The Irish standard., 1917-09-29

great Father La Moyne was sent in his
place, and when it was found that
the outlook was favorable, Father
Chaumonot and Father Dablon were
chosen for the work.
They started out on October 4, 1856.
and reached Lake Ontario on the 24th
At Onondaga they were received with
demonstrations of the greatest Joy.
Father Chaumonot addressed the as
sembly in an impressive speech and
amazed the Indians by his eloquence
and his mastery of their language. On
November IA, he celebrated Mass in
a little bark chapel whose site has
been fixed, beyond doubt, by General
Clarke and is described in Hawley's
early Chapters" The mission was
called st. John the Baptist.
The Indians, however, wanted set
tiers as we'll as black-robes, and to
satisfy them, Father Dablon set out
with a guide and travelled over the
ice to Quebec to ask for white men.
His appeal was listened to and on July
II, 1856, a flotilla of canoes containing
fifty Frenchmen and a number Of saw
ages Of various tribes was seen pad
ding across Lake Onondaga, and
making for Ganentaa, where a log
house was erected for the new estab.
lishment. On June 1, 1867, another
chapel was set up in the town of On
ondaga, and from there the mission
was extended to the Oneidas and Cay.
ugas. But on March %, 1868, when the
Onondagas awoke from their stupor
after a night Of gorging, dancing and
singing, there was not a white man
in the block house or any of the mis-
sions. Anticipating a general massa-
ere, they had all slipped away with
darkness and escaped to Montreal.
Father La Moyne ventured back
again among the Onondagas in 1861,
but was very badly treated. He was
stripped naked, dragged through the
streets by the bowling mob, and tied
to the stake to be burned to death;
but they extinguished the fire and re-
leased him. On another occasion he
was about to be tomahawked by saw
age and conditions became so bad that
he was compelled to take refuge
among the Cayugas.
1t was not until after Father De
Courcelles' expedition against the Iro-
quois in 1867, that missionary work
in the Mohawk Valley again became
possible. At Onondaga the prominent
figure was the great Father John de
Lamberville, who remained at his post
until the treachery of Governor De-
Nonville severed the relations of the
Iroquois and the French.
Upon Father Chaumonot's return to
Quebec, and for the next thirty-fve
years he was intrusted with the care
of the Huron Colony. His old affection
for Loretto, which he visited when a
ragged boy in Italy, asserted itself
again. on his return to Canada. When
with his Indians on the Isle d'Orleans
before he went down to Onondaga, he
was already laying the foundation of
his famous sanctuary by uniting it
with all the great shrines Of the Bless
ed Virgin in Europe. Thus he kept
to the Sodality of Paris what to the
white man must have been surpris-
ing gift; wampum belt and letter
of congratulation written on birch
bark. The belt, which was to be Of
fered to the Blessed Virgin, contained
the inscription cave Maria" worked
out in white and purple beads on a
white background. The letter con-
veyed the information that 1--WE have
nothing more precious in our hands
or holy in our hearts to be presented
to you"
''What has lasted in Loretto is the
Catholic faith, which was purchased
for them by the blood of Brebeuf,
Lalemant, GARNER, and Daniel, and
which they were anxious to preserve
when they asked to be taken to Que.
bee. Let us go there they said, lest
we lose our faith The mission chapel
is still there; its steeple pointing to
heaven still shows the road to the
children of the forest; its bell still
summons to prayer the last descend
ants of a people which soon will be
no more. Near the church is Gods
Acre, still dear as of old. The Huron
has lost nothing of his care of the
dead, but the arrows and the bows
which the hunter was to use in the
land beyond are replaced by the cross
which promises resurrection"
These were Chaumonot's Indians. He
had placed them especially under the
Blessed Virgins protection and she
took care of them. It was the same
devotion to the Mother of God which
prompted him to found the Congrega-
ton of the Holy Family, which is still
potent factor in Canadian religious
life. It gave great trouble in Fronte-
macs days by the refusal Of its austere
members to attend the State balls,
which were considered too worldly an