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Jean de Brébeuf

March 16, 2023

"Brebeuf" redirects here. For other uses, see Brebeuf (disambiguation).

Jean de Brébeuf (French: [ʒɑ̃ də bʁe.bœf]) (25 March 1593 – 16 March 1649) was a French Jesuit missionary who travelled to New France (Canada) in 1625. There he worked primarily with the Huron (Wyandot people) for the rest of his life, except for a few years in France from 1629 to 1633. He learned their language and culture, writing extensively about each to aid other missionaries.[1]

Saint

Jean de Brébeuf

S.J.
Martyr; Apostle of the Hurons
Born(1593-03-25)25 March 1593
Condé-sur-Vire, Normandy, France
Died16 March 1649(1649-03-16) (aged 55)
Huron village of St. Ignace, near Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, near Midland, Ontario, Canada
Venerated inCatholic Church, Anglican Communion
BeatifiedJune 12 1925
Canonized29 June 1930, Canada by Pope Pius XI
Major shrineMartyrs' Shrine, Midland, Ontario, Canada
Feast16 March, 26 September (Canada, also United States in General Roman Calendar 1962), 19 October (United States and elsewhere)
AttributesPyx
PatronageCanada

In 1649, Brébeuf and another missionary were captured when an Iroquois raid took over a Huron village (referred to in French as St. Louis). Together with Huron captives, the missionaries were ritually tortured and killed on 16 March 1649. Brébeuf was beatified in 1925 and among eight Jesuit missionaries canonized as saints in the Catholic Church in 1930.[2]

Biography

Early years

Brébeuf was born 25 March 1593 in Condé-sur-Vire, Normandy, France.[3] (He was the uncle of poet Georges de Brébeuf). He joined the Society of Jesus in 1617 at the age of 24,[4] spending the next two years under the direction of Lancelot Marin. Between 1619 and 1621, he was a teacher at the college of Rouen. Brébeuf was nearly expelled from the Society when he contracted tuberculosis in 1620—a severe and usually fatal illness that prevented his studying and teaching for the traditional periods.[5]

His record as a student was not particularly distinguished, but Brébeuf was already beginning to show an aptitude for languages. Later in New France, he would teach Native American languages to missionaries and French traders.[6] Brébeuf was ordained as a priest at Pontoise Cathedral in February 1622.[5]

Missionary

 
North American Martyrs

After three years as Steward at the College of Rouen, Brébeuf was chosen by the Provincial of France, Father Pierre Coton, to embark on the missions to New France.

In June 1625, Brébeuf arrived in Québec with Fathers Charles Lalemant and Énemond Massé, together with the lay brothers Francois Charton and Gilbert Burel. He worked at the Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. For about five months Brébeuf lived with a tribe of Montagnais, who spoke an Algonquian language. He was later assigned in 1626 to the Huron with Father Anne Nouée. From then on Brébeuf worked mostly as a missionary to the Huron, who spoke an Iroquoian language. Brébeuf briefly took up residence with the Bear Tribe at Toanché, but met with no success in trying to convert them to Catholicism. He was summoned to Québec because of the danger to which the entire colony was then exposed by the English. He reached Québec on 17 July 1628 after an absence of two years. On 19 July 1629, Samuel de Champlain surrendered, and the missionaries returned to France.[3]

In Rouen, Brébeuf served as a preacher and confessor, taking his final Jesuit vows in 1630.[5] Between 1631 and 1633, Brébeuf worked at the College of Eu, Seine-Maritime in northern France as a steward, minister and confessor. He returned to New France in 1633, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

Along with Antoine Daniel and Ambroise Davost, Brébeuf chose Ihonatiria (Saint-Joseph I) as the centre for missionary activity with the Huron.[3] At the time, the Huron suffered epidemics of new Eurasian diseases contracted from the Europeans. Their death rates were high, as they had no immunity to the diseases long endemic in Europe. They, with our hindsight, rightly blamed the Europeans for the deaths, with none of the parties understanding the causes.[7]

Called Échon by the Hurons,[5] Brébeuf was personally involved with teaching. His lengthy conversations with Huron friends left him with a good knowledge of their culture and spirituality.[8] He learned their language and taught it to other missionaries and colonists.[9] Fellow Jesuits such as Paul Ragueneau describe his ease and adaptability to the Huron way of life.[9]

His efforts to develop a complete ethnographic record of the Huron has been described as "the longest and most ambitious piece of ethnographic description in all The Jesuit Relations".[10] Brébeuf tried to find parallels between the Huron religion and Christianity, so as to facilitate conversion of the Huron to the European religion.[11] Brébeuf was known by the Huron for his apparent shamanistic skills, especially in rainmaking.[12] Despite his efforts to learn their ways, he considered Huron spiritual beliefs to be undeveloped and "foolish delusions"; he was determined to convert them to Christianity.[8] Brébeuf did not enjoy universal popularity with the Huron, as many believed he was a sorcerer.[13] By 1640, nearly half the Huron had died of smallpox and the losses disrupted their society. Many children and elders died. With their loved ones dying before their eyes, many Huron began to listen to the words of Jesuit missionaries who, unaffected by the disease, appeared to be men of great power.[14]

Brébeuf's progress as a missionary in achieving conversions was slow. Not until 1635 did some Huron agree to be baptized as Christians. He claimed to have made 14 converts as of 1635 and, by the next year, he claimed 86. He wrote a detailed account in 1636 of The Huron Feast of the Dead, a mass reburial of remains of loved ones after a community moved the location of its village. It was accompanied by elaborate ritual and gift-giving.

In 1638, Brébeuf turned over direction of the mission at Saint-Joseph I to Jérôme Lalemant; he was called to become Superior at his newly founded Saint-Joseph II.[5] In 1640, after an unsuccessful mission into Neutral Nation territory, Brébeuf broke his collarbone. He was sent to Québec to recover, and worked there as a mission procurator. He taught the Huron, acting as confessor and advisor to the Ursulines and Religious Hospitallers. On Sundays and feast days, he preached to French colonists.[5]

Brébeuf is credited with composing the "Huron Carol", Canada's oldest Christmas song, written around 1642.[15] He wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people. The song's melody is based on a traditional French folk song, "Une Jeune Pucelle" (A Young Maid).

Linguistic work

The educational rigor of the Jesuit seminaries prepared missionaries to acquire native languages.[9] But, as they had learned the classical and Romance languages, they likely had difficulty with the very different conventions of the New World indigenous languages.[16] Brébeuf's study of the languages was also shaped by his religious training. Current Catholic theology tried to reconcile knowledge of world languages with accounts in the Bible of the tower of Babel, as this was the basis of European history. This influence can be seen in his discussion of language in his accounts collected in The Jesuit Relations.[10]

Jean de Brébeuf's remarkable facility with language was one of the reasons he was chosen for the Huron mission in 1626.[17] He is distinguished for his commitment to learning the Huron (Wyandot) language. People with a strong positive attitude towards the language often learn the language much more easily.[18] Brébeuf was widely acknowledged to have best mastered the Native oratory style, which used metaphor, circumlocution and repetition. Learning the language was still onerous, and he wrote to warn other missionaries of the difficulties.[19]

To explain the low number of converts, Brébeuf noted that missionaries first had to master the Huron language.[20] His commitment to this work demonstrates he understood that mutual intelligibility was vital for communicating complex and abstract religious ideas. He believed learning native languages was imperative for the Jesuit missions, but noted that it was so difficult a task that it consumed most of the priest's time. Brébeuf felt his primary goal in his early years in New France was to learn the language.[21]

With increasing proficiency in the Wyandot language, Brébeuf became optimistic about advancing his missionary goals. By understanding Huron religious beliefs and communicating Christian fundamentals, he could secure converts to Christianity. He realized the people would not give up all their traditional beliefs.[19]

Brébeuf worked tirelessly to record his findings for the benefit of other missionaries. He built on the work of Recollects priests but significantly advanced the study, particularly in his representations of sounds.[22] He discovered and reported the feature of compound words in Huron, which may have been his major linguistic contribution.[23] This breakthrough had enormous consequences for further study, becoming the foundation for all subsequent Jesuit linguistic work.[24]

He translated Ledesma's catechism from French into Huron, and arranged to have it printed. It was the first printed text in that language (with French orthography).[25] He also compiled a dictionary of Huron words, emphasizing translation of religious phrases such as from prayers and the Bible.

Death

 
Bressani map of 1657 depicts the martyrdom of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant
 
Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant stand ready for boiling water/fire "Baptism" and flaying by the Iroquois in 1649.
 
Gravesite of Brébeuf and Lalemant in Sainte-Marie among the Hurons

Brébeuf was killed at St. Ignace in Huronia on 16 March 1649.[26] He had been taken captive with Gabriel Lalemant when the Iroquois destroyed the Huron mission village at Saint-Louis. The Iroquois took the priests to the occupied village of Taenhatenteron (also known as St. Ignace), where they subjected the missionaries and native converts to ritual torture before killing them.

Three priests had been killed in Mohawk country at Ossernenon in 1642 and 1646. Antoine Daniel had been killed in a similar Iroquois raid in 1648.[27] Charles Garnier was killed by Iroquois in December 1649 in a Petun (Tobacco People) village,[28] and Noel Chabanel was also martyred that year in the conflict between the Mohawk and other tribes.[29] The Jesuits considered the priests' martyrdom as proof that the mission to the Native Americans was blessed by God and would be successful.[30]

Throughout the torture, Brébeuf was reported to have been more concerned for the fate of the other Jesuits and of the captive Native converts than for himself. As part of the ritual, the Iroquois drank his blood and ate his heart, as they wanted to absorb Brébeuf's courage in enduring the pain.[31] The Iroquois mocked baptism by pouring boiling water over his head.[32]

The Jesuits Christophe Regnault and Paul Ragueneau provided the two accounts of the deaths of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant. According to Regnault, they learned of the tortures and deaths from Huron refugee witnesses who had escaped from Saint-Ignace.[33] Regnault went to see the bodies to verify the accounts, and his superior Ragueneau's account was based on his report.[34] The main accounts of Brébeuf's death come from The Jesuit Relations. Jesuit accounts of his torture emphasize his stoic nature and acceptance, claiming that he suffered silently without complaining.[35]

Potential martyrdom was a central component of the Jesuit missionary identity.[36] Missionaries going to Canada knew they were at risk from harsh conditions, as well as from confronting alien cultures. They expected to die in the name of God; they believed the missionary life and its risks were a chance to save converts and be saved.[37]

Relics, beatification and canonization

 
Statue of Jean de Brébeuf on the site of the Martyrs' Shrine, Midland, Ontario

Fathers Brébeuf and Lalement were recovered and buried together in a Sainte Marie cemetery.[38] Brébeuf's relics later became important religious objects within Catholic New France. Historian Allan Greer notes that "his death seemed to fit the profile of a perfect martyr's end" and was preceded by what were considered religious signs pointing to correspondences with the Passion of Christ, which added to the significance of Brébeuf.[39] On 21 March 1649, Jesuit inspectors found the bodies of Brébeuf and Lalement.[40] In the late spring of 1649, Christophe Regnault prepared the skeletal remains of Brébeuf and Lalemant for transportation to Québec for safekeeping. Regnault boiled away the remaining flesh and reburied it in the mission church, scraped the bones and dried them in an oven, wrapped each relic in separate silk, deposited them in two small chests, and sent them to Québec.[41]

Brébeuf's family later donated his skull in a silver reliquary to the Catholic church orders in Québec.[38] It was held by the women of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec and the Ursuline convent from 1650 until 1925, when the relics were moved to the Québec Seminary for a ceremony to celebrate Brébeuf's beatification.[42] According to Catholic belief, these relics provide physical access to the influence of the saint of whom they are a part.[43]

In 1652 Paul Raguenau went through the Relations and pulled out material relating to the martyrs of New France. He formalized this material in a document, to be used as the foundation of canonization proceedings, entitled Memoires touchant la mort et les vertus (des Pères Jesuits), or the Manuscript of 1652.[44] The religious communities in New France considered the Jesuit martyrs as imitators of previous saints in the Catholic Church.[42] In this sense, Brébeuf in particular, and others like him, reinforced the notion that "...Canada was a land of saints".[45]

Catherine de Saint-Augustin said that Brébeuf appeared to her in a vision at the Québec Hôtel-Dieu while she was in a state of "mystical ecstasy," and he acted as her spiritual advisor.[42] According to one account, Catherine de Saint-Augustin ground up part of Brébeuf's relic bone and gave it in a drink to a heretical and mortally ill man. It is said that the man was cured of his disease.[46] In another instance, in 1660–61, a possessed woman was exorcised by the aid of one of Brébeuf's ribs, again while under the care of Catherine de Saint-Augustin. The exact circumstances of this event are disputed.[47] Brébeuf's relics were also used by nuns who were treating wounded Huguenot (Protestant) soldiers, and they "reported that his assistance [bone slivers put in soldiers' drinks] helped rescue these patients from heresy".[39]

Jean de Brébeuf was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 29 June 1930, and proclaimed one of the patron saints of Canada by Pope Pius XII on 16 October 1940.[5] A contemporary newspaper account of the canonization declares: "Brébeuf, the 'Ajax of the mission', stands out among them [others made saints with him] because of his giant frame, a man of noble birth, of vigorous passions tamed by religion," describing both the man and his defining drive according to formal terms of hagiography.[48]

Modern era

 
Statue of Jean de Brébeuf at Trois-Rivières

It is said that the modern name of the Native North American sport of lacrosse was first coined by Brébeuf who thought that the sticks used in the game reminded him of a bishop's crosier (crosse in French, and with the feminine definite article, la crosse).

He is buried in the Church of St. Joseph at the reconstructed Jesuit mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons across Highway 12 from the Martyrs' Shrine Catholic Church near Midland, Ontario. A plaque near the grave of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant was unearthed during excavations at Ste Marie in 1954. The letters read "P. Jean de Brébeuf /brusle par les Iroquois /le 17 de mars l'an/1649" (Father Jean de Brébeuf, burned by the Iroquois, 17 March 1649).[49]

In September 1984, Pope John Paul II prayed over Brébeuf's skull before fully joining in an outdoor ecumenical service on the grounds of the nearby Martyrs' Shrine. The service was attended by an estimated 75,000 and mixed pre-Christian first-nation ritual with Catholic liturgy.[50]

Numerous schools are named in his honour:

 
Statue in Parc Brébeuf, Gatineau

There is Eglise St-Jean de Brebeuf in Sudbury, Ontario, and a St. John Brebeuf Catholic Parish in Niles, Illinois, USA. There is also a unit at Camp Ondessonk in the Shawnee National Forest named after Jean de Brébeuf. The Catholic camp is named for all of the North American Martyrs and those who helped them.

The parish municipality of Brébeuf, Quebec, is named after him, as is rue de Brébeuf on the Plateau Mont-Royal in Montreal. Parc Brébeuf in the Hull region of Gatineau, Quebec is named in his honour, and features a statue.

The character of Christophe in The Orenda, a 2013 novel by Joseph Boyden, is based on Jean de Brebeuf.[59][60] The novel won the 2014 Canada Reads competition, a reality show with elimination-style voting on CBC Radio.

Jean de Brébeuf is the subject of Brébeuf and his Brethren, a blank-verse epic poem by the Canadian poet E. J. Pratt, FRSC, for which Pratt was awarded one of his three Governor General's Awards for Poetry in 1940.[61]

See also

References

Notes

Citations

  1. ^ Dictionary of Canadian Biography Jean de Brébeuf
  2. ^ St. Jean de Brébeuf: Canadian Martyr
  3. ^ a b c Campbell 1907.
  4. ^ Talbot 1949, p. 7.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Latourelle 1979.
  6. ^ Leahey 1995, p. 106.
  7. ^ Trigger 1986, p. 229.
  8. ^ a b Greer 2000, p. 37.
  9. ^ a b c Leahey 1995, p. 119.
  10. ^ a b Greer 2000, p. 38.
  11. ^ Greer 2000, pp. 41, 61.
  12. ^ Trigger 1986, p. 202.
  13. ^ Trigger 1986, p. 290.
  14. ^ Brébeuf 2008, p. 121.
  15. ^ McGee 1985, p. 13.
  16. ^ Leahey 1995, p. 109.
  17. ^ Leahey 1995, p. 112.
  18. ^ Leahey 1995, p. 113.
  19. ^ a b Blackburn 2000, p. 88.
  20. ^ Blackburn 2000, p. 111.
  21. ^ Blackburn 2000, p. 117.
  22. ^ Leahey 1995, p. 116.
  23. ^ Leahey 1995, p. 122.
  24. ^ Leahey 1995, p. 129.
  25. ^ Leahey 1995, pp. 115–116.
  26. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 96.
  27. ^ Spillane, Edward P. (1908). "Anthony Daniel" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company. p. 621.
  28. ^ Lindsay, Lionel (1909). "Charles Garnier" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company. p. 388.
  29. ^ Spillane, Edward P. (1908). "Noel Chabanel" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company. p. 551.
  30. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 68.
  31. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 98.
  32. ^ "Saint Who? Saint Jean de Brébeuf". Magnificat. Magnificat USA. 21 (3): 93. May 2019.
  33. ^ Parkman 1888, p. 101.
  34. ^ Parkman 1888, pp. 96–97.
  35. ^ Talbot 1949, p. 297.
  36. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 74.
  37. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 72.
  38. ^ a b Parkman 1888, p. 391.
  39. ^ a b Greer & April 2000, p. 333.
  40. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 101.
  41. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 112.
  42. ^ a b c Pearson 2008, p. 123.
  43. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 128.
  44. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 116.
  45. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 165.
  46. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 124.
  47. ^ Pearson 2008, p. 125.
  48. ^ NY Times & 30 June 1930.
  49. ^ Gray 2004.
  50. ^ Hluchy, Patricia (24 September 1984). "A healing hand on history". Maclean's. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  51. ^ "St. Jean Brebeuf School – School Home". stjeanbrebeuf.cssd.ab.ca. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  52. ^ "St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary School". www.stjohnbrebeuf.ca. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  53. ^ "St. John Brebeuf School". Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  54. ^ "The Buzz Board". sjb.hwcdsb.ca. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  55. ^ Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, Agenda Board 2011-03-29.pdf (29 March 2011). "BHNCDSB Board Meeting Agenda – March 29, 2011" (PDF). Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board. Retrieved 2 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  56. ^ "St. Jean Brebeuf Elementary School". Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. Retrieved 17 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  57. ^ "St. John Brebeuf Catholic School". stjohnbrebeuf.wellingtoncdsb.ca. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  58. ^ "École Jean-de-Brébeuf". Centre de services scolaire de la Capitale (in French). Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  59. ^ Bethune, Brian (6 September 2013). "Joseph Boyden explains why readers must wait for the end of his trilogy". Maclean's. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  60. ^ King, Hayden (7 March 2014). "The Orenda faces tough criticism from First Nations scholar". CBC News. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  61. ^ . Canadian Poetry Online. University of Toronto Libraries. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2019 – via www.library.utoronto.ca.

Sources

  • Blackburn, Carol (2000). Harvest of Souls: The Jesuit Missions and Colonialism in North America, 1632–1650. Montréal: McGill–Queens University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2047-3.
  • Brébeuf, J. (2008). "The Mission to the Hurons (1635–37)". In Calloway, C.G. (ed.). First People: A Documentary of American Indian History (3rd ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Bedford. ISBN 978-0-3126-5362-0.
  • Campbell, T.J. (1907). "Jean de Brébeuf" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 751–752.
  • Gray, Charlotte (2004). The Museum Called Canada: 25 Rooms of Wonder. Random House. ISBN 0-6793-1220-X.
  • Greer, Allan, ed. (2000). The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in Seventeenth-Century North America. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. ISBN 0-3122-2744-2.
  • Greer, Allan (April 2000). "Colonial Saints: Gender, Race and Hagiography in New France". The William and Mary Quarterly. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. 57 (2): 323–348. doi:10.2307/2674478. JSTOR 2674478.
  • Latourelle, René (1979) [1966]. "Brébeuf, Jean de (Échon)". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  • Leahey, Margaret J. (1995). "'Comment peut un muet prescher l'évangile' Jesuit Missionaries and the Native Languages of New France". French Historical Studies. Duke University Press. 19 (1): 105–131. doi:10.2307/286901. JSTOR 286901.
  • McGee, Timothy J. (1985). The Music of Canada. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-02279-X.
  • Cortesi, Arnaldo (30 June 1930). "8 Jesuit Martyrs Declared Saints". The New York Times.
  • Parkman, Francis (1888). The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.
  • Pearson, Timothy G. (2008). Becoming Holy in Early Canada: Performance and the Making of Holy Persons in Society and Culture (PhD thesis). McGill University.
  • Talbot, Francis X. (1949). Saint Among the Hurons: The Life of Jean de Brébeuf. New York: Harper & Brothers.
  • Trigger, Bruce (1986). Natives and Newcomers: Canada's "Heroic Age" Reconsidered. Montreal: McGill–Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-0595-4.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean de Brébeuf.
  • Free scores by Jean de Brébeuf in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
  • Bimbenet-Privat, Michèle, « Le buste reliquaire de saint Jean de Brébeuf par Charles de Poilly (1664), Un chef-d'œuvre de l'orfèvrerie parisienne conservé au Québec », Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France 1995, Paris, Édition-diffusion de Boccard, 1997, p. 229–235, 4 ill.
  • Derome, Robert, « Le buste-reliquaire de saint Jean de Brébeuf, histoires et mythes », Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France 1995, Paris, Édition-diffusion de Boccard, 1997, p. 236–253, 6 ill.
  • Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (M.A.). "THE JESUIT MARTYRS IN CANADA. (A.D. 1644–1649.)." In: The Lives of the Saints. Volume the Eighth: July – Part II. London: John C. Nimmo, 1898. pp. 733–788.

March 16, 2023
jean, brébeuf, brebeuf, redirects, here, other, uses, brebeuf, disambiguation, french, ʒɑ, bʁe, bœf, march, 1593, march, 1649, french, jesuit, missionary, travelled, france, canada, 1625, there, worked, primarily, with, huron, wyandot, people, rest, life, exce. Brebeuf redirects here For other uses see Brebeuf disambiguation Jean de Brebeuf French ʒɑ de bʁe bœf 25 March 1593 16 March 1649 was a French Jesuit missionary who travelled to New France Canada in 1625 There he worked primarily with the Huron Wyandot people for the rest of his life except for a few years in France from 1629 to 1633 He learned their language and culture writing extensively about each to aid other missionaries 1 SaintJean de BrebeufS J Martyr Apostle of the HuronsBorn 1593 03 25 25 March 1593Conde sur Vire Normandy FranceDied16 March 1649 1649 03 16 aged 55 Huron village of St Ignace near Sainte Marie among the Hurons near Midland Ontario CanadaVenerated inCatholic Church Anglican CommunionBeatifiedJune 12 1925Canonized29 June 1930 Canada by Pope Pius XIMajor shrineMartyrs Shrine Midland Ontario CanadaFeast16 March 26 September Canada also United States in General Roman Calendar 1962 19 October United States and elsewhere AttributesPyxPatronageCanadaIn 1649 Brebeuf and another missionary were captured when an Iroquois raid took over a Huron village referred to in French as St Louis Together with Huron captives the missionaries were ritually tortured and killed on 16 March 1649 Brebeuf was beatified in 1925 and among eight Jesuit missionaries canonized as saints in the Catholic Church in 1930 2 Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early years 1 2 Missionary 1 3 Linguistic work 1 4 Death 1 5 Relics beatification and canonization 1 6 Modern era 2 See also 3 References 3 1 Notes 3 2 Citations 3 3 Sources 4 External linksBiography EditEarly years Edit Brebeuf was born 25 March 1593 in Conde sur Vire Normandy France 3 He was the uncle of poet Georges de Brebeuf He joined the Society of Jesus in 1617 at the age of 24 4 spending the next two years under the direction of Lancelot Marin Between 1619 and 1621 he was a teacher at the college of Rouen Brebeuf was nearly expelled from the Society when he contracted tuberculosis in 1620 a severe and usually fatal illness that prevented his studying and teaching for the traditional periods 5 His record as a student was not particularly distinguished but Brebeuf was already beginning to show an aptitude for languages Later in New France he would teach Native American languages to missionaries and French traders 6 Brebeuf was ordained as a priest at Pontoise Cathedral in February 1622 5 Missionary Edit North American Martyrs After three years as Steward at the College of Rouen Brebeuf was chosen by the Provincial of France Father Pierre Coton to embark on the missions to New France In June 1625 Brebeuf arrived in Quebec with Fathers Charles Lalemant and Enemond Masse together with the lay brothers Francois Charton and Gilbert Burel He worked at the Sainte Marie among the Hurons For about five months Brebeuf lived with a tribe of Montagnais who spoke an Algonquian language He was later assigned in 1626 to the Huron with Father Anne Nouee From then on Brebeuf worked mostly as a missionary to the Huron who spoke an Iroquoian language Brebeuf briefly took up residence with the Bear Tribe at Toanche but met with no success in trying to convert them to Catholicism He was summoned to Quebec because of the danger to which the entire colony was then exposed by the English He reached Quebec on 17 July 1628 after an absence of two years On 19 July 1629 Samuel de Champlain surrendered and the missionaries returned to France 3 In Rouen Brebeuf served as a preacher and confessor taking his final Jesuit vows in 1630 5 Between 1631 and 1633 Brebeuf worked at the College of Eu Seine Maritime in northern France as a steward minister and confessor He returned to New France in 1633 where he lived and worked for the rest of his life Along with Antoine Daniel and Ambroise Davost Brebeuf chose Ihonatiria Saint Joseph I as the centre for missionary activity with the Huron 3 At the time the Huron suffered epidemics of new Eurasian diseases contracted from the Europeans Their death rates were high as they had no immunity to the diseases long endemic in Europe They with our hindsight rightly blamed the Europeans for the deaths with none of the parties understanding the causes 7 Called Echon by the Hurons 5 Brebeuf was personally involved with teaching His lengthy conversations with Huron friends left him with a good knowledge of their culture and spirituality 8 He learned their language and taught it to other missionaries and colonists 9 Fellow Jesuits such as Paul Ragueneau describe his ease and adaptability to the Huron way of life 9 His efforts to develop a complete ethnographic record of the Huron has been described as the longest and most ambitious piece of ethnographic description in all The Jesuit Relations 10 Brebeuf tried to find parallels between the Huron religion and Christianity so as to facilitate conversion of the Huron to the European religion 11 Brebeuf was known by the Huron for his apparent shamanistic skills especially in rainmaking 12 Despite his efforts to learn their ways he considered Huron spiritual beliefs to be undeveloped and foolish delusions he was determined to convert them to Christianity 8 Brebeuf did not enjoy universal popularity with the Huron as many believed he was a sorcerer 13 By 1640 nearly half the Huron had died of smallpox and the losses disrupted their society Many children and elders died With their loved ones dying before their eyes many Huron began to listen to the words of Jesuit missionaries who unaffected by the disease appeared to be men of great power 14 Brebeuf s progress as a missionary in achieving conversions was slow Not until 1635 did some Huron agree to be baptized as Christians He claimed to have made 14 converts as of 1635 and by the next year he claimed 86 He wrote a detailed account in 1636 of The Huron Feast of the Dead a mass reburial of remains of loved ones after a community moved the location of its village It was accompanied by elaborate ritual and gift giving In 1638 Brebeuf turned over direction of the mission at Saint Joseph I to Jerome Lalemant he was called to become Superior at his newly founded Saint Joseph II 5 In 1640 after an unsuccessful mission into Neutral Nation territory Brebeuf broke his collarbone He was sent to Quebec to recover and worked there as a mission procurator He taught the Huron acting as confessor and advisor to the Ursulines and Religious Hospitallers On Sundays and feast days he preached to French colonists 5 Brebeuf is credited with composing the Huron Carol Canada s oldest Christmas song written around 1642 15 He wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron Wendat people The song s melody is based on a traditional French folk song Une Jeune Pucelle A Young Maid Linguistic work Edit The educational rigor of the Jesuit seminaries prepared missionaries to acquire native languages 9 But as they had learned the classical and Romance languages they likely had difficulty with the very different conventions of the New World indigenous languages 16 Brebeuf s study of the languages was also shaped by his religious training Current Catholic theology tried to reconcile knowledge of world languages with accounts in the Bible of the tower of Babel as this was the basis of European history This influence can be seen in his discussion of language in his accounts collected in The Jesuit Relations 10 Jean de Brebeuf s remarkable facility with language was one of the reasons he was chosen for the Huron mission in 1626 17 He is distinguished for his commitment to learning the Huron Wyandot language People with a strong positive attitude towards the language often learn the language much more easily 18 Brebeuf was widely acknowledged to have best mastered the Native oratory style which used metaphor circumlocution and repetition Learning the language was still onerous and he wrote to warn other missionaries of the difficulties 19 To explain the low number of converts Brebeuf noted that missionaries first had to master the Huron language 20 His commitment to this work demonstrates he understood that mutual intelligibility was vital for communicating complex and abstract religious ideas He believed learning native languages was imperative for the Jesuit missions but noted that it was so difficult a task that it consumed most of the priest s time Brebeuf felt his primary goal in his early years in New France was to learn the language 21 With increasing proficiency in the Wyandot language Brebeuf became optimistic about advancing his missionary goals By understanding Huron religious beliefs and communicating Christian fundamentals he could secure converts to Christianity He realized the people would not give up all their traditional beliefs 19 Brebeuf worked tirelessly to record his findings for the benefit of other missionaries He built on the work of Recollects priests but significantly advanced the study particularly in his representations of sounds 22 He discovered and reported the feature of compound words in Huron which may have been his major linguistic contribution 23 This breakthrough had enormous consequences for further study becoming the foundation for all subsequent Jesuit linguistic work 24 He translated Ledesma s catechism from French into Huron and arranged to have it printed It was the first printed text in that language with French orthography 25 He also compiled a dictionary of Huron words emphasizing translation of religious phrases such as from prayers and the Bible Death Edit Bressani map of 1657 depicts the martyrdom of Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant stand ready for boiling water fire Baptism and flaying by the Iroquois in 1649 Gravesite of Brebeuf and Lalemant in Sainte Marie among the Hurons Brebeuf was killed at St Ignace in Huronia on 16 March 1649 26 He had been taken captive with Gabriel Lalemant when the Iroquois destroyed the Huron mission village at Saint Louis The Iroquois took the priests to the occupied village of Taenhatenteron also known as St Ignace where they subjected the missionaries and native converts to ritual torture before killing them Three priests had been killed in Mohawk country at Ossernenon in 1642 and 1646 Antoine Daniel had been killed in a similar Iroquois raid in 1648 27 Charles Garnier was killed by Iroquois in December 1649 in a Petun Tobacco People village 28 and Noel Chabanel was also martyred that year in the conflict between the Mohawk and other tribes 29 The Jesuits considered the priests martyrdom as proof that the mission to the Native Americans was blessed by God and would be successful 30 Throughout the torture Brebeuf was reported to have been more concerned for the fate of the other Jesuits and of the captive Native converts than for himself As part of the ritual the Iroquois drank his blood and ate his heart as they wanted to absorb Brebeuf s courage in enduring the pain 31 The Iroquois mocked baptism by pouring boiling water over his head 32 The Jesuits Christophe Regnault and Paul Ragueneau provided the two accounts of the deaths of Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant According to Regnault they learned of the tortures and deaths from Huron refugee witnesses who had escaped from Saint Ignace 33 Regnault went to see the bodies to verify the accounts and his superior Ragueneau s account was based on his report 34 The main accounts of Brebeuf s death come from The Jesuit Relations Jesuit accounts of his torture emphasize his stoic nature and acceptance claiming that he suffered silently without complaining 35 Potential martyrdom was a central component of the Jesuit missionary identity 36 Missionaries going to Canada knew they were at risk from harsh conditions as well as from confronting alien cultures They expected to die in the name of God they believed the missionary life and its risks were a chance to save converts and be saved 37 Relics beatification and canonization Edit Statue of Jean de Brebeuf on the site of the Martyrs Shrine Midland Ontario Fathers Brebeuf and Lalement were recovered and buried together in a Sainte Marie cemetery 38 Brebeuf s relics later became important religious objects within Catholic New France Historian Allan Greer notes that his death seemed to fit the profile of a perfect martyr s end and was preceded by what were considered religious signs pointing to correspondences with the Passion of Christ which added to the significance of Brebeuf 39 On 21 March 1649 Jesuit inspectors found the bodies of Brebeuf and Lalement 40 In the late spring of 1649 Christophe Regnault prepared the skeletal remains of Brebeuf and Lalemant for transportation to Quebec for safekeeping Regnault boiled away the remaining flesh and reburied it in the mission church scraped the bones and dried them in an oven wrapped each relic in separate silk deposited them in two small chests and sent them to Quebec 41 Brebeuf s family later donated his skull in a silver reliquary to the Catholic church orders in Quebec 38 It was held by the women of the Hotel Dieu de Quebec and the Ursuline convent from 1650 until 1925 when the relics were moved to the Quebec Seminary for a ceremony to celebrate Brebeuf s beatification 42 According to Catholic belief these relics provide physical access to the influence of the saint of whom they are a part 43 In 1652 Paul Raguenau went through the Relations and pulled out material relating to the martyrs of New France He formalized this material in a document to be used as the foundation of canonization proceedings entitled Memoires touchant la mort et les vertus des Peres Jesuits or the Manuscript of 1652 44 The religious communities in New France considered the Jesuit martyrs as imitators of previous saints in the Catholic Church 42 In this sense Brebeuf in particular and others like him reinforced the notion that Canada was a land of saints 45 Catherine de Saint Augustin said that Brebeuf appeared to her in a vision at the Quebec Hotel Dieu while she was in a state of mystical ecstasy and he acted as her spiritual advisor 42 According to one account Catherine de Saint Augustin ground up part of Brebeuf s relic bone and gave it in a drink to a heretical and mortally ill man It is said that the man was cured of his disease 46 In another instance in 1660 61 a possessed woman was exorcised by the aid of one of Brebeuf s ribs again while under the care of Catherine de Saint Augustin The exact circumstances of this event are disputed 47 Brebeuf s relics were also used by nuns who were treating wounded Huguenot Protestant soldiers and they reported that his assistance bone slivers put in soldiers drinks helped rescue these patients from heresy 39 Jean de Brebeuf was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 29 June 1930 and proclaimed one of the patron saints of Canada by Pope Pius XII on 16 October 1940 5 A contemporary newspaper account of the canonization declares Brebeuf the Ajax of the mission stands out among them others made saints with him because of his giant frame a man of noble birth of vigorous passions tamed by religion describing both the man and his defining drive according to formal terms of hagiography 48 Modern era Edit Statue of Jean de Brebeuf at Trois Rivieres It is said that the modern name of the Native North American sport of lacrosse was first coined by Brebeuf who thought that the sticks used in the game reminded him of a bishop s crosier crosse in French and with the feminine definite article la crosse He is buried in the Church of St Joseph at the reconstructed Jesuit mission of Sainte Marie among the Hurons across Highway 12 from the Martyrs Shrine Catholic Church near Midland Ontario A plaque near the grave of Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant was unearthed during excavations at Ste Marie in 1954 The letters read P Jean de Brebeuf brusle par les Iroquois le 17 de mars l an 1649 Father Jean de Brebeuf burned by the Iroquois 17 March 1649 49 In September 1984 Pope John Paul II prayed over Brebeuf s skull before fully joining in an outdoor ecumenical service on the grounds of the nearby Martyrs Shrine The service was attended by an estimated 75 000 and mixed pre Christian first nation ritual with Catholic liturgy 50 Numerous schools are named in his honour St Jean Brebeuf School in Calgary Alberta 51 St John Brebeuf Regional Secondary School in Abbotsford British Columbia 52 St John Brebeuf School in Winnipeg Manitoba 53 which is part of the St John Brebeuf Catholic Parish Brebeuf College School in Toronto Ontario St Jean de Brebeuf Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton Ontario 54 St Jean de Brebeuf Catholic Elementary School in Brantford Ontario Closed 2009 55 St Jean de Brebeuf Catholic High School in Vaughan Ontario St Jean Brebeuf Catholic School in Brampton Ontario 56 St John Brebeuf Catholic School in Erin Ontario 57 which is part of St John Brebeuf Catholic Parish part of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Hamilton Ontario College Jean de Brebeuf in Montreal Quebec Ecole Jean de Brebeuf in Gatineau Quebec 58 Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis Indiana Statue in Parc Brebeuf Gatineau There is Eglise St Jean de Brebeuf in Sudbury Ontario and a St John Brebeuf Catholic Parish in Niles Illinois USA There is also a unit at Camp Ondessonk in the Shawnee National Forest named after Jean de Brebeuf The Catholic camp is named for all of the North American Martyrs and those who helped them The parish municipality of Brebeuf Quebec is named after him as is rue de Brebeuf on the Plateau Mont Royal in Montreal Parc Brebeuf in the Hull region of Gatineau Quebec is named in his honour and features a statue The character of Christophe in The Orenda a 2013 novel by Joseph Boyden is based on Jean de Brebeuf 59 60 The novel won the 2014 Canada Reads competition a reality show with elimination style voting on CBC Radio Jean de Brebeuf is the subject of Brebeuf and his Brethren a blank verse epic poem by the Canadian poet E J Pratt FRSC for which Pratt was awarded one of his three Governor General s Awards for Poetry in 1940 61 See also Edit France portal North America portal History portal Saints portalSaint Jean de Brebeuf patron saint archiveReferences EditNotes Edit Citations Edit Dictionary of Canadian Biography Jean de Brebeuf St Jean de Brebeuf Canadian Martyr a b c Campbell 1907 Talbot 1949 p 7 a b c d e f g Latourelle 1979 Leahey 1995 p 106 Trigger 1986 p 229 a b Greer 2000 p 37 a b c Leahey 1995 p 119 a b Greer 2000 p 38 Greer 2000 pp 41 61 Trigger 1986 p 202 Trigger 1986 p 290 Brebeuf 2008 p 121 McGee 1985 p 13 Leahey 1995 p 109 Leahey 1995 p 112 Leahey 1995 p 113 a b Blackburn 2000 p 88 Blackburn 2000 p 111 Blackburn 2000 p 117 Leahey 1995 p 116 Leahey 1995 p 122 Leahey 1995 p 129 Leahey 1995 pp 115 116 Pearson 2008 p 96 Spillane Edward P 1908 Anthony Daniel In Herbermann Charles ed Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 4 New York Robert Appleton Company p 621 Lindsay Lionel 1909 Charles Garnier In Herbermann Charles ed Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 6 New York Robert Appleton Company p 388 Spillane Edward P 1908 Noel Chabanel In Herbermann Charles ed Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 3 New York Robert Appleton Company p 551 Pearson 2008 p 68 Pearson 2008 p 98 Saint Who Saint Jean de Brebeuf Magnificat Magnificat USA 21 3 93 May 2019 Parkman 1888 p 101 Parkman 1888 pp 96 97 Talbot 1949 p 297 Pearson 2008 p 74 Pearson 2008 p 72 a b Parkman 1888 p 391 a b Greer amp April 2000 p 333 Pearson 2008 p 101 Pearson 2008 p 112 a b c Pearson 2008 p 123 Pearson 2008 p 128 Pearson 2008 p 116 Pearson 2008 p 165 Pearson 2008 p 124 Pearson 2008 p 125 NY Times amp 30 June 1930 Gray 2004 Hluchy Patricia 24 September 1984 A healing hand on history Maclean s Retrieved 22 June 2019 St Jean Brebeuf School School Home stjeanbrebeuf cssd ab ca Retrieved 18 September 2021 St John Brebeuf Regional Secondary School www stjohnbrebeuf ca Retrieved 21 August 2018 St John Brebeuf School Retrieved 18 September 2021 The Buzz Board sjb hwcdsb ca Retrieved 18 September 2021 Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board Agenda Board 2011 03 29 pdf 29 March 2011 BHNCDSB Board Meeting Agenda March 29 2011 PDF Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board Retrieved 2 February 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link St Jean Brebeuf Elementary School Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board Retrieved 17 September 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link St John Brebeuf Catholic School stjohnbrebeuf wellingtoncdsb ca Retrieved 18 September 2021 Ecole Jean de Brebeuf Centre de services scolaire de la Capitale in French Retrieved 18 September 2021 Bethune Brian 6 September 2013 Joseph Boyden explains why readers must wait for the end of his trilogy Maclean s Retrieved 16 March 2020 King Hayden 7 March 2014 The Orenda faces tough criticism from First Nations scholar CBC News Retrieved 16 March 2020 E J Pratt Biography Canadian Poetry Online University of Toronto Libraries Archived from the original on 10 January 2015 Retrieved 25 June 2019 via www library utoronto ca Sources Edit Blackburn Carol 2000 Harvest of Souls The Jesuit Missions and Colonialism in North America 1632 1650 Montreal McGill Queens University Press ISBN 0 7735 2047 3 Brebeuf J 2008 The Mission to the Hurons 1635 37 In Calloway C G ed First People A Documentary of American Indian History 3rd ed Boston Massachusetts Bedford ISBN 978 0 3126 5362 0 Campbell T J 1907 Jean de Brebeuf In Herbermann Charles ed Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 2 New York Robert Appleton Company pp 751 752 Gray Charlotte 2004 The Museum Called Canada 25 Rooms of Wonder Random House ISBN 0 6793 1220 X Greer Allan ed 2000 The Jesuit Relations Natives and Missionaries in Seventeenth Century North America Boston Bedford St Martins ISBN 0 3122 2744 2 Greer Allan April 2000 Colonial Saints Gender Race and Hagiography in New France The William and Mary Quarterly Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture 57 2 323 348 doi 10 2307 2674478 JSTOR 2674478 Latourelle Rene 1979 1966 Brebeuf Jean de Echon In Brown George Williams ed Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol I 1000 1700 online ed University of Toronto Press Leahey Margaret J 1995 Comment peut un muet prescher l evangile Jesuit Missionaries and the Native Languages of New France French Historical Studies Duke University Press 19 1 105 131 doi 10 2307 286901 JSTOR 286901 McGee Timothy J 1985 The Music of Canada New York W W Norton amp Company ISBN 0 393 02279 X Cortesi Arnaldo 30 June 1930 8 Jesuit Martyrs Declared Saints The New York Times Parkman Francis 1888 The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century Boston Little Brown and Company Pearson Timothy G 2008 Becoming Holy in Early Canada Performance and the Making of Holy Persons in Society and Culture PhD thesis McGill University Talbot Francis X 1949 Saint Among the Hurons The Life of Jean de Brebeuf New York Harper amp Brothers Trigger Bruce 1986 Natives and Newcomers Canada s Heroic Age Reconsidered Montreal McGill Queen s University Press ISBN 0 7735 0595 4 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean de Brebeuf Free scores by Jean de Brebeuf in the Choral Public Domain Library ChoralWiki Bimbenet Privat Michele Le buste reliquaire de saint Jean de Brebeuf par Charles de Poilly 1664 Un chef d œuvre de l orfevrerie parisienne conserve au Quebec Bulletin de la Societe nationale des antiquaires de France 1995 Paris Edition diffusion de Boccard 1997 p 229 235 4 ill Derome Robert Le buste reliquaire de saint Jean de Brebeuf histoires et mythes Bulletin de la Societe nationale des antiquaires de France 1995 Paris Edition diffusion de Boccard 1997 p 236 253 6 ill Rev Sabine Baring Gould M A THE JESUIT MARTYRS IN CANADA A D 1644 1649 In The Lives of the Saints Volume the Eighth July Part II London John C Nimmo 1898 pp 733 788 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jean de Brebeuf amp oldid 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