Reprinted with permission from:
Yankton Press & Dakotan
By Cora Van Olson | cs.vanolson@gmail.com
The renaming of a historic site and a bid for sainthood have sparked a new look into the historic Lakota holy man, Black Elk.
Mount Marty University’s (MMU) 2024 Bede Lecture, “Nicholas Black Elk and the Power of the Eucharist,” presented by Damian Costello, director of postgraduate studies at NAIITS, formerly the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies, will explore the relationship between Black Elk, who became a Catholic convert, and the holy Eucharist.
The event is set for 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at Mount Mary University’s Mother Jerome Schmitt Library.
In addition to his scholarly work on the intersection of Catholic theology and Lakota Catholicism, Costello, author of “Black Elk: Colonialism And Lakota Catholicism,” is a member of the Diocese of Rapid City’s Working Group for Black Elk’s Cause for Canonization.
The story of Nicholas, a name he took at his confirmation, Black Elk occurs within a broader historic context that includes colonialism, frontier life and missionaries bringing the gospel to the new world, said Joe Rutten, MMU assistant professor of theology and director of the event’s sponsor, the Benedictine Leadership Institute.
“How all of that happened and developed and the methods and means that everybody used to bring the Gospel, we now look at and say, ‘I don’t know if that was done in the best way.’” Rutten told the Press & Dakotan.
And it was in the midst of the larger narrative that Lakota holy man Black Elk converted to Catholicism, Rutten said.
The story that emerged, popularized by the 1932 book “Black Elk Speaks” by John Neihardt, did not cast a bright light on Christianity and Catholicism, Rutten said.
“That really has been the legacy for decades,” Rutten said. “(Recently) what has happened is more of an invigoration in the research.”
One of the main causes for this renewed scholarly interest in Black Elk involves the 2016 renaming of Pennington County’s Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak, he said.
According to the Lakota Times, it was at the site of that natural landmark that Black Elk experienced his great vision, which solidified his status as a Sioux holy man.
At the time, Rutten said, just the fact that the peak was being renamed was not remarkable but the identity of the new namesake was.
“I was so happy because I knew that Black Elk, within my faith tradition as a Catholic, has an important story to tell,” Rutten said. “He was a convert who authentically integrated the faith into his life in a way that he felt healthy in relationship to his native spirituality.”
Black Elk would ultimately become a Catholic catechist, teaching the catechism and praying the rosary, he said.
Further details of his faith emerged in interviews by Michael Steltenkamp with Black Elk’s daughter, Lucy Looks Twice, for the book “Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala.”
Later, her words would lay the groundwork for the cause for Black Elk’s canonization.
According to records on the Archdiocese of Rapid city’s website, Black Elk’s canonization process began in 2017 when George Looks Twice and others of Black Elk’s grandchildren presented Bishop Robert Gruss with a petition requesting that he initiate the Cause for Canonization of Nicholas Black Elk. On Oct. 21, 2017, Gruss celebrated Mass at Holy Rosary Church on the Pine Reservation, formally opening the Cause for Canonization.
The diocesan phase of that inquiry was closed with a Mass on June 25, 2019, and has been officially delivered to the Vatican for further investigation.
Currently, prominent researchers of Black Elk’s history include Steltenkamp, Joe Jackson, author of “Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary,” and Costello, Rutten said.
“When I heard ‘Lakota Catholicism,’ I thought, ‘Oh, this will be interesting,’” he said. “It’s like any culture to which Catholicism is brought: it has its own flavor, its own texture, its own smells and bells and whistles.”
History is dynamic, and our understanding and interpretation of it can benefit from hearing multiple perspectives, one of which will be provided by Costello next week, Rutten said.
“We’re going to hear about one of our own people, as a South Dakotan, as a Catholic or Christian, and about a current topic that is prevalent to us,” he said. “That is the relationship between colonialism and faith in America. Of all places in South Dakota, Mount Marty should not shy away from that conversation.”
Read previous Diocese of Saginaw story on Nicholas Black Elk