March 16 Martyrs of North America

This is a group of Jesuits, who were martyred over several years in the Quebec area of Canada in the 1600s. The Jesuits were able to slowly make friends with the Huron nation, but both Hurons and the Jesuits were beaten by the Iroquois. The martyrs include

• Antoine Daniel
• Charles Garnier
• Gabriel Lalemant
• Isaac Jogues
• Jean de Brebeuf
• Jean de la Lande
• Noel Chabanel
• Rene Goupil

Jean De Brebeuf was perhaps the most dynamic of the group. A sickly child and teen, the Jesuits questioned if his health would survive the rigors of formation and service. With trepidation, they accepted St. Jean as a novice. Although he was able to take his final vows, he remained weak and sickly. For whatever insane reasoning, he was sent to the dangerous and demanding missionary in Quebec. This placement turned out to be a God send.

St. Jean flourished in the Canadian wilderness. Although it would be twenty plus year before he began to make large scale conversions amongst the Huron nation, he found frontier life to be invigorating and full of joy. Rather than force conversions, he spent the twenty years learning about the Huron nation, its people and language. He became known by his nickname “Echon“, which meant load bearer, and his massive size made them think twice about sharing a canoe with him for fear it would sink. Despite speaking multiple languages and having a quick mind, he struggled for years with the language. Writing to a fellow Jesuit who would be joining his mission he claimed that no matter your intellectual superiority in France, “The Huron language will be your Aristla crosse.”. He eventually wrote the first Huron-French dictionary. It is also claimed that St. Jean had a hand in naming the sport of lacrosse, since the stick resembled a bishop’s crook.

Saint Jean was martyred in 1649, tortured to death by the Iroquois. By 1650 the Huron nation was exterminated, and the laboriously built mission was abandoned. But it proved to be “one of the triumphant failures that are commonplace in the Church‘s history.” These martyrdoms created a wave of vocations and missionary fervor in France, and it gave new heart to the missionaries in New France.”