St. John de Brebeuf

John [Jean] de Brebeuf, born in Normandy, entered the Jesuit novitiate in Rouen at age 24. His health was so poor as a novice that he could not keep up with the normal pace of study or teach for any length of time. It is remarkable that this feeble invalid, ridden with tuberculosis, would later become the intrepid apostle to the Huron. He was among the first Jesuit missionaries to to come to the New World in 1625. He immediately set himself to begin the arduous process of learning the Huron language. Obstacle after obstacle arose. With little to show for their efforts, John and his companions were forced to leave after the English took over New France. A few years later, the colony that is now Canada was returned to France which made it possible for the Jesuits to return in 1633. Wanting to attract the attention, prayers, and support of Catholics back in France, John began writing regular dispatches detailing the spiritual and social condition of the Native Americans. These missives came to be known as the Jesuit Relations. They awakened interest of Catholics not only in France but all throughout Europe. Finally the Jesuits began to see conversions increase among the Huron. The bitter enemy of the Huron, the Iroquois, became increasingly hostile to the Christianized native Americans and their missionaries. In 1649, the Iroquois attached the Huron village in which John de Brebeuf was stationed. The invaders were not content just to kill Fr. Brebeuf and his companions — they took pleasure in torturing them most horribly as a prelude to their execution. John preached the gospel to them while being tortured until his captors finally gagged him. His endurance so amazed his tormentors that they tore out his heart and ate it, hoping that his amazing courage would thereby pass to them. John de Brebeuf was canonized, along with his fellow Jesuit martyrs, in 1930. The feast day of John and his fellow North American martyrs is observed on October 19, the day after the martyrdom of one of the other Jesuits, St. Isaac Jogues. Biography by Dr. Italy