Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, and Companions’ Story

Isaac Jogues and his companions were the first martyrs of the North American continent officially recognized by the Church. As a young Jesuit, Isaac Jogues, a man of learning and culture, taught literature in France. He gave up that career to work among the Huron Indians in the New World, and in 1636, he and his companions, under the leadership of Jean de Brébeuf, arrived in Quebec. The Hurons were constantly warred upon by the Iroquois, and in a few years Father Jogues was captured by the Iroquois and imprisoned for 13 months. His letters and journals tell how he and his companions were led from village to village, how they were beaten, tortured, and forced to watch as their Huron converts were mangled and killed.
An unexpected chance for escape came to Isaac Jogues through the Dutch, and he returned to France, bearing the marks of his sufferings. Several fingers had been cut, chewed, or burnt off. Pope Urban VIII gave him permission to offer Mass with his mutilated hands: “It would be shameful that a martyr of Christ not be allowed to drink the Blood of Christ.”
Welcomed home as a hero, Father Jogues might have sat back, thanked God for his safe return, and died peacefully in his homeland. But his zeal led him back once more to the fulfillment of his dreams. In a few months he sailed for his missions among the Hurons.
In 1646, he and Jean de Lalande, who had offered his services to the missioners, set out for Iroquois country in the belief that a recently signed peace treaty would be observed. They were captured by a Mohawk war party, and on October 18, Father Jogues was tomahawked and beheaded. Jean de Lalande was killed the next day at Ossernenon, a village near Albany, New York.
The first of the Jesuit missionaries to be martyred was René Goupil who with Lalande, had offered his services as an oblate. He was tortured along with Isaac Jogues in 1642, and was tomahawked for having made the sign of the cross on the brow of some children.
Jean de Brébeuf was a French Jesuit who came to Canada at the age of 32 and labored there for 24 years. He went back to France when the English captured Quebec in 1629 and expelled the Jesuits, but returned to his missions four years later. Although medicine men blamed the Jesuits for a smallpox epidemic among the Hurons, Jean remained with them.
He composed catechisms and a dictionary in Huron, and saw 7,000 converted before his death. He was captured by the Iroquois and died after four hours of extreme torture at Sainte Marie, near Georgian Bay, Canada.
Father Anthony Daniel, working among Hurons who were gradually becoming Christian, was killed by Iroquois on July 4, 1648. His body was thrown into his chapel, which was set on fire.
Gabriel Lalemant had taken a fourth vow—to sacrifice his life for the Native Americans. He was horribly tortured to death along with Father Brébeuf.
Father Charles Garnier was shot to death as he baptized children and catechumens during an Iroquois attack.
Father Noel Chabanel was killed before he could answer his recall to France. He had found it exceedingly hard to adapt to mission life. He could not learn the language, and the food and life of the Indians revolted him, plus he suffered spiritual dryness during his whole stay in Canada. Yet he made a vow to remain until death in his mission.
These eight Jesuit martyrs of North America were canonized in 1930.

 
 Henry Thomas Bosdet-"Jesus Before His Crucifixion"


”Many appear full of mildness and sweetness as long as everything goes their own way; but the moment any contradiction or adversity arises, they are in a flame, and begin to rage like a burning mountain. Such people as these are like red-hot coals hidden under ashes. This is not the mildness which Our Lord undertook to teach us in order to make us like unto Himself.”
-Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Father and Doctor of the Church

“To reach satisfaction in all,
desire its possession in nothing.
To come to the knowledge of all,
desire the knowledge of nothing.
To come to possess all,
desire the possession of nothing.
To arrive at being all,
desire to be nothing.
To come to the pleasure you have not,
you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.
To come to the knowledge you have not,
you must go by a way in which you know not.
To come to the possession you have not;
you must go by a way in which you possess not.
To come to be what you are not,
you must go by a way in which you are not.
When you turn toward something,
you cease to cast yourself upon the all.
For to go from the all to the all,
you must leave yourself in all.
And when you come to the possession of all,
you must posses it without wanting anything.
In this nakedness, the spirit finds its rest,
for when it covets nothing, nothing raises it up,
and nothing weighs it down,
because it is in the center of its humility.

Words of Wisdom from St. John of the Cross

 



The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. 
Wisdom 3:7
(From this mornings epistle)

”If you desire to labor with fruit for the conversion of souls, it behooves you to mix the balm of gentleness with the strong wine of your zeal, to the end that the latter be not too ardent, but benign, pacific, long-suffering and full of compassion. For the natural character of men is such that, when treated with harshness, it becomes still more hardened, whereas mildness soon softens it. Moreover we ought to remember that Jesus Christ came to bless men of good will, and if we give up our own will to His guidance, we may be sure that He will render it fruitful.”
-Saint Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church

 This is one of my favorite Gospels.  It always comes in the fall before the difficulties of winter:


[24] No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. [25] Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and
[26] Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? [27] And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit? [28] And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. [29] But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. [30] And if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith?
[31] Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? [32] For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. [33] Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. [34] Be not therefore solicitous for tomorrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.

 

A SOURCE OF GRACE AND CONSOLATION FOR ALL CHRISTIANS

(from the booklet "Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother")

Devotion to the sorrows of Mary is a source of great graces because it is

so pleasing to our Divine Lord. Many holy writers say that through her

sufferings Mary placed an obligation, as it were upon her Son, which

constrains Him to grant her whatever she asks of Him. As soon as we

sympathize with the sorrows of His Mother, we draw our Saviour to

ourselves. "He is," says St. Bernard, "at the disposal of those who

devoutly meditate on the sufferings of His Mother." Our Lord once said to

Bl. Veronica of Binasco: "My daughter, the tears which you shed in

compassion for My sufferings are pleasing to Me, but bear in mind that on

account of My excessive love for My Mother, the tears you shed in

compassion for her sufferings are still more precious."

There are, indeed, few devotions for which our Saviour has made greater

promises that for this one, and there are few that are more pleasing to

Him.

THE COMFORTER OF THE AFFLICTED

Through her martyrdom, Mary has become in a special way the comforter of

the afflicted. It was by her own experience of sorrow that she was taught

the sympathy which enables her to comfort her children in all their

afflictions. God gave her a mighty and a sympathetic heart for this great

task.

For all God's children, the way to Heaven leads across the mount of Calvary

-- the way of trial and suffering. In the company of our Sorrowful Mother,

we walk more easily, fight more courageously, and suffer more patiently,

perseveringly and joyfully; for she holds up before us not only the example

of the sufferings and death of her Divine Son, but also the victory, the

joy and the glory which He has won through His sufferings.

How often do we grow impatient, fainthearted, despondent and inconstant in

suffering . . . how often without endurance, without resignation, full of

complaints and murmurings! Oh, let us deeply engrave in our hearts the

sorrows of Mary! May she, our Sorrowful Mother, ever be our model in

suffering, in the patient endurance of trials, and in the humble acceptance

of sorrows and afflictions. When the hand of God lays a heavy cross upon

our shoulders, let us turn to Mary Sorrowing, and we shall obtain

consolation and strength to carry the cross patiently and meritoriously.

The above is taken from Chapter 2 of the booklet "Devotion to the Sorrowful

Mother" published by TAN Books

 

Prayer reveals to souls the vanity of earthly goods and pleasures.  It fills them with light, strength and consolation; and gives them a foretaste of the calm bliss of our heavenly home.

 St. Rose of Viterbo