Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Celebrate the memorial of St. Isaac Jogue, St. John de Broufe, and companion martyrs
who were French missionaries in the 1600s.
And they died as martyrs in Canada and the northern part of New York.
And they died in the 1640s, from 1642 to 1649, these martyrs died.
St. Isaac Jogue, I believe, was the first to die.
And he really longed to come to America to convert the Indians,
to suffer for them, and to bring them,
to the beauty of our faith, and to give them the hope of Christianity,
the joy of Christianity, and to free them from Satan,
who really had a hold on them, and their life of cruelty and debauchery,
and the disordered life that they lived.
To give them the ordered life of Christianity, and faith, and joy that we have.
And...
And to bring them the love of Jesus Christ to them.
And so this motivated him, and really, he was filled with this charity
that drove him to be willing to sacrifice his life in the hardships of northern America,
where they had to suffer the cold, and suffer the mosquitoes,
and the floods.
And they had to eat food that was unpalatable.
They lived on only pretty much mashed corn.
And to live in the midst of the depraved life of the Indians,
that they had to tolerate for long periods of time,
until they could instill the faith into them,
and establish the practice of virtue, which took...
which they didn't, weren't able to fully do, even by the...
that's what they offered their...
their lives up for.
To help them.
But Saint Isaac Joseph had this real longing and...
and desire to come and sacrifice himself for them.
And so when he finally came to the soil of Canada,
he was filled with joy.
And it was like a heaven for him to just be...
be on the soil of Canada to bring the faith to the people.
And then when he finally saw the Indians,
he was again filled with joy that this was the people
that God wanted him to come and save and help.
And so he ministered among them,
took him a while to learn the language,
and ministered among the Huron Indians,
who were the ones that...
the only Indian tribe at that time that accepted the Jesuits.
And so he lived among them,
and then was finally caught by the...
the enemies of the Hurons, the Iroquois Indians,
who...
who tortured him very...
very brutally and chewed off his fingers
and cut off his...
one of his thumbs and stabbed and beat him mercilessly.
And he endured this and still survived
and was taken as a prisoner, as a slave,
and made to live among them as...
as a slave.
And they treated him like a dog.
And yet he tolerated all of that
and didn't even try to escape
because he wanted to stay among them
and minister to the captive Indians
who would be tortured and put to death,
their enemies.
And so he could...
so he could baptize them
and save them at the final moments of their life.
That's what kept him a slave among them.
He didn't try to escape
until...
until he finally realized that at one point
he was not allowed to...
to baptize and speak to the...
to the prisoners.
And so then he did...
he was convinced that it was
the right time for him to escape.
So he did...
he was able to escape and went back to France
and was treated like a...
a sensation and a hero in the country.
And this...
this was...
you know, he was even brought to the court of the queen
and she kissed his mangled hands
and this was more of a torture.
says the biographer,
than the...
than the torture of the Indians
to...
to have this attention.
And so he still longed to come...
to come back to...
to Canada,
to...
to minister to the Indians
and bring the faith
and he was given permission to come back.
And he came back and he was...
because he knew the language of the Indians,
he was a...
he was a...
he was as a...
a diplomat to...
to the Iroquois Indians.
But finally he was captured by them
and...
and then tomahawked in the head
and died a martyr
in that way.
This great sacrificial life for...
for the...
the Indians.
Saint John de Bebeuf was very similar.
He was really the pioneer of the missions there.
He was the...
He stayed the longest in the...
in the mission there in Canada.
And he was a very big man,
very tall and strong,
and he was called by the Indians,
Saint John,
which meant the man who carries the load.
And he was...
he was...
he was loved by them for that too
because he was not a burden to them.
He carried his load
and helped them...
helped them to row the boats
and to...
to do the work that made it easier for them.
So...
But he was like a father to...
to them
and he finally won their...
won their hearts after he learned the language
and did so many good things for the people,
teaching them the...
teaching them the faith
and teaching them also to defend themselves
and to build palisades and square fortresses
that would help them to better defend themselves
against their Iroquois enemies.
And he was able to establish a mission there
and to teach them...
teach them the faith
and to prepare them
for the worst that may come among them.
And so the Iroquois did eventually come
and overtake them
and came into the...
to the mission
and attacked the people.
And Saint John refused to leave.
He wanted to minister to be there to the end,
to be with the sick
and told everyone else to leave
and save their...
save their lives.
But he stayed
and so the Iroquois Indians caught him
and tied him to a stake
and...
and stabbed him
and tortured him
and finally...
carved out his heart
and wanted to eat his heart
because he...
he was such a brave man,
all the...
he suffered all the tortures
and just said,
Jesus have mercy,
Jesus have mercy
and set the example for the other Jesuit martyrs
who did the same at their...
at their deaths.
And the other companion martyrs
were...
were heroic in the same way
sacrificing themselves
and...
and found this great prize of martyrdom
as well.
And we just...
we look at their...
their lives of sacrifice
for these people,
the charity that drove them to...
to sacrifice themselves
and to offer up all their sufferings
for the conversion of these poor barbarians.
And so let us too
have that spirit of sacrifice
for our neighbor
to be willing to sacrifice
and...
and suffer
and...
and to pray for the conversion
of our pagans in...
in our midst.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
And blessed is God
the fruit of your womb.