Jean de Brébeuf
Encyclopedia
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, martyred in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on March 16, 1649.
Early years
Brébeuf was born in Condé-sur-VireCondé-sur-Vire
-People:Among well known people born here is Father Jean de Brébeuf, a martyr and since 1930 a Catholic saint.-See also:*Communes of the Manche department...
, Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, France. He was the uncle of the fur trader Georges de Brébeuf
Georges de Brébeuf
Georges de Brébeuf was a French poet and translator best known for his verse translation of Lucan's Pharsalia which was warmly received by Pierre Corneille, but which was ridiculed by Nicolas Boileau in his Art poétique....
. He studied near home at Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
. He became a Jesuit in 1617, joining the Order. He was almost expelled from the Society because he contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
—an illness which prevented both studying and teaching for the traditional periods.
Priestly years
In 1622 he was ordained. Against the voiced desires of HuguenotHuguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
Protestants, officials of trading companies, and some native North Americans, he was granted his wish and in 1625 he sailed to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as a missionary, arriving on June 19, and lived with the Huron natives near Lake Huron
Lake Huron
Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...
, learning their customs and language, of which he became an expert (it is said that he wrote the first dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
of the Huron language). He has been called Canada's "first serious ethnographer
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
." Because of a war with England, Brébeuf was forced to return to France but when the peace was signed, he returned to the Hurons in 1634, travelling 1 280 km (800 miles) from Quebec via the Ottawa River. Brébeuf told many of his experiences in Canada in the Jesuit Relations, an invaluable source of early Canadian history. He was head of the Huron mission, a position he relinquished to Father Jérôme Lalemant in 1638. His success as a missionary was very slow and it was only in 1635 that he made his first converts [Jesuit Relations, p. 11, vol. X]. He claimed to have made 14 as of 1635, and as of 1636 he said the number went up 86 [Jesuit Relations, p. 11,vol. X]. The Jesuits were frequently blamed for disasters like epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
s, battle defeats, and crop failures and once Brébeuf was condemned to death and another time beaten.
He unsuccessfully attempted to convert the Neutral Nation
Neutral Nation
The Neutrals, also known as the Attawandaron, were an Iroquoian nation of North American native people who lived near the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.-Territory:...
on Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
in 1640. After this failed mission, he returned to Quebec in 1641 and stayed there for three years. He returned to the Huron in 1644 and finally experienced some success. By 1647 there were thousands of converted Huron. In 1643 he wrote the Huron Carol
Huron Carol
The "Huron Carol" is a Canadian Christmas hymn , written in 1643 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Canada. Brébeuf wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people; the song's original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia"...
, a Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
which is still, in a very modified version, used today.
Brébeuf’s charismatic presence in the Huron country helped cause a split between traditionalist Huron and those who wanted to adopt European culture.
Montreal-based ethnohistorian Bruce Trigger
Bruce Trigger
Bruce Graham Trigger, was a Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist, and ethnohistorian.Born in Preston, Ontario, he received a doctorate in archaeology from Yale University in 1964. His research interests at that time included the history of archaeological research and the comparative study of...
argued that this cleavage in Huron society, along with the spread of disease from Europeans, left the Huron vulnerable.
Martyrdom and canonization
However, the IroquoisIroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
began to win their war with the Hurons. They destroyed a large Huron village in 1648 and on March 16, 1649, 1200 Iroquois captured the mission of St. Ignace and then a few hours later captured another Huron village where they seized Brébeuf and his fellow Jesuit Gabriel Lallemant
Gabriel Lallemant
Saint Gabriel Lalemant was a Jesuit missionary and one of the eight Canadian Martyrs....
and brought them back to St. Ignace. There they were fastened to stakes and tortured to death by scalping
Scalping
Scalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp, either from a dead body or from a living person. The initial purpose of scalping was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war...
, mock baptism using boiling water, fire, necklaces of red hot hatchets and mutilation. According to Catholic tradition, Brébeuf did not make a single outcry while he was being tortured and he astounded the Iroquois, who later cut out his heart and ate it in hopes of gaining his courage. Brébeuf was fifty-five years old.
Brébeuf’s body was recovered a few days later. His body was boiled in lye
Lye
Lye is a corrosive alkaline substance, commonly sodium hydroxide or historically potassium hydroxide . Previously, lye was among the many different alkalis leached from hardwood ashes...
to remove the flesh, and the bones became church relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
s. His flesh was buried, along with Lalemant's, in one coffin, and today rests in the Church of St. Joseph at the reconstructed Jesuit mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons
Sainte-Marie among the Hurons
Sainte-Marie among the Hurons was a French Jesuit settlement in Wendake, the land of the Wendat, near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first European settlement in what is now the province of Ontario. Eight missionaries from Sainte-Marie were martyred, and were canonized by...
across Highway 12
Highway 12 (Ontario)
King's Highway 12, commonly referred to as Highway 12, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The highway connects the eastern end of the Greater Toronto Area with Kawartha Lakes , Orillia and Midland. It forms a part of the Trans-Canada Highway system from north...
from the Martyrs' Shrine
Martyrs' Shrine
The Martyrs’ Shrine is a Roman Catholic church in Midland, Ontario, Canada, which is consecrated to the memory of the Canadian Martyrs, six Jesuit Martyrs and two lay persons from the mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. It is one of nine National Shrines in Canada,including, among others, St...
Catholic Church near Midland, Ontario
Midland, Ontario
Midland is a town located on Georgian Bay in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada.Situated at the southern end of Georgian Bay's 30,000 Islands, Midland is the economic centre of the region, with a 125-bed hospital and a local airport. It is the main town of the southern Georgian Bay area...
. A plaque, circa 1969 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 Brebeuf, burned by the Iroquois, 17 March 1649.
In September, 1984, Pope John Paul II prayed over Brebeuf's skull before saying an outdoor Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
on the grounds of the Martyrs' Shrine. Thousands of people came to hear him speak from a platform built especially for the day.
Brébeuf was said to have been massive in body, hugely strong, yet gentle in character. He was known as "The Apostle of the Hurons". The Huron people (Ouendat) called him "Echon". ["Echon" pronounced like "Ekon" – this name meaning "Healing Tree", as a representation of how much Brébeuf had helped the Hurons and of the medicines he brought them from Europe. An alternate definition for "Echon" is "he who bears the heavy load", as Brébeuf was massive in stature and carried more than his share when working with the Ouendat people.) John Steckley
John Steckley
Dr. John L. Steckley is a Canadian scholar specializing in Native American Studies and the indigenous languages of the Americas.Steckley has a Ph.D. in education from the University of Toronto. He has taught at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario since 1983....
wrote that Jean de Brébeuf was the first of the Jesuits (hatitsihenstaatsi’, ‘they are called charcoal’) to become fluent in their language.
Brébeuf was canonized
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
in 1930 with seven other missionaries, known as the North American Martyrs or Canadian Martyrs. He is a secondary patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of Canada. His feast day
Calendar of saints
The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the feast day of said saint...
in Canada is celebrated on September 26, while in the United States it is celebrated on October 19. Many Jesuit schools are named after him, such as Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf
Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf
Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf is a private French-language educational institution offering secondary school and CEGEP college-level instruction in Montreal, Quebec. It is a co-ed establishment for students in their final year of secondary school and in college. It is boys-only in the first four years...
in Montreal, Brébeuf College School
Brebeuf College School
Brebeuf College School is a Roman Catholic all-boys' high school in Toronto founded by the Jesuits in 1963 and associated with the Presentation Brothers since 1984...
in Toronto and Brebeuf High School
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School is a private college preparatory school founded by the Jesuits and located on the northwest side of Indianapolis. It is a part of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus and geographically located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis.Brebeuf...
in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. There is also St. John de Brebeuf Catholic High School in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada; and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. There is also Eglise St-Jean de Brebeuf in Sudbury, Ontario.
It is said that the modern name of the Native North American
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
sport of lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
was first coined by Brébeuf who thought that the sticks used in the game reminded him of a bishop's crosier
Crosier
A crosier is the stylized staff of office carried by high-ranking Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran and Pentecostal prelates...
(crosse in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and with the feminine definite article, la crosse). http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj52.htm
Literature
- Huron Relations for 1635-1636 Jean de Brébeuf, a translation by Fr. William Lonc.