Sainte-Marie among the Hurons
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Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons (French: Sainte-Marie-au-pays-des-Hurons) was a French Jesuit settlement in Wendake, the land of the Wendat, near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first non-aboriginal settlement in what is now the province of Ontario. Eight missionaries from Sainte-Marie were martyred, and were canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1930. A reconstruction of the mission now operates as a living museum.
Another nearby historic site, Carhagouha, marks the spot where an earlier Recollet missionary to Wendake, Fr. Joseph LeCaron, presided in 1615 over the first Catholic mass ever conducted in what is now Ontario.
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[edit] History
Established in 1639, the mission acted as a centre and base of operations for Jesuit missionaries in the region as they worked amongst the Huron. It also provided an example of a functioning European community to the Huron. The mission was built near the Huron settlement of Quieunonascaranas, led by chief Auoindaon.
The mission was initially founded by 18 men. Arriving in November 1639, they erected a makeshift shelter out of cypress pillars and a birch bark roof, using clay to build in the interior walls. After the arrivial of carpenter Charles Boivin, further construction resulted in a chapel, a residence for the Jesuits, a cookhouse, a smithy and other buildings.
[edit] Missionary life
A small group of religiously devoted men, also known as donnés, worked at the mission in return for food, clothing, and shelter. Also there were engagés, or hired men, and non-clerical Jesuits known as lay brothers. The Jesuits preached the Christian Gospel to the Huron, often adapting the story to more familiar local customs. One of the most famous examples of this was the "Huron Carol", a Christmas hymn written by Jean de Brébeuf. A translated version of this song remains popular in Canadian churches to this day.
Soldiers had a small but important presence at the mission. Twenty-two soldiers wintered at Saint Marie in 1644, but many of the Jesuits resisted the idea of a military presence, as they feared the soldiers would "bring the worst of Europe" with them.
The establishment of the mission led to division amongst the Wendat, with conflict between those who converted to Christianity and those who maintained their traditional beliefs. Disease, an unintended result of first contact between the Jesuits, their farm animals and the Wendat, served to further the gap between the traditional Wendat and the missionaries. Also during this time, the rivalry between the Wendat and Iroquois began to reignite, and the Wendat were weakened by their internal divisions and their losses from the conflict.
[edit] War and martyrdom
With Iroquois aggression on the rise, an additional six soldiers were dispatched from France in 1649. The weakened Wendat nation was little match for the strengthened Iroquois who had used their trading alliances with the Dutch to gain firearms.
Eight of the missionaries—St. Jean de Brébeuf (1649), St. Noël Chabanel (1649), St. Antoine Daniel (1648), St. Charles Garnier (1649), St. René Goupil (1642), St. Isaac Jogues (1646), St. Jean de Lalande (1646), and St. Gabriel Lallemant (1649)—were martyred in the Huron-Iroquois wars. Owing to the proximity of their deaths to Sainte-Marie, the bodies of Brébeuf and Lalemant were quickly recovered by the French and buried at the mission.
[edit] The burning of Sainte-Marie
On June 16, 1649 the missionaries chose to burn the mission rather than risk seeing it desecrated or permanently overrun by Iroquois in further attacks. Fr. Paul Ragueneau wrote,
we ourselves set fire to it, and beheld burn before our eyes and in less than one hour, our work of nine or ten years.
Before the burning, the decision had already been made that Brébeuf and Lalemant would be canonized. The duty fell to shoemaker Christophe Regnault to extract the bones of the two men. Regnault exhumed the bodies, placed them into a lye solution and wrapped the bones in linens. The men's flesh remains were reburied together in the same grave.
The missionaries travelled to Gahoendoe with the Wendat in an effort to construct a second mission designed especially for defence. It was named Ste Marie II. However a severe winter and the constant threat of Iroquois attack eventually forced the French from the area, and they travelled back to New France. The bones of Brébeuf and Lalemant were taken on both trips, and continue to exist today as holy relics and the site of Ste Marie II can be visited across from the Anglican Church on Christian Island.
[edit] Modern reconstruction
The site lay dormant until 1844, when Jesuit Fr. Pierre Chazelle conducted initial site excavations. Father Félix Martin continued this in 1855, and in 1940 the Society of Jesus purchased the property where Sainte-Marie stood. In 1941, Kenneth Kidd of the Royal Ontario Museum undertook the first scientific excavations of the site. Wilfrid and Elsie Jury of the University of Western Ontario undertook additional excavations, and in 1954 the graves of Brébeuf and Lalemant were discovered by Fr. Dennis Hegarty.
Sainte-Marie has been rebuilt as a historical site and living museum. All of the buildings and all the contents are reproductions. It is a popular tourist attraction, drawing thousands of visitors each week during the summer months. The site is managed by Huronia Historical Parks.
The eight martyred missionaries were canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930, and are collectively known in Canada as the Canadian Martyrs. The site, adjacent to the Martyrs' Shrine, was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1984 as part of his papal visit to Canada.
On August 22, 2006, three of the reconstructed buildings—the blacksmith forge, carpenter's workshop and the chapel—were severely damaged in a fire and will be reconstructed.
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