Shrine of the North American Martyrs

As I noted in a previous post, my family and recently had the opportunity to visit the home of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha and the site of the North American Martyrs. Having already describe the trip to the Kateri site, I want to follow up with a description of the visit to the North American Martyrs Shrine. First, from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

“[St. Isaac Jogues was a] French missionary, born at Orléans, France, 10 January, 1607; martyred at Ossernenon, in the present State of New York, 18 October, 1646. He was the first Catholic priest who ever came to Manhattan Island (New York). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624 and, after having been professor of literature at Rouen, was sent as a missionary to Canada in 1636. He came out with Montmagny, the immediate successor of Champlain. From Quebec he went to the regions around the great lakes where the illustrious Father de Brébeuf and others were labouring. There he spent six years in constant danger. Though a daring missionary, his character was of the most practical nature, his purpose always being to fix his people in permanent habitations. He was with Garnier among the Petuns, and he and Raymbault penetrated as far as Sault Ste Marie, and "were the first missionaries", says Bancroft (VII, 790, London, 1853), "to preach the gospel a thousand miles in the interior, five years before John Eliot addressed the Indians six miles from Boston Harbour". There is little doubt that they were not only the first apostles but also the first white men to reach this outlet of Lake Superior. No documentary proof is adduced by the best-known historians that Nicholet, the discoverer of Lake Michigan, ever visited the Sault. Jogues proposed not only to convert the Indians of Lake Superior, but the Sioux who lived at the head waters of the Mississippi.

His plan was thwarted by his capture near Three Rivers returning from Quebec. He was taken prisoner on 3 August, 1642, and after being cruelly tortured was carried to the Indian village of Ossernenon, now Auriesville, on the Mohawk, about forty miles above the present city of Albany. There he remained for thirteen months in slavery, suffering apparently beyond the power of natural endurance. The Dutch Calvinists at Fort Orange (Albany) made constant efforts to free him, and at last, when he was about to be burnt to death, induced him to take refuge in a sailing vessel which carried him to New Amsterdam (New York). His description of the colony as it was at that time has since been incorporated in the Documentary History of the State. From New York he was sent; in mid-winter, across the ocean on a lugger of only fifty tons burden and after a voyage of two months, landed Christmas morning, 1643, on the coast of Brittany, in a state of absolute destitution. Thence he found his way to the nearest college of the Society. He was received with great honour at the court of the Queen Regent, the mother of Louis XIV, and was allowed by Pope Urban VII the very exceptional privilege of celebrating Mass, which the mutilated condition of his hands had made canonically impossible; several of his fingers having been eaten or burned off. He was called a martyr of Christ by the pontiff. No similar concession, up to that, is known to have been granted.

In early spring of 1644 he returned to Canada, and in 1646 was sent to negotiate peace with the Iroquois. He followed the same route over which he had been carried as a captive. It was on this occasion that he gave the name of Lake of the Blessed Sacrament to the body of water called by the Indians Horicon, now known as Lake George. He reached Ossernenon on 5 June, after a three weeks' journey from the St. Lawrence. He was well received by his former captors and the treaty of peace was made. He started for Quebec on 16 June and arrived there 3 July. He immediately asked to be sent back to the Iroquois as a missionary, but only after much hesitation his superiors acceded to his request. On 27 September he began his third and last journey to the Mohawk. In the interim sickness had broken out in the tribe and a blight had fallen on the crops. This double calamity was ascribed to Jogues whom the Indians always regarded as a sorcerer. They were determined to wreak vengence on him for the spell he had cast on the place, and warriors were sent out to capture him. The news of this change of sentiment spread rapidly, and though fully aware of the danger Jogues continued on his way to Ossernenon, though all the Hurons and others who were with him fled except Lalande. The Iroquois met him near Lake George, stripped him naked, slashed him with their knives, beat him and then led him to the village. On 18 October, 1646, when entering a cabin he was struck with a tomahawk and afterwards decapitated. The head was fixed on the Palisades and the body thrown into the Mohawk.

In view of his possible canonization a preliminary court was established in Quebec by the ecclesiastical authorities to receive testimony as to his sanctity and the cause of his death.

Isaac Jogues was canonized by Pope Pius XI on June 29, 1930, with seven other North American martyrs. Their collective feast day is October 19.”

The highlight of the visit is the walk down into the ravine where Jogues and his companions were martyred. Having never been to Europe where many site of martyrdom can no doubt be found, this was a particularly powerful experience for me. Knowing that I was walking on the very ground where Jogues and his friends were captured, tortured, and killed made the whole “saint thing” all the more real. While we venerate these holy men and women for their moral excellence and dedication to the faith, this visit forced me to come to grips with the fact that these were real people. Indeed, they were ordinary people who, by the grace of God, accomplished extraordinary holiness. It also forces one to reflect on our own ordinary lives and ask whether we have missed out on invitations to extraordinary opportunities. As my brother in law often says, “If not now, then when? If not me, then whom?”

Because Isaac escaped from his initial captivity, we have his own written journals describing the horrific events that happened in Ossernenon (modern day Auriesville, New York). As you begin the trek down into the ravine, there are signs posted every ten feet or so. On the signs are written the very words of Isaac Jogues. Here is what they read:

RAVINE. Rene Goupil first Companion of St. Isaac Jogues was Martyred for the Faith September 29, 1642.

His body was buried by the loving hands of the Father Jogues somewhere in this place. Please prcoess on foot.

+Jesus. The Way of Martyrdom - A Journey Into the Ravine.

Dear Pilgrim: Somewhere in this holy Ravine in 1642, America’s first canonized Martyr, Saint Rene Goupil, was buried y Father Isaac Jogues. Read the story of the Martyr, as you journey along the Way of Martyrdom into this wondrous valley so full of grace. It is told by Father Jogues himself. Your prayer thoughts and religious experiences here will always be for you a memory to be cherished. We affectionately welcome you, dear Pilgrim, to come and pray with us. (The Fathers and Brothers of Auriesville.)

+Jesus. “After Rene and I had been captives for six weeks (September 1642) we lost all hope of again seeing Three Rivers. We consoled one another at this decree of Divine Providence, and kept preparing ourselves for anything that God might ordain. Rene evidently did not perceive as clearly as I our present peril. For this reason, I kept warning him to be prepared for the worst....”

+Jesus. “One evening, with sad hearts, Rene and I went beyond the village to pray more reverently apart from its noise. Two Indian youths came after us ordering us to go back to our long house. I sensed some foreboding of what would happen and said to Rene: ‘My dear brother, let us commend ourselves to our Lord and to our good Mother, the Blessed Virgin. I am afraid these Indians have some evil design’....”

+Jesus. “A few minutes earlier Rene and I had offered ourselves to out Lord with intense devotion. We begged God to accept out lives and our blood and to unite them to His life and His blood for the salvation of these tribes. We were returning to the village praying our rosary of which we had already said four decades....”

+Jesus. “We paused near the gate of the stockade to hear what the two Iroquois had to say. One of them drew a tomahawk from under his blanket, and dealt Rene a blow on the head. Rene fell prostrate to the ground, uttering the holy name of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We had often reminded each other to end our speech and out lives with that most Holy Name....”

+Jesus. “At the sound of the blow I turned around and beheld the tomahawk dripping with blood. I fell to my knees to receive the blow that would unite me to my dear companion. The Iroquois delayed. I rose again and rushed to Rene’s side as he lay expiring but not before I had given him absolution. Since our captivity I had absolved him regularly every other day after his confession ....”

+Jesus. “It was the feast of St. Michael, September the 29th, 1642, that this angel in innocence and martyr of Jesus Christ, Rene Goupil, gave his life for Christ Who had offered His life on the cross for him. The Indians ordered me to go back to my long house. There I awaited that day and the next the same deadly tomahawk. Everyone believed that I would not have to wait long. But our Lord averted this....”

+Jesus. “Early the next morning I eagerly inquired where the Indians had thrown the blessed body. I wanted to bury it, cost what it might. Some Iroquois who wanted to save my life said: ‘Do you not see those young braves leaving the village? They will kill you once you are beyond the palisade.’ This did not stop me. I went out. I searched. With the help of an Algonquin captive, I found the body of Rene....”

+Jesus. After Rene had been killed, the Indian children stripped him. They tied a rope around his neck and dragged him to a torrent which flows through the ravine beyond the village. The dogs had already gnawed at his thighs. At this sight I could not hold back my tears. I lifted up the body and with the Algonquin Indians help lowered it into the stream. I weighted it down with large stones to hide it from view. I intended to bury Rene the next day....”

+Jesus. The next day as the Indians were seeking to kill me, my Indian ‘aunt’ sent me to her friend to escape them. This forced me to delay the burial until the next day. It rained all that night. The stream became a raging torrent. I borrowed a hoe from another long house, the better to conceal my plan. On approaching the spot I could not find the blessed body of Rene. Alas, my brother’s body had been carried away....”

+Jesus. I waded into the torrent already quite cold. I plodded back and forth. I sounded with my feet to see whether the torrent had not risen and carried off the body. What groans did I utter then! I found nothing. How many tears I shed which fell into the torrent! I sang as best I could the psalms which the Church chants for the dead. AFter all I found nothing. I searched the woods on the opposite bank. All, all in vain....”

+Jesus. The young braves had taken the body up and dragged it to an adjoining wood, where during the fall and winter it became the food of the dog, the crow and the fox. When I had been told in the spring that the body had been dragged there, I went several times without finding it. Finally on the fourth trip I found Rene’s head and some half gnawed bones. These I buried. Reverently did I kiss them as the bones of a martyr of Jesus Christ....”

+Jesus. I give Rene this title of martyr not only because he was killed by the enemies of God and of His Church out of ardent love of his neighbor by placing himself in open peril for the love of God, but precisely because he was killed for prayer, and expressly for making the sign of the Holy Cross....” (Relation of Isaac Jogues, S.J. at Montreal, April 1, 1646.)

+Jesus. Dear Pilgrim: You have just read the wonderful story of America’s first canonized Martyr, Saint Rene Goupil. Here where you stand the Saint was agonizingly buried by the loving hands of his padre, Father Jogues; here rest Brother Rene’s blessed remains in a Ravine which angels seem to have fashioned. You stand in a reliquary graced with pines and hemlocks and carpeted with lilies hiding a secrey and precious grave.

+Jesus. Dear Pilgrim: The memory of these Martyrs surrounds us everywhere; their holiness in the air, their voices murmuring in these trees and brooks, their blood upon the ground, their bones beneath the flowers. As you kneel before the crucifix, pray for your own loved ones who have gone before you and ask yourself that great gift of God - a holy and happy death.

At the bottom of the ravine is an outdoor altar at which we had Mass with my brother in law.

On the main grounds of the shrine, there are a few more signs that are noteworthy.

"Palisade. Marking the SW Corner of Ossernenon Mohawk village where St. Isaac Jogues and Rene Goupil were tortured, held captive, and martyred 1642-46. Here St. John Lalande dies, 1746, and Kateri Tekakwitha was born, 1656.”

And to further link this post back to my previous account about Blessed Kateri:

“Kateri Tekakwitha. The Saintly Lily of the Mohawks. Born here at Ossernenon 1656. Baptized at Gandawague near Fonda 1676. Died at Cauhnawague in Canada 1680. The Hurons Paul, Stephen, and Eustace were tortured here in 1642 as was William Couture a Frenchman.”

While the shrine enjoys it fair share of pilgrims in the present day, in its heyday, the “Coliseum” (the main chapel at the shrine), which can hold 10,000 visitors, was packed to the brim.

As close to my heart as the site of Kateri’s home is (her being my second daughter’s namesake), the highlight of the visit was the trip down into the ravine where Isaac and his companions were martyred. Fortunately, the two sites are within miles of one another, so a pilgrim can easily visit both in the same trip.

St. Isaac Jogues, pray for us.

St. Rene Goupil, pray for us.

St. John Lalande, pray for us.

Blessed Kateri Tekakwith, pray for us.