1645-1648.
THE HURON CHURCH.
Hopes of the Mission • Christian and Heathen • Body and Soul • Position
of Proselytes • The Huron Girl's Visit to Heaven • A Crisis • Huron
Justice • Murder and Atonement • Hopes and Fears
How did it fare with the missions in these days of woe and terror? They
had thriven beyond hope. The Hurons, in their time of trouble, had
become tractable. They humbled themselves, and, in their desolation and
despair, came for succor to the priests. There was a harvest of
converts, not only exceeding in numbers that of all former years, but
giving in many cases undeniable proofs of sincerity and fervor. In some
towns the Christians outnumbered the heathen, and in nearly all they
formed a strong party. The mission of La Conception, or Ossossané, was
the most successful. Here there were now a church and one or more
resident Jesuits,--as also at St. Joseph, St. Ignace, St. Michel, and
St. Jean Baptiste: [1] for we have seen that the Huron towns were
christened with names of saints. Each church had its bell, which was
sometimes hung in a neighboring tree. [2] Every morning it rang its
summons to mass; and, issuing from their dwellings of bark, the converts
gathered within the sacred precinct, where the bare, rude walls, fresh
from the axe and saw, contrasted with the sheen of tinsel and gilding,
and the hues of gay draperies and gaudy pictures. At evening they met
again at prayers; and on Sunday, masses, confession, catechism, sermons,
and repeating the rosary consumed the whole day. [3]
[1] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 56.
[2] A fragment of one of these bells, found on the site of a Huron town,
is preserved in the museum of Huron relics at the Laval University,
Quebec. The bell was not large, but was of very elaborate workmanship.
Before 1644 the Jesuits had used old copper kettles as a
substitute.--Lettre de Lalemant, 31 March, 1644.
[3] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 56.
These converts rarely took part in the burning of prisoners. On the
contrary, they sometimes set their faces against the practice; and on
one occasion, a certain Étienne Totiri, while his heathen countrymen
were tormenting a captive Iroquois at St. Ignace, boldly denounced them,
and promised them an eternity of flames and demons, unless they
desisted. Not content with this, he addressed an exhortation to the
sufferer in one of the intervals of his torture. The dying wretch
demanded baptism, which Étienne took it upon himself to administer, amid
the hootings of the crowd, who, as he ran with a cup of water from a
neighboring house, pushed him to and fro to make him spill it, crying
out, "Let him alone! Let the devils burn him after we have done!" [4]
[4] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 58. The Hurons often resisted
the baptism of their prisoners, on the ground that Hell, and not Heaven,
was the place to which they would have them go.--See Lalemant, Relation
des Hurons, 1642, 60, Ragueneau, Ibid., 1648, 53, and several other
passages.
In regard to these atrocious scenes, which formed the favorite Huron
recreation of a summer night, the Jesuits, it must be confessed, did not
quite come up to the requirements of modern sensibility. They were
offended at them, it is true, and prevented them when they could; but
they were wholly given to the saving of souls, and held the body in
scorn, as the vile source of incalculable mischief, worthy the worst
inflictions that could be put upon it. What were a few hours of
suffering to an eternity of bliss or woe? If the victim were heathen,
these brief pangs were but the faint prelude of an undying flame; and if
a Christian, they were the fiery portal of Heaven. They might, indeed,
be a blessing; since, accepted in atonement for sin, they would shorten
the torments of Purgatory. Yet, while schooling themselves to despise
the body, and all the pain or pleasure that pertained to it, the Fathers
were emphatic on one point. It must not be eaten. In the matter of
cannibalism, they were loud and vehement in invective. [5]
[5] The following curious case of conversion at the stake, gravely
related by Lalemant, is worth preserving.
"An Iroquois was to be burned at a town some way off. What consolation
to set forth, in the hottest summer weather, to deliver this poor victim
from the hell prepared for him! The Father approaches him, and instructs
him even in the midst of his torments. Forthwith the Faith finds a place
in his heart. He recognizes and adores, as the author of his life, Him
whose name he had never heard till the hour of his death. He receives
the grace of baptism, and breathes nothing but heaven.... This newly
made, but generous Christian, mounted on the scaffold which is the place
of his torture, in the sight of a thousand spectators, who are at once
his enemies, his judges, and his executioners, raises his eyes and his
voice heavenward, and cries aloud, 'Sun, who art witness of my torments,
hear my words! I am about to die; but, after my death, I shall go to
dwell in heaven.'"--Relation des Hurons, 1641, 67.
The Sun, it will be remembered, was the god of the heathen Iroquois. The
convert appealed to his old deity to rejoice with him in his happy
future.
Undeniably, the Faith was making progress; yet it is not to be supposed
that its path was a smooth one. The old opposition and the old calumnies
were still alive and active. "It is la prière that kills us. Your books
and your strings of beads have bewitched the country. Before you came,
we were happy and prosperous. You are magicians. Your charms kill our
corn, and bring sickness and the Iroquois. Echon (Brébeuf) is a traitor
among us, in league with our enemies." Such discourse was still rife,
openly and secretly.
The Huron who embraced the Faith renounced thenceforth, as we have seen,
the feasts, dances, and games in which was his delight, since all these
savored of diabolism. And if, being in health, he could not enjoy
himself, so also, being sick, he could not be cured; for his physician
was a sorcerer, whose medicines were charms and incantations. If the
convert was a chief, his case was far worse; since, writes Father
Lalemant, "to be a chief and a Christian is to combine water and fire;
for the business of the chiefs is mainly to do the Devil's bidding,
preside over ceremonies of hell, and excite the young Indians to dances,
feasts, and shameless indecencies." [6]
[6] Relation des Hurons, 1642, 89. The indecencies alluded to were
chiefly naked dances, of a superstitious character, and the mystical
cure called Andacwandet, before mentioned.
It is not surprising, then, that proselytes were difficult to make, or
that, being made, they often relapsed. The Jesuits complain that they
had no means of controlling their converts, and coercing backsliders to
stand fast; and they add, that the Iroquois, by destroying the
fur-trade, had broken the principal bond between the Hurons and the
French, and greatly weakened the influence of the mission. [7]
[7] Lettre du P. Hierosme Lalemant, appended to the Relation of 1645.
Among the slanders devised by the heathen party against the teachers of
the obnoxious doctrine was one which found wide credence, even among the
converts, and produced a great effect. They gave out that a baptized
Huron girl, who had lately died, and was buried in the cemetery at
Sainte Marie, had returned to life, and given a deplorable account of
the heaven of the French. No sooner had she entered,--such was the
story,--than they seized her, chained her to a stake, and tormented her
all day with inconceivable cruelty. They did the same to all the other
converted Hurons; for this was the recreation of the French, and
especially of the Jesuits, in their celestial abode. They baptized
Indians with no other object than that they might have them to torment
in heaven; to which end they were willing to meet hardships and dangers
in this life, just as a war-party invades the enemy's country at great
risk that it may bring home prisoners to burn. After her painful
experience, an unknown friend secretly showed the girl a path down to
the earth; and she hastened thither to warn her countrymen against the
wiles of the missionaries. [8]
[8] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 65.
In the spring of 1648 the excitement of the heathen party reached a
crisis. A young Frenchman, named Jacques Douart, in the service of the
mission, going out at evening a short distance from the Jesuit house of
Sainte Marie, was tomahawked by unknown Indians, [9] who proved to be
two brothers, instigated by the heathen chiefs. A great commotion
followed, and for a few days it seemed that the adverse parties would
fall to blows, at a time when the common enemy threatened to destroy
them both. But sager counsels prevailed. In view of the manifest
strength of the Christians, the pagans lowered their tone; and it soon
became apparent that it was the part of the Jesuits to insist boldly on
satisfaction for the outrage. They made no demand that the murderers
should be punished or surrendered, but, with their usual good sense in
such matters, conformed to Indian usage, and required that the nation at
large should make atonement for the crime by presents. [10] The number
of these, their value, and the mode of delivering them were all fixed by
ancient custom; and some of the converts, acting as counsel, advised the
Fathers of every step it behooved them to take in a case of such
importance. As this is the best illustration of Huron justice on record,
it may be well to observe the method of procedure,--recollecting that
the public, and not the criminal, was to pay the forfeit of the crime.
[9] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 77. Compare Lettre du P. Jean
de Brébeuf au T. R. P. Vincent Carafa, Général de la Compagnie de Jésus,
Sainte Marie, 2 Juin, 1648, in Carayon.
[10] See Introduction.
First of all, the Huron chiefs summoned the Jesuits to meet them at a
grand council of the nation, when an old orator, chosen by the rest,
rose and addressed Ragueneau, as chief of the French, in the following
harangue. Ragueneau, who reports it, declares that he has added nothing
to it, and the translation is as literal as possible.
"My Brother," began the speaker, "behold all the tribes of our league
assembled!"--and he named them one by one. "We are but a handful; you
are the prop and stay of this nation. A thunderbolt has fallen from the
sky, and rent a chasm in the earth. We shall fall into it, if you do not
support us. Take pity on us. We are here, not so much to speak as to
weep over our loss and yours. Our country is but a skeleton, without
flesh, veins, sinews, or arteries; and its bones hang together by a
thread. This thread is broken by the blow that has fallen on the head of
your nephew, [11] for whom we weep. It was a demon of Hell who placed
the hatchet in the murderer's hand. Was it you, Sun, whose beams shine
on us, who led him to do this deed? Why did you not darken your light,
that he might be stricken with horror at his crime? Were you his
accomplice? No; for he walked in darkness, and did not see where he
struck. He thought, this wretched murderer, that he aimed at the head of
a young Frenchman; but the blow fell upon his country, and gave it a
death-wound. The earth opens to receive the blood of the innocent
victim, and we shall be swallowed up in the chasm; for we are all
guilty. The Iroquois rejoice at his death, and celebrate it as a
triumph; for they see that our weapons are turned against each other,
and know well that our nation is near its end.
"Brother, take pity on this nation. You alone can restore it to life. It
is for you to gather up all these scattered bones, and close this chasm
that opens to ingulf us. Take pity on your country. I call it yours, for
you are the master of it; and we came here like criminals to receive
your sentence, if you will not show us mercy. Pity those who condemn
themselves and come to ask forgiveness. It is you who have given
strength to the nation by dwelling with it; and if you leave us, we
shall be like a wisp of straw torn from the ground to be the sport of
the wind. This country is an island drifting on the waves, for the first
storm to overwhelm and sink. Make it fast again to its foundation, and
posterity will never forget to praise you. When we first heard of this
murder, we could do nothing but weep; and we are ready to receive your
orders and comply with your demands. Speak, then, and ask what
satisfaction you will, for our lives and our possessions are yours; and
even if we rob our children to satisfy you, we will tell them that it is
not of you that they have to complain, but of him whose crime has made
us all guilty. Our anger is against him; but for you we feel nothing but
love. He destroyed our lives; and you will restore them, if you will but
speak and tell us what you will have us do."
[11] The usual Indian figure in such cases, and not meant to express an
actual relationship;--"Uncle" for a superior, "Brother" for an equal,
"Nephew" for an inferior.
Ragueneau, who remarks that this harangue is a proof that eloquence is
the gift of Nature rather than of Art, made a reply, which he has not
recorded, and then gave the speaker a bundle of small sticks, indicating
the number of presents which he required in satisfaction for the murder.
These sticks were distributed among the various tribes in the council,
in order that each might contribute its share towards the indemnity. The
council dissolved, and the chiefs went home, each with his allotment of
sticks, to collect in his village a corresponding number of presents.
There was no constraint; those gave who chose to do so; but, as all were
ambitious to show their public spirit, the contributions were ample. No
one thought of molesting the murderers. Their punishment was their shame
at the sacrifices which the public were making in their behalf.
The presents being ready, a day was set for the ceremony of their
delivery; and crowds gathered from all parts to witness it. The assembly
was convened in the open air, in a field beside the mission-house of
Sainte Marie; and, in the midst, the chiefs held solemn council. Towards
evening, they deputed four of their number, two Christians and two
heathen, to carry their address to the Father Superior. They came,
loaded with presents; but these were merely preliminary. One was to open
the door, another for leave to enter; and as Sainte Marie was a large
house, with several interior doors, at each one of which it behooved
them to repeat this formality, their stock of gifts became seriously
reduced before they reached the room where Father Ragueneau awaited
them. On arriving, they made him a speech, every clause of which was
confirmed by a present. The first was to wipe away his tears; the
second, to restore his voice, which his grief was supposed to have
impaired; the third, to calm the agitation of his mind; and the fourth,
to allay the just anger of his heart. [12] These gifts consisted of
wampum and the large shells of which it was made, together with other
articles, worthless in any eyes but those of an Indian. Nine additional
presents followed: four for the four posts of the sepulchre or scaffold
of the murdered man; four for the cross-pieces which connected the
posts; and one for a pillow to support his head. Then came eight more,
corresponding to the eight largest bones of the victim's body, and also
to the eight clans of the Hurons. [13] Ragueneau, as required by
established custom, now made them a present in his turn. It consisted of
three thousand beads of wampum, and was designed to soften the earth, in
order that they might not be hurt, when falling upon it, overpowered by
his reproaches for the enormity of their crime. This closed the
interview, and the deputation withdrew.
[12] Ragueneau himself describes the scene. Relation des Hurons, 1648,
80.
[13] Ragueneau says, "les huit nations"; but, as the Hurons consisted of
only four, or at most five, nations, he probably means the clans. For
the nature of these divisions, see Introduction.
The grand ceremony took place on the next day. A kind of arena had been
prepared, and here were hung the fifty presents in which the atonement
essentially consisted,--the rest, amounting to as many more, being only
accessory. [14] The Jesuits had the right of examining them all,
rejecting any that did not satisfy them, and demanding others in place
of them. The naked crowd sat silent and attentive, while the orator in
the midst delivered the fifty presents in a series of harangues, which
the tired listener has not thought it necessary to preserve. Then came
the minor gifts, each with its signification explained in turn by the
speaker. First, as a sepulchre had been provided the day before for the
dead man, it was now necessary to clothe and equip him for his journey
to the next world; and to this end three presents were made. They
represented a hat, a coat, a shirt, breeches, stockings, shoes, a gun,
powder, and bullets; but they were in fact something quite different, as
wampum, beaver-skins, and the like. Next came several gifts to close up
the wounds of the slain. Then followed three more. The first closed the
chasm in the earth, which had burst through horror of the crime. The
next trod the ground firm, that it might not open again; and here the
whole assembly rose and danced, as custom required. The last placed a
large stone over the closed gulf, to make it doubly secure.
[14] The number was unusually large,--partly because the affair was
thought very important, and partly because the murdered man belonged to
another nation. See Introduction.
Now came another series of presents, seven in number,--to restore the
voices of all the missionaries,--to invite the men in their service to
forget the murder,--to appease the Governor when he should hear of
it,--to light the fire at Sainte Marie,--to open the gate,--to launch
the ferry-boat in which the Huron visitors crossed the river,--and to
give back the paddle to the boy who had charge of the boat. The Fathers,
it seems, had the right of exacting two more presents, to rebuild their
house and church,--supposed to have been shaken to the earth by the late
calamity; but they forbore to urge the claim. Last of all were three
gifts to confirm all the rest, and to entreat the Jesuits to cherish an
undying love for the Hurons.
The priests on their part gave presents, as tokens of good-will; and
with that the assembly dispersed. The mission had gained a triumph, and
its influence was greatly strengthened. The future would have been full
of hope, but for the portentous cloud of war that rose, black and
wrathful, from where lay the dens of the Iroquois.