Saint Rene Goupil
| Saint René Goupil, S.J. | |
|---|---|
|
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| Religious and martyr | |
| Born | May 15, 1608 Saint-Martin-du-Bois, Anjou, Kingdom of France |
| Died | September 29, 1642 (aged 34) Ossernenon, New France |
| Venerated in |
Roman Catholic Church (Canada and the United States) |
| Beatified | June 21, 1925, Rome, Italy, by Pope Pius XI |
| Canonized | June 29, 1930, Vatican City by Pope Pius XI |
| Major shrine | National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, Auriesville, New York, United States |
| Feast | 26 September (Canada), 19 October (United States) |
| Patronage | anesthetists, anesthesiologists |
René Goupil, S.J. (15 May 1608 – 29 September 1642), was a French Jesuit lay missionary (in French "donné", "given", or "one who offers himself") who became a lay brother of the Society of Jesus shortly before his death. He was the first of the three North American Martyrs of the Roman Catholic Church to receive the crown of martyrdom and the first canonized Catholic martyr in North America.
Goupil was baptized in St-Martin-du-Bois, near Angers, in the ancient Province of Anjou, on 15 May 1608, the son of Hipolite and Luce Provost Goupil. He was working as a surgeon in Orléans before entering the novitiate of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Paris on 16 March 1639. He had to leave the novitiate due to deafness.
Goupil volunteered to serve as a lay missionary working to assist the Jesuit Fathers. In 1640 he arrived in New France. From 1640 to 1642 he served at the Saint-Joseph de Sillery Mission, near Quebec, where he was charged with caring for the sick and wounded at the hospital. His work primarily involved wound dressings and bloodlettings.
In 1642 Goupil travelled to the Huron missions with about forty other persons, including several Huron chiefs and Jesuit Father Isaac Jogues. They were captured by the Mohawk, taken to their easternmost village of Ossernenon (about 9 miles west of present-day Auriesville, New York), and tortured. After teaching the native children the sign of the cross, Goupil was killed 29 September 1642 by several blows to the head with a tomahawk. Before being martyred, he had professed religious vows as a Jesuit lay brother before Fr. Jogues. Many of the 24 Huron accompanying Goupil were baptized Catholic converts. Traditional enemies of the Mohawk, they were slowly tortured in accordance with Iroquois ritual before being killed.
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