North American Martyrs
| Canadian Martyrs | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | France |
| Died | 1642–1649, Canada and Upstate New York |
| Martyred by | Iroquois |
| Venerated in |
Roman Catholic Church Anglican Church |
| Beatified | June 21, 1925, Rome, by Pope Pius XI |
| Canonized | June 29, 1930, Rome, by Pope Pius XI |
| Major shrine |
Martyrs' Shrine, Midland, Ontario, Canada National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, Auriesville, New York |
| Feast | September 26 (in Canada and among Traditional Roman Catholics) October 19 (General Calendar); Anglican Church of Canada |
| Patronage | Canada |
The Canadian Martyrs, also known as the North American Martyrs, were eight Jesuit missionaries from Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. They were ritually tortured and killed on various dates in the mid-17th century in Canada, in what is now southern Ontario, and in upstate New York, during the warfare between the Iroquois (particularly the Mohawk people) and the Huron. They have subsequently been canonized and venerated as martyrs by the Catholic Church.
The martyrs are St. René Goupil (1642), St. Isaac Jogues (1646), St. Jean de Lalande (1646), St. Antoine Daniel (1648), St. Jean de Brébeuf (1649), St. Noël Chabanel (1649), St. Charles Garnier (1649), and St. Gabriel Lalemant (1649).
Jesuit missionaries worked among the Huron (Wendat), an Iroquoian-speaking people who occupied territory in the Georgian Bay area of Central Ontario. (They were not part of the Iroquois Confederacy, initially made up of five tribes south and east of the Great Lakes.) The area of their traditional territory is called Huronia. The Huron in this area were farmers, fishermen and traders who lived in villages surrounded by defensive wooden palisades for protection. Sainte-Marie among the Hurons was the headquarters for the French Jesuit Mission to the Huron Wendat people.
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