Saint Gabriel Lalemant, martyr
Il était originaire de Paris,
mais il ne pouvait rester à enseigner la théologie ou la philosophie. Il arrive
à convaincre son provincial jésuite de l’envoyer comme missionnaire au Canada.
Il y rejoint Jean de Brébeuf et évangélise avec lui les indiens Hurons. En
1649, les tribus indiennes des Iroquois reprennent le sentier de la guerre
contre les Hurons et les deux religieux jésuites sont faits prisonniers,
torturés, avec d'autres prisonniers chrétiens. Les souffrances sont
insoutenables à décrire. Ils entrent dans la paix de Dieu en 1649.
Saint Gabriel Lalemant
Martyr au
Canada (✝ 1649)
Il était originaire de
Paris, mais il ne pouvait rester à enseigner la théologie ou la philosophie. Il
arrive à convaincre son provincial jésuite à devenir missionnaire au Canada. Il
y rejoint Jean de Brébeuf et évangélise avec lui les indiens Hurons. En 1649,
les tribus indiennes des Iroquois reprennent le sentier de la guerre contre les
Hurons et les deux religieux jésuites sont faits prisonniers, torturés, avec
d'autres prisonniers chrétiens. Les souffrances sont insoutenables à décrire.
Ils entrent dans la paix de Dieu en 1649.
Jean
de Brébeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles
Garnier, Antoine
Daniel, Noël
Chabanel, Isaac
Jogues, René
Goupil, Jean
de La Lande, canonisés en 1930, patrons secondaires du Canada
depuis 1940, ils sont devenus des figures nationales proposées en exemples à
l'Église universelle. Avec nos découvreurs et nos fondateurs, ils sont nos
architectes: leurs courses ont tracé nos routes d'eau et de fer; ils ont fixé
le site de maintes de nos cités et donné leurs noms à d'innombrables
institutions (hôpitaux, universités, collèges, écoles), à des villages, des
paroisses, des routes et des rues du Québec. Davantage, c'est jusqu'au cœur
même du sol qu'ils ont pénétré par leur sang répandu. (Les saints martyrs canadiens - diocèse
d'Edmundston)
La célébration liturgique des saints martyrs canadiens a lieu le 26
septembre au Canada et le 19 octobre dans l'Église universelle.
Chez les Hurons au Canada, en 1649, la passion de saint Gabriel Lalemant,
prêtre de la Compagnie de Jésus. Avec toute la vigueur de son zèle, il répandit
la connaissance de Dieu dans ce peuple, et dans sa propre langue, jusqu’au jour
où des ennemis, adorateurs d’idoles, le traînèrent aux supplices les plus
cruels.
Martyrologe romain
LALEMANT, GABRIEL, prêtre,
jésuite, missionnaire et martyr, né à Paris le 3 octobre 1610, tué
par les Iroquois le 17 mars 1649, canonisé par le pape Pie XI le
29 juin 1930.
Gabriel Lalemant était fils d’un avocat
au parlement de Paris. La Relation de 1649 insinue qu’il
appartenait à la noblesse : « Quoy que quittant le monde, il eût
quitté la part que sa naissance luy donnoit à des charges honorables ». Il
avait 20 ans quand, le 24 mars 1630, il entrait au noviciat de Paris.
Deux ans plus tard, il obtenait de ses supérieurs la permission d’ajouter aux
trois vœux ordinaires de religion celui de se consacrer aux missions étrangères ;
14 ans s’écouleront entre l’émission de ce vœu et l’arrivée de Gabriel au
Canada. Dans l’intervalle, il est professeur au collège de Moulins (1632–1635),
étudie la théologie à Bourges (1635–1639), il est ministre des pensionnaires au
collège de La Flèche (1639–1641), professeur de philosophie au collège de
Moulins (1641–1644), préfet du collège de Bourges (1644–1646). Le Journal
des Jésuites note son arrivée à la date du 20 septembre 1646.
Sur son séjour à Québec (1646–1648) nous savons peu de choses. Au début de
septembre 1648, il arrivait à Sainte-Marie-des-Hurons, et il était appliqué à
l’étude de la langue. Les succès furent si rapides qu’en février 1649 il
remplaçait à la mission Saint-Louis le père Chabanel, appelé ailleurs.
Le 16 mars 1649, une
armée de 1000 Iroquois envahit le bourg Saint-Ignace et s’en empare presque
sans coup férir, avant le lever du soleil. De là, elle se rend à la mission
Saint-Louis, distante d’une lieue. Ici, les Hurons se défendent énergiquement,
repoussent un premier et un second assaut. Mais comme les Iroquois ont le
nombre, ils ont aussi la victoire.
Jean de Brébeuf et Gabriel Lalemant
étaient alors à la mission Saint-Louis. On leur conseille de fuir ; ils
refusent, « et pendant la chaleur du combat, leur cœur n’estoit que feu
pour le salut des ames ». Dès qu’ils sont fait captifs, on les dépouille
de leurs vêtements, on leur arrache les ongles et on les conduit au bourg
Saint-Ignace (à mi-chemin entre Coldwater et Vasey, dans le comté de Simcoe, en
Ontario).
Brébeuf mourut le 16 mars, à quatre
heures de l’après-midi. Lalemant a-t-il eu connaissance des souffrances de son
confrère ? Nous ne le savons pas. Quant à lui, son martyre commença le
16 mars, à six heures du soir, et dura jusqu’au lendemain matin. Voici ce
que la Relation en à retenu : « Dans le plus fort de ces
tourmens, le Pere Gabriel Lallement levoit les yeux au Ciel, joignant les mains
de fois à autres, et jettant des soûpirs à Dieu qu’il invoquoit à son
secours ». Il « avait receu un coup de hache sur l’oreille gauche,
qu’ils lui avoient enfoncé jusque dans la cervelle qui paroissoit à
découvert ; nous ne vismes aucune partie de son corps, depuis les pieds
jusqu’à la teste qui n’eut esté grillée, et dans laquelle il n’eut esté bruslé
tout vif ; mesme les yeux où ces impies avoient fourré des charbons
ardens ».
Son corps, enterré avec celui de
Brébeuf, sous la chapelle de la résidence Sainte-Marie, était levé et
transporté à Québec au printemps de 1650.
ACSM, Mémoires
touchant la mort et les vertus des pères Isaac Jogues, etc. (Ragueneau), repr. RAPQ,
1924–25 : 3–93 passim.— JJ (Laverdière et Casgrain).— JR
(Thwaites), XXXIV : 24–36 (source principale sur Gabriel Lalemant).— Positio
causae.— Récit veritable du martyre et de la bien heureuse mort, du Pere
Jean de Brebœuf et du Pere Gabriel l’Alemant en la Nouvelle france, dans le
pays des hurons par les Iroquois, ennemis de la Foy, RAC,
1884 : xivs., lx–lxii.— Léon Pouliot, Notice sur Gabriel Lalemant, dans
Les Saints Martyrs canadiens (Montréal, 1949), 25–28, 115–121.— Rochemonteix, Les
Jésuites et la N.-F. au XVIIe siècle,
II.
Gabriel Lalemant
Jesuit missionary, b. at Paris, 10 October, 1610, d. in the Huron country, 17 March 1649. He was the nephew of Charles and Jerome Lalemant, and became a Jesuit at Paris, 24 March 1630. He arrived in Canada, 20 September, 1646 and after remaining in Quebec for two years, was
sent to the Huron missions as de Brébeuf's assistant. He was scarcely there a month when
the Iroquois attacked the settlement of St. Ignatius which they burned, and then
descended on the mission of St. Louis where they found de Brébeuf and Lalemant. After setting fire to the village and killing many of the
inhabitants, they led the two priests back to St. Ignatius where they were tied to stakes
and after horrible torture put to death. Lalemant stood by while his companion was being killed. De Brébeuf expired at three in the afternoon. Lalemant's suffering began at six
that evening and lasted until nine o'clock next morning. When the Iroquois withdrew, the bodies of the two priests were carried over to St. Mary's where they were interred. Some of the relics of Lalemant were subsequently carried to Quebec.
Sources
Relations,
passim; ROCHEMONTEIX, Les Jesuites de la Nouvelle France; MARTIN, Hurons et
Iroquois; FERLAND, Histoire du Canada; Journal des Jesuites.
MLA citation.
Campbell, Thomas. "Gabriel Lalemant." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 16 Mar. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08752b.htm>.
Gabriel Lalemant / l6lO - 1649
by ANGUS MACDOUGALL
Three Lalemants made their mark as Jesuit blackrobes in 17th century Canada.
There was Charles, the first to come, brother of Jerome and uncle of Gabriel.
Charles landed at Quebec with Brebeuf in 1625. After his enforced return to
France in 1629 and after the restoration of New France in 1632, Charles
continued his missionary role by acting as procurator for the mission of
Canada.
His brother, Jerome, a very
illustrious Jesuit in 17th century Que-bec, followed in Charles' footsteps and
arrived in Canada in 1638. He immediately set out for Huronia and replaced the
wonderful Jean de Brebeuf as superior of the Huron mission. To him fell the
task of building Sainte-Marie, the ambitious central mission residence, and it
was he who, in great measure, systematized the evangelization of the growing
mission to the Hurons and their neighbors the Tobaccos and the Nipis sings.
Jerome went to Quebec in
1645 to assume control of the whole Canadian mission and so was at the helm
during the difficult days of Iroquois attacks and the eventual destruction of
the Hurons and their flourishing mission.
A truly eminent Jesuit in
his time, Jerome was the advisor of gover-nors, Bishop Lava' and the other
leaders of New France; he was a talented and devoted superior; a gifted
director of souls, and a man much esteemed for his wisdom, prudence and
charity. He served the Canadian mission long and well and has left us some of
the finest Rela-tions, especially those of 1646-49 and 1660-64.
GABRIEL THE NEPHEW
Gabriel, the nephew of Charles and Jerome, arrived in Quebec only many years
after his uncles, but his martyrdom at the hands of the Iroquois in March 1649
has given him the place of honor among these splendid 17th century Lalemants.
Our martyr was born in
Paris, October 31, 1610. He was the son of an able French jurist and the third
of six children, five of whom entered the religious life. His older brother
Bruno became a Carthusian monk, three sisters became nuns, and Gabriel entered
the Jesuit Order on March 24, 1630, at the age of nineteen. The youngest child,
a boy, grew up to be, like his father, a successful lawyer and an admirable
Christian.
His family must have been
surely a deeply christian one, for Gabriel's mother was left a widow with young
children and brought them up well and with a profound sense of dedication. She
herself, after her children had reached maturity and after the martyrdom of her
son Gabriel, joined the Recollectines and ended her days in seclusion and
prayer.
Gabriel, after his
novitiate, taught for several years in various Jesuit colleges. He then made
his theological studies at Bourges and was ordained a priest in that city in
1638. After the priesthood he con-tinued to teach, being professor of
philosophy at Moulins, and later was "prefect" at the famous college
of La Fleche. But ever since his ordination Gabriel had begged his superiors to
send him to the mis sion of New France. The example of his exemplary uncles
spurred him on.
TO NEW FRANCE - 1646
We know that Gabriel was not very robust. Indeed, Father Bressani, a fellow
missionary in New France and among the Hurons, referred to him as a man of
extremely frail constitution. This, no doubt, was the main reason for deferring
his departure for Quebec. However, his obvious goodness, generosity and
insistence overcame all obstacles in 1646.
His uncle Jerome welcomed
him to Quebec but hesitated to send him up to Huronia. He knew from his own
experience the difficulties and rigors of that mission. So for the first two
years he applied Gabriel to priestly ministry in and around Quebec and at Three
Rivers, the great trading centre. In 1648 he had even decided to send him among
the Algonkian Montagnais who were not too far from Quebec.
However, circumstances
changed and the uncle finally allowed him to leave for Huronia along with
Fathers Bressani, Bonin, Daran and Greslon and a large party of Frenchmen and
Hurons. After all, the Iroquois menace was a real one and both French and
Hurons had to travel in large numbers for their own safety and protection. They
reached Huronia in August 1648.
AUGUST TO MARCH 1648-49
The new missionary among the Hurons, now thirty-eight years of age, seemed
right in his element. He studied the difficult Huron language at the village of
Ossossane under the direction of the able Father Chau-monot. The experienced
missionary marvelled at his pupil's rapid pro-gress in the language and later
remarked to Jerome Lalemant how seriously and successfully his nephew had
applied himself to this task.
When Gabriel was deemed
ready for more active missionary work he was sent by the superior, Father Paul
Ragueneau, to assist the great veteran Jean de Brebeuf. In February 1649 he
relieved Father Noel Chabanel who then left for the more distant mission of
Saint-Jean among the Tobaccos. It was an eventful change for both of them!
Little did Gabriel know,
but he would have only a month of active apostolic labor at the side of the
admirable Brebeuf. Both were ex-tremely good and zealous priests, so we can
well imagine how content they must have been making the rounds of their mission
that comprised five villages to the east of Sainte-Marie. St. Ignace and St.
Louis are the two we remember best.
As the frontiers of Huronia
had shrunk under the incessant incur-sions by the Iroquois, villages like St.
Ignace and St. Louis suddenly became alarmingly exposed to the attacks of the
enemy. Indeed in March 1649, most of the Huron warriors from the villages were
scour-ing the woods to discover the whereabouts of the enemy - but in vain! The
crafty Iroquois - 1200 strong and well armed - had outwitted the Hurons and had
arrived in the vicinity of St. Ignace completely un-detected.
Early in the morning of
March 16, 1649, as the light of day was breaking, they found the one weak and
unprotected spot in the pali-saded village and swiftly broke in and overran the
place. Five hundred Hurons, mostly older people, women and children, were
quickly sub-dued. Some were killed instantly but most were taken prisoner. Only
three managed to escape to warn St. Louis of this disaster and of what was to
come.
It was like a death blow to
an already staggering Huronia.
CAPTURE
At St. Louis, the old people, the sick, the women and children im-mediately
fled off to other Huron villages. Only eighty warriors were left and these were
resolved to fight the enemy and gain valuable time for the fleeing villagers.
And with these eighty stayed the two mission-aries Brebeuf and Lalemant.
Despite the pleas of the Hurons that they escape while there was time, the two
fathers preferred to remain in this hour of crisis. As Ragueneau, their friend,
would say later: "the salvation of their flock was dearer to them than
life itself."
About an hour later the
Iroquois surrounded St. Louis and pressed their attack. The eighty Hurons
fought desperately to keep them at bay. And all the while Brebeuf and Lalemant,
amid the din and shouting, busied themselves with encouragement, confessions
and baptisms.
When one pagan Huron,
dismayed at the sight of so many Iroquois attackers, wished to run away,
Stephen Annaotaha, a Christian and outstanding warrior, rebuked him sharply
with "What, could we for-sake these two good fathers who have exposed
their lives for us? Their love of our salvation will be the cause of their death.
They cannot escape now over the snow, so let us die with them and we shall go
to heaven with them."
On the third assault the
village fell into the hands of the Iroquois. The few remaining Hurons and the
two blackrobes were seized and led off in triumph. They would provide the
victors with much sport!
HOURS OF AGONY
"As soon as they were taken captive," wrote Ragueneau, "the
Iroquois stripped them of their clothes and tore off some of their nails. When
they reached the village of St. Ignace, they were welcomed with a hail-storm of
blows on the shoulders, the back, the legs, the stomach, the chest and the
face, until there did not remain a single part of their bodies without
pain."
Then the two fathers were
dragged into the centre of the village and fastened to stakes. Now the torture
became deliberate and fiendish. They were burned with firebrands, their flesh
was pierced with sharp awls, collars of red-hot hatchets were strung around
their necks, their flesh was ripped and torn away, and belts of burning pitch
were fasten-ed to their bodies. Cruelty was heaped upon cruelty.
At the height of these
dreadful torments, Father Gabriel, we are told by Huron witnesses, lifted his
eyes to heaven, joined his hands from time to time, and, breathing a sigh to
God, invoked His help.
Later the aroused
executioners gouged out his eyes and put burning coals in the sockets, and
then, in mockery of the baptisms he had per-formed so recently at St. Louis,
they poured scalding hot water over him in order, they jeered, to send him the
more quickly to heaven.
Gabriel's companion,
Brebeuf, died from his tortures about 4 p.m., that March 16th. Gabriel, frail
though he was, endured his dreadful sufferings all that day and throughout the
night, dying only, after a hatchet blow over his left ear, at 9 a.m. the
following day. As a final gesture the Iroquois tore out his heart and devoured
it in order to imbibe some of his courage!
After the sudden withdrawal
of the Iroquois war party from the area on March 19th, seven Frenchmen went to
St. Ignace to carry the bodies of the two fathers to Sainte-Marie. There, on
Sunday, March 21st, their bodies - "precious relics" - were buried.
Ragueneau, the superior at
Sainte-Marie, recalled the scene: "All who assisted at their obsequies
were filled with such consolation and tender devotion that, far from being
afraid, they hoped for a similar death for themselves."
And thus it was that the
last to enter the lists of Huronia was one of the first to win the crown. He
had spent only six months in the land of martyrs. But for him it had been an
intense period of accomplishing much in a short time.
THE SERVANT OF GOD
For so long he had wished to give up everything for the salvation of souls. In
his diary he spoke of his readiness to be a holocaust in the service of God and
of his desire to make amends for any offences in his life by extraordinary
suffering. And he had prayed that his missionary work and sufferings would
bring blessings upon his beloved mother and the family to whom he was so indebted.
A Jesuit for nineteen
years, Gabriel showed forth remarkable purity of conscience, unmistakable union
with God, and a sincere love of others. Serious, reserved and gentle he was
much beloved by all who knew him. Even in the few months he lived among the
Hurons he had endeared himself to them by his ministrations. They called him
Ati-ronta, the name of a Huron chief.
Ragneneau, his first
biographer, wrote that Gabriel had died for the cause of God and had found in
Huronia the cross of Christ which he had sought.
His uncle, Jerome Lalemant,
had to break the news of his death to the family in France. He wrote to his
niece - Gabriel's sister - the carmelite nun in typical Lalemant fashion:
"What happiness for our family . . . it seems to me the news should help
you raise your heart and mind to God."
Gabriel Lalemant, the
martyr, was officially recognized and pro-claimed as such by Pope Pius XI on
June 29th, 1930. In popular devo-tion his memory is always linked with that of
Jean de Brebeuf with whom he labored and died.
SOURCE
: http://www.wyandot.org/lalemant.htm
ST. GABRIEL LALEMANT (1610 –
1649)
Gabriel was the nephew of
Charles and Jerome Lalemant, who were brothers, and who worked as Jesuit
priests in the wilderness of Quebec and Ontario, when the Jesuits first came to
New France. Gabriel was born in Paris, on October 31, 1610. In 1630, at the age
of nineteen, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Paris. Hearing stories from his
own Uncle Charles, about the missionary work in New France, filled him with
desire to go to convert the savage Indians. And even though his own family did
not want him to go to the savage land of New France, Gabriel was not one to
allow his family to stand between himself and doing God's holy will. Still, he
loved his family very much, and wrote the following note: "I am
indebted to my relatives, to my mother and to my brothers, and I must try to
draw down on them the mercy of God. Never permit, O God, that any of my family,
for whom Thou hast shown so much love, perish in Thy sight, or that there be
one amongst them who will blaspheme Thee for all eternity in Hell. Let me be a
victim for them!"
Gabriel completed his
novitiate and took his vows of Chastity, Poverty, and Obedience, in 1632.
Inspired by God, he also added a fourth vow: to consecrate himself to the
foreign missions. At the same time God tested his patience, because he had to
wait sixteen years before he was given permission to go to New France.
Gabriel Lalemant was sent
immediately after his novitiate to teach in the college at Moulins. He worked
there for three years before he went to study theology at Bourges. There he was
ordained in 1638. The following year Fr. Lalemant was appointed prefect of
students in the college of La Fleche, and in 1641, he was sent to teach
philosophy at Moulins. He was prefect in the college at Bourges, in 1646, when
the news reached him that he had been chosen for the missions in New France—his
poor health had been the cause of the long delay.
After three months of
crossing the ocean, Gabriel arrived in Quebec, in September 1646, where he was
welcomed by his Uncle Jerome Lalemant; the Superior of all the missions of New
France. Fr. Lalemant wanted to go at once to some Indian tribe to begin the
study of their language. But his uncle was unwilling to send him to Huronia,
because he already knew from his own experience, how difficult it was to work
in the missions. So for the next two years he had Fr. Lalemant do his ministry
in and around Quebec and at Trois-Rivières among the French colonists.
Before coming to New
France, Gabriel had consecrated himself to Our Lord for the purpose of
receiving from His hand a violent death, either in exposing himself among the
plague-stricken in France, or in seeking to save the souls of savages in New
France. And he esteemed it a favour if he were allowed to die for God's glory
in the flower of his age. The favour that Fr. Lalemant so greatly desired was
to be granted to him in all its fullness. On July 24, 1648, he was allowed to
leave Quebec City for Trois-Rivières, to join the Hurons on their return
homewards.
Carrying their goods was
one the hardest tasks that the missionaries had to endure on their tiresome
journeys westward, and after one of those tiring spells both Indian and white
men rested for a few hours, often for the night. At last in the beginning of
September 1648, after the tiring journey up the Ottawa River, across Lake
Nipissing and down the French River, Fr. Lalemant reached Fort St. Marie, the
headquarters of the Jesuits in Huronia. This was also a place where the
Christians found a hospital when sick, a refuge when panic-stricken, and a
shelter when they went to visit the priests and Frenchmen.
Fr. Lalemant, who was now
thirty-eight years old, studied the difficult Huron language at the village of
Ossossané under the direction of Fr. Chaumonot.
By 1649, the Iroquois had
grown angrier. The massacre of Fr. Antoine Daniel and his people at
Teanaostaye, in July 1648, served as a warning to the recent converts and
catechumens of the various Huron villages, to prepare for the worst. It also
acted as an encouragement for them to lead better lives, and as a result, a
wave of fervour swept over the land. Between July 1648 and March 1649, the
missionary priests baptised more than 1400 Hurons. Missionaries as well as
Indians believed that they were on the eve of a catastrophe, and no one was
penetrated with this feeling more than Fr. Gabriel Lalemant who had long before
desired to sacrifice his life. He wrote: "My Jesus and my Love, Thy
blood shed for barbarians as well as for us, must be efficaciously applied for
their salvation. Aided by Thy grace, I offer myself to co-operate in this work
and to sacrifice myself for them."
Early in the morning on
March 16, 1649, 1200 Iroquois ran into the poorly protected village of St.
Ignace. Five hundred Hurons; mostly older people, women and children, were
taken as prisoners and some were even killed. Three Hurons managed to escape to
warn the people at the St. Louis settlement that the Iroquois were coming to
attack their village. At St. Louis, the women and children, the sick and old
people, quickly hurried away to other Huron villages. Only eighty Huron
warriors were left to fight off the Iroquois and with them stayed Fr. Brébeuf
and Fr. Lalemant. The Christians begged the two priests to flee and save
themselves, but these two good priests refused to leave their flock, which was
dearer to them than their own lives. While the Iroquois were killing and
scalping the Hurons, the two saints stood in the midst of them, baptising,
giving them absolution and encouraging them to die for the Catholic Faith.
The Iroquois set fire to
St. Louis and hurried back to St. Ignace with the two priests. The priests were
stripped naked, had some of their nails torn out and were beaten with clubs
until there did not remain a single part of their bodies that was not in pain.
Like Fr. Brébeuf, Fr.
Lalemant received the same terrible treatment: his flesh was pierced with sharp
awls, red hot hatchets were applied to his loins and under his armpits, and a
necklace of red hot hatchets was hung around his neck! Boiling water too, was
poured over him until his entire body was bathed in it. The wretches also
applied burning torches to Fr. Lalemant’s body, gouged out his eyes and put
burning coals in the empty holes! The more the two priests were tortured, the
more they begged God to pardon their evil enemies. Fr. Brébeuf died from his
tortures about 4:00 p.m. on March 16th.
Fr. Lalemant, who was of a
more delicate nature than Fr. Brébeuf, raised his eyes to Heaven and with
sighs, begged God to come to his aid. The Iroquois split his jaws, drew his
mouth wide open and drove burning brands down his throat. The torturers left
Fr. Lalemant's charred body entire so that his sufferings might cause him more
pain during the coming night!
In all, our saint had to
endure his sufferings for fifteen hours before he died. His soul sped to Heaven
on the following morning, March 17th, when the Iroquois smashed his
skull with a hatchet and left his brain exposed. Fr. Lalemant also had his
heart torn out and eaten by the Iroquois, who hoped to gain some of his courage
by doing so.
Fr. Lalemant’s precious
remains were carried to Fort St. Marie, and he and Fr. Brébeuf were buried on
Sunday March 21st. Barely seven months had passed, and Gabriel
Lalemant had received the crown of martyrdom. The baptisms of more than 2,700
savages after his death proved that the blood he shed had helped to convert the
pagan Indians.
St. Gabriel Lalemant: pray for us
LALEMANT, GABRIEL, priest, Jesuit, missionary and martyr; canonized by
Pope Pius XI, 29 June 1930; b. 3 Oct. 1610 in
Paris; killed by the Iroquois 17 March 1649.
Gabriel Lalemant was the son of a lawyer in the
judicial court (Parlement) of Paris. The 1649 Relation implies that he
belonged to the nobility: “Although, in leaving the world, he had left the
share which his birth gave him in honorable offices. . . .” He was 20
when he entered the noviciate in Paris on 24 March 1630. Two years
later he was granted permission by his superiors to add to the three usual
religious vows that of devoting himself to foreign missions; 14 years were to
elapse between the taking of this vow and Gabriel’s arrival in Canada. In the
interval he was a teacher at the Collège in Moulins (1632-35), studied theology
at Bourges (1635–39), was minister to the boarding-school pupils at the Collège
in La Flèche (1639–41), was philosophy teacher at the Collège in Moulins
(1641–44), and prefect of the Collège in Bourges (1644–46). The Journal des
Jésuites records his arrival under the date 20 Sept. 1646. We
know little about his stay in Quebec (1646–48). Early in September 1648 he
arrived at Sainte-Marie-des-Hurons and he was diligent in the study of the
language. His success was so prompt that in February 1649 he replaced at
the Saint-Louis mission Father Noël Chabanel, who had been called away.
On 16 March 1649, a war-party of 1,000
Iroquois overran the little town of Saint-Ignace and captured it before
sunrise, almost without striking a blow. From there they went on to the
Saint-Louis mission, about a league away. Here the Hurons defended themselves
stoutly, and drove back two separate attacks. But by weight of numbers the
Iroquois were victorious here as well.
Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were at that time at the
Saint-Louis mission. They were urged to flee; they refused, “and, during the
heat of the combat, their hearts were only fire for the salvation of souls.” As
soon as they were captured they were stripped of their clothes, their nails
were torn out, and they were taken to the little town of Saint-Ignace (half-way
between Coldwater and Vasey, in the county of Simcoe, Ontario).
Brébeuf died 16 March, at four in the
afternoon. Was Lalemant aware of his fellow missionary’s suffering? We do not
know. As for him, his martyrdom began 16 March at six in the evening and
lasted until the following morning. Here is the account of it given in the Relation:
“At the height of these torments, Father Gabriel Lallemant lifted his eyes to
Heaven, clasping his hands from time to time and uttering sighs to God, whom he
invoked to his aid.” He “had received a hatchet blow on the left ear, which
they had driven into his brain, which appeared exposed: we saw no part of his
body, from the feet even to the head, which had not been broiled, and in which
he had not been burned alive, – even the eyes, into which those impious
ones had thrust burning coals.”
His body, buried with Brébeuf’s beneath the chapel
of the Sainte-Marie residence, was taken up and moved to Quebec in the spring
of 1650.
Almost all that we know about Gabriel Lalemant we owe to the Relation
of 1649 (JR (Thwaites), XXXIV, 24–36). JJ (Laverdière et Casgrain), passim. See
also ACSM, “Mémoires touchant la mort et les vertus des pères Isaac Jogues
. . .” (Ragueneau), repr. APQ Rapport, 1924–25, 3–93, passim. Positio
causae. Christophe Regnaut, “Récit veritable du martyre et de la bien
heureuse mort, du Père Jean de Breboeuf et du Père Gabriel l’Alemant en la
Nouvelle France, dans le pays des hurons par les Iroquois, ennemis de la foy,”
1678, in PAC Report, 1884, Note E. 1xiii. Léon Pouliot, “Notice sur
Gabriel Lalemant,” dans Les saints martyrs canadiens (Montréal, 1949),
25–28; 115–21. Rochemonteix, Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France au XVIIe
siècle, II.
Voir aussi :
http://www.unicaen.fr/mrsh/prefen/notices/3681jb.pdf
