St. Isaac Jogues and the North American Martyrs
Quick answer
St. Isaac Jogues (1607–1646) was a French Jesuit priest who served as a missionary among the Huron (Wendat) people in what is now Canada. In 1642 he was captured by Mohawk warriors, tortured and held captive for over a year. He escaped to France, then insisted on returning. In 1646 he was killed at Ossernenon, near present-day Auriesville, New York. With seven companions he is honored as one of the North American Martyrs. Their feast in the United States is October 19.
Key takeaways
- He arrived in New France in 1636 and worked among the Huron near Georgian Bay.
- After his capture he lost parts of several fingers and lived as a captive.
- The pope gave him special permission to celebrate Mass with his mutilated hands.
- Eight Jesuit priests and lay companions were canonized together in 1930.
St. Isaac Jogues had every reason never to return to North America. He went back anyway, knowing it would probably cost him his life. His story is one of the most courageous in the history of the Church in America.
To New France
Isaac Jogues was born on January 10, 1607, in Orléans, France. He entered the Jesuits at seventeen and was ordained in 1636. That same year he sailed to New France, today’s Canada, and joined the mission among the Huron, or Wendat, people near Georgian Bay, where St. John de Brébeuf was already working.
The missionaries learned the language, shared the people’s hardships and taught the faith patiently. Progress was slow, and many Huron feared the newcomers had brought disease.
Captured
In August 1642, while traveling by canoe with Huron Christians and the lay missionary St. René Goupil, Jogues was captured by a Mohawk war party, who were at war with the Huron. The prisoners were beaten and tortured. Several of Jogues’s fingers were cut or chewed off. René Goupil was killed for making the sign of the cross over a child.
Jogues lived for more than a year as a captive in the Mohawk villages. He used his time to baptize the dying and comfort other prisoners.
Escape and Return
In 1643, with help from Dutch Protestants at Fort Orange (now Albany), he escaped and returned to France. He was received as a hero. Because canon law required a priest to hold the Host with his thumb and forefinger, his maimed hands would have prevented him from saying Mass. Pope Urban VIII granted him permission, saying it would be shameful for a martyr of Christ not to drink the Blood of Christ.
Yet in 1644 Jogues sailed back to New France.
Martyrdom
In 1646 he was sent as a peace envoy to the Mohawk. On a second journey that year, as some blamed him for an epidemic and crop failure, he was seized. On October 18, 1646, he was killed by a blow from a tomahawk at Ossernenon. The next day his companion, the young lay missionary St. John de la Lande, was also killed.
The North American Martyrs
Isaac Jogues and seven companions were canonized in 1930. Their shrine at Auriesville, New York, and the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario, draw pilgrims. Ten years after Jogues’s death, St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born in the same village.
A Prayer for Courage (Original Prayer)
St. Isaac Jogues, you returned to the place of your suffering out of love for Christ and for souls. Give me courage to face what I fear, and a heart that forgives and keeps on loving. Amen.
Continue Reading
Read about St. Francis Xavier, St. Ignatius of Loyola, or St. Boniface.
Frequently asked questions
When is the feast of St. Isaac Jogues?
October 19 in the United States, together with St. John de Brébeuf and companions. In Canada it is September 26.
Who are the North American Martyrs?
Six Jesuit priests, Isaac Jogues, John de Brébeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Anthony Daniel, Charles Garnier and Noël Chabanel, and two lay missionaries, René Goupil and John de la Lande, killed between 1642 and 1649.
Where was Isaac Jogues killed?
At the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, near today's Auriesville, New York, where the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs stands.
Sources
- The Jesuit Relations (1632–1673)
- Letters of St. Isaac Jogues
- Pope Pius XI, Canonization of the North American Martyrs (June 29, 1930)
