Saint Introduction: St. Isaac Jogues and the North American Martyrs
Objective: Meet St. Isaac Jogues and the North American Martyrs, French Jesuits who gave their lives bringing the Gospel to the peoples of New France.
St. Isaac Jogues (1607-1646) was a French Jesuit, gentle and learned, who sailed to New France (Canada) to bring the Gospel to the Huron and other native peoples. The missions were perilous. In 1642, Jogues was captured by the Mohawk (part of the Iroquois confederacy, then at war with the Huron). He was tortured, several of his fingers were chewed or cut off, and he was held as a slave for over a year before Dutch traders helped him escape to Europe. Astonishingly, after meeting the Pope (who gave him special permission to say Mass with his mutilated hands, calling him a 'martyr of Christ'), Jogues volunteered to return to the very people who had tortured him. In 1646 he was martyred by tomahawk. He is honored with seven other French missionaries and lay helpers as the North American Martyrs (also called the Canadian Martyrs); among them was also St. Kateri Tekakwitha's people. Their feast day is October 19. They model the Lenten virtue of sacrifice — offering not only comfort but life itself in love. A remarkable fruit followed: St. Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk convert and the first Native American saint, came from the same nation, showing that the martyrs' blood was 'the seed of the Church.'
Resources
Discussion Questions
- 1What does it reveal about Jogues that he chose to return to the people who had tortured him?
- 2How is martyrdom connected to the Lenten idea of sacrifice?
- 3How does the later sainthood of Kateri Tekakwitha show the 'seed' the martyrs planted?
In your notebook, write three sentences imagining Jogues's decision to return to New France. What might he have feared, and what gave him courage?
Vocabulary
- martyr
- one who suffers death rather than renounce the faith
- Iroquois
- a confederacy of Native American nations of the Northeast, including the Mohawk
'The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.' — Tertullian