The life of Father Isaac Jogues, missionary priest of the Society of Jesus, slain by the Mohawk Iroquois, in the present state of New York, Oct. 18, 1646

Front matter

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Contents

CHAPTER FAGB

Translator's Preface 3

Introduction 7

Introduction

At the first glance it might seem a matter of surprise to see the life of a modest servant of God published more than two centuries after his death. The name of Father Jogues, however, is not unknown in history. Father Charlevoix, the annalist of New France, recounted his labors, and especially his sufferings, in pages full qf deep emotion. He had only to condense and group together the long and numerous details scattered through the precious collection of " Relations of the Missions of New France," for the years 1646 and 1647.*

* The Jesuit Relations, as they are called, comprise 41 small octavo volumes, prepared generally by the Superior of the Mission. One was published each year, and the last appeared in 1672. These Relations are the most important, and often the only, material for Canadian history at that remote period. Some of these volumes became so rare that they could not be found even in the great libraries in Europe. With a patriotic feeling worthy of all praise, the Canadian Government in 1858 encouraged their reprint in three large octavo volumes. Protestant writers beyond suspicion (Bancroft, Sparks, Parkman) have paid a noble tribute to the value of this collection. "With regard to the condition and character of the primitive inhabitants of North America, it is impossible to exaggerate their value as an authority. I should add, that the closest examination has left me no doubt that these missionaries wrote in perfect good faith, and that the Relations hold a high place as authentic and trustworthy historical documents" (Parkman, " The Jesuits in North America," Preface).

8 Introduction.

This had already been done in biographical collections,* published in Latin, German, Italian, Spanish; but the size of these works and the languages in which they are written make them acceptable only to a privileged class of readers.

Towards the close of the last century, the Abbe J. B. Forest, animated with just patriotism, impelled, too, by a feeling of piety and fraternal love, undertook to be the historian of Father Jogues. Like him a native of Orleans, and a Jesuit till the suppression of the Society, he was better able than any other to seek information at the proper sources. His work fulfilled the desire of the family of the servant of God and the wishes of his native city, by making known one of its glorious sons. This Life was completed just as the French Revolution burst forth in all its fury. The publication of such a work was out of the question. Religion was persecuted, and virtue itself was about to be proscribed. To the shame of humanity, it found in the midst of France less liberty and respect than Father Jogues himself experienced at the hands of the bloodthirsty Iroquois.

We have taken up his task by endeavoring to complete it. The author had not at his disposal the precious documents still preserved in Canada, or in the archives of the Gesu at Rome. Two of these manuscripts, drawn up in the lifetime and soon after the death of Father Jogues, deserve particular mention. One is the autograph journal of the Superior of the Missionaries in New France, which notes day by day everything that bore on their labors, and sometimes

* Alegambe, S J.,"Mortes lUustresetGesta, . . . Soc. J."— Al. de Andrade, S.J., " Varonis Illustres de la Compafiia de Jesus." — M. Tanner, S.J., " Societas Jesu, usque ad sanguinis et vitae profusionem militans" (also in German). — G. Patrigrani, S.J., " Menologia di pie Memorie d'alcuni Religiosi de l^C. de G." — Jos. Cassani, "Glorias del Segundo Siglo de la Compafiia de Jesus."

Introduction. 9

events simply of colonial interest.* The other is still more important. It is a quarto manuscript, entitled " Memoire Touchant la Mort et les Vertus des PP. Isaac Jogues, Anne de Noue, Jean de Brebeuf," etc. The first 150 pages are devoted to Father Jogues. To invest this monument with a character of special authority, and render it available for use in case of necessity in a canonical process, each account, and in some cases each separate document, is confirmed by the signature of the Superior of the Mission and his attestation under oath.

The geography and history of that period seemed to us to require some details to enlighten readers who might be unfamiliar with the country.

Before entering on our narrative, we borrow from Mr. Parkman, a Protestant writer, the sketch which he gives of the Canadian missionaries, and which applies so well to our hero. His testimony has all the greater value because, amid his eulogistic words, he omits no opportunity to give currency to false, unjust, and even calumnious ideas in regard to the Society, and he cannot avoid self-contradiction in spite of this frank declaration : " No religious order has ever united in itself so much to be admired and so much to be detested. Unmixed praise has been poured on its Canadian members. It is not for me to eulogize them, but to portray them as they were" ("Jesuits in North America," p. 13).

Thus he portrays them: "All the weapons of Satan's malice were prepared against the bold invader who should assail him in this, the heart of his ancient domain. Far from shrinking, the priest's zeal rose to tenfold ardor; ... he stood prompt to battle with all the hosts of Hell. A life sequestered from social intercourse and remote from every prize which ambition

* This precious manuscript, now at the University Laval, Quebec, was printed a few years since in that city.

lo Introduction.

holds worth the pursuit, or a lonely death, under forms, perhaps, the most appalling — these were the missionaries' alternatives. Their maligners may taunt them, if they will, with credulity, superstition, or a blind enthusiasm; but slander itself cannot accuse them of hypocrisy or ambition" (p. 43).

"A fervor more intense, a self-abnegation more complete, a self-devotion more constant and enduring, will scarcely find its record on the page of human history"

" In all the copious records of this dark period, not a

line gives occasion to suspect that one of this loyal band

flinched or hesitated " (p. 125).

This Life is better fitted to interest the pious than the learned. Yet it may serve as an indirect and irrefragable reply to the odious and calumnious insinuations made against the Jesuits of Canada by the Jansenist Arnauld and his imitators — insults revived in our day by writers without religion or principle, who seem to pique themselves when insulting religion and her ministers On outdoing their predecessors.*

I make it a duty to mention here the active and kindly part taken in the work by the Viscount de Lastic Saint Jal.

In conformity with the decree of Urban VIII., we declare that everything related in this life, and every praise or honorable title given to those of whom it treats, have no authority but human testimony, without any wish to anticipate in any manner the judgment of the Church.

* As an example, see Michelet, Revue des deux Mondes, 15 Jan., 1863, on the " epicurean" life of the Jesuits in Canada.

LIFE OF^ FATHER ISAAC JOGUES,

OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.

Chapter I

Birth of Isaac Jogues— His Education— First Mass— The Canada Mission.

Ig^ATHER JOGUES was the first apostle of the Iroquois, and the first missionary victim to their cruelty. His short apostleship of six years has no striking features; but his two captivities in the hands of the fiercest Indians of Canada, the horrible tortures he endured, and his tragical death present a magnificent picture of the sublime virtues of Religion and the Apostleship. Such a character reveals the most excellent heavenly gifts in a soul, and proves that it had been long prepared for the combat.

Isaac Jogues was born at Orleans, January lo, 1607, of a worthy family. Deprived of his father at an early age, he found in his mother, Frances de Saint Mesmin, a woman after the heart of God, who understood the holy mission which the Almighty had confided to her in the education of her children. At his baptism in the Church of St. Hilary he received the name of Isaac, as though God had thus chosen to presage the sacrifice which his pious mother was one day to make, and that which he himself was to offer to the Lord. His happy disposition responded admirably to the care bestowed on his infancy, and every day saw rare dispositions for virtue develop in the boy. He loved to listen to the narrative of the passion of our Lord and the sufferings of the Saints. They excited deep emotion in his heart, and more than once affected him to tears. While still young he was moved by occasional impulses of great fervor. This was manifested in prayer, and in his eagerness to profit by occasions of suffering for God's sake. Instead of murmuring at those who reproved or punished him for any fault, he would express his gratitude as if for a great service done him.

In 1617, at the moment when Isaac Jogues reached the age for beginning his studies, the Fathers of the Society of Jesus opened a college at Orleans.* He immediately entered, and ere long rapid progress gave him a pre-eminence over his fellow-scholars which he never lost. His success was acquired by constant application, guided by a solid judgment, a happy memory, and great penetration.

Nothing tends more to develop the intellect than the best disposition of the heart. Isaac's, so well trained by his excellent mother from early childhood, profited in the highest degree by the advantages afforded in the course of life followed in the new academy, where all

*Long opposition had retarded the foundation of this college. The first letters-patent were issued by Henry IV., January 16, 1609, but the authority of Marshal de la Chatre, governor of the city, could not overcome these obstacles. The matter was noi taken up again till 1617, the Queen Regent issuing new letters-patent on llie 19th of March; on the 12th of May the Governor and municipal officers installed the Jesuits in a house on the Rue Sainte Anne, but the college was not opened for scholars till October 18, in another building on the Rue de la Vieille Monnaie, but it was only temporarily. An eminent benefactor, Raoul Gazille, Prior Commendatory of Saint Sanson, introduced them on the gth of March, 1619, into his priory, where he had erected the necessary buildirigs for a college.

His Education. 13

were animated by piety. His virtue, like his learning, grew with his years ; his assiduity and fervor in prayer, pious reading, serious conversation, tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin, frequent participation in the sacraments, all developed in him a religious feeling and habit. Isaac became a perfect model of a virtuous scholar, and the often critical tests of this college life never made him swerve from the line which he had traced for himself. Works of charity and zeal — an ordinary characteristic of souls predestined for the service of God — already claimed his leisure hours, and he was never happier than when he had been able to lead others to virtue.

At an early age Isaac sought light from heaven as to his vocation: it was the frequent subject of his prayers, and he prepared himself in advance to fulfil the divine will as soon as it became known to him. The light of grace did not fail him; he soon understood that he was called to the religious and apostolic life. His eyes turned toward the Society of Jesus, which seemed to embody all the aspirations of his heart from both points of view. He solicited admission, and as soon as he received a favorable reply he longed to put his project into effect at once, although he had only just finished his course of rhetoric; but he was impelled by the thought that one who resolves to dedicate his life to God's service can never do it too soon.

Filled, however, with respectful deference for his mother, he would take no step without her consent; he imparted his design to her. This valiant woman knew her duty too well to give ear only to the voice of affection, which is so easily blinded, and so easily influenced by self-love. Above all, she weighed the interest of God and the happiness of her son. Having convinced herself that his vocation was real, she left him absolutely free to follow it, and like Abraham, did not falter in her sacrifice.

Isaac was seventeen years old when he entered the no-

14 Life of Father J ogms.

vitiate of the Society of Jesus at Roiieii, on the 24th of October, 1624. To guide his steps in the career which he had embraced, and be initiated into the interior life, which forms the spiritual man, and prepares the apostle, he found there a master deeply versed in the practice and knowledge of the tilings of God. F'ather Louis Lalemant,* a religious of eminent virtue, was endowed with extraordinary talent for imbuing otiiers with the spirit of self-denial and zeal which animated him. Notwithstanding his earnest solicitation, he had not been permitted to bear the gospel to savage nations, and atoned for the loss by selecting and forming good missionaries to accomplish that eminently Catholic work — men who had all his predilection for it.

He had been struck by young Jogues' aptitude and disposition. Nor was he long in discerning in the young man a soul full of uprightness, energy, and ardor, a heart capable of the greatest sacrifices, and a virtue to stand every test. These were the qualities characteristic of a good missionary. Accordingly, when the mission of New France was opened to the Jesuits in 1625 for the second time. Father Lalemant loved to repeat to his disciple these prophetic words: " Brother, you will not die anywhere but in Canada."

The young religious tliought indeed of devoting himself to the preaching of the gospel in remote countries, but his aspirations did not incline him towai'ds that American province, then little known: he longed to go to the burning sands of Ethiopia, where the success of the faith called for many laborers. He even manifested this pious desire to his superiors, and begged them to inscribe his name in advance on the list of those who were to have the happiness of being summoned to extend the kingdom of Jesus Christ in that region.

* Three members of this family are still famous in the history of the Canada missions — Charles, his brother Jerome, and their nephew Gabriel, who was put to death by the Iroquois in 1649.

The Canada Mission. 15

His youth allowed time for his projects to mature, and gave him full leisure for an excellent preparation. He was about to enter on the career of study and teaching through which the younger members of the Society of Jesus must usually pass before they are elevated to the priesthood. After his novitiate he was sent to La Fleche to study a three-years' course of philosophy. This college was at that time in a very prosperous condition, through the munificence of Henry IV. It had three hundred boarders and nearly two thousand day-scholars.

The young Jesuit scholastics formed a little body by themselves, and were engaged only in their studies. That species of retreat combining religious recollection with the pursuit of science was most providential for Brother Jogues. Several of his fellow-students were destined to share at a future day his stern labors in Canada. They were: Rene Menard, Charles Dumarche, James Delaplace, Claude Quentin, and Nicholas Adam. There too were at this period Brothers Julian Maunoir and Vincent Hubi, already eminent for virtue, who were in later days to shed a brilliant lustre by their labors and their sanctity.

Brother Jogues' residence at La Fleche had familiarized him with the Canada Mission, — the only one of his order in French America, — and this doubtless at a later day caused the change in his destination. Father Masse,* after ten years' residence at La Fleche, had left it the year before, to return to New France, from which he had been expelled by the English in i6ii. During his stay in Europe he had sighed incessantly for that remote mission, which he styled hxi, Rachel. His accounts of Canada, preserved traditionally in the house, kept

* Father Enemond Masse was a member of the Acadian Mission in 1611, and of that of Quebec in 1625. After being expelled by the English, he returned to Canada in 1633, and died in 1646. A pious monument was raised to his memory, in 1870, over his grave at SiJlerjf, near Quebec, alive an emulation for the conversion of- souls and the propagation of the gospel in heathen lands.

At this time the Society of Jesus vlras passing through one of the most brilliant phases of its history. Nothing was lacking for its prosperity on the various stages where its zeal was displayed — not even the trial of the most envenomed and bloodiest persecution. In Catholic countries hatred in the hearts of unbelievers invented the grossest calumnies against it, while Protestantism in England and Holland and idolatry in Japan endeavored to overwhelm its flourishing missions in blood. Then the converts and their apostles renewed the finest examples of Christian heroism, which has been set in the primitive ages of the Church, and the glory of religion expanded as at its cradle, just as hell reawakened in the executioner, the same instincts of rage and cruelty that marked the persecutions of old. These desperate struggles stimulated courage, and the most perilous missions were the most coveted.

The death of Father Spinola,* burnt in Japan in 1622, whose life presents so many touching circumstances, had singularly impressed Father Jogues. It inspired him from that moment with a keen desire for martyrdom, God apparently thus preparing him for the tortures which he himself was one day to undergo. He often fixed

* A touching scene occurred at the death of Father Spinola. From his funeral pyre he perceived the mother of a child that he had baptized four years before. This remembrance touched his heart. "Where is my little Ignatius?" he exclaimed. The mother then raised towards him the child, who, like all the others, was arrayed in its finest clothes for the sacrifice. " Here he is, Father," she exclaimed; "he is rejoiced to die with you for God's sake " Then addressing her son, she continued in a lively sentiment of faith: " See the one who made thee a child of God ! — ask his blessing for thyself and thy mother." Ignatius fell on his knees, his hands clasped, and the confessor blessed the martyr-child. A cry of pity rose from every mouth. To arrest it, the executioners hastened to complete their work. Father Spinola was enrolled among the Beatified in 1867.

The Canada Mission. 17

his eye on a small picture, which represented the generous confessor attached to the stake, amid the fagots, liis eyes raised to heaven; he seemed to hear him, when at tiie very moment of his torture he intoned in a triumpliant voice the Psalm Laudate pueriDominum, which his thirty companions continued witli the same enthusiasm till their voices were extinguished forever.

Brother Isaac henceforward carried that picture of the servant of God on his breast and prayed to the holy religious to obtain grace to imitate him in his labors, and to die like him for his God; but he had not yet overcome all the obstacles, and, full of submission to the divine will, he contented himself for the time being with a more modest field of battle, though rich in merits and fruitful in sacrifices. In 1629 the Superiors sent him to the College of Rouen to teach the sixth class, and there continue his course of instruction till he had presided over the class of belles-lettres.

Providence seemed to guide Brother Isaac to this house in order to bring him into intercourse with three of tke chief Canada missionaries, whom the English had just expelled after a most iniquitous aggression on that colony. Father Charles Lalemant,* first Superior of Quebec, Father Brebeuf,f and Father Masse, already mentioned, returned to France in 1629 with the firm hope and ardent desire of resuming their work at a future day. As there was nothing to indicate when the moment would come, each received a position in the College

* Father Charles Lalemant made eight voyages across the Atlantic. He was the first Superior at Quebec. Having returned to France for good in 1838, he became Rector of Clermont College, Superior of the professed house and vice-provincial. He died in 1674, at the age of eighty-seven. The esteem he enjoyed led to his selection as one of those proposed for the Bishopric to be erected in Canada.

f Father Br^beuf is the most popular missionary in Canada, on account of his virtues, his hardships and labors, and especially the heroism of his last sacrifice. He underwent most frightful tortures at the hands of the Iroquois in 1649.

of Rouen. They waited for three years; then, through the efforts of Champlain and the energetic administration of Richelieu, Canada was at last restored to France, the generous laborers in the vineyard of the Lord were successively restored to their beloved mission.

Brother Jogues was thus enabled to acquaint himself, not only with the obstacles which the faith encountered in that distant country, but also with the rigors of its arctic climate, and the manifold hardships of that young mission, already regarded as one of the most laborious undertaken by the Society. The difficulties and sufferings, far from damping his courage, only excited his ardor; but as yet he could dream only of gratifying it in the remote future.

To show himself more worthy of it. Brother Isaac gave himself up wholly to his duties as professor and to the development of the youth confided to his care. While storing their minds witii human learning, he sought especially to train them in the science of the saints. He would fain have inspired them all with his horror of sin and his love for virtue. His active zeal suggested a thousand devices to attain this end. He stimulated especially a love of prayer, the frequentation of the Sacraments, and a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin. His piety towards the august Queen of Heaven induced him on a solemn occasion to select her as the theme of a literary exercise which had been assigned to him. To commence the collegiate year it was usual for one of the professors to read in public before the assembled pupils some composition, the choice of which was left to himself. Brother Jogues, then professor of the class of Humanity, was selected for this exercise, and he delivered a short Latin poem based on a fact related by Evagrius.*

* It was an ancient custom at Constantinople, when some particles were left of the Sacred Body of our Lord at the Mass. to give them to the little school-children. The child of a Jewish glass-blower, mingling among his classmates, received it. On his return home his fa-

His Latin Poem. 19

This piece, devoted entirely to tlie glory of the Blessed Virgin and of the Blessed Sacrament, was recited by Brother Jogues, with an eloquence born of faith and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the work of the young scholastic has not come down to us; we only know that it won the praise of the numerous audience. He was then twenty-five years of age.

The hour for his theological studies had come at last. He was sent to Clermont College,* Paris, to pursue them. Yet this did not absorb all his time; he at the same time filled the position of prefect over the students. This important trust was at that time confided to theological students in the great colleges of Paris, Bourges, and La Fleche.

Father Buteux, one of the Canadian 1,, ssionaries who knew Father Jogues most thoroughly, and who has left ther asked him the cause of his delay. He told where he had been, and that he had eaten with the other children. The Jew, enraged at these words, threw his son into the raging furnace, where the glass was melted. His mother, looking for her little child and not finding him, roamed through the city, uttering piteous cries and offering fervent prayers to God. Three days after, while standing near the door of her husband's glass-house, she called her son by name aloud in a transport of her grief. The child recognizing his mother's voice, instantly replied from the interior of the furnace. The mother tore the door open and saw her son standing in the midst of the burning coals, utterly unharmed. She questioned him to learn how he could be there safe and sound. "A woman robed in purple," he replied, "came to see me and gave me water to put out the fire around me; and she brought me something to eat whenever I was hungry.'' The fact having been laid before the Emperor Justinian, he ordered the mother and child to be baptized, in accordance with the desire they expressed; and the father, who obstinately refused to become a Christian, was crucified for his crime at the entrance of the Fig-tree suburb (Cat. of B. Canisius III., part i, ch. 4).

* This college owes its name to William Duprat, Bishop of Clermont, who founded it in the reign of Henry U. On the occasion of a solemn visit made to it in 1682 by Louis XIV., it received the name of Louis-le Grand.

us extended details of his life, says of him, when treating of this period of his studies: " It was at this moment that I first saw him, and I sought to l^^now liim. I always discerned in him rare prudence, and a punctual observance of the rule. This was all the more striking in the college where he lived, because amid such surroundings it is apt to become less strict. I had an equal admiration and respect for his humility. He displayed it especially then, by his earnest entreaties to his Superiors to be allowed to withdraw from the study of theology, under the pretext of want of ability, and to be sent to New France."

Isaac announced to his mother his change of residence and employment. "After having been a master," he wrote on the loth of October, 1633, "here I am a scholar again. This position is all the more agreeable to me, because it confines me to the study of a holy and sacred science, which is to render me better fitted than ever to work for God's glory, by disposing me to be promoted to holy orders in a few years. This is the grace to which I aspire. May it be granted to me, and then give greater efficacy to the prayers which I offer the Almighty for our whole household !"

When they saw that he returned to Paris, the family felt great pleasure, hoping to be more easily favored with his presence. The marriage of his brother Philip even seemed a favorable pretext for obtaining a visit from him to Orleans, and his mother resolved to show him that it was her desire ; but Isaac modestly excused himself, alleging his studies and the charge over the students confided to him.

It would seem that his reasons were not well received and that they drew upon him reproaches, which he felt keenly. He obeyed an obligation to the law of duty in thus renouncing the impulses of nature. The sacrifice which he had made to God required him to forego the lawful family celebrations, and he replied to his mother

His Ordination. 21

with a firmness tempered by sincere love: "I never even thought of laying the matter before my Superiors. The pressing obligations of my position do not permit me to leave the house a single day. Moreover, my presence at that ceremony was not necessary. The prayers one can offer for the happy result of such alliance, and that as well at a distance, as on the spot, are all the affectionate marks that I can give you of the interest I take in your welfare. I beg my brothers and sisters to accept the assurance I give them, that my prayers are often -offered for their welfare. This I shall do even more efficaciously, I hope, the coming year, in which I shall be able to enjoy the happiness of being promoted to the priesthood, unworthy as I am of such a favor."

This letter is dated April 25, 1635, and early in the next year the fervent religious was ordained priest. At the same time God disposed another favor in his behalf, which he always regarded as crowning it. The Superiors then announced to him that his aspirations for the missions were about to be gratified; he was selected for that of Canada,

An unforeseen circumstance and the increasing wants of that remote field had caused missionaries to be sent earlier than was originally designed. A large fleet was then equipping for Canada, and it was important not to lose the opportunity it afforded of greater safety — always rare in those days. This decision gratified the great desire of Father Jogues; he willingly abandoned his theological studies, although he had made only two years of the course, and at once prepared to receive holy orders.

On hearing of her son's ordination, the mother of Isaac felt a holy emotion. For one of her faith such an' event was the happiness and glory of her life. In her legitimate maternal ambition she solicited the favor of receiving the first priestlyjblesslng of the dearest of her children. The Superiors willingly consented, as it was the most favorable means to dispose this Christian and sensitive heart for the painful trial of a speedy separation— much more painful than that previously accomplished.