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mdgspencer
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This account is taken from the article “Here are 10 of the Most Unexpected Catholic Conversion Stories."
"William F. Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa in 1846. At age 14, Cody joined the Pony Express for the advertised position: “skinny, expert riders willing to risk death daily.” After serving in the American Civil War, he began buffalo hunting to feed crews building railroads which gave him his nickname, Buffalo Bill Wild Cody. He estimates he killed 4,280 buffalo in just over a year and a half. He became a national folk hero because of the dime-novel exploits of his alter ego, Buffalo Bill.
In 1883, Cody founded his own show, “Buffalo Bill’s “Wild West,” which was a circus-like show that toured for three decades in the United States and later in Europe. Besides Buffalo Bill himself, the Wild West show starred sharpshooter Annie Oakley and, briefly, Chief Sitting Bull.
When Chief Sitting Bowl was hired in Buffalo Bill’s show, the two men became friends and their relationship became quite close based upon mutual respect. Buffalo Bill was intrigued by Chief Sitting Bull’s own conversion to Catholicism a few years earlier through the courageous Jesuit missionaries to the Sioux Indians. A few years after leaving the Wild West Show the Famous Indian chief was shot dead in a tussle on the reservation.
Twenty-seven years later, while visiting his sister, Bill Cody lay dying outside Denver, CO. The day before he died he converted to the Catholic faith. He told the priest that he had always believed in God but wanted to die a Catholic. He was inspired by the faith of Sitting Bull in his conversion and the example of his family.
Buffalo Bill’s conversion to Catholicism teaches us the power of authentic Christ-like witness through friendship. Time is not the measure of the good that comes from being a true witness. The simplest action and example today can be the means to another’s salvation tomorrow."
(The article, “Here are 10 of the Most Unexpected Catholic Conversion Stories,” is at Here are 10 of the Most Unexpected Catholic Conversion Stories "
"William F. Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa in 1846. At age 14, Cody joined the Pony Express for the advertised position: “skinny, expert riders willing to risk death daily.” After serving in the American Civil War, he began buffalo hunting to feed crews building railroads which gave him his nickname, Buffalo Bill Wild Cody. He estimates he killed 4,280 buffalo in just over a year and a half. He became a national folk hero because of the dime-novel exploits of his alter ego, Buffalo Bill.
In 1883, Cody founded his own show, “Buffalo Bill’s “Wild West,” which was a circus-like show that toured for three decades in the United States and later in Europe. Besides Buffalo Bill himself, the Wild West show starred sharpshooter Annie Oakley and, briefly, Chief Sitting Bull.
When Chief Sitting Bowl was hired in Buffalo Bill’s show, the two men became friends and their relationship became quite close based upon mutual respect. Buffalo Bill was intrigued by Chief Sitting Bull’s own conversion to Catholicism a few years earlier through the courageous Jesuit missionaries to the Sioux Indians. A few years after leaving the Wild West Show the Famous Indian chief was shot dead in a tussle on the reservation.
Twenty-seven years later, while visiting his sister, Bill Cody lay dying outside Denver, CO. The day before he died he converted to the Catholic faith. He told the priest that he had always believed in God but wanted to die a Catholic. He was inspired by the faith of Sitting Bull in his conversion and the example of his family.
Buffalo Bill’s conversion to Catholicism teaches us the power of authentic Christ-like witness through friendship. Time is not the measure of the good that comes from being a true witness. The simplest action and example today can be the means to another’s salvation tomorrow."
(The article, “Here are 10 of the Most Unexpected Catholic Conversion Stories,” is at Here are 10 of the Most Unexpected Catholic Conversion Stories "
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