reconcile French-speaking Catholics in Chicago, alienated by his predecessor
Anthony O'Regan, and to counteract the influence of anti-Catholic evangelist
Charles Chiniquy, who was leading
French-Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...
-American Catholics into the
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
Church. From October 1864 to March 1868 Pernin was pastor at St. John the Baptist,
L'Erable,
Iroquois County, Illinois, 15 miles from Chiniquy’s church in
St. Anne
According to Christianity, Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Gospel#Canonical gospels, canonical gospels. ...
.
Wisconsin
Pernin left Illinois for the new
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
of
Green Bay, Wisconsin, established in 1868, in the period of Duggan’s mental decline that led to his removal from office in April 1869. In ten years in the diocese of Green Bay Pernin was pastor of St. Joseph’s,
Robinsonville, December 1868 to September 1869;
St. Peter’s,
Oconto, August 1869 to December 1869; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Peshtigo and St. Patrick’s,
Marinette (renamed Our Lady of Lourdes by Pernin in June 1873), December 1869 to September 1875; and Sts. Peter and Paul,
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
(now Wisconsin Rapids in the
diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin), September 1875 to October 1878.
Minnesota
![Peter Pernin grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Peter_Pernin_grave.jpg)
Pernin spent his last 31 years in Minnesota in the dioceses of
St. Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
and
Winona (now Winona-Rochester): Church of the Crucifixion,
La Crescent, 1878 to 1886; St. Patrick’s,
Brownsville, 1886 to 1894; St. Bridget’s,
Simpson
Simpson most often refers to:
* Simpson (name), a British surname
*''The Simpsons'', an animated American sitcom
**The Simpson family, central characters of the series ''The Simpsons''
Simpson may also refer to:
Organizations Schools
*Simpso ...
1894 to 1897; and St. Joseph’s,
Rushford 1897 to 1898. After the diocese of Winona was established in 1889, broken off from that of St. Paul, its first bishop
Joseph Cotter named Pernin its first
vicar general
A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...
, the diocese’s highest office after the bishop.
In 1898, upon Pernin’s retirement from regular parish ministry and as vicar general, Cotter named him the first regularly appointed resident chaplain of
St. Mary’s Hospital,
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
, from which developed the institution now known as
Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...
. Pernin died at St. Mary’s on October 9, 1909, aged 87, after 45 years in America. He was buried at St. John’s Cemetery (now Calvary Cemetery), Rochester.
The Great Peshtigo Fire and ''The Finger of God Is There!''
In October 1871 Pernin was Catholic pastor of Peshtigo and Marinette, Wisconsin, neighboring
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
towns on
Green Bay. Occasioned by a summer long
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
and carelessness with fire in a forest surrounding a town constructed of wood and strewn with logging debris, a disaster now known as the Great Peshtigo Fire engulfed Peshtigo on the night of October 8–9, completely burning the town and killing upwards of 1500 people, the deadliest wildfire in American history. Pernin survived the fire with hundreds of others, entering the
Peshtigo River
The Peshtigo River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed December 19, 2011 tributary of Green Bay in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Peshtigo Fire happened in the river ...
about 10 pm and submerging and splashing themselves in the water for five and a half hours.
Pernin’s
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
and
priest house in Peshtigo were burned in the fire. He also lost his church, priest house, and school building in the
Menekaunee area of Marinette when fires burned Menekaunee while veering away from downtown Marinette to the west. As a fundraiser to support the rebuilding of his parish facilities, particularly his church in Marinette, which he was renaming Our Lady of Lourdes, he conceived the idea of writing about his experiences of surviving the fire.
He wrote his memoir in French and traveled to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
in April 1874 to arrange for its publication as well as a translation in English. By June 1874 it had been published by Montreal publisher Eusèbe Senécal as ''Le doigt de Dieu est là! ou Episode émouvant d’un événement étrange raconté par un témoin oculaire'' and simultaneously by Montreal publisher John Lovell as ''The Finger of God Is There! or A Moving Episode of a Strange Event Told By An Eyewitness''.
When Pernin returned to Marinette in October 1874 from his trip to Montreal to publish his book, he found that he was in trouble with diocesan authorities for having spent too long a time away and had been disciplined with
suspension from ministry. Pernin was reinstated in July 1875.
The Robinsonville apparition
In ''Le Doigt de Dieu est là! / The Finger of God Is There!'' Pernin viewed the fire from a religious and theological perspective, as the original title suggests. His interpretation of the disaster was in some respects influenced by the
Calvinism
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
he knew in the United States. He had been impressed by a lecture he heard in December 1871 in
Terre Haute
Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, given by Rev. John L. Gay, rector of St. James Episcopal Church,
Vincennes
Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, to the effect that the fires of October were "image du feu qui doit dévorer la terre à la fin des temps / image of the fire that must devour the earth at the end of time." Peshtigo, according to Pernin, with its many
saloons
Saloon may refer to:
Buildings and businesses
* One of the bars in a traditional British pub
* An alternative name for a bar (establishment)
* Western saloon, a historical style of American bar
* The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francisc ...
and
bordellos serving
lumbermen on the Wisconsin logging frontier, was "la Sodome moderne pour servir d’exemple à tous / the modern
Sodom meant to serve as an example to all." The Peshtigo fire was God’s
fire and brimstone
Fire and brimstone ( ''gofrit va’esh'', grc, πυρὸς καὶ θείου) is an idiomatic expression referring to God's wrath found in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament. In the Bible, it often appears in reference t ...
sent down to punish a
sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
ful city.
Pernin also recognized a positive divine intervention in two seemingly
miraculous occurrences the night of the Wisconsin fires: the fact that his church’s
tabernacle
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...
was preserved during the Peshtigo fire, which he had pulled to the river in a
buggy (''voiture'') and had immersed in the water, and also in the fact that the Shrine and religious community of
Our Lady of Good Help in Robinsonville entirely escaped the effects of the fires on the
Door Peninsula
The Door Peninsula is a peninsula in eastern Wisconsin, separating the southern part of the Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay from Lake Michigan. The peninsula includes northern Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, Kewaunee County, northeaster ...
on the same night.
Pernin’s text is important, early evidence not only for the Peshtigo fire but also for
the events of Robinsonville (now Champion). A French-speaking
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
immigrant to the Door Peninsula named Adele Brise experienced an
apparition of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
in 1859 near her family’s farm in Robinsonville. This led her to found there a shrine and religious community to provide
religious instruction
A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...
to uncatechized Belgian children.
Pernin had been Brise’s pastor during his time in St. Joseph’s, Robinsonville in 1868–69. In an Appendix to ''Finger of God'' Pernin tells what he knew about the Marian apparition from Brise as well as reporting that while the fires of October 8–9 burned much of the Door Peninsula to the east of Green Bay, they bypassed precisely the community and buildings of Our Lady of Good Help, seemingly in response to the prayers of the community trapped in the conflagration. Pernin interpreted the fact that the Shrine should have burned, but did not, as an intervention of the finger of God and as a vindication of Brise’s claim that the Virgin Mary had appeared there.
While Pernin judged the preservation of his tabernacle in Peshtigo and sparing of the shine at Robinsonville to be interventions of God’s power, he was also cautious about calling them miraculous:
In 2010 Green Bay
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
David L. Ricken
David Laurin Ricken (born November 9, 1952) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as the bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay in Wisconsin since 2008. Ricken previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming ...
gave official Catholic approval to belief in the Marian apparition, granting it the status of "worthy of belief."
Heritage of Pernin's memoir
Three substantial but incomplete republications of Lovell’s English translation of Pernin’s ''Le Doigt de Dieu est là!'' by the
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...
in 1918, 1971, and 1999 made Pernin a figure important to the story of the Peshtigo fire. Pernin’s French original has been little known before being republished for the first time in 2021.
The Wisconsin Historical Society's first reprinting in 1918 omitted passages “dealing largely with matters of Catholic faith” and pertaining “to the religious reflections and ideas of the author.” The reprintings in 1971 and 1999 continued those omissions and changed the title from ''The Finger of God is There!'', a Biblical allusion (
''Exodus'' 31.18,
''Luke'' 11.20), to ''The Great Peshtigo Fire''. Because of the editorial decision to de-emphasize Pernin’s religious material, it has been little known that Pernin’s, together with that of
Eliza Ellen Starr in ''Patron Saints'' (1871), is the earliest account of the claimed Robinsonville Marian apparition and fire miracle.
Writers on
wildland fires
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
and
forest ecology
Forest ecology is the scientific study of the interrelated patterns, processes, flora, fauna and ecosystems in forests. The management of forests is known as forestry, silviculture, and forest management. A forest ecosystem is a natural woodland u ...
continue to mention Pernin, who provides evidence for deforestation, urbanization, and the conditions for wildfire in nineteenth century America. Peter Leschak, in a memoir of his experiences as a firefighter, ''Ghosts of the Fireground: Echoes of the Great Peshtigo Fire and the Calling of a Wildland Firefighter'' (2003), interwove his own story with Pernin’s. The professional firefighter admired how Pernin, as an amateur without knowing it, followed
Standard Fire Order #6: “Stay alert, keep calm, think clearly, act decisively.” Leschak recalled
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that ri ...
: "All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action... On the banks of the Peshtigo River, on the verge of bursting into a human torch, Father Pernin was lovely and magnificent."
References
Bibliography
Editions of ''Le Doigt de Dieu est là! / The Finger of God Is There!''
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Secondary Works
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pernin, Peter
Works about wildfires
Natural disasters in Wisconsin
19th-century American Roman Catholic priests
19th-century French Roman Catholic priests
Roman Catholic missionaries in North America
Roman Catholic missionaries in the United States
Marian apparitions
19th-century American memoirists
American writers in French
1822 births
1909 deaths
1871 in Wisconsin