St. Jean de Brébeuf
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Saint Jean de Brébeuf, SJ |
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| Martyr; Apostle of the Hurons | |
| Born |
25 March 1593 Condé-sur-Vire, Normandy, France |
| Died | 16 March 1649 (aged 55) Huron village of St. Ignace, near Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, near Midland, Ontario, Canada |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church, Anglican Communion |
| Beatified | 1925 |
| Canonized | June 29, 1930, Canada by Pope Pius XI |
| Major shrine | Martyrs' Shrine, Midland, Ontario, Canada |
| Feast | September 26 (Canada, also United States in General Roman Calendar 1962), October 19 (United States and elsewhere) |
| Attributes | Pyx |
| Patronage | Canada |
Saint Jean de Brébeuf (March 25, 1593 – March 16, 1649) was a French Jesuit missionary who travelled to New France (Canada) in 1625. There he worked primarily with the Huron for the rest of his life, except for a few years in France from 1629 to 1633. He learned their language and culture, writing extensively about each to aid other missionaries.
In 1649, Brébeuf and another missionary were captured when an Iroquois raid took over a Huron village (referred to in French as St. Louis). Together with Huron captives, the missionaries were ritually tortured and killed on March 16, 1649. Brébeuf was beatified in 1925 and among eight Jesuit missionaries canonized as saints in the Roman Catholic Church in 1930.
Brébeuf was born 25 March 1593 in Condé-sur-Vire, Normandy, France. (He was the uncle of poet Georges de Brébeuf). He joined the Society of Jesus in 1617 at the age of 24, spending the next two years under the direction of Lancelot Marin. Between 1619 and 1621, he was a teacher at the college of Rouen. Brébeuf was nearly expelled from the Society when he contracted tuberculosis in 1620—a severe and usually fatal illness that prevented his studying and teaching for the traditional periods.
His record as a student was not particularly distinguished, but Brébeuf was already beginning to show an aptitude for languages. Later in New France, he would teach Native American languages to missionaries and French traders. Brébeuf was ordained as a priest at Pontoise in February 1622.
After three years as Steward at the College of Rouen, Brébeuf was chosen by the Provincial of France, Father Pierre Coton, to embark on the missions to New France.
In June 1625, Brébeuf arrived in Quebec with Fathers Charles Lalemant and Énemond Massé, together with the lay brothers Francois Charton and Gilbert Burel. For about five months Brébeuf lived with a tribe of Montagnais, who spoke an Algonquian language. He was later assigned in 1626 to the Huron with Father Anne Nouée. From then on Brébeuf worked mostly as a missionary to the Huron, who spoke an Iroquoian language. Brébeuf briefly took up residence with the Bear Tribe at Toanché. Brébeuf met with no success in trying to convert them to Catholicism. He was summoned to Quebec because of the danger to which the entire colony was then exposed by the English. He reached Quebec on 17 July 1628 after an absence of two years. On 19 July 1629, Champlain surrendered, and the missionaries returned to France.
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