Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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LOYOLA —p dying and all the hardest tasks of the ioneer missionary were his daily work. he harvest grew to wondrous propor- tions. Hundreds clamoured for the sav- ing waters of Baptism. And then, in 1649, came the end. The savage Iroquois, who during the last few years had been harassing and pillaging the weakened Hurons, finally on March 16th, 1649, seized the villages of St. Louis and St. Ignace and led Father de Brebeuf and Lallemant to the stake. “Тһе Iroquois took them both and stripped them entirely naked and fastened each to a post. They tied COLLEGE REVIEW = to the loins and under the arm-pits, they made a collar of these red-hot hatchets and put it on the neck of the good Father... . After that they put on him a belt full of pitch and resin and set fire to it. This roasted the whole body. During all these torments Father de Brebeuf stood like a rock, insensible to fire and flame, which as- tonished all the bloodthirsty execu- tioners who tormented him. His zeal was so gteat that he preached continu- ally to those infidels to try to convert them. His tormentors were entaged against him for constantly speaking to са фе “== ЬЕ both their hands together. They tore the nails from their fingers. They beat them with a shower of blows with sticks on their shoulders, loins, legs and faces, no part of their body being exempt from this torment. Although Father de Brebeuf was overwhelmed by the weight of the blows, the holy man did not cease to speak to God and to encourage his fellow-captives to suffer well that they might die well. One barbarian took a kettle full of boiling water and poured it over the saint's head in derision of holy baptism. “After they had made him suffer other torments, the first of which was to heat hatchets red-hot and apply them them of God and their conversion. To prevent him from speaking of these things, they cut off his tongue and cut off upper and lower lips. After that they set themselves to stripping the flesh from his legs, thighs and arms, to the very bone, and put it to roast before his very eyes, in order to eat it. ... The monsters, seeing that the Father began to grow weak, made him sit down upon the ground, and one of them, taking a knife, cut off the skin from his skull. Another barbarian, see- ing that he would soon die, made an opening in the upper part of his chest, tore out his heart, roasted it and ate it. Others came to drink his blood still {7H

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LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW ---------55-5-------:-----:-----------2-2-2-2-22-2-2----2------------------------:------2--2--2--:-:------------------- ground before all the hordes of Satan. The whole great expansion of Catholic- ism in this country is, for the most part, the fruit of their generous sacrifice. The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians. The blood of these gallant apostles nourished the soil of our Canada and the little seed of Catholic faith, sown in that sev- enteenth century, has grown into a mighty tree. In the picture of the Canadian Martyrs, the cen- tral position is held by the stal- wart John de Bre- beuf. Why should not John de Bre- beuf be out Cana- dian Patron Saint? In the prayer at the Mass of the Martyrs, he and Jogues are the only ones men- tioned by name. Jogues died in what is now part ofNew York State, and will doubtless be ac- claimed by Amer- ican Catholics as their Patron. Let us then claim John de Brebeuf as our own. Evenat the time of his death, he was considered the central figure of the heroic band of missionaries. His prodigious size and his extraordinary labours were already making him al- most a legendary figure. Who is this man whom we would have as our Canadian Patron Saint? Of a family that had been well-known for centuries in its native Normandy, The MARTYRS’ Martyrs диво чуете“ slain : by РУ thie - Iroguois-in-tfie-seven- teentfi- century «ч CB мо John de Brebeuf was born at Conde-sur- Vire on March 25th, in 1593. In 1617, Jean entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Rouen, taught grammar for some years in that city and was or- dained priest near Paris in 1623. In company with two other Fathers of the Society, he jour- neyed to Quebec in the summer of 1625. At once Father de Brebeuf set about learning the language of the Montagnais and showed ex- traordinary talent for the work. In 1626 we find him on the shores of Georg- ian Bay, near the spot he was later to sanctify with his blood. In a comparatively short time he had acquired a work- ing knowledge of the Huron tongue. In 1629, with ap- parently very lit- tle accomplished, de Brebeuf was summoned back to France by his Superiors. Dur- ing his stay in his native land he signed with his own blood a sol- emn promise and offering of himself to God, ready to sacrifice his life for His glory. In 1633 he was again in Quebec. The next year he was in Huronia. Only for a short while was he to be absent again from his chosen field. This was necessitated by a broken shoulder blade. Constant catechizing (Brebeuf was now a master of the Huron tongue), baptism of the 15

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LOYOLA warm, which they did with both hands, saying that Father de Brebeuf had been very brave to endure all the pain they had caused him, and that in drinking his blood they would become brave like him. Thus does Christopher Regnaut tell the story he heard from the lips of some of the Hurons who escaped. Today, in honour of John de Brebeuf and his heroic companions, a shrine of magnificent splendour stands on the banks of the River Wye, near Midland, within view of Georgian Bay, whose waters the Apostles of Huronia plied COLLEGE REVIEW in their missionary labours. Thousands of pilgrims each year journey over the holy ground, sanctified by the work and blood of the Martyrs. Truly their blood has brought forth a rich harvest of souls. Well, then, may we turn to Saint John de Brebeuf and proclaim him our national hero and Patron Saint and thank God for having given him to us— non fecit taliter omni nationi. GEORGE Brown, Second High “С”.