October 19
Sts. John de Bréboeuf, Isaac Jogues and Companions
Life. (1607-1646)
When France laid claim to Canada, she sent over missionaries to preach the Faith to the Native Americans. Most numerous of these missionaries were the Jesuits, who began their official apostolate in 1633. Some of the Jesuits who were working among the Indians north of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River eventually crossed the border into New York State, and established missions among the Iroquois nations. Their sojourn here eventually had some success, but it was inaugurated in bloodshed. Father Isaac Jogues and his two lay companions, killed on New York State soil by the Iroquois, are today honored as martyrs by the Church.
Isaac Jogues was born in Orleans, France, in 1607. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624, taught literature in Rouen, France, for a few years, and in 1636 was sent on the Canadian Mission. Destined for work with fellow Jesuits among the Hurons near Georgian Bay, Ontario, he first spent some time traveling through the Great Lakes country to see where to project future Indian missions. Thus he and his companions were apparently the first white men to view Lake Superior. On the basis of what he saw, he proposed, on his return to Quebec, that mission centers be set up among the Indians of the western Great Lakes, and even among the Sioux, near the headwaters of the Mississippi. Leaving Quebec for the Huron country, Father Jogues and his party, on August 3, 1642, were attacked and seized by a band of Iroquois guerrillas raiding the St. Lawrence River. The Indians tortured them and marched the priest and his lay assistant, Rene Goupil, all the way down to the Mohawk capital Ossernenon, near the present Auriesville, N.Y. Here they were again cruelly tortured, and their forefingers chewed off. On September 29, Goupil, a “paramedic” (born May 13, 1008), was killed by an Iroquois for making the sign of the cross on the forehead of a native child. Father Jogues was allowed to live, but as a slave. Ready for martyrdom, he was also ready to accept slavery, for it gave him at least an opportunity to baptize 69 dying children and to stand as a symbol of Christianity.
After 13 months, however, Dutch Protestant traders from Albany (Fort Orange) warned him that his death was being planned. He therefore accepted their help in escaping. The Dutch sent him down the Hudson River to New Amsterdam. (He thus became the first priest to set foot in Manhattan.) They shipped him thence to France, where he landed on Christmas morning 1643. France hailed the tortured missionary as a hero, and the Queen Regent, Anne of Austria, received him with honor. Pope Urban VIII also gave Jogues permission to say Mass despite the loss of his fingertips. “It would be unjust,” the pope said, “that a martyr for Christ should not drink the blood of Christ.” But Father Jogues ached to return to Canada, and he was able to do so finally in 1644. In 1646, the Iroquois sought peace with the French. The missionary was sent back to his old “killing field” on the Mohawk River as a government representative. (On the trip downward he viewed and gave the name “Lake of the Blessed Sacrament” to the lovely body of water now called Lake George.) When he arrived at Ossernenon his former captors received him well, and an agreement of peace was reached. Jogues then started back to Quebec on June 16. But since he planned to come back as an accredited missionary, he left at Ossernenon a box of religious articles. That box was to be his doom.
On September 27, 1646, the priest set out for Ossernenon once more, with another lay aide, John Lalande. Meanwhile sickness and blight had stricken the Mohawks. Although the other clans refused to think that Jogues’s box was to blame for the pestilences, the Bear Clan insisted that Isaac was a sorcerer. A band of Bear clansmen captured the priest, his aide, and a Huron, near Lake George, tortured them, and brought them back to Ossernenon. On the evening of October 18, 1646, one of the Mohawks invited the priest to dine in his lodge. As soon as Isaac stepped inside, a brave split his skull with a tomahawk. They then cut off his head and mounted it on a pole facing north. John Lalande was killed in the same way on October 19. His body was thrown into the river. Five Jesuits working within the present Canada were likewise martyred in 1648-49, during the course of the Iroquois-Huron War. In 1930 Pope Pius XI canonized these five, along with SS. Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, and John Lalande. The blood shed at Ossernenon may not have produced a great harvest, but out of that reddened soil there sprang, a decade later, the wonderful little Mohawk saint, Kateri Tekakwitha. --Father Robert F. McNamara
Scripture (2 Cor 4:7-15)
Writings
(Year B). René Goupil was a native of Anjou, who, in the bloom of his youth, urgently requested to be received into our Novitiate at Paris, where he remained some months with much edification. His bodily indispositions having taken from him the happiness of consecrating himself to God in holy Religion, — for which he had a strong desire, — he journeyed, when his health improved, to New France, in order to serve the society there, since he had not had the blessing of giving himself to it in old France. And, in order to do nothing in his own right, — although he was fully master of his own actions, — he totally submitted himself to the guidance of the superior of the Mission, who employed him two whole years in the meanest offices about the house, in which he acquitted himself with great humility and Charity. He was also given the care of nursing the sick and the wounded at the hospital, which he did with as much skill — for he understood surgery well — as with affection and love, continually seeing Our Lord in their persons. He left so sweet an odor of his goodness and his other virtues in that place, that his memory is still blessed there.
When we came down from the Hurons in July, 1642, we asked Reverend Father Vimont to let us take him with us, because the Hurons had great need of a Surgeon; he granted our request. I cannot express the joy which this good young man felt when the superior told him that he might make ready for the journey. Nevertheless, he well knew the great dangers that await one upon the river; he knew how the Iroquois were enraged against the French. Yet that could not prevent him — at the least sign of the will of him to whom he had voluntarily committed all his concerns — from setting forth for 3 Rivers. We departed thence on the 1st of August, — the day after the feast of Our Blessed Father. On the 2nd, we encountered the enemies, who, separated into two bands, were awaiting us with the advantage which a great number of chosen men, fighting on land, can have over a small and promiscuous band, who are upon the water in scattered canoes of bark.
Nearly all the Hurons had fled into the woods, and, as they had left us, we were seized. On this occasion his virtue was very manifest; for, as soon as he saw himself captured, he said to me: “0 my father, God be blessed; he has permitted it, he has willed it, — his holy will be done. I love it, I desire it, I cherish it, I embrace it with all the strength of my heart.” Meantime, while the enemies pursued the fugitives, I heard his confession, and gave him absolution, — not knowing what might befall us after our capture. The enemies having returned from their hunt, fell upon us like mad dogs, with sharp teeth, — tearing out our nails, and crushing our fingers, which he endured with much patience and courage.
His presence of mind in so grievous a mishap appeared especially in this, that he aided me, notwithstanding the pain of his wounds, as well as he could, in the instruction of the captive Hurons who were not Christians. While I was instructing them separately, and as they came, he called my attention to the fact that a poor old man, named Ondouterraon, was among those whom they would probably kill on the spot, — their custom being always to sacrifice some one in the heat of their fury. I instructed this man at leisure, while the enemies were attending to the distribution of the plunder from 12 canoes, some of which were laden with necessaries for our Fathers among the Hurons. The booty being divided, they killed this poor old man, — almost at the same moment in which I had just given him a new birth through the salutary waters of holy Baptism. We still had this consolation, during the journey that we made in going to the enemy’s country, that we were together; on this journey, I was witness to many virtues.
Upon the road, he was always occupied with God. His words and the discourses that he held were all expressive of submission to the commands of the Divine providence, and showed a willing acceptance of the death which God was sending him. He gave himself to him as a sacrifice, to be reduced to ashes by the fires of the Iroquois, which that good Father’s hand would kindle. He sought the means to please him in all things, and everywhere. One day he said to me, — it was soon after our capture, while we were still on the way, — “My Father, God has always given me a great desire to consecrate myself to his holy service by the vows of Religion in his holy society; my sins have rendered me unworthy of this grace until this hour. I nevertheless hope that Our Lord will be pleased with the offering which I wish now to make him, by taking, in the best manner that I can, the vows of the society in the presence of my God and before you.” This being granted to him, he uttered the vows with much devotion. Covered with wounds as he was, he dressed those of other persons, — the enemies who had received some blow in the fight, as well as the prisoners themselves. He opened a vein for a sick Iroquois; and all that with as much charity as if he had done it to persons very friendly.
His humility, and the obedience which he rendered to those who had captured him, confounded me. The Iroquois who conveyed us both in their canoe told me that I must take a paddle, and use it; I would do nothing of the kind, being proud even in death. They addressed him in the same way, some time afterward, and immediately he began to paddle; and when those barbarians tried to drive me, by his example, to do the like, he, having perceived it, asked my pardon. I sometimes suggested to him, along the way, the idea of escaping, since the liberty which they gave us furnished him sufficient opportunities for this; but as for myself, I could not leave the french and 24 or 25 huron captives. He would never do so, — committing himself in everything to the will of Our Lord, who inspired him with no thought of doing what I proposed.
On the lake we met 200 Iroquois, who came to Richelieu while the French were beginning to build the fort; these loaded us with blows, covered us with blood, and made us experience the rage of those who are possessed by the demon. All these outrages and these cruelties he endured with great patience and charity toward those who ill-treated him. On approaching the first village, where we were treated so cruelly, he showed a most uncommon patience and gentleness. Having fallen under the shower of blows from clubs and iron rods with which they attacked us, and being unable to rise again, he was brought — as it were, half dead — upon the scaffold where we already were, in the middle of the village; but he was in so pitiful a condition that he would have inspired compassion in cruelty itself. He was all bruised with blows, and in his face one distinguished nothing but the whites of his eyes; but he was so much the more beautiful in the sight of the Angels as he was disfigured, and similar to him of whom it is said: Vidimus cum quasi Ieposzm, etc.; non erat ei species neque decor.
Hardly had he taken a little breath, as well as we, when they came to give him 3 blows on his shoulders with a heavy club, as they had done to us before. When they had cut off my thumb, — as I was the most conspicuous, — they turned to him and cut his right thumb at the 1st joint, — while he continually uttered, during this torment: “JESUS, MARY, JOSEPH." During six days, in which we were exposed to all those who wished to do us some harm, he showed an admirable gentleness; he had his whole breast burned by the coals and hot cinders which the young lads threw upon our bodies at night, when we were bound flat on the earth. Nature furnished more skill to me than to him for avoiding a part of these pains. After they had given us life, — at the very time when, a little before, they had warned us to prepare for being burned, — he fell sick, suffering great inconveniences in every respect, and especially in regard to the food, to which he was not accustomed. In that, one might say most truly, Nun cibus utilis ægro. I could not relieve him, — for I was also very sick, and had none of my fingers sound or entire. But this urges me to come to his death, at which nothing was wanting to make him a Martyr.
After we had been in the country six weeks, — as confusion arose in the councils of the Iroquois, some of whom were quite willing that we should be taken back, — we lost the hope, which I did not consider very great, of again seeing 3 Rivers that year. We accordingly consoled each other in the divine arrangement of things; and we were preparing for everything that it might ordain for us. He did not quite realize the danger in which we were, — I saw it better than he; and this often led me to tell him that we should hold ourselves in readiness. One day, then, as in the grief of our souls we had gone forth from the Village, in order to pray more suitably and with less disturbance, two young men came after us to tell us that we must return home. I had some presentiment of what was to happen, and said to him: “My dearest brother, let us commend ourselves to Our Lord and to our good mother the blessed Virgin; these people have some evil design, as I think.” We had offered ourselves to Our Lord, shortly before, with much devotion, — beseeching him to receive our lives and our blood, and to unite them with his life and his blood for the salvation of these poor peoples. We accordingly return toward the Village, reciting our rosary, of which we had already said 4 decades. Having stopped near the gate of the Village, to see what they might say to us, one of those two Iroquois draws a hatchet, which he held concealed under his blanket, and deals a blow with it on the head of René, who was before him. He falls motionless, his face to the ground, pronouncing the holy name of JESUS (often we admonished each other that this holy name should end both our voices and our lives). At the blow, I turn round and see a hatchet all bloody; I kneel down, to receive the blow which was to unite me with my dear companion; but, as they hesitate, I rise again, and run to the dying man, who was quite near. They dealt him two other blows with the hatchet, on the head, and despatched him, — but not until I had first given him absolution, which I had been wont to give him every two days, since our captivity; and this was a day on which he had already confessed.
It was the [29th] of September, the feast of st. Michael, when this Angel in innocence, and this Martyr of Jesus Christ, gave his life for him who had given him his. They ordered me to return to my cabin, where I awaited, the rest of the day and the next day, the same treatment; and it was indeed the purpose of all that I should not long delay, since that one had begun. Indeed, I passed several days on which they came to kill me; but Our Lord did not permit this, in ways which it would be tedious to explain. The next morning, I nevertheless went out to inquire where they had thrown that Blessed body, for I wished to bury it, at whatever cost. Certain Iroquois, who had some desire to preserve me, said to me: “Thou hast no sense! Thou seest that they seek thee everywhere to kill thee, and thou still goest out. Thou wishest to go and seek a body already half destroyed, which they have dragged far from here. Dost thou not see those young men going out, who will kill thee when thou shalt be outside the stockade?” That did not stop me, and Our Lord gave me courage enough to wish to die in this act of charity. I go, I seek; and, with the aid of an Algonquin, — formerly captured, and now a true Iroquois, — I find him. The children, after he had been killed, had stripped him, and had dragged him, with a rope about his neck, into a torrent which passes at the foot of their Village. The dogs had already eaten a part of his loins. I could not keep back my tears at this sight; I took the body, and, by the aid of that Algonquin, I put it beneath the water, weighted with large stones, to the end that it might not be seen. It was my intention to come the next day with a mattock, when no one should be there, in order to make a grave and place the body therein. I thought that the corpse was well concealed; but perhaps some who saw us, — especially of the youths, — withdrew it.
The next day, as they were seeking me to kill me, my aunt sent me to her field, — to escape, as I think; this caused me to delay until the morrow, a day on which it rained all night, so that the torrent swelled uncommonly. I borrowed a mattock from another cabin, the better to conceal my design; but, when I draw near the place, I no longer find that Blessed deposit. I go into the water, which was already very cold; I go and come, — I sound with my foot, to see whether the water has not raised and carried away the body; I find nothing. How many tears did I shed, which fell into the torrent, while I sang, as well as I could, the psalms which the church is accustomed to recite for the dead. After all, I find nothing; and a woman of my acquaintance, who passed there and saw me in pain, told me, when I asked her whether she knew what they had done with him, that they had dragged him to the river, which was a quarter of a league from there, and which I was not acquainted with. That was false: the young men had taken away the body, and dragged it into a little wood near by, — where, during the autumn and winter, the Dogs, Ravens, and Foxes fed upon it. In the Spring, when they told me that it was there that they had dragged him, I went thither several times without finding anything. At last, the 4th time, I found the head and some half-gnawed bones, which I buried with the design of carrying them away, if I should be taken back to 3 Rivers, as they spoke of doing. I kissed them very devoutly, several times, as the bones of a martyr of Jesus Christ.
I give him this title not only because he was killed by the enemies of God and of his Church, and in the exercise of an ardent charity toward his neighbor, — placing himself in evident peril for the love of God, — but especially because he was killed on account of prayer, and notably for the sake of the holy Cross. He was in a Cabin where he nearly always said the prayers, — which little pleased a superstitious old man who was there. One day, seeing a little child of 3 or 4 years in the cabin, — with an excess of devotion and of love for the Cross, and with a simplicity which we who are more prudent than he, according to the flesh, would not have shown, — he took off his cap, put it on this child’s head, and made a great sign of the cross upon its body. The old man, seeing that, commanded a young man of his cabin, who was about to leave for the war, to kill him, — which order he executed, as we have said. Even the child’s mother, on a journey in which I happened to be with her, told me that it was because of this sign of the Cross that he had been killed; and the old man who had given the command that he should be slain, — one day when they called me to his cabin to eat, when I previously made the sign of the Cross, — said to me: “That is what we hate; that is why they have killed thy companion, and why they will kill thee. Our neighbors the Europeans do not do so.” Sometimes, also, when I was praying on my knees during the hunt, they told me that they hated this way of doing, and on account of it they had killed the other Frenchman; and that, for this reason, they would kill me when I came back to the Village.
I ask Your Reverence’s pardon for the haste with which I write this, and for the want of respect of which I am thus guilty. You will excuse me, if you please; I feared lest I should fail at this opportunity, to discharge a duty which I ought to have performed long ago. (Jesuit Relations; Testimony about St. René Goupil by St. Isaac Jogues)
Musical Selection
Collect
Holy Father,
who consecrated the first beginnings of the faith in North America
by the preaching and martyrdom
of John de Brébeouf, Isaac Jogues and their companions:
with the help of their prayers,
may the Christian faith continue to grow throughout the world.
We as this in the name of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen. (English Missal)