himself the lash; beneath a bristling hair-shirt he wore an iron girdle, armed on all sides with projecting points; his fasts were frequent; almost always his pious vigils continued deep into the night. In vain did Asmodeus assume for him the forms of earthly beauty; his eye rested benignantly on visions of divine things. Once, imparadised in a trance, he beheld the Mother of Him whose cross he bore,

surrounded by a crowd of virgins, in the beatitudes 1640. of heaven. Once, as he himself has recorded, while engaged in penance, he saw Christ unfold his arms to embrace him, promising oblivion of his sins. Once, late at night, while praying in the silence, he had a vision of an infinite number of crosses, and with mighty heart he strove again and again to grasp them all. Often he saw the shapes of foul fiends, now appearing as madmen, now as raging beasts; and often he beheld the image of Death, a bloodless form, by the side of the stake, struggling with bonds, and at last falling, as a harmless spectre, at his feet. Having vowed to seek out suffering for the greater glory of God, he renewed that vow every day, at the moment of tasting the sacred wafer; and, as his cupidity for martyrdom grew into a passion, he exclaimed: "What shall I render to thee, Jesus, my Lord, for all thy benefits? I will accept thy cup, and invoke thy name;" and, in sight of the Eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, of the most holy Mother of Christ and St. Joseph, before angels, apostles, and martyrs, before St. Ignatius and Francis Xavier, he made a vow never to decline the opportunity of martyrdom, and never to receive the death-blow but with joy.

1638.

The life of a missionary on Lake Huron was simple and uniform. The earliest hours, from four to eight, were absorbed in private prayer; the day was given to schools, visits, instruction in the catechism, and a service for proselytes. Sometimes, after the manner of St. Francis Xavier, Brebeuf would walk through the village and its environs, ringing a little bell, and inviting the Huron braves and counsellors to a conference. There, under the shady forest, the most solemn mysteries of the Catholic faith were subjected to discussion. It was by such means that the senti

ment of piety was unfolded in the breast of the great warrior Ahasistari. Nature had planted in his mind the seeds of religious faith: "Before you came to this country," he would say, "when I have incurred the greatest perils, and have alone escaped, I have said to myself, 'Some powerful spirit has the guardianship of my days;"" and he professed his belief in Jesus, as the good genius and protector, whom he had before unconsciously adored. After trials of his sincerity, he was baptized; and, enlisting a troop of converts, savages like himself, "Let us strive," he exclaimed, "to make the whole world embrace the faith in Jesus."

As missionary stations multiplied, the central spot 1639. was named St. Mary's, upon the banks of the river now called Wye. There, at the humble house dedicated to the Virgin, in one year three thousand guests from the cabins of the red man received a frugal welcome.

The news from this Huron Christendom awakened in France the strongest sympathy; religious communities, in Paris and in the provinces, joined in prayers for its advancement; the king sent magnificently embroidered garments as presents to the neophytes; the queen, the princesses of the blood, the clergy of France, even Italy, listened with interest to the novel tale; and the pope himself expressed his favor. To confirm the missions, the first measure was the establishment of a college in New France; and the parents of the Marquis de Gamache, pleased with his pious importunity, assented to his entering the order of the Jesuits, and added from their ample fortunes the means of endowing a seminary for education at Quebec. Its foundation was laid, under happy auspices, in 1635, just before Champlain passed from among the living, two years before the emigration of John Harvard, and one year before the general court of Massachusetts had made provision for a college.

1635.

The fires of charity were at the same time kindled. The Duchess d'Aiguillon, aided by her uncle, the Cardinal Richelieu, endowed a public hospital, dedicated to the Son of God, whose blood was shed in mercy for all mankind. Its

doors were open, not only to the sufferers among the emigrants, but to the maimed, the sick, and the blind of any of the numerous tribes between the Kennebec and Lake Superior; it received misfortune without asking its lineage. From the hospital nuns of Dieppe, three were selected, the youngest but twenty-two, the eldest but twenty-nine, to brave the famine and the rigors of Canada in their patient missions of benevolence.

Aug. 1.

Inspired by the same religious enthusiasm, Madame de la Peltrie, a young and opulent widow of Alençon, with 1639. the aid of a nun from Dieppe and two others from Tours, established the Ursuline convent for the education of girls. As the youthful heroines stepped on shore at Quebec, they stooped to kiss the earth which they adopted as their country, and were ready, in case of need, to tinge with their blood. The governor, with the little garrison, received them at the water's edge; Hurons and Algonkins, joining in the shouts, filled the air with yells of joy; and the motley group escorted the new comers to the church, where, amidst a general thanksgiving, the Te Deum was chanted. Is it wonderful that the natives were touched by a benevolence which their poverty and squalid misery could not appall? Their education was also attempted; and the venerable ash-tree still lives, beneath which Mary of the Incarnation toiled, though in vain, for the culture of the red man's children.

Meantime, a colony of Algonkins had been estab1637. lished in the vicinity of Quebec; and the name of Silleri is the monument to the philanthropy of its projector. Here savages were to be trained to the faith and the manners of civilization.

1640.

1641.

Of Montreal, selected to be a nearer rendezvous for converted Indians, possession was taken, in 1640, by a solemn mass, celebrated beneath a tent. In the following February, in France, at the cathedral of Our Lady of Paris, a general supplication was made that the Queen of Angels would take the Island of Montreal under her protection. In August of the same year, in the presence of the French gathered from all parts of Canada,

and of the native warriors summoned from the wilderness, the festival of the assumption was solemnized on the island itself. Henceforward, the hearth of the sacred fires of the Wyandots was consecrated to the Virgin. "There the Mohawk and the feebler Algonkin," said Le Jeune, “shall make their home; the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and a little child shall guide them.”

1641 to

1644.

The occupation of Montreal did not immediately produce nearer relations with the Huron missionaries, who, for a period of three years, received no supplies whatever so that their clothes fell in pieces; they had no wine for the chalice but the juices of the wild grape, and scarce bread enough for consecration. Yet the efforts of the Jesuits were not limited to the Huron nation. Within thirteen years, this remote wilderness was visited by forty-two missionaries, members of the Society of Jesus, besides eighteen others, who, if not initiated, were yet chosen men, ready to shed their blood for their faith. Twice or thrice a year, they all assembled at St. Mary's; for the rest of the time, they were scattered through the infidel tribes.

1634 to

1647.

1638.

I would willingly follow their progress, as they gradually surveyed the coast of our republic, from the waters of the Niagara to the head of Lake Superior; but their narratives do but incidentally blend description with their details of conversions. Yet the map which was prepared by the order, at Paris, in 1660, proves that, in this earliest period, they had traced the highway of waters from Lake Erie to Lake Superior, and had gained a glimpse, at least, of Lake Michigan. Within six years after the recovery of Canada, the plan was formed of establishing missions, not only among the Algonkins in the north, but south of Lake Huron, in Michigan, and at Green Bay; thus to gain access to the immense regions of the west and the north-west, to the great multitude from all nations, whom no one can number. But the Jesuits were too feeble and too few to attempt the spiritual conquest of so many countries: they prayed for recruits; they invoked the blessing of the Divine Majesty on their thoughts and enterprises.

1639.

At the various missions, Indians from the remotest points appeared. In 1638, there came to the Huron mission a chief of the Huron tribe that dwelt on the head-waters of the Ohio; and we find constant mention of Algonkins from the west, especially from Green Bay.

In the autumn of 1640, Charles Raymbault and Claude Pijart reached the Huron missions, destined for service among the Algonkins of the north and the west. By continual warfare with the Mohawks, the French had been excluded from the navigation of Lake Ontario, and had never even launched a canoe on Lake Erie. Their avenue to the west was by way of the Ottawa and French River; so that the whole coast of Ohio and Southern Michigan remained unknown, except as seen by missionaries from their stations in Canada. In 1640, Brebeuf had been sent to the villages of the neutral nation which occupied the territory on the Niagara. Of these, some villages were extended on the southern shore of Lake Erie, beyond Buffalo; but it is not certain that Brebeuf visited them, or that he was at any time on the soil of our republic. His mission perfected the knowledge of the great watercourse of the valley of the St. Lawrence. "Could we but gain the mastery," it was said, "of the shore of Ontario on the side nearest the abode of the Iroquois, we could ascend by the St. Lawrence, without danger, and pass free beyond Niag ara, with a great saving of time and pains." Thus did Jesuits see the necessity of possessing a post in Western New York, seven years after the restoration of Quebec. At this time, no Englishman had reached the basin of the St. Lawrence. The country on the sea was held by the Dutch; that part of New York which is watered by streams that flow to the St. Lawrence was first visited by the French.

But the fixed hostility and the power of the Five Nations left no hope of success in gaining safe intercourse by the St. Lawrence. To preserve the avenue to the west by the Ottawa, Pijart and Charles Raymbault, in 1640, on their pilgrimage to the Huron country, attempted the conversion of the roving tribes that were masters of the high