The Missionary's Fortune A. D. 1626-1628
Huron country, route from Quebec—Journey under difficulties-Hurons, government, beliefs, morals, sorcery—A missionary's perplexities—English invasion of Canada—French colony de populated—Missionaries return to France—Brebeuf signs a vow in blood.
The following year Brebeuf went with a Recollet, de La Roche Daillon, and a fellow Jesuit, de Noue, to the Huron country. They had difficulty getting there, Brebeuf especially, who had grown so large by this time the Indians feared he would sink the canoe. Some presents and a good meal won the Indians over, and he was soon in the land of his desires. The journey was no pleasure trip. The distance from Quebec is not more than six hundred miles. The trail and water route, how ever, was fully nine hundred, owing to the need of avoiding difficult country, and of keeping away from the Iroquois, who were constantly seeking to destroy the Hurons. Usually the convoys followed the St. Lawrence to Montreal, then the La Prairie River, and next the Ottawa as far as Lake Nipis sing, then down the French River to Georgian Bay and thence to Lake Huron. Le Caron had made this trip, but he did not describe it as vividly as Brebeuf. We are fortunate in having his not of this but of a later trip over the same trails and waters. It occurs in his letter to Le Jeune: ". . . Of two ordinary difficulties, the chief is that of the rapids and portages. Your Reverence has already seen enough of the rapids near Kebec to know what they are. All the rivers of this country are full of them, and notably the St. Lawrence after that of the Prairies is passed. For from there onward it has no longer a smooth bed, but is broken up in several places, rolling and leaping in a frightful way, like an impetuous torrent; and even, in some places, it falls down suddenly from a height of several brasses. I remember, in passing, the cataracts of the Nile, as they are described by our historians. Now when these rapids or torrents are reached, it is necessary to land, and carry on the shoulder, through woods or over high and troublesome rocks, all the baggage and the canoes themselves. This is not done without much work, for there are portages of one, two, and three leagues, and for each several trips must be made, no matter how few packages one has. In some places, where the current is not less strong than in these rapids, although easier at first, the savages get into the water, and haul and guide by hand their canoes with extreme difficulty and danger; for they sometimes get in up to the neck and are compelled to let go their hold, saving themselves as best they can from the rapidity of the water, which snatches from them and bears off their canoe. This happened to one of our Frenchmen who remained alone in the canoe, all the savages having left it to the mercy of the torrent; but his skill and strength saved his life, and the canoe also, with all that was in it. I kept count of the number of portages, and found that we carried our canoes thirty-five times, and dragged them at least fifty. I sometimes took a hand in helping my savages; but the bottom of the river is full of stones, so sharp that I could not walk long, being barefooted.
"The second ordinary difficulty is in regard to provisions. Frequently one has to fast, if he misses the caches that were made when descending; and, even if they are found, one does not fail to have a good appetite after indulging in them; for the ordinary food is only a little Indian corn coarsely broken between two stones, and sometimes taken whole in pure water; it is no great treat. Occasionally one has fish, but it is only a chance, unless one is passing some tribe where they can be bought. Add to these difficulties that one must sleep on the bare earth, or on a hard rock, for lack of space ten or twelve feet square on which to place a wretched hut; that one must endure continually the stench of tired-out savages; and must walk in water, in mud, in the obscurity and entanglement of the forest, where the stings of an infinite number of mosquitoes and gnats are a serious annoyance.
"I say nothing of the long and wearisome silence to which one is reduced, I mean in the case of newcomers, who have, for the time, no person in their company who speaks their own tongue, and who do not understand that of the savages. Now these difficulties, since they are the usual ones, were common to us as to all those who come into this country. But on our journey we all had to encounter difficulties which were unusual. The first was that we were compelled to paddle continually, just as much as the savages; so that I had not the leisure to recite my Breviary except when I lay down to sleep, when I had more need of rest than of work. The other was that we had to carry our packages at the portages, which was as laborious for us as it was new, and still more for others than it was for me, who already knew a little what it is to be fatigued. At every portage I had to make at least four trips, the others had scarcely fewer. I had once before made the journey to the Hurons, but I did not then ply the paddles, nor carry burdens; nor did the other religious who made the same journey. But, in this journey, we all had to begin by these experiences to bear the Gross that Our Lord presents to us for His honor, and for the salvation of these poor barbarians. In truth, I was sometimes so weary that the body could do no more, but at the same time my soul experienced very deep peace, considering that I was suffering for God; no one knows it if he has not experienced it. All did not get off so cheaply." (23)
Daillon settled at Ossossane, the Jesuits at Ihonatiria at Todd's Point in the cabin built for the Recollet Le Caron in 1615. De Noue could not master the language; he was too far advanced in years. Without it to remain among the Indians was time wasted. Accordingly, he returned to Quebec, leaving Brebeuf at Ihonatiria.
Daillon was soon recalled to Quebec, and Brebeuf was thus entirely alone with the Hurons. He could not gain much headway in his efforts to make them Christians, but he could acquire the knowledge of their language, for which he was celebrated, and he could also study their character and mode of life. What he and others of the missionaries wrote on this subject has come down to us, and it may be thus summarized:
The Hurons were the original stock from which sprung the Iroquois family, Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas, Senecas and the Tuscaroras, Cherokees and Andastes. This has been established by all who have studied the derivation of the language of these tribes from that of the Hurons. Their real name was Wyandots, meaning "language [or land] apart". Huron was a nickname given by French sailors who, on meeting some of them at Quebec with their hair furrowed and ridged like a boar's bristles, exclaimed Quelle hure! (What boar heads!). At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Hurons dwelt within the Province of Ontario, their main centre being within Simcoe County. To the east and north were the Algonquins, to the southwest the Neutrals and Petuns, or Tobacco Nation. The number of Indians in Huronia in 1636 Brebeuf estimated at about thirty thousand, and the total number of all the tribes, Iroquois included, at more than three hundred thousand. It was not difficult to enumerate them, as they were not a wandering people. It was their settled habit of living that led the missionaries to have great hopes of civilizing and Christianizing them. War and pestilence were continually decreasing their number.
Government, as we know it, was unknown among them. They lived in cabins divided into compartments on either side, like an enlarged sleeping car, a family to each compartment; and in the passage between the compartments a fireplace for every two families. They had councils for deliberation and political decisions, but there was no coercive power. It depended on the leaders, or captains, to persuade the tribesmen to submit to a decision, and on their power of invective to shame the guilty for his misdeeds. They had war chiefs to determine when there should be war and when peace. The affairs of each village, its games, festivals, ceremonies, funerals, were regulated by captains. These were chosen sometimes by election, sometimes by succession. They were all of equal grade: only mental or moral force, especially bravery, entitled any of them to impose his views on the others.
Some of the missionaries, the Recollet Brother Sagard, for instance, and Jerome Lalemant, agreed with Champlain that the Hurons knew no God; that they worshipped a demon or Oki. Sagard was of the opinion that they had a good and bad Oki, and that they believed in a creator Iouskeha, though they did not offer him sacrifice. Brebeuf who lived closest to them concluded that they had a faint and hazy notion of God, but not impressive enough to make them serve or honor Him. They believed that the soul survived the body, but soul for them was not a spiritual substance. They did not look forward to reward or punishment after death. They did, however, fear in this life the displeasure of the great Oki, the power which, in their view, regulated seasons, storms, tempests and other forces.
They sought to propitiate this power by throwing tobacco into the flames and pleading for aid, for cures and for other needs. They appeased it by offering the flesh of the victims of violent death. They sacrificed living animals. This confirms Brebeuf's view that they had a perverted notion of God, and that they were a degenerate people who were clinging to the remnant of a revelation their ancestors had once possessed.
The Hurons were depraved and degraded. Vice ran riot among them. They were proud beyond conception, lustful, deceitful, thieving, cruel, brutal, filthy and repulsive. They were treacherous and hypocritical. Lavish in hospitality, they would feast to the full the victim they were to torture like demons as soon as the repast was over. The men wore scarcely anything,; the women were covered from shoulder to knee.
They held to the principle of marriage to one only, but they violated it in practice by the most promiscuous licence. They were jealous of their traditions, and bound down by tribal customs and conventions. When inclined to follow a better instinct of decency, pity, honor, they were cowed into doing the opposite by fear of the tribal usage and sentiment. They taught their young to cultivate their vices. They believed in sorcery, and practised it incessantly. Indeed they were constantly under the influence of those who pretended to be sorcerers. They were so given over to it, they believed that the missionaries must live by it also. This for many years was the chief obstacle to their conversion to Christianity. Indeed, it was the cause of the martyrdom of many a missionary at the hands of the Iroquois, who believed in it even, if possible, more than the Hurons.(24)
Brebeuf showed extraordinary physical courage in dwelling alone with these people. His moral courage was greater still. Not only did he fail to make any converts among them; he soon discovered that they were suspicious of everything about him.
There was a drought, the crops were withering, and a contagious disease attacked them. They attributed their misfortunes to his presence and the most sacred things in his cabin. The cross on top of the chapel section of his cabin was the particular object of their dread.
The captains of the village, having heard these stories, sent for me and said, 'My nephew, here is what so-and-so says; what dost thou answer to it? We are ruined, for the corn will not ripen. If at least we should die by the hands and arms of our enemies who are ready to burst upon us, well and good,— we should not at any rate pine away; but if, having escaped from their fury, we are exposed to famine, that would be to go from bad to worse, What dost thou think of it? Thou dost not wish to be the cause of our death? besides, it is of as much importance to thee as to us. We are of the opinion that thou shouldst take down that Cross, and hide it awhile in thy cabin, or even in the lake, so that the thunder and the clouds may not see it, and no longer fear it; and then after the harvest thou mayest set it up again.' To this I answered, 'As for me, I shall never take down nor hide the Cross where died He who is the cause of all our blessings. For yourselves, if you wish to take it down, consider the matter well; I shall not be able to hinder you, but take care that, in taking it down, you do not make God angry and increase your own misery. Do you believe in this deceiver?
He does not know what he says. This Cross has been set up for more than a year, and you know how many times there has been rain here since. Only an ignorant person would say that the thunder is afraid; it is not an animal, it is a dry and burning exhalation which, being shut in, seeks to get out this way and that.
And then what does the thunder fear? This red color of the Cross? Take away then, yourselves, all those red figures and paintings that are on your cabins. To this they did not know what to reply; they looked at each other and said, 'It is true, we must not touch this Cross; and yet,' added they, 'Tehorenhaegnon says so.' A thought came to me. 'Since,' said I, 'Tehorenhaegnon says that the thunder is afraid of this color of the Cross, if you like we will paint it another color, white, or black, or any other; and if, immediately after, it begins to rain, you will be sure Tehorenhaegnon has told the truth; but if not, that he is an impostor.' 'Well said,' they replied, 'we will do that.' The Cross was therefore painted white, but one, two, three, four days passed without any more rain than before; and meanwhile all who saw the Cross became angry at the sorcerer who had been the cause of disfiguring it thus. Thereupon I went to see the old men. 'Well, has it rained any more than before? Are you satisfied?' 'Yes,' said they 'we see clearly enough that Tehorenhaegnon is only a deceiver; but now, do thou tell us what to do, and we will obey thee.' Then Our Lord inspired me to instruct them in the mystery of the Cross, and speak to them of the honor that was everywhere rendered to it; and to tell them that it was my opinion that they should all come in a body, men and women, to adore the Cross in order to restore its honor; and, inasmuch as it was a matter of causing the crops to grow, they should each bring a dish of corn to make an offering to Our Lord, and that what they gave should afterwards be distributed to the poor of the village. The hour is appointed for the morrow; they do not wait for it, they anticipate it. We surround the Cross, painted anew in its first colors, upon which I had placed the Body of Our Lord crucified; we recite some prayers; and then I adored and kissed the Cross, to show them how they ought to do it. They imitated me one after the other, apostrophizing Our Crucified Savior in prayers which natural rhetoric and the exigency of the time suggested to them. In truth, their fervent simplicity inspired me with devotion; briefly, they did so well that on the same day God gave them rain, and in the end a plentiful harvest, as well as a profound admiration for the Divine power."(25)
Brebeuf did not have to endure these misunderstandings long. The colony was in distress. The Merchants' Company had used its monopoly to impoverish colonizers and natives alike. Charles Lalemant had gone back to France to implore aid.
He found that already Cardinal Richelieu had revoked the Merchants' charter and instituted the new Company of One Hundred Associates. It was too late. The relief ships they sent out from France were betrayed by David Kerkt and his two brothers, refugees from France, and captured by the English, who were seeking to take advantage of the colony's destitution. After closing the St. Lawrence to all relief from France, they compelled Champlain to surrender, and forthwith missionaries and colonists, all save one family, the Heberts, were forced to return to their country, and Canada became for the first time a British colony.
Brebeuf returned to Rouen, and while there made his final year of probation, the crowning observance of the Jesuit in preparation for his life's work. It was a year of quiet, meditation and of planning the future, not so much of what he hoped to do, but rather of what he hoped to be as an instrument in the hand of God, for his own perfection and for the perfection of others. The year over, he pronounced his last vows. He has left us this extraordinary document of devotion. One would imagine that after his experiences with the Indians he might have turned his thoughts to other fields where the harvest would be more promising. On the contrary, suffering had only whetted his appetite for more. Thus he wrote in his journals: "I have felt an ardent desire to suffer something for Jesus Christ. I fear I shall be refused, because Our Lord has thus far treated me with kindness, whereas have grieviously offended His Divine Majesty, shall be more confident of salvation when God will give me a chance to suffer".
Then he made this vow:
"Lord Jesus, my Redeemer! You have redeemed me by Your blood and Your most precious death This is why I promise to serve You all my life in the Society of Jesus, and never to serve any other than Thee. I sign this promise in my blood, ready to sacrifice it all for Thee as willingly as this drop. Jean de Brebeuf, Soc. J."(26)
His offer was accepted, and he kept his promise.