by Ryan

            “Many would be willing to have afflictions provided that they not be inconvenienced by them. “- St. Francis de Sales.

It is all too easy for us to want to enjoy the comforts and regularity of our daily lives and want to avoid suffering.  We often think about accepting suffering as an act of reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for our own spiritual growth, or for the conversion of souls but once we are confronted with suffering and taken out of our “comfort zone” we flee from our cross – the pain often seems so great. While many of us run from our sufferings, there have been men and women throughout the centuries who have willingly and lovingly accepted their crosses suffering greatly, even to the point of death.  St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 1:5-7, “If we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort as well. If we unite our sufferings with His, we will be comforted by Him.”  It is only through Christ that St. John de Brebeuf was able to dedicate his life to the evangelization of the Gospel and to suffer the painful death of a martyr.

            St. John de Brebeuf was born in Normandy, France on the 25^th of March, 1593. He was interested in the priesthood at an early age, and in 1617 he joined the Society of Jesus.  He was a man of great physical strength but at the age of twenty-eight his health began to deteriorate when he contracted tuberculosis.  This hindered his studies and forced him to learn only what was absolutely necessary; he never had the chance to extensively study theology.   In 1622 he was ordained a priest and in 1625 he was granted his wish to travel to New France as a missionary to live among the Huron natives.

            He immediately took up his abode in the Indian wigwams and began his ministry as head of the Huron mission.  The Hurons, prior to their acceptance of the Faith, often viewed the Jesuit missionaries as the source of problems which they had encountered, such as epidemics, battlefield defeats with the Iroquois, and crop failures.  The cruel and vigorous climate seemed to suit Brebeuf so well that the Natives were shocked by his endurance and called him Echon, which meant load bearer. His massive physique made the natives think twice about entering a small canoe with him for fear of sinking. It was very burdensome for Brebeuf to learn the native language of the Hurons. “You may have been a famous professor or theologian in France,” he wrote in a letter home, “but here you will merely be a student, and with what teachers! The Huron language will be your Aristla crosse.” He eventually overcame the language barrier and wrote a catechism in Huron and a French-Huron dictionary for other missionaries. Gaining the trust of the natives was a very slow process and it was only in 1637 that he made his first converts; by 1647 there were thousands of converted Huron.  During the uninterrupted years of labor with the Hurons, he endured continual trials of hardship and suffering which he used to say were only roses in comparison with what the end was to be.

            By 1647 the Iroquois had made peace with the French but were still at war with the Hurons. In 1648, they broke that promise and began to attack the work of the missionaries, burning down their villages and slaughtering them. On 16^th of March, 1649, the Iroquois attacked St. Louis and seized St. Gabriel Lallemant and St. John de Brebeuf; they gave Lallemant and Brebeuf a chance to flee, but they rejected the offer because of their duty to their flock. The two priests were dragged to St. Ignace where they would die for their Faith.  When they entered the village, they were hit with a barrage of stones, beaten and clubbed, and then tied to posts to be burned to death. It is said that Brebeuf kissed the stake to which he was bound.   A fire was lit beneath them, and their bodies viciously cut with knives. Scalding water was poured on Brebeuf’s head in mockery of baptism; a collar of red-hot tomahawk-heads was placed around his neck, and a red-hot iron thrust down his throat.  Throughout his passion, he never uttered a groan. After his death, his heart was cut out and eaten – the Iroquois hoped to attain the courage he bestowed throughout his torture.  Brebeuf was fifty-five years old. 

            Brebeuf was canonized in 1920 along with the seven other missionaries who were killed; they are known as the Canadian Martyrs.  Brebeuf is the patron saint of Canada, and his feast day is celebrated on October 19^th in the United States.  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 were similar to bishop’s crosier (crosse in French, and with the feminine definite article, la crosse).