Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: A Selection

162 Pages·1963·23.35 MB·English

by  S. R. Mealing

THE
JESUIT
RELATIONS
AND
ALLIED
DOCUMENTS
****
A SELECTION
****
THE CARLETON LIBRARY
A series of Canadian reprints. original works and
new collections of source material relating to
Canada, issued under the editorial supervision of
the Institute of Canadian Studies of Carleton
University, Ottawa.
DJRECfOR OF THE INSTITUTE
S. F. Wise
GENERAL EDITOR
Michael Gnarowski
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Virgil D. Duff (Macmillan of Canada)
EDITORIAL BOARD
B. Carman Bickerton (History)
Dennis Forcese (Sociology)
David Knight (Geography)
J, George Neuspiel (Law)
Thomas K. Rymes (Economics)
Derek G. Smith (Anthropology)
Michael S. Whittington (Political Science)
PUBLICATIONS EDITOR
James Marsh
THE
JESUIT
RELATIONS
AND
ALLIED
DOCUMENTS
****
A SELECTION
****
Edited and with an lntroduclion by
S. R. MEALING
****
The Carleton Library No.7
Published by Macmillan of Canada Limited
in association with the instirUle of
Canadian Studies at Carleton University
COPYRIGHT <el The Macmillan Company 0/ Canada Limited 1978
Carleton Library edition
First published by The Canadian Publishers
McClcliand and Stewart Limited, 1963
Reprinted 1967, 1969
Reprinted by Macmillan or Canada Limited, 1978
ISBN 0-7705-1749-8
First published in France during the years 1632-73, The
Jesuif Relations were reprinted by the Canadian govern
ment in 1868. Many editions have appeared since. the
most exhaustive being the Jesuit Relations and Allied Doc
umelllS, edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites in seventy -three
volumes and published by the Burrows Brothers Com
pany or Cleveland, Ohio, rrom 1896 to 190 I. A selection
rrom the Thwaites edition was made by Edna Kenton and
published by Albert and Charles Boni. New York. in
1925.
Design: Frank Newrcld
Printed in Canada ror
The Macmillan Company or Canada Limited
70 Bond Street
Toronto. Ontario M5B IX3
CONTENTS
****
INTRODUCTION
Part One. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE JESUIT
MISSION TO NEW FRANCE
I Letter from Charles Lalemant to Vitelleschi
(August I, 1626). 13
II Brief relation of the journey to New Fran~e
(leJeune, 1632). 16
III Letter from Ie Jeune to the Father Provincial
of France (1634). 22
IV Relation of what occurred in New France
on the Great River St. Lawrence
(Ie Jeune, 1634). 29
Part Two. THE MISSION TO THE HURONS
I Relation of what occurred among the
Hurons (Brebeuf, 1635). 39
II Instructions for the Fathers of our Society
who shall be sent to the Hurons
(Bn!beuf, 1637). 48
III Relation of what occurred in the land of the
Hurons (Ie Mercier, 1637). 51
IV Letter of Franc;:ois du Peron to
Joseph Imbert du Peron (April 27, 1639). 53
Part Three. THE MARTYRDOM OF HURONIA AND
THE MISSION TO THE IROQUOIS
I Of incursions by the Iroquois
(Vimont, 1642-43). 57
II How Father Jogues was taken by the
Iroquois (Jerome Lalemant, 1647). 59
III Letter of Ragueneau to Caraffa
(March I, 1649). 62
IV Account of the martyrdom of Brebeuf and
Gabriel Lalemant (Regnaut, 1678). 67
V Of the removal of the House of Sainte Marie
and of the death of Garnier and Chabanel
(Ragueneau, 1649-50). 72
VI Relation of what occurred in the country
of New France (Ie Mercier, 1653-54). 78
VII Journey of Chaumont and Dablon to the
Upper Iroquois( Dablon, 1655-56). 82
VIII Letter from Ie Mercier to Cellot
(June 6, 16,56). 84
IX Letter of Father Claude Chauchetiere
(October 14,1682). 87
Part Four. THE WESTERN MISSIONS AND
THE EXPANSION OF NEW FRANCE
I Of the condition of the country in general
(Jerome Lalemant, 1659-60). 89
II Journal of Allouez's Voyage to the Ottawas
(Ie Mercier and Allouez, 1666-67). 94
III Taking possession of the Ottawa country
(Dablon, 1671-72). 97
IV Of the first voyage made by Marquette
(Dablon and Marquette, 1673). 100
V Letter to De Larnberville (1702), 107
VI Letter by Carheil to Callieres
(August 30, 1702). 111
VII Settlements and missions of the Society in
New France, 1703 (Jouvency, 1710). 115
Part Five. THE JESUITS AT QUEBEC
I Relation of what occurred in New France
(Ie Jeune, 1635). 119
II Relation of what occurred in New France
(Ie Jeune, 1639). 122
III Of the residence at Sillery
(Virnont, 1642-43). 126
IV Extracts from the journal of the Jesuits at
Quebec ( 1645-1668). 131
V Revenues of the Jesuits in Canada
(Bouvart, October 4,1701). 143
VI Memoir by Coquart (April 5, 1750). 147
VI! Letter of Olapion to Finlay
(September 10,1788). 152
NOTES 154
Suggestions for Further Reading
INTRODUCfION
****
THE JESUIT RELATIONS
AND ALLIED
DOCUMENTS
***************
On May 22, 1611, Fathers Pierre Biard and Ennemond Masse
landed at the little fortified habitation of Port Royal. They were
the first Jesuit priests in northern America, and two others soon
followed. They were gratified at their reception by the Micmac
Indians, one hundred and forty of whom had already been
baptized by a secular priest who had come out the year before.
The local Micmac chief offered to make war on any of rus tribe
who resisted baptism~ The governor, and the Huguenot traders
interested in the new colony, were less co-operative. The Jesuits,
taking part in an attempt to found another Catholic colony
farther south, were captured by an English freebooter in 1613.
One was killed, the otbers eventually returned to France. This
modest and tragically unsuccessful mission was the prelude to
the history of the Jesuits in New France.
The Society of Jesus, thus repulsed from the shores of Acadia.
was in fact only recently well established in France. The papal
bull confirming the order's institution in 1540 had laid no special
emphasis on missionary work, but it had required a special vow
of obedience to the Pope, which rend~red the Jesuits suspect to
the dominant Gallican party in the French Church. The Jesuits
were soon identified with the Counter-Reformation - the pro
gram of reform within the framework of the Church. This
identification involved them in bitter theological controversy,
especially with the Dominicans. It also led them, in the cause of
Catholic humanism, to become innovators in education. Aban
doning the mediaeval curriculum, their schools taught what
their founder Ignatius Loyola recommended: " . . . along with
viii - THE JESUIT RELATIONS
the knowledge necessary to a good Christian, the humane
sciences, from the rudiments of grammar to the highest branches
of study. ..." Tbe college founded at Quebec in 1635 was to
continue that tradition. It was as a teaching order that the Society
of Jesus established itself in France. In 1618, when the Jesuits
finally secured legal recognition at Paris, they maintained forty
eight colleges in France. By that time tbey had won tbe favour
of the Crown and the patronage of wealthy and influential
Catholic laymen. When Henry IV decided tbat priests should
go to Acadia, his Jesuit confessor, Pierre Coton, persuaded him
that they should be Jesuits; and tbe ship that carried them was
provided by a royal lady-in-waiting, the Marquise de Guerche
viIIe.
When the Recollet friars needed help with their missions in
New France, the Jesuits were accordingly well able to provide it.
Financed by the viceroy, De VentadouT, a party of Jesuits
disembarked at Quebec on June 15, 1625. In ten years the
Recollets had gone north to the Montagnais Indians and west to
the Hurons; but they could only sketch the ambitious design
that the Jesuits bad the manpower and funds to fulfil. From
Champlain, the founder and governor of Quebec, the Jesuits
received not merely co-operation but what amounted to inde
pendence. In 1627 Cardinal Richelieu swept away the tangle of
conflicting claims and trading privileges that was endangering
the colony, vesting its trade and government in a new body, the
Company of New France. The company was required to
promote settlement by French Catholics only and to support
priests. There was an interlude in 1629-32, while an English
expedition held Quebec. Then the Jesuits returned, ready for
the work defined by a royal patent drafted, but prophetically not
issued, to the Recollets: u . .. to establish the said Catholic
faith and this to have proclaimed in lands distant, barbarous
and strange, where the holy name of God is not invoked ... ."
The Jesuits' highest hopes were for the Huron mission. The
Hurons were a settled people, farmers and traders; "hardly
Barbarians, save in name," they seemed to Father Brebeuf,
when compared to the semi~nomadic hunters nearer Quebec. In
1639, when a census showed twelve thousand people in the
Huron villages, the Jesuits built a permanent headquarters in
Huronia. The mission of Ste Marie was a fortified settlement.