| Summary: | This essay analyzes the figure of Louise Sighouin, a Coeur d’Alene Indian woman from the 19th century in the light of the tribe’s ethnography and history, as depicted by the Jesuit Father Pierre-Jean Desmet. Desmet and Sighouin met at a very crucial time when the tribe was recuperating from a violent epidemic that had ravaged the community and triggered the resurgence of a prophetic movement, traditional to this area. In this context, Sighouin’s position, as the daughter and granddaughter of a prophet, is instrumental in the analysis of her behavior. Her devotion and her desire to acquire the qualities of a Christian saint should not only be viewed from the perspective of missionaries, but also as a superposition of traditional religious elements, redeployed around the acquisition of a new power. It is possible to superpose the image of an elder, a mother and a grandmother on that of a saint as it is portrayed in the classical Christian imagery, but Sighouin’s devotion was probably aimed more at the well-being of her community than that of divine grace.
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