to the Mohawks, whose language he had learned while in captivity. He was hospitably received, and he had an interview also with the Onondagas, a neighboring tribe. Elated with joy at his success, on his return to Quebec, he made a report, which inspired the hope and induced the resolution of founding a permanent mission in New York. selected as superior of the new mission. He was On leaving his brethren, he said: Ibo et non redibo,- "I will go and will not return." The treacherous Mohawks made him prisoner; And, against the voice of the other nations, he was condemned by the grand council as an enchanter, who had blighted their harvest. Timid by nature, yet tranquil from zeal, he approached the cabin where the death festival was kept, and, as he entered, received the death blow. His head was hung upon the palisades of the village, his body thrown into the Mohawk river."" The Onondagas and other tribes of New York were more sincere. The death of Father Jogues, far from terrifying his brother missionaries, had contributed rather to influence them with a desire to labor in the same field, and if possible, to share his crown of martyrdom. In 1655, Fathers Chaumonot and Dablon, were sent on this mission: "They were hospitably welcomed at Onondaga, the principal village of the tribe. A general convention was held at their desire; and, before the multitudinous assembly of the chiefs and the whole people, gathered under the open sky, among the primeval forests, the presents were delivered; and the Italian Jesuit, with much gesture, after the Italian manner, discoursed so eloquently to the crowd, that it seemed to Dablon as if the word of God had been preached to all the nations of that land. On the next day, the chiefs and others crowded round the Jesuits with their songs of welcome. Happy land!' they sang, happy land! in which the French are to dwell;"' and the chief led the chorus; Glad tidings! glad tidings! It is well, that we have spoken together; it is well, that we have a heavenly message. At once a chapel sprang into existence, and by the zeal of the nation was finished in a day. For marbles and precious stones,' writes Dablon, we employed only bark; but the path to heaven is as open through a roof of bark, as through arched ceilings of silver and gold.' The savages showed themselves susceptible of the excitements of religious ecstacy; and there, in the heart of New York, the solemn services of the Roman (Catholic) Church, were chanted as securely as in any part of Christendom." 2 The other tribes of New York also received missionaries, about the same time. Even the fierce Mohawks began to relent, and the Jesuit Le Moyne, "selecting the banks of their river for his abode, resolved to persevere, in the vain hope of infusing into their savage nature the gentler spirit of civilization." The other tribes of the five nations, including the Onondagas just mentioned, proved more tractable: "The Cayugas also desired a missionary, and they received the fearless René Mesnard. In their village, a chapel was erected, with mats for the tapestry; and there the pictures of the Saviour, and of the Virgin Mother, were unfolded to the admiring children of the wilderness. The 1 Vol iii, P. 137-8. 2 Ibid. p, 143. 3 lbid. Oneidas also listened to the missionary; and, early in 1657, Chaumonot, reached the more fertile and more densely peopled land of the Senecas. * * The Jesuit priests published their faith from the Mohawk to the Genessee, Onondaga remaining the central station." The missions stretched westward, along Lake Superior, to the waters of the Mississippi. Two young fur traders, having traveled to the west for five hundred leagues, returned in 1656, attended by a number of savages from the Mississippi valley, who eagerly demanded missionaries for their country lying beyond Lake Superior: "Their request was eagerly granted; and Gabriel Dreuillettes, the same who carried the Cross through the forests of Maine, and Leonard Gareau, of old a missionary among the Hurons, were selected as the first religious envoys to a land of sacrifices, shadows, and deaths. The canoes are launched; the tawny mariners embark; the oars flash and words of joy and triumph mingle with the last adieus. But just below Montreal, a band of Mohawks, enemies to the Ottowas, awaited the convoy; in the affray, Gareau was mortally wounded and the fleet dispersed." Undeterred by the sad fate of these first envoys, the Jesuits were still fired with zeal to carry the Cross westward: "If the five nations," they said, "can penetrate these regions, to satiate their passion for blood; if mercantile enterprise can bring furs from the plains of the Sioux ;- why cannot the Cross be borne to their cabins ?** The zeal of Francis de Laval, the bishop of Quebec, kindled with a desire himself to enter on the mission; but the lot fell to René Mesnard. He was charged to visit Green Bay and Lake Superior, and on a convenient inlet, to establish a residence as a common place of assembly for the surrounding nations. His departure was immediate, (A. D. 1660) and with few preparations; for he trusted such are his words in the Providence which feeds the little birds of the desert, and clothes the wild flowers of the forests.' Every personal motive seemed to retain him at Quebec; but powerful instincts impelled him to the enterprise. Obedient to his vows, the aged man entered on the path that was red with the blood of his predecessors, and made haste to scatter the seeds of truth through the wilderness, even though the sower cast his seed in weeping. In three or four months,' he wrote to a friend, 'you may add me to the memento of deaths.'"' His presentiment was verified by the event. After having remained with his neophytes about eight months, the venerable man, "while his attendant was employed in the labor of transporting the canoe, was lost in the forest, and was never more seen. Long afterwards, his cassock and his breviary were kept as amulets among the Sioux." 3 Similar was the death of the great Father Marquette, the discoverer of the Mississippi;-for want of space compels us reluctantly to pass over the labors of his two illustrious companions, Fathers Allouez and Dablon, as well as our author's graphic account of the brilliant missions among the Chippewas, the Sioux, the Illinois, the Potowatamies, the Sacs and the Foxes. The omission, however, may be, in a great measure, supplied by the reader himself; for what has been said of the other missions, may be repeated, with some modifications, of those just mentioned. 1 Vol. iii, P. 144. 4 lbid. 2 P. 146. 5 See Bancroft, pp. 149, seq. and 152. seq. 3 P. 147. 6 P. 150 seq. We will now give Mr. Bancroft's account of the death of Marquette. In company with the French envoy Joliet, he had discovered and descended the Mississippi to a point beyond the mouth of the Arkansas River. On the 17th of July, 1673, he prepared for his return up the mighty stream. Both in his descent and in his ascent, he had often paused to preach the gospel to the numerous tribes of Indians with whom he happened to meet. On his return, he ascended and explored the Illinois river; and soon arrived at Green Bay, by way of Chicago and Lake Michigan : "Joliet returned to Quebec to announce the discovery; **the unaspiring Marquette remained to preach the gospel to the Miamis, who dwelt in the north of Illinois, round Chicago. Two years afterwards, (A. D. 1675) sailing from Chicago to Mackinaw, he entered a little river in Michigan. Erecting an altar, he said Mass after the rites of the Catholic Church then, begging the men who conducted his canoe to leave him alone for a half hour, In the darkling wood, Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down, At the end of the half hour, they went to seek him, and he was no more. The good missionary, discoverer of a new world, had fallen asleep on the margin of the stream that bears his name. Near its mouth, the canoemen dug his grave in the sand. Ever after, the forest rangers, if in danger on Lake Michigan, would invoke his name. The people of the west will build his monument." Such are some of the leading facts and incidents of the earliest Catholic missions among the Indian tribes of the North West. The reader cannot fail to have admired the self-devotion, the disinterestedness, and the unquenchable zeal of the Jesuits. Their missionary labors on our continent forcibly remind us of the heroic disregard of self manifested by Christian missionaries in the first ages of the Church. Their stupendous success is a conclusive proof, that God was with them, and smiled on their exertions; and also that they preached the true faith. We may triumphantly ask our dissenting brethren, to produce, from the annals of their missionary enterprise, any thing to compare with the picture drawn of the early Jesuit missions by the Protestant historian, Bancroft. The Jesuit missions of the North West, begun under auspices so favorable, were continued with various vicissitudes, from 1634, to the suppression of the order in 1773, -a period of 139 years. Even after this event, some of the Jesuits still remained with their dear Indians, in the character of secular priests. After the English government had gained possession of Canada, in 1763, the Jesuits were viewed with suspicion, and they would speedily no doubt have been excluded from the Indian missions under British influence, even if Clement XIV. had not thought proper to suppress the order, ten years later. What cared England for the souls of the poor savages ? Or what nation or tribe did her influence ever convert or civilize? 1 P 161-2 2 As. for instance, the one stationed at Kaskaskias. XVI. EARLY CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN THE NORTH WEST. SECOND PAPER.- THE HURON MISSION.* The A beautiful spectacle - Reclaiming the savage — - Details of the Mission among the Hurons nation of Christians- An Indian council- A touching incident - A picture of primitive fervor→ Edifying anecdotes - Triumphs of grace- Attack of the Huron villages - Father Daniel-His glorious martyrdom — His virtues - Another attack by the Iroquois Heroic conduct of Fathers de Brebeuf and Lallemant - They are made prisoners -Devotedness of their neophytes - The glories of the Huron Mission scattered. In our first Paper, we glanced rapidly at the history of the early Jesuit missions among the Indians of the North West, as given by the American historian Bancroft. In the present, we design to furnish some additional details concerning the mission among the Hurons, the first of all in point of time; having been established, as we have already seen, as early as the year 1634. The facts which we will give are taken from the old account, or Relation, drawn up by Father Paul Ragueneau, the Superior of the mission, and published at Paris in 1650. This document furnishes an interesting account of the state of the mission in the years 1648 and 1649; and it gives a thrilling sketch of the horrors attending the destruction of the Christian villages of St. Joseph and of St. Ignatius, by incursions of the Iroquois, the most deadly enemies of the Hurons and of the Christian name. It is indeed a beautiful spectacle, to behold Christian civilization blooming amid the frosty wilderness of Canada, and taking deep root and flourishing in the hearts of the wild children of the forest. It does the Christian heart good, to see the fierce and hitherto indomitable savage entirely tamed, and meekly bowing his neck to the sweet yoke of Christ; to behold the devouring wolf converted into the gentle lamb of the fold. The annals of Catholic missions alone can present scenes so sublime and so touching. Philosophy may speculate on its inflated theories of highsounding benevolence; Protestantism may boast its missionary zeal : but it is only Catholicity which can reclaim the savage, tame his ferocity, and effectually teach him the arts of civilization. * "Relation de ce qui est passé en la Mission des Peres de la Compagnie de Jesus aux Hurons, pais de la Nouvelle France, aux années 1648 et 1649. Par P. Paul Ragueneau, de la mesme Compagnie. A Paris, 1650." 1 Bancroft calls those who destroyed the mission of St. Joseph MOHAWKS; (vol. iii, p. 138) but the Relation styles them IROQUOIS. P. 8. The missions of Paraguay in South America, and those among the Hurons and other tribes of the North West, contrasted with those which Protestant missionary zeal has attempted among the Indians of North America, clearly prove the truth of these remarks. While the latter have proved, in every instance, a complete failure, the former were eminently successful, and plainly bespoke the divine sanction and assistance. It is only the Catholic Church, the faithful spouse of Jesus Christ, "without spot or wrinkle," which can bring forth children for the kingdom of God; the sects, ever since their divorce, have been doomed to barrenness. What savage tribe, in fact, have Protestant missionaries ever succeeded in converting or civilizing? On the contrary, we have already seen, on the authority of the Protestant historian Bancroft, what was effected in this way by the Jesuit missionaries in North America. And his statement, honorable as it is to the zeal and labors of the Jesuits, is still very meagre indeed, when compared with the detailed accounts furnished by those who were actors in the scenes which he so summarily describes. This will sufficiently appear from the facts embodied in the present paper. Fathers Anthony Daniel and John de Brebeuf were the first missionaries sent among the Hurons, in the year 1634. We have already seen how much they suffered on the long journey of nine hundred miles, from Quebec to the Huron wilderness. After having labored with untiring zeal, and amidst sufferings and privations of the most appalling character, for the space of about fifteen years, they both sealed their mission with their blood. The first missionaries to the Hurons, they were also the first martyrs. Their blood, however, far from quenching missionary zeal, was, on the contrary, a fertile seed, scattered on the face of the wilderness, from which new champions sprang forth, panting for the crown of martyrdom. The same heroic spirit which had led Christians to smile on death in the days of Tertullian, at the close of the second century, was manifested by the faithful children of the Catholic Church laboring amid the snows of the Huron wilderness, in the middle of the seventeenth. The power of God was not abridged, nor was his right arm shortened. These two venerable pioneers of the Indian missions soon beheld themselves surrounded by a large body of zealous companions, equally devoted, in life and in death, to the good cause. Four new missionaries having arrived in September 1648, the total number laboring in the Huron mission then amounted to eighteen. These were dispersed through eleven different stations, eight of which were for the tribes who spoke the Huron tongue, and the three others were among the Algonquins. The four newly arrived apostles were given as assistants to those whose districts were the most extensive; the greater portion of the missionaries had no companions, save "the tutelary angels of the tribes" 1 Called KEBEC in the oldest writings, and in the Relation of 1648--1649. 2 Relation, p. 18. |