St. Isaac Jogues

St. Isaac Jogues (born January 10, 1607, Orléans, France—died October 18, 1646, Ossernenon, near Fort Orange, New Netherland [now Auriesville, New York, U.S.]; canonized 1930; feast day October 19) was a French-born Jesuit priest who was martyred while serving as a missionary in New France to the Native Americans there. He is venerated as a patron saint of North America.

Jogues entered the Society of Jesus at Rouen, France, in 1624 and was ordained a priest in 1636. He was assigned to Canada and spent his first six years in the Wendat (Huron) lands near Georgian Bay, where he instructed and aided the Native Americans. In 1641 he began missions to the Ojibwa people at Sault Sainte Marie. The following year, warring Iroquois captured him, his fellow Jesuit missionary René Goupil, and a band of Wendat Christian converts near Montreal. They were brought to Ossernenon, where they were terribly beaten, and Goupil was slain. Jogues’s captivity lasted about 13 months, during which his hands were mutilated and he lost several fingers, among other tortures.

Ransomed and aided by the Dutch of nearby Fort Orange (Albany), he escaped down the Hudson River, becoming the first priest to visit New Amsterdam (now New York City). The Dutch also provided funds for him to return to France, and on Christmas of 1643 he reached his home country, where he had been presumed dead. He was eager to return to his missions, and in 1645–46 he was sent by the French government to Ossernenon to establish peace between the French and the Mohawk people. Having recently suffered another deadly outbreak of European diseases, the Mohawk accused Jogues of witchcraft and murdered him and his companion.

He and seven other Jesuit martyrs, including St. René Goupil, were canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930. They are collectively known as the Canadian Martyrs or the North American Martyrs.