Six French Jesuit missionaries and two lay assistants were killed while bringing the Gospel to Indigenous peoples of North America. They had immersed themselves in native languages and cultures and are honored as the North American Martyrs.
Life
Saints John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues and their companions are six Jesuit priests and two lay associates martyred in mid-seventeenth-century North America (New France). They lived among the Huron and other Native peoples, learning their languages and sharing the Gospel.
Father Isaac Jogues was captured and severely tortured, returned to France, yet went back to the mission and was killed in 1646 in what is now New York State. Father John de Brébeuf was taken captive during intertribal warfare in 1649 and died after cruel torture. Martyred between 1642 and 1649, they were canonized in 1930. The Church in the United States remembers them on October 19.
Spirituality
The spirituality of the North American Martyrs is an incarnational mission that entered another culture and lived alongside its people. Through bitter cold, hunger and misunderstanding they learned the languages and ways of Native peoples to share the Gospel. Isaac Jogues's choice to return after torture shows that love is stronger than fear.
Reflection
The North American Martyrs stayed close to people by learning an unfamiliar language and culture. Could I take one step today toward understanding a neighbor whose background differs from mine?