•
T
he importance of the Jesuit Relations in recreating the history
of New France has long been recognized. Beginning where
Champlain's writings leave off, these missionary texts are one
of the major sources of information about the early years of French
colonization in North America. In fact, without the Relations, large
chapters of France's colonial history in North America would
remain in obscurity. The recent enthusiasm with regards to Native
history has attracted even more attention to these texts, which
contain a wealth of information about Aboriginal societies
encountered by the French, and about the consequences
(economic, cultural, demographic, religious, etc.) of these
encounters.
Most of the Relations written by the Jesuits in New France were
published in Paris by Sébastien Cramoisy 1 . The series was officially
launched in 1632 by Jesuit priest Paul Le Jeune. The Superior of
the missions in New France, Le Jeune had accompanied the
French who came to take back Québec, which had been captured
by the English three years earlier. Publication of these annual
accounts continued for forty years, a period when the Jesuits were
the leading players of the missionary activity in New France.
Between 1896 and 1901, historian Reuben Gold Thwaites (18531913) undertook the monumental task of providing the English
translation of the Jesuit Relations. Thwaites endeavored to provide
more than just the Relations texts. He included many other papers,
•
1
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/jesuit-relations/h19-151-e.html
A single Relation, that of 1637, was published in Rouen by Jean Le
Boullenger.
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1
rare manuscripts and letters from the archives of the Society of
Jesus spanning a period from the founding of the order to the
death of Father Well, "[t]he Last Jesuit of Montreal" [Trad.], in
1791. One of the editors of the 18 000-page translation commented
that "[a]t times one seems to be reading works of the imagination
rendered with great literary skill, instead of official reports for the
edification of the pious subjects across the sea. For the historian
who likes to re-create the past through the delicate medium of the
novel, here are fresh possibilities. May this route remain barred to
those who have neither the grace nor the genius to use it skillfully!"
[Trad.]
Context of Publication
The beginnings of New France were closely linked to the fur trade,
which developed rapidly at the end of the 16th century and led the
French to establish a number of trading posts in Acadia and the
St. Lawrence Valley in the early 1600s. Missionaries soon followed
in the footsteps of the fur traders, setting up missions among the
Indigenous populations who came to trade furs. Early conversion
efforts were concentrated around the trading posts, but very soon,
following the example of the fur traders, the missionaries
penetrated the continent's interior to the Great Lakes region. The
first half of the 17th century was undoubtedly the height of
greatest missionary activity in New France. It was a period of rapid,
mass conversions, and a time of ambitious plans to "civilize" and
Francicize the Native peoples.
The Jesuits were at the heart of this missionary work. They
belonged to a religious order that was still young but growing
quickly. Founded in 1540 by Ignatius Loyola, the Company of
Jesus had seen rapid growth in the second half of the 16th century
and the early part of the 17th. When the founder died in 1566, the
Company already had some 1000 members and administered
about 100 establishments, mainly in Europe, but also in Asia,
Africa and America. In 1615, the order's numbers reached 13 000
and the number of its establishments (residences, novitiates,
colleges, etc.) had grown to approximately 500. Seen at this time as
the shock troops of Catholicism, the Jesuits in Europe took an
active part in missionizing to peasants and Protestants. Beyond the
European continent, they also distinguished themselves as one of
the most active missionary orders in areas of the world being
opened up by European colonization.
The Jesuits were to be the first French missionaries to found a
mission in New France. The experiment started in 1611, in Acadia,
but lasted only a short time; an attack by the English put an end
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2
to the venture in 1613. The Jesuits returned to New France in
1625, this time heading for Québec, where Champlain had set up a
small trading post some years earlier. The Récollets, a branch of
the Franciscans, had been there since 1615, but had as yet
achieved very little. Following a period of English rule from 1629 to
1632, the Jesuits returned in force to the Laurentian colony. For
25 years they would have a monopoly on missionary activities,
since the French authorities refused to allow the Récollets to
return to the St. Lawrence Valley.
The Jesuits were especially interested in the Huron, who were the
principal intermediaries for the French in the fur trade. A people
settled in densely populated villages, the Huron appeared to the
missionaries to be better candidates for Christianization than the
nomadic Native peoples in New France. In the hope of laying the
foundations of a new Christian church, the Jesuits sent most of
their numbers to live among the Huron. However, the destruction
of Huronia by the Iroquois in 1650 put an end to this missionary
dream.
Evangelization, complicated for some years by the Iroquois wars,
began again in the continental interior in the 1660s, but "the age of
mysticism" was over, and slowly, in the last years of the 17th
century, missionary zeal waned. The Jesuits remained in most of
the strategic locations in the interior, but hopes of rapid
conversions gave way to a more realistic attitude and even a
certain amount of disillusionment.
Edifying Narratives
Establishing and developing missions abroad required large sums
of money every year. Like other religious communities working in
New France, the Jesuits counted on donations from generous
benefactors to fund their operations. The Relations played an
important part in the Jesuits' efforts to obtain financial and
political support from the upper echelons of French society. They
were the Jesuits' promotional material, telling the world about the
efforts made by the missionaries of the Company of Jesus to
convert the Aboriginal populations of New France.
Their edifying nature is doubtless what best characterizes the style
and content of the Relations, which were intended to inspire
readers to contribute in some way to the success of missionary
efforts in New France. This edifying character is expressed in
different ways throughout the Relations. It is particularly evident in
depictions of the tenacity, faith and courage of the missionaries,
who encountered numerous obstacles in their efforts to convert the
Aboriginal peoples. It also appears in the accounts of virtuous
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3
actions of Native people who had been or were going to be baptized,
and who often had to resist pressure from their families and
friends. And it takes a very concrete form in what the Jesuits
interpreted as signs of divine intervention -- signs of God
manifesting his support for the missionary project in various ways:
punishments inflicted on those who refused to hear the call of the
missionaries or who mocked their teachings, good fortune coming
to those who listened to their preaching with an attentive ear, and
so forth.
We must always keep in mind that the accounts in the Relations
were written by men inspired by deep religious convictions and
filled with a vision of the world where God, the angels and saints,
as well as the Devil and his demons, were players who took
concrete action on earth, either favoring the work of the
missionaries or placing obstacles on their path. Most of the events
reported by the Jesuits that concern the missionary enterprise as
such, appear in an interpretive model where the forces of Good and
Evil are waging a life-and-death battle.
The Jesuits saw themselves, and presented themselves, as one of
the parties in this battle. They were the soldiers of Christ, come to
America to liberate the region from Satan's hold: "I come here like
the pioneers to dig trenches and then the brave soldiers [will come
to] lay siege and capture the field" [Trans.], writes Paul Le Jeune,
soon after his arrival in New France. The Relations contain
numerous military metaphors that show in what spirit the Jesuits
carried out their missionary work. Missionary strategies were
"batteries that will destroy Satan's empire" [Trans.], knowledge of
the Aboriginal languages was transformed into "arms required for
the war" [Trans.], while incursions into Native territory were
presented as "sorties to attack the enemy on his own territory"
[Trans.].
Accounts of a Missionary Offensive
While they reveal the minds of the 17th-century missionaries, the
Relations are also invaluable documents for reconstructing the
history of the conversion of the Native peoples of New France. The
Jesuits' writings are essential texts for determining the strategies
and methods used in the conversion of Aboriginal peoples. The
Jesuits in the 17th century arrived in the colony with preconceived
ideas about the most effective ways to convince the Native peoples
to adopt the Catholic religion. A number of these methods had
already been used elsewhere in the world: learning the languages;
use of fear, especially through descriptions of suffering in hell; use
of European technological superiority to impress the Native people;
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4
bringing Aboriginal people together in settlements; creating
boarding schools for young Native people, and so forth.
Today, the Relations allow us to understand the missionary policies
and strategies and follow how they were adapted to the realities of
the North American Aboriginal peoples. Faced with the resistance
or indifference of the Native peoples with regards to certain
methods, the Jesuits were forced to adjust their sights. For
example, they quickly gave up their plan to settle nomadic
Aboriginal peoples in one place in favor of itinerant missions,
which the Jesuits adopted in 1641. They also made the decision at
this time to give up the boarding schools for young Native people.
In the first case, the Jesuits encountered the indifference of
nomadic Indigenous peoples, who were strongly attached to their
way of life. In the second, the missionaries were stopped by the
Native peoples' refusal to give up their children for several months,
or even years, and hand them over to strangers, whose customs
had to appear strange to them, at the very least.
Given the lack of writings by Native people, the Relations are
almost the only documents available which reveal their reaction to
the missionary offensive. Conversion was obviously one Aboriginal
response, and the Relations, intended to be the account of how
Christianity was introduced to North America, contain numerous
examples of this. But the Jesuits also met with resistance -- very
strong at times -- in the communities where they founded
missions, because their desire to implant a new religion threatened
many aspects of Native cultures. The changes demanded by the
missionaries were many, and at times went completely counter to
practices that were fundamental to Native societies.
In their Relations, the Jesuits certainly had a tendency to
emphasize the Aboriginal peoples' favorable views of Christianity.
Their annual accounts did not, however, paint an idealized picture
of Native peoples' attitudes to this new religion. They tell of
different kinds of resistance, from mockery to threats of violence,
and more or less explicit threats to the priests and their neophytes.
These manifestations of resistance also played a part in the
construction of an edifying narrative. From a strictly literary point
of view, they created a dramatic effect -- a climate of adversity and
tension -- giving the missionaries and converts an opportunity to
display the strength of their beliefs and thus edify the readers.
Description of the New World
In the 17th century, the Jesuits were among the first French
people to set foot on the new territories claimed by France in North
America. Like most cultivated Europeans who came before or after
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5
them, the Jesuits were keen to describe, categorize and give
meaning to the social and natural phenomena they observed. The
Jesuit Relations are thus at times akin to travel narratives, where,
in a more or less organized fashion, there are geographical
descriptions, observations about the local populations, or remarks
about fauna, flora and natural resources. As well, these writings
often reveal a certain degree of exoticism, no doubt due to a
fascination with the curiosities of the New World. The Relations,
like other accounts by European travelers, contributed to this
inventory of novelties.
Among these descriptions, particular note should be taken of the
ethnographical developments appearing throughout the Relations.
The Jesuits were among the 17th-century French who had spent
the most time among the Aboriginal populations of North America.
This lengthy period of contact made them privileged observers, who
sought, by the very reason of their missionary purpose, to
understand the Aboriginal societies so that they could take more
effective action in their efforts to convert them. With their mastery
of Native languages, the Jesuits could go beyond simple description
of the material aspects of the culture (dwellings, methods of
transportation, etc.) and present other aspects more difficult for
passing visitors to perceive (religious beliefs and practices, social
organization, political structures, etc.)
The Jesuit Relations are thus a valuable source of information
about the Native cultures at the time of the first contact between
the French and the Native peoples. Some of the Relations are
particularly remarkable for the amount of ethnographic
information they contain. This is the case, for example, of the
Relation written by the Jesuit Paul Le Jeune in 1634. Le Jeune
wrote this text after an experience that was very rare for a French
person in the 17th century. In the fall of 1633, carrying only a few
personal effects, he set out to follow a group of people from the
Montagnais Nation, who were leaving Quebec for their winter
hunting grounds.
Le Jeune's goal was to learn the Montagnais' language so that he
could convert them to Catholicism. For several months, with no
contact with French people in the colony, the Jesuit followed the
Montagnais in their travels in the lands south of the Saint
Lawrence. Out of this difficult adventure came one of the finest and
most enthralling texts about New France. Combining ethnographic
observations with the account of the travels, the 1634 Relation
gives an invaluable picture of the subsistence culture and activities
of the Montagnais in the St. Lawrence valley in the early 17th
century.
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6
Other Relations also have much interesting ethnographic material.
The 1636 Relation, for example, devotes several chapters to the
Huron (Wendat) Nation. Its author, Father Jean de Brébeuf, had
known the Huron since 1625 and spoke their language well. His
account is filled with details about the Huron's language, their
beliefs, myths, religious practices, social life, (marriages, festivals,
games, dances, etc.) and their political structure (councils, laws
and customs, etc.). It is in this Relation that we find one of the
most detailed descriptions of the Feast of the Dead, a ceremony in
which the Huron, before moving their village to a new location,
placed in a common ossuary the bones of all those who had died in
the preceding years.
Certainly many French people, in particular the coureurs des bois,
made prolonged stays among the Indigenous communities and
were no doubt better integrated there than the missionaries,
because they had no mission to change these societies. But, unlike
the Jesuits, these Frenchmen had almost never written about their
experiences. This makes the annual accounts by the Jesuits even
more significant. They are often the only source available for
reconstructing the broad outlines of the way of life and culture of
the Indigenous societies at the time of their first contact with
Europeans.
Making use of the Jesuit Relations to reconstruct certain elements
of Native cultures nevertheless calls for some caution, because the
missionaries of the 17th century did not think like modern
anthropologists. Their descriptions are usually accompanied by a
series of negative value judgments; in particular about practices
they observed that went counter to Christian morality, which was
the prism through which they viewed the Aboriginal cultures.
However, the Jesuits never tried to conceal their point of view, and
the bias permeating their missionary literature is easy to detect.
The End of the Relations
The 1672 Relation, which was printed by Sébastien Cramoisy in
1673, was the last one to be published in the 17th century. Several
reasons have been given to explain the end of the series. Some
historians believe that it came to an end because of the
intervention of influential persons in New France, such as the
Count of Frontenac, who were hostile to the Jesuits. There is no
document, however, that gives concrete support to this
interpretation.
It seems rather that the end of the Relations was due to events that
had nothing to do with the history of New France. The first was the
publication by Pope Clement X, on April 6, 1673, of the Papal brief
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Creditae nobis caelitus. The purpose of this brief was to establish
tight control over the distribution of writings about foreign
missions. All texts of this kind had henceforth to receive the
approval of the Propaganda cardinals before being circulated. This
decision put an end to the intense polemic concerning Chinese
rites that was the source of conflict between Jesuits and other
missionaries working in China. The controversy, fuelled by
publication of missionary writings, aroused strong feelings in
Europe.
On its own, the brief by Clement X did not put an end to the
Relations of the Jesuits in New France, because the Company of
Jesus would certainly have been able to obtain the necessary
approval from Rome to publish their annual accounts. Why did
they not do so? No doubt because of the disputes that existed
between the Papacy and French royal power. The jurisdiction of the
Propaganda cardinals, the only ones empowered to authorize
publication of the Relations, was not recognized in France, where
the Company of Jesus would also have had to obtain authorization
for its annual accounts. In short, the Jesuits faced a dilemma.
They could no longer publish their Relations without the Pope's
authorization, and such a request would automatically lead to the
French authorities' refusing to allow them to publish their
accounts in France. The simplest solution was to stop publishing
this type of text, which is what the Jesuits did.
For some years, the Jesuits in New France were to continue to
compile their annual Relations, no doubt in the hope that a
solution would be found to the dilemma presented by the Papal
brief, and they would be able to publish their accounts again. But
this did not happen. Rome maintained its control over publication
of missionaries' accounts and, after 1678, the Jesuits in New
France stopped preparing their annual Relations, which could only
have achieved their intended purpose if they were circulated in
France.
LIST OF VOLUMES
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
Acadia: 1610 - 1613.
Acadia: 1612 - 1614.
Acadia: 1611 - 1616.
Acadia and Quebec: 1616 - 1629.
Quebec: 1632 - 1633.
Quebec: 1633 - 1634.
Quebec, Hurons, Cape Breton: 1634 - 1635.
Quebec, Hurons, Cape Breton: 1634 - 1636.
Quebec: 1636.
The Jesuit Relations
8
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
1661.
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:
21:
22:
23:
24:
25:
26:
27:
28:
29:
30:
31:
32:
33:
34:
35:
36:
37:
38:
39:
40:
41:
42:
43:
44:
45:
46:
Hurons: 1636.
Hurons and Quebec: 1636 - 1637.
Quebec: 1637.
Hurons: 1637.
Hurons and Quebec: 1637 - 1638.
Hurons and Quebec: 1638 - 1639.
Quebec and Hurons: 1639.
Hurons and Three Rivers: 1639 - 1640.
Hurons and Quebec: 1640.
Quebec and Hurons: 1640.
Hurons and Quebec: 1640 - 1641.
Quebec and Hurons: 1641 - 1642.
Quebec and Hurons: 1642.
Hurons, Quebec, Iroquois: 1642 - 1643.
Lower Canada and Iroquois: 1642 - 1643.
Iroquois, Hurons, Quebec: 1642 - 1644.
Lower Canada, Hurons: 1642 - 1644.
Hurons, Lower Canada: 1642 - 1645.
Hurons, Iroquois, Lower Canada: 1645 - 1646.
Iroquois, Lower Canada, Hurons: 1646.
Hurons, Lower Canada: 1646 - 1647.
Iroquois, Lower Canada, Abenakis: 1647.
Gaspè, Hurons, Lower Canada: 1647 - 1648.
Lower Canada, Algonkins, Hurons: 1648 - 1649.
Lower Canada, Hurons: 1649.
Hurons, Lower Canada, Algonkins: 1650.
Lower Canada, Abenakis: 1650 - 1651.
Lower Canada, Abenakis: 1651 - 1652.
Abenakis, Lower Canada, Hurons: 1652 - 1653.
Hurons: 1653.
Hurons, Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1653.
Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1654 - 1656.
Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1632 - 1657.
Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1656 - 1657.
Iroquois, Lower Canada: 1656 - 1658.
Lower Canada, Acadia, Iroquois, Ottawas: 1659 - 1660.
Lower Canada, Ottawas, Canadian Interior: 1659 -
47:
48:
49:
50:
51:
52:
53:
Iroquois, Lower Canada: 1661 - 1663.
Lower Canada, Ottawas: 1662 - 1664.
Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1663 - 1665.
Lower Canada, Iroquois, Ottawas: 1664 - 1667.
Ottawas, Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1666 - 1668.
Lower Canada, Iroquois, Ottawas: 1667 - 1669.
Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1669 - 1670.
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9
Volume
Volume
Volume
1672.
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
1712.
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume
Data.
Volume
Volume
54: Iroquois, Ottawas, Lower Canada: 1669 - 1671.
55: Lower Canada, Iroquois, Ottawas: 1670 - 1672.
56: Lower Canada, Iroquois, Ottawas, Hudson Bay: 1671 57:
58:
59:
60:
61:
62:
63:
64:
65:
66:
Hurons, Iroquois, Ottawas: 1672 - 1673.
Ottawas, Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1672 - 1674.
Lower Canada, Illinois, Ottawas: 1673 - 1677.
Lower Canada, Illinois, Iroquois, Ottawas: 1675 - 1677.
All Missions: 1677 - 1680.
Lower Canada, Iroquois, Ottawas: 1681 - 1683.
Lower Canada, Iroquois: 1667 - 1687.
Ottawas, Lower Canada, Iroquois, Illinois: 1689 - 1695.
Lower Canada, Mississippi Valley: 1696 - 1702.
Illinois, Louisiana, Iroquois, Lower Canada: 1702 -
67:
68:
69:
70:
71:
Lower Canada, Abenakis, Louisiana: 1716 - 1727.
Lower Canada, Crees, Louisiana: 1720 - 1736.
All Missions: 1710 - 1756.
All Missions: 1747 - 1764.
Lower Canada, Illinois: 1759 - 1791. Miscellaneous
72: Final Preface, Additional Errata. Index: A - I
73: Index: J - Z
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