The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902 Page: 207
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Father idmond John Peter Schmitt. 207
church of St. Mary's at New Albany--the church in which he was
baptized and in which, later, was sung his own last high mass.
Shortly after, he was placed in charge of the parish of St. John,
in Warrick county, Indiana, with several other small mission
churches under his direct supervision. Then followed five years
of active and energetic pastoral work, supplemented by a constantly
increasing amount of literary production, generally of a historical
character.
His increasing labors, especially in connection with the erection
of a noble church edifice for his rural parish, proved too much for
a physical constitution never any too strong for the tasks imposed
upon it. In 1895, he suffered severe hemorrhages and came South
to seek renewed health in Texas. After a few month's sojourn,
the desire to be again at work drew him back to Indiana. He was
given the chaplaincy of an orphanage. Soon his condition grew
much worse, but rallying a little, he returned to Texas, where, in
San Antonio, for five years longer he carried on with his grim
enemy a losing but determined fight.
In such a life as his there was much that was inexpressibly sad,
and yet, much that was charming, for his was an attractive per-
sonality. A loyal and devoted priest, he was no ascetic; a man of
exact and mature scholarship, he was no mere cut-and-dried spe-
cialist. Passionately devoted to the ceremonies and observances of
the Church he served, he never lost sight of human interest in nar-
row formalism. Loving historical research next to the services of
his Church, he brought to this field of labor an accurate and dis-
criminating scientific spirit, freshened by an intimate acquaint-
ance with what most men designate as "hobbies." Although these
latter always occupied a secondary position in his busy life, yet,
in many cases, as in his collections of curios and coins, in his
various scrap and stamp albums, etc., they were of themselves of
great value.
Father Schmitt was a man of wide human sympathies. He
delighted in social intercourse, in which his many-sided genius,
supplemented by careful reading, had fitted him to take a promi-
nent part. His'musical and artistic tastes were apparent in many
ways, aside from a special fondness for the liturgy of his Church.
He was a charming conversationalist, and a ready debater as well,
but he never allowed the latter quality to detract from the charm-
ing urbanity that his friends so prized in him.
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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/m1/213/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.