Le blog de la Bergerie
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Le blog de la Bergerie
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I just finished the most amazing story: it is definitively
not politically correct, it is very gruesome at times with long descriptions
of tortures and cruel torments, but (and that is what kept me reading) I found
it a most inspiring story on the importance of offering the faith in Jesus-Christ
and spreading the Gospels. Saint among savages, the life
of Saint Isaac Jogues, by Francis Talbot S. J. is the account of how the
first Jesuits arrived on this North American soil and what they went through
to evangelize native Indians. It is specifically the story of Saint Isaac Jogues,
his love of God and his martyrdom in 1646, in Canada.
A Saint Among Savages: tortured by Huron and
Iroquois, Saint Isaac Jogues died in 1646.
He offered the sacrifice of his life to bring the faith to North America.
Within 10 years of his martyrdom, God raised a Saint from among the tribes:
Kateri Tekawita, daughter of a Mohawk Chief and a Catholic Algonquin mother…
I find the following pages from the book on the life of Isaac of Jogues very haunting: they show God's work
in our souls, opening our minds and softening our hearts.
These pages are about Ahatsistari, one of the Huron Indian, a war hero, and read what he says about his
discovery of Jesus (excerpts from the book): From this village arose the most outstanding convert of
the year. Ahatsistari was honored as the greatest war chief of all the Huron
nations. So amazing were his deeds that he had already become a hero of legend.
"This man's life is but a series of battles", the missioners asserted. In the
past summer, Ahatsistari with fifty Huron braves attacked three hundred Iroquois
and brought back a large number of scalps and prisoners. A short time later,
scouting about Lake Ontario, he was surprised by a strong Iroquois war band.
His few followers, terrified, were for darting off in flight. "No, no, comrades,
Ahatsistari shouted. "Follow me. We'll start the attack". He drove his canoe
headlong into the Iroquois fleet. Alone, he leaped into the foremost enemy canoe.
He split the skulls of the two Iroquois nearest him, hurled two others into
the water, leaped after them, and upset the boat. Swimming with one hand, he
wielded his tomahawk with the other and smashed the heads of the floundering
enemies. Hurons and Iroquois watched the single handed battle as if entranced.
Then, Ahatsistari, shrilling the war whoop, stroked out against the other Iroquois
canoes. Demoralized, they fled.
[Since 1638, Ahatsistari had listened to the Jesuits. He was keenly interested
in their doctrines but he refused first to abandon his tribal ceremonies. But
later he asked for baptism, and in 1642] Father Jogues and the other missioners
held council, in the Huron fashion, and each of the natives who sought baptism
was called upon to argue his petition.
"I have the Faith deep down in my heart, and my actions during the past
winter have proved it sufficiently. In two days, I am departing on the warpath.
If I am killed, tell me: where will my soul go if you refuse me baptism? If
you saw into my heart as clearly as the great Master of our lives, I would already
be numbered among the Christians, and the fear of the flames of hell wound not
accompany me, now that I am about to face death. I cannot baptize myself. All
that I can do is to declare with utmost honesty the desire that I have for it.
After I do that, if my soul be burned in hell, you will bear the guilt of it.
Whatever you may decide to do, however, I will always pray to God, since I know
Him. Perhaps he will have mercy on me, for you say that He is wiser than you
are."
"What made you first think of believing in God?" one of the Fathers questioned
him.
"Even before you came into this country", Ahatsistari responded, "I had
escaped from a great many perils in which my comrades were killed. I saw very
clearly that it was not I who saved myself from these dangers. I had the thought
that some spirit, most powerful and unknown to me, was favorable to me and aided
me. We peoples attribute all of our good fortune to dreams. But I was convinced
that all that was only nonsense. Still, I did not know much about it. When I
heard of the greatness of the God whom you preach, and of what Jesus Christ
had done when he was on earth, I recognized Him as the being who had preserved
me. I was resolved to honor Him all my life. When I went to war, I recommended
myself to Him night and morning. It is to Him that all my victories are due.
He it is in whom I believe. I ask for baptism, so that He may have pity on me
after my death."
Ahatsistari was solemnly baptized in the chapel of Sainte Marie on March 30
and was given the name Eustace.
Excerpt from Chapter VI "Driving ever Westward" from
Saint among savages, the life of Saint Isaac Jogues, by Francis Talbot S. J.
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Saint among savages, the life of Saint Isaac Jogues
She is is popularly known as the patroness saint of Native Americans and First Nations Peoples, integral ecology, and the environment. Saint Kateri was born in 1656 and lived much of her life around the site of the present-day Saint Kateri National Shrine and Historic Site in Fonda, New York. Saint Kateri and the Indigenous Peoples had, and have, an extensive knowledge of the natural world, acquired over thousands of years of direct contact with nature. Saint Kateri is an eyewitness of the land before it would be drastically altered and damaged.
Kateri’s baptismal name is “Catherine,” which in the Haudenosaunee (“Iroquois”) language is “Kateri.” Kateri’s Haudenosaunee name, “Tekakwitha,” can be translated as “One who places things in order” or “To put all into place.” Other translations include, “she pushes with her hands” and “one who walks groping for her way” (because of her faulty eyesight). She is also informally known as "Lily of the Mohawks". Father Peter Cholenic said that Kateri was so filled with the spirit of God, and tasted such sweetness in its possession, that her entire exterior gave testimony of it; her eyes, her gestures, her words were filled with divine love. If one were with her, it did not take long to be touched by it, and to be warmed with this heavenly fire.
There is a wonderful site dedicated to her (of which I took the above excerpts) where is her shrine.
Read more on Saint Kateri Tekakwita: Saint Kateri Shrine
Here is a portrait and a prayer from her prayer card:
The stained glass above is a photo from Loci Lenar collection (posted with his permission). He has quite a good collection of photos, a fascinating serie on autumn photos and he has an extremely large and beautiful collection of stained-glass photos. Check his work here Loci Lenar poetry on flickr