the horrors of a Canadian life in the wilderness were resisted by an invincible passive courage, and a deep internal tranquility. Away from the amenities of life, away from the opportunities of vain-glory, they became dead to the world, and possessed their souls in unalterable peace. The few who lived to grow old, though bowed down by the toils of a long mission, still kindled with the fervour of apostolic zeal. The history of their labours is connected with the origin of every celebrated town in the annals of French America; not a cape was turned, nor a river entered, but a Jesuit led the way.'

The first College in North America, as we have said, was founded by Catholics. Here we have also the authority of Bancroft, who moreover assigns the true cause which led to its establishment-religious zeal.

"To confirm the missions, the first measure was the establishment of a College in New-France; and the parents of the Marquis de Gamache, pleased with his pious importunity, assented to his entering the order of the Jesuits, and added from their ample fortunes the means of endowing a Seminary for education at Quebec. Its foundation was laid, under happy auspicies, in 1635, just before Champlain passed from among the living, and two years before the emigration of John Harvard, and one year before the general Court of Massachusetts had made provision for a College."

The first charitable institutions on our portion of the American Continent were also of Catholic origin.

"The fires of charity were at the same time enkindled. The dutchess D' Aiguillion, aided by her uncle, the Cardinal Richelieu, endowed a public hospital dedicated to the Son of God, whose blood was shed in mercy for all mankind. Its doors were opened, not only to the sufferers among the emigrants, but to the maimed, the sick, and the blind, of any of the numerous tribes between the Kenebec and Lake Superiour; it relieved misfortune without asking its lineage. From the hospital nuns of Dieppe, three were selected, the youngest but twenty-two, the eldest but twenty-nine, to brave the famine and the rigours of Canada in their patient missions of benevolence."‡

This noble example of self-devoted zeal, found admirers and imitators among the religious ladies of Catholic France; and another Charitable institution was the result.

"The same religious enthusiasm (!) inspiring, Madame de la Peltier, a young and opulent widow of Alencon, with the aid of a nun of Dieppe and two others from Tours, established the Ursuline Convent for the education of girls. As the youthful heroines stepped on the shore at Quebec, (Aug. 1, 1639) they stooped to kiss the earth which they adopted as their mother, and were ready, in case of need, to tinge with their blood. The govenor, with the little garrison, received them at the water's edge; Hurons and Algonquins, joining in the shouts, filled the air with yells of joy; and the motley group

• P. 122.

† P. 126.

+ P. 126.

escorted the new comers to the Church where, amidst a general thanksgiving, the Te Deum was chanted. Is it wonderful that the natives were touched by a benevolence which their poverty and squalid misery could not appall? Their education was also attempted; and the venerable ash tree still lives, beneath which Mary of the Incarnation, so famed for chastened piety, genius, and good judgment, toiled, though in vain, for the culture of Huron children.“

The hearts of the natives were much more capable of being touched by deeds of heroic benevolence, than were those of the puritans at no remote period. Every body knows how they were touched, when a branch of this same benevolent order of Ursuline ladies was established in the immediate vicinity of enlightened Boston. The mouldering ruins of Monnt Benedict still stand, a proud monument of their benevolence and burning zeal! Shame on them, for their unmanly and cowardly treatment of harmless and benevolent females! The very savages, whom their forefathers so inhumanly butchered, would, if possible, arise from their tombs, and blush for them who have not yet learned to blush!

Two years before the establishment of the Ursulines in Quebec, the benevolent Silleri had already created another charitable institution for the civilization of the savages (A. D. 1637.)

"Meantime, a colony of the Hurons had been established in the vicinity of Quebec; and the name of Silleri is the monument to the philanthropy of its projector. Here savages were to be trained to the faith and the manners of civilization."+

The Hurons were the first tribe of Indians to whom the Jesuits carried the light of the Gospel. In 1634, Fathers John de Brebeuf and Anthony Daniel joined a party of barefoot Hurons who were returning from Quebec to their own country, situated to the North West of Lake Toronto, and near the shores of Lake Huron. The journey was long, and painful; the distance was three hundred leagues, or nine hundred miles; the way lay through dense and unexplored forests, almost impassable marshes, along the Ottowa river and its waters and over rugged hills and precipices. Over this difficult country, they had to carry their canoes on their shoulders, whenever the Ottowa river and its tributary streams proved unnavigable for them.

"And thus swimming, wading, paddling, or bearing the canoe across the portages with garments torn, with feet mangled, yet with the breviary safely hung round the neck, and vows, as they advanced, to meet death twenty times over, if it were possible, . . . . the consecrated envoys made their way, by rivers, lakes, and forests, from Quebec to the heart of the Huron wilderness. There . . . . . . they raised the first humble house of the Society of Jesus among the Hurons-the cradle it was said of His Church, who dwelt at Bethlehem (Nazareth?) in a cottage. The little chapel, built by aid of the axe,

and consecrated to St. Joseph, where, in the gaze of thronging crowds, vespers and matins began to be chanted, and the sacred bread was consecrated by Solemn Mass, amazed the hereditary guardians of the Council fires of the Huron tribes . . ... Two new christian villages, St. Louis and St. Ignatius, bloomed among the Huron forests.'

In another place, the Historian thus describes the missionary life among the Hurons:

"The life of a missionary on Lake Huron was simple and uniform. The earliest hours, from four to eight, were absorbed in private prayer;† the day was given to schools, visits, instruction in the Catechism, and a service for proselytes. Sometimes, after the manner of St. Francis Xavier, Brebeuf would walk through the village and its environs, ringing a little bell and inviting the Huron braves and counsellers to a conference. There under the shady forest, the most solemn mysteries of the Catholic faith were subjected to discussion" (!)

He gives a very interesting account of the famous Huron Chief, Ahasistari. "Nature had planted in his mind the seeds of religious faith. Before you came to this country,' he would say, 'when I have incurred the greatest perils, and have alone escaped, I have said to myself: some powerful spirit has the guardianship of my days'; and he professed his belief in Jesus, as the good genius and protector, whom he had before unconsciously adored. After trials of his sincerity, he was baptized; and, enlisting a troop of converts, savages like himself, let us strive,' he exclaimed, 'to make the whole world embrace the faith in Jesus." "§

This last incident reminds us of the well known anecdote of king Clovis, the founder of the French monarchy, who, hearing the history of our Saviour's Passion read to him while confined to a sick bed, leaped up, and exclaimed: "why was I not there with my Franks?"

The Huron missions continued to flourish for the space of fifteen years: immense numbers of the Indians entered into the Christian fold, and many flourishing Christian villages were organized. The central mission called the Conception, of which the chief house was St. Mary's, was situated on the Matchedash, a stream which joins Lakes Toronto and Huron. In one single year, three thousand red men from the different tribes shared the hospitality of the good Fathers at this missionary station. At one time the missionaries had no communication with Quebec or Montreal for the space of three whole years, (1641-1644) during which their clothing fell to pieces, and they suffered greviously for the necessaries of life. Still they perserved with all the ardour

• P. 122-3.

And Mass, which was celebrated every morning about sunrise, in presence of the Neo

phytes.

of Apostles, and their number went on constantly increasing. Let us hear our historian.

"Yet the efforts of the Jesuits were not limited even to the Huron race. Within thirteen years, this remote wilderness was visited by forty two missionaries, members of the society of Jesus, besides eighteen others, who, if not initiated, were yet chosen men, ready to shed their blood for their faith. Twice or thrice a year, they all assembled at St. Mary's; for the rest of the time, they were scattered through the infidel tribes."*

We shall hereafter see how this flourishing mission was broken up by an incursion of the fierce Iroquois, the most deadly enemies of the Hurons. We will also have occasion to trace more in detail, from the old " Relation" alluded to, the wonderful fruits gathered in this first field of Jesuit missionary labours among the Indians. As this was the first mission, it was also a kind of model for all the rest; and as we design, in our second and third papers, to dwell in detail on its history, we will be dispensed from here giving a detailed account of the missions among the other tribes. We will accordingly close this paper with a rapid glance at them, in taking which we will follow Mr. Bancroft's statements, which we have found to be, in the main, very accurate.

From the map published by the Jesuits in Paris, in the year 1660, it appears that their missionaries before this date, " had traced the highway of waters from Lake Erie to Lake Superior, and had gained a glimpse at least of Lake Michigan." As early as 1638, the plan was formed by them to establish missions among the Algonquins both north and south of Lake Huron, in Michigan, and at Green Bay. But the scanty number and the incessant labours of the Jesuits prevented them from carrying this purpose immediately into execution. Burning with zeal for the salvation of souls for whom Jesus had died, they ardently prayed the Lord that he would send additional labourers into his vineyard. Their prayer was heard; and two years later, (1640) the Superiors of the mission were enabled to send Fathers Charles Raymbault and Claude Pijart among the Algonquins of the North and West.†

A year later, FF. Raymbault and Jogues were sent to preach among the Chippewas dwelling at Sault Sainte Marie, in Michigan, the chief of which tribe had humbly sued for missionaries. This mission was painful, but promised

success.

"The chieftains of the Chippewas invited the Jesuits to dwell among them, and hopes were inspired of a permanent mission. A council was held: 'we will embrace you,' said they, as brothers; we will derive profit from your words.'" "Thus," the historian says, "did the religious zeal of the French bear the Cross to the banks of the St. Mary, and the confines of Lake Superior, and look wistfully towards the homes of the Sioux in the valley of the

• P. 128. VOL. 1.

† Ibid.

+ P. 129.

§ P. 132.

90

Mississippi, five years before the New England Elliot had addressed the tribe

of Indians that dwelt within six miles of Boston harbour."*

The "New England Elliot," should not be mentioned on the same page with the very humblest of the Jesuit missionaries. Did he, or did any other Protestant minister, ever make any great sacrifices for the spiritual benefit of the Indians? Did he leave father and mother, and home and wife, to devote himself, for their salvation, body and soul, in hunger and nakedness, amid "Perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils in the wilderness, in labours and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in many fastings, in cold and in nakedness ?"+ Was ever a Protestant minister known to endure all this for the love of Christ, and the conversion of the heathen? All this, however, the Jesuits endured, and many of them much more still; for many of them gladly laid down their lives in this cause. The first missionaries among the Hurons-Fathers Daniel, Brebeuf, and Lallemant-all fell glorious martyrs to their devoted zeal. The "New England Elliot" is not known to have penetrated farther into the Indian wilderness than six miles from Boston harbour; and he did very little, and succeeded very poorly, even when he had reached this amazing distance from home.

Father Raymbault soon after fell a victim to the climate, and died of consumption at Quebec. (Oct. 1642) His associate, Father Jogues, who with him had first planted the Cross in Michigan, was reserved for a still more disastrous fate. Taken prisoner by the fierce Mohawks, he was carried by them to the vicinity of Albany in New York. His brave companion, the Huron chief Ahasistari, could easily have effected his escape, at the time that the Jesuit was taken prisoner: but he came out from his hiding place, and addressing Father Jogues, said: "my brother, I made oath to thee that I would share thy fortune, whether death or life; here am I to keep my vow." was condemned to the flames; and "having received absolution, he met his end with the enthusiasm of a convert, and the pride of the most gallant war chief of his tribe."§

He

Father Jogues was made to run the gauntlet at three different Mohawk villages: "for days and nights, he was abandoned to hunger and every torment which petulant youth could devise. But yet there was consolation: an ear of Indian corn on the stalk was thrown to the good father, and see! to the broad blade there clung little drops of dew, or of water, enough to baptize two captive neophytes." He had expected death: but the Mohawks, satisfied perhaps with his sufferings, or awed at his sanctity, spared his life, and his liberty was enlarged.

"On a hill apart, he carved a long Cross on a tree, and there, in the solitude, meditated the imitation (passion?) of Christ, and soothed his griefs by

• P. 131.

† II. Corinth. XI, 26-27.

P. 133.

§ P. 134.

P. 133.