for October 19
Saints John de Brebeuf and Issac Jogues, and Companions, Memorial

When I volunteered to write a reflection on the North American Martyrs, I didn’t realize how difficult an assignment I had undertaken. Because of their close identification with the Jesuits, I’ve known about these martyrs almost all my life. But still there is so much to understand about them.

I consulted two books. The first, written by a Jesuit priest and entitled, Jesuit Saints & Martyrs—a surprisingly thick book, by the way—contains the standard biographical sketch of the two most well-known among the martyrs. The author recounts the arduous nature of the missionaries’ service among the various indigenous tribes in present day southern Canada and New York State, culminating in their gruesome deaths at the hands of warring factions, sometimes within the same Indian tribe.

The second book I read a few years ago and is far more interesting, entitled The Death and Afterlife of the North American Martyrs. This book traces how the martyrs have been variously understood over the last four centuries up to the present day, where they are still being made to play a role in our own contemporary cultural wars.

The martyrs lived in the midst of a tumultuous clash of two radically opposed cultures which had absolutely no possibility of understanding one another. They were Frenchmen of the seventeenth century, dedicated to their Catholic faith, associated with the Jesuit order and schooled in a theology still dominated by the polemics of the Catholic Counter Reformation. They came to what was called the New World (North America) to work with the indigenous population. They carried with them none of the tools of modern anthropology or social psychology and no public health resources. Compounding everything was the rivalry of the great powers of France and England, competing for power and wealth with the Indian tribes as pawns to be manipulated for nationalistic purposes.

In such a confused and limited environment, the face of sanctity and harsh reality of martyrdom will unsurprisingly elude the simple description that we instinctively want to impose on them.

Who are the North American Martyrs? For the record, there were eight of them: Rene Goupil, Isaac Jogues, Jean de la Lande, Antoine Daniel, Jean de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles Garnier and Noel Chabanel. Six of them were Jesuit priests and two were donnes (lay assistants sworn to support the Jesuit mission). They died separately, under contrasting circumstances. 

Two of the eight perished during the elaborate torture rituals routinely inflicted by native combatants . . . on selected war captives. Two others fell as casualties of war in the escalating Iroquois raids . . .Three were held captive by the Iroquois and later executed with little ritual fanfare, while the final Jesuit was the victim of an unwitnessed robbery-murder.

As we look back on the martyrs over the span of almost four centuries, if we allow ourselves to strip away all the historical complications of which they were entirely oblivious, a deeply moving story emerges. They were utterly committed to “save souls,” as St Ignatius had urged them. And they never allowed the personal cost that entailed to be an obstacle to the pursuit of their goal. There is no record that they ever advocated or engaged in any form of retaliation against their tormentors among the tribal groups they were trying to convert. Though they did not know it, they were “inculturated” among those they dedicated themselves to serve, though that word was not invented for another three centuries or more after their deaths. As is true for all of us, powerful historical forces superseded their individual lives and controlled their destinies. But today we look back on their lives and sacrifices and see a perduring influence that transcends time and speaks to us even today.
—Walter F. Modrys SJ