Fr. Joseph Spillmann was born at Zug, Switzerland, April 22, 1842. He joined the Jesuits and in 1874 was ordained priest.
Due to his poetic gifts he was assigned to work on various periodicals. Spillmann's literary activity resulted chiefly from his connection with these periodicals, especially the Katholische Missionen, which he edited from 1880-90. His Tales of Foreign Lands series
contains 21 booklets, consisting of edifying and
tastefully illustrated stories for the young. They have been translated into many languages. Newly reprinted by Angelus Press, Volume Three combines four of these stories into a single volume.
Three Indian Tales
“Namameha and Watomilka”: A French settler’s daughter is snatched by marauding Indians and reared among them, all the while keeping the Catholic faith in her heart…and in her son’s.
“Tahko, the Young Indian Missionary”: The Alaskan Purchase causes an Eskimo cabin boy to journey into the Alaskan wilderness in search of his parents, with the hope of sharing the true religion with his fellow tribesmen.
“Father René’s Last Journey”: It was winter and a mantle of snow enveloped the land...but when two sick calls come, nothing could deter the zealous
missionary from rushing to the aid of his people when they were at the point of death.
The Yang Brothers
The four sons of the old fisherman Yang find themselves on opposite sides when the eldest joins with the “Large Knife” Society to drive out the Christians and other foreigners active in late 19th-century China and the next son, after a decade in a missionary school, aspires to the priesthood. The uprising begins and the Christians around Lake Talo must mount a defense against the warring Boxers under the leadership of the Yang Brothers.
The Queen's Nephew
In 1551, the powerful prince Siwan invited St. Francis Xavier to come to his capital city. A celebrated religious conference took place in which the Apostle of Japan brilliantly defended the doctrine of Christ against the attacks of the bonzes. When the apostle left Japan later that
year, Siwan promised to protect the missionaries and their converts. A quarter of a century later, an event occurs that leads to a powerful struggle
at Siwan’s court between the king and his queen, and the quest of the young noble Sikatora, the queen’s nephew, to know and embrace the truth.
Children of Mary
Toward the end of the 1800’s, the Abkasians, a people dwelling in the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian, had been struggling to maintain their liberty against Russian supremacy. The clan of Urban-ok still clings to some vestiges of Christianity acquired from missionaries long ago and venerates Mary, the Mother of God. But now Providence, in the person of a young Polish soldier on the run from the Russians, gives the children Mara and Marjub a way back to the faith and to a better life.
