Catholic Missions In Canada
Lesson 3: The Qualities of Disciples and the Cost of Discipleship:
The Canadian Martyrs and Other Missionaries
Goal: Students will come to know missionaries as people with ordinary human qualities who gave their
lives for the sake of others out of love for God and neighbour.
Objectives:
 Students will read the stories of selected missionaries (the Canadian Martyrs or representatives
of other missionary groups), and develop a list of qualities individual missionaries possessed or
demonstrated, as revealed in their stories.
 Students will make note of the age at which the missionary they have chosen to research began
missionary work and also of the personal sacrifices made by that missionary in their work.
 Students will think of other careers or jobs that require some or all of the listed qualities and
sacrifices.
 Students will compare their own personal qualities with those of their chosen missionary, noting
similarities and differences.
 Students will identify ways in which their chosen missionary lived according to the words of
Jesus: “Love one another just as I have loved you” (John 13.34).
Teacher Background:
The North American Martyrs, also known as the Canadian Martyrs, were the seven Jesuit missionaries
and one lay missionary from Sainte-Marie among the Hurons who were martyred in the mid 1600s in
Canada and upstate New York. These martyrs were St. Jean de Brébeuf , St. Noël Chabanel, St. Antoine
Daniel, St. Charles Garnier, St. René Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, St. Jean de La Lande, and St. Gabriel
Lalemant. These men were each killed during Iroquois attacks on the Hurons. The Jesuits had converted
many of the Hurons, even though some of them believed the missionaries were responsible for bringing
death and disease to their people. The arrival of the missionaries coincided with the outbreaks of
smallpox and other infectious diseases to which the natives had developed no immunity. The Iroquois
considered the Jesuits enemies since they were allies of the Hurons. These martyrs were canonized by
Pope Pius XI in 1930. A brief description of each of these martyrs, as well as of some other notable
missionaries, follows.
Procedure:
To help students understand what they are to do in independent groups, begin by telling the story of St.
Jean de Brébeuf, using the history card below. Listen to one of these versions of Fr. Brébeuf’s beautiful
“Huron Carol,” featured on YouTube:
Catholic Missions In Canada
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address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ5tHoQfjCo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6IG6F6E5Ac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVvqX8NklAA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgPeEvUl06Y
St. Jean de Brébeuf (1593-1649), Jesuit (Society of Jesus), priest, founder of the Huron mission, martyr
Jean de Brébeuf was born March 25, 1593, in Conde-sur-Vire in Lower Normandy, France and became
a Jesuit in 1617. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1622. Then, in 1625, he sailed to Canada as a
missionary. First he lived with the Montagnais near Quebec, learning their language and customs. In
July 1626 he left for the 800-mile trip to Huronia. Because of an imminent threat of British takeover, he
was recalled first to Quebec and later with all other missionaries to France, in 1629. After the 1632
peace accord, France regained control of New France and Brébeuf returned to Quebec in 1633, and to
Huronia in 1634. During this time he became an expert in the Huron language and culture. Through
personal accounts of his travels and encounters with the Huron and other native cultures, he became
Canada’s first serious ethnographer and one of the most important chroniclers of his time. His writings
became part of what is collectively known today as the The Jesuit Relations. These writings, firsthand
and often detailed accounts of native culture, society and history, covered almost one hundred years, and
as such they became invaluable records of early Canadian history. His multifaceted contribution to
native and Canadian culture and history is well illustrated in a small way by the still very popular
Christmas song, the Huron Carol, written by him in 1638. Brébeuf was the head of the Jesuits at the
Saint-Marie Among the Hurons Mission until he passed this responsibility to Father Jérôme Lalemant in
1638.
On March 16, 1649, 1200 Iroquois attacked the mission of St. Ignace at dawn and seized it and
its inhabitants. A few hours later, they besieged and overthrew the neighboring village of St. Louis.
Brébeuf and his fellow Jesuit Gabriel Lalemant, a nephew of Father Jérôme Lalemant, were seized and
brought back to St. Ignace. There they were fastened to stakes, scalped, mocked by baptism with boiling
water, burned, repeatedly mutilated, and ultimately tortured to death. According to eyewitnesses,
throughout his slow and torturous death, Brébeuf kept quiet, and never screamed from pain. He was
fifty-five years old at the time of his death. Brébeuf’s body was recovered a few days later and was
buried, along with his brother priest, Lalemant. His relics are in the Church of St. Joseph at the
reconstructed Jesuit mission near Midland, Ontario. Brébeuf is known as “The Apostle of the Hurons.”
The Huron people call him “Echon” (pronounced “Ekon”), which means “Healing Tree.”
As a class, develop a list of qualities St. Jean de Brébeuf demonstrated and of the personal sacrifices he
made in his life. Note at what age he began his missionary work. How did St. Jean de Brébeuf live
according to the words of Jesus: “Love one another just as I have loved you” (John 13.34)? Are any of
the qualities shown by St. Jean de Brébeuf also present among the students (and teacher) in the class?
Student Group Activities:
Provide small groups of students with one (or two, if short) of the following Canadian Martyrs and
Missionaries history cards, each of which may be reproduced.
Catholic Missions In Canada
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address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
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1. Groups read their history card, develop a list of qualities the individual missionary they have chosen
possessed or demonstrated, as revealed in that person’s story, make note of the age at which their
chosen missionary began missionary work (if possible) and also of the personal sacrifices made by
that missionary in his or her work.
2. Groups will next think of one or two other careers or types of work that require some or all of the
listed qualities and sacrifices.
3. Groups will then identify ways in which their chosen missionary lived according to the words of
Jesus: “Love one another just as I have loved you” (John 13.34).
4. Groups present the historical character profile to their classmates.
St. Charles Garnier (1606-1649), Jesuit (Society of Jesus), teacher, priest, missionary, martyr
Charles Garnier was born on May 25, 1606, in Paris. His father was one of the Undersecretaries of
Henry III, and later he was made the Treasurer of Normandy. As a young man, Garnier studied at
Clermont Jesuit College, and in 1624 he entered the Jesuit Order. He was ordained a priest in 1635, and
shortly after, he left for New France. On June 11, 1636, he arrived at Quebec, and in August of the same
year began the 800-mile trip for Huronia with fellow Jesuit Pierre Chastellain.
From 1641 to 1646 Father Garnier worked at the second St. Joseph mission (Teanaostaye),
among the Cord clan. In the autumn of 1646, he was sent to the Tobacco Nation, on the shores of
Georgian Bay, where he spent the rest of his life. He learned the language of the natives well and was
effective in his missionary activities. On December 7, 1649, the Iroquois attacked and destroyed the
village of Saint-Jean where Father Garnier lived. Father Garnier was killed a few steps away from his
church.
St. Noël Chabanel (1613-1649), Jesuit (Society of Jesus), priest, professor, missionary, martyr
Noël Chabanel was born in France on February 2, 1613. He was a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie
among the Hurons, and one of the Canadian Martyrs. Chabanel entered Jesuit seminary at the age of
seventeen, and became a professor of rhetoric at several Jesuit colleges. He was respected for the value
he placed on virtue and learning. In 1643, he was sent to New France and arrived at Huronia through
Quebec on September 7, 1644. After his arrival, he immediately started to learn the native languages,
but to his great disappointment, even after four to five years of study, he made very little progress. The
otherwise able and competent Father Chabanel accepted this handicap and considered this denial of the
most essential tool for success as a missionary – to communicate with the natives – as his cross. Instead
of giving up, on June 20, 1647, he took the vow never to leave New France. He worked in the Huron
missions with the French settlers and helped his confrères in their work. Father Chabanel was martyred
on December 8, 1649, by a Huron who had become a Christian but later turned against Christians.
St. Antoine Daniel (1601-1648), Jesuit (Society of Jesus), teacher, priest, professor, missionary, martyr
Catholic Missions In Canada
Established in 1908 under papal mandate as The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada
address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
web:www.cmic.info  Charitable Registration (BN) # 119220531RR0001
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Antoine Daniel was born in Dieppe, Normandy (France), on May 27, 1601. He was a Jesuit missionary
at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. At his parents’ encouragement, he started to study law, but after a
year of studies entered the Society of Jesus in 1621. After his ordination he was sent as a missionary to
Canada. Daniel travelled there in 1632 and studied the language of the Wendat/Huron. In 1634 he
travelled with Father Brébeuf and a young man named Le Baron to Wendake, where he taught and
catechized the natives. In 1636 he returned with Father Davost first to Notre-Dame-des-Anges, and then
to Quebec, where he ran a school for Amerindian boys. In 1638, after the realization that such a
regimented educational environment as a seminary was not suited for native children, the project was
abandoned and Daniel returned to Huronia. After spending a year at Ossossane, or La Conception, on
Nottawasaga Bay, he was transferred in 1639 to the eastern part of Huronia, first to Cahiague, or St.
Jean-Baptiste (until 1647), and in 1648, to Teanaostaye, or St. Joseph II, a mission located in what is
now known as Simcoe County. That year, on July 4th, the Iroquois attacked the mission while most of
the Huron men were away. During the battle Father Daniel, having just finished saying Mass at sunrise
and still in his vestments, did everything he could to save the Huron people at the mission. He aided the
wounded, and swiftly gave general absolution to the women, children and the elderly gathered in the
chapel. He also baptized the catechumens. Father Daniel himself made no attempt to escape. He
heroically met the enemy. In an effort to cause a diversion, he took up a cross and walked towards the
advancing Iroquois. The Iroquois were amazed at his bravery but fired on him nevertheless. His body
was flung into the burning chapel. Many of the Hurons were able to escape because of his heroism.
Father Daniel was the second to be martyred among the Jesuits sent to New France, and the first of the
missionaries to work among the Hurons.
St. René Goupil (1608-1642), surgeon, lay volunteer, Jesuit (Society of Jesus), brother, missionary and
martyr
René Goupil was born May 15, 1608, in France. As a trained surgeon, he joined the Jesuits in Paris on
March 16, 1639. Shortly after and before taking his usual religious vows, however, he left the Jesuits
because of illness. As a lay person and a surgeon, he offered his service to the Jesuits in New France as a
donné (“given man”). He worked at the Saint-Joseph de Sillery mission, near Quebec, from 1640-1642.
On August 1, 1642, he set out with Father Isaac Jogues and about thirty-eight Hurons to travel to
Huronia. The group was attacked, and he was captured with Father Jogues and with a few remaining
Hurons. They were taken to Ossernenon (modern-day Auriesville, New York), and like Father Jogues,
he was subjected to much cruelty and torture, for an extended period of time. He was killed on
September 29, 1642, by tomahawk blows to his head for having been seen making the sign of the cross
over a little child. Just a few days prior to his death, he had taken his religious vows before Father
Jogues, and so, he died as a member of the Society of Jesus.
St. Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), Jesuit (Society of Jesus), teacher, professor, gifted humanist, missionary
among the Hurons and later among the Iroquois, ambassador for peace to the Iroquois, martyr
Isaac Jogues was born in Orleans, France, on January 10, 1607. In 1624 he joined the Jesuits. In 1629,
having finished three years of studies in philosophy, he began to teach the humanities at the Jesuit
College of Rouen. He was a successful teacher, a gifted humanist with a remarkable grasp of language
Catholic Missions In Canada
Established in 1908 under papal mandate as The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada
address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
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and expression. In 1633, he started his studies in theology at Clermont in Paris, and in 1636, was
ordained a priest. On April 8 of the same year, he left for New France as a missionary, and by
September 11, he had arrived at Huronia. He quickly learned the Huron language and did his missionary
apprenticeship under Brébeuf and Le Mercier. While in 1641, he made a first (and short) visit by Jesuits
to a distant Indian nation called the “inhabitants of the Sault” (the area of modern-day Sault Ste. Marie),
he worked mostly among the Hurons and their friendly neighbours, the Tobacco Indians. In 1642, while
returning from a supply trip from Quebec, the party of forty people and twelve canoes in which Father
Jogues travelled was attacked by the Iroquois. Father Jogues, not wanting to leave his fellow Frenchmen
and Huron Christians alone in their future trials, let himself be taken prisoner. First, he was subjected to
torture and mutilation: running the gauntlet, beating, fingernails ripped off, fingers chewed and/or cut of,
burning, whipping. Later, he was held as a slave in an Iroquois village, but still used every opportunity
to preach the Gospel by word and action. A year later, in August 1643, at the encouragement and with
the help of Dutch traders, he escaped and with their help, returned to France on January 5, 1644.
Subsequently, he returned to New France and Quebec in June that same year. Later, he was sent to
Montreal. By May 1646, Father Jogues was leading a peace mission to the Iroquois, and in July, he
returned to Quebec. In September of that year, he volunteered to lead another peace mission to the
Iroquois from Trois-Rivières. Sensing his imminent death prior to his departure on the mission, he
warned a fellow Jesuit in a letter that he would not return this time. He was captured by the Iroquois,
together with his lay companion, Jean de La Lande, and on October 18, 1646, at Ossernenon (near
modern-day Auriesville, New York), Father Jogues was killed by hatchet blows to the head.
St. Jean de La Lande (? – 1646), layman, volunteer and helper in the Jesuit missions, martyr
Jean de La Lande was a donné (“given man”). As such, he was a layman, not bound to the Society of
Jesus by religious vows, but by a contract in which, having pledged himself freely to the service of the
missionaries, he was guaranteed lodging, food, and help in case of illness in return. The donnés were an
essential part of the Jesuit missions in New France. Father Garnier had explicitly stated, in a letter to the
Jesuit headquarters in Rome, that without the donnés, “this mission would collapse.” Jean de La Lande
was a staff member at Trois-Rivières, and he accompanied Isaac Jogues on his last journey. Like Father
Jogues, he was killed by hatchet blows to the head at Ossernenon (near modern-day Auriesville, New
York) on October 19, 1646.
St. Gabriel Lalemant (1610-1649), Jesuit (Society of Jesus), teacher, professor, missionary and martyr
Gabriel Lalemant was born in Paris, France, on October 3, 1610. He was twenty years old when he
became a Jesuit. Two years later, at the end of his novitiate, he was granted permission to take an
additional vow beyond the three usual religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. His fourth vow
was one of devoting himself to foreign missions. For fourteen years, between taking this vow and
arriving in New France, and while finishing his own studies in philosophy and theology, he proved to be
an excellent teacher and administrator in different Jesuit colleges in France. Finally, he arrived in New
France at Quebec on September 20, 1646. Two years later, in September of 1648, he arrived at SainteMarie-des-Hurons in Huronia. He quickly learned the Huron language and in February 1649 was
assigned to missionary work at Saint-Louis, with Father Brébeuf. After only six months at Saint-Louis,
Catholic Missions In Canada
Established in 1908 under papal mandate as The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada
address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
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on March 16, 1649, he was captured and tortured by the Iroquois. He underwent the same tortures as
Brébeuf, and although he was considered physically frail, he outlived him by about seventeen hours. He
died at 9 a.m., on March 17, 1649. His last moments were described by eyewitness accounts (included in
the cited resources) as follows: “At the height of these dreadful torments, Father Gabriel, we are told by
Huron witnesses, lifted his eyes to Heaven, joined his hands from time to time and breathing a sigh to
God, invoked his help.” [He] “had received a hatchet blow on the left ear, which they had driven into his
brain, which appeared exposed: we saw no part of his body, from the feet even to the head, which had
not been broiled, and in which he had not been burned alive, – even the eyes, into which those impious
ones had thrust burning coals.”
Father Jean-Baptiste de La Brosse (1724-1782), Jesuit (Society of Jesus), priest, professor, missionary
and author
Father de La Brosse, a Jesuit scholar, professor and missionary, was born in 1724 at Magnac,
Angoumois, France. He joined the Jesuits on October 9, 1740, in Bordeaux. He finished his studies in
philosophy and theology, taught in different Jesuit colleges for seven years, and was ordained a priest in
April 1753. Sent to Canada the following year, he first laboured among the Abenaki, the Malecites, and
the Acadians of the St. John River region (New Brunswick). In 1766 he was appointed missionary to the
Montagnais (Inuit) in parts of today’s Quebec and Labrador. After 1773, freed from his responsibilities
to the Acadians and Mi’kmaw, Father de La Brosse began to establish the Montagnais Christian
community on firmer foundations. He set up at Tadoussac, near the mouth of the Saguenay River, where
the Montagnais and the fur traders would meet, and taught the Montagnais reading, writing, music, and
of course, catechism. He printed 3,000 spellers and 2,000 prayer books in Montagnais, as he put it, for
“those who know how to read and for those who will learn.” He also compiled an etymological
dictionary for the Abenaki language. Twenty-six years after Father de La Brosse’s death (on April 11,
1782), when James McKenzie passed through Tadoussac, he noted that the Montagnais could read and
write in their own language well enough to correspond with one another, that they excelled in singing
hymns, and that those who sang, did so accurately. Father de La Brosse’s remains lie in the old missionchapel of Tadoussac.
Archbishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché (1823-1894), Oblate (Oblate of Mary Immaculate), priest,
missionary, archbishop, and author
Alexandre-Antonin Taché was born on July 23, 1823, in Fraserville (Rivière-du-Loup), Lower Canada
(Quebec). In 1841, he entered the Grand Séminaire of the Sulpician Fathers in Montreal. In 1844, prior
to completing his theological studies, he was appointed mathematics teacher at the Séminaire de SaintHyacinthe. In the fall of 1844, he entered the Oblate novitiate at Longueuil. In 1845, still only a
subdeacon, he was sent by his superiors to Saint Boniface in the Red River Colony (now in the Province
of Manitoba), where, shortly after his arrival, on October 12, 1845, he was ordained a priest by Bishop
Provencher. For nine months he studied the Saulteaux language. In 1846, he was sent to Île-à-la-Crosse
to learn Cree and Athapaskan, and spent the next four years working as a missionary among the Cree,
Chippewan, Athabaskans, and Caribou-Eaters.
In 1850, he was named coadjutor bishop to the aging Bishop Provencher. In 1851 Taché
travelled to Marseilles, France, where he was consecrated bishop by Bishop Mazenod, the Oblate
Catholic Missions In Canada
Established in 1908 under papal mandate as The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada
address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
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general superior. After a visit to Rome, he returned on June 27, 1852, to St. Boniface. On July 8th, he left
for Île-à-la-Crosse, where the mission was enlarged, a school was opened and apostolic activity was
extended. On June 7, 1853, Bishop Provencher died and Taché automatically became the new bishop of
St. Boniface. However, he remained for a time in Île-à-la-Crosse to put the mission on a solid
foundation. He continued his pastoral visits to other missions which were increasing in numbers and
growing in their activities. Only in September of 1854 did he return to St. Boniface to take formal
possession of his episcopal see.
In 1855, he went North again, as far as Great Slave Lake, to establish a mission for the Dene
tribe. To help manage the growing needs of his diocese, he asked for Father Vital Grandin to be
appointed his coadjutor bishop, and this was granted. In 1861, Bishop Taché approved the founding of
the St. Albert mission, under the direction of Father Lacombe. In 1862, he established a new apostolic
vicariate (an ecclesial territory not yet a diocese) in the North (Athabasca-Mackenzie), entrusted to
Bishop Henri Faraud.
Bishop Taché increased the number of parishes (excluding missions) from fifteen in 1870 to
forty by the time he died in 1894. He strongly supported Catholic education in all secular branches of
knowledge because he wanted Catholics to be as well prepared to enter the labour market as anyone
else, and to have competent advocates for Catholic interests in the political sphere. In 1888, there were
seventy-four schools in his diocese. Throughout his ministry, Bishop Taché paid special attention to the
rights (especially land rights) of the various native peoples and the Métis. In 1869, he was deeply
involved in helping the Métis to resist some of the unjust policies proposed and sometimes enacted by
the Federal Government. However, he was opposed to any kind of open rebellion or civil war, and he
was deeply saddened and disappointed by the events of the Northwest Rebellion, led by Louis Riel in
1885. He also worked tirelessly to ensure that the Federal Government and the Government of the
Northwest Territories would guarantee the equal protection of Catholic and French identities, including
Catholic schools.
In 1871 St. Boniface was raised to the rank of archdiocese and Bishop Taché became the
Archbishop of the new archdiocese. At the same time a new diocese was created with St. Albert as its
centre and Bishop Vital J. Grandin, who until then had served as coadjutor bishop of St. Boniface, was
installed as its first bishop. Archbishop Taché died on June 22, 1894. Catholics and Protestants alike
filed past his casket, and he was buried in the vault preserved for bishops, next to Bishop Provencher.
The Grey Nuns in the North
Excerpt from an article written by Anne Hanley
At 21, Sister Elizabeth Ward was the youngest of four Sisters of Charity of Montreal – also known as
the Grey Nuns of Montreal – to accept Oblate Bishop Alexandre Taché’s invitation to journey from
Montreal in September 1866 to the northern Athabasca-Mackenzie Vicariate to open the first mission
school in what is now the Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith [in the Northwest Territories].…The
bishops, priests and brothers already in the area knew how important the Sisters’ presence would be.
“Without nuns, we shall not be able to do any permanent good here,” said Venerable Oblate Bishop
Vital Grandin….Even before this nation was formed, Grey Nuns worked alongside Oblate bishops,
priests and brothers to build churches, schools and hospitals while introducing the Catholic Faith and
working to improve quality of life for children and orphans, the elderly and the sick through education
and medical care….In 1844, and at the invitation of Bishop Provencher, these heroic witnesses to our
Faith had earlier arrived in St. Boniface, Manitoba – after a harrowing 59-day voyage of 3,500 km “in
Catholic Missions In Canada
Established in 1908 under papal mandate as The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada
address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
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two-wheel carts drawn by oxen, in birch bark canoes, (and) doing at least 78 portages.”…Of the trip,
one of the Sisters wrote, “We nearly always had bad weather. We have hardly slept since we left.
Serpents and snakes camp with us. The portages are long and tiring. We have to climb steep slopes,
make our way through bushes, walk through ravines and dead trees.” Fourteen years later in 1858, three
Sisters—the two youngest, Sisters Adèle and Alphonse, were just 23—travelled from Montreal to St.
Boniface, and then in 1859 established a mission in Lac Ste. Anne, in what is now Alberta. Between
teaching people how to read, write or pray, the Sisters devoted themselves to studying the Cree language
to such an extent that they compiled a 185-page Cree grammar text. Eventually a school, orphanage and
basic hospital became part of the St. Albert mission…. “Their legacy of devotion and caring are still
very real for many of us,” writes Charles Kennedy who was a student of the Grey Nuns at Fort
Resolution in the Northwest Territories. “For the many years of caring, of hard work, of teaching and
healing us, ‘Thanks, Sisters.’ We shall never forget you.” Today and in locations from New Brunswick
to Alberta and the Northwest Territories, Grey Nuns are responding to the needs of the poor in women’s
shelters, food and clothing banks, centres for people with disabilities, seniors’ residences, and in their
continued service in health related areas.
From Catholic Missions In Canada Magazine (Fall, 2010:8-11)
Bishop Henri Faraud (1823-1890), Oblate (Oblate of Mary Immaculate), priest, missionary, bishop
and author
Henri Faraud was born on March 17, 1823, at Gigondas, France. He received classical education at the
minor seminary of Goult, France. In 1844, at the age of 21, he took his perpetual vows as an Oblate of
Mary Immaculate. On June 3, 1846, before his ordination to the diaconate or to the priesthood, he was
sent to the Oblate mission in St. Boniface, to join Bishop Provencher. There he continued his theological
studies and familiarized himself with native customs and the Ojibwa language. On May 8, 1847, he was
ordained a priest. After his ordination, he worked first with Father Taché at Île-à-la-Crosse, and in 1849,
he was appointed the missionary in charge of the vast Lake Athabasca district. In 1852, he set up a
permanent mission at Fort Resolution, also known as Moose Island (Northwest Territories), on Great
Slave Lake. He prepared a primer in Cree, Chippewa booklets in syllabic characters and books of
devotion, which were printed in 1857. He was named Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of the newly created
Apostolic Vicariate of Athabasca-Mackenzie on May 13, 1862, but because of the vast distances, this
news only reached him in July of the following year. In August he left for Europe, and was consecrated
bishop in Tours, France, on November 30, 1863. Bishop Faraud spent the next ten years at Lac La
Biche, which became his Episcopal see in 1869. In 1889 he was summoned to St. Boniface by
Archbishop Taché for the first council held in western Canada. Seeing his frail health, Archbishop
Taché convinced him to resign his episcopate and stay in St. Boniface, which he did. During an
ordination Mass on September 26, 1890, he was overcome by faintness and died shortly after. He was
buried in St. Boniface, next to Bishop Provencher.
Early Missionaries “Had Staying Power”: Bishop Vital Grandin
From a speech by the Most Reverend Denis Croteau, retired Oblate Bishop of Mackenzie-Fort Smith [In
Catholic Missions In Canada Magazine (Fall, 2008: 32-34)]
Catholic Missions In Canada
Established in 1908 under papal mandate as The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada
address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
web:www.cmic.info  Charitable Registration (BN) # 119220531RR0001
Page 9 of 10
Bishop Grandin was to be the first bishop to roam the vastness of what would eventually become the
Mackenzie diocese in the Northwest Territories. Occasionally, he would go to France to recruit new
missionaries, but most of all, to raise money for his missions. He was not fortunate enough to have, as
we now have, an organization similar to Catholic Missions In Canada to keep the wolf from the door.
Before his return to Canada, he was the guest of honour at a banquet organized by his countrymen. After
the meal, he stood up and said: “We have spent a good moment together. Thank you for your hospitality.
We have just left a bountiful table. The soup was excellent. But given the choice, I would like to be back
at this very moment in the far away country of the Canadian North in my desert of ice, sleeping on a
snow bank at 45 degrees below zero, wrapped up in snow with only my dogs for companions. In my
mission land, I do not drink wine but water obtained by melting ice. I do not eat bread, but rather frozen
fish, often fasting for days on end. My life is one of survival: mason, carpenter, nurse, teacher,
fisherman and dog musher. Every day, I have to improvise myself as a jack-of-all-trades. Wanting to be
back has nothing to do with my feelings. It has to do with my convictions. I believe that my life out
there makes a difference for the people I have adopted and who have adopted me, I know what my life
out there is worth. In the darkness of the Northern night, I bring Light. In an icebound land, I bring the
fire of love. In death, I bring life.”
Closing Prayer (optional):
Use the following prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a prayer each of the Canadian Martyrs would have
known well, to close the lesson:
Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have
and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly
according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.
Sing or listen to a recording of: Blest Are They, by David Haas, or another musical arrangement of the
Beatitudes.
Follow-Up Student Activities:
1. In your private journal, compare your own personal qualities with those of your chosen missionary,
noting similarities and differences. Compose a prayer asking for the intercession of one of the
Canadian Martyrs for a quality you especially need in your life now, and would like to develop.
2. Write a short story about a person today trying to decide whether to be a missionary. You might
incorporate your ideas about the natural gifts or qualities that person might have, whether or not that
person had the right intention and the opportunity to go into missionary work, and how a person
might receive a call from God to do such work. As you write, you might reflect on whether you feel
called to missionary work.
3. Use an art form (painting, drawing, music composition, cartoon strip, poem) to depict some event in
the life of one of the missionaries discussed and what it means to you. Share it with the class.
4. Using computers and books, acquire additional information and pictures of an individual missionary
and share these with your classmates.
5. Obtain a copy and view the inspiring Salt and Light Television documentary: “Ends of the Earth”
where a group of youth travel to the Yukon to experience firsthand the life and sacrifice of a
Catholic Missions In Canada
Established in 1908 under papal mandate as The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada
address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
web:www.cmic.info  Charitable Registration (BN) # 119220531RR0001
Page 10 of 10
Catholic missionary in Canada. Available for order at http://saltandlighttv.org/endsoftheearth
($19.95).
Main sources for the Canadian Martyrs and Missionaries history cards:
Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online http://www.biographi.ca/index-e.html
Martyrs of New France http://www.wyandot.org/martyr.htm
Catholic Missions In Canada
Established in 1908 under papal mandate as The Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada
address: 201-1155 Yonge St. Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
phone: 416-934-3424  toll-free: 1-866-YES-CMIC (937-2642)  fax: 416-934-3425
web:www.cmic.info  Charitable Registration (BN) # 119220531RR0001