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HISTORY

OF THI

CATHOLIC MISSIONS

AMONG THE

INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UNITED STATES,

1529—1854.

BY JOHN GILMARY SHEA,

AUTHOR OF THB " DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF THK MISSISSIPPI,'1

MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF NEW YORK.

ILLINOIS, AND LOUISIANA.

NEW YORK : P. J. KENEDY,

EXCELSIOR CATHOLIC PUBLISHING HOUSED 5 BARCLAY STREET.

Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1854, BY EDWARD DUNIGAN & BBOTIIEB,

In the Clerk's Office of tbe District Court of the United States for the Souther* Dtotrict of New York.

TO RIB HOLINESS

POPE PIUS IX.,

BUPKEME HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHUBCH,

THIS HISTORY OF

A PORTION OF HIS FOLD

IB

BI8PECTFULLY DEDICATED

AND SUBMITTED

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

PAOB IB

Design of Providence In the discovery of Amsrica — The Missions — State of the country, political and social — Obstacles to conversion — Catholicity — Her religious Orders — Plans and action ... .19

NORWEGIAN MISSIONS IN NEW ENGLAND.

Discoveries of the Irish and Norwegians In Iceland, Greenland, and other parts of North America — Introduction of Christianity — Settlement of Vinland — Various missionaries sent to that country — Ruins 8f

SPANISH MISSIONS IN NEW MEXICO, FLORIDA, TEXAS, AND CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY ATTEMPTS IN VARIOUS PARTS.

The Franciscans under Bishop Juarez In Florida — Father Mark In the Oila Valley — Father Padilla in that of the Rio Grande— His devotedness and death — Missionaries •with De Soto in Florida — Successful mission of Father Andrew de Olmos in Texas — Heroic enterprise of the Dominican Father Cancer — His glorious death in Florida — The shipwrecked missionaries — Mystery as to Father John Ferrer — Dominicans in "West Florida and Alabama with Don Tristan de Luna 89

CHAPTER II.

FLORIDA MISSIONS.

Florida colonized by Melendez — Indian missions nttempted by the Dominicans in Virginia — Missions actually begun by the Jesuits — Death of Father Martinez — Labors of F. Roger and others in the Peninsula and in Georgia— Difficulties and trials- Indian school at Havana— Arrival of a Virginian chief— Mission proposed — F. Segura

6 CONTENTS.

and his companions sail for the Chesapeake— Treachery of the chief— The missionaries we put to death — End of the Jesuit mission — The Franciscans appear— Regular missions begun — Philological labors of Pareja — Various missions of the Fathers — Sadden plot, the missionaries put to death— Restoration of the Florida mission . . 58

CHAPTER III.

FLORIDA MISSION (CONTIJTCED.)

New missions — The Apalaches— Troubles In the settled missions— English destroy the missions — Attempt to restore them — State of the country at the cession to England — Euin of the missions— The Seminoles 72

CHAPTER IV.

MISSIONS IN NHTW MEXICO.

Attempt of Brother Alphonsus Rodriguez — Death of the missionaries — Oaate's expedi- tion—Franciscan mission established by Martinez— Its early struggles— Account of mission given by Benavides in 1680— Decline— Restoration in 1660— Revolt in 1680 — Villasenor's account in 1740 — Present state 76

CHAPTER V.

MISSIONS IN TEXAS.

French Recollects In Texas with La Salle — Their fate— Spanish missions — Plan of these missions — Their suspension — Restoration in 1717 — Villasenor's account — Their de- struction in 1818— Present state 84

CHAPTER VI.

CALIFORNIA MISSIONS.

Discovery of California — Early missionary attempts — Jesuit missions founded In Lower California by Father Salvatierra — Suppression of the Jesuits — Franciscans succeed them in California— They commence some missions in Upper California, and resign Lower California to the Dominicans — The various missions founded by Father Juni- per Serra 88

CHAPTER VII.

CALIFORNIA MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Father Palon, Prefect Apostolic— Sketch of a California mission— Missions of Santa Bar- bara, Santa Crnz, and Soledad founded— Father Lazven prefect— Missions founded in his time — State of mission during the civil war— The republic— It plunders the mis- sions, and expels the Fathers— Rapid decline of the missions— California taken by the Americans— Close of the missions... . 104

CONTENTS. 7

CHAPTER VIII.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE SPANISH MISSIONS.

Plans of the Spanish missionaries — Failure of the original method— The redaction sys- tem— Complaints and charges against it — Its effect on the Indians — Its complete success 115

THE FRENCH MISSIONS.

CHAPTER I.

General view of the French missions — Jesuits at Port Eoyal — Recollects at Quebec— Great Jesuit mission of Canada — Its rapid progress, and great extent— Labors of th« priests of the Foreign missions and Salpi Hans — Division of the subject 128

CHAPTER II.

THE ABNAEI MISSION".

The Abnakis— First Jesuit mission under Father Biard— Its difficulties— 8t Savior's founded— Its destruction by Argal— Recollect missions — Capuchins — New Jesuit mis- don under Druillettes— His sufferings and success in Maine — His embassies and later missions 129

CHAPTER III.

ABXAKI MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Abnakis at Sillery — Bigot founds the Chaudie1 re mission — The Bigots in Maine— Thnry at Penobscot — Father Simon on the St John's — Fervor of the Neophytes — The Jesuits — Rale and his mission — Death of Thury — New mission of St. Francis — Attempts on Kale's life — Mission of Becanconr — Wrongs of the Indian — Cruel murder of Rale. 142

CHAPTER IV.

ABXAKI MISSION (CONTINUED.)

The mission at Norridgewalk restored — Lanvergat leaves the Penobscot— Father Ger- main, the last Jesuit missionary — The French war — The Abnakis during the Revolu- tion— Orono — They apply to Bishop Carroll — Mr. Ciquard— Mr. afterwards Cardinal Cheverus — Later missionaries— The Jesuits again at the grave of Rale — Present state of the tribe 152

CHAPTER V.

THE HUEON MISSION.

The Huron nation— Their manners — Language — Religion — Their acquaintance with the French — The Recollect Le Caron founds the mission — Sagard and Viel — Unexpected murder of Viel — The Jesuits — Mission renewed — The Recollect Dallion among the Attiwandaronk— The Jesuit Brebeuf among the Hurons— The difficulties of the col- ony—The missionaries recalled— Touching scene — Capture of Quebec by the renegade Kirk— End of the first mission— Philological labors of the Fathers 168

CHAPTER VI.

HURON MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Mission restored— The Jesuits alone return on the refusal of the Capuchins— Brebent Daniel, and Davost among the Hurons — Mission of St. Joseph at 'Ihonatiria— Mission system — New missionaries and new missions — Huron college at Quebec — The voyages of the Fathers— Their trials — The pestilence— The first convert— They are suspected — Plots against their liv'es — Courage of Brebeuf and his associates — New mission of St. Joseph's at Teananstaya . — Mission at Ossossane, Scanonaenrat, Taenhateutaron, and among the Tionontates — New persecution ITS

CHAPTER VII.

HURON MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Plan of the mission changed — St. Mary's founded — Mission of St John — The neighbor- ing Algonqnins — Brebeuf and Chaumonot among the Attiwandaronk — Gradual pro- gress of the faith — The Christians styled Marians — The Algonquin missions — The Iroqnois war — Capture of Fathers Jogoes and Bressani — Increased fervor — Mission plan again changed — A moment of peace — The war renewed — Teananstayae de- stroyed, and Daniel killed— Panic of the Hurons — Town* deserted — St Louis and St. Ignatius destroyed — Death of Brebeuf and Lalemant — Euin of the Hurons — The Scanonaenrat remove to New Tork — Others flee to different tribes — St. Mary's burnt, and mission removed to St Joseph's Isle — The Petun towns attacked — Death 01 Gamier and Chabanel — A considerable body descend to Quebec 181

CHAPTER VIII.

HURON MISSION (CONCLUDED.)

The Hnrons at Quebec — Father Chaumonot and his labors — Troubled by the Iroqnois — Subsequent history— Present state— Hurons of St Joseph's Isle— Their division — Hn- rons at Mackinaw — Menard dies on his way to their camp on Green Bay — Allouez at Chegoimegon — Marquette — Return to 'Mackinaw in consequence of Sioux war — Mission of 8t. Ignatius — Its history — Removal to Detroit — Sandusky and Indian Ter ritory — General view 194

CHAPTER IX.

THE IROQUOIS MISSION.

The Recollects design an Iroqnois mission— One of them, Father Ponlaln, a captive — The Huron war— Captivity of Father Jogues— His escape— Kindness of the Dutch- Captivity of Father Bressani— His ransom— Peace— F. Jognes returns to Canada, Is Bent as envoy to the Mohawks— Concludes the negotiations— He founds the mission —His glorious death 208

CHAPTER X

IROQUOI9 MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Captivity of Father Poncet— Proposals of peace— Treaty concluded— Le Moyne vtaita Onondaga— Mission projected— Father Chaumonot and Father Dablon are sent— Their mission at Onondaga— Its success— Jealousy of the Indians— Dablou returns— Le Mjyne on the Mohawk— His dangers and his toils 218

CONTENTS. 9

CHAPTER XI.

OUK LADY OF GANENTAA.

Mission at Onondaga— A French colony— House and chapel erected at St. Mary's of Qanentaa— Spread of the faith— Missions among the Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senccas — Reinforcement of apostolic laborers — Hopes of ultimate success in converting the cantons— Sudden plot— Overthrow of the missions — Wonderful escape of tho Fathers 228

CHAPTER XII.

IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Garacontie^ the friend of the missions — His protection — Embassy to Quebec — Mission renewed — Father Simon le Moyne again at Onondaga— Retained till the spring — His labors during the winter — His dangers — Garacontie absent — Mission at Cayuga — Return to Montreal — His character and death— Garacontie again— Conversion of a Seneca chief— Negotiations — Missionaries asked and promised— Mohawk war— Gen- eral peace 242

CHAPTER XIII.

IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Period of peace— Missions projected and begun in all the cantons — Mission at Quint6 Bay — The Sulpitians— Father Fremin sent to the Mohawk with Bruyas and Pierron — Mission founded — Zeal of Huron Christians — Converts to the faith — Bruyas founds the Oneida mission— Gamier restores that of Onondaga, Is joined by Milet and de Cur- heil. and founds that of Cayuga — Fremin, in the West, founds the mission of the Senecas— Conversion of Mary Ganneaktena at Oneida— She founds the Christian village of Laprairie 268

CHAPTER XIV.

IROQUOIS MISSION — (CONTINUED.)

The Mohawk mission — Pierron and his labors — His paintings — Cards — Invokes the aid of the English governor in repressing the liquor-trade — Success atCaughnawaxa — Father Boniface — The feast of the dead— Triumph of Pierron— Idolatry abolished — Conversions — Peter Assendaso — Fervent women — Notre Dame de Foye — Death of Boniface — Conversion of Kryn, the great Mohawk — Emigration to Canada — Catharine Tebgabkwita — Her piety — Departure — Later missionaries — Close of the mission . . 263

CHAPTER XV.

IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

I THE GJTKIDA MISSION — Its sterility — Conferences— Conversions — Milet succeeds

Bruyas— His long apostolate. II. THE ONONDAOA MISSION— Gamier and his labore

— Milet — His skill and success — Advice of Garacontio— Overthrow of worship 01 Agreskone— Meeting of Iroquols missionaries nt Onondaga— Baptism of Garacontio at Quebec— His firmness at Onondaga— His efforts for Christianity — A Huron missionary — Father John de Lambervilie succeeds Milet — Garacontie; his sickness, recovery

1*

10 CONTENTS.

visit to Frontenac, fervor, final sickness and death— Bniyas at Onondaga— The Latn-

bervilles. III. THE CAYIIGA MISSION— F. Stephen de Carheil— His unavailing labors

— Afflictions— Falls sick— Succeeded by Raffeix— Kecovers and returns— Conversion

of Saonichiogwan— Expulsion of de Carheil. IV. THE SENECA MISSION— Labors of

Fremin — Succeed««l by Gamier — The Huron Christians— Peril of the missionaries— Fathers Raffeix and Pierron— La Salle, and the effect of his visit— Expulsion of the missionaries 275

CHAPTER XVI.

IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

THIS RMHTCTIONB IN CANADA. 1. LORETTB — Iroqnois there — La Precieuse — Sogaressfe

— Ignatius Tocachin. II. ST. FKANCIS XAVTEK des pres and du Sault or Caugh-

nawaga — Its origin — Founded by Father Baffeix — Catharine Ganneaktena— Garon- hiague or Hot Cinders— Kryn,tbe Great Mohawk— Life at the mission— Fervor of the Neophytes — Mode of instruction — Visit of Bishop Laval — Removal from Laprairie to Sanlt St. Louis or Caughnawaga — Catharine Tehgahkwita — Her eminent holiness — Her life and death — Reputation for miracles. III. QUINTE BAT AND THE MOUN- TAIN or MONTREAL — Snlpitian missions at Qninte Bay — Resigned to Recollects — De Belmont founds the mission of Notre Dame des Neiges — His zeal — Margaret Bour- geoys and her Indian school — Success of this mission — Mary Barbara Attontinon and Mary Theresa Gannensagwas, Indian sisters of the Congregation 295

CHAPTER XVII.

IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Dongan and his project— English Jesuits — Endeavor to recall the Caughnawagss — The missionaries generally retire — The de Lambervilles — The elder left alone in New York — Treachery of Denonville — Danger of the missionary — Magnanimity of the Onondagas — De Lamberville retires — Close of the mission — Retrospect — Denonville's campaign— The Catholic Iroquois in the field— Death of Garonhiagne — Movements of the missionaries — Capture of Father Milet— Lachine and Schenectady— Teboron- hiongo — Dentli of Kryn, the great Mohawk— Attack on the Mountain— The decline of piety in the Indians while at Montreal — Stephen te Ganonakoa and bis heroic death — Onrehonare — Pan!— Frances Gonanhatenha, her torture, fidelity, and death— Milet and his captivity — Conversion of his owner— Her baptism— Restoration of Milet — Death of Oureonhare— Conflagration of the mission at the Mountain— Zeal and generosity of de Belmont— Mary Theresa Gannensagwas — Mission at the Sault mi Recollet begun— That at the Mountain closed— Sault St. Louis — English mission to the Mohawks — Bellamont — His falsehoods and bigotry— French missionaries again in New York in spite of penal laws — Bmyas at Onondaga— The last mission and its close —Treatment of Father Mareuil— Tegannbsoren— Captives at Onondaga— The Nairn family— Mission of the SauH ira Recollet transferred to the Lake of the Two Moun- tains 812

CHAPTER XVIII.

IROQUOIS MISSION (CONCLUDED.)

Tb« Interval of peace— Difficulties— Emigration— Fervor ot the adopted captives— PicQnet at the Lake of the TVo Mountains— His labors— The old French war— Picquel

J_

CONTENTS. 11

projects a new Reduction — The Presentation — It is attacked — Its restoration— Visit of the Bishop — Banner — Picquet in the cantons — Goes to France and returns — The second French war — St. Eegis founded — Its origin — Effect of the loss of Canada on the missions — Margon de Terlaye and the mission at the lake — The American Revolu- tion— Close of the Presentation mission — McDonnell at St. Regis — New churches erected — Mr. Joseph Marcoux — Charles X. and Pope Leo XII. benefactors of th& mission — Cross of Catharine Tehgahkwita — Caughnawaga — St. Regis — The Lake of the Two Mountains — Retrospect 884

CHAPTER XIX.

THE OTTAWA MISSION, OB MISSION TO THE ALGONQUIN TEIBES IN MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN.

Fhe Ottawa country — Its various tribes — The Ojibwas invite the missionaries — Jogues and Raymbant at Sault St. Mary's— The fall of the Hurons— Garreau and Drnilletes sent to the West — Defeat of the mission — Death of Garreau — Mission of Menurd — His heroism — His voyage and its trials — Founds a mission at Chegoimegon— His labors and death — Father Claudius Allouez— His chapel of the Holy Ghost at Lapointc — His labors— Joined by Louis — By Marquette — Their labors — Dablon becomes Superior o the Ottawa mission — Sault 8t Mary's founded — An Illinois mission projected — Allonez founds SU Francis Xavier's at Green Bay— The tribes there— Druilletes in the West — His labors at the Sault— Marquette founds St. Ignatius at Mackinaw— Father Andre in the Archipelago — Mission of Green Bay — Nouvel as Superior — Labors of the various Fathers — Allouez — Marquetto, succeeded by Pierson, goes to explore the Mississippi — His obsequies— Enjalran in the West— Later labors and laborers 843

CHAPTER XX.

OTTAWA MISSION (CONTINUED.)

later history of the old Jesuit missions — A mission servant killed — The church at Green Bay burnt — Mission at Mackinaw abandoned — Its restoration — Detroit — Death of F. Constantino — The last missionaries — Le Franc, Du Jaunay, and Potter — The Sioux mission — Hennepin — Marest — Captivity of Guignas — Martyrs— Close of the old mission — The Sulpitian, mission at the Lake of the Two Mountains 878

CffAPTER XXI.

OTTAWA MISSION (CONCLUDED.)

AMERICAN MISSIONS — The OTTAWAB — Richard at Marquette's grave — Petition of the Ottawa chieffc — Badin — Dejean resident missionary at Arbre Croche — Ottawa youth Bent to Rome by Bishop Fenwick — Reze — Baraga— The Redemptorists at Arbre Croche and Sault St. Mary's — Baraga and Viszogsky at Grand River— Pierz at Arbre Croche — Baraga at Lapointe— The Ance— Pierz at Grand Travers Bay--Proulx and the Jesuits on the Canada side — Skolla— Chippeway missions in Minnesota— Belle- court — Lacombe— Baraga made Vicar Apostolic.— The MBNOMONEKS— Mission re- stored by Vandenbroeck — Bonduel and his labors — Removal of tribe — Father Skolla. — The POTT.AWOTAMIES— Richard— R6z6 — The chief Pokegan — Fervor— Badin— His Ubo»— Desseille— His mission and death— Petit and his exiled flock— Edifying oon-

12 CONTENTS.

dnct of the Indians— Death of Petit— The WINNEBAOOES— Mission of Mr. Mazzwcheil] — Petiot — Persecution of the missionaries — Cretin — Strange conduct of government —Cretin bishop— Canon Vivaldi &>t

CHAPTER XXII.

THE ILLINOIS MISSION.

The Mlamis and Illinois— Their country— Their first meeting with missionaries— Allonez — Marqnette projects a mission — Allouez meets them at Mascontens — Mar- quette meets them on the Mississippi — Visits the Kaskaskias — Returns and founds the mission of the Immaculate Conception— His death— Allouez at the Kaskaskia village— The Recollects in Illinois— Their labors— Flight— Death of Father Ribonrde — Allouez returns — Gravier begins his mission — Rale and his labors — Gravier again — Details of his mission— Kaskaskia chief converted— Madame Ako, his daughter— Binnetean— Pinet founds Cabokia mission— Marest — Settlement of Louisiana— Death of Binneteaa and Pinet— Gravier wounded at Peoria — Descends to Mobile — His death 403

CHAPTER XXIII.

ILLINOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

The priests of the foreign missions — Montigny — Bergier at Cahokia — His trials and death — Mennet on the Ohio — De Ville among the Peorias — Miami mission of St Joseph's — The famous Jansenist Varlet — General view of mission — Charlevoix's visit — Father le Bonlanger and his literary labors — All the Illinois settle on the banks of the Mississippi— The chieftain Chicago — Eulogium of the missionaries- Father Doutrelean and his narrow escape — Father Senat and his glorious death — Decline of the missions— Period of war — Gibanlt, the link of the old and new line ot missionaries— FlageWRl vet— The Chief Piskewah, or Richard ville— The Indian ele- ment in the French population 421

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE LOUISIANA MISSIONS.

Father Marqnette visits tribes on the Lower Mississippi— Hennepin, the Sioux— Mem- bre, the Arkansas — Jesuits succeed him — The Seminary at Quebec and its projects — Montigny descends as Vicar-General — His plans — Missions of the Canadian clergy — The Taenzas and Tonicas— St. Come at Natchez— The Jesuits — De Limoge at the Oumas — Mr. Foucault among the Yazoos — His death— Close of the Jesuit mission — Davion and the Tonicas — Death of St C6me — Davion finally retires— Father Char- levoix— New Jesuit mission — Dn Poisson in Arkansas— Souel on the Yazoo — Their death in the Natchez war — Yazoos attack F. Doutreleau — Father de Gnienne and the Alibamons — Father le Petit and Baudoin among the Choctaws — Suppression of the Jesuits, and close of the mission 436

CHAPTER XXV.

THE LOUISIANA MISSIONS REVIVED IN MISSOURI AND INDIAN TERRITORY.

Louisiana becomes part of the United States — Du Bourg, Bishop of New Orleans— The Society of Jesus restored — Du Bourg invites the Jesuits to Missouri — Disposition of the Indians — Fither Van Quickenborne leads out a colony of missionaries— La CroU

CONTENTS. 13

among the Osages — Schools— Odin and the Qnapaws— Van Qnlckenborne's plan — Anduze with the Apalaches and Pascagoulas — Lutz and the Kansas — The Flatheads — Van Quickenborne prepares to found permanent missions — The Kfkapoos — Potta- wotamies — Neighboring tribes — Death of Van Quickenborne — New mission among the Ofages — The Miamis — Sioux — Blackfeet— The territory formed into a vicariate —Bishop Miege— State of his diocese 462

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE LOUISIANA MISSIONS REVIVED THE OREGON MISSION.

Origin of the Oregon mission— The Flatheads — They seek missionaries— Their trials and disappointments — De Smet is at last granted— He reaches their village — Founds the mission — Visits the Blackfeet and returns — Blanchet and Demers — Their labors — Return of de Smet with Point and Mengarini — Mission village of St Mary's— Thf Cteurs d'Alenes— Progress of the mission — Journeys of de Smet — The mission of UK Cceurs d'Alenes — Blanchet and Demers— Joined by others — Found a seminary— De Smet at St. Louis — In Europe — Sails for Oregon — Willamette — Various missions — New Sees — Present state — Testimony of government 466

THE ENGLISH MISSIONS.

THE MARYLAND MISSION.

General indifference of English to salvation of Indians — Lord Baltimore — Cathclic emigration — Jesust missionaries— Father Andrew White and his companions — Al- tham at Piscataway — White at St. Mary's — The tribes of Maryland — Language, dress, religion — Philological labors of the Jesuits — White at Mattapany — Maquacomen, antl his inconstancy — Conversion of Chilomacon, king of Piscataway — His baptism — Death of Altham— Illness of White — Death of Brock— Father Rigby— The Susquehanna war — Attack on a missionary station — Reported death of a Father — Life on the Mission— Wonderful cure — Ruin of the mission— The Father seized and sent to Eng- land—Ineffectual attempts to renew the Indian mission 488

APPENDIX 49T

List of Missionaries 499

Abnaki Missionaries 499

Huron " 499-500

Iroquois " 500-1

Ottawa u 501

Illinois u 501-8

Louisiana a 50£

Authorities used in the compilation of this work 503

General Index... SOT

PREFACE,

A crENEKAL history of the missionary efforts of the Catholic Church among the American Indians is a work too much needed to require comment. The pres- ent work, undertaken at the suggestion of President Sparks, is intended to comprise all missions within the present territory of the United States, from the discovery to the present time. A few years since the labors of the Catholic missionaries were ignored or vilified : now, owing to the works of Bancroft, Sparks, O'Callaghan, Kip, and others, they occupy their merited place in our country's history. Praise without stint is lavished on the early missionaries ; but as the result of their labors is overlooked, it is quite common to deny them any success whatever. The great decrease of the Indians may indeed in part excuse some writers from not snowing the real state of little communities, now hemmed in by the busy whites ; and it would excuse them, were it not very evident that they decide the roouit of the missions, not from observation, but

16 PREFACE.

from preconceived ideas of the Catholic Church. One remarkable fact will, at all events, appear in the course of this work, that the tribes evangelized by the French and Spaniards subsist to this day, except where brought in contact with the colonists of England and their allies or descendants ; while it is notorious that the tribes in the territory colonized by England, have in many cases entirely disappeared, and perished without ever hav- .ing had the gospel preached to them. The AbnakJs Caughnawagas, Kaskaskias, Miamis, Ottawas, Chippe- ways, Arkansas, and the New Mexican tribes remain, and number faithful Christians ; but where are the Pequods, Narragansetts, the Mohegans, the Mattowax, the Lenape, the Powhatans ? They live only in name in the rivers and mountains of our land.

The missionary efforts which we chronicle were made by different bodies, and their history is to be sought in distant and widely separated archives. Many volumes published in France, Spain, and Mexico, give us details more or less extended as to particular missions during certain periods : much still lies in manuscript in Rome, Madrid, Mexico, Havana, Quebec ; more has be-, n destroyed, especially in France during the last centurv. The present work is the result of ten years' collectv n and • research. Doubtless manuscripts exist which w 11 .enable a future historian, more fortunate than the auth: r,

PREFACE. 17

^to give at greater length, what he has endeavored to sketch. Still, he has gleaned enough to give each mis- sion a more extended notice than has ever yet appeared.

In writing, he has endeavored to be just to all men, to avoid all partiality, to take no part in the rivalries which have existed and still exist, all tending to over- shadow the truth, and give theories or party views for a real picture of the historical facts. With the h<5pe that his labors will prove neither useless to the student, nor devoid of interest to the general reader, he leaves them to the judgment of all.

As to any facts which may appear supernatural, he has simply followed the statement of his authorities ; and in using any term implying sanctity, martyrdom, or the like, does so merely from convenience, it being well known that no official act of the Catholic Church authorizes the application of such terms to any of the missionaries herein named or their converts.

NKW YOEK, May, 1864.

CATHOLIC MISSIONS

AMONG THE

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

Design of Providence In the discovery of America — The Missions — State of the country jiolitical and social — Obstacles to conversion — Catholicity — Her religious Orders- Plans and action.

THE discovery of America, like every other event in the history of the world, had, in the designs of God, the great object of the salvation of mankind. In that event, more clearly perhaps than it is often given to us here below, we can see and adore that Prov- idence which thus gave to millions long sundered from the rest of man by pathless oceans, the light of the gospel and the proffered boon of redemption.

Iceland was first discovered by Christian missionaries from Ire- land, and though the pagan Northmen soon colonized that island and the shores of Greenland, it was only at the moment when they were about to renounce Woden for Christ. Greenland was scarcely planted, when missionaries arrived to win the Scandina- vian to the faith. From the time of their conversion these colo- nies became centres of Christianity, and hardy missionaries ven- tured down to the coast of our republic to convert the pagan colonists and the surrounding natives. But the period had not yet arrived for the triumph of the Cross : the colonies on the con- tinent all perished, and America was again involved in darkness.

At last Columbus, who, in his enthusiasm, believed himself

20 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

destined by Leaven to bear Christ to the nations, steered across the Atlantic and again revealed the western continent to awakened Europe. It was a period of deep religious feeling : a feeling which pervaded men of all ranks, classes, and employments. The desire of wealth opened at once the floodgates of emigration ; but each prince felt bound to advance the cause of Christianity : missiona- ries attended every expedition to the New World; missionaries flocked over to devote themselves to the great work. Amid the lawlessness which at first prevailed, the only check on the Span- iards, the proto-explorers, was the deeply seated religious element in their character.

The various bodies of the clergy now began their missions, and as colonies were formed by the Catholic States, they extended their apostolic expeditions to all parts of the continent. Alone and unprotected, the adventurous priest made his way to the inte- rior, far from the settlement of his countrymen, exploring the country and bringing back :\ description of its products, and what was more precious still, news of the favorable dispositions of tribes whom he had visited ; or at times would come the tidings of his death in the wilderness, and then his associates would use every effort to follow in the path which he had opened.

The American Catholic missions are unparalleled for heroic self-devoted ness, energy of purpose, purity of motive, or holiness of design. Nowhere can be found more that is sublime, even to eyes blinded by the glare of human greatness. Nowhere can we show more triumphant proofs of the power of religion, even for the tem- poral well-being of nations.

Paraguay has become a household word : the missions of Mexico were more successful still; those of Canada are replete with interest ; in fact, from one extremity of the continent to the other, there is hardly a district which is not inscribed in the an- nals of Catholic missions as the theatre of the zeal, and often the martyrdom of her apostles.

AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 21

Into so vast a field we should gladly enter and portray the tri- umphs of the Cross, but it would far exceed the limits which we have prescribed to ourselves ; even in the missionary history of the territory over which the flag of our republic now waves, an almost endless variety seems to defy all our efforts to preserve unity or connectedness.

Let i£ examine the country at the commencement of its mission history, the middle of the sixteenth century. Let us, with the first missionary who then entered our domain, take our stand on the Anahuac mountains, the watershed whence flow the streams that empty into the Atlantic and Pacific by sea-like gulfs. The Irish, Saxon, and Norwegian missionaries had once centuries before planted the Cross at the opposite extremity, but a continent lay between the scene of his labors and theirs. Yet, vast as the region was, it was to be conquered to Christ ; the Latin service, chanted from Greenland to Narragansett, was to resound throughout the length and breadth of that land.

The field was one as yet unmatched for extent and difficulty. That region now studded with cities and towns, traversed in every direction by the panting steam-car or lightning telegraph, was then an almost unbroken forest, save where the wide prairie rolled its billows of grass towards the western mountains, or was lost in the sferile, salt, and sandy plains of the southwest. No city raised to heaven spire, dome, or minaret ; no plough turned up the rich alluvial soil ; no metal dug from the bowels of the earth had been fashioned into instruments to aid man in the arts of peace and war. The simplest arts of civilized life were unknown. In one little section on the Gila and Rio Grande, the people spun and wove a native cotton, manufactured a rude pottery, and lived in houses or castle-towns of unburnt bricks. Elsewhere the canoe or cabin of bark or hides, and the arabesque mat, denoted the highest point of social progress.

Elsewhere the whole country was inhabited by tribes of a no-

22 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

madic character, rarely collected in villages except at particular seasons or for specific objects ; though here and there were found more sedentary tribes in villages of bark, encircled by walls of earth or palisades of wood, whose institutions, commercial spirit, and agriculture, superior to that of the wild rovers, seemed to show the remnant of some more civilized tribe in a state of de- cadence. Around each isolated tribe lay an unbroken wilderness extending for miles on every side, where the braves roamed, hunt- ers alike of beasts and men. So little intercourse or knowledge of each other existed, so desolate was the wilderness, that a vaga- bond tribe might wander from one extreme of the continent to another, and language alone could tell the nation to which they belonged.

The whole country was thus occupied by comparatively small, but hostile tribes, X) numerous, that almost every river and every lake has handed down the name of a distinct nation. In form, in manners, and in habits, these tribes presented an almost uniform appearance : language formed the great distinctive mark to the European, tho-igh the absence of a feather or a line of paint dis- closed to the native the tribe of the wanderer whom he met.

In the field which we have selected, nine great divisions, it is now conceded, will include almost all the scattered and contend- ing tribes. The Algonquin or Algic family occupied the whole basin of the St. Lawrence and its lakes, the western. valley of the Mississippi, down to the fifty-fifth degree of latitude, and the whole Atlantic shore to about the same parallel. Below them lay the Mobilian or Muscolgee tribes, reaching to the Gulf of Mexico. Encircled by these two great families lay two isolated groups, pe- culiar in all their institutes and destined to attain a greater emi- nence than the rest; these were the Huron-Iroquois, extending from Lakes Huron and Ontario, in a solid body or in scattered clans, to North Carolina; and south of them the'Cherokees, "the mountaineers of aboriginal America."

AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 23

Of the Algonquin tribes, all on the borders of Canada were gained in process of time to the faith. A glance at the map will show their chief divisions. Above the St. Lawrence, bon lur- ing on the Esquimaux of Labrador, and stretching off towards Hudson's Bay, were the Montagnais: below the gulf lay the Gas- pesiaus and Micmacs, or Souriquois, occupying the present colo- nies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Maine was occupied by the tribes of the Abnakis, the headwaters of the Connecticut by the Sokokis, while along the St. Lawrence and Ottawa lay the Algonquins, properly so called, with the Nipissings dwelling on their own lake, and the Attikamegues above Three Rivera. Westward still, the Ottawas and Chippewas lay near the outlet of Lake Superior, while below roamed the Menomonee, the Sac, the Fox, the Kikapoo, the Mascouten ; and around the circling shore of Lake Michigan were the numerous clans of the Illinois and Mi amis, who have left their names to the territories which they possessed.

Of these tribes we shall frequently speak ; they were all mis- sion ground. In the part occupied by the English and Dutch, other tribes of the Algonquin stock existed, to whom, with few exceptions, the gospel was never preached, and who have now mostly perished. New England was inhabited by the Narragan- setts, Pequods, and other tribes of similar origin ; the Mohegans lay on the Connecticut and Hudson, the Lenni Lenape on the Delaware and Susquehanna, while Virginia was occupied by the Fowhatan clans, and the banks of the Ohio by the roving Shawnees.

The Huron-Iroquois, more agricultural and sedentary than the Algonquin tribes, with whom they were ever at war, occupied a territory in the midst of them. North most of all, the Wy- andots, traders of the west, lay in their densely peopled vii lages, well fortified by ditch and palisade on a small peninsula in Lake Huron ; southwest lay their allies, the Tionontates, whose

2 AMERIACN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

luxuriant fields of tobacco won for them and their fertile hills the name of Petuns ; and south and east of these, stretching beyond the Niagara and its marvellous cataract, lay the many clans of the Atiwandaronk, friends to the Huron and Algonquin, friends too to the Iroquois, and called by the French the Neutral Nation. East of these in New York, stretching from the Genesee to the mouth of the Mohawk, lay the five clans of the Hotinnonchiendi, whose names remain in the natural features of New York, and who are now known collectively by the French name, Iroquois. West of these, on the southern shores of Lake Erie, lay the far- famed archers, the Eries or Cat tribe, who have melted away like a dream : on the Susquehanna were the Andastes or Conestogues, friends of the Huron and the Swede, few but brave ; and below them, amid the Powhatans, the traveller would find the wig- wam of the Meherrin, the Tutelo, and the clan whom the Algon- quins called Nottoway; and still further south, in modern Car- olina, ruled the fiery Tuscarora, last of the clans of the Huron- Iroquois.

Close on the last of this great family came the mountain home of the Cherokee, and its sands laden with gold. Below them, still, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, were found the clans of the Muscolgee, — the Creek, the Yamassee, the Apalache, the Coosa, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw with the Natchez and other tribes who claimed another lineage.

West of the Mississippi, from its source to the Arkansas, spread tribes of the Dakota family — the Sioux, the Assiniboins, the Kap- pas ; while on the southwest lay the New Mexican tribes, and be- yond the mountains the many tribes which still people California and Oregon.

Such was the field now presented to the Catholic missionaries. It was one studded with difficulties and obstacles to the progress of the gospel. Wide spread as were the families of which we have spoken, they were cut up into clans, each with a dialect of ha

AMERICAN CA1HOLIC MISSIONS. 25

own, often so widely variant from others as to require .scientific analogy to show its parentage : then, too, wars were of constant occurrence even between clans of the same family ; between the Huron and Iroquois, the Dakota and Assiniboin, the Pequod and Narragansett. Besides this, all were in a state of barba- rism, and to all appearance with an utter want of adaptability to the usages of civilized life ; and all were ignorant of letters, destitute of any species of literature but the wildest mythological fables.

These fables and the morals of the people formed another fear- ful obstacle. Although polytheism did not exist, although they all recognized one Supreme Being, the Creator of all — although they preserved many of the early traditions of the human race, the idea of the fall of man, of the Redeemer, of the expiatory power of blood, of the spirits above us, yet — sad spectacle of human misery ! they nowhere adored the God whom they knew ; nowhere did they offer him sacrifice or address him in prayer. The demons with which they peopled all nature, these alone, in their fear, they sought to appease, to these they offered the sacrifice which they deemed it useless to offer to the God of goodness and love. If the pagan Iroquois now worships Hawen-nyiu, it is only a relic of the teaching of the early missionaries ; and the name is a com- pound of the French appellation of the Almighty. Pure unmixed devil-worship prevailed throughout the length and breadth of the land. All corroborated the words of holy writ, "Dii gentium daemonia" — " All the gods of the gentiles are devils ;" that the deities of the gentiles were not phantoms of the imagination, but the fallen spirits who usurped the rights and prerogatives of God and deified vice and passion. With these, the Indian, in his the- ology, peopled the forest, the lake, and the mountain — all nature, animate and inanimate ; these alone he addressed and sought to propitiate, reckless of his account to the Great Spirit hereafter.

In private life polygamy existed ; woman was a slave of the

2

26 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

husband; lust was unchecked even by the laws of nature, and every excess prevailed. If to redeem this, crimes of other descriptions, theft and violence, were rare in the villages, in war every cruelty was wreaked on the captive, and every stranger was an enemy , war an ordinary occupation, and scalps torn from prostrate foea the only mark of rank.

The country itself presented a thousand obstacles ; there was danger from flood, danger from wild beasts, danger from the roving savage, danger from false friends, danger from the furious rapids on rivers, danger of loss of sight, of health, of use of motion and of limbs in the new, strange life of an Indian wigwam. Here a missionary is frozen to death, there another sinks beneath the heat of a western prairie ; here Brebeuf is killed by the enemies of his flock, and Segura by an apostate — Dennis and Menard die in the wilderness, Dolbeau is blown up at sea, Noyrot wrecked on the shore ; but these dangers never deterred the missionary. In the language of the great American historian, " The Jesuit never re- ceded one foot."

Once established in a tribe, the difficulties were increased. After months, nay years of teaching, the missionaries found that the fickle savage was easily led astray : never could they form pupils to our life and manners. The nineteenth century failed as the seventeenth failed in raising up priests from among the Iroquois or the Algonquin ; and at this day a pupil of the Propaganda, who disputed in Latin on theses of Peter Lombard, roams at the head of a half-naked band in the billowy plains of Nebraska.

These were the obstacles in the career of the missionary, but with the word of power, " Go, teach all nations," ringing in his ears, the missionary rushed forward to execute the command : to teach all, to announce to all, to convert the elect, or if such was God's will, to labor in vain, except so far as the accomplishment of tho command can never be in vain.

We have now seen the state of the country, the tribes, and

AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 27

3lans for whom Providence prepared the offer of Redemption using as lie always does, the revolutions, the changes and designs of men for the accomplishment of its own great overruling pur- pose, the salvation and sanctification of man.

Let us now turn our glance to Europe at tl*e same period — tc Europe, then synonymous with the word Christendom.

Christianity, now in Western Europe and her colonies a name for men who believe every thing and men who believe nothing — a name too vague to convey to the mind any definite idea — was then identical with Catholicity. The religion to be offered to the native of the New World was that of the Church of Rome. That church had already brought into its bosom the fierce tribes who had overthrown the Roman empire ; it was not appalled at the sight of a new and barbarous world. In Europe she sat as Queen. In the language of the time, the Church was Queen and Sovereign of the world. In her name kings and republics reigned. All felt it a duty to extend her sway. At her voice millions had been poured upon Asia to wrest the cradle of Christianity from the Unitarian Mahomet. The New World was also hers, and secular princes proceeding to occupy it, were bound first to uphold the paramount rights of the Church.

Already spread over countries most various in their conven- tional ideas, the Roman Church was free from any distinct national feeling, and in extending her borders, carried her own language and rites, not those of any particular State ; and thus she found men of every c.ime ready to undertake the great work of con- verting the heathen, so eminently the office of the Latin Church. She was every way fitted for the task, and the spirit that called out the missionary ardor, fonned bodies adapted to the realization of its aims. Besides her hierarchy and parochial clergy, fixed and permanent in their sees and parishes, she had then as now her wonderful religious orders spread through different countries, with distinct and peculiar organizations, fitted to the special object of

28 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

their institution. Several of these, especially the four mendicant orders, the Franciscan, Dominican, Augustinian, and Carmelite friars, were eminently adapted to missionary labors. Their jrov- ernment was central, the union between the various houses close, their changes frequent; so that their members, bound to each other by close ties, not regarded as politically attached to any country or place, with no tie even to a particular cloister, eager for adven- turous missions, and full of that emulous spirit which always characterizes distinct corps in the same service, rushed to every quarter of the globe, and when America was disclosed to astonished Europe, being already accustomed and inured to missionary labor, hastened to the new field as eagerly as the most sanguine con- quistador. Almost at the same epoch arose a new order formed expressly for great missionary plans, the celebrated society of Jesus, which will ever excite admiration by the wisdom of its constitu- tions, the devotedness of its members, and their signal services tc the cause of religion.

Thus able for the task, with men to do tbe work, and nations to aid with means and prayers, the Church undertook the task. With the first explorers and first colonists came missionaries, sec- ular priests, and religious of every order, who, leaving their coun- trymen in their rising towns, plunged into the interior. Habituated to self-denial, a solitary man, with no earthly tie to make life dearer than the call of duty, a man who had renounced not only the luxuries, but most of the comforts of life, the Catholic mis- sionary, crucifix in hand, bearing a few articles of church service, hastened to rear his cross amid the scenes of idolatrous worship. Amid the West Indian isles, through Mexico, Peru, Brazil, and the southern continent, the cross was borne by the missionaries of Spain and Portugal : the Norwegian, Irish, and later the French and English, bore it through our more northern climes.

These missions are many and varied ; yet the Franciscan, Do* tninican, and Jesuit achieved tbe greater part of the tcil, reaped

AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 29

the most plenteous harvests, and stand pre-eminent in the annals of Christian missions.

Sometimes a mission rose by royal command, and a missionary supplied or supported from the public treasury like a soldier, pro- ceeded to his post : sometimes the settlers collected yearly means to enable the frugal priest to live and obtain what he needed for his ministry; but most generally the princes, nobles, and people ot Europe raised funds for each particular mission, which in the hands of a procurator of a religious order at some seaport town in Europe, collected gradually from palace and hamlet, to send across the Atlantic missionaries, books, church articles, and often objects of agricultural or mechanical industry for the Indian tribes.

The settlements became the centres whence missionary opera- tions radiated over the country, and as the Catholic founders of a colony always bore envoys of the gospel in their fleets, the mis- sions are coeval with the settlements. In the earliest date, Green- land once settled sent missionaries to our coast ; at a later date Mexico did the same : Melendez founding St. Augustine, made it a missionary centre in the south, as Champlain made Quebec in the north, and Baltimore made St. Mary's on the Chesapeake.

As these lines radiate, they cross and mingle : the Spanish mis- sions from Mexico ranged from Florida to New 'Mexico and Cali- fornia ; those of Florida extended to the Chesapeake and the Mississippi ; those of Quebec stretched along the valley of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes to the valley of the Mississippi, and descending it, met those of the Spaniards on the south, while to the north they passed at Hudson's Bay over the traces of the Northmen ; aod the brief Maryland mission was on the limits ot ancient Florida.

These missions it is now our purpose to trace from their origin, with their continuation, in our own times, by the clergy of our re- Dublic.

MISSIONS OF THE NORTHMEN

i

NORWEGIAN MISSIONS IN NEW ENGLAND.

CHAPTER I.

Discoveries of the Irish and Norwegians in Iceland. Greenland, and other parts of North America — Introduction of Christianity — Settlement of Vinland — Various missionaries sent to that country — Kuins.

THE Irish and Norwegians in the ninth century were a naval and commercial people ; their fleets scoured the Atlantic and North seas, and as piracy then prevailed, the slave-trade was a lucrative traffic for both.

Of the voyages of that period Iceland historians preserve us details, which the almost entire destruction of Irish manuscripts has buried in oblivion. According to these, the Irish first dis- covered Iceland and established Christianity there, then planted a colony on the southern coast of North America, at a part called in' Iceland annals Hvitramannaland, that is, Whiteman's land, or Irland it mikla, Greater Ireland. This colony subsisted as late as the year 1000, and we know that the colonists were not insensible to the great work of evangelizing the heathen, from the fact that a pagan Icelander, Are Marson, who was driven there in 983, was baptized in the colony.

Soon after the settlement of Greenland by Eric the Red, his son Leif visited Norway, and was induced by St. Olaus, then king of that country, to embrace tbe true faith. Returning to Greenland in 1000, Leif bore with him priests to convert the colonists, and in a short time most of the Northmen in America embraced

2*

34 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Christianity. Churches and convents arose in different parts, rival ling those of Iceland in piety and learning.

Before this Biarni, son of Heriulf, sailing from Iceland to Green- land, was driven on the American coast, and in the very year of the introduction of Christianity into Greenland he sailed again to explore the countries which he had seen, and naming Labrador Helluland, Nova Scotia Markland, proceeded to Narragansett Bay, where, from one of his company rinding wild grapes, he called the country Vinland.

Thorwald, Thorstein, and subsequently Thorfinn of Irish origin, visited this place, and a settlement was gradually formed. As yet all were not Christians; some still adored Thor and Woden, and missionaries left Greenland to establish religion in Vinland. Of these missionaries the most celebrated was Eric, who arrived in Greenland, and after laboring a few years proceeded to Vinland. Spending some years here, he returned to Iceland in 1120, and sailed to Europe to induce the establishment of a bishopric, and a proper organization of the Church. Deeming Eric the most suita- ble person, the Scandinavian bishops selected him to found the first American See, and the missionary was consecrated at Lund, in Denmark, by Archbishop Adzer in 1121.

After his consecration Eric returned to America, but still at- tached to his mission, led a body of clergy and colonists to Vin- land : here he found so ample a field for his labor, that he resigned his bishopric and never returned to Greenland.

Of the future career of this zealous and self-denying missionary we know no more ; the researches of northern antiquarians not having as yet drawn from the dust of centuries any further details.

He was not, however, the only missionary ; for we find that about this time John, an Irish or Saxon monk, sailed from Ice- land to that country, but was there slain by the heathens whom he had endeavored to convert.

As to the position of Vinland, there can be little doubt ; a care-

NORWEGIAN MISSIONS. 35

ful study of the narratives of the early voyagers, narratives stamped with the imprint of truth, leaves no doubt that they turned Cape Cod, and entered the waters of Narragansett Bay. To corroborate this, a ruin exists near Newport, evidently of Runic or Scandina- vian origin. It was found at the settlement of the country, and is clearly no Indian work, while its resemblance to acknowledged Scandinavian works in Greenland and Iceland, places the question beyond a doubt.

" The ancient tholus in Newport, the erection of which," say the Royal Society of Antiquarians, " appears to be coeval with the time of Bishop Eric, belonged to a Scandinavian church or mon- astery, where, in alternation with Latin masses, the old Danish tongae was heard seven hundred years ago."*

A cloud hangs over the fate of the colonists of Vinland and Greenland, who sank at last under war or pestilence.

* As to Vinland, see Antiquiltatee Americanos, pp. 133, 203, 260, <fec. ; Me- moirs of the Royal Society of Northern Anliq., 1836-7, 1838-5, 1845-8 ; Lanigan's Eoc. Hist Ireland, iiL, ck. 2ft.

SPANISH MISSIONS

SPANISH MISSIONS IN NEW MEXICO, FLORIDA, TEXAS, AND CALIFORNIA,

CHAPTER I.

EARLY ATTEMPTS IN VARIOUS PARTS.

The Franciscans under Bishop Juarez in Florida — Father Mark in the Qlla Valley — Father Padilla in that of the Eio Grande— His devotedness and death — Missionaries with De Soto in Florida — Successful mission of Father Andrew de Olmos in Texas — Heroic enterprise of the Dominican Father Cancer— His glorious death in Florida — The shipwrecked missionaries — Mystery as to Father John Ferrer — Dominicans in West Florida and Alabama with Don Tristan de Luna.

THE Spanish conquests in the Western world have long been chronicled by national hatred as scenes of unsurpassed cruelty and tyranny, and to most it seems certain that Spanish America must be as completely cleared of its aboriginal inhabitants as the parts in which we live. Cruelties, indeed, were practised, but they did not form the general rule. The part taken by the missionaries, ever the steadfast friends of the Indian, has been singularly mis- represented, and they seldom figure in English accounts unless as persecutors. Yet never did men more nobly deserve a niche in the temple of benevolence than the early and later Spanish mission- aries. The impetuous Las Casas, so far from standing alone, is really one of the least conspicuous even in the missionary annals of his own order ; and in efforts to convert, civilize, and protect the red man, all the religious orders rivalled each other, lavishing their blood and toil to save the Indian for time and eternity.

The settlement of the Spaniards in the West Indj^* ! preluded

40 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

attempts to explore the countries on the Gulf, which resulted at last in the conquest of the empire of the Aztecs. In Mexico then the missions began, and in a few years spread over most of the States which now compose the republic of Mexico, bear- ing rich fruits to reward the labors of the devoted heralds of the faith. Florida was already esteemed a paragon of wealth and beauty. In 1526, Pamphilus de Narvaez set out for its conquest with a considerable force, and the tide of Adelantado. In order to convert the natives, the expedition was attended by a consider- able number of Franciscans, under the direction of Father John Juarez, one of the first twelve Franciscans who entered Mexico. Leaving his convent of Huexotzinco, he went not only as Superior of the mission, but also, annalists assure us, as Bishop of Florida.* The adventurers landed on the coast on the 16th of April, 1528, and with all solemnity took possession of the bay of Santa Cruz, now Pensacola. The recount of their march belorgs to secular history : suffice it here to say, that after months of toil and suffer- ing they grew disheartened, and finding no cities or towns, turned mournful and dejected towards the coast, which they finally reached, and building a few frail boats, sought to reach Mexico. In one of these, the religious and others to the number of forty embarked, but the frail bark was wrecked, and though all on board escaped a watery grave, they subsequently perished of famine, disease, or by the hands of the Indians. Of this first body ol missionaries we know but little. In the meager annals which have reached us of this ill-fated expedition, there is no record of any attempt to found a mission among the Indians, nor did subsequent conquistadores find any trace of previous Christian instruction. Besides Juarez, we know the names of the lay brother John de Palos, and of a priest, Asturiano. who, after surviving the first malady which decimated the party, and experiencing many hardships,

* El Inca, La Florida : Henrion. Hist. Generate. L, 898.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 41

died at last on Malhado, probably Dauphin Island, near the mouth of the Mississippi.* m

This expedition, fruitless and fatal, led however to new mis- sionary efforts. Only four of the companions of Narvaez escaped. Crossing Texas and New Mexico to the Gulf of California, and appearing like men risen from the grave, they increased the general wonder by accounts of rich and powerful kingdoms which they had seen in the interior. The Franciscans were aroused : the Italian friar, Mark of Nice, resolved to plunge into the unknown north, guided by Stephen, a negro, one of the sur- vivors of Narvaez's force. With one companion, Friar Honora- tus, he set out from Culiacan, in March, 1539, but the latter be- coming too ill to proceed, Mark left him at Petatlan, and with his guide and some friendly Indians, struck boldly into the desert that stretched away to the Gila, and finally crossing that deep imbedded river, recommenced his toilsome march for Cibola, the Zuni of the natives.f Wandering amid tribes dressed in bison- skins and cotton mantles purchased from the more civilized Cibo- lans, his hopes rose high, and naming the vast realm San Francisco, he already beheld it in imagination converted to the faith, and become the home of his missionary order. The kingdom of San Francisco live~ but in his narrative ; yet, as if to realize his wish, a city of that name is the Carthage of the Pacific.

Halting himself as he approached Cibola, he sent on his guide

* Naufragos de Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca ; Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, vol. iii., pp. 487-447. Juarez was one of the original twelve Fran- ciscans who, under the Ven. Martin de Valencia, founded the mission of the order in Mexico in 1524. After filling the post of warden of the con- vent of Huexotzinco, he was appointed visitor of the province ; and soon after joined the expedition in which he died.

Brother. John de Palos was another of the original twelve, and had been in the convent of Seville before coming to America. In Mexico his short career was one of zeal in learning the language of the people and in instruct- ing them.

t Schoolcraft, IndL<m Tribes, iv. ; De Laet, 226

42 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and a number of Indians to prepare the way ; but the Zunis re- fused to admit so large a party, aqd irritated at the pertinacity of Stephen, the negro guide, attacked them and killed several, among the rest Stephen himself. Undeterred by this loss, or by the threats of his Indian companions, who would have visited on him the death of their comrades, Father Mark proceeded to a hill which commanded the well-built city of Cibola, and planting a cross, emblem alike of his zeal and the traverse it had sustained, he turned dejectedly to the south. Mark achieved no missionary conquest, but he had opened the field to new efforts.*

These were not delayed. The impassioned 'son of Italy drew up a thrilling account of the land which he had seen only in the golden light of the setting sun, and knew only by Indian report. He little dreamt how frail and poor those stately walls, how sim- ple and unadvanced the people. An expedition was fitted out by the government, and the viceroy accompanied it to the frontier. Father Mark, with a goodly number of intrepid Franciscans, swelled the train. Cibola was soon reached and taken, but so little did Zuni realize the anticipations raised by Father Mark, that one voice of indignation burst upon him. He left the expedition, which continuing its march crossed to the valley of the Rio Grande, and even to that of the Arkansas, in search of the fancied realm of Quivira. The natives, friendly at first, were soon driven to resistance by the wrongs they received, and the Spaniards, in the war which ensued, found some difficulty in capturing the well-defended towns of the Indians. No wealth, however, repaid the adventurous Coronado, who penetrated to the bison plains, and first saw, as he was the first to make known the

* " Eelation du frai Marc deNiza," in Ternnux's Collection. Father Mark was a native of Nice, in Italy, and came to America in 1531. His first labors were in Peru, bat after struggling in vain with the turbulent authorities, lie returned to Mexico and waa chosen Provincial. His health was BO much shattered in the second expedition to Cibola, that he never recovered. He died soon after at Mexico.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 43

Mson, an animal peculiar to America. Weary at last, he resolved to return. Joyfully as this proposal was received by some of his party it was a heavy blow to the missionaries, who had hoped to found missions among the newly discovered tribes. Nor were they romantic in their idea. The New Mexicans are among the mildest of the aboriginals, industrious, and more civilized than any other of our tribes. Their houses were of unburnt bricks, several stories in height, diminishing in size as they ascended. These houses, in a town, were not like ours, apart, but all built at the same time, with no intervening spaces, and formed a parallelo- gram, presenting outwardly a wall unbroken by door or window, while the centre of the t<jwii was an open square. Each stoiy presented a terrace to be reached oy ".adders, which enabled the owner to mount gradually to the roof, where the main entrance was. The lowest story was a kind of stove or vapor-bath. These towns still subsist, and have often proved in war a most secure de- fence. The people raised cotton in abundance, which they spun and wove into cloth, and in this and in dressed skins the people were all decently attired. Their fields were productive, their culinaiy utensils of superior make, and Christianity alone was needed to make them a happy people, for their morals and customs were extremely pure, »ul their idolatry, simple Sabaism, the first error of man.

Won by their manners, two of the Franciscan missionaries beg- ged to remain. One of these, Father John de Padilla, a native of Andalusia, had once borne arms in the guise of a soldier, and now in the, cause of Christ showed no less intrepidity, and deter- mined to begin a mission at the large town of Quivira, which the expedition had just left, and which lay on the west of the Rio Grande. The other, a lay brother, John of the Cross, whom men in other days had called Louis de Escalona, with equal determi- nation resolved to begin his labors at the neighboring town of Cicuye. Coronado yielding to their zeal, granted their request, aiid as he had brought live-stock in order to settle in the counts

4-i AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

a portion was allotted to each missionary, and some Mexican In- dians remained as guides and assistants. Cicuye being still before them, Brother John of the Cross was sent on with an escort and reached it safely. Padilla took leave of his countrymen and re- traced his steps to Quivira with his Indian converts. Here for some time he labored assiduously, but, as it would seem, almost in vain. Heaiing of a tribe more docile in character, he set out for their town, but on the road was suddenly surrounded by a con- siderable force of roving Indians. Conscious of his danger, he urged his companions to fly, and kneeling down prepared to die. In a few moments he fell, pierced by a shower of arrows, and sealed his mission with his blood. His comrades fled down the river, and after many a danger, reached Tampico to announce hig martyr triumph.*

Of Brother John of the Cross, and his mission at Cicuye, the modern Pecos, no, tidings were ever obtained, and he, too, in all probability, fell a victim to the violence of the natives. How heroic their sacrifice, who, to regenerate and elevate a fallen and debased race, left themselves entirely at the mercy of savages, re- nouncing the comfort, security, and honors of civilization for the wants and dangers of a mission life !

The territoiy east of the Rio Grande had meanwhile been the scene of an expedition which, in its pomp and power, its cruelties and its misfortunes, has few parallels in our annals. Like Coro- nado, the illustrious De Soto sought the mighty kingdom which

* Castaneda de Nagera, part^ii., ch. 8; part iii., ch. 4; Jaratmillo; Tor- quemada, Monarqnia Indiana, vol. iii., p. 610; Croniques des Freres Mi- neur*, 356 ; Henrion, Hist. Gen., i., 435. See also as to Coronado's march, the translation of Cabeza de Vaca, printed, not published, at Washington, 1851.

Father Padilla was an Andalusian, who, after distinguishing himself as a gallant soldier, entered the Franciscan order in the province of Granada. Previous to the mission in which he died, he had been the first warden of the convent of Tulatzinco, but led by his zeal, had left it to evangelize the Indians of Mechoacan and Jalisco, and was warden of the convent of Tza- potlan when he set out for Cibola. During the march he visited the Moquia.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 45

the survivors of the expedition of Narvaez had discovered in the interior of the continent. Confident that he was to find and con- quer a new Mexico, he landed in Florida with a splendid array, and with him went missionaries, both secular and regular, to con- vert the nations when the Spanish power was established. De Soto's fate is well known : his army wasted away by sickness, famine, and in constant battles with the bold and hardy natives ; and when he died on the banks of the Mississippi, his successor^ Muscoso, after trying in vain to reach Mexico by land, fled down the river, hotly pursued by the natives. A small party reached Tampico, but every clergyman had perished, and no mention is made of any attempt to found a mission.*

In 1544, however, a missionary effort was made in the same territoiy, and here the zeal of a single man did more than had been accomplished by all who had preceded him. Father Andrew de Olmos had long displayed his zeal and missionary power among the Indian tribes. Striking on and on, deeper and deeper into the country, he at last heard of the wild Texan tribes then called Chi- chimecas. Undaunted by the accounts of their barbarous manners, and seeing in them only greater objects of his Christian solicitude, he entered the rolling prairies. The wild men gathered around the solitary envoy, and hearkened in peace to his doctrines. Num- bers were persuaded, and followed the missionary to Tamaulipas, where he formed a reduction and completed their instruction. Here he applied himself to the study of their language, and com- posed or translated many works for their use. His example soon drew to his side a zealous associate in^the person of the secular priest, John de Mesa, who, spent with years and toil, closed his

* Prior to De Soto's death died four secular priests, Mr. Dennis, a Pari- sian, Diego de Banuelos, of Cordova, and Francis de la Rocha, a Trinitarian religious. Under Muscoso died Eoderic de Gallegos and Francis del Pozo, secular priests, John de Torres, a Franciscan, John de Gallegos and Louis de Soto, Dominicans. — La Florida del Inca. '

Biedma and Hackluyt are silent, touching these missionaries.

46 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

life amid his Indians of Panuco. Others were won by the suc- cessors of these men, and a flourishing mission grew up around the humble conquest of Olmos' hardy zeal.*

Almost at the same time a Dominican Father projected the spiritual conquest of Florida, hoping to win a new triumph for the Cross by subduing, unarmed and in peace, a country which had baffled the hardiest military expeditions. Worthy of that illustrious order which stands pre-eminent in history as the stern and un- compromising asserter of the equal light of the Indian to freedom and civil rights, Father Louis Cancer de Barbastro determined to proceed to Florida, convinced by the character of such as he had met, that the Floridians might easily be made to rank among the civilized nations. Two other Dominicans had already resolved to penetrate to Florida by land, following the way so happily opened by Olmos. They readily embraced the views of Cancer ; but, on consulting with s.ome older religious, it was deemed essential to success to obtain the royal sanction. Cancer was selected to cross the Atlantic and lay the project before the monarch. Among his fellow-passengers was the great Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapas, who entered with all the impetuous zeal of his character into the project of his fellow-religious ; and on arriving in Spain easily obtained for

* Monarquia Indiana, c. 29; Ensayo Cronologico, ann. 1544 — Father An- drew de Olmos was born near Ona, in the district of Burgos, but having been brought up at Olmos, took the name of that place. He entered the Franciscan order at Valladolid, and came to Mexico in 1528 with Bishop Zamarraga. He soon was a complete master of the Mexican, Totonac, Tepe- guan, and Guasteca languages. After a life of labor and holiness, he died at Tampicane near Panuco on the 8th October, 1571. He wrote a Grammar and Vocabulary of the Mexican language, the Last Judgment, Sermons, Treatises on the Sacraments, Sacrilege, the Seven Deadly Sins, in Mexican ; a Guastec Grammar and Vocabulary, with Catechism, Confessional, and Ser- mons in the same language ; and a Totonac grammar and vocabulary. John de Mesa was born at Utrera in Andalusia, and came when a child to America, where his uncle was governor of Tempuhal. He embraced the clerical state, and devoting himself to the Indians, learned the languages of various tribes, and labored among them during the rest of his life, distributing his inherit- ance among the poor. — Touron, Hist, de I'Am., v. 123 ; Cronique, 418.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 47

him the protection of Philip and a full approbation of his scheme for the peaceful and bloodless conquest of Florida. Orders were issued placing at his disposal a vessel to be fitted out at any port in Europe or America, supplied with all that should be deemed necessary to insure the success of his project. This was not all. Cancer obtained in addition a royal decree restoring to freedom every native of Florida held in bondage in any part of the Spanish dominions in America. With these documents Cancer returned to Mexico, and soon obtained of the Viceroy a suitable vessel. When all was ready, he embarked for Tampa Bay with his two original associates, Fathers Gregory de Beteta and John Garcia ; and one other, Father Diego de Penalosa, who had joined them. The vessel missed the intended port, but reached the coast of Florida in about the twenty-ninth degree of latitude on the eve of Ascension Day. After seeking the port for some days, and land- ing from time to time, Father Diego went ashore, followed by Cancer, an interpreter, and one other, in order to confer with the Indians. Amid the dusky children of the everglades they knelt and commended the enterprise to God, then rose and began their intercourse with the natives. Presents soon won esteem and friendship, and as the long-sought harbor was now ascertained to be only a day's sail distant, it was agreed that Father Diego, with a Spaniard, and the Indian woman who had acted as interpreter, should remain on shore, while the rest proceeded to the port by sea.

So slowly, however, did their vessel move, that they did not reach the desired haven till the festival of Corpus Christi. Here, too, friendly relations were opened with the natives by Father Cancer ; and the interpreter arrived, announcing that F. Diego was at the cacique's hut. On his returning to the vessel, Cancer found all thrown into perplexity by the arrival of a Spaniard who proved to be a survivor of De Soto's expedition, and who had been for many years a slave among the Indians. He warned the missionaries to

18 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

beware of the Indians, and to their amazement declared that Father Diego and his companion had been already butchered by the savages, with all kinds of ceremony and addresses. " All this was indeed teirible," says Cancer, " and very afflicting to us all, but not surprising : such things cannot but happen in enterprises for the extension of the faith. I expected nothing less. How often have I reflected on the execution of this enterprise, and felt that we could not succeed in it without losing much blood. So the Apos- tles did, and at this price alone can faith and religion be in troduced."

Many were now in favor of abandoning the project, but Cancer resolved to remain alone, if necessary, hoping by mildness and presents to win the favor of the Indians. On the 24th of June he remained on board to draw up an account, which is still extant,* and to prepare what he deemed necessary for his new mission. Storms for a day prevented his landing, but on the 26th he quitted the vessel, accompanied by Fathers Garcia and Beteta, and when near the shore sprang out, and not heeding their entreaties and re- monstrances, proceeded up the steep bank The Indians looked on, but gave no sign of welcome. Then doubtless Cancer realized ah1 his danger : he knelt for a moment in prayer, but an Indian ap- proached, and, seizing him by the arm, led him off. A crowd soon gathered around, his hat was torn off, and a heavy blow of a club stretched him lifeless on the shore. He uttered but one cry, " Oh ! my God !" for in an instant the savages had covered him with mortal wounds, and rushing to the water's edge drove back the rest with a shower of arrows. Sndly the surviving missionaries

* It was published by Ternaux Compans in his Eecenil de pieces sur la Floride, page 107, and forms a part of the " Relation de la Floride apportee par Frai Gregoire de Beteta." Though it does not bear Cancer's name, the reader will easily see that he is the author, and as easily discover what was added by another hand. Besides this, see Gomara, ch. 45 ; Herrera, Decade 8, book 5 ; La Florida del Inca, lib. vi., ch. xxii. ; Cardenas, Ensayo Cro- nologico, 25; Henrion, Hist. Gen. des Missions; Touron, Hist. Gen. de 1'Ameriquo.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 49

drew off, and as they beheld the bleeding scalp of their devoted brother held aloft, lamented that his glorious plan, crowned with success in Vera Paz, had failed in Florida. Cooler minds may treat as madness the conduct of Cancer, but in the whole history of our missions there is not a nobler episode than the attempt of this true Dominican, willing to shed no blood but his own in win- ning sinners from error, and seeking in an unarmed vessel, and with an unarmed company, to achieve the peaceful conquest of land already deluged in blood.*

The next missionaries in Florida were a number of Dominicans thrown on the coast by shipwreck in 1553. A large vessel cany- ing no less than a thousand souls, sailed from Vera Cruz, and after leaving Havana was driven on the shore of Florida. Seven hun- dred perished ; three hundred reached the hostile coast ; amon^ them, five Dominicans, Fathers Diego de la Cruz, Ferdinand Men- dez, and John Ferrer, with two lay-brothers, John and Mark de Mena. The survivors had an able and energetic commander, who saved a cannon with ammunition, and immediately began his march for Tampico, then the frontier town of Mexico. His way lay through hostile tribes, but as long as he retained his cannon, he kept them at bay ; at last, however, he unfortunately lost it and much of his ammunition by the upsetting of a raft while crossing a rapid river. From that time their numbers were rapidly thinned. When they reached the Del Norte, the prior, Father Diego had

* Father Louis Cancer de Barbastro was a native of Saragossa, andjiad at early age entered the Dominican order. He came to America in 1514 as Sup» 'ior of a band of missionaries.' His labors were at first almost unsuc- cessful ; his companions died around him of want, disease, and violence, and at the expiration of nearly thirty years he stood alone. He then, with Father Eincon and Las Casas, undertook to evangelize the district called Tierra do Guerra, Land of War, but having converted and gained all the native tribes, the missionaries gave it the name of Vera Paz, " True Peace," which it still bears. In 1547, he undertook the Florida Mission, which we have detailed. Of Father Diego de Penalosa, I find only that he was a native of Tolosa. See Touron, Hist, de 1'Am., v. 265.

3

50 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

died of his wounds, Father Ferdinand of hardship, Brother John de Mena had been shot through the body, and Brother Mark, pierced by seven arrows, had been left for dead. Father John Ferrer had disappeared, having been taken prisoner by the Indians To this religious, a man of eminent piety and sanctity, common report had long attributed prophetic power. Before they sailed from Mexico he had said : " Almost all of us will die, and I shall remain hidden in distant parts, where I shall live for several years in complete health." This now occurred to all, and as his predic- tion of the fearful loss had been realized, it was generally believed that he remained some years among the Indians, where he doubtr less lost no occasion of instilling into their minds the truths of Christianity; but no tidings of him ever reached the Spanish colony.

Strange, too, was the fate of Brother Mark de Mena. He had, we have seen, been left for dead ; but recovering from the loss of blood, he drew out the arrows, and dressing his wounds as well as he could, pursued, and at last overtook the fugitives. The exer- tion was, however, too great ; he soon sank, and his companions, unable to carry him, buried him to the neck in the sand and con- tinued their flight, but soon after were all cut to pieces. Brother Mark, meanwhile, had rallied again ; he rose from his grave, and at last, with wounds corrupted and swarming with worms, reached Tampico, sole survivor of the numbers who crowded the deck of the noble vessel that had left San Juan de Ulua so short a time before, radiant with hope.

This severe loss induced the government to think seriously of subduing and colonizing the northern shore of the Mexican gulf, and in 1559, Don Tristan de Luna was sent with 1500 men in thirteen vessels to accomplish it. As usual, missionaries attended the expedition. This time too they were Dominicans, Frai Pedro de Feria being Vicar-provincial. The others were Fr. Domingo de la Anun jiation, who had long figured in the busy scenes of

SPANISH MISSIONS. 51

life as Don Juan de Paz, F. Dominic de Salazar, who died first Bishop of Manilla in the Philippine Islands, F. John Mazuelas, F. Dominic of St. Dominic, and F. Bartholomew Matheos, once com- mander of the artilleiy under Gonzalo Pizarro, and a close prisoner in the subsequent troubles, who, escaping, turned his back on an ungrateful world, and entering a convent became atervent religious. As Don Tristan's fleet approached the fated shore, a storm arose by which the vessels were driven on the shoals, and many were lost. Among those who perished in the shipwreck was Father Bartholomew. The survivors landed, and Tristan collecting what had escaped, sent back a vessel for aid, and with a stout heart re- solved to begin his colony. His troops revolted, and he himself hearing flattering accounts of Coosa, a kingdom in the interior, marched to the country of the Creeks, attended by Father Domi- nic of the Annunciation and Father Salazar. The Creeks received the new-comers as friends, and an alliance was soon formed. To aid his new allies, the Spanish commander marched westward to attack the Natchez on the banks of the Mississippi. The mis- sionaries accompanied him, and on his return to Coosa labored earnestly to convert the friendly Creeks, but their efforts were not crowned with success, and only a few baptisms of dying infants and adults rewarded their zeal. Meanwhile the other missionaries who had been left at the coast, returned to Mexico to urge expe- ditious relief. The remainder of the party at the coast had become divided into factions, and these increased after the commander's return, as he on his part showed a stem unbending spirit ; but the missionaries, true to their calling, restored peace, by a touching appeal to the faith and religious feeling of Don Tristan, on Palm Sunday in 1561. Two days after the reconciliation the long ex- pected relief arrived, with Don Angel de Villafane, the new gov- ernor of Florida, and three new missionaries, Father John de Con- trerasf the lay-brother, Matthew of the Mother of Godr and Father Gregory de Beteta, the companion of Cancer, who, after having

52 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

renounced the see of Carthagena, was hastening to Spain, when he heard of the Florida expedition, and at once joined it to labor in the field of his early choice. But when the new governor beheld how little had been done, he resolved to abandon Florida, to the great joy of those who had long urged Tristan to adopt that course. Angel, accordingly, soon set sail, taking with him most of the Spaniards and several of the missionaries, who, disheartened by their fruitless labors among the Creeks, despaired of success. Don Tristan, unbroken by disaster, remained with a few resolute men, and the intrepid Father Salazar and Brother Matthew, who both resolved to labor on. Tristan wrote a pressing letter to the Viceroy to urge him to proceed with the projected settlement, but the reports spread by the disaffected members of the expedition were such, that a vessel was sent back with positive orders for Don Tristan to return. To this command he yielded, and the colony and mission of Santa Cruz in Pensacola Bay were abandoned.*

* Ensayo Cronologico, ann. 1559 ; Touron, Histoire de 1'Amerique, vii. 122, xiii. 216.

Of these missionaries several were remarkable men. Father Peter Martinez de Feria, the vice-provincial, was born at Feria; and having entered the Dominican convent of St. Stephen at Salamanca, made his profession in 1545. He came to America with Father Betanzos and Moguer, and labored many years on the mission, composing works in Indian languages for the use of his neophytes. He was successively prior, provincial, and procurator of the Mexican mission, and finely bishop of Chiapas in 1574. He died in his Episcopal see in 1588. Touron, Hist, de PAm. v. 88, vi. 333.

Father Gregory de Beteta, of an ancient family in Leon, after a youth of piety entered the Dominican convent at Salamanca, and was one of the twenty religious of his order who came to America with Father Ortiz in 1529. (Touron, i. 129.) He labored first in St. Domingo, then at Santa Mar- tha, after which we find him in Mexico, and as we have shown, a compan- ion of Cancer in his Florida mission. Subsequently to this he again labored nt Santa Martha till 1555, when he heard of his nomination to the see ot Carthagena. To avoid this he proceeded to Florida, but as his resignation was not accepted, he hastened to Koine, and obtaining his discharge from the onerous task of governing a diocese, retired to a convent in Toledo, where he died in 1562. He left in America a reputation of a most suc- sossful and holy missionary. Touron, Hist, de 1'Am. xiii. 216.

F. Dominic de Saiazar, before his nomination to the see of ManilJa in the

CHAPTER II

FLORIDA MISSION.

Florida colonized by Melcndez — Indian missions attempted by the Dominicans la Virginia — Missions actually begun by the Jesuits — Death of Father Martinez — Labois of F. Roger and others in the peninsula &iid in Georgia — Difficulties and trials — Indian school at Havana — Arrival of a Virginian chief— Mission proposed — F. Segura and his companions sail for the Chesapeake — Treachery of the chief1 — The missionaries are put to death — End of the Jesuit mission — The Franciscans appear — Regular missions begun— Philological labors of Pareja — Various missions of the Fathers — Sudden plot, the missionaries put to death — Restoration of the Florida mission.

THE motive which impelled the attempt made by Don Tristan de Luna soon induced a more successful one, which resulted in the settlement of St. Augustine. Vessel after vessel was lost on the coast or among the dangerous keys of Florida, and in 1561, a storm scattered the great India fleet which bore from Mexico the treasures that colony annually poured into the lap of Spain. One of the vessels disappeared — whether driven on the coast or swal-

Philippines, had been a zealous missionary in Mexico. He came to America with Beteta in 1529, and was long the companion of his toils.

Father Dominic of the Annunciation, whose secular name was Don Juan de Ecija, was born at Fuente de Ovejuna, in Andalusia, in 1510. Accompa- nying his brother Ferdinand to America, he at last witnessing the follies and misfortunes of Ferdinand, entered the Dominican convent of Mexico in 1531. He was soon an accomplished Indian missionary, and drew up a Catechism and Prayer-book in the language of his converts, whicli was printed at Mexico in 1545. His career was that of a Saint ; and he died amid the regrets of all on the 14th of March, 1591, after having evangelized almost every province in Mexico, and converted thousands by his preaching, his miracles, and his sanctity.

lie wrote historical sketches of the early Dominican missionaries in Mexico, Which, it is feared, ar<5 lost. Touron, Hist, de 1'Am. viL 103.

~![3l>.

AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS,

f>wed up ih the ocean) none could tell. In it wef§ lost the' 6nl j &>&, *and many a relative" and retainer of the WSve and energetic jpei&felfende!! de AvileS, the first total .c'ommancle't of his day. ton'g tiad nfs panner floated on the Meaiterrarieail) the Atlantic, and the ISortn $B'ai, and well had he served} It hia own expense, &s rcfyai master %ain^t *ti% Gprjai'rl &Rd the French ; but life UbTunibusj when nis broken health and resources entitled liirii td a rich reward, his clip of misfortune was filled to tHe1 fcritii: tlfc able to wait and search for his son, he prd££eaea oh1 lii§ vOyaj^) Intending to fit out an exp*ditWtt for tliat p'tlrpd^ as sb6h as he arrived1 lii §paiii 5 btit bii r^abn'ihg §feviii^; B^ Was arrested and iriip'riSdfa'e'd1 Bii a friVbititis fckairg**, made by some officers, who little brookea the strict discipline of the old admiral. In that hour all turned against him. Bail was refused, his services and paternal feelings were alike forgotten, and every delay waa made in the process against himt Fat1 nearly two years he lingered in prison. He then sought the presence of Philip H, who had known him long and well. As a sole reward for his past services, he asked permission to sail in search of his son ; thence to return to his castle, and spend his remaining years in the service of God. Hope never forsook him : he believed his son to be among the Indians, or in the hands of French pirates ; and, if alive, he de- spaired not of rescuing the hope of his old Asturian house. Philip favored his request, and offered him a grant of Florida, with the title of adelantado, but on very onerous conditions. These Melendez accepted, and employed the remnant of his prop- erty to fit out an expedition. By the charter which he received, he was to take out twelve friars and four Jesuits, as missionaries *br Florida.

While the adelantado was preparing for the expedition, news arrived that a French post was actually formed on the coast of Florida : this gave a new character to the whole affair, and the first object now was to destroy that settlement. To attain this

SPANISH MISSIONS. 55

end, the court required Melendez to take out a large force. Some little aid was given by the king, and his whole armament consist- ed of 2646 men, in thirty-four vessels. The priests whe were se- lected, though all did not sail or arrive in Florida, were eleven Franciscans, one Father of the order of Mercy, a secular priest, and eight Jesuits.

The fleet was assailed by storms, some vessels were lost, several put back, one was taken by French cruisers near Havana, and only a small number reached the coast of Florida, and anchored near the French ships and fort at the mouth of the St. John. The sequel is well known : the French ships put to sea, followed by Melendez, who failing to overtake them, entered St. Augustine's river, and began to throw up a fort. Hither he was pursued in turn by the French fleet, which could not enter the river, and was soon after wrecked ; while Melendez attacked their fort by land, took it, and put all to the sword, as soon after he did most of those who had escaped shipwreck. Whether in this treatment of the French Huguenots he regarded them as pirates, or as par ties perhaps in the death of his son, or acted in obedience to the orders of Philip, or to his own persecuting spirit, can never be known, but in no point of view can his conduct be justified.

St. Augustine was now founded, and some religious began their functions there, but of them and their labors we know nothing positive. Two clergymen, Don Solis de Meras and the chaplain, Francis Lopez de Mendoza. are known as chroniclers of the expe- dition, but give no account of any -missionary effort. Once estab- lished, however, at St. Augustine, Melendez sent detachments to throw up forts along the coast ; and having with him the brother of a chief of Axacan in St. Mary's Bay, which lying 37° N., must be Chesapeake Bay, sent him, with some Dominicans and a party of soldiers, to begin a mission and build a fort in Virginia. Alarmed by stormy weather, and unable to find the port, these mis- wonaries sailed to Spain, where the chief was baptized by thq

56 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

name of Don Luis Vclasco.* Melendez was, however, too deeply interested in these Indian missions to allow one failure to damp his zeal. On his own return to Spain, he applied to St. Francis Bor- gia, then recently elected General of the Society of Jesus, and ob- tained a promise of missionaries for his colony. Accordingly, in June, 1566, Father Peter Martinez, an old and well-tried mission- ary, Father John Roger, and Brother Villareal, embarked at San Lucar. On the voyage, the small Flemish vessel in which they sailed, was separated from the fleet by a storm, and driven on the coast of Florida. Without either chart or pilot, they had no means of reaching St. Augustine. In this dilemma, Father Marti- nez volunteered to go ashore in the boat, and make inquiries of the natives as to the nearest European settlement While ashore, a storm suddenly came on, by which the vessel was driven out to sea, and the missionary and his companions left destitute on the coast Their only hope now was to reach the nearest settlement, and discovering the proper direction, they followed the coast in their boat ; but when almost in sight of San Mateo,f and exhausted by hardship and famine, they were attacked by the natives, and Father Martinez, who had in vain endeavored to save his comrades, was put to death.- The rest of the party, with one exception, escaped, and soon after reached a place of safety.

The death of Martinez was a severe blow to the mission, not only from the fact of his being the Superior, but also as his abili- ties were of a rare order, his zeal and virtues the theme of general admiration.J On learning his death, which occurred September

* Ens. Cronologico. t A fort at the mouth of the St. John's.

t Father Peter Martinez was born on the 15th of October, 1533, at Cel-la, in the diocese of Saragossa, and was allied by blood to the Cardinal Arch- bishop of Toledo. Devoting himself in childhood to God by vow, he was so zealous a student that at twenty he received his degree of master. Accident led him to the Society of Jesus, into which he was received at Valencia, in 1553. His first labors as a missionary were in the neighborhood of that city. Some years after, lie was sent as chaplain of an expedition against one of the

SPANISH MISSIONS. 57

28, Father Roger and Brother Villareal retired to Havana, and, at the instance of Melende/, spent the winter in studying the language of the province of Carlos, as the part of Florida near Cape Con- naveral was then called. Of this dialect they drew up vocabula- ries, by the help of the natives then in Havana, whom they at the same time instructed in the faith. In February, they crossed over to that province with Melendez, and began a mission. As soon as the governor had established peace between the various Indian tribes, and founded a post, he commended the mission earnestly to Father Roger, and proceeded with Brother Villareal to Tequeste, where he commenced another establishment, and soon after sailed back to Spain.

The people among whom Roger and Villareal now began their mission, were evidently a branch of the Creeks, and far from hav- ing made any progress in the arts of life. Like the inhabitants of the West India islands, they were entirely naked, the women alone wearing a scanty apron of skins or grass, — proof that modesty is inherent in the sex. Their houses were constructed of upright logs, meeting at the top ; their beds were a kind of raised plat- form, under which a fire could be made, to dispel the musquitoes by the smoke. Polygamy was universal, or rather marriage as a permanent state was unknown. Their arms and utensils were of the rudest description, and their wandering disposition and almost entire neglect of agriculture, presented great obstacles to the intro- duction of the faith. The Jesuits, however, applied themselves earnestly to the great work ; and meanwhile Melendez, in Spain, was seeking auxiliaries for them. St. Francis Borgia listened to his application for more missionaries, and formed Florida into a

Barbary States, and was, for some time, employed at Oran, then at Toledo and other parts of Spain. He was a professed Father, well known to St. Francis Borgia, who selected him to found the Florida mission, as a man of learning, zeal, humility, and a love of sufferings. His death took place near the commencement of October, 1566. Alegambe, p. 44; Tanner, p. 445; Drews, Fasti S. J. ; Ensayo Cronologico, p. 120; Sacchini, p. 71, &c.

3*

58 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

vice-province of the order. Father John Baptist Segura, of To> ledo, was selected as vice- provincial, and with him were sent Father Gonzalo del Alamo, of Cordova ; Father John de la Carrera, of Pontferrada ; Anthony Sedeno, of St. Clements ; with Brothers Augustine Baez, John Baptist Mendez, Gabriel de Solis, Pedro Ruiz, John Salcedo, Christopher Redondo, and Peter Linares. With these, Melendez,0now appointed governor of Cuba, sailed early in 1568, and arrived safely at Havana, whither Roger had temporarily returned. The Vice-provincial held consultations with the missionaries already on the ground, and full of zeal, formed a plan of action. The education of young Indians in Christian principles was deemed the most efficacious means of ad- vancing the mission ; and Father Roger and Brother Villareal being already acquainted with the language, were appointed to begin at Havana an Indian school for Florida children, while the Vice-provincial and his companions proceeded to Florida, to make their novitiate in missionary life, and acquire, amid the hardships of an apostolic career, the rudiments of the language. They accord- ingly took post at various points in the province of Carlos already mentioned, in Tequesta, still farther north, and in Tocobaga, which lay on Apalache Bay. Here they labored for some time, studying the language and manners of the people, preaching by interpreters, and of course with little success. Father Sedeno and Brother Baez, who began a station at Isle Guale, probably Amelia Island, were more fortunate.

In 1566, Father Roger was sent to St Helena, or Orista,* as it was then called, and after giving the colonists established in that cradle of Carolina the succors of religion, struck inland with three companions, to announce the gospel to the native tribes. Here this Father met a race far superior to those whom he had previously encountered, and who were, in all probability, a branch of the

* The Chicora of Ayllon.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 59

Cherokees. Superior to the Creeks in many respects, they were a Bedate and thoughtful race, and dwelling in peace in their native mountains, whence they defied their enemies at the north and south, they cultivated their fields, and lived in prosperity and plenty. Their morals were far superior to those of the lowland races : polygamy was unknown ; and men and women, by their very aspect, gave tokens of a higher state of culture. Inspired with hopes, Roger devoted himself to the language of the new- found tribe with such assiduity, that in six months he had mastered its difficulties, and was able to announce intelligibly to his neo- phytes the mysteries of our religion. While in their amazed ears he proclaimed doctrines never heard before, of a single Almighty Deity, who rewarded and punished as he had created man, and who reserved for them all- mansions of bliss or woe, which it was theirs to choose, they listened with attention ; and questions, curi- ous indeed, yet earnest, showed that the Indian had become in- terested in the new doctrine. The fond hopes of the missionary soon vanished, however. The time had come for gathering their winter store, and all plunged into the woods, leaving their teacher baffled for the moment, but still courageous. His efforts were re- newed when the tribe assembled again in the following year, but with equal want of success. Meanwhile Sedeno returned to Guale, where he was disheartened to find that Baez, after ten months' labor, had sunk a victim to the climate. In this province neither the labors of Baez nor those of Sedeno, Segura, and Alamo had produced any result beyond the baptism of four infants and three dying adults. The missions which had been renewed among the Creek tribes had proved equally ineffectual, and the Jesuits were about to abandon so unpromising a field — to abandon it as they had no other — without being driven from it, when blood and toil alike had failed. No hope of martyrdom, even, roused their zeal to new efforts : they decided that the mission wae impracticable, and so announced it to their superiors in Europe.

60 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

The Florida mission had, however, attracted the eyes of the Christian world. Not only the illustrious head of their order, the sainted Borgia, and the Spanish monarch, still urged the great •work of christianizing the natives of the colony, but the Sove- reign Pontiff himself addressed a brief to the Governor of Florida to excite his zeal in the cause.* In this earliest document from the Holy See, relative to the conversion of our Indian tribes, and their advancement in civilization, St. Pius V. lays down a doctrine

* To our) beloced son and noble Lord Pedro Melendez de AriU-ty Viceroy in the

province of Florida in the parts of India: Beloved Son and noble Sir —

Health, grace, and the blessing of our Lord be with yon. Amen

We rejoice greatly to hear that our dear and beloved son in Christ, Philip, Catholic King, has named and appointed you Governor of Florida, creating you adelantado thereof; for we hear such an account of your person, and so full and satisfactory a report of your virtue and nobility, that we believe, without hesitation, that you will not only faithfully, diligently, and carefully perform the orders and instructions given you by so Catholic a king, but trust also that you, by your discretion and habit, will do all to effect the increase of our holy Catholic faith, and gain more souls to God. I am well aware, as you know, that it is necessary to govern these Indians with good sense and discretion; that those who are weak in the faith, from being newly converted, be confirmed and strengthened ; and idolaters be converted, and receive the faith of Christ, that the former may praise God, knowing the benefit of his divine mercy, and the latter, still infidels, may, by the exam- ple and model of those now out of blindness, be brought to a knowledge of the truth : but nothing is more important, in the conversion of these Indians and idolaters, than to endeavor by all means to prevent scandal being given by the vices and immoralities of such as go to those western parts. This is the key of this holy work, in which is included the whole essence of your charge.

You see, noble sir, without my alluding to it, how great an opportunity is offered you, in furthering and aiding this cause, from which result — 1st, Serving the Almighty; 2d, Increasing the name of your king, who will be esteemed by men, loved and rewarded by God.

Giving you, then, our paternal and apostolical blessing, we beg and charge you to give full faith and credit to our brother, the Archbishop of Rossano, who, in our name, will explain our desire more at length.

Given at Rome, with the fisherman's ring, on the 18th day of August, in the year of our Redemption 1569, the third of our pontificate.— Entayo Oronoloyico, aim. 1569.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 61

now sanctioned by the experience of three centuries. " Nothing," says he, " is more important in the conversion of ihese Indiana and idolaters, than to endeavor by all means to prevent scandal being given by the vices and immoralities of such as go to those western parts." Where this moral barrier, spoken of by the holy Pontiff, was successfully raised, the Indian prospered ; where, as in our English colonies, none such existed, the tribes dwindled away, contagious vices destroying them more silently and surely than war or aggression. The red man has disappeared from the great part of our territory, and it were well to reflect a moment whether we are guiltless of his destruction, before we speak of Spanish cruelty.

Ere the letter of St. Pius reached Florida, the courageous Father Roger made one more effort to plant a mission. He re- turned to his post, but found his house and chapel destroyed. In vain he preached the word of truth. Hopeless of obtaining conviction directly, he adopted a new plan : by extolling the ad- vantages to be derived from a thorough and regular cultivation of the ground, he induced the natives to attempt it, and thus found- ed . a reduction. Lands were chosen ; agricultural implements procured ; twenty commodious houses raised ; and the Indians had already made some progress, sufficient to excite the most favorable hopes, when all again vanished. Their natural fickle- ness prevailed ; deaf to the entreaties and remonstrances of Roger, they abandoned their village and returned to the woods. Less anxious to gain proselytes to civilization, than children to the Church, the missionary followed them to their forests, and con- tinued to instruct all he met in the various points of Christian doctrine. After eight months' application, he judged many suffi- ciently instructed to receive baptism ; and calling a council of the chiefs, proposed that the tribe should renounce the devil, and em- brace the new faith. A scene of confusion ensued. " The devil is the best thing in the world," was the unanimous cry of the

62 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

leaders. " We adore him : he makes men valiant," they ex- claimed ; and, swayed by a few, the multitude resolved not to renounce Satan, and publicly rejected the faith.

Father Roger then proceeded to other tribes, but as a mission- ary effected nothing. Returning, to Orista, he found the Indians gathered at a great festival on the banks of the Rio Dulce. Re- solved to make a final effort, he proceeded to the place of their festivity, and again raised his voice among them. Recounting his labors for their good, his many acts of kindness and charity, he bade them judge by these of the sincerity of his affection for them. In return, he asked but one favor — their acceptance of the faith which he preached, and which they all acknowledged to be good and holy. This was his sole object, as it was their good. If they refused it, he must depart forever. Scarcely had he ceased speaking, when a chief arose, and by a few short, furious words, roused all minds to madness. In the trouble which ensued the missionary nearly lost his life, and with difficulty saved his church. Bidding therefore farewell to his flock, whom lie promised to re- visit at their first sign of acquiescence in his wishes, he returned to the fort of St. Helena in 1570, and, reporting to the governor the failure of his undertaking, proceeded to Havana with Father Sedeno and some Indian boys.

At this moment Melendez arrived with the letter of Pope St. Pius and those from St. Francis Borgia rb the Jesuits in Florida, encouraging them to persevere, and sending to aid them Father Louis de Quiros of Xerez, and two novices or scholastics, Gabriel Gomez, of Granada, and Sancho de Zevallos, of Medina de Rio Seco. These were intended to take part in a new mission already projected in Spain. The chief of Axacan, who had accompanied the Dominicans to Spain, asked leave to return to use his influ- ence in converting his tribe. As all now felt the necessity of re- moving the missions from the vicinity of the Spanish posts, hia offer was accepted, and he accompanied Melendez, to be the

SPANISH MISSIONS. 63

guide of the missionaries who should be seiit to the banks of the Chesapeake, or St Mary's Bay.

Father Segura was delighted at the prospect thus opened, and resolved to undertake himself the new and promising mission : to aid him, he selected, besides Father Quiros and his companions, Brothel's Mendez, De Solis, Redondo, and Linares, with some In diaii youths, who had been educated in the academy at Havana. All were soon at St. Helena, the frontier post of the Spanish col- ony, whence a single vessel bore them to St. Mary's Bay, whose borders, in the names of Virginia and Maryland, seem to chronicle the devotion of its first explorers to the Virgin Mary. The mis- sionaries landed with Don Luis, as the chief was now called, and without a sigh beheld the vessel stand out to sea, leaving them, the only Europeans for a thousand miles around.

The residence of the tribe to which Don Luis belonged, cannot be determined. It is stated to have been placed about thirty- seven or thirty-seven and a half degrees north, and to have been far from the sea. The name is uniformly given as Axacan.

This inland region was now the bourne of their journey ; and they began their march : a vast tract of marsh and wood lay be- fore them, interspersed with lands which had for several years been struck with the curse of sterility ; but, hardened to toil, they pressed gallantly on, through many a winding and circuitous route, till the conduct of Don Luis excited suspicion. Months had passed, and yet their destination was not reached. At last he announced that his brother's village was but twelve miles off, and, bidding them encamp, hastened on in advance, *o prepare his countrymen for their new guests. Days now elapsed, as months had done, in suspense, and yet no tidings came of Don Luis. Meanwhile hunger pressed heavily on the little band, whose only resource was in the protection of heaven. In this extremity they addressed earnest prayers to God to obtain a change of the apostate's heart. The rustic altar witnessed daily the holy sacri-

J_

64: AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

flee offered in his behalf. At last they sent to him, but as he re- turned evasive answers, Father Quiros set out, determined to try whether a personal conference would not effect a return in the misguided man. Don Luis met him with hypocritical excuses; and furnishing him a scanty supply of provisions, bade hire return. The dejected missionary and his companions, Solis and Mendez, turned to leave the village ; but the apostate's hatred was too deep. Raising a war cry, he was answered by the tribe, and chief and warrior rushed on the unsuspecting missionaries, and butchered them without mercy. Quiros fell first, his heart pierced by an arrow from the apostate's bow.

The suspense of the other Jesuits was increased by the non- appearance of Father Quiros and his companions ; but the apostate came at last The habit of Quiros, which enveloped his swarthy frame, told a tale which their own hearts had ,'ilready whispered. yet feared to believe. Luis coldly demanded their hatchets, the only articles in their possession with which they could defend themselves. These Segura gave up in silence, and knelt with his companions in prayer. In a few moments the signal was given : a butchery ensued, and of all the party, only one escaped, an In- dian boy educated at Havana.*

This martyrdom closed all hopes of a mission in Upper Flor- ida, and led the Jesuits to abandon the whole province for the more inviting field of Mexico. Three priests and four brothers had falLn victims to the perfidy of the natives ; one had sunk under his toils and the climate ; and yet no beneficial result had crowned their efforts.

The Spaniards heard of the glorious death of Father Segura

* Of these missionaries I find little. Father John Baptist Segura was born in Toledo, and entered the Society of Jesus at Alcala, on the 9th 01 April, 1566, and had been Rector of Vailisoleta, before sailing to America, lie was killed in February, 1570; the only Vice-provincial of Florida. Sec Alegambe, p. 62 ; Tanner, p. 447 ; Sacchini, p. 71 ; Ensayo Cronologico, p. 142 ; Drews, Fasti, i. 299.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 65

and his companions from Alonzo, the Indian boy who had been spared, and who, contriving at last to elude the vigilance of the apostate, fled to the Spanish post. Strange is the heart of man ; Luis had slain the missionaries, yet he decently interred them all, while he gave the consecrated vessels and devotional objects to his clansmen, to become the ornaments of the braves and squaws of Virginia.

In 1572, Melendez returned to Florida, and sailed to the Ches- apeake in pursuit of the murderer. He landed, as the Jesuit Gonzalez had done the year before, and though he took some ot the murderers, failed to seize the apostate, who roamed amid the forests. Eight were executed for their crime, all of whom, under the instructions of Father Roger, embraced Christianity, and died blessing the Almighty. This was the last missionary act of Fa- ther Roger in Florida. Fain would he have gone to disinter the hallowed remains of his martyred brethren, but to this Melendez would not consent ; and Father Roger, leaving the land, of which his labors had made him the first, if not the successful, apostle, returned with the other missionaries of his order to Havana, and proceeding thence to Mexico, labored there for many years with zeal and abundant fruit.*

A new band of missionaries now landed in Florida. These appa- rently were Franciscans, and if so, their mission dates properly from io73, although others of their order must have been there occa- sionally from the foundation of St. Augustine. What the prog-

* Father John Kogcr was a native of Pampeluna, and a Professed of Three Vows. He labored in Florida from 1566 to 1571, and may be consid- ered the founder of that mission ; being the first who labored for any time. His virtues and learning were such as to win for him the general esteem of all, and he died at Vera Cruz in 1618, universally regretted. Villareal died at Mexico, Jan. 8, 1599, after a life of eminent piety and usefulness. Drews, i. 88. Tor this Jesuit mission, see Alegambe, Mortes illustres, p. 44, 62; Tanner, Societas Militans, p. 445 ; Historia, S. I. pp. 444, 447 ; Ensayo Cronologico, pp. 120-142; Alegre, Historia de la Compania de Jesus in Mejico, vol. i. ; Henrion, Histoire Generate des Missions, ii. 15, 16; El Inca, Historia d« Florida, 268.

66 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

ress of the colony and its missions would have been under th« command of the energetic and determined Melendez, we cannot easily judge ; but he was too great a naval commander for the king to allow him to consume his days in establishing a distant colony. Fleet after fleet had been confided to his care, and he was now called upon to lead the Great Armada against England. But his career was ended. Amid the busy preparations, amid the din of arsenals and shipyards, Melendez expired at Corunna, still vigorous and unbroken by age, in the height of his glory, a brave, loyal, and disinterested naval commander, but whose fame is blemished by one act of blood. His death was a fatal blow to Spanish colonization in Florida. The northern limit of the colonies, pushed to Chesapeake Bay by Melendez, gradually retired to the St. Mary's, leaving St. Augustine almost the only foothold in this part of the continent, till in later days Pensacola rose to check the French on the Mississippi.

Though Florida languished, the missions went on. More Fran- ciscans Avere invited in 1592, and the usual number, twelve, were sent, under F. John de Silva as Superior.* They arrived the following year, and proceeded to St. Augustine, to put themselves at the disposal of Father Francis Marron, warden of the convent of St. Helena in that city. Father Marron had eagerly awaited their coming to begin the Indian missions, which he deemed now feasible, from the flattering account given by Father Diego Per- domo, who in the previous year had traversed much of Florida. Fathers Peter de Corpa, Michael de Aunon, Francis de Vdascola, and Bias Rodriguez, at once hastened to the troubled province of Guale, and, after winning the natives to peace, took separate sta- tions nearer the city. Meanwhile the Mexican Father, Francis

* The twelve were, Fathers Michael de Auaon, Peter Fernandez de Cho- zes, Peter de Aunon, Bias de Montes, Peter Bennejo, Francis Pareja, Peter <le San Gregorio, Frauds de Velascola, Francis de Avila, Peter Ruiz, and the lay-brother, Peter Viniegra.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 67

tareja, drew up, in the language of the Yamassees, his abridgment of Christian doctrine, the first work in any of our Indian languages that issued from the press. Father Corpa, at Tolemato,* endeav- ored to overcome polygamy and vice, while Father Bias de Montes, after planting the cross by the little creek near St. Augustine, called Cano de la leche, gathered alms in the city to raise beside it the chapel of Our Lady. Fathers Aunon and Badajoz remained a* Guale, which soon whitened for the harvest, while Velascola a* Asao, Avila at Ospa, and other Fathers in St. Peter's Isle, labored in all the rivalry of zeal, to gain to heaven and to progress the fickle and often ill-treated children of the forest.

For two years these apostolic men labored in peace, and suc- ceeded in forming regular villages of neophytes, who no longer bowed the knee to Baal (for, like the Sabaeans, these tiibes wor- shipped the sun and fire), or practised tlie polygamy which had *o long 'induced them to turn a deaf ear to the teachings of the missionaries.

Amid this reign of peace .a storm suddenly arose, which turned the smiling garden once mope into a nowling wilderness. In Sep- tem'ber, 1597, Father Corpa found it necessary to reprove publicly the cacique's son, wnose unbridled licentiousness had long grieved the missionary's heart. One of the earfiest converts, lie had, after a short period of fervor, plunged into every vicious excess. Vain had "been all the entreaties and remonstrances Vhicli De Corpa addressed him in private. A public rebuke was the only means of arresting a scandal which had already excited the taunts of unbelievers. En- raged at the disgrace, the young chief left the town ; and, repairing to a neighboring village, soon gathered a body of "braves as eager as himself for a work of blood. In the night he returned with his followers to Tolemato ; they crept silently «p to the chapel ; its feeble d®ors presented too slight an obstacle to arrest their pro-

* The ground now occupied by the cemetery at St. Augustine.

68 AMERICA!? CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

gress. The missionary was kneeling before the altar in prayer and there they slew him : a single blow of a tomahawk stretched him lifeless on the ground. The spot thus hallowed by the mar- tyrdom of the missionary then lay without the walls of St. Augus- tine, but is now the cemetery of that city. When day broke, the Indian village was filled with grief and terror; but the young chief well knew the men with whom he had to deal. Appealing to their national feeling, he bade them take heart : he had slain the friar for interfering with their time-honored customs ; the day had come when they must strike a blow, or submit to be forever slaves. This faith of the Spaniards, that deprived men of enjoy- ment, that took from them the dearest of their wives, and bade them give up war, could no longer be borne. He had begun the great work, and they had no alternative but to join him. Tenible vengeance would the Spaniard wreak ; and their only course was to proceed to a general massacre, — first of the friars, then of all the other Spaniards.

Enough joined him to overawe those who remained faithful. The missionary's head was cut off and set on a spear over the gate, while his body was flung out to the fowls of the air. '

The camp of Topoqui was the next point to which they hurried, apparently before the authorities of St. Augustine were at all aware of the plot which was already threatening the Spanish power in Florida. Bursting unheralded into the chapel of Our Lady, the insurgents informed Father Rodriguez of the fate of Corpa, and bade him prepare to die. Struck with amazement at their blindness and infatuation, the missionary used every argu- ment to divert them from a scheme which would end in their ruin: he offered to obtain their pardon for the past, if they would aban- don their wild project — but in vain. Finding all his eloquence useless, he asked leave to say mass before dying. Strange as it may seem, this was granted. He vested for the altar, and began the mass. His executioners lay grouped on the chapel floor

SPANISH MISSIONS. 69

awaiting anxiously, but quietly, the end of the sacrifice, which was to prelude his own. The august mysteries proceeded without in- terruption, and when all was ended, the missionary came down and knelt at the foot of the altar. The next moment it was be- spattered with his brains. Throwing his body into an adjoining field, the murderers pressed on, anxious to make up by their speed for the delay wrung from them by the fearless eloquence of Montes.

Their present destination was the Island of Guale, to whose cacique they had already sent orders to dispatch the missionaries at Asopo. The chief, however, was friendly to the Fathers, and sent a messenger to warn them of their danger. Unfortunately, the faithless envoy never fulfilled the errand, but deceived the chief by a pretended answer from Aunon. When the insurgent* reached the island, the chief hastened to Aunon himself, to in- sist on his flight : here he discovered the treachery of his servant, and that all escape was now cut off. Father Aunon consoled him, assuring all of his happiness at shedding his blood for the faith. He then said mass, and communicated his companion, Antonio de Badajoz. A few moments devoted to silent prayer followed, then the tramp and the yell of an angry crowd announced the coming of the insurgents. Calmly had the Franciscans lived, calmly they died. Kneeling, Badajoz received one, Aunon two blows of a club, and both sank in death. The chapel now seemed to be filled with awe, for the murderers retired as if in flight, leav- ing the bodies to be interre4 by the friendly cacique.

Asao was the next mission, but here the insurgents were at first baffled. Velascola, the greatest of the missionaries, was absent when they arrived. Well might they fear his power, and feel their work half done, unless they could end his life of zeal. A perfect religious, learned, poor, and humble, he combined the greatest mildness with the greatest firmness, and possessed over the Indians an influence which no other of his countrymen ever attained. Pro- voked at his absence, they resolved to await his return in ambush,

70 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and as he landed, a few went out to welcome him with treacherous words, while others fell on him with clubs and axes, and did not leave him till his body was one quivering, shapeless mass.

Father Avila's chapel, at Ospa, was next attacked. Hearing the approach of the murderous band, he took the alarm and fled, but was overtaken and brought back. He escaped again, and reached a cane-brake, where, in the darkness, for night had come on, he hoped to elude observation ; but the moou betrayed him. Wounded by a shower of arrows, he fell into their hands, and was condemned to die. His habit, however, excited the cupidity of one of the Indians, who interfered in his beluUH, Then changing their plans, they stripped the missionaiy, and binding him to a stake, carried him to a neighboring heathen village, where they sold him as a slave.

After destroying his chapel, the party proceeded on its errand of death, and so many had now joined them that they bore down on St. Peter's Isle with a flotilla of forty war-canoes. As they drew near, and doubled a headland, they descried a Spanish vessel lying at anchor near the mission. It was but a provision boat with sup- plies for the Fathers, and had but one soldier on board. Its inert Appearance, however, disconcerted all their plans; new counsels "Were to be adqpted; the chiefs began to discuss a plan of action, Jbut while all nvere in hot dispute, they were suddenly attacked and .routed by the chieftain of St. Peter's, 'who by this victory broke their power forever. The missionaries welcomed their deli verer with heart- felt gratitude, and soon learned how wide had 'been the destruction.

Father Avila was meanwhile a prisoner. The slave of savages, 'for a year he dug their fields and performed every menial office, still, weary of him, his inhuman roasters .at last resolved to put him to death. Tied to the stake, with the fagots around him, he spurned the offer of life, made on condition that he should renounce :his God and marry into the tribe. He now looked forward to the ciown of martyrdom which his .companions already enjoyed, when

SPANISH MISSIONS. 71

an old woman demanded him to effect the liberation of her son, a prisoner at St. Augustine. Her demand was granted, and Father Avila, so changed by his savage life and brutal treatment as to be past all recognition, was once more restored to his countrymen.*

The missions were now almost abandoned till 1601, when the governor of Florida made a new effort to secure laborers for thai barren field. He was not unsuccessful. Florida was the next year visited by the Bishop of Cuba, who, witnessing the extreme spiritual want of the people, aided the governor's efforts. Bodies of Fran- ciscans were continually sent, and the \vardenship of Florida was BO much augmented that it was soon made a Franciscan province, under the name of St. Helena, from its principal convent.f

On restoring the mission at Guale or Amelia Island in 1605, it was the pious care of the missionaries to take up the bodies of Aunon and Badajoz from their unhonored graves and place them in a position worthy of their virtues and glorious death.

The progress of the mission in succeeding years must have been very great, although we have no details of the results. Twenty- three missionaries were sent from Gaelic in 1612, under the Peru- vian Father Louis Jerome de Ore, himself the author of a Relation of the Martyrs of Florida, and several worts for the missions. In 1613, eight, and two years after, twelve more Franciscans of the province of the Angels in Mexico, were also set^t to Florida,, where they soon learned the language and labored with siaeh success that they ere long required assistance* In less than two years they were established at the principal points, and numbered nolens than twenty convents or residences in Florida. These were not confined to the coast. A missionary whose name is not given, followed by Father Alonzo Serrano, penetrated the interior and explored the various localities, which long bore the n&raes he gave- thena-J

* For this Franciscan Mission, see Bareiu, Ensayo Cronologi'e®, 1C7-7I; Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, iiL 350 ; Le Cronique des Freres Miiieurs, though it comes do\rn to 160$, does not iachfrde it.

t Euaayo Craaalogiw,. amu 1&02.-&. J Eu&aya Ctonologioo, 161 2- -ML

CHAPTER III.

FLORIDA MISSION (CONTINUED.)

New missions — The-Apalaches — Troubles in the settled missions — English destroy the missions — Attempt to restore them — State of the country at the cession to England — Bnin of the missions — The Seminoles.

THE mission was now steadily extended and stations established among the Apalaches. That tribe had attacked the Spaniards in 1638, but were defeated, and the missionaries soon made them friendly. Many were employed on the public works, and, re- ceiving protection and consolation from the Franciscans, obtained them a favorable reception in the villages of their tribe.

Missions were gradually formed among the Apalaches and Creeks, in many parts of West Florida and Georgia. In 1643, they began a mission at Achalaque, and soon baptized the chief, thus renewing the faith among the Cherokees. When Bristock, an English traveller, visited it ten years later, a flourishing re- duction existed, and he was hospitably received by the mission- aries at their station, a beautiful spot on the mountain-side.* Several of the governors were greatly devoted to the cause, espe- cially, however, Paul de Hita, who founded a mission on the western shore of the peninsula, aided by the zealous Sebastian Perez de la Cerda, the pastor of St. Augustine, who, with some secular priests from Cuba, undertook it in 1679. In the following year a royal decree permitted any priest to devote himself to these mis- sions, but owing to some secret opposition, the learned and pious canon John .de Cisneros, who, with seven priests, volunteered to serve in the missions, was never able to realize his great design.

* Davis, Caribbee Islands, Lond., 1666, p. 245. This author, and Sanson, in bis Atlas, have a curious account of an English colony among the Apa- laches, formed by refugees from Virginia in 1621, who made great progress in converting the Indians,, established churches, colleges, and < ven had a bishop.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 73

Unfortunately, at this time some disputes arose which retarded the missions, and the Indians even made complaints against their directors, and these complaints were used for political purposes. Tranquillity was at last restored, and a permanent benefit resulted in a set of regular instructions for the government of the reductions, which obviated all further difficulty.

The encroaching colonies of England presently troubled this field. In 1684, the Yamassees, rejecting their missionaries, joined the English ; in the following year they attacked the mission of St. Catharine's, and, taking it by surprise, plundered the church and convent, and burnt the town. Soon after, the old charges against the Franciscans were renewed, and great discussions ensued, but still the work went on. In 1690, the provincial sent Father Sal- vador Bueno to San Salvador de Maiaca, to found a new mission. He was well received, and soon had a flourishing station around him.

The foundation of Pensacola, in 1693, gave a new impulse to the missions in West Florida. Four years later, five Franciscan mis- sionaries attempted to found a mission on the Carlos Keys, but the Indians believing the processions and religious rites of the mis- sionaries to be some magical ceremony for their destruction, drove them out, and they proceeded to the Matacumbe Key, in Florida channel, where the inhabitants were all Catholics.*

By this time the Spanish colony, though itself suiall, was sur- rounded by Indian tribes, most of whom were, to some extent, con- verted : towns of converts existed all along the Apalachicola, Flint, and other rivers ; these were all directed by Franciscan missionaries, who had acquired a complete mastery oyer those fierce tribes. But war was now impending ; the English rapidly encroached on the colony, and frequently attacked the mission stations to carry off the " Indian converts of the Spanish priests," to sell them as slaves in Charleston and other ports. Six hundred were killed or taken

* Ensayo Cronologioo. 4.

74 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

on the river Flint in 17O3; but the greatest blow was given i» 1704, when an English force, with a large body of Alabaraas, took St. Marks, the centre of the Apalache mission, and completely destroyed it. Don Juan Mejia, the commander of the post, fell into the hands of the enemy. Three Franciscans, who directed the neophytes, went out to obtain terms for their children, but they too were taken and put to death with all the terrors of Indian bar- barity. By these blows the Apalaches were so reduced, that in a few years only four hundred could be found of a tribe that once had numbered seven thousand.* All the stations between the Al- tamaha and Savannah were broken up, and such as escaped slavery or death fled into the peninsula. Eight hundred had been killed on the spot, or fell into the hands of the Indian allies of the Eng- lish ; fourteen hundred were carried off by Governor Moore and settled at Savannah.

The war was soon after renewed. The Atimucas, a tribe whose centre was at Ayavalla on the Apalachicola, were attacked by the English in 1706. A bare-footed Franciscan came out of the town to obtain favorable terms, as English accounts assure us, but of his fate we know nothing. The Atimucas were driven from their towns, and a portion of them retired to the east side of St. John's River, where they founded a new town, known as the Pueblo de Atimucos.

By these wars many of the missions were entirely broken up, and all suffered greatly. The Christians were again mingled with the pagans, and many, for want of their religious guides, fell away. Some tribes, too, won by the English, rejected the missionaries. In a few years, however, the latter became aware of their error. The Yamassees, who had been the first to join the English, and had, as we have seen, destroyed a Franciscan mission, now organ-

* Charlevoix, Hist, de la Nouvelle France, vi. 256. Roberts' Florida, p. 14. The English accounts are all silent as to the death of the missionaries ; but as they are extremely vague, and the fact by no means creditable, we cannot wonder at the suppression.

SPANISH MISSIONS, 74

izetl a general confederacy against their former friends, and in 1715 burst on their settlements. Defeated at last, they took refuge m Florida, where they afterwards remained. In this war the Chris- tian Indians took an active part, led by Osiuntolo, a Creek chief, Adrian, an Apalachicola, John Mark, of the same tribe, and Tix* jana, war-chief of the Talisi, a band of the Tallapoosas, who had visited Mexico, had been baptized there by the name of Baltassar, and appointed Maese del Campo of his tribe.

As the negotiations with the English at the close of the war were quite favorable to the Indians, the fervent John Mark and other Christian chiefs thought of restoring the former reductions. After several vain attempts to induce the Spanish government to build a fort to protect them, he at last, in 1718, founded, with one hundred souls, the missions of Our Lady of Loneliness and St. Louis, where missionaries soon began their labors.* Most of the missionary stations in this quarter, however, were abandoned when Father Charlevoix visited it in l722.f

From this period few details of the missions have reached us down to the time when Spain ceded Florida to England by the treaty of Paris (1763). This was the death-blow of the missions. The Franciscans left the colony with most of the Spanish settlers : the Indians, who occupied two towns under the walls of St. Au- gustine, were expelled from the grounds cultivated by their toil for years, and deprived of their church, which they had themselves erected. All was given by the governor to the newly established English church. In ten years not one was left near the city. The Indians thus driven out became wanderers, and received the name ot Seininoles, which has that meaning. By degrees all traces of their former civilization and Christianity disappeared, and they have since been known only by their bitter hate of the successors of the Spaniards.J

* Ensa/o Cronologico. t Journal, vi. 258.

J Bartram's East Florida, 34 ; Roman's Florida, 260.

76 AMElCICAfr CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

England, in a possession of twenty years, completely destroyed what had survived of the Franciscan missions ; no successful at- tempt was made by the Spaniards after 1783 to re-establish them, and now scarce a trace remains, unless we consider the Seminoles themselves as a striking monument of the different results obtained by the Catholic government of Spain and the Protestant govern- ment of England. The one converted the savages into Christians, — a quiet, orderly, industrious race, living side by side with the Spaniards themselves, in peace and comfort ; the other replunged the same tribes back into barbarism and paganism, and converted them into a fearful scourge of her own colonies.

Our own government continues the wrong. The Franciscan convent at St. Augustine is a government barrack ; and no effort has been made to win the hearts of the fugitives ; on the contrary, covetous even of their everglades, our government has sought to remove them by force.

CHAPTER IV.

MISSIONS IN NEW MEXICO.

Attempt of Brother Alphonsus Rodriguez — Death of the missionaries — Onate's expedi- tion— Franciscan mission established by Martinez — Its early struggles — Account of mission given by Benavides in 1630— Decline— Restoration in 1660— Revolt in 1680— Villascnor's account in 1740 — Present state.

WE have already seen, in the account of Coronado's expedition, the attempt made by Father Padilla and his companion to estab- lish Christianity on the upper waters of the Rio Grande, and the failure of their efforts to convert the tribes of New Mexico.

The unfavorable account given by Coronado prevented any fur- ther secular exploration of the territory : it was left to the zeal a

SPANISH MISSIONS. 77

Christian missionaries to explore it again. Meanwhile the Indian missions of Mexico were steadily advancing to the north, and in 1580 there dwelt in the valley of St. Bartholomew a pious lay- brother named Augustine Rodriguez, who had grown old amid austerities and toil in the Franciscan missions. Hearing, from Indians who visited the mission, that populous countries, un- visited by the Spaniards, lay to the north, he burned with the desire of announcing to them the gospel of Christ

His zeal induced him to apply to his provincial for leave to go and learn their language. The viceroy of Mexico approved the mission, and the good brother was not allowed to depart alone. A regular mission was projected. Father Francis Lopez, of Se- ville, was named Superior ; the learned and scientific Father John de Santa Maria, with Brother Rodriguez, were selected to accom- pany the expedition, and they all set out in the year 1581, with ten soldiers and six Mexican Indians, and advanced to the coun- try of the Tehuas, apparently the Tiguex of Coronado. At this point they were compelled to halt, for the soldiers, se^ng seven hundred weary miles behind them, refused to proceed. The mis- sionaries, after a vain appeal to their honor, pride, patriotism, and religion, allowed them to depart, and began to examine the tribe among whom they were. This New Mexican tribe lived then, as in Padilla's time, in their peculiar houses, and unlike the wild In- dians of the plains beyond, dressed in cotton mantles. The mis- sionaries were so pleased with the manners of the people that they resolved to begin a mission among them, and the success of their first efforts so exalted their hopes that they sent Father John de Santa Maria back to Mexico to bring auxiliaries. Fearless, and reliant on his skill, the missionary set out alone, with his compass, to strike direct for the nearest settlement ; but while asleep by the wayside, on the third day after his departure, he was surprised and killed by a party of wandering Indians. The others meanwhile proceeded with their missionary labors, instructing the

78

people, till at last, in an attack on the town, Father Lopez fell be- neath the shafts of the assailants, and Brother Rodriguez, the pro- jector of the mission, was left to conduct it alone.

The people were not indifferent to his teaching, but vice had charms too powerful for them to submit to the doctrine of the Cross. Rodriguez inveighed with all the fire of an apostle against the awful sins to which they were addicted, till weary at last of his reproaches, they silenced the unwelcome monitor in death.

Meanwhile, the returning soldiers had excited the anxiety of the Franciscans ; and, at their instance, Don Antonio de Espejo, & rich, brave, and pious man, set out, in 1582, with Father Ber- nardine Beltran, but arrived only to learn the death of all.*

Some time after, two other Franciscans, who accompanied an expedition under Castano. were put to death at Puaray, but no details remain.

In 1597, Juan de Onate led a colony to the northern Rio Grande, and founded San Gabriel, the first Spanish post in that quarter.* Eight Franciscans had set out with him, under Father Roderic Duran ; but as the latter returned with a part of the forces, the other missionaries proceeded with Father Alonzo Martinez, as commissary or superior. For a year, Onate was engaged in estab- lishing his post and exploring the country — the missionaries, on their side, investigating the manners, customs, language, and re-

* Mendoza, Relacion de la Sina, Madrid, 1589 ; Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, iii. 359, 626 ; Croniqne des Freres Mineurs, ii. ; Ensayo Oono- logico, 155 ; Venegas, Histoire de la Californie, i. 191.

Brother Rodriguez was a native of Jxiebla, and took the Franciscan habit in the province of the Holy Gospel in Mexico. His life was very exemplary, and his penances extraordinary ; he never laid aside his hair shirt and iron girdle. Zacatecas was the first scene of his labors ; then the valley of St. Bartholomew, and finally New Mexico. Father Francis Lopez was an Anda- lusian, born at Seville of a respectable family, noted for piety. At the age ot seventeen, he took the habit in the convent of Xerez de la Frontera. Father John de Saiit* Maria was a Catalan, and entered th« Franciscan order in Mexico.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 79

ligion of the people. Having, in addition to the knowledge al- ready acquired of their mechanical arts and singular dwellings, sought to unravel their theology, they found great difficulty. All were loth to speak at any length 'on the point. They learned, however, that they adored principally three demons, or rather sought to propitiate them, especially in times of drought. These deities were called Cocapo, Cacina, and Homace : to the first of whom a temple was raised, some ten feet wide and twice as deep. At the end sat the idol of stone or clay, representing the god, bearing some eggs in one hand and some ears of maize in the other. In this temple an old woman presided as priestess, and di- rected the ceremonies by which the natives implored rain — a blessing the more necessary, as the streams frequently run dry.*

At the close of a year, Onate wished to send a report of his pro- ceedings to Mexico. To bear his dispatches, and urge the dispatch of reinforcements, he selected the commissary, Father Martinez, who set out with Father Christopher Salazar and the lay-brother, Peter de Vergara ; but on the way, Father Christopher died, and was buried under a tree in the wilderness.

The account brought by Father Martinez induced the provin- cial to send new missionaries, and as Martinez was unable to return, Father John de Escalona, a man of great virtue and sanctity, was chosen commissary in his stead, and set out with several Fathers of his order. Meanwhile, Onate, with Father Francis de Velasco and a lay-brother, struck farther into the country, but without effecting any good.

There is extant a letter of Father Escalona, dated in 1601, in which he speaks despondingly of the Indian mission, and of the little good which he and his associates had as yet been able to do,

* The Puerco was dry in 1853, and at the time of Coronado's expedition, and ones since, the Kio Grande itself was BO low, that for many miles, it rat through a subterranean channel, leaving the main one completely dry.

80 • AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

from the manner in which Onate controlled and interrupted thei labors.

His superiors, however, did not share his despondency. They sent out six new missionaries, under Father Francis de Escobar, now appointed successor to Escalona. Under this enterprising missionary, the church took new life. The missionaries already there, Escalona, Francis de San Miguel, Francis de Zamona, Lope Izquierdo, Gaston de Peralta, skilled in all the accessories needed — a knowledge of the language and people, and a sort of naturali- zation among them — soon made rapid progress. By the year 1608, when Father Escobar was at last allowed to resign b's post of commissary, the missionaries in New Mexico had baptized eight thousand of the people.

His successor, Father Alonzo Peinado, was no less skilful as a director, or successful as a missionary. Gradually the Cross ad- vanced from town to town, and in all won votaries, who at last forsook Cocapo to worship Christ.*

Of the state of the mission in 1626, less than thirty years after its foundation, we have a detailed account, in a Memoir addressed to the Spanish court by Father Benavides, one of the apostles of New Mexico. A mission had just then been established at So- corro, making the twenty-seventh in New Mexico. Several of these stations possessed large and beautiful churches. At Queres all were baptized, and many of the Indians had learned to read and write. Four thousand had been baptized at Tanos, two thou- sand at Taos, and many at other towns. There were residences or convents at St. Antonio or Senecu, Socorro, Pilabo, Sevilleta, St. Francis, and Isleta, among the Topiras, the Teoas, the Picuries, and at Zufii, while Santa Fe, Pecos, St. Joseph or Hemes, and the Queres could boast their sumptuous churches ; and missionariei

* Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, ii. 672, &c. iii. 359 ; Ensajo Crono logico, 170.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 81

were residing, not only in the difficult mission of Zuni, but in Acoma, which had so often been reddened with Spanish blood. So rapid had been the progress of Christianity and civilization on the Rio Grande, that the Indians, or Pueblos, as they began to be called, could read and write there, before the Puritans were estab- lished on the shores of New England.*

Among those who contributed to bring about so happy a result, were Father Benavides, Fathers Lopez and Salas at Jumanas, Father Ortego, and we may add, the venerable Maria de Jesus de Agreda, whose mysterious connection with the New Mexican mis- sion, whether now believed or not, certainly drew great attention to it, and gave it an extraordinary impulse. Benavides met a tribe which no missionary had as yet reached, and found them, to his amazement, instructed in the doctrines of Christianity. On in- quiring, he learned that they had been taught by a lady, whose form and dress they described. This account he gave in his work, published in 1630.f Subsequently, Father Bernardino de Sena told him that the nun, Maria de Agreda, had, eight years before, related to him apparitions of a similar character. Benavides then visited her, and was at once struck with her resemblance to the lady described by the Indians, and still more so by her account of the country and the labors of the missionaries, of which she re- lated many remarkable incidents.^

The difficult mission of Zuni had been confided to Father John Lctrado. After spending some time there, he resolved to attempt Jie spiritual conquest of the Cipias, but perished in his work of

* Benavides' Memorial, Madrid, 1630.

1 This work is in the library of Harvard College.

} See his letter in F. Palou Vida del P. Junipero Serra, 331, and a letter of Maria de Agreda, 337. For her account, see " La mistica Ciudad de Dios," a copy of which is at St. John's College, Fordham. The discussions as to her revelations became quite a controversy, and occupy several vol- times, but no final decision was ever made in their favor.

4*

82 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

zeal. Similar was the fate of Father Martin de Arbide, who, un- daunted by the danger, attempted to reach the same tribe.*

Gradually various causes seem to have driven the missionaries from most of these posts. No general revolt occurred, but the territory must have been abandoned before 1660. In that year two missionaries returned, founded missions, and preached for two years. The Indians then rose against them, stripped them naked, and expelled them from their villages. Yielding to the storm, they retired to Parral, where they were found by some Spanish soldiers nearly dead with cold and hunger. They soon recovered their strength, and undeterred by the past, returned in the following year and founded successively the missions of Our Lady la Re- donda, Collani, Santa F6, San Pedro del Cuchillo, San Cristobal, San Juan, and Guadalupe. Zuni was the last mission founded at this time.f Once more the churches flourished, and the Catholic Indians for several years enjoyed all the blessings of religion ; the pagan portion, however, were still obdurate, and maintained a stubborn opposition to the missionaries. In 1680 they succeeded in raising a general revolt, in which all but San Juan de los Ca- belleros joined. A scene of pillage and devastation ensued : San Pascual, Sevillete, and Socorro were destroyed, and missionaries were killed at several of the stations, as well as among the Moquis and Navajoes, to whom some adventurous Fathers had penetrated.J

After a few years peace was again restored : the missions rose again, never, indeed, on the same footing, as many churches were never rebuilt, for the new colonies were much harassed by the Apaches.

In 1733 a new mission was founded among the Apaches them- selves at Jicarillas, but after a short existence it closed, the In dians retiring to their tribes. A new missionary spirit was, how-

* Ensayo Cronologico, ann. 1632.

t Villasenor, Teatro Americano, 1748, p. 411.

I Humboldt, Nou. Esp. 285.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 83

ever, awakened : in 1742, Father John Menchero proceeded to the territory of the Moquis and Navajoes, and with his companions succeeded in making several converts on that ground, so often the object of the ambition of his associates.

Villasenor, who published his Teatro Americano in 1748, gives a brief but flattering picture of the state of the country at that time. The Indians were all well clad in stuffs woven by the wo- men ; industry prevailed in their villages, with its attendants, peace and abundance. The religious edifices erected «nder the direction of the Franciscan Fathers could rival those of Europe. In a reli- gious point of view, the New Mexicans were not inferior to their Spanish neighbors. He enumerates the following as the then ex- isting missions : Santa Cruz, Pecos, Galisteo, Paso, San Lorenzo, Socorro, Zia, Candeleras, Taos, Santa Ana, San Agustin de Isleta, Tezuque, Nambe, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, San Juan de los Cabelleros, Pecuries, Cochiti, Jemes, Laguna, Acoma, Guadaiupe, each averaging, as it would seem, about a hundred families.*

These missions all continue to the present time with one or two exceptions, and the last fourteen are still directed by Catholic missionaries, although Spain lost her power, and Mexico after greatly injuring the missions by her plundering laws, finally yielded the country to the United States. Since that period New Mexico was made a Vicariate Apostolic, and finally a bishopric, by the erec- tion of the see of Santa Fe. The Right Reverend John Lamy in his report for 1854, estimates the Indian Catholic population of his see at SOOO.f They are generally pious, industrious, peaceable, and instructed, many being able to read and write ; their deputies sent to Washington compare favorably with those of the most civ- ilized tribes.

" The Pueblo or half-civilized Indians of this territory," says the last government report,J " are in a satisfactory condition in every

* Villasenor, 411-422. t Almanac, 1854.

J Message of the President of the United States, 1854, p. 429.

84 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

respect. They reside in villages situated upon grants made to them by the governments of Spain and Mexico, and subsist them- selves comfortably by cultivating the soil, and rearing herds and flocks of various kinds. Each tribe or pueblo has a separate or- ganized government of its own, though all fashioned after the same model. They annually elect their respective governor, lieu- tenant-governor, and various other minor officers. Many of them speak the Spanish language quite well, and they usually clothe themselves quite comfortably, often in cloth of their own manu- facture. They have ceased to rely upon the chase for a subsist- ence, and veiy rarely commit depredations upon othei-s, but are orderly and decorous in their deportment. Each pueblo or village has its church. When disputes arise between two pueblos, or be- tween them and their more civilized neighbors, the matter is in- variably laid before the territorial governor, and his decision is invariably regarded as final. From the best information I can gather, these pueblos or villages number about twenty, and the aggregate number of souls maybe set down at from 8 to 10,000."

CHAPTER V.

MISSIONS IN TEXAS.

French Reeollete In Texas with La Salle — Their fate — Spanish missions — Plan of these missions — Their suspension — Eestoration in 1717 — Villasenor's account — Their de- struction in 1813 — Present state.

THE discovery of the Mississippi by Father Marquette, its ex- ploration to the mouth by La Salle, and especially his attempted colonization, revealed by his shipwreck on the coast of Texas, drew the attention of the Spanish authorities to the territory bor

SPANISH MISSIONS. 85

dermg on Mexico. It was resolved to extend the posts in Florida and Coahuila towards the Mississippi, and a small detachment was sent to reduce La Salle's party : they found only the ruins of the fort, which had been destroyed, with all its inmates, by the neigh- boring Indians. All fear of French occupation was consequently dispelled ; but, to secure the country, it was deemed advisable to leave some Franciscan missionaries, who thus began the mission cf San Francisco.

In the following year fourteen priests, and seven lay-brothers of the same order, were sent, with fifty soldiers under Don Domingo Teran, and founded eight missions ; three among the Texas, four among the Cadodachos, and on the Guadalupe River. These mis- sions were begun on the usual plan : each station having gener- ally two Fathers and a lay-brother, several families of civilized Indians from Mexico, well supplied with all necessary stock and implements, and a small guard of soldiers for the protection of the little colony.

One Father attended to spiritual affairs exclusively, the other to the civilizing of the Indians induced to join the mission, teaching them agriculture and the various arts of life. It was his task, too, to visit the neighboring tribes, and by preaching gain new members for the colony. When an Indian joined the mission he was in- structed, and his labor for a time went to the common stock, from which he drew food, clothing, and other necessaries. When, after a few years' probation, he was deemed capable of self-management, a field was allotted to each, and a house raised for him. If not married, he was urged to select a wife from the Christian women. In this way the mission became surrounded by a village, and as the Indians learned Spanish, and frequently intermarried with Spaniards, they were soon confounded with them.

The first attempt, which we have just mentioned, was destined to meet with reverses. The crops failed, the cattle died, the soldiers became odious to the Indians, so that in a few years the Fatherr

86 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

left, and Texas was again a field awaiting the hand to cultivate it and reap its spiritual harvest.

Louisiana meanwhile became a permanent and thriving settle- ment. The adventurous Canadian, St. Dennis, resolved to open a commercial intercourse with Mexico, and in 17 14 struck across Texas to the nearest Spanish post. His arrival spread consterna- tion through the frontiers. Don Domingo Ramon was at once sent with a number of religious to restore the missions, as the surest means of forming a barrier to French encroachment. Father Augustine Padron de Guzman accordingly restored the mission of San Miguel amoiig the Adayes in 1717, and another Father that among the Texas Indians. Two years after war broke out between the two countries, and the authorities in Mexico, deeming the posts too much exposed, recalled the missionaries to San An- tonio. When peace was declared, the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo led back the Fathers to their original station. Between 1721 and 1746 missions were founded at San Francisco, in the centre of Texas, San Jose, among the Nazones, Nuestra Seiiora de Guadalupe, among the Nacogdoches, and Nuestra Senora del Pilar, among the Adayes, as well as among the Asinais and Aes. These were all directed by Fathers of the order of St. Francis, chiefly from Queretaro and Zacatecas.* The zeal of the missionaries led them also to the towns of the Cocos, and even to the hunting- grounds of the Osages and Missouris, where one lost his life, and another, long a prisoner, at last escaped.f

The missions in Texas reached those of New Mexico, and em- braced many tribes. A missionary manual, printed in 1760, for the use of the Fathers, shows that they extended them from Can- delaria to San Antonio. It purports to be adapted to the Paja- lates, Orejones, Pacaos, Pacoas, Tilyayas, Alasapas, and Pausanas; HS well as several others less connected with the missions. J Among

* ViUasefior, Toatro Americano, 319. t Charlevoix.

J Fr. Bart. Garcia, Manual para adininistrar los uacramentos, 1760.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 87

the ablest missionaries in the field were Fathers Joseph Guadalupe Prado and Bartholomew Garcia.

A full history of this mission was composed about the year 1783, by one of the Fathers, which is still in manuscript, and will furnish, when published, a complete account of the labors of the apostolic men, of whom the present writer can only glean occa- eional notices.*

The missions subsisted in a flourishing state till 1812, when they were suppressed by the Spanish government, and the Indians dis- persed. Some returned to Mexico: more remained in various parts near the old mission sites, faithful to their religion, and fer- vent in its duties, when occasion offered them the happiness ot meeting a priest. They were, in fact, destitute of missionaries till 1832, when Father Diaz was sent to Nacogdoches by the Bishop of Monterey, but he was not destined to a long career. Scarcely had he labored a year among the scattered flock, when he fell a victim to his zeal, having been murdered by some roving Indians.f

The Anglo-American colonization, the revolt of Texas, and sub- sequent wars, neutralized every effort to restore the missions, and a few scattered Indians alone remain of the thousands once gath- ered around the mission altars. A noble monument of the skill of the Fathers, and the improvement of their neophytes, remains in the many churches, aqueducts, and other public works, built by Indian hands, which still remain on Texan soil.

* I had ths work in my hands, and was in treaty for its purchase ; but contrary to every expectation on my part, it was* sold without my knowledge to another, and I have since been unable to trace it. I T Ann. Prop. xiv. 453 ; U. S. Cath. Mag. vi. 52, 558.

CHAPTER VI.

CALIFORNIA MISSIONS.

Discovery of California — Early missionary attempts — Jesuit missions founded in Lower California by Father Salvatierra — Suppression of the Jesuit* — Franciscans succeed them in California — They commence some missions in Upper California, and resign Lower California to the Dominicans — The various missions founded by Father Juni- per Serra. ^

CORTEZ himself, the conqueror of Mexico, discovered the penin- sula of California, and its gulf long bore his name. It was, how- ever, subsequently unnoticed, till the close of the fifteenth century, when it was again visited ; and in 1596, Vizcaino sailed to ex- plore the coast, accompanied by some Franciscan missionaries, among others by Perdomo, who had, as we have seen already, traversed Florida, cross in hand. A church and palisade fort were thrown up at Lapaz, and every preparation was made for a pennanent settlement ; but Indian hostilities soon induced the col- onists to renounce the new undertaking.*

On a second expedition, in 1601, the explorer was attended by three Carmelite Friars, Fathers Andrew of the Assumption, An- thony of the Ascension, and Thomas of Aquinas. By the sixteenth of December, they had reached Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco ; and at Monterey, Fathers Andrew and Anthony land- ed, and raising a rustic altar beneath the spreading branches of n time-honored oak, they celebrated the divine mysteries of our faith. This may be considered the natal day of the Upper Cali- fornia mission.f

* Venegas, Hist. California, i. 162; Torqnem. ii. 682. f Ibid. 169.

A MISSIONS,

:.OW«

ODin-

a;is. By tue sixteenth ra, M<

'us Upper Cali-

2. f Ibid. l«t.

f f

SPANISH MISSIONS. 89

This portion of it, however, was doomed to a long neglect ; but subsequent voyagers explored and surveyed the coast of the penin- sula, which was soon visited by Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries. As the latter here founded a celebrated mission, which led, in the end, to Franciscan missions in Upper California, we shall glance at the labors of the Jesuits, although they never extended within the present limits of the United States. The work of the famous California mission, next to the reductions of Paraguay, the great- est in the annals of the Society of Jesus, was first inaugurated by Father Hyacinth Cortes in 1642, being thus contemporaneous with the Iroquois and Apalachian missions. The Jesuits were not formally sent to it, however, till 1679, and even then, four years elapsed before a station was actually founded by the enter- prising German Father Eusebius Kuhn, or, as he is commonly called, Kino. His mission, moreover, was but temporary : two years later, the station had been abandoned, and the intrepid Kiihn was laboring, with a zeal truly worthy of admiration, among the Pimos and other Indians of Pimeria Alta, south of the Gila, Fearless* by nature and a sense of duty, he went alone among them, formed them into villages, prevailed on them to sow their lands and raise cattle. The Pimos were his chief care ; but as other tribes were also in his district, he learned several languages, and translated into all the abridgment of Christian doctrine and the usual prayers ; he likewise composed vocabularies and grammati- cal treatises for the use of his assistants and successors. In these toils he continued, till his death in 1710 ; but as he labored chiefly among the Southern Pimos, we shall not dwell at further length upon the Pimo mission.*

* This celebrated missionary, whose real name was Eusebius Francis Kiihn, though called in Spanish Kino, was born in Germany, and becoming a Jesuit, devoted himself to scientific studies. While Professor of Mathe- matics at Ingoldstadt, he was considered the best astronomer in Germany. ID a dangerous illness, he had resource to St. Francis Xavier, and vowed to

90 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Meanwhile, Father Salvatierra founded, at Loretto, in 1697, the first permanent mission in California. From that point, Christiani- ty gradually extended to the north, and station after station arose, where the Indians were gathered around the black gowns to hear the words of truth. These conquests over idolatry and barbarism were not achieved without loss, and the arid soil of Lower Califor- nia is dyed with the blood of heroic missionaries ; but undaunted by loss of life, unbroken by defeat, the Jesuit missionaries of Cali- fornia were still the pioneers of civilization and the faith, when the Spanish king, yielding to the advice of unprincipled men, or- dered them to be torn, in a single day, from all their missions throughout his wide domains. At that time, Father Wenceslaus Link was continuing the explorations of Kiihn — advancing along the Pacific to Guiricata or St. John of God ; his associates, Victo- rian Ames and John Joseph Diez, were founding at Cabujakaa- mang, under the 31st parallel, the last Jesuit mission of St. Mary's, the limit of their zeal and labors.

Accused of no crime, condemned without a trial, the missiona- ries were dragged from amid their neophytes, who, in wonder, grief, and consternation, deplored their loss. On the 3d of Febru- ary, 1768, every Jesuit was carried off a prisoner from California.*

Unjust as the government had been to the Jesuits, it was not insensible to the claims of their Indian neophytes. A body of Franciscans had been ordered to enter the country and continue the good work. As the sixteen Jesuit prisoners landed at San

devote his life- to the missions. Recovering, he fulfilled his vow, solicited a foreign post, and was sent to America. There he became the apostle of So- nora and California, and was the first to announce the gospel to the tribes in the Colorado. Venegas, Hist. California, i. 188; Alegre, Hist, de la <Joinp. de Jesus, iii. 119.

* Clavigero Storia della California, ii. 176-204. This is the most complete account of the missions, as it was written after the suppression. Venegas was written prior to it. A tolerable account may be found ill the Histoire Chrotienne de b Californie, Paris, 1358.

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Bias, twelve Franciscans and four secular priests prepared to em- bark on the same vessel to fill their stations.

Of these new missionaries, the leader was Father Juniper Serra, a Mijorcan, already well trained to the labors of an Indian mis- sion in various parts of Mexico.* By the first of April, he and his eleven companions (for the Franciscans always, if possible, went forth in companies of twelve), reached Loretto, the centre of the Jesuit mission.

After placing priests in the various stations occupied by his predecessors, Father Serra began carrying into effect the wish of the government, to found three missions in Upper California — one at San Carlos de Monterey in the north, another at San Diego in the south, and a third at San Bonaventura in the middle dis- trict. Galvez, then visitor for the king, was charged with the establishment of these new posts, and Father Serra at once named friars to begin a mission at each. The expedition was to set out in three divisions, one by land and two by sea. Of the latter, the first sailed in January, 1769, bearing Father Ferdinand Parron, the second in February, with Fathers John Vizcaino and Francis Gomez ; Serra himself accompanied the land force, with de la Campa and Lazven, and meeting the others at Vellicata, founded there, with much ceremony, the mission of St Ferdinand, leaving Father Michael de la Campa as missionary, with a number of Christian Indians, one fifth of the live stock, and a supply of corn, to begin a reduction. Before the expedition proceeded, the na- tives had begun to gather around and enter into friendly relations with the missionary and the Christian Indians who attended him.

Meanwhile Father Crespi, with a portion of the troops, had pushed on to San Diego, whither Serra soon followed him, after

* Palou, Eelacion Historica de la Vida del V. Padre Frai Junipero Serra, Mexico, 1787, p. 53, et seq.

92 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

vainly attempting to reach the Colorado as Father Link had done.* On the first of July, Serra reached the port of San Diego, and found there not only Crespi, but Vizcaino, Parron, and Gomez, who had come by sea, and were of the few who escaped the diseases vhich had broken out on board. The mission of San Diego was now founded on the 16th of July, I769,f on the banks of the stream of that name, and in a long and narrow valley, formed by two chains of parallel hills, embosoming a delightful prairie. The natives, Comeyas, were apparently friendly, and eveiy thing seemed to promise speedy success. The missionaries at once set about the erection of two buildings, one for a chapel, the other for dwellings ; but just as all were congratulating themselves on the prospects before them, the house was attacked by the Indians, who had already begun to commit depredations. The door was only a mat, and before the assailants could be repelled a boy was killed, and Father Vizcaino, with four others, wounded.

Notwithstanding this act of violence, amicable relations were at last established, and the mission continued its labors.^ Crespi, who had returned from an ineffectual attempt to reach Monterey, now set out with a new expedition by sea, as Serra did with another by land. They met at Monterey, in 1770, and founded the mission of San Carlos, leaving the usual number of Indians, with a supply of cattle, and a guard of soldiers.

When the news of the establishment of these missions reached the city of Mexico, universal joy prevailed, and the bells rang out a peal of triumph, as for the conquest of a realm.§ Father Serra

* Palou, Relacion, p. 74 ; Serra had Link's journal. t Ibid, p. 82.

J To give an idea of the language of the Indians at this mission, we insert the Our Father in their language :

" Nagua anall amai tacaguach naguanetuuxp mamamulpo cayuca amaibo mamatam meyayam.canaao amat amaibo quexuic echasau naguagui fiaiiaca- chon iiaquin fiipil meneque pachis echeyuchapo fiagua quexuic naguaich nacaguaihpo, namachamelanipuchuch-guelich-cuiapo Nacuiuchpampcuch- lieh cuitponamat, Nepeuja,"

$ Palou, Kelaoion, p. 107.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 93

called for new auxiliaries ; thirty were chosen, by the superior ol the order in Mexico, to go and till the new field ; and, amid the general exultation, the sons of St. Dominic applied for leave to enter that land of missions.

Ten of the Franciscans were intended for Upper California, and these Fathers, reaching San Diego in March, 1771, by the following month joined their superior in the beautiful vegas of Carmel at Monterey. The feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated soon after, with a pomp such as the wilderness had never seen ; twelve priests joined in the sacred procession to honor that Real Presence which is the centre of Catholic faith and worship.

After this holy solemnity, Serra proceeded with Father Michael Pieras and Father Bonaventure Sitjar to a beautiful spot on the river San Antonio, in the bosom of the Sierra Santa Lucia, where a towering Canada encircles the stream. Here, on the 14th of July, 1771, he founded the mission of St. Anthony of Padua, the be- loved Saint of the Franciscans, on the wide grounds of theTelames. Hanging aloft his mission bells, the enthusiastic Serra tolled them till the ravine rang again, while he shouted aloud his invitation to the natives to come and sit down in peace beneath the cross he had planted.

A house and chapel were soon raised for the missionaries, with barracks for the soldiers, and the whole was encircled by a palisade.* Difficulties at first threatened the new mission, but it was soon in a way of prosperity.

The next undertaking of Father Serra was the removal of the

* Palou, Eelacion, p. 158. As a specimen of the Tatche, or Telame, TT« give the Lord's Prayer :

" Ta tili mo quixco nepe lemaatnil an zucueteyem na etzmatz antsiejtsitia na ejtmilina, an citaha natsmalog:, ruilac quicha nepe lima Maitiltac taha zizalamaget zizucanatel ziczea. Za munimtiltac na zanayl quicha na kao apanenitilico na zananaol zi nietza commanatatelnec zo alimeta zona ziuxuia to no quissili join zig zumlaylitec. Amen."

J± AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Monterey mission, which he began, after sending Father Francis Dumetz and Luis Jayme to San Diego to replace the missionaries there, who both sought to retire ; as they actually did on the arrival of their successors. Monterey labored under the disadvan- tage of a want of water for the cattle and for irrigation. Selecting a site on the banks of a little stream not far from the little bay of Cannel, on the 3d of June, 1770, he founded the mission of Mt. Carmel, hemmed in by the mountains. His mission cross was planted on that day, and before the close of the next year his chapel and buildings were all completed.

The next mission to be founded was that of Sail Gabriel, to com- mence which Father Angelo Somera, and Fatlier Peter Benedict Cambon, set out in August, 1770. With a guard of ten soldiers they reached the Rio de los Temblores, and were selecting a place to plant the cross when the Indians rushed down upon them. In this moment of danger the missionaries unfurled the banner of the Blessed Virgin, and as its azure folds opened before the eyes of the astonished natives, and the radiant form of Our Lady met their eyes, they threw down their arms, and timidly approached to offer her all they had as propitiatory presents. Peace being thus won- derfully established, the good Fathers planted the cross at the foot of a sierra, on a magnificent plain, near the Indian villages ol Juyubit, Caguillas, and Sibapot. The first mass was said on the 8th of September, and buildings were soon erected ; but new troubles arose. These missions were always attended, as we have seen, by a few soldiers, generally most unfit companions for the mis- sionary of peace. Among those at San Gabriel was one whose brutal violence roused an injured b/.isband to vengeance. The In- dians rose in arms, the house was attacked, but when the unfor- tunate leader of the natives was shot down by a ball from his oppressor's musket, the rest fled. The guilty man was now driven from the mission, and the Indians at last were appeased. Fathers Somera and Cambon now began to suffer from the climate, and, as

SPANISH MISSIONS. 95

soon as their health permitted, retired to Old California, leaving in their place Fathers Antonio Paterna and Antonio Cruzado, who, on their way to the site selected for the mission of St. Bonaventure, had accompanied them to St. Gabriel.*

The missions thus established relied at first on the supplies brought from Mexico, and in a short time want pressed heavily on them. This was especially the case at San Diego, so that one of the missionaries, Father Dumetz, proceeded to Old California for relief. When Serra knew their distress he recalled Father Crespi to Monterey, and sent him with provisions to San Diego, to relieve the laborious Father Jayme.

Father Dumetz presently returned with material aid and also three new missionaries. With this reinforcement the unwearied superior resolved to found a new mission, that of San Luis Obispo, on a knoll, in a beautiful plain, sheltered by low wooded hills, and well watered, as well as easy of access from the sea. The mission- cross was planted on the 1st of September, 1 772, and a church and barracks were immediately begun.

After laying out the ground for the mission of Santa Barbara, and dispatching the laborious Crespi with Father Dumetz to Mon- terey, he proceeded to Mexico, where a change of governors, and various matters connected with the missions, required his presence.

The Dominicans, as we have seen, had sought to obtain the California mission ; the Franciscans offered to retire, but it was finally divided between them. All the old Jesuit missions in Old California, with San Ferdinand of Vellicata, were assigned to tho Dominicans, and the Franciscans retained only those which their own zeal had founded in the upper province.f These were now to receive a new impulse from the accession of missionaries whom

* In the language of tho mission of St. Gabriel, the Our Father begins thus : " Y yonac y yosrin tuciipiagnaisa," &c. Duflot, ii. 393.

t For an account of the Dominican missions see " Noticias de la provincia !• las Californiaa en trea cartas por un sacerdote religioso:" Valencia, 1794.

96 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Father Palou brought from the peninsula, and from the aid which Father Serra sent from Mexico, just before his return in May, 1774.

While some of these Fathers accompanied expeditions sent to explore the coast, Fathers Lazven and Gregory Amurro were dis- patched, in October, to begin between San Diego and San Gabriel the mission of San Juan Capistrano.* The commencement of this mission seemed to promise great success, when it was abandoned, and the bells and less portable objects buried, in consequence ol the news of a startling scene that had transpired at San Diego.

In November, 1775, the two missionary Fathers, Jayme and Vincente Fuster, were rejoicing in the success of their labors at the last-named mission, which, to gain the confidence of the native .Comeyas more easily, they had removed from the fort, when they discovered that two of their Christian Indians had suddenly left. Their disappearance surprised, but did not alarm, the missionaries, who, supposing them to have taken umbrage at something said or done, sent messengers to recall them ; but it was not such a trifle as they too hastily supposed. These men had gone forth to rouse their countrymen to destroy the missionaries. Baptized they had been, they declared, but by force ; and the sacrament was but a means to effect their annihilation.

This idea of baptism we shall find in the sequel in almost every tribe, and from its universality can be ascribed only to him, whose power was to be overthrown by the fulfilment of the command once given to a few humble men, " Go and baptize all nations." Not less credulous to the words of the tempter than the Indiana by the northern lakes, the Californians crowded around the apos- tates. A thousand braves resolve to attack the mission and fort, and commit them to the flames, when the inmates shall have sunk under their murderous arms. On the night of the 4th of Novem- ber they advanced noiselessly to the ravine where the mission lay

* Palou, Relation, 174.

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for the good friars had withdrawn to some distance from the fort, to avoid the untoward influence always exercised by a band ot soldiers. Here the hostile army divided, one party marched against the fort, the other entered the mission village, and placing a sentry at the door of each house, pressed on to the church, whose furniture and decorations promised a splendid booty. A part, however, turned off to assail the house occupied by the mis- sionaries and by a few Spaniards, and, approaching unobserved, set it on fire. Awakened by the flames and yells, the soldiers ran to arms, and, with Father Vincent, threw themselves into an adobe kitchen. Father Louis Jayme, awakened by the noise, and totally unprepared for such an attack, supposed the fire 'accidental, and issued from the house with his usual salutation, " Love God, my children." He was at once seized by the Indians, dragged through the deepest part of the neighboring stream, stripped, and killed with arrows and blows from their swords of hardened wood, which cut almost like iron. When found, his body was so hacked and mangled as to defy recognition — the hands alone being untouched.

The attack on the kitchen was kept up till daybreak, when the Indians, fearing a charge from the fort, drew oft', and enabled Father Vincent and his companions to reach that place of refuge.

This was a terrible check to the missions ; and many wished to abandon San Diego and some other stations entirely. No such thoughts, however, were entertained by the missionaries. Words of joy welcomed the announcement of the death of Jayme. " Thank God, that field is watered !" exclaimed the intrepid Pre- fect Serra, as he proceeded, though in broken health, to rouse the civil authorities to courage. But the letters he obtained from the latter miscarried, and when, in September, he attempted to rebuild the mission of San Diego, Rivera, the commandant, "ordered him to desist. The prefect obeyed without a murmur, but a change of authorities soon enabled him to realize his plan, and San Diego arose from its ruins. As soon as he saw it in progress he hurried,

5

98 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

with Fathers Mugartegui and Amurro to San Capistrano. Hera he found the cross still standing ; and this admirable man, un- broken by toil, undaunted by danger, hastened, almost alone, amid hostile tribes, to San Gabriel, to obtain the necessary ar- ticles.

This last mission is situated in a beautiful plain, a league from the sea, on the banks of a little river which never fails, even in the greatest drought. The people, among whom it was established, were called the Acagchemem nation, and of them we have, in a work of Father Boscana, a later missionary, a fuller account than we possess of any other tribe in California.

No portion of the continent contained in the same compass tribes so variant in language, and, consequently, in race. As may be seen by the examples we have given, little analogy exists be- tween the various dialects, and several are of distinct radical languages.

All the Californian tribes resemble, in general manners and cus- toms, the Indians of other parts of the republic. Ignorant of the use of metals, they relied on hunting and fishing for a sustenance : agriculture, even in its rudest form, being almost unknown, and seeds and herbs the only production used by them. The men went naked, or wore a cloak of skins over the shoulders : the women, and even the youngest female children, wore a kind of apron of fringe, and were never known to lay aside this badge of modesty ; many, too, wore a kind of cloak reaching from the neck to the knees. The most advanced tribes were those between Santa Bar- bara and Monterey ; these Indians were skilful fishermen, and showed great dexterity in the use of their well-made canoes, and in a money made of shells, like the wampum of the eastern tribes, earned on a thriving commerce.*

The trite among whom the mission of San Juan Capistrano waa

* Boscana in Robinson, 240.

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founded, were the Acagchemem. .Their religious ideas are easily described. Considering Heaven and Earth as the first of beings, they peopled the universe with a monster progeny, which issued from them, and which disappeared before Chinigchinich, " the Almighty," who created man and the animals. This being was the object of their worship. To him they raised temples or van- quech, and in it placed the skin of a coyote, or wild-cat, filled with feathers, claws, horns, and similar parts of various birds and beasts. The worship, directed by priests or puplem, consisted of various dances and ceremonies, in which little trace of sacrifice can be discovered.

Their belief in witchcraft, their medicine-men and jugglery, their various dances, are, in the main, such as are found in almost every American tribe.*

Having established anew the mission of San Juan Capistrano, the active Serra projected that of San Francisco. An expedition had been sent from Sonora by land to commence a settlement at that bay, and was attended by Father Font as chaplain. Fathers Palou and Cambon joined it, as missionaries, to found a station at the new settlement, and Fathers Murguia and Pena to begin an- other mission, under the patronage of Santa Clara, in its vicinity.

The mission of San Francisco was really inaugurated in a rustic chapel, on the 27th of June, 177C, and the country around that beautiful bay explored by the intrepid missionaries. The legal or- ganization of the missions was delayed by the inactivity of the commandant Rivera, to whom they were obliged to recur for sup- plies and for the usual guard. Santa Clara was in consequence

* Boscana. Indians of Alta California, in Eobinson, 237, &c. The Lord's Prayer in their language is as follows : " Ghana ech tupana ave onech, otune a cuachin, chame oin reino libi yb chosonec esna tupana chain neche- tepe, micate torn chu chaom, pepsura yg car caychamo y i julugcalma cni ech. Depupnn opco chamo chum oyote. Amen." Duflot do Mot'raa, IL 894.

100 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

not begun till the 6th of January, 1777, when that mission arosw on the charming plains of San Bernardino.*

The missions thus established in Upper California differed essen- tially from those planted in the other sections of our republic. Here it was not a single missionary, venturing alone into a distant land, facing every danger from the elements, the wild beasts, or the untamed child of the forest : the missionary went to his station attended by a small guard, with a colony of Indian converts, herds of cattle, and a plentiful supply of agricultural and other imple- ments. Around this nucleus of converted Indians, others soon gathered : buildings were erected, the new-comers formed to habits of industry, and instructed in the doctrines of Christianity. As many of the missionaries were ingenious in mechanical arts, the Indians were formed to every trade, and each mission yearly sent off its cargoes of surplus products and manufactures, to receive in return the necessary European goods. This prosperity constantly attracted new-comers, who were in time trained to the life of the mission. The wealth of these missions, a few years since, shows how great the progress of the Indians had been.

Father Serra, the Prefect Apostolic, had now founded a goodly number of missions, which began to bear fruit. Baptisms had be- come numerous ; the new converts had swelled the village at each mission, and peace, order, and prosperity had begun their reign. That the neophytes might not be deprived of the sacrament of con- finnation, the Holy See, on the 16th of June, 1774, issued a bull conferring on the Prefect Apostolic the power of administering it^ and this privilege he exercised, though for a time prevented by government from doing so.

Under his care the missions henceforth grew and prospered : th« only affliction they suffered being the loss of the veteran Father

* In the language at Santa Clara the Our Father runs thus : " Appa ma- erene me saura snraahtiga," &c. Dtiflot de Mofras, ii. 392.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 101

Crespi, who died at Monterey on the first of January, 1782, after a missionary career of thirty years, fourteen of which had been spent in California.*

But if prosperity and success smiled on the missions from San Diego to San Francisco, the same cannot be said of a new mission attempted about this time. The power exercised by the missiona- ries over the converted Indians in the reductions, the management of the property, which they kept ip their own hands, and the kind of tutelage in which the new Christians were held, had drawn great odium on the Jesuits. The Franciscans, nevertheless, had con- tinued the system, being convinced of its expediency. Not so the government, which wished to justify its charges against the sup- pressed order. A new mission was therefore to be formed, in which the Fathers were to confine their labors to the spiritual instruction of the Indians, leaving their civilization and temporal advancement in the hands of those whom interest, zeal, or ambition might in- duce to attempt it. Four missionaries from the Franciscan college of the Holy Cross of Queretaro accordingly joined the captain- general, Theodore de Croix, and by his orders founded two missions on the right bank of the Colorado above its mouth : one under the invocation of St. Peter and St. Paul, the other three leagues further south, under that of the Immaculate Conception, and both intended tor the conversion of the Yumas, who were the nearest tribe.

Matters went on slowly ; the soldiers, as colonists, chose the fairest lands, and the ejected Indians, deprived of their crops, be- gan ere long to covet the flocks of the invaders. The missionaries, whose duty led them daily to the villages of the Yumas, saw the danger, and in vain endeavored to excite their countrymen to measures of conciliation. Vengeance was not long delayed. One Sunday in July, after mass, the Indians, to the number of several thousands, simultaneously attacked both missions, set fire to them,

* Palou, Relation, 239.

102 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and killed Rivera, the commander, and his soldiers, with most of the settlers. The missionaries hurried around to exercise their ministry, confessing, exhorting, encouraging, till they too were cut down. The four missionaries who perished here were Father John Diaz and Father Matthew Morena, whose bodies were found amid the 'ruins of their mission, and Father Francisco Garces and John Barraneche, of the province of Florida, whose bodies, interred by an old woman, were recovered some time after. Of these, Father Garces deserves especial notice as a successful and adventurous missioner, who had extended his excursions to Upper California, and traversed much of the country north of the Colorado, so that, adapting himself to Indian life, he had become as one of the' na- tives. Yet loved as he was, the Yumas did not spare him in the general massacre.*

The missions already founded did not satisfy the boundless zeal of the prefect, 'the venerable Serra. He died in 1784, planning new foundations, and still eager to plant the cross in parts as yet unvisited. Ten missions were already established, and about ten thousand Indians had been baptized. Among the enterprising men who have attempted the conversion of the Indians, few deserve a higher place than Father Juniper Serra. Nothing is more admira- ble than the courage he displayed in the effort to civilize the bar- barous tribes, amid whom his charity had called him. If he had not the heroic sanctity of earlier missionaries, his steady develop- ment of the Jesuit plan of missions, his constant attention, assiduous labor, and prudence in government, often amid factious opposition, entitle him to the highest place among illustrious missionaries. Nor

* Palou, Relacion, &c., 240-8. Noticias de la provincia de las Californias, ann. 1780. Cronica Apostolica del Colegio de la Santa Cruz de Queretaro. Mexico, 1780, vol. i. cited by Duflot de Mofras, i. 283.

F. Garces had accompanied "F. Font from Orcasitas to Monterey in 1775, end with him first drew attention to the Casas Grandes. Their journal and map have been frequently cited.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 103

was he wanting in deep and tender piety. When an Indian child that he was about to baptize was taken from his arms, he was deeply moved. " The feelings of the venerable Father, seeing the baptism of this child so frustrated, were such," says Palou, " that for many days the sorrow and pain which he suffered might be dis- covered in his countenance, — the good Father attributing the con- duct of the Indians to his own sins ; and many years afterwards, when he related this circumstance, his eyes were suffused with tears." His death was as calm as his life. Sinking under a malady of the lungs, he continued his labors, visiting the missions, admin- istering confirmation, and regulating every thing, till, finding his death at hand, he sent for the nearest Fathers to come and take leave of him. In August he sank gradually, but still kept up and recited his office, though preparing to die. On the 27th of that month he directed Father Palou to consecrate a host, and give him the holy viaticum. In the course of the same day he ordered hia coffin, and received the sacrament of extreme unction on his bed, — a mat stretched over a board. The next day, August 28, 1784, he was up again and cheerful, but presently retiring to his hard couch, lay down and expired without a struggle or a sigh, at the age of 71.*

* Palou, Relacion Historica de la Vida del V. P. Jumpero Serra: Mexi»p, 1787.

CHAPTER VII.

CALIFORNIA MISSION — (CONTINUED.)

Father Palon, Prefect Apostolic — Sketch cf a California mission— Missions of Santa Bar bara, Santa Cruz, and Solertad founded— Father Lazven Prefect — Missions founded it his time — State of mission during the civil -war— The repnblio— It plunders the mis- sions, and expels the Fathers — Eapid decline of the missions — California taken by the Americans— Close of the missions.

ON the death of Father Serra, his future biographer, Father Palou, was appointed Prefect Apostolic ; but before we enter on the history of his administration, we shall describe these missions as they then existed, for though the California mission began about the period of the American revolution, and attained a wonderful degree of prosperity, it is now as much a matter of the past, as the Iroquois or Huron missions in the north.

A rectangular building, eighty or ninety yards in front, and about as deep, composed the mission. In one end was the church and parsonage. The interior was a large and beautiful court, adorned with trees and fountains, surrounded by galleries, on winch opened the rooms of the missionaries, stewards, and trav- ellers, the shops, schools, store-rooms <fec., and granary. A part, separated off, and called the monastery, was reserved for the Indian girls, where they were taught by native women to spin and weave, and received such other instruction as was suited to their sex.* The boys learned trades, and those who excelled were promoted tc the rank of chiefs, thus giving a dignity to labor which impelled all to embrace it.

Each mission was directed by two friars : one of whom super- intended this mission-building and the religious instruction ; the

* 8«e the plan of the mission of ban Luis Key in Duflot.

.SPANISH MISSIONS. 105

other the field-labors, in which he always took part, teaching consilio manuque, to use their own expression, — by advice and example. How Avell they succeeded we may judge by the results which they obtained, and by the affection of the Indians. Those who, but a few years since, visited these missions, were amazed tc see that with such petty resources, most frequently without the aid of the white mechanics, with Indian workmen alone, they accom- plished so much, not only in agriculture, but in architecture and mechanics — in mills, machines, bridges, roads, canals for irriga- tion— and accomplished it only by transforming hostile and indolent savages into laborious carpenters, masons, coopers, saddlers, shoe- makers, weavers, stone-cutters, brick-makers, and lime-burners.*

The discipline was indeed severe, and the whole establishment conducted like some large factory. This has excited, in modern times, great outcry ; but the missions have been abolished, and the Indians left to the "enlightened" men of our day. Under their care the Indians have perished like smoke before the wind, and men now sigh for the missions.f

* Duflot de Mofras, Exploration de 1'Oregon, les Californies, &c. i. 261 ; Kobinson, Life in California, 24.

t Hear the sighs of Bartlett, the United States commissioner : " Five thou- sand Indians were at one time collected at the mission of St. Gabriel. They are represented to have been sober and industrious, well clothed and fed ; and seem to have experienced as high a state of happiness as they are adapted by nature tc receive.

" These five thousand Indians constituted a large family, of which the padres Were the social, religious, and we might also say political heads.

" Living thus, this vile and degraded race began to learn some of the funda- me'htal principles of civilized life. The institution of marriage began to be respected and blessed by the rites of religion, grew to be so much considered, that deviations from its duties were somewhat unfreqncnt occurrences. The girls, on their arrival at the age of puberty, were separated from the rest ol the population, and taught the useful arts of sewing, weaving, carding, «fec., and were only permitted to mingle with the population when they had as- Bunied the character of wives.

" When, at present, we look around and behold the state of the Indians in ttis country — when we see their women degraded into a scale of life toe

5*

106 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Around the mission-building rose the houses of the Indians, and of a few white settlers: at various distances were ranches or hamlets, each with its succursal chapel. In a little building by the mission was a picket of five horsemen, half soldiers, half couriers.

The regulations of the missions were uniform. At daybreak the angelus summoned all to the church for prayers and mass, from which they returned to breakfast. Then all joined their respective bands, and proceeded to their regular labor. At eleven they re- turned to dine, and rested till two, when labor recommenced and lasted till the angelus, which was rung an hour before sunset After prayers and the beads, they supped and spent the evening in innocent amusements. Their food was the fresh beef and mutton plentifully supplied by their flocks, cakes of wheat and Indian, with peas, beans, and such other vegetables as they chose to raise.

The dress of the men was a shirt, trowsers, and blanket, though the alcalde and chiefs of gangs of workmen wore frequently the complete Spanish dress. The dress of the women was the usual one, with the invariable blanket When the crops were harvest- ed, each mission sold or shipped its breadstuff's, wine, oil, hemp and cordage, hides and tallow, and from the returns distributed to the Indians clothes, handkerchiefs, tobacco, and other articles. The surplus was spent in the purchase of necessaries for the rnis- fiion, furniture for the church or the houses, implements of agri- culture, tools, <fec.

Besides the funds thus resulting from their own labors, the In- dians enjoyed the revenue of a portion of the "Pious futfd,"

menial to be even domestics — when we behold their men brutalized by drink, incapable of work, and following a system of petty thievery for a liv- ing, humanity cannot refrain from wishing that the dilapidated mission of San Gabriel should be renovated, its broken walls be rebuilt, its roofless houses be covered, and its deserted halls be again filled with its ancient in- dustrious, happy, and contented original population." — Hartletf a Personal Narrative, ii. 84. •

SPANISH MISSIONS. 107

which had been bestowed by charitable persons on the old Jesuit mission : the missionaries, bound by vows of poverty, receiving omy food and clothing.

The Indians of a mission were not all of the same tribe, but perfect harmony prevailed, and when the season of work was over, many paid visits to their countrymen, and seldom returned alone. Sometimes a zealous Christian would visit his own tribe as an apostle, to announce the happiness enjoyed Knder the mild rule of the gospel. In this way the missions constantly received new accessions, for the good friars had the art of making labor at- tractive.

One of the first acts of Father Palou was to found the mission of Santa Barbara, which was begun on the 4th of December, 1786, at the foot of a chain of arid mountains. This was followed on the 8th of December, 1787, by that of La Purisima Concepcion, separated from that of San Luis Obispo by a beautiful and fertile plain. Soon after, in 1791, the mission of Santa Cruz, near Bran- ciforte, was founded in August, and that of Nuestra Senora de la Soledad in October, in a delightful canon, which extends to Mon- terey. These were the last acts of Father Palou's administration ; for it is said that he then left California, and became Superior of the convent of San Fernando, in the city of Mexico.*

Under Father Lazven, who was the next prefect, the California mission received still greater development. In the single year 1797 he founded three missions — San Jose, San Miguel, and San Fernando Key. The first, which dates from the 18th of June, is at the foot of a range of low hills, along which runs the San Joa- quin. Its proximity to the Tulares, enabled this mission to collect a great number of Indians, and it was soon one of the most flour- ishing and commercial in all California.

San Miguel arose on the 25th of July, in a beautiful plain, in^c

* Forbes' California, 80.

108 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

which several mountain gorges enter, giving easy access to othel missions, while San Fernando, founded on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, lay nearer San Gabriel. All these missions soon attained a high degree of prosperity.

The next mission was that of San Luis Rey de Francia, which arose in the wilderness at a time when France rejected alike the faith, institutions, and family of that holy king. Its founder, the illustrious Father Peyri, raised a thatched cottage by the beautiful banks of the San Luis on the feast of his patron, Saint Anthony of Padua, in the year 1 798. A few cattle and some converted Indians were all that he asked from the next mission, and thus he founded Sa^Luis Rey among the Kechis. From this feeble commence- ment rose the greatest of the Califomian reductions, as English, French, and American writers all concur in asserting. Its church of stone is ninety feet deep, and rises at one end in a beautiful tower and dome ; and from its facade extends a colonnade, not without architectural beauty, and nearly five hundred feet long, while in depth it is almost of equal dimensions. Father Peyri was not only an architect, but also an able mission-director. He soon had 3500 Indian converts, scattered in twenty ranches, and the whole place bore marks of industry, and consequently of pace and plenty.

Spain now began to reel under the effects of the French revolu- tion ; and the distracted state of the mother country and the col- onies materially affected the missions, which were in a great meas- ure left to their own resources. For several years their funds came very irregularly, but the Indians, who relie'd chiefly on their own labor, suffered no loss, and the only difficulty was that new mis- sions could not be undertaken ; and the weakness of the govern- ment seemed to offer an opportunity to the savage tribes to burst on these frontier stations.

Amid this period of trial Father Lazven died in 1803, at his mission of Carmel, where he was interred. His successor found-

SPANISH MISSIONS. 109

ed the mission of Santa Inez in the following year, on a beautiful prairie, embosomed in the hills, a perfect garden of fertility.* In 1817 the missionaries resumed their activity, and Father Ventura Fortuui founded the mission of San Rafael among the Jouskious- me, and the prefect, Father Mariano Payeras, proposed to the Spanish king to establish a presidio at Telame, and missions run- ning in a line from San Luis Rey to San Jose, but the power of Spain in the western world was already tottering, and the project was abandoned.f

Left to their own resources, the missionaries did not falter : they steadily advanced the faith; and in August, 1828, Father Amoros began the mission of San Francisco Solano among the G«uilucos, the most northerly and last of all those religious estab- lishments which now lie in ruins, and the only one that dates from the period of the Mexican republic. The same Father did, indeed, attempt another in 1827, but the little chapel of Saint Rose was all that he could accomplish.J

Echandia, the first governor sent by the Mexican republic to California, arrived in 1824. A countryman of ours calls him " the scourge of California, an instigator of vice, who sowed seeds of dishonor not to be extirpated, while a mission remains to be robbed."§ One of his first acts was to interfere in the established plan of the missions, and attempt to take all temporal direction from the missionaries. The latter opposed this invasion of the rights of

* Duflot de Mofras, Exploration, i. 359, 377, 383, 418. 't Id. 384. As a specimen of the languages of these missions, we give the initial words of the Our Father in each :

1. San Fernando Y yorac yona taray tucupnma, &c.

2. San Gabriel Y yonac y yogin tucupiagnacsa, &c.

3. San Eafael, Jouskiousme. . . Api inaco sa lileto'manenas, &c.

4. Chocouyein . . . . Api maco su lileco map«nas, &c.

5. San F. Solano, Guilucos. . . . Alia igame niutry o cuse mi /alma.

6. San Luis Key, Kechi Cham na chain migtupanga auconan.

7. Santa Inez Dios caquicoco upa'equen alapa. .

I Id. 445-447. § Robinson, Life in California, 141.

110 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

their Indians, who they clearly foresaw were doomed to destruc- tion, if left to the mercy of the agents of government. Echandia persisted in his plan of pillage, drove out the fearless Martinez, and loaded with ill treatment Father Sanchez, the prefect or pres- ident of the missions, so that the venerable man, after struggling for years against the oppressors of his forest children, died of grief in 1831, consoled in his last moments by the conduct of the upright Don Manuel Victoria, who for a few months restored the missions.* But that excellent governor was soon removed, and the plunder recommenced. Father Antonio Peyri, a man of energy and capacity, and though advanced in years, still hale, and able to maintain his rights, became peculiarly obnoxious. He was driven from his mission of San Luis Rey, which he had founded and directed with admirable skill for thirty-four years. The en- treaties and tears of his neophytes could not obtain his continu- ance, and as he tore himself from his flock, to embark for Mexico, tears streamed down his aged cheeks. For years after the Indians preserved a painting, which represented Father Peyri amid his neophytes, and frequently came to recite their prayers before that effigy of him who had first led them to a knowledge of God, and when he finally proceeded to Barcelona, every stranger was eagerly questioned for tidings of their beloved guide, and heard them speak with sighs of their happy state, when directed by his paternal hand. Such is the testimony of Forbes and Robinson in 1835, of Duflot de Mofras in 1840, and even of Bartlett in 1852.f

* Dcflot de Mofras, Exploration, i. 272.

t Id. 343 ; Robinson, 19-108; Bartlett, Personal Narrative, ii. 92. Father Antonio Peyri was born in Catalonia in 1765, and must have entered the Franciscan order at an early age, as he was but little over thirty when he founded his celebrated mission. When he left it, San Luis Rey contained a population of 3000, many of whom were blacksmiths, carpenters, and me- chanics of other trades. They possessed sixty thousand head of cattle, and raised thirteen thousand bushels of grain a year. After spending a short time at a convent of his order in Mexico, he returned to his native country.

SPANISH MISSIONS. Ill

At San Luis Obispo, Father Martinez had formed his flock to industry : they wove and dyed ordinary cloth and fine cotton fab- rics, which would soon have made them a prosperous and happy colony, even amid the increasing whites, but he was brutally expelled. Five other Fathers were driven from other missions, and a regular system of robbery commenced : ranch after ranch was taken, cattle swept off, and the Indians, seduced from their la bors by Echandia the governor, were so inflamed against the mis- sionaries, that they attempted to kill Father Cabot at San Miguel. At the view of this misery, several other Fathers, exposed to ill treatment and persecution, resolved to leave the country, where some had spent thirty and forty years in civilizing the Indians, and raising them to a state of ease, and comfort, and plenty. They departed as poor as they had lived, for they lost nothing : it was their neophytes who had been robbed.* The number of mis- sionaries was now so reduced, that in 1833, the Mexican govern- ment applied to the college of Our Lady of Guadalupe, at Zacate- cas, and obtained ten missionaries for California, who took the richer and more northerly stations ;f and Father Duran, who had just succeeded F. Francisco Garcia Diego as prefect, removed to Santa Barbara, after being for a time imprisoned on a frivolous charge.J

* Duflot de Mofras, Exploration, i. 275, 379 ; Robinson, 125-81.

t Duflot de Mofras, Exploration, 274; Robinson's Life in California, p. 150.

I Robinscm, 159, 197. While the missionaries of California were thus per- secuted, they welcomed the persecuted from other lands. " About this pe- riod, the latter part of January, 1832," says Robinson (p. 122), "a small brig entered the desolate bay of San Pedro and anchored. On the succeeding niorninjr, two passengers were landed on the barren strand, and there left, with two bottles of water and one biscuit, and nothing to protect them from the inclemency of the season. Here, more than thirty miles from any hab- itation, save a small hut two leagues off, they passed a sleepless night. The casual stroll of an idle Indian in search of shells, was the means of giving information to the Padre at St. Gabriel, where, through his kindness and sympathy, they found a cordial welcome. They were Messrs. Bachelot and Short, two Catholic priests, who, in consequence of their unpopular religion,

112 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Meanwhile, the government in California was carrying on the work of secularization or plunder, and the year 1834 may be con- sidered as that of the complete overthrow of the missions, although it was not till 1837 that it was finally and officially decreed by congress. But this act of congress was as unnecessary as a later one, in 1840, for then restoration was impossible : the property of the poor Indians was already in the hands of the plunderers, and there was no power to wrest it from them.

The mission of St. Gabriel had its vineyards planted by Father Jose Maria Zalvidea, which already produced excellent wine : he was negotiating with an American house for iron fences. All around was activity, industry, and enterprise, created by him ; for his ships, loaded with the products of the mission, sailed regularly for Lima and San Bias ; but neither here nor at San Juan Capis- trano, also under his care, could he prevent the spoliation. His vineyards were torn up, and in a short time misery usurped the place of plenty and industry.*

At this period, the missions contained 30,650 Indians, 424,000 head of cattle, 62,500 horses, 321,500 sheep, and raised annually 122,500 bushels of wheat and maize.f This property was now handed over to the authorities, who allotted some to each family. Here and there a missionary, better able to struggle with in- triguing men, saved the mission buildings and the live-stock given to his neophytes, but in most cases, they were deprived of it al most immediately. The missionary was merely allowed rations for his support, and these were often never sent. Thus, in 1S23,

had been forced to leave the Sandwich Islands, notwithstanding their proUs«>- tation against the arbitrary measure. All remonstrances were useless : the^ were insulted, driven on board, and the miserable craft was ordered to g»* under way without delay." — Robinson, 159, 197. For an English accoun*- Bee " Simpson's Overland Journey around the World."

* Duflot de Mofras, Exploration de 1'Oregon, des Californies, &c. i. 35% Eobinson, 28.

t Id. i. 320.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 118

Father Sarria, of whom an American says, " it was a happiness indeed to have known him," died of hunger and wretchedness at his mission of La Soledad, having refused to abandon his constantly decreasing flock. Neither his age, his goodness, his charity, nor gentle character, could win a petty living on the spot where thou- sands had enjoyed his hospitality. One day in August, though worn down by suffering and want, he gathered his flock in the church, but had only just begun the mass when his strength failed him : he fell at the foot of the altar, and expired in the arms of those Indians whom he had spent thirty years in instructing and protecting. Father Fortuni, the founder of the mission of San Rafael, expired soon after.*

Not even the elevation of Father Francisco Garcia Diego, an old California missionary, to the episcopacy, in 1840, could arrest the work of sacrilege. When Duflot de Mofras visited the missions in 1842, several of the missions were entirely closed, the Indians had dwindled down from 30,000 to 4450, their cattle from 424,000 to 28,000, and their other stock in proportion.f The mission and church of San Diego*were in ruins, and the mission- ary, F. Vicente Oliva, had but one little farm for his remaining five hundred Indians. That of San Juan Capistrano was in ruins too. Amid the ruins of San Gabriel lie found the unbroken Bis- cayan, Father Thomas Estenega, seateu in a field before a large table, with his sleeves rolled up, kneading clay, and teaching his Indians to make bricks. At San Fernando, Santa Clara, and at Santa Inez, the missionaries had contrived to save much. St. Bonaventure, Santa Cruz, San Juan Bautista, San Miguel, Carmel, the Conception, and San Rafael were deserted or in ruins. St. Barbara was the residence of Father Narcissus Duran, the kind, generous, benevolent, and devoted prefect. At San Luis Obispo,

* Duflot; Kobinson, p, SO.

t Duflot de Mofras, Exploration d3 1'Oregon des Californies, &c. i. 820, 889.

114 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

amid the ruins, he found, in the greatest misery, the oldest mis- sionary in the country, Father Ramon Abella, whom La Peyrouse had seen there in 1787. This aged man had no bed but a hide, no cup but a horn, no food but some dried beef. In vain had F. Duran urged him to leave his place and take one of greater ease ; he determined to die at the mission, and divided all the aims sent him among his poor and plundered Indians. Founder of several of the missions that now lay in ruins, he still talked of proceeding to found others in the north. At La Soledad, it was loneliness in- deed : there were silent ruins, but no missionary — not an Indian nor a single head of cattle ; the vineyards were abandoned, the gardens overgrown, and the orchards wild. At San Jose, the pre- fect of the northern missions, Father Gonzalez, received from the civil administrator an allowance of food less than would be given to a criminal. San Francisco Solano had been destroyed, and the materials taken by Don Mariano Vallejo to construct his beautiful mansion.*

Such was the state of these missions, which still numbered thir- teen missionaries ; but civil war now broke out ; the remaining mis- sions were occupied by the contending parties, and the Indians were drawn into the quarrel. Before any order could be restored, the American war ensued ; California was taken, the gtold mines drew a new population to the country, and the Indians of the missions have entirely disappeared. Four of the old missionaries still remain at Santa Barbara and San Juan Bautista, but the work of Father Serra and his successors has been totally destroyed, never to be restored again.

The Indians of California, like the Seminoles in Florida, have taken to the mountains and forests, and in retaliation for the wholesale robbery practised on them, have plundered the settlers and emigrants. War was tried in vain, and the government o*

* Duflot de Mofras, Exploration, i. 333-447.

SPANISH MISSIONS. 115

the United States is now reviving the mission plan, omitting, of course, the religious feature. On the San Joaquin river they have collected Indians, laid out farms, gathered cattle, and are, in fact, pursuing the plan of the Franciscans. How far this tribute to the missionaries will succeed, remains to be seen.*

CHAPTER VIII.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE SPANISH MISSIONS.

Plans of the Spanish missionaries — Failure of the original method — The reduction sy»- tem — Complaints and charges against it — Its effect on the Indian* — Its complete success.

WE have thus brought to a close the history of the various Indian missions in the states and territories of Spanish origin, and we may here pause to examine the plans pursued by the religious who attempted the great work of converting the Indians. The earliest attempts arose from exploring expeditions, when missiona- ries were left to labor alone, or were attempts made by Fathers who ventured alone into the wilderness. Almost all these failed, aid resulted only in giving martyrs to the Church. This was the case in New Mexico and in Florida down to the close of the six- teenth century.

The reduction plan was then begun in two different modes. lu Florida, the converts, with Indians from other parts, were formed into villages near the Spanish settlements, and were grad-

* Pierce's Message, 1854, p. 463.

116 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS,

ually trained to the usages of civilized life, and in this way a series of Christian villages spread over the country. In these, the mis- sionary had merely a spiritual power ; the Indians were left free under the government of their ehiefe, and their progress was con- sequently slow. They remained, to all intents, a distinct class.

In New Mexico and California another system prevailed. A mission was erected, containing a church, shops, infirmaries, grana- ries, schools, and other necessary apartments. Two missionaries, with some converted Indians and a stock of cattle, agricultural implements, tools, and machinery, took possession, and endeavored to draw some of the surrounding natives to the mission. This was done chiefly through the converted Indians. Once in the mission, the native was no longer free : under the compulsory system employed, he was instructed in Christianity, accustomed to labor, and according to the ability which he displayed, applied to some trade Each one belonged to a section governed by a chief, who led his party to church or labor, and was frequently not sparing of blows in enforcing promptness. Against this the Indian at first rebelled ; but as all his wants were satisfied, he soon became attached to his life, and would draw others of his countrymen in, and easily persuaded them to submit to the routine.

Many learned Spanish thoroughly, and all acquired a knowl- edge of the Christian religion, which they faithfully practised. Thus they gained two great benefits — peace and comfort in this life, and means of attaining happiness in the next

Many writers have, however, denounced this compulsory sys- tem as one of tyranny, as degrading a noble and independent race into a herd of slaves. Religious prejudice has clearly some part in the condemnation thus freely given by a class of writers, as is evinced by their ignorance of Catholic doctrines, and the slighting tone in which they speak of them ; but still the question arises, as to the merit of the system. The motive and the succeai

SPANISH MISSIONS. 117

of an act do not always justify the means, and in the present case, while the former was undoubtedly good, and the latter great be- yond a parallel, the fact that the missionaries temporarily deprived the Indians of liberty is considered an act altogether unjustifiable.

Modern theorists consider the savage of the plains a man en- dowed with equal social rights as the inhabitant of a civilized state. In the eye of the Spanish missionaries, he was a child to be in- structed, and might be put under restraint in order to teach him the rudiments of religion, learning, and the means of support. This is the question in its last resort, and we are inclined to con- sider the missionaries as correct in their view. The officers of the United States have come to the same conclusion. Moreover, the Indians themselves, when instructed, approved of the measure, and when restored to freedom by the government, regretted the period of subjection. Of this there are innumerable proofs. The con- dition of the wild Indian is well known ; that of the mission In- dian under the Fathers equally so; that of the mission Indian since his liberation a matter of daily comment The native in the first was ignorant of God, and of the arts of civilized life ; in the second, a Christian, industrious and happy, though to some extent enslaved ; in the third, a poor degraded being.

" The best and most unequivocal proof," says Forbes, " of the good conduct of the Franciscan Fathers, is to be found in the un- bounded affection and devotion invariably shown towards them by their Indian subjects. They venerate them, not only as friends and fathers, but with a degree of devotedness approaching to ado- ration. On the occasion of the removals which have taken place of late years from political causes, the distress of the Indians in parting with their pastors has been extreme. They have entreated to be allowed to follow them in their exile, with tears and lament- ations, and with all the demonstrations of true sorrow and un- bounded affection. Indeed, if there ever existed an instance of the perfect justice and propriety of the comparison of the priest

118 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and his disciples to a shepherd and his flock, it is in the case of which we are treating."*

The chief of the Kechis of St. Luis Rev told Bartlett "that hia tribe was large and his people happy, when the good Fathers were there to protect them. That they cultivated the soil, assisted in rearing large herds of cattle, were taught to be blacksmiths and carpenters, as well as other trades ; that they had plenty to eat, and were happy. . . . Now they were scattered about, he knew not where, without a home or protectors, and were in a miserable, starring condition."

" Christian sects," says Bartlett himself, " may cavil about their success among the Indian tribes ; but it is an undeniable fact that the Jesuits (by which he means Catholic missionaries) accom- plished more during their sway than all other religious denomina- tions. They brought the tribes of Mexico and California under the most complete subjection, and kept them so until their order was suppressed. And h«^- was this done ? Not by the sword, nor by treaty, nor by presents, nor by Indian agents, who would sacrifice the poor creatures without scruple or remorse for their own vile gains. The Indian was taught Christianity, with many of the arts of civilized life, and how to sustain himself by his labor. By this simple means, the Society of Jesus (and other religious orders) accomplished more towards ameliorating the condition of the Indians, than the United States has done since the settlement of the country."!

Such was the happy state of the Indians under the missionaries. Under the Mexican government they exclaimed, " See our unhap- py state ! the Fathers can no longer protect us, and the public authorities themselves rob us. Is it not terrible to see wrested from us the missions that we have built, the herds that we have gath- ered by our care, and ourselves and our families exposed to ill

* Forbes, California, 230. t Bartlett, Personal Narrative, ii. 92, 432

SPANISH MISSIONS. 119

treatment and death itself?"* Forbes shows them in the hands of the government reduced to poverty, plunged in vice, constantly in* prison, and a pest to the country, within a few months after the suppression of a mission.f

And though Bartlett found Mission Indians so intelligent and virtuous that Americans married them, he says of them as a class : " They are a miserable, squalid looking set, squatting or lying about the corners of the streets, without occupation. They hav« now no means of obtaining a living, as their lands are all taken from them ; and the missions for which they labored, and which provided after a sort for many thousands of them, are abolished.^ No care seems to be taken of them by the Americans ; on the contrary, the effort seems to be to exterminate them as soon as possible."§

A similar plan was pursued in Florida. We have seen what the Seminole has done. Driven from his village, he became more terrible than tribes that had never been converted or civilized. The Californian threatens to follow his example. " Who can ac- cuse us of guilt," says an Indian chief, " if we act on the defensive, and if we take to the Tulares, bearing with us all the cattle that we can hurry off?" And acting on this plan of vengeance, they sweep off the horses, then the cattle, and even the women of their oppressors.!

The Spanish missions in Florida, Texas, and California, no longer exist. Are we, then, to attribute their annihilation to some 'nherent weakness, or to an external cause? No one who has read their history can hesitate to admit that the interference of government alone crushed them ; that their ruin is chargeable to

* Dnflot de Mofras, Exploration, i. 845. t Forbes, California, 136. J Woe to the poor, when the convent goes 1 § Bartlett, Peraonal Narrative, ii. 82. I Duflot de Mofras, i. 845.

120 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

the English and Mexican governments, and to the inborn hostility of the Anglo-Saxon race to the Indian, — a hostility which has at all times disregarded his rights and sought his extermination. The Pueblo Indian of New Mexico was a citizen of Mexico, and is now by treaty a citizen of the United States ; but an Abnaki in Maine cannot marry a white, and till within a few years an Iroquois could not own a foot of land in his native State ; and the Cherokee, promised admission as a State, has never yet sent a deputy to Washington to sit in our national halls : no Indian, in fact, can hope to attain the honor, except a Pueblo Indian, whose ancestors were converted by Catholic missionaries.

Thus stands the case. The Spanish missions remain a monu- ment of Catholic zeal, and if " they have come to naught,"* if we " must seek in vain for th'e results of their toil and sacrifices,"! the failure is not to be ascribed to the men who created the missions, any more than we can ascribe want of skill to Apelles or Zeuxis because their works have been destroyed. Every human work is liable to change and vicissitude : the missions are among the no- blest works of man, and in the same degree that we admire the zealous men who filled Florida, Texas, and California with Chris- tian villages, must we stamp with every brand of ignominy and disgrace the men and the policy which destroyed them, or drove their inmates back into barbarism.

* Kip, Early Jesuit Missions, xiii.

t Parkinan, Conspiracy of Pontirfc, 48. We need not cite other asser- tions of the kind.

FRENCH MISSIONS

THE FRENCH MISSIONS.

CHAPTER I.

General view of the French missions — Jesuits at Port Royal — Recollects at Quebec- Great Jesuit mission of Canada — Its rapid progress, and great extent— Labors of th« priests of the Foreign missions and Sulpitians — Division of the subject

THE Spanish missions which we have hitherto examined are separated from each other by large tracts of territory, and were entirely independent of each other, being the work of various bodies, undertaken at different times, and not resulting from any gradual progress of civilization and Christianity.

The French missions present a striking contrast to these, and form one gradual conquest, a steadily advancing empire, as regular in its growth as our own republic. The French kings were as sensible of the great duty of converting the natives as the monarchs of Spain. Carrier's commission authorized him to explore, " in order the better to do what is pleasing to God, our Creator and Re- deemer, and what may be for the increase of his holy and sacred name, and of our holy mother, the Church."

De Mont?, the founder of Acadia, was also required to have the Indians instructed, invited, and impelled to a knowledge of God and the light of faith and Christianity. A settlement was begun by him on Boon Island, at the mouth of the St. Croix, as early as 1 608, which, transferred to the opposite shore, took the name of Port Royal, and now bears that of Annapolis. This was the first foothold of France and of Catholicity in the north. Potrincourt, who succeeded him in the work of colonization, addressed a touching letter to the Pope, and obtained his benediction on his labors. As the propagation of

124 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Christianity was thus desired by all, the king chose evangelica. laborers for the field of Acadia. Two Jesuit missionaries soon ar- rived there to convert the natives, and after laboring among the Micmacs or Souriquois of Nova Scotia, removed to the coast of Maine to plant the cross among the Abnakis, but alas ! only to see it broken, and their mission crushed by English violence.

Quebec was, however, built in a more secure spot by the pious Champlain. Deeply sensible of the duty of Christian powers to extend the gospel, justly deeming the conversion of the heathen more glorious than the conquest of a kingdom,* he soon sought a body of missionaries to labor on the St. Lawrence among the many tribes whom his policy had won. The Recollects, abranch of the Franciscans, who had revived all the fervor of their order's early days, and were then recently established in France, listened to his call, and in 1615 three priests and one lay-brother came over to begin their labors.

The field was one of trouble and difficulty, but of peace. The Montagnais on the Saguenay, and the Algonquins proper on the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, split up into various petty tribes, all nomadic, and reliant chiefly on hunting and fishing, presented a field appalling in its difficulty, as they had no villages, and the work of conversion seemed to require a missionary for every wan- dering hunter's lodge. Allied to these, though distinct in origin and language, were a tribe on the banks of Lake Huron, by them- selves, in their own tongue, called Wendats or Wyandots, but by the French nicknamed Hurons.

One Recollect proceeded to this tribe, while his companions re- mained to labor among the Algonquins and Montagnais on the St. Lawrence. These three great missions continued under the Fran- ciscans alone till 1625, when three Jesuits, on their invitation, ar-

* " La salut d'une seule ame vaut mieux quo la conquete d'une empire, et les rois ne doivent songer a dtendre leur domination dans les pays oft regne 1'idolatrie, que pour les soumettre a Jesus Christ." These are the first words in Champlain's Voyages.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 125

rived to aid them. Both orders then labored in concert till 1629, when the English took Quebec and carried off all the missionaries. On the restoration of the country to France the mission was offered by the French government to the Capuchins, another branch of the Franciscans, and being declined by them, was, at their suggestion, given to the Jesuits.* The latter returned in 1633, resumed the work already begun, and for nearly half a century wrestled with paganism in the northern wilds. Henceforth Quebec became a centre, whence Jesuit missionaries were sent far and wide. Zeal and enthusiasm for the mission cause were' soon excited in Europe, especially in the Society of Jesus, its friends and patrons ; and the younger Jesuits burned with a new ardor to labor among the In- dians of New France. Young men left camp and court to enter the order in the hope of sharing the toil of the missionaries ; a son of the Marquis de Gamache founded the college of Quebec by his devotedness. Even the convents of women partook the general zeal ; the Ursulines and Hospital nuns came to show the Indians Christianity in practice, tending the sick and instructing the young, while Canada itself raised a new society to aid them.

The rich and noble bestowed ample funds, not only, as we have seen, to found the college of Quebec, but also to establish missions in various parts.f

* Richelieu's permission, in Bressani, Relation abrege'e, p. 295. t A manuscript at Quebec, one of the few papers of the voluminous Jesuit archives, which, in the hands of the colonial authorities, have survived to this day, gives the following curious list of benefactors to the Jesuit mission. Jt is dated in 1663:

March 15, 1626, Marquis de Gamache 48,000 liv., 8,000 per annum.

1634, Mr. Bardin 5,400 "

April 2T, 1687, " " TOO " «

1633. Cardinal Richelieu (Huron mission).. 1,000 u "

Feb. 22, 1639, M. de Sillery 20.000 «

Mine. Berni'ere 80,000 "

1644, Mr. Avenel 100 "

" 28, 1646, Mr. Lontlion 12,000 "

4ug. 14, " Brother St. Giiles 25,000 "

Mine St. Giiles 5,000 "

Mine. <le Manpeon 6,000 "

1655. An unknown person at Vanne 1,200 "

Mme. de la Peltrio 7,000 «

126 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Yet the time was not propitious ; the Canada Indians, though all at peace with each other, were at war with the Iroquois in New York, and in the contest lost fearfully year after year. Still the missions went on. The Algonquins on Lake Huron began to re- ceive missionaries, and two were sent to the rapids of St. Mary, the outlet of Lake Superior, in 1642. That very year Jogues, one of these two, taken prisoner by the Iroquois, preached on the Mo- hawk, and escaping to the Dutch colony, finally reached Europe safely, only to return to Canada again. In an interval of peace, ir. 1646, he was sent to the Mohawk to begin the first Iroquois mis- sion, and at the same time Druillettes set out to found another mission among the Abnakis on the Kennebec. Jogues was slain, his mission overthrown, a new war ensued, in which the Huron nation was destroyed, and the Algonquins reduced. The missions were thus broken up. The surviving Hurons fled ; some to Quebec to form the mission of Loretto; some joined the Iroquois in New York, and led to new missions there ; some struck west to the shores of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, and roaming to Macki- naw, Detroit, and Sandusky, now dwell on the banks of the Kansas and Missouri.

When peace was at last restored, missions were again begun in the cantons of the Iroquois, and though interrupted from time to time by wars, and finally crushed by English intrigue in 1685, and by subsequent violence, succeeded in that period in gaining so many, that the neophytes, retiring to the St. Lawrence, formed Christian' villages, three of which still exist

About the same time missionaries were sent to the shores of Lake Superior, to found the Ottawa mission among the Chippe- ways and Ottawas. The Fathers soon extended their labors to the Menomonees, Pottawottamies, Sacs, Foxes, Kikapoos, Mascou- tins, all Algonquins, to the Winnebagoes, a branch of the great Dacota family, then to the Miami and Illinois, the last branches of the Algic race in the west.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 127

These missions led to the discovery of the Mississippi, and to trie founding of permanent missions among the Illinois, where j esuits, Recollects, and priests from the Seminary of Quebec, la- bored almost side by side. A mission in Arkansas was the most distant effort made by the Jesuits of Quebec, but the Seminary sent its priests to Natchez and Mobile.

When Louisiana was settled, Jesuits were sent from France to undertake missions on the Lower Mississippi, and replanting the cross at Arkansas, announced the faith to the Yazoos, Alabamas, Choctaws, and Creeks. These new Jesuit missions were not subject to the Superior at Quebec, but to another at New Orleans.

Such is the scope of the French missions, which may be thus divided, —

I. The Abnaki mission, in Maine ; II. The Huron mission, in Upper Canada, Michigan, and Ohio ;

III. The Iroquois mission, in New York ;

IV. The Ottawa mission, in Wisconsin and Michigan ; V. The Illinois mission, in Illinois ; and

VI. The Louisiana mission.

They extend chiefly from 1625 to 1763, but have all been con- tinued to the present time. Those of Canada have been the most accurately chronicled, and of them we possess the most satisfactory details. The early Superiors at Quebec who give them were earn- est, enterprising men, themselves all inured to missionary labor. Year by year they sent their apostolic laborers to face death in every shape as heralds of the cross.

As all obeyed the same Superior, the same missionary will appear at different times in missions the most distant from each other ; now laboring amid the snows of Maine, or amid the snow and ice of Hudson's Bay, then at Sault St. Mary's, or among the Illinois, on the upland plains of Missouri. Some recalled to Eu- rope, were sent to end their days in other lands. A missionary

128 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

who had visited Albany dies at Martinique, or Macerata, or in St. Domingo ;* another, after instructing the Hurons by their lake, passes his remaining days in the dress of a man of letters, win- ning the children of the celestial empire to the gospel of truth, or roaming through Tartary, meets a Huron woman, and proves that Asia and America touch or closely approach each other.f

The Spanish missionaries, as we have seen, first went alone to found missions in Florida and New Mexico, and failing, adopted another system, by which each missionary corps consisted of mis- sionaries with Spanish soldiers, Indians already converted, and mechanics. In this way the missions of New Mexico, Texas, and California were carried out.

The French plan was different : the missionary planted his cross among the heathen, and won all that he could to the faith, and whenever he could formed a distinct village of Christians ; but these villages were never like the missions of the Spanish mis- sionaries : the French priest left his neophyte free — setting him no task, building no splendid edifices by his toil. The Spanish mission contained its workshops, dormitories, infirmaries, and gra- naries ; the French mission was a fort against hostile attack, and inclosed merely the church, mission-house, and mechanics' sheds — the Indians all living without in cabins or houses, and entering the fort only in time of danger.

The missions of the French, then, bear a new aspect : tribes remain tribes — the Indian free in his idolatry was free as a Chris- tian. As of the Spanish missionaries, so of the French, every au- thority bears testimony to their worth ; many were men of eminent sanctity and devotedness, and America no less than Catholicity claims them as her heroes.

We cannot forbear citing here some lines written on the fly-leaf

* Poncet, Bressaui, Le Mercier. t Qrelon.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 129

of the journal of the Superiors of the Jesuits, and which apply equally to all the missionary bodies :

" Si vacat annales nostrorum audire laborum, Ante annos clauso componet Vesper Olympo, Quam pr||po repetens ab origine singula tradam. Quse regio in terris nostri tarn plena laboris I Dispice sacratas nostrorum ex ordine pugnas Bellaque, jam fama totum vulgata per orbem, Et laceros artus ambustaque corpora flammis. Juratus prseclaram Huronutn exscindere gentem, Iroquaaus multS vastabat cade colonos Hostibus occisis, pessumdedit Algonquinoa."

CHAPTER II.

•THB ABNAKI MISSION.

The Abnakls— First Jesuit mission under Father Biard— Its difficulties — St. Savior's founded— Its destruction by Argal— Recollect missions— Capuchins— New Jesuit mis- sion under Druillettes — His sufferings and success in Maine — His embassies and later missions.

THE tribe called by the French Abnakis, by the English Taran- teens, and by the New Yorkers Owenagungas, was one of the most powerful Algonquin tribes in the east, and occupied the greater part of the present State of Maine. Less errant than most of the tribes of the Algic family, they possessed settled villages and cultivated lands, although at certain seasons all went to fish or hunt. Although distinguished as warriors, they never were charged with cruelty, while a certain purity of morals and amenity of man- ners raised them above most of the surrounding tribes.

Port Royal, now Annapolis, in Nova Scotia, had been but just founded, when projects for the conversion of the natives occupied

6*

130 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Jie thoughts of the great Henry IV., who then filled the thion« of France. At his suggestion Father Coton, the Provincial of the Jesuits, undertook the mission, and selected Fathers Peter Biard and Enemond Masse to be the apostles of New France. Full of a holy enthusiasm, the two missionaries hastened to Bordeaux in 1608, hut found no means of embarking. An evident disposition existed to prevent their voyage, and in 1610, we find them at Dieppe, ready to enter the vessel of Potrincourt, the patentee of Port Royal. Here a new difficulty arose : the vessel was owned in part by two Huguenot merchants, who refused a passage to members of the hated order, and the two missionaries retired to the college of Eu. No alternative now remained but to purchase a vessel, and Lady Guercheville, the protectress of the mission, having collected at court a sufficient sum, bought of the two mer- chants their share in the vessel and cargo, and transferring it to the missionaries as a fund for their support, made them partners with Potrincourt. This step, which the malice of their enemies rendered necessary, was made the occasion of new charges, and, as we shall see, gave rise to greater difficulties in America.

Having thus secured a passage, they sailed with Biencourt, a son of the proprietor, and landed at Port Royal on the 12th of June, 1611. A French priest, Messire Jesse Fleche, of Langres, was already there, but confined himself chiefly to the care of the colonists, although he baptized, apparently somewhat in haste, a number of the natives, and sent an account of it to France.*

On arriving at Port Royal, the two missionaries set to work to learn the Micmac language, but found none of the French able to assist them. Fortunately the Sagamore Membertou had learnt some French, and was anxious to know the doctrines of Christian- ity thoroughly before he received baptism. In a short time all bis doubts were dissipated, and the missionaries, now conversant

* See a list in Lescarbot, Nouvelle France.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 131

with the language, hoped soon to convert the whole tribe ; but these hopes were dashed by the unexpected death of Membertou. Undismayed by the loss, they continued their labors, residing princi- pally in the lodges of the Micmacs, or toiling among the colonists, on whom want began to press. Their position was one of trial : sacrificing themselves for others, they received at the hands of Bien- court, then commanding the settlement, every abuse and indignity. Although, as we have seen, the missionaries were really partners in the trade, Biencourt refused them any share in the stores, denied them even the usual rations, and on their remonstrating against his conduct, the headstrong boy, for he was only eighteen years of age, threatened to have them publicly flogged. Despairing now of effect- ing any good result in such a colony, Biard and Masse resolved to return to Europe ; but the caprices of Biencourt were not ex- hausted ; he actually forced them to reland when already em- barked.* A lay-brother, named Gilbert du Thet, had brought them out supplies, and on his return to France, he acquainted the Marchioness de Guercheville, the patroness of the mission, with the wretched state of the two Fathers, and the wrong done them. She had already interested herself too much to be willing to see her zealous designs thus crushed : she endeavored to make with Potrincourt, the owner of Port Royal, some arrangement which would leave the missionaries at liberty to prosecute their labors. Failing in this, she resolved to found in some other spot a mission colony. Father Biard had already visited the Kennebec, and spoke so highly of the country and people, that she chose it for the site. A patent from the king, and a grant or release from De Monts, a former patentee, were easily obtained. Her own property, aided by contributions from the queen and the ladies of the French court, soon equipped a vessel, which was sent out with all necessary articles under the command of La Saussaye. On

* Lescarbot, decidedly hostile to the Jesuits, states this fact.

132 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

arriving at Port Royal, in March, 1613, this commander took the two missionaries on board, and they, with Du Thet and Fathers Quentin and Lalemant, who came with La Saussaye, sailed foi Mount Desert Island, at the mouth of the Penobscot. Their pilot, by some mistake, carried them to the east side of the island, Here they landed, and having planted a cross, the Fathers offered the holy sacrifice of the mass, and taking possession of the island, founded a mission settlement under the name of the Holy Sa- viour. While the colonists were raising a little fort and houses, Father Biard with Lieutenant La Motte le Vilin landed on the coast, and advanced into the interior of the country, in order to explore it, and if possible open friendly communications with the natives. When they at last descried a village, their ears were saluted by fearful yells and cries, and supposing it to be a funeral ceremony, they hastened on, till they met an Indian, who told them that a child was dying. In hopes of arriving in time to baptize it, the missionary ran with all speed, and on reaching the village, found all ranged in a double line, with the father of the child at the end, holding the little sufferer in his arms. At every sigh it uttered, he gave a fearful yell, which taken up and repeated on either side, produced the noise which had attracted the missionary. Biard, who with Masse had made some progress in the Algonquin at Port Royal, advanced to the father, and asked him whether he •was willing to have his child baptized. He silently laid it in the arms of the missionary, who, handing it to La Motte, ran for wa- ter and baptized it, amid the silent wonder of the Indians. He then knelt and implored the Almighty to vouchsafe some sign of his power in order to confirm his ministry in the eyes of this blind but docile people. His prayer was not refused. The child, being now handed over to its mother, was to all appearance well, and applied ite lips to her breast So striking a wonder disposed all to receive the missionaries as men of superior power ; and, grate- ful to God, with a heart elated by hope, Father Biard returned tc

FRENCH MISSIONS. 133

St, Savior's. The fort was soon finished ; the various articles were landed ; those who were not to remain prepared to embark, and the vessel, all ready for sea, lay at anchor, when a storm arose, which annihilated all their hopes.

Some English fishing vessels, escorted by Argal, whose name in Virginian annals is infamous for fraud and injustice, were driven on the coast of Maine, and learning that a European settlement was just begun on the island, resolved to surprise it. At the mo- ment of their arrival, the French party were divided : De la Saus- Baye and most of his men, with the Fathers, were in the fort, La Motte, Brother Gilbert, and the rest, on the vessel. Seeing the English vessels, to the number of ten, bearing down on him, La Motte prepared to defend himself; but as the first volley of the Virginians wounded many on board, he surrendered, finding him- self too weak to cope with the enemy. Argal came on board, seized De la Saussaye's papers, and summoned the fort to surren- der, which it did. In the engagement Brother Gilbert du Thet had been mortally wounded ; he was taken ashore and expired the next day, after having received the last sacraments, with great con- stancy, resignation, and devotion in the cause of God for the great favor accorded him. He was buried at the foot of the cross, and with him were buried the hopes of the mission.

In this happy death Du Thet's fondest wish was realized, for, flays Biard, " on departing from Honfleur, in the presence of the whole crew, he raised his hands and eyes to heaven, praying God that he might never return to France, but might die laboring for the conquest of souls, and the salvation of the Indians."*

Aigal resolved to break up the whole establishment : he ac- cused Saussaye of piracy, and as he could not produce his com- mission, threatened to hang him. His first intention was to carry all off, but he finally allowed La Motte and some others to depart,

* Biard, Kelation de la Nouvelle France, de ses terres, naturel du pais et de ses habitants, etc. p. 235.

134 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and make their way, as best they might, to Port Royal. The rest, including Father Biarcl and two other Jesuits, he carried off to Virginia, although he had promised to send them to France. The Governor of Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale, on the representations of Argal, was about to put them to death as pirates, but, learning the truth, sent Argal back to destroy Port Royal. He took his prisoners with him, and being informed by some of the French at that post that Biardwas a Spaniard, resolved to have him executed under the English penal laws ; but on his return his vessels were scattered by a storm ; that bearing the missionaries was driven to the Azores, and there, in a Catholic port, without a commission, the captain found himself at the mercy of Father Biard, who, far from seeking to avenge his wrongs, made no appeal to the Portu- guese authorities. The vessel finally reached England, whence Biard returned to France.*

St. Savior's was now a ruin — the broken cross alone remained above the body of Du Thet to guard that land for Catholicity ; all was silent — no hymn, no voice of prayer; no savages reclaimed for God and society were gathered there. Thus the first Abnaki mis- sion was crushed in its very cradle by men who founded a colony in which the gospel was never announced to the aborigines.f

* Peter Biard was a native of Grenoble, in the south of France. H« was a man of learning and ability. After his return to France he became professor of theology at Lyons, and finally died at Avignon, on the 17th o. November, 1622, being at the time a chaplain in the army.

Enemond Masse was born in 1574, and entered the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty-two. When sent to America he was socius of Father Colon, the celebrated Provincial. After escaping from Argal he returned to France, and did all in his power to restore the mission, exciting the zeal of the younger members of his order by his description of the vaet field from which he had been torn. In 1625, the mission was restored, and he to his joy returned to Canada, where he labored unremittingly among the Algon quins and Monfagnais, till Quebec was taken in 1629, and he once more be- came a prisoner. In 1633, however, he was again sent to Canada, and re- mained till his death, May 12, 1646.

f Champlain, liv. iii. ch. i. (ed. 1603, p. 98); Jouvency, Hist. Soc. Je«.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 1S5

Some years after the desolation of St. Savior's, some Recollects, or Refoimed Franciscans, of the province of Aquitaine, began (in 1619) a mission in Acadia. Their chief station was on the St. John's River, and, according to Father Le Clercq, they began cer- tain Indian missions, for which he refers to their own published account, a work of which no copy is known to exist in this coun- try or the large libraries of Europe. We know merely that one of their number, Father Sebastian, visited Quebec, and subse- quently died of hunger or by accident while on his way from Mis- con to Port Royal; and that in 1624, three other Fathers, James de la Foyer, Louis Fontinier, and James Cardon, abandoned theii mission, and joined the Recollects of Quebec ;* but three Recollects were sent to La Tour's colony -by Tufet in 1630, and these were still at their old posts in 1633, to serve the French, and convert the Indians.1}1

Some Capuchins, who were afterwards stationed on the coast as chaplains to French posts, had a convent on the Penobscot, and a hospice on the Kennebec, but we are not aware that they ever attempted any Indian missions.^

Many years after the effort of Biafd, an accident recalled the Jesuits to that coast. In 1642, there existed on the banks of the St. Lawrence a reduction or missionary station, St. Joseph's or Sillery, founded by the pious and excellent commander, Noel Bru- lart de Sillery, where the Jesuits had gathered many Algonquins and Montagnais, who, from their love of the faith, gave up their wan- dering life to till the ground, and reside near their pastors.§

p. 824 ; Lescarbot, 663-681 ; De Laet, Nov. Orbis, 59 ; Eel. 1646, p. 37 ; Eres- Bani, Relation abregee, 174; Litt. Ann. 1611-8.

* Le Clerc, Establissement de la Foi, vol. i. ch. 5.

t Champlain (ed. 1632), p. 282.

t Charlev. i. 435 ; Eels. 1646, 50 ; Crenxius, 483; Jesuit Journal.

§ It owed its name and foundation to Noel Brulart de Sillery, Knight 01 Malta, who, after a brilliant life at the court of Louis XII., became a model »f sanctity after the jubilee of 1625, and embracing the clerical state sax

136 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Among the noblest of the neophytes, who renewed at Sillery all the purity and sanctity of the primitive church, and made it the elysium of Canada, was Charles Meiaskwat. In 1642, some Abna- ki.s were taken by a party of pagan Algonquins, and though well known not to be enemies, and easily recognized by their language as members of the same great Algic family, were treated with every possible cruelty. To rescue them, Charles and Nicolet, an early explorer of the west, started in all haste from Sillery : Nicolet per- ished in a rapid, Meiaskwat reached his pagan countrymen in time to save their victims, and brought them back in holy triumph to Sillery, where then existed a Hospital of the Nuns, now at Quebec. Here the poor Abnakis were received, and soon cured of all their wounds. When sufficiently recovered, one set out for his native village, armed, equipped, and supplied with provisions, and, more- over, not alone, but attended by Charles Meiaskwat. That excel- lent man reached the Kennebec, visited the English at Coussinoc, now Augusta, and everywhere so extolled the greatness of the Christian doctrine and its sublime promises, that many were filled with a desire to know it thoroughly, and see it in its practical workings. One sagamo, or chief, accompanied Meiaskwat to Quebec, and, after instruction, embraced the faith.* Others fol- lowed his example, and in a few years each Abnaki village could count several Christians. At last two sagamos came on Assump- tion-day to ask for Black-gowns to instruct the tribe. They were joyfully and graciously received by the governor, Montmaguy, a knight of Malta, and zealous for the spread of religion. As soon as the peace with the Iroquois, in 1646, gave the Jesuits a breath- ing-spell, Father Gabriel Druillettes was sent to the Kennebec, at

years later, gave limself entirely to good works. Sillery was begno in 1637. Bressani, p. 300.

* Relation de cc qui s'est passe dans les missions de la Nouvelle France es annces, 1642-3, p. 15-70. These volumes are the annual reports of the Superiors at Quebec, and will be quoted constantly. See " Jesuit Relations."

FRENCH MISSIONS. 137

Ihe same time that Father Isaac Jogues was sent to the Mohawk.* As this new mission had been asked for on the feast of that name» it took the title of the Assumption.! The missionary set out on the 2J)th of August, attended by Noel Negabamat and a party of In- dians, and soon reached the Kennebec, though the journey was one of pain and hardship. All gathered around him with joyful wel- comes, for the Abnakis are a docile people, and quite susceptible of good impressions. Further acquaintance confirmed their esteem ; the missionary shared their poor fare without a sign of discontent, bore every hardship in travelling with gayety and cheerfulness, and in their hour of plenty took his own portion to the sick. To learn their dialect was his first care, and in two or three months he was better able to converse than Algonquins who had been long amongst them.J

God gave a wonderful blessing to the instructions of F. Druil- lettes : the Abnakis listened with joy, and many sought baptism, but the missionaiy prudently deferred it, granting that precious boon only to the dying. A league above the English post the na- tives had built him a chapel of boards. This was his central sta- tion, and here, after many instructions, he called upon them, as a preliminary to their reception as catechumens, to do three things — 1st, To renounce intoxicating liquors ; 2d, To live in peace with their neighbors ; and 3d, To give up their medicine bags, drums, and other superstitious objects. To these demands they all agreed,

* Journal of the Superior of the Jesuits, MS. The same resolution in coun- cil gave birth to the Iroquois and Abnaki missions — both still in existence.

t Relation, 1646.

J As a specimen of their language we annex the Our Father, as given by the Picpusian Edmund Demilier, Ann. Prop. viii. 197 :

"Kemitanksena spomkik ayan waiwaisehnoguatch ayiliwisian amantai paitriwai witawaikai ketepelta inohauganeck aylikitankouak ketelailtamo- hangan spomkik tali yo nampikik paitchi kik tankouataitche mamilinai yo paitni ghisgak daitaskiskouai aipournena yopa hatch! anaihail taraa wihaikai kaissikakau wihiolaikaipan aliniona kisi anaihailtamakokaik kaikauwia kai- taipanik mosak kaittv litchi kitawikaik tampamohoutchi saghihouneminamai on lahamibtakai saghihousouaminai mainaitchikill, Nialest.

138 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

The English, witnesses of the good he had already accomplished, hailed F. Druillettes as a true friend of humanity, although at the moment Plymouth was passing a cruel law against his order and profession. Father Ignatius de Paris, superior of the Capuchins on the Kennebec below, met him with a warm welcome. When the Indians went to Moose Head Lake to hunt, Druillettes accompanied them; his catechumens gathered around him, and though the medicine-men declared that the followers of the Black-gown would be taken by the Iroquois and find no deer, they returned safe and well, loaded with venison. He continued his labors and visits to sick and well till the month of May, the period fixed for his return. Then he announced his departure. A general grief prevailed. " Thou grievest our minds to talk of thy going, and the uncertainty of thy return." " We must say," said others, " that Father Gabriel does not love us : he does not care, though we shall die, as he abandons us." The grief of the missionary was not less, but docile to the voice of obedience, he set out with a party, and reached Quebec in June.*

Charmed by the happiness they had enjoyed, the Abnakis sent in September for their missionary, and again in the two following years ; but were ..nable to obtain him, so limited was the number of missionaries for the stations then under their charge.f In 1650, their assiduity and fervor was rewarded by success, and Druillettes set out with a party on the last day of August, although just re- turned from a long wintering at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and spent with fatigue. Besides his missionary duties, he was now

* Relation, 1647, p. 176: Journal Superiors. J.

t The opposition of the Capuchins was another reason. They had received him kindly, and, in 1643, Father Cosmas de Mante, the Superior, wrote to encourage him (Relation, 1650-1, p. 68) ; yet, by an entry in the Journal of the Superior of the Jesuits, it is stated that the Abnakis, who came July 8-4, 1647, brought a letter from the Capuchins, asking that he should not re- turn, and they declined for that reason. Before the second mission of Druil •ettes the Capuchins had been carried off by De la Tour.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 13S

an envoy of the governor of Canada to the New England colonies which had proposed a kind of union, to which the French gov- ernor acceded, provided the New Englanders would aid Canada against the Iroquois. On his way to the Kennebec he suffered greatly : the guides, in attempting to shorten the route, lost it, and the party wandered about till their provisions were all consumed. They ascribed their final success in hunting only to the prayers of Druillettes, who offered up the holy sacrifice to draw down the mercy of God, and obtained, as he often did, relief which seems truly miraculous. That good missionary suffered not only from want, but also from the brutality and ill treatment of an Etchemiu Indian in the party, who, nursed by Father Druillettes in sickness, repaid his charity by the blackest ingratitude. At last, after four and-twenty days of hardship, they reached Norridgewalk, the chief Abnaki village. All the tribe were forthwith in motion, and, amid a volley of firearms, the chief embraced the missionary, crying : " I see well that the Great Spirit, who rules in the heavens, deigns to look favorably on us, since he sends us back our patriarch." Universal joy prevailed : men, women, children, all sought to ex- press their happiness at the missionary's return. A banquet was spread in every cabin, and he was forced to visit all. " We have thee, at last," they cried ; " thou art our father, our patriarch, our countryman. Thou livest like us, thou dwellest with us, thou art an Abnaki like us. Thou bringest back joy to all the country. We had thought of leaving this land to seek thee, for many have died in thy absence. We were losing all hopes of reaching heaven. Those whom thou didst instruct, performed all they had learnt, but their heart was weary, for it sought and could not find thee."

On every side he heard gentle reproaches : here a father led him to the cross-covered grave of his children, whom he had baptized in death, yet feared that he had erred, and that they would no< enjoy eternal life.

After giving a few days to these joys and sorrows, Father Druil

140 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

lettes descended to Coussinoc, and announced to the English agent his political mission, and, having paid occasional visits to his flock, •was at last, in November, coasting along past Cape Ann to Boston harbor. Amid the homes of the Puritans, the son of Loyola was well received, and at Roxbury, Elliott, devoted like himself to the conversion of the Indians,* invited him to pass the winter under his hospitable roof; but rest was not a part of the Jesuit's life. His Abnakis called him, and by February.be was back among them, and engaged in his missionary toils.f " In spite of all that is pain- ful and crucifying to nature in these missions, there are also," he •writes, "great joys and consolations. More plenteous than I can express are those I felt, to see that the seed of tiie gospel which I had scattered here four years ago, in land which for so many cen- turies had produced only thorns and brambles, already bore fruit so worthy of the Lord."

The great mass of his former catechumens had persevered, and had communicated what they had learnt to others : a few months' instruction prepared them for baptism, which he could now give without scruple, after the trial which they had passed. In June, 1651, he returned for two weeks to Quebec, and after a second official visit to Boston, continued his labors on the Kennebec till March, 1652, when, after much hardship and suffering, he reached Quebec. Nothing could exceed the devotedness of the Indians to their missionary. When an Englishman accused Druillettes of speaking against his nation, the Indian chiefs repaired to Coussinoc, and declaring the accusation to be false, warned them not to attack their patriarch, even in words. Extolling his sanctity and devoted- ness, they exclaimed : " Know that he is now of our nation ; we

* It is worthy of remark that the Indians, to whom Elliott first preached, were not ignorant of Christianity, and the New England missionary ascribed the knowledge they possessed to some French priest, shipwrecked on the coast. See his Life by Convers Francis.

f Druillette's Noire d'un voyage, &c., MS., New York Hist. Coll. I, Hi.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 141

have adopted him into the tribe, and regard him as the wisest o{ our chiefs ; we respect him as the ambassador of Jesus. Who- ever attacks him, attacks all the Abnaki tribe."*

The faith had thus been planted among the Abnakis ; but the destruction of the Hurons, the death and recall of many of the mis- sionaries, rendered it impossible to send a successor of Druillettes to the Kennebec. In 1656, he was sent, with Father Garreau, to found a mission on Lake Superior ; but when that project was ruined by the death of Garreau, slain near Montreal by the mur- derous Iroquois, Father Druillettes was again sent to Maine, and wintered with his neophytes ; but in the following spring took a final leave of them, and, as we shall subsequently see, spent most of his remaining years in far distant missions.f

Two years after, when the holy Bishop Laval and the veteran superior Jerome Lalemant gave a new impulse to the Indian mis- sions, Fathers of the Society of Jesus were again sent to the lodges of the Abnakis to break to them the bread of life ; but these mis- sions were not permanent, and for years no tidings reach us.

* Relation, 1651-2, p. 2, 8. Jesuit Journal, March 30, 1652.

t Relation, 1656-7. Father Gabriel Druillettes was born in the year 1593. He embarked at Rochellc with Garreau and Chabanel in May, 1643, and after a stormy voyage arrived on the 15th of August. Sent the next year to winter with the Algonquins, he completely lost his sight, but recovered it in a most wonderful manner while offering up Mass for his recovery. From this time he was constantly with the Montagnais, the Algonquins, Kristineaux, Papina- chois, and Abnakis. In 1656, he set out for the west with Garreau, but the mission was defeated. In 1661, accompanied by Dablon, he attempted to reach Hudson's Bay by land, but was compelled to return. After instructing Mar- quette, in 1666 he followed him to the west, and, though broken by age and infirmity, labored at or near Sault St. Mary's till 1679. He then returned to Quebec, and died there on the 8th of April, 1681, at the age of 88, nearly forty of which he had spent on the Canada mission. A man of fifty when he came, he suffered more than most even of his companions ; " while his extreme zeal for the conversion of souls, and the great talent God had given for lan- guages, made him one of our best missionaries," says a contemporary; and Charlevoix, after relating one of the many miracles ascribed to him, says that God had rendered him powerful in word and work. For his Life, see Paris Doc., Boston, iii. 21 ; N. Y. Hist. Soc. II. iii; Charl. i. 310, and the Relations.

CHAPTER III.

ABNAKI MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Abnakis at Silleiy — Bigot founds the Chandiere mission — The Bigots In Maine — Thnry •t Penobscot— Father Simon on the St John's— Fervor of the Neophytes — The JesuiU — Rale and his mission — Death of Thury — New mission of St Francis — Attempts on Bale's life — Mission of Bocancour — Wrongs of the Indian — Cruel murder of Hale.

ON the failure of the ecclesiastical authorities to keep up regular pastors for the converted Indians in Maine, the Jesuits sought to draw the Christian Abnakis to Sillery, which was now greatly reduced by war and sickness. Here the men of the Kennebec mingled with the surviving Algonquins, and soon made it an Abnaki mission. As the soil was nearly exhausted, Father James Bigot looked out for a new site : a charitable lady in France, the Marchioness de Bauche, became the foundress ; and a charming spot was purchased in 1683 at the falls of the Chaudiere, one of the most beautiful cataracts in Canada, where the mission of St. Francis de Sales soon rose. Many settled here, and at last all removed to it in 1685, with their missionaries, Fathers Bigot and Gassot ; and Sillery, which had been for nearly half a century a refuge of the Algic church, was deserted.* In spite of many accidents, the destruction of their new church, the loss of their chapel furniture and other misfortunes, this mission flourished and amply repaid the zeal of the missionaries,! who, however, soon had to struggle with a sickness which desolated their flock. The tender

* The walls of the chapel of Sillery were still standing thirty years ago; and the foundations of that edifice, the hospital, and mission-house may still be found on the ground occupied by the offices and sheds of Mr. Le Mesu- rier, at the foot of the hill, opposite the residence of Judge Caron. — Ferland, Notes sur Les Eegistres de Notre Dame de Quebec, p. 28.

t Letter of F. Jas. Bigot, October 6, 1684.

« FRENCH MISSIONS. 143

piety, zeal, and desire of amendment in the Indians, render the account of the Fathers most touching.*

About the time of this removal, or shortly prior to it, the two Fathers Bigot had attempted to restore the mission of Father Druillettes, but were opposed by the Fishery company, which had a monopoly of the coast. Governor Denonville, however, saw the injustice of yielding to the avarice of these merchants, and in a memoir to the court insisted on restoring the Jesuit mission.f In 1688, Father Bigot resumed his labors on the Kennebec, while Thury, a priest of the diocese of Quebec, a man of ability and tact, soon gathered around him a numerous and fervent band of neo- phytes at Panawaniske, on the Penobscot, under the protection of the Baron St. Castine, and not long after, the Recollect, Father Simon, governed a more distant mission at Medoktek, near the mouth of the St John's. Though missions were thus established in all the Abnaki towns, new difficulties arose. Their territory was a disputed ground between the French and English, and the Abna- kis, attached to the former by a common faith and former acts of kindness and good-will, were embittered against the latter by -^wrongs and oppression sustained at their hands. War soon broke out, and the missionaries, often in jeopardy, remained manfully at their posts, inculcating mercy in war, as well as every other Christian virtue. Sometimes they accompanied the war-parties as chaplains, at others they remained with the women and children. We may judge of the fervor of their neophytes by the fact that when the braves of Panawaniske set out to attack Fort Pemquid, in 1689, they all approached the sacraments with their wives and children, that the latter might raise pure hands to heaven, while they were in deadly combat with the enemies of their race and faith. During the whole period of the expedition a perpetual rosary was estab- lished, not even the time of meals interrupting so edifying an exerciee.J

* Letter of same, 1685. f Charlev. ii. 876. J Charlev. i

144 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Such was the flock of the excellent Thury, and the Indians of the Jesuit stations were not, we are told, at all inferior in piety and devotion to the neophytes of the zealous priest of the seminary of Quebec. Besides the two Bigots, scions of the noble house of the Viscounts Bigot, there labored from time to time on these Jesuit missions, Father Julian Binneteau, Joseph Aubery, Peter de la Chasse, Sebastian Rale, Stephen Lauvergat, and Loyard ; but of their labors, their trials, their hardships and success, time has spared us few details.

Father Rale, long the terror of the New Englanders, is the best known of these. Stationed first at the Chaudiere village, then iu the Illinois country, we find him from 1695 at Norridgewalk en- gaged in duties which were his only thought, till his death satis- fied a political hatred. The site of his mission, now called Indian Old Point, is a sequestered spot on the Kennebec, where nature, in all her charms, still arrests the attention of the traveller. Rale is not the apostle of the Kennebec. At his arrival the Abnakis were almost, if not quite, all converted, and had a small but well-built church. For a part of the year, the missionary and his flock re- mained at the village ; but when the crops had been sown, they repaired to the seacoast to fish : a travelling tent^ like Israel's tab- ernacle, being their chapel on the way, and a bark cabin receiving it on the shore. In like manner the winter was spent in hunting, either on the coast or in the mountains.

Soon after beginning his labors here, Rale beheld a new tribe approach his mission. The Amalingans came to ascertain the truth of what they had heard. Struck by all that they saw at the mission, they solicited instruction, listened to his teach- ing, and embraced the faith when, at the next season, he visited their camp. Thenceforth they and the Abnakis seem to have coa- lesced.

On the third of June, 1699, Thury died among his forest chil- dren, regretted by all who knew him. His loss was felt to be a

FRENCH MISSIONS. 145

severe blow, not only on account of his labors as a zealous and able missionary, but also of the credit which his virtue and disinterested- ness gave the mission.*

Thury was succeeded at Penobscot by Messrs. Gaulin and Ra- geot, both of the Seminary of the Foreign Missions, who were in Penobscot till 1703. In that year the mission was transferred to the Jesuits, who thus had the direction of all the missions in Maine.f

Meanwhile the mission on the St. Lawrence flourished under the care of its founders, the Bigots ; but as the location on the banks of the Chaudiere was found inconvenient, the Abnakis, after a res- idence of ten or twelve years at that beautiful and most romantic spot, removed in 1700 to the spot which they still occupy, giving it the name of their patron saint^ Francis de Sales.J This village, in consequence of the wars, soon increased by emigration from Maine, and is that which poured the St. Francis Indians on the New England frontier.

We come down now to the war of 1703, a contest between England and France, which involved their colonies in a desolating war. New England, which had just passed an act condemning the Catholic missionaries to imprisonment for life, sought their mediation to obtain neutrality on the part of the Abnakis. Fail- ing in this, they resolved to make them atone for all, and sought

* Peter Thury was born at Bayeux, ordained priest at Quebec, December 21, 1677, and soon became a member of the Seminary of the Foreign Mis- sions. Manifesting a great desire to labor among the Indians, he was sent by Bishop Laval to Acadia in 1684, and, after exploring the state of the country, began a mission at St. Croix in 1685. At the earnest request of St. Castine he was sent to the Penobscot in 1687, and though removed, it is said, for a time, finally died at last among his neophytes, as stated in the text. — Memoir on the Acadian Missions of the Priests of the Foreign Seminary at Quebec, by the Eev. E. A. Taschereau.

t Same Memoir. Mr. Gaulin reached Quebec in September, 1704, most of his Indians, who returned to Maine in the following spring.

t De la Potherie, i. 809 ; Bouvart, Memoir. (Jes. Archives, Canada.)

7

146 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

especially the blood of Rale. In 1705, a party of New Englanden under Captain Hilton, reached Norridgewalk, burnt the church and village, and profaning the sanctuary, withdrew. The Indiana were absent at the time of this valiant attack, but on their return quickly raised a bark chapel to replace their handsome church. Soon after, their beloved missionary, on a painful journey, fell and broke both legs. On his recovery he returned to his mission, though doubly exposed to danger, for the English had offered a reward for his head, and used every effort to induce the Indians to betray him ; but the Abnakis were faithful, and all the expeditions against this mission failed. The peace of Utrecht in 1713 at last restored peace, but ceded that territory to England. On this some of the Abnakis resolved to emigrate, and proceeded to Becancour on the St. Lawrence ; the greater part, however, resolved to re- main, and Father Rale prepared to rebuild his church. As Bos- ton was nearer than Quebec, a deputation of chiefs went to ask for workmen, whom they promised to pay. The governor, eager to gain them, offered to rebuild their church at his own expense, if they would dismiss their missionary, and take one of his choice. Indignant at this, the Indian speaker replied : " When you first came here, you saw me long before the French governors, but nei- ther your predecessors nor your ministers ever spoke to me of prayer or the Great Spirit They saw my furs, my. beaver and moose skins, and of this alone they thought ; these alone they sought, and so eagerly that I have not been able to supply them enough. When I had much, they were my friends, and only then. One day my canoe missed the route ; I lost my path, and wan- dered a long way at random, until at last I landed near Quebec, in a great village of the Algonquins, where the Black-gowns were teaching. Scarcely had I arrived, when one of them came to see me. I was loaded with furs, but the Black-gown of France dis- dained to look at them : he spoke to me of the Great Spirit, of heaven, of hell, of the prayer, which is the only way to reach

FRENCH MISSIONS. 147

neaven. I heard him with pleasure, and was so delighted by hia words, that I remained in the village near him. At last the prayer pleased me, and I asked to be instructed ; I solicited baptism, and received it. Then I returned to the lodges of my tribe, and re- lated all that had happened. All envied my happiness, and wished to partake it : they, too, went to the Black-gown to be baptized. Thus have the French acted. Had you spoken to me of the prayer as soon as we met, I should now be so unhappy as to pray like you, for I could not have told whether your prayer was good or bad. Now I hold to the prayer of the French ; I agree to it ; I shall be faithful to it, even until the earth is burnt and destroyed. Keep your men, your gold, and your minister : I will go to my French father." The church was accordingly rebuilt by the French, though little chapels were subsequently raised by English workmen in 1721.

This period of peace enabled the missionaries in the various villages to resume their labors without further fear or danger, both in Maine and Canada. The troubles with New England were not, however, at an end. The English constantly encroached, and the Indians in vain demanded a reservation line. This was re- fused. At a conference held at Georgetown, in 1717, Governor Shute, says an American author, evinced " his inferiority to those whom we denominate savages, in all the essential qualities of a man, in vigor of sentiment, force of eloquence, in politeness of manners," and, it may be added, in honesty, for " he offered them a Bible with the same hand with which he grasped their lands." He left the Rev. Mr. Baxter, a Protestant clergyman, at Ports- mouth, to begin a rival mission, but with all his zeal the new mis- sionary, after a few months' trial, failing to seduce the Catholics, and having drawn on himself a controversy with Rale, abandoned the unpromising field, and returned to more comfortable quarters, whence he continued to argue with Rale on theology and Latin.

Soon after this, the Indians in several parts were seized and de

148 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

tained, and another war seemed imminent. Father Charlevoix wrote to the government in France, earnestly urging the settle- ment of a definite boundary. " The least delay," says he, " may lead to irreparable results." The French government wished tc remove the Indians to Prince Edward's, but were assured by the Superior, De la Chasse, that the plan was impracticable. The missions were meanwhile surrounded by the English : several fam- ilies of the latter were near Norridgewalk, and Rale durst not op* pose their encroachments. Father Lauvergat at Panawaniske was in the same position, under the very cannon of Fort Pemquid.* In spite, however, of his prudence, Father Rale became obnoxious to the English, who, after seizing several Indian chiefs, resolved on a second attempt to secure the missionary. A party of 230 men under Colonel Westbrook was sent against Norridgewalk, in the fell of 1722, in hopes of finding him alone, for it was the hunt- ing season. They were not mistaken : a few old men and inva- lids were the only occupants of the village. Fortunately, however, the English as they entered the Kennebec were seen by two young braves, who tracked them far enough to be sure of their design, then hastened on to give the alarm. The missionary had barely time to consume the hosts in the tabernacle, and strike into the woods with the altar vessels : he had now been long a cripple, and without snow-shoes could not flee far. When the English found that he was gone, they pursued him, but by the will of God passed by him as he lay behind a tree, without ever discovering him. Failing in their great object, they pillaged his church and cabin, carrying off every thing, even his chests, papers, inkstand, and among the rest, his now celebrated AbnaM dictionary .f He was

* Charlevoix, Memoire sur les limites de 1'Acadie, Oct. 1720. Paris Doc., Boston, vii. 22.

t This Dictionary has since been regarded as one of the most precious remains of the early philological labors on the Indian languages. The original is still preserved with the greatest care in the safe of the library of Harvard College, and it was carefully published in the first volume of th«

FRENCH MISSION'S. 14S

now exposed to die of starvation in the woods, and underwent great sufferings before relief reached him from Quebec.*

This last outrage roused the Indians to war : the life of the devoted missionary was in constant peril, and his food was chiefly acorns, for hunting and tillage were both interrupted, and little corn was raised. Nothing could exceed the solicitude of the In- dians for his safety, except his fidelity to remain and share their peril ; for though urged to retire to Quebec, he replied : " My measures are taken : God has committed this flock to my care, and I will share its lot — too happy, if permitted to sacrifice my life for it." With the apostle, he exclaimed, " I fear none of these things, neither do I count my life more precious than myself, so that I may consummate my course, and the ministry of the word which I received from the Lord Jesus." Forced rapid marches were now his daily lot, and he was constantly with the main body of the tribe as the only place of safety, flitting from place to place as they attacked or retired.

So much were these missions reduced, that Father Loyard, who had apparently succeeded Father Simon on the St. John's, went to Europe in 1723, to solicit aid for the poor Abnakis, whose only offence was a preference for Catholicity and the French. On his return he infused a new spirit into his people, and the war went on. Peace was spoken of by the English in 1724, but before concluding it, they resolved to make a last effort on the life of Father Rale, the greatest object of their desires, f On the 23d of August, 1724, a small force of English and some Mohawks sud-

new series of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- ences, p. 370. The original forms a quarto of 220 pages, though all are not written on; it was begun by him in 1691, and received constant addi- tions down to its loss.

* Kale's letter, 1722; VaudreuiPs letter, 18th Oct. 1722 : Paris Doc., Boa- ton, vii. 113.

t See in Dr. Francis' Life of Eale the resolutions and expeditions in 1720 1721, 1722, 17-i3, and 1724.

150 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

denly emerged from the thick copse which surrounded the unde- fended village, and as soon as they came in view, their volleys, rattling through the bark cabins, aroused the unsuspecting in- mates. All was consternation ; the women and children fled ; the braves who had lingered in the village, seized their arms, and rushed forward to meet and check the foe ; but the devoted mis- sionary was the first to appear. He had been warned of the ene- my's approach, but believing it impossible at this season, had induced his flock to attach no credit to the report. Now fatally undeceived, he came forth, conscious that he alone was the object of their hate, and hoping by the sacrifice of his own life to save his flock. Indeed, no sooner had he reached the mission cross, than a shout arose, and a volley, awakening anew the echoes of the forest, laid him dead at the foot of that symbol of redemption. Seven chiefs who had gathered around him shared his fate. The Indians fled, and the victors wreaked their fury on the corpse of the aged missionary, which was hacked and mangled ; his head cloven open, his legs broken, and his whole body mutilated and trampled on. Proceeding to the church, they rifled the altar, pro- faned the adorable host and the sacred vessels, and consummated, what every civilized man must term, their atrocities, by firing the church.*

On the retreat of the English, the Abnakis, who had escaped, returned, and began to .bury their dead, above all, the body of their beloved missionary, which they interred amid the ruins of

* Letter of F. de la Chasse, Lettres Edif. et Cur. xxiii. ; Charlev. iv. 120 ; Paris Doc., Bost. vii. 217. The English account ia quite different ; it repre- sents him as in a hut, defending himself to the last, and staining his handa with the blood of an English prisoner. This is too extravagant to believe. The French account is derived from the Indians, and had Father Eale died fighting, the Indians would doubtless extol him. as the English did the Rev. Mr. Fry, killed in Lovell's expedition, after killing and scalping an In- dian with his own hand. Dr. Harris, Mass. Hist. Coll. II. viii. p. 267, and Dr. Francis in his classic Biography, acknowledge tkat these aspersioni OB Kale are entirely unfounded.

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iheir church, where the altar had stood at which he had so often offered up the adorable sacrifice. To Quebec they sent as a relic his tattered habit, which the English had thrown away in their precipitate retreat.

Thus fell the greatest of the Abnaki missionaries : by Catholics esteemed a martyr, by the Puritans a bloody inciter of Indian war. His position was a trying one, and in the iniquitous course pursued by the English towards his flock, he certainly could not counsel the latter to submit ; but while thus urging resistance to oppression, there is nothing to show that he excited his flock to cruelty. On the contrary, it is admitted by a governor of Maine, " that when the old man expired beside the altar he had reared, the barbarism, which he had only in a manner controlled, broke loose with a ferocity not softened by the dogmas he taught."*

If his national feeling as a Frenchman ever led him to overstep the bounds of prudence at the suggestion of the French king and the governor of Canada, with whom he was in constant corre- spondence, and who urged him, as we well know, to continue his opposition to English encroachment, there is, on the other hand, no doubt as to the injustice of New England to his flock, and of their bitter hatred to him personally on mere religious grounds, which prompted their unrelenting efforts to take his life.f

Among our Indian missionaries, Father Rale will always rank as one of the greatest ; learned, zealous, and laborious, careful of the religious progress of his flock, careless of his own comfort and life, desirous even of martyrdom. Tried on the Illinois mission, he spent most of his life in Maine, and dying at an advanced age, when most men seek rest and quiet, he was still, though a cripple, an earnest laborer.J

* Gov. Lincoln, Maine Hist. Coll. i. Dr. Francis makes the same ad- mission.

t Paris Documents, Boston, vii. 391 ; Bancroft, iii. 838.

t Sebastian Rale was born in 1658, in Tranche Comte, where his familj occupied a respectable position. After teaching Greek in the College of

iTG

152 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSION'S.

The Indians of Norridgewalk were so disheartened by the death of their missionary, that one hundred and fifty retired to Canad? to swell the mission of St. Francis, then directed by Father Au- bery ; the rest, unwilling to leave their country, nevertheless aban- doned their village, and the place became desolate. The war continued meanwhile with unabated ferocity, and it was only in August, 1727, that peace was finally restored.*

The missions on the Penobscot and St. John's were not disturbed by the English ; but Lauvergat at the former had much to suffer from the half-breed Castines.

CHAPTER IV.

THE ABNAKI MISSION (CONTINUED.)

The mission at Norridgewaik restored — Lauvergat leaves the Penobscot— Father Ger- main, the last Jesuit missionary — The French war — The Abnakis during the Revolu- tion— Orono — They apply to Bishop Carroll — Mr. Ciquard— Mr. afterwards Cardinal Cheverns— Later missionaries— The Jesuits again at the grave of Eale — Present state of the tribe.

To console the Abnakis of the Kennebec the king ordered Fa ther de la Chasse to cover the body of Father Rale, which, in Indian phrase, is to condole with them on their loss. Anxious to restore their village, they earnestly begged for a missionary. Yield-

Nismes, he came to America in 1689, arriving in Quebec on the 13th of October in that year. Sent first to the Abnaki mission of St. Francis, he •was, about 1693, sent to Illinois, but in 1695 at least was on the Kennebec. His life there we have briefly sketched.

His Abnaki Dictionary is still preserved as a treasure at Harvard College, nnd to the great joy of all philologists, was published in the Memoirs of the American Academy in 1833. In the same year Bishop Fenwick, of Boston, once a Father of the Society of Jesus, raised a monument to the memory of Father Kale on the spot where he was buried one hundred and nin« years before.

* Paris Doc., Boston, vii. 397, &c.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 153

ing at length to their entreaties, the Superior at Quebec sent Fa- ther James de Sirenne to Norridgewalk in 1730, and under that missionary the village soon bore resemblance to the prosperous mission of Rale.

But while Norridgewalk was thus restored, the Penobscot mis- sion declined. Lauvergat, worn out by the opposition made to him, retired to Medoktek, and the Penobscots were left without a missionary.

In this position matters remained, till the old French war, or as it is called -in Europe, the War of the Austrian Succession, broke out, and involved the colonies in a useless and bloody contest, Acadia was desolated. Louisburg, the Gibraltar of America, was taken, and the missionaries in the parts now called New Bruns- wick and Nova Scotia were deported, or compelled to seek refuge in the woods ; those in Maine were even more exposed, as the In- dians were still hostile to the English. They acted, however, with great prudence, and when the Indians took up arms, willingly on behalf of the English undertook to effect a peace.

This peace was, however, of short continuance. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, closed the war of the Austrian succes- sion, but left the boundaries of the American colonies unsettled. Six years had not elapsed when Washington shed the first French blood on the banks of the Ohio, and enkindled a war which proved fatal to the power of France in America.

In the course of this contest the old country of Acadia was crushed to the ground ; the French settlers were carried off, their farms and villages burned, the missionaries imprisoned or driven out. Manach, of the foreign missions, the missionary of the Mic- macs, was sent to France, Le Loutre was a prisoner in Jersey, and in 1760 there remained on the St. John's only Coquart, who soon after withdrew to France ; and of the Jesuits, one certainly, per- haps two, for as their popularity was waning in France, their mis- sions in Canada declined. Father Germain was the last of tha

7*

154: AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

old Jesuit missionaries in Maine. His chief station was the village of St, Anne, on an island in the St John's, near the site of the present town of Fredericton, whence he visited the various tribes in Maine, leading a life of laborious usefulness, amid the general respect.* Yet even he did not deem his life safe in the war, and withdrew to the mission of St Francis, on the St. Lawrence, where he remained till his death. From the period of the war the vari- ous Abnaki villages in Maine were deprived of pastors for several years. The flourishing mission of St. Francis, in Canada, was to- tally destroyed by the English partisan Rogers and his rangers, who killed many of the Abnakis, burnt the church, and left the survivors utterly destitute. Worst of all, one of their pastors gave them a fearful scandal in that sad hour, by becoming all but an apostate.

In this desolation the spirit of the Abnakis was not broken. Gallantly, as Christian warriors, had they fought beside the sons of France, and now that the cross of St. George replaced the lilies of the Bourbons, they shared the lot of the conquered Canadian. St Francis rose from its ruins, Becancourt continued unaffected by the change, and both towns, down to the present time, have been regularly objects of the spiritual care of the bishops of Quebec.f

Different was the position of the towns in Maine. By the peace of 1763, in which France surrendered Canada and its dependen- cies, the missions received a terrible blow. The English govern- ment, while guaranteeing to the Canadian the freedom and rights of his church, took steps to suppress the Jesuits and Recollects. On these two orders the distant missions, both French and Indian, had relied. As the old members of these institutes died at their posts, the Bishop of Quebec was unable to find priests to succeed

* Taschereau, Memoir. Father Germain died at St. Francis in 1779.

f The village of St. Francis preserved many valuable manuscripts of the early missionaries, but all unfortunately perished in the conflagration which destroyed their chapel about 1818. — Note of the Albe Fetland of Qud»c.

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them. The missions of Maine were deserted, and all seemed to forbode difficulty and danger to the Abnaki church.

In a few years, however, another war swept over the land ; the colonies which had attacked Canada to extend the power of Britain, now rose in revolt against that very power, roused by acts of parliament which threatened their rights. This was the war of the American revolution, which, nursed by prejudice against the Catholic Church, was destined, in the designs of Providence, to give it ultimately a new, free, and unimpeded field. During the contest the Abnakis of Maine sided with the Americans, who at an early date solicited their friendly co-operation. In answer to let- ters from Washington to the tribe, in 1775, deputies of the Indians on the St. John's, and of the various Micmac clans from the Bay of Fundy to Gaspe, met the council of Massachusetts at Watertown The record of their interview has been preserved, and is as noble a monument as our annals present, showing into what men Catho- licity had transformed the savage. Ambrose Var, the chief of the St. John's clan, was the speaker of this band of Catholic Indians. " We are thankful to the Almighty to see the Council," is the first word of these truly Christian men. To the applications which had been made, they replied, that they intended to adhere to the Ameri- cans in the coming struggle, and aid them to the best of their power.

Having attained the political object of their embassy, they added : " We want a Black-gown or French priest. Jesus we pray to, and we will not hear any prayer (i. e. religion) that comes from old England." And such was their desire to enjoy once more the consolations of their faith, that before the assembly closed they again renewed the request. The Court of Massachu- setts expressed its satisfaction at their respect for religion, and de- clared themselves ready to get them a French priest ; but, as was- to be expected, added, that they did not know where to find one.*

* American Archives, VI. i. 838, 848.

156 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

The Penobscots next joined the Americans, and like the Passam* quoddies, at once asked for a French priest, and to them, too, the General Court could do no more than declare their sincere desire to place in their villages a Catholic priest. Strange revolution in the minds of men ! the very body which, less than a century be- fore, had made it felony for a Catholic priest to visit the Abnakis, which had offered rewards for the heads of the missionaries of that tribe, which had exulted in slaying one at his altar, now regretted that it could not give these Christian Indians a missionary of the same faith and nation.*

Numbers of the Abnakis joined the army of the Revolution ; and Orono, the Penobscot chief, bore a commission, which he en- nobled by his virtues and bravery. In all his changes, from the wigwam and forest to the camp and the crowded city, from the society of the Catholic children of the forest to that of the more civilized Congregationalists of New England, Orono was ever faith- ful to his religion. When urged to frequent Protestant places of worship, as he had no clergyman of his own, he exclaimed : " We know our religion, and love it : we know nothing of you or yours." Never, indeed, did the labors of our missionaries produce a faith more firm and constant than that of the Abnakis.f

When peace was restored, and the few Catholics in Maryland had time to look around them, they sought a Bishop, and the Rev. John Carroll, a member of the suppressed Society of Jesus, was chosen. To him the Abnakis of Maine sent a solemn deputation to ask a missionary to guide and direct them. Bearing the cruci- fix of Father Rale, they presented it to the Bishop, exclaiming : " If I give it to thee to-day, Father, it is as a pledge and promit 3

* American Archives, 1223. At that time the people of Massachusett , as a general thing, had never seen a priest. The Court could only offer i minister. " If one of our priests would be agreeable to you," they say, " v« will endeavor to get you one, and take care he be a good man." — 846.

t See a sketch of Orono's life in the Mass. Historical Collections, iz. 88.

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that thou wilt send us a priest." Straitened as he was with the wants of his vast diocese, Bishop Carroll promised to give them a pastor, and applied to Mr. Ernery, the Superior of St. Sulpice, con- scious that France would not refuse a successor to her Rale. Mr. Ciquard, of that congregation, was soon at Old Town, and having learned the language, extended his cares to the whole tribe, and directed it for nearly ten years, down to 1794, when he left the Passamaquoddy to take charge of the Indians of Tobique and St, Anne, near Fredericton.*

The Abnakis of the Penobscot were not, however, abandoned. The Rev. John Cheverus, then a missionary at Boston, began to study the Abnaki, and, having acquired some knowledge of it, visited the Penobscots. Poor and forsaken as they had been, these Indians still preserved their faith, the old regularly instructing the young, and all assembling on Sundays to chant the music of the mass and vespers, although the altar was deprived of a priest, and no sacrifice was there. The unexpected appearance of M. de Cheverus filled them all with joy ; and he himself, as he approached the village, was filled with rapture to hear the royal mass of Du- mont resounding through the woods. For three months he con- fessed, catechized, baptized, visiting the sick and dying, not only on the Penobscot, but also on the Passamaquoddy. During his career as priest and bishop, the apostolic Cheverus visited them every year, built them a church, and gave them, in the person of his townsman, the Rev. Mr. Romagne, an excellent missionary.!

* Francis Ciquard was born at Clermont, in France, and ordained priest in 1779. He joined the Sulpitians, and when the revolution broke out, was director of the Theological Seminary of Bourges. He came to America in order to join the Sulpitians of Montreal, but was not permitted by the Eng- lish government to enter Canada. After laboring many years in the United States and New Brunswick, he obtained the necessary authority, and was for some years missionary at St. Francis. He died at Montreal, leaving the reputation of a holy, humble, and zealous priest. — Note of the Abbe Ferland.

t John Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus was born at Mayenne on the 28th of January, 1768. He received the tonsure at au early age, and was ordained

158 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

This successor of Druillettes established his abode at Point Pleasant on the Passamaquoddy, and for nearly twenty years devoted him self to the care of the Penobscots and Passamaquoddies. Hia house was a wretched log-cabin of but two rooms ; his chapel little better ; though both were superior to those of his flock. Worn down by frequent infirmities, he returned to France just after Bishop Fenwick was raised to the See of Boston in 1825. His departure was regretted by all who knew him, but especially by his flock, and by the new prelate. " His devotedness to these poor Indians, the happy fruits of his apostolic labors," says the Bishop in 1831, "are still visible, and make me the more regret his de- parture, as his experience might have been most useful to me, in showing me how best to govern and instruct that part of my dio- cese ; but I had not the pleasure of knowing him."*

Finding the Penobscots thus desolate, Bishop Fenwick commit- ted them to the care of the Dominican Father Charles Ffrench, then stationed at Eastport, who frequently visited them to celebrate mass and instruct the young. About this time an attempt was made to weaken the faith of these noble Catholics. As these In- dians are the only surviving aboriginal inhabitants of New Eng- land, the government of Maine, anxious for their social improve- ment, and a missionary society in Massachusetts, equally anxious for their religious progress, concurred in choosing a Mr. Kellogg as

priest in December, 1790, at the last public ordination in Paris before the revolution. In the persecution which succeeded the overthrow of the mon- archy, Cheverus escaped to England in 1792, and three years after joined his friend, Mr. Mategnon, at Boston. His visit to the Penobscots was made soon after his arrival. Appointed Bishop of Boston in 1808, he was transferred to the See of Montauban in 1823, and three years after created Archbishop of Bordeaux. Sogreatwere his virtues that Leo XII. in February. 1836, pro- claimed him a cardinal — a dignity he did not live long to enjoy. His death, which occurred on the 7th of July in the snmeyear, occasioned sincere grief in Europe and America. See his Life by Dubourg, American edition, Phil. 1839, pp. 60-112. * Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, v. 454.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 159

teacher and missionary to the Passamaquoddies ; in which capacity, however, it seems he did just work enough to enable him to draw from the government his pay as teacher, and from the society his stipend as missionary ; for he made no converts, and not one of his pupils could spell a word of two syllables in 1827.*

About this time the Penobscots had a missionary for about two yoars ; but being of another diocese he was then recalled by his Buperiors,f and for five years they had to depend on occasional visits from the nearest priest. Yet here, as at Pleasant Point, the parents were good catechists, and the children grew up instructed in their catecLlsm and prayers.J

In July, 1827, Bishop Fenwick visited this portion of his dio- cese, and was received with the most unbounded enthusiasm, being conducted to the church in procession amid the report of fire- arms and preceded by the red-cross banner of the tribe, such as had waved over the martyred Rale. His duties were those of a missionary during his stay ; he instructed, confessed, confirmed the living, and purified the dead, who had been buried unattended by a clergyman. Putting a stop to Kellogg's career, the Bishop was now earnest in his endeavors to procure a missionary, and as Eng- lish was not needed, appealed to the Association for the Propaga- tion of the Faith.§

His efforts were crowned with success : before his next visit in 1831, the Penobscots had a resident missionary, and showed how much they had gained by his presence. A beautiful church, with its towering steeple and a neat parsonage, had replaced Romagne's hut : the cabins of the Indians in many instances, too, were re- placed by neatly painted cottages, and an air of comfort pervaded ^all the settlement. After administering confirmation, the Bishop consecrated the church in honor of St. Anne, the patroness of the

* Annales, Ac. v. 460. t W. 478. J Id. 465.

§ See his interesting letter, Annales v.. 447-480.

160 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

tribe ; but the Passamaquodclies were still without a pastor, and ex- posed to the influence of the corruption and proselytizing spirit of the whites.*

During this visit the Bishop, himself a member of the same so- ciety as the illustrious Rale, purchased the site of the latter's church, and prepared to erect a monument to his memory. For this he chose the anniversary of his death, and invited the Abnakis of the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy to meet there,f on the 29th of Au- gust, 1833, one hundred and nine years after the fight at Norridge- walk. The village had disappeared, and the spot itself was now deserted. For a mile along the river lay a beautiful and lovely plain, where the site of the grave, never forgotten by the Indians, was easily found. Bishop Fenwick repaired to the hallowed spot on the appointed day : the Abnakis of the Penobscot and Passama quoddy came with their pastor ; those of St. Francis de Sales were also there. An altar was raised in a little grove, and mass began, the Indians chanting as of old the traditional masses of the mis- sion, but so great and so curious was the crowd that it was found impossible to continue the service : the Bishop then rose and ad- dressed the assembly, extending for nearly a quarter of a mile on either side. Quiet now prevailed within reach of his voice, and after an address of an hour he ordered the shaft of the monument to be raised on the pedestal.

This monument of our old missions is twenty feet high, the shaft being a single block of granite, surmounted by a cross. On the base a Latin inscription tells the traveller that that lonely spot was once the site of a house of God in a Christian village, that the pastor was slain and the flock dispersed.};

In his communications with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Bishop sought to attract some French priest

* Annales, &c. vi. 260-269. t Id. 274.

J Letter of the Bishop to his brother, August 29, 1833 ; Annales de 1* Prop. vii. 187.

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to that ancient mission,* and his endeavors were not in vain In 1833, the Society of Picpus, a congregation of the third order of St. Francis, sent out Messrs. Edmund Demilier and Petit- homme, destined to restore the Franciscan missions in Maine. They arrived at Boston, while the Bishop was, erecting the monu- ment of Father Rale, and on his return proceeded to Pleasant Point, and began their labors. Finding but one Penobscot able to speak French, they commenced the study of the native language ; Demi- lier art, the villages, Petithomme in their winter camp. They con- tinued their mission with great profit, and early in 1834 the Bishop, now possessed of a manuscript prayer-book of Mr. Ro- magne, had it printed, and thus facilitated the labors of the mis- sionary school.

In the spring Mr. Petithomme received another destination, and Demilier was left alone. His study of the language was most successful ; he was soon able to confess his penitents in Ab- naki, and when the Bishop next visited the mission, he could not withhold the expression of his astonishment at the facility with which the Father preached in his newly-acquired language.f Turning his knowledge to account, Father Demilier drew up a new prayer-book, the printed one being very erroneous, and also translated the Quebec catechism.

Under his care the mission took a new form. Many vices were abolished and some improvement made in the social well-being of these Indian Catholics, while the regularity of divine worship did much to restore their former piety.

Notwithstanding the insignificance of his mission in numbers, Mr. Demilier devoted himself to it without a murmur till his death on the 23d of July, 1843, when his flock lost a kind and self-sacrificing pastor.

The successor of Bishop Fenwick, John Fitzpatrick, resolved to

* Annales de la Prop. vi. 187. t Id. viii. 186-191.

162 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

give the Abnaki mission to the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, which had founded it ; and in 1848, Father John Bapst was sent to Oldtown by the Superiors of the Maryland Province, and since that time both Penobscots and Passamaquoddies have been under the care of the Jesuits. .

Both these tribes are divided into parties, between which great dissensions prevail, most injurious to their progress. They do not now exceed one thousand souls in all, and are rapidly decreasing : the fact of their being obliged to marry relatives (for almost all of each village stand in this regard to each other, and they cannot by law marry whites), proves fatal to their offspring. This, with their precarious mode of life, — for they dislike agriculture as much as ever, — will doubtless ere long absorb the Abnakis, who have so long out-lived the other Indians of New England.

At present the Penobscots are on the island of Indian Oldtown, the Passamaquoddies at Pleasant Point and Louis Island in the St. Croix. Each village has its church dedicated to St. Anne, the patroness of the tribe, which has an unbounded devotion to the Mother of the Virgin, and in distress sends her pilgrims to the \7onder-working shrine in Canada.*

* Letter of Father Bapst, 8. J.

CHAPTER V.

THE HURON MISSION.

The Huron nation— Their manners — Language — Religion — Their acquaintance with th« French— The Recollect Le Caron founds the mission — Sagard and Viel — Unexpected murder of Viel — Tiie Jesuits-mission renewed — The Recollect Dallion among the Attiwandaronk — The Jesuit Brebeuf among the Hurons — The difficulties of the col- ony— The missionaries recalled— Touching scene — Capture of Quebec by the renegade Kirk — End of the first mission — Philological labors of the Fathers.

THE nation known in Canada by the name of Hurons, call themselves Wendat, and are now termed by us Wyandot. At the period when the French founded Quebec, they occupied a small strip of territory on a peninsula in the southern extremity of Georgian Bay, not exceeding in all more than seventy-five miles by twenty-four, a territory more circumscribed than that of any other American nation ; for in these narrow limits, four tribes, containing at least thirty thousand souls, lived in eighteen populous villages. West of them, in the mountains and on the shores of the lake, were the Tionontates or Petuns, afterwards confounded with the Hurons, to whom they were closely allied, being of the same origin and language. Other kindred tribes extended, as we have seen,* down to Carolina, the most powerful being the five Iroquois tribes in New York.

This group, superior to the Algonquins in many respects, with well-built and strongly-defended towns, thriving fields of com, beans, squashes, and tobacco, with active traders and brave war- riors, always acquired a superiority over their neighbors. In point of dress they were, if any thing, less advanced. The men wore generally the simple breech- cloth — a piece of dressed buckskin — passed between the thighs and hanging down in front and behind

* See introductory chapter.

164: AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

about a foot over a thong passed around the hips. In winter, in deed, leggins and sometimes sleeves were used, and a whole skin formed a sort of cloak or mantle. While the Algonquin women wore a robe reaching from the shoulders to the knees, the Huron women wore but a beaver petticoat from the waist. Modesty seemed almost unknown, and both sexes appeared to see no im- propriety in absolute nudity ; and as the tattooing and painting of the body was a mark of valorous deeds and high emprise, there was no inducement to make the uncovered part small or inconspicuous. Feathers, claws of beast and bird, shells, or scalps torn from the bleeding head of an enemy, were their jewels.

Their language, the only certain key to their connection with the rest of the world, a link pointed out by a Jesuit* a century ago, but newly discovered yesterday, was a perfect system of synthesis. Nothing is abstract, nothing general ; the real, actual present lives in their language ; nothing is infinite, indefinite, or undefined. In this tongue, as in every other of our continent, the verb usurps all, absorbs all ; the noun, pronoun, adjective are conjugated with the verb or like it.f

Their religion and cosmogony were as different as their lan- guages from those of other nations. Their cosmogony begins with a woman named Ataentsic, who, driven or flying from heaven, fell into the abyss of waters, and for whom the turtle and beaver, after long consultation and many efforts, at last brought up the earth.

* Charlevoix, the real founder of American ethnology.

t How far it differs from any European tongue, the reader may judge bj the Lord's Prayer, as translated by Brebeuf: "Onaistan de aronhiae istare. Sasen tehondachiendatere sachiendaouan. Ont aioton sa cheouandiosta endinde. Ont aioton senchien sarasta, ohoiient soone ach<$ toti ioti Aron- hiaone. Ataindataia sen nonenda tara cha ecantate aoiiantehan. Onta taoii- andionrhens, sen atonarrihoiiauderacoiii, to chienne ioti nendi onsa onen- dionrhens de oua onkirrihouanderai. Enon che chana atakhionindahaa d'oucaota. Ca senti ioti." — Ledesma'a Catechism, published with Champliun'a Voyage, in 1634.

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Reposing on this she became the mother of two sons, — Tawiscaron and Jouskeha, the latter of whom slew his brother. This Jouskeha is regarded as the sun, and his son, Tharonhiawagon or Aireskoi, was regarded as the great deity. Yet no definite idea existed aa to nis nature, whether man or god. According to some, the first progeny of this woman were certain animals, from whom the various tribes descended, each of which bears as a totem the animal from which it sprung.

Besides this deity, whom they styled . Master of Life, yet be- lieved evil, they peopled all creation with spirits propitious or hostile to man. Eveiy cataract, every dangerous pass, every stormy wind, every object of danger, was ruled by a demon to be appeased ; the corn, the deer, the squash, the beaver, the fish, by spirits to be propitiated. To the great god alone was offered sacrifice properly speaking, — human victims, or, by substitution, the dog, their only domestic animal : inferior deities were propi- tiated by tobacco.*

A trading people, they soon heard from the Algonquins that strangers had entered the St. Lawrence bearing wonderful things which they gladly exchanged for furs. The settlement of Quebec was scarce begun, when they descended to Three Rivers, reaching it by the long and painful route of French River and the Ottawa. Champlain welcomed the strangers, and soon formed an alliance with them. The missionaries of the Recollect reform, who came out in 1615, went to Three Rivers and Tadoussac to see the na- tions that came to trade, and, returning to Quebec, consulted as to the plan of the missions to be attempted. They were but three priests, yet they took possession of the outposts. The Commissary Father Dennis Jamay remained at Quebec ; the hardy John d'Ol-

* Brebeuf, Do la Creance, cles Moeurs et clea Coutumes des Hurons, in Eel. 1636, p. 86 ; Sagard, Histoire du Canada, ch. 30 ; Charlevoix, vi. 65 ; Lafitau, Mcears des Sauvages, i. 223; Le Caron in Le Clercq, 5. 270. The accounts of the relationship of Ataentsic to Tharonhiawagon vary.

166 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

beau hastened to Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, te learn the language, manners, and life of the Montagnais ; Father Joseph Le Caron, taking as his share the Hurons and western tribes, prepared to visit the great lakes of the west

With twelve Frenchmen, sent to the Hurons to trade, he set out, in the fall of 1615, and, plying his paddle all day long, or toiling through the rapids, bearing canoe and baggage at the many portages, with no food but the insipid maize, the gentle missionaiy made his way undauntedly to the homes of the Wen- dat The village Carragouha invited the envoy of Christ within its safe palisade, which, with triple strength, rose near forty feet in height, and the Hurons offered him their great cabin, but, fearless of danger, and seeking rather quiet and seclusion than the busy haunt of men, Le Caron asked to live apart. A cabin was soon raised near the village, and here he began his mission by offering up the sacrifice of the mass before Champlain and his few coun- trymen, amid the crowd of wondering natives.

While the founder of Canada led his Huron allies into the heart of New York, to be repulsed by the stout wooden walls and stouter hearts of the Iroquois, the zealous Recollect was gathering what he could of the Huron language, arranging, studying, en- deavoring to discover some rule or guide in its strange and unu- sual combinations. When Champlain returned in January, the missionary accompanied him to the mountains of the Tionontates, but, in his endeavors to announce the truth, suffered much from the persecution of the Ohis, or medicine-men ; consoled, like the Dominicans at the Coosa, only by the baptism of some dying babes and adults. Returning to his Huron mission, he labored on till the flotilla prepared to descend to Three Rivers, and embarked with a considerable knowledge of the people, and a vocabulary of some extent.*

* Le Clercq, Etablissement de la Foi, i. 78-89 ; Sagard, Histoire du Can« ada, ch. iii.

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The weight of the general direction of the missions, which now devolved on him, as well as the necessity of attending to tribes nearer Quebec, in the unsettled state of the colony, prevented his return for some years, although Father William Poulain visited the Hurons in 1622. In the following year, Father Nicholas Vielf and Brother Gabriel Sagard, the historian, arrived, and Father Lo Caron set out with them for his mission. Reaching Carragouha, or St. Gabriel, on the 20th of August, after all their hardships, they found his cabin standing, and here renewed the community life of the order of St. Francis, in poverty of all things. Their little cabin, now repaired, was like that of the natives, a mere framework, like an arbor, covered without with strips of bark, and lined within with thin pieces of board.* Here they labored as well as they could, attending to the spiritual wants of the Frenchmen who had accompanied them, learning the language of the people, and en- deavoring to dispel some of their superstitions, and to shed on their benighted minds some ray of gospel light. Won by their poverty and austere life, some Indians pitched their cabins near them, and the baptism of two adults, a father and daughter, gave hopes of a permanent and successful mission.

When summer arrived, Father Le Caron determined to return with Brother Sagard, leaving the laborious Viel to continue the mission, which he did for another year, though with little success. Hard indeed was the missionary's life. " Our ordinary food," says Le Caron, " was that of the Indians, that is to say, sagamity, a kind of pottage made of bruised Indian corn, squashes and peas boiled in water, seasoned with marjoram, purslane, and a kind of balsam, with wild onion, which we found in the woods and fields. Our drink was the water of the stream which ran before the cabin ; and if, when the trees were in sap, any one was unwell, we made an incision in the bark of a maple, whence flowed a sugary water,

* Sagard, ch. viii ; Le Clercq, i. 249.

168 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

which, being gathered in bark trays, was drank as a sovereign remedy. Our only candles were little roljs of bark, which lasted but a moment, so that we were obliged to read and write by the light of the fire during the winter evenings, which was a great inconvenience." Their little garden, tilled with an old axe and a pointed stake, could yield them little ; wine for the mass was pressed from the wild grape of the country.*

After overcoming the great difficulty which the language pre- sented by its want of abstract terms, Father Viel began his in- structions by teaching the Indian to recite the ordinary prayers. Many attended the instructions, but from the unmoved countenance, the missionary could not discover whether it was politeness, inter est, friendship, or conviction that drew the Indians around him. Opposition to Christianity as a new doctrine they did not appear to have, for it had not yet sufficient development among them to excite the medicine-men. Hence Le Caron wrote : " No one must come here in hopes of suffering martyrdom ; they are incapable of putting a man to death in hatred of the faith." By an error of judgment, which, is very common with our Protestant writers, the early Recollects believed the conversion of the tribes impossible till Canada was peopled and the Indians familiarized and settled among the French.f Time has shown the fallacy of this hope : the American Indian has never coalesced with the European, as the Goth, Roman, Celt, and Iberian in Spain, or other tribes in other parts of the Old World, have coalesced with each other. In Mexico and Peru, the natives were, to a considerable extent, fused into the mass of colonists, but elsewhere the social difference was too great to allow any such union of the races, and the Indian showed no adaptability to the usages of Europe.

The Recollects, however, were not disposed to leave the Indiana in darkness. Content to labor, even almost in vain, they grieved

* Le Clercq, i. 288. t Ibid.

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to see their efforts thwarted by the avarice of their countrymen, and looked around for some more powerful order to second them in their good work. The Jesuits willingly em'braced the offer, and in 1625, Fathers Charles Lalemant, Edmund Masse, of the old Acadian mission, and John de Brebeuf, landed at Quebec with new Recollect laborers.*

Father Viel prepared to descend to Three Rivers, to make a letreat, consult his superiors, and obtain some necessary articles. Father Brebeuf and the Recollect Joseph de la Roche Dallion, of the house of the Counts Du Lud, were to meet him at the trading- post, on the descent of the annual fur flotilla from Huronia, and, under his guidance, labor among the Wyandots ; but they never met. Shooting the last rapid, a dangerous pass in Des Prairies River, behind Montreal, the Indian who conducted Father Viel, from some unexplained hatred, hurled him and a little Christian boy into the foaming torrent, and they sunk to rise no more.f To this day the place bears the name of the Recollect's Rapid.

When the Huron flotilla arrived at Three Rivers, the new missionaries were filled with dismay. Ignorant of the language and customs of the people, with no guides or attendants, they deemed it unsafe to proceed. A year elapsed, and no missionary was in the cabins of the Hurons ; but when the usual flotilla ar- rived in 1626, Brebeuf, Dallion, and the Jesuit, Anne de Noue', prepared to embark in it, being now prepared by some knowledge of the language, derived from the instructions of Le Caron and his manuscripts, as well as from those of Father Viel. The Indians received de la Roche readily, but, not being accustomed to the Jesuit habit, objected to the portly frame of Father Brebeuf. By force of presents, however, he and his companion at last obtained

* Lalemant : Letter in Mere. Franijais.

t Lalemant in Le Clercq, i. 314, 823 ; Sagard, 820 ; Lo Clercq, i. 817. No information is given by any of these writers as to the age, birthplace, or previous labors of Viel.

8

170 AMERICAN CATHOL[C MISSIONS.

a place, and. after the usual painful voyage, all arrived at thft Huron town, St. Gabriel or La Rochelle,* and here the Fathers resumed the labors of Le Caron and Viel.

In October, Father de la Roche left the Jesuits at Toanche, and tei out x> explore the country of the Attiwandaronk or Neutrals. This tribe lay on both sides of the Niagara River, at peace with both Hurons and Iroquois, and, like them, of the same stock and language. He was at first well received, and being adopted by Soharissen, the chief of the whole nation, took up his residence among them at Ounontisaston, near the Seneca border, but was soon after robbed and brutally beaten by a lawless party. By the advice of Father Brebeuf, he then abandoned the Neutrals, and returned to the Huron country, after an absence of several months.

Father de Noue was unable to learn the language, and de- scended to Quebec in 162*7.f Father De la Roche followed him in the ensuing year ; but the energetic Brebeuf, undeterred by the troubles of the colony, labored on, gaining the good-will of the Indians, and acquiring alike their language and their manners in a way that endeared him to their hearts. Adopted by the name of Fx:hon, he was indeed become one of them, and had begun to move their flinty hearts to feel the necessity of religion, so that he defeated the plots of the medicine-man Tehoronhaegnon. When, in 1629, he received an order from his superior, Father Masse, to come to Quebec, the Indians crowded around him. " What, Echon ! dost thou leave us ? Thou hast been here now three

* The town, called Carragouha by Champlain and Sagard, is later called by Sagard, Tequeunonkiaye, or Quieuindohan, St. Gabriel, or La Rochelle (ch, 8).

t Father de Noua had been a page at the court of France before entering the Society of Jesus. He returned to Canada in 1632, and after several years of laborious zeal, was frozen to death on the St. Lawrence, near lisle Plat'e, about the 2d oi% February, 1646. See a sketch of his death in Br«i- sani, Relation abrogee, 117.

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years to learn our language, to teach us to know thy God, to adore and serve him, having come but for that end, as thou hast shown ; and now, when thou knowest our language more perfectly than any other Agnonha (Frenchman), thou leavest us. If we do not know the God thou adorest, we shall call him to witness, that it is not our fault, but thine to leave us so."*

Moved as he was by this appeal, he could not yield to his in- clination and their entreaties. He reached Quebec in July, three days before the English, led by the traitor Kirk, captured the city, and destroyed in a moment the hopes of Champlain.

The previous year that gallant navigator had by his bold de- fiance driven off his countryman who fought under the cross of St. George ; but now, destitute of supplies and of arms, he yielded to the invader. The Recollect Fathers gained the good- will of Kirk, but the Jesuits all experienced his hatred of their order, and Brebeufs life especially was in danger. Master of the country, Kirk resolved to make it a desert : fifty years before they would have been put to the sword, but the ferocity of the religious feuds was passing away, and he merely plundered all, carrying off Champlain and the missionaries to England.

From* England, Le Caron, Brebeuf, and their associates passed to France, to deplore the ruin of their labors. Of the Huron mission scarce a shadow remained. A few converts at Carra- gouha, not yet well grounded in the faith, remained alone in the midst of barbarism and infidelity. In France there was one Huron Catholic, a young man, who had been baptized with great cero- inony at Rouen, and was now at a Jesuit college.

The missionaries did not despair of returning to Canada, and ap- plied themselves to the study or the language from the materials which each had brought. Sagard drew up his history of Canada, and a Huron vocabulary to accompany it ; and Brebeuf, after

* Champlain, Voyages, 210.

V.

172 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

completely revising his Huron version of Father Ledesma's cate- chism, had it published in French and Huron by Champlain, as an appendix to the last edition of his Voyages.*

CHAPTER VI.

HURON MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Mission restored — The Jesuits alone return on the refusal of the Capuchins — Brebeu^ Daniel, and Davost among the Hurons — Mission of St Joseph at Ihonatiria— Mission system — New missionaries and new missions — Huron college at Quebec — The voyages of the Fathers— Their trials — The pestilence— The first convert— They are suspected — Plots against their lives — Courage of Brebenf and his associates — New mission of St. Joseph's at Teananstayae — Mission at Ossossan6, Scanonaenrat, Taenhatentaron, and among the Tionontates — New persecution.

To the joy of all interested in the conversion of the Hurons, Canada was restored in 1632, but there seemed a design to exclude the former missionaries. The Capuchins were invited to undertake the work of converting the natives, but as they declined, the mission was confided to the Jesuits, and the Recollects were ex- cluded by the company formed to govern the colony .f

Father Brebeuf arrived in 1633, and almost at the same time Louis Amantacha, a Christian Huron, came in to announce the approach of the Huron flotilla. In a solemn council, held after its arrival, the chiefs agreed to receive the missionaries, and

* Father Le Caron, after a vain struggle with the mercantile company who ruled Canada, finding himself unable,|even with the approval of the Propa- ganda, to reach his beloved mission, of which he was now procurator, died broken-hearted, on the 29th of March, 1632. Le Clercq, Etab. i. 439. He was a man of eminent piety, zeal, and virtue ; and as founder of the Huron mission, one of the greatest servants of God in the annals of the Ameri- can missions. His nephew, the Sulpitian Souart, at a later date revived tie memory of his virtues in Canada.

t JVessani, Eolation abregee. 295 : Le Clercq, i. 488.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 17S

Fathers Brebeuf, Daniel, and Davost, prepared to depart ; but, as the Algonquins of the Ottawa River declared that none should pass through it, they were forced to remain till another year. New difficulties then arose. The Hurons having been recently defeated in a battle, with severe loss, were little inclined to take missionaries ; but at last yielded to the remonstrance of Duplessis Bochart, the commander of the fleet; and the three missionaries were separately embarked. Their voyage was one of unusual hardship : the difficulties of the way, the rapids, portages, and toil of paddling, were still the same that has been before described ; wani of food supervened, and Father Daniel was finally abandoned by hit party, and only with great difficulty reached the Huron country. Father de Brebeuf was taken indeed to the site of his old residence, Toanche, but there was abandoned. Nevertheless he succeeded in reaching the new village Ihonatiria, and was received with rap turous joy by all. Here, in the cabin of the hospitable Awandoren he welcomed Father Daniel and poor Father Davost, who had suf fered most of all.

When recovered from their fatigue, the three Fathers resolved tc begin the mission at this town, and in September erected a log house thirty-six feet long by twenty-one wide, which, being divided off, gave them a house and chapel. This poor edifice and its fur- niture were a never-ending wonder to the natives ; and a striking- clock, possessed by the Fathers, was, they were sure, a strange ani- mal from the east, though how it lived without eating, was a mat- ter of dispute among the sages of the village.

Brebeuf meanwhile instructed his companions in the Huron language, and sent them to the cabins to acquire as many words as possible. This was a most trying method, but desirous of gain- ing souls, and equally desirous of mortification, they persevered in it. As soon as they were able, Daniel and Davost assisted him in teaching the catechism and prayers to the children. On Sundays all who came were allowed to hear mass to the offertory according to th«

174 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

custom of the primitive church.* A desire of embracing the faith soon rewarded the zeal of the missionaries ; and the devil, fearing to lose his empire, urged his ministers, the medicine-men, and especially Tehoronhaegnon, to accuse the Fathers of causing a drought, which threatened their crops. The cross was the especial object of the hate of these impostors. It was, they declared, the instrument of witchcraft of the Fathers, and they threatened to break down the one which towered before the residence of St. Joseph. But the prayers of the missionaries and their catechu- mens soon opened the flood-gates of heaven, and defeated the enemies of the Cross.

In the summer two new missionaries, Father Francis le Mercier and Peter Pijart, came to their aid ; and the fearless Brebeuf, at the Feast of the Dead,f where thousands of every clan assembled, declaimed against the native superstitions with all the eloquence and zeal of an apostle. With several missionaries now to aid him, he extended his sphere of action. Other villages were visited, among them Teananstayae, the largest of all, the residence of Louis JeSte.Foi, who, after being baptized at Rouen, had returned to his aative woods, and lived like one that knew not Christ. By this /isit of the Fathers, his fervor was restored, and his family, con- verted to the faith, implored the missionaries to take up their resi- dence there.

To propitiate the favor of heaven, the mission was now solemnly dedicated to the Immaculate Conception ; and, to avoid any hasty

* Eel. Huron, 1635.

t The Hurons enveloped their dead in bark, and laid them on scaffolds in their oigosaye or cemetery. Here they remained till the " Feast of the Dead," which took place usually every eight or ten years. At this period the bones were taken down, stripped of any flesh that might remain, wrapped in fine furs, and, after many games and ceremonies, deposited, with presents, in a common grave, also lined with furs. These trenches, sometimes circu- lar, at others rectilinear, are the "bone-pits" which our farmers frequently atrike upon in turning up the soil near the site of ancient Huron and Iro- quo* towns. See Bressani, Brebeuf, Lafitau.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 175

step, the missionaries resolved to remain another year at Ihona- tiria, and then remove to Ossossane, a large and well-fortified town. In order to give stability to their labors, they now resolved to found a Huron school at Quebec, where some boys might be trained up in religion and the arts of life, who, on their return, would form a nucleus in the tribe, inasmuch as it was found very difficult to keep them regularly at school in their own country.* Accordingly, in the summer of 1636, twelve boys were collected, and Fathers Daniel and Davost prepared to lead them to Quebec ; but when the period of departure came, three only were found firm enough to resist a mother's tears.

With these the missionaries departed. Used to toil, they took their paddles, and, barefooted and in rags, journeyed to Quebec. But a better spirit was now gaining ground : the Hurons had learned to respect the priestly character. On their way the Fathers met new missionaries, Gamier and Chatelain, who, thanks to the kind chief Aenons, sat comfortably in the canoes, and were not compelled to paddle. Soon after another, Father Isaac Jogues, arrived ; but with their coming, a pestilential disorder broke cut, and swept the land of the Hurons. The missionaries were pros- trated by it, but all finally recovered, and rushed to the care of the sick and dying. Every village resounded with the orgies, games, feasts, and other rites, in honor of the demon Autoerhj, ordered by the medicine-men, in whom the natives had unbounded confidence, and who attributed the scourge to the anger of that god. Amid this tumult the missionaries continued their task. The catechumens were the first objects of their solicitude : no effort was spared to prevent their dying unbaptized; but when the medicine-men accused the Fathers of being the authors of the dis- ease, the people drove the latter from their cabins.

Persevering in charity, they at last overcame much of the oppo-

* Bel. Huron, July, 1638.

176 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

sition, and even induced the chiefs of Ihonatiria, Wenrio, and Ossossane, to promise solemnly, in the presence of God, to renounce their superstitions, embrace the faith of Christ, bring their mar- riages to the Christian standard, and build chapels to the living God. But this engagement was insincere : the Hurons soon crowded around the medicine-man Tonnerauanont, who vaunted that he was a devil incarnate. All through the summer, fall, and winter, the malady continued its ravages, and the missionaries their charitable visits, through all the large, and many of the smaller villages of the Hurons, and even to those of the Tionon- tates. The result of these laborious missions, fraught as they were with every danger, was most consoling : thirty journeys, often through snow and ice, from town to town, had enabled them, be- sides the bodily cures their skill effected, to open the gates of heaven, by baptism, to 250 dying children and adults, on the former of whom, indeed, they often conferred the rite by a strata- gem. Thus we find Father Pijart, when rudely repulsed from a cabin, whose inmates refused to have their dying babe baptized, offer to give it some sugar to relieve it, and, as he applied it to the lips of the sufferer, press from a wet cloth on the fevered brow drops of water, enough to baptize it, and depart unsuspected by the Indians, who had watched him. More, however, do we ad- mire the missionary, when we find him by the couch of a child above the age of reason, whom he could not consequently baptize without instruction and an avowal of faith. There he spent a weary night, imploring the intercession of St. Joseph, patron of all their American missions, and instructing the parents. Reason at last returned ; the child, docile to his teaching, was speedily bap- tized, and died in great sentiments of piety.

The new missionaries, as soon as the sickness had spent its force, applied to the study of the language, in which Brebeuf, theii teacher, had now made great discoveries, and had completely analyzed its system of conjugations. In May, the Fathers begaa

FRENCH MISSIONS. 177

bt Ossossane, the residence of the Immaculate Conception ; and on Trinity Sunday, for the first time, baptized an adult in health. This convert, who had been long tried, and took in baptism the name of Peter Tsiwendaentaha, never proved recreant to the grace he had received.*

Meanwhile the Huron seminary at Quebec, on which so many fond hopes rested, gave little hope of success ; and to dash still more the prospects of Christianity on the Huron Lakes, the sum- mer of 1637 witnessed the pestilence return with renewed fury in their fated country. The calumnies against the missionaries daily increased : not only the medicine-men and the common people, but even the chiefs openly charged the missionaries with destroy- ing the land by witchcraft. They were now in constant danger of death, as by the Indian custom any one may strike down a wizard. The mode of life pursued by the missionaries became a matter of constant suspicion ; the mass, their prayers .at night, their clock, cross, a flag above their cabin, all were in turn suspected. They justified themselves in a council at Angoutenc, but in August a general council of the three great tribes was held, at which Ontitarac, the blind and venerable sachem, presided. The mission- aries were required to give up a cloth in which they had wrapped the pestilence. Brebeuf fearlessly denied the charge, and, though interrupted, ascribed the fatal effects of the malady to their owi superstitions and improper treatment, while he declared that its cause God only could know. This produced some effect, but all expected that one at least would be killed. In October their cabin was set on fire, and Brebeuf then drew up a letter to the Superior at Quebec, which was signed by all the missionaries at Ossossane, himself. Le Mercier, Chastellain, Gamier, and Ragueneau ; the other two, Jogues and Pijart, being still at Ihonatiria. " We are," it begins, " probably on the point of shedding our blood in

* Eel. Huron, 1636-7, dated June 21, 1637 ; Garnier's Letters.

178 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

the service of our blessed master, Jesus Christ. His goodness ap- parently vouchsafes to accept this sacrifice in expiation of my great and countless sins, and to crown the past services and the great and burning desires of all our Fathers here."

Grieving only to leave their few Christians desolate, they con- fided their altar furniture and Huron manuscripts to Peter, their proto-convert. Then, as council after council was convened, and Brcbeuf repeatedly examined, they prepared to die ; and on the day named for their execution gave, in accordance with Huron custom, their dying banquet. Their undaunted demeanor had its effect. Summoned once more to a council, Brebeuf at last con- vinced the assembled sachems of his innocence ; and as he left the cabin, saw a medicine-man, his greatest persecutor, tomahawed by his side. Believing that in the dusk the avenger had mistaken his victim, he asked, " Was that for me ?" " No," was the reply ; " he was a wizard, thou art not."

During all this period of danger, thus happily closed, the missionaries, confined to Ossossane and Ihonatiria, had been untiring in their labors. Cabins were closed indeed, but they persevered in their visits, their instruction, and study. Their zeal was not unrewarded. Joseph Chihatenhwa, whose after life was that of a saint, was baptized, and the first war-chief of the confederacy solicited the same favor.*

Banquets and councils restored their popularity, and, as the malady decreased in the spring, they enjoyed greater freedom. The conversion of Joseph's wife enabled them to solemnize the first marriage, and at last, in 1638, two Christian families rewarded their long yftars of toil.

Ihonatiria, wasted by disease, was now in ruins, and the mission of St. Joseph was transferred in the spring to Teananstayae, and a chapel erected in June. Somewhat later a reinforcement of

* Bel. 1638, Hnron ; Garnier's Letters.

FRENCH MISSIONS. , 179

missionaries arrived, with Father Daniel. One of these, Jerome Lalemant, was nearly slain on the way ; the other two, Simon Le Moyne and Francis du Perron, met with the usual hardships, but arrived safely.*

The two missions now contained four Fathers each, while two others were constantly visiting the other towns. Gamier and Jogues, moreover, wintered among the Petuns, to begin, amid every opposition, a new mission among that tribe. Many converts now declared themselves, but a greater number were found in the Wenro, a tribe which sought refuge in the Huron territory from Iroquois cruelty. The labors of the missionaries soon created, too, the mission of St. Michael at the town of Scanonaenrat, itself a tribe, known as perfect fiends ; Taenhatentaron became the mis- sion station of St. Ignatius. At the fixed missions all was now regularly conducted, and day by day instructions for young and old went on ; while on Sunday a missionary, in the Indian style, traversed the streets to call all to prayer. The chapels were crowded, and the faith now seemed about to take root in the land. Amid this smiling prospect a new storm arose, which had well nigh crushed the mission. A squaw demanded that the mission- aries should offer a blanket to a beautiful woman holding an infant in her arms, who had appeared to her in a dream, and among other gifts from various tribes and individuals, required from the missionaries a blanket, as an offering to her, the sovereign of the country. The dream is the great deity of the Indian ; it can- not be disobeyed, yet here the missionaries could not obey. Their lives were in danger, but they persisted, although the idea of the woman doubtless arose from some picture of the "Virgin Mother, and might perhaps have been turned to advantage by less soiupu- 1« us men. But they resolved to grant nothing to the idolatry of dreams, and at last triumphed, These troubles gave them influ-

* Eel. 1638, New France, 162-75.

180 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

ence; and at this time, the spring of 1639, they had nearly fifty who had made their first communion : .and the mission was founded never to perish.*

With the summer more missionaries arrived ; — Chaumonot, destined to outlive all his companions, and Poncet, a martyr of mor- tification, who, after long sufferings and toils in Canada, died in Martinique. Unfortunately, the Indian flotilla brought back from Quebec, along with European goods, the small-pox — the greatest scourge of the red-man — conveyed, apparently, in some clothes. As this deadly distemper ravaged village after village, and the Indian, terror-struck, hastened death by his own act, all turned again on the missionaries. To them, as on the former occasion, all ascribed their misery, and on them they wreaked their ven- geance. The missionaries, now thirteen in number, were again exposed to every danger. The crosses on their dwellings were thrown down ; the furious votaries of the demons entered their cabins ; tomahawks often glittered over the heads of the Fathei-s ; their crucifixes were torn from them, and one was cruelly beaten. Yet amid all this the zealous envoys of the gospel did not falter or shrink from their perilous duties. They visited every village ; used every effort to reach the sick, and rouse them to renounce idolatry or sin, — though often expelled from the cabins, and beholding in the ranks of their persecutors men already bathed in the waters cf baptism, but too weak to resist their countrymen. Often a missionary, after toiling all day through the snow, reached a vil- lage to be repulsed, or entered it to be watched as a sorcerer ; but their steady perseverance triumphed, and they all passed the or- deal scathless, after having borne salvation to hundreds.

* B«l. 1689.

CHAPTER VII.

SURON MISSION — (CONTINUED.)

f.an of the mission changed— St. Mary's founded — Mission of St John — The neighbor- ing Algonquins— Brebeuf and Chaumonot among the Atttwandaronk— Gradual pro- gress of the faith — The Christians styled Marians — The Algonquin missions — The Iroquois war — Capture of Fathers Jogues and Bressani — Increased fervor — Mission plan again changed — A moment of peace — The war renewed — Teananstayae de- stroyed, and Daniel killed — Panic of the Hurons — Town deserted — St Louis and St Ignatius destroyed — Death of Brebeuf and Lalemant — Ruin of the Hurons — The Scanonaenrat remove to New York — Others flee to different tribes — St Mary's burnt, and mission removed to St Joseph's Isle — The Petun towns attacked — Death of Gamier and Chabanel — A considerable body descend to Quebec.

THE Huron mission, of which we have thus traced the history, was, as we have seen, like the present Catholic mission in the United States. A few Catholics mingled in among those who op- posed them, often with the greatest virulence and hatred.* No town of neophytes gathered by the Jesuits existed, as is com- monly supposed, nor was a single mission village ever formed in Huronia. The frequent persecutions, however, now induced the Superior to alter the plan of action which we have seen them thus far pursue. It was resolved to build a residence in some con- venient spot apart from all the villages, but easily reached from all. This would be the general resort of the missionaries when the village was almost deserted by the absence of war, hunt- ing, or fishing parties, or when popular fury made it prudent to retire for a time. In case of need, a missionary could be sent to any spot, and in the interval flying visits could be made.

Selecting a spot on the little river Wye, between two small lakes, they erected the mission-house of St. Mary's ; and in the fall of 1639 (after the persecution raised by the small-pox), the

* The towns called by the missionaries St. Gabriel, St. Louis, and St. Ignatius were not Catholic towns or missionary settlements any more than New York, Boston, or Philadelphia are now.

182 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

missionaries of the Immaculate Conception, driven from Ossossane, retired to it, followed in the spring by those of St. Joseph's, at Teananstayae. They had faced every danger, and stood by their altar to the last, afflicted in heart to see some of their little band of converts yield to the storm of popular fury.

But from St. Mary's the missionaries now spread to new fields. Fathers Daniel and Le Moyne founded the mission of St. John among the Ahrenda tribe, the earliest friends of the French, protected and aided by its chieftain, Atironta ; and Gamier and Jogues again visited the obstinate Tionontates. In the various missions, one thousand were baptized, almost all in danger of death, one fourth being infants.*

In the summer of 1640 two missionaries arrived to labor among the neighboring Algic tribes. These were Charles Raymbaut, doomed to die the earliest, and Claude Pijart. Jerome Lalemant now became Superior ; and the veteran Brebeuf, gladly resigning a charge he had never sought, hastened with Chaumonot to the Neutral Nation, to begin anew the mission which his old comrade, the Recollect Dallion, had attempted years before. The other missions were divided ; and in November the Fathers, in pairs', set out for their allotted posts. Jogues and Chastelain remained at St. Mary's, and visited five towns near it The mission of the Conception, with its dependencies, the treasure of these apostolic men, was bedewed with the sweat of Lalemant and Lemercier. St. Joseph's and St. John's, two widely separated villages, were ioyfully taken by Daniel and the courageous Le Moyne. Gamier returned with Peter Pijart to his Tionontates, who had expelled him the year before.

Since we are here giving only a general view of the Huron mis- sion in Canada, as it preluded subsequent missions within our ter- ritory, we must hurry on. Fain would we pause to follow each in

* Eel. 1689-40 ; Garnier's Letters.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 183

his laboi* his trials, and his toils ; recount their dangers from the heftthe*. Huron, the skulking Iroquois brave, the frozen river, hunger, cold, and accident ; to show Gamier wrestling with the floating ice, through which he sunk, on an errand of mercy ; Cha- banel struggling on for years on a mission from which every fibre of his nature shrunk with loathing; Chaumonot compiling his grammar on the frozen earth ; or the heroic Brebeuf, paralyzed by a fall, with his collar-bone broken, creeping on his hands and feet along the frozen road, and sleeping unsheltered on the snow, when the very trees were splitting with cold.*

The faith now advanced. Chihatenhwa, slain by the Iro- quois, was replaced by his brother Teondechoren, who had for twenty years been a medicine-man. Sondatsaa, Atironta, Atonso, and Ahasastari, famous chiefs, were the catechumens, and the greatest sachems now listened to the words of the mission- aries ; yet still, in a nation of 16,000, not one hundred were Christians, and but a hundred baptisms rewarded their labors.f The following year was more consoling. Although the war with the Iroquois had assumed a dangerous form, the mis- sions were pushed with renewed vigor, except that among the Neutrals, for Brebeuf had gone to Quebec. The Christians and catechumens now became so numerous, that in many villages they formed a considerable party, and by refusing all participation in feasts or ceremonies savoring of idolatry, drew on themselves petty persecution and bitter hatred. Hearing the name of Mary repeated frequently, the pagans called the Christians Marians, a name which they joyfully received. In many families the Catho- lic Indian was constantly persecuted ; and the annals of the mis- sion give most edifying accounts of the perseverance even ot children.

* Garnhr's Letters; Memoires snr la vie et les vertus des Peres Isaac Jogucs, &c. ; Chaumonot's Autobiography, t Eel. 1640-1.

184: AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

The Algonquin mission also took a new impulse. After a feast of the dead, which had gathered deputies from every Algic clan around the upper lakes, Raymbaut and Jogues, as we shall else- where see, crossed Lake Huron, and announced the gospel to the assembled Chippewas at the rapids of St. Mary, planting the cross within the limits of Michigan, as it has been justly said, years before Elliot had preached to the Algonquins, within ten miles of Boston.* .

Reverses were now beginning to overshadow the future of the Huron mission. Father Jogues, sent down to Quebec in the summer for supplies, fell into the hands of the Mohawks as he returned. The flotilla containing the bravest Christians was taken, and all met sufferings or death on their way to the Mohawkf Raymbaut soon after died. The Iroquois were ravaging the Huron country; but the Superior, undaunted by all, wrote — "Never have we had more courage for spiritual or temporal." Every war or trading party now had its Christians, who, by their fidelity in prayer, showed the sincerity of their belief. Many who had turned a deaf ear to the poor missionary in Huronia, yielded at last, when he saw the honor paid to reli- gion at Quebec, and felt the greatness of the sacrifices made by those apostolic men.

These, on their return, became apostles, and many, like Totiri, •went to obstinate towns to announce the faith, and warn them of the vengeance of Heaven. The Christian element was now work- ing steadily on. Councils were held to determine the best means of extending the faith ; and though the evils of war seemed to fall especially on the Christians, none wavered.

By 1644, the face of the country was so changed, that the mis- sionaries, though in great want, yet relying on the protection of God, resolved on the return of Brebeuf, with Fathers Garreau and

* Bel. Huron, 1641-2 ; Bancroft. f Eel. 1642, ch. xL

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t Bai. 1042, <sh. it

FRENCH MISSIONS. 185

Chabanel, again to alter the mission plan, and became permanent residents at the various stations of the Conception, St. Joseph's and St. Michael's, returning to St. Mary's only for their annual re- treat, or to attend consultations.* In the following year there were two other little churches, St. Ignatius and St. John the Bap- tist, with the Algic church of the Holy Ghost.t

The year 1645 brought a peace, which, for the first time in many years, left the St. Lawrence free ; and Father Bressani, who had been captured the preceding year, now reached the Huron countiy with the necessaries of which the missionaries had long been deprived. Relieved of the long and cruel war, Huronia seemed to acquire new vigor, and the Jesuits began to feel hopes of extending their spiritual conquests ; but the peace so lately con- cluded was soon broken by the Mohawks, who massacred their missionary, Isaac Jogues. War was rekindled. The Iroquoia bui-st on the Huvon country, and all was soon dismay and ruin. This hour of misfortune was the acceptable time of salvation. As famine, disaster, and destruction, closed around them, the Hurons gathered beneath the cross, their only hope. Every alarm pro- duced sincere conversions, stimulated the slow or tepid, and sent conviction into the hearts of unbelievers. In no town was there a chapel large enough for the congregation. In summer and winter, proof to the severity of the weather, the kneeling crowd without joined, each in his own heart, in the sacrifice offered within.J

In July, 1648, early in the morning, when the braves were absent on war or hunting parties, when none but old men, women, and children tenanted the once strong town of Teananstayae, when Father Anthony Daniel, beloved of all, fresh from his retreat at St. Mary's, and full of desire for the glory of Heaven, was urging *his flock to prepare for it in joy, a cry arose, " To arms ! to arms !"

* Eel. Huron, 1642-4. There is none of 1643; it was taken by the Mo hawks, t Eel. 1644-5, and 1645-6. J Eel. 1647-8.

186 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

which echoing through the crowded chapel, filled all with terror, Mass had just ended, and Daniel hastens to the palisade, where the few defenders rallied. There he rouses their drooping courage, for a formidable Iroquois force was upon them. Heaven opens to the faithful Christian who dies fighting for his home ; but to the un- believer, vain his struggle : temporal pain will be succeeded by endless torment. Few and quick his words. Confessing here, baptizing there, he hurries along the line. Then speeds him to the cabins. Crowds gather round to implore the baptism they had long refused. Unable to give time to each, he baptizes by aspersion, and again hurries into cabin after cabin to shrive the sick and aged. At last he is at the chapel again. Tis full to the door. All had gathered round the altar for protection and defence, losing the precious moments. " Fly, brethren, fly !" ex- claimed the devoted missionary. "Be steadfast till your latest breath in the faith. Here will I die ; here must I stay while I see one soul to gain to heaven ; and, dying to serve you, my life is nothing." Pronouncing a general absolution, he urged their flight from the rear of the chapel ; and advancing to the main door issued forth and closed it behind him. The Iroquois were already at hand ; but at the sight of that man thus fearlessly ad- vancing, they recoiled, as though some deity had burst upon them. But the next moment a shower of arrows riddled his body. Gashed, and rent, and torn, his apostolic spirit never left him. Daniel stands undismayed, till pierced by a musket-ball, he uttered aloud the name of Jesus, and fell dead, as he had often wished, by that shrine he had reared in the wilderness. His church, soon in flames, became his pyre, and flung in there, his body was entirely consumed.

Thus, in the midst of his labors, perished Anthony Daniel, priest of the Society of Jesus, unwearied in labor, unbroken in toil, patient beyond belief, gentle amid every opposition, charitable with the charity of Christ, supporting and embracing all. Around

FRENCH MISSIONS. 187

him fell hundreds of his Christians ; and thus sank in blood the mission of St. Joseph, at the town of Teananstayae.*

The news of this disaster spread terror through the land. Town after town was abandoned. The Hurons fled to the islands of the lake, or the cabins of the Tionontates; and the missionaries endeavored in vain to excite them to a systematic plan of defence. During the winter the Iroquois roamed through the country undisturbed, and there seemed no hope of ultimate victory over them. The Huron nation, after having had its day of glory and renown, was destined to melt away before the con- quering iroquois, when sickness had enfeebled its towns. Though it was proud and stubborn at first, Providence awaited the moment of its conversion before the final blow was struck. " The faith had now made the conquest of almost the whole country," says Bressani, an eye-witness of the scenes we relate ; " it was everywhere publicly professed ; and not merely the common people, but even the chiefs were alike its children and its pro- tectors. The superstitious rites that at first were more frequent than the day, began to lose credit to such a degree, that a heathen at Ossossane, man of rank though he was, could find none to per- form them in his illness. The persecutions raised against us had now ceased ; the curses heaped on the faith were changed into blessings. We might say that they were now ripe for heaven ; that naught was wanting but the reaping-hook of death to lay the harvest up in the safe garner-house of Paradise. This was our sole consolation amid the general desolation of the country."

" Misfortune and affliction had begun with the faith ; they grew

* Father Anthony Daniel, called by the Indians Antwen (i. e. Antoine), was born at Dieppe, in Normandy, in 1601, and entered the Society of Jesus in his twenty-first year. Sent to Canada in 1633, he was at first stationed at Cape Breton ; but from July, 1634, to his death, on the 4th of July, 1*548, was connected with the Huron mission. In life, he had ever been distin- guished for meekness, humility, obedience, and piety. For a sketch of his K,e, see Aley">*>>>e, 642; Tanner, German edition, 673; Bressaui, 247.

188 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

with its growth ; and when religion seemed at last the peaceful mistress of the land, ' the waters of tribulation entered in' so furi- ously, that the stricken church may well exclaim, 'A tempest has overwhelmed me.' "

Such was the strange picture of this devoted land. Its cup was not yet full. On the 16th of March, 1649, at daybreak, an army of a thousand Iroquois burst on the town of St. Ignatius, and all were soon involved in massacre. Three only found means to escape, and, half-naked, reach the neighboring town of St. Louis. Sending off the women and children, the braves prepared to defend the place. Two missionaries were actually in the vil- lage— the veteran Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant. These the Christians urged to flee, as it was not their calling to wield sword or musket ; but Father Brebeuf told them that in such a crisis there was something more necessary than fire or steel ; it was to have recourse to God and to the sacraments, which they alone could administer. Lalemant, no less resolute, implored of Brebeuf permission to remain with him, and obtained it. Like Daniel, they too hurried from cabin to cabin to prepare the sick and in- firm for death, and then at the palisades roused the courage of the small band who awaited the approach of the enemy. The Iroquois came madly on, but a well-directed Huron fire drove them back with loss. Yet their force was too overwhelming. In spite of losses they pressed up to the palisade, and soon effecting a breach, drove back the few Huron braves, and as they advanced, fired the town. The two missionaries, who remained to soothe the wounded and dying, were soon in the hands of the Iroquois, who, collecting their captives, began their torture by tearing out their nails, then led them in haste to St. Ignatius, where the other prisoners and booty had been left. The missionaries and their companions were dragged along with every ignominy, and entered the town only by the fearful gauntlet — blows raining on them from the double row of furious savages who came out to meet

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them. A scaffold had been raised, according to custom, of poles lashed together, and covered with bark. Here they were exposed. Brebeuf seeing Christian captives near him, excited their courage by reminding them of the glory of heaven now opening before them. There were among the Iroquois some Hurons now natural- ized, and of old enemies of the missionaries. At these words of Brebeuf, they began the torture. Each was soon bound to a stake. The hands of Brebeuf were cut off; while Lalemant's flesh quivered with the awls and pointed irons thrust into every part of his body. This did not suffice : a fire kindled near soon reddened their hatchets, and these they forced under the armpits and between the thighs of the sufferers ; while to Brebeuf they gave a collar of those burning weapons; and there the missionaries stood with those glowing irons seething and consuming to their very vitals. Amid the din rose the voice of the old Huron missionary, consol- ing his converts, denouncing God's judgments on the unbeliever, till his executioners crushed his mouth with a stone, cut off his nose and lips, and thrust a brand into his mouth, so that his throat and tongue, burnt and swollen, refused their office.

They had left Lalemant, and now stopped to devise some new plan of torture. Enemies of the faith, they had seen Brebeuf in the very breach baptizing his neophytes ; often, too, in their vil- lages, had the apostate Hurons seen him pour the vivifying waters on the head of the dying. An infernal thought seizes them. They resolve to baptize him. While the rest danced like fiends around him, slicing off his flesh to devour before his eyes, or cauterizing the wounds with stones or hatchets, these placed a cauldron on the fire. " Echon," cried the mockers, for such was his Huron name, " Echon, thou hast told us that the more we suffer here, the greater will be our crown in heaven ; thank us, then, for we are laying up for tliee a priceless one in heaven." When the water was heated, Jiey tore off his scalp, and thrice, in derision of baptism, poured the water over his head, amid the loud shout of the unbeliever*

L90 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

/The eye of the martyr was now dim, and the torturers unable, from first to last, to wring from his lips one sigh of pain, were eager to close the scene. Hacking off his feet, they clove open his chest, took out his noble heart and devoured it.*

Thus, about four o'clock in the afternoon, after three hours of frightful torture, expired Father John do Brebenf, the real found- er of the mission, a man such as the Catholic Church alone could produce ; — as a missionary unequalled for his zeal, ability, untiring exertion, and steady pei'severance ; as a servant of God, one whose virtues the Rota would pronounce heroic, patient in toil, hardship, suffering, and privation ; a man of prayer, of deep and tender piety, of inflamed love for God, in whom and for whom he did and suffered all ; as a martyr, one of the most glorious in our annals for the variety and atrocity of his torments.

Gabriel Lalemant had cast himself at the feet of Brebeuf to kiss his glorious wounds ; but he had been torn away, and after being

* Father John de Brebeuf, whose Huron name was J&hon, was born at Baycux, in Normandy, on the 25th ol March, 1598, of a noble family, the source of the ancient house of Arundel. By far the most eminent of the early missionaries of Canada, his life is the history and the glory of the Huron mission. He entered the Society of Jesus at Rouen on the 5th of October, 1617, and was ordained five years after. From the outset of his religious life he was eminent for his mortification, austerities, zeal, and devotedness. He first arrived in Canada on the 19th of June, 1625, and was employed among the Ilurons from 1626 to 1629, from 16** to 1641, and from 1641 to his death on the 16th of March, 1649. He was interred at the cemetery of St. Mary's, but his head was carried to Quebec and inclosed in a silver bust sent from France by his family. The bust, of which an exact copy is given in this work, is still at the Hotel Dieu, Quebec. The intercession of Father Brebeuf was constantly invoked, and many miracles are ascribed to him. He was tho first Huron scholar, and wrote a catechism in the language of the tribe, pub- lished in 1632, and a grammar never published. As Superior of the Huron mission he is the author of two Relations, one of which contains a treatise on the Huron language, republished in the Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society, and another Treatise on the Manners and Customs of the Tribe. For a sketcli of his life, see Alegambe ; Tanner, 533 ; Bressani, 251 ; Memoires touchant les Vertus, &c. MS. 1652; O'Callaghan, Jesuit Rel»- tfons , Drew's Fasti, i. 812-17.

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wrapped in pieces of bark, left for a time. When his superior had expired, they applied fire to this covering; as the flame curled around him, Father Lalemant, whose delicate frame, unused to toil, could not resist the pain, raised his hands on high and invoked the aid of heaven. Gratified by this expression of pain, his torment*, re resolved to prolong his agony ; and through the long night added torture to torture to see the writhing frame, the quivering flesh of the young priest. He, too, underwent the cruel mockery of bap- tism. " We baptize thee," said the wretches, " that thou mayest be blessed in heaven, for without a good baptism one cannot be saved." He, too, saw his flesh devoured before his eyes, or slashed off in wanton cruelty, for it displeased their taste ; every inch of his body, from head to foot, was charred and burnt ; his very eyes were put out by the hot coals forced into them. At last when the sun had risen on the 17th of March, 1649, they closed his long martyrdom by tomahawking him, and left his body a black man- gled mass.*

They had attempted to attack St. Mary's, where a small village had now gathered ; but after receiving a check from a Huron party gave up the design, and at last, fearful of surprise, retired with precipitation.

This was the death-blow of the Huron nation ; fifteen towns were »icv abandoned, and the people fled in every direction. The tribe

* Eel. 1648-9; Bressani, , Relation abregee ; Memoires sur les Vertus, &c. MS.

Father Gabriel Lalemant, a nephew of Father Charles and Father Je- rome Lalemant, both distinguished in the annals of the Canada mission, was born on the 31st of October, 1610, at Paris, where his grandfather held the post of Lieutenant Criminel. At the age of twenty he entered the Society of Jesus, and, after teaching several years, followed his uncles and several of hia schoolfellows to Canada. He arrived at Quebec on the 20th of September 1646. but was on the Huron mission only from the 6th of August, 1648, to the time of his death. A gentle, innocent life, made him seem ever younger *)ut not more innocent than he actually was. For his Life, see same authon ties as 1'or Father Brebeuf.

192 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

of Scanonaenrat or St. Michael's, with the survivors of that called by the missionaries St. John the Baptist, made overtures to the conquering Iroquois, and emigrated in a body to the Seneca coun- tiy, where we shall afterwards find them. Others fled to the kin- dred Tionontates, Attiwandaronk, Eries, and Gonestogues ; others sought a refuge on the islands and shores of Lake Huron.

In this disorder the missions were all broken up. The Fathers, assembling at St. Mary's, resolved to follow the fugitives who re- mained in the country, and share their fate. The small body thus left in the Huron countiy clung to the missionaries as their only hope : the infidels promising conversion, the Christians fidelity till death. Some of the missionaries struck a hundred miles into the forests to console those who had fled amid their trials ; others joined Garuier on his Petun or Tionontate mission, now the most important of all ; the rest, with the Superior and the French in the country, endeavored to assemble as many as possible, and form a settlement on an island to which they gave the name of St. Joseph.

Before removing to it, however, they, with streaming eyes, set fire to their house and chapel of St. Mary's to prevent its profana- tion, and beheld the flames in one hour consume the work of nine- teen years. The new settlement was unfortunate ; unable to raise crops for the multitude gathered there, cooped up by war-parties of the enemy, the devoted Hurons soon fell victims to famine and disease.

Father Gamier and his companions labored zealously among the Tionontates, but calumny and persecution arose, and in one place their death was resolved upon ; confident, nevertheless, in the pro- tection of heaven, they fearlessly continued their labors during the summer. Late in the fall the Superior at St. Joseph's Island heard that a arge Iroquois force was in the field, intended to operate either against the new settlement or the Tionoutates. Not to expose too many, he recalled Father Natalis Chabanel from Etharita or St. John's, and suggested to Father Charles Gamier, the other mis- there, the propriety of retiring for a time. Father Cha-

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left on th« 5th of December, and on the same day the bravee of Etharita, tired of waiting for the enemy, set out to meet them, but unfortunately took a wrong direction : the Iroquois army passed tham unseen, and late in the afternoon burst on the defenceless town. Fearful of being surprised in their work by the returning Petuns, they cut down all without mercy, and fired the place. Gamier was everywhere exhorting, consoling, shriving, baptizing: wherever a wounded Indian lay, he rushed to gather his dying words ; wherever a sick person or child met his eye, he hastened to confer baptism. While thus, regardless of danger, he listened only to the call of duty, he fell mortally wounded by two musket- balls ; and the Iroquois, stripping him of his habit, hurried on. Stunned by the pain, he lay a moment there, then clasping his hands in prayer, prepared to die ; but as he writhed in the agony of death he beheld a wounded Tionontate some paces from him. That sight revived him ; forgetful of his own state, he remembered only that he was a priest, and rallying all his strength by two efforts, rises to his feet and endeavors to walk, but after a few stag- gering steps falls heavily to the ground. Still, mindful only of duty, he dragged himself to the wounded man, and, while giving him the last absolution, fell over him a corpse : another Iroquois had driven a tomahawk into his skull.*

Fathers Garreau and Grelon hastened from the other town and buried, amid the ruins of their church, the body of the holy mis- sionary, the beloved Oracha of the natives, who, won by his mild and gentle manners, entire devotion to them and their good, his forgetfulness of all that was not connected with their salvation, no less than his perfect knowledge of their language and manners, had long considered him less a Frenchman than an Indian, or a being of another world sent to assume the form.f

* Memoires, &c. 247 ; Bressani, Relation abre'gee, 263. t Father Charles Gamier was born at Paris, in 1605, of an eminent and pious family. After a youth of remarkable holiness he entered the Society

9

194 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

«

His companion, Father Chabanel, did not escape. He had not travelled far when the cries from St. John's alarmed his party in the woods : they dispersed, and Chabanel, while endeavoring to make his way alone to St. Mary's, was killed by an apostate Hu- ron on the banks of a river, and flung into the stream, thus ending a missionary career in which he had persevered against the utmost repugnance, and the total want of all consolation.*

After this disaster, the Tionontates abandoned their other town and fled with the Hurons, with whom they were now confounded.

As the misery on St. Joseph's Isle increased, the chiefs resolved to emigrate to the lower St. Lawrence, and settle under the walls of Quebec. To this the missionaries at last consented, loth as they were to leave a land so endeared to them by the labor of years, bedewed by the sweat and blood of their martyred brethren. The

of Jesus on the 5th of September, 1624, being the third brother who em- braced the religious state. Sent to Canada in 1636, he was constantly on the Huron missions from the llth of September in that year till his death on the 7th of December, 1649. He seemed to have been born and to live only for the conversion of his Indians : of nothing else did he think or converse. Es- teemed by his companions as a saint, his letters, still extant, bear testimony to his eminent love of God and zeal for the salvation of souls, as well as his entire disengagement from earthly things. As a Huron scholar he was, nest to Brebeuf, the best in the whole body of missionaries. See Alegambe, He- roes, 659 ; Tanner, 539; Drew's Fasti, iv. 295; CreuxJus, Hist. Canada, 565; Eulogium, P. C. Garnier, MS. 1649; Chaumonot, Autobiography, MS.

* Bel. 1649-50; Memoires, &c. 273; Tanner, Societas Jesu Militans (Ger- man ed.), 687. Father Natalis Chabanel was born in the south of France in 1613, and entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 17. He was professor ot rhetoric in several eolhges of the order in the province of Toulouse, and was highly esteemed for his skill and learning. Burning, however, with the dosire of evangelizing the heathen, he was sent to Canada in 1643. After studying the Algonquin language for a time he was sent to the Hurons, and continued among them till his death. His virtue may be known from the fact that, though he had an insuperable repugnance to the Indians and their mode of life, he bound himself by vow not to leave the mission, and this without any inte/ior consolation to sustain him. A doubt hung over his death; but his murderer, Louis Honareenhax, finally avowed that he had killed the mis- feiouury, because every misfortune had befallen him since he had embraced CLristiauity. — Memoires pour servir, &c.

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pilgrims set out in June, 1650, and by the following month reached the capital of the French colony.

The Huron nation was thus entirely dispersed, and the mission broken up. Since the first visit of Le Caron in 1615, a period of thirty-five yeare, twenty-nine missionaries had labored in the penin- sula on Lake Huron. Seven of these had perished by the hand of violence ; eleven still remained. These, like their neophytes, scatr tered ; Bressani went to Italy, Lemercier and Poncet to the West Indies, and Grelon to China ; but distance did not wean their hearts from their long-cherished affection to the mission of their early years. Words could not describe the thrill of joy which filled the heart of Grelon, when, years after, travelling through the plains of Tartary, he met a Huron woman whom he had known on the shores of her native lake, and who, sold from tribe to tribe, had reached the interior of Asia. There on the steppes she knelt, and in that tongue, which neither had heard for years, the poor Wyan- dot confessed once more to her aged pastor:*

* Charlevoix, v. 45. See, too, Hist. Spanish America, London, 1742, p. 84. For Grelon's Chinese labors, see Navarrete, Le Comto. This fact first led to the knowledge of the near approach of America to Asia.

The best account of the Huron mission to the destruction of their na- tional existence is the " Breve Relatione" of Father Francis Joseph Bressani. He was a native of Rome, and entering the Society of Jesns at the age of 15, spent many years as professor of Literature, Philosophy, and Mathematics. Filled with zeal for the salvation of souls, and doubtless moved by the ex- ample of Chaumonot and Poncet, he solicited the Canada mission, and was sent to America in 1642. For two years he was employed among the colonists and the Algonquins near Quebec. Sent then to the Hurons, in 1644, lie fell with his companions into a Mohawk ambuscade near Fort Richelieu, and was taken prisoner. Father Bressani was tortured and condemned to the stake. Led with every brutality to the banks of the upper Hudson, he was com- pelled to run the gauntlet, beaten, cut, and mangled. Then hurried on again over rocks and thorns, famishing with hunger, spent with blows and loss of blood, he reached the first Mohawk village to run again the fearful race, and meet the torture on the scaffold and in the cabins. He was now a living mass of corruption, the worms that bred in him dropping as he moved. Yet he lived, and when they changed their resolution and gave him to an old wo- man, she sold him to the Dutch, who treated him kindly, and sent him back

CHAPTER VIII.

THE HURON MISSION (CONCLUDED.)

Fhe Hnrons at Quebec — Father Chaumonot and his labors — Troubled by tiie Subsequent history — Present state— Hurons of St. Joseph's Isle — Tbeir division — IIu rons at Mackinaw — Menard dies on his way to their camp on Green Bay — Allouez » Chegoimegon — Marquette — Return to Mackinaw in consequence of Sioux war — Mission of St. Ignatius — Its history — Removal to Detroit — Sandusky and Indian ter- ritory— General view.

THE Hurons who went to Quebec were received there with all charity, and placed by the Jesuits on lands of theirs at Beauport, where they had already formed a colony of that unfortunate nation. Notwithstanding all the efforts of their pastors their sufferings were extreme, for the charity of the white-man is far different from the hospitality of the Indian. After some struggles with poverty and misery they removed to Isle Orleans in 1651, where a church and fort were constructed, and the cultivation of the soil gave them ample support. Guided by Father Leonard Garreau and by Father Peter Mary J. Chaumonot, two of their surviving pastors, they be- came models of piety and fervor. The latter missionary spent most of his life among them, and completing the knowledge of the Hu-

to France. Canada was still his choice ; he returned in July, 1645, and pro- ceeded to the Huron country, and, in 1643, accompanied a party.to Quebec, •which, attacked by the Mohawks, defeated them with loss. He returned tho same year. After the death of Daniel, Brebeuf, and Lalemant, he was sent to Quebec again in September, 1649, for aid, but could not return till the fol- lowing year. Wounded on the way by the Iroqnois, who again attacked him, he met the first Huron party emigrating to Quebec, and learnt the final rniu of the mission. He sailed for Europe on the 1st of November, 1650, and, after preaching many years in Italy, died at Florence on the 9th of Septem- ber, 1672. He published, in 1653, at Macerata, his Breve Relatione, of which a translation appeared at Montreal in 1852. For Father Bressani, see the biography in the latter edition drawn up by the editor, Father Felix Martin, one who has'rendered incalculable services to the history of Canada by hut researches, writings, and collection of precious documents.

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ron derived from Brebeuf and Garnier, he composed a grammar ol the language, long regarded as a masterpiece by the missionaries of Canada.* It was constantly placed in the hands of those who were preparing for the missions, and formed the base of nearly all the grammars of Indian tongues compiled by the French missiona- ries. After remaining long in manuscript, copied from hand tc hand, this admirable work was published by the Literary and His- torical Society of Quebec in 1835.

The Iroquois, however, troubled the peace of this little Eden, where two sodalities for the two sexes kept alive a spirit of fervor and piety worthy of the primitive Church : the Senecas had, by the accession of the Hurons of St. Michael and St. John, become too powerful : the crafty Mohawk and deeper Onondaga sought, by the same means, to swell their numbers. The Hurons unfortu- nately listened to both, and, by unthinking negotiations, drew new miseries on themselves, by promising to emigrate to both cantons. While hesitating as to their best course, they were sud- denly attacked by the Mohawks in May, 1656. and nearly a hundred killed or hurried away captives.f Alarmed at this, the rest made overtures of peace ; and it was finally agreed to separate : the Bear family joined the Mohawks; in 1657 the Rock set out for Onondaga, and the remaining family, the Cord, resolved to re- main with the French. The grief of the Hurons at parting with their missionaries was intense ; but as there was now every pros- pect of permanent missions in the Iroquois cantons, they had still some hope of enjoying the consolations of their religion. Some of these unfortunate emigrants were soon after killed without scruple, but many lived for years in the various cantons preparing their conquerore for the faith. Their history we shall trace in that ot the Iroquois missions.|

The small body that remained on Isle Orleans, sought shelter ir

* Chaumonot's Life, f Eel. 1656-7, ch. 8. J Eel. 1656-7, ch. 6, 7, 10-22.

198 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Quebec, and spent several years within its walls, till peace waf again restored, when Chaumonot founded the mission of Notre Dame de Foye,* about five miles from the city. Owing to want of proper land, this mission was removed by the same missionary, in 1693, to a new site, where he erected a church and chapel, modelled on the Holy House of Loretto, and perfectly like it in form, materials, dimensions, and furniture. From this circumstance the mission took the name of Lorette. Here the Hurons long en joyed great prosperity.!

* So called from a statue of the Blessed Virgin, which had been sent from Belgium to be honored in an Indian mission ; as this statue was made of the oak-tree in which the miraculous statue of Notre Dame de Foye was found, near Dinan in Belgium. — Martin's Notes in Bressani, Relation abregee, 318.

t Father Peter Mary Joseph Chanmonot, or, as he sometimes wrote his name, Chaumonnot, was born in 1611, near Chatillon sur Seine, where his father was a vine-dresser. While studying with his uncle, a priest, he was induced, by a wicked associate, to rob his guardian and go to Baume to fin- ish his studies. Soon disabused, he feared to return, and proceeded on a pilgrimage t6 Rome. After a variety of adventures, which he has inimitably described, he entered the Society of Jesus, on the 18th of May, 1632, as the son of an advocate. He soon revealed the deceit, and, sincerely, converted, devoted himself to the study of perfection. While in his theology, Father Poncet, then also a student at Rome, gave him one of Brebeufs Huron Re- lations, and he solicited the Canada mission. His desire was granted ; and, after being ordained, he was sent to America. He landed at Quebec on the 1st of August, 1639, with Father Poncet, and with him proceeded imme- diately to the Huron territory. Here he remained till 1650, visiting the vil- lages of the Hurons, Petuns, and Neutrals. He descended to Quebec with the party who settled on Isle Orleans, and was constantly with them till his death, on the 21st of February, 1693, except from 1655 to 1658, when he was at Onondaga, and a short stay at Montreal.

He founded Lorette, and from his devotion to the Blessed Virgin estab lished the Confraternity of the Holy Family, to which the Pope granted nu merous indulgences, and wliich still subsists. Besides his Huron grammar above mentioned, he composed his " Racines Huronnes," a collection of the radical and derivative words ; a Catechism and Instructions in Huron ; and finally, in 1688, his own autobiography, in a letter addressed to his Superior, Father Dablon. None of these latter works have been printed. He was a man of great and earnest piety, boundless zeal, and confidence in God. Hie humility was such that he ordinarily signed his letters " Le pauvre Hechon,'

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When Charlevoix visited it in 1721, the mission was directed Dy Father Peter Daniel Richer, a man of eminent virtue. Tho mission had for a time, during ChaumonoVs later years and after his death, been somewhat neglected, but its fervor was restored, and Richer had only to maintain matters as they were. The fervor of the Hurons was such as to call forth the highest eulogiums of the traveller, who dwells on their patriarchal faith, their upright- ness, their docility of heart, their innocence and sincere piety.

Their fervor abated none of their valor : their chiefs figured in every war ; and the defeat of Braddock was mainly due to the courage and skill of Anastasius the chieftain of Lorette.

The want of good ground induced a subsequent removal to a place now known as Jeune Lorette, where they still reside. Af- ter having lost home, language, habits, and to some extent their nationality, this portion is gradually disappearing. " It resembles," says Father Martin, " a tree which could never take deep root in, the ground to which it had been transplanted. Deprived of quick- ening sap, its detached leaves fall one after another, and there is no hope that a new spring-tide will ever restore the verdure of its early years."*

When the Hurons left St. Joseph's Isle with the missionaries, several bands of the nation were still in various parts : one of these made a stand on great Manitouline for a time, and, under the gal- lant Stephen Annaotaha, defeated the Iroquois, but finally removed to Quebec. Some, however, still clung to the west, and ere long a Huron colony existed on the island of Michilimackinaw, an island famous in the traditions of western mythology. Bleak and exposed as was this little isle, it was safe, abounded in excellent places for fishing, was convenient to fertile lands and good hunting ground, and enabled them to carry on a lucrative trade.

the latter being his Indian name. — Autobiographic du P. Chaumonot; Dab- Ion, Circular Letter, 1693; Creuxius; Relations, 1639 to 1679. * Martin's Notes in Bressani, Kelatiou abregee, 318.

200 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Attacked even here, they removed for a time to the Noquet Islands, then, entering Green Bay, reached the banks of the Mississippi by the Wisconsin, and commenced a friendly inter- course with the Illinois ; but, having incurred the anger of the Sioux, they retraced their steps to the Noquet Islands. This band numbered about five hundred, and were nearly all Christians. Deprived of pastors and instruction, surrounded by infidels, driven about by every wind of adversity, their faith was growing dim, and the vices and superstitions of paganism were again reviving among them. Yet, when the veteran Father Menard, for nine years a missionary in the Huron country, reached the shores of Lake Su- perior in 1660, to plant the cross among the Ottawas, the long- forsaken Hurons on Noquet Island, or on the shore at the mouth of Menomonee River, sent to implore him to visit them, as the pagans would all e nbrace Christianity. Despairing of doing any good among the Ottawas, Father Menard left Chegoimegon in June, 1661, to traverse the forest. On his way want of food broke up the party ; his Indians left him with a faithful Frenchman, named Guerin, and soon after, at a portage, the aged Father lost his way, or was taken by a roving band of Sioux.*

Soon after this the Hurons removed to Chegoimegon, and were there when Father Allouez began his mission at that place, in 1665. These poor wanderers were of course the first objects of his care, for he was not ignorant of their language. He endeavored to recall them : some listened to his words. One woman, whom Father Gamier had been about to baptize when death cut short his career, was now prepared for baptism by Allouez, and expired soon after receiving the sacrament. The instructions of Gamier had sunk deep into their hearts, but long want of pastors had al- lowed vice and supei-stition to grow up.f The efforts of Allouea to root out these vices and superstitions failed ; the Hurons proved

• Bel. 1659-60, p. 61 ; R«l. 1662-8, ch. 8. t Kel. 1*66-7, p. 74.

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so ungrateful to his toil, that, in 1669, they were deprived of the consolation they had once solicited. Allouez was summoned to other fields, and his successor, Father James Marquette, was then almost ignorant of the Huron tongue, and unable to give them in- structions. This produced an impression on them, and a change was soon visible, but new troubles arose. In their folly the Hurons and Ottawas provoked the Dacotahs to war, and both were compelled to fly before these formidable enemies ; the Ot- tawas first launched their canoes on the lake, and steered to Manitouline, leaving Father Marquette with the Hurons. That remnant of a mighty nation resolved also to commit themselves to the waves, and seek a new home. With their faithful missionary, they embarked in their frail canoes, and once more turned towards their ancient home. Fain would they have revisited the scenes of Huron power, and the fur-lined graves of their ancestors. Fain too would the missionary have gone to spend his surviving years on the ground hallowed by the blood of Daniel, Brebeuf, Lale- mant, Gamier, and Chabanel, but the power of the Iroquois was still too great to justify the step, and the fugitives, remembering the rich fisheries of Mackinaw, resolved to return to that pebbly strand. A fort was raised on the northern shore, inclosing their chapel and cabins. Separated now from other tribes, they listened to their devoted missionary, and profited by his instructions. Even when he was temporarily absent, they were always regular in their attendance at chapel to chant their prayers. Some pagans in the band solicited baptism : dreams and superstitions were re- jected, and there was every prospect of seeing this little remnant as fervent as their brethren at Lorette. A sort of mission or retreat effected much good : general confession produced a marked change. But the good missionary was now about to set out on the voyage which has immortalized his name.*

* Rel. 1671-2: Eel. 1672-3; Life of Marquette in Shea's Exploration and Discovery of the Mississippi, Ixi.

9*

2J2 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

As some Ottawas also gathered here, Father Nouvel took charge of them, and Father Pierson succeeded to Marquette. As the vil- laj^s lay apart, a new and more commodious church was built between the two. Under their new missionary the neophytes in- creased in fervor, and were guided by two dogiques, or chiefs of prayer, who fulfilled their duties zealously.* This church was the honored spot where the bones of Marquette rest Taken up a few years after his death by the Ottawas, they were with much pomp conveyed to the mission, and there, unknown and unhonored, rests the explorer of the Mississippi, the pious and fearless Marquette.

Some years later, general wars prevailed, and the Hurons, as allies of the French, took part in the various war parties, greatly to the detriment of the mission cause. Kondiaronk, or the Rat, nearly ruined Canada by his treacherous intrigues ; and another chief, uamed the Baron, joined the Iroquois with many of the tribe. About 1702, when peace was restored, Detroit was founded, and the Hurons, leaving Michilimackinac, settled near the new postf Here they remained, guided and directed by their mission- aries, for several years, but owing to the opposition of some factious chiefs, the missionaries were compelled to withdraw ; and in 1721, when Father Charlevoix visited the mission, the place was vacant Sasteratsi, the hereditary chief of the Tionontates, was a child, and his grandmother earnestly implored the Jesuit to obtain them a missionary. Convinced of their sincerity, he made such repre- sentations as at last obtained them the object of their desire. The mission Register shows a resident pastor from 1728.J Fervor •was restored again, and the mission, flourishing under its new guides, was removed to the opposite shore.

Father de la Richardie was stationed among the Hurons of Detroit from at least 1738 ;§ and in 1751, led a part of the Hurons

* Rel. 1678-9 ; Ottawa, ch. 3, art. 8. t Charlevoix, iv. 5.

$ Register at Sandwich. $ McCube, Directory.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 203

to Sandusky,* and these, under the name of Wyandots, soon took an active part in the affairs of the west : they were conspicuous in the last French war, and at its close in Pontiac's conspiracy; though long withheld by the influence of Father Potier. During these times of troubles the missionaries were driven from San- dusky ; and though a regular succession was kept up at the mis- sion of the Assumption near Detroit, still the suppression of the Jesuits prepared for its close. Father J. B. Salleneuve was there till 1760 ; and Father Peter Potier, the last Jesuit missionary tc the western Hurons, died in July, 1781 : after that the Indians depended entirely on the priests at the French posts.f The Wyandots at Sandusky were thus cut off from all spiritual instruc- tion, but they did not lose their faith. When the State began tc be settled, they attracted the attention of Protestant missionaries, who seem disposed rather to undo what Catholics have done, than to begin by combating heathendom on its own ground. Between 1803 and 1810, the Rev. Joseph Badger, a Presbyterian, attempted a mission among the Wyandots, but was steadily opposed by the chiefs, who, it is said, actually put to death one who had renounced the Catholic faith. The Methodists made the next attempt ; and as the old members of the tribe, who had in youth been properly instructed, died off, their descendants, bereft of priests, listened to the new preachers.^

The Wyandots were subsequently deported to Indian territory, and are now the smallest but wealthiest of all the exiles. Doubt- less the remembrance of their days of faith is still fresh in their minds, and we may yet see a Catholic missionary among them, a successor of Le Caron and Brebeuf.

* Register at Sandwich.

t Hubert and Glapion. Papers in the Bureau des Terres, Canada. The only monuments remaining at Sandwich are the Registers, some Huron grammars, dictionaries, and parish-lists.

} Archseologia Americana, i. 272.

204 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

We have thus traced the history of the Huron miasion in the country of that people, and glanced at the state of the Church in . the village of Lorette, and amid the western band. The others we shall meet again in the history of the Iroquois mission, where in captivity, like the children of Israel, they mingled their tears with the torrents, and sung to the Lord in a strange land. Such was the Huron mission, the boast of the Jesuit Fathers in Canada, the scene of their utmost zeal and devotedness, It is in- deed a noble monument. The mission had converted a nation ; it had produced Christians eminent for piety. Joseph Chihatenhwa, whom the missionaries invoked after his death ; Ahasistari, the bravest warrior of his day, and as devoted a Christian ; the Atiron- tas, iu whose family piety was hereditary; Paul, the Dogique; Francis Tehoronhiongo, whom we shall meet again ; and, in later days, Anastasius, the victor at Braddock's defeat, are men worthy of the brightest days of the Church. Women and children evinced an heroic fortitude in professing their faith, and resisting alike the allurements and the threats of their pagan relatives-and countrymen.

It led, in an ethnological point of view, to great and glorious results — the identity of the various branches of the Huron and Iro- quois stock, the analysis of three dialects, a complete grammar, dictionary, and exegesis of the Huron, the mother tongue, devo- tional works for the use of the converts. Incidentally, too, the mis- sionaries and their attendants were explorers of the west ; the first, to visit Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, and study the great water valleys of central America ; while Marquette, the founder of the Huron mission at Michilimackinac, has given undying fame to his name by the exploration of the Mississippi.*

• Shea's discovery and exploration of the Mississippi, Eedfield, 1852.

CHAPTER IX.

THS IROQUOIS MISSION.

The Recollects desigt an Iroquois mission — One of them, Father Poulain, & c»ptiv<»- The Huron war — Captivity of Father Jogues — His escape — Kindness of the Dutch — Captivity of Father Bressani — His ransom — Peace — F. Jogues returns to Canada, i» sent as envoy to the Mohawks — Concludes the negotiations — He founds the mission •- Hb glorious death.

IN the history of the Huron mission we have frequently alluded to the Iroquois, a confederacy of five nations living in the State of New York, the irreconcilable enemies of the Hurons, Algonquins, and French in Canada. In origin, manners, and language, they resemble the Wyandots: their distinctive name was Hotinnonsionni, or the complete cabin. The French gave both these tribes at first the name Hiroquais, from a word used in their speeches and their usual cry.* The Wyandots, however, soon acquired the nickname of Hurons, and the term Iroquois was applied exclusively to the Five Nations. As the great Champlain joined their enemies before Quebec was fortified, a war ensued which occupies the whole early history of Canada — a war which destroyed the noblest missions of the north — a war which seemed to close forever the way of the gospel to the cabins of the Iroquois. Such was not, however, the design of the Almighty, who makes human passions and hu- man errors contribute, unseen and unobserved, to the glory of IPS Church.

The apostolic men who founded the Canada mission longed to attempt the conversion of these Romans of the west. A Recollect Father, William Poulaiu, was a prisoner in their hands, in 1621,

* Hire closed every speech, like tho Dixi of the Latins. Kouai was a cry of warning or alarm. The ois should properly be pronounced A.

206 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

at the rapids of St. Louis, and consoled himself for his sufferings by instructing in the faith some Iroquois prisoners,* in hopes of one day visiting their cabins. When the Jesuits came to the aid of the Recollects, it was resolved that some of the Huron missionaries should cross the Niagara and found a mission among the Senecas ; but the death of Father Viel and subsequent misfortunes in the colony prevented the realization of the scheme. At the conclusion of peace, which Champlain effected in 1627, Brother Gervase Mo- hier was about to set out for the Mohawk with the Canada envoys ; but delaying in order to receive his Superior's approval of his mis- sion, escaped the cruel death which overtook the messengers of peace.f

From that time, for many a long year, an Iroquois mission was but a dream ; and, when founded at last, men could scarce credit its reality.

The war against the Indians of Canada, waged by the Iroquois, had not fallen on the French ; but at a restoration of some French captives unharmed in 1640, a collision took place which infuriated the Mohawks, and led to a change of conduct. Henceforward, they proclaimed, French and Huron should be treated alike, and war-bands beset all the water communications of the north, ready to pounce on either. The Huron missionaries were thus reduced to a state of great want ; and, in 1642, Fathers Jogues and Raym- baut, who had just planted the cross in Michigan, set out for Quebec, conscious of the danger, but ready to meet it. The party of Indians with whom they went reached Quebec in safety ; Jogues executed his various commissions, and prepared to return with the Hurons. After commending themselves to God the party set out, but two days after discovered a trail on the shore. Uncertain whether it was that of a hostile party or .no*, the Huron chief Ahasistari, too confident in his numbers, ordered the convoy on

* Le Clercq, i. 206. t Cham plain ; Sagard, 488.

TRENCH MISSIONS. 207

into the very midst of an ambuscade. A volley from the nearest shore riddled their canoes, and disclosed the danger. The Hurons fled to the shore. The missionary, after stooping to baptize a catechumen in his canoe, followed the fugitives, but stood alone on the bank, while in the distance he heard the noise of the pur- suers and pursued. He might have fled ; but could he, a minister of Christ, abandon the wounded and dying ? Looking around, he saw some captives in charge of a few Mohawks, and, joining them, surrendered himself. Ahasistari, with Couture, a Frenchman, drew oft' a part in safety ; but not finding the missionary, returned to share his fate, as the chief had sworn to do : such was the devotion devotedness could inspire.

When the pursuit was over, the Mohawk warriors gradually re- turned and gathered around their prisoners. Besides Father Jogues and the brave Couture, there was Rene Goupil, once a novice, now a donne* of the mission, a man who had given himself to the service of the Fathers without any hope of earthly reward. Ahasistari and nineteen other Hurons completed the group. Torture soon began. Couture had slain a chief; he was now stripped, beaten, and man- gled ; and Father Jogues, who consoled him, was violently attacked, beaten till he fell senseless, for they rushed on him like wolves, and, not content with blows, tore out his nails and gnawed the fingers to the very bone.

Fearful now of pursuit the victors started for their village, hur- rying their captives through the wilderness, all covered with wounds, suffering from hunger, heat, and the cruelty which never ceased to add to their torments by opening their wounds, thrusting awls into their flesh, plucking the beard or hair. While sailing through

* These donnes or given-men were associated to Franciscan as well as Jesuit missions. Many subsequently became eminent men in Canada, and others are deserving of the highest rank among the missionary laborers. Couture, Le Coq, Le Moync, Douay, and several others, deserve especial mention.

208 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Lake Champlain they descried another party, which lauded on at island, raised a scaffold, and formed a double line, through which the line of captives closed by Jogues was forced to run, while blows were showered upon them. The missionary sank under the cluba and iron rods. " God alone," he exclaims, " for whose love and glory it is sweet and glorious to suffer, can tell what cruelties they perpetrated on me then." Dragged to the scaffold, he was again assailed, bruised, and burned ; his closing wounds now gaped afresh, most of his remaining nails were torn out, and his hands so dislo- cated that they never recovered their natural shape. Amid all these trials the good missionary was silent, grieving less for him- self than for his comrades in misfortune, and for the Huron church, whose oldest members were now on their way to death.

Another party, which met them on Lake Champlain, treated them with similar cruelty ; but leaving Lake George they pursued their march on foot, and on the fourteenth of August came to the river beyond which lay the first Mohawk village.* The shout of the warriors emerging from the woods was answered, and the vil- lage poured out to receive the captives. Again the gauntlet was to be run, and through " this narrow path to paradise," amid the descending clubs and rods of iron they sped on to the scaffold, where new cruelties awaited them. The missionary's left thumb was hacked off by an Algonquin slave ; Rene's right with a clam-shell. None of the party escaped. Night brought no relief. Tied to the ground, with legs and arms extended, they writhed in vain to escape the hot coals thrown on them by the children.

* This tribe were usually called by the French the Agniers. Their name as given by Megapolensis, Bruyas, and Barclay, is Kajingahaga, Ganniege- haga, Ganingehage. This last termination was sometimes changed to ronon, and the tribe called Ganniegeronon, whence the French name. The Mohawk word means a Bear, and the Algonquins translating it, called the tribe " Maquaas," or " Mahakwa." From them the Dutch and English adopted the name, and wrote it Mohawk.— Bruyas' Dictionary, MS.

a prii

";M he <v

streamlet. 1 A council ofS;i

to p

as the Dutch li:

'

men set out, and «s 4«#- prayer and self-obia-

1 Coni v b«f*» >

FRENCH MISSIONS. 209

Led thence to two other villages, they experienced similar treat- ment in all ; the scaftbld in the third was already occupied by Huron prisoners, several of whom were catechumens. The mis- sionaiy, on reaching them, made instant inquiries as to their reli- gion : confessing the Christians, he prepared the others for baptism ; but alas ! a prisoner himself, he could not procure a drop of water. Just then an Indian passing flung him a stalk of maize ; it was morning, and the broad leaves glistened with dew. Gathering the precious drops in his hand he baptized two, and as they left the scaffold he conferred the sacrament on another while crossing a little streamlet. Thus was the mission begun on the Mohawk.

A council of Sachems decreed that all should die ; but, on further consideration, reserved the French prisoners, and of the Hurons chose but three for the stake. Eustace Ahasistari, Paul, and Ste- phen, were put to death with the usual barbarities in the three villages of the tribe.

Couture was adopted, Father Jogues and Rene, left uncared for, fell into a kind of debility, under which they nearly sank. In vain the charitable Hollanders of Fort Orange raised a sum of money, and sent Arendt Van Curler to redeem them ; the Indians evaded their request by delusive promises. Soon after a war-party came in, which had met repulse and loss in an attack on the French. Stung to madness by this defeat, the tribe breathed nothing but threats ; Jogues, to avoid violence, drew Rene aside to a little grove near the village of Andagoron, but the doom of the young physician was already sealed. He had been seen to make the sign of the cross on the forehead of a child, and as the Dutch had told the Mohawks that the sign was not good, the master of the cabin ordered Rene to be put to death. Two young men set out, and as Jogues and Rene, after long and fervent prayer and self-oblation to God, were returning to the village, they were met by the two braves, who ordered them to return at once. Conscious that death was nigh, they began to say their beads, and

210 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSION'S.

were just at the palisades when one of the Mohawks, jerking his tomahawk from beneath his mantle, buried it deep in the head of Goupil. The name of Jesus burst from his lips as he fell on his face in his agony. Father Jogues, who had shortly before received him into the Society, knelt to share his fate, but was dragged off, and beheld his dear brother's sacrifice completed by repeated blows which freed his spirit from its mangled hold.*

Obliged to leave the body for a time, the missionary secured it the next day, at the peril of his life, in order to inter it ; but it was stolen, and he found it only in the spring, a blanched and scattered skeleton.

Now solitary amid the Mohawks, Jogues devoted his leisure moments to the spiritual comfort of the Huron captives, who were scattered through the towns. The Mohawk dialect differed so much from the Huron, that he was unable to address himself on religious topics to the natives ; and in daily expectation of death, with no writing materials, he deemed it useless to attempt a comparison of the two dialects.f Led as a slave to the hunting-

* Rene Goupil, or "the good Rene," as all called him, was a native of Angers, and educated as a physician. He entered the Society of Jesus, but was compelled to leave from want of health. On his recovery, he oifered himself as a donne to the Canada Tnission. He here rendered signal ser- vices, especially in the care of the sick, and was admired by all for his good- ness, piety, zeal, and devotion. He was put to death September 29, 1642. The fullest sketch of his life is in a manuscript of Father Jogues; and that illustrious missionary does not hesitate to call him "a martyr, not only to obedience, but also to faith and the Cross."

t We have already given the Huron, and to effect a comparison we here add the Our Father in Mohawk, according to the version of Lawrence Cla- esse, an Indian interpreter at Albany about a century since, taken from the prayer-book entitled, "Ne orhoengene neoni yogaraskhagh yondcre anayendagwa'' (no date or place) : " Songgwaniha ne karonyage tighsideron, wasaghnadogeaghtine. Sanayert iera iewe, tairserrsi eigliniawan siniyought karoneyagough, oni oghwansiage. Niyadewiglmiseroge tasrgwanadaranon- daghsik nonwa : neoni tondagwarighwiyoughston, siniyught oni lakwada- derighwiyousrhsteani ; neoni toghsa daghwasarineght clewaddat dennnge- raghtonggc nesane sedjadagwaghs ne kondeghseroheanse. Amen." That form in the prayer-book entitled, "Ne yagawagh niyadewighniserage,"

FRENCH MISSIONS. 211

grounds, he drew on himself ill treatment and threats of death by his firmness in refusing to touch food which had been offered to the demon Aireskoi, as well as by his constant prayer before a rude cross, carved on a stately tree. When his work was done, he roamed the wood chanting psalms from recollection, or carving the name of Jesus on the trees, to consecrate the land to Him. Loaded with venison, he was sent back to the village ; there, jaded and exhausted, to begin new menial toils.

By this time, however, his knowledge of the language enabled him to converse, and the sachems soon began to res»p«ct him. Availing himself of this impression, he visited the other towns to minister to the Christians, baptize infants in danger of death, in- struct the sick, and confer the sacraments, where they were touched by grace. Above all, when unfortunate prisoners were brought in to die, the missionary went to meet them, instructed, baptized, or confessed them, as occasion required ; sometimes amid the very flames, for he always assisted them in death.

This he now deemed the mission assigned him by the Almighty, the efforts of the Dutch, as well as those of his countrymen and the Sokoki Indians to effect his liberation, having all failed. His life had been almost miraculously spared, and was as miraculously sustained in the frequent attempts made to destroy him.

Several times, with parties of Indians, he entered the Dutch set- tlement of Rensselaerswyck,* but made no effort to escape. Here, in August, 1643, he wrote, in elegant Latin and in the form of a letter to his provincial, a narrative of his captivity and sufferings, one of the most precious monuments of the time, so simple, yet touching and sublime. After writing it he proceeded to the banks of the

Gaines, New York, 1769, and that given by Smith, Hist. New York, i. 53, probably of Onoquage, are substantially the same ; but that given by Davis in his Book of Common Prayer, New York, 1837, is different, and identi- cal with that, used by the Caughnawagas, from whom it was probablj taken. * The modern Albany

212 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Hudson to fish ; but as he was returning to the village, the Dutch, hearing that the Mohawks, provoked by a defeat before Fort Richelieu, had resolved on his death, advised him to escape, and proffered their aid. Believing the Mohawk to be his mission, Jogues hesitated, and only after a night of prayer consented. The following night he arose from among his sleeping guards, and, with cautious step and anxious eye, stole from the shed in which they were ; but scarce had he a moment to rejoice at his escape, when the dogs sprang upon him and bit him severely, while their barking aroused the Indians. Compelled now to return, he lay down, hopeless of succeeding ; but as the Indians fell asleep, towards daybreak he rose, and reached the river, where he found a boat, and after much toil gained a vessel in the stream, and was hid away. His escape once discovered, filled the Mohawks with rage; they rushed into the Dutch settlement brandishing their tomahawks, and demanding their captive. Van Curler, true to his promise, held out ; but when the Indians in their fury threatened to destroy the settlement, the Dutch landed him, so as to be reacly to give him up if forced to it at last, and as he now in his spirit of sacrifice implored them to do. In the ship and on shore he was closely confined, and suffered greatly from want of air and neglect ; but the Dutch commander held out manfully : the Indians were at last appeased by presents, and then Jogues was conveyed to New Amsterdam, now New York ; and after a most kind reception from the Governor Kieft and Dominie Megapolensis, his constant bene- factor, sailed to Europe, in November, 1643.

His mission on the Mohawk had produced about seventy bap- tisms, besides many confessions. Even at New York he found two Catholics, and heard the confession of one, an Irishman, whom he could understand.

Leaving him to pursue his way across the Atlantic, we return to the St. Lawrence. In April, 1644, a Huron flotilla was speed- ing westward, bearing Father Francis Joseph Bressani, with sup-

FRENCH MISSIONS. 213

piles for the destitute missionaries. The route was lined with Iroquois war-parties, one of which lay near Fort Richelieu ana attacked the Hurons on Lake St. Peter's. The latter were soon defeated, and Bressani, after seeing one of his companions devoured before his eyes, was hurried off with the rest up the Sorel River, through Lake Champlain, and over the rough and rocky road that led to the Mohawk, like his predecessor Jogues. When he reached a fishing-village on the Upper Hudson, his torture began. He too ran the gauntlet ; in that fearful race he was crushed beneath their blows : his hand was slit open between the fingers ; and then reaching the scaffold, he was handed over to be caressed, that is, tortured in every way. Pricked, burnt, mangled, he was soon one living wound. Several fingers were cut off, his hands and feet burnt and hacked twenty-six times. Condemned to death by a unanimous cry, he was conducted to the first town on the Mo- hawk. Here his left hand was slit open ; the gauntlet run again; his hands and feet were torn and mangled; himself hung up by the feet in chains; and to crown all, when tied down almost naked on the ground, they laid food on his body, and set their hungry dogs upon it till he was all torn by their teeth. His wounds, never dressed, soon began to fill with corruption and worms. Unable to use his hands, he almost perished of hunger, for few would give him a morsel. He literally walked in living death. Become an \>bject of dis- gust, he was given to an old woman, who, moved by compassion, sold him to the Dutch in August. He was kindly treated by them, and, like Jogues, was sent to Europe by Governor Kieft, whose humanity in these cases somewhat redeems an otherwise equivocal character.

During a residence of three months among the Mohawks, the only exercise of Bressani's ministry was the baptism of a Huron, who, half-roasted and shapeless, asked it at the stake. He was unable to do any thing for those who were keot as slaves or had

214 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

been adopted, for all shunned him, fearful of drawing down ven- geance on themselves.*

Soon after the escape of Father Bressani, the mind of the Mo- hawks inclined to peace, and the sachems sent their delegate to the lodges of the French. In July, 1645, tbe chieftain Kiotsaeton came to Three Rivers, bearing seventeen belts of wampum to ex- press as many friendly propositions. He was received with every mark of honor, and in a public reception presented those Indian symbols to the French governor. Fathers Jogues and Bressani. victims of their cruelty, were both present at the conference, for neither had remained in Europe longer than necessity required ; too eager to return to their dangerous mission. Kiotsaeton apol- ogized for the cmelties perpetrated on them ; and though no credit was given to his assertion that the Mohawks never intended to put them to death, all the French were too rejoiced at the prospect of peace to recur to the past, either for vengeance or re- proach, and the missionaries showed by their manner that no rancor existed in their hearts.

Peace was now concluded ; the envoys departed for the Mohawk to obtain the ratification of the-Oyanders, and the Superior of the missions projected a new mission among the Mohawks. " We have called it the Mission of the Martyrs," says he, " and with reason, since we found it among the very men who have made the gospel-laborers suffer so much, and among whom great pains and hardships must still be expected. Good Rene Goupil has already met death in their midst ; and, if it be lawful to make conjectures in things which seem so probable, it is to be believed that our projects against the empire of Satan will not bear fruit till watered with the blood of some other martyrs."

To found it, he chose, with the unanimous consent of his con-

* Bressani, Relation abregee, 116-189 ; Martin, Biographie de Bressani, id. 12; ReL 1643-4; Creuxius, Hist. Canad. 39».

FRENCH MISSIONS. 215

suitors, one whom the Head of the Church had honored, even in life, with the title of martyr ; for when Innocent XL was applied to for a dispensation to enable Father Jogues to celebrate mass with his mangled hands, he granted it, exclaiming : " It were unjust that a martyr of Christ should not drink the blood of Christ."

Summoned from Montreal, the fearless Jogues prepared to set out for the Mohawk with the Sieur Bourdon, less as a missionary than as an ambassador. He even laid aside his religious habit, for an Algonquin chief urged it, saying : " There is nothing more repulsive at first than this doctrine, which seems to exterminate all that men hold dearest ; and since your long gown preaches it as much as your lips, you had better go in a short coat." Setting out on the 16th of May, 1646, amid a general grief and public prayers begun for their safe return, the envoys ascended the Sorel, and, gliding amid the charming islands of Lake Champlain, the scene of Jogues' former sufferings, reached the portage of Lake Andiatarocte (now Lake George) on the eve of Corpus Christi, and named it Lac Saint Sacrement.* Floating down the Hudson, they reached Fort Orange, whence, after thanking his kind friends, Jogues proceeded to the first Mohawk town, which was now called Onewyiure. Here the French embassy was joyfully received, and the presents, delivered in the Indian style by Father Jogues, were returned by an equal number. The peace was now ratified, and the missionary, after delivering a

* This is now called Lake George, after one of the worthy monarchs of that name. Some old map had Horicon for Hirocoi, and the misprint has been metamorphosed into a name for the lake ! Equally amusing is the explanation of the name of Lac St. Sacrement to be found in many English books, which tell us that the French clergy, struck by the purity of the water, used it in the sacrament of baptism, and hence called it Lake St. Sacrament, the unfortunate etymologists not being aware that the words " Blessed Sacrament" denote the Eucharist and not baptism. Corpus Christi being the feast of the Blessed Sacrament, the name given by Jogues WM quite natural, and translated means Lake of the Blessed Sacrament.

216 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

present to his own family, the Wolf,* transmitted another to the sachems of Onondaga by some braves who happened to be there, in order to open to the French the way to their canton.

The Indians now pressed their departure, and they set out, the missionary leaving his trunk, as he was soon to return ; for the Mohawks had asked a missionary, and he had been chosen. A pleasant voyage brought them in safety to Quebec. Their arrival filled all with joy ; and after a few days' repose, the missionary pre- pared to return to the Mohawk, when a new obstacle arose. Ru- mors of war and violence began to spread, but before the close of September he was urging his canoe, as the envoy of heaven, to the centre of the present Empire State.

Yet he was not without some presentiment of the closing scene. " Ibo et non redibo," are the prophetic words of his last letter : " I shall go, but I shall never return." A number of Hurons bure him company, but as they approached the country of the Mohawks, they gradually forsook him. " Did he hesitate ? No ! A true missionary, he never quailed before the fear of death." With one faithful French companion, John Lalande, he advanced. " I shall be too happy," he had said, " if our Lord deign to complete the sacrifice where he has begun it, and make the few drops of my blood shed in this land an earnest of what I would give him frorc every vein of my body and heart."

Onward they toiled ; but no sooner had they fallen in with a band of Mohawks, than all the worst anticipations were realized. A glance showed the change in the councils of the Iroqtiois. The braves were dressed and painted for war. Raising a shout of joy at the sight of the missionary, they rushed on his little party, stripped and bound them, and, elate with joy, turned homeward. On the 17th of October, 1646, Father Jogues again entered Gan-

* The Iroquois tribes were divided into three elans, the Turtle, Wolf, and Bear, and some smaller ones ; and mary curious regulations existed as to the descent and intermarriage of mem here of these clans or families.

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dawague, the place of his former captivity. He was not treated as a common prisoner of war ; he was to die as a sorcerer, for in their superstition they attributed to his chest, with its vestments ' and chapel service, a pestilential fever that ravaged their cabins, and the swarms of caterpillars that devoured their crops. As he entered the village, blows with clubs and fists were mingled with threats of instant death. " You shall die to-morrow ! Fear not ! You shall not be burned," they cried; "you shall both die under our hatchets, and your heads shall be fixed on the palisade, that your brethren may see them, when we bring them in captive." In vain did Father Jogues endeavor to show them the injustice of treating him as an enemy. Deaf to all reason, they began the butcheiy by slicing off the flesh from his arms and back, crying : " Let us see whether this white flesh is that of an Otkon." " I am but a man like yourselves," replied the fearless confessor of Christ, " though I fear not death nor your tortures. I know not why you put me to death. I have come to your country to pre- serve peace, and strengthen the land, and to show you the way to heaven, and. you treat me like a dog. Dread the vengeance of the Master of Life !"

Although thus tortured his doom was not sealed. He was led to a cabin of the Wolf tribe, and for a time left to prepare for any event. A council of the Oyanders was called : the Bear family clam- ored for his blood ; but the Wolf and Tortoise opposed them firmly, and it was resolved to spare his life. It was too late. While the council was sitting on the night of the 18th, some of the Bears came to invite him to sup with them ; he rose to follow, but scarcely had his shadow darkened the doors of his perfidious host when an In- dian, concealed within, sprang forward, and with a single blow stretched him lifeless on the ground. The generous arm of Kiotsae- ton was raised to save him, but, though deeply wounded, did not arrest the blow. Father Isaac fell dead ; his missionary toils were ended. His companion shared his fate, and the rising sun beheld

10

218 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

their helds fixed on the northern palisade, while their bodies were flung into the neighboring stream.*

Founder of the Mohawk mission, his sufferings rather than hia labors, give him a place in its annals. His letters are his noblest monument ; in them we behold his deep and tender piety, his de- votion to our Lord, especially in the sacrament of his Love, his love of the cross, his perfect confidence in the all-directing hand of the Almighty, his implicit obedience, angelic purity and attachment to his holy mother, the Church. After his death miracles were at- tributed to him and duly attested ; and the missionaries, who, at a later date, saw a fervent church arise at the place of his glorious death, and those who saw it produce that holy virgin, Catharine Tegahkwita, ascribed these wonders of grace only to his blood.f

CHAPTER X.

THE IROQUOIS MISSION — (CONTINUED.)

Captivity of Father Poncet — Proposals of peace — Treaty concluded — Le Moyne yiaita Onondaga — Mission projected — Father Chaumonot and Father Dablon are sent — Their mission at Onondaga — Its success — Jealousy of tha Indians — Dablon returns— La Moyne on the Mohawk — His dangers and his toils.

ON the death of Father Jogues the war broke out anew, and the Mohawk and his kindred clans, almost without opposition, devas- tated on every side : the Huron nation was, as we have seen, de- stroyed or dispersed ; the Tionontates shared their fate ; the Atti- wandaronk were annihilated or absorbed. Upper Canada was a

* This is commonly supposed to be the Mohawk, but it is more likely Caughnawaga creek, on which the village lay ; the river being at some dis- tance, according to Father Jogues' account of Goupil's death.

t Jognes' Letters, New York Hist. Coll. II. iii. ; Alegambe, Mortes Illustres, p. 616 ; Tanner, Societas Militans, p. 511 ; Memoires surles Vertus, &c. MS.; Butoux, Narre de la Prise de Pere Josues, MS. ; Creuxius, Historia Can* densis, p. 460-500 ; Relations, 1642-3-6-7. For shtcft, see appendix.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 219

des«rt, and along the Ottawa and St. Lawrence the dwindled, fear- ful bands of Algonquins showed their losses in the struggle. The French had not been spared, their missionaries had fallen with their tawny converts, and, in 1653, reverse after reverse dimmed thb glory of France, and heightened the boldness of the all-conquering Iroquois. Quebec was beleaguered ; men durst not go forth to reap the yellow harvest, and want began to stare all in the face. A poor widow mourned over the prospect. Touched by her deso- late situation, Father Joseph Anthony Poncet, with a few whom his devotedness drew around him, went forth to gather in her har- vest. The ambushed Iroquois fell upon them ; Poncet and one companion were taken, and, though hotly pursued by his flock, were hurried off to the Mohawk. Treading the path opened by Jogues and Bressani, he twice ran the gauntlet, was tortured and mangled, and led through all their villages.

The Mohawks, however, were weary of war, and, to obtain peace, restored Father Poncet ; yet he did not return before visiting the Dutch at Fort Orange and hearing the confessions of some Catho- lics there.*

The Onondagas had already asked for peace, and had even in- vited missionaries to settle in their land, and teach them as the

* Father Joseph Anthony Poncet de la Riviere was one of the moat emi- nent Jesuits of his time, and illustrious in life, and, after death, for sanctity. He was a Parisian ; studied at Rome, and came to Canada with Chaumonot, us we have seen. Besides gaining Chaumonot to the mission, he was in- strumental in bringing Mother Mary of the Incarnation, and was the first priest at Montreal. He was, at two different times, in the Huron country, for a period of six years. Long cure of Quebec, he was the idol cf his flock. Yielding his post to the aspiring Abb6 de Queylus, he was sent to Onondaga in 1657, but recalled, and returned to France. After being in Brittany for a time, devotion led him to Lorette, where he was Penitentiary of the French ; but still full of missionary zeal, was sent to Martinique, and died there June 18. 1675, in the 65th year of his age, and the 45th of his religious career. See Champion, Vie du Pere Rigoleu, p. 87 ; M^nologe de la Compagnie de Jestu* wid, for hiu captivity, Rel. 1652-3.

220 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Hurons had been taught. Motives of policy, indeed, led the Western cantons to this step, for they were now engaged in a deadly war with the Eries, the last western tribe of their stock, which had favored the Hurons.*

In the conferences which took place, Father Simon Le Moyne, an old Huron missionary, who on the death of Father Jogues had laid aside his name of Wane to take that of Ondessonk, borne by the murdered Jesuit, was the interpreter between the French and Iroquois.f . The latter were won by his manner, and both Mohawk and Onondaga envoys were earnest in their entreaties to be allowed to bear him to their lodges. The Onondagas were gratified ; but the Mohawks had the promise of a speedy visit.

Thus strangely had the prospect altered. The whole country seemed open to the gospel. Still undeterred by failure, the Jesuits were eager to rush to the conversion of the tribes which had slaughtered their Huron neophytes, and massacred, with fiendish hate, their holiest missionaries. Again an Iroquois mission was projected. On the 2d of July, 1653, Le Moyne set out from Que- bec, and, toiling beyond Montreal, first passed through the rapid river to the lake beyond, opening like a sea across the Thousand Isles. Gliding through these islands, whence startled moose in crowds plunged into the stream, and coasting along the southern shore, he at last reached the mouth of the Oswego. Here, at a fishing village, his mission began : captive Hurons required his ser- vices, and at every step familiar faces gladdened to behold the

* The Eries have given name to their lake, but have disappeared as a tribe ; many were adopted into the Iroquois tribes, and some, probably, fled »outh to kindred nations. Their chief town was Gentaienton. — Chauchetiere, Vie de Catharine Tehgahkwita.

t This custom was called Resurrection, and was constantly used. Thua Chaumonot succeeded to Brebeuf s name of Echon. The names of the first missionaries became inherent in the class. At the present day, Mr. Marcoux, of Sault St. Louis, bears the name Tharonhiakanere, the title of Milet two eenuuries ago.

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Black gown, who had so often, in their native towns, announced the word of God. Long since an adopted Indian, Le Moyne entered the town of Onondaga, in accordance with the custom of the red- man, beginning, a mile before he reached it, a harangue, in which he enumerated their sachems and their chiefs, and recounted the glories of each.

Received with all pomp, he prepared for the solemn recep- tion, where he delivered the presents of the French governor, ex- horted them to peace, and, above all, to receive the faith of which he was the envoy. His presents were accepted, and the sachems of Onondaga, by their belts of wampum, invited the French tc build a house on Lake Ontario. His duties as ambassador ended, his duties as missionary began. Naught now remained but to console the captive Hurons, and confer on them the happi- ness they had so long coveted of being washed in the waters ot penance. On all sides, too, he found children to baptize, and even adults, instructed by the piety of the Hurons, of whom no less than a thousand were here captive. Among others, he baptized, on the eve of his departure, a chief setting out against the Eries. In vain the prudent missionary sought to defer his baptism to his next visit. " Ah ! brother," exclaimed the chief, " if I have the faith, can I not be a Christian to-day ? Art thou master of death to prevent its striking me without thy order ? Will the shafts of the foe be blunted for me ? Must I, at every step in battle, dread hell rather than death? Unless thou baptize me I shall be without courage, and I shall not dare to meet the blows. Baptize me, for I will obey thee, and give thee my word to live and die a Christian." Such an entreaty Le Moyne could not resist, and finding the chieftain already possessed of the truths necessary for salvation, he instructed him more fully and baptized him by the name of John Baptist, and the next day each set out on his different career. .

Stopping in the half-dried basin of Onondaga Lake to taste the salt-springs, although the Indians told him that a devil lurked in

222 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

it, Father Le Moyne proceeded to Quebec, which he reached on th« llth of September to the joy of the pent-up settlers, who now, at least, believed the peace to be real and sincere. Passing from one extreme to the other, they revelled in gladness, and the colonization of Onondaga became a matter of daily discussion.

Men were eager to be the pioneers of the new settlement, and anxiously awaited the next embassy from Onondaga. At last, in the following summer, John Baptist arrived scathless from the Erie war, bearing his numerous presents, to ask again for a French colony and aid in the Erie war, and offer the Black-gowns the most delightful site in their canton at Onondaga, promising to alleviate the hardships of the way.

No doubt now remained. The missionaries instantly prepared. Father Rene Menard and Father Claude Dablon had been chosen by the Superior to be the first to sit beneath the tree of peace thus planted, and " which towered so high above all the trees of the forest, that nations might see it from afar ;" but Menard was supplanted by the enthusiastic Chaumonot, who, ablest linguist of his body, had acted as interpreter, and attracted the attention of the governor and the envoys.

On the 19th of September the chiefs embarked with the mis- sionaries, who set out amid milch anxiety, for men's minds were not without their misgivings; Scarce out of sight of Quebec, the Fathers began their mission by instructing the wife of John Bap- tist, who could not brook delay. Six other Onondagas and two Senecas joined their entreaties to hers, and so their morning and evening prayers were chanted on the majestic river by the voices of nineteen Christians, in fact or hope, the first-fruits of the Iro- quois. Not to be deprived of public worship, they landed on Sundays, raised a rustic bower, and beneath it the missionary of the wilderness, with wine pressed from the wild grape of our woods, offered up the holy sacrifice of the mass.

By the 29th of September — the anniversary of Goupil's death

FRENCH MISSIONS. 223

— tl.e missionaries landed at the mouth of the Otihatangue, the modem Oswego. Here Father Chaumonot was at once sur- rounded by the Hurons among whom he had so long labored. A cry of joy bui-st from every lip, as they shouted the name ol their beloved Echon. They fell upon his neck, they clasped his knees, they begged him to visit their huts. While awaiting their public reception, the missionaries assembled the Christians, or- ganized morning and evening prayer, spending the night. in the confessional, to satisfy those who thronged around them with all the eagerness which a Catholic feels after being long deprived of the greatest gift accorded to the Church. A dejected group stood near, — pagans who, in their day of prosperity, had spurned the Blaek-gown and his teachings, but now, bowed by the heavy hand of misfortune, came to solicit instruction.

After a short delay, the missionaries proceeded to Onondaga. Three miles from th 3 town they were met and addressed by Go- nuterezon, one of tb' principal orators ; another invited them to a banquet, and, in a long harangue, exulted that the sun was then to shine in its fulness on the land. All these Chaumonot an- swered in Huron, with such ease and elegance that they were rapturous in their applause. Then, with much pomp, they were led through the eager crowd to the lodge prepared for them. During the night sachems came to present belts of wampum, and Father Chauraonot replied to them on behalf of Onontio, the Governor-general, and Achiendas6, the Superior of the mission.*

On Sunday another secret meeting was held to treat of further points, after which some lingered to ask about France, her govern- ment, and laws. Chaumonot seized the opportunity, and, telling what she once had been, led them to the history of the Redemp- tion. Begged to continue, he so beautifully narrated the Creation

* Father Francis Joseph Le Mercier. The name was given originally tc Father Jerome Lalemant when Superior.

224 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and chief events in sacred histoiy, that three of his hearers ranged themselves beside him as catechumens.

After receiving deputies from Oneida, the missionaries were conducted on the llth of November by a vast concourse to the site proposed for the mission-house. For beauty and convenience, no position could surpass this beautiful spot. Lake Ganentaa, the Onondaga of our day, stretches before it, offering an outlet to the lake above, while the rivers that swell its waters come from the villages of the allied tribes. A stream of pure water and another of salt gushed from a neighboring knoll : the rising ground of the mission was encircled like the lake by woods, which in that season seemed to rival the vegetation of the tropics, and abounded in game, while the waters teemed with fish. Here, amid the joyous crowd, Chaumonot began the mission by baptizing a poor Erie captive, whom a band were leading to the stake.

The 15th of November was appointed for the solemn reception of the envoys. After spending the eve in prayer and supplication, the Christian orator entered the council of the sachems of Onon- daga. Calling their attention to the importance of the council, greater than Onondaga had ever yet witnessed, since now they were to discuss, not peace or war, not things of earth and time, but of eternity, he unfolded his symbolic presents, and explained them in the Indian style. The main object of his address was to set forth the Christian doctrine, and refute the slandeis and calum- nies raised against it by pagan Wyandots. With such force and beauty did he speak, that Dablon, his companion, enraptured, seemed to hear the gospel preached to that whole benighted land ; and that day of glory was in his eyes a triumph for the faith worth all the toil and suffering its publication had hitherto cost.

On the following day, when the presents were returned, a new bcone of interest occurred. The air resounded with the chants of tht chiefs. " Happy land !" they cried, " happy land, in which the French are to dwell !" and amid the continual response, " Glad

FRENCH MISSIONS. 225

tidings ! glad tidings !" raised on every side, the missionaries ad- vanced to the council-lodge. There all was silent, till the leader of the chorus broke forth — " I sing from the heart ; we speak to thee, brother, from the heart; our friendly words are from the heart. Hail, brother ! happy be thy coming, glad thy voice !" At each pause all joined in chorus, echoing the response — " Farewell war ! farewell the hatchet ! Till now we have been mad ; now we shall be brothers !"

An orator* then arose and delivered the presents of the canton, explaining the purport of each, and offering the whole tribe' as candidates for enrolment in the church. " Brother," he exclaimed, addressing the missionary — " brother, let no labor deter thee : go, even if it weary thee, go on to instruct us — visit our cabins — for- sake us not, if you find us slow in understanding the prayer; plant it deeply in our minds and hearts." With these words, he clasped the missionary in his arms, to show the sincerity of the tribe.

This council established Christianity at Onondaga, the capital of the nation. Henceforth the missionaries might freely preach it by the great council-fire of the allied cantons ; and even then Cayuga and Oneida, by their deputies, invited the envoys of Christ to their cantons.

This happy result was due in no small degree to the fervor of Le Moyne's first convert. Inspired by his zeal, the braves, in a recent battle, when surrounded by the Eries, had invoked the God of the Christians, and vowed to embrace the faith if victory were granted. The tide of battle changed, and the thousand braves of Onondaga drove an Erie force which quadrupled theirs from a strong post, and won the day. Of these triumphant war- riors, many were now ready to fulfil their vow, though some yielded to a false and fatal shame.

* These orators were an express class — neither chiefs nor sachems ; but as the distinctions are not always observed in the old books, it is not always possible to apply the correct term.

10*

226 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Chaumonot's first address had drawn several women to dean the faith ; braves sought instruction ; and a chapel was no"» needed. On the 18th of November, the anniversary of the dedi- cation of the noblest temple ever raised to honor the Most High, Fathers Peter Joseph Mary Chaumonot and Claudius Dablon raised the first Catholic chapel in the present State of New York. As soon as the ground was pointed out, the chapel rose beneath the busy hands of the fervent warriors. Rude and plain was this first shrine. "For marbles and precious stones," says Dablon, " we had but bark ; but the path to heaven is as open through a roof of bark as through fretted ceilings of silver and gold."

The chapel, with its towering cross, was a constant call to bap- tism, and hither mothers eagerly brought their new-born babes. Every cabin was open to the missionaries. Here none of the pre- judices of Huronia appeared ; and as in several cases persons in danger of death rose in health after baptism, it was looked upon as a blessing. The classes for instruction were soon organized. The children of the Hurons, already trained by their parents in the faith, were more thoroughly taught, and the missionaries scarce found time for their own devotions. Their chapel was soon too small, and on Sundays and holidays they assembled in the cabins of the most eminent men, who eagerly sought the honor. And there the choir of Indian girls, taught by Dablon, chanted to his instrumental music the praises of God. Conversions went steadily on among the adults, and especially among the female portion, whose attachment to the faith was unbounded, after the elder missionary had, in a solemn assembly, proclaimed the dig- nity of woman, and the high prerogative of the sacrament of ma- trimony.

The only danger to which the missionaries were exposed was at the time of the Honnonouaroria, a kind of Saturnalia which took place every March, Und in which, in obedience to their dreams,

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the Indians committed every extravagance.* One of the mission- aries had well-nigh fallen a victim to the superstition, as one brave dreamed that he had killed a Frenchman, and actually rushed to their cabin to make it a reality ; but the Fathers had prudently withdrawn, and the maniac was appeased by a Euro- pean dress, on which he wreaked his fury : a strange substitution, yet often to be met with in the annals of the time, and apparently connected with the idea of sacrifice.

This period of prosperity was too beautiful to last. The enemy soon raised up calumnies. Suspicions about baptism began to gain ground; and though Chaumonot, as the representative of France, had adopted the Cayugas and Oneidas in a great council, yet the sachems constantly deferred sending messengers to Que- bec ; and on a rumor of the arrest of some Onondagas at that city, the two missionaries were summoned to a council, and accused of treachery. After a vain endeavor to allay their suspicions, the fearless Chaumonot offered that one of the two should go to Que- bec to bring a faithful report of all, leaving the other a hostage in their hands. Dablon, less skilled in Indian manners, was ac- cordingly chosen to go, and on the 30th of March, after a four- weeks' voyage, stood in the council-hall of Quebec, urging an im- mediate colony for Onondaga.f

While Chaumonot and Dablon were thus evangelizing Onon- daga, and opening the way to Oneida and Cayuga, the Mohawk was not neglected. That tribe did not conceal its indignation at the intercourse between the French and the western cantons, un- pardonable in their eyes, since, in "the complete cabin,"J they

* For an account of this festival, see Charlevoix, Hist, de la Nouvelle France, vi. 82. See Lafitau, Moaurs des Sauvages, ii. 78 ; Morgan, League of the Iroquois, 207.

t Creuxius, Hist. Canndensis ; Eel. 1655-6; Chaumonot, Autobiographic- J Hotinnonsionni, meaning "the complete cabin," or, more properly, * those who form a cabin," was the name affected by the Five Nations. It

228 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

were the door. They were at last appeased by a promise that Father Le Moyne should visit them. He accordingly set out from Montreal on the 16th of August, 1655, with two Frenchmen and twelve Mohawks, and, after a month's travel, reached the first village, where he was received with every mark of esteem. In his address to the sachems, while delivering the presents, he an- nounced the faith, invoking the vengeance of heaven on his head, if his words were false.

As it was not proposed to found a regular mission yet, he at once began his labors among the Huron captives, confessing them, and baptizing their children. He then made a hurried visit to Fort Orange and New Amsterdam, and at the latter found objects for his ministry in the crew of two French vessels then in port.

Returning to the Mohawk, he narrowly escaped death ; and finding the sachems uneasy at his presence, set out in November for Montreal, and reached it after great danger.*

CHAPTER XI.

OUR LADY OF GANENTAA.

Mission at Onondags — A French colony — Honse and chapel erected at St. Mary's of Ganentaa— Spread of the faith — Missions among the Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas — Reinforcement of apostolic laborers — Hopes of ultimate success in converting th« cantons — Sudden plot — Overthrow of the missions — Wonderful escape of the Fathers.

WHEN Dablon, half-hostage, half-envoy, reached Quebec, all his enthusiasm and intrepidity could not give firmness to the fluc- tuating counsels of the colony. A settlement at Onondaga had

is an error to translate i ; " Cabin-makers," as som« have done. See Bruyas Bacines Acnieros, * Bel. 1655-«.

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been promised ; a settlement or a war seemed inevitable ; yet the recent treachery of the Mohawk, the cruelty of the western can- tons to the Hurons and their missionaries, the conviction of the survivors of that nation that the present invitation was part of a deep-laid scheme, — all deterred the French from undertaking to colonize the valley of the Oswego. Yet Canada was too weak to bear a new war, and a few individuals must be exposed for the common safety. The missionaries were not men who held life dear, and they eagerly offered to go. Preparations were accord- ingly made : a number of French colonists were equipped, under the command of Captain Dupuis. The Superior of the m'^sion, Father Francis Le Mercier, laid down his office, without awaiting the close of his term, in order to lead the new band of mission- aries in person, and with Fathers Rene Menard, Claude Dablon, and Brothers Ambrose Broar and Joseph Boursier, prepared to establish Christianity amid the lakes of Western New York.

They left Quebec on the 17th of May, 1656. Hurons, Onon- dagas, and Senecas completed the party ; for the Senecas also had sent for missionaries. Though attacked by the jealous Mohawks, the fleet of canoes moved joyfully up the St. Lawrence, with their royal banner floating in the breeze — the banner of the King of kings, bearing his august name sparkling in the glad sunshine. On the shore stood a motley group of savage and civilized friends, whose anxious looks showed their sense of the danger of the party, and whose prayers rose to Heaven for its safety.

The early part of the voyage was pleasant. Game was abun- dant : the stately moose supplied their larder. But they at last ran out of provisions, and many fell sick. They accordingly pushed on, night and day, and on the 7th of July the main body reached the mouth of the Oswego. After an ineffectual attempt to ascend its rapid current, they were cheered by the approach of a canoe loaded with corn and fish. A few days later their canoes, amid the thunders of artillery echoing over the waters and through

230 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

the woods which encircled the lake, reached the spot selected fo their abode.

After the preliminary reception, and a few days of repose, the missionaries blessed the ground, and Dupuis and his men began the fort and house on the eminence. Father Le Mercier mean- while proceeded to Onondaga, about five leagues distant, and was received with all possible honor. From every quarter deputies came to wait upon Achiendase, and ask that his mat should be the council-hall. The treacherous Mohawk came with slanders, but was promptly refuted ; and, as affairs stood, he durst not show hostility, for the western cantons were ready for war, to avenge the death of a Seneca chief murdered by the Mohawks.

All were interested to prevent a rupture. Deputies from all the cantons came in to sit around the council-fire of Onondaga ; and hither too came Chaumonot, bearing rich presents for the tribe, as words from the French, Hurons, and Algonquins. In- voking the guidance of Heaven by chanting the " VENI CREATOR," he unfolded and explained the presents with all the art of au Indian orator. "As Onondaga," he said, " was the principal can- ton, and her sachem, Agochiendaguete,* the greatest man in the whole country, Achiendase came to him, as the mouth of Onontio, to raise the ruined cabin, resuscitate the dead, maintain what was still standing, and defend the country against the disturbers of the peace."

Encouraged by the applause bestowed on his eloquence and skill in the Onondaga, which he now spoke,f Chaumonot raised his last present, that of the faith : " Not for traffic do we appear in your country : our aim is much higher. Keep your beaver, if you like, for the Dutch : what comes to our hands shall be em-

* For this title, see Lafitau, Moeurs des Sauvages, n. 172. It is the mod- en: Atotarho.

t Chaumonot calls the Huron the mother of the other dialects, and sayi that in a month he was able to speak the Onondaga. — Autobwgraphie.

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ployed for your service.* We seek not perishable things. For the faith alone have we left our land ; for the faith have we tra- versed the ocean ; for the faith have we left the great ships of the French to enter your tiny canoes ; for the faith I hold in my hand this present, and open my lips to summon you to keep your word given at Quebec. You have solemnly promised to hearken to the words of the great God : they are in my mouth — hear them !" Then, running over the principal doctrines, he called upon them to say whether they were not just, and summoned them by their hope of bliss or fear of chastisement to embrace the faith.

Thrilling was the effect of this address. Wonder and fear, mingled with joy and hope, swayed the minds of his auditory, and the missionary that day seemed more than human. He was in- deed borne up by a heavenly strength ; for he had risen from a sick-bed to deliver his address, and a few days after was sur- rounded by his companions, who, in dejection, awaited his last moment. He was, however, spared. Full .of confidence in St. Peter, he invoked the aid of the Prince of the apostles, and soon rose from his couch in health, being destined, in fact, to outlive all those around him.

This council ended, all was activity. By August a chapel was erected in Onondaga ; and while some advanced the fort and resi- dence at Ganentaa, the missionaries attended the chapel, or visited the cabins to instruct and learn. As in the Huron country, sickness now broke out among the Europeans, and twenty of the party were at once prostrated by fever ; but by the kindly aid of the natives all recovered.

In October, Achiendase was solemnly adopted by Sagochienda- guete, the head sachem, in the presence of deputies from the other cantons ; and though a dispute seemed rising between

* A charge had been made that the missionaries were mere traders.

232 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

the Mohawks and Onondagas, who both claimed the Hurons of Isle Orleans, the mission was to all appearance firmly estab- lished.

The work of conversions now began : the faith was more gladly received by the Onondagas than it had been by the Hurons. The easy manners of the people rendered intercourse less difficult ; and at public and private gatherings the Fathers, availing themselves of the custom of relating old traditions, recounted the events of sacred history. Obstacles, however, were not wanting ; even direct charges, of the most absurd nature, were brought against the mis- sionaries, — a popular one being that the French baptized Indians only to torment them more at ease in heaven ; and on one occa- sion, Father Dablon was in no slight danger, being suspected of having carried off a box full of souls.

Prisoners and slaves, brought from no less than seventeen differ- ent nations, were the first to enter the fold ; but natives, and even chiefs and captains, soon followed, moved especially by the influ- ence of the Christian Hurons, who, being now helots in Onondaga, showed the power of religion in their virtues and patience. . Among the natives, John Baptist Achiongeras, the first convert, full of faith, endeavored to convert his sister, who haughtily refused to listen to him. Despairing of success, he began a novena to St. Mary Magdalen ; and on the second day his sister's heart was changed.

When the faith had thus acquired a footing at Onondaga, the band of apostolic men spread themselves among the cantons. In the latter part of August, 1656, Fathers Chaumonot and Menard set out to answer the invitations of the Cayugas and Senecas. The former, leaving Menard at Cayuga, proceeded to the populous villages of the Senecas.

Menard, who was welcomed by the chief, erected a chapel, but was coldly received by the tribe, and so little regarded that he never appeared without being attacked by the childrer . To the

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day of his death, many years after amid the forests of Uppei Michigan, he bore the scars with which these tormentors covered his face. Yet the simple guilelessness of Father Rene soon won their hearts ; and when once he had converted a chief, his chapel was filled with admiring and listening crowds. On its wall of mats, beside the altar, hung pictures of our Lord and his Blessed Mother, and to explain these the missionary told the history of our redemption. Now, too, the children changed and became his helpers in the mission, leading him to the cabins of the sick, and giving him the names of all, which some studiously con- cealed.

The women, already moved by the 'virtues of the Huron fe- males, were the first converts : they brought their babes to receive baptism ; tBcy followed his instructions ; and in almost eveiy cabin could be found an Indian mother teaching her wayward child to lisp a prayer to Jesus and Maiy.

Menard, meanwhile, was now rapidly acquiring the Cayuga dia- lect, under the instructions of an excellent family, in whose cabin he was often a guest. His riiission was advancing ; his chapel was crowded with catechumens; but he baptized few adults, and sel- dom but in case of danger. The first admitted to the sacrament was an old man on his death-bed ; the second, once a prominent chief, now a cripple, eaten up by a cancer, whose conversion seemed due to the martyred Brebeuf and Lalemant. At theil capture he had been struck by their appearance, and bought them with wampum,* yet was unable to save them, for his belts were returned, and the missionaries put to death. His conver- sion gave great influence to religion, for his authority always stood very high in the canton; and indeed all protection was

* Wampum was beads made of the clam-shell, which, worked on belts or collars, was the money and the jewelry of the Indians. Theso belts served, too, as public documents, and in treaties one was delivered for every spe- cific article of the negotiation.

234 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

needed by Menard, who was on several occasions threatened witt death.

After a stay of two months he was recalled to Onondaga, but his converts were inconsolable, and he was soon restored to their entreaties, and renewed his mission with greater success than ever.

Father Chaumonot, on reaching Gandagare, the chief village of the Senecas, was received with pomp. In his address he urged them to embrace the faith, staking his own life and that of all his associates, as a guarantee of its truth. He was followed from the council by a chief, who begged to be instructed without delay, — a striking proof of the magic power which Chaumonot's eloquence possessed, for an Indian must be deeply moved to show his feeling. Conversions followed ; but the most important was that of the great chief of the tribe, the invalid Annontenritaoui. Visited, in- structed, and baptized by Chaumonot, his faith was rewarded by the sudden cure of a cancer that had baffled all art.

Besides Gandagare, there was another village which had a deep interest for the old missionary of Huronia. This was a vil- lage made up of the survivors of the old missions of St. Michael's and St. John's in the Huron country, when, as we have seen, those towns submitted to the Senecas in the fatal war. Here all thronged around the old companion of Brebeuf and Daniel. Not one pagan now held back from baptism ; not one Christian from confession ; not one was unconverted by misfortune. To be thus able to minister to these poor exiles, was in itself a reward for the toils of the missionary ; but his joy was dashed by the loss of his faithful donne, Le Moyne, who had followed him in all his trials, but now sank in death, on the beautiful shores of Lake Tlohero, rejoicing that it was given him to die on the land of the Iroqouis, in the work of the gospel.

After laying the foundations of a mission in this canton, the un- wearied Chaumonot returned to Onondaga, but was immediately sent, with Menard, to Oneida, to ooen friendly relations with that

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most difficult of the tribes.* They reached it amid the Onnonhou- aroia, which was, however, after a few days, suspended to enable the sachems to hear them. After urging the importance of peace, announcing the law of Christ, and ministering to the Huron cap- tives, they returned to St. Mary's.

Onondaga was, therefore, the central, or, in fact, the only regular mission ; but it was now established on a firm basis. The offices of the Church were celebrated, the sacraments administered, and Christian virtues practiced, as regularly and carefully as in the most Catholic parts of Europe. In a short time two hundred were bap- tized, among them five chieftains, the corner-stones of that church ; one of whom, in a public assembly, advocated the faith as the only hope of saving their country by restoring morality, and, above all, fidelity in marriage, and in their relations with each other — the want of which had been more destructive than armies.

The women especially listened to the words of truth, and the accounts of the missionaries dwell with interest on the noble death of Magdalen Tiotonharason, who had gone to Quebec to learn the prayer^ and who remained steadfast to her last sigh, amid the seductions and persuasions of her unbelieving relatives. The bold stand of the missionaries against polygamy had won to their cause all the women, who felt, indeed, the crimes to which their actual state often gave rise.

The church was composed of three nations, Onondagas, Hurons, and Neutrals, all bound together by the common tie of faith, which made master and slave kneel down side by side. No obstacle was

* On encamping one night in the woods, a chief thus addressed them : " All, my brethren ! you are weary. What trouble you have to walk on enow, on ice, and in the water. But courage ! let us not complain of the toil, since we undertake it for so noble a cause. Ye demons, who inhabit these woods, beware of injuring any ot'those who compose this embassy. And you, trees, laden with years, whom old age must soon level with the earth, suspend your fall ; envelop not in your ruin those who go to prevent the ruiu »f provinces and nations." t Christianity.

286 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

raised by the medicine-men, no sachem opposed the missionaries, and all gloried in the name of Christian.

When tidings of this success reached Quebec, the Superiors chose new missionaries to proceed to so promising a field. A party of Hurons were alro-ady at Montreal, about to emigrate to Onon- daga. Fathers Paul Ragueneau and Joseph Imbeit Duperon soon joined them, with a lay-brother and some French colonists, and in July, 1657, they set out for the mouth of the Oswego. Soon after their departure a deep-laid plot was discovered. The missionaries and other Frenchmen were treated coldly, and at last abandoned. By chance they found an old canoe, and kept up with the flotilla ; but, on the 3d of August, their worst fears were realized by a mas- sacre of the Hurons, instigated by an Onondaga chief, who, pro- voked at the resistance made to him by a virtuous Huron girl, killed her, and urged the slaughter of all.

Ragueneau reproached the Onondagas with their treachery ; but they boldly asserted that, in slaughtering the Hurons, they merely complied with the orders of the governor and the missionaries. The Fathers and their companions now prepared to die, for they heard that it was resolved to put them to death. It was indeed so, but considerations of policy caused the chiefs to suspend the blow, and the Fathers reached the mission of St. Mary's in safety. There they found that all was changed ; hostility was openly shown by those who had warmly welcomed them, and nothing remained but to endeavor to escape. With much difficulty they sent to Quebec a full account of their position.

Such was the state of the Onondaga mission. That of the Mo- hawk had made less progress. That tribe, still hostile, had attacked the Ottawas near Montreal and killed Father Garreau, flien burst on the Hurons of Isle Orleans and swept many away captive. Yet, in the summer of 1656, the fearless Father Le Moyne again visited theii strong castles, and after reproaching them with their cruelty Mid want of faith, devoted himself to the care of the Hurons of the

FRENCH MISSIC^ S. 237

Bear family, who had, after the fatal day on Isle Orleans, emigrated to the Mohawk. Like a good Father he consoled the afflicted, in- structed the ignorant, heard the confessions of all who came, baj>. tized the children, made all pray, and exhorted them to j>ersevere in the faith and avoid sin. The Mohawks, touched by the piety of the Hurons, especially of one whom they had put to death, now came to listen to the instructions of the missionary, and he n-wer let them go without some words on heaven and hell, the power of an all-seeing and all-knowing God, who rewarded the good and punished the wicked.

Having thus completed his duties as envoy, and fulfilled his promise to the Hurons on their emigration, Le Moyne returned to Quebec, which he reached on the 5th of November, 1656.* Soon after the departure of Ragueneau and his companions for Onondaga in the following summer, he, too, set out once more for the Mo- hawk. He left the colony on the 26th of August ; but, on arriving at the Mohawk castles, found himself held rather as a prisoner or hostage than as a friend, for there, too, an evident hostility to the French prevailed.

Thus, and apparently without a cause, the missionaries, after having had access to every canton, after having announced in all the gospel of truth, found themselves destined to death and driven from the field.

The councils of the Iroquois were secret, but their plans were known in the cantons, and some of the braves were too impatient to await the development of their sachems' plot. Prowling arouud the French settlements they committed several murders. Daille- bout, the governor, quick and far-seeing, resolved to have host- ages in his hands, and suddenly arrested all the Iroquois within the limits of the colony ; and, on the 7th of November, dispatched two Mohawks with letters for Le Moyue and the Onondaga mis-

* Bel. 1656-7 ; Journ. Jesuite.

238 AMERICAN CATHOLJC MISSIONS.

Bionaries. The former were delivered, the latter destroyed; bat runners soon conveyed to Onondaga the news of the measures of Daillebout.

Disconcerted by this unexpected step, the sachems of Onondaga ana Mohawk deferred the blow. J^e Moyne, in December, sent three messengers with a letter to the governor, announcing the hostilities of the Iroquois tribes against the upper and lower Algon- quins. Daillebout firmly demanded the immediate return of Le Moyqe, and the surrender of some inurderets. Both were promised, but the missionary remained, an object of suspicion and dislike, unable either to continue his labors or to return, ;md beguiling his half-captivity by an occasional visit to the Dutch.*

At Onondaga it was different : the saphems still hoped to be able to cut off the colony in their midst without forfeiting the lives of their hostages at Quebec. Foreseeing a bloody catastrophe, the Superior had recalled all the Fathers, and Dupuis all his colonists within the fort and house at St. Mary's, to resist, escape, or fall together.

Thus the winter wore slowly away, and day by day their longing eyes looked in vain for a ray of hope ; spring came, and, in a new council on the Mohawk, the final resolution of the sachems was taken. But before they could cany out their bloody design, while the piles were actually preparing for their execution, the mis- sionaries resolved to attempt a secret flight, impossible as it seemed to escape unobserved through a country of defiles, where a dozen braves could destroy them all.

Silently and rapidly, in the residence of St. Mary's, skilful hands were constructing two swift, light boats, each large enough to cany fourteen or fifteen individuals and a weight of a thousand pounds. They also concealed in the house their canoes, four of Algonquin, five of Iroquois make. The great difficulty now remained ; this

* It was on one of these that he revealed to the Dutch the discovery of the •alt springs, to have his word disbelieved as a Jesuit lie !

FRENCH MISSIONS. 239

was to embark unseen, for the slightest suspicion of j|heir intent would draw the whole force of the canton upon them. At last a favorable moment arrived. A young Frenchman was adopted into the tribe ; and, in accordance with their customs, gave a banquet. Availing himself of one of their usages, he proclaimed it to be on* where every thing must be eaten and nothing left, immense as might be the mass of eatables placed before the guest.* To this feast every neighbor was invited, the plenteous board groaned be- neath the weight of viands, and as none could refuse his portion, the overloaded guests, excited by the dances and games which the French kept up in quick succession, or lulled by the music, were insensible to all but the festivities before them. Amid the uproar and noise the boats were silently borne to the water's edge, and as silently loaded. Gradually as night closed in the weary guests began to drop away, the music and dance being still kept up by the French. When these ceased, all the Onondagas departed, and were soon after buried in sleep. Silence reigned around.

The whole French colony hurried to their flotilla and pushed off, about midnight, on the 20th of March, 1658. The water of the lake froze around them as they advanced, and fear almost froze their blood, yet on they went all night long, and all the next day ; hand succeeded hand at the oar and the paddle, till, on the second evening, without having met a single living soul, they saw Ontario spread its sea-like expanse before them. Their greatest danger was now past, and the distance between them and their treacherous hosts gave them time to breathe.

When the Onondagas had slept oft' their revel they strolled from their huts, and, as they rambled towards St. Mary's of Ganentaa, were surprised at the silence that reigned around it. Supposing the inmates at prayer or in council, they awaited the result calmly,

* As to this feast, see Lafitau, Moeurs ii. 211. It was originally religicua, cud a kind of sacrifice.

240 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

for an Indian never betrays curiosity. Of their presence there they had no doulft, the cocks were crowing, the dog answered the kn<»ck at the door. Yet as the afternoon waned, their patience was ex- hausted, and, scaling the side of the house, they entered. No sound echoed through the building but that of their own cautious steps : in flight and trouble they stole through, and opened the main door. The sagest chiefs enter : from garret to cellar every spot is examined : not a Frenchman can be found. Fear and terror seize them : gazing at each other in silence, they fled from the house. No trace betrayed the flight of the French. " They have become invisible," cried the Onondagas, " and flown or walked upon the waters, for canoes they had not.'1*

They, meanwhile, amid a thousand dangers, in an unknown route, through lake, and river, and rapid, and fall, reached Montreal, after seeing one of their canoes and three of their party engulfed in the St. Lawrence. In the colony they were received as men from beyond the grave.

Thus ended, after a brief existence, the mission of St. Mary's of Ganentaa in the Onondaga country, with its dependent missions among the Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas. It had been founded and conducted with great toil, and at great expense ; it was now 'crushed, but its effect was not lost : many had been brought to the faith, and more convinced of the truth and beauty of Christianity, who for motives of policy still held back.f

Among the Mohawks Le Moyne was in no less danger than his brethren had been at Onondaga. On the 25th of March he wrote from the Dutch settlement a letter which he supposed was to give the last tidings of his labors; but soon after the sachems, remem- bering their promise, appointed envoys to convey him to Montreal, and an embassy, headed by the wily Atogwaekwan, brought him safely to his countrymen in the latter part of May, 1658.

* Kel. 1 657-8, ch. viii.

t Kel. 1857-8, ch. ii. A MS, of F. Bouvart says that it cost 7000 livrea.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 241

Not a missionary now remained in the territory of the Iroquois, and the war which immediately broke out precluded for a time any hope of return.*

* Rel. 1657-8. Of the missionaries engaged in this first Iroquois mission, some were eminent in other missions. Father Claudius Dablon arrived in Canada in 1655, and made his first essay in the apostolate at Onondaga. In 1661 he accompanied Druillettes on an expedition overland to Hudson's Bay ,• was next with Father Marquette, on Lake Superior, in 1668, and, after found- ing Sault St. Mary's, became Superior of all the missions in 1670. This posi- tion he occupied for several years, certainly as late as 1693, and he was still alive in the following year. As Superior he edited the last published Rela- tions (1671-2), and compiled others still in manuscript, and a narrative of Marquette's voyage, published in " The Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi : New York, 1852."

Of Meuard we shall speak elsewhere. Father Francis Le Mercier arrived in 1685, and was attached to the Huron mission till its ruin. He was Supe- rior from 1653 to 1656 and from 1665 to 1670, and rendered eminent services to religion. At Quebec he was, for a time, the director of the venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation. Leaving Canada, he was sent to the West Indies, and, after being many years Superior, there died in the odor of sanctity. As Superior in Canada he published six volumes of the Relations.

Father Paul Ragueneau was born at Paris in 1605, and arrived in Canada in June, 1636. Under the name of Aondechete he labored in the Huron country from this time, with a brief interruption, to the close of the mission. He was Superior from 1650 to 1653, and returning to France in 1666, became agent of the Canada mission, and died at Paris on the 3d of September, 1680. He wrote four volumes of Relations, and the Life of Mother Catharine of St. Augustine, an Ursuline nun.

11

r

CHAPTER XII.

IROQUOI8 MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Gnrscontie, the friend of the missions — His protection — Embassy to Quebec— Mis«io» renewed — Father Simon le Moyne again at Onondaga— Retained till the spring — Hl» labors during the winter — His dangers — Garacontie absent — Mission at Cayuga — He- turn to Montreal — His character and death — Garacontie again —Conversion of a Seneca chief— Negotiations — Missionaries asked and promised— Mohawk war— General peace.

DARK as the cause of Christianity seemed in the cantons, it was not without its hopes of a new and brighter day. At Onondaga many had been won to the side of Christianity, and on these the future depended ; but, unfortunately, none seemed possessed of sufficient influence to effect a change in the councils of the tribe. Neither Achiongeras, nor any of the rest, could hope to restore the mission, having in all probability lost grade by their adherence to a foreign creed. At this moment God raised up one destined to be for years a protector, and, at last, an humble follower of the Christian religion. Garacontie, " the sun that advances," was a nephew of the Sago- chiendaguete, or, as moderns call him, the Tododaho, great sachem of the league. Himself neither sachem nor chief, undistinguished on the war-path, he had, by his eloquence, ability, and political wis- dom, acquired a power such as we have seen in our own days ex- ercised by the orator Red Jacket.*

During the brief existence of St. Mary's of Ganentaa, Garaconti6 had examined with care the customs of the colonists and the doc- trines of the missionaries, and had come to the conclusion that

* Lafitnu says positively that he was only an orator ; but it may bo that he, like Charlevoix, confounds him with hia brother, who bore, <& we shall see, the same name.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 243

civilization and Christianity were necessary for the preservation of his nation. No sign had, however, betrayed this favorable opinion to the missionaries : he never sat among their disciples, and seemed as indifferent a hearer as any around him. His part, however, was taken. After the flight of tHe French, he was openly the protector of the Christians, and the earnest advocate of peace. In spite of his endeavors war was renewed against the French with unwonted ferocity. The villages of Canada were in flames, the whole frontier was inundated in blood, Quebec was blockaded, the best men in the colony were cut down in sight of the forts by the wily foe. Others were led away to furnish sport by their tortures to the clans in their village-homes, or to linger away in captivity. Garacontie rescued as many as he could in all the cantons, by presents and by arguments. These, to the number of twenty-four, he assembled at Onondaga, and at morning and night, by a bell, called them and the Hurons to prayer. On Sundays he gave feasts, now in one cabin, now in another, in order to enable the Christians to spend the day in prayer.

Meanwhile, in council and in private, he labored to incline his tribe to peace, and at last succeeded. The Onondagas resolved to send an embassy to Quebec, and restore some of the captives as a preliminary of peace.

In July, 1660, the beleaguered townsmen of Montreal beheld an Iroquois canoe shoot out above the town, with a white flag flutter- ing in the breeze. Men crowded in anxiety to the wall, but the canoe came silently on, and on reaching the bank in front of the town-gate, the warriors stepped ashore as calmly as if they were friendly guests, and, followed by four Frenchmen, advanced into the town. An audience was soon given. There the spokesman, the Cayuga Saonchiogwa, ,the warm friend of Garacontie, and sharer of his thoughts, broke in public the bonds of the four pris- oners, and promised the freedom of the rest, assuring the French of the friendly disposition of the tribe. Beginning his address, he ex-

AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

plained the various presents : at the fifth he said : " This is to draw the Frenchman to us, that he may return to his mat, which we still preserve at Ganentaa, where the house is yet standing that he had when he dwelt among us. His fire has not been extinguished since his departure ; and his fields, Avhich we have tilled, wait but his hand to gather in the harvest; he will make peace flourish again in our midst by his stay, as he had banished all the evils of war. And to cement this alliance and unite us so closely together that the demon, jealous of our happiness, may no longer be able to traverse our good designs, we beg that the holy women (nuns) may come to see us, both those who take care of the sick, and those that instruct the young. We will build them fine cabins, and the fairest mats in the country are destined for them. Let them not fear the currents or rapids, — we have banished them all, and rendered the river so smooth, that they could themselves, with- out pain or fear, ply the light paddle."

Here he paused, and his tone of compliment gave way to one of stern resolve. Raising his last belt, he exclaimed : " A Black -gown must come with me, otherwise no peace ; and on his coming de- pend the lives of the twenty Frenchmen at Onondaga ;" and with these words he placed in the governor's hands a leaf of the book on the margin of which the captives had written their names.

The counsels of the French were divided. It seemed blind temerity to yield to this demand ; but, influenced by the accounts of the returned captives, who declared that the women were unani- mous in favor of Christianity, that Garacontie was entirely on their side, and had now remained only to prevent any counter-move- ment in his absence, the council left the final determination to the Viscount d'Argenson, who asked that Father Le Moyne should meet the wishes of the Indians. That? intrepid missionary, for the fifth time, girt himself to visit the homes of the Iroquois. It was, he declared, the happiest day of his life. Now, at last, he seemed to go, never to return, for his steps would be in a land still reeking

FRENCH MISSIONS. 245

with the blood of the French, where the fires were scarce extin guished around which the Onondagas had danced in savage tri- umph over their expiring prisoner.

He accordingly set out from Montreal on the 21st of July, 1660, a hostage in their hands ; and though attacked by the Oneidas, and with difficulty rescued from their tomahawks and scalping- knives, reached in safety the mouth of the Oswego, where, not- withstanding the negotiations, they found a war-party on its way to attack Montreal.

Advancing now to Onondaga, they were met, six miles from the town, by Garacontie, who thus came, as chieftain never came be- fore, to greet the envoy of the peace of which he had been the projector. Le Moyne entered the castle of the mountain tribe amid the joyful shouts of the people, who offered him fruit, and then ran on to stop and look back at the long-expected Ondessonk, whose fearless manner won them all. With admirable tact, Gara- contie led the missionary first to the lodges of the sachems and chiefs most adverse to peace, and then conducted him to his own, already fitted up as a chapel. 'Twas rude indeed, but as the pious missionary adds, " Our Lord, who deigns to veil himself under the forms of bread and wine, will not disdain to dwell beneath a roof of bark ; and the woods of our forests are not less precious in his eyes than the cedars of Lebanon, since where he is, there is para- dise."

On the 12th of August, Le Moyne was solemnly received at the mission-house by the sachems of Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, and on their ratifying the acts of the embassy, delivered his pres- ents, concluded peace, and urged them to embrace Christianity, of which he gave a summary. To this they replied in another ses sion ; and then the speaker announced that seven prisoners from Onondaga, and two from Cayuga, should be immediately sent with Garacontie, and that the rest should return in the spring with Ondessonk. Remonstrance failing, Le Moyne was compelled to sub-

246 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

mit to this arrangement, and calmly prepared for his winter mission with the remaining captives. Garacontie set out; and though the Onondaga party met by Le Moyne had, in August, under Outreouhati, ravaged the Island of Montreal, and slain, among others, the estimable Sulpitian, James Le Maitre, and the Mohawks, in October, killed another of the same congregation, Mr. William Vignal, the oldest secular priest in the colony, the Onondaga orator was well received, restored his captives, and ob- tained the liberation of several of his countrymen.*

Meanwhile Father Le Moyne was busily employed in Western New York. In his poor chapel, adorned with a cross carried off from Isle Orleans, and redeemed by Garacontie, French, Huron, and Iroquois assembled around the same altar, each chanting in his own tongue the words of life and truth. Ever on the march, village after village received his missionary visits, and everywhere his presence was gladly welcomed. He was not, however, free from danger. Dreams ruled the land, and their fulfilment, often ridiculous, was sometimes criminal, and dangerous to others. One brave, dreaming that he wore Ondessonk's cassock, burst into the hut, and bid him strip. On another occasion all the sachems were required to check another who burst in to destroy the cruci- fix on his altar. Father Le Moyne was there ; but he bore the name of Jogues, who had loved the cross, and laid down his life for it by the banks of the Mohawk, and he would not see it dis- honored. Springing between the altar and the madman, he bared his head for the blow, and would have fallen had not the mur- derer been caught back, as his tomahawk glistened in the air.f

* Eel. 1660-1, last chapter; Rel. 1664-5, ch. ix. ; Viger. Petit registre, in 4°, MS. For Le Maitre, see Faillon, Vie de Margaret Bourgeoys, i. 150 ; Id., Vie de M. Olier, ii. 443. His murderer, Outrehouati, or Hoandoron, became a Christian, and died at the Mountain of Montreal. For Vigual, see Faillon, Vie de M. Bourgeoys, i. 154.

•f Le Moyne was at first called Wane, but on Jogue's death took his name, Ondessonk.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 247

In this instance he escaped. However, the scenes of drunken tiot hourly before his eyes (for Dutch traders flooded the cantons with intoxicating liquors), made him accept with pleasure an in- vitation to visit Cayuga, then ravaged by an epidemic. Together with a young surgeon, he ministered to the sick, and saved many. A month was too short for him to confess and console the Huron women, baptize their children, and instruct them all. Glorious women ! their faith was undimmed, although they had so long had no chapel but their master's hut ; no priest but their con- science.

Tearing himself at last from these fervent Christians, he re- turned to Onondaga, and found Garacontie arrived, more friendly than ever to the French cause. The chieftain soon baffled the advocates of war, who had, in his absence, even plotted Le Moyne's death, and he now prepared a party to conduct the missionary and remaining captives to the St. Lawrence. The mission of Le Moyne was now drawing to a close. He had preached to captives of ten different nations ; he had, during the prevalence of the small-pox, baptized two hundred infants, most of whom soon died, and had won several adults to the faith, besides ministering to the old Christians. Among the adults he was often met with old calumnies. Some, however, hearkened to the truth. An Illinois captive, dying of a horrible ulcer, visited by the Father, asked him — "What must I do to go to the heaven of which you speak?" "Believe." "Well, I believe." "Pray." "Well, I will pray; but I know not how. Come and. teach me, for I cannot go to thee." He was regularly instructed. Faith soon changed him. No murmur or complaint left his lips. At last, fully instructed, he solicited and received the sacrament ol baptism.

During his stay at Onondaga, Christians, especially women, came frequently from other cantons under various pretexts, and thus profited by his ministry. Some even, by their piety and

248 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

virtue, won their mistresses, and brought them to the missionary to receive instruction.

Father Le Moyne had not set out from Quebec with the inten- tion of beginning a mission, and his scanty supply of wine, he foresaw, would soon be exhausted. To be able to say mass daily, he dispatched an Indian to Albany, and readily obtained of the friendly Hollanders a bottle of wine for the use of the altar.

At last the preparations for his departure were completed, an<? all were ready to depart. But one was destined to become a martyr of conjugal chastity. Refusing to take an Indian wife at the command of his master, he was savagely butchered by the cruel Onondaga. The rest, to the number of eighteen, now set out with Le Moyne and an escort. On the last day of August they reached Saut St. Louis, and were soon after welcomed by a volley from the walls of Montreal.*

This ended the Iroquois missions of Father Simon Le Moyne. Though named once more to his old post, he never again visited the tribes of central New York. The voice of Ondessonk never again called them to the truth. Companion of Brebeuf, Jogues, Gamier, and Daniel on the Huron mission as early as 1638, he had ever and justly been dear to the Indian and the white man for his firmness, intrepidity, and zeal. Successor of Jogues, whose name he bore, he founded the Iroquois missions planned by the former, visited almost every village in the cantons, and was known and respected in all. Now, worn out by his long missionary labors, he sank under the weight of years and toil ; and, after ar. illness of nine days, expired by a most holy death at the Cap de la Madeleine, November 24, 1665, having just completed his sixty-first year.f His death was mourned as a public loss by the French colony, and the Iroquois sent presents to wipe away the tears shed for his death.

* Kel. 1661-2.

t Journal Jesuite. I find nowhere any details as to his birth or early lifa

FRENCH MISSIONS. 249

Tl e work of Garacontie was not as yet destined to be crowned with success. His labors had procured only the temporary and almost unintended mission of Father Le Moyne, and on the de- parture of that missionary, the war broke out anew. Now, how- ever, the tide of battle turned. With villages ravaged by the small-pox, the cantons were not in a position to hold their own against the many adversaries whom they had raised up around them. The Mohawks and Oneidas had been worsted by the hitherto despised Chippeways. The stout Conestogues* pressed hard on the western cantons, and scalped the braves of th^e league at their very gates. In this dilemma they turned to the French, and, in a new embassy, sought their alliance, offering their daughters as hostages. But while in the colony, the astonished deputies heard reports of the coming of a large French force, in- tended not to aid but to crush them.f Even the scattered Algon- quins resumed courage, and cut off Iroquois parties ; but, Chris- tians now, they did not perpetrate on their prisoners the fiendish cruelties which had been used by them before their conversion. Giving the captives a missiunary, and time for instruction and pre- paration, they led them out and shot them. The Hurons, still partly pagans, seeing this, exclaimed — " 'Tis good. When we are all Christians, we shall do so too."J

Hopes of peace, and consequently of missions, were not there- fore wanting. Garacontie, at Onondaga, still labored to secure both. Once more he began to rescue French captives, and direct the little body of Christians at Onondaga, as far as his authority

* This is the tribe called by the Hurons Andastes, Andastogues, and Gan- dastogues. They are the Conestogues of the English of New York, the Minqua of the Swedes, and in all probability the Susquehannas of Mary- land. Gallatin, whom Bancroft and O'Callaghan follow, erroneously placed them on the waters of the Ohio. The Relations and Bressani describe their position accurately, and make them close neighbors of the Swedes. Se« Uolm.

t ReL 1662-3, ch. iv. J Id. oh. vi. vii.

11*

250 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and wisdom enabled him. The oldest Frenchman acted as cate- chist, intoned the prayers, and, in case of danger, baptized infants Fortunately, their moral character, far from being a reproach, gave new dignity, in the eyes of the savages, to the Christian name.

Iroquois were scattered through the colony, as prisoners, hostages, or envoys. Several of these were converted. Among these was a Seneca chief, named Sachiendowan, whose conversion was not unmarked by prodigy. Taken sick at Montreal, he had been re- ceived into the hospital and carefully nursed by the nuns. Al- louez, at missionary on his way to the west, endeavored to disabuse him of the fables of his tribe ; but his efforts failed, and the chief turned a deaf ear to the words of the gospel. The missionary re- solved to appeal to heaven. On the eve of St. Ignatius he said a mass for him, the nuns all joining their prayers to his to obtain the mercy of heaven on the benighted savage. A sudden change took place : the fierce wolf was changed into a gentle lamb : he asked instruction, and after being grounded in the points necessary for salvation, was baptized, and died most fervently and piously.*

In the spring of 1664, Garacontie succeeded in obtaining a de- cree of the council for another embassy ; the object of which was to restore the French prisoners and solicit peace. This delegation surpassed all that had preceded it for the number and beauty of the presents. No reason was given for their sudden desire for peace ; but, as usual, they asked for missionaries, especially the Senecas, who wished a Black-gown for their Christian village. Le Moyne, still alive, offered to go ; but the French cautiously de- laved, and often deceived by treaties which the sachems could not or would not keep, avoided any terms ; although they acknowl- edged and appreciated the personal merit of Garacontie, am1 could not but feel grateful for his oft-repeated efforts in the cause of peace and harmony.

* Eel. 1663-4, ch. vi.

FKENCH MISSIONS. 251

Another embassy, however, arrived in August to announce that all but the Oneidas sought peace. This led to an agreement for an exchange of prisoners, and soon after the unwearied Garacontie set out with the French captives, but his party was unfortunately attacked by the Algonquins, and, after severe loss, compelled to return. This for a time suspended all further attempts of the Onondagas.

The Cayuga chief had also headed a delegation of his tribe, and as earnestly solicited the Bishop and Superior to send mis- sionaries and nuns to his canton ;* but he, too, had faile.1.

The French government had now determined to humble the [roquois, and no longer leave Canada exposed to their pretended treaties of peace, almost always violated as soon as made. The Marquis de Tracy was sent out from France with a regiment of troops, a number of colonists, and quantities of live-stock, then much needed in Canada. On seeing them arrive, the Iroquois in and near the settlements instantly disappeared, and spread terror through the cantons by their exaggerated reports ; and the Cayuga colony, formed at Quinte Bay by that canton, hard pressed by the Conestogues, gave themselves up as lost.

De Tracy immediately erected three forts on the Sorel River to check the Mohawks and Oneidas, and prepared to carry the war into their country. Satisfied with the impression produced, he was disposed to listen to the proposals of peace made by the western cantons. When, therefore, Garacontie arrived in December with deputies of Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, declaring their peace- ful intentions, he was graciously received. In his address he spoke with modest dignity of the services which he had rendered the French, and by a present wiped away the tears shed for the death of Ondessonk, the lamented Le Moyne. Acknowledging and ap- preciating his merit, the Viceroy, as it were, on his account, granted

* Bel. 1663-4, ch. viii. Jesuit Journal.

252 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

peace to the western cantons, exchanged prisoners, and, in ac- cordance with their request, promised them two missionaries.*

Left now to war on the Mohawk and Oneidas alone, who, un dismayed by the defection of the western cantons, still kept the, field, De Tracy sent an expedition under De Courcelle late in the year 1665, attended by Raffeix and Albanel as chaplains, which, traversing the country on snow-shoes, burst on the Mohawks ; but warned of his approach, the savages had fled, and he found only their deserted villages.

In consequence of this blow the wily Oneidas sent ambassadors in June, and, after receiving a favorable answer from Father Chau- monot, the delegates set out with Father Beschefer and two French- men, apparently to induce the Mohawks and Oneidas to send deputies to a general council in the following month.f But they had scarcely departed, when news arrived of the murder of several French officers by a party of Mohawks. On this, Father Beschefer was recalled, the Oneidas seized, and every preparation for war re- sumed. The negotiations with the other cantons continued, and on the 31st of August, 1666, ambassadors from every one, "hactenus inauditum," writes Father Le Mercier, the Superior, in his Journal, met in the park of the Jesuits to confer with the Viceroy and Gov- ernor of Canada. Peace was here concluded with all but the Mo- hawks ; and as the Cayuga chief earnestly renewed his request for missionaries, Fathers James Fremin and Peter Raffeix were chosen to go with him, the former apparently already a laborer among the half-tribe at QuintAj

The French were now left to cope with the Mohawks alone. De Tracy resolved to punish them in person, and prepared his troops for a new expedition. The Seneca Onnonkenritewi in vain en- deavored to avert the blow by belts to Le Mercier and Chaumonot,

* New fork Colonial Documents, iii. 128.

t Journal of the Jesuit Superior.

J New York Colonial Documents, iii. 130; Journal of the Superior

FRENCH MISSIONS. 253

but the missionaries could not inteifere. The Viceroy, with a force of 1200 whites and 100 Indians, entered the Mohawk country, burnt the villages, and carried off or destroyed their extensive stores of provision.* This compelled them to ask sincerely for peace, and after De Tracy's departure this was granted by Governor de Courcelle. Like the western cantons, they solicited missionaries, and professed a desire to embrace Christianity.

CHAPTER XIII.

IROQUOIS MISSION — (CONTINUED.)

Period of peace— Missions projected and begun in all the cantons — Mission at Quints' Bay — The Sulpitians — Father Fremin sent to the Mohawk with Bruyas and Pierron — Mission founded— Zeal of Huron Christians— Converts to the faith— Bruyas founds the Oneida mission — Gamier restores that of Onomliitiii, is joined by Milet and de Car- heil, and founds that of Cayuga — Fremin, in the west, founds the mission of the Senecas— Conversion of Mary Ganneaktena at Oneida— She founds the Christian village of Laprairie.

A PROFOUND peace now reigned in the valleys of Lake Ontario and its outlet. For the first time in many years no war-party stealthily traversed the forest, or lurked around the St. Lawrence. The braves of the five cantons turned their arms to the south and west. Such a moment was one which filled the heart of Le Mercier with rejoicing and hope. Again Superior of the missions, he saw that now at last the Iroquois mission, so often projected, so often apparently founded, was now at last to begin ; and he ex- ulted to think that the great object of his order in Canada was to be accomplished in his day.

* New York Colonial Documents, iii. 185.

.JD-i AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

The Jesuits, always eager to christianize the Iroqi ois, had be- held with pleasure a Cayuga colony formed at Quinte Bay, north of Lake Ontario; and in 1666 some Fathers, among them appa- rently Fremin, were sent to labor in the new village, some of whose denizens were already Christians. The complete peace now estab- lished with all the cantons, opened a wider field in the cantons themselves ; and the Jesuits resigned the Quinte mission to the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal, which, having lost two of its members by the hands of the Iroquois, now sought to return evil for good by laboring for the conversion of the nation which it had espoused in blood. Two members of their congregation, young Levites, aspiring to the priesthood, Claude Trouv6 and Francis de Salagnac de Fen'elon, arrived in June, 1667. These were in- stantly selected to begin the first Iroquois mission of their congre- gation at Quinte. After a year's delay, doubtless spent in gather- ing a knowledge of the language, these two young clergymen, full of zeal and devotedness, were ordained by the sainted Montmorency de Laval, first Bishop of Quebec, and repaired to Quinte. On the 28th of October, 1668, they reached it and began their labors, to which we shall elsewhere allude.

Meanwhile the Jesuits had again advanced into New York. When all the negotiations of the treaty were concluded, prepara- tions were made to renew the missions, commencing in the Mo- hawk valley, where Jogues had led the way. For this great work were selected Father James Fremin, a missionary of St. Mary's of Ganentaa, Father James Bruyas, whose name is indissolubly con- ue«ted with Indian philology, and Father John Pierron.* In July, 1667, these three set out with some Mohawk hunters for their destination, but were delayed for a time at Fort St. Anne, a stronghold recently erected at the mouth of Lake Champlain, by

* Not Andrew Pearron, as he is often called. He must not be confounded with a Contemporaneous Father Pierson, of whom we shall hav occasion to speak in the Ottawa mission.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 255

a report that the intervening ground was beset by war-parties of 'the Mohegans, who then for a moment kept the Mohawk in awe. At last, however, they launched their canoes, and safely reached the head of the lake, a place noted for storms often fatal to the Indian, and hence the object of his reverence. In their wild the- ogony, they peopled the bottom of the lake with a fairy race, whose constant toil it was to cut gun-flints and scatter them on the shore. In their leisure hours these elfs skim over the water in fleet canoes, but disappear when seen by mortal eye ; and when their chief descends, the lake, at his anger, is lashed to storms, and the curious mortal perishes.

Leaving this spot, they soon came upon Mohawk scouting par- ties, whom the fear of a new French invasion kept in the field. Rejoiced at the appearance of the missionaries, the best proof of peaceful dispositions, these parties joined that of the embassy, and all soon reached the chief village, Gandawague, the spot where Jogues had been put to death. The missionaries were received before the village with the usual ceremonies, and conducted to the lodge of the chief sachem.

Although the Mohawks had been foremost in their cruelty to their prisoners, two-thirds of this village consisted of Huron and Algonquin captives. Many of these were Christians, and though so long bereft of all spiritual guidance, had remained steadfast in the faith. Father Le Moyne was the only one who had ever reached them, after the captivity of Father Jogues, that was really enabled to minister to them. Of their fervor, we may judge from the fact, that in winter several of them swam two rivers in order to meet the missionary, and approach the sacrament of penance, la their secret assemblies, these faithful Christians encouraged one another to psrsevere in faith, constancy, and courage, and heavenly favors increased their zeal and fervor.* Among the women espe-

* Rel. lWO-l,ch. *L

256 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

cially, the spirit of religion was maintained. Several were heroic examples of Christian virtue. One there was, whose long captivity had been passed, like Tobias of old, in visiting the sick, in bury- ing the dead, in standing by the pallet, and still more generously by the stake of the dying captive, suggesting fervent prayer, and encouraging them to die as Christians. She was not deprived of her reward. Enabled at last to return to Quebec, she was cruelly murdered and mangled in her hut by two Mohawk deputies whom she had hospitably received.*

Such were the first objects of Father Fremin's zeal after his public reception. He opened his campaign of hope by the bap- tism of ten infants ; but while thus enrolling the young in the flock of Christ, a piteous spectacle met his eye, and called up all his sympathy. The Mohegans, dashing down upon the village, scalped a wretched squaw at the very gates. Fremin was one of the first to hasten to her, eager to save a soul, where life was in so great peril ; but she spurned his offers. Four times she turned away in scorn. But the prayer of them that believe is powerful : she is changed, baptized, and dies a fervent Christian, with a prayer for mercy on her lips. In the three days spent by the missionaries in this town, they began to see some of those fruits which were afterwards reaped in this canton, hitherto the most deadly enemy of the faith, and almost the only one whose hands had been imbrued in the blood of missionaries, nine of them having been slain by braves of the Mohawk .valley. Heaven could no longer resist the voice of their blood. Jogues, Daniel, Brebeuf, Lalemant, Gamier, Buteux, Liegeois, Garreau, and Vig- nal, — all interceded for the benighted men who had given them the martyr's crown.

Here in this very town of Gandawague,f wet with the blood Oi Jogues, Goupil, and Lalande, and in the very cabin where they

* Eel. 1662-8, ch. iv. t Now Caughnawaga.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 257

stopped, was a child, Tegahkwita, whose sanctity at a later d«te was to throw such a halo around the mission. Appointed to wait upon the missionaries, the pure girl here first learned to reverence religion, and from their words derived her first knowledge of it.

Among those who presented themselves to the missionaries was a Mohawk squaw, who showed great fervor and an earnest desire for baptism. To try her firmness, she was appointed to call the Christians to prayer. This office, humiliating in itself to an Iro- quois of rank, and exposing her, moreover, to mockery and insult, she fulfilled with humility and charity. When the missionaries were departing for Tionontoguen, Fremin promised to instruct her fully on his return, in about a fortnight, as he expected. As that time passed without his appearing, she followed him ; and as in the interval she had learnt the prayers and catechism, she implored baptism again. Father Fremin, not aware of all the facts, hesi- tated, for he was afraid of baptizing too hastily, and put her off till his return. Then he learned the particulars of her fervor, and with joy and consolation made her a child of God. She never wavered in her faith ; the ardor of her first days but increased. A series of domestic afflictions desolated her cabin, and stretched her on a bed of suffering. Full of confidence in God, she rejected the superstitions that her friends would have had her employ ; nor was her trust in God disappointed. A few months later saw her restored to health.

But we are anticipating the course of events. Leaving Gan- dawague, the missionaries visited another town, where they bap- tized a few children, and proceeding on, at last reached Tionnon- toguen, the capital, rebuilt about a quarter of a league from that which had been burnt. It was now the capital ; and here the missionaries were solemnly received, with eveiy demonstration of honor, by the sachems of the tribe. In general assembly of the six villages of the Mohawks, held on the 14th of September, Father Fremin arose, and. after reproaching the tribe with their

258 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

faithlessness and cruelty, entered at length on the advantages ol peace. Then, planting a pole and attaching a belt of wampum to its top, he declared that Onontio would hang in a similar way the first who should violate the treaty, be he Frenchman or Mohawk.

Provoked and confounded as they were, the humbled Gan- niegue answered in terms of peace, surrendered all their captives, and assigned the missionaries a place for a chapel. A cabin was soon raised on the spot, the Mohawks themselves being the builders. Here the mission began, and divine service was offered up, to the joy of the Hurons, so long depiived of the rites of the Church. Forty of these, in fervor far above the ordinary grade of Christians, so fervent yet so long forsaken, at once gathered around the altar. Fremin, skilled in Huron and Onondaga, soon spoke the dialect of the Mohawks, and Bruyas and Pierron devoted themselves to its study. Their sermons excited the attention of the people to such a degree, that heaven and hell were almost the only subjects of conversation in the cabins on the banks of the Mohawk ; and Fremin rose to such influence, that when, contrary to the treaty, the youth were about to put an Ottawa to death, he, by cries and threats through the streets of the village, com- pelled the sachems to rescue him from the hands of the infuriate mob.

His influence did not, however, save him from insult and vio- lence, especially in the time of their wild debauches, when, mad- dened by the liquor so plentifully supplied by the neighboring traders, they forgot all restraint. Then firebrands were flung at the missionaries' heads, their papers burnt, their chapel con- stantly entered.

The mission of St. Mary of the Mohawks was, however, estab- lished. In three months fifty had been baptized — two only of the Mohawk tribe, and they at the point of death. Fifty more SOOT followed, and the mission life was regularly organized.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 259

Having thus established one mission, Father Fremin dispatched his associate Bruyas to Oneida, and Pierron, first to Albany to renew acquaintance with the Dutch, and conciliate their new masters, the English,* then back to Quebec to announce the happy results obtained.

Father Bruyas set out in September with one Boquet, a Frenchman, as hunter and interpreter, and soon arrived at the castle of the Oneidas, feeblest but proudest of the cantons. They, too, welcomed the envoy of the faith, raised a chapel, and came to listen to his sermons. They were not mere idle hearers ; the} took heed of what was said, and recounted it to the absent. Thus a woman related to her dying mother the glorious doctrines she had heard, the exhortations to a nobler life, and she believed. Bruyas, summoned to her couch, instructed and soon baptized her. Shortly after she sank ; and as he raised the crucifix before her glassy eyes, he asked — " Do you love Him who died for you ?" " Yes," she exclaimed ; " yes, I love Him, and will never offend Him." Thus had God rewarded her for a conjugal fidelity which had made her honored in her tribe.

A Mohawk who fell sick, and was surrounded by medicine-men, was less easily reached; but the zeal of Bruyas, aided by the Huron women, triumphed, and the brave died with a prayer for mercy on his lips. "None, I hope, will die unconverted,", wrote Bruyas. Fifty-two, principally children, were soon baptized — the first-fruits of the mission of St. Francis Xavier of the Oneidas.

Onondaga — cradle of the faith — could not be overlooked. Pierron, after meeting Governor Nicolls in October, reached Que- bec in Februaiy, and in May the youthful Father Julian Garnicr, the first Jesuit ordained in Canada, not yet twenty -five, set out for Oneida, accompanied by Boquet, who had just come in with thirty of that tribe.f This ne^v missionary was tc pass on to the

* See N. Y. Col. Doo. iii. 162. t Jcnrn. Jes.

260 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Onondagas, and report the prospects whL h that canton offered for rebuilding St Mary's.

Accordingly, after a short stay with Father Bruyas at Oneida, Gamier set out for Onondaga, where he was received with all cor- diality by that friendly nation, and with perfect enthusiasm by Garacontie. They earnestly implored him to fix his residence among them, but as he declared that he was ordered not to re- main, unless a chapel was erected, Garacontie at once took it in hand, and, having seen it accomplished, set out for Quebec with some French prisoners to bring back an associate for Gamier, and a missionary for the Cayugas, who had been so cruelly disappointed the preceding year.

Arriving at Quebec, Garacontie, in a noble speech, thanked the Governor for his moderation in the last war, and, after reminding him of his own services to the French, whom he had so often rescued from a cruel death, he begged two missionaries for the cantons. Complimenting him on his fidelity, the Governor ac- ceded to his request, and Fathers Stephen de Carheil and Peter Milet, selected by the Superior, were committed to his care, and thus rewarded for his long exertions, he set out for his castle.

Meanwhile Gamier was evangelizing the canton. The Hurons, still ardent in their faith, needed his ministry. The Onondagas, whom they or the French had won, needed final instruction an<i baptism. The news of the presence of Black-gowns at Mohawk and Oneida had sent a thrill of joy through them all. At the very moment of his arrival, an Iroquois, converted by his Huron wife, and fervent in his new faith, was about to start for Oneida, when the runners announced that a Black-gown was coming. " Joy, joy, forever !" he exclaimed ; " he will open the gate of heaven, at which I have been so long knocking."*

While endeavoring to meet all the duties now devolved upon

* Eel. 1667-8, ch. iv.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 261

him in this mission, Gamier was joined in October by Milet and de Oarheil, and leaving the former to replace him at Onondaga, proceeded to Cayuga to introduce de Carheil to that tribe. On arriving at the castle of the Cayugas, on the 6th of November, they found them devouring, with sacrilegious rites, a Cones- togue girl, to propitiate their god. Yet they received the mission- aries kindly, and at once raised a chapel, which Father de Car- heil dedicated to St. Joseph, patron of the Jesuit missions, and ot Northern America.*

Just before this, Father Fremin, the pioneer of the new missions, leaving Pierron on the Mohawk, which he had reached three days before, set out on the 10th of October for the Seneca qpuntry. In three weeks he was in the villages of the western tribe. Re- ceived as an ambassador of Onontio, he built a chapel, and began his labors by baptizing the children of the Christians there, and hearing confessions.!

Thus, by the close of 1668, there were missions founded in all the Iroquois cantons.

Besides this, an incident occurred at the Oneida mission which led to results of the most striking character in the propagation of the faith among the Iroquois.

Among the flock of Father Bruyas at Oneida was a Huron, whose wile, Ganneaktena, by birth an Erie, by adoption an Oneida, had long been esteemed for her virtue, her modesty, purity, and gentle- ness. She was one of the first to become a disciple of Bruyas, whom she aided in his study of the language of the canton. Her inclination to Christianity was not, however, relished by her family, and she in consequence met with unceasing persecution from her relatives. When Boquet set out for Montreal with several Oneidas, she seized the opportunity, and with her husband proceeded to the colony, in order to be able to embrace Christianity in peace. Fa-

* Bel. 1667-8, ch. v., and 1668-9, p. 59. t Rel. 1668-9, p. 82.

262 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

tbcr Raffeix was then at Montreal planning a settlement at La- prairie : during the winter he instructed her, and in the spring the party proceeded to Quebec, where she was baptized by the name of Catharine, and confirmed by the holy Bishop Laval. Full ot joy and zeal, she now longed to make those who had persecuted her sharers of her happiness ; and, as she returned, she, to her great astonishment, found them at Montreal, and desirous of following her example. With them she again proceeded to Quebec, and, after their instruction, returned to Laprairie, as Raffeix had urged her, and founded a new Iroquois village on the banks of the St. Lawrence — a village Christian in its origin, Christian in the zeal, sanctity, and purity of so many of its children.*

Such were the fruits of this eventful year, 1667, in which, after years of trial and endeavor, missions were at last begun in all the cantons, and a new home opened for the convert whom the pagan arid the unbeliever harassed for his faith. These missions con- tinued for several years, the last with its filiations to the present day ; and as each has in a manner a history of its own, we shall now proceed to trace their annals, sometimes grouped together, at others giving each its distinct narrative as materials or the events seem to require.

* Compare Eel. 1667-8, ch. iii. with the account of Catharine Ganneaktena, In Chauchetiere's Life of Catharine Tegahkwita (MS.)

CHAPTER XIV.

IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

The Mohawk mission— Pierron and his labors— His paintings — Cards— jivokes th* •id of the English governor in repressing the liquor-trade— Success at Caaghnawaga — Father Boniface — The feast of the dead— Triumph of Fremin — Idolatry abolished — Conversions — Peter Assendase — Fervent women — Notre Dame de Foye — Death ol Boniface— Conversion of Kryn, the great Mohawk— Emigration to Canada — Catliarinw Tehgahkwita — Her piety — Departure — Later missionaries — Close of the mission.

FATHER PIERRON returned to Tinniontoguen, the mission site, on the 7th of October, 1668, and three days after, Father Fiemin, setting out for Seneca, left him sole missionary. He was not un- equal to the task ; though but a short time in America, and scarcely yet a resident at his mission, he had acquired enough of the Mo- hawk dialect to express himself readily, and, what was more im- portant, had at once seized the characteristics of the Indian race. His instructions in the seven Mohawk towns were unremitting, and not without fruit. A witness of the good done in country missions by the symbolical pictures of Mr. Le Nobletz, the home-missionary of Brittany, Father Pierron turned his own skill in painting to ac- count ; and two pictures, the death-scenes of a Christian and of a pagan Indian, with their future symbolized, produced the greatest impression, and effectively aided him.

The present was a season of turmoil on the Mohawk : the Mo- hegans, more numerous and far more alert, carried the war to the very palisades of the haughty tribe, whose humiliation by the French had broken the prestige of awe before which the Algic tribes had so long cowered. Amid all this din of battle, Pierron wrestled manfully with the two great enemies of his work, super- stition and inebriety : the former he so covered with ridicule that juggleries ceased at his presence : to crush the latter he appealed

264 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

to the manly Christian sense of the English governor. His lette* was not without its effect. " I will restrain by severe penalties the furnishing of any excess to the Indians," writes Lovelace in reply and, alluding to the request of the sachems and chiefs inclosed by the missionary, he adds : "I am delighted to see such virtuous thoughts proceed from heathens to the shame of many Christians; but this must be attributed to your pious instructions, for, well versed in a strict discipline, you have shown them the way of mor- tification, both in precept and practice."* Seven villages were toe large a field for one missionary : at his call the zealous Father Boniface joined him.

Of all the Mohawk towns, Gandawague, committed to the care of Boniface, now took the lead in piety, fervor, and constancy, amid insult. This village had its chapel, built by the Indian con- verts, who assembled regularly each Sunday to chant by their rapid streamlet the law delivered amid the thunders of Sinai ; for circumstances did not always permit the missionary to offer up the holy sacrifice among them. The fruit here granted to his labors, the missionaries in general attributed under God to the death and blood of Father Jogues. " He shed it," says the Relation, " at the very place where this new Christian church begins to arise, and it seems as though we are to see verified in our days the beau- tiful words of Tertullian : ' The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.' *

The conversions were indeed consoling; one hundred and fifty- •>ne were baptized, nearly half of them adults, one having been in his day the great war-chief of the confederacy ; three others, men venerable for their years and wisdom in the management of affaire. The women, touched by the beauty of the truths of Christianity, embraced them with joy, and clung to them with the fidelity of their sex.f

* Letter of November 16, 1668. f Rel. 1668-9, ch. L

FRENCH MISSIONS. 265

As the Mobegan war went on, the battle-field and the scaffold gave new theatres to the zeal of Pierron and Boniface. Despite the wish of the Mohawks to see their captives burn in hell, he in- structed and baptized them, giving to the wounded both medical and spiritual aid. Entering a village one day, the missionary to his joy descried a cross planted in the middle of the broad street In a transport of joy he knelt to thank the Almighty for this change in the hearts of the Mohawks, but found, to his regret, that it had been raised by a me«licine-mau, who had learned, in a dream, that the cross was the mistress of life. Strange revolutions since the day of Goupil's death ! Following the Mohawk, however, to the fishery, the chase, or the field, he at last gained proselytes : several embraced the faith : one, a brave warrior, was honored after death with a solemn funeral service, and the corpse, surrounded by tapers during the requiem, was borne to the grave to the chant of the Miserere, amid the throng of wondering Indians. Pierron was a thorough missionary : zealous, capable, active in mind and body, labor never weighed upon him. He taught catechism twice a day to old and young : now in one village, now in another, for he was ever in motion. He undertook a school at Tinniontoguen, and for a month taught Mohawk boys to read and write ; but at last, finding himself unable to cope with such varied duties, he sus- pended it. The chief doctrines of the Church he next drew on cards, and, by forming games, inculcated them on the minds of all. A Christian life formed the game of point to point, the cradle to the grave.

Still his progress was slow. Hawenniio* had not yet over- thrown Aireskoi and the other ancient deities of the land. A happy accident accomplished what zeal and devotedness had failed

* The modern Iroquois name for the Great Spirit : it is composed of Niio, a corruption of the French Dieu, written, at first, Di8, and the native prefix Hawen. It means the true God, and the present pagan Iroquois undoubtedly worship him, though with many superstitions. ,

266 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

to do. Gandawague was the scene of a feast for the dead, and to this cradle of the tribe repaired not only the Mohawk, but also the clansmen of Oneida and Onondaga ; and each in cabins apart pre- pared to take a part in the funeral rites, and games, and banquets.

For respect to the dead the aborigines have ever been remark- able. The Huron-Iroquois were peculiar in the honors which they paid to the departed. Unless he died by frost or violence, the body was at first buried in a circular pit in a sitting posture, or, more frequently, inclosed in a bark cofen, laid on a platform of bark raised on posts to protect it from wild beasts. Food was regularly offered on the grave, or at this aerial tomb ; and when a certain period had elapsed, generally about ten years, all who had died in the interval were disinterred and committed to one common fur-lined grave, with game, and banquet, and solemn rite. This was the festival of the dead.

At the present one, Father Pierron stood amidst the Mohawk sachems. When, in the course of the ceremonies, orators began to relate their theory of the creation, he ridiculed the tale, and, though ordered to be silent, continued to refute it. Or this he was driven from the group where he stood, and compelled ..o take a position among the Onondaga delegation. The ceremonies lasted five hours ; and as Pierron had thrown out hints of his leav- ing the canton, they were no sooner closed, than the Mohawk chief who had treated him so, came to apologize, and beg him not to leave on that account. The missionary, however, affected to be greatly hurt at the insult. Driven at last to despair, the chief, who foresaw no alternative but a rupture with the French, ex- claimed— " I see what is at the bottom of all this. We are not Christians ; but if you leave this great affair to me, I promise you success. Convoke a council ; give a belt to each of the three families ; speak out your mind, and leave the rest to me."

On the following day, notwithstanding his advanced age, he went around to the cabin of every sachem, and summoned all the

FRENCH MISSIONS. 267

Oyanders to Pierron s chapel. There the missionary addressed them, and, declaring his intention to return to Canada, urged them by h.s belts to renounce Aireskoi, to stop invoking the evil spifits, and to suppress superstitious dances. A few days after, on the 25th of March, 1670, while Garacontie and an Onondaga party were there, they returned to the chapel to make their answer. Before the proceedings commenced, Garacontie spoke to support the requests of Pierron, but the great Mohawk chief said — " This Frenchman has changed our hearts and souls ; his desires and thoughts are ours ; we listen not to thee, but to him ;" and then repeated all his address. The politic Garacontie again rose, and, after complaining of the apparent slight put upon him, changed his tone, and exclaimed — " I thank you. Take his word, for he has sacrificed all for you." This conduct of the Onondaga orator had a great effect, as his authority and reputation were im- mense.

On the following day another council was held, and the sachems, after declaring the difficulty of renouncing old customs, agreed to the demands of the missionary, renounced Aireskoi, and promised to do all in their power to stop any future invoca- tion of that false deity, and to suppress the superstitious dances by all the arguments they could adduce — sole power of the sachems.

The missionary thanked them for their resolve, and at their in- stance en»arged his chapel. A few days after, the medicine-men cast into the fire their turtle-shell rattles, with all their other badges and instruments of office. Their occupation ceased. No cabin now echoed with their howls around the couch of the sick and dying ; they were not even summoned. The lascivious dance ordered by dreams was neglected. The old urged the young to attend to the instructions. Paganism had fallen. Aireskoi was disowned, and his name is not even known in our days among the Iroquois. The next step of the missionaries was to implant Chris- tian truth and Christian feeling in their hearts.

268 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

This was the moment of triumph. Henceforward idolatry ceased amid the Mohawks. A vast field opened to Pierron, and, hastening to Quebec, he soon returned with Fathers Thierry Be- schefer and Louis Nicolas, to aid him in cultivating to the har- vest the whitening field so suddenly presented. Fervor pervaded all, and converts were made, who never wavered in the faith. The Catholic Indians of the Mohawk were now known and ridi- culed by the people of Albany, who had never made an attempt to introduce Christianity there. The burghers of Albany and New York even threatened the squaws for displaying their " beads and popish trumpery" in their villages; but, far from conceal- ing these marks of their faith, the noble Mohawk women were ready to die for it. One of them, stung by the taunts of the whites, went into their meeting-house, and recited aloud the prayers taught her by the Black-gown chief of the prayer.*

Among these women some experienced persecution from the pagans also ; and Skawandes, after escaping from the tomahawks and scalping-knives of the Mohegans, resolved to go to Canada, and set out with an Oyander, who had been deprived of her rights for embracing the faith .f

Yet the mission went steadily on, and eighty-four baptisms are reported for the year 1670, when Pierron was again alone J with Boniface. Destined, however, soon to yield his mission once more to Bruyas,§ now made Superior of the mission, Pierron was re- called to govern the new mission of St. Francis Xavier des Pres, at Laprairie. A malignant fever desolated the canton in 1672, arising from excessive debaucheries at the end of the Mohegan war. It gave abundant employment to the missionaries, and was the oc- casion of many conversions. Thus only, however, did the faith make any considerable progress. The impulse given by Fremin had spent its force, and the Mohawks relapsed into their usual in-

* Eel. 1669-70, p. 111-193. t Rel. 1670-1, ch. iii.

; Eel. 1670-1, ch. iii. p. 46. § Kel. 1671-2, p. 59.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 269

difference.* Yet converts were made ; among others, the almost octogenarian chief, Assendase, eminent for talent and experience, sachem of one of the great families, who, after a long and proud struggle, bent to the cross. All human reasons seemed to induce him to remain a pagan, and adhere to his superstitions, for he was a medicine-man, and a haughty dissembler; but when he sub- mitted, his fervor repaid his patient pastor. Immediately after his baptism, Peter Assendase declared officially that he would no longer sit in council on any dream, or such like superstition ; and he was true to his word. So far, indeed, did his zeal, not merely for the conversion of his own family, but of his tribe, carry him, that " we thought," say the missionaries, " that he would have the glory of being the first Iroquois martyr." An idolatrous relative one day sprang upon him, and, tearing from his neck his crucifix and beads, raised his tomahawk to strike him down. " Strike," said the hero ; " I shall be too happy to die in such a cause. I would not regret my life's blood given in testimony of my faith."

He was deemed the soundest statesman in his tribe, and on him the missionary Bruyas now perhaps relied too much. God soon withdrew him from this world. After an illness of six months, he expired in August, 1675, in perfect resignation to the will of God, " who sets," to use his dying words, " what limit he will to our days."f

Meanwhile Father Boniface was cultivating the more prosperous mission of Gandawague, and by his zeal achieving results which rank him among the greatest of our missionaries. At Ganda- wague the faith was more constantly embraced than in any other part of the Mohawk country, and " here," say the missionaries, " we first saw, properly speaking, a native church, and Christian generosity displayed. We accordingly style it the first and chief mission that we have among the Iroquois." Here the neophytes

* Eel. 1672-8, MS. t Kel. 1673-9 ; 1676-7, MS.

270 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

showed many instances of fervor. Christian women rejected the hands of heathen chiefs, preferring privation to wealth, where their faith would be endangered. Another, more fervent than well-informed, drove from her lodge an unbelieving husband, who had destroyed her beads ; but learning that she had done wrong, recalled him, and won him to the faith. A pagan custom had condemned the unweaned child to be buried with its mother. These innocents were now saved, and nursed by Christian women.

Such was the progress of the faith, that in this village alone, containing about four hundred souls, thirty-three adults were pub- licly baptized in less than ten months. From 1673, prayers were publicly said at this mission of St Peter's as regularly as in any Christian community in Europe. The choirs of men and women, with the tiny voices of the children, honored the solemnity of Sunday, and after the sacrifice of the mass, bread was blessed, ac- cording to the customs of the churches of France. The matron who presented the bread then gave a little entertainment to the Christians, and distributed the bread. This " Agape" was opened and closed by prayer, and in cordiality, purity, and piety recalled those of the catacombs.

Father Bruyas had received at his mission a miraculous statue of Notre Dame de Foye from the shrine of Dinan, which so awakened the zeal and fervor of Agnie, that the town was com- pletely changed. Whenever it was exposed on the rustic altar, as it was on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the crowds that flocked in never retired without leaving some better disposed.

So, too, at St. Peter's. Father Boniface, at Christmas, exposed beside the altar an effigy of the infant Jesus, lying in his wretched manger, and in like manner increased the piety of the Christian, a§d excited the attention of the Imbeliever.*

• Eel. 1673-9, 1675, 1676, MS.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 271

But amid his triumphs at Caughnawaga* the health of Father Boniface sank rapidly ; the privations of his missionary life, his unsparing labors were hurrying him to the grave. In 1674 he was recalled to Quebec, and in December lay stretched on a bed of pain, surrounded by his fellow-missionaries, who saw him wasting away unconscious of his state, for he was constantly delirious. In order to obtain him a happy death, all with one consent had re- course to the intercession of Father Brebeuf. Heaven was not deaf to the voice of prayer, or insensible to the merits of his servant ; Father Boniface, by what all deemed a miracle, recovered his senses and expired, in sentiments of the most tender piety, on the 17th of December, 1674.f

Caughnawaga was thus bereaved of its devoted pastor, but the zeal and fervor of the Christians were undiminished. New converts were constantly made, and Bruyas extended to them too his apos- tolic care. Among those who now embraced the faith was the wife of Kryn, the great sachem of the tribe, who resided there. On her conversion, the chieftain's anger knew no bounds, and, forsaking his lodge, he struck into the wilderness. In his rambling hunt he reached the St. Lawrence, where the new village was rising at Laprairie. Entering it, he was struck by the peace and order which prevailed ; he listened more attentively than he had ever done to the instructions of Father Fremin. Resolved to examine, he win- tered there with a pious Christian woman, who taught him and his companions the prayers, and overcome their doubts. Before spring he had become a Christian, and an enthusiastic advocate of the new village. Unaware of the change effected in him, Father Boni- face was startled one day by his well-known gathering-cry, which had so often summoned the braves to follow him on the war-path, for, contrary to custom, Kryn was a brave. To his clansmen he now

* Thus we shall now modernize Gandawague. t Manuscript attestation of the miracle.

272 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

related all that had transpired, and he urged all who shared his ideas to follow him to Laprairie. Many were already Christians, and conscious of the dangers to which their faith and morals were exposed amid pagans addicted to vice and superstition, had already turned a longing eye to Laprairie. Forty at once joined him, a noble band of pilgrims for religion's sake. Turning to take a last look of the home of their tribe, the grave of their sires, they knelt, and, with one prayer for its benighted people, turned with heavy hearts, upborne by faith alone, to the woodland trail that led to the St. Lawrence.* On Easter Sunday, 1676, they reached the mission, amid the celebration of that happy day.f

Alarmed at this desertion, the sachems met at Tinniontoguen, and summoning Bruyas before them, charged him with depopulating the canton. His answer was clear. Of the act of the chief he knew nothing more than they : he had neither counselled nor pro- jected it. Their own conduct, vice, and superstition, were, he showed them, the real causes of the decline of the tribe.

Father James de Lamberville had been sent to replace Boniface at Caughnawaga, and from 1675 labored in this village of predi- lection^ recurring in his difficulties to Father Jogues, the illustrious founder of the mission, and seldom recurring in vain.

The departure of many fervent Christians, first with Boniface and then with the great Mohawk, had indeed greatly reduced the vil- lage and still more his flock, but consolations were not wanting. Tegahkwita, daughter of a Christian Algonquin woman, had been an orphan almost from her birth. A weakness of the eyes, the re- sult of fever, confined her much to the cabin, and thus shielded her modesty and purity. When Fremin and his companions were in her uncle's hut she had waited on them, and learned to love and respect the Black-gown. She longed to be a Christian, but was too

• Churlev. de la Mission de St. F. X. des Pres,16"4,MS. ; Kel. 1673-9, MS. t Lettres edifiantes. J Kel. 1675, MS. ; .lei. 1676-7, MS.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 273

bashful to present herself, and her uncle's hostility to the faith pre- vented any allusion to it in his presence. Soon after Lam bervi lie's arrival, while most of the village was absent in the field or woods, the missionary began to visit the cabins to instruct the sick and such as remained. A wound in her foot had kept Tegahkwita at home. Joy lighted up her countenance as the missionary entered. She at once confided to him her desires, the long-treasured wish of her heart to be a Christian, the opposition of her family, their in- tention to compel her to marry, to which she was strongly dis- inclined. Delighted as the missionary was to have discovered such simplicity, candor, and courage, he was far from hastening her baptism. The winter was spent in instructing her, and in examining the character she had borne till then. Her courage amid petty per- secution exalted her perfection, and after witnessing the departure of the great Mohawk, whom she longed to follow, she was baptized on Easter Sunday, 1676, the very day of his arrival at Laprairie.

Faithful to her conscience, when unaided by the gospel light Catharine Tehgahkwita, as may easily be supposed, now gave her soul entirely to God. Her devotions, her austerities, her good works, were at once determined upon and perseveringly practised, in spite of the obstacles raised by her kindred. Sundays and holi- days beheld her the sport of their hatred and cruelty : refusing to work in the fields, she was compelled to fast, for they deprived her of food. She was pointed at by the children, and called, in derision, u the Christian." A furious brave once dashed into the cabin to tomahawk her, but awed by her calm and dignified mien as she knelt to receive the blow, he slunk back as from a superior being.

This was not enough : calumny now raised its viper-head against her, and, though Father James was convinced of her innocence, she Btill had much to suffer. Amid this strife, with no Catholic ex- ample around her, deprived of all sympathy, she longed to reach Laprairie de la Madeleine, and even those convents of Ville Marie and Quebec, of which she had heard. Accordingly, when the great

12*

274 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Mohawk returned, in 1677, with the Oneida, Garonhiague, and one of her own relatives, she escaped, although her uncle, discovering her flight, pursued her armed for her destruction, and passed within a few steps of her place of concealment

Deprived thus of the fairest blossom in his mission, Father Lam- berville continued his labors at Caughnawaga. Bruyas, at Tin niontoguen, was replaced, in 1679, by Father Francis Vaillant du Gueslis, who seems to have continued it till the close of 1681, when a hostile spirit began to evince itself, attributable, in some degree, to English influence. Most of the Christians, too, had emigrated, and it was probably deemed better to leave it for a time, as Avar was about to commence with the western cantons.* Whatever was the precise time or cause of the withdrawal of the missionaries, it was final ; for, as we shall see, they never returned, though Fa- ther Vaillant, at a later period, made an ineffectual effort to reach his former neophytes.f

* In the census of 1681, Poor's Paris Doc. III. 38, the Jesuits among the Iroquois are put down at ten, which must have included lay-brothers, yet shows that the missions were still continued on the original footing. De la Barre held his council of war in October, 1682.

t Father James Bruyus, apparently of Lyons, one of those most connected with the last Mohawk mission, arrived at Quebec on the 3d of August, 1666, and on the 14th of July following set out for the Mohawk. After laboring among the Mohawks, Oneidas, and Onondagas, he was stationed at SautSt. Louis. He was Superior of all the missions from 1693 to 1699, was envoy to Boston in 1700, to Onondaga in 1701 and 17QS- His death was subsequent to 1708. He was the best philologist of the Mohawk language, and compiled many valuable works on it and in it. Hennepih journeyed from Quinte" to the Mohawk to copy his dictionary, and Cotton Mather had a copy of his Iroquois Catechism in his hands. — Mag. Chrixti. Henn^pMs Discovery. Of these there still exist in manuscript, " Ratines Agnieres" radical words of the Mohawk language, a French Mohawk Dictionary, and a Mohawk Catechism ; the former of which, a precious philological work, has been loaned to me by the Eev. J. Marcour, the present pastor of Caughnawaga, or Saut St. Louis, 911 the St. Lawrence.

CHAPTER XV.

THE IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

I Tint OinctDA MBBION— Its sterility— Conferences— Conversions— Mtlet sucoe«di

Bruyas— His long npostolate. II. THE ONONDAGA MISSION— Gamier and his labors

— Milet— His skill and succew— Advice of Garaconti6— Overthrow of worship of Agreskoue— Meeting of Iroquols missionaries at Onondaga— Baptism of Garacontie at Quebec— His firmness at Onondaga— His efforts for Christianity — A Huron missionary — Father John de Lamberville succeeds Milet — Garacontie; his sickness, recovery, visit to Frontenac, fervor, final sickness and death— Bruyas at Onondaga— The Lam-

bervilles. III. THE CAYUOA MISSION— F. Stephen de Carheil— His unavailing Inbors

— Afflictions — Falls sick — Succeeded by Kaffeix — Recovers and returns — Conversion

of Saonichiogwan— Expulsion of de Carheil. IV. THE SENECA MISSION— Labors o«

Fremin — Succeeded by Gamier — The Huron Christians — Peril of the missionaries- Fathers Eaffeix and Fierron— La Salle, and the effect of his visit— Expulsion of the missionaries.

•

I. — THE ONEIDA MISSION.

THE Oneida mission, founded by Father Bruyas, never repaid the toil of the apostolic men employed upon it. This clan was ever noted for its intractable, ungovernable spirit, evinced even in the concerns of the league. To the faith they were always opposed. When Bruyas began his mission, the Mohegans and Conestogues both pressed the Oneidas so hard that famine desolated the canton. Still no change was operated in their hearts ; even some Christians apostatized ; and the missionary, living on dried frogs and herbs, had no consolation but the baptism of some dying chil- dren, and the piety of a few old Christians.* During other years he was in constant peril from the intoxicated braves ; for atone time, in less than three months sixty casks of rum were consumed in one village. At such periods he was compelled to retire to a kind of hermitage by the lake, or even to Onondaga.

* Eel. 1668-9, p. 80.

276 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

On Christmas day, 1669, he for the first time baptized an adult in health ; for hitherto only the dying, or the prisoner at the stake; had received the sacrament. Giving it all the pomp his poveity permitted, he drew crowds to his chapel, and from morn to night preached and instructed.* No conversions, however, followed this commencement ; and, as death gradually thinned the little band of old Huron Christians, there seemed no hope of eventual success.f

In 1671 his Superiors, conscious of his worth, appointed him Superior of the Iroquois missions; and Bruyas, summoning Father Milet from Onondaga to supply his place, proceeded to the Mo- hawk. Just before his departure he had, during an idle season in the year, begun a series of conferences which were well attended, and produced a result which he had not dared to anticipate. Some aged chiefs embraced the faith, and such a spirit of inquiry was excited that Milet found a better field than he had at first been led to expect On the day of his arrival he baptized a dying woman, and soon after formed a regular congregation, where the Lord's day was sanctified by the celebration of Mass, while from the choirs rose the alternate chants of the Huron and Oneida Christians. The missionary himself became so popular, that he too, like Pierron on the Mohawk, persuaded the sachems to forbid all invocation of Agreskoue, and was himself invited to open their assemblies by a prayer to the Maker of all things. J

The sodality of the Holy Family, founded in Canada by Chau- monot, had everywhere produced great good. Milet established it at Oneida, and was consoled by the effect it procured. The women especially became more fervent, and gained others to the faith. Sensible of the danger attending union with unbelievers, Christian maidens and widows rejected the best marriages in the village sooner than peril their faith, preferring the helpless

• Kol. 1669-70, p. 193. t Rel. 1670-1, ch, iL ; Rel. 1672-3, MS.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 277

and degraded state of lone women to the plenty of a chieftain's lodge.*

In 1675, he converted Soenrese, a chief whose manly courage in defence of the faith, and zealous opposition to debauchery and vice, did much to raise the character of the Christians.f Borne up by occasional consolations like these, Milet continued his mis- sion till the prospect of a war became too certain to make a fur- ther stay prudent. He was then recalled, after an apostolate in the canton of nearly fourteen years, and reached the camp of De la Barre in July, 1684. With his departure closed the Oneida mission, half restored, indeed, for a time, by his long captivity, of which we shall soon speak.

II. — THE ONONDAGA MISSION.

TL<s Onondaga mission had always been regarded as the most promising of all, and the attention of all friends of the mission turned naturally to it. The influence of Garacontie seemed to insure the triumph of the gospel. Gamier began his labors under happy auspices, but soon found that the hopes were too sanguine. The knowledge of the faith implanted by the missionaries of Ga- nentaa had almost died away in the hearts and minds of the Onondagas. Dreams ruled the land. The Hurons alone were to be relied upon ; and the first care of Gafnier was to revive their fervor, and baptize the captive and prisoner, whom he found means to instruct. Milet came at last to his relief; and possess- ing great facility for languages, soon acquired the Onondaga suffi- ciently to catechize.J In the following year, Milet was left alone, Gamier having proceeded to the Seneca country to aid Fremin in that populous tribe. Milet, to whom the Onondagas gave the name Teharonhiagannra, " The one who looks up to heaven," un-

* Eel. 1672-3, MS.

t Etat present, 1695, MS. ; Bel. 1676, MS. J Eel. 1668-9, p. 87.

278 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

derstood the Indian character well. Like a chief, he, by his criei through the street, gathered the old and young to his lodge, and there, by symbolic presents, belts of wampum, and other devices, announced the faith. On the approach of Christmas, he gave in- structions on the Creation, the Trinity, the Incarnation, birth and mission of Christ, and denounced the worship of Agreskoue, and of dreams. These denunciations first produced their effect. Hence- forward he opened their councils with prayer.

Garacontie, anxious for the conversion of the tribe, advised Milet to instruct the old, and not give all his time to the young. Delighted at the opportunity, Milet offered to begin the next Sun- day, and Garacontie invited all to a feast. The cabin was adorned with all the skill the time permitted. A fine wampum belt hung in the middle of the wall, with a map of the world on one side, and a picture of St. Louis on the other. Below the belt, on a table covered with a crimson cloth, was a Bible, and upon it a crucifix, with emblems of superstition below.

When the guests had assembled, Garacontie addressed them, explaining the object of the feast. Then Milet himself declared the greatness of the one true God, adored by both king and pea- sant, the Creator of all, the Master of life and death, and, with every argument, inculcated the necessity of serving him. The sachems listened with pleasure, and regularly convened to hear him, so that by Christinas he was obliged to increase his chapel, and borrowing the bell of the old mission at Ganentaa, rang it foi the sachems and braves, while the children, answering a smallei one, sang as they ran along — " There is but one God, the mastei of life." " In heaven are all good things, and endless happiness . in hell, fire and eternal torments."

When insulted, Milet, by assuming a high tone, was soon re- spected, and the medicine-men quailed before him, for his wit was keen. His presence was a sure stop to their incantations. Some- times they excluded him, but he appealed to the sachems, and

9

FKENCH MISSIONS. 279

•

they were condemned. In that council, Garacontie, to appease him, reminded him that Agreskoue was no longer mentioned, and all promised to prevent improper dances, or public honor tc dreams. An effort was indeed made in favor of the old customs ; but Milet at last prevailed, though he could not suppress the On- nonhouaroia, a sort of carnival, productive of great disorder.*

In August, 1669, the Superior of the Iroquois missions sum- moned all the Fathers to meet at Onondaga ; and Fremin from Gandachiragou, Gamier from Gandougarae (both Seneca towns), Bruyas from Oneida, Pierron from the Mohawk, and de Carheil from Cayuga, all joined Milet at Onondaga. After a short time spent in prayer, and the solace afforded by each other's company, after so long a banishment from civilized life, they drew up a uni- form plan for their missions, and, aided by each other's lights and suggestions, after six days' deliberation, returned to their solitary posts to resume their toil amid the motley population of the Iro- quois towns, peopled by fragments of conquered tribes, often out- numbering in the mass the native Iroquois.

The Hurons, who throughout formed a large body, were the great consolation of the missionaries. Here one would meet an old Christian like Francis Tehoronhiongo, who, baptized iu his own land by the martyred Brebeuf, afterwards a host of Father Le Moyne, had never, for twenty-seven years, missed his prayers, and, though without a spiritual guide during most of that long captivity, had brought up his family in the practice of piety.f Here a Huron woman converts her Iroquois husband, and inspires him with such a desire for baptism, that he sets out for Montreal, and meeting a missionary, bursts into a chant of joy and triumph.

» Eel. 1669-70, p. 207.

t.This excellent man subsequently removed to the Sulpitian mission, at the Mountain of Montreal, and died there at an advanced age. He was buried in one of the towers of the fort still or quite recently standing, at What is called the Priests' Farm.

280 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

While the missionaries thus pursued their quiet way, otheit reaped at Quebec the fruit of their toil. A murder committed bj some French miscreants on an Iroquois chief, and collisions be- tween the cantons and the Ottawas, led to an assembly of chiefs at that city. Garacontie set out with the deputies of all the western cantons, except the Senecas, who were really the offend- ing party.

After a long and important conference, the Governor restored peace, and ordered the prisoners taken by the Senecas to be re- stored. In the course of the treaty, Garacontie inveighed in no measured terms against the manner in which the Ottawas treated their missionaries, whose zeal and devotedness he eulogized in the highest terms. He then declared his love for Christianity, his long examination of it in theory and practice, and at last, turning to the Bishop, solicited baptism. Sudden as this declaration was, it was not unexpected. His long attention to the instructions of the missionaries, his well-known purity of life, his zeal for the conversion of his countrymen, — all induced the prelate to comply.

The ceremony was performed with great solemnity in the Cathedral of Quebec, before an assemblage such as the French settlements alone could show. In that pile, all feudal in its archi- tecture, amid the descendants of the crusaders, men of noble line- age in the olden world, amid Hurons from Montmorency, Tionon- tates from Mackinaw, Mohegans from the Hudson, Algonquins from the St. Lawrence, Chippeways from Lake Superior, and Iro- quois from every tribe along the Mohawk and Genesee, stood Garacontie to receive baptism at the hands of Laval, as the chief- tain Clovis did centuries before at the hands of Remy. With calm attention, he followed the rite. Clear and distinct were his responses as to the doctrines he would embrace, positive to stern- ness itself his declaration of adherence to Christianity. Then,, amid the thunder of the cannon of Fort St. Louis, with the Gover

FRENCH MISSIONS. 281

nor standing by as his sponsor, the waters of baptism flowed on his head, and the greatest Iroquois of the epoch, the virtual head of the league, was now the Christian Daniel Garacontie.*

Ere long he was in his native Onondaga, already the head of the Christian party, now himself a Christian. Accustomed here- tofore to preside at various ceremonies and rites peculiar to the tribes, and of a superstitious or doubtful character, he announced lijs resolution to take no part in them. The saturnalia in Feb- ruary, in honor of Tharonhiawagon, were disregarded by him, and when the subject of the Onnonhouaroia was taken up in the coun- cil, he rose and said : " You know my sentiments on this point. I have but to tell you, once and for all, I am a Christian." With these words, he left the cabin, and the council broke up without any action on the subjectf

This conduct produced a great change, for his influence was great, recognized even by the English governors of New York, who asked his mediation to effect a peace between the Mohawks and Mohegans. At Onondaga, several who had held out against their convictions from pride or other human motives, now came forward ; and Garacontie was soon able, by the conversion of his wife, to render his cabin entirely Christian.^

On returning from a council at Quebec and in one at Albany, Garacontie nobly professed his resolve to live up to the doctrines which he had embraced. In a dangerous illness which surprised him soon after his return, he rejected all the superstitions of the medicine-meu, and when, without his knowledge, one superstitious rite was performed in his cabin, he no sooner knew of it than he became inconsolable. "Alas!" said he, "what will Teharonhia- gannra (Milet) say of me ? He will think me a hypocrite ; but I

* Rel. 1669-70, ch. ii.

t This circumstance seems to show that he was really a saihem, and not merely an orator, as Lafltau avers.

; Kei. iero-1, p. 55.

282 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

have too much heart, and have promised God too solemnly evei to relapse."

On every occasion where an opportunity offered, he raised hia voice for the faith, as later he did at Montreal, before an assembly of five hundred deputies of different tribes, assembled to treat with de Courcelle, and at which he was present as Iroquois deputy to the Ottawas.*

On his return, he was accompanied by a zealous Tionontate. ^ deputy there. Louis Taondechoren had for twenty years been " Dogique," or chief of the prayer, in the Huron mission at Que- bec. In an apostolic spirit, he now proceeded to the Iroquois can- tons to exhort the tribes to embrace the Christian religion. His excursion was not unfruitful. He and his companions were joy- fully welcomed as valuable auxiliaries by Father John de Lamber- ville at Onondaga. Their days were spent in instructions to such as could come, but in the evening they gathered all around them. Extending their labors to Oneida and the Mohawk, they met with equal success. " They have changed the face of my little church," writes Bruyas, from the Mohawk. " A man like the fervent Hin- nonskwen would be worth two missionaries like me." John de Lamberville was now at Onondaga, a companion, then successor to Milet, enjoying the labors of the latter, who had given the mis- sion a regular form, and freed the Christians from all intoxication and debauchery ; these being, in fact, matters of public penance. Of extending the faith by the conversion of the rest of the tribe, de 'Lamberville wrote despondingly. "To convert the upper Iro- quois," says he, " we should have to undertake to reduce them by two arms — one of gold and the other of steel : I mean, gain them by presents, and subdue them by fear of arms. The missionaries have neither the charms of the one nor the strength of the other."

Garacontie was their stay. After his baptism, he never com-

« Bel. 1671-2.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 283

mitted a wilful fault, and, in spite of the clamors of a faithful DUI scolding wife, showed in the woods of America a character worthy of the primitive Church, by the wondrous union of magnanimous virtues, and those " little virtues" which give peace and confidence to all around.

His religion drew upon him taunts and even menaces from the dissolute youth ; but his acknowledged superiority as the clearest head and best statesman in the cantons, still made him revered by all the leading men. In 1672, he was prostrated by a danger- ous malady, and the anxious sachems gathered around his couch to hear his dying counsels, his political testament. Milet and do Lamberville, who, like most of the missionaries, possessed some medical knowledge, frequently called into requisition, succeeded by their care in restoring him to health, and he soon after set out with other deputies to meet Frontenac at Cataracouy, where that governor, wishing their consent to erect a fort, had summoned them, in July, 1673.

Two hundred in fact came, and Frontenac, attended by Fenelon and D'Uife, urged them to embrace the faith. " Children !" ex- claimed the French governor, " children of the Onondagas, Mo- hawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas ! I cannot give you any advice more important or more profitable to you than to exhort you to become Christians, and to adore the same God as we. He is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, the absolute master of your lives and properties, who hath created you, who preserves you, who furnishes you with food and drink, who can send death among you in a moment, inasmuch as he is almighty, and acts as he willeth, not like men who require time, but in an instant, and at a word. In fine, he can render you happy or miserable, as he pleases. This God is called Jesus, and the Bhick-gowns here, who are his ministers and interpreters, will teach you to know him, whenever you are so disposed. I leave them among you and in your villages only to teach you. I therefore desire that

284 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

you respect them, and prevent any of your braves daring or pre- suming to injure them in the slightest degree ; for I shall consider the injuries done them as personal, and punish them as such. Sachems ! give herein an example to your children, as your judg- ment must be sounder than theirs, or, at least, if you be not dis- posed to become Christians, do not prevent them becoming so, and learning the prayer of that great God, which the Black-gowns will teach them, and his commandments."

By the aid of Garacontie, Father de Lamberville converted another chief of rank, long convinced, but too addicted to dreams and superstitions to obtain the favor of baptism. Sickness at last showed him the inefficacy of the arts of the medicine-men. He became a sincere believer, and gave up all his treasured okis or charms. More consoling to the missionary, however, was the death of a poor blind woman, mangled and mutilated by an ine- briate, and abandoned by all. Nursed and tended by the mission- ary, she made her time of suffering a canticle of hope, and expired bathed in the sweetest joy.*

Soon after, Garacontie again opposed the superstitions and dances, and, as before, did much to check them. His piety was undiminished. Though his cabin was half a league from the chapel, he attended mass regularly, with his wife, and caught a severe cold while going to the midnight mass on Christmas-day, in the year 1675.f It soon proved serious, and he prepared for death. On that festival he had, as if foreseeing his speedy release from his labors, taken up a picture of our Lord, at the feast which he gave in honor of the day, and covering it with kisses, ex- claimed : " Behold the true Master of our lives ! Our dreams do not give us long life. Jesus, born of a virgin ! thou art peerless in beauty ! Grant that we may sit near thee in heaven. Chris- tians, remember what we promised him in baptism."

« Eel. 1672-3, MS. t Eel. 1676.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 286

As his pulmonary disease declared itself by the blood he raised, he went to the missionary, exclaimed " I am dead !" and made what he intended as a last general confession, with every mark of sincere piety. Anxious to save so valuable a life, the missionary lavished every care upon him ; but the health of the sachem of Onondaga had been broken by constant labors and fatigues, for he had been employed on every embassy of note from the Onon- dagas for many years, and figured constantly at Albany, New York, Cataracouy, and Quebec, — the zealous friend of the French, the ardent and impetuous child of the Catholic Church.

When he found his death near at hand, he gave his last coun sels to his family, and ordering his death-banquet to be prepared, invited to it the sachems and chiefs of Onondaga. In his address, he exhorted them to live in peace with the French, and to turn their arms against the distanAOntwagannha ; to become Chris- tians, and to banish liquor from the canton. Then, turning to the missionary, he said : " Write to' the Governor that he loses the best servant he had in the cantons of the Iroquois ; and I pray my Lord Bishop, who baptized me, and all the missionaries, to pray that my stay in purgatory may not be long."

After this, he gave the missionary directions for his burial, and then prepared for his last passage. His agony was brief, and, as it came on, he exclaimed — " Onne ouage che ca" — Behold, I die ! Then all fell on their knees, and amid their prayers he expired. Contrary to custom, he was, as he had requested, buried in a coffin, in an ordinary grave, and this was surmounted by a lofty cross, that all might see from afar, and remember that Daniel Gar- acontie was a Christian. No clothes, no bow, no hatchet was buried in his grave : it was like that of a white man.

Thus closed the career of one of the most remarkable men in "">dian annals, — eminent as a Christian statesman, a friend of his 1-j.oe, and an ardent laborer in the cause of their civilization. A ti ue friend of peace, lie more than once saved Canada from a deso-

286 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

lating war. To induce his countrymen to follow his ideas, he em- braced many European habits, and, though advanced in years, began to learn to read and write, and actually made considerable progress. Friendly to the French from the first, and attracted bj the beauty of Christianity, whose inherent truth he felt, Garacontie long kept aloof, and betrayed no sign of conversion, either because he deemed himself not sufficiently aware of the obligations im- posed by baptism, or because he distrusted his own strength ; but when once he had received the character of a Christian, he never swerved, and his fidelity won even the admiration of the colonists of New York, although, on one occasion, his zeal, provoked by the taunts then, as now, often launched by the ignorant and silly at the faith of the majority of Christians, led him to enter the meeting-house at Albany, and kneel down to say his beads. When commanded to leave by the clergyman, he poignantly re- joined— •»' What ! will you not let inen pray in this house of God ? You cannot be Christians ; you do not love the prayer."*

His death was heard of with grief by the missionaries and the entire French colony ; and even the English deplored the loss of a great and good man, though not an adherent of their cause.

Soon after the death of Garacontie, Father Bruyas, the Supe- rior, obliged to leave the Mohawk, replaced Father John de Lam- berville at Onondaga,f about 1679; but his stay was short, for Father John soon returned, and was joined by his brother James from the Mohawk, and they were together when the political hori- zon darkened, and the policy of Dongan drove them, last of the missionaries, from the land of the Iroquois.

* Eel. 167&-9. t Bel. 1673-9, MS.

TRENCH MISSIONS. 287

III. — THE CAYUGA MISSIOX.

The mission among the Cayugas was, as we have seen, founded by Father Stephen de Carheil, who accompanied Milet to Onon- daga in 1668, and thence proceeded to Cayuga. Father Rene Meuard had begun a mission there in the time of St. Mary's of Ganentaa, but scarce a trace of his labors remained, except in a few Christians,* and the good-will and friendly disposition of Saon- chiogwan. During the present period, the history of the mission is a history of the almost fruitless labors of de Carheil ; for though he spoke the Cayuga with elegance and ease, possessed the greatest missionary talent, and was regarded by French and Indians as a saint and a genius, he never made more than a small number of conveits.f Arriving at Cayuga on the 6th of Novem- ber, 1668, he raised a chapel ©n the 9th, and dedicated it to St. Joseph. With a knowledge of the Huron, which all could under- stand, he began his instructions, and, though at first scarce re- garded, by his courage in acting as sentinel in times of danger, and accompanying them when attacked by the Conestogues, he won their esteem. Reducing the .Cayuga language to roots or radical words, he soon began to use that dialect, and drew up his formula of baptism in it.

Three villages — Goiogouen, Kiohero, and Onnontare — were the objects of his care. In all he found Hurons, some of them Chris- tians, eager to profit by his ministry, others inveterate pagans. One of these latter had a daughter at the point of death. In vain de Carheil sought to baptize her. The father sternly refused : " You speak as Echon did in our country. He killed men by water, and you too wish to do the same." Expelled from the cabin at the coming of the medicine-men, he burst into tears, and when the child died he was inconsolable. "All that night," he

O '

* Bel. 1669-70, ch. ix. t Charlev. ii. 185.

288 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

writes, " my heart was full of bitterness. I could not sleep, haviag constantly before me the loss of that soul, which I loved, and would have saved, but which was now lost. Then, better than ever, I realized the affliction of the heart of Jesus, who loved all men, and wished to save them, yet knew the prodigious multitude of those who should be lost." So inveterate, indeed, was this hatred of Christianity, that the father who had thus lost the soul of his child, attributed its death to Carheil, and sought his life.

With other superstitions he was more successful. These he ridiculed, and often rendered so absurd, that the sick were ashamed to use them. His plan was not to argue, but to seem to acquiesce, and begin a ridiculous prayer to the pretended god.

Gradually his church began to increase in numbers, though slowly,* and sachems, warriors, women, and children attended his catechism classes, and disputed for his little prizes.]- Baptisms of adults, some obtained only after great exertion and trials, began to reward and console him.J Just then he was attacked by illness, and was compelled to return to Canada in 1671. Father Peter Raffeix was sent to replace him, while de Carheil, after finding human skill unavailing, made a pilgrimage to the still celebrated shrine of St. Anne's, and obtained a deliverance from the nervous disorder which afflicted him. On this he returned to his mission, and Raffeix proceeded to the Seneca country. De Carheil found prejudice still deep-rooted in the public mind, and calumnies of every kind spread against the faith. Some consoling conversions, however, among others, that of a young chief, gladdened his heart ; but, unfortunately, murder and license rendered them few indeed. The tribe, as a tribe, never seem to have had any char- acter for firmness or decision. His mission, it is true, gave the greatest number of infant baptisms, the mothers readily presenting their children when sick, so that here, and we may say every-

• Bel. l«68-9, p. 59. f Eel. 1639-70, p. 264. J Kel. 1670-1, p. 64.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 289

where, the number of baptisms is no criterion of the success of the mission.*

His only stay was the chieftain Saonchiogwan, who, though in- ferior in many respects to Garacontie, seconded all his efforts. Like the hero of Onondaga, he was convinced of the truth of Christianity, which he had learned from Menard and Chaumonot, as now from de Carheil, for all had been his guests. He was crafty, politic, and shrewd, and though he had solicited baptism, it was deferred by the cautious missionary. In the spring of 16 Yl, a Seneca embassy was sent to Quebec to restore some Pottawata- mies, whom the braves of the western canton had surprised in violation of the peace. This embassy was headed by Saonchiog- wan, who, after concluding the negotiation, solicited baptism from the Bishop. Instructed and examined by Chaumonot, he was found sufficiently grounded, and baptized by the name of Louis, the Intendant, Talon, being his godfather. Immediately after a solemn feast was given in his name to the Indians in the neighbor- hood of Quebec.f

The Cayuga mission continued in this way for several years, un- marked by any striking event ; the obstinate and haughty spirit of the pe^p]e continuing the same as ever till about 1684, when de Carheil was plundered of every thing by a chief named Hor- chouasse, and driven from the canton by two others.J

* Eel. 1671-2 ; 1672-8, MS. ; 1675, MS. ; 2673-9, MS. f Eel. 1670-1, ch. i.

J Father Stephen de Carheil arrived at Quebec on the 6th of August, 1666, &:id wns immediately placed with the Hurons, who gave him the name of Aondechete. After his expulsion from Cayuga, as above related, he was sent to the Ottawa mission, and, as we shall see, labored there for many years. " He had sacrificed the greatest talents in the hopes of bedewing Canada with his blood — He labored there indefatigably for more than sixty years — French and Indians regarded him as a saint and a genius of the highest order." As a philologist, he was remarkable. He spoke Huron and Cayuga with the greatest elegance, and he composed valuable works in and upon both, some of which are still extant. Eeturning to Quebec, he died there, in July, 1726, at a very advanced age.

13

290 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

IV. — THE SENECA MISSION.

The Seneca mission lay in the most populous of the cantons, and offered the greatest hopes of success.* One town, Gandougarae, was composed of Hurons, Neutrals, and Onnontiogas, the former being all the survivors of the missions of St Michael at the town of Scano- naenrat, and St. John the Baptist, at the town of Kontarea in Huronia. During the mission of St. Mary's of Ganentaa, Father Chaumonot visited them, and revived their feelings of faith. When the new missions were well begun, Father Fremin left the Mohawk, and on the first of November, 1668, was received at Sonnontouan as an ambassador. He came, however, as a missionary, and, build- ing a chapel, sodn began his ministry among the Hurons. His labors, as envoy of Onontio, were, however, needed : attack and reprisal had taken place between the Senecas and Ottawas, and all Fremin's exertions were needed to prevent Seneca war-parties from taking the field. Fortunately, Father Allouez soon after arrived with some prisoners taken by the Ottawas, whom he restored, and thus appeased their anger,f and a final arrangement was made by the French governor at the council which witnessed the conversion of Garacontie. In the summer of 1669, Fremin, as Superior of the Iroquois missions, called the meeting at Onondaga, of which we have spoken, and, finding his own labors too great, summoned Gamier to his assistance, and assigned him the town of Ganda-

* Having given specimens of other Iroquois dialects, we add that of the Senecas from Morgan's version of the New Testament, Matt. vi. 9: "Gwah- nih gaoyah gehshoh chihdyoh Dayesaahsaonyook henisahsanandogahdih. 10. Idweh niis ne saiwahgeh ne dwanohdo osha gwen ni yuh : Neh kuh nils heni di sanigoohdaah nehhuh niyawah neyo anjahgeh naeh henidyuhdouh ne gaoyahgeh. 11. Dagyoh naga wanishadeh nahdewanishage nogwaahg\vuh. 12. Neh, kuh, neh dondagwai wahsagwus nogwai wanehakshah naeh niih hede jakhiwahsagwahseh nokhiwanehagih. 13. Sanoh kuh nehhuh hasg- waan hadyogwah nigodaguh ; nehgws sho dagwayahdohnook hayahdadch • naahnigoetgah."

t Kel. 1^63-9, p. 82.

1

FRENCH MISSIONS. 291

Jriragou, where that missionary built a chapel in September, while Frerain himself remained at Gandougarae. In both places mass was said daily, and the Huron catechists, now supported by the presence of a missionary, continued with new zeal the labors which had hitherto kept the faith alive. James Atondo and Francis Thoronhiongo were especially eminent in the band of old Huron Christians. The pagans soon received the attention of the mis- sionaries, who here, as elsewhere, took every means to instruct the prisoners brought in to die. Conestogues were frequently burnt, and always instructed and baptized, and Fremin found one who had received some instructions in Catholic doctrine, probably from the Maryland Fathers.* Gamier had meanwhile neariy perished, having been attacked by an inebriate at Gandagaro ; but he win- tered at his mission of Gandachiragou, which contained only three or four Christians, studying the language, compiling a dictionary, and performing such missionary duties as he could.f

The next year Fremin was recalled to the St. Lawrence, and Gamier was left alone to cope with the labors of the mission, Bruyas succeeding as Superior of all the Iroquois missions. New diffi- culties crowded around Gamier ; the village of Gandougarae, or St. Michael's, was burnt, and in the conflagration the missionary lost his chapel and all that it contained ; but the zeal of the Christians repaired all : prayers were now said publicly morning and evening in all the towns ; the Christians sternly refused all participation in superstitious rites ; and many, whom pride had kept from professing Christianity, began to yield.J Soon after the sachems of Gandachiragou publicly declared their wish to pray to God, and Gamier conceived hopes of effecting a great change ; but

* These Conestogues, commonly called by the French Gandastogues, or, ehorter, Andastes, were, in all probability, the Susquehannaa; and might thus have been objects of the care of the Jesuits of Maryland.

t Rel. 1669-70, p. 283.

J Rel. 1670-1, ch. vi. p. 70.

292 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

the horizon was suddenly darkened by rumors of a French inva- sion, and the slanders raised against the faith by a Cayuga brave. No longer an object of esteem, Gamier was suspected, even by the chief in whose cabin he dwelt, and the death of the chieftain's niece, who then lay sick, or any clearer rumor of war, would have led to the massacre of the Black-gown, whose assiduity in prayer^ at this crisis, heightened suspicion. 9

The faithful Hurons of St. Michael and St. John were his con- solation ; though longing to rejoin their countrymen at Notre Dame de Foye near Quebec, they bore their exile with submission to the will of God, and sought comfort in his service ; Gamier was not, however, doomed to remain longer alone.

Father Raffeix, leaving Lake Tiohero and the banks of the Ochou- guen (Oswego), reached the Seneca mission of the Conception in July, and began his labors there, not borne up by any ignorant en- thusiasm, but well aware of the forbidding toil which awaited him. "To expect that a whole tribe will convert at once," he says}-" or to hope to make Christians by the hundred or thousand, is to de- ceive one's self. .Canada is not a land of flowers ; to find one you must walk far, through thorny paths."

A third town, St. James, contained several Christians, who anxiously begged for a missionary, and Father John Pierron, whom we have already seen among the Mohawks, was sent to it, and the Seneca canton was thus possessed of three missionaries. By their ingenious zeal, piety soon flourished in these towns, and the mission was scarce inferior to the reductions founded on the banks of the St Lawrence. Conversions went slowly on, contested at every step by the medicine-men, who so won on the minds of the people, now emboldened by their triumphs over the Conestogues, that the missionaries were often actually in danger. Gamier was accused of sorcery, and as accusation and condemnation were nearly synonymous, they determined to tomahawk him. The executioner was named and paid, but God averted the blow. Rafleix sought to

FRENCH MISSIONS. 293

•

ead a dying girl to truth, but such was the hatred then prevailing against the missionaries that she sprang from her sick couch and

tore his face with her nails till he streamed with blood. He did

•

not, however, despair ; continuing his visits, his kind and gentle manner disabused her. She listened, was convinced, and, to his con- solation, died piously, uttering a prayer to Jesus, the giver of life.

The French occupation of Niagara under La Salle in 1678, and the hdstility of that commander, evinced by his forcing Father Gamier to leave a council, must have also contributed to weaken the influence of the missionaries, and excite distrust of the French.* As their position seemed thus more precarious than ever, they used greater caution in baptizing, lest any should afterwards live to be brought up pagans.f

Such was the state of this mission when the Relations close in 1679.J Idolatry was generally discountenanced throughout the cantons, now fully instructed in the mysteries of faith, but not courageous enough to embrace them. The life of the missionaries for some years had been perilous indeed ; they were often treated with personal violence, and had even been frequently doomed to death in public or private councils ; yet they had built and main- tained their chapels, and worked on patiently in hope, gradually

* Honnepin ; La Salle.

t Eel. 1671-2; 1672-3, MS.; 1675, MS.; 1876, MS.; 1873-9, § 8, MS.

J The Relations furnish the following statistics of the Iroquoia mission, which will hardly suit those who accuse the missionaries of baptizing bj wholesale :

Years. 1668-9	Mohawks. 151	Oneidas.	Onondagas. 30	Cayugas. 28	Senecas. 60	Total. 269
1669-70	53		40	37	120	250
1670-1	84			62	110	818
1671-2	60	30	89	80	41	200
1672-3	72	84	80	55	70	261
1675	80		72	21	100	273
1676-7						850
1677-8 . .						800

8 years 2221

294 ^ AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

gaining all not corrupted by debauchery and intoxication ; and baptizing the dying children whom they could reach.

Now a new obstacle was to arise ; England and France were to dispute the valleys of the Mohawk and Oswego, and, though both then governed by Catholic sovereigns and their colonies by Catholic governors, the missions were sacrificed. Of this period •we shall now speak generally, after giving a sketch of the Reduc- tion of Laprairie and the Mission of the Mountain of Montreal.*

* As this was the close of Fremin's labors in New York, we give such a Bketeh of the missionary as we are able. The time of his arrival in Canada is unknown. Sent to Onondaga in 1656, he remained till the close of the first mission, in March, 1658 ; was then for a couple of years at Miscou ; next at Three Rivers and Cape de la Madeleine. After being appointed to the projected Caynga mission, in 1666, he was the next year sent to the Mohawk, •where he remained till 1671. He was placed at Laprairie by the advice of de Courcelle, and made several voyages to France in its behalf. He is said to have been again in the Iroquois missions ; and, after many years of toil, he died on the 2d of July, 1691, at Quebec.

Father Julian Gamier, the last Seneca missionary, was born at Connerai, in the diocese of Mans, about 1643, and was a brother of the celebrated Bene- dictine Gamier. He came to Canada, while still a scholastic, in October, 1662, and, after teaching some years, completed his studies, and was ordained in April, 1666. After passing with success his final examination in 1668, he was sent to the Iroquois missions, and labored at Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca. He probably returned as late as 1702, and was still alive in 1722. He was apparently employed also on the Algonquin missions. Lafitau, who derived from him much of the matter of his work, speaks highly of his zeal and austerity. Of the de Lambervilles, Milet, and le Vaillant, who figure in the later mission, little is known beyond their labors in the cantons.

Father Peter Raffeix, the founder of Laprairie, arrived in ill health in 1663 ; was chaplain in the expedition against the Mohawks in 1665; appointed to go to Cayuga in 1666. In the following year he was at Isle Percee, and, after founding Laprairie, labored among the Cayugas and Senecas till 1630. He W:is at Quebec in 1703, broken down with years and toil.

CHAPTER XVI.

IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

THE REDUCTIONS IN CAN AD A. 1. LOBETTK — Iroquois there — La Precieusa— SogaressA

— Ignatius Tocachin. II. ST. FRANCIS XAVIEB des pres and du Sank or Caugh»

nawaga— Its origin— Founded by Father Raffeix— Catharine (Janneaktena— Garon- hiagu6 or Hot Cinders— Kryn, the Great Mohawk— Life at the mission— Fervor of th« Neophytes— Mode of Instruction — Visit of Bishop Laval — Removal from Laprairie to Sault St Louis or Caughnawaga — Catharine Tehgahkwita — Her eminent holiness— Her life and death — Reputation for miracles. III. QOTNTK BAT AWD THE MOUN- TAIN OF MONTREAL— Sulpitian missions at Quints Bay— Resigned to Recollects — Da Belmont founds the mission of Notre Dame des Neiges — His zeal — Margaret Bour- geoys and her Indian school — Success of this mission — Mary Barbara Attontinon and Mary Theresa Gannensagwas, Indian sisters of the Congregation.

I. LORETTE.

THE Huron mission of Lorette had been the first resort of the Christian Iroquois, who resolved to become pilgrims of the faith. The Oyander won by Fremin, and the woman tomahawked by the Mohegans, who so long resisted his exhortations, both emigrated to Lorette, which they illustrated by their piety ; and the former gave birth to Ignatius Tocachin, a child whose early development, apti- tude for learning, and rare childish piety, are the theme of several early narratives. Such hopes were indeed excited that it was ex- pected that he would one day say in reality the Mass, which it was his only amusement to imitate, showing even then that incipient vocation so often remarked in servants of God. But the Almighty called him to himself, and his truly Christian mother, who had sacrificed the honors of her birth on the banks of the Mohawk to the Giver of life, now bowed without a murmur to this new sac- rifice. Here Catharine Ganneaktena, the foundress of Laprairie, was baptized. Here long lived, eminent for her piety, zeal, and Christian virtue, Mary Tsawente, whom the French honored with the surname of " the Precious." She enjoyed in life and death the

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reputation of a saint, and was indeed a model of self-devotedness and charity. Her husband, James Sogaresse, was a worthy imi- tator of Garonhiague, and, like him, frequently visited the cantons to announce Christianity to his pagan countrymen.*

When, however, the distinct Iroquois missions were well organ- ized, the number at Lorette decreased, and it became exclusively Huron.

IL — MISSION OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER DES PRES.

Opposite Montreal lay a fine open tract extending for several miles, which early obtained the name of Laprairie : it was, at first, allotted to de la Ferte, Abbe de la Madeleine, a member of the Society of a hundred, who for a time controlled the destinies of Canada. Deeply interested in the success of the missions, he sub- sequently bestowed this tract on the Jesuit Fathers, in whose name it still stands, though actually seized by the British government.

The position was too exposed to be soon settled, and it was not till towards 1669 that the missionaries resolved to begin a resi- dence there as a resort for the missionaries on the upper lakes, and in the Iroquois cantons, to which they might retire for their annual retreats, or in case of sickness. When, however, Father Raffeix proceeded to the spot to begin the village, a new idea presented itself. The faith was now advancing in the Iroquois cantons ; but the missionaries saw with deep affliction that the Indian convert, whose instruction and conversion had cost so many an anxious hour, was often lost by the bad example and corrupting influence of his pagan countrymen, already depraved by connection with the whites, and maddened by the liquor supplied by the New York traders. Often, too, the converts were subjected tc? a constant persecution from their own kindred. No sooner, then, weie the missions founded, than many saw that if they wished to fulfil their bap-

* Eel. 1673-9, MS.

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tismal vows, and enjoy the gospel in peace, they must go forth, like Abraham, from their idolatrous kindred, and seek a new home, where, freed from such example, religion and virtue might aloue possess their hearts.

At the moment, Lorette, the Huron colony near Quebec, seemed the surest refuge, as there, under the zealous and holy Chaumonot, piety and order flourished. Hither, accordingly, the first pilgrims repaired ; but, as they passed at Laprairie the little chapel raised by Raffeix, that missionary conceived the project of forming around it a Christian reduction to rival Lorette or Sillery. The governor, seeing the political advantage of the step, eagerly encouraged it, and induced the realization of his plan on a more extended scale.

Catharine Ganneaktena, the hostess of Bruyas at Oneida, where she, an Erie girl, had been adopted, was instructed by Father Raf- feix during a winter at Montreal, and requested by him to begin the new colony. Joined by most of her family, she, on their con- version and baptism, came to Laprairie from Lorette and founded the first Iroquois reduction, which assumed the name of St. Francis Xavier des pres, probably at the close of 1669, for none had settled there in the middle of that year, the chapel being visited only by the wandering hunter.

Catharine was well worthy of the honor of founding so celebrated a reduction. Amid the seductions of an Indian village, her life had been blameless before marriage, and after her union with the Christian Francis Tonsahoten, she overcame, by her mild and win- ning ways, his fierce and intractable temper, acquiring such an ascendency over him that her whisper was his law, yet using it always for his good. No sooner did she know the faith than she embraced it ; but, as we have seen, retired from the persecution of her family to Canada. Her cabin at Laprairie was ever hospitably open to French and Indian, the latter being immediately objects tif her zealous care ; for sh\) became at once a catechist.

Others soon gathered around her, won by her arguments or her 13*

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virtues ; and the little colony received constant accessions from Lorette, or the missions in the cantons. In 1670 it contained eighteen or twenty families — in all, sixty souls \ and having thus attained considerable size and importance, a government was or- ganized, and two chiefs elected — one for prayer and one for gov- ernment.* When Raffeix was sent to Cayuga, in 1671, Fremin was recalled, at the request of de Courcelle, who deemed him best fitted to insure the success of the new village. That missionary, after witnessing with joy the good already done, hastened to France to obtain such aid as would enable him to carry out the plan. During his absence, Father Peter Cholenek was stationed there, and he describes in glowing colors the faith and fervor of the little colony at his arrival. Although within sight of their lodges stood a tavern, where constant scenes of riot met their eyes, not a drop of liquor entered their cabins. Yet fifty, at least, had been notorious inebriates.f

At first the emigration was chiefly from Oneida. Among the most illustrious who came was Ogeratarihen or Garonhiague, known to the French by the name of La cendre chaude or La poudre chaude. Beside the stake of Brebeuf he had stood a mocker of the Christian's hope ; now, in the designs of God, he was des- tined to be himself an apostle of the faith. Quarrelling with another Oneida sachem, he withdrew towards the French, and soon after hearing of his brother's death, resolved never to return. In his rambles he stopped at Laprairie, and there his wife, soon won to the faith, lost no time in bringing to it a husband whose fidelity to her had never wavered.

Not long after his baptism he was elected the fourth chief, for the number was now increased, and, though the youngest, became really the head chief of the mission, a rank which he was too diffident to seek. A declartxl enemy of fire-water, he began his

• Eel. 1670-1, p. 89. t Bel. ] 671-2.

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efforts by ingeniously oversetting a kettle of liquor at an Oneida encampment near Montreal. In the village his eloquence and fervor produced such effects, that he was made a catechist; and when some pious pictures were placed in his hands, representing various mysteries, he explained them so lucidly and eloquently, that the heathen were converted, and the tepid Christians roused to exertions for a better life.

He drew many of his old adherents from Oneida, but the Mo- hawk sent more. Father Boniface, during his mission, saw a party of forty families depart for Laprairie with the great Mo- hawk,* as we have already mentioned. That chieftain, called Kryn by the English, was a worthy assistant of Garonhiague, and as distinguished, after his wonderful conversion, for his zeal and piety as he had previously been for his opposition to Christianity. Both he and Garonhiague frequently visited their own cantons to announce the faith, and invite all who wished eternal happiness to follow them to Laprairie; and many followed them indeed.! Kryn led a large party from Gandawague in 1674, and again, ap- parently, in 1676 ; and in the following year Garonhiague enabled Catharine Tehgahkwita to escape from the same place to Laprairie, henceforth to be hallowed by her virtues, and be honored by her wonder-working tomb.

From the continual wars of the Iroquois, these new settlers, although all from the cantons of that league, were in many cases Iroquois only by adoption. In 1674, the village contained repre- sentatives noi only of the five Iroquois tribes, and their kindred Hurons, Tionontates, Attiwandaronks, Eries, Conestogues, but also Abnakis, Montagnais, Mohegans, Nipissings, Sokokis, Mascoutens, and members of several other less known Algonquin tribes. As we have seen, they began by electing a chief, and adopting a form

• Eel. 1672-3.

t Etat present, 1674, MS. ; Kip's Jes. Miss. 93 ; Ctolepek's letter • D« U I'otherie, ii.

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of government like that of the cantons. The number of the chiefs was soon after increased to five, and has remained so till the present time. The first step was to pass laws excluding all who would not forswear the idolatrous observance of dreams, changing of wives, and drunkenness.

This mission now rivalled that of Paraguay. Its annals display the same regularity and innocence of life, the same fervor in the practices of religion, virtue carried to heroic acts, and a spirit of mortification and penance worthy of the primitive Church.

The missionaries began their instruction in religion at once ; they did not seek to teach the Indians to read and write, as an in- dispensable prelude to Christianity. That they left for times when greater peace would render it feasible, when long self-con- trol had made the children less averse to the task. The utter failure of their Huron seminary at Quebec, as well as of all the attempts made by others at the instance of the French court, showed that to wait till the Indians were a reading people, would be to postpone their conversion forever ; and, in fact, we see Elliott's Indian Bible outlive the pagan tribes for whom it was prepared.

The mode of instruction adopted by the missionaries was that of sermons, and instructions after the nature of conferences, in which objections to doctrine are raised by one of the audience, and answered by the catechist. Symbolical pictures were em- ployed with great advantage in all the missions ; those which the celebrated le Nobletz, the holy missionary of the Bas Bretons, had used with such success in impressing on an ignorant peasantry the truths of faith, were found no less efficacious here.

These instructions were not always given by the missionaries; the chiefs and elders of the tribe themselves, well instructed in all the points of Christian doctrine necessary for salvation, became in turn catechists, and with a set of pictures as their library, ex- plained the mysteries of faith, the Incarnation, Redemption, the Last Judgment, the pain« of hell, the joys of heaven. Several of

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the early chiefs were eminent as dogiquos or catechibts, but Ga- ronhiague was unrivalled among them.

These instructions made the people thoroughly acquainted with all that is necessary for salvation, with the commandments and precepts of religion. All did not come to the mission well dis- posed, but all yielded to the fervor of the converts. Many, de- spaired of in their native cantons, became here models of virtue ; while others, rising #bove the path of the precepts, sought to em- brace the counsels also, especially after the wonderful Catharine Tehgahkwita had set them so glorious an example in her extraor- dinary life.

The day of the Christian Iroquois began with the morning prayer, which each recited in his cabin at an early hour. At five all repaired to the chapel to visit the Savior there enshrined, and pay him their morning adoration. If a mass was said at that hour, they heard it, and returned to their cabins. This visit was one of their own choice, but so well established by custom, that a fervent woman and her daughters punished, by a severe penance, their omission of it, from having over-slept themselves one morning.

The village mass was said at sunrise. This all heard with great piety, chanting hymns and various devotional acts, intoned by their dogique or catechist, and sung by alternate choirs of men and women.

After the service, they wound their way to the cabins or fields, and the children now filled the chapel, and, after mass, were cate- chized and otherwise instructed ; for a school for the boys was co- eval with the mission.*

Meanwhile the busy labors of the field engaged them all. The lands of the poor and sick were tilled by their wealthier neigh- bors, and often was a fervent neophyte seen to resign, in a peni-

* Mem. de M. du Chesneau, Nov. 13, 1681. De la Potherie, iii. remarks that the Indians did not care to have their children taught to read and write, muting being better, as it enabled them to live.

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tential spirit, his new-made clearings, or give them to a recent comer, and begin his toil anew, for there the fervor of faith tri- umphed over Indian aversion to labor.

If they had occasion during the day to enter the village, they always took the chapel-path, and loosing their rosary from the neck, offered the Virgin Mother the homage of their prayers, and bowed 'in adoration before her Son in the Sacrament

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin characterised these converts ; all wore their beads visibly, generally around the neck : the more fervent, like Martin Skandegorhaksen, made them a chaplet, bound around their brows. This young man, whose piety is commemo- rated in the annals of the mission, was a nephew of the great Mo- hawk, and one of his earliest followers. After a life of great piety and purity he died on Christmas-day, 1675, as his uncle was bear- ing him from the distant hunting-ground to the mission. Even in their visits to Albany to sell their peltries or goods, they bore their beads conspicuously, for all its exciting the displeasure of the burghers there. One woman, taunted with adoring a creature, replied : " What ! would you have me believe that the Mother ot Jesus deserves no honor ?" clearly distinguishing what they con- founded.

When the declining sun called the Indians of the mission to repose, they all assembled once more in the chapel for prayer, and then returned to their cabins.

Such were their daily habits, the eve of Sunday beheld the con- fessional crowded with penitents, declaring their slightest faults with the greatest compunction. Sunday, sanctified by repose, gave more time to God. Besides the High Mass on that and festal days, fullei instructions were given to young and old ; books written for their profit were read and explained, and at a later date the as- sembly of the pious confraternity of the Holy Family filled the hours of the afternoon.

TH; festivals of the Church, with their processions and hallowed

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rites, had replaced the Onnonhouaroia and other idolatrous festivi- ties ; yet two national festivals were retained, blessed and sanctified by religion. These were the planting festival, when the seed was blessed for sowing, and the harvest festival, when the first-fruits were brought in and laid upon the altar.

During the hunting-season each party had its chief who directed their devotional exercises, and superintended all ; so that not even then did their fervor slacken.*

The success of this mission astonished all, and the Bishop of Quebec, Monseigneur Laval, resolved to visit it in pervu, and ar- rived before Laprairie on the 25th of May, 1675. No sooner was the canoe of the venerable prelate discerned from the village than Father Dablon's shot out to meet him ; and the Hurons of the village descended to a temporary dock to harangue him. After the address, he landed and advanced through rustic bowers to the church, escorted on the right by Father Fremin and the Indians, on the left by Father Cholenek and the French, who alternately filled the air with sacred chants. Twice the procession halted, and at each station a new address was delivered to the prelate, thus successively greeted by a Huron, an Oneida, and an Onondaga, and last of all by the dogique Paul, the ablest speaker of the village. Entering the church, he gave the Benediction of the Blessed Sacra- ment, and then in the missionaries' cabin received the visits of his forest children.

The next day he solemnly baptized fourteen adults and seven children, and for the first time administered there the Sacrament of Confirmation ; a hundred Hurons and Iroquois receiving strength to become strong and perfect Christians.f

This visit extended to several days, excited admiration in the

* Chauchetiere, Life of Catharine Tehgahkwita, MS.; St. Valicr, Etat present; De la Tour, Vie de Mgr. Laval.

t Manuscript account of visit; Bel. 1678-9, ch. vii. MS.; Etat present, . «75, MS.

804 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Bishop, fervor in the Indians, and gave new courage to their labo- rious pastors.

At this time the mission numbered about two hundred, and already finding the low lands of Laprairie unsuited to their cultiva- tion, they resolved to emigrate, and, in 1676, removed to the little stream called Portage River, where cabins were soon thrown up, and a temporary chapel raised, near the spot now marked by the cross of Catharine Tehgahkwita. Lying within sight of the rapids of the St. Lawrence, which Canadians call Sault St. Louis, the mis- sion now changed its name of St. Francois Xavier des pres to that of St. Franpois Xavier du Sault. The Indians themselves called it Caughnawaga or the Rapids ; and the English, who soon learned to dread them, adopted the name for the mission and the tribe.* Here a substantial stone church, sixty feet long, was begun, and, when completed in the spring of 16*78, was one of the finest in that part of Canada.f

Before its completion, and while Fremin was absent in Europe, Catharine Tehgahkwita arrived, and, forming a close friendship with a few pious women, aspired to the highest sanctity. Her hours were spent in labor or in prayer, and in both she seemed never to lose sight of God. Deaf to all offers of marriage, she lived by the work of her hands, a hazardous experiment for an Indian, but from her skill and industry successful in her case. What leisure her labor permitted she spent in the chapel, edifying all by her modesty, recollected ness, and voluntary poverty.

Her first desire, formed as she sat beneath the village cross with Theresa Teguaiagenta, gazing upon the rapid river which hurried by them, was to lead, with some others, a life like that of the nuns at Quebec ; but this being impracticable, she resolved to avoid all

* The Etat present of 1675 heads a chapter, " De la mission de St. Frarn-ois Xavier a Laprairie de la Magdeleine ; the Eolation of 1676, St. Frac^ois Xaviel da Saut."

f St. Valier, Etat de 1'Eglise ; Cholenek, Lettr«.

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the vanity of her countrywomen, and observe the utmost modesty in dress and life. For poor as the Indians were, they had their belles, whose toilet was as anxiously cared for as in any polished country. A manuscript of the time describes the Indian maiden, with her well-oiled and neatly-parted hair, descending in a long plait behind, while a fine chemise was met at the. waist by a neat and well-trimmed petticoat reaching to the knee ; below this was th 3 ^.ch leggin, and then the well-fitted moccasin, the glory of an Iroquois belle. The neck was loaded with beads, while the crimson blanket enveloped the whole form.*

All the finery of dress Catharine renounced ; the ordinary blue blanket, now universally worn by the women, served her use ; her other garments were plain. In summer and winter alike her face was muffled, so that no brave of the village had ever looked her in the face but one, who rudely put aside her blanket to see her blush with shame. But it was not enough to renounce pleasure. A virgin, she kept the vow of chastity, and resolved to assume the painful austerities of a penitential life to liken hereelf to her Re- deemer. " Who will teach me," she would exclaim, " what is most agreeable to God, that I may do it ?" * Two days in every week she fasted, while scourging and chains were in constant use, the former even to the effusion of blood. These austerities were indeed moderated by her directors ; but as they were evidently prompted by the spirit of God, those which the missionaries were forced to concede to her fervor, rank her among the most austere.

After one winter spent in the woods, her desire of attending all the offices of the Church made her renounce the advantages of the

* Mr. Faillon, Vie de la Soeur Bourgeoys, i. 291, falls into the strange error of supposing that the women were perfectly naked, with no covering but the blanket. All writers, from the time of Champlain, represent the Huron- Iroquois women as wearing a petticoat of beaver-skin, and later of cloth, with leggins and moccasins, besides the blanket. Sagard gives their id^as of modesty with curious detail.

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hunting season, and remain in the village, where she supported herself by sewing and the manufacture of various articles of wood and bark, which she made with great ingenuity.

The servants of God are ever tried by persecution. Pure as was the life of Catharine Tehgahkwita, she did not escape the breath of calumny, under which she long suffered in silence, un able to dispel the suspicions against her. Her self-imposed pains did not equal this sorest trial of her life. Her pilgrimage was, however, drawing to a close. Towards the end of 1679 her health failed ; a long march on the ice led to a malady which proved fatal. During the winter she was often unable even to drag herself to the chapel. As spring came on, the out-door oc- cupations of the rest left her sole occupant of the cabin, where the missionary, to console her, would frequently assemble the children to instruct them in their religion and such branches as the more settled state of the village now enabled him to undertake.

As Holy Week came on, she sank rapidly, and it was found impossible to convey her on a bark litter to the chapel, according to custom, for the last sacraments. For the first time the Viati- cum and Extreme Unctiom were administered in a cabin. The novel sight and the general esteem for Catharine drew all around the priest, as, accompanied by the acolytes, he bore the sacred host to her dying couch. She received the body of her Lord with the most tender devotion, but intimated to the missionary that he need not then anoint her, as her death would not take place till a moment which she named.

Till that moment her lowly couch was surrounded by the old and young, learning in her death the deep lesson of life. Life ebbed slowly away, and on Wednesday afternoon, about three o'clock, she uttered her last words, the names of Jesus and Mary ; then a slight shudder ran through her frame, and she fell into her ag°ny- Conscious to the last, about half an hour after she breathed her last so calmly, so peacefully, that she seemed

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She was buried beside the church, and her grave became im- mediately the resort of those who wished to interest in their behalt a faithful servant of God. It became a pilgrimage where the pre- late and the viceroy came alike to kneel and pay homage to ex- alted virtue, as they invoked on themselves and their charge the blessing of Heaven. This devotion was not unrewarded i miracur Ions cures attested that it was pleasing to Heaven, while they en- kindled anew the devotion to this holiest of the children of the American forests.*

The mission especially was renewed by so holy a death. Her example and her life served, in a series of paintings, to rouse the lukewarm and confirm the fervent in their struggles against the world and self.f

A few years after this memorable epoch in the annals of the mission, the valley of the St. Lawrence was visited by one of the most terrific hurricanes ever known in the country. The new stone church of the mission was levelled by it to the ground. This was in August, 1683, three years after the death of Cath- arine, to whose prayers was attributed the preservation of the three missionaries who were in the chapel at the time. The rains came crashing around them, the bell even fell at the feet of one, yet two escaped with slight bruises, and the other entirely unhurt.J

A fervent chief immediately offered a new cabin for a place of worship, and as they soon went still further up the river, and settled for a time in the woods, the former chapel was never re-

* See attestations of two cures in Father Cholenek's Letter, in the Lettres Edifiantes (Kip'6 Jesuit Missions, p. 115); also a manuscript by M. Remy, Cure of Lachine, at first warmly opposed to the devotion entertained for Catharine, afterwards an earnest propagator of it.

t Her life was first written and her portrait drawn by Father Chauche- tiere, a missionary there at the time. These were evidently used by Futhei Cholenek in preparing his letter and portrait for the Lettres Edif antes. Chauchetiere's manuscript is still extant, and we give the portrait.

I St. Valier, Etat, &c.

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built, and at this day not the slightest trace of it or of the \illage is to be seen. The cross of Catharine alone serves to remind us that it was the abode of the Catholic pilgrims from New York.

The loss of the church and the subsequent migrations entailed another misfortune. Eager to rear up maidens to imitate the piety, zeal, and fervor of Catharine, the sisterhood of Margaret Bourgeoys had, soon after the death of the holy maiden of the Mohawk, begun a school for girls beside the Portage River ; but when the village moved to the woods, and, unsettled in location, became so in manners, the sisters, unable to labor with any suc- cess, withdrew for a time,* and subsequent events long retarded their -return.

The memory of Catharine was, however, in itself, a constant lesson and model to the young. The devotion to her, checked by some as imprudent, from the feet that the Holy See had not spoken in the matter, contributed in no slight degree to the main- tenance of religion and fervor, not only among the Catholic Iro- quois, but also among the French settlers of Canada. The devo- tion subsists to our day, and at this moment we learn that a movement has been set on foot in order to solicit the necessary permission to introduce the cause of her beatification, and that of the celebrated martyrs of Canada.

II. — THE MISSION OF QuiNifc BAY AND THE MOUNTAIN OF MONTREAL.

The Sulpitians, who were founded by Mr. Olier, the projector of the Society of Montreal, acquired finally the seignory of the island, and, individually and as a body, were deeply interested in the In- dian missions. One of their number had given means to found the mission at Quinte Bay, among the half-tribe of Cayugaa

* Faillon ; Vie de M. Bourgeoya, i. 288.

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where Messrs Fenelon and Trouve began, in 1668, the first Sul- pitian mission among the Iroquois.* Messrs. d'Urfe, de Cice, and others succeeded them, and for ten years stmggled in vain, and they concluded that only by a " reduction" could real good be done. The success of the Laprairie mission confirmed this. Ac- cordingly, when some Iroquois and others, in 1676, asked leave to settle on the Island of Montreal, their offer was accepted, and a place assigned them where the country-house of the Sulpitians now stands. Some of the Indians of Caughnawaga, probably dis- liking their new station, also came over, and the mission of the Mountain was begun.f Colbert, the sagacious minister, approved the plan and the idea of opening schools for the instruction of boys and girls. Accordingly, the Sulpitians closed their Quinte mission, and, resigning it to the Recollects, turned all their atten- tion to the new reduction.}; A village of bark cabins was soon

* De la Poth. iii. 216 ; Eel. 1667-8, ch. v. ; Faillon, Vie de M. Bourgeoys, i. 274 ; Le Clercq, Etubl. de la Foi.

The Abbe" Fenelon here mentioned has been confounded by some late writers with the Archbishop of Catnbray; but the great Fenelon was too young to be a priest at the time when the other was in C'anada.

t See Faillon, Vie de la Sceur Bourgeoys, i. 275, note, where he refutes the errors of Montgolfier and Noiseux, who carry the mission back to a very early date. See Belmont, Histoire du Canada (Quebec Hist. Coll. p. 13), who gives 1677 as its foundation.

J Of this Quinte mission, we have given the brief notices which our au- thorities enable us. Of its subsequent history we know little. The first Recollect missionaries sent were the famous Father Louis Hennepin and Father Luke Buisset. The former visited the cantons in New York, copied Bruyas' dictionary, and returned to Fort Frontenac. His missionary career was, however, short. He soon after set out with La Salle on his voyage of discovery. Father Luke, a man of piety and erudition, twice wintered with the Indians, and labored zealously for their conversion, as Le Clercq assures us (vol. ii. p. 114; Hennepin, New Discov. p. 19-277). He was succeeded, apparently about 1(581, by Father Francis Wasson, of whom Le Clerc-.i speaks in terms of eulogy, and who remained as chaplain of the fort and missionary of the Iroquois for six years (Le Clercq, Relation de Gaspesic, 565). His labors in the latter capacity could not, however, have been great, for when Denonville required an interpreter at the place, he was compelled to substitute Father Milet as chaplain, a step whic , would have been ua

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raised, ranged in regular order, and a chapel built at the expense ol the fervent Francis de Belmont, then a deacon. One hundred and sixty Indians, half of whom were Christians, had now assembled there. The boys' school was begun in 1679, and in the following year was directed by Mr. de Belmont ; while Margaret Bourgeoys, foundress of the Congregation Sisters, sent two of her community to begin a school for girls. Under srtch auspices, the mission could not but prosper. The want of European females to train up the girls had been felt at Sillery and Lorette. The disciples ol Margaret Bourgeoys, in all the fervor of the beginning of their institute, infused a new spirit into the Iroquois women. The sisters, besides their day-school, brought up, by the help of a pen- sion from the king, in their own cabin, a few of the most promis- ing girls, who were, in the sequel, of the greatest assistance to them.

The boys, of whom Mr. de Belmont had twenty-three from the very first, learned to read, write, and chant, as well as various trades ; the girls to read, write, sew, knit ; and the government, which took a deep interest in the mission, sent out women to teach them to spin, knit, and embroider. The girls also adopted the Euro- pean dress completely, but this was apparently only for a short time.

Among the earliest fruits of the care of Sister Bourgeoys was an Onondaga girl, Attontinon, who took in baptism the name of Maiy Barbara. She was one of the earliest converts of the mission ; and after displaying great fervor, was, after repeated requests, received into the community in 1679, making the promises, by which alone the sisters were then bound. So great a change had been made in her Indian character, that she lived for twelve years as a sister, eminent for her regular observance of the rules and all the little virtues of a community-life.*

necessary had Father Wasson spoken the Cayuga dialect. It may, there- fore, be concluded that the mission was virtually abandoned in 1687.

* She died 29th November, 1691, and was buried in the vaults of the pariah ehurch.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 311

When the mission was established, several came from different cantons in New York. The aged Francis Tehoronhiongo and his wife left the Seneca towns, in 1677, with a son and grandchild, to spend his remaining days at the Mountain, having become free by the death of the heads of the cabin in which he had so long been a slave.* At the Mountain he was received with joy ; already known by the annual relations of the Jesuits for his fervent piety, he justified his reputation by his conduct at the mission, by his labors for the poor and afflicted, and, when he finally became blind, by his unremitting prayer and union with God.

His granddaughtei, Gannensagwas (she takes the arm), was placed with the sisters, and, after being baptized by the name of Mary Theresa, soon surpassed all her companions, especially by her modesty. After spending several years in that school of virtue, she asked to become a sister, and having shown a decided disinclina- tion for marriage, was received, and made school-mistress — a post which she filled to the age of twenty-seven. She was ever emi- nent for modesty, silence, and a spirit of mortification, which her prudent directors had constantly to control.f

Such was the state of this mission at the time of the border troubles. It was poor, but fervent ; the zealous missionaries and self-devoting sisters lived, like their flock, in wretched cabins, sub- jected to many hardships, for even the royal aid had not enabled them to obtain what could be called comfort.

* Fnillon, Vie de la Soeur Bourgeoys, gives some details as to a son and grandson of Francis, in which he taxes F. Fremin, Rel. 1669-70, of bad memory and error. Yet his own account makes a boy of certainly less than twelve take his father prisoner in battle, i. 297. Francis lost his wife in 1678 (V«iger, Petit Registre, in 4°, p. 36) ; but Mr. Faillon seems not to have known the fact.

t Faillon, Vie ^ la Soeur Boursjeoys, ubi supra.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE IROQUOIS MISSION (CONTINUED.)

n and his project — English Jesuits — Endeavor to r<»cnll the CaughnawagM — Th« Bn:*sionaries generally retire — The de Lambervilles — The elder left alone in New York — Treachery of Denonville — Danger of the missionary — Magnanimity of the Onondagas — De Lamberville retires — Close of the mission — Retrospect — Denonville'e campaign — The Catholic Iroquois in the field — Death of Garonhiagne — Movements of the missionaries — Capture of Father Milet— Lachine and Schenectady— Tehoron- hiongo — Death of Kryn, the great Mohawk— Attack on the Mountain— The decline of piety in the Indians while at Montreal — Stephen te Ganonakoa and his heroic death — Oureliouaro — Paul — Frances Gonanhatenha, her torture, fidelity, and death — Milet and his captivity — Conversion of his owner— Her baptism— Restoration of Milet — Death of Oureouhare — Conflagration of the mission at the Mountain — Zeal and generosity of de Belmont — Mary Theresa Gannensagwas — Mission at the Sault au Kecollet begun — That at the Mountain closed— Sault St. Louis — English mission to the Mohawks— Bellamont— His falsehoods and bigotry— French missionaries again in New York in spite of penal laws — Bruyas at Onondaga — The last mission and its close — Treatment of Father Macenil — Tegannissoren — Captives at Onondaga — The Nairn family— Mission of the Sault au Secollet transferred to the Lake of the Two Moun- tains.

THE STRUGGLE OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE FOR THE IROQUOIS.

THE English colony of New York had now passed under the sway of Colonel Dongan, one of the most enterprising and active governors that ever controlled the destinies of any of the English provinces. His short but vigorous administration showed that he was not only thoroughly acquainted with the interests of England, but able to carry them out A Catholic, who had served in the French armies, he was biased neither by his religion nor his former services in the duties of the station now devolved upon him.

Claiming for England all the country south of the great lakes, he it was who made them a boundary. His first step was to extend the power of New York over the five Iroquois cantons, and bind those war-like tribes to the English interest His next, to recall the Caughnawagas to their ancient home by promises of a new location

FRENCH MISSIONS. 313

on the plains of Saratoga, where a church should be built for them, and an English Jesuit stationed as their missionary. In this plan he found his efforts thwarted by the missionaries, whoj French by birth and attachment, looked with suspicion on the growing English in- fluence in the cantons as fatal to the missions which had cost so much toil, and who relied little on Dongan's fair words, and subse- quent promise to replace them by English members of their society.

Several circumstances tended to favor his plans ; the murder ol a Seneca chief at Mackinaw, an attack by the Iroquois on a French post in Illinois, the seizure of a flotilla, all prepared for a renewal of the war between the cantons and Canada. Amid these troubles the cantons became no longer safe for the French missionaries ; Seneca breathed only war, and Fremin and Pierron retired, fol- lowed in 1683 by Father Gamier, who thus left the Senecas un- attended. Among the Cayugas, de Carheil was plundered and maltreated by Horchouasse, and, in 1684, driven from the canton by Oreouate and Sarennoa, the two head chiefs of the tribe.* Meanwhile de la Barre, bent on punishing the Senecas, collected a considerable force in Canada, and for the first time called the mission Iroquois into service. The braves of the Mountain and Rapid obeyed the call, although the gallant Garonhiague was so evidently averse to action, that, by his lukewarmness, he fell under suspicion. As de la Barre advanced, Father Milet met him at Hungry Bay, leaving his Oneida mission, which had so long defied his labors. Here, too, the French governor was met by deputies of Oneida, Cayuga, and Onondaga, who proposed terms of media- tion, which Father de Lambervillef urged the governor to accept. This opinion was shared by Garacontie II. and Oureouate, who headed the embassj* With his army wasted by sickness, de la Barre lost courage, patched up a peace, and retired.

At this moment no French missionaries remained but the two

• De Belmont ; Paris Doc. t Doc. Hist. i. 127 ; CoL Doc. iii. 456.

14

r

314 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

de Lambervilles at Onondaga; and Dongan bad now received, what he had earnestly sought, three English Jesuits to continue the former missions.*

Father John de Lamberville, the Teiorkensere of the Indians, was now to be removed ; but, conscious of his duty to those whom he had so long instructed, and whom his predecessors had converted, before Dutch or English had visited the lakes of New York, the elder Lamberville resolved not to forsake his flock. Seeing Don- gan's constant efforts to induce them to drive off and plunder the French traders, and the evil dispositions of the Senecas, who had determined not to fulfil the terms made in their name by the other cantons at Hungry Bay, Father John de Lamberville resolved to visit the new Governor Denonville, and set out for that purpose, leaving his brother James sole missionary in the cantons. He was indeed but a hostage, and Dongan now asked the canton of Onon- daga to surrender him into his hands, while at the same time he invited the missionary to come to Albany as a place of safety ; but the canton and the missionary alike declined, and de Lamberville remained at Onondaga. Baffled in this, Dongan, at the same time, witnessed the failure of his efforts to seduce the Indians of Caugh- nawaga. His professed respect for the missionaries now vanished, and he no longer concealed his hostility to them.f

Yet not Dongan, but Denonville, was to give the last blow to the Iroquois mission, and it soon after closed, as it had begun, in the captivity of a missionary. Although Dongan had failed to induce the Onondagas to surrender Father James, he persuaded them that his brother would appear only as a guide to a French army. War- parties were actually in the field when de Lamberville arrived alone, with presents from the governor, and tvas soon able, by his frank address and insinuating manners, to change the opinion so unfavorably formed. Having thus quieted the storm, he hastened

* New York Doc. Hist. i. 286, iii. 110. t Col. Doc. iii. 463, Ac,

FRENCH MISSIONS. 315

back to Quebec to announce the good disposition of Onondaga, and the hostility of the Senecas. Then, his political career ended, he set out in September for his mission, whence his brother was now to depart. Yet, though to be deprived of that consolation, with life in constant danger from the drunken braves wh6 staggered to his door, an object of jealousy and suspicion to the authorities of New York, fearless, unbroken, and undismayed, the gallant John de Lamberville, the last of the missionaries, alone in the heart of New York, with enemies on every side, clung to his desperate mission.

Will it be credited that a Catholic governor could sport with the life of such a devoted man ? Yet so it was. Father John de Lamberville little knew, as he bent his way to Onondaga, that he was the dupe of an act of treachery as savage as any by which the faithless Iroquois had sullied their name.* In his instructions to de la Barre, the French king had ordered some Iroquois captives to be sent to the galleys in France. Unable to take them in war, De- nonville resolved to employ treachery ; and now, through Father de Lamberville, invited the Iroquois chiefs to a council at Cata- raqui in the following spring, intending to seize them all ; and, at the same time, he sent Father Milet to that fort to act as chaplain, and when necessary, as interpreter. When the deputies arrived in the spring of 1687 they were seized and sent in chains to France. This news came like a thunderclap on the cantons. All rose in war. De Lamberville's life was forfeited; but the sachems of Onondaga knew Teiorhensere too well, and resolved to save his life. Summoning him before them, they exclaimed, after bitter reproaches to the governor : " Every consideration, Teiorhensere, would justify our treating thee as an enemy ; but we cannot bring ourselves to do so. We know thee too well not to be convinced that thy heart had no part in the act of treachery

* Charlev. ii. 385; N. Y. Doc. Hist. i. 216.

316 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

which thou hast done us; and we are not so unjust as to punish thee for a crime of which we believe thee innocent ; which, doubt- less, thou dost detest no less than we ; and of which thou art horri- fied to have been the instrument Yet it will not do for thee to tarry here ; all will not perhaps do thee the same justice as our- selves ; and when our young braves have once chanted the war- song, they will behold in thee only a traitor, who has delivered up our chiefs to a harsh and unworthy slavery. They will hearken only to their fury, from which we could not save thee. Fly then, Teiorhensere, fly !"

Nor did they allow the missionary to depart alone ; guides and guards led him in safety to the nearest French post, and returned to dance the war-dance of vengeance.*

Thus closed in the spring of 1687 the Iroquois mission, founded in 1667, having thus lasted just twenty years, a period illustrious for the labors of the zealous men employed on an ungrateful task, subjected to reproach and calumny even in Canada, and misrepre- sented in many writings of the time. Of the purity of their mo- tives and of their conduct, time and freedom from the passions then awakened enables us to form a calm and unprejudiced judgment.

Their triumph had been great, though not complete. The wor- ship of the demon Aireskoi, or Agreskoue, had been publicly abolished ; the superstitious slavery to dreams had been, in a great measure broken, and the power of the medicine-men overthrown. In this way the ground had been prepared for the superstructure of Christianity ; but this was not all. Hundreds of infants had been baptized ; many adults gained to the truth, as death revealed to them the futility of their idolatry; nay more, many had in health embraced the faith, and illustrated the Church by a life of piety ; children had been trained up in the knowledge of Christ,

* Charlevoix, ii. 846, ascribes this to Garacontie ; but the great chief of that name was dead, and his brother was not possessed of his influence. Col Poc. iii. 453.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 317

had partaken of the sacraments, and, in their riper years, ear- nestly adhered to the glorious doctrines impressed on their infant minds.

At the moment, when the labors of the missionaries seemed destined to gain gradually the great end of the entire conversion of the tribes, the jar of statesmen and human avarice was to drive them from the cantons. But as we have seen, ere this the Catholic part of the Iroquois nation had begun to emigrate. The banks of the St. Lawrence, the old home of their nation, were now adorned by villages of Iroquois, who gloried in the name of Christians, and " men who made the sign of the cross."

Henceforth these sedentary missions will almost entirely claim our attention. Their religious history is calm and tranquil ; the arrival of pagans to be converted, the seasons of fervor or of te- pidity, the death of one noted for sanctity or piety, are the events to be recorded. Their chief historical interest lies in the part which they occupy in the ensuing wars.

In the army which Denonville raised to advance into the Seneca country, the Iroquois of the Reductions and the Hurons of Lorette took their stand beside the Canadians, and the regular soldier of France. Tegaretwan or " the Sun," led fifty braves from the Mountain, Garonhiague as many from Caughnawaga, and fifty more followed Gonhiagwi (the Heaven) from Lorette. The depu- ties of the cantons had, since the meeting at Hungry Bay, con- stantly declared that the praying Indians must return or share the fate of traitors. To return to the dissolute towns of New York, now destitute of missionaries, was to abandon their faith ; neutrality was impossible, and as the English governor threatened severe usage to any who appeared in New York, the Catholic Iroquois took the only course left, a close union with the French.

The army proceeded to Irondequoit Bay and threw up, at the mouth of the des Sables, a fort of that name. This force having been here swelled by the Ottawas, who had come dowt

318 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

with Father Enjalran, their missionary, Denonville advanced through the defiles, two of which he passed in safety, but at the third fell into an ambush of 800 Senecas. The Christian Indians received the first shock, a volley of insults and bullets. Stung by the former, their chiefs, to show that the faith did not make them cowards, as the enemy charged, rushed on, and both fell mortally wounded. " I am dead." exclaimed Garonhiague to the missionary who bent over him ; " God wills it, and I do not regret to die since Christ died for me," and with these words he expired. His name will ever be re- membered in tho annals of the mission. Few missionaries made more converts than he, as they themselves testify : as a catechist, he was unequalled ; as a warrior and sachem, he enjoyed the highest reputation, and a truly Christian death closed his career.*

The Sun was the first Christian of his mission — the prayer chief. For the twelve years that he had spent at the Mountain, he had been so complete a model of regularity, that he was be- lieved to have preserved his baptismal innocence to the grave.f

After ravaging the country, Denonville erected a fort at Nia- gara, and returned. Father de Lamberville, anxious to hover around his old mission-ground, was the first chaplain of this post Sent there in September, 1687, he soon fell sick of the scurvy, with most of those in the fort, and was drawn on the ice in almost a dying state to Cataraqui.J He was succeeded by Milet, who retired when the fort was abandoned, in September, 1688.

The missionaries now used every effort to bring about a peace. De Lamberville negotiated with the Onondagas at Cataraqui, Vaillant hastened to New York, Milet sought to gain his Oneidas. Denonville saw the worth of the missionaries, no less than his own folly, and looked upon their return to the cantons as the only hope of peace ; but this was now impossible. The French had lost ground. The Iroquois at the Rapids and Mountain began to

• Chwlevoix. f St. Valier, Etat de 1'Eglise, Ac. J Charlev. ii. 869.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 319

waver. They surrendered their prisoners. But this did- not save 'the latter from an attack, in which Haratsion, a chief of great worth, was slain.* Fifty at once left the village at the Rapids for the cantons, and the panic was general. Kryn, the great Mo- hawk, was, however, undismayed. His eloquence and skill pre- served the mission ; and such was his power over the Mohawks, that, alone and unarmed, he induced a war-party to return.

In June, 1689, Fort Frontenac was still invested, and Father Milet, whose zeal and charity were known, was lured out to attend A dying Christian brave, and fell into the hands of the Oneidas, who, exulting at their good fortune, inflicted on him the prelimi- nary tortures. The stake at which BO many French prisonera perished would now have been his fate, had not a matron adopted and saved him.f

Soon after this came the terrible massacre of Lachine, where, in a single night, the Iroquois butchered two hundred Canadians, men, women, and children, with frightful cruelty, led off as many for future torture, and gave the country to the flames, to the very gates of Montreal. Panic seized all. Every effort to arrest the destroying band proved unavailing. The small bodies sent, out were cut to pieces. The braves of the Mountain and Caughna- waga were defeated, and the inhabitants of those two villages came to Montreal for safety ;J destined in the midst of that city to lose much of their fervor.

The French resolved to retaliate this massacre on the English — the instigators of the Indian war. A plan was formed for the conquest of New York, and Le Moyne de St. Helene and d'Aille- bout de Mantet led into New York a force of about a hundred Frenchmen, with eighty Indians of the Rapid and Mountain, com- manded by Kryn, the great Mohawk.§

Schenectady was the first point of attack. As they approached,

* De Belmont. t De Belmont ; De ^ Potheri*.

J Charlev. ii. 408. 5 Doc. His. i. 298.

320 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Kryn addressed his men. He urged on all to perform their duty, and forget their weariness in hopes of taking full vengeance of all the wrongs they had received from their countrymen at the insti- gation of the English. The town was taken completely by sur- prise, left undefended in consequence of the civil war then prevail- ing between Leisler and Bayard. The houses were fired, and sixty-three of the inhabitants butchered. Such cruelty we may deplore, but vengeance is ever cruel.

Soon after this campaign of the Reduction braves, the Moun- tain lost the aged Francis Tehoronhiongo, long since blind, but devoted at prayer and devotional exercises ; for he sought to ob- tain the conversion of an erring and impenitent son. At last, worn down by the weight of over a hundred years, he expired on the 21st of April, 1690, having been "by his piety and probity the example of the Christians and the wonder of the unbeliever."*

Not long after, Kryn, the great Mohawk, set out with Lieu- tenant Beauvais on a war-party; but while halting at Salmon River on the 4th of June, 1690, to throw up a stockade, they were suddenly attacked by some Abnakis, who mistook them for English. At the first fire Kryn fell dead, and some others were killed before the mistake was discovered. Thus, after nearly twenty years spent in the mission, the great Mohawk chief, whose talents, piety, and zeal endeared him to the French, fell by a friendly hand. The governor deplored, in his death, the loss of a faithful ally, but the missionaries that of a most faithful coadjutor. In his own canton he had never lost esteem, and at his death there were hopes of his drawing the whole canton to Canada.f

The Christian Indians had now to a great extent assumed the European dress, and several bore military grades in the French service.J One of the most active officers, indeed, was Lieutenant Laplaque, a nephew of Kryn's, who figures in all the accounts of

* Faillon, Vie de la Sceur Bourgeoys, i. 800. f Charlevoix.

I Doc. Col. Hist. iii. 488.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 321

the time, as the heir of his uncle's bravery, but not, unfortunately, of his virtues.

The Mohawks, in their inroads, now carried off some of the Caughnawagas, and in 1691 attacked the Mountain. At the latter mission a long fight took place, but the Christian Indians wasted their five, and, after losing their chief, Tondiharon, saw thirty-five of their women and children dragged off as captives. In spite of the hostility thus shown by the cantons, natural affec- tion frequently made the Christian Iroquois dupes of their dupli- city. Frontenac, who had again come out as governor, bearing the chiefs seized at Cataraqui, had always been prejudiced against them and their missionaries. In his anger at their present conduct, he attacked the Jesuit Fathers for not making them more French, and the charge is renewed by his flatterer, the Recollect Father Le Clercq.* His plan was to bring the Indians and whites in constant contact, in the idea of thus civilizing the former. Ex- perience had taught the Jesuits, and the failure of every such effort has shown conclusively, that this plan is fatal to the Indian. At that very moment the Catholic Iroquois were a proof of this, and their recent residence in Montreal should have been enough to dissipate any idea of benefiting them by contact with the whites.

Accordingly, as soon as Phipps was defeated before Quebec, and the New York army, thinned by sickness, had disbanded, the Jesuits and Sulpitians hastened to collect their flocks again at the old missions. The evil, however, had been done, and from this time their much-admired piety decayed, and on its loss a decay of morals necessarily followed. This was not so total as to efface all their former attachment to religion. Although it was no longer the spirit of the whole body, many cases occur evincing the con- tinuance of their primitive fervor.

* Etablissement de la Foi. See Shea, Discovery of the Mississippi, p. 79. 14*

322 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

At the very period of which we speak, Stephen te Ganonakoa displayed a heroism worthy of a place among the noblest acts of the martyrs. Surprised while hunting, in September, 1690, by a Cayuga party, he, his wife, and a companion were conducted to Onondaga, and there received with fiendish joy. Stephen was forced to run the gauntlet and undergo the usual tortures ; but he avowed himself a Christian, happy to suffer as such, even to the loss of life. In the torture, while they were tearing out his nails and cutting off his fingers, one of his tormentors cried, " Pray !" " Yes," said Stephen, "I will ;" and raising his fettered hands, he blessed himself in a loud voice. A shout of rage burst from the crowd, and rushing on him, they cut off half his remaining fingers. " Pray now !" yelled the infuriated savages, and again he raised his hand to his forehead ; and again rushing on him, they hacked off all his fingers, leaving only the mangled palm. Blows, insults, taunts, all were showered upon him, and again they dared him to pray. As this true lover of the cross again raised his hand, it was entirely cut off, while, as if to efface the hated sign, wherever his hand had touched forehead, shoulders, or breast, was slashed with their knives. He next underwent the torture of fire ; and triumph- ing over all, was at last bound to the stake. " Enjoy," he ex- claimed— " enjoy, my brethren, the savage delight you take in burning me. Spare not ! My sins deserve far more than your cruelty can inflict, and the more you torment me, the richer my crown in heaven shall be." Nor did they spare him. Yet all their cruelty could not wring a sigh from the hero who stood motionless there, with his eyes raised to heaven, and his soul rapt in prayer. At last, feeling the dew of death on his brow, he asked a moment's calm, and chanted aloud his dying prayer — a prayer for his torturers, who in a few moments completed their work.

He had been ever distinguished at the mission for his fervor and regularity, and especially for his careful education of his children

FRENCH MISSIONS. 828

Flis wife escaped, as he had himself predicted, and returned to the mission.

This case alone shows the injustice of Frontenac's suspicions of the Christian Indians ; nor were other evidences wanting. Two belts, sent by Onondaga to the chief of the Mountain and to Louis Aterihata of Catighnawaga, were at once placed in his hands, and the whole design of the canton made known to him.

In August, 1691, the fear of an English attack again assembled a motley force at Laprairie. The Hurons came, led on by Oureou- hare, a Cayuga chief, who had been seized at Cataraqui, sent to the galleys in France, but now so won by Frontenac, who had brought him back, that he had already, on several occasions, sig- nalized himself on the side of the French : the Caughnawagas were led by Paul, their Huron chief, and the Temiscamings by La Rou- tine. The confederate camp was negligently guarded, and as a contemporary document* declares, a scene of riot and debauch, On a sudden an English-Mohawk force burst into the camp, but was repulsed by the French, who lost, however, their commander, St. Cyrque, and a detachment which pursued the enemy too far In the general fight which ensued the New Yorkers were finally beaten, and gave way, leaving 120 dead, and more wounded on the field. The French lost two officers ; but the Caughnawagas had to deplore the loss of their head chief Paul, who fell exhorting his men to corrrbat to the last the enemies of the faith. Other chiefs here signalized themselves so as to leave no doubt of their attachment.! The loss of Paul was a severe blow ; for he was one of the oldest and most fervent, as he was, undoubtedly, the ablest and most eloquent chief at the mission of the Rapid.

The month of November was marked by two new efforts against Caughnawaga ; both failed, but a detachment of the second party fell on a band of Christian hunters near Chambly and killed oj

* Histoire de 1'Eau de Vie. Quebec Hist Coll t 9* la Potli. iiL

524 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

took twelve ; the Caughnawagas were at once in pursuit, and, over- taking the Mohawks on the banks of Lake Champlain, attacked them in their intrenched position, and succeeded in delivering their countrymen, taking or killing thirty of the enemy.

The Caughnawagas next appear in Mantet's expedition against the Mohawks, in which their affection for their own tribe led them to steps which imperilled the safety of all. But they were faithful to the French, and equally so to their religion. Frances Gonanha- tenha was a convert of Fremin's, and the model of Caughnawaga for her piety, modesty, and charity ; the more remarkable, as the pristine spirit of the mission was gone, having declined from the moment when Frontenac refused to aid the missionaries in exclu- ding liquor from the mission. Frances heard one day of the ap- proach of a hostile party towards the spot where her husband was hunting: she instantly started in her canoe, with two others, to go and warn him ; but alas ! arrived only to see him slain, and become, with her companions, prisoners in the hands of the enemy.

Their torments began on the first evening : their nails were torn out, their fingers burnt When they reached Onondaga, the native place of Frances, she was given to her own sister, who, dead to all the ties of blood and the cries of nature, gave her up to die. On the scaffold she loudly professed her faith and her happiness in dying for such a cause. A relative used every entreaty to induce her to renounce the faith, till, furious at her resistance, he tore her crucifix from her neck, and, with his knife, slashed a cross on her uncovered breast. " I thank thee, brother," she exclaimed ; " it was possible to lose the cross of which thou hast despoiled me, but thou hast given me one I can lose only with my life." She then spoke to all present with great force and unction, exhorting them to embrace the faith as the only means of escaping eternal torments infinitely more frightful than those which she was to suffer.

Their hearts, however, were untouched : she was tortured for

FRENCH MISSIONS.. 325

three successive nights ; then tied to the 'stake, and, after being burnt for a considerable time, was scalped and forced to run till she fell beneath a shower of stones, which she received on her knees, for after running for some distance, she knelt to offer her life to God. Such is the account of her heroic death given by the French pris- oners, one of whom did all to alleviate her sufferings during her long martyrdom.*

During all this time Father Milet had been a prisoner at Oneida. Although subjected to torture at his capture, his life was spared on arriving in the canton, and he was assigned to a squaw, who thus left to choose whether she should adopt him instead of a lost mem- ber of the family, or sacrifice him to his manes, chose the former. The missionary was thus comparatively free. A few old Huron Christians still remained at Oneida. These enjoyed his ministry, and the Oneidas were again exhorted to embrace the gospel. The French prisoners, whom he could not save, he attended in death, consoling and encouraging them amid those torments which might yet be his own.f Gradually the Oneidas became attached to the missionary, and, in spite of all the efforts of the English to obtain possession of him, kept Milet at Oneida, and began to treat with the French. Accordingly in June, 1693, Tareha, one of the chiefs, proceeded to Quebec to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. The letter of the missionary secured him a favorable reception, and in September he again visited Quebec with the squaw who had adopted Milet, and who, apparently won by him, now came osten- sibly to see the great governor of the French, but really to remain as a Christian. She was instructed, baptized by the name of Su- sanna, and settled at Caughnawaga, where she died fifteen years after, having constantly edified the mission by her fervor and piety.

* Chnrlevoix, ii. ; Lettres Edifiantes ; Kip, Jesuit Missions.

t There ia still, in the archives at Quebec, the decision and arguments in > ease arising as to the validity of the nuncupative will of a Canadian burned at Oneida, to which Father Milet was a witness.

82 6 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

The embassy of Tareha was followed by one from Cayuga and Seneca, led by Tegannissoren, an Onondaga chief, who now occu- pied the position once held by Garacontie, as a friend of the French. Peace was now prepared, and on the restoration of Father Milet in October, 1694, concluded.* The missionary had been five years a captive, and, on the peace, earnestly sought to return ; but an Eng- lish fort at Onondaga rendered a mission unsafe, and, indeed, the peace seemed only delusive.f

War, in fact, broke out the next year ; but Frontenac, with his French and Indian forces, ravaging Onondaga and Oneida, forced them to a definite treaty. During the war, however, the Catholic Iroquois of the Mountain lost their excellent chief, Totathiron, by an accident similar to that by which the great Kryn had fallen.J Caughnawaga, meanwhile, received an accession of thirty-three Oneidas, who came to settle, and earnestly begged to have Father Milet, to whom they were extremely attached. If this, nowever, elated the Christians, they were soon saddened by the death of Oureouhare, who, on his return from a mission to his native canton of Cayuga, where he disposed all minds to peace, was seized with a pleurisy, which in a few days hurried him to the grave. At first, the bitter enemy and persecutor of de Carheil, then, by a base stratagem, sent to the galleys of France to toil amid the out- casts of European society, Oureouhare had, under the instructions of Father Le Roux,§ learned to love and appreciate the beauties of Christianity ; and, on his return to Cayuga, exerted all his in- fluence in favor of religion and civilization. His fiery zeal relied, perhaps, as it too often happens, on his own prowess, and his ex pression, when listening on his death-bed to the story of the in- dignities offered to the man-god, recalls that of Clovis, and shows a striking resemblance of character between the chieftain of the

* De la Poth. iii. 243.

t MS. Laud-paper office, Canada.

J De la Poth. iii. 255. § Paris Doc., Boston, iv. |4T.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 827

Franks and the sachem of Cayuga.* "0, had I been there," he cried, " they never should have so treated my God !" forgetting for a moment that He who suffered needed no arm to strike in his de- fence ; or, like Peter, nobly desiring to die beside him.

Regretted by the whole colony, and especially by Frontenac, Oureouhare was interred as a captain in the French army.

The mission of the Mountain was soon after desolated by a con- flagration, the baleful effects of intoxication. On the llth of Sep- tember, 1694, a young brave, for some fancied insult, rushed in a drunken phrensy to an enemy's cabin, and fired into it ; the light bark was soon in flames, and a bag of powder gave the devouring element a deadly impulse. In three hours fifty cabins, fifteen French houses, the beautiful and well-adorned church, and the all-important village palisade, were reduced to ashes.f These had all been raised by Mi1, de Belmont, and consisted of wood ; not disheartened, he now began, at his own expense, a stone fort, completed in 1698, after an outlay of over 100,000 livres. As soon as the towers were erected he gave the Congregation Sisters one for a residence, the other for a school, and as such they were occupied till the mission was removed to the Sault au RecolletJ

In the course of the following year the mission was to lose its brightest flower, Sister Mai-y Theresa Gannensagwas (she takes the arm\ the granddaughter of Francis Tehoronhiongo. She was one of Sister Bourgeoys' earliest pupils and Indian associates. After having long edified all by her piety, modesty, talents, industry, and zeal, she was seized with a fatal malady, and died in the odor of sanctity on the 25th of November, 1695. She had asked to be buried privately in her poor habit ; but such was the esteem enter- tained for her, that she was, like her grandfather, interred in tho Hew mission church ; and, when that was demolished, the remains

* Se« N. Y. Hist. Coll. II. ii. 169.

t Histoire de 1'Eau de Vie en Canada, p. 13 ; Vie de la Scour Bo'irgeoys, .. 804 ; De la Potherie. iii. 234. \ Id. 805.

328 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

of both were transferred to one of the towers of the fort, now used as a chapel.*

The next year the Sulpitians resolved to divide the mission : and sixty, who were given to intoxication, were sent off to the Sault au Recollet, where the new mission of Lorette was begun by Mr. Maurice Quere de Treguron ; three years later another colony was sent, leaving only 120 at the Mountain. The new mission had now improved so muc'h in tone and numbers, that in 1701 the Sisters of the Congregation left the Mountain and took up their residence in a new house which they had erected in the fort at the Sault au Recollet, on the banks of the Desprairies River.f Here, as in the old mission, two sisters taught the Indian girls to work and read, keeping six as boarders with themselves, who gradually acquired European habits, and, as they grew up, tended much to improve their countrymen.J

The mission of the Mountain was finally abandoned in 1704, and

* The following inscriptions are still to be seen there :

Ici reposent les jestes raortels

de FRANCOIS THORONHIONQO,

Huron, Baptise par le Reverdnd

PERK BBEBEUF.

D fut, par sa piete et par sa probite, Texemple des Chretiens et 1'admiration des infideles : il mourut, age1 d'environ 100 ans, le 21 avril, 1690.

Ici reposent les restes mortels

de MARIE-THERESA GANNEN3AGOUAS,

de la

CONGREGATION DE NOTRE DAME.

Apres avoir exerce pendant treize ans, 1'office de maftresse d'ecole a la Montagne, elle mourut en reputation de grande

vertu, agee de 28 ans, le 25 Novembre, 1695.

Her life was written by de Belmont in his " Eloges de quelqucs personnel mortes en odeur de suiutete a Montreal en Canada," and is still preserve!.

* Vie de la Sceur Bourgeoys, ii. 169. J Id.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 329

the new one took the title of the Annunciation, and continued, a» we shall see, for some years beside the Rapid, where Viel perished.*

Of the Jesuit mission of Sault St. Louis we have, during this period, no account ; it had finally settled in its present locality, and a grant of the seigniory had been obtained in the name of the In- dians who still possess it.

The border-war ended with the peace of Ryswick, in 1697, and the French then hoped, as the English dreaded, to see the restora- tion of the Jesuit missions. The seed of opposition sown by Don- gan had now grown to ripeness, and a new governor, an Irish peer, of deep-rooted fanaticism, ruled the destinies of New York. One of his first acts was to warn the Indians against the French priests. Mindful of Dongan's promise of English Black-gowns, the deputies asked Bellamont to fulfil it. Accordingly, Dellius, the Dutch pastor at Albany, was appointed missionary to the Mohawks, although he never took up his residence among them, and limited his ministry to occasional visits, when he preached by an interpre- ter, and to the administration of baptism to such children as were brought to him in Albany. Such a man hardly seemed to the In- dians a successor of Fremin, Bruyas, and Boniface, whose cabins had so long been seen in their villages. Disappointed in their ap- plication to New York, they naturally turned to Canada for reli- gious teachers. Bellamont was provoked, and resolved to exclude the Jesuits, uublushingly declaring " that the Five Nations had earnestly implored him to drive out the Jesuits who oppressed them," although he knew that since 1685 there had been no mis- sionary in the cantons, except Father Milet, and he noi oppressor, but oppressed, a prisoner and a slave.

To cany out his plan, he sent to the Assembly the draft of a bill against Jesuits and priests. It was not relished : several of the missionaries had, at various times, visited the colony ; they were known and esteemed by the leading men, who had thus been

* Viger, MS.

330 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

enabled to see Catholicity in its workings, which the infatuated governor had not The Council negatived the bill : Bellamont voting as a member made a tie, and then voting again as governor carried it ; and, having obtained its passage in the house, made it the law of the land. Assuming the Iroquois to be subjects of the English monarch, and with still greater disregard of truth, averring that " Jesuit priests and popish missionaries had lately come into, and, for some time, had had their residence in remote parts of the province, to excite hostility against the English government," the bill enacts that every priest in the colony, " after the 1st of Novem- ber, 1700, be deemed an incendiary, disturber of the public peace, and enemy of the Christian religion," and condemned him to per- petual imprisonment ; and, in case of escape, to death, if retaken.

The generous burghers and their clergy, who had so often shown hospitality to the French missionaries, were by the same act threat- ened with a heavy fine and the pillory, should they ever again harbor a priest beneath their roofs.

Ignorance and absurdity could go no further : the fiery zealot was satisfied with his act ; the New Yorkers disregarded it, and the very next year the Canadian Iberville landed a Jesuit at New York to proceed to Canada.*

Bellamont had sought to prevent the Iroquois from making any separate peace with the French ; but, on Frontenac's death, the cantons sent deputies to the St. Lawrence to condole with the colony. This was not, however, their only care ; they asked that Father Bray as should be sent among them, and the elder de Lamberville be recalled from France to resume his old mission. The latter was deferred ; but, on the coming of a new embassy, Father Bruyas, with Joncaire and Maricourt, active officers and •wlopted Iroquois, set out for Onondaga. Here they were received by Tegannissoren with much solemnity, and all terms having been

* O'Callaghan.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 331

arranged, peace was signed at Montreal on the 8th of September,

1700, by deputies of all the nations, being the first written treaty of the French and Indians.

To carry out its provisions, Bruyas visited Onondaga again in

1701, and having brought back the French prisoners there, a new treaty was signed at Montreal by the French, Iroquois, Abnakis, Hurons, Ottawas, Illinois, and Algonquins. No mention was made of the missions in this document; but a deputation sent at the request of Tegannissoren, in 1702, invited the return of the missionaries to their former posts. "Fathers were accordingly sent everywhere," says Charlevoix, " and a contemporary list num- bers as Iroquois missionaries Father James de Lamberville, Julian Gamier, and le Vaillant, who renewed their labors among the Onondagas and Senecas."* These missions the cantons bound themselves to maintain ; and though a new war between England and France soon broke out, the missionaries won the cantons, and Schuyler the Caughnawagas, to neutrality, so that New York and Canada escaped all the horrors of Indian war.

The missions accordingly continued, but we have no tidings of them. Father James d'Heu and Father Peter de Mareuil joined the rest, and they labored on till 1708, when the English finally induced all but the Senecas to take up arms. The missionaries retired to Canada.f Mareuil, recalled by his Superiors, but unable to escape, accepted Schuyler's kindly invitation, and retired to Albany. There, in spite of the cruel penal law, he was welcomed as a friend, and, by a resolution of the Assembly, maintained at the public expense.J

Mareuil was the last Jesuit missionary to the cantons. With him ended the long struggle on that soil, begun sixty-seven years before by Jogues in his blood. Three times expelled, they had re-

* Catal. Prov. Francise Soc. Jea. 1703. f Paris Doc.

t Journal N. Y. Assembly. He subsequently returned to France, and died <*t Paris in 1742. Charlevoix, iv. 48.

332 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

aimed again and again ; but now unable to continue the struggle, withdrew, to continue at their Reduction the labors they would fain have devoted to the still unconverted foresters of New York.

From time to time Iroquois would join the sedentary missions, some of high rank. Tegannissoren, whose eloquence charmed alike French, English, and Indian, the upright and clear-headed chief, one of the noblest orators that the country had ever pro- duced, came at last to embrace the faith at Caughnawaga. Like Garacontie, he had ever been friendly to the French, for he easily saw that the power of religion was greater in Canada than in New York. Warned once against the Jesuits, he retorted — " We know that the Black-gown favors his nation ; but it is not in our power to change our affection for our brethren. We wish that you would bury all misunderstandings conceived on his account, and we likewise wish that you would give less credit to rum- carriers." English writers, who witnessed his oratory, compared him to Cicero, and the king of France had his portrait hung up in the galleries of Versailles. Such were the men whom Chris- tianity won to its bosom.*

The Iroquois of Caughnawaga and the Mountain were not neu- tral to New England. They were employed in many incursions, and frequently brought in prisoners from the frontier towns, who were adopted by the tribe. Even on the declaration of peace, some of these declined to return, and their descendants are still members of the tribe. Among the most known are the Tarbells,f Eunice Williams^ Elizabeth Nairn, and Ignatius Raizenne.§ The two latter subsequently married, and their family has ever been distinguished by piety. The descendants of this Puritan family, Indians by adoption, have given several clergymen and religious

* Golden ; Charlevoix.

t Taken at Groton, in Qneen Anne's war.

J Taken at Deerfield, in 1703 ; Hutchinson, ii. 180.

I Faillon, Vie de la M. Bourg^oys.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 333

to Canada, and almost in their own day their daughter became Superior of the Sisters of the Congregation.

Elizabeth, at the time of her capture in 1702, was only two years old, Ignatius ten. Both were adopted by the Indians, and brought up among them, carefully instructed by the missionaries and the sisters, and after refusing to return to Deerfield, on the close of the war, were liberated at the request of the missionaries, who gave them a tract of land at the lake, on which the family still resides.*

When the mission had been for about twenty years at the Sault au Recollet, the want of hunting-ground, which drew the Indians to the main land, and the great facility of intercourse with Montreal, induced a new removal. The Lake of the Two Moun- tains seemed suited to their wants. The location was approved by the government, which viewed the Indian villages as military posts. This mission was then composed of about nine hundred souls, and could furnish one hundred and fifty braves.

The site of the new mission is a point on the St. Lawrence, just at the extremity of the island of Montreal, where the river widens into a kind of lake. Two slight eminences, which soon obtained the name of mountains, give it its name. Near these the mission was begun in 1720. For some time all lived in bark cabins, as the precise spot for the fort was not fixed ; but it was soon found to be so well suited to their wants, that a Nipissing and Algon- quin mission, begun on the Isle aux Tourtes by the Sulpitian Rene Charles de Breslay, was transferred to the same spotf

A grant of the land was made to the Sulpitians in 1718 by the king of France, on condition of their building a church and fort, but delays intervened, which for some time prevented its execu- tion. However, on the bishop's visit in 1730, they began the work, and two years after erected a spacious church and fort, with

* Vie de la Soeur Bourgeoys, ii. 442.

t Faillon, ii. 266 ; Petit Kegistre de M. Viger, MS.

334 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

ft house for the sisters about a mile from the old mission. Thesg still remain ; and though the walls of the fort have in part fallen, the church and mission-house still stand between the two villages, which fora? the two-fold flock of the Sulpitian missionaries.*

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE IROQUOIS MISSION (CONCLUDED.)

The interval of peace— Difficulties — Emigration — Fervor of the adopted captives — Picquet at the Lake of the Two Mountains — His labors — The old French war — Picquet projects a new Reduction — The Presentation— It is attacked — Its restoration— Visit of the Bishop — Banner — Picquet in the cantons — Goes to France and returns — The second French war— St. Regis founded — Its origin — Effect of the loss of Canada on the missions— Margon de Terlaye »ml the mission at the lake — The American Revolu- tion— Close of the Presentation mission — McDonnell at St. Regis — New churches erected— Mr. Joseph Marcoux — Charles X. and Pope Leo XII. benefactors of the mission— Cross of Catharine Tehgahkwita— Caughnawaga — St. Regis — The Lake of the Two Mountains — Retrospect

THE peace of Utrecht closed the cantons to the Catholic mis- sionaries, and during the ensuing years, while the war-song and the war-path were forgotten, the sedentary missions acquired a more settled condition, and the Catholic Iroquois, undistracted by the exciting scenes of border strife, devoted themselves to various branches of industry. Their great danger was indolence and its almost necessary attendant, intoxication and immorality. Unfor- tunately, a small body of soldiers, stationed in time of war at each mission, was kept up after the peace, and corrupted the Indians, in spite of all the efforts of the missionaries. In vain they de- nounced the traffic in liquor ; in vain they strove to screen the

* Faillon, Vie de M. Bourgeoys, ii. 836.

TRENCH MISSIONS. 885

Iroijuois maidens from the seductions of the dissolute soldiery. On more than one occasion the commandant succeeded in having the too faithful missionaries displaced, and then the unguided In- dians plunged into every excess presented to them.*

Many of the Indians began to forsake the villages, and a new Caughnawaga village grew up on the distant banks of the Mus- kingum, amid the Wyandots, Delawares, and Miamis,f where many, like Logan's father, relapsed into a kind of paganism.

Yet the missions had gleams of fervor, and religion again gained the ascendancy over the hearts of the tribe. Not only the sons of the forests, but the children of the Puritans of New England clung with unwavering attachment to the missionaries and the Catholic faith. Eunice Williams, married to the chieftain Ambrose,^ visited her native Deerfield ; but though daughter of the minister of the place, no entreaty could induce her or Mary Harris to forsake their Indian ways or the faith which they had embraced. So, too, the Tarbells would ramble to Groton, but though viewed with jealousy at Caughnawaga, refused to return to their kindred.§

Among the missionaries who directed these Reductions, several deserve mention, but especially the Sulpitians de Belmont, who closed his laborious career on the 22d of May, 1*732,1 and Francis Picquet, who, stationed at the Lake of the Two Mountains in 1740, completed the fort of which we have spoken, surrounded

* Lalande in his memoir of Picquet.

t Smith's Journal, in Drake's Indian Captivities, 184.

J Id. 129.

§ Hanson, Lost Prince, 181 ; Hutchinson, Hist. Massac. ii.

| Francis Vachon de Belmont, whose name is indissolubly connected with this Sulpitian mission, renounced the world and its honors to devote his for- tune and toil to the cause of the Indian. He was only in deacon's orders when he arrived, and began a school at the Mountain. After a long mis- sionary career, he became Superior of the Seminary of Montreal in 1699, and continued so till his death, in 1732. He wrote a work entitled " Elogc de qnclques personnes mortes en odeur de saintete a Montreal en Canada,'* which is still in manuscript; and notes entitled " Histoira du Canada," pub- lished in the Collections of the Quebec Historical Society.

836 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

i

the villages by palisades, and on the sandy height erected th« calvary which is even now a pilgrimage, worthy of mention for its stone oratories, which mark the stations, and the chapel on the summit, which terminates this Way of the Cross.* He did not, however, devote himself merely to the material improvement of the place ; he labored no less zealously to advance his flock in the way of Christian virtue and perfection.

The period of peace was, however, drawing to a close. In 1 744 war was again declared between France and England — the "old French war" of our colonial writers. Again the "villages re- sounded with the noise of war. The young braves were all eager- ness to show their prowess, and parties took the field often at tended by the missionary as chaplain.f Thus they went as Chris- tian warriors ; and an English captive has recorded his surprise to find the savage foe, into whose hands he fell, kneeling, when the fight was over, to thank God for victory — a moment when, in an English camp, oaths and blasphemy would alone have been heard.|

Picquet himself attended the warriors of his flock, who served under Marin, in his attack on Fort Edward in 1745, and appa- rently on other occasions, down to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. During the war he had come more in contact with the Indians of the cantons, and found them desirous of embracing Christianity. A mission in New York at any of the Indian towns was impracticable. He therefore conceived the idea of founding a new Iroquois Reduction still further up towards Lake Ontario, to which the well-affected in the cantons might easily be drawn.

His design having been approved by the government, he set out in May, 1748, with de la Jonquiere, to select a site, and finally decided on a spot at the mouth of the Soegatzy or Oswegatchie,

* Eastburn's Narrative, 268 ; Lalande's Memoir.

t Lalande, Memoire sur 1'Abbe Picquet.

t Eastburn's Narrative, in Drake's Indian Captivity.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 337

where Ogdensburg now stands. In this beautiful spot, with fertile fields, valuable woods, and a deep and spacious harbor before it, he soon, with his French and Indians, threw up a storehouse and a picket-fort, to which he gave the name of Fort Presentation — the festival of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin being the patronal feast of St. Sulpice. Here he hoped soon to gather numerous converts from the cantons; but his buildings were scarcely completed, when he was attacked in October, 1749, by a Mohawk war-party, who burnt all to the ground except his house. Picquet had already expended 30,000 livres ; but, unbroken by misfortune, he began all anew, and soon repaired the loss. Once established, the progress of the mission was rapid. In 1749, it numbered only six families, the next year it had eighty-seven, and in the next three hundred and ninety-six, comprising in all three thousand souls, drawn chiefly from Onondaga and Cayuga.*

In Canada his plan had at first drawn on him a shower of ridi- cule ; but on his success, the heads of the government visited a post which might be so useful in the now lowering war. The Bishop of Quebec came in May, 1752, and after spending several days in instructing the neophytes, baptized one hundred and twenty, and confirmed many.f So great was the interest then taken in the Presentation mission, that the ladies of Montreal pre- sented to it a splendid banner, which is still preserved at the Lake of the Two Mountains, bearing the totems of the three great Iro- quois families and their council-fires, with the monogram of Christ, linked together according to their own peculiar devices.

His flock being now so considerable, Picquet drew up a plan of government, vesting the power in twelve chiefs, who formed the council, and who all took the oath of allegiance to France. By the exertions of the missionary, the place was well supplied with horned cattle, and every means of procuring a subsistence.

* Lettres Edif. ; Doc. Hist. i. 559. t Banner at the Lake of the Two Mountains. 15

338

With this success to cheer him, he visited the cantons in 1751 and was everywhere well received. The better portion, who de* spaired of English missionaries, inclined to embrace Catholicity and the French cause. The Senecas especially showed a most earnest desire for the faith, and the aged chief Petit Sault, a real apostle, followed the Abbe Picquet with his own family and many others. A general move towards the St. Lawrence would indeed have taken place, could France have sent to those wilds the de- voted missionaries of the preceding century ; but Picquet, full of zeal and ability, was thwarted and alone, and the Society of Jesus now struggling for existence, had no means of renewing her former efforts.

Yet the influence of one man, aided by the reminiscences of the old Black-gowns, nearly drew the clans of the complete cabin from the English alliance. Sir William Johnson alone, by his influence with the Mohawk, was able to arrest this, but he could not destroy the new mission. At a general meeting of the Six Nations at Onondaga, in 1753, he called on them to extinguish the fire at Oswegatchie — that is, to break up the mission. But while, Indian- like, they seemed to consent, they replied, by their chief Redhead — " We do not conceive that we did much amiss in going thither, when we observe that you white people pray ; and we have no nearer place to learn to pray and have our children baptized than that. However, as you insist, w.e will not go that way."*

Picquet was the last missionary who visited the cantons from Canada. Two schemes, destined to triumph, annihilated all hopes of extending the work begun at Caughnawaga, Aquasasne, Caiia- sadaga, and Soegatzy. England prepared for a final effort to re- duce Canada, and the courts of continental Europe on their side, blind instruments of a rising spirit hostile alike to religion and monarchy, combined to crush the Society of Jesus.

* Doc. Hist. ii. 688.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 339

Yet Picquet did not falter. Repairing to France in 1753, with tl ree of his flock, he left M. La Garde in charge of his mission, and in the following April sailed for Canada, with two clergymen to aid him.

The war began in 1754; and though at first favorable to France, resulted at last in the loss of Canada. In every campaign the Catholic Iroquois, although their towns were cut down in 1755 almost to one-half by the small-pox,* were in the field side by side with the Canadian and French soldiers, generally at- ended, as before, by their missionaries as chaplains. They figure, indeed, in every engagement from Braddock's defeat, where they played a conspicuous part, down to the close of the war, and were never charged with the barbarities which disgraced the western Indians.]-

With their bark canoes, they captured an English flotilla on Lake George ; and when an English officer offered a reward for the head of the Abbe Picquet, the Indians of the Presentation sent out a war-party, which secretly made its way to the opposite camp, and seizing the officer, led him in triumph to their mission- ary, on whose nod his life depended.^

During this last contest of the rival powers, the Jesuits resolved to divide the Caughnawaga mission, and remove some of their flock further from the dangers of Montreal. Karekowa, one of the Tarbells, had long been viewed with envy and jealousy by some of the native Caughnawagas. After many annoyances, he and his brother, with their families, resolved to remove, and Ijeaded the party sent from the mission of the Rapids. Choosing Aquasasne - -" the place where the partridge drums" — a plain east of a slight

* Faillon, Vie dc M. d'Youvillc, 141. This author, generally correct, here omit* the Iroquois at the Lake, and seems to make the Presentation Ui Algonquin and Nipissing mission !

t Lalande, Memoire ; Smith's and Eastburn's Narratives, iu Drake.

J L&l&nde.

340 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

hill, at one of the few spots where the rapid-vexed river glides calmly by — they began the mission of St. Francis Regis, and threw up a log-cabin for the Jesuit Father, Mark Anthony Gordon, who accompanied them, bearing as a precious treasure part of the relics of Catharine Tehgahkwita.*

On the fall of Quebec, Mr. Picquet, who had become very ob- noxious to the English, left the country — the last entry .on his Register bearing date May 13, 1760, one month before the Eng- Ksh took possession of the fort.f He had for twelve years directed the mission which he had created, never having left it except dur- ing his visit to France on its behalf. His labors rank him among the greatest of our Indian missionaries, and the English so esteem- ing him, gave him the name of " the great Jesuit of the West."£ On his departure, the mission was confided to Mr. Peter Paul F. de la Garde, also of St. Sulpice ; but the Indians were soon har- assed, and in the subsequent war, joining the English, removed to Canada.

Just before the peace, Father Gordon, at St. Regis, beheld his log chapel and its contents destroyed by fire, but, in spite of the

* Hough's Hist. St. Lawrence Co. ; Mr. Marcoux.

t Hough's St. Lawrence, 97 ; Viger, MS.

J Lettres Edif. See Vie de Mme. d'Youville, p. 213.

Mr. Francis Picquet was born at Bourg, in Bresse, on the 6th of Decem- ber, 1708. Entering the ecclesiastical state, he soon showed great talents for the pulpit, and, completing his divinity course at St. Sulpice, Paris, joined the congregation. Sent to Canada in 1733, his career, after a few years spent at Montreal, was that of an Iroquois missionary. The French authorities, both civil and ecclesiastical, entertained the highest respect for him. His zeal made him, in the eyes of the English, a Jesuit; Montcalm called him the Patriarch of the Six Nations, and the cantons bestowed on him, as a gift, the lands around Lake Ganeutaa. After his return to France, he was employed in active duties, esteemed alike by the Gallican clergy and the Pope. He died at Verjon on the 15th of July, 1781. His portrait is still preserved at the Lake of the Two Mountains. A copy of it, made by Duncan, enriches the Canadian Album of the Hon. Jacques Viger, of Mont- real, who kindly permitted me to have it engraved for this work. It will appear ia a subsequent edition, as an accident has prevented its completion

FRENCH MISSIONS. 34l

difficulties of the time, began a new wooden church, which lie soon completed, and continued to direct the mission till his death, in 1777 *

All the missions, by the peace of 1763, lost the annuities granted by the French court, and were thrown upon their own resources. That of the Lake owed its preservation mainly to the generosity of the Sulpitian, Margon de Terlaye, who gave 10,000 livres to the sisters, and maintained them till his congregation undertook their support. Their labors were as fruitful as ever. Mary Gaguiracs, a Choctaw, carried her virtues and zeal to hero- ism. Her cabin was the home of the new-comer, and her example and exhortation won many. Even when dying, she dragged her- self to the bed-side of a neophyte, to animate his piety by her burning words.f

The zeal and charity of the Indians at these missions had not declined. When the conflagration of 1765 laid Montreal in ruins, and left • hundreds destitute, the Indians of Caughnawaga and Canasadaga came to their relief, selling their silver ornaments, their wampum, blankets, rich-hilted knives, and other articles, to raise money for the relief of the .poor.J

When the American revolution broke out, the -Catholic Iroquois refused to take up arms against the colonists, as many of their chiefs and leading men were natives or descendants of natives of the English provinces. It is not strange, then, that they inclined to neutrality, and though urged and even threatened by Sir Guy Carleton, the English governor, adhered as a body to their pur- pose, though some actually joined the American army, among them Atiatonharonkwen, or Louis Cook, who rose to the rank of captain ; while Thomas Williams, or Tehorakwaneken, who had fought by his side at Braddock's defeat, now battled for England.

* Viger, Liste corrigee. The registers begin in 1782. t Vie de la Soeur Bourgeoys, ii. 396, 433. J Faillon, Vie de Mme. d'Youville, p. 222.

342 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

The missionaries took no part in the war, yet experienced harsh treatment from the Americans during their invasion of Canada.*

Since the close of the American war, few incidents mark the history of these quiet missions. That of the Presentation, after being demoralized by a British garrison stationed there, was settled by the English government, first at Johnstown, then at Indian Point, Lisbon, on American ground. Here they had a little vil- lage of twenty-four families, which was finally dispersed in 1806 and 1807, and the people retired to Onondaga and St. Regis.f Those of Caughnawaga, Canasadaga, and St. Regis still subsist, and have of late years greatly improved, having shared in the general religious progress of Canada, whose Church, so suddenly severed from France, and harassed by England, maintained for some years a doubtful struggle.

St. Regis, for some time after its founder's death, was deprived of a resident missionary, and depended on visits from neighboring priests; but in December, 1785, when peace once more' left all in quiet on the St. Lawrence, the Rev. Roderic McDonnell, a zealous Scotch priest, took up his residence among me Indians of Aqua- sasne, and in 1791 erected the present massive stone church. He continued his labors, undaunted by ill-health, down to the period of his death, in 1806.

His almost immediate successor was the late John Baptist Roupe,J during whose pastorship war broke out between the United States and England, and as his flock lay on both sides of the line, he had the affliction of beholding them arrayed in two hostile parties. As the war advanced, his Indians were reduced to starvation, and subsisted only on the rations doled out to them by the American

* Letters of an American Farmer; American Archives, ii. 301, 244, 1002, Iu48; Journ. Prov. Cong. 169.

t Hough's St. Lawrence Co. 108.

J He was afterwards at the Lake of the Two Mountains, and died at Montreal in September, 1854, at the age of 78.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 343

Commissariat. In these Mr. Roupe shared, but was condemned in Canada, and soon after made prisoner by the Americans, who at- tacked the village, and seized him in his house.

The other missions being less exposed, enjoyed greater csJm. Caughnawaga, under Mr. Joseph Marcoux, advanced rapidly, and as the old church showed signs of decay, he prepared to rebuild it, and a new church was actually erected in 1845.

These missions have even attracted attention abroad. In 1826, Joseph Torakaron, one of the Tarbells, visited Europe, and was presented to Charles X., king of France, and to his Holiness Pope Leo XII., who then occupied the See of Peter. Both received most kindly the descendant of the Puritans, the descendant, too, of the Iroquois Catholics, who had never swerved in their fidelity to their religion, nor indeed in their fidelity to France, so long as France was true to herself.

The king bestowed on the chief three paintings for the churches, — one of St. Louis, now at Caughnawaga, and the others of St. Francis Xavier and St. Francis Regis, still at St. Regis. His Holiness added a collection of books, a silver service for the altar, and a jewelled rosary. With these valuable presents the chief re- turned to America ; but at New York was robbed by his com- panion and interpreter of all but the money of which he was the bearer, and indeed of every thing but the paintings and rosary.*

Besides these important epochs for the mission, the year 1843 witnessed a ceremony of great consolation to the Catholic Iroquois. It was the erection of a new cross over the tomb of Catharine Tehgahkwita. The spot had always been marked by the sign of redemption, and is well located even by deeds of property, which, such was the devotion to her, sometimes made a mass in her honor a part of the consideration.! At the period we mention, the old cross was mouldering, and a new one, twenty-five foet high, waa

* Hough's St. Lawrence Co. 166. f Papers in the Notarial of Laprairie.

344 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

prepared, in which were enchased some relics of the hcly virgin of Caughnawaga. On Sunday, the 23d of July, 1 843, the Caugh nawagas, headed by their missionary and chiefs, repaired to the little river Portage, near which their former church and village had stood, on a bluff between that little stream and the lordly St. Lawrence. The space on the left was soon filled by whites, drawn thither by interest or curiosity, alike of French and English origin. The banner of Laprairie and the pennons of the Sault floated above the crowd on either side of the highly adorned cross, at the foot of which was a painting of the Christian heroine. At the signal given by the discharge of artillery on the right and left, the clergy in procession advanced into the centre, chanting the "Vexilla Regjis." At another discharge, Father Felix Martin, one of the first Jesuits to whom it was given to return to the land enriched by the sweat and blood of his society, rose to address the assem- bled throng in French. Then, after a hymn in Iroquois, the Rev. Joseph Marcoux, the pastor of the tribe, pronounced a discourse in the guttural language of his flock, and gave place to the Rev. Hyacinth Hudon, Vicar-General of Montreal, who delivered a third address in English, and then performed the ceremony of blessing the cross. That sign of faith was then slowly raised, amid the chants of the Church, the thunder of the cannon, and the mingled shouts of men of many climes and races, who, differ- ing in language, bowed to the symbol of a common faith.

Such is the history of the Iroquois mission, on which we have Iwelt longer because its annals have reached us in a more com- plete form,, and because of all the early missions it presents at this day the most numerous and thriving communities.

Sault St. Louis, or Caughnawaga, formerly a seigniory in the hands of the Jesuits, now contains about twelve hundred souls, many of them half- breeds, some pure whites, taken captive long years ago. They support themselves by tillage, raising chiefly maize, by the manufacture of baskets, mats, sleds, moccasins, and

FRENCH MISSIONS. 345

other Indian articles, and by the pilotage of vessels, and especially of rafts over the rapids. Their village is irregular, unpaved, and not, indeed, very tidy ; though some of the houses are well built and comfortable. They have a fine church, built a few years age on the site of a former one ; the old parsonage still remains, with the chamber in which Charlevoix and Lafitau wrote, and many books and manuscripts of Bruyas and his companions. They have also a capacious school-house, and possess, indeed, every advantage enjoyed by the whites. The present pastor, the Rev. Joseph Mar- coux, has been for forty years attached to the Iroquois missions, and, since 1819, stationed at Sault St. Louis. This long intercourse with the tribe has rendered him the most thorough master of their language that ever lived ; and Tharonhiakanere, mindful of his suc- cessors, has composed a full and clear grammar of the language, and two dictionaries — one in French, with Iroquois interpretations ; the other giving the French of the Iroquois words, as well as cate- chisms and prayer-books.* These noble works rank him with Chaumonot, Bruyas, de Carheil, and Zeisberger, who had previously composed similar, but less complete works on the same language or its dialects. His missionary labors, at first chequered with much opposition and difficulty, have succeeded to his wishes, and the people of his parish are now sober, moral, and not ungrateful for his care.

* Kaiatonsera Jonterennaientakwa — Tiohtiaki (Montreal) 1852 — Jontcri- •warenstakwa ne kariwiioston teieasontha, id. 1844. From these we take the Lord's Prayer in the present dialect of the Caughnawagas:

" Takwaienha ne karonhiako tesiteron, aiesasennaien, aiesnwenniiostake, aiesawennarakwake nonwentsiake tsiniiot ne karonhiake tiesawennarakwa. Takwanont ne kenwcnte iakionnhekon niahtewenniserake ; sasanikonrhena nothenon ionkinikonhraksaton nonkwe ; tosa aionkwasenni nekariwaneren, akwekon eren sawit ne iotaksens ethonaiawen."

To show the changes it has undergone we add two lines of the Litany oj Loretto from a very old manuscript, and the corresponding ones in Marco ux

MS. Di8 r « seiena garonhiage etisiteron Atagwentenr senwen.

MAEOOUX — Niio iesaniha karonhiake tesiteron Takwentenr.

MS. Marie saialotogeton tagtfatrendajenhab.

MAKCOUX — bari saiatatokenti takbaterennaienhas.

15*

846 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Si. Regis, or Aquasasne, is intersected by the New York boun dary-line, so that part of the village is American and part British — an unfortunate division, which has led to much dissension. Of this some of the Protestant sects soon took advantage. Lazarus, or, as he is now called, Eleazar Williams, a grandson of Eunice, and son of Thomas Williams, after having been educated in New England, returned, as a member of the American Board of Missions, to Caugh nawaga in 1812, and in 1815 attempted to establish at St. Regis a school and chapel as an Episcopal clergyman ; but failing on both occasions, became a missionary among the Oneidas on Green Bay. Of late he claims to be Louis XVII., king of France, and is again in the neighborhood of St. Regis. In 184Y, the Methodists also began a mission, and built a fine church and parsonage in the neighborhood, but their success is inconsiderable ; the great ma- jority still adhere to the faith preached to their fathers by Jogues and his successors. The whole village numbers over eleven hun- dred souls, governed on the English side by chiefs, on the American by trustees. The present missionary is the Rev. Francis Marcoux, who has been stationed there since 1832.*

Canasadaga, or the Lake of the Two Mountains, is, as we have seen, a double mission. From the point where the church stands two villages run off on different sides along the shore — the Iroquois on the left, the Algonquin on the right — as distinct in language and manners as their ancestors were in the days of Cartier or Cham- plain. Behind them rise the two sandy heights which give name to the mission ; one of them crowned by a calvary, to which you approach by a number of stone chapels, often visited by pious pil- grims. The number of Iroquois at this mission is about 250, and

* This gentleman has been made the object of most scurrilous attacks by the late Mr. Hanson in his " Lost Prince," and it is due to him to state that the accusations are founded simply in prejudice. No less than thirty persona at Caughnawaga recollect Williams from childhood ; and as Mr. Lorimier, the Indian Agent, avers, no influence of Mr. Marcoux was needed to make Mary Ann say what she has ever said, except when under the dictation of Eleazar.

TRENCH MISSIONS. 347

their present pastor is Mr. Nicholas Dufresne. Besides this there are many Catholic Iroquois in the cantons, at Gre$n Bay, and in various western tribes.

The Catholic Iroquois, therefore, number about 3000 ; the rest of the nation are mainly pagans, with some few Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Methodists. Some Oneidas and Onondagas, with a considerable number of Senecas and Tuscaroras, remain in New York ; the Mohawks, with many of all the cantons, are in Upper Canada ; some Oneidas in Wisconsin, some Senecas in In- dian Territory.

When the Catholic missionaries were expelled, some effort was made by the authorities in New York to convert the Mohawks to Anglicanism, and many, led by Brant, became members of the Church of England. The Moravian Zeisberger attempted in vain a mission at Onondaga, and Pyrlaeus another at the Mohawk. The civilized Oneidas were visited by New England missionaries, and were finally gained by the Methodists, while some of the same tribe at Green Bay are Episcopalians ; missions of various sects were begun among the Senecas and Tuscaroras, but a powerful party here and at Onondaga are still pagans, and celebrate their heathen rites amid the city-studded realm of New York.

We have thus brought down the history of the Iroquois mission, and the more famous Huron one, of which it may be considered a branch. Coeval almost with the origin of the Canadian colony, the work of the missionaries still endures. We have traced their labors from the days of Jogues — labors pursued amid every diffi- culty and trial, but pursued with an energy and zeal almost un- paralleled. We have seen their Christian villages arise in another land, and piety and virtue flourish in the desert : we have seen these villages for generations honor the faith, and profess it still, while the mass of their countrymen are yet pagans. Such is the Iroquois mission : we shall allude to it again as evangelizing the Pacific shores ; but here we leare it to take up the western mission*

CHAPTER XIX.

THE OTTAWA MISSION, OR MISSION TO THE ALGONQUIN TRIBES IN MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN.

fhe Ottawa country— Its various tribes — The Ojibwas invite the missionaries — Joguec and Raymbaut at Sault St. Mary's — The fall of the Hurons — Garreau and Druilletes sent to the West — Defeat of the mission — Death of Garreau — Mission of Menard — His heroism — His voyage and its trials — Founds a mission at Chegoimegon — His labors and death — Father Claudius Allouez — His chapel of the Holy Ghost at Lapointe — His labors — Joined by Louis — By Marquette — Their labors — Dablon becomes Superior of the Ottawa mission — Sault St. Mary's founded — An Illinois mission projected — Allouez founds St Francis Xavier's at Green Bay— The tribes there— Drnilletes in the West — His labors at the Sault — Marquette founds St. Ignatius at Mackinaw — Father Andre in the Archipelago — Mission of Green Bay — Xouvel as Superior — Labors of the various Fathers — Allouez — Marquette, succeeded by Pierson, goes to explore the Mississippi — His obsequies — Enjalran in the West — Later labors and laborers.

THE peninsula lying between Lake Superior on the north and Lake Michigan on the east, extending back to the Mississippi, was in early times the last outpost of the Algonquin race in the West, inhabited by several tribes of that family, who thus formed a bar- rier to the Dahcotas or Sioux — a tribe of Tartar origin, who had advanced eastward to the banks of the Mississippi. One Dahcota tribe had, however, pushed further on, and settled on the shores of Green Bay, amid the Algonquins, who styled them Winnebagoes or Salt-water men, while to the main body of the Dahcotas they gave that of Nado-wessiouex or Cruel — the same name, in fact, which they bestowed on the terrible Iroquois. The chief tribes of this section were, on the north, the Ottawas or Traders, the Outchibouec or Sauteurs, since called Chippeways and Ojibways, the Menomo- nees or Wild-rice tribe, the Sakys, the Outagamies or Foxes, the Mascoutens or Fire-Nation, the Kikapoos, and, towards the south; the Miainis and Illinois or Illiniwek,

FRENCH MISSIONS. 349

Trading as they did with the Hurons, these tribes were soon knowt to the French, and their country was visited at an early day by Nicolet, one of the hardiest pioneers of civilization in the annals of New France. Ten years spent in Algonquin cabins on the banks of Lake Nipissing and the Ottawa, fitted him to traverse in safety the vast regions where that language prevailed. Several years prior to his death, which took place in 1642, while engaged in a work of charity, Nicolet set out from the Huron country, and, after a voyage of three hundred leagues, visited the " Sea-tribe," un- doubtedly the Winnebagoes on Green Bay, with whom, in the name of France, he concluded a treaty in an assembly of four or five thousand men.*

There was none to follow him to that wild West till 1641, when a great " feast of the dead," given by the Algonquins in Huronia, gathered there all the kindred tribes to take part in the funereal games, the dances, chants, and mournful processions of those decennial rites. Among the rest came the Chippewas from the Rapids, which close to the vessels of man the entrance of the. vast upper lake. These deputies, like the rest, were visited by the Jesuit missionaries, and so won were the good Chippeways by the gentle, self-devoting ways of those heralds of the cross, that they earnestly invited them to their cabins at the Falls, portraying with all the lively imagination of the child of the forests the riches and plenty that reigned in their sylvan abodes. Ever eager to extend their spiritual conquests, to enlarge the bounds of free- dom in this western world (for there alone is liberty where dwells the spirit of the Lord), the missionaries joyously accepted the in- vitation of the Chippeways.

By command of their Superior, two missionaries, Father Charles Raymbaut, thoroughly versed in the Algonquin customs and lan- guage, with Father Isaac Jogues, nr less complete a Huron, were

* Eel. 1«42, p. 8

350 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

detached to visit them. On the 17th of June they launched then canoes at the mission-house of St. Mary's, and for seventeen days advanced over the crystal waters of the inland sea, amid the beau- tiful islands which stretch across the lake, clustering around the Jake-gemmed Manitouline, so hallowed to the Indian's mind. When they reached the Falls, they found two thousand Indians assembled there, and amid their joyful greetings, the missionaries gazed with delight on the vast field which lay before them. They heard of tribe after tribe which lay around, and ever and anon of the (terrible Nadowessi who dwelt on the great river of the West. Earnestly did the Chippeways press the two Fathers to stay in their midst. " We will embrace you," said they, " as brothel's ; we shall derive profit from your words ;" but it could not be so. The paucity of missionaries in the Huron country did not yet permit the establishment of that distant mission. Raymbaut and Jogues could but plant the cross to mark the limit of their spirit- ual progress ; yet they turned it to the south, for thither now their hopes began to tend.* After a short stay they returned to St. Mary's, and hopes were entertained of soon establishing a mission on Lake Superior; but Raymbaut shortly after fell a victim to the climate, while Jogues began in. his own person a long career of martyrdom, preluding the ruin of the Huron mission, the death of its apostles, and the destruction of the tribe.

By 1650, Upper Canada was a desert, and the missionaries, thinned in numbers, turned to nearer fields, and even tried to bend the haughty Iroquois, and bow his neck to the cross.

The West, however, was not forgotten. In 1656, a flotilla ot Ottawas appeared on the St. Lawrence, led by two adventurous traders who had two years previously struck into the far West. These Indians asked a French alliance and missionaries, both of which were readily granted. Two Jesuit Fathers were selected

* Eel. 1642, p. 185.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 351

to accompany them, with a considerable number of Frenchmen, intended to form a commercial establishment in the West. Dis- gusted with the brutality and heedlessness of the Ottawas, the Frenchmen, on reaching Three Rivers, resolved to abandon the undertaking ; but the two missionaries, Fathers Leonard Garreau and Gabriel Druilletes,* undismayed by the danger, still kept on their way. As the French had foreseen, the flotilla was attacked by an Iroquois war-party, posted in ambush. At the first volley, the generous Garreau was mortally wounded, and, abandoned by the Ottawas, fell into the hands of the enemy, who, tearing off his clothing, left him weltering in his blood in a fort which they had thrown up on the end of the island of Montreal. Yet after several days, fearing the vengeance of the French, they earned him to Montreal, where he soon after expired. Druilletes meanwhile had been left by the Ottawas in another fort, which they threw up, but finally abandoned, refusing to take the missionary with them.f Thus failed the second projected mission in the West, baffled like the first by the cruelty of the Iroquois.

In 1660, another flotilla descended ; the result of the enterprise of French voyagers, who now led to the trading-posts of France sixty canoes loaded with peltry, and manned by three hundred western Algonquins. These, too, asked an alliance and Black- gowns to teach them to pray. At this epoch the missions had received a new impulse from the zeal and devotedness of the first bishop of Quebec, who found a kindred spirit in the veteran Father Jerome Lalemant, then Superior of the Jesuits in Canada, a man full of energy and zeal. Gladly would he have gone him- self to the upper lakes, to which, as Superior of the Huron mis- sion, he had sent Jogues and Raymbaut nearly twenty years be- fore. His duties, however, detained him at Quebec. There was

* In the Abnaki mission, we have given the name Druillettes ; in fact, hr Wrote it both ways, but more commonly as now given. 1 Rel. 1655-6."

352 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS. *

still, however, another survivor of the old Huron missions, long years before the comrade and fellow-laborer of Jogues, Bressani. Brebeuf, Gamier, Garreau, and others, who had already won a martyr's crown amid their apostolic toil. His head was whitened with years, his face scarred with wounds received in the streets of Cayuga, for he had been one of the first to bear the faith into central New York. Thoroughly inured to Indian life, with many a dialect of Huron and Algonquin at his command, Rene Menard sought to die as his earlier friends and comrades had long since done. The West seemed a promised land, to be reached only through the Red Sea of his own blood, and with joy he received the order to begin his march into the wilderness. We have still extant a letter written by him in August, 1660, on leaving Three Rivers, replete with a spirit of sacrifice, which can scarce find a parallel. He went destitute and alone, broken with age and toil, but with a life which he saw could last only a few months ; yet he had no thought of recoiling : it was the work of Providence ; and in utter want of all the necessaries of life, he exclaims : " He who feeds the young raven and clothes the lily of the field, will take care of his servants ; and should we at last die of misery, how great our happiness would be !"*

There is something grand and sublime in the heroism of these early missionaries, which rises as we contemplate it ; and few will win our admiration more than Menard, a saan devoid of enthusi- asm, whose letters are as calm and unimpassioned as those of a commercial house, yet one who, in his vocation and in the ap- pointment of his Superiors, saw the will of God, and did it man- fully.

Soon after leaving Three Rivers he met Bishop Laval. " Every consideration, Father," said the pious prelate, " would seem to re- quire you to remain here ; but God, stronger than all, will have

* Eel. 1659-60, p. 152.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 353

you there," and he pointed to the distant West.* Encouraged and borne up still more by this, full of a desire of suffering, ne filially started from Montreal, the frontier post. In spite of their promises of good treatment, the Ottawas compelled the aged priest to paddle from morning to night, to help them at the many portages — in a word, to take on him all their drudgery. The moments he could steal to say his office displeased them ; they flung his breviary into the water ; and at last, insensible to pity, left him on the shore without food or protection. During the whole voyage, Menard had, like the rest, suffered greatly from famine. Berries were their chief food ; and happy he who found some edible moss, and happier he who had in his clothing a piece of moose-skin. He had borne all patiently ; but now, barefoot and wounded by the sharp stones, he stands at last on the shore of Lake Superior, abandoned to starvation. After a few days, during which he lived on pounded bones and such other objects as he could find, his faithless conductors relenting, returned, and conveyed him to the rendezvous of the tribe, a bay which he reached on St. Theresa's-day, and named after her. " Here," says he, " I had the consolation of saying mass, which repaid me with usury for all my past hardships. Here I began a mission, com- posed of a flying church of Christian Indians from the neighbor- hood of the settlements, and of such as God's mercy has gathered in here."

This first mission in the West was situated, as the date of his letter tells us, one hundred leagues west of Sault St. Mary's ; in all probability at Kneweenaw. Without waiting to repose, he began his ministry among the few Christians there, and sought out the afflicted and miserable. " One of my first visits," says he, " was in a wretched hut dug out under a large rotten tree, which shielded it on one side, and supported by some fir-branches, which sheltered

* Eel. 1663-4, ch. viii.

854 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

it against the wind. I entered on the other side almost flat on my face, but creeping in I found a treasure, a poor woman, abandoned by her husband and by her daughter, who had left her two dying children, one about two, and the other about three years old. I spoke of the faith to this poor afflicted creature, who listened to me with pleasure." " Brother," said she, " I know well that our folks reject thy words ; but, for my part, I like them well ; what thou sayest is full of consolation." With these words she drew from under the tree a piece of dry fish, which, so to say, she took from her very mouth to repay my visit. I thanked her, however, valuing more the happy occasion which God gave me of secuiing the salvation of these two children, by conferring on them holy baptism. I re- turned some time after to this good creature, and found her full ol resolution to serve God ; and, in fact, from that time, she began to come to morning and evening prayers so constantly that she did not fail once, however busied or engaged in gaining her scanty livelihood. Soon after thus beginning his distant and laborious mission, Le Brochet, a chief, who had especially ill-treated him on the way, drove him out of his cabin ; and Menard had no refuge but " a kind of little hermitage, a cabin built of fir-branches, piled on one another, not so much," says he, " to shield me from the rigor of the season, as to correct my imagination, and persuade me that I was sheltered." Such was the winter residence of an aged and enfeebled man. Consolations were not wanting. A pure and noble young man, who, amid the vice and debauchery of his na- tion, had always been regarded rather as a spirit than a being of flesh and blood, came to be instructed. Heroically he embraced, heroically he professed the faith of the cross. His widowed sister and her children, and some few others, were soon added to Me- nard's flock, but the missionary's progress was slow. He had, how- ever, no idea of abandoning his post. " I would have to do myself great violence," says he, " to come down from the cross, which God has prepared for me, in this extremity of the world in my old days.''

FRENCH MISSIONS. 355

I

" I know not the nature of the nails which fasten me to this ado- rable wood ; but the mere thought that any one should come to take me down makes me shudder, and I often start up from my slumbers, imagining that there is no Ottawa land for me, and that my sins send me back to the spot from which the mercy of my God had by so signal a favor once drawn me." His letter of July, 1661, announces his desire, or rather his resolution, to attempt a journey of two or three hundred leagues over a land intersected by lakes and marshes, in order to announce the gospel to four popu- lous nations, doubtless the Dahcotas, of whom he had heard.

The project, however, he never realized ; another field opened before him. It had nothing grand or sublime in its novelty or the power of the nation, it was beset with difficulty and danger, but it was one which an old Huron missionary could not think of re- fusing. A party of the unfortunate Wyandots had, as we have seen, fled to the upper lake, and, at this moment, lay on or near the Noquet Islands, in the mouth of Green Bay. Long destitute of a pastor, the Christians were fast relapsing into pagan habits ; but, still clinging to the faith, they sent to implore Menard to visit them. The missionary first sent some of his French companions to ex- plore the way. They descended a rapid river, and after countless rapids, portages, and precipices, reached the village, which was in* habited by a few wretched Hurons, mere living skeletons. Con- vinced of the impossibility of Menard's reaching it, or remaining if he did, they returned, encountering still greatei difficulty in ascending the river. On arriving at the mission in June, 1661, they implored the aged missionary not to attempt a jouraey so evidently beyond his strength. All the French joined their en- treaties to those who spoke from experience, but in vain. Speak- ing of his Sioux mission he had said : " I hope to die on the way." No fear of death then could deter him from answering a call of duty. His faithful companion, the Donne, John Guerin, spoke ic the spirit of the cross, and, reminding him of St. Francis

JL

356 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

expiring at the very threshold of the Celestial Empire, induced h • to attempt the voyage, even if he, too, should perish ere he reached the scene of labor. " God calls me thither ; I must go, if it cost me my life : I cannot suffer souls to perish under the pretext of saving the bodily life of a wretched old mau like myself. What ! are we to serve God only when there is nothing to suffer and no risk of life?"

He set out with some Hurons whom accident had brought to the mission; but, on reaching a lake, they left him. After waiting here a month for their return, he and Guerin proceeded ; but, on the 10th of August, the poor Father, following his companion at the last portage on the river, mistook one wood for another, and was lost or seized by some band of Indians. Guerin having ac- complished the portage, sought him, but in vain ; hurrying on to the Huron village, he, by signs, at last procured assistance ; but no trace of the missionary could be found. Long after his bag was found in the hands of an Indian, who refused to tell where he had got it, and some of his chapel-service was subsequently seen in a lodge.* He was probably murdered on the first rapid of the Me- nomonee, closing a long life of assiduous toil in the missions of America by a death glorious in the sight of heaven, although there was none to chronicle his sufferings and his constancy in death.f

* Perrot, Mceure et Coutumes des Sauvages, MS.

t Father Rene Menard, born in 1604, had been in France confessor to Madame Daillebout, one of the founders of Montreal; but of his previous history we know nothing. He came to Canada in the Esperance, which Bailed from Dieppe on the 26th of March, 1640, and, after being compelled to put back by storms, reached Quebec in July. After being director of the Ursulines, lie was sent to the Huron country, and succeeded Raymbaut as missionary of the Algonquins, Nipissings, and Atontratas. On the fall of the Hnrons he was stationed at Three Rivers till he was sent to Onondaga, as we have narrated in the Iroquois mission. After the close of St. Mary's of Ga- neutaa he was again at Three Rivers till the period of his departure for the West. He died about the 10th of August, 1661, being 57 years of age. His constitution was weak and delicate, but his courage boundless. His fervent piety made him in all adversities and hardships consider only the glory of

FRENCH MISSIONS. 357

With the death of Menard closed the first Ottawa mission. A* that moment there was not a missionary station nearer than Mont- real, and indeed bis post was almost as near to the Spanish mis- sions of Santa Fe or Alachua as it was to Montreal ; yet, regardless of all. he had fearlessly penetrated to that distant spot

The Jesuits had faced death and difficulty in every shape ; mis- sion after mission had been ruined, and the ablest men of the order ruthlessly butchered. But, says the Protestant Bancroft, " it may be asked if these massacres quenched enthusiasm. I answer that the Jesuits never receded one foot; but, as in a brave army, new troops press forward to fill the places of the fallen, there was never wanting heroism and enterprise in behalf of the cross under French dominion." At the present moment they were true to their spirit ; no idea of abandoning the Ottawa mission seems to have entered their minds. The Superiors needed only a man fitted for the vast, field. One soon arrived. Claudius Allouez had long sought the Canada mission, not buoyed up by any false enthusiasm, founded on an ignorance of the real state of the Indians, but conscious of the difficulty, and ready to meet it.* Him the Superior of the mission now selected, and he soon prepared to face all the dangers of the long and perilous route, to meet hunger, nakedness, cold, and cruelty, to win the West to Catholicity. In 1664 he was at Mont- real, too late however to embark, as the Ottawa flotilla was already gone. More successful in the following year, he embarked, and, with happier auspices, reached the southern shore of Lake Superior

God, and realize the truth " that, when most bereft of human consolation, God takes possession of the heart and convinces it how far his holy grace surpasses all consolation to be found in creatures." Hence he was a most useful laborer in God's vineyard. H's Superiors called him " Pater Frtigifer," and Bishop Laval styles him a religious of most exalted piety, for whom not only the " French, but even the Indians, had a most profound veneration." As to the spot of his death I differ from Bancroft, who (vol. iii. 147), sup- poses him to have perished between Keweenawand Chegoimegon; InuJfrom a study of the narratives, and the fact of the Hurons being at the time on Green Bay, I have come to the conclusion stated in the text. * Jesuit Journal ; Kelation, 1664-5, ch. 3 ; MS. notice of death of Allouei

358 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and began his labors, which, for the next thirty years, were devo- ted with unabated zeal to the moral and mental elevation of the Indians of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He may indeed be styled, in justice, the Apostle of the West.

After great toil and suffering, aggravated by the brutality of his conductors, he arrived on the 1st of September, 1665, at Sault St. Mary's, and for a month coasted along the southern shore. After stopping at St. Theresa's Bay, where two Christian women reminded him of Menard's labors, he advanced to the beautiful bay of Cbegoimegon, which he reached on the 1st of October. Ten or twelve petty Algonquin tribes soon assembled there to hang on the war-kettle, and prepare for a general invasion of the land of the Sioux. The young braves were rousing each other to phrensy by dance, and song, and boast. The envoy of Christ was the envoy of peace. His influence was not exerted in vain. The sachems pronounced against the war. Tranquillity being thus in- sured, Allouez adorned his chapel of the Holy Ghost at the spot henceforth called Lapointe du Saint Esprit, and began to gather his Indian church. His chapel was soon an object of wonder, and wandering hunters of many a tribe came to wonder and to listen. Their numbers and attention roused the hopes of the earnest and laborious missionary. In a short time the Chippe- ways, Pottawotamies, Sacs and Foxes, Kikapoos, Miamis, and Illinois became known to him, and to all he announced the truths of Christianity. In his excursions he met the Sioux, and wrote home telling of the great river " MESIPI."

At Chegoimegon his labors were crowned with but partial suc- cess. Many were no strangers to Christianity, but had long re- sisted its saving doctrines. Like Menard, he had to struggle with superstition and vice, consoled only, amid hardship and ill-treat- ment, by the fervor of a few faithful souls. His mission com- prised twc towns — one inhabited by the Ottawa clans, the Kiska- kons and Sinagos, the other by the Tionontates. The latter

FRENCH MISSIONS. 359

mostly converted in their own land, be endeavored to recall ; the former, embittered against the faith, he endeavored to gain, and not in vain. In the first winter he baptized eighty infants and three adults in danger of death, and had the consolation of gain- ing one whom he deemed worthy of the sacrament in health.

Superstition reigned around him. The lake was a god, the rapids, rocks, and metals all were gods ; and a chimera of their own imagination, Missipissi, was the object of universal adora- tion.* He visited also the Saulteurs at Sault St. Mary's, and after spending a month among them, proceeded to Lake Alimpegon, where the Nipissings, better taught by adversity than their old Tionontate neighbors, afforded the missionary greater consolation. They had had no priest for twenty years, and many were still pagans, but the old Christians were full of fervor. But the great field in his eyes was, however, the new tribes yet uncorrupted by intercourse with the whites.f

After two years of labor, Allouez, having thus founded the mis- sions of the Ottawas and Ojibwas, and revived those of the Hurons and Nipissings, returned to Quebec to lay before his Supe- rior a full account of the West, and then, two days later, without waiting for repose, having received supplies and a companion in the person of Father Louis Nicholas, he set out again for Chegoi- megon.J Though forced to leave their French companions at Montreal, and otherwise, harassed, they reached their mission in safety, and entered on their apostolic duties, in poverty and hun- ger, amid the insolence and mockery of the unbeliever. They an- nounced the faith to twenty-five different tribes, and out of these men of many tongues, gathered eighty souls by baptism into the church of Christ.§

* Eel. 1666-7. t Rel. 1666-7, p. 16, &c.

J Jesuit Journal.

§ The Our Father in the Ottawa tongue, as given by Bishop Baraga in hii Kittolik Anamie-Misinaigan (3d edition, Detroit, 1846), is: 1. Nossiaa wakwing ebiian apegich kitchitwawendaming kid anosowin.

360 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Assistance was now coming. In April, 1668, the celebrated Father James Marquette left Quebec with Brother Le Boesme, now inured to the work, and soon reached the West to begin his labors.* Before that, however, Father Louis had set out with a flotilla of Nez-perces, and did not again return to his western labors. Among the incidents of mission life, the Fathers record a noble speech in favor of the faith by an old Christian, who, after having led for years a nomad life, in danger of dying unprepared, now cabined near Father Allouez, as if to be assisted by him in death. Death soon came on, and, thankful for the blessing afforded him, he gave his dying feast, and to his heathen guests declared his hopes of happiness and the joy of his heart, warning them to believe, if they would escape fires more terrible than those of the Iroquois, and prolonged to eternity .f

The next year Allouez himself came down, in part to restore some Iroquois prisoners, in part to seek additional missionaries. After completing his errand of peace, he prepared to return. Father Claudius Dablon. though greatly needed at Quebec, was sent with him, and appointed Superior of those Dipper missions. Under the conduct of this active and energetic Superior, matters took a new form. Long trained to mission life, he was equally

2. Apegich bidagwichinomagak kid agima wiwin.

8. Enendaman apegich ijiwebak, tibichko wakwing, mi go gaie aking.

4. Mijichaning nongo agijigak nin pakwcji ganimina wa-iji-aioiaug meme-

5. Bonip letawichinang gaie ga-iji-nichkiinangi eji bonigi detawangidwa ga-iji-nicnkiiamindjig.

6. Kego gaie ijiwijichikange gagwedibeningewiniug.

7. Atchitchaii dach ininamawichiuamj maianadak. Apeingi.

The Chippeway differs but slightly from it, as may be seen by the same prayer in his Chippeway work of the same title. It begins: "1. Nossinan gijigong ebiian Apegich kitchitwawendaming kid ijinakasowin ;" and ends : "7. Midagwenamawichinam dach maianadak. MigeLng." But besidet these there are only nine or ten words that differ.,

* Jes. Journal; Rel. 1667-8, p. 103.

t Jes. Journal; Eel. 1667-8, p. 110.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 361

fitted for command and direction. The Indians who had gathered at Lapointe had scattered again, some to the Falls of St. Mary's, others even to Green Bay. Dablon and Marquette began a new station at the foot of the rapids on the southern side. Here Mar- quette found an abundant harvest. " Two thousand souls," he wrote, " were ready to embrace the faith, if the missionary was faithful to his task." But though thus deceived by his enthusi- asm, he committed no errors. He and his Superior went on patiently instructing all, baptizing such only as were in danger of death.*

Allouez had resolved to leave Lapointe and proceed to Green Bay, weary of the obstinate unbelief of the Kiskakons, who, in- structed by the old Huron missionaries in Upper Canada, by Menard and by himself, answered their exhortations only by ridi- cule. Shaking the dust off his feet, he prepared to depart. An accident detained him, and the Kiskakons, corresponding at last to grace, yielded. The chief, Kekakoung, now baptized, spoke in favor of Christianity. Three venerable chiefs supported his views. Polygamy, sacrifices, and superstitions were suppressed ; the chapel was thronged ; and by long and repeated instructions, Allouez now prepared one hundred for baptism.f

This post, however, he soon left to Father Marquette, who reached it in September, 1669, after a month's navigation amid snow and ice, which closed his way, and frequently perilled his life. He found at the mission five villages — four Algonquin and one Huron. Of these, the Hurons and Kiskakons were chiefly Christians, the Sinagaux and Keinouches bitterly opposed to the faith. The Hurons assembled in their village to receive him; but Marquette, little versed in their language, was not able to minister to their wants. The Kiskakons received him joyfully ,| and afforded him much consolation. At a word, they renounced

* Eel. 1668-9, p. 102. f Eel. 16*3-9, p. 86. J Eel. 1669-70, p. 40. 16

r

362

practices still retained, but savoring of superstition ; and the sick earnestly begged his presence to keep off the medicine-men. A skilful missionary, Marquette did not endeavor to alter their time- honored customs, unless when sinful. Prayer replaced the idola- trous ceremonies in their festivals, and acts of devotion their sense- less juggleries. To enjoy the labors of the missionary the more, they separated from the rest, and erected their winter cabins around his chapel.

Dablon remained at the new mission of St. Mary's of the Sault. The little tribe of Pah-witing-dach-irini, or Saulteurs, which con- tained only one hundred and fifty souls, were the permanent resi- dents. The rich fisheries had gathered others — the Nouquet hun- ters on the lake shore, the Chippeways, Maramegs, Achirigouans, Amicoues, and Missisagues, scattered in the islands, the Kilisti- nons and Winnebagoes in the interior. Anxious to extend the faith, Marquette had sent an interpreter to the Sioux, bearing a present to the tribe to obtain protection and safe conduct for the European missionaries ; " that the Black-gown wished to pass to the country of the Assinipoils and Kilistinons ; that he was already among the Outagamis, and that he himself was going in the fall to the Elinois."

Such were their plans. While Marquette was learning from an Elinois captive the dialect of his tribe, Allouez had proceeded to Green Bay, which he reached early in December, and saying his first mass on the festival of St. Francis Xavier, called the mission by his name. The town was a motley one, made up of Sacs and Foxes, Pottawotamies and Winnebagoes. Assembling the sachems, he explained the Christian doctrine and his puipose, and urged them to embrace " the prayer." His chapel was then opened for instructions ; and when not occupied there, he visited the cabins to minister to the sick, and, if possible, save them from eternal death. Such was his usual plan. Besides this town, he visited anothel Poltawotamie town in the spur of Green Bay, and in April ascended

FRENCH MISSIONS. 363

Fox River to a town of that tribe, where he announced the faith, and after a short visit to the Mascoutens, returned to St. Francis. The tribes he had seen were powerful, and, except the Winneba- goes, spoke Algonquin dialects, received the missionary with every honor, and seemed a rich field for labor.* The Menomonees, of the same tongue, a feeble tribe, next received his care ; then the Winnebagoes, once cut down by the Illinois to a single mat, called his attention. Their language he found new and strange, with no analogy to the Huron and Algonquin. He began to study it, and soon translated the Lord's prayer and Angelical Salu- tation, with a brief catechism. His stay was not fruitless. The Wiunebagoes responded far better to his teachings than the Al- gonquins had done, and he found less resistance to the truth, having been able to baptize fifty infants and seven adults.f

When tidings of this vast field reached Quebec it was resolved to send more missionaries to the wild, irregular field, which, with all its difficulties, could not appall or dishearten the soldiers of the cross. The veteran Father Gabriel Druilletes, with Father Louis Andre, who had in the last year learnt the language, were ac- cordingly sent in 1670. J

* We give the Our Father in Pottawotamie, from De Smet's Oregon mi»- Bions :

Nosinan wakwik ebiyin ape kitchitwa kitchilwa wenitamag kitinosowin, enakosiyin ape piyak kitewetako tipn wakwig, apo tepwetakon chote kig. Ngom ekijikiwog michinag mamitchiyak ponigeledwoiket woye kego kachi kiohiimidgin, kinamochinag wapatadiyak chitchiikwan nenimochinag mey- aiiik waotichkakoyakin. Ape iw nomikug.

In Menomonee, as furnished to me by the politeness of the Rev. Fl. Blon- duel, it runs :

Nhonninaw kishiko epian. 1. Nhanshtchiaw kaietchwitchikatek ki wish- Wan. 2. Nhanshtchiaw katpimakat kit okiinanwin. 3. Enenitaman nhan- Bhtchiaw kateshekin, tipanes kishiko hakihi 0e min. 4. Mishiame ioppi kishixa nin pakishixaniminaw eniko eweia 0anenon kaieshixa. 5. Ponikite- tawiamo min kti eshishnekihikeian, esh ponikitetawakiOwa ka ishishnekihi- amefhva 6. Pon inishiasliiame ka kishtipeniSwane. 7. Miakonamanwiam* tfe meti. Nhanshenikateshekin.

t Bel. 1669-70, p. 62. J Bel. 1669-70.

364 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Druilletes, full of sanctity and zeal, soon changed the Snult The cures he effected during an epidemic were regarded as mi- raculous, and the Indians, in a general council on the llth of Oc- tober, 1670, declared the Sault to be Christian, and adopted the God of ",the prayer" as the master of life. The chiefs came to the chapel for instruction ; the young cried out : " The Sault prays ; the Sault is Christian !" All was now in motion ; the minds were open to light, the hearts to grace : in six months 120 children were baptized, and when in January, 1671, the church and mission-house were destroyed by fire, Druilletes, who had saved nothing but the Blessed Sacrament, began to erect a new and finer one. Within the year he baptized three hundred souls ; but Druilletes was not only a most successful missionary and able counsellor ; he was> in the eyes of his contemporaries, a saint.*

Marquette had, as we have seen, opened a friendly corres- pondence with the Sioux ; but the Ottawas and Hurons of La- pointe, by their folly and treachery, provoked a war which com- pelled them to flee eastward. The Dahcotas, sending back to Marquette his pictures and other presents, declared war. The Ot- tawas set out first, having chosen as their abode the island Ekaen- touton or Mauitouline : the Hurons remained for a time with Marquette, but finally embarked on Lake Superior, and descending the rapids, doubled the cape and landed at Michilimackinaw, where they had been some years before. Here Father Marquette began, in 1671, his mission of St. Ignatius, having raised his chapel on the mainland opposite the island. The place was bleak, exposed, and barren ; but the missionary was full of confidence and hope, although he had more to suffer than to do.f

The Ottawas were not abandoned. Father Andre was appointed pastor of the tribes on the islands and shores of Lake Huron, many of whom were in part Christians. His duties were equally labo-

* Eel. 1670-1, p. 162 ; see Charlevoix. t Eel. 1670-1, p. 147.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 365

nous and dangerous ; but he was fall of zeal and couiage. Leaving Sault St. Mary's on the 28th of August, 1670, he first visited the Missisagues, then the Amicoues, and, after renewing the fervor of the old, he hastened to the new Ottawa mission of St. Simon's on Manitouline ; where, like his predecessors, he had to struggle with the perversity and superstition of most of the clans. Although he had hitherto suffered greatly from want and scarcity of all kinds of food, he ascended French River to Lake Nipissing, and wintered there among the Outisquagamis (? Temiscamings), the long-haired tribes on its borders, whom he drew to the chapel by his skill in music, and taught assiduously, living on acorns and tripe de roche, an edible moss. In the spring he returned to Manitouline, his central station.*

The new mission of St. Francis Xavier was now the chief hope of the missionaries, who, finding further progress through Lake Superior closed by the war-like and outraged Dahcotas, hoped, through Fox River, to reach new nations. In September, 1670, Allouez returned with Dablon, his Superior. Throwing down a rude, unshapely idol at the Kakalin rapids, they proceeded to the Mascoutens' town, inhabited partly by Miamis. Addressing the sachems as to' their object, they both preached and urged the In- dians to embrace the faith. Some Illinois whom they met gave, however, better hopes, and inspired them with the desire of realizing Marquette's projected Illinois mission. Meanwhile, however, Al- louez wintered in Wisconsin, laboring alternately among the Miamis and Mascoutens in one village, which formed his mission of St. Francis Xavier, and among the Foxes at his mission of St. Markf

The same year Dablon descended to Quebec to become Superior of all the Canada missions, and sent, as his successor in the West, Father Henry Nouvel, who had already been inured to toil and

* Eel. 1670-1, p. 115. * Eel. 1670-1, p. 155.

366 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

difficulty, amid the tribes on the lower St. Lawrence and Saguenay Dispatching Andre to Green Bay, Nouvel took his wandering mis- sion, and for more than six months traversed the islands and the northern shore of the lake from Lake Nipissing to Sault St. Mary's. Louis, the fervent convert of Menard, now chief Christian at Mani- touline, was his main support and consolation. Among the Beaver Indians, or Amicoues, he was beaten and expelled from a cabin, where he was endeavoring to save a dying Christian from the medi- cine-men, but was rewarded for this humiliation by the conversion of one of those impostors. The sick were, as usual, his chief care ; and, as he was a devout client of Father Brebeuf, he frequently employed his relics, and invoked his aid. His letters assure us that heaven deigned to approve the sanctity of the illustrious martyr by miraculous cures.

Druilletes still labored at Sault St. Mary's and Marquette at Mackinaw, while in Wisconsin Allouez and Andre gave form at last to their missions. Andre gathered the children at the Bay, and taught them to sing hymns embodying the doctrines of Christianity, or ridiculing superstition, whilst he accompanied them on the flute. Allouez, among the Foxes and Maseoutens, was regularly increasing his little flock.*

In 1672 many of the Ottawas settled at Marquette's post, having been much improved by a mission of Father Andre. Their fort was at some distance from the Hurons, and the church attended by both lay between. Their isolated position afforded many ad- vantages, and the zealous missionary found many consolations in the improvement of his flock. He was constantly in movement from one village to the other, visiting them in their cabins and fields, or summoning them to prayer on holidays.

At the Green Bay mission, Andre, during a temporary absence, had his mission-house and all his winter supply of dried fish, his

* Bel. 1671-2, p. 109.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 867

nets, and all his property burnt by the pagans. Un Jaunted by this, he raised a cabin amid the ruins, and renewed his attacks on their polygamy and superstition. Avowed adorers of the devil or evil spirit, they attacked him for the opposition he made to the object of their worship. " The devil," exclaimed a chief, " is the only great captain : he put Christ to death, and will kill you."* Such was the hard and unpromising field now before Andre ; but he did not falter, and made converts in the very cabins of his bitterest enemies at Chouskouabika and Oussouamigoung, his two chief villages.

Allouez, meanwhile, had planted a towering cross at St., James of the Mascoutens, and by Assumption Day, 1672, opened his chapel of mats to the Illinois, Kikapoos, Mascoutens, Miamis, and Weas cabined there. So great was the curiosity of the throng, that they broke in the sides of his chapel, and Allouez at last came forth, and, when silence had been proclaimed by an aged chief, rose to speak. " God gave me grace to speak Miami," says he. In that tongue he poured forth words of truth and love. His long in- struction was heard with wonder, for so fluctuating was the popu- lation that few had ever seen or heard him before. He now began regular instructions in his chapel for the various tribes, visited each nation, cabin by cabin, instructing, consoling, baptizing the sick. When about to depart, he met a band of the Illinois, whom he also instructed, but whose surprise was endless at his attention to a poor sick boy ; for philanthropy and benevolence are but faint shadows of Christian charity, and are found only where the cross has been planted. With these, the Pottawotamies near Green Bay, and the Foxes of St. Mark, he spent the year. The latter had received from the Iroquois calumnies against the missionaries, and, losing some

* A similar speech occurred, it will be recollected, in the Florida mission, and no fact is better established than that cf the 'lemon-worship of tha American tribes.

868 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Christians iti war, began to view Allouez with suspicion ; yet his mission, during the year, shows nearly 200 baptisms.*

Such was the wandering life of this early apostle of Wisconsin, continually visiting the various stations, instructing in public and in private, planting the cross on many a highland ; above all, en- deavoring to abolish idolatry and superstition, sometimes heard, sometimes derided : now an object of suspicion, as some rambler came in from a distant tribe with his tale against the Black-gown ; now, a very murderer in their eyes, as a Christian fell in battle, or died after baptism : ever, therefore, with his life in his hands, ex- posed to perish by famine or the hand of man, when, driven from a village, he cabined alone in the snow. Such was indeed not the life of Allouez alone, but of all his associates in the Northwest. But Allouez, the pioneer of all, was doomed also to see his toil and labor of years misrepresented and ridiculed by his own country- men, and even by missionaries.

At Sault St. Mary's, Druilletes, meanwhile, had gathered around his church the fervent Kichaoueiak, and formed among the Missisa- kisf a little church of twenty souls — inducing many, by his won- derful cures, his sanctity and power, to renounce polygamy and vice. The spirit of these Indians was that of the ages of faith. Not only did they bring their children to receive the benediction of the holy mis- sionary, they led him to bless their fields, they brought to the altar their first-fruits, and, when going to war, came like the fervent Chichigouecs to call down the blessing of heaven on their arms. Druilletes was not alone : the missions in the lake were especially in the hands of the Superior Nouvel, who, in his constant contests with the medicine-men, had well-nigh fallen a victim to his zeal, for the axe was thrice brandished over his head ; but he was fear- less, and amid the storms on the lake, and the perils on the shore, where he had no recourse but prayer, he put his trust in the Holy

» Eel. 1672-*, MS. t Or Missisagues.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 369

Family, and was not disappointed. Singular was the instance of protection once afforded him. Anxious to reach his mission, he prepared to launch his canoe, when the Indians, pointing to the coming storm, implored him to stay ; but he put off boldly, and. after gazing at him for a time, they retired. Soon the storm came on in all its fury ; and Nouvel, unable to paddle, advance, or re- turn, lay down in the bottom of his canoe and let it drive before the storm. At last he felt that it was approaching the shore — that the Holy Family, constantly invoked, had not rejected him. In a few moments he sprang ashore, and to his wonder beheld a new mercy. He was at the very spot whence he had started, but his absence had saved his life ; a tree had been struck by lightning, and the forest far around was wrapped in flame.*

The following years find the same missions still existing, though traversed by accidents. In 1674, Father Druilletes beheld his church consumed by fire during a conflict between some Sioux and some Algonquins. The former came as ambassadors to treat of peace, for the tribe had been worsted in recent engagements. The missionary, desirous of founding a Sioux mission, had already some of the tribe in his house under instruction : with the same view he now received the envoys. A council of reception was held at the mission-house to deliberate on the proposed peace. While all were thus engaged, a Cristinaux brandished his knife in the face of a Sioux chief. Fired at the insult, the Dahcota sprang to his feet, and, seizing the stone knife in his belt, drew from his long hair a second, which they always carry there. Brandishing these, he shouted his war-cry, and, with his clansmen, soon drove the Al- gonquins from the house. To dislodge them, their antagonists fired the building, which was totally destroyed, killed the ten Sioux envoys and two women, but lost twice as many of their own num- ber. Thus was Druilletes doomed to witness his hopes all dashed

» Eel. 1672-3. 16*

370 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

in a moment ; his church and house in ruins ; the Sioux rendered bitter enemies, and the Algonquins exposed to a relentless war.* In 1675, Father Peter Bailloquet joined the mission, and Nouvel leaving to him his former ground,f the islands and upper shore, pushed further east, and wintered with the Amicoues near Lake Erie in the former country of the Sakis,J in great plenty, for the country abounded in game. Meanwhile, another missionary, Fa- ther Peter A. Bonneault, came up, in 1676, and returned with Nouvel to the Sault,§ making their journey one continuous mission. Druilletes remained alone at the Sault, " broken by age, past hard- ships, and infirmities, yet laboring on with unexampled vigor" till 1679, when he returned to Quebec, and died there the next year •with the reputation of a saint, supported and sustained by miracles.||

At Mackinaw, which Father Marquette had founded, we find Father Philip Pierson succeeding him in the care of the Hurons, when that missionary at last set out on the voyage which has im- mortalized his name. By his exertions a new church was built and opened in 1674, awaiting Marquette's return; but only his bones reached it long after, to be deposited in a grave before the altar. In 1677, Father Nouvel repaired to this post to take charge of the Ottawas ; for them he built the bark chapel of St. Francis Borgia, and though the cross, when first planted, was fired at by the pagans, a zealous chief caused a reparation to be made. This chief was the soul of the mission ; such was his piety and devo- tion that he drew on himself the title of the Black-gown chief; but, proof alike to ridicule and violence, he became the column of the rising church.

In this double mission the Kiskakons numbered about 1300 ; the Hurons 500 : each village was under an officer of the faith oi catechist, who, after the missionary had finished his instruction, re- peated and explained it. The dances were by this time almost

* Eel. 1673-9. t Eel. 1675. J Eel. 1676-7. § Eel. 1673-9. | Paris Doc.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 871

abolished, those only of the women being left, and at these th« chants were consecrated by religion. The Sundays and holidays were kept with extraordinary piety, and both villages assembled every Thursday afternoon at the Benediction of the Blessed Sacra- ment. In fact, Mackinaw now began to rival Laprairie and Lo- rette in the fervor and piety of its Christian Indians.

The solemn and interesting ceremony of the translation of the remains of Marquette from their obscure resting-place to the mis- Bion which he had founded, gave a new Impulse to their fervor. The illustrious explorer of the Mississippi expired near the mouth of the river which bears his name, and was there interred by hia sorrowing comrades. His Kiskakons were too deeply attached to their faithful missionary to leave his body in so unhonored a grave. They resolved, in 1677, to transport his remains to Mackinaw ; and, landing at the spot, opened the grave. The body was entire, though dried up ; clearing the flesh from the bones, they inclosed them in a box of bark, and, depositing it in a canoe, proceeded to- wards their village in a long and silent convoy. Some Iroquois cunoes which met them, learning the nature of the ceremony, joined the line. On appearing before Mackinaw, the two villages, headed by their missionaries, Pierson and Nouvel, came down to the shore, and verifying the identity of the body, landed it amid the chant of the "De Profundis." Borne then with the usual ceremonies fo the church, it lay exposed till the next day, the 9th of June, when, after a mass of requiem, it was interred in a little vault in the middle of the church, " where," says Father Dablon, " he reposes as the guardian angel of our Ottawa missions."*

To consolidate this mission of St. Ignatius, another missionary, Father Jehn Eujalran, was sent in 1678, destined to labor for many years at that post.f

Meanwhile the third Ottawa mission, that of Green Bay, went

» Shea's Disc. Mississippi, p. 68. t Bel. 167S.

872 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

steadily on. Father Louis Andre, a man of firmness and ability, directed at St. Xavier's his little church of five hundred Chris- tians, which slowly but gradually increased, and at the same tima he kept down the opposition of the pagans. His house at Green Bay had been burnt, another on the Menomonee now shared its fate ; but he still went on, 'and, living almost constantly in his canoe, went from station to station along the bay, visiting the six tribes of his parish.* In 1676, the veteran Father Charles Alba- nel, broken by toil, just returning from an English prison, whither he had been hurried from the snows of Hudson's Bay, became Superior of the western missions, and took up his post at Green Bay, where again a fine church was soon raisedf by the Rapide des Peres, partly, it would seem, by the aid of the western traders,J and among others of Nicholas Perrot, so well known as an ex- plorer of the West.

Allouez still directed his two-fold mission near Winnebago Lake, and during the year 1674, baptized one hundred and sixty of the Fox, Mascoutens, and other tribes, propagating assiduously devotion to the cross,§ and consoled by the piety of Joseph, a fer- vent Miami chief, and of the Christian maidens, who, amid all allurements, persevered in the path of virtue. He labored chiefly in the Fox town, then harassed by war, but extended his labors also to Sacs and Winnebagoes.| To assist him, the Superior at Quebec now sent Father Anthony Silvy, who, on the 6th of April, 1676, announces his arrival at Mascoutens, where he found thirty- six adult Christians and one hundred and twenty-six children, and soon added to the number by baptisms, for he immediately began

* Rel. 1675-6-7. t Eel. 1673-9.

J In digging the foundations of a house on the site of this church a few years since, a splendid silver ostensorium was found, with this inscription: "»J« Ce Soleil a etc1 donne par M. Nicolas Perrot & la mission de St. Franqoii Xavier, en la Baye des Puants. t%> 1686." — McOabe's Gazetteer of Wlscon- tin. The Puants here mentioned are the Winnebagoes.

5 Rel. 1675. | Rel. 1676-7.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 373

his labor? Allouez and Silvy now labored, together or apart,* iil! October, when the former, appointed successor to Marquette, set out for the Illinois countiy, leaving the latter alone.f About 1679, Silvy, recalled to Tadoussac, was in turn replaced by Father Peter A. Bonneault;J and soon after Allouez, driven from the Illi- aois country, returned to Mascoutens, and again resumed his mis- sion there.

Such was the state of the Ottawa mission when the last Jesujt Relations were written. Deprived of their guidance, we find, iu subsequent years, but scattered notices, from which we must now endeavor to form a connected whole.

CHAPTER XX.

THE OTTAWA MISSION (CONTINUED.)

Later history of the old Jesuit missions — A mission servant killed — The church at Green Bay burnt — Mission at Mackinaw abandoned — Its restoration — Detroit — Death of F. Constantine — The last missionaries — Le Franc, Du Jaunay, and Potter — The Sioux mission — Hennepin — Marest — Captivity of Guignas — Martyrs — Close of the old mission — The Sulpitinn mission at the Lake of the Two Mountains.

FOR some time the only account of the western missions is such as we glean from incidental expressions of travellers. Father Le Clercq, the author of the Recollect annals, pays his tribute of praise to the unremitting labors of the Jesuits, which had all the success that could be expected in nomadic tribes. The mission* of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus had indeed, from the arrival of Allouez in 1665, resulted in the baptism of many pagans, old

* Rel. 1673-9. t Shea's Disc. Mississ. p. 00.

t Rel. 1673-9. Silvy is meutiored in Rel. 1678.

374 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and young, most indeed since dead, yet enough surviving to form important missions at Sault St. Mary's, Mackinaw, Green Bay, Whmebago Lake, and the scattered islands in Lake Huron, all of which were in successful operation. Of the individuals we know little. In 1680, Father Enjalran was apparently alone at Green Bay, and Pierson at Mackinaw — the latter mission still comprising the two villages, Huron and Kiskakon. Of the other missions, neither Le Clercq nor Hennepin, the Recollect writers of the West at this time, make any mention, or in any way allude to their existence, and La Hontan mentions the Jesuit missions only to ridicule them.

France had taken formal possession of the West in 1671, at a congress of tribes, held at Mackinaw, and in the wars now about to break out with the Iroquois,*called on their western Indians to aid them. This caused much activity and preparation on the lakes, and with the former opposition of La Salle to the Jesuits, tended materially to injure the missionary cause. Dissensions among the Indians followed, and the French finally lost much of their hold on the affection of the western tribes which the mission- aries had hitherto secured without an effort. The missionaries themselves were now in danger. Among the Winnebagoes, a ser- vant of the mission was murdered, and though demanded, the sat- isfaction in presents required by Indian ideas was never given. Indeed, so ill-disposed were the Winnebagoes, that they were about to follow up the blow by the destruction of the missionaries and their church, for fear the Jesuits should by some means de- stroy their tribe. A faithful chief succeeded in dispelling this superstitious idea, and calmed them all for a time.

Among the Foxes, too, a lay-brother was cruelly treated, and compelled by a chief to work for them, a drawn sabre over his head awaiting but a signal to descend.*

* De la Potherie, ii. 158.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 375

While things were thus unfavorable, Father Enjalran waa called upon to accompany the Ottawa troops led by Durantaya, to join in Denonville's expedition against the Senecas. To absolve the dying Christian, he fearlessly exposed his person on the field of battle, and was there severely wounded. While stretched on his bed of pain, during the tedious period of convalescence, he soon after heard, in deep affliction, that his church and house at Green Bay had been destroyed by fire, the pagans having in the absence of the Christian chiefs accomplished their design.*

Enjalran returned, however, the next year, as he appears in 1688 on the Ottawa mission with Allouez, Nouvel, Albanel, and Bailloquet, the veterans of the West, aided by Gravier, soon to repair to Illinois, with Claude Aveneau, whom La Hontan met at Detroit in 1687, with the Cayuga missionary, Stephen de Carheil,f and soon after with Father Nicholas Potier.J By these some new stations were begun, and among them the long flourishing Potta- wotamie mission of St. Joseph's River, founded by Allouez, who died there full of days and merits.§

For several years we now lose all trace of the labors of our mis- sionaries in the Northwest. Political • intrigue had entered that field, and the propagation of the faith was sacrificed to petty and selfish views. The race of truly Catholic-hearted rulers in Canada was gone ; a new race had succeeded, and not one would re-echo the words with which Champlain, the first governor, opens the history of his voyages. This was not all. England had entered the field to contest with France the mastery of the Northwest. Mackinaw was abandoned ; a new post arose at Detroit, and hither the Hurons and afterwards the Ottawas removed. At Mackinaw there remained only a few Algonquins, all heathens, with soino toureurs de bois almost as heathen as they.j]

* De la Potherie ; Charlevoix, ii. 354. t Catal. S. J. 1688.

J Belmont's Canada. He makes Potier descend in Dec. 1684. | Charlevoix iii. 393. | Charlevoix.

376 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

In the first year of the eighteenth century, Father Enjalran then at Quebec, was sent to the West with Courtemanche to in- duce the western tribes to appear, by their envoys, at the great Congress of 1701. He wintered at Mackinaw.* At that epoch we glean from a catalogue! that Nouvel, Aveneau, and de Car- heil were still on the Ottawa mission, aided by Father James J. Marest; but of their respective stations even, to say nothing of their labors, we have no tidings.

Three years later, the veteran Nouvel disappears, replaced by Father John B. Chardon,J whom we soon after find in Illinois ; and in 1706, the missionaries at Mackinaw, finding it useless to continue the mission there, or struggle any longer with supersti tion and vice, fired their house and chapel, and returned to Que- bec. Alarmed at this step, the governor at last promised to en- force the laws against the dissolute French, and prevailed on Father James J. Marest to return. Soon after the Ottawas, discon- tented at Detroit,§ where the blood of a Recollect had been shed in a riot, began to move back to Mackinaw, and the mission of St. Ignatius was renewed.)]

Here, in 1711, we find Father James J. Marest Superior of the Ottawa and Illinois missions; and so little intercourse was there between the various stations, that his official duties now, for the first time in fifteen years, brought him in contact with his brother Gabriel, although the distance between their posts could now be travelled in a day. Then it was a long journey in the wilderness,

* De la Potherie, iv. 102. t Catal. Prov. Francise, S. J. 1700.

t Cat. 1703.

§ The French post at Detroit was served by Recollects. In 1706, the rash- ness of DC Bourgmont, the French commander, led to trouble between the Indians of different tribes, in the course of which Father Nicholas Benedict Constantino, the Recollect chaplain of the fort, was killed. Other Recollect succeeded him at this post down to 1782, but none apparently undertook any Indran mission; that duty devolving on the Jesuits. Of Fnthei Con •tantine, I have no tidings beyond the fact of his death.

| Chsrlevoix, ii. 306.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 377

aad each, overborne with toil, could ill steal days for rest or a visit.

Charlevoix, the historian, visited the Ottawa missions in 1721, and his journal gives us the next account of them. Mackinaw was still a missionary station ; but, as he remarks, the Fathers were not much employed, having never found any great docility among the Ottawas.* There was a missionary at the Sault, and another, Father Chardon, at the fort of Green Bay, about a mile and a half from the mouth of Fox River. This missionary labored chiefly among the Sacs; but, finding them indocile, was busy studying the Winnebago in order to labor among that tribe. Charlevoix, as an envoy of the king,f urged the Sacs to greater respect and docility for their missionary, if they hoped to retain the favor of the French king, and apparently produced a good effect. At the fort on the St. Joseph's River was another missionary, recently arrived, who was attempting to restore the long-interrupted work. His flock consisted of two villages, one of Miamis, the other of Pottawotamies. Some Mascoatens and Foxes had been there previously, but were now settled elsewhere. The Pottawotamie orator Wilamek was a Christian in name, but far from being so in practice. Charlevoix reproached him, but without effect, for his neglect of his Christian duties.^

Subsequently to this the Fox war plunged all the West into dis- order, and greatly embarrassed every effort made by the missiona- ries. From that time, indeed, the Ottawa mission is almost un- known till the days of the last Jesuit missionaries of the West.

After a time the whole mission devolved on two celebrated Fa- thers, Marin Louis Lefranc and Peter du Jaunay, the last of the old Jesuit missionaries among the Western tribes. They were both stationed at Mackinaw till about 1V65,§ and regularly visited the

* CLarlev. v. 412. t Charlev. v. 432 ; Sandwich. J Charlev. vi. 29.

§ In this year two Jesuit missionaries are said to have been put to death

Oil an eminence by a rapid on the Fox River, thence called Le Kapide des

378 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

various stations on Lake Michigan. Their memory was long in benediction among the Indians, and as late as 1820, aged men of the tribe at Arbre Croche could point to the spot where du Jaunay was wont to say his breviary. Father Peter Potier occa- sionally visited Illinois and ministered to the Indians near that post till his death in 1781.* Du Jaunay and Lefranc had already preceded him, and with his death closed the old Jesuit missions in the Northwest.

There is yet, however, one mission of which we have not hitherto spoken. Father Menard had projected a Sioux mission: Mar- quette, Allouez, Druilletes, all entertained hopes of realizing it, and had some intercourse with that nation, but none of them ever suc- ceeded in establishing a mission among them. When La Salle was carrying out his mighty plans for colonizing the West, amid a thousand difficulties, he sent the Recollect Father, Louis Henne- pin, in 1680, to explore the Ohio to its mouth. That well-known missionary was ascending the Mississippi in April, when he fell into the hands of the Sioux, and was by them detained as a^ prisoner till July, when Du Luth, a French agent, effected his liberation. A stay of four months enabled him to acquire some knowledge of their language and manners ; but as a missionary his labors were confined to a single case of baptism, having, after some hesitation, conferred the sacrament on a dying child.f The tribe was subse- quently visited by Father Joseph Marest, to whom, doubtless, Char- levoix alludes when he says : " Our missionaries have tried to found a mission among them, and I know one who greatly regretted that he had not succeeded, or rather that he was, unable to stay any longer among an apparently docile people."| But there is no extant account of his visit, its time, or duration.

yeres, a name preserved in the town of Depere. This may be true, but no trace of the fact is to be found in any work of the time. See Ann. Prop. IL 121. * MS. in Bureau des Terrea.

. f Hennepin, Eelation de la Louisiane. J Charlevoix, v. 269.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 379

The first Bishop of Quebec, the venerable Laval, had this mis- eion greatly at heart, and his biographer says that Jesuit Fathers were sent there in his time ;* but nothing is certain beyond Ma- rest's visits till 1728, when Father Ignatius Guignas began a mis- sion among them. His labors were not, however, to continue long ; he was compelled to abandon his infant church on a victory of the Foxes over the French. Attempting to teach Illinois, Guignas fell into the hands of the Kikapoos and Mascoutens in October 1728, and was for five months a captive in the hands of those allies of the Foxes, constantly exposed to death. After a time he was indeed condemned to be burnt, and was saved only by the inter- vention of an old man who adopted him. Relieved by supplies from the Illinois missionaries, Guignas used what he received to gain the Indians, and having induced them to make peace, he was taken to the Illinois country and left on parole till November, 1729, when they returned and took him back to their canton, though there is nothing to show that he then resumed his Sioux mission.f

We cannqt the"n consider this mission as more than an episode in thet of the Ottawas ; but if we can believe tradition, the Sioux shed the blood of Catholic missionaries. According to the Oblate Father Aubert,J a fervent missionary, attempting to penetrate to Red River, was killed by the Sioux on a little isle in the Lake of the Woods, and the rock bedewed by his blood is still pointed out by the Indians.

We have now closed the history of the old Ottawa mission, so far as authorities have enabled us to follow it out, and we now resume its results. It dates properly from 1660, when Menard began to convert the Kiskakons, and undertook to minister to the fugitive Hurons. His successors established missions among the Chippe- ways and Nezperces on Lake Superior ; the Ottawas, both Kiskakon

* De la Tour, Vie de Mjrr. Laval.

t Marest in the Lettres Edifiantes, &c., Ac

I U. S. Cath. Mag. vii. 363.

380 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and Sinagos in their various posts, among the PottaWotamies, Win nebagoes, and Menomonees, on Green Bay ; and among tne Sacs and Foxes, Mascoutens, Kikapoos, and some families of the Miamia in the interior of Wisconsin. All these tribes still exist, except the Mascoutens, merged probably in the Sacs and Foxes. All were, to some extent, converted to Catholicity before that sad period for the French missions, when Choiseul directed the destinies of France. His two great achievements, the surrender of Canada and the sup- pression of the Jesuits, were adeath-blow to the missions of the West.

For thirty years there was no priest west of Detroit,* and the Catholic Indians thus left to themselves, where not well-grounded by time in Christianity or removed from pagan influence, lost much of their fervor, and even of their faith. Yet most remained true to their religion, and awaited with eagerness the coming of a Black- gown.

When the western country finally fell into the hands of England, the war of Pontiac soon desolated the whole country, and the In- dians were in too excited a state to hope for any missionary opera- tions, even had there been priests to conduct them. The Ame'rican war followed, and after its close in 1783, a new Indian war broke out in the West, so that in fact Indian hostilities continued with slight interruptions during more than half of the last century. These wars not only prevented any access of missionaries, but also served to extinguish the faith in the hearts of the people. Deprived of pastors, constantly in motion, mingling with war-parties of pagan tribes, and sharing in their superstitious rites, they soon relapsed into many of the old customs of their race.

Of this mission our narrative has been less full and edifying than we should have wished ; but, last of the old Jesuit missions, it arose but a few years prior to the publication of the last Rela- tions, and after their close our sources have been precarious.

* McCabe, Gazetteer of Wisconsin.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 381

It embraced, as we have seen, the Ojibwas oil Lake Superior, the Ottawas, who finally settled in Michigan, the Menomonees on the river which still bears their name, the Sacs, Foxes, Kikapoos. and Mascoutens around Green Bay, with the Winnebagoes. Only two languages, the Algonquin and Dahkota, prevailed ; the former in various dialects. Not only have the narratives of the missiona- ries perished, but also the philological works which they composed ; and at this day there is no trace of any grammar, vocabulary, catechism, or prayer-book, in any of the diaJects of Wisconsin and Michigan.

On the death of the old missionaries, the Algonquins, who are great ramblers, frequently visited the Sulpitian mission at the Lake of the Two Mountains, where a small body of Catholic Algonquins still remain. At this place they revived their early knowledge of the faith, and, returning to the West, kept religion alive. The mission at the Lake may then be considered as having been in the interval the only sanctuary of religion for the western branches of the Algic race. There only could they find the consolations of re- ligion ; there only hear the truths of the gospel proclaimed in their own tongue.*

* Of these western missionaries brief notices can be given. Father Peter Pierson was a native of Ath, in Hainault, where his father was a royal offi- cer. He came to Canada as a scholastic on the 25th of September, 1667, and was for some time a tutor. After his ordination, we find him at Sault St. Louis, Sillery, and Lorette, before going to the West.

Father Louis Nicolas, who appears in the Iroquois and Ottawa missions, spent most of his days among the Montagnais.

Father Albunel had been chaplain in expeditions to the heart of New York and to the snowy plains of Hudson's Bay, which he was the first tc seek overland.

Silvy was also at Hudson's Bay, arid was at various times in the Saguenay.

Father Enjulran died, it is said, December 6, 1700.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE OTTAWA MISSION (CONCLUDED.)

AMERICAN MISSIONS— The OTTAWAS— Richard at Marquette's grave— Petition of the Ottawa chiefs — Badin — Dejean resident missionary at Arbre Croche — Ottawa youth sent to Eonie by Bishop Fenwick — Reze— Baraga— The Redeinptorists at Arbre Croche and Sault St. Mary's — Baraga and Viszogsky at Grand River— Pierz at Arbre Croche — Baraga at Lapointe— The Ance— Pierz at Grand Travers Bay— Proulx and the Jesuits on the Canada side — Skolla — Chippeway missions in Minnesota — Belle- court — Lacnmbe — Baraga made Vicar Apostolic. — The MKNOMONEBS — Mission re- stored by Vandenbroeck — Blonduel and his labors — Removal of tribe — Father Skolla. — The POTTAWOTAMIES — Richard — Reze — The chief Pokegan — Fervor — Badin — His labors — Desseille — His mission and death— Petit and his exiled flock — Edifying con- duct of the Indians — Death of Petit. — The WINNEBAGOES — Mission of Mr. Mazzuchelli — Petiot — Persecution of the missionaries — Cretin — Strange conduct of government -Cretin bishop — Canon Vivaldi.

As the Catholic Church of the United States acquired form after the close of the Revolution, the attention of the first bishops was drawn to the French and Indians of the West. To meet their^ wants was, however, a matter of great difficulty, and it was only when the French Revolution made the clergy of France wan- derers in foreign lands, that any hope existed for them.

Soon after the outbreak of that terrible war on religion, the active and laborious Sulpitian, Gabriel Richard, was stationed at Detroit. A man of great activity and zeal, he was eminently fitted for the difficult post. His life may seem strange indeed tc many ; but though, as we have said, founder and director of the first printing-press in Michigan, and deputy to Congress from that territory, he was not the less a laborious and zealous priest, who did much for the cause of religion in the West. As early as 1 799 he visited Arbre Croche, where the Ottawas of Mackinaw then were., The memory of the Jesuit missionaries was still fresh. Tradition had banded down the death of Marquette, invested with

FRENCH MISSIONS. 383

ornaments of romance, and many were yet alive who could point to the favorite walk trodden by Du Jaunay while reciting his bre- viary. But, unfortunately, little else remained. One only of the tribe, a man of seventy-five, had been baptized.* Several years elapsed without Richard's being able to return, although often in- vited by the Indians.f When the Episcopal See of Cincinnati was erected, and Michigan attached to it, steps were at last taken to give the Ottawas a pastor. Richard visited the shores of Mi- chigan again in 1821, and was conducted by the Indians to the spot where Marquette had been first buried, and where, as Richard supposed, his remains still lay. To honor the founder of Macki- naw, he raised a wooden cross at the spot in the presence of eight Ottawas and three Frenchmen, and with his penknife cut on the humble monument, the only one ever raised to the honor of the Discoverer of the Mississippi :

" Fr. Jh. Marquet. Died here 9th May, 1675."

He celebrated mass at the spot on the following Sunday, and pronounced the eulogium of the missionary to whom tradition still attributes miraculous gifts.

After this passing visit, the Ottawa chiefs, more anxious than ever to have missionaries, as their fathers had, addressed to Con- gress the following petition :

" We, the undersigned, chiefs, heads of families, and others, of the tribe of Ottawas, residing at Arbre Croche, on the east bank of Lake Michigan, take this means to communicate to our father, the President of the United States, our requests and wants. We thank our father and Congress for all the efforts they have made to draw us to civilization, and the knowledge of Jesus, redeemer of the red man ard white. Trusting in your paternal goodness, we claim liberty of conscience, and beg you to grant us a master

* Ann. Prop. iii. 338. t Ann. Prop. ii. 50.

884 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

or minister of the gospel, belonging to the same society as the members of the Catholic Society of St. Ignatius, formerly estab- lished at Michilimackinac and Arbre Croche by Father Marquette and other missionaries of the order of Jesuits. They resided long years among us. They cultivated a field on our territory to teach us the principles of agriculture and Christianity.

" Since that time we have always desired similar ministers. It you grant us them, we will invite them to live on the same ground formerly occupied by Father Du Jaunay, on the banks of Lake Michigan, near our village of Arbre Croche.

"If you grant this humble request of your faithful children, they will be eternally grateful, and will pray the great Spirit to pour forth his blessings on the whites.

" In faith hereof, we have set our names this day, August 12, 1823. *

"HxwK, CRANE, BEAR,

FISH, EAGLE, STAG."*

CATERPILLAR, FLYING-FISH,

Fearing lest even this should fail, Magati Pinsingo, the Ottawa chief, four months after, again addressed the President, but no steps were taken to make any provision for a missionary .f

In 1 825, they were visited by Rev. J. V. Badin. Hearing of his approach, they erected with their hatchets a log-chapel, covered with bark, and lined with planks. This Mr. Badin blessed on the 19th of July, dedicating it to St. Vincent of Paul. On the following day he read a letter from Mr. Richard, in reply to those of their chiefs, and delivered to the eldest a silver medal.J After a short stay, he visited other posts — Drummond Island, Mackinaw, Sault St. Mary's, and Green Bay — reviving in all their desire for Catholic missionaries. Returning in the following September to Arbre Croche, he again ministered to their wants, officiating in

• Aou. Prop. ii. 100. f Ann. Prop. ii. 102. J Ann. Prop. ii. 127.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 385

the rude chapel, baptizing thirty children and adults, five of whom made their first communion. The chiefs delivered him letters, in their style, for Mr. Richard, which were published in the Annales of the Propagation of the Faith.

During his short stay, Mr. Badin also preached in English to the soldiers under Major Clark, then stationed there.* In the fol- lowing year he renewed his visit ; and Richard, at Washington, endeavored to obtain the government permission for a missionary. The Secretary at War at last agreed to bear two-thirds of the out- lay for buildings for educational purposes, and allow twenty dol- lars for each child instructed. By his zeal, too, Badin inspired two good ladies of Mackinaw to offer their services as teachers of the Indian girls, and his great object now was to induce the Jesuits to return to the former possessions of their society. Arbre Croche was thus formed as a mission station ; and though Badin failed in securing the former laborers, he soon found a man fitted for the task.

Mr. Dejean, a priest of the diocese of Rhodez, after some years' stay on Huron River, was now sent to Arbre Croche ; but before his arrival, the news spread that a missionary was to reside there, and Catholic Indians began to flock in. Assaguinac, a pupil of the Sulpitians at the Lake of the Two Mountains,f just appointed chief at Drummond's Island, renounced his post and its English pension to come to Arbre Croche. Though disappointed at find- ing no priest, he remained, became by his influence a chief, and began to catechize the people, and teach them hymns.J

When Dejean arrived at Mackinaw, in 1827, six Indians came for him, and took him to the village. Here he found much done

* Ann. Prop. 15. 99.

t Besides the Iroquois mission here, there is an Algonquin one also di rected by the Sulpitians. It has been in a measure the cradle of the western Algonquin missions in the present century; its documents, catechisms, vo- cabularies, hymns, and prayers having been the basis on which the othei missionaries worked. J Ann. Prop iii. 844.

17

386 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS

by the zeal of Assaguinac. Twenty-one were prepared for bap- tism, which was now conferred. The number of Christians had by this tim 3 become about one hundred and fifty. The rest of the tribe, about four hundred and fifty, showed every inclination to embrace the faith. Three chiefs even gave up their medicine- bags, and asked to be instructed.

In 1829, Mr. Dejean was again there ;* and finding one hundred and thirty catechumens, of all ages, sufficiently instructed, bap- tized them. As his visit was but short, he named seven catechists, and urged the Christians to cabin apart, as the pagans now showed much opposition.

Having laid out their new village, they renewed their entreaties for a pastor, and the Dominican Bishop Fenwick at last, in May, 1829, sent Mr. Dejean to reside permanently there, and in his diocesan visit stopped at Arbre Croche, to the great joy of the Ottawas.f As he neared the shore in his canoe, he was received by the tribe, who came in procession, headed by Assaguinac, and all knelt to receive his benediction, then led him to their chapel, where they recited their evening prayers. The next day he began his mission, for such, in reality, his visit was, and, with the clergy- man who attended him, spent some time in instructing, confessing, baptizing, confirming, and marrying. A temperance society, already established, was approved ; the labors of the excellent ladies, Misses Bailie and Williams, in instructing the women, were encouraged ; the attempts of Mr. Ferry, a Presbyterian minister at Mackinaw, defeated. This visit convinced the bishop of the neces- sity of a Catholic missionary on the Lake, to save the Indians from being led astray, and he even resolved to try and form Indian priests.J

On the 29th of October, 1829, Dejean wrote: "My desires we at last fulfilled. Here I am stationed since June among the

* Ann. Prop. iv. 465. f Ann. Prop. iv. 486. t Cath. Mag. vi. 98.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 387

Indians of Arbre Croche. Already eighty-five, chiefly adults, have received baptism, five of the number being over eighty-one. A house 46 feet long by 20 wide, and a church 54 by 30, have been built of wood. . . . My good Indians have worked with zeal and courage."

Schools were also begun, and thus, at last, a regular Indian mission was established in the tribe, which Menard had first labored to convert. Besides this, the bishop had two Ottawa boys, William Maccodabinasse and Auguste Hamelin, whom he was carefully educating, in the intention of sending them to the Pro- paganda, that, if they showed avocation, they might, as priests, labor among their countrymen.* Both finally proceeded to Rome, where they were received by the Pope with every mark of esteem, and began their studies ; but William died, and Auguste returned to his tribe.

The Ottawa mission was thus restored. The Church could now advance to new conquests. Other tribes which had been con- verted by the old missionaries were next to be recalled. In- the month of July, 1830, the Rev. Frederic Reze, afterwards Bishop of Detroit, was sent to visit the various Indian tribes iu the North- west. He first reached the Pottawotamies of St. Joseph,f then under the Rev. Stephen T. Badin. Proceeding then to Sault St. Mary's, he for a time administered the sacraments to the French and Chippeways; thence, byway of Mackinaw, he reached Green Bay. Here he baptized a considerable number of Menomonees, already instructed in the faith by F. Mazzuchelli, who had a school in operation, and a church erecting. While here, Mr. Reze was invited by the Sacs and Foxes to visit their villages. The inhabi- tants of Wisconsin thus showed a desire to enjoy once more the blessings of religion, to which they had at first turned a deaf ear.J

* Ann. Prop. v. 521, vi. 180 ; Cath. Church iu Ohio ; Cath. Mtg. vi. »8. f As to St. Joseph's, see Illinois mission. J Ann. Prop. vi. 147 ; U.S. Cath. Mag. 264.

388 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Dejean, meanwhile, advanced rapidly at Arbre Crochek Withifc a year he had received six hundred into the church ; a prayer-book had been compiled and printed ; twenty comfortable log-cabins had been erected around the church ; the schools for boys and girls contained sixty-four pupils. Intoxication was banished from the village, and, as a natural consequence, all wore an air of greater comfort.*

The government now allowed one thousand dollars a year for this school, that of the Menomonees at Green Bay, and of the Pottawotamies ; so that even though this bounty should continue but a few years, it would give a permanent foundation to them all.f

In May, 1831, Dejean was replaced by the Rev. Ferdinand Baraga, a native of Dalmatia, now Vicar Apostolic of Upper Michi- gan. A man of great energy and activity, he soon extended his missions to the Beaver Islands, and even beyond Lake Michigan, erecting chapels in various parts. In one year he baptized 266 Indians, 137 of whom were afterwards confirmed by Bishop Fen- wick, who here found his greatest consolation. The parish of St. Peter's at Arbre Croche now contained 700 Catholic Indians.^

The mission at Green Bay was now undertaken by the children of St. Alphonsus Liguori.§ The Redemptorists, under Father Si- mon Sandrel, here began their first Indian mission in the country. Sandrel soon after devoted himself at Arbre Croche with zeal to the study of the Ottawa, analyzing it to compile a grammar and dic- tionary. Another of the some order, Father Francis Hetscher, raised a bark-chapel at Sault St. Mary's, and gathered the Chippe- ways around him. At Green Bay, Mazzuchelli and Vandenbroeck directed the mission, extending their labors to the Menomonees and Winnebagoes. Reze had now been created Bishop of Detroit:

Ann. Prop. vi. 147 ; U. S. Cath. Mag. 264. t Ann. Prop. vi. 179. Id. vi. 197. § Id. 203.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 389

attached 1o his Indian missions, he visited them in 1835. Arbre Croche could then boast of sixty-one houses and 1200 inhabitants, all temperate, industrious, and well instructed, almost all being able to read and write ; still nomadic, but, by their number of succursal chapels, never deprived of their religion.

At Sault St. Mary's a fanatical opposition prevented the Catholic missionaries from erecting a brick church on the Indian reserve, but the Chippeways were attached to Catholicity, and rejected all allurements of the various missionary societies.*

Baraga meanwhile had proceeded, in 1833, to Grand River, where a Baptist mission, after eight years' struggle, had failed. By 1835 he had 200 Catholics; but so great was the opposition to him, that several attempts were made on his life, and he was at times obliged to shut himself up. Failing by this even to alarm him, his persecutors petitioned government for his removal, and, though the governor of Michigan wrote in his favor, Baraga was compelled to return to Arbre Croche, succeeded at Grand River by the Rev. Mr. Viszogsky. He, too, had to contend with the same opposition, but remained firm.

Mr. Baraga was about to proceed to a new mission on Lake Superior; but as Father Sandrel, after two years stay at Arbre Croche, was recalled by his Superior at Vienna, Baraga repaired to his former inission.f Some time after it passed to the care of the Rev. Francis Pierz, who for many years directed it with great ability, extending his care to Sault St. Mary's and Mackinaw.

On leaving Arbre Croche, the unwearied Baraga proceeded to the southern shore of Lake Superior, and halting at the spot where Allouez had begun his mission nearly two centuries before, at La Pointe du St. Esprit, now simply called Lapointe, began a new mission. After extraordinary efforts and struggling against all sorts of obstacles, privations, and difficulties, he succeeded in establishing

* Ann. Prop. viii. 293. t Id. viii. 808.

390 AMERICAS CATHOIIC MISSIONS.

a missionary station. Here he built a church, mission-house, and dwellings for the converted Indians.*

Eight years after he quitted it, and repaired to the Ance, where an Indian village lay, steeped in idolatry and intoxication. His first efforts were unavailing, but, gaining the children, he soon began to make progress. A medicine-man was soon converted : his example had a powerful effect, and the mission village rapidly increased. By 1849 it contained 42 families; by the following year not a single pagan was left, and the tribe which, by vice, had been reduced to a mere handful, now sober, industrious, in com- fortable houses, began rapidly to improve. Their families became more numerous, their children healthy, the church and school- house both well attended. For over fourteen months prior to August, 1850, not one death occurred at the mission. The pagans around saw the change, and many joined the village at the Ance. At the present time the Ance contains upwards of three hundred converted Indians, directed by Mr. Angelus Van Paemel.

Pierz, on his side, extended his Ottawa mission : Sheboygan, Manistie, and Castor Island, became regular stations; and, in 1845, a new mission was begun at Grand Traverse Bay, while Arbre Croche, with Middletown and La Croix, its first offshoots, gradually increased in numbers without diminishing in fervor. Besides Baraga and Pierz, the Rev. Ignatius Mrak and Otho Skolla have for several years labored in this Ottawa and Chippeway field. Fa- ther Skolla is a Franciscan. He succeeded Baraga at Lapointe in 1849, and had care of Fond du Lac, Pigeon River, and even the pagans on Lake Courte-oreihe and Flambeaux. Some years after, however, most of th° Indians and half-breeds were removed beyond the Mississippi, and skolla has became the missionary of the Meno- monees, visiting, however, his old post. Meanwhile, about 1838, Mi. Proulx, a zealous Canadian priest, restored the mission on Isle

* Letter of Bishop Bang*.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 391

Manitouline, and, in 1844, Father Chone, of the Society of Jesus, soon followed by others, extended the sphere of action and good to the furtherest extremity of Lake Superior. Sault St. Mary's has been for some time under the care of "one of the Jesuit Fathers connected with the Canada mission.*

In 1852, Pierz was succeeded by the Rev. Eugene Jahan, and, leaving Arbre Croche, hastened himself to a new Chippeway field.

Besides these missions a new class began by emigration from Canada. The Abbe, now Bishop Provenchere, was sent, in 1818,f- to Red River, near the American border ; and finding the tribe of Chippeways and half-breeds divided, stationed his companion, M. Du- moulin, at Pembina, but he had to leave it in 1823, as it was found to be in the United States. George A. de Bellecourt, in 1 833, began a new Indian mission on St. Boniface River ;J but, as Pembina again attracted the half-breeds and Indians, they again entered Minnesota, and began a settlement at that spot. Bellecourt, who knew them, also entered the country in 1846. Pembina seemed to him the point for central missions : the Chippeways, though pagans, awaited him earnestly ; but having no powers from the Bishop of Dubuque, in whose diocese he now was, he did not undertake any ministry till he received them.§ Five hundred soon gathered here around his church of the Assumption, and he thence, for several years, aided by the Rev. Albert Lacombe, visited many scattered tribes, amid great hardship and danger, drawn by dogs over the snow. In 1852, Lacombe succeeded also in establishing a mission among the Mandans, which has not yet, however, acquired permanence. Meanwhile the town of Pembina grew up, twenty miles from the mission, and soon had a population of 1500 Catholics, chiefly half- breeds. This now became Bellecourt's chief station, whence he visited the Assumption. Many Chippeways were to be found

* Ann. Prop, xviii. 449. t Id. xxi. 77.

J Id. ix. 852. S U. S. Cath. Mag. vii. 827.

392 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

around Mille Lacs ; among these Pierz, on leaving Lake Michigan fixed his residence, and established a mission at Crow Wing, where the log-chapel of St. Francis Xavier soon rose. Here 250 Catholics reside, and many more Sandy Lake, Chippeway, and Sac Rapid In- "dians are also Catholics.

Such is the state of the Ottawa-Chippewa mission at present, greater in reality than it ever was in the most flourishing times of the old Jesuit Fathers. To confirm and extend it, the Holy Father has recently appointed the Rev. Mr. Baraga, Bishop of Amyzonia and Vicar-Apostolic of Upper Michigan. He has fixed his residence at Sault St. Mary's, and most of the missions we have mentioned are in his diocese, or have been placed under his control by the neighboring Bishops.

We have already seen that the Menomonees, another of the tribes evangelized by Allouez of old, had been visited by the Rev. Mr. Reze in 1830,* and that a church was erected and a school begu'ri by Mr. Mazzuchelli, so that several were ready for confirma- tion at Bishop Fenwick's visitf No permanent mission, however, v/as established till 1843, when the Rev. T. Vandenbroeck extended his labors to them, although an Indian school had been in opera- tion for some time previous.^ In the following year the same clergyman began the new mission of St. Francis, on Wolf's River or Lake Powahegan, which, in 1846, numbered four hundred In- dians, with a good church and school. He was soon after suc- ceeded by the active and enterprising Flavien J. Blonduel, who added a second school. In 1850, the Menomonees were enumer- ated at five hundred souls. All were agriculturists ; fifty-seven families living in substantial log-houses. The government agent reported that they were the most numerous and interesting tribe in his department, and speaks in high terms of the wonderful im-

Annales de la Prop. vi. 148. t Id. vi. 182, 204, 297.

U. S. Catholic Almanac, 1844.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 393

provemcnt which they had made under the missionaries. The impression made on the whites was felt by the pagan Menomonecs. Oshkerenniew, brother of the Christian chief Oshkosh, joined the Christian party, and was followed by a considerable number. Ellis, the agent, had expressed the hope that they would not be disturbed. This was not to be so. Preparations for their removal were made in the following year. Seventy families then resided there. Among these, one hundred and forty-eight persons were members of a temperance society ; one hundred and twenty could read Ojibwa and Ottawa books. Two hundred Testaments and other books in those dialects had been distributed among them The Sunday-schools for young and old were well attended.

So happy a state of things made a distant removal almost cer tainly ruinous. By the exertions of the missionary, they were per- mitted by the general government and that of Wisconsin to settle, in 1852, on a tract between the Oconto and Wolf Rivers. Here, on the banks of Lake Showano, the mission and school arose under the invocation of St. Michael, and Blonduel resigned to Father Otho Skolla the mission which he had created.

Another tribe evangelized by the old Jesuits on this mission was the Pottawotamies. A part of these, with some Miamis, had, as we have seen, settled on St. Joseph's River. These, like all the other western tribes, attracted the attention of Mr. Richard. Reze was sent to them, and arrived early in July, 1830, at the village. As soon as the Pottawotamies knew that a Black-gown was really there, all begun to gather around his cabin, pitching their tents hard by, not to lose his words. Many solicited baptism. All sought to show their desire to embrace the religion which had been preached to their fathers. Reze baptized Pokegann, the chief, and twelve others whose past conduct seemed to promise perseverance. At the end of the ceremony, they held a council to decide on a place for a chapel. They finally decided to ask the Baptist ministers stationed there to leave, and give up the mission-

17*

394 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

house to a Catholic missionary at the expiration of a month.* Having found all their efforts useless, the Baptist missionaries agreed to the proposal.

Reze's mission could not be permanent, and he soon left. Poke- gann was inconsolable. He repaired to Detroit on the 1st of July, 1830. "Father! Father!" he exclaimed, "I come to beg you to give us a Black-gown to teach us the word of God. We are ready to give up whisky and all our barbarous customs. Thou dost not send us a Black-gown, and thou hast often promised us one. What ! rn,ust we live and die in our ignorance ? If thou hast no pity on us men, take pity on our poor children, who will live as we have lived, in ignorance and vice. We are left deaf and blind, steeped in ignorance, although we earnestly desire to be instructed in the faith. Father, draw us from the fire — the fire of the wicked manitou. An American minister wished to draw us to his religion, but neither I nor any of the village would send our children to his school, nor go to his meetings. We have pre- served the way of prayer taught our ancestors by the Black-gown who used to be at St. Joseph. « Every night and morning my wife and children pray together before a crucifix which thou hast given us, and on Sunday we pray oftener. Two days before Sun- day we fast till evening, men, women, and children, according to the tradition of our fathers and mothers, as we have never our- selves seen Black-gowns at St. Joseph."

Touched by this appeal, Richard resolved to send the Rev. Stephen T. Badin to them, promising not to remove him till he found another. That missionary was at his post in August. Twenty-four were soon enrolled for instruction and baptism. *Toc old to learn the language, he nevertheless began to take down from Pokegann's lips the prayers and commandments as preserved by tradition. So destitute was he, that he had not even an altar

• Ann. Prop, vi 148.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 89£

stone to say mass, but nevertheless was cheerful in his privations. The Kikapoos in Illinois sent to ask him to extend his labors to them.* Miss Campo, an excellent lady, acquainted with the In- dian language, soon joined him, to lighten his labors, acting as his interpreter, and teaching the young the Christian doctrine.f

In the winter he proceeded to Chicago, which had not seen a priest for eight years. Here he was met by the Kikapoos, who again earnestly implored his care. They were now a petty band on a prairie by Vermilion River,J most of the nation having been transported. But he could not leave his Pottawotamie mission.

On the withdrawal of the Baptists from St. Joseph, the govern- ment agent took possession of the mission, although it had been built from funds expressly reserved, by the request of the Indians, for a Ca'tholic mission. Badin accordingly bought a house, 25 feet by 19, for a chapel, and fifty acres of land two miles from it, near Pokegann's house, leaving the old mission-house in the hands of the government. \

Pokegann and his wife, heirs of the Catholic traditions and vir- tues of the tribe, were his greatest consolation, by their piety, zeal, and devotedness. All showed great docility. Men of thirty and forty came to kneel at the feet of the chief morning and evening, to leam their prayers like little children.

Badin's first labor was to restore the prayers which had become, he found, greatly corrupted ; then instruct in them such as present- ed themselves, or as he found disposed in his visits to the cabins. The work of conversion thus went on. By January he counted three hundred Christians, all of whom confessed regularly, besides a hundred children and adults baptized. As he baptized none ex- cept on sufficient trial, he relied perfectly on their fidelity in keep-

* Ann. Prop. iv. 546. t Id. vi. 148 ; U. 8. Cath. Mag. vii. 264.

J Called at times Vermilion and Prairie Indians. They are probably th« Vlascoutens.

896 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

ing the promises which they made to God. Their life was indceC truly Christian, and worthy of their being allowed frequently tc approach the holy table. Their influence on the pagans was soon felt, and many, desirous to renounce their dissolute habits, came tc ask instruction and baptism.

But he was not without his afflictions. During the winter one of his earliest converts, the fervent James, died in the woods on a hunting-party, which the general scarcity compelled him to follow, though sinking in a consumption. The missionary himself suffered in the general want, but this never elicited the slightest complaint from him.* He was soon after joined by Messrs, de Selles and Boheme, and, aided by contributions from Europe, began to give solidity to his mission.f

Badin's stay, however, was only temporary. The bishop found a missionary for the tribe in the Belgian, Mr. Desseille, ready to follow them in their intended removal, for the government was about to deport them.J The missionary extended his visits to Chitchakos and another town on Tippecanoe River, in 1834, bap- tized several, and planted a cross at Yellow River. He returned the next year ; and Brute, Bishop of Vincennes, about the same time reached both stations, and confirmed some at the latter, which was in his diocese. At Tippecanoe the greatest joy prevailed. The Indians, then scattered, came from all sides and encamped around the missionary, to whom they offered ground for a church and school. In ten days Desseille baptized forty-three adults, and admitted to their first communion thirty baptized the previous year. Proceeding thence to Yellow River, where he had already planted the cross, he found a little chapel raised, and the people anxious to enjoy his ministry .§

Desseille continued his labors zealously, in spite of the difBculr

• Ann. Prop. vi. 154. Id. vi. 203.

I Id. viii. 805. § Id. viii. 828.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 397

ties caused by the removal of the tiibe in 1836.* In October

1837, however, he fell dangerously ill, and sent for the nearest clergyman, but it was too late. Worn out by his toil, he expired alone, before any one could reach him.t

Benjamin Mary Petit^ a young deacon, was now ordained by Bishop Brute and sent to South Bend, where a chapel rose in the village of Chichipe Outipe. This town lay on a rising ground near four small lakes, and contained 1000 or 1200 Christians, all fer- vent, and eager to gain and instruct their pagan brethren. By the aid of his excellent interpreter, apparently the zealous Miss Campo, Mr. Petit preached and instructed those who had already learned the rudiments from the older converts. After several missions here, interrupted by ministering among the whites, he proceeded in May,

1838, to Pokegann's village, which was yet without a missionary : at both places he continually added to the number of the flock by baptism, having enrolled nearly two hundred during Paschal-time.

The fatal hour at length arrived. In September, 1838, a force of United States troops surrounded the Pottawotamies, and, as prisoners of war, compelled them to remove. Petit had asked of his Bishop leave to accompany them ; but that prelate had de- clined it, not deeming it proper to give any approval of the cruel act of the government. But being himself on their route, he after- wards consented. The power of religion then appeared : amid their sad march he confirmed several, while hymns and prayers, chanted in Ottawa, echoed for the last time around their lakes. Sick and well were carried off alike. After giving all his Episcopal blessing, Bishop Brute proceeded with Petit to the tents of the sick, bap- tized one, and confirmed another, both of whom expired soon after. The march began again ; the men, women, and elder children, urged on by the soldiers in the rear, followed by the wagons loaded with the sick and dying, with many of their wives, and

* Ann. Prop. x. 142. t Id. xi. 884.

398 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

children, and property. Thus, through the country, excited by th« Mormon war, they proceeded to the banks of the Osage River, where Mr. Petit confided his flock to the care of the Jesuit Father J. Hoecken.* He remained a time to repose and to initiate his successor, but lie had overtasked his powers, fell dangerously ill, and, though he recovered sufficiently to set out for Indiana, soon relapsed, and died at the University of St. Louis, in the arms of the Jesuits, on the 10th of February, 1839, regarded by all as a martyr of charity .f

On the sale of their lands in Indiana and Illinois, the United States government allotted the Pottawotamies a territory on the Missouri near Council Bluffs, containing 5,000,000 acres. Sixteen hundred arrived near the Kikapoo village in 1836, and three thou- sand soon followed. They were thus brought within the field of the Jesuit missions, but in our free republic the Fathers could not without leave extend their ministry to them.J The Pottawotamies, by their chief and head warriors, in the presence of the government officers, solicited some of the Jesuit Fathers as their resident mis- sionaries ; and Father Verhaegen, the Vice-Provincial, set out for Washington to obtain the necessary leave. By the aid of Mr. Nicolet he obtained permission to begin a mission among the Pot- tawotamies, and to send missionaries to the other tribes in the In- dian territory, with a promise that the wishes of the natives as to their religion should be respected.§

Here we leave the Pottawotamies|| for a time, and return to another tribe embraced in the old Ottawa mission. This is the Winnebagoes, or Puants, as they were called by the French. They derived their name from the fact of their coming from the

* Ann. Prop. xi. 379. t Id. 398. J Id. x. 142. § Id. xi. 468.

| The last remnant of the tribe was deported in 1841 ; they had been attended by M. Bernier, and were visited by Bishop de la Hailandiere, who confirmed several, just before their removal, at Notre Dame du Lac. — An*, Prop. xv. 46.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 399

Pacific, and were a branch of the Dahcotas, or Sioux, who, penetrating among the Algonquins, were almost entirely de- stroyed by the Illinois, but all captives were at last allowed to return and form a tribe again. The Jesuit missionaries converted many to the faith, and, in 1721, we find them with the Sacs, under the pastoral care of the zealous and charitable Father Chardon.* On the suppression of that society, and the death of the last sur- vivors of the old Fathers, the Winnebagoes were left in entire destitution of religious instruction.

From the intercourse with the French, the tribe soon counted many half-breeds who became Christians, however, and, as in other tribes, preserved Catholic traditions. Mazzuchelli was one of the first to visit them, and when Bishop Loras was raised to the See of Dubuque, the Winnebagoes requested a missionary. When they had again and again renewed their entreaties, he sent them the Rev. Mr. Petiot, who possessed great faculty for learning languages. This clergyman soon made great progress in Winnebago, and began his labors ; but the Indian agent, Lowry, raised many obstacles, and finally, through misrepresentation, procured his removal by the governor of the territory. The Indians were naturally indignant at this religious tyranny, and on the 3d of November, 1844, in council with James McGregor, the next agent, requested him to write and inform the President that the nation wished their brother, the Black-gown, to reside in the nation and take charge of the Indian school, and the superintendent and teacher then among them to depart. On the 20th of November, Waw-kawn- haw-kavv, the chief, renewed his request, and demanded explicitly a Catholic teacher. The sub-agent, McGregor, supported the request of the Winnebagoes, and declared that, as they had from their earliest intercourse with the whites, until within twelve years past, lived Under the influence of the Catholic Church, he deemed it ques-

* Charlevoix, vi. 48C.

400 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

tionable policy to force them to receive instruction from a class tc whom they objected. On this the Indians again applied to the Bishop, who dispatched the Rev. Joseph Cretin, now Bishop of St. Paul's, to their assistance, and the chiefs formally authorized him to erect a church and schoolhouse. At a public council, held in the presence of Governor Dodge, they strongly expressed theii desire to have a Catholic priest to instruct their children ; but in spite of all, Cretin could obtain leave only to reside there, being expressly forbidden to open a school !* He continued his mission, however, but at last he too was summarily removed by order oi Governor Chambers.

The affair excited general condemnation, and was even taken up in Congress ; but, of course^ was soon forgotten, and not only did the government continue to pay the money of the Winnebagoes to a missionary whom the tribe rejected ; but, strange for a govern- ment that professes equality of religious rights, and is indignant at Tuscan laws, deprived the Winnebagoes of a priest of their religion.f

The tribe was next removed to Long Prairie, and left out of the reach of the Catholic missionaries; but, in 1850, Cretin was made Bishop of St. Paul's, and restored the mission, soon after reaching his new diocese. He placed at Long Prairie, Francis de Vivaldi, Canon of Ventimiglia, and obtained some justice from government. The mission now assumed a flourishing aspect, and, though em- barrassed by the opposition of an agent, Vivaldi has now a Catholic population of two hundred, a school of ninety children, and has, to aid him in the care of the female children, three Sisters of St. Joseph. Among the Sioux, now extremely scattered, no perma- nent mission has yet been founded. The Red River missionaries, de Smet, Hoecken, and the other Jesuits in Indian Territory, at various times visited separate bands and converted many, so that

* Ann. Prop. xvii. 487. t N. Y. Freeman, 1846.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 401

a missionary always finds some Catholics in their bauds. In 1847 the Rev. Augustfne Ravoux was sent by Bishop Loras to Fort Pierre, and there began a mission among the Sioux and half breeds, which he still continues ; and Father de Smet has for some time projected a Sioux mission in Indian Territory.*

Such is the present state of the principal other tribes embraced in the old Ottawa mission. The Mascoutens have disappeared : the Sacs and Foxes, constantly at war, are now in Indian Territory with the Kikapoos and Pottawotamies, whose later history we shall re- sume at the close of the Louisiana mission.

Of the modern Algonquin missions in the West, the Illyrian, Bishop Baraga, is, if not the pioneer, certainly the one who has la- bored most earnestly and successfully ; and no missionary of whom we have had occasion to speak has published more works in In- dian dialects, or treatises on them, or issued more frequent editions. These works comprise catechisms, prayer-books, instructions, medi- tations, Bible histoiy, epistles and gospels, and form a richer reli- gious library for the Ottawas and Chippeways than any other tribe possesses. Their use is not limited to them alone : the Menomo- oees also use them, occasionally adapted by their missionaries.!

Owing chiefly to his care, this part of the Church contains now several thousand native Catholics, directed by zealous and earnest

* U. S. Cath. Mag. vii. 19-84; Ann. Prop. xxii. 267, «fec. t Bishop Baraga's works are:

1. Anamie Misinaigan. (A Prayer and Hymn Book, and Catechism.) 1st edition : Detijpit, 1832. Three others since.

2. Gete Dibadjimowin, Gaie Jesus, Obimadisiwin oma Aking. (Bible Extracts, Life of Christ, Epistles and Gospels.) L&ibach, 1837. Detroit, 1637. Second edition, 1846.

3. Kawlik Enamiad o Nanagatawendamowinan. (Instructions and Medi- tations on a-1 the Doctrines of the Catholic Church.) 712 pages: Detroit, 1849.

4. Chippeway Grammar. 576 pages: Detroit, 1849.

5. Chippeway Dictionary. 662 pages : Cincinnati, 1852.

6. History, Character, and Habits of the North American Indians: Lai toch, 1837. * (Paris, 1837.)

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AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

priests, and no obstacle exists to the progress of the faith, except the occasional opposition of fanatical or dishonest government em- ploy^es.*

* The Rev. Stephen T. Badin, whose name is associated with the new Pottawotamie mission, is famous as being the first priest ordained in the United States. He was born at Orleans, in France, on the 17th of July, 1768, and after studying at Paris, entered the Sulpitian seminary at Orleans. Refusing to join the Constitutional Church, he came to America in 1792, and was ordained at Baltimore by Bishop Carroll on the 25th of May, 1793. Kentucky was the chief scene of his labors, and he has been not inaptly called its apostle. He died at Cincinnati on the 21st of April, 1353, at the age of eighty-five. (See Spalding's Sketches of Kentucky.)

The Rev. Andrew Viszogski, another zealous missionary, noted for hi* labors and piety, was a native of Hungary. He died on the 2d of January, 1&58, after a missionary career of eight yean.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE ILLINOIS MISSION.

Rid Miamis and Illinois — Their country — Their first meeting with mi Allouez — Marquette projects a mission — Allonez meets them at Mascoutens — Mar- quette meets them on the Mississippi — Visits the Kaskaskias — Returns and founds the mission of the Immaculate Conception — His death — Allouez at the Knska>ki* village— The Recollects in Illinois— Their labors— Flight— Death of Father Ribourrtc — Allouez returns — Gravier begins his mission — Rale and his labors — Gravier again — Details of his mission — Kaskaskia chief converted — Madame Ako, his daughter — Binnpteau— Plnet founds Cahokia mission — Marest — Settlement of Louisiana — Death of Binneteau and Pi net — Gravier wounded at Peorfa — Descends to Mobile — His death.

IN early times the country lying north of the Ohio, from the headwaters of its northern branch to the Mississippi above its mouth, was inhabited by various distinct nations. Of these, the Eries, who lay south of the lake which still bears their name, the Wenro, and other tribes, of whose existence no trace remains except in the Relations of the Jesuit missonaries in Huronia, were of the Huron-Iroquois family. By the middle of the seven- teenth century, all these had been conquered, annihilated, and absorbed by the Iroquois, w. »o thus changed into a desert the whole basin of Lake Erie and Lake Huron, as they depopulated the valleys of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence. The territory now occupied by the two states of Ohio and Indiana was a wil- derness, which separated the Iroquois from the far-famed Algon- quin archei-s of the West. Illinois was then occupied by two kindred nations, each composed of several clans, Algonquin in language, but approaching the Abnakis more than any others in manners. These were -the Illinois and Miamis, the former made

404 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

i up of the Peoria, Cahokia, Tamaroa, Kaskaskias, Moingwenas, tht

latter of the Wea, Piankeshaw, Pepikokia, and Kilatak clans, Both have left their names in the states, rivers, towns, and height* of the West.

When first known they were very powerful nations, and though in collision with the whites only for a short period, have almost entirely disappeared. What we know of them is connected with the labors of Catholic missionaries to win them from idolatry, and gain them to Christ By stubborn and unyielding toil, those de- voted men succeeded at last in beholding all embrace the faith, and then it would seem the reprieve granted by Providence to the tribes expired, and they disappear. In other lands the priest of God converts the expiring sinner, in America the expiring nation. Rome tribes are entirely extinct ; none can ever rally and regain their former strength ; most are dying silently away.

When first known to the envoys of Christ, the Illinois lay on both sides of the Mississippi, pressed on the west by the Tartar Dahcota, and on the east by the fierce Iroquois, so that some tribes descended to the south and southwest, where, not unlikely, traces of them may yet be found. The Miamis lay around the southern shore of Lake Michigan, stretching eastward to the shores of Lake Erie. Although distinct, and at times at variance, the Illinois and Miami easily intermingled, being of the same race and language.

The Illinois first met the missionary of Christ at Chegoimegon, where Father Allouez planted, in 1667, his first Ottawa mission. Here, too, his successor, the illustrious Marquette, received visits from straggling parties, projected a mission, and from one of the tribe learned the language of the Illinois. War defeated his de- sign, and drove him to Mackinaw. When Allouez, at a later date, ascended Fox River, and passed the Kakalin Rapid, h« cams to the motley town of Mascoutens, where a number of Illi- nois and Miamis resided, with the Mascoutens and Kikapoos, all

FRENCH MISSIONS. 405

gathered in the same village, although the Illinois were about to remove to the banks of their own river. Later still, Marquette was enabled to realize his fond project of exploring the great river of the West, and founding an Illinois mission. Following the track of the adventurous Allouez, he reached Mascoutens, but there were no Illinois there. Crossing a short portage, he em- barked on the Wisconsin, in the name of the Blessed Virgin Im- maculate. His canoe glided on, and at last, on the 17th of ' June, 1673, shot into the calm, transparent waters of the Upper Mississippi, to which, as he had promised, he gave the name of Conception River. His wish was not realized therff — the Indian name prevails — but Mary, under the title of her Immaculate Con- ception, is the patroness of our whole wide republic. Long sailed he on, with no witness to his way but the birds and the beasts of the plains, till he at last descried a trail on the shore, leading to the Illinois towns of Peoria and Moingwena. These he visited, meeting a kindly welcome, and promising them to return. As is well known, he ihen pursued his voyage, passing the Missouri and Ohio, till he reached the Arkansas, when, convinced that the river emptied in the Gulf of Mexico, he returned, in consequence of an Indian report that the Spaniards were not far off. Ascend- ing, he passed the Missouri, and entering the Illinois, met the Peo- rias on its banks, and spent three days preaching in all their cabins. After baptizing a child among them, he reached the Kaskaskias, not far from Rockfort. Like all the other Illinois clans, they received him joyfully, and earnestly entreated him to remain. He promised to return and begin a mission, and after a short stay, doubtless spent in announcing the word of God, he re- turned to Green Bay, by the way of Lake Michigan. Such was the first incidental mission among the Illinois, of which the only result was the preparation of the field for the gospel, passing in- structions, and the baptism of a single child, whose soul, era the good missionary embarked, had soared regenerate on high

406 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

to open in the realms of bliss the place of the elect of th€ Illinois.

Father Marquette reached Green Bay late in September, 1678. If he returned to Mackinaw, as some documents seem to say, he certainly spent the next summer at Green Bay in & state of suffer- ing, for excessive toil and exposure had shattered his health, and, almost the youngest of the western missionaries, he saw his career about to close. One object alone inspired him with a desire to live — his mission of the Immaculate Conception among the Kas- kaskias. To them he had plighted his word to return and instinct them in the faith. The order of his Superior at Quebec to begin that mission seems to have restored his health, lie received it in September, and in October set out to realize his last earthly de- sire. Suffering in body, his playful, winning ways gave no token of his inward pain, and his courage bore him up in that winter journey in the wilderness, unsheltered and unprotected. So late was his departure, that the ice surprised him on the Chicago River, and there, in a wretched hovel, open to every wind, the dying missionary, upborne by the consolations of heaven, awaited the moment when Providence should enable him to complete his course. No murmur, no complaint escaped his lips, and his lan- guage in his letters soems to describe a place of abundance and comfort. With his two pious boatmen, he embarked again on the 30th of March, when the river had opened, and, in conse- quence of some delay, reached the Kaskaskias only on the 8th of April. He was received as an angel from heaven by the kind- hearted Illinois, who had, during the winter, shown their interest in their missionary by even sending him a deputation, and offer- ing to carry him to their village. Eager to profit by the strength which had been miraculously restored by a novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception, he went from cabin to cabin instructing the inmates. Then, when all were sufficiently aware of the doc- trines of the cross to follow his discourse, he convoked a genera!

FRENCH MISSIONS. 407

meeting in a beautiful prairi.. There, before their wondering eyes, he raised his altar, and, as true a knight to Mary as chivalry ever produced, displayed on every side pictures of that mother of all purity, who was to purify and elevate a land sunk in all horrid vice. At least two thousand men, with countless women and chil- dren, were grouped around, and with the breathless attention of the Indian, all listened to the pale and wasted missionary, who spoke his heart to them on the mystery of the cross. And still their wonder grew as they beheld him then offer up on his sylvan altar the holy sacrifice of the mass, on the very day when, more than sixteen centuries before, the God he preached had instituted it in the upper room at Jerusalem. Thus^ on Maundy Thursday, was possession taken of Illinois, in the name of Catholicity, of Jesus and Mary.

Marquette remained there instructing them till after Easter, which fell that year on the 14th of April. Then he felt that the strength given him begati to fail, and he was warned to depart, if he would die in the arms of his brethren at Mackinaw. He set out accompanied by the Illinois, whose fond adieus and earnest entreaties to return cheered him as he launched his bark at last on Lake Michigan, and began to coast along the unknown eastern shore towards Mackinaw. Day by day he sank, and his two poor companions trembled for their dear Father. No couch was there for the dying missionary, but the canoe, rocked by the waves, or the earth where they laid him at night. But Marquette was calm and cheerful. He spoke of his death, and gave them all directions for that awful moment, and for his obsequies. Ever a priest, he recited his office to his dying day, and almost his last act in life was to hear the confessions of his pious comrades. At last, as he reached a river, he pointed to a rising ground as the place of his interment. It was prophetical ; for though the day was c.ear, and the men sought to push on, a sudden change drove them back. When they laid him on the shore, the dew of death

408 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

was already on his brow. Repeating his last directions, he begged their pardon for all the trouble he had given. EM be- sought them, in his name, to beg pardon of his Superiors and all his fellow religious, and then, with a promise never to forget them, bade them rest awhile their wearied limbs. While they slept, he communed alone with God, till he telt that his hour was come. Then he called them to him, and with a loud voice pronounced, as lie gazed on his crucifix, his profession of faith, and thanked the Almighty for his mercy in permitting him to die in the Society of Jesus, alone amid the forests. Then with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, and his face lit up with a rapturous smile, his pure soul passed away, and the discoverer of the Mississippi, the founder of the Illinois mission, the most loyal servant of the Queen of Heaven that ever traversed our land, went on her chosen day and in her chosen month to chant her glories in heaven. It was, as he had asked, on a Saturday, the 19th of May, 1675.

Need we stop here to tell how they buried him there, and rais- ing a cross over his solitary grave, knelt to invoke his intercession with God, sure that in glory he could not forget them ; how, twc years later, his Kiskakons of Mackinaw disinterred the body, dried but undecayed, and removing the flesh, bore the bones in funereal triumph over the waters of the lake to Mackinaw ; how he was buried there in the centre of the church, as the guardian of the Ottawa mission.*

Thus, calmly and gently, as he had lived, died the sainted Mar- quette, a martyr to his zeal.f But the Illinois mission was des-

* Shea's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi, passim.

t Father James Marquette was born in 1687 at Laon, in Picardy, in the present department of Aisno, where his family had long held a distinguished rank. His mother was a relative of the venerable John B. de la Snlle, the founder of the Christian schools. Entering the Society of Jesus in 1654, he WHS for twelve years employed in study or teaching ; then exchanged from his province of Champagne to that of France, he came to Canada. After Btudying Montagnais, under Druilletes, he went to the West, and after founding Sault St. Mary's, became the missionary of the Ottawas and Huron*

FRENCH MISSIONS. 409

tined not to perish. Allouez, founder of so many western mis- sions, was chosen to cany out the plans of the discoverer. He set out in October, 1676, and wintering on the way, reached the Chi- cago in the spring. Here he met a band of eighty Illinois, who welcomed him with the calumet of peace, and accompanied him to Kaskaskia, which he reached on the 27th of April. He was immediately installed in Father Marquette's cabin, and, convoking the sachems, announced the object of his visit, and unfolded the mysteries of the faith, for all had to be begun anew, so changed was the village. Marquette had found but one tribe and seventy- bur cabins, where his successor found eight tribes in three hun- dred and fifty-one cabins, ranged along the river in a beautiful prairie.

Allouez began his mission by proceeding to the cabin of th« chief of the clan which he intended to instruct. There he pre- pared his little altar, and exposing a crucifix, began to explain th« Christian doctrine, and teach the most necessary prayers. All joined with the utmost alacrity, repeating the prayers, bringing in- fants to baptize and children to instruct.

On the 3d of May, the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, he raised in the midst of the village a cross twenty-five feet high, which for many a year stood erect, to show that Christ had been preached in that new land. Such was the fervor of the Illinois, that Allouez, seeing nothing to prevent a permanent mission, yielded to their entreaties, and baptized thirty-five infants and one

at Lapointe, with whom he removed to Mackinaw. His subsequent we have given. Zealous, laborious, cheerful, mild, and humble, he was the same in life as in death — forgetful of self. His last thoughts were for hia companions; his last entry in his journal, sympathy for the sufferings of the traders. Of his own he never spoke. His devotion to the Immaculate Con- ception was wonderful. He never wrote a letter without mentioning it. He gave that name to his Illinois mission, and to the great river which he dis- covered. He died on the 19th of May, 1675, aged forty-eight. His life may be found in Sparks' American Biography, vol. x., and more fully in Shea'i Wacovery of the Mississippi, xli.

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410 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

dying adult. In this he acted unwisely, as events proved. Hii mission was never to be permanently established in his lifetime. He nimself was driven from Illinois, and his enemies, who called the cross a stick, boasted that those whom he had bap- tized were growing up in idolatry.* Such an issue of events Allouez could not foresee, and doubtless he weighed the matter well before he conferred the sacrament on any of the infants not absolutely in danger.

After a short stay, he left Kaskaskia for Mackinaw, to make ar- rangements for a permanent residence there. In 1678, he again set out for his new mission, intending to prolong his stay for two years ; but soon after his arrival, the Iroquois invaded the country, the Illinois scattered, and the mission was checked.f Allouez ro- mained, however, till the approach of La Salle, in 1679. That commander was so opposed to the Jesuit missionaries, that he had refused to treat with the Senecas till they dismissed Father Gai- nier from the council-lodge ; and to Allouez he had constantly shown a personal opposition. Aware of this, Allouez thought it better to yield to the storm, and, with a heavy heart, retired to Mascoutens, awaiting the time when the clouds should pass away.J

Meanwhile, La Salle reached the village in December, but it was empty — all had gone some distance down the river to hunt buffalo. He came to colonize the West, and accumulate wealth by a monopoly of the fur-trade. The Illinois River was to see the first of his posts arise. Possessed of great influence with Indian tribes, he now soxight to win the Illinois. Descending with the current, his flotilla, arrayed for battle, came by a turn in the river into the very midst of the Illinois camp, at the head of Peo- ria Lake, on the first day in the year 1680. As soon as confr

* Le Clercq, Etablissement de la Foi ; La Salle in Ilennepin. t Shea's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi. I Hennopin, Eng. edition, 1697, appendix.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 411

dcnce was restored, La Salle entered into friendly relations with the tribtt, and began a fort on a rising ground. Misfortunes had meanwhile chequered his path. His vessel, the first to ply the waters of Erie, Huron, and Michigan, had foundered ; faithless agents had plundered his stores ; and he now set out for Niagara, across the unknown region on Lake Erie, leaving the Chevalier de Tonty, his lieutenant, in command of his new fort.

Although La Salle's object was purely a mercantile speculation, he was not indifferent to religion. Three missionaries of the order of St. Francis, and the reform called Recollects, had accompanied him. These were Father Gabriel de la Ribourde, who had been the first Superior of the Recollects after their itlurn to Canada, Fathers Zenobius Mernbre and Louis Hennepin. The last named was sent westward by La Salle before he himself set out, and never returned to Illinois ; but Father Gabriel and Father Zeno- bius at once began a mission among the Indians. Each was adopted by a chief, and both, when Tonty's men deserted the fort, were compelled to accept the hospitality of chiefs who had adopted them. Zenobius was the first to begin the study of their language, but unaided by previous studies of Algonquin dialects, with no grammar or vocabulary to guide him by analogy, his progress was slow. When Zenobius followed the Indians back to their village, Father Gabriel soon joined him, and even, at his advanced age, began to study the dialect of the Illinois. For both it was their first essay in an Indian mission, and what wonder that they were discouraged ! Like; many even in our days, they had misconceived the language of other missionaries, and when these spoke of great results, figured to themselves churches filled with neophytes. They had now to learn by experience that one or two conversions in their first years were really a splendid triumph.* They made none, and the excellent Father Membre was completely disheart-

* Le Clercq, Etab. de la Foi, i. 173, 179. For Hennepin's character, se« Discovery of the Mississippi.

412 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS-

ened. He baptized some dying infants, and two or three expiring adults . but even then saw one breathe his last amid the incanta- tions of the medicine-men, an apostate from his new faith. He visited a Miami village, but the same prospect met him there. Dejected as he was, he struggled on, for he was a faithful and earnest missionary, who, through every adversity, would bear up to the end. In September, however, a change of affairs blasted every hope. The Illinois were again attacked by the Iroquois. Unable to meet that terrible foe with their villages weakened by the absence of war-parties, the Illinois fled, leaving the mission- aries and their French companions alone. Tonty, Membre, and Ribourde had now no alternative but to try and reach Green Bay, the nearest spot where they could hope to receive a welcome. Embarking on the Illinois on the 18th of September, their canoe was soon injured by the rocks, and the next day they landed tc repair it. Leaving his comrades on the shore, the aged Father Gabriel retired apart to say his breviary. While thus engaged, he was met by a party of Kikapoos, out against the Iroquois, who ruthlessly murdered him. Such was the end of this holy religious, who, after having filled the most important offices in his order, had in his old age, consulting his xeal rather than his strength, embarked on a long and dangerous expedition, in the hopes of gaining souls to Christ.*

His companions, on discovering his absence, sought him in vain ; and when all hope was gone proceeded on their way, and, after

* Father Gabriel de la Eibonrde was the last scion of a noble Burpundian house, who renounced the world and its honors to enter the order of St. Francis, and then, when advanced in years, renounced the comforts of Europe for the wilds of Canada. He came out in 1670, and soon became Commissary or Superior of his order in the colony. His conduct in this position met universal praise. Sent by his successor to Fort Frontenac, he was induced by Ilennepin to join La Salle's party. He died on the 9th of September, 1680, in the seventieth year of his age, and the fortieth of hia rel'.gioub career, during most of which he held important offices. (See Hen- nepln's New Discovery, Le Clercq, Shea's Discovery of ?he Mississippi.)

FRENCH MISSIONS. 418

much suffering, reached the Jesuit mission at Green Bay, where a kindly welcome soon restored them to health and strength.

Thus ended the Recollect mission among the Illinois, for, though Father Zenobius passed through again in 1682, with La Salle, wher he went down the Mississippi, and again on his return, he makes no mention of any intercourse with the Indians.*

The next year Tonti restored the fort, and, feeling the want of a priest, welcomed Allouez with pleasure, when that missionary, in 1684, returned to Illinois with Durantaye. Aware, too, of the groundlessness of La Salle's suspicions against Allouez, Tonti per- suaded him to remain, and he did till 1687, when the survivors of La Salle's fatal expedition arrived .f As they falsely announced that the great adventurer was still alive and on his way, Allouez again withdrew to Wisconsin. Of these missions of Allouez no trace remains, and none of another apparently later visit He died in 1690 at Fort St. Joseph, full of days and merits, but the fragment which records his death gives no details of his labors. J

In the same year that Allouez withdrew, as we have stated, on the arrival of Father Douay and his companions, Father James Gravier visited Illinois,§ but his mission did not then become a permanent one. On the death of Allouez, the Superior of the Jesuit

* Shea's Disc, and Exploration. t La Hontan, ii. 146 ; Lc Clercq, ii.

t Of Father Claude Allouez I find neither the time nor the place of his birth. We know that on the 3d of March, 1657, he received permission to embark for Canada, and came out in the following year. After laboring at Three Rivers and Montreal he set out for the West in 1665, and labored there ateadily till his death, which took place about August, 1690k Fora sketch of his life, see Discov. of the Mississippi, p. 67. He was a fearless and devoted missionary: as a man of zeal and piety, he is not inferior to any of his day ; lind his name is imperishably connected with the progress of discovery in the West,

§ Tonti, in Louis. Hist Coll. i. p. 70. The English version of Tonti hag Crevier ; but as Gravier was on the Ottawa mission at that time (Catal. Prov, Francise S. J. 1688), we may safely infer him to be meant: all the names it the memoir having suffered in transcription or translation.

414 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

missions selected, as his successor, the now celebrated Father Se- bastian Rale, who set out from Quebec in August, 1691, but did not reach the great Illinois village till the next spring. On ar- riving at the first village, then composed of 300 cabins, all of four or five fires, and twice as many families, he was invited by the head chief to a solemn banquet, given in his honor. Yet kindly as his welcome was, he found that the faith had yet made but little progress. u There would have been less difficulty in converting the Illinois," says he, " if the prayer had permitted polygamy among them. They acknowledged that {he prayer was good, and were delighted to have their wives and children instructed ; but when we broached the subject to the men, we found how difficult it was to overcome their inconstancy, and induce them to adhere to a single wife." " There are none," he adds, " even of the medicine-men, of course the worst enemies of religion, who do not send their children to be instructed and baptized." , The account given by this missionary was written thirty years after, and is necessarily vague. As in most rising missions, the best and most certain fruit was the baptism of the infants, many ol whom died before attaining the age of reason : yet adult converts were not wanting. A considerable number had been won, and such was their fervor and attachment to the faith, that they would have suffered any torture sooner than forsake it

The services of religion were regularly maintained ; and besides the daily mass, all assembled in the chapel for morning and evening prayer.

After two years' stay amoug the Illinois. Father Rale was recalled to the Abnakis, his original charge, and Father Gravier again re- sumed the mission.* He was the first to analyze the language thoroughly, and compile its grammar, which subsequent missiona- ries brought to perfection, admitting that their labors were but

* Bale, in Lettros Edif and in Kip's Jesuit Missions, 40.

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developments of Graviei's masterly sketch.* As a missionary he met great opposition from the medicine-men, who often threatened his life. Patient and mild as Gravier was, he was no less firm and intrepid where duty required it. Of his mission we have a journal extending from March 20, 1693, to February 15, 1694, which gives some idea of his labors.

His mission was near the French fort, within which his fii-st chapel was ; but after wintering with the Mianris he erected a new chapel outside of the fort in a very convenient place for the Indians, and, opening it in April, planted before it a towering cross amid the shouts and musketry of the French.

The Peorias, among whom he labored, already numbered some fervent Chnstians. Even in the absence of their pastor the men assembled in the chapel for morning and evening prayer, and after they had left, an old chief went through the village to call the women and children to perform the same duty. The head chief, however, who was a medicine-man, with many of his associates, did all in their power to prevent the people from listening to the missionary, and eagerly endeavored to draw a discontented neo- phyte to their party, hoping to prove by him that Gravier poisoned the dying ; for here, too, that old calumny was spread. Even the French at the post, whose dissolute life could not brook the censor- ship of a priest, aided these slanders. During the year, hftwever, Ako, apparently the companion of Father Hennepin in his voyage on the Mississippi, married Mary, the daughter of the chief of the Kadkaskias; and this, although at first a source of great persecution to Father Gravier, became, in the end, a great help to the mission.

* None of his works exist. A catechism and dictionary were extant some years since, but seem to have perished. As a specimen of the language, we give from Kale his version of the "O Salutaris Hostia:" " Pekizhmu manet we Piaro nile hi nanghi Keninama \vi oo kangha Mero wiuang eosiang hi." — Kip, J^s. Mitnont^ 80.

416 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

When Ako sought her in marriage, far from being flattered with the prospect of a union with a Frenchman, she told her parents that she did not wish to marry ; that she had already given all her heart to God, and could not share it with another. This she re- peated when they all proceeded to the chapel, and there Gravier told her that she was free to marry or not, as she chose. Deeming Gravier her adviser, Ako and the chief resolved to drive him to per form the ceremony, or leave the place. The chief stripped hi daughter, and drove her from his cabin : then convening a council of the chiefs of the four nearest villages, he declaimed against the missionary, and easily induced them to issue an order forbid- ding the women and children to go to the chapel. Regardless 01 the order, fifty Peorias and some Kaskaskias came to prayers, and the intrepid missionary, as usual, traversed the villages to summon them at the accustomed hour. Finding this first step useless, the chiefs next blocked up the paths to prevent all from going ; but as even then some, by a circuitous path, reached the chapel, a chief, tomahawk in hand, rushed into the cabin during prayers, and, in a menacing tone, ordered all to leave. Gravier ordered him, in turn, to retire ; and, as the faithful Christians remained firm, the intruder was compelled to retire baffled. Such an outrage in the house of God was, the missionaiy deemed, too grave to let pass : he applied to the commandant of the French fort, but was himselt overwhelmed with reproaches and accusations, in the very presence of the Indians. Thus left exposed to every violence, the missionary could but mourn in secret over the blindness which had aroused such a storm. Meanwhile the poor Illinois maiden, finding, that her father threatened to use all his efforts against religion if she persisted, repaired to Gravier. Earnest as was her desire to lead a life of virginity, she trembled to see herself and her tribe deprived of a pastor. " Father !" she exclaimed, " I have a thought, and I know not whether it is good. I believe that if I consent to the marriage my father will listen to you, and induce all to do so. I

FRENCH MIS6IONS. 417

desire to please God and would wish to remain as I am to be agreeable to Christ ; but I have thought of consenting against my inclination for love of Him. Will this be right ?" The missionary, moved at her piety, approved her thought ; but bade her tell her parents distinctly that she did not yield to their menaces, but simply because she hoped that, by marrying a Christian, she could more easily gain them to Christ.

This she did, and consented to become the wife of Michael Ako,* more a victim than a bride. On this her father submitted, and pubHcly disavowed all that he had said against the Black-gown. After her marriage her life was of the greatest purity and virtue. By her example and exhortations she soon converted her husband, whose profligacy had been notorious. Reverses overtook him, and his only consolation in the general odium raised against him was the practice of his religion, and the society of his pious and devoted wile.

This elect soul was the great comfort of the missionary. Her love for Jesus, her devotion to Mary, her zeal for the conversion of her countryman were truly remarkable. When asked whether she loved the Mother of the Redeemer, she replied : " I do nothing but call her my mother, and beg her, by every expression of endear- ment, to adopt me as her daughter ; for if she is not my mother, and will not regard me as a child, how can I conduct myself? I am but a child, and know not how to pray : I beg her to teach me what to say to defend myself against the evil one, who attacks me incessantly, and will make me fall, if I have not recourse to her, and if she does not shield me in her arms as a good mother does a frightened child."

As may be supposed, her virtue gave her a wonderful influence in the tribe, and her father's position as chief redounding on her-

* Sometimes written d'Acan. The noble prefix was claimed, probably, from his having been a member of La Salle's expedition, to whom it wu granted by the king.

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418 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

f

self, ^ ivo Christianity a foothold it had never yet acquired. Her parent' conversion was now her great object : they were long deaf to all tior entreaties, — filled with bitterness against Gravier for his supposed apposition to the marriage, and giving full credit to all that Ako had then said. Conscious at last of this, the now re pentant Frenchman disavowed all that he had said against the missionaries. On this the chief and his wife called upon Gravier to instruct them. Summoning the chiefs of the various villages to a public banquet, the Kaskaskia sachem openly renounced all their superstitions, and urged them no longer to thwart their own hap- piness by resisting the grace of Chiistianity which God offered them. His wife made a similar address to the women ; and when Gravier had duly instructed them, he traversed the villages, calling all to the chapel to witness the ceremony of their baptism.

During the summer, sickness ravaged their villages, and many were again opposed to Gravier. Regarding him as " the bird of death," the source of the malady, they, in their incantations, mimicked and ridiculed his ceremonies ; but he fearlessly remained undeterred by their threats of personal violence. Strong in the jupport of the chief, who soon, amid the ingratitude of the French, showed the power of religion in checking his vengeance, the mis- sionary struggled on with the medicine-men, even holding his meetings of Christians in their cabins to prevent their being used for superstition, and throwing down the heathenish poles to which dogs and other offerings were attached.

During the absence of the tribe on the winter hunts, Madame Ako regularly assembled the children, who remained at her house for catechism, and herself fully instructed, rendered great service to the mission. Gravier himself at other seasons catechized all, and especially adults, using copperplate engravings of the scenes of the Old and New Testament, as texts for oral discourses. Madame Ako soon learned the narrative connected with each cut, and bor- rowing them, gathered not only her class around her, but th«

FRENCH MISSIONS. 419

oldest of the village, explaining more intelligibly than the mis- sionary what scene in Holy Writ was there portrayed. So great was the impulse given by these means to Christianity, that in the cate- chetical instructions which he 'gave every evening for two hours, Gravier had three fourths of the Kaskaskia village crowded into his cabin, old and young, chiefs and matrons, all ready to answer the questions of the catechism, and eager to receive a token of the missionary's approval ; while their children, day and night, sang in the village streets the hymns which Gravier had composed, embody- ing the truths of Christianity.

Such is the brief gleam of the Illinois mission in 1693, during eight months of which Father Gravier baptized 206 souls, many of them infants, who soon after died, and whom he was enabled to bathe in the sacramental waters only by stratagem.

His chief progress was, as we have seen, in the Kaskaskia tribe : the Peorias were more obstinate. The Tamarots and Cahokiashe would fain have visited ; but he was alone in the land, and when the Osages and Missouris, men of another language, came to pray him to visit their cabins, he could only promise to do what in him lay to reach their land.*

Of his labors in the ensuing years we have but scanty data : his name appears at various intervals on a register of baptisms from March 20, 1695, to February 22, 1699.f

Gravier was, as Marest informs us, recalled to Mackinaw, and succeeded by Father Julien Binneteau, whom we have seen as a missionary in Maine in 1693, and who was on the St. Lawrence in the following year; and by Father Francis Pinet, who founded the mission of Tamaroa, and was certainly in Illinois in 1*700. Binneteau's name is not in the catalogue of that year. Of him we

* " Journal de la Mission de 1'Immaculee Conception de Notre Dame au$- Illinois, 15th Feb., 1694," MS. I am indebted for a copy of this long and very interesting letter to the Hon. Jared Sparks.

t Dillon's History of Indiana, i.

420 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

know, that following the tribe to the upland plains of Missouri, stifled with the heat amid the tall grass, he contracted a deadly fever, and expired in the arms of Father Gabriel Marest, who, after being delivered from captivity in England, had returned to Canada.* The French had, meanwhile, under Iberville, reached the mouth of the Mississippi by sea, and projected a settlement One year after this we find Father Gravier, in 1700, at the mouth of the great river awaiting the arrival of the French vessels, from which he expected a necessary supply of articles for his Illinois mission.! He then apparently returned to his mission and continued hi& labors. Communication was now opened between the Illinois countiy and Fort Biloxi. Father Lymoges, stationed at first among the Oumas in the lower Mississippi, probably ascended with Gravier. Fathers Pinet and Bovie were also there, with Marest ; but Bovie, de Lymoges, and Gravier disappeared in 1703, and in 1704 Pinet died, having founded the Tamaroa mission, and obtained such benedictions of heaven by his zeal and labors that his church could not contain the crowds that flocked to it Bovie, and apparently Lymoges, had been withdrawn ; Gravier returned to Peoria, and renewed his labors; but the medicine-men excited a sedition, in which the missionary was dangerously wounded, and narrowly escaped with life. He descended to Mobile, which he reached on the 17th of January, 1706 ; but his wound, aggravated by the heat and motion of his long voyage down, proved fatal.J

* He was carried off from Hudson's Bay in 1695, and as Binneteau's name ia not in the catalogue of 1700 or 1703, his death must be between 1695 and 17*0.

t Sauvolle, in Louis. Hist. Coll. iii. 237.

J La Harpe, in Louis. Hist. Coll. iii. 36. Father James Gravier is said by a very incorrect writer to have been born at Lunel in Languedoc. The time of his arrival in Canada is uncertain. He was at Sillery in the fall of 1684, and the ensuing spring, but must have gone west S'K>n after, as he appears connected with the Illinois mission from 1688 till his death in 1706. Of his philological labors wo have already spoken. He first reduced the Illinoii language to grammatical rules. Some of his works are believed to have bean in the possession cf the late Ethnological Society at New York.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE ILLINOIS .MISSION — (CONTINUED.)

The priests of the foreign missions — Montigny — Bergier at Cahokia — His trials and death — Mermet on the Ohio — De Ville among the Peorias — Miami mission of Si. Joseph's — The famous Jansenist Varlet — General view of mission — Charlevoix'e visit — Father le Boulanger and his literary labors — All the Illinois settle on the banks of the Mississippi — The chieftain Chicago — Eulogium of the missionaries — Father Doutreleau and his narrow escape — Father Senat and his glorious death — Decline of the missions — Period of war — Gibault, the link of the old and new line of missionaries— Flaget— Kivet— The Chief Piskewah, or Richardville— The Indian ele- ment in the French population.

THE Illinois mission, thinned by these losses, devolved now on Marest and Father James Mermet, whose name appears as early as 1700.* They were unequal to the task before them. Coad- jutors were not wanting from an institute which owes its creation to the Society of Jesus. The Seminary of the Foreign Missions at Paris rose from a sodality of the Blessed Virgin, such as the Jesuits everywhere established. One of its earliest ornaments was Laval, the first bishop of Quebec, who founded a similar seminary at his see. Foreign missions being its peculiar object, it soon looked towards the West, and as early as 1699, Francis J. de Montigny, Vicar-General of Quebec, and Antoine Davion, proceeded to the Mis sissippi, and in July reached Biloxi.f Others followed, and now Tamaroa, the mission of Father Pinet, was confided to their care. A grant of land secured the permanency of their mission, which

* I cannot explain a passage in Marest's letter, where he says, that after the death of Binneteau and Pinet, he was alone till Mermet's arrival. Bin- neteau died before 1700, as his name is not on the catalogue of that year. Pinet's is on that of 1700 and 1703, so that he must have died in 1703 OB 1704 at the earliest, and yet Mermet is on the list of 1700 and 1708.

•f Sauvolle, in Louis. Hist. Coll. iii. 227 ; Ferland, Notes.

422 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

was long fruitful in good. The first of their clergymen sent tc Cahokia, as the post was more generally called, was. Mr. John Bergier, a man of true merit and most austere life. Being unused to Indian customs, and ignorant of their language, he was soon in difficulty. The medicine-men, awed by Pinet, now seized their opportunity, and sought to obtain the upper hand, and actually drew off some recent converts ; but Bergier was soon able to cope with his antagonists. He restored peace to his little church, and soon saw it increase in numbers and fervor. His health, however, failed, and Father Marest, then at Kaskaskia, which had already assumed its present position, hastened to his relief. He found Bergier ill indeed, but that zealous missionary soon rallied. He urged Marest to return to his post ; but soon after the departure of the Jesuit Father, he again relapsed, and finding it too late to recall him, prepared for death, and pressing his crucifix to his lips, expired.* While the medicine-men danced in triumph, glorying in his death, and broke the cross which he had planted, Christian runners hastened to Marest, who came to render the last rites to his deceased fellow-laborer.f

By this time, then, we see two regular missions — one at Ta- maroa, thus deprived of its second pastor, the other at Kaskaskia, tinder Father Marest Father Mermet, meanwhile, was at a new French post on the Ohio, founded by Juchereau, laboring almost in vain among a party of Mascoutens who had migrated to that river. Peoria, where Gravier received his death-wound, had been for a time the station of Marest, but was now vacant, and the In- dians, in punishment for their cruelty to their late missionary, were

* Marest, in Lett. Edif., and Kip's Jes. Missions, 214.

t John Bergier, priest of the Seminary of the Foreign Missions, is said to have arrived in 1683. He reached the Illinois country after the spring of 1694,. and in all probability as late as 1704, the earliest period to be assigned to Pinet's death. His own decease took place, according to Noiseux, on tne 16th of July, 1710, in his 58th year. It is mentioned in Marest's letter o« Novel iber, 1712. Kip's Jes. Missions, 214.

TRENCH MISSIONS. 423

cut off from the French trade. Marest visited them again in 1711 and found them humbled and conscious of their fault. The chiefs implored him to renew his mission, promising to destroy the power of the medicine-men, and hearken to the voice of the missionary. From the apparent sincerity of their repentance, Father Marest, then on his way from Mackinaw, promised to return to his old post, but on reaching Kaskaskia, found the French and Indians there so muck opposed to his removal, that he sent Father de Ville, who had recently joined the mission, to renew the faith among the Peorias. De Ville was a man of zeal and talent, and possessed of the art of winning Indians, so that the progress of the mission was rapid.

Besides these Illinois' missions, there existed a mixed one on St. Joseph's River, to which we have already alluded.* La Salle, on liis way to the Mississippi, had built a temporary fort on that river, not far from the portage leading to the Theakijd. Here his party rested for a time ; but no Indians seem to have been near, and had they been, the Recollects were not acquainted with their language. Soon after his time, however, a band of Miamis settled on the northern, and a band of Pottawotamies on the southern shore, near the fort. Father Allouez was soon placed here, but when, precisely, does not appear. Father John B. Chardon, who was on the Ottawa mission as early as 1700, was stationed here in 1711. According to Marest, he was a missionary of great zeal and rare facility in acquiring Indian languages. This mission is the first among the Miamis after that at Mascoutens, founded by Allouez, where some Miamis were found.

Such were the mission-posts in Illinois and on its borders in 1712. St. Joseph's for the Miamis and Pottawotamies, under Chardon ; Peoria, under de Ville ; and Kaskaskia, under Marest

* It was partly Pottawotamie. At this time the Miamis consisted ot three villages — one on the St. Joseph's, one on the Maumee, and the other tn the Wabaah. CharlevoLx, v. 278.

424 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

and Mc-rmet, who had joined him. Tamaroa was not long unoo cupied. As successor to Bergier, came, probably in 1712, Dom- inic Mary Varlet, a doctor of the Sorbonne, whose subsequent career was a scandal to the Church. For nearly six years he was a zealous* and laborious missionary among the Illinois, but on his return to Europe, where he was raised to the episcopacy as Goad jutor of Babylon, in 1718, he avowed his Jansenistical doctrines, became the head of the schismatic church of Utrecht, and died interdicted, deposed, and excommunicated by three successive popes.* About the same time the Kev. Philip Boucher is said to have labored in Illinois, chiefly at Fort St. Louis.f

Of the other missions, till 1721, nothing is recorded; but we may here give some idea of their position and success, as well as of the labors of the devoted missionaries. Not even at this epoch was the whole Illinois nation converted. Few, indeed, of the Peo- rias had bowed to the cross, and, as we have seen, the pagan party at Tamaroa was still powerful. Yet the Christians were no in- considerable body, forming the very elite of the nation. Before their conversion, cruel and licentious to the most frightful degree, the Illinois had, under the influence of religion, softened their sav- age customs, and became so pure in morals, that the French settlers frequently chose wives from the Indian villages. These

* He was at Quebec in 1717, about to return in the spring with another priest.— Pew's Paris Doc. vii. 124. He died in 1742. See de la Tour, Vie do Mgr. Laval, 101 ; Feller, Diction. ; Kohrbacher, Histoire Gen. de 1'Eglise, xxvii. 155.

t Noiseux is the only authority for this. According to him, this clergy- man, born at Quebec, and ordained there in 1689, set out for Illinois in 1692, and was with Bergier till 1696. After which he labored in Arkansas, but returning to Illinois, died at his mission of St. Louis in 1719. Much of this is at variance with all other accounts, but as it may lead to some better date, we insert it. He was, according to M. 1' Abbe Ferland, son of Pierre Boucher, Governor of Three Rivers, and author of a work on Canada.

Noiseux also ranks Mr. GeoftVoy Thierry Erborie among these mission- aries, and states that he died in Illinois in 1727. As to the credit to b« given, however, to this work of Mr. N., see Martin. Relations das Je&uitCB. Faillon, Vie de M. Bourgeoys, i. 275.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 425

intermarriages are indeed represented as so frequent, that we must consider the present French families of Indiana and Illinois as to some extent representing the Illinois Indians, whose blood flows so freely in their veins. The labors of the missionary here, as among the Abnakis of Maine, had two fields — the villages at one season, the hunting or fishing ground at others ; being thus partly fixed, and partly nomadic. The Illinois had two great buft'alo hunts — • the short but severe summer hunt on the parched upland plains, and the winter one, which lasted four or five months. All the clans went on these hunts, except some Kaskaskias, who preferred a permanent abode. The missionary had to follow his flock of hunters, and undergo incredible fatigue in visiting the scattered huts. Those who were separated from the missionaiy assembled at night in a large cabin for prayers, and recited in their chanting way the rosary, so dear to all Catholic converts.

The village afforded the missionary greater consolation by the regularity which prevailed. "Early in the morning," says Marest, " we assemble the catechumens in the church, where they say prayers, receive an instruction, and sing some hymns ; then the catechumens retire, and mass is said for the Christians, who sit as in all Indian churches, the two sexes on different sides ; then follow morning prayers and an instruction, after which they dis- perse to their several avocations." The missionary's day was then taken up by visits to the sick, in which he was often obliged to become physician to body as well as soul, comforting, consoling, instructing all. The afternoon was set apart for those regular catechetical instructions by which the truths of religion were in- culcated, in old and young, till they became a part of their thoughts, a tradition of the tribe, for thus alone can any nation become Christian. The chapel at sunset was filled again by the village, assembled for evening prayer, and in responsive chant they closed the day as piously as it began. This was the ordinary day. Sundays and holidays witnessed still greater devotion, and

426 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS

each Saturday the confessional was thronged by fervent penitent^ for most of the Illinois Catholics received every fortnight.*

In 1721, Father Charlevoix visited these missions. As we have already stated, he found the Mi amis and Pottawotamies of St. Joseph's almost all Christians, but, from the long absence of a mis- sionary, fallen into great disorders, so that it would require great efforts to revive piety among them.

Peoria, which rewarded Gravier's labors with death, and had, on its repentance, been assigned to Father Louis de Ville, was again without a missionaiy, and almost entirely pagan. Yet it presented hopes. The great chief wore on his breast a cross and a figure of the Blessed Virgin. He had found the latter, and wore it with confidence when told that it represented the Virgin Mother of God ; that the infant in her arms was the Redeemer of man- kind ; that she was the help of Christians invoked by them in the hour of danger. Believing this, one day, when a lurking Fox In- dian aimed at him, he invoked Mary, for Lis own gun was un- loaded. The Fox five times missed fire, and as the Peoria had now his gun to his shoulder, the other surrendered, and the votary of Mary led him in triumph to the village. At the time of Char- levoix's visit, the chiefs little daughter was dying, and he brought her to the missionary to be baptized.f

The chief missions were now on the banks of the Mississippi. The Cahokias and Tamaroas under the priests of the Foreign Mis- sions ; the Kaskaskias, Christian Peorias, and the Metchigameas, a tribe whom Marquette found near the Arkansas, still under the Jesuits. None of the missionaries named by Marest remained. That illustrious Father, whose name is so intimately associated with the Illinois mission, had been apparently recalled, for his death is said to have occurred some years later.J

* Marest, in Lett. Edif. ; Kip. t Charlevoix, vi. 129.

t NoLseux. Besides his missions in Illinois, F. Gabriel Marest was em-

FRENCH MISSIONS. 427

Cahokia was on a little river about a mile from the Mississippi, which was gradually retiring on that side. Composed of two tribes, informed a large town. The two missionaries had both, in other days, been pupils of Father Charlevoix at Quebec. At the time of his visit, the elder, Dominic Thaumur de la Source, who had been stationed there at least two years,* was absent ; the other, Le Mercier, a man feeble in health, severe to himself, but full of charity to others, and inspiring all with a love of virtue, now struggling with a mission which seemed above his strength, but which he attended for many years.f

The Kaskaskia mission had just been divided into two : one, stated to have been the more numerous, was about half a league above old Fort Chartres, within gunshot of the river. It was ander the direction of Father Joseph Ignatius le Boulanger, a man of great missionary tact and wonderful skill in languages. His Illinois Catechism, and Instructions in the same dialect for hearing mass and approaching the sacraments, were considered by other missionaries as masterpieces. To enable the latter to avail them- selves of his labors, he added a literal French translation. In 1721, he was assisted by Father de Kereben.J The Jesuit Father de Beaubois was parish priest at the French village below the fort, and the second Kaskaskia village, six miles inland, was directed by Father John Charles Guymonneau, apparently at the time Supe- rior of the mission.§

Almost all the Illinois were now Christians, and greatly attached to the French. They cultivated the ground in their own way, and had become, under the influence of religion, very industrious, raising poultry and live stock to sell to the French. The women

jfloyefl in Hudson's Bay, and there taken prisoner by the English. He wrote two letters in the Lettres Edifiantes.

* Spalding's Life of Bishop Fbigel, 126. t He is nam?-d in 1789

t Le Petit, in Lettres Edifiantes ; Kip!

§ Spalding's Life of Flaget, 12(5, makes him Superior in 1719-

13

4:28 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

were adroit, weaving of buffalo-hair a fine glossy stuff, which they dyed of various colors, and worked into dresses for themselves manufacturing a fine thread with great ingenuity.*

In the following year the Illinois of the Rock and Fimiteouy, harassed by continual attacks from the Foxes, resolved to aban- don the old villages,! and join their countrymen on the Mississippi. This was providential for them ; for they had long been too far removed from the missionaries to profit by their instructions. On the banks of the Mississippi they all became Christians, led by the chief who had already such confidence in Mary/J;

Louisiana was now rising in importance, and on its organization as a colony, Illinois became subject to its government. The Jesuits, after failing at first, were at last established at the mouth of the Mississippi, and their Superior at New Orleans had the superintendence of the Illinois mission. Missionaries for the Illi- nois country now came by way of the Mississippi. Thus, in 1725, we find Fathers de Beaubois and de Ville ascending the river, fol- lowed in 1727 by Fathers Dumas, Tartarin, and Doutreleau. At the same time Father le Boulanger was still Superior of the Illi- nois mission,§ and Father C. M. Mesaiger directed the Miami mis- sion of St. Joseph.||

The Illinois Christians frequently descended to New Orleans, and le Petit describes the edifying conduct of a party, led by their excellent chieftain, Chicago. " They charmed us," says he, " by their piety and edifying life. Every evening they recited the beads in alternate choirs, and every morning heard my mass, chanting at it, especially on Sundays and holidays, prayers and hymns suited to the day. They are well acquainted with the his- tory of the Old and New Testament Their manner of hearing

* Charlevoix, vi. 140. '

t They were near Buffalo Eock, La Salle Co. 111. ; Reynold's 111. 20.

I Charlevoix, iv. 234. § Le Petit in Lett. Edit

I Register of St. Joseph's, 1724.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 429

mass and approaching the sacraments is excellent. The mission- aries do not suffer them to grow up in ignorance of any of the mysteries of religion or of their duties, but ground them in what is fundamental and essential, which they inculcate in a manner equally sound and instructive."

Chicago had been in France, and had learned the advantages of civilized life. Mamantouensa, another chief, was not inferior to him. Seeing the Ursulines with their pupils, he exclaimed to one : " I see you are not nuns without an object. You are like our Fathers, the Black-gowns, you labor for others. Ah ! if we had three or four of you, our wives and daughters would have more sense, and be better Christians." " Well," said the Mother Supe- rior, " choose any that you like." " It is not for me to choose," replied the truly Christian chief; "it is for you, who know them; for the choice should fall on those who are most attached to God, and who love him most."*

Hitherto we have cited the missionaries themselves, or members of the same missionaiy bodies. Their judgment was not peculiar to themselves. While the Illinois mission, under the wise guid- ance of le Boulanger, was rapidly gaining in numbers, an officer of the French marine in Louisiana writes : " Nothing is more edi- fying for religion than the conduct and unwearied zeal with which the Jesuits labor for the conversion of these tribes. There are now Illinois, Apalache, even Choctaw Christians. Picture to yourself a Jesuit missionary as a hero. Four hundred leagues away in the depths of the forests, without comforts or supplies, often with no resource but the liberality of men who know not God, obliged to live like them, to pass whole years with no tidings of their coun- try, with men human only in figure, without relief or society in the hour of sickness, constantly exposed to perish alone, or fall by the hand of violence. Yet this is the daily life of these Fathers

* Le Petit, in Lettres Ediflantea.

430 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

in Louisiana and Canada, where many have shed their blood for the faith."*

Louisiana was soon to see her missionaries tread the path of those of Canada. Before the descent of Chicago, which we have mentioned (for he and his pious followers were a war-party), Fathers Poisson and Souel had been killed by tbe Indians in the rising of the Natchez. An Illinois missionary, Father Doutreleau, was well-nigh involved in the massacre. He had set out on the first day of the year 1730, and deeming it impossible to reach Father Souel's chapel in time to say mass, landed at the mouth of the Yazoo to offer up the holy sacrifice. A rustic altar was soon raised, and the missionaiy began to vest, while his boatmen loi- tered along the shore, firing at the wild-fowl. Some Indians came up, and to their hail, responded, " Yazoos, friends »f the French ;" so, without delay, all knelt down, French and Indian, alike before the altar. Just as the priest was about to begin the glorious chant of the angels at Bethlehem, the Indians, who knelt behind, fired, killing one of the boatmen, and wounding the missionary in the arm. His companions fled to their boat, but Doutreleau knelt to receive his death-blow. When, however, they had twice fired, and twice missed him, he sprang to his feet, and enveloping the sacred vessels in the altar-cloth, fled, vested as he was, to the shore. The boat had put off, but the missionary, though wounded again, reached it, and seizing the rudder, urged his comrades to ply their oars vigorously. The hope of escape was almost too slight to nerve an arm with vigor, for two were wounded, all un- armed, and almost destitute of provisions, for they had nothing but one bit of pork. Death from exhaustion or famine seemed their only prospect, could they even distance the enemy ; but their trust was in God. For an hour the Yazoos pressed on in hot .pur- suit, pouring in volley after volley on the unarmed French, till at

* Relation de la Louisiane : Amsterdam.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 431

last the latter, by adroitly showing an old rusty musket, when the pursuers came too near, distanced them, and the Yazoos returned to boast of having killed them all. After many other dangers on the liver, Father Doutreleau and his companions at last reached the French camp at Tonicas.

More terrible was the trial of another Illinois missionary, Father Senat. As the Natchez war proceeded, the French resolved tc attack the Chickasaws from Louisiana and from Illinois. The latte* expedition was led by Dartaguettes and Vincennes. Senat accom- panied it as chaplain. Success attended the first efforts of the French and Illinois ; but at a third fort, meeting a determined re- sistance, the Illinois gave way, and the French were surrounded. A few cut their way through ; the rest fell into the hands of the Chickasaws. Bienville, who led the expedition from Louisiana, still pressed them on the south, and the prisoners were spared for a time. Among them was the " generous Senat, who might have fled ; but regardless of danger, mindful only of duty, had remained on the field of battle to receive the last sigh of the wounded." While their fate was undecided they received no ill treatment ; but when Bienville retired, the prisoners were brought out, tied by fours to stakes, and put to death with all the refinement of Indian cruelty. One alone was spared to record the story, but he has left no nar- rative of their last scene. We only know that to the last the de- voted Jesuit exhorted his companions to suffer with patience and courage — to honor their religion and country.*

The Illinois mission was now to decline ; the mismanagement of Louisiana affected the whole valley of the Mississippi. The foil in Illinois, garrisoned by dissolute soldiers, where liquor was freely sold to the Indians, added to unsuccessful ware, thinned down the tribe, so that in 1750 there were but two Indian missions, both con-

* Dumont, ii. 229 ; Charlevoix, iv. 298. The place of their death is said to be in the present county of Pontotoc, Miss. Keyuold's Illinois, 40.

432 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

ducted by Jesuit Fathers : one containing six hundred Indians undei Father Francis Xavier de Guienne and Father Louis Vivier, then recently arrived, and actually studying the language ; the other still smaller, under Father Sebastian Louis Meurin, probably at Vincennes.* The priests of the Seminary of Foreign Missions had no longer any charge over the Illinois, but continued at Cahokia as pastoi-s for the French. A third Illinois village completed the nation, now so reduced that it could not raise three hundred fight- ing-men.

The Miami mission had not been made subject to Louisiana. St. Joseph's still flourished under the care of Father John Baptist La- morinie ;f and among the Weas, near the present town of Lafayette, we then find Father Pierre du Jaunay, who had been at St. Joseph's in 1745.J

Twelve years later Choiseul drove the French Jesuits from their colleges, and surrendered the possessions of France in North America to England and Spain. The centre of the mission at New Orleans was suppressed in 1762, and all further reinforcement was cut off' from the Illinois mission. Part of the Jesuit property in Illinois had been sold by the French government,§ and the means of the missionaries thus reduced.

The Fathers generally remained as secular priests in their former missions, under the authority of the Bishop of Quebec, till one by one they died off. Gagnon, Vivier, Meurin, and others ended their lives where they had labored. Father Peter Potier, the last Jesuit in the West, was at St. Joseph's in 1751, and frequently visited the Illi- nois country down to his death in 1781 at Detroit.

The great political changes by which the flags of France, Eng-

* Menrin was at \Tincennes from 1749 to 1753 ; Vivier, from 1753 to 1766 ; and Julian Duvernay, the last Jesuit, from 1756 to October, 1763. Keglster cited by Spalding, Life of Flag^t, 41. The body of Father Meurin was a few years since transferred to St. Louis.

i Keg. St. Joseph's. J Spalding, 41. § Reynold's Illinois, p. 62.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 433

land, and the United States, in quick succession, floated over the Illinois country, with the Miami war, which ensued the Ameiican occupation, had prevented any new organization of the missions. The Rev. Mr. Gibault, who was there during the brief English rule, and down nearly to the close of the century, ministered for many years to both French and Indians : Flaget, afterwards Bishop of Bardstown and Louisville, was for a time at Vincennes, followed by Rivet, a priest driven from France by the Revolution — a man of learning and ability. During his ministry at Vincennes, from 1795 to 1804, Rivet devoted himself especially to the Indian tribes in that territory. In his Registers he styles himself " Missionary to the Indians, temporarily officiating in the parish of St. Francis Xavier." God rewarded his zeal with abundant fruits ; his Registers show baptisms and marriages of many Indians of different tribes — Pot- tawotamies, Weas, Piankeshaws, Miamis, Kaskaskias, and even Sioux and Cherokees.

Some of his Indian converts were most exemplary, and he men- tions especially a chief named Louis, commonly called " Le vieux priant" — the old Christian — who died on White River during a winter encampment, shortly after having approached the sacra- ments at Vincennes.*

In subsequent years the few remaining Indians came incidentally under the care of other clergymen : Bishop Rosati baptized the brother of the great chief; Bishop Blanc, when at Vincennes, fre- quently ministered among them. Some of them had entirely adopted the European dress and customs, and acquired ease and competence, such as John B. Richardville or Piskewah, son of the chieftainess, who led the Miamis at Harmar's defeat.f Many of the others, however, had relapsed into paganism — retaining, never-

* Spalding's Flaget, 117.

t Ann. Prop. ii. 40, i. 344 ; Schoolcraft. He died August 13, 1841, buried at St. Mary's, near Fort Wayne.

434: AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

theless, an attachment to the Catholic religion, and a desire of baptism.*

The Miami and Illinois clans were, however, soon after carried west of the Mississippi, and thus fell within the district of the Jesuit Fathers, whose labors we shall hereafter treat in detail.

Such is the story of the Dlinois mission, one of the most suc- cessful in our annals ; and though the tribes were generally docile, its early missionaries number many who may some day be enrolled in our national martyrology. Marquette, its founder, and Binneteau, died in the wilderness ; Ribourde, Membre,f Gravier, Rale, and Senat, by the hand of violence, and Doutreleau narrowly escaped a similar fate.

Of the result of the mission we are not to judge by the small bands that remain, sole survivors of the wars and diseases which have almost extinguished the clans. More than in any other part the settlers intermarried with the Indians, and there are few of the French families in Illinois and Missouri that cannot boast their descent from the noble tribe which has given its name to the former State.

* Ann. Prop. x. 188.

t As we have frequently mentioned the gentle Membre, we may here give some details as to his life and death. Zenobius Membre1 was born at Ba- paume, in Artois, in 1645 (Paris Doe., Boston, iii. 88), and was a cousin of Father Le Clercq, the author. (Hennepin.) He was the first novice in the new province of St. Anthony, and c»me to Canada in 1675. Three years after he accompanied La Salle west, and in 1682 returned to France, where he became Warden at Bapaume. When La Salle sailed toLouisinna he accom- panied him, and on bis being wrecked was left in Texas, At a fort near Galvestou Bay, with Father Maximus Le Clercq and the Sulpitian Chefdeville. Hero Membre projected a mission among the friend-ly Cenis, or Assinais; but the fort was attacked, and all its inmates killed by the Quouquis, i-n 1687 or 1688. See Le Clercq, Joutel, Ensayo Cronologico, cited in the Discovery mud Exploration of the Mississippi. Father Membre was universally es- teemed for his mildness and virtues ; and his Journal, published in the work of Le CJercq, gives a most favorable idea of his worth.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE LOUISIANA MISSIONS.

Father Matquette visits tribes on the Lower Mississippi— Hennepin, tho Sioux — Mem- bro, the Arkansas — Jesuits succeed him — The Stminary at Quebec and its projects-- Montigny descends as Vicar-General — His plans— Missions of the Canadian clergy — The Taenzas and Tonicas— St. Come at Natchez— The Jesuits — De Limoge at the Ournas — Mr. Foucault among the Yazoos — His death — Close of the Jesuit mission — Davion and the Tonicas — Death of St. Come — Davion finally retires — Father Char- levoix — New Jesuit mission — I)u Poisson in Arkansas— Souel on the Yszoo — 'J'iielr death in the Natchez war — Yazoos attack F. Doutreleau — Father <le I'lUieiU'.e ai-o the Alibamons — Father le Petit and Baudoin among the Choctaws — Suppression 01' the Jesuits, and close of the mission.

THE discovery of the existence of a great river in the West ha 1 inflamed the zeal of the Jesuit missionaries on the upper hikes. "In this western world they t had ever been the pioneers of civili- zation and the faith ; scarce a river was entered, scarce a cape was turned, but a Jesuit led the way." A new world now opened to their ambition of love : they resolved to explore it. Accident after accident arrested their progress. Marquotte resolved to open the way : he made his preparations at Lapointe, in 106'J, to visit " this river and the nations that dwell upon it, in order to open the passage to so many of our Fathers who have so long awaited this happiness." But again accident prevented their further pro- gress. The French government at last resolved to undertake the exploration, and sent Louis Jolliet, a native of Quebec, to explore the river. Marquette, to his great joy, was deputed by his Su- periors to accompany him, and thus was at last enabled to realize his ardent desire of extending the kingdom of Christ, and making his name known and adored by all the nations of that vast country. Thus they set out — the one the envoy of the French government, to explore, the other the envoy of the Almighty, to illuminate the valley with the light of the gospel.

They embarked at Mackinaw on the 17th of May, 1673 ; and,

136 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

ascending Fox River, entered the Wisconsin and floated down ta the lordly Mississippi, which the pious Marquette, " with a joy,' says he, "which I cannot express," named the River of the Con ception. On the 25th of June he reached the Peorias and Moin- gwenas, Illinois clans.

Passing the Missouri and Ohio, he found a party of Indians on the shore resembling both Hurons and Iroquois, whom he address- ed in the Huron language, and being understood, was invited to their cabins. Who they were, the missionary gives us no sur- mise ; they were evidently unacquainted with the French, but traded with some Europeans at the east, and, as it would seem, with Catholics. To these Marquette announced the gospel, and leaving medals to show the visit of a Black-gown, proceeded.*

About 33° north he came to the Metchigameas, who prepared to attack them. In vain Marquette showed the calumet ; death seemed inevitable, and the little party, commending themselves to the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, prepared to die by the shower of arrows which threatened them. But the aged chiefs stopped the turmoil, and they were saved. Now hospitably received, Mar- quette, by an interpreter, endeavored to give them some knowl- edge of God and the way of salvation. Imperfect, indeed, it was, but as he remarks, " it is a seed cast in the earth which will bear its fruit in season," and in season the Metchigameas joined the Il- linois mission which Marquette founded, and were absorbed in that tribe.f

He next reached the Arkansas, on the eastern shore, and by that good people was received with all favor. Finding one well acquainted with the Illinois tongue, he delivered the presents ol the faith, explaining each in Indian style. They showed great admiration for his doctrines and the truths which he announced, and entreated him to take up his stay among them.J

* Marquette, in Shea's Discovery, <fec. 43. t Id. 45. J Id. 47.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 437

Here the missionary and his companion ended their exploration, and returned by way of the Illinois River, visiting the Peorias and Kaskaskias as we have already seen.*

The Cross was thus planted again in the valley of the Missis- sippi. Marquette from the north reared it at the mouth of the Arkansas, whose head-waters had been reached by Father Padilla, and whose waters meet the Mississippi not far from the spot where a Spanish priest had knelt to hear the dying confession of De Soto:

The Jesuits were unable then to evangelize this mighty field Tn 1680 the adventurous La Salle was in Illinois, but accident having compelled him to return to Canada, he sent the Recollect Father Hennepin to explore the Elinois River to its mouth. The missionary set out with two companions in March, reached the Mississippi, and for a month sailed on till he was taken by a Sioux party, and carried to a village near St. Anthony's Falls. Here he was detained till July, when he was delivered by Duluth, who Lad the previous year explored the Sioux country .f During his captivity Hennepin seems to have made no attempt to announce the gospel, and merely, after some hesitation, baptized a dying infant. J

La Salle returned to Illinois in 1682, and descended the Missis- sippi accompanied by the Recollect Father Zenobius Membre", a man of great zeal and mildness. On reaching the Arkansas in March, Membr6, delighted with the manners of the people, planted a cross, and attempted, chiefly by signs, to give them some idea of Christianity and the true God.§

They now entered on a new region, passing beyond the limit reached by Marquette. The next tribes, the Taenzas, were reach- ed on the 22d of the same month. Thoir eight populous villages and half-civilized natives seemed a most promising field for the

* See Illinois Mission. t Paris Doc. vi. 269.

J Hennepin, in Shea's Discover) , where his character is discussed.

| Membre, in Shea's Disc. 170.

438 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

gospel ; and the pious Recollect here too endeavored to give th« poor benighted natives some notion of a purer faith, and raise their minds from the sun and fire to " Him that made them, more beautiful and mightier than they."*

Visiting the Natchez and Tangibaos they now proceeded to the sea, and then returned. Thus, by Jesuit and by Recollect, Christ was at last announced along the mighty river, from the Falls of St. Anthony of Padua to the Gulf of Mexico, and naught remained but to find apostolic men to complete, by ysars of patient toil, the outline made by the missionary explorers.

The unhappy La Salle, whose life was ever checkered by mis- fortune, endeavored in 1685 to reach the Mississippi by sea, hoping to colonize the West, but he failed, and after landing in Texas per- ished in an attempt to reach the Mississippi. Of his Texan colony •we have spoken elsewhere.f It was cut to pieces by the Indians ; but of the party with him at his death several, among others the Recollect Anastasius Douay and the Sulpitian Cavelier, reached Illinois, but performed no missionary duty among the Mississippi tribes. Douay returned in the fleet with which the gallant Cana- dian, Iberville, at last reached the delta of the Mississippi in 1699, and ascended the river for some distance, but did" not remain.J

A Canadian had first reached the mouth, and was to be the father of the new colony. Canadians were to be the pioneers of the faith. The Bishop of Quebec and his clergy resolved to en- ter the great field opened by Marquette. Tonty, the faithful lieu- tenant of La Salle, had obtained of him a grant of a considerable tract on the Arkansas River. Here he built a house and fort in 168.1, and being a man of genuine and sincere piety, had sought to obtain missionaries for the new post. Unbiassed by the preju- dices of La Salle, he applied to the Jesuits, the more readily, per- haps, as Couture, whom he sent to begin the post, had been a donne

* Membre', id. p. 173. t See note, p. 434. t La Harpe's Journal

FRENCH MISSIONS. 439

of those missionaries, and had shared with Jogues the trials and tor- ments of Indian captivity. By a deed dated November 26, 1689, he gave to Father Dablon, then Superior of the Canada mission, a strip on the Arkansas River, a little east of his fort, of about eight acres, for a chapel and mission-house, besides an immense tract on the opposite side of the river near the Indian village, for the sup- port of a missionary. This mission was to begin in November, 1690, and the missionary was, among other things, to build two chapels, raise a cross fifteen feet high, minister to whites and In- dians, and say a mass for Tonty on his feast, St. Henry's day.*

What missionary was then sent does not appear, nor is there any account of the duration of his mission. It could not, how- ever, have been ksting, as no trace remains of its existence.

If the Jesuits of Quebec attempted any missions on the Lower Mississippi they soon abandoned them. In the capital of Canada an institution still exists, founded by the illustrious Laval, the first Bishop of Quebec. This is the Seminary, itself a filiation of the Seminary of the Foreign Missions at Paris, from which Laval had come. Like the house to which it owed its origin and spirit, the Seminary of Quebec had long aspired to enter on the work of evangelizing the heathen, but avoided all rivalry with bodies then engaged in that undertaking. Now, however, a vast field lay open to them, ou which the Jesuits and Recollects of Canada de- clined to enter.

St. Valier, Bishop of Quebec, claiming the valley of the Missis- sippi as part of his diocese, was= also desirous of establishing his clergy at the mouth of the great river. As pioneer of the new missions, the Seminary chose Francis Jolliet de Montigny, a man of vast designs and boundless zeal. Invested by the Bishop with the powers of Vicar-General. Montigny set out with Anthony Da- vion, a priest of the same seminary, in the Ottawa flotilla of 1698.f

* Deed in Bureau des Terres. t De la Potherie, iv. 10ft.

440 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

After wintering at Mackinaw they visited the Illinois, trie last Jesuit field, and entered the Mississippi. Descending to tbt Taenzas, Montigny was charmed with the dispositions of the tribe.* The Taenzas were half civilized, and occupied eight towns or villages composed of houses built of earth and straw, with many articles of furniture not found among the northern tribes. The people were subject to an absolute chief, who was treated with great honor. In dress, too, they were somewhat advanced, being clad in a cloth woven of the fibres of a tree. Selecting this as his own station, the Vicar-General proceeded to the Tonicas on the Yazoo River, and raising a mission-house, es- tablished Davion as a laborer there.

At the Red 'River they heard of a French settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi, and resolved to visit it. After ten days' sail in their bark canoes, suffering greatly for want of water, they reached Biloxi on the first of July. As it was too poor to offer them hospitality without danger, they remained but ten days, and again set out for their posts with presents for the Great Sun of the Natchez, wine for mass, flour, and some necessary tools. It is probable that Mr. de Montigny went at once to the villages of the Natchez, among whom he proposed founding a new mission, for which another priest had arrived : this was the Canadian, John Francis Buisson, commonly called de St Come, who was at his post before Iberville's coming in lYOO.f

This nation was by far the most civilized to be found in the val- ley of the Mississippi, as their country was the finest. Adorers of the sun, they had a temple in its honor, built, like their houses, of earth and straw, where a fire was kept constantly burning in honor of their god. The great chief bore the name of Sun, and

* La Hiirpe, in Louisiana Hist. Coll. iii. 16.

t Sanvolle, Journal in Louisiana Hist. Coll. iii. 227 ; La Harpe, in Louisi- ana Hist. Coll. iii. p. 17, says that Iberville found hhn at Natchez, Manh 11, 1700.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 441

he was the high-priest of the nation, daily offering an oblation of incense from his calumet to his pretended sire. Succession was in the female line, and the mother of the Sun, or female chief, was treated with the greatest honor, although she took no part in the government.

Among these, then, St. Come took up his residence. He soon gained the favor of the female chief, who was indeed so attached to the Black-gown that she conferred his name on one of her sons. But his labors were not blessed with fruit : his instructions were seed which fell on the rock. No converts to the faith enabled him to begin a church of Natchez Christians ;* yet he struggled on for some years undeterred by his ill-success.

About the same time Davion visited the villages of the Chicka- saws, but no mission could be attempted in a tribe already devoted to the Engiish.f

Besides these missionaries, of whose presence on the Lower Mis- sissippi there can be no doubt, a work on the Canadian clergy names two others as companions of the Vicar-General. These were Michael Anthony Gaulin and Geoffry Thierry Erborie. The fonner attempted a mission among the Assinays or Cenis, but after a struggle of two years, in the midst of constant ill-treatment and danger, he abandoned his mission and embarked for Quebec by sea. The latter repaired to the Choctaws, and labored among them and the Natchez till 1709, when he returned to Illinois.

Of these missionaries, however, we find no trace in the early documents relating to Louisiana, and the account is probably erroneous.

These missionaries, all of whom belonged to the secular clergy of Canada, were not alone — the Jesuits of France sent members to a field which they had been the first to explore. With Iberville came a Father of the Society of Jesus, Father Paul du Ru, followed

* Charlevoix, vi. 194. f Sauvolle, Louisiana Hist. Coll. iii. 281.

19*

442 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

soon after by Fathers Joseph de Limoges and Dongy. Du Ru was intended for the Natchez, but as St. Come was actually there, remained at the fort. De Limoges, whom we find at a subsequent period laboring in Illinois, now proceeded to the Oumas on Red River, and began a mission among them, which apparently lasted several years.*

Thus almost coeval with the settlement of Louisiana, when the civil power had but a single petty fort, the Church had begun missions among the Taenzas, Tonicas, Natchez, Arkansas, and Oumas, and probably among the Choctaws and Cenis, and was laboring to elevate them to civilization and truth by the light and practice of the gospel.

Zeal did not, however, command success. Like every other mission, that of Louisiana was baptized in blood, and illustrated by the deaths of its pioneers. In 1702 Nicholas Foucau!t,f who had arrived tfie previous year, and was laboring among the Yazoos and Tonicas, set out with three Frenchmen for the fort, attended by two young Koroas as guides. Led by hopes of plunder, or insti- gated by hatred, these treacherous savages affected the murder of the whole party near the Toniea villages ; thus giving the zealous Foucault the glory of first shedding his blood in the dangerous mission.

On learning his death, Davion, the missionary among the Toni- cas, and Father de Limoges, from the Oumas, deemed it no longer prudent to remain in so exposed a situation, and descended to the French fort, which they reached on the 1st of October.}; The governor determined to exact reparation for the murder, and this

* He was there in 1702.

t Nicholas Foucault was, according to Noiseux, a Parisian, ordained at Quebec in 16S9. For ten years pastor at Batiscau, he was impelled by zeal for the missions to follow Montigny, and set out for the Mississippi in 1701. Noiseux erroneously puts his death in 1718.

J La Harpe, in Louisiana Hist. Coll. iii. 28, 32. The chief put the murderew to death. Mem. de Richebourg, id. iii. 246.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 443

made a return still more dangerous. Meanwhile Father du Ru projected a new mission at the Bayagoula village, but as disputes had arisen between him and Sauvolle the commander, the latter made complaints in France which led to the recall of du Ru and the abandonment of the Jesuit mission in Louisiana. Dongy died at Mobile in 1704, of a pestilence in which he had displayed the zeal and charity of his order. De Limoges apparently ascended to Illinois and du R-u returned to France.*

Thus closed the Jesuit mission. De Montignyf and Gaulin had long since departed, and not a missionary remained below the mouth of the Illinois, except St. Come, to realize the schemes which the zealous Montigny had formed.

At last, however, in December, 1704, the Tonicas sent their deputies to Mobile to beg Davion to return and instruct them. Although they had hitherto shown little regard to his teaching, he finally yielded to their solicitations and returned, but resolved to adopt a different course from that which he had^ hitherto pur- sued. He spoke freely and boldly, denouncing their vices and idolatry, and urging them to embrace Christianity. Finding them

* Cretineau-Jdly, La Harpe, Sauvolle, ut ante iii. 237.

t Francis Jolliet de Montigny, who took so conspicuous a part in organ- izing these early missions on the Lower Mississippi, was l>orn at Paris, but ordained at Quebec on the 8th of March, 1693. After being Cure at St. Ange Gardien, and Director of the Ursulines, he was sent to the Mississippi in 1698, with the title of Vicar-General. His right as such was Apparently not recognized by the Jesuits with Iberville, and he seems not to have met any support in his missionary projects from that Canadian officer. The period of his stay is not known. He is said to have been Superior of the Seminary of Quebec from 1716 to 1719, and to have died in Paris in 1725, al the age of 64.

Michael Anthony Gaulin was born at Ste. Fumille, in Isle Orleans, and was. elevated to the priesthood in December, 1697. He spent the ensuing year at Lorette, in charge of the Hurons. but left them to accompany Montigny. On his way from Mobile to Quebec, in 1702, he was wrecked on the coast o£ Maine, and, as we have seen, for a time aided the Abnaki mission. He die J •t the Hotel Dieu, Quebec, March 6, 1740, aged 67.

444 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

deaf to Lis exhortations, he destroyed their temple and quenched their sacred fire. Incensed at this, they drove him from their village, but were so indifferent in reality that they took no steps to rebuild their sacred edifice, and soon after invited Davion to return.

St. Come, meanwhile, was laboring among the friendly Natchez ; but he too was destined to be cut off by plundering Indians. De- scending the Mississippi in 1707, with three Frenchmen and a little slave, he was attacked and murdered while &»leep by the Siti- machas, who to the number of eighty surprised the little party. Bergier, the Cahokia missionary, was on the river at the time, and announced the sad tidings at Biloxi. On hearing it, the governor called on his Indian allies to avenge St. Come ; and the Sitima chas were almost exterminated by the Natchez, Biloxis, and Bay- agoulas.*

Davion was now alone, but he too soon after finally left the Tontcas, who, though so attached to him as to offer him the rank of chief, showed no desire to adopt the dogmas and morals of the gospel.f A change, however, came over them. He once more became their missionary, and such we find him till 17 16. By this time the chief and several others had been baptized. The former had even adopted European costume, and acquired some knowl- edge of French. Still, Davion was soon forced to leave for ever.J

* La Harpe, in Louisiana H. C. iii. 35 ; De Eichebourg, id. 245, mis- dates. John Francis Buisson, of a family originally from St. Cosme-le-Vcrt, was baptized at Pointe Levi, February 6th, 1667, by Father Henry Nonvel. He was ordained in 1690. — Note of Abbe Ferland. Noiseux gives 1711, as the year when he went West, and 1717 as that of his death ; but La Harpe men- tiima bis arrival in 1700, and his death in 1707. If not a companion of M. ue Montigny, he must have followed him closely.

t Memoire de M. de Eichebourg, Louisiana H. Coll. iii. 246 ; Kip s Jes. Missions, 246.

J Davion is said by Noiseux to have been a native of Issigny, in Norman-

J.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 445

The visit of Father Charlevoix in 1721 revealed to France the spiritual destitution of both French and Indians on the Lower Mississippi, where not a priest was to be found, except at Yazoc and New Orleans.* To supply its various posts the company naturally turned to the religious orders, and finally entered into an agreement with the Capuchins and Jesuits, by which the former were to supply priests for the French posts, and the latter for the Indian missions. The Capuchins accordingly entered New Orleans in 1722, and became the parish priests of that city and colony, their Superior being Vicar-General of Quebec. The Jesuits, who were allowed a house in New Orleans, though precluded from exercising any functions, except by leave of the Superior of the Capuchins, entered in 1725. The first colony consisted of Father Vitre, Superior, Fathers le Petit, de Beaubois, and de Ville ; the two last-named being old Illinois missionaries, who in all probabil- ity returned to their former posts. The others established them- selves outside the city, in a house purchased of M. de Bienville, the commandant.

In 1727, Father de Beaubois, then Superior, received a new party, consisting, it would seem, of Fathers du Poisson, Souel, Dumas, and de Guyenne, followed soon after by Tartarin and Doutreleau, both for the Illinois mission.

Severed from Canada, and attached to Louisiana, this mission was, in fact, the only one in existence. New posts were, however, projected, tribes selected, and Fathers sent at once to their various

dy, to have arrived at Quebec, May 24, 1690, and to have been a parish priest till 1700. On leaving the Tunicas he remained at New Orleans till just before the arrival of the Capuchins, and then returned to France, where he died before 1727. See Charlevoix, vi. •

* The latter post had always been attended by a chaplain. The Eev. Mr. de Vente and four other priests arrived in 1704 ; and when the Western Company undertook to colonize the country, M. Francis le Mayre is men- tioned as the first chaplain on Dauphin Island. Charlevoix ; Paris Doc, Canada, ii. 640 ; La Harpe, in Louisiana Hist. Coll. iii. 36.

AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

destinations. The Arkansas mission, the oldest of all, projected by the Jesuits, and perhaps cultivated for a time by Boucher, was to be restored, and the light-hearted du Poisson was named to it : de Guyenne set out to announce the faith to the Alibamons, and le Petit founded the first Choctaw mission ; while Souel proceeded tc Yazoo, to raise his sylvan chapel beside the French post. Dumas. Tartarin, Doutreleau, went to swell the numbers of the Illinois Fathers.

Du Poisson, after a voyage full of discomfort, of which he has left us a most graphic description, reached the Arkansas post on the 7th of July, 1727. When a short distance from the village, a company of Indian youth announced his coming, and the tribe poured forth to receive him. Their first question was: "How many moons will Paniangasa, the Black-chief, stay among us ?n "Always," replied a Frenchman. The Arkansas doubted; but when assured that du Poisson came indeed to teach them to know the Great Spirit, as other Black-gowns had taught the Illinois, the Indian exclaimed : " My heart laughs within me when you tell me this." At the Sauthouis village the missionary was received with every mark of joy by the great chief in his antichon, or rural pavilion. Yet at first Father du Poisson needed all his pru- dence, as he found that they expected from him rather a profitable trade than instruction. A few days after his arrival a deputation waited upon him for leave to come and dance the Calumet, or at least the Discovery dance. The French sent by Mr Law to the \ikansas had, on the dance of the Calumet, made great presents, and they would expect the same now ; if the missionary established a precedent, it would entail great difficulty, and he avoided it. The Discoveiy dance being less expensive, he agreed to allow it. Their 'visits to him were now continual, and having learned the words " Talon jajai," " How do you call that," he soon col- lected a considerable vocabulary, though as yet unable to apply L nisn-lf regularly to the investigation of the language. He saw

FRENCH MISSIONS. 447

perfectly the difficulty of his task, and says that it will require much time to be able to address the Indians understandingly on religious matters.* For a time he was devoted to study and to the care of the thirty Frenchmen at the post, whom sickness soon made ob- ^ects of his solicitude.

Here he labored till 1729, although we do not know with what success.

Meanwhile Father Souel had been left at the Yazoos, intended, apparently, to minister to the French, and announce the gospel to the Yazoos, Ofagoulas, and Coroas. This missionary was rudely treated by the climate : on his way up he fell sick at Natchez, and, though he had recovered when Father Poisson left him at the mouth of the Yazoo, he subsequently relapsed, and his constitution was completely shattered. Yet he took up his residence in the Indian village, and devoted himself to the study of the language, endeavoring to gain the good-will of all.

The two missions were, however, soon destined to fall. In 1727, the French commander at Natchez had, by his arbitrary conduct, exasperated the chieftain of that tribe. Silently and secretly the Great Sun sent his runners to the neighboring tribes to engage all to rise on one appointed day, and by a simultaneous attack sweep the French from Louisiana.

Ignorant of this, Father du Poisson, who had conceived a plan of removing the Arkansas villages, set out in November for New Orleans to consult Perier, the governor, as to its expediency. By the 26th he reached Natchez. It was Saturday, and as Father Philibert, the Capuchin chaplain of the post, was absent, the people begged him to stay and say mass for them the next day. To this request du Poisson acceded, remained, said mass, and preached

* The present remnant of the Arkansas are called Quapaws, the ancient name of the people, at first written Oo-yapes or Oo-gwapes. Their language is of Dahcota origin, and nearly approaches the Usage, of which a specimen will be given.

4:48 AMERICA^ CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

doubtless on the terrors of the Last Day, for such is the theiae o the gospel of the day. After mass, as he had lost his companion, Brother Crucy, by a sun-stroke, he determined to return to hia mission ; but wishing to administer the last sacraments to some sick persons, he remained another day. Monday was the fatal moment fixed upon by the Natchez in their secret council for the massacre. While du Poisson was preparing to say mass and carry the viaticum to the sick, the signal for slaughter was given by the Great Sun. A gigantic chief rushed on the devoted missionary Du Codere, the commandant of the Yazoos. who stood beside du Poisson, endeavored to save his life, but was himself cut down ; and • the savage felling du Poisson to the ground, hacked off his head with a hatchet. In a short time every Frenchman at the post shared his fate, and the women became captives in the hands of the Natchez.*

The Yazoos had joined the people of the Sun in their plot, and, although they had just returned from New Orleans, whither they had gone to dance the calumet of peace, united with the Coroas, whose hands had been the first to spill the blood of missionaries, and pre- pared to massacre the French. They began with Father Souel. On the 1 1th of December, as the missionaiy was returning through a ravine to his cabin from a visit to the chief, he received a volley of musket-balls, and fell dead on the spot. His cabin was then plundered, and his faithful negro, who, ignorant of his master's fate, attempted to resist the violence of the murderers, was cut to pieces. Remorse for this treatment of one who they knew really loved them, soon followed. The Yazoos mourned over their own folly ; but the blow was struck, and it was too late to recoil. The next day they attacked a French fort a league distant, and massacred the inmates, sparing only the women to keep as slaves.

* Le Petit, in the Lettres Edifiantes ; Kip, 286 ; Dumont, Louis. H. C. V 19-72.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 449

They then attempted to cut off Father Doutreleau, but, as we have seen elsewhere, providentially failed.* A war of vengeance now ensued : the French, aided by the Tonicas, Arkansas, Choc- taws, and other tribes, nearly exterminated the Natchez, and drove the Yazoos and Coroas from their territory. In this war a woman recovered her liberty, who gave some account of the remains of Father Souel. " I saw him," said she, " lying on his back in the canes very near his house ; they had taken nothing from his body but the cassock. Although he had been dead a fortnight, his skin was stil! as white, and his cheeks as red as if he were merely sleeping. I was tempted to examine where he had received the fatal blow ; but respect checked my curiosity. I knelt for a mo- ment beside him, and brought away his handkerchief, which lay near his body." This same woman, full of veneration for the mis- sionary, finally induced the Indians to give him burial.f

The Natchez massacre, which thus desolated the valley of the Mississippi, arrested forever the Yazoo mission, and deprived the Arkansas of their beloved pastor. Another was indeed sent to console them for the loss which they had sustained, for they daily mourned his death. Of the subsequent history of the mission no trace remains. Vivier tells us that the post was vacant in 1750, and the Register does not date further back than 1764, when we find Father S. L. Meurin,J the last of the Jesuit missionaries in Illi- nois, officiating here.

The tribe was known among the French by the name of Arkan- sas, but their distinctive name was Ouguapas, or Kappas, and one of the clans bore the same name ; the others being the Torimans, Dogingas, and the Sauthouis. Known at present under the name of Quapaws, they were early in the present century visited by our western missionaries, and are now in the diocese of Bishop Miege.

The third Jesuit mission was that of the Alibamons, a tribe who

* Dumont, in Louis. Hist. Coll. v. 80. t Kip's Jesuit Missions.

I Spalding's Flaget, 152.

450 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

have left their name to the State of Alabama. The mission wa» founded by Father de Guyenne, but it was much exposed owing to the proximity of the English, and Indians in English interest, in Carolina. After much opposition on the part of the latter, de Guyenne succeeded in building cabins in two different villages, so as to be able to learn the language and instruct the people ; but his cabins were soon demolished, and though he persevered, the pios- pects of the mission were so unpromising in 1730, that Father le Petit writes that he would probably be compelled to confine his zeal to the French fort of the Alibamons, or leave the country entirely.* The Choctaw mission, the fourth of those begun by the Jesuits in Louisiana, was the most exposed and difficult of all.f It was founded by Father le Petit, but he was replaced prior to 1730 by Father Baudouin. The Choctaws, though allies of the French, and battling with them against the Natchez, were a wild and law- less band, and could not be relied upon. The missionary acquired no ascendency over them ; he could not even obtain from their hands the church plate and vestments recovered from the Natchez and Yazoos. Desperate, however, IB his mission was, Baudouin persevered for eighteen years on the unproductive field.| Of his

* Le Petit, Lettres Edif. xx. 100; Kip's Jesuit Missions, 810.

t According to Mr. Noiaenx, a Choctaw mission was begun in 1713 by John Daniel Testu, a native of Cape St. Ignatius, in Canada, who was or- dained in 1698, and went to join Mr. de Mont'gny in 1712. In August, 1718, while on his way to Mobile, he and his party, while cabining at night on shore, were attacked by Indians, and at the first volley Testu received a lirtal wound. His age is given as fifty. Of this Charlevoix, who was on the river in 1721, and mentions Foucault and St. C6me, makes no mention, and the Hon. Mr. Viger does not include him in the list of martyred Canadian priests. According to the same unreliable writer, Mr. Erborie also preached to the Choctaws.

J Our Father in Choctaw reads as follows :

9. Piki *ba ish binili ma ! Chi hohchifo ht>t holitopashke. 10. Ish apeli- chika yet clashke. Nana ish ai ahni ka yakni pakna ya a yohmi ki?t, z>ba yakni a yohmi mak o chiyuk mashke. 11. Ilimak nitak ihlpak pirn ai rlh- pesa kaki ish pi ipetashke. 12. Mikmi't nana il aheka puta ish pi kushofl kct pishno i>t nana pirn aheka puta il i kashofi chatuk a ish chiyuhmichasuke.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 461

struggles during that period we have no record. A letter oT his from the Indian town of Tchicachee, dated November 23, 1732, is still preserved at Paris in the archives of the Marine and Colonies, and is said to be an interesting account of his mission, but it has never been copied.*

When Baudouin was at last on the point of reaping the reward of his long labors, the troubles excited by the English and his manifest danger, induced Father Vitre, then the Superior, to re- call him to New Orleans. He was himself Superior in 1750, and tenderly attached to the field of his toil, was taking measures to restore the mission ;f but its subsequent history is unknown, al- though it subsisted till about 1770.J

Such were the Jesuit missions in Louisiana. They never had the extent nor the favorable field which those of Canada at first possessed, and unfortunately the missionaries employed have left us scanty memoirs of their exertions. The missions extend in their utmost limit from 1700, the visit of Montigny, to 1714, and from the arrival of Father Vitre, in 1725, to 1764. In the later years of this period, the hostility then growing against the Society of Je&us in France greatly impeded the success of any missionary effort, and rendered it impossible to attempt any extension of their plan. The French court at last suppressed all the houses of the order, and seized their property. The royal officers in New Orleans, without awaiting the royal decrees in form, dispersed the Jesuits at the point of the bayonet, confiscated their property, and sold it off prior to February, 1764§ With this ended all the Jesuit missions in the lower valley of the Mississippi.

Under the Spanish rule, there is no trace of any effort made to restore the ancient missions, although some attempt was probably

18. Mikmut anukpulika yoka ik ia chik pirn aiahno hosh, amba nan okpuls B ish pi a hlakcfihinchashke. Amen. — Cnoctaw Testament, Matt. vi. 9.

* Louisiana Hist. Coll. ii. 77 ; Arch. Portf. 8 n. 407.

t Vivier, in Lettres Edif. et Curieuscs ; Kip.

J Ann. Prop. ix. 89. § Louisiana Hi»t. Coll, ii. W

452 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

made at the time when New Orleans was made an episcopal See. No mission was, however, established, and the Jesuit missions wer« the last colonial efforts to civilize the Indians in the lower an<? western valley of the Mississippi.

The missions which we have thus described never acquired the solidity and permanence of the others. The Quapaws-Arkansas are at the present time almost the only remnants of the old French missions. They are, as we shall see, now under the care of the Jesuits in Indian Territory.

Like the other missions, that of Louisiana can count its heroes who did not hold life dearer than duty. Foucault, St. Come, Membre, Cavelier, Testu, du Poisson, and Souel dyed with their blood the land where they had preached the gospel, earnestly, zealously, if not with fruit.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE LOUISIANA MISSIONS REVIVED IN MISSOURI AND INDIAN TERRITORY.

Louisiana becomes part of the United States — Dn Bourg, Bishop of New Orleans— The Society of Jesus restored — Du Bonrg invites the Jesuits to Missouri — Disposition ol the Indians — Fathef Van Quickenborne leads out a colony of missionaries — La Croix among the Osages — Schools— Odin and the Qtiapaws — Van Qnickenborne's plan — Andnze with the Apalaches and Pascagoulas— Lutz and the Kansas— The Flatheads — Van Quickenborne' prepares to found permanent missions — The Kikapoos — Potta- wotamies — Neighboring tribes — Death of Van Quickenborne — New mission among the Osages — Tne Miamis — Sioux — Blackfeet — The territory formed into a vicariate — Bishop Miege — State of his diocese.

THE power of Spain in Louisiana passed now to other hands. The eagle of Napoleon and the tricolor of the Republic were to occupy the territory colonized under the lilies of the Bourbons, But almost at the same instant the whole vast territory was trana- ferred to the United States

FRENCH MISSIONS. 453

Spain, as we Lave seen, did nothing to restore the Indian mis- lions begun by France. Indeed, after suppressing the Jesuits, it was difficult enough for her to meet the exigencies of the missions already established. Still, she was a Catholic power, and the acts which gave the sway of the country to Napoleon or the cabinet at, Washington, gave omen of sadder days for the cause of Catho- lic zeal. Such was not, however, the case. In the designs oi Providence it was the prelude to the new Indian missions which have been carried on vigorously to the present time.

As before, the Jesuits were to be the pioneers, and their new missions were to be a legitimate consequence of their former efforts. Their houses had, as we have seen, been suppressed by the government of France : the society itself was extinguished by Pope Clement XIV. Many members remained in Canada and Maryland, laboring in the ranks of the secular clergy, but none of the French Jesuits who had labored in America lived to see the restoration of their order. Not so those of England. Several of the Fathers in Maryland survived the close of the century, two oc- cupied the episcopal chair as Bishop and Coadjutor of Baltimore. When Pius VII. approved the society as existing in Russia, and permitted those in Naples to reorganize, Carroll and Neale, in a touching address, implored the same privilege for the aged Fathers of Maryland. This was granted, intercourse with Russia was opened, and when the society was finally re-established by the bull " Solicitude omnium ecclesiarum," the Maryland mission was already in a state of prosperity.

When the zealous du Bourg was appointed to the See of New Orleans, the whole of the country west of the Mississippi, with iti Indian tribes, became the field of his labors. This was the ancient Louisiana. To revive the faith in the Indians who had been' con- verted, to call others to the faith, needed zealous, devoted men, and he applied to the Jesuits of Maryland.

The western tribes remembered the old missionaries, and re

454 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

jected the ministers offered by government Sioux and Miamia called in sickness on the Black-gown and solicited baptism. The Osages,* headed by their chief, Sansnerf, invited the Bishop to visit their villages, and promised to embrace the faith.f Al- though relying mainly on the Jesuits, du Bourg did not let the time pass in vain. La Croix, chaplain of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart at Florissant, was sent in 1821 to the Osage tribe. He was well received at the only village not then engaged in the chase, and from their welcome conceived great hopes of seeing the faith prosper. During his stay he baptized forty of various ages. Having thus prepared the way, he returned in 1822. Noth- ing could exceed the joy of the Osages at his leiurn : they came out on horseback to meet him, and then with every mark ot honor conducted him to the cabin of the chief, Sansnerf. After a series of banquets here, he spent ten days in visiting the other

* The Osages, first made kn^-n by Marquette, were frequently visited, and, as we have seen, invited Gravier to their country. In 1720 some ol the Missouris went to France, and the chief's daughter having embraced Christianity, married Sergeant Dubois ; but the tribe soon after their return massacred all the French at the post. — Dumont, in Louisiana Hist. Coll. v. 37.

In the language of the Osages, the Our Father, for which we are indebted to Bishop Miege and Rev. F. Schoenmakers, is as follows :

" Intaatze ankougtapi manshigta ninkshe, shaashe digta Father our sky sitting in name thy

ougoupegtzelow. Wawalatankapi digta tshigtailow. Ilakistze be it worshipped much. Greatness thine let it come. As thy will inksh* manshigta ekionpi manshan lai akaha ekongtziow. Hiunpale

in sky they do earth this on just so let it be. This day

humpake sani waatziitze onkougtapi wakupiow. Ouskan pishi

day all corn our give us dealings bad

waxshigepa onkionlc ankale ekon ouskan pishi ankougtapi

to us have done we again throw off. We so * dealing bad ours

waonlapiow. Ouskan pishi ankagchetapi wasankapi ninkow.

throw away from us. Dealings bad ours us try not

Nanshi pishi inkshe walitsisapiow. Ekongtziow.

but evil in remove from us. Be it so.

t Ann. Prop. I. i. 239 ; iv. 56.

FRENCH MISSIONS 455

villages, everywhere meeting a most cordial welcome. His in- structions were heai d with attention, divine worship attended with respect, and he was about to build a chapel, when he was seized by a dangerous fever, which compelled him to return.*

Meanwhile the Jesuits of Maryland had joyfully accepted the offer of du Bourg, which a promise of the government to allow two hundred dollars a year for each missionary rendered free from all hazard. The novitiate in Maryland contained seven young Belgians, Francis de Maillet, Peter J. de Smet, Verreydt, Van Asche, Clet, Smedts, and Verhaegeu, directed by the Father Masters Charles Van Quickenborne and Temmerman. Embar- rassments had for a moment induced a design of dissolving the novitiate, but on the offer of the Bishop of New Orleans it was offered to him to transport to Upper Louisiana, there to become a hive of missionaries. Setting out at once, the Jesuits soon ar- rived, and began an establishment at Florissant,f where, by the month of June, 1824, they had opened a boarding-school for In- dian boys, of whom they had eight, supported by a government allowance,! while the Ladies of the Sacred Heart had about as many girls in their school.§

The Jesuits were thus restored to the missions on the Missouri : those on the Mississippi were confided to the Lazarists, who pro- iected a foundation at Prairie du Chien.|| One of their body, Odin, now Bishop of Galveston, visited the Quapaws on the Ar- kansas River. Nothing could exceed their joy at the arrival of a missionary. " Now will I die happy," said the^ aged chief Sar- rasin, who had come out with all his family, " now will I die hap- py, as I have seen my father, the Black-gown of France." Though all really pagans, they preserved an affectionate remembrance of the missionaries, and evinced a strong desire to have one among

* Ann. Prop. I. ii. 51 ; iv. 57. t Id. I. iv. 40-43 ; Cret. Joly. vi. 288.

t Id. I. iv. 49. $ Id. ii. 397. | Id. I. v. 71.

456 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

them again. Mr. Odin said mass among them, and gleaning som® idea of their religion and customs, returned to obtain, if possible, some means to restore the Arkansas mission.*

Father Van Quickenborne now drew up, at the suggestion of the government, his plan for the improvement of the Indians. It was as follows :

" 1. Our little Indian seminary should continue to support the present number of boys from eight to twelve years of age, while the Ladies of the Sacred Heart in our neighborhood should bring up about as many girls of the same tribe. They should be taksn young, from eight to twelve, to habituate them more easily to the customs and industry of civil life, and impress more deeply on their hearts the principles of religion.

2. After five or six years' education, it would be good that each youth should choose a wife among the pupils of the Sacred Heart before returning to his tribe.

3. Within two or three years two missionaries should go to re- side in that nation to gain their confidence and esteem, and gradu- ally persuade a number to settle together on a tract to be set apart by government. Agricultural implements and other necessary tools for the new establishment to be furnished.

4. As soon as this new town was formed, some of the couples formed in our establishments should be sent there with one of the said missionaries, who should be immediately replaced, so that twc should always be left with the body of the tribe, till it was gradu ally absorbed in the civilized colony.

5. Our missionaries should then pass to another tribe, and pro- ceed successively with each in the same manner as the first.

6. As the number of missionaries and our resources increased, the civilization of two or more tribes might be undertaken at once.

The expense of carrying out this plan might be estimated thus:

* Anu. Prop. ii. 880 ; iii. 49«.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 457

Supper* of 16 to 24 children in the two establishments $1900

Three missionaries 600

"Total |2500

Such was the great scheme projected by the Jesuits of the West, never indeed to be realized, but, as their history shows, one which would have approached, if it did not obtain, complete suc- cess."*

The Jesuits had thus their field atfthe north. In 1825 the Rev Mr. Anduze had reached Nakitoches with Bishop du Bourg, and found there the remnant of the Apalaches and Pascagoulas united in a single tribe, whose cemetery showed them to be Christians, although from the long want of pastors ignorant, knowing little beyond their prayers, but all careful to baptize the children. f

To carry out his plans, Van Quickenborne, in August, 1827, visited the old Osage village near Harmony, and in the house of the Presbyterian missionary baptized ten, heard confessions and said mass, for many of the tribe were Catholics. He then visited the villages on the Niosho, where, to the joy of the Indians, he spent two weeks, and baptized seventeen of the tribe.J

About the same time the chief of the Kansas arrived at St. Louis to treat with the Indian agents. In a public assembly he requested some one to teach his nation how to serve the Great Spirit. A Protestant minister present offered to go : but the chief eyeing him, said with a smile, " This is not what I ask : this man apparently has a wife and children, like myself and other men of my tribe ; I do not wish him. Whenever I come to St. Louis I go to the great house (church) of the French, there I see Black- gowns vrho have no wives or children : these are the men I ask." Joseph Anthony Lute, a young German priest of a delicate consti- tution, but. intrepid and full of zeal, heard this and entered into correspondence with the chief.§ Bishop Rosati at last yielded hia

• Ann. Prop. ii. 894. t Id. iv. 506. J Id. iv. 512. § Id. ill. 5iO.

20

458 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

consent, and Lutz set out for his mission with Vasquez, the pioua agent of the Kansas, who died on the way, leaving the zealous priest to pursue his way alone.*

Arriving at the Kansas village, all was to be begun : the cus- toms, language, and ideas of the Indians were to be studied, a mis- sion site selected, and good-will to be gained. The tribe was then desolated by sickness : nearly two hundred had died, and now the chief, Nombe-ware, lay at the point of death. This chieftain, whose name, Furious, characterized his disposition, had in his ill- ness raved furiously against God. No sooner, however, had he heard of the coming of the Tobosca or Black-gown than he hav himself borne to meet him, entirely changed in heart. " 0 Fa- ther," he cried, " welcome : at last I see him whom I have so much desired ; my heart leaps with joy. Pray the powerful Wachkanta (Wakonda) to restore my strength, for I will aid you in your la- bors among the Kansas." The tribe received the new missionary with every mark of respect, which increased on their perceiving how easily he adopted^ their usages. The arrival of a government agent enabled him to address them in a body, and announce the object of his coming. A very good disposition was evinced, but such was the barbarism and superstition of the tribe that he did not venture to baptize any adults, although many solicited the sacrament at his hands.f

In 1828 Van Quickenborne again visited the Osages, while Badin in the south baptized at Attacapas some of the almost an- nihilated tribe of Sitimachas,J and Odin, a Shawnee chief.§ This was not all: in 1831 two Flatheads of a party of four fell Bick at St. Louis, and by signs requested baptism, which was administered, it being found that they had learned some idea of Christianity from two Iroquois of the Caughnewaga mission, who

* Ann Prop. iii. 589, 550. f Id. ii. 558.

1H. iv. 572, 599. § Id. vii. 185.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 45S

had wandered thus westward and been adopted among the Flat- heads.*

A rich field thus opened for the new missions : tribes eager to receive the Catholic, and steadily rejecting the Protestant envoys; soliciting the doctrine which their fathers had so coldly heard ; the government not opposed, and even inclined to 'favor in some degree the efforts of Catholic missionaries, which, in a utilitarian view, seemed most likely of success. • As yet, however, no perma- nent mission was formed. There were Catholics in almost every tribe, in many cases, like the whites on the borders, trusting to an occasional visit of a priest, and from their petty number, almost lost amid the infidels ; there were many, too, who preserved but the name, yet were so numerous that a missionary would find a sufficient field among them.

As yet no permanent mission had been formed, but as Indians of various parts east of the Mississippi were daily transported to what is now called Indian Territory, a greaty facility was afforded. Van Quickenborne set out again from St. Louis in June, 1834.f On entering Indian Territory he met a man with several women. " 1 am a Shawnee," said the man ; " I was baptized by a Catholic priest ; so was my wife, she is a Wyandot ; but as, since our emi- gration, we have seen no priest, we go to the Methodist church." The other women were Kaskaskias,J who still adhered to the faith, although without a regular missionary since the days of Father Meurin. With their neighbors, the Peorias, now counting in all but 140 souls, they earnestly implored the missionary not to forsake them. Although debased, degraded by intoxication, they were still Christians ; and some, like the chief's daughter, faithful to their duties as such, undertaking from time to time a long journey to approach the sacraments. Near them were th«

* Ann. Prop. v. 599.

t Yet see x. 129, which puts it in 1835.

t Only oue man and 60 half- breeds of the tribe remained*

460 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

two Miami clans, the Weas and Piankeshaws, similarly reduced and fallen into the same disorders. Among these the mission ary distributed rosaries, justly deeming that a revival of theii devotion to the Blessed Virgin would be the easiest step to a con- version.

He then visited the Kikapoos. The celebrated Prophet called upon him : Blackhawk was absent. When the chief returned, the Jesuit told him that he had come in person to learn whether it was really true that they wished a Black-gown, as he had been told, " Have you a wife ?" was his reply. " You know well," rejoined Van Quickenborne, "that Catholic priests do not many: I am a Black-gown." The chief promised to hold a council and send an answer to St. Louis. He kept his word, and invited the Black-gown to his tribe.

The Pottawotamies, Chippewas, and Ottawas had, as one tribe, sold their territory and agreed to remove westward. A pagan party of the first of these tribes was already among the Kikapoos. Their chief wished a Catholic missionary, and persuaded his clan to receive no other. After many conferences with Van Quicken- borne, he came up on the^lay of his departure to bid him farewell. " Do not forget us, Father. I conjure you to pray to the Great Spirit for us. Come and live among us. We know that the Black-gowns have been chosen by the Saviour of the world to in- struct us. Bear us in your heart, and when you return we will listen to you."

Encouraged by this, the missionaries obtained the government authority to begin a school and mission among the Kikapoos and Pottawotamies in the spring.*

The two Flatheads who returned had spread the tidings chrough Oregon of the kindness of the Black-gowns. An Iroquois came with his Children to St. Louis to have them baptized, and implored

* Ann. Prop. ix. 88.

FRENCH MISSIONS. -, 461

missionaries for his new country. Here, too, it was resolved U found a mission.*

In May, 1836, Father Van Quickenborne set out with Father Hoecken and two lay-brothers to found the Kikapoo mission. On arriving at their country, difficulties were raised by the government agent, who at last gave the missionaries positive orders to suspend their label's. Sickness soon prostrated the Fathers; and as tidings of war alarmed the Kikapoos, Van Quickenborne took the oppor- tunity of performing his annual retreat. In this way they were enabled to pass speedily the time which elapsed till the new orders came.

These were favorable, and the missionaries now selected a spot for the mission-house in an agreeable and healthy site, about 400 paces from the Missouri, near its junction with Salt Creek. Here their house was built, and the two missionaries began their labors. Van Quickenborne soon after, leaving Hoecken there, hastened, as he had promised, to the Weas and Piankeshaws, Kaskaskias, and Peorias, who had finally listened to other missionaries, and of whom many had become, exteriorly, at least, Protestants. The Wea and Kaskaskia chiefs had remained Catholics, and when with them, Van Quickenborne asked whether they had become Protestants, all were silent, till a woman, with tears, acknowledged it, believing it better to be something than to have no worship.

Their state of abandonment moved the good Father's heart : he promised to visit them regularly till a missionary could be sta- tioned among them.f

Here, however, Van Quickenborne's labors end. First Superior of his order in the West, he had restored the Jesuit missions among the Indian tribes. After a brief illness he expired at the Sioux portage on the 17th of August, 1836, in the fiftieth year ot his age.J His mission was, however, firmly established. Fathef

* Ann. Prop. ix. 103, x. 145. t Id. x. 129. f Id. 240 ; Cath. Alma.

4:62 AMERICAS CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Hoecken, aided by Verreydt, still remained with the Kikapoos. Verhaegen hastened to Washington to effect such arrangement* with the Secretary of War as would enable him to found a Potta- wotamie mission in the same territory ; and having succeeded to his utmost desire, set out on the 2d of May, 1836, with Fathers de Smet and Eysvogels, and with Claessens, a temporal coadjutor' for the territory of the Indian tribes, and soon reached the Kika- poo village. From this point he proceeded with Father Christian Hoecken to the Pottawotamies of the woods, on Osage River, and after some difficulty reached the village, where they were received with open arms by the Catholic chief, Napoleon Bourassa, who had been educated in Kentucky, and spoke English and French perfectly. The principal chief welcomed them, and recounting the spiritual destitution of his tribe, implored them not to forsake their children. Here Hoecken remained for a time to administer the sacraments; and Verhaegen having consoled them with the hope of soon possessing a church and resident missionary, returned to St. Louis.

Meanwhile de Smet, Verreydt, and Brother Mazzelli had crossed the tracts of the lowas and Ottoes to reach the village of the prairie Pottawotamies,* a tribe made up of Pottawotamies proper, Sacs, Foxes, Chippeways, Ottawas, Menomonees, Kikapoos, and Winnebagoes. Among these they began their mission under the protection of the Blessed Virgin and St Joseph. A little chapel, twenty-four feet square, surmounted by a modest steeple, soon rose in the wilderness ; and beside it the log-huts of the missionaries. Their field offered a life of crosses, privations, and patience, yet relying on the aid of divine grace and the prayers of their brethren, they boldly began their work. The result of the first four months was indeed consoling : many of the Indians showed a great desire for instruction. The missionaries opened a school : their log-hui

* These are perhaps the old MascoutenB.

TRENCH MISSIONS. 463

could hold out thirty pupils ; it was soon crowded to overflowing. The Indians, who left the schools of other missionaries silent, soli- itary, and empty, crowded the log-school of the Jesuit to hear the instructions given twice a day to those who wished for baptism. One hundred and eighteen were baptized during the first three months. The festival of the Assumption was celebrated with the greatest pomp and devotion. On all sides they renounced Nanna- bush and Mesukkummikakevi, to embrace the true faith. The sick were dragged for miles to be enrolled in the flock of Christ by baptism ; — their fables were forgotten.*

As in all the Indian tribes, the death which followed baptism in many cases was ascribed to it, or to some cross, medal, or prayer tt' the missionary ; and, from time to time, the medicine-men would excite the greatest trouble. Polygamy, too, presented its fearful obstacle, requiring, as it did, a restraint on the passions to which these children of the wilderness were not accustomed ; while intoxi- cation, the deadly bane of the red race, at times converted their towns into images of hell.

Not content with the field offered by the Pottawotamies, de Smet visits the Sioux, and, after explaining to them the Christian doc- trine, makes peace with them.f

Meanwhile, Hoecken, at. the first Pottawotamie mission of St. Stanislaus, instructed his little tribe. At daybreak, after his medi- tation, he summoned his flock to morning prayers, then said mass amid their Indian chant, and followed it by a catechetical instruc- tion. Then the day was given to labor, and at sunset all met to chant the evening prayers. His Christians were all exemplary, devout, respectful, and faithful in approaching the sacraments.

Not careful merely of their spiritual interests, anxious also tc elevate their social position, Hoecken inspired the men with a love of labor, and gave them lessons in agriculture, and a plentimj

» Ann. Prop. xi. 467. t Id. xiii. 60.

A.MERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS, harvest showed those rude children of nature the advantage oi

•kill*

But his little parish did not content his zeal ; he visited the Ottawas, and inspired them with a horror of intoxication and a love of virtue. He converted and baptized their chief :f then extended his excursions to the Sioux, Gros Ventres, Ricarees, Mandans, and Assiniboins, of whom he baptized about 400. Meanwhile the Flat- head mission, so long projected, so often resolved on, so frequently implored by the Indians, who, amid a thousand dangers, war, sick- ness, accident, had sent embassy after embassy for priests, so often traversed at the moment of execution, was at last to be crowned with success.

The Kikapoo mission, left by the death of Father Van Quicken- borne under the care of Hoecken, was soon after abandoned or fused into the Pottawotamie mission of St Mary's on Sugar Creek, di- rected by Hoecken, aided by Verreydt, Eisvogels, Soderini, de Coon, Guilland, and later by Schultz. Before long the mission contained 1200 Catholic Indians; and two schools in a flourishing condi- tion gave every hope of the rising generation. The Fathers were aided in this mission by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, who began a school at Sugar Creek about the same time.

This was for a time the only mission in Indian Territory ; but, after 1846, a new one was begun among the Osages on the Neosho River, under the invocation of St. Francis Hieronymo, by Father John Shoenmakers and John Bax, while the Sisters of Loretto, to rival the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, came forward to conduct the school for girls. This mission has continued to the present time under the same missionaries, aided by Father Maes, and afterwarda by Paul Ponsiglione, who replaced Bax.

About the same time, a new mission was founded at the Marais

* Ann. Prop. xiii. 50. See his Letters on the Pottawotamies ; U. S. Cath. Mag. vi. 688, 1-19, 214, 325. t Ann. Prop. xiii. 60 ; U. S. Cath. Mag. vi. 825.

.L

FEENCH MISSIONS. 465

des Cygnes, among the Miamis, by Father Charles Truyens and Henry Van Mierlo; but it was abandoned in 1849. At that time Father de Smet was making great efforts to found a Sioux mission, and paid several visits to the tribe in 1848, while Father Point, who had converted over a thousand Blackfeet, hoped to raise a chapel among them east of the Mountains.*

The difficulty of giving full scope to these missions east of the Mountains, while they remained a mere dependence on the diocese of St. Louis, led to the erection of the Vicariate of Indian Terri- tory, which was committed to the charge of Father John B. Miege, consecrated, on the 25th of March, 1851, Bishop of Messena, in partibus. He took up his residence at the Pottawotamie mission, and at the present moment has with him there Fathers Duerinck, Guilland, and Schultz, who attend three other stations. This mission has its manual labor school, where fifty boys are boarded and educated by the Fathers and eight Brothers. The girls' school contains from 70 to 75, under the charge of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart.

The other mission, that of St. Francis among the Osages, is still directed by Fathers Shoenmakers and Ponsiglione, aided now by A. Van Hulst, who visit the Miamis, Quapaws, and several other tribes. The manual labor school here contains about 50 boys, directed by the Jesuits ; the school for girls, about 40 pupils, under the care of the Sisters of Loretto. Dependent on these two stations are several other chapels and stations among various tribes, the Kikapoos, Miamis, Piankeshaws, Weas, Peorias, and Quapaws, and the whole Catholic population is estimated at nearly 6000.

The result of the labors of Van Quickenborne is thus a noble and steadily progressing good : the Vicariate contains over five thou- sand Catholic Indians, and many of the younger members, brought up to habits of ind istry and neatness, give great promise for the

Ann. Prop, xxii, 257. 20*

466 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

future. To Father Van Quickenborne, as the founder of the Vice-Province of Missouri and its Indian missions, too little honor has been paid. His name is almost unknown, yet few have con- tributed more to the education of the white and the civilization of the red man, to the sanctification of all.*

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE LOUISIANA MISSIONS REVIVED THE OREGON MISSION.

Origin of the Oregon mission — The Flatheads — They seek missionaries — Their trials and disappointments — De Smet Is at last granted— He reaches their village — Found* the mission — Visits the Blackfeet and returns — Blanchet and Demers — Their labors — Return of de Smet with Point and Mengarini — Mission village of St Mary's— The Cceare d'Alenes — Progress of the mission — Journeys of de Smet — The mission of the Cceurs d'Alenes — Blanchet and Demers — Joined by others — Found a seminary — De Smet at St. Louis — In Europe — Sails for Oregon — Willamette — Various missions — New Sees — Present state — Testimony of government.

HAVING already related the origin of the Oregon mission, so far as it is a development of the Jesuit missions of Missouri, we now resume its history as an independent mission, and will briefly sketch its course from its origin.

At an early period Oregon was visited by French and Indian

* Father Charles Felix Van Quickenborne was born at Peteghen, near Devizes, in the diocese of Ghent, on the 21st of January, 1788. Educated at Ghent, he surpassed his classmates in industry and talents as much as in piety, and at an early age entered the diocesan seminary. As R priest, ho was at first a professor irl the Petit Seminaires or colleges, then a village pastor, but, on the establishment of the Jesuits in BeTgium, entered tbo novitiate of Eumbeke on the 14th of April, 1815. After his period of pro- bation he sought the American mission, and came to the United States at the close of 1817. Two years later he was made Master of Novices. His career in the "West we have briefly sketched. Spent with toil, he was seized with a bilious fever at St. Francis or the Sioux Portage, and after a brief ill- ness expired about eleven o'clock in the morning of the 17th of August, ;887, deplored and regretted by all. — Circular letter on hit dtath.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 46<

trappers from Canada, many of whom remained for years, and even settled there. Though deprived of pastors, and not always exemplary in their lives, they were Catholics, and propagated among the tribes with whom they associated some knowledge of 'Christianity. Some Iroquois of Caughnawaga joined the Flat- neads, and the tribe became Christian in heart as early as 1820, conforming as nearly as they could to the doctrines and even the religious practices of the Church, daily offering up their prayers to the Father of mercies, and sanctifying the first day of the week in his honor.

Every year the tribe assembled on the Bitter-root River. From this camp, in 1831, a deputation was sent to St. Louis to obtain a Black-gown, but it never reached that city. Most of the envoys fell victims to disease, and left their bones to blanch on the trail in the wilderness. Undaunted by the first failure, the fervent tribe sent a new delegation, which happily reached St. Louis ; but the bishop was so destitute of priests, that he could only promise to meet their wants at the earliest moment. Buoyed up by this promise, they lived on in hope ; but when they encamped in 1837, and no Black-gown had yet appeared, they once more chose an embassy, but they were destined to a new disappointment : the five who composed it were massacred by the Sioux. Yet still the Flatheads persevered. In 1839, they sent two Iroquois deputies, Peter and Ignatius, who at last obtained the long-desired mis- sionary. Peter, elate with joy, hastened back to proclaim his suc- cess ; Ignatius remained to guide de Smet to their camp. On the 30th of April, 1840, that missionary left Westport with the an- nual caravan of the American Fur Company, whose destination was Green River. The fever of the plains soon seized the good, father; but after passing the Sheyenne village, he arrived o,n the 30th of June at a rendezvous to which Peter had sent on an escort. After celebrating mass for the Indians assembled there and the Canadian trappers, he set out with his brave escort, and on the

468 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

14th of July arrived safely in the camp of Peter Valley, where th« Flatheads and Ponderas, to the number of sixteen hundred, had assembled.*

His entrance into their encampment was a triumph, in which men, women, and children took part The great chief, Tjolizhit- zay, a venerable old man, who reminded one of the ancient patri- archs, awaited the missionary, with his chief braves ranged around him, and wished at once to yield to the envoy of Christ all his power. Disabusing the chief of the object of his mission, de Smet arranged with him the order of the religious exercises of the tribe. At the close of the day two thousand Indians assembled before his tent to recite in common their evening prayer, and chant a solemn hymn, which they had themselves composed.

Such was the opening of the Flathead mission, the glory of our later annals, child of the Iroquois missions of two centuries back, and first conquest of the faith beyond the Mississippi valley.

Every day at dawn the aged chief summoned all to prayer. On the second day de Smet had, with the aid of an interpreter, translated the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Commandments.f A chief soon learned them by heart, and became the catechist of the rest. In a fortnight all the Flatheads knew their prayers. These were soon explained thoroughly and completely. In two months six hundred had sufficiently proved their dispositions to be admitted to baptism. All showed the greatest desire to obey the commandments which they had learned. " Father," said the Pan- dera chief, " I lived long in profound ignorance. Then I unwill-

* Indian Sketches, 90; Ann. Prop. xiv. 58.

t The Lord's Prayer in Flathead and Pends-d'oreilles is as follows : Kyle-e-ou Itchitchemask askwest kowakshamenshem, ye-elskyloog. Ent- riezie telletzia spoeoez. Assintails ye-elstoloog etzageel Itchitchemask. Koogwitzelt yettilgwa lokaitsiapetzinem. Kowaeksweemillem klotaiye kloistskwen etzageel kaitskolgwelem klota.ye kloistskwen klielskyloeg koayjuokshilem takaekskwentem klotaye kowaeksgweeltem klotaye. E» mieetzegail. (De Smet, Oregon Missions, 409.)

FRENCH MISSIONS. 469

tingly did evil, and may have displeased the Great Spirit ; hut when, with better instruction, I knew a thing to be bad, 1 re- nounced it, and I do not remember since having offended God voluntarily !"

Having thus founded the mission, de Smet set out on the 27th of August for St. Louis,* to report the state of affairs, and take steps for a permanent establishment. His way was through the country of the Blackfeet, Grosventres, and Sioux, all hostile to the Flat- heads and their friends. Passing an Assiniboin party in safety, he and his companions were, in October, surrounded by a fierce war-party of the Blackfeet. The soutane of the missionary, the crucifix which glittered on his breast whenever he travels over the prairies, arrested the eye of the Blackfoot chief. "Who art thou ?" " He is a Black-gown," said the companion of de Smet ; " a man who speaks to the Great Spirit." In a moment all was changed. Invited to the missionary's humble board, the chief showed still greater respect when he saw him address the Great Spirit before eating. When the frugal meal was ended, twelve Indians stretched a buffalo-skin before him, with motions indica- ting a wish that he should sit upon it. Supposing it meant as a mat, he did so, but they raised it aloft, and so bore him in triumph to their village. There, too, he was treated with every honor. " It is the happiest day of my life," said the chief ; " it is the first time that we see among us a man in such close communication with the Great Spirit. Behold the braves of my tribe ! I have thus unwonted brought them here, that the memory of thy pas- sage may be ever engraven in their memory."

Having thus, contrary to every expectation, opened the way by the pacification of a tribe the terror of the wilderness, he pursued his way in peace.f His safe and speedy return sent a thrill of joy

* Ann. Prop. xiv. 59.

f Indian Sketches, 13-58 ; Ann. Prop. xiii. 487.

470 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

through the hearts of all his associates, and when, with the enthu siasm of zeal, he described the favorable disposition of the Flat- heads, the richness of the vast field opened to their labors, all burned with desire to join him on his return. As to the estab- lishment of the mission, there was now no question, and during the winter preparations were made for its commencement.

De Smet's was not, however, the only mission in Oregon. Un- known to the Flatheads, as well as to the American Jesuit, two Canadian priests, Francis N. Blanchet, now Archbishop of Oregon, and Modest Demers, now Bishop of Vancouver, had reached Fort Vancouver on the 24th of November, 1837, to the joy of the Canadian families so long deprived of the sacraments. After at- tending to their wants for two years, Blanchet was met in June, 1839, at Cowlitz, by twelve natives of Puget Sound, who had come to see the missionary. While instructing these, he con- ceived the plan of the " Catholic Scale," a form of instruction which represents the history of religion and the various truths and mysteries of faith in a chronological form, with emblems for flx- ing it in the mind. It was afterwards generally adopted, and proved of great service to the missionaries.* With this " Scale" these Indians in turn instructed their tribe, and a knowledge of the faith was rapidly propagated, so that in the following year Blanchet met, near Whitby Island, Indians who had never seen a priest, but had some knowledge of Christianity.

Demers, meanwhile, after laying the foundations of a mission among the well-disposed Indians of Nesqualy, visited Wallawalla, Okenagan, and Colville ; while Blanchet, who had also visited Nes- qualy, again met the Puget Sound Indians and renewed his in- structions.

Their labors in 1840 were as varied and as arduous: Demers laid the foundation of the Chinook mission, Blanchet planted the

• De Smet subsequently published one in his Indian Sketches.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 471

woss at Nesqualy, reconciled two warring tribes, baptized many, and for a considerable time prolonged his instructions, stimulated by a letter from de Smet, who, hearing of their labors, sent to an- nounce his coming. During the next year Demers penetrated to Frazer's River, and to the crowds of natives announced the truths of the gospel. Overjoyed with the good tidings, all pressed him to stay amongst them, and offered their children for baptism. Yielding to their desire, he baptized no less than seven hun- dred.

Such was, in the year 1841, the state of the two Oregon mis- sions, of which we shall pursue the separate history.

Father de Smet, in the spring of 1841, set out with Father Nicholas Point, a Vendean, Father Gregory Mengarini, a Roman, and three lay-brothers, all expert mechanics. Leaving Westport on the last day of April, they passed the friendly Kansas, who still remembered the visits of La Croix, the Sheyennes, the treach- erous Banacs on the dangerous La Platte, then the less reliable Paw- nees, and at last, on the 15th of August, met at Fort Hall the Flathead escort, who had come 800 miles to join the missionaries. They were full of zeal and fervor. Simon, the first convert, in- firm with age, his grandson Francis, Ignatius, the brave Pilchimo, Francis, and Gabriel the half-breed. The fidelity of the tribe was confirmed by their conduct. Pushing on with these, the mission- aries on the 30th came in sight of the camp of Bigface, and soon after were amid their children. All crowded around them — mothers offered their children — every heart seemed wild with joy.*

The tribe wished to select a site for a permanent residence. Father Point drew the plans for the mission village, on which al] now depended ; and on the 24th of September the whole party arrived at Bitter-root River, the chosen site. Here a cross was planted, and the mission of St. Mary's begun on Rosary Sunday.

* Indian Sketches, 106.

472 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

The lay-brothers were soon at work : the panting forge and clang ing hammer ere long resounded, and the house of prayer began to rise. Before it was completed, chiefs of the Coeurs d'Alenes came to beg the missionaries to have pity on them, and visit their cabins to announce the word of truth.

The Flatheads, among whom their chief mission now lay, are disinterested, generous, devoted to their Mends, of acknowledged probity and morality. Their dress and manners were equally modest : no superstitions prevailed, no medicine-men favored the worship of demons. Many chiefs were most exemplary men. Among them, Simon, Peter, and especially Paul, were eminent after their conversion for their piety, zeal, and purity of life.

They now aided their missionaries in erecting the first neces- sary buildings, and by St. Martin's day a temporary chapel and residence were raised, although the lay-brothers had few and in- sufficient tools.* De Smet was, meanwhile, on his way to Colville, to obtain, if possible, a supply of provisions, leaving Point and Mengarini to instruct the catechumens who were to be baptized on the 3d of December, when two hundred and two became by the sacrament children of God.

The rehabilitation of marriages was the next care. Finding few previously contracted valid, they conferred the sacrament on all the baptized couples : where polygamy existed one wife was re- nounced, and this led to the most touching scenes — as the hus- band hesitated between two equally dear, both mothers of his children. In several cases a woman would generously yield in favor of one more loved than hei-self. The village was now Chris- tian, and the greatest piety prevailed. At the sound of the Ange- lus in the morning they rose from sleep, half an hour later they met for prayers, then heard mass, and attended instruction. The day vwas given to labor ; the Fathers visiting the sick or attending

* Indian Sketches, 160. 178-

FRENCH MISSIONS. 473

to other duties. In the afternoon the children were catechized, and after sunset another 'instruction was given to the adults Among young and old emulation was stimulated by little rewards, which to us might seem petty, but to the Flatheads, as to the old Huron braves, derived their value from religion itself.* By the 8th of December de Smet returned, having, amid much danger and hardship, baptized 190 persons, 26 of them adults, of various tribes, Coeurs d'Alenes, Kalispels, Koetenays,f and preached to over two thousand Indians. Unable to obtain supplies, the tribe was now compelled to disperse for the winter hunt, and this was deferred only to allow them to celebrate Christmas at the mission. On that day one hundred and fifteen Flatheads led by three chiefs, thirty Nezperces and their chief, a Blackfoot chief and his family were baptized. " I began my masses," says de Smet, " at seven in the morning : at five in the afternoon I was still in the chapel. The heart may conceive, but the lips cannot express, the emotions which I then experienced. From six to seven hundred new Chris- tians, with bands of little children, baptized in the past year, all assembled in a poor chapel covered with rushes, in the midst of a desert where till lately the name of God was scarcely known, of- fering to their Creator their regenerated hearts, protesting that they would persevere in his holy service till death, was doubtless an offering most agreeable to God, and which we trust will draw down the dews of heaven upon the Flathead nation and the neigh- boring tribes."

A few days later Father Point left with the hunters to undergo

* Indian Sketches, 148.

t In the Flatbow and Koetenay the Our Father runs : " Katitoe naitle naite, akiklinaia zedabitskinne wilkane. Niushalline oshemake akaitlainam. Inshazetluite younoamake yekakaekinaitte. Komnakaike logenie niggena- waislme naiosaem miaiteke. Kekepaitne nekoetjekoetleaitle ixzeai, iyakia- kakaaike iya/eaikinawash kokakipaimen aitle. Amatikezawes itchkest Bhinimekak kowelle akataksen. Shaeykiakakaaike." — De Smet, Oregon Miss. 409.

474 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

the sufferings of the winter chase, and peril his life among the Blackfeet. De Smet and Mengarini remained to translate the catechism, and prepare one hundred and fifty for their first com munion, while the lay-brothers erected a palisade around the mis- sion.*

Soon after, de Smet resolved to visit Fort Vancouver, in hopes of obtaining the supplies necessary to make St. Mary's a fixed mis- sion. On his way he visited the Koetenays, Kalispels, Coeurs a Alenes, Shuyelpis, and Okinakanes, teaching them the ordinary prayers and the rudiments of faith, and instituting among all the custom of morning and evening prayer. After a dangerous pas- sage down the Columbia, in which he narrowly escaped a watery grave, and saw some of his fellow-travellers perish, he reached Fort Vancouver. Here he had the pleasure of conferring with Messrs. Blanchet and Demers, but found that he could not there obtain the necessary supplies. Returning to St. Mary's, he resolved to cross the wilderness again to St. Louis, and leaving Mengariui with the Flatheads and Ponderas, he sent Point to found a new mission among the Cceurs d' Alenes, then set out in August, bearing back the joyful tidings that 1654 souls had been already redeemed by baptism.f

At the close of the hunting-season, Father Point set out, and on the first Friday of December planted the cross of his new mis- sion of the Sacred Heart among the Coeurs d' Alenes. Several years before, this tribe, hearing the Christian doctrine, had re- nounced idolatry, but never having been instructed, fell again into the superstitions of the Indian tribes. Now all embraced the truth. The medicine-men were the first to destroy the objects of ido.atrous reverence, and fervent piety was soon awakened.

In the spring a new village was laid out ; trees were felled, roads opened, a church erected, and the public fields sown. Thus

* Indian Sketches, 169. t Id. 224.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 475

the second permanent mission, that of the Sacred Heart of th« Coeurs d'Alenes, was founded. To instruct the Indians in tlie in- tervals of the chase required all the missionary's care, till agricul- ture should enable them to be stationary. By October, 1844, the little village contained one hundred Christian families.*

During the autumn of the same year, Blanchet and Demers, overtasked with the care of the Canadians, and the missions among the Indians, were gladdened by the arrival of two other priests from Canada, Messrs. John B. Bolduc and Anthony Lang- lois. They now began a seminary at Willamette, intending to make that their centre for missionary excursions. Leaving the rest engaged in the new works, the aixlont Bolduc set out in March, 1843, to visit the tribes on Vancouver's Island and around Puget's Sound, and baptized many of the Kawatskins. Klalams, and Isanisks.f

On arriving at St. Louis, de Smet laid before his Superiors the whole prospect of the country. Immediate action was taken Oregon was then a territory in dispute between England and the United States, yet the American prelates, in their Provincial Coun cil, solicited the Holy See to appoint a Vicar- Apostolic. Mean- while the Provincial of the Jesuits in Missouri dispatched Father Peter de Vos. and Father Adrian Hoecken, with three lay-brothers, to the mountains, and directed de Smet to proceed to Europe to make further provision for the conversion and civilization of the Indian tribes.

In Europe de Smet excited the greatest enthusiasm in behalf of his work. The names of the Oregon tribes became more familiar to the faithful in Belgium and France than in the United States Many Fathers of his order wished to join him, and the Sisters cf the Congregation of our Lady offered to proceed to the distant wilderness to aid the missionaries in instructing those of their owu

* Oregon Missions, 280. t Id. 51.

476 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

»ex. Having obtained considerable relief, he at last, on the 12th of December, 1843, sailed from Antwerp with Fathers Vercruysse, Accolti, Ravalli, Nobili, a lay-brother, and six Sisters of the Con- gregation of our Lady, and after a long and dangerous voyage, arrived, to the joy of all, at Fort Vancouver, on the 5th of August, 1844, having been long given up as lost.* Mr. Blanchet soon arrived (for he was temporarily absent), and hailed with joy this new accession to his future diocese. To relieve the Jesuit mis- sionaries of all embarrassment, he offered them a delightful spot on Willamette River for their central mission, and here they at once began to clear the ground and erect buildings. So rapidly did the work advance, that in October the Sisters, who had already begun their school in the open air, took possession of their convent.

Two other Italian Fathers and a lay-brother now joined the mis- sion. The station of St. Ignatius was begun among the Kalispels by F. Hoecken in an extensive prairie, thirty miles above the mouth of Clark River, near a beautiful cascade encircled by snow-clad mountains. Here, in their winter camp, a church was raised, and the missionary began his labors, consoled by the fervor and docility of his flock. On Christmas day a considerable number were bap- tized by Father de Smet, who celebrated that festival there with all possible pomp.f

On the same day, Fathers Mengarini and Zerbinati among the Flatheada, and Point and Joset among the Coeurs d'Alenes, com- memorated the nativity of our Lord with similar ceremonies and consolations, — Joset devoting himself to render them agriculturists, Point directing the mission.^

In the spring the Pends-d'oreilles began their permanent village of St. Ignatius, and by the month of July had fourteen log-houses, 300 acres in grain, and a church erecting, with a steadily increasing supply of poultiy and cattle.§

* Ann. Pivp. xvii. 475, note. t Oregon Missions, 252.

J Ann. Prop, xviii. 504, xxi. 158. § Oregon Missions, 248, 259. M.

FRENCH MISSIONS. 477

From this station, Hoecken, joined by Ravalli, visited the Zin- gomenes, Sinpoils, Okenaganes, Flatbows, and Koetenays. De- mers had visited the tribes of New Caledonia, and Nobili now set out in June, 1845, for the same district; while the Zingomenes, Sinpoils, Okenaganes, Flatbows, and Koetenays, were to be evan- gelized from St. Ignatius. Among these de Srnet now began a series of missions extending to the water-shed of the Saskatshawan and Columbia, to the camp of the wandering Assiniboins and Crees, the flock of Belcourt and Fort St. Anne, the station of Thibault and Bourassa, announcing on all sides the good tidings, and, in the company of other missionaries, finding new incentives to zeal.*

During his absence, the laborious Hoecken had completed the conversion of the Shuyelpi or Kettlefall Indians ; and Nobili, from Vancouver, had planted the cross and raised chapels among the Sioushwaps, Chilcotinj, and other northern tribes.

The Oregon mission was now to take a permanent form. The Holy See, listening to the application of the American prelates, had resolved to erect Oregon into a Vicariate ; and on the first day of December, 1843, appointed Mr. Blanchet Vicar- Apostolic. On receiving due notification of his election, the founder of the Oregon church proceeded to Montreal, where he was consecrated on the 25th of July, 1845, and then proceeded to Europe to obtain as- sistance for his new diocese. There a change was made in the diocese ; Blanchet was raised to the rank of Metropolitan, as Arch- bishop of Oregon City, and several suffragan Sees erected, Demers being appointed Bishop of Vancouver, and Magloire Blanchet, Bishop of Wallawalla.

* On Jasper Eiver he met an old Iroquois with a name famous in the annals of the old missions, Louis Kwaraghkwante — the sun that walks — the Garacontie of the Relations. His family, to the number of forty- four, whore he had instructed in their prayers, were now baptized, and seven marriagof •eiiewed and blessed.

478 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

On his return to Oregon with several priests, secular and regular, including some Oblates, who now joined the mission, the Chinooka were converted ; and, in 1851, obtained a resident pastor in Mr. Lionnet, while the Rev. John B. Brouillet set out in December, 1847, to found the mission of St. Ann among the Cayuses, then desolated by disease. On arriving, however, he found that the Indians had risen on the whites, and killed Dr. Whitman, an American missionary, his wife and ten others, suspecting them of being the cause of the pestilence. Brouillet, whose well-known dress protected him, hastened to the next Protestant mission, and, by his timely warning, saved the station from a similar fate.* A war ensued, and the Cayuse mission was deferred ; but the Rev. Lewis Rousseau and Toussaint Mesplee began another among the Waskosin in June, 1848, which still subsists. Besides these secu- lar missions, the Jesuits still direct the Pointed Heart, Kettlefall, and Kalispel missions, while that of St. Mary's among the Flat- heads has been vacant since 1850. The whole number of Catholic Indians is now estimated at 3400, but the missions have not the same advantages for schools as those in the Vicariate of Indian

O

Territory .f Of the effect produced by the missions we may judge

* U. S. Cath. Mag. vii. 490.

t To complete our specimens of the languages of the Indian tribes where our missions have existed, we annex the Pater in Assiniboin :

Tnchiachttoobe machpiachta yaeoenshi baeninshi nabishi metshalzilzi, nitanwiudezi ekty yaegnizi, yetehoeszizi aittshaiszi lenmachkoetzizi aseett- ehaiszi machpiachta. Tnkoem nansraah oezoezandie innimbechain. Ezieya- kink taniozeni etchoengoebezie sinkimbishnitshaa ektas etchoengoebezie. Youoechtontjen tanniaenni etchoem goebishniet tchain, napeen giettshioenn ingninoaege. Eetchees.

And also in Blackfoot :

Kinana spoegsts tzittapigpi kitzinnekazen kagkakonuaiokzin. Nagkita- piwatog neto kinyokizip. Kitzizigtaen nejakapestoeta tzagkom, nietziewae epoegsts. Ikogkiowa ennoch matogkivitapi. Istapikistornokit iiagzikamoot komonetziewae nistowa. Nagkezis tapi kestemoog Spemmook mateakoziep makapi. Kamoemanigtoep.

Of the missionaries employed in the Missouri and Oregon missions most

FRENCH MISSION'S.

from the instfuctions of Stevens, governor of Washington Territory, to the Indian Agent. " You understand well the general characte. of the Flatheads — the best Indians of the mountains or the plain) — honest, brave, docile — they need only encouragement to become good citizens. They are Christians, and we are assured by good Father de Smets they live up to the Christian code."*

are still alive ; but we add notices of two who died in the midst of their labors Father Peter Zerbinati was of the Roman province of the Society of Jesus, Bent to Oregon in 1843, and reached tbe Flatheud mission in September, 1844. Applying himself to the study of the language, he was soon a zealoiy catechist; but in the spring of 1845 he was accidentally drowned. Al humble monument was raised in the cemetery to this first missionary whi died in the Rocky Mountains. — Not* of F. de Smet. Father Christiafl Hoecken was a native of Upper Brabant, who had been fifteen years amonj the Indians, died of cholera in the arms of Father de Smet, on board of tin St. Ange, while ascending the Missouri on the 19th of June, 1851, twelvi days after leaving St. Louis, and was interred at the mouth of the Littl* Sciouse. Ho was a perfect master of the Indian languages and customs, and consequently was highly esteemed by them. In fact, he lived only for the Red-man, and full of patience, piety, simplicity, and equanimity, was emi- nently fitted for his post. It would be impossible to find a more apostolio missionary, and we are convinced that the illustrious Society to which h« belonged did not number among its children a more faithful or fervent re- ligious. De Smet ; Voyage au Grand Desert, 20 * President's Message, 1854, p. 468

ENGLISH MISSIONS

THE ENGLISH MISSIONS

CHAPTER I.

THE MARYLAND MISSION.

General indifference of English to salvation of Indians — Lord Baltimore — Catholic emigration — Jesuit missionaries — Father Andrew White and his companions — Al- tham at Piscataway — White at St. Mary's — The tribes of Maryland — Language, dress, religion — Philological labors of the Jesuits — White at Mattapany — Maquacomen, ana his inconstancy — Conversion of Chilomacon, king of Piscataway — His baptism — Death of Altham 'Illncfc. »f White— Death of Brock— Father Rigby- The finsquehanna •war — Attack on a missionary station — Reported death of a Father— Life on the mission — Wonderful cure — Ruin of the mission — The Father seized and sent to Eng- land—Ineffectual attempts to renew the Indian mission.

MISSIONS among the Indian tribes, efforts to Christianize and civilize the red-man, were, as we have seen, coeval with all the attempts of Spain and France to plant colonies in America. At a later date, England, Holland, and Sweden began to form settle- ments on the Atlantic coasts. With one solitary exception, these colonies were Protestant, and in them, with that single exception, we look in vain for the same spirit of faith and charity, the same desire of extending to the natives the benefits of Christianity, which characterized the Catholic powers.

The efforts made were purely individual ; they were isolated and unsupported ; they did not spring from any public opinion as to their necessity, and they were necessarily evanescent. Indeed it was not till the middle of the last century that any general plan was adopted in England for evangelizing the heathen, and then revolutions soon neutralized the tardy effort.

4:84 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Amid the English colonies, one was founded by Catholics, and, strange contrast, here Indian missions are coeval with the coloniza- tion. A few years since the Indian missions of Maryland, with most of the details of their first years, were shrouded in mystery. Fortunately, however, a recent discovery in the archives of the Society of Jesus enables us to trace them till their close.*

Lord Baltimore returning to the faith of his ancestors, resolved to found a Catholic colony in America. The Catholics of the British isles clung almost as tenaciously to their native land as they did to their religion. Still, unable openly to profess the faith of Bede, of Alfred, of Edward, of Becket, and of Anselm, of thirty generations of their ancestors, a few resolved to emigrate, and oc- cupy the territory of which Lord Baltimore had secured a grant. Mindful of his duty as a Christian, the Catholic peer resolved to send clergymen to his colony, and applied to the Superior of the Jesuits in England for Fathers of his society " to attend the Cath- olic planters and settlers, and convert the native Indians." The conversion of the heathen could not be a matter of indifference to the Society of Jesus, and least of all that of the natives of a region already watered with their blood. They did not refuse the call Father Andrew White, a man who had already suffered imprison- ment and exile for the faith, was chosen to found the new mission. His associates were Father John Altham and the lay-brothers, John Knowles and Thomas Gervase.

The settlers, thus attended, at last set sail from England in the

* This is the " Relatio Itineris," or Journal of Father Andrew White, copied Bt Eome by Father William McSherry, of Virginia, and published by Force in hia Historical Collections, vol. iv. He is our authority, with Oliver's Collections towards illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English, and Irish members of the Society of Jesus, and Tanner's Gesta prseclara. Whit«'i narrative is freely used by Campbell, Historical Sketch of the Early Christian Missions among the Indiana of Maryland ; Burnap, Life of Gal vert ; and by McSherry in his History of Maryland. From all these much incidental in. formation has been derived.

ENGLISH MISSIONS. 485

Ark and Dove, on the 22d of November, 1633, choosing St. Igna- tius as patron of Maryland, and placing their voyage under his pro- tection, that of the Guardian Angels of Maryland, and especially of the Immaculate Conception. Exiles as they were for conscience' sake, they bore no revengeful feeling to the Anglican Church, •which persecuted as it had robbed them : none to the Calvinistic party, which sought to exterminate them. They came, and as they came let the broad Atlantic wash out the memory of their wrongs ; they came to found the first State where men could freely practise the religion of their choice. ,

After touching at the West Indies, they arrived on the 3d of March at the mouth of the Chesapeake, and on the feast of the Annunciation, which England has not yet forgotten to call Lady- day, Father White landed on St. Clement's Island* to offer up the holy sacrifice of the mass ; then raising a cross as a trophy to Christ the Saviour, they humbly chanted, on bended knees, and with deep devotion, the Litany of the Cross.

Thus did Catholicity plant her standard once more on the Chesapeake, and claim the land for Mary. The conversion of the natives was the first thought of the devoted missionaries. Those at St. Clement's Isle were friendly, and White at once entered into relations with them to see what ground was to be the lot of the missionary — whether the barely covered rock, the way-side, or the fertile field.

Meanwhile, and before the site of the new settlement was deter- mined upon, Father Altham accompanied Governor Calvert in his voyage of exploration up the Potomac River, and with him visited the great chief of Piscataway, who is represented as superior to the other chiefs, and is sometimes styled emperor. The governor nnd his exploring party first landed on the Virginia side of the river, where the natives received them kindly. Here Father Al-

* Now Blackstone's Island. — Campbell.

486 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

tham explained to them the doctrines of the Christian religion by means of an interpreter. The regent-chieftain Archihu heard him with pleasure, and earnestly besought him to remain. " We will use one table," said the chief; " my servants will hunt for you, and all things shall be in common between us." After proceeding to the residence of the Piscataway chief, however, the whole party returned to St. Clement's Island, and purchasing a site from the friendly Yoacomico and his tribe, founded the city of St. Mary's. Obtaining a wigwam from a native, the missionaries immediately fitted it up as a chapel — the first in the land. The conversion of the Indians being the great object of their zeal, they without delay began to study their language, manners, and customs.

The Maryland tribes consisted of several branches of the great Huron-Iroquois family, and, doubtless, of some Algonquins, although it is not easy in all cases to decide to which class a tribe is to be referred. The most powerful were the Susquehannas, the An- dastes or Gandastogues of the French, the Minquas of the Swedes, known in later annals as the Conestogues.* On the Western Shore the Patuxents, Piscataways, Anacostans, and Yaocomicos, seem to belong to the same great family, while the tribes of the Eastern Shore, the Nanticokes, Ozinies, Toghwocks, Atquinachunks, and Wycomesses, were of the Algic stock.f

The Susquehannas, or Conestogues, were the dominant tribe ; the Algonquins their allies, the other tribes their enemies or vic- tims. Among these last the Catholic missionaries now began their labors, and during their short career in the field evangelized chiefly the Piscataways and Patuxents. From the few words found in the narrative of Father White, the language was evidently a Huron dialect, and the English Fathers would have derived no little aid from the catechism of Father Brebeuf, then just published at Paris; but of his labors they were probably unaware, and Father White,

* Compare McSheny, History of Maryland, 89; Campanius; Rel. 1643' Pennsylvania Annals. t McSherry, History of Maryland, 62.

ENGLISH MISSIONS. 487

devoting himseli to the study of the language, soon compiled a grammar, dictionary, and catechism in the Piscataway language,* while Rigbie, at a later period, compiled a catechism for the Pa- tuxents.f Of these valuable works a catechism still exists in the archives at Rome, and was seen by Father McSherry, when he dis- covered the precious Relation of Father White. J

In dress, the Indians of Maryland resembled the tribes around them; the breech-cloth or petticoat, with the cloak or mantle, being their chief attire, and from their vicinity to the English and Swedes, many had European articles.

Their wigwams bore more resemblance to those of the Iroquois than to those of the Algonquin tribes. Oblong or oval, they wero apparently of bark, with the opening above alike for chimney and window. The fire occupied the centre, and beside it, in better cabins, was a sort of shelf made of long poles and slightly raised from the ground. They were, too, generally from eight to ten feet high, so that the occupants were not compelled to crouch, as was sometimes the case.

Their morals were pure, and their desire of improvement great ; their religion such as we have found it in all other parts. Recog- nizing a God of heaven, they paid him no external worship, but endeavored to propitiate a certain spirit which they called Okee.§ Like the Iroquois, they worshipped corn as a deity wonderfully beneficent to the human race, and paid the same honors to fire.

" Some of our people," says Father White, " relate that they have seen this ceremony in a temple at Barcluxen. On an appointed day all tho men and women, of all ages, from many villages, as- sembled around a great fire. Next to the fire stood the young people ; behind them those more advanced in life. A piece ol

* Oliver, Collections, art. White. t White, in Force.

J Campbell, Early Christian Missions.

§ This word is Huron- Iroquois. Lafitau, i. 115, Eel. 1636 (Brebwfi Huron part, 96).

488 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

deer's fat being then thrown into the fire, and hands and voicei being lifted towards heavei. they cried out, ' Taho ! taho !' Then they cleared a small space, and some one produced a large bag; in the bag were a pipe and a kind of powder, which they call Potu. Then the bag was carried around the fire, the boys and girls singing 'Taho! taho!' After this the Potu was taken from the pouch and distributed to those standing around, who smoked it successively, fumigating his body as if to sanctify it."*

Such was the superstition which Father White and his com panions were here to overthrow. The power of Satan was to be prostrated; but like the strong man armed, he battled for hi» stronghold, and difficulties soon embarrassed the missionaries.

In 1635, Claiborne, the evil genius of Maryland, excited the natives against the settlers, and circulated calumnies against the missionaries. Still the Jesuits were undaunted. Another priest reached them in that year, and still another in 1636. Though some sank under the climate, they still carried on the work vigor- ously among the Indians around St. Mary's. Father White, as soon as he had acquired some knowledge of the language, pro- ceeded to the town of Mattapany, on the banks of the Patuxent, where the friendly chieftain Maquacomen ruled a populous tribe. A strip of ground was allotted to the missionary ; and raising his bark chapel, he began his ministry. The chief, though friendly, showed little inclination to embrace the faith, or gave but momen- tary gleams of hope. His people were more docile : yielding to the instructions of the good missionary, six adults were baptized, and a native church established. Then the baptism of infants, and especially of the dying, added to the numbers of the elect. While exulting in the prospect now open before him, Father White was recalled to St. Mary's by the governor, on a rumor of war.

In 1639, however, the cloud cleared away, the epidemics which

* White, in Force, p. 23 ; Burnap, 74.

ENGLISH MISSIONS. 484

had ravaged the colony ceased, and the Indians became friendly White, Altham, with John Brock, the Superior, and Philip Fisher, " settled in places widely distant, hoping thus to acquire a knowl- edge of the neighboring idiom, and consequently spread more widely the truths of the holy gospel."

Brock took post at Mattapany, where White had begun hia labors; Altham on Kent Island ; Fisher remained at St. Mary's, and White, in June, 1639, reached Kittamaquindi, to preach the gospel to the Piscataways.* The king or tayac, Chilomacon, who exercised a sovereign sway over several petty chiefs, received Father White with great cordiality, and installed him in his own lodge. The missionary immediately began to announce the truth, explaining to the prince and his family, as well as to the braves of the tribe, the glorious dogmas of Christianity. His words impressed them deeply. At his suggestion, they became more modest in dress, and Chilomacon renounced all but one wife. So thoroughly was the Piscataway chief imbued with a sense of the importance of Christianity, that when the governor adduced commercial rea- sons for an alliance, he declared u that he esteemed such considera- tions lightly, compared with the treasure bestowed by the Fathers — the kuor-'edge of the true God ; a knowledge then and ever to be the chkjf object of his wishes."

At a general council of his tribe, when several of the settlers were present, he avowed his determination, and that of his family, to renounce their ancient superstitions, and pay homage to Christ, declaring that there was no true God but that of the Christians, nor aay other name by which the immortal soul could be saved from ruin. Accompanying Father White on a visit to St. Mary's, his piety edified all, and he in turn witnessed with wonder the

* The Relation has Pascatoe, which Barnap thinks mast be Patapseo; but he forgets that Father White wrote in Latin, and that the last two letters correspond to the English. " oway," Campbell calls them the Piscat- oways, and he is undoubtedly right. See McSherry, Hist, of Maryland, 48.

21*

490 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

real of the Fathers in attending an Indian condemned to die foi murder. In the capital of Maryland he solicited baptism, and the missionary could not refuse him the sacraments of regeneration. Anxious, however, to avail himself of its effect on the tribe, he de- ferred it till their return to Kittamaquindi, the site of the modern Piscataway. Then in the bark chapel of the town, on the 5th of July, 1640, Father White, in the presence of Altham and the governor, with many colonial officers, who had threaded the wil- derness to assist at so important a ceremony, baptized Chilomacon by the name of Charles, and conferred the same happiness on his wife Mary, and infant daughter Ann. Mosorcoques, the chief counsellor of the king, with his son, were also baptized on that day so full of hope and triumph for the Maryland tribes.* The afternoon witnessed more imposing ceremonies. The tayac and his wife were united in the bonds of marriage by the sacrament of matrimony, and then the governor and his officers, with the tayac and his chiefs, bore to its destined spot a large cross, which was soon planted by the Fathers, who had led the way, chanting the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.f

Before the missionaries could follow up this success, both were seized with a dangerous illness, contracted that very day. Father Altham soon after died, on the 5th of November ; and White, now thoroughly versed in the language and manners of the people, was rendered unable to perform any missionary duty. He was not idle, however ; he revised and compiled the grammar, dictionary, and catechism, in the language of his flock, to aid his successor in the mission.

In this position White called on his brethren in Europe. "Those who are sent," he says encouragingly, " need not fear lest means of support be wanting, for He who clothes the lilies and feeds the

* There is a curious cut of this baptism in Tanner's Gesta prseclar*, p* 808, art. Andreas Vitus. t White, in Force, 85 ; Bnrnap, 96.

ENGLISH MISSIONS. 491

birds of the air, will not suffer those who are laboring to extend his kingdom to be destitute of necessary sustenance."

Chilomacon died the next year in sentiments of great piety ; but Mosorcoques still upheld the faith, and induced Anacostan, a neighboring prince, to invite the missionaries to his tribe. The Tesuits were, however, sinking under the climate and toil. Brock ecclaimed, " For my part, I would rather, laboring in the conver- sbn of these Indians, expire on the bare ground, deprived of all hitnan succor, and perishing from hunger, than once think of abmdoning this holy work of God from the fear of want." And fin weeks after this noble declaration he died as he had chosen.*

Ihe English Jesuits in Europe, on hearing of the state of the misaon, its difficulties, dangers, and prospects, were inflamed with a hoy zeal to join their brethren in Maryland ; and many, in most urgert letters, besought their Superiors to send them to Maryland.!

Several obtained their wish ; among them Roger Rigbie, sta- tioned in 1642 at Patuxent, where, speedily acquiring the lan- guage he composed a catechism in it. White, who remained at Piscatiway till 1642, was caught in the ice, and proceeding to Potomac town, began a mission. During a stay of over two month;, he increased the church there by the conversion of the chief and seieral of the tribe of the Potomacs, as well as of three chiefs and mmy braves of other tribes.

A wir now broke out, and the Susquehannas, Wycomesses, and Nanticdtes, poured down on Maryland and its allies. They at- tacked i settlement, apparently of the missionaries, massacred the people, and carried off the spoil. In New York the rescued Jogues heard of the war, and learned that one of the Jesuit Fathers had fallen amid his neophytes. J

* Father John Brock's real name was Morgan. He died June 5, 1641. t Mr. Gunpbell had no less than twenty-three of these letters in his hand* •11 bcarinj date in July and August, 1640. J Burmp, p. 193 ; Buteux, Narrd, <fec. MS.

492 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

Piscataway was now constantly exposed to attacks from -.he enemy ; and as the young queen, who had been educated in the colony, had been baptized, the mission was removed to Potopaco, , where the young queen, the wife, and two children of the former, chief, and 130 of the people, almost the whole tribe, embrace/ Christianity. In the same year the missionaries made several er cursions up the Patuxent River, and in other parts, the war r^i- dering this the safest and best means. Their life is thus descried by one of themselves :

" We sail in an open boat — the Father, an interpreter, and ^er- vant In a calm, or with a head-wind, two row and the tird steers the boat. We carry a basket of bread, cheese, butter, Iried roasting ears of corn, beans, and some meal, and a chest^ con- taining the sacerdotal vestments, the slab or altar for ma£, the wine used in the holy sacrifice, and blessed baptismal water. In another chest we carry knives, combs, little bells, fishinghooks, needles, thread — and other trifles, for presents to the Indian! We take two mats, a small one to shelter us from the sun, and i larger one to protect us from the rain. The servant carries implements for hunting and cooking utensils. We endeavor to ream some Indian village or English plantation by nightfall. If wa do not succeed, then the Father secures our boat to the bank collects wood, and makes a fire, while the other two go out to hint : and after cooking our game, we take some refreshment, and then lie down to sleep around the fire. When threatened with (rain, we erect a tent, covering it with our large mat. Thanks be to God, we enjoy our scanty fare and hard beds as much as if wefwere ac- commodated with the luxuries of Europe; with this presenj comfort, that God now imparts to us a foretaste of what he is about to give to those that live faithfully in this life, and mitigating allhardship with a degree of pleasantness ; so that his Divine Majesty appears to be present with us in an external manner."*

* White, 40.

ENGLISH MISSIONS. 493

This life was not exempt from danger, but the divine interposi- tion excited them to hold life less dear than duty. An Anacostan Indian fell into a Susquehanna ambush, and pierced from side to side with the keen spear, lay weltering in his blood. His friends, recalled by his cry, bore him to Piscataway, and laid him on a mat before his door. Here Father White found him, chanting in his dying voice .the never forgotten death-song, while his friends joined in, the Christians invoking the aid of heaven in his behalf. He too was a Christian ; and Father White, seeing his perilous state, renewed his faith and heard his confession. Then reading a gospel and the Litany of Loretto over him, he urged him to com- mend himself to Jesus and Mary. After applying to his wounds a relic of the Holy Cross, he directed the attendants to bring his corpse to the chapel for burial, and then launched his canoe to visit a dying catechumen. As he was returning the next day, to his amazement he beheld the same Indian approaching him in a canoe, paddling with as vigorous a stroke as his comrade. Still greater was Father White's surprise when the Indian, stepping into his boat, threw off his blanket and showed a red line, the only trace of his deadly wound. Glorifying God for so signal a favor, the good missionary admonished the happy man never to be un- grateful to God, but ever to love and honor the most holy name of Jesus and his holy cross, to the instrumentality of which he owed his recovery.*

While the English Jesuits in Maryland were thus equalling their brethren in Canada in devotedness and zeal, Claiborne, the evil genius of the colony, raised the standard of rebellion in 1644, expelled the governor in the following year, " carried off the priests and reduced them to a miserable slavery." All the Jesuits were sent prisoners to England, and the missions, not only of the In- dians but of the whites, deprived of pastors in a land the first to

» White, in Force ; Burnsp, p. 40, 1»4.

494 AMERICAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

establish free toleration.* This state continued for three years, then Father Philip Fisher and some others returned to labor in secret. Fisher, in March, 1648, joined the Indians from whom he had been torn, and renewed his mission. Others followed, and there was once more a hope that the natives would be won to Christ

A new storm, however, arose. Charles I. was at last overthrown, and monarchy in England fell. Fanaticism again ruled in Mary- land : the clergy officiated only in secre^ and Indian missions be- came impossible. In vain were the Stuarts restored, the ban was still OE the Catholic, and the Indian missien of Maryland was closed forever.

Restricted to the care of the whites, the Jesuits in Maryland soon numbered native members, who, on the suppression of their society, formed the nucleus of the present church in the United States, and reorganizing at the earliest moment, restored the order. .

The Maryland Province, as we have seen, founded the present Vice-province of Missouri, and thus the missions among the Pas-

* This ends the career of Father White, the illustrious founder of the Maryland mission. He was born in London, about 1579. Educated at Douay, he became a priest, and was banished from England in 1606. (Chal- loner's Missionary Priests, ii. 14.) Entering the recently opened novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Louvain, in 1607, he was, after his probation, sent to England, and after being a missionary there, was professor of Hebrew, Theology, and Holy Scripture in Spain, at Louvain and at Liege. From Vir- ginia he was sent to England — tried, and banished. After in vain endeavor- ing to reach Maryland he returned to England, and died December 27, 1656 (O. S.). 'See Tanner, Gesta praclara, 803 ; Oliver, verbo White ; Campbell, Early M». Jions.)

Fathei ii*»r- 'tigby was born in Lancashire in 1608, and entered the So- ciety at the «g«i of 21. He was one of those who in 1640 solicited " that happie mission of Mariland." He was carried to Virginia with Father White, and died there in 1646.

Father Fisher was also taken. During the period of the mission, Fathera Altham, Copley, Gravener, Brock, and the lay-brothers Gervase and Knowles, fcAd died — a fearful mortality for so short a period.

ENGLISH MISSIONS. 495

samaquoddies in Maine, the Pottawotamies, Osages, Miamis, and Quapaws of Indian Territory, the Flatheads, Pends-d'oreilles, and Coeurs d'Alenes of Oregon, and even among the Indians of California, are developments of the mission founded by Father Andrew White. In this way the separate missions founded under Spanish, French, or English rule, blended into one, are now, under the American hierarchy, carried on as of old.

APPENDIX.

FATHER ISAAC JOGUEa

tf the notice of the Iroquois mission no notice was given of the life of thii holy missionary. Isaac Jogues was a native of Orleans in France. Born on the 10th of January, 1607, of a highly respectable family still existing there, he was eminent in childhood for piety, and, on the close of his studies, entered the Society of Jesus, at Rouen, in October, 1624. Full of zeal for the missions, he solicited that of Ethiopia; but was applied to teaching, for which he possessed rare qualifications. When he at last began his theological course, he again solicited a foreign mission, and, on his ordination in 1636, was sent to Canada. After a short stay at Miscou he proceeded to Quebec, and thence to Huronia. His subsequent career on the mission we have given ; and we have only to add that on his way from New York, then New Amsterdam, he was driven on the coast of England, and robbed of every thing. Reaching France in a wretched plight, he was soon an object of general admiration : the Queen Mother invited him to Court ; and the Pope, with words of highest praise, gave him permission to celebrate Mass with his mutilated hands. " Indignum esse Christi martyrem Christi non bibere sanguinem." On his return to Canada he projected the Iroquois mission, and was killed at Caughnawaga on the 18th of October, 1646. We have still extant a description of New Netherland, and a sketch of Rene Goupil, in his own handwriting. The former is to be found in the Documentary History of New York. His Journal is given by Alegambe, Tanner, Bressani, and will appear in the New York Historical Collections. His letters have been collected, and published in Canada. All his writings breathe a spirit of fervent piety, love of suffering, fidelity to the vows and obligations of his order.

FATHER JOHN BAPST.

This missionary, connected intimately with the later Abmiki missions, enjoys the enviable position of a confessor for the faith. He was born at La Roche, in the Catholic canton of Friburg, in 1815, and educated at the Jesuit college in the capital. Here, too, he entered the Society of Jesus, and was constantly employed till 1848, when the Catholic cantons were de- prived of their inalienable rights, and reduced to a sort of slavery. The

198 APPENDIX.

Society of Jesus in Switzerland was compelled to send many of its mission- aries abroad. Father Bapst, who had a great aversion to the foreign mis- sions, was suddenly sent to America, at a moment when, in dreams, he be- held himself atnid a barbarous race. Stationed at Oldtown, on the Penob- Bcot, he devoted himself to the study of the Abnaki, and ministered to the Indians for two years. Hero he established habits of temperance, reconciled party feuds, attended his flock in the trying time of the cholera, and en- deavored to secure the tribe the benefits of Christian education. Govern- ment, however, thwarted his designs, and depriving the Penobscots of a priest, drove many, as voluntary exiles, to Canada. Father Bapst was then placed on the white mission, and ministered, with some companions, to the scattered Catholics. His attempt to prevent Catholic children from being forced to learn Protestant doctrines at their own expense, drew on him the odium of some of the people of Ellsworth. On the 8th of July, 1854, it was resolved, at a town meeting, that if he returned to the place he should bo tarred and feathered, and ridden on a rail. On the 14th of October, Father Bapst visited the place, to officiate the next day. When this was known, a mob assembled, broke into the house, robbed him of his purse and watch, dragged him out, and putting him astride a rail, carried him along the street for a considerable distance. Halting at length, they stripped him, using every violence in act and language, filthy as hell or their own hearts. The sheriff, it is said, came up at this time to rescue him, but, it seems, was un- able to see him, and returned. Then the mob covered the priest with tar, and pouring feathers over him, left him about two miles from the house whence he had been taken. This he at length reached in a state of great suifering, and it being past midnight, refused all nourishment, as he had to say mass that day.

The citizens of Bangor, where Father Bapst resided, were loud in de- nouncing the miscreants who had cast such a blot on the honor of the Eepublic. They presented the illustrious sufferer with a watch and purse, and sought to bring the villains to justice; but alas I hatred of Catholicity is so rampant that a public meeting justified, as another had suggested the act, and the grand jury refused to indict the offenders, twelve or fifteen of whom had been arrested and identified.

Such is one of the later Abnaki missionaries. And it is a curious fact that no missionary to that tribe was ever injured by the lodians, while Brother du Thet and Father Kale were killed, and Father Bapst has been thus cruelly treated by the whites, more savage than the original occupants of the soil.

APPENDIX.

LIST OF MISSIONARIES

ABNAKI MISSIONARIES.

MIS8IONAr.IfS.	ARK1VKD.	IN MAINE.	DIED.
1 Peter Blard, S. J	June, 1611	1613	Nov. 17, 1622
2 Enemond Masse	Jane, 1611	1613	May 12, 1656
		1646
		1648
4 Gabriel Druilletes, S. J	Aug. 15, 1643	1646-1,1650-2,1656	Apl. 8, 1681
		16S7
6 Vincent Bigot		168T
		1693	about 1707
8 Louis Pierre Thury, F. M., I		1687-99	d. June 8, 1699
9 Sebastian Bale, S. J.	Oct 13 1689	1693-1724	k. Aug. 23, 1734
10 Stephen Lnuvergat		1724
11 John Lovard		1724
12 Claude Du Puy		1724
		1731
14 Pierre de la Chasse		1703 '
15 Joseph Aubry.		1703	d. after 1750
16 Michael A. Gaulin, F. M		1704
IT Eageot F M. ...		1698-1704
18 Coquard, F. M.		1760
19 Germain S. J		1760
20 Francis Ciquard, Sulp		1792 or 1793	after isi2
21 John Cheverus.	1795	about 1796	July, 1*86
22 Romagn6

HURON MISSIONARIES.

MISSIONARIES.

ON MISSION.

1 Joseph Le Caron, Kec May 25. 1615

2 William Poulain, Rec June, 1619

3 Nicholas Viel. Kec I June 28, 1623

4 Theodat Sasard. L. B ! June 28, 1623

5 Jos. de la Roche Dai lion, Rec. (1625

6 John de Brebeuf, S. J June 19, 1625

T Anne de None July 14, 1626

8 Anthony Daniel June 24, 1633

9 Ambrose Davost June 24, 16,33

10 Fnin cis Lemercier , July 20, 1 635

11 Peter Pijart July 10, 1635

12 Charles Ga-nier June 11, 1636

13 Peter Chasiellain June 11, 1636

14 Isaac Josiu-s July 2, 1636

15 Paul Ragueneau June 28, 1636

1615-16,1623-24 11622

T623-25

1623-24

1626-23

16-26-9. 34-41,44-9 ! 1626-27 '1634-36,1638-48

1634-36

1635-50 ; 1635-44

1636-49 1 1036-50

1636-42 1 1687-M, 1641-60

1632

k. July, 1625 left in 16'24 left in 1629 k. Mar. 16, 1649 frozen Feb.l.l64« k. July 4. 164« d. at sea in 1643 left after 1670 left in 1650 k. Dec. 7, 1649 d. Aug. 14, 1683 k. Oct. 18. 1646 left Sept 166«

	600 APPENDIX. HURON MISSIONARIES— (Continued.)
MISSIONARIES.	ARRIVED.	OK MISSION.	DUD.
16 Jerome Lalemant, 8. J.	Aug. 26, 1638 1633 1638 Aug. 1, 1639 Aug. 1, 1639 1637 July 14, 1637 July 8, 164>l Aug. !5. 1643 AUU. 15, 1643 1642 Sept. 20, 1616 Aug. 6. 1646 Aug. 14, 1647 Aug. 14, 1647	1633-45 1638-50 ? 1633-41 1630-50 1639-40, 1645-50 164U-42 1640-50 ll>41-50 1644-5') 1644-W 1645-49 164*-49 1648-5U 1648-5) 1648-50	d. Jan. 26, 1673 d. No-v. 24, 1665 d. Nov. 10, 1665 d. Feb. 21, 1G93
17 Sitnon le Moyne.
18 Francis Duperon
19 P. J. M. Chaumonot
20 Joseph A. Poncet
21 Charles Raymbaut	d. Oct. 22. 1642 d. after 1668 k. Aug. 1661 k. Sept 1656 k. Dec. 8, 1649 left Nov. 2,1650 k. Mar. 17, '1649 left in 1650 left in 1650 died in China
22 Claude Pijart
23 Rene Menard.
24 Leonard Garrean 25 Natalis Cliabanel
26 Franc. J. Bressani
27 Gabriel Lalemant,
28 Adrian Daran
29 James Bon in
80 Adrian Grelon
LROQUOIS MISSIONARIES IN NEW YORK.
MISSIONARIKS.	ARRIVED.	ON MISSION.	DIED
1 Isaac Jogues, 8. J	July 2, 1636 16 fi Aug. 1, 1639 1633 Aug. 1, 1639 1655 July 20, 1635 July 8, 1640	1642-43, 1646 1644 1653 1654-58, 1661-62 1655-53 1655-53 1656-58 1656-58 1656-58, 1667-71 1657-58 1657-58 1667-79* 1667-79*	k. Oct. 18, 1646 d. Sept 9, 1672 (L June 18, 1675 d. Nov. 24, 1665 d. Feb. 21. 1693 alive in 1694 in West Indie* k. Aug. 1661 d. July 20, 1691 d Sept 8, 1680 d. Nov. 1665 d. after 1703
2 Francis J. Bressani
8 Joseph A Poncet
4 Simon le Moyne
6 Peter J. M. Chaumonot
6 Claude Dablon
7 Frs. J. le Mercier
8 Rene Menard
9 James Fremin
10 Paul Ragueneau	June 2S, 1636 1638 Aug. 8, 1666 June 27. 1667 Oct. 1662 Aug. 6, 1666
11 Francis Duperon
12 James Brnyas
18 John Plerron
14 Julian Gamier	1668-83, 1702 1668-71, 1672-84 1668-84, 1689-94 1670-71 ?	alive in 1722 d. July, 1726 alive in 17<H alive in 1691
15 Stephen do Carheil
16 PelerMilet
	June 19, 1665 May 25, 166S Sept 22, 1668
19 Louis Nicholas	1670-71 1671-79* 1671-73 1674-79,? 1703-04 1671-S7 1675-86 1709 1708-9 1743-60 1750-52 1753-54
19 Peter Raffdx	alive in 1702 i Dec. 17, 1674
20 Francis Boniface
21 Frs. Vaillant de Gneslis
92 John de Lamberville	1663?	in France, 1699 d. after 1705 d. 1742
24 Peter Mareui!
25 James d'Eu
26 Francis Picqnet, S. S. 8.	Sept 1733	d. July 15, 1781 d. April 15, 1761 d. 1790 d. April, 1757 d. 1781 f d. April 4, 1734
27 Hamon Guen
28 John Pierre Davaux Berson | de la Garde 29 Elie Deperet
90 John Claude Mathevet	Aug. 7. 1740 June, 1754	1758-60 1760
11 Peter Paul F. de la Garde
* And perhaps later.

APPENDIX. 501 IROQUOIS MISSIONARIES IN NEW YORK— (Continued.)
MISSIONARIES.	ARRIVED.	ON MISSION.	DIED.
82 Mark A. Gordon, 8. J		1760-1775 1785-1806 1800-2 1802-3 1807-12 1812-19 1819-25 1825-32 1832	d. 177T d. 1806
83 Itoderic McDonnell, Sec. P. ...
84 A. Van Felsen
86 - Kinfrct
86 J. B. Roupe. 8. S. 8		d. 1S64
88 Nicholas Dufresne, 888
89 Joseph Vallo, Sec. P		<L1S50
40 Francis Marcoux, Sec. P.
OTTAWA MISSIONARIES.
MISSIONARIES.	ARRIVED.	TIME ON MISSION.	DIED.
1 Isaac Jogues, S.J	July 2, 1686 1637 July 8, 1640 July 11, 1658 May 25, 1663 Sept. 20, 1666 1653	1642 1642 1660-61 1665-89 1607-68 1668-75 1668-71 1669-79* 1669-80 1671-1700* 1678-88* 1675-88* 1675-81* 1670-78* 1676-79* 1678-88* 16 -84 ICSSt 16S8-M703* 1688t-1703* 17uOt-1712*	k. Oct 1646 Oct 22, 1642 k. Aug. 1661 about Aug. 1690
8 Reno Menard
4 Claude Allouez
6 James Marqu<;tte	d. May 19, 1675
T Claude Uablon
8 Louis Andre
9 Gabriel Dmilletes	Aug. 15, 1643 Aug. 4, 1662 Aug. 23, 1649 June 25, 1647 Sept. 25, 1667	d. April 8, 1631
10 Henry Nouvel
11 Charles Albanel
12 Peter Bailloquet
13 Philip Pierson
14 Anthony Silvv
15 Peter Andrew Bonneault
16 John Enjalran
17 Nicholas Potier
18 James Gravier		1706
19 Claude Aveneau
20 Stephen de Carheil	Aug. 6, 1666	July, 1726
21 James Joseph Marest
22 J. B. Chardon
23 J. C. Guymonneau. .. .		1721-22 1728-30 1724 1749-50
24 Peter M. Guignas
25 C. M. MessRiger
27 Justinian la Kichnrdie
23 Marin Louis Lefranc		till 1764 1764 17511-81
29 Pierre Dujaunay
80 Peter Potier		d July 16, 1781
* And perhaps later. t And perhaps earlier. ILLINOIS MISSIONARIES.
MISSIONARIES.	ARRIVED.	WHEN IN ILLINOIS.	DIED.
	Sept 20. 1C66 July 11,1658 Aug. 16TO June, 1675	1673-75	May 19, 1675 about Aug. 1690 k. Sept. 19, 1680 k. 1686-7
2 Claude Allouez	1677, 1679-87 16SO 1680
8 Gabriel de la Ribourde, Rec. . . 4 Zenobius Membni

602

APPENDIX.

ILLINOIS MISSIONARIES— (Continued.)

MISSIONARIES.	ARBIVBD.	WHEN IN ILLINOIS.	DDO>.
	June, 16, 1672 ?	1 687-1706	k. about 1704
	Oct. 13 1689	1691-92	k Aug 23 1724
7 Francis Pinet		1700, 1703	d before 1712
8 Gabriel Marest		1700, 1703, 1712
		1700, 1703, 1712
10 Julian Binneteau		1700
		1700
12 Bovie		1700
13 John B. Cbardon		1700, 1703, 1721
14 John Bergier, Priest of F. M. .		1700. 1707, 1710
15 Louis Mary <Ie Ville, S. J		1712
16 Dominic Mary Varlet, F. M...		1712-18?	d.1742
17 .Joseph Ign. le Boulanger, S. J.		1721
18 de Kereben		1721
""9 de Beaubois		1721
20 J. C. Guymonncau		1721
21 G. Calvarin, F. M		1719
22 D. A. R. Taumur de la )		17J1	d. April 4, 1781
23 John le Mercier, F. M., ord. 1		1721	d. April 17, 175i
May, 1718 24 — Scnct, 8 J.		1730	k. 1730
		1750	d. after Aug. 1WO
26 A. F. X. de Cayenne		1750
27 Doutrcleaa		1727
28 Dumas	1727	1727
29 • Tartarin	1727	1727-46
80 Vattrin		1750
		1750	d. after 1768
82 Claude F. Virot		on Ohio In 1767
88 Julian Duvernay		1763

LOUISIANA MISSIONARIES.

MISSIONARIES.		DIED.
1 Anthony Davion, F. M 2 Francis J. de Montigny, F. M. 8 Geoffrey T. Erborie, F. M. ?. 4 John B. de St Come	Tunicas, In 1699-1716 Taensas, in 1699 1716	died before 1727
Choctaws, in 1699? Natchez, in 1700 C«nis, 1 in 1700-2 Bayogoulas, 1700 Ouuios, 1700-2	died 1727? killed in 1T07 left in 1702
6 Michael A. Gaulin 6 Paul du Ru S J
	died at Mobile, 1704 killed in Oct 1702 filled 1718? killed Nov. 28, 173
9 Nicholas Foucanlt,' F. M. . . 10 John D. Testn, F. M. »	Koroas ? Cboctaws, in 1703? Arkansas, 1 727 Alibanums, 1727 Choetaws, 1727 to near 1730 Tazoos, 1727 Alibamons. 1730* Choctaws from about 1730 to 1T48
13 - • • lc Petit
14 • Soncl	killed Dec. ii,"l72»
u ou n	-

• And perhaps later.

APPENDIX.

60S

AUTHORITIES

USED IN THE COMPILATION OF THIS WORK. THE MISSIONS GENERALLY.

HAKES OF AUTHORS.	TITLES OF WORKS. PUBLISHED.
	listoire Generate des Missions, 4 vols listoire de la Compagnie de Jesus, 6 vols... Tableau de Personnages Signal6s Tistoria Societatis Jesu « j flistoria Societatis Jesu	Jaris. Paris, 1847. Douay, 1622. Antwerp & Borne 1620-&. Etome, 1710. Rome, 1760. Rome, 1609; Lug. Bat., 1633. Rome, 1667. Prague, 1673. Prague, 1673. London, 1626. London, 1809. Hafnla>, 18«7. nafnifB, 1836-9. New York. 183ft Boston, 1839. Dublin, 1849. Paris, 1770. Madrid, 1605. Madrid, 1723. Mexico, 1848. Paris, 1609. Madrid, 1723. Paris, 1888. Madrid, 1723. Madrid, IfiSO. Madrid, l5S9. Mexico, 1S50. Madrid, 1748. Madrid, 1786. Madrid, 1723. Madrid, 1723. Paris, 1810. Paris, 1841. London, 1666. Paris. 1740. London, 1763. New York, 17T& Mexico, 1760. Bare., 1754. Mexico, 1851. Madrid, 1757. Venezuela^ Mexico, 178T.
D'Oultreman Bacchinus Jouvency
De Laet
Alegambe Tanner	Mortes Illuslres
Kakluyt
Rafh	NORWEGIAN.
Memoirs of the Royal Society of Northern 1 Antiquaries. America Discovered in the Tenth Oentnry..
Binith
White	Apologia pro Hibernia,
	SPANISH. Histoire G6nerale de 1'Amerlqne, 14 vols. . . . Historia General
Rerrera
Gomara	Historia General Disertaciones sohre la Historia de Megico . . . Cronique des Freres Mineurs, 2 vols 'Naufragos ....
Barezzi Cabeza de Vaca
Castaneda de Nagera. . Torquemada	Relation du Voyage de Cibola.
Monarquia Indiana
Mendoza	Relacion de la Sina
Villaseiior	Teatro Americano Diccionario Geograftco
Cardenas	Ensayo Cronologico Xa Florida IQJuvres
Vega Las Casas
Cancer &Beteta Davis	Relation de la Florida
Carribee Islands
Charlevol^
Roberts	Florida Florida
	Manual para Adrriinisfrar los Sacraraentos . . Apostol afanes de la Compania de Jesus
Vene^as •• . ...	JIisrori» de la California .
Clavigero iStoria della California
Palou...... ...jlielacion Historica

	604 APPENDIX. SPANISH— (Continued.)
KAMK OP AUTHOK8.	TITLES Of WORKS.	PUBLISHED.
	Notlcia de la Provlncia de las Californias —	Valen.. 1794. New York, 1&46. Paris, 1&44. New York, 1&16. New York, 1S54. Paris, 1851. Lyons, 1611, &c, Paris, v. a. New York, 1S46. Paris. Paris, 1632-72. Lyons, 1822, &o. Camb., 1888. 1824. 1792-54. 1309-54. 1846. 1852. 1846. 1883. Philadelphia, 179ft lass. Boston, 184S. Philadelphia, 1811. Paris, 1830. Paris, 1C32. Paris, 1636. Paris, 1609. Paris, 1686. Macerata. 1658. Paris, 1691. Paris, 1849. Paris, 1744 Paris, 1722. Paris, 1724. Quebec, 1852. Hall, 1832. London, 1828. New York, 1829. 1858. 1S46. Indiana, 1843. New York, 1833. Cincinnati, 1846. Balttmore, 1849. New York, 1854. Paris. Philadelphia, 188(1 Ni»w York.
Duflot de Mofrus Robinson	Exploration de TOregon
Lite in California
»P Force Sparks	Uistoiro Chretienne de la Californie
FRENCH. Lltterse Annuse, 8. J
Lettres Editiantes et Curieuses
Jesuit Missions Mercupe Francais
Kelatiotfs de la'Nouvelle France et du pays] des Hnrons, par Lalemant, Le Jeune, 1 Baguenean, Lo Mercier, Dablon, Bre- [ beuf, 40 vols. J Annales da la Propagation de la Fol, 24 vols.
Maine Historical Collections. 8 vols. New Hampshire Historical Collections, 6 vs. Massachusetts Historical Collections
New York Historical Collections, 18 vote. . . New York Documentary History, 4 vote l>.cw York Colonial Documents, 8 vols Louisiana Historical Collections, 5 vols (Quebec Historical Collections, 8 vols.
American Philosophical Society, 5 vols Memoirs of the American Academy
Historical Collections, 4 vols American Biography, 28 vols
	Voyages, 2 vols
	Hlstoire du Canada
	Historia Canadensis
	Breve Kelatione ...
Le Clercq	Etablissement de la Foi, 2 vols.... Histoire Naturelle du Canada
	Histoire Gem-rale de la Nouvelle France, 6v. Histoire de 1'Amerique
De la Potherie
	Histoire du Canada, 8 vols
Williamson Hutcliinson Smith	History of Maine History of Massachusetts.
	History of New York
O'Callaghan	History of New Netherland
Dillon ...	History of Indiana.
Brown	History of Illinois. History of Illinois. History of Michigan Arnals of the West
Lanman Peck
McSherry	History of Maryland. ,v
Martin	History of Louisiana. IHstorv of Louisiana
Gayarre
(Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi, New York, 1853.

APPENDIX.

506

FRENCH— (Continued. )

TITLES OF WOEK8.

PUBLISHED.

Bancroft.

Holmes.

Sehoolcr«ft .........

Drake Bablon Le Clercq Hennepta

La Honta*

American Archives, 6 series ................ Washington, 1887.

American State Papers, 21 vols ............. Washington, 1882.

Journal of the Assembly of New York, 2 vis. New York, 1764 Journal of the Provincial Congress of New { '^jhanv 1342.

York. History of the United States, 6 vols. ........ Boston, 1854.

Annals of America, 2 vols ................. jCamb., 1829.

^o7s.and PrOgreS" °f th* Indi*n Tribe"> ( Washington, 1888. Indian Captivities ......................... New York, 1864.

Voyage da Pere Marquette. ................ ! New York, 1852.

Relation de Gaspesie ...................... iPatis, 1691.

Relation de la Louisiana ................... [Paris, 1691.

New Discovery ........................... I Amsterdam.

Voyages .................................. |La Haye, 1708.

KaJm ............... Travels ................................... |Londoa, 1772.

Ullc* ................ Notidas Americana ....................... iMadrid, 1772.

History of Spanish America. ............... London, 1742.

Henry ............... Travels and Adventures ................... INew York, 1809.

Butler ............... History of <5roton ......................... (Boston, 1848.

Viger ................ 'Histoire des Paroisses de Montreal ......... Montreal, 1850.

Bt VaHer. ............ Etat present .............................. 'Paris, 1688.

Ferland ........... ...'Notes ear l«s Registres de Quebec .......... jQuebec, 1654.

" .............. 'Notes sur THistoire du Canada de Brasseur.| Quebec, 1858.

DeSmet ............. Indian Sketches ........................... Philadelphia,

Williams.. Heckwel 8t John

Bayley. Mather

Onegon Missions.

Voyage au Grand Desert ,.

Neutral Frerrch (Introduction)

Heckwelder Missions of the United Brethren.

Letters of .an American Farmer.

HiBtory of the Catholic Church in the City )

of New York. f

Magnalia Christi Americana

A brief Account of, &c., of the Society of)

Friends for the Improvement of the In- V

Campbell .. Eagueneau. Charlevolx. De la Tour. Faillon ....

dian Tribes. Early Catholic Missions in Maryland , Vie de la M£re Catherine.

Marda

Champion

Sparks... „...„..

Francis . .

Shea

Campbell Dubourg. Burnap . . Bpalding

U. 8. Cath. Magazine „

Oliver

Mxrconx

!

Vie de la Mere Marie de 1'Incarnation

Memoires sur Mgr. de Laval

Vie de M. Olier ,

Vie do Margaret Botrrs«eoys .,

V''e de Mme. d'Yonvifte

Vie de Bressani

Vie du Pere John Bigoleu

Life of Fat/her Marquette. „ . '.

Life ofLaSalle

Life of Father Rale ,

Life of Father Marquette

Life of Archbishop Carroll

Life of Cardinal Cbeverns ,

Life of Calvert

Life of Bishop Flaget

Various Lives and Sketches

Biography of the English, Irish, and Scotch ) Jesuits. j

Kaietonseru lonterennaientakwa (Canghn).

jlonteriwaienstakw;

dacsse JNe orhyengene, &c. (Mohawk)

Andrews

Morgan

fiaraga

,wagh myadewighniserage (Mohawk) New York, 1769.

neca Spelling Book

Misiuaigac.

New York, 1847. Brux., 1858. Providence, 1841. Philadelphia, 182ft, Dublin, 1782.

New York, 1853. London, 1762.

London, 1806.

Baltimore, 1847. Paris. Paris, 1724. Col., 1751. Paris, 1848. Tours, 1852. Tours, 1852. Montreal, 1852. Lyons, 1788. Boston. Boston. Boston.

New York, 1852. Baltimore, 1846. Philadelphia, 1838 Boston, 1847. Louis., 1832. Baltimore, 1844.

London, 1845.

Mtntreal.1852. Montreal, 1844. New York. 17«9.

Buffalo Creek, 181ft Detroit

506 APPENDIX.

Unpublished Works to wkiek I have had a cess tkrougk the Kind ness of authors*

Viger Liste Corrig&s.

Petit registre, in 4°, avec dee grarnrea,

Album des son venire Canadians.

Tascbereaa Memoire sur lea Missions da TAcadie.

Martin . Vie du Pere Isaac Jofrues.

Vies des P&es de None, 6arnl«r, Gairean, BaUu.

Manuscript*.

Kubn Letter of September 16, t«9&.

Ferret Moeurs et Contumes des Sauvagea.

Cbaumonot Autobiographic.

Journal du Supertenr de la Missloa.

Garnier Lettres.

Jogues Description dnNtew Nederland.

" .Notice sur Bene Goupil.

Bnteus Narr6 de la prise du PdreJogaes.

Ra£rnf.no*n } M6mofres touciiant les vertus des Pdres do None, JOJTBML

^ } Daniel, Brebeuf, Lalemant, Gamier et Chaban«L

Dablon Relations de la Nouvelle France, 1 6T2-3.

Jitbloa Eelations de la Nnuvelle France, 16T3-91

"• Belations dftla NouTcIle France, 167&

1 Etat present, 167&

u Circular on the death of Chaumonot,

" Circular on the death of Garnfer.

u Letters and statements.

Eemy Notice snr !es Miracles de Catherine Te

Cbaucbettere Vie de Catherine TehgahkwiU.

Druilletes Narr6 de Voyage a Boston.

Bigot Eelations de Sillery et de St. Francois.

flravier Eelations ae I'lllfeiois.

Archives of St. Mary's College, Montreal Archives of the Bureau des Terres. Archives ot the Notarial of Laprairia Paris Doeuments at Albany. Paris Documents at Boston.

Bnryas M Eacines Agni6r«s.

" .Dictionnaire Francais-Agnley.

Villteis Journal d« Campagne.

Besides Massrs. Tasehereaii, Viger, and Martin, I am indebted to the Abbe Ferland for many valuable notes, and also to Fathers de Smet, Bapat, Shoenmakers, the Eev. Messrs. Pierz and Bondnel, the V. Rev. Wm. 8. Murphy, Bishop Micge, and Bishop Baraga, for notices of missions under their charge. The manuscripts are almost all in the collection of Father Martin and the Hon. James Viger ; those of Bruyms being in the hands of the Eev. Mr, Marcoux.

To them, and all who have aided my researches,! be*« return my warmest

INDEX

A boll a, F. Ram M, 114.

Abnaki mission, 28, 129, 156, 498.

Acagchemetn Indians, 98.

Achiongeras, John B., 221, 282.

Achirigouans, 862.

Acoma, S3.

Adsye mission, 86.

Aes, 86.

Agnler, Le Grand. See Kryn.

Agreda. Maria de, 81.

Ahasistarl, 183, 209.

Alreskol, 211, 266, 2T6.

Ako, Madaino, 415.

Alabama mission, 50.

Alasapas, 86.

Albanel, F. Charles, 871, 8T5.

Algonqulns, 22, 184.

Alibamons, 446, 450.

Allouez, F. Claude, 85T, 878, 418.

Altham, F. John, 184

Amantacha, Louis, 172.

America, 19, 21, 23.

Amicoues mission, 865.

Amurro, F. Gregory, 96, 109.

Anacostans, 485.

Andagoron, 209.

Andastes, 24.

Andre, Louis, 863, 872.

Anunciation, F. D. de la, 50.

Apaches, 82.

Apalache mission, 72-8.

Aquasasne, 346.

Aquinas, F. Thomas, 88.

Arbide. F. Martin, 82.

Arbre Croche, 384.

Aremla, 182.

Argal, 83.

Arkansas mission, 436, 446.

Asao, 67.

Ascension, P. Ant de la, 88.

Asinais mission, 86, 441.

Assaguinac, 885.

Assendase, 268.

Assiniboins, 24, 362.

Assumption, F. And. de la, 88.

Atimucas, 74

Atironta, 182.

Attikamegues, 23.

Attiwandaronk mission, 170, 182, 284.

Attontinon, Sister Mary, 810.

Aubery, F. Jos., 144, 152.

Augusliniana, 23.

Ann ?n, F. MicbMl d& <& Avilt, F. Francis de, TO. Axacan, 62. Ayavalla, 74.

Badin, J. V., 884. Badin, Stephen, 887, 402. Baez, Augustine, 58. Bailloquet, F. P., 870. Baptisms, 293. Baraga, Bishop, 888-401. Barraneche, F. John, 102. Bauche, Marchioness, 142. Baudouin, F., 452. Becancour mission, 146-154. Bellamont Lord, 329. Belleconrt, G. A. de, 891. Belmont, Francis de, 319-38&, Benavides, F., 80. Bergier, John, 422. Beschefer, T., 252-26S. Beteta, F. Gregory, 47-5L Biard, F. Peter, 130-4 Bigot, Fathers, 142. Binneteau, F., 144, 420. Biographical sketches of—

F. Claude Allouez, 418.

F. Dominic of the Anunc., II

F. John Bapst, 498.

Francis de Behnont, 835.

John Bergier, 422.

F. Gregory de Beteta, 52.

F. Peter Hard, 134.

Philip Boucher, 424

F. John de Brebeuf, 190.

F. Francis Bressani, 195.

F. James Bruyas, 274.

John F. Buisson, 444.

F. Joseph le Caron, 172.

F. Louis Cancer, 89.

F. Stephen de Carheil, 289.

F. P. M. T. Chaumonot, IDT.

F. Nat Chabanel, 194.

Card. Cheverus, 158.

Francis Ciquard. 157.

B. John of the Cross, 48.

F. Claude Dablon, 241.

F. Anth. Daniel, 187.

Anth. Davion, 444>

F. Gab. Druilletes, 14t

G. T. Erborie, 424

508

INDEX.

F. P. M. de Ferla, 52.

N. Foucault, 442.

F. James Fremin, 294

F. Francis Oarces, 102.

F. Charles Gamier, 198.

F. Julian Garnier, 294.

M. A. Gaulin, 448.

F. James Gravier, 420.

Rene Goupil, 210.

F. Chris. Hoecken, 479.

F. Isaac Jogues, 49T.

F. John Juarez, 41.

F. Euseb. Kiihn, 89.

F. Gab. Lalemant, 191.

F. Francis Le Morcier. 241.

F. Simon Le Moyne, 179-248.

F. Peter Martinez, 56.

F. Eneni. Masse, 184

F. John de Mesa, 46.

F. Zen. Membre, 434

F. Rene Menard, 866.

Fr. J. de Montigny, 443.

F. Mark of Nice, 42.

F. Anne de None, 170.

F. And. de Olmos, 46.

F. John de Padilla, 44

B. John de Palos, 41

F. Ant. Peyri, 110.

F. Peter Raffeix, 294.

F. Paul Eagneneau, 241.

F. Seb. Kale, 151.

F. Gabriel de la Eibourde, 413.

F. Ralph Rigby, 494

B. Aug. Rodriguez, 78.

F. John Roger, 65.

F. Dominic de Salazar, 52.

F. John B. de Segura, ft4

F. Juniper Serra, 91-102.

John D. Testu, 450.

F. C. F. Van Quickenborne, 466.

F. And White, 494.

F. Zerbinati, 479. Blackfeet, 469. Bianehet, Archbishop, 470. Boldue, John B., 475. Bonduel, Fl. J., 892. Boniface, F., 264, 871. Bonneanlt, F. P., 870. Boulanger, F. J. le, 427. Brebeuf, John de, 169-190, 869, Bressani, F. J., 185-212. Brock, F. John, 491. Bruillet, J, B., 478. Bruyas, F. James, 254-480. Bueno, F. Salv., 78. Bulsson, J. F., 440.

Cabot, F., 111. Caeina, 78.

Cadodachos mission, 84 Cahokia. 404,419. California Indians, 24, 98. California missions, 91. Camna, F. M. de hi, 91. Cambon, F. Peter, 94

Canasadaga, 841, 846.

Cancer, F. Louis, 46-8.

Candaleras, 88.

Capuchins in Acadia, 18S — Canala, 171

Louisiana, 445.

Carheil, F. 8. de, 260, 287, 875. Carmelites, 28, 88. Odrraeouha, 170. Cirgboawga (N. T.), 256. -- (Can.), 458. Cayuga mission, 232, 287. Caynse mission, 47 i Cenis. See Asinaia. Cerda, Perez de la, 72. Chabanel, F. Nat, 185-94. Chardon, F. John, 876, 4% Charles X., 843. Chasse, F. P. de la, 144 Chatelain, F., 176. Chaumonot, F. P., 180-WJ. Chegoimegon, 858. Cherokee mission, 22, C8, 72. Cheverus, Card., 157. Chicago, 42& Chichigoueks, 868. Chick.isaw mission, 224, 441. Chihatenhwa, Jos., 178, 188. Chilomaoon, 489. Chippeways. See Ojibwat. Chinook mission, 470. Choctaw -- ,441-50. Cholonek, F. Peter, 298. Chone, Father, 891. Cibola, 41. Cicnye mission, 48. Cipias mission, 81. Ciquard, Francis, 157. Cisneros, John de, 78. Cocapo, 78. Cochite, 83. Cocos, 86.

Coeurs-d'Alenes, 478. Collani, 82. Comeyas mission, 96. Congregation Sisters, 808-827. Conception Imm., Various missions o$

101, 107, 175, 291, 405. Conception, Immaculate, Devotion to,

174, 188, 404, 585. Conestogues, 24, 287, &o., 486. Constantine, F. Nich., death o^ 87& Cook, Col. Louis, 841. Coosa mission, 24,51. Coroas, 442, 447. Coronado Expedition, 42. Corpa, F. Peter de, 66-8. Cortes, F. Hyacinth, 89. Creek mission, 24-67. Crespi, Father, 91-101. Cretin, Bishop, 400. Cruzado, F. Ant., 95.

Dablon, F. Claude, 222, 241, 860, 86 D&kotas, 24. 848, mission to, 855, 869, 378. 465.

INDEX.

50S

DalHon, F. Joseph, 169.

Daniel, V. Anth., 173-S5.

D»vion,Anth., 421-44.

Davost, F. Amb., 178.

De Jean, Eev. Mr., 885-8.

Demers, Bishop, 470.

Deinilier, Edin., 161.

De Soto, 44.

Desseille, Eev. Mr., 896-9.

De Smet, F. Peter, 471.

De Ville, F. Louis, 423.

D'heu, F. James, 831.

Diaz, F., 87.

Diaz, F. John, 102.

Diego, Bishop, 111-8.

Dominicans in Florida, 4fi-9— Alabama,

50; Virginia, 55 ; California, 96. Donnos, 207. Douay, F. Anast, 488. Doutfeleau, F., 428. Doiiiran, Col., 312. Druilletes, F. Gab., 136, 861, 870. Du Bourg. Bishop, 453. Du Jaunav, F. Peter, 377, 482. Duin«iz, F. Francis, 94. Dumoulin, Mr., 891. Duperon, F. Jos., 236. Duran, F. Narcissus, 111. D'urlV, Mr., 2S3, 31/9. Du Thet, B., 132,

Ekaentouton, 364.

English missions — Maryland mission, 481.

Enjalran, F. John, 371-5.

Erborie, G. T., 441.

Eric, Bishop, 84.

Eries, 24, 261.

Escalona, F. John de, 79.

Escobar, F. Franc, de, 80,

Estenega, F. Thomas, 113.

Etbarita, 192.

Fenelon, Francis de S., 254, 2S3.

Fen wick. Bp.. 8S6.

Feria, F. Pedro de. 50.

Ferrer, F. John, 49.

Flithosd mission, 45S, 466.

Flocne, Jesse, 129.

Florida missions, 46.

Font, F., 99.

Fortuni, F.. 109-113.

Foucault, Ntch., 442.

Fox mission, 862-374.

Franciscuns in New Mexico. 41-44— Texas,

45; Florida, 65. See Capttchitu, Re- collects.

Fremin. F. James. 252-261, 290. French missions, 121.

Atmaki, 129-162.

Huron, 166.

Iroquois, 205.

Ottowa, 848.

Illinois, 403.

Louisiana, 435.

Destruction of, 188, 146-9, 171.

Galisteo, 88. Gandagare, 234, 280. Gnndougarae, 291. Gandachiragou, 291. Gandawsgue. See i 'auyknemaga* Gaaneakten*, Cath., 261, 295. Gannensagwas, Sister Mary, 811, 827. Ganonakoa, Stepltet te, 322. Garacontie, Daniel, 242-286, Garacontio II., 2S6. Garces, F. Francis, 102. Garcia, F. John, 47.

, F. Bart., S7.

Gamier, F. Charles, 175-193.

, F. Julian, 259-381.

Garonhiasue, 298-318.

Garreau, F. Leon, 184, 193, 286, S50.

Gaulin, M. A., 145, 441.

Georgia, uiissions in, 72.

Germ*in, F., 154.

Gibault, E«v. Mr., 438.

Goiogouen, 2S7.

Gomez, F. F., 91.

Gonanatenha, Frances, 825.

Gonzalez, F., 114.

Gotipil, Etine, 207.

Gravier, F. James, 875, 414, 420.

Grelon, F. Adrian, 193-5.

Greenland missions, 33.

GuaJalonpe, 82.

Guale. 58, CC.

Guerin, John, 855.

Guignas, F. Louis J,, 8T9.

Guilucos, 109.

Guyenne, F. F. X. d«, 446.

Havana, School at, 53.

Hemes mission, SO.

Hoecken, F., 461, 475.

Hotinnonsionni, 205.

Holy Fam.ly, Devotion to, 197, 869.

Horchouasse, 289-313.

Huron Indians, 163-204.

mission, 1C3-191— On St. Joseph's

Isle. 192 ; at Quebec, 104; in tho West,

199— General view, 195-204. Hvitramannaland, 83.

Ihonatiria. 178. Illinois Indiiins, 848.

mission, 403-35.

Indian tribes, 22-5. Manners, 43-129-163-481. See Lan*

guaqes. Irish, •«.

Irlanrt it mikla, 83. louskiousme Indians, 109. Iroquois mission, 205-348. Izquienlo. F. Lope, 80. Isleta, 80.

J»yme, F. Louis, M.

510

INDEX.

Jesuits, taw ayainst, 329.

Jesuit missions in Florida, 5<W55; Cali- fornia. 89; Maine, 124; New York, 205; Michigan and Wisconsin, 348; Illinois, 403; Arkansas and Louisiana, 435; In- dian Territory, 464; Oregon, 466.

•licarillas, 82.

Jogues, F. Isaac, 1T5, 349, 184, 206-17,497.

John , 84

John of the Cross, 44

John Mark, 75.

Juarez, F. John, 40.

Jomanas Indians, 81.

Kalispels, 4T3.

Kappas, 24.

Kaskaskias, 404-14.

Kawatskins, 475.

Kechis, 108.

Keinouches, 361.

Kikapoos, 23, 348; mission, 464-8.

Kilatak, 404.

Kiohero Lake, 287.

Kiotsaeton, 214.

Kiskakons, 353, 370.

Klalams, 475.

Koetenays, 475.

Kondiaronk, 202.

Kryn, 271, 298, 320.

Kiihn, F. Kuseb., 89.

La Cendre Cbaade, 298. La Combe, Rev. Alb., 391. La Croix, Rev., 454 Laguna, 83.

Lake of the Two Mountains— Iroquois mis- sion, 33-2-Si6; Algic, 381. Lalande, John, 217. Lalemant, F. Charles, 132-169.

, F. Gab., 188-91.

, F. Jerome, 179-82.

Lamberville. F. John de, 282, 818-5.

-, F. James de, 272, 831.

Langlois, Anthony, 475. Language of—

Abnakis, 137.

Acagchemem, 99.

Assiniboins, 478.

Blackfeet, 478.

Caughnawagas, 845.

Chocouye, 109.

Choctaws, 450.

Comeyas, 92.

Flatbow, 47a

Flathead, 463.

Guilacos, 109.

Hnrons, 164.

Illinois, 415.

Jouskkmsm6, 109.

Kechi, 109.

Menomonees, 8631

Mohawks. 210.

Ojtbwas, 859.

Oiages, 454

Language of

Ottawas. 359.

Pends-d'orettle, 46&

Poltawotamies, 368.

Santa Clara, 100.

San Fernando, 10ft,

San Gabriel, 109.

Santa Inez, 1-09.

Senecas, 290.

Telamis, 93. Lapointe, 358. Laprairie, 300. La Salle, Robert de, 84 Las Casas, Bp., 39. Lauvergat, F. Stephen, 144 5& Lazven, F., 91-108. Le Caron, F. Jos., 166-172. Le Franc, F. Marin, 377T Le Maistre, James, 246. Le Mercier, F. Frs., 174, 223, 241. Lo Mercier, Mr., 427. Le Moyne. F. Simon, 179, IS 2, 223-4L Le Moyne (dorme), 284 Lenni Lenape, 23. Leo XII., 341 Letrado, F. John, 81. Link, F. Wenc., 90. Louis, P. Nich, 263, 359. Lopez, F., 81.

F. Franc, 77.

Lorette Mission, 198, 295. Loyard, F., 144-9. Luna, Don T. de, 50. Lutz, Rev. J. A., 4f>J. Lymoges, F. de, 420, 442.

Maccarlobinasse, Wm., 88T. Manistie, 390. Manitouline, 199. Maramegs, 861. Marcoux, Rev. J., 843-5.

Rev. F., 346.

Marest, F. J. J., 876.

F. Gab., 878.

Mareuil, F. Peter, 331. Marians, 183.

Mark of Nice, 41.

Marquette, F. James, 360, M 405, 4»

407, 371, 408, 388, Martin, F. Felix, 343. Martinez, F. Felix, 110.

F. Alonzo, 78.

F. Peter, 56.

Martyrdom of

F. Arbide, 82. Aufion, 69. Barraneche, 102. Brebeuf, 190. Buisson, 444 Cancer, 49. Chabanpl, 194 Chefdeville, 434, Constantine, 87A Corpa, 67. Daniel, 187.

INDEX.

511

Martyrdom of F. bias, 87.

Du Thet, 189.

Frances, 825.

Foucault, 442.

Franciscans, 74 78.

P*ic«s, 102.

Gamier, 193.

Goupil, 207.

Gravier, 420.

Jayme, 96.

Jognes, 21T.

Le Clercq, 484.

Lalemant, 191.

Letrado, 81.

Lopez, 77.

Martinez, 50.

Membre, 434.

Menard, 356.

Padilla, 43.

Penalosa, 47.

Poisson, 448.

Quiros, 64

Kale, 150.

Bibourde, 419.

Eodriguez, 68.

Segura, 64.

Senat, 431.

Sonel, 448.

Stephen, 323.

Testu, 450.

Velascola, 70.

Vlel, 169.

Maryland mission, 483-94 Mascoutens mission, 348, 865. Masse Enem., 180, 169. Matacumba Key, 78. Mazzuchelli, F., 387. McDonnell, Kod., 342. Medoktek mission, 148. Meherrin, 24. Meiaskwat, Chs., 186. Melendez, Pedro, 53-65. Membre, Zenobius, 411-37. Mernberton, 180. Mena, B. Mark de, 49. Menard, F. Kene, 200, 232, 852. Menchero, F. John, 83. Mendoza, Francis, 53. Menomonee mission, 337, 842, 893. Meras, Don Soils de, 58. Merinet, F. James, 421. Mesa, John de, 45. Metchigameas, 426,48ft Methodist mission, 846. Miamis, 848, 365, 465. Michilitnackinac, 199, Micmacs, 23, 18C Milet, F. Peter, 260-77, 819. Missions — Generally, 23. Norwegian, S3. Spanish, 87. French, 121. English, 431. Missions, &uainaiy ot, 439.

Missionaries, List of, 499. Missouris, 86. Missisaguoe, 861-6. Mobilians, 22.

Mohawks, missions to, 215-254 Mohcgans, 23. Mohior, F. Gervase, 206. Montigny, Francis J., 421-89. Morena, F. Matthew, 102. Mount Carmel mission, 99. Mrak, Eev. Ig., 390. Mugartegui, F., 98. Murguia, F., 99.

Nacogdoches mission, 86. Nambe, 83. Narragansetts, 23. Narvaez, Pamfllo, 89. Natchez mission, 440-8. Navajoes mission, 82. Nazones mission, 86. Neutral mission, 284 New Mexican mission, 41-4 Newport, Tholus at, 84 Nezpercee, 473. Nipissingft, 359. Noquet Island, 200. Norwegian missions, 83 Nor*ids:ewalk mission, 187-53. Notre Dame de Foye, 198-270. Nottaways, 24. Noiie, F. Anne de, 169-TO. Nouvel, F. Henry, 865-8. Nuestra Senora de Gnadalupe, 86,

del Pilar, 67.

de Soledad, 10T.

la Eedonda, 88.

Ofagoulas, 447.

Ojibwas, 348-391.

Okinakanes, 474.

Oliva, F. Vicente, 113.

Olmos, F. Andrew de, 45.

Onate, John de, 78.

Oneida mission, 284-277.

Onnonouaroia, 226.

Onontare, 287.

Onondaga mission, 220-288, 25HT7.

Ore, F. Luis I. de, 71.

Oregon Indians, 24.

mission, 466.

Orejones, 86. Oriste, 56.

Orleans mission, 196. Orono, 156.

Osages— 86 mission, 464 Ospa mission, 67. Ossossane, 175. Oswegatchie, 836. Ottawa mission, 84-9-84 Ouchfbouee. (See Ojibw*.) Ouma mission, 420. Ourehouare, 323-6. Outagamia. (See Foufc)

512

INDEX.

Ontrebouti, 246. Owenagungas, 199.

Pacoas, 86. Padilla, F. John, 43. Padron, F. Aue.. S6. 'Pahwitingdachirlni, 862. PajaJatBS. 86. Panawaniske, 148. Pareja, F. Francis, 67. Pan-on, F. Ferd., 91. Paso, 83.

Passamaqnoddies, 162. Paterna, F. Ant., 95. Patuxents, 485. Pausanee, 86. Payeras, F. Mariano, 109. Pecos mission, 43, 80-3. Pecuries mission, 88. Peinado. F. Alonzo, SO. Pembina mission, 390. Pen*. K.. 99. Penalosa. F. Diego, 47. Penobscot mission, 143, 1<5J. Peoria mission, 4"4-14, 420. Pepipokia mission, 404 Pequods, 23. Peralta, Gaston de, 80. Perdomo, F. Diego, 66, S6. Perrot Nich.. 871. Petit, B. M , 397-S.

F. Louis, 450.

Petithoinme, Mr., 16L Petiot Mr , 399. Petuns. 166, 179, 194 Pejri. F. Ant., 107-110. Philologists—

Baraga, 401.

Boulanger, 427.

Brebeu? 172.

Bruyas, 274

Chaumonot, 196.

iJemilier, 161.

Doin. de la Anun., 58.

Feria. 52.

Marcoux, 345.

Olmos, 46.

Pareja, 63.

Kale, 1+5. Piankeshaws, 404 Picpnsian mission. 161. Pieras. F. Mich., 93. Piorson, F. PhiL, 870, 874, Pierz, Rev. F., 889. Pijart, F. Claude, 188. Piiabo, 80. Pimos mission, 89. Plnet. F. Francis, 426. Piscatawavs, 4S5. Poisson. f. du. 445. Point, F. Nicb., 471. Pointed Hearto, 4^0. Pokegan, 393. Poncet. F Joseph, 18ft Potier F. P., 378.

Potrinconrt, ISO. Ponlain. F. Wm., 16T. Powh»tans, 28. Prado, F. Joseph, 87. Proulx. Rev. Mr., 891. Pueblo Indians. S3.

Pottawotami mission, 862, 575, 4ii, Ml 460, 89d

Quapaws. 450.

Quentin, F., 132.

Queret, 80.

Quere de Tregnron, 328.

Quinte mission, 252-4, 808-*.

Quiros, F. Louis, 62-4

Quivira Hiission, 42-3.

Raffeix, F. Peter, 252, 262, 288, 296.

Rageot, Mr., 145.

Ragueneau, F. P., 286-41.

Rate. F. Sebast. 414, 144-151, 1«0.

Raymbaut, F. Chas., 1S2, 343.

Recollects in Canada, 124; in Aetdla,

135; Quinte, 309 ; Illinois, 41L Eedemptoiists —

Mission in Michigan, 3S8. Religion of Indians, 25.

New Mexico. 78.

California, 99.

Hnrons, 163.

Religious Orders, 28. Renssalaerswyck, 211. Reze, Bishop, SSI -93. Ribourde, F. Gab., 411 Richer, F. Peter, 199. Richard, Gabriel, 883. Rivet Rev. Mr., 48A Rodriguez, B. Aug., 78,

F. Bias., 68.

Roger, F. John, 55. Romagn<\ Rev., 157. Roupe", Rev. J. B., 342.

Sachiendowan, 250. Sac Indians. 23, 362. Sagard. B. Gab., 167. Salas, F.. SO. Salazar. F. Christ de, 79L

— F Dom. de, ;.. Salvatierra, F., 90. Sanchez, F., 110. Sandrcl. F. Simon. 88' Saonchiogwan, 248-51. 28i Sarriit, F., 113. Saultenrs. (See Ojibwmyj Siiult au Rei-ollet. 328. Scinonaenrat 179. Sebastian. F., 135. Sedefio, F. Ant., 58. Segnra, F. J. B., 58. Senat, F.. 431. Seneca mission, 283, 261, tt

INDEX.

513

Seuecn, &0.

Berra, F. Junlp., 91-102. Serrano, F. Alonzo, 71. Sevilleta, 80. Sliawnees, 23. Sheboygan, 890. Shuyelpes, 474 SUlery, 135. Bilvy, F. Ant. 87". Simon, F., 143. Sinagos mission, 8W. Sirenne, F. James. 15& Sioux. (See Dakota.) Sitjar, F. Bonav., 93. St. Pius V, 60. Sulpitian missions, 254. Skandegorhaksen, 302. Bkolla, F. Otto, 390. Socorro, 80-3. Soenrese, 27T. Sokokis, 28. Bomera, F. Aug., 94 Souel, F., 446-8. Source, Dom. T. de la, 427. Souriquois, 28. Spanish missions —

Florida, 89-46, 58.

New Mexico, 41, 76.

Texas, 45, 84.

Alabama, 50.

California, 83. St. Ana mission, 88. San Antonio, 93. St Barbara, 95-107. St Bonaventure, 95. San Carlos, 92. Santa Clara (Cal.), 99

(N. M >, sa

Santa Cruz (N. M.), 8a

JQ7

San Diego, 92-6.

St Esprit, 855-60.

St Francis, SO.

San Francisco, 99.

St F. Xavier des pres, 296.

de la bale, 815-71

St F. Regis, 839-43.

San Fernando, 107.

St Francis de Sales, 148-154

St Francisco Solano, 100.

Bt Gabriel, 94

167.

St Helena, 53.

St Ignatius, 864-70.

179-186.

477.

St Ildefonso, 83. St James, 867.

St John Baptist, 185-192.

St John's (PetunX 192.

St John, 182.

San Juan Capistrano, 96L

San Juan. 82.

St Joseph's, 428.

Swi Jose, 107.

il Joseph, 173-8.

22*

St Joseph's Isle, 192-4,

875-98.

433.

San Luis Obispo, 96. St Louis (Sault), 804. St Lorenzo, 83. St Luis Key, 107. St Mark, 865. St Mary (Sault), 184, 86L St Mary'a (Ganen.), 228. Sta. Maria Juan de, 77. St Mary's (Mohawk), 28&

181-82.

'

St Miguel, 10T.

San Pedro, 82.

St Peter and Paul, 101.

St Peter's Isl*, 67.

San Rafael, 109.

St Savior'e, 182.

San Salvador.

St Simon, 865.

St Stanislaus, 463.

St Theresa, 858.

Taenhatentaron, 179.

Tagaretwan, 817.

Taos, 80.

Taenzas, 440.

Tanos, 80.

Tamaroa, 419.

Tarbell Family, 883-9.

Taranteens, 129.

Teganissorens, 882.

Teananstayae, 174

Telamis, 93.

Teoas, 80.

Tehgahkwita, Cath., 272, 804-7, 341

Tehoronhiongo, F., 279, 291, 88C.

Texas mission, 84

Tezuque, 83.

Thet, G. du, 181.

Thury, Rev. Peter, 14a

Tiliyayas, 86.

Tonicas, 440.

Topiras, 80.

Tpcachin, Ign., 295.

Tionontates, 28.

Topoqni, 68.

Tolemato, 67.

Topiras, 80.

Toanche, 178.

Tsawente, Mary, 295.

Trouve, M. CL, 254

Tuscaroras, 24

Tuteloes, 24

Van Curler Arendt, 209.

Vandenbroeck, Kev. F., 899.

Van Paemel, Eer. Ang., 890.

Van Qnickenborne, F. Cb. Felix, 465-61.

Var Ambrose, 156.

Vaillant, F., 274, 381.

Varlet, Dom. M., 424.

614

INDEX.

Velascola, F., 66-TO. Viilareal, B., 56. Virginia missions, 65-83. Viel, F. Nich., 16T-9. Vignal, Rev. Wm., 846. Vivaldi, Canon, 400. Vizcaino, F. John, 91-9. Vinland mission, 84. Viszogsky, Kev. Mr., 889, 402.

Weas, 204, 867, 460.

Wendat, or Wyandot, 80S, (See Huron.)

Williams, Eunice, 832-5.

• Eleazar, JJ82-4C.

Winnebagoes mission, 843, 362. 874. 1 Wye Eiver, 181.

Tamassees mission, 8T. Taboos mission, 446. Yumas mission, 101.

Zalvidea, F. Jos^ 111 Zamorro, Francis, 8C Zerbinati, F., 47& Zia, 88.

Zingomei.es, 441. Zufli, 41, S&

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Trip to France. Rev. J. Donelan 1 00

Three Kings of Cologne 30

^Universal Reader 50

[Vision of Old Andrew the Weaver 50

1 Visits to the Blessed Sacrament 40

Willy Reilly. Paper cover 50

Way of the Cross. 14 Illustrations 5

Western Missions and Missionaries 2 00

Walker's Dictionary

Young Captives. A Tale 50

Youth's Director 50

Young Crusaders. A Tale 50

Catholic Prayer-Books, 25c., 50c., up to 12 00

JSP" Any of above books sent free by mail on receipt of price. Agents wanted everywhere to eell above books, to whom liberal terms will be given. Address

P. JT. KENFDY. Excelsior Catholic Publishing House, £ Barclay Street, New York.

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