Jesuitas En America

Jesuit missions in North America started during the 17th century and faltered at the beginning of the 18th. The missions were established as part of the colonial drive of France and Spain during the period, the "conquest of the souls" being an integral part of the constitution of Nouvelle-France and early New Spain. The efforts of the Jesuits in North America were paralleled by their Jesuit China missions on the other side of the world.

Establishment of Nouvelle-France and first missions

Toward the end of his reign, Henry IV of France started to look at the possibility of ventures abroad, with both North America and the Levant being among the possibilities.[1]:43

In 1604, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain initiated the first important French involvement in Northern America He founded Port Royal as the first permanent European settlement in North America north of Florida in 1605, and the first permanent French establishment at Quebec in 1608.[1]:71

[edit]First Mission (1609)

Port Royal circa 1612.

The Jesuits established a mission on Penobscot Bay in 1609, which was part of the French colony of Acadia.

[edit]Second Mission (1611)

The Jesuits wanted to participate in these forays into new lands.[1]:43 On October 25, 1604, the Jesuit Father Pierre Coton requested the General of the Company Claudio Acquaviva to send two missionaries to Terre-Neuve.[1]:43 As a result, in 1611, the two first Jesuits, Pierre Biard and Enemond Massé were able to leave for Port Royal in Acadia.[1]:44 The mission failed in 1613 following a raid by Virginians.[1]:2

[edit]Third Mission (1613)

A third mission was built on Mount Desert Island in 1613.

[edit]Fourth mission (1625)

The Jesuits conceived plans to move their efforts to the banks of the Saint-Laurent river. A fourth mission was established in 1625, composed of fathers Charles Lalemant (as Superior), Enemond Massé, Jean de Brébeuf, and assistants François Charton and Gilbert Buret.[1]:44 This mission failed following the occupation of Quebec by English forces in 1629.[1]:2

[edit]The Jesuit establishment

Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons, Gabriel Sagard, 1632.

The Jesuit missions would gain a strong foothold in North America in 1632, with the arrival of the Jesuit Paul Le Jeune. Between 1632 and 1650, 46 French Jesuits arrived in North America to preach among the Indians.[1]:2

[edit]Missions

The mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons.

Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lallemant stand ready for boiling water/fire "Baptism" and flaying by the Iroquois in 1649.

In 1634, the Jesuit established a mission in Huron territory under the direction of Jean de Brébeuf.[1]:72 The Mission de Sainte-Marie was quite successful, and considered as "the jewel of the Jesuit mission in New France." More than a decade later, it was destroyed by traditional Huron enemies, the Iroquois,[1]:2 first in 1648 and again in 1649.[1]:73 The Jesuits were killed along with the Huron. Eight Jesuits—killed between 1642 and 1649—became known as the North American Martyrs.

In 1654, the Jesuits started establishing missions among the Iroquois. In 1656 Sainte Marie among the Iroquois (originally known as Sainte-Marie-de-Ganentaa or St. Mary's of Ganantaa) was the first of these new missions to be established, located among the Onondagas under Father Simon Le Moyne. Within thirteen years, the Jesuits had missions among all five Iroquois nations, in part imposed by French attacks against their villages in present-day New York state. As relations between the French and the Iroquois were tense however, the missions were all abandoned by 1708.[1]:73 Some converted Iroquois and members of other nations migrated to Canada, where they joined the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake by 1718.

The Jesuit mission at Detroit was moved to Bois Blanc Island in 1742. The mission was later reestablished in the vicinity of present-day Windsor, closer to the defences at Detroit. The Huron mission served both native and European residents, with the arrival of French settlers in the area. In 1767, the mission became the Parish of Assumption, the earliest Roman Catholic parish in present-day Ontario.[2]

In the late 1750s, leaders from Kahnawake led 30 families upriver to create a new settlement at Akwesasne, today the largest Mohawk settlement in Canada.

[edit]Seminaries

In order to train young Indians to the Catholic faith, a Seminary is opened near Quebec, at Notre-Dame-des-Anges in 1636. The first students were five young Hurons, who were followed by a dozen of young Montagnais and Algonquins in 1638-1639.[1]:80 After first successes, the seminary failed as the young Indians proved reluctant to be educated, and died in great numbers due to infections brought by the Westerners. A second seminary was opened in Trois-Rivières but failed after one year.[1]:83

[edit]Reductions

A more successful endeavour was the establishment of "reductions", villages where natives were settled under the control of the Jesuits. The reductions in North America were inspired by the Jesuit Reductions of South America, especially Paraguay. Reductions were first established for the nomads of the Saint-Laurent valley, at Sillery near Quebec and Conception near Trois-Rivières, and later among sedentary Indians: the Hurons at Notre-Dame-de-Foy and later at Lorette, and the Iroquois at La Prairie de la Madeleine.[1]:88

One of the most famous reductions was that of Sillery, near Quebec, which was established with the financial help of Noël Brûlart de Sillery in 1637.[1]:88 In 1645, there were 167 native inhabitants in Sillery.[1]:105 The reduction was raided by the Iroquois in 1646. In 1670, Sillery was subject to an epidemic of measles, so that the Montagnais and Algonquins left the territory. In 1698, the Jesuits abandoned their post there as missionaries, and transferred the territory to the jurisdiction of the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Sainte-Foy.[1]:108

[edit]Conflict with the Iroquois

The efforts of the Jesuits in Northern American would be constantly hampered by the conflict of the French with the Iroquois. The Huron Nation was essentially destroyed by the effects of warfare with the Iroquois following epidemic infectious diseases from 1634-1640. At last, in 1701, the "Grande Paix de Montréal" would end the conflict.[1]:2

[edit]Methods

The Jesuits in America used methods which were comparatively respectful of the traditional way of life of the Indians, especially compared to the approach of the Puritans in New England. They required a conformity to their code of dress and behaviour.

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