Today – Feast of the North American Martyrs

Sometimes under the title of Saints John De Brebeus, Isaac Joques and Companions. By a funny coincidence Brigid and I went to Mass  at the Shrine of the Jesuit Martyrs in Auriesville, NY this past Sunday. We were up for a long weekend, staying in Broadalbin, and doing some hiking in the area (more in  future postings).

The Church – referred to as a Coliseum – is huge with four altars pointing in the four directions – and can hold three thousand people. there were several hundred there – and the celebrant was Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany.

Anyway here’s a bit of the story of the North American Martyrs. The stories are good – the deaths incredibly violent.

Although each of these missionaries had heard about the severe environment of the area called New France, none could fathom what the situation was actually like: disease, severe weather, lack of food, unsanitary living conditions, impassable forests, solitude and a hostile population. Travel was by canoe on treacherous waterways or walking for miles through dense insect-filled and uncharted forests. The Jesuit mission was to witness to a population of Indians who spoke a different language, were violent enemies and were not opposed to the use of torture. Despite the anticipated hardships and often being urged not to go, the Jesuits sought out, some even begged for, missionary duties in North America.