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They faced the challenges of an unknown language and a vastly different culture. However, the twelve French Jesuits who journeyed across the sea to current day Canada were each ready to face these difficulties and even greater hardships.
Each of the missionaries understood the severity of the environment they would face, yet still they volunteered. All twelve were all slaughtered while spreading the Good News to the native peoples.
We have shared the stories of five of these saints. Here are the final three North American martyrs – with two lay people among them – whose stories are lesser known by most people.
René Goupil, the lay caregiver
Saint René Goupil had two dreams. He first wanted to serve God by becoming a Jesuit priest. Secondly, he desired to care for the sick by studying medicine, wanting to offer his services as the other Jesuits in Canada.
However, his poor health and impaired hearing prevented him from completing his medical studies. It was equally humiliating that he had to accept rejection from the Society of Jesus.
These medical issues, however, did not deter him from wanting to serve as a missionary.
Vows did not bind him, but he had acquired significant medical skills. René Goupil volunteered for services as a layman at L’Hotel Dieu in Canada, where he stayed and worked as a medical worker for two years.
His surgical expertise was much appreciated in Quebec, but the Hurons on Lake Huron also needed medical attention. In 1642, the authorities gave him a new mission: to accompany Father Isaac Jogues to Huronia.
However, the group of travelers never reached their destination. They were attacked by a group of Iroquois who tortured and beat Father Goupil to death. He was only 35 years old when he died, the first of the eight martyrs to perish because of their faith.
Father Jogues allowed René Goupil to make his vows as a Jesuit brother before he his death.
He wrote:
“For him, it was a question of seeing our Lord in each patient. And thus, he left a sweet odor of goodness and of other virtues in that place where his memory is still held in veneration.”
St. René the caregiver is the patron saint of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.
Jean de Lalande the humble volunteer
Jean de Lalande did not have a glorified position in Canada. All he wanted to do was serve God. Jean worked humbly at the mission in Trois Rivière, sometimes volunteering as a cook, carpenter, and other menial chores in exchange for lodgings.
Father Jogues repeatedly asked authorities for permission to spend time with the Iroquois. They had previously shown hostility to the Jesuits, but a peace mission early in 1646 has seemingly succeeded. When Jogues was allowed to return to the Iroquois in September 1646, it was as a missionary. The layman Jean de Lalande and a few Hurons accompanied him.
The visit was not welcome. Unfortunately, since Father Jogues last visit, the tribe had fallen ill and their crops had failed. The Iroquois blamed the Jesuit, who they decided must be a sorcerer. Father Jogues and Jean de Lalande were killed shortly after their arrival.
Authorities in Quebec did not hear of their deaths until six months or so later.
Understandably, much attention was given to the esteemed Father Jogues. Although not many had heard of the lesser-known Jean de la Lande, he too was remembered. His sacrifice was acknowledged in The Jesuit Relations, an account that the missionaries kept about their efforts. It read:
“One must not forget the young Frenchman who was slain with the father, Jean de Lalande, who though he foresaw the same danger, had courageously exposed himself to it, hoping for no reward but Paradise.”
Antoine Daniel, translator of the Our Father for the Hurons
Antoine Daniel, who studied philosophy and law, was ordained as a Jesuit priest at age 29. On arriving in Quebec, he quickly mastered the Huron language and set out to translate the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and other prayers.
His unique gifts were learning and teaching, and his kindness and patience were an asset to the community.
Sadly, the Hurons were not yet ready for what he and his companions wanted to share; his school for boys, which he had invested so heavily in, was unsuccessful.
The mission at Saint Marie, with an actual chapel and well-established community, thrived, but the Hurons knew they were prone to attack from the Iroquois at any time. Aware of the dangers, they had set up solid palisades for protection.
Father Daniel was saying Mass one day when a war party hacked its way in through the fortifications, setting fire to the cabins.
Dressed in liturgical clothes, the priest continued to serve the faithful in the chapel. He eventually came out to face the attackers, giving the villagers a chance to escape.
His body was riddled with arrows, and he was struck in the chest. The attackers then tossed his body into the chapel and set it on fire.
Antoine Daniel was the second of the missionaries to die. He was martyred on July 4th, 1648.
Self-dedication to the Heart of Christ
René Goupil, Jean de la Lande, and Father Antoine Daniel were canonized by Pope Pius XI on 29 June 1930, along with their five fellow martyrs. In a November 1946 radio address Pope Pius XII said of Sts. René Goupil and Jean de la Lande:
“They were of the laity, one a doctor, the other a carpenter; but they were inspired by the same love of God and God’s love of souls; their characters had been formed in the same mold of selfless courage, their ambitions stretched upwards to the same lofty ideals of sacrifice and self-dedication to the cause of the Heart of Christ. They did not want to go to heaven alone. Their faith was too precious not to wish to share it with others.”
And today we celebrate...