Six years of almost incredible toil and sufferings had now been spent in the stony field of the Huron mission. To the mere human eye it was labor thrown away. But nothing is lost that is done for God. Others may sow and water; he alone can give the increase, which he always does in his own good time. After all, motives, not success, are the test of real merit. If, however, the sublimest motives and the noblest merit can command success, did not Father De Brebeuf deserve it?

The venerable apostle of the Hurons had the happiness to live to behold his labors blessed by heaven. During the remaining nine years of his glorious career thousands came into the Church. Marvellous sight! Obstinate and fierce barbarians were transformed into model Christians. The wolf became a lamb. Speaking of the state of the missions in 1648, Father Ragueneau wrote: "Everywhere the progress of the faith has far surpassed our hopes; the greater portion of the savages, even those who had been before the most ferocious, having become so docile and so pliable to the preaching of the Gospel as to make it manifest that the angels labored more among them than ourselves. The number of those who received baptism this year is about eighteen hundred."*

Four new missionaries having arrived in September, 1648, the total number laboring in the Huron mission then amounted to eighteen. All the chief villages had their flourishing missions. In the conversion of these dusky sons of the forest we see the truth of the lines

"Nothing great is lightly won

And nothing won is lost."

How delighted must have been Father De Brebeuf in witnessing the marvellous progress of the faith described in the Huron Relations of that time. "Without doubt," writes the Superior, "the angels of heaven

* Relation of 1648.

have been rejoiced at seeing that in all the villages of this country the faith is respected, and that Christians now glory in that name which was in reproach but a few years ago. For my part I could never have hoped to see, even after fifty years of labor, one-tenth part of the piety, of the virtue and sanctity, of which I have been an eye-witness in the visits made to those churches which have but lately grown up in the bosom of infidelity. It has given me a sensible delight to witness the diligence of the Christians who anticipated the light of the sun to come to the public prayers, and who, though harassed with toil, came again in immense throngs before night to render anew their homages to God; to see the little children emulating the piety of their parents, and accustoming themselves, from the most tender age, to offer up to God their little sufferings, griefs, and labors. Often little girls, while engaged in gathering wood for the fire in the adjoining forests, can find no employment more agreeable than to recite the rosary, seeking to outstrip each other in this exercise of piety. But what has charmed me most is to see that the sentiments of faith have penetrated so deeply into the hearts of those whom we have but lately called barbarians, and I can say with entire truth that divine grace has destroyed in most of them the fears, the desires, and the joys inspired heretofore by the feelings of nature."'*

Such was the happy condition of the Huron mission. The labors of the illustrious De Brebeuf and his fellow Jesuits were crowned with more than success. Catholicity flourished in the snowclad wilderness of the North.

in March, 1649, eighteen Jesuits and There were in the Huron country four lay brothers. The headquarters of the mission, where the Father Superior resided, was, as we have said,

* Father Ragueneau, S. J., Relation of 1648-9.

Sainte Marie, on the little river Wye, just south of Matchedash Bay. Other mission villages had likewise the names of saints, St. Ignatius, St. Joseph,* St. Louis, and many more.

Let us imagine all the Fathers gathered together in the largest apartment of the house at Sainte Marie. Among them we can at once single out the towering figure of the apostle and founder of the Huron mission, Father John De Brebeuf. His hair was now somewhat tinged with gray, for he was fifty-six years of age. "If he seemed impassive,' writes the Protestant Parkman, "it was because one overmastering principle had merged and absorbed all the impulses of his nature and all the faculties of his mind. The enthusiasm, which with many is fitful and spasmodic, was with him the current of his life, solemn and deep as the tide of destiny. The divine Trinity, the holy Virgin, the saints, heaven and hell, angels and fiends, to him these alone were real, and all things else were naught."+

De Brebeuf was a man of sublime virtue. Let the pen of one of his famous companions describe his Christian greatness: "When he was made Superior of the Huron mission," writes Father Ragueneau, "and had many others under his charge, every one admired his skill in the management of affairs, his sweetness, which gained all hearts, his heroic courage in every undertaking, his long-suffering in awaiting the moments of God's good pleasure, his patience in enduring everything, and his zeal in undertaking whatever *The year before, 1648, St. Joseph's was destroyed by a hostile band of Iroquois. It was early in the morning. Mass was just finished by Father Daniel. The warwhoop of the Iroquois rang in the ears of the panic-stricken villagers. Rallying the defenders, the heroic priest gave them absolution, "Brothers," he exclaimed, "to-day we shall be in heaven!" And to his flock he cried, "Fly! I will stay here. We shall meet again in heaven." As

the defenders were few the carnage soon began. On

seeing Daniel in the bright robes of his office, the heathen savages stared for a moment in amazement. Then came a volley of arrows. A musket-ball pierced the Jesuit's heart, and he fell murmuring the holy name of Jesus. This occurred three days after his retreat. He died a saint and martyr.

† Parkman.

His

might promote God's glory. humility inclined him to embrace with love, with joy, and even with natural relish, whatever was most lowly and painful.

"If on a journey he carried the heaviest burdens, if travelling in canoes he paddled from morning till night, it was he who threw himself first into the water and was the last to leave it, notwithstanding the rigor of the cold and the ice. He was the first up in the morning to make a fire and prepare breakfast, and he was the last to retire, finishing his prayers and devotions after the others had gone to repose.

"What is most remarkable is, that in all the labors he thus took upon himself, he did everything so quietly and dexterously that one would have believed that he had but acted in accordance with his natural inclination. 'I am but an ox,' he was wont to say, alluding to the meaning of his name in French; 'I am fit for nothing but carrying burdens.'

"To the continual sufferings which were inseparable from his employment in the missions, he added a number of voluntary mortifications, of inflictions of the discipline every day, and often twice in the day, of frequent fasts, of hair shirts, of gir dles around his body, armed with iron points, of watchings, which were protracted far into the night. And after all, his heart was not yet satiated with sufferings, and he believed that what he had hitherto endured was nothing.

and of calumny, I never once saw him either in anger or manifesting the slightest indication of displeasure. Occasionally, even, some persons tried to pique him on purpose, and to surprise him in those things to which they thought his sensibility would be the most alive, but always his eye would be benign, his words full of sweetness, and his heart in an unalterable calm."*

Stationed at the village of St. Louis were Father De Brebeuf and his slender and apparently youthful colleague, Father Gabriel Lalemant. We have already referred to the Iroquois raid by which Father Daniel met a glorious death. Those hostile savages, encouraged by the success of this first attempt, determined to pay, at some future time, another and more dreadful visit to the Huron country. Before the dawn of day on the 16th of March, 1649, a force of about one thousand Iroquois warriors attacked the village of St. Ignatius. The place was carried by assault. Out of four hundred inhabitants, but three escaped over the snow to carry the alarm to St. Louis, only three miles distant! It was scarcely sunrise as the swift-footed Mohawks surrounded the doomed village in which dwelt De Brebeuf and Lale

mant.

The details of the fierce struggle and awful carnage that make that place memorable were learned from a few Indians who escaped to St. Marie, and they can be found in the old Relation of that year.

When the three fugitives from St. Ignatius reached the still slumbering village of St. Louis, they spread the alarm with telegraphic rapidity. The Christian Indians entreated De Brebeuf to save his life-to fly with them. But, in the words of Parkman, "the bold scion of a warlike stock had no thought of flight. His post was in the teeth of danger, to cheer on those who fought, and to open heaven to those who fell. His

* Relation of 1649, published at Paris in 1650.

colleague, slight of frame and frail of constitution, trembled despite himself; but deep enthusiasm mastered the weakness of nature, and he, too, refused to fly."

Out of the seven hundred inhabitants all availed themselves of the opportunity to escape, save about eighty warriors, who determined to sell their lives dearly. The warwhoop of the fierce Iroquois shook the very wigwams, as yell echoed yell, and shot answered shot.

"The combat deepens, On ye brave !"

"'em

The dauntless and iron De Brebeuf and his gentle companion ployed," says the old Relation, "every moment of their time, as the most precious of their lives, and during the hottest of the contest their hearts were all on fire for the salvation of souls. One of them was at the breach baptizing the catechumens; the other was giving absolution to the Christian braves. Seeing things desperate, a heathen Huron urged flight. His words were heard by the fearless Stephen Annaotaha, the distinguished Christian chief of the village. 'What!' exclaimed the noble chief, 'shall we abandon these good Fathers who, for our sakes, have exposed their own lives? The love they have for our salvation will be the cause of their death. There is no longer time for them to fly across the snows. Let us then die with them, and in their company we shall go to heaven.' This chief had made a general confession but a few days before, having had a presentiment of the threatened danger, and having said that he wished death to find him ripe for the land beyond the skies."

The deadly contest continued until several breaches were made in the palisades. A yell of triumph announced the victory of the Iroquois. Fathers Brebeuf and Lallemant and a few Huron warriors were made prisoners. The town was fired.

Immediately after their capture the Fathers were stripped of their clothing, had their finger-nails torn out by the roots, and were borne in wild triumph to the village of St. Ignatius, which had been taken the same morning. On entering its gates they both received a share of blows on their shoulders, loins, and stomach, no part of their exposed bodies escaping contumely. In the midst of this cruelty the unconquerable De Brebeuf thought only of others. His eye kindling with fire, he addressed the Christian Hurons who were his fellow-captives:

"My children! Let us lift up our eyes to heaven in the midst of our sufferings; let us remember that God is a witness of our torments, and that he will soon be our reward exceedingly great. Let us die in this faith, and trust in his goodness for the fulfilment of his promises. I feel more for you than for myself; but bear with courage the few torments which yet remain. They will terminate with our lives. The glory which will follow them will have no end! Echon,' they replied, our hope shall be in heaven, while our bodies are suffering on earth. Pray to God for us, that he will grant us mercy. We will invoke him even unto death.'

Enraged at these words of the heroic Jesuit, the Iroquois led him apart and bound him to a stake. These fiendish savages scorched him from head to foot to silence him, whereupon, in the tone of a master, he threatened them with everlasting flames for persecuting the worshippers of God. As he continued to speak with voice and countenance unchanged, they cut away his lower lip, and thrust a red-hot iron down his throat. He still held his lofty form erect and defiant, with no sign or sound of pain, and they tried another means to overcome him. They led out Lallemant that De Brebeuf might see him tortured.

*Father De Brebeuf's Huron name.

They had tied strips of bark smeared with pitch about his naked body. When Lallemant saw the condition of his superior he could not hide his agitation, and called out to him, with a broken voice, in the words of St. Paul, "We are made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.' Then he threw himself at De Brebeuf's feet, upon which the Iroquois seized him, made him fast to a stake, and set fire to the bark that enveloped him. As the flames rose he threw his arms upward with a shriek of supplication to heaven. Next they hung around de Brebeuf's neck a collar made of hatchets heated red-hot, but the indomitable priest stood it like a rock. A Huron in the crowd, who had been a convert of the mission, but was now an Iroquois by adoption, called out, with the malice of a renegade, to pour hot water on their heads, since they poured so much cold water on those of others. The kettle was accordingly slung, and the water boiled and poured slowly on the heads of the two missionaries. "We baptize you," they cried,

66

that you may be happy in heaven, for nobody can be saved without a good baptism." De Brebeuf did not flinch, and in a rage they cut strips of flesh from his limbs, and devoured them before his eyes. Other renegade Hurons called out to him, "You told us that the more one suffers on earth the happier he is in heaven. We wish to make you happy. We torment you because we love you, and you ought to thank us for it." After a succession of other revolting tortures, they scalped him, when seeing him nearly dead, they laid open his breast, and came in a crowd to drink the blood of so valiant an enemy, thinking to imbibe with it some portion of his marvellous courage. A chief then tore out his heart and devoured it.

Thus died John De Brebeuf, the founder of the Huron mission, its truest hero and its greatest martyr. He came of a noble race, the same,

it is said, from which sprang the English Earls of Arundel, but never had the mailed barons of his line confronted a fate so appalling with so prodigious a constancy. To the last he refused to flinch, and his death was the astonishment of his inhuman murderers.*

We hope yet to see the cause of the beatification of this illustrious martyr and missionary brought forward in due form. Who can doubt but that he now shines among the saints? Great, indeed, must have been the virtue, faith, and heroism which enabled him to triumph over human weakness, and so grandly meet his appalling fate. "Immortal De Brebeuf! master of every virtue, humble beyond expression, meek to admiration, enduring unheard-of toils and sufferings with joy, brave far beyond the bravest of this world, illustrious in life and sublime in death."†

* Parkman. The Jesuits in North America. Murray, History of the Catholic Church in the United States.

Such a shining Christian hero as Father John De Brebeuf the ancient faith alone can produce. Passing from the visible to the invisible, what glory doubtless illumined that rare soul! For, "it should ever be remembered," says a famous writer, "that the exterior work of a saint is but a small portion of his real life. Men are ever searching for the beautiful in nature and art, but they rarely search for the beauty of a human soul, yet this beauty is immortal. Something of its radiance appears at times even to human eyes, and men are overawed by the majesty or won by the sweetness of the saints of God. But it needs saintliness to discern sanctity, even as it needs cultivated taste to discern art. A thing of beauty is a joy only to those who can discern its beauty."*

The head of Father De Brebeuf is preserved with great veneration in a silver case at Quebec.

* Nun of Kenmare, Life of St. Patrick.