Martyrs of North America

Jesuit missionaries worked among the Huron (Wendat), an Iroquoian-speaking people who occupied territory in the Georgian Bay area of Central Ontario. (They were not part of the Iroquois Confederacy, initially made up of five tribes south and east of the Great Lakes.) The area of their traditional territory is called Huronia. The Huron in this area were farmers, fishermen and traders who lived in villages surrounded by defensive wooden palisades for protection. Sainte-Marie among the Hurons was the headquarters for the French Jesuit Mission to the Huron Wendat people.

By the late 1640s the Jesuits believed they were making progress in their mission to the Huron, and claimed to have made many converts. But, the priests were not universally trusted. Many Huron considered them to be malevolent shamans who brought death and disease wherever they travelled; after European contact, the Huron had suffered high fatalities in epidemics after 1634 of smallpox and other Eurasian infectious diseases, to which aboriginal peoples had no immunity. (Epidemiological studies have shown the diseases were likely carried by the increased number of children immigrating after 1634 with families from cities in nations where smallpox was endemic, such as France, England and the Netherlands).

The nations of the Iroquois Confederacy considered the Jesuits legitimate targets of their raids and warfare, as the missionaries were nominally allies of the Huron and French fur traders. Retaliating for French colonial attacks against the Iroquois was also a reason for their raids against the Huron and Jesuits.

In 1642, the Mohawk captured René Goupil, and Father Isaac Jogues, bringing them back to their village of Ossernenon south of the Mohawk River. They ritually tortured both men and killed Goupil. After several months of captivity, Jogues was ransomed by Dutch traders and the minister Johannes Megapolensis from New Netherland (later Albany). He returned for a time to France, but then sailed back to Quebec. In 1646 he and Jean de Lalande were killed during a visit to Ossernenon intended to achieve peace between the French and the Mohawk.

Jesuit missionaries worked among the Huron (Wendat), an Iroquoian-speaking people who occupied territory in the Georgian Bay area of Central Ontario. (They were not part of the Iroquois Confederacy, initially made up of five tribes south and east of the Great Lakes.) The area of their traditional territory is called Huronia. The Huron in this area were farmers, fishermen and traders who lived in villages surrounded by defensive wooden palisades for protection. Sainte-Marie among the Hurons was the headquarters for the French Jesuit Mission to the Huron Wendat people.

By the late 1640s the Jesuits believed they were making progress in their mission to the Huron, and claimed to have made many converts. But, the priests were not universally trusted. Many Huron considered them to be malevolent shamans who brought death and disease wherever they travelled; after European contact, the Huron had suffered high fatalities in epidemics after 1634 of smallpox and other Eurasian infectious diseases, to which aboriginal peoples had no immunity. (Epidemiological studies have shown the diseases were likely carried by the increased number of children immigrating after 1634 with families from cities in nations where smallpox was endemic, such as France, England and the Netherlands).

The nations of the Iroquois Confederacy considered the Jesuits legitimate targets of their raids and warfare, as the missionaries were nominally allies of the Huron and French fur traders. Retaliating for French colonial attacks against the Iroquois was also a reason for their raids against the Huron and Jesuits.

In 1642, the Mohawk captured René Goupil, and Father Isaac Jogues, bringing them back to their village of Ossernenon south of the Mohawk River. They ritually tortured both men and killed Goupil. After several months of captivity, Jogues was ransomed by Dutch traders and the minister Johannes Megapolensis from New Netherland (later Albany). He returned for a time to France, but then sailed back to Quebec. In 1646 he and Jean de Lalande were killed during a visit to Ossernenon intended to achieve peace between the French and the Mohawk.

Other Jesuit missionaries were killed by the Mohawk and martyred in the following years: Antoine Daniel (1648), Jean de Brébeuf (1649), Noël Chabanel (1649), Charles Garnier (1649), and Gabriel Lalemant (1649). All were canonized in 1930 as the Canadian Martyrs, also known as the North American Martyrs.

Legacy and honours

The martyrs were canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930. They are collectively the secondary patron saints of Canada. St. René Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, and St. Jean de Lalande are the first three U.S. saints, martyred at Ossernenon, 9 miles west of the confluence of the Schoharie and Mohawk rivers. Their feast day is celebrated in the General Roman Calendar and in the United States on October 19 under the title of “John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs,” and in Canada on September 26.

The Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario, the site of the Jesuits’ missionary work among the Huron, is the National Shrine to the Canadian Martyrs.

A National Shrine of the North American Martyrs has been constructed and dedicated in Auriesville, New York. It is located south of the Mohawk River, near a Jesuit cemetery containing remains of missionaries who died in the area from 1669 to 1684, when the Jesuits had a local mission to the Mohawk.

Prayer to the North American Martyrs

O God, who by the preaching of and blood of your sainted Martyrs, Isaac and John and their companions, did consecrate the first fruits of the Faith in the vast regions of North America, graciously grant that, by their intercession, the flourishing harvest of Christians may everywhere and always be increased. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You, in the union of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and for-ever. Amen.

Prayer of Petition

O God, who did inflame the hearts of you sainted Martyrs with an admirable zeal for the salvation of souls, grant us, we beseech You, what we now ask (mention you intention), so that the favors obtained through their intercession may make manifest before men the power and glory of Your name. Amen.

A Prayer to the North American Martyrs

Dear Saints Isaac Jogues, John Brebeuf, Noel Chabanel, Gabriel Lalemant, Anthony Dan-iel, Charles Garnier, Rene Goupil and John Lalande, we beg of you, pray for the people of this vast country ours.

You are the first canonized saints of the United States and Canada. We are glad to have you. We are happy to honor you. You know our country and its needs, and we know you are in heaven praying for us.

There is one very special favor we wish to ask of you. Dear Saints of North America, pray God to send us another saint, or better still, a number of them. Ask Him to have soon a man or a woman, a boy or a girl from this country of ours raised to the honors of the altar. Let it be a farmer or a laborer, a housewife or a schoolboy, born and bred in these United States. Let it be some one who lived his whole life here–a Saint Joseph of Carville County, or a Saint Mary of Middletown, or a Saint William of New York.
We do not wish to displace you in our affections, but to add to your glorious number. You understand our desires in this, and we feel sure that we will obtain this great bless-ing for the salvation of the people of this land. Remember us now, and obtain this great blessing for us from God. Help us always to cooperate with the graces that God so richly and generously gives us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Perpetual Novena to the North American Martyrs

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord have mercy on us,

Christ hear us.
Christ graciously hear us.

Our Lady, Queen of martyrs,

Pray for us.
St. Isaac Jogues,

Pray for us.
St. John de Brebeuf,

Pray for us.
St. Gabriel Lalemant,

Pray for us.
St. Charles Garnier,

Pray for us.
St. Anthony Daniel,

Pray for us.
St. Noel Chabenel,

Pray for us.
St. Rene Goupil,

Pray for us.
St. John Lalande,

Pray for us.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the preaching and blood of Thy sainted martyrs, Isaac and John and their companions, didst consecrate the first fruits of the Faith in the vast regions of North America, graciously grant that by their intercession, the flourishing harvest of Christians may everywhere be increased. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in union with the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

O God, who didst inflame the hearts of Thy sainted martyrs with an admirable zeal for the salvation of souls, grant us, we beseech Thee, what we now implore: (Here privately form your petitions.) so that the favors obtained through their intercession may make manifest before men and power and glory of Thy name. Amen.

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