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VERSITY  OF  CALlFORNI 


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nUNICAN    X    BKO'l  I11   H  ,  i)99   BROADWAY. 


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. 


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. 


SPANISH    MISSIONS.  91 

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. 


SPANISH   MISSIONS.  97 

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. 


SPANISH  MISSIONS.  99 

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. 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  161 

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. 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  155 

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. 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  157 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  161 

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. 


FRENCH    MISSIONS.  165 

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. 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  167 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  169 

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. 


TRENCH   MISSIONS.  171 

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 


»  ^ 


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 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  189 

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. 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  191 

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- 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  193 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  195 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  197 

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,' 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  199 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  201 

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*»  > 


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. 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  217 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  221 

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, 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  227 

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-«. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  229 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  231 

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 


FRENCH    MISSIONS.  233 

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 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  235 

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 


296  AMERICAN  CATHOLIC   MISSIONS. 

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. 


I 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  297 

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* 


298  AMERICAN   CATHOLIC  MISSIONS. 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  299 

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. 


300  AMERICAN  CATHOLIC   MISSIONS. 

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 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  301 

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. 


302  AMERICAN  CATHOLIC   MISSIONS. 

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 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  303 

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«. 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  305 

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. 


306  AMERICAN  CATHOLIC   MISSIONS. 

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 


FRENCH  MISSIONS.  307 

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. 


308  AMERICAN  CATHOLIC   MISSIONS. 

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. 


FRENCH   MISSIONS.  309 

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 


310  AMERICAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS. 

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.) 


402 


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. 

18 


r 


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. 


FRENCH    MISSIONS.  415 

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. 

18* 


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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