An Apostle and His Mission A. D. 1634-1636
Brebeuf greets the Hurons at Quebec—They visit his chapel, feast and return to Huronia without him—A year of ministry and patience—Return to Ihonatiria in 1634—Ill-treatment on the way— Huron cabins unlike the Louvre—Assembly and catechism—Zeal unrewarded—Caution in admitting converts—Children the hope of the Mission—The seminary for them in Quebec
Brebeuf, with Masse, had arrived at Quebec June 5th. He began at once to renew his practice in the tribal languages, going out among the Indians usually to visit the sick. On July 28th the Hurons came for their annual market. This year they were more numerous than ever, forty canoes, with sixty of their captains, bent on greeting their friend the new governor, and on resuming relations with the French. With the English they had not been on good terms. They built their cabins, bartered their goods with the French agents, feasted, and then the captains assembled in council to hear Champlain's message to them. Brebeuf spoke to them in Huron to their great delight. He led them to the chapel. That casual visit showed how next to impossible was the task of teaching them the truths of faith. When they were shown more than one statue of the Blessed Virgin, and were told she was the Mother of Our Lord, they wondered how anyone could have several mothers. When they saw the dove representing the Holy Spirit, they said it was the cause of thunder, which they believed was the cry of a huge wild bird. The picture of the flames of hell appealed to them.
They believed in some state of existence after death, and they could grasp how one would be either happy or unhappy in that state. It was on this fact, therefore, the missionaries would have to insist later, not however neglecting other truths or facts. Parkman is impatient with them for working on the fears of the Indians, though Christ Himself had appealed to mankind through fear as well as other passions. Champlain feted the visitors. For them a feast was a gorge. Sagard described one of these feasts for a very much smaller group: fifty-six Canada geese, thirty mallard, twenty teal-duck and a quantity of other game—the quarry of a three days' chase—two barrels of peas, one of sea-biscuit, twenty pounds of prunes, six baskets of Indian corn—all cooked together in the big cauldron of the colony's brewery. It would take a long time for the missionaries to train such people to moderation.
Daniel and Davost had come to Quebec from the fort on St. Anne's Bay near Cape Breton, where they had been attending to the garrison stationed there by Daniel's brother Charles. The Hurons wanted to take them with Brebeuf back to Huronia. Each captain strove for the honor of having a missionary at his own village. All was ready for the journey when an Ottawa captain, Borgne, protested.
Champlain having rejected his plea for the release of a prisoner from a neighboring tribe who had been convicted of murdering a Frenchman, Borgne pretended that the tribe would be so incensed they would destroy the Black Robes, blame this on the Hurons, and start a feud between them and the French. The Hurons were frightened. They declined to take the Fathers, although Brebeuf said they were ready for death and would have no one suffer for their execution. Nothing could change the decision. Brebeuf, therefore, and his companions, greatly disappointed, had to wait for another opportunity. They waited fully a year, Brebeuf active among the neighboring Indian tribes, his companions studying the language and doing what missionary work they could among the Indians about Quebec.
It required no slight patience to think of the Huron field waiting to be sown and still be excluded from it. They knew, however, that spiritual seed-time and harvest are not measured by the brevity and regularity of plant and flower, nor by the same proportion as between the sower's labors and his fruits. One of the sublime traits of these men is their confidence, in spite of their own poor results, that one day this wilderness would flourish and blossom like the lily.
Next year no more than seven canoes came down, and they ventured only as far as Tadoussac, but the three priests were there to meet them. Shortly before that, two hundred braves had been killed and two hundred taken prisoners by the fierce peoples of the south, the Iroquois, and the Hurons were downcast. They feared more than ever to take the responsibility of harboring the Fathers, now that the Iroquois might overtake and destroy them. Their fears were quickly quieted by the assurances of the three who were so eager to begin the work to which they had looked forward for years. So eager were Daniel and Davost that they actually left behind their outfits and even the money (beads, etc.) that would help them with the Indians, carrying only their altar-ware and vestments. They started, Brebeuf in one canoe, Daniel and Davost in another. With them were three Frenchmen, who later became companions to the missionaries, Pierre, Martin and Baron. Usually the journey took thirty days. The ordinary hardships of it have been described in the previous chapter. This is Brebeuf's account of the extraordinary sufferings they had to undergo, owing to the meanness of their guides, although, before starting, Daniel, seeing that these had received nothing, had them rewarded with cloaks such as the Indians in the boats had received. It was characteristic of Daniel to give trouble to no one and to see that all were properly considered.
"Father Davost, among others, was very badly treated. They stole from him much of his little belongings. They forced him to throw away a small steel mill, almost all our books, some linens, and a good part of the paper that we were taking, and of which we have great need. They abandoned him at the island of the Alumettes among the Algonquins, where he suffered very keenly. When he reached the Hurons, he was worn-out and dejected, and for a long time he did not recover.
"Father Daniel was abandoned, and forced to seek another canoe, as also was Pierre, one of our men. Young Martin was very roughly treated, and at last left behind with the Bissiriniens, where he remained some time, spending about two months on the road, and arriving among the Hurons only on the nineteenth of September.
"Baron was robbed of his things the very day he arrived in these parts; and he would have lost much more if he had not frightened them with his arms, to give him back some things. In short, all the Frenchmen suffered great hardships, incurred great expense, considering what little they had, and ran serious risks.
Whosoever comes here must be prepared for all this, and something more, even death itself, whose image is every moment before our eyes. Not knowing how to swim, I once had a very narrow escape. As we were leaving the Bissiriniens, while shooting a rapid we would have gone over a high falls, had not my savages promptly and skillfully leaped into the water to turn aside the canoe which the current was sweeping. Very likely the others might relate as much, and more, so numerous are such incidents." (43)
Brebeuf narrates how the Indians wanted to hide somewhere a box belonging to his lay companions; how the Algonquins tried to detain him at their villages; how the captain of his canoe wanted to abandon him. He offered to carry the box they objected to carrying. Daniel was shipwrecked twice. Baron was marooned, but the captain of the island insisted that his canoe company should take him with them. The Indians landed Brebeuf at Toanche, near Thunder Bay, practically abandoning him. He had to hide his luggage and wander about until at night he came to the new site of the village of Ihonatiria. He knew human nature, and his knowledge was kindly. "I attribute", he writes, "all these extraordinary difficulties to sickness among our savages. For we know very well how sickness alters the disposition and the inclinations of even the most sociable."
The first need of the missionaries was a cabin and this the Indians built for them. As Parkman remarks of the cabin made for Le Jeune at Quebec, this cabin was the cradle of the great Jesuit missions among the Hurons. Here is Brebeuf's description of it:
"The cabins of this country are neither Louvres nor palaces, nor anything like the buildings of our France, not even like the smallest cottages. They are, nevertheless, somewhat better and more commodious than the hovels of the Montagnais. I cannot better express the fashion of the Huron dwellings than to compare them to bowers or garden arbors—some of which, in place of branches and vegetation, are covered with cedar bark, some others with large pieces of ash, elm, fir, or spruce bark; and although the cedar bark is best, according to common opinion and usage, there is, nevertheless, this inconvenience, that they are almost as susceptible to fire as matches. Hence arise many of the conflagrations of entire villages; and, without going farther than this year, we have seen in less than ten days two large ones entirely consumed, and another, that of Louys, partially burned. We have also once seen our own cabin on fire; but, thank God, we extinguished it immediately. There are cabins or arbors of various sizes, some twelve feet in length, others of ten, others of twenty, of thirty, of forty; the usual width is about twenty-four feet, their height is about the same. There are no different stories; there is no cellar, no chamber, no garret. It has neither window nor chimney, only a miserable hole in the top of the cabin, left to permit the smoke to escape. This is the way they built ours for us.
"The people of Oenrio and of our village were employed at this, by means of presents given them. It has cost us much exertion to secure its completion, not only on account of the epidemic, which affected almost all the savages, but on account of the connivance of these two villages; for although the work was not great, yet those of our village followed the example of those of Oenrio, who, in hopes of finally attracting us to their village, simply amused themselves without advancing the work. We were almost into October before we were under cover. As to the interior, we have suited ourselves; so that, even if it does not amount to much, the savages never weary of coming to see it, and, seeing it, to admire it. We have divided it into three parts. The first compartment, nearest the door, serves as an ante-chamber, as a storm door, and as a storeroom for our provisions, in the fashion of the savages. The second is that in which we live, and is our kitchen, our carpenter shop, our mill, or place for grinding the wheat, our refectory, our parlor and our bedroom. On both sides, in the fashion of the Hurons, are two benches which they call endicha, on which are boxes to hold our clothes and other little conveniences; but below, in the place where the Hurons keep their wood, we have contrived some little bunks to sleep in, and to store away some of our clothing from the thievish hands of the Hurons. They sleep beside the fire, but still they and we have only the earth for bedstead; for mattress and pillows, some bark of boughs covered with a rush mat; for sheets and coverings, our clothes and some skins do duty.
The third part of our cabin is also divided into two parts by means of a bit of carpentry which gives it a fairly good appearance, and which is admired here for its novelty. In the one is our little chapel, in which we celebrate every day holy Mass, and we retire there daily to pray to God. It is true that the almost continual noise they make usually hinders us,—except in the morning and evening when everybody has gone away,—and compels us to go outside to say our prayers. In the other part we put our utensils.
The whole cabin is only thirty-six feet long, and about twenty-one wide. That is how we are lodged, doubtless not so well that we may not have in this abode a good share of rain, snow and cold. However, as I have said, they never cease coming to visit us from admiration, especially since we have put on two doors, made by a carpenter, and since our mill and our clock have been set to work." (44)
In the new cabin Brebeuf gave lessons in Huron to his two associates. He writes that they were apt pupils, especially Daniel, who knew more words than Brebeuf himself, but could not connect them promptly.45 Soon Daniel had the Our Father in Huron, and could lead the children chanting it when Brebeuf had his assembly of the tribe in the chapel of the cabin, at which he preached and recited the prayers. He preached on faith, immortality, heaven and hell. In return he was invited to the Indian assemblies. He became very popular, especially when, after a nine days' prayer he had advised, rain fell and watered the soil. His importance was increased when Champlain sent him lett-ters constituting him his representative among the Hurons. Daniel went in and about the cabins teaching the children, whether baptized or not, Christian Doctrine. This was the method of teaching it when the people were assembled in the cabin:
"We gave the instruction of catechism in our cabin, for we had as yet no other suitable church. This is often the most we can do; for their feasts, dances, and games so occupy them that we cannot get them together as we would like.
"The usual method that we follow is this: We call together the people by the help of the captain of the village, who assembles them all in our house as in council, or perhaps by the sound of the bell. I use the surplice and the square cap, to give more majesty to my appearance. At the beginning, we chant on our knees the Pater Noster, translated into Huron verse. Father Daniel, as its author, chants a couplet alone, and then we all together chant it again; and those among the Hurons, principally the little ones, who already know it, take pleasure in chanting it with us, and the others in listening. That done, when every one is seated, I rise and make the Sign of the Cross for all; then, having recapitulated what I said the last time, I explain something new. After that we question the young children and the girls, giving a little bead of glass or porcelain to those who deserve it. The parents are very glad to see their children answer well and carry off some little prize, of which they render themselves worthy by the care they take to come privately to get instruction. On our part to arouse their emulation, we have each lesson retraced by our two little French boys, who question each other,—which transports the savages with admiration. Finally the whole is concluded by the talk of the old men, who propound their difficulties, and sometimes make me listen in my turn to the statement of their belief.
"We began our catechizing by this memorable truth, that their souls, which are immortal, all go after death either to paradise or to hell. It is thus we approach them, either in public or in private. I added that they had the choice, during life, to participate after death in the one or the other,— which one, they ought now to consider. Whereupon one honest old man said to me, "Let him who will, go to the fires of hell; I want to go to heaven"; all the others followed and making use of the same answer, begged us to show them the way, and to take away the stones, the trees, and the thickets therein, which might stop them.
"Our Hurons, as you see, are not so dull as one might think them; they seem to me to have rather good common sense, and I find them universally very docile. Nevertheless, some of them are obstinate, and attached to their superstitions and evil customs. These are principally the old people; for beyond these, who are not numerous, the rest know nothing of their own belief. We have two or three of this number in our village. I am often in conflict with them; and then I show them they are wrong, and make them contradict themselves, so that they frankly admit their ignorance, and the others ridicule them; still they will not yield, always falling back upon this, that their country is not like ours, that they have another God, another paradise, in a word, other customs." (46)
A great drought parched the land and threatened famine. The Indians were in despair. Their sorcerers were impotent. The captains besought Brebeuf for relief. He bade them pray, and he opened a nine days' prayer in honor of the mission's patron, St. Joseph. The prayer was favored by abundant rains. Late in that year, 1636, he consecrated the mission to the Blessed Virgin under the title of Immaculate, over two hundred years before the Church pronounced this prerogative as a point of Catholic faith. The Indians were impressed by all this piety, but the older members of the tribe stuck fast to their pagan traditions; the middle-aged were indifferent and too fickle to admit to baptism. Unfortunate as the hasty baptism of the Acadians was under Biencourt, it had the good effect of confirming the Jesuits in the determination to confer baptism on adults only after mature preparation and proof of constancy. The sick near death, old or young, the Fathers would baptize, but no others. Since epidemics were frequent, such baptisms were also frequent. This accounts for the low number of baptisms of adults in good health in the early days of their ministry, but it also accounts for the steadfastness and rare examples of Christian virtues on the part of those who were finally adjudged worthy of the sacrament. The children were the hope of the missionaries. They took readily to instruction. They became attached to the priests, who treated them with unalterable kindness. No sooner, however, did they begin to show good dispositions than they were spoiled by the example, and often by the counsel of the elders. Vice was so rampant that it was hopeless to protect the young from its contamination. Accordingly the missionaries concluded that the only remedy was to do what the Franciscans already had attempted when they opened a seminary for the young Indians at Quebec. Daniel was a favorite with mothers and children. There is a pleasant story of his quieting a little child, crying in its mother's arms by having it make the sign of the Cross. He and Davost were promised several children for the new seminary, a dozen at least, but when the day came for departure maternal instinct revolted against parting from the little ones and they had to go down to Quebec with three only. They were the foundation stones. The hope of the missionaries was to remove a number of the young people from the contagious surroundings of their village, bring them up unspoiled, establish a Christian Indian settlement and gradually, no matter how slowly, establish a new civilization among the Indians themselves, which would attract even those who were habituated to corrupt living. This seminary became the apple of their eyes. Extraordinary things are narrated in the "Relations" about the simplicity and innocence of the young boys and of the constancy of many of them afterwards. Similar results on a larger scale were obtained at the seminary of the Ursulines for young girls. Indeed the virtue developed in these schools often mounted to heroism. Le Jeune describes this boys' seminary at length in the "Relation" of 1637.47 Daniel was teacher, nurse and playmate with the children. They looked upon him as their father, and very touching are the evidences of their devotion to him.