Jesuit priests and martyrs of Canada , protomartyrs of North America

[Colin]

St Jean de Brebeuf and Companions

• Celebrated on October 19th

Jesuit priest and martyr of Canada , born in 1593 in Normandy, Brebeuf became a Jesuit in Rouen in 1617. His health was so weakened by TB he was not able to study or teach for long periods. But he offered himself for the Canadian mission and sailed for Quebec in 1625.

The Huron Indians invited him to live with them. He learnt their language and spent the rest of his life preaching and teaching, sometimes with other missionaries, sometimes alone. The missionaries faced immense difficulties. The climate was harsh and however spiritual they were, the priests were often seen by the native people as members of an alien, conquering race. Brebeuf composed catechisms and a dictionary in Huron and set up schools. With his companions he persuaded the Hurons to give up cannibalism and converted many thousands to Christianity.

Throughout the time the Jesuits were with the Hurons, there was great hostility between them and the Iroquois tribe. This was aided and abetted by French settlers who supplied the Iroquois with weapons.

Fr Jogues was captured and imprisoned by the Iroquois, but managed to escape back to France where he was greeted as a hero. Although he had been badly mutilated and could have remained at home, he returned to Canada in 1646, where he was captured again, tortured and killed by the Iroquois. In 1649, Fr Brebeuf and his companion Fr Gabriel Lalemant were also captured by a Iroquois raiding party. They were tortured and killed. In the next few years the entire Huron tribe was wiped out.

Jean de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Gabriel Lalemant were canonised in 1930, and in 1969 given the title of protomartyrs of North America.

It is said that the modern name of the Native North American sport of lacrosse was first coined by Brébeuf who thought that the sticks used in the game reminded him of a bishop's crosier (crosse in French, and with the feminine definite article, la crosse).

He is buried in the Church of St Joseph at the reconstructed Jesuit mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons across Highway 12 from the Martyrs' Shrine Catholic Church near Midland, Ontario. A plaque near the grave of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant was unearthed during excavations at Ste Marie in 1954. The letters read "P Jean de Brébeuf /brusle par les Iroquois /le 17 de mars l'an/1649" (Father Jean de Brébeuf, burned by the Iroquois, 17 March 1649).

In September, 1984, Pope John Paul II prayed over Brébeuf's skull before saying an outdoor Mass on the grounds of the Martyrs' Shrine. Thousands of people came to hear him speak from a platform built especially for the day.

Many Jesuit schools and several place in Canada are named after him.

 

[fat wee robin]

St Jean de Brebeuf and Companions

• Celebrated on October 19th

Jesuit priest and martyr of Canada , born in 1593 in Normandy, Brebeuf became a Jesuit in Rouen in 1617. His health was so weakened by TB he was not able to study or teach for long periods. But he offered himself for the Canadian mission and sailed for Quebec in 1625.

The Huron Indians invited him to live with them. He learnt their language and spent the rest of his life preaching and teaching, sometimes with other missionaries, sometimes alone. The missionaries faced immense difficulties. The climate was harsh and however spiritual they were, the priests were often seen by the native people as members of an alien, conquering race. Brebeuf composed catechisms and a dictionary in Huron and set up schools. With his companions he persuaded the Hurons to give up cannibalism and converted many thousands to Christianity.

Throughout the time the Jesuits were with the Hurons, there was great hostility between them and the Iroquois tribe. This was aided and abetted by French settlers who supplied the Iroquois with weapons.

Fr Jogues was captured and imprisoned by the Iroquois, but managed to escape back to France where he was greeted as a hero. Although he had been badly mutilated and could have remained at home, he returned to Canada in 1646, where he was captured again, tortured and killed by the Iroquois. In 1649, Fr Brebeuf and his companion Fr Gabriel Lalemant were also captured by a Iroquois raiding party. They were tortured and killed. In the next few years the entire Huron tribe was wiped out.

Jean de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Gabriel Lalemant were canonised in 1930, and in 1969 given the title of protomartyrs of North America.

It is said that the modern name of the Native North American sport of lacrosse was first coined by Brébeuf who thought that the sticks used in the game reminded him of a bishop's crosier (crosse in French, and with the feminine definite article, la crosse).

He is buried in the Church of St Joseph at the reconstructed Jesuit mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons across Highway 12 from the Martyrs' Shrine Catholic Church near Midland, Ontario. A plaque near the grave of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant was unearthed during excavations at Ste Marie in 1954. The letters read "P Jean de Brébeuf /brusle par les Iroquois /le 17 de mars l'an/1649" (Father Jean de Brébeuf, burned by the Iroquois, 17 March 1649).

In September, 1984, Pope John Paul II prayed over Brébeuf's skull before saying an outdoor Mass on the grounds of the Martyrs' Shrine. Thousands of people came to hear him speak from a platform built especially for the day.

Many Jesuit schools and several place in Canada are named after him.

Wonderful people like this in the RCC have followed Christ to the end . Thankyou for the account .But it's things like skulls and such and the lack of bible discussion among others things , which keeps me out of the RCC ;me and millions of others .

 

[Colin]

Wonderful people like this in the RCC have followed Christ to the end . Thankyou for the account .But it's things like skulls and such and the lack of bible discussion among others things , which keeps me out of the RCC ;me and millions of others .

Thanks .

Don't be put off by skulls and relics . They are not part of most Catholics' Catholicism .

By the way , i like your name . I love robins .

 

[fat wee robin]

Thanks .

Don't be put off by skulls and relics . They are not part of most Catholics' Catholicism .

By the way , i like your name . I love robins .

Yes I do to ,and mine follows me everywhere .I like to think that maybe the one who comes every year followed me from Scotland ,from Ireland .
A really intelligent little soul who looks you right in the eye , unlike the other birds around here .
My family are /were RC for centuries , and I suppose there will always be a love of the smaller Church in us ,but Rome etc .

 

[Colin]

Yes I do to ,and mine follows me everywhere .I like to think that maybe the one who comes every year followed me from Scotland ,from Ireland .
A really intelligent little soul who looks you right in the eye , unlike the other birds around here .
My family are /were RC for centuries , and I suppose there will always be a love of the smaller Church in us ,but Rome etc .
If you look up Ferns castle ,Wexford ,Ireland, you wil find the name of one of my brothers who is called after the one who is buried there .

I have a friend who lives not far from there in Enniscorthy .

 

[fat wee robin]

Your brother Dermot ?

I have a friend who lives not far from there in Enniscorthy .

The reason I mentioned it, is that we in Europe have a different look on history than the U.S. I find it rather difficult to relate much of the time, where the past began recently , when in fact it began very long ago .It changes a great deal of our theology and beliefs .