The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-09-29
Continued from page ID
An Historical Celebration


Iroquois, the first one to be thought OF
to make sure of the sincerity of the
request for a missionary post, was
Father Chaumonot, but he could not
leave his Hurons just then, and the
great Father La Moyne was sent in
his place. 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 oath.
At Onondaga they were received with
demonstrations of the greatest 10Y.
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 little bark chapel whose site has
been fixed, beyond doubt, by General
Clarke, and is described in Hawley's
EARLY Chapters (page 23). The
mission was called st. John the Bap-
fist.
The Indians, however, wanted set
tiers as well 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 con-
tanning fifty Frenchmen and number
of savages of various tribes was seen
padding across Lake Onondaga and
making for Ganentaa, where a log
house was erected for the new estab-
lishment. On June 1, 1857, another
chapel was set up in the town of
Onondaga, and from there the mission
was extended to the Oneidas and
Cayugas. But on March %, 1868,
when the Onondagas awole from their
stupor after night of gorging, dane
ing and singing, there was not white
man in the, block house or any of the
missions. Anticipating "a general
massacre, they had all slipped away
with darkness and escaped to Mon
treal.
Father La Moyne.
Father La Moyne ventured back
again among the Onondagas in 1861,
but was very badly treated. He was
stripped naked, dragged through the
street 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 a
savage, 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 1861, 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-ive
vol . liz w CI'o It'll uOtCu Will LlIC CdLO
of the Huron Colony. His old affec-
ton for Loretto, which he visited
when 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 Blessed Virgin in Europe. Thus
he sent to the Sodality of Paris what
to the white man must have been a.
surprising gift; wampum belt and a
letter of congratulation written on
birch bark. The belt, which was to
be offered to the Blessed Virgin, con-
tanned the inscription Ave Maria
worked out in white and purple beads
on a white background. The letter
conveyed the information that I'VE
have nothing more precious in our
hands or holy in our hearts to be pre-
sented to you."
What has lasted in Lorette 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; it's steeple point
ing to heaven still shows the road to-
the children of the forest; its bell
still summons to prayer the last
descendants of 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
The First sodality.
These were Chaumonot's Indians.
He had placed them especially under
the Blessed Virgins protection and
she took care of them. 1t was the
same devotion to the Mother of God
which prompted him to found the
Congregation of the Holy Family,
which is still a potent factor In Cana
dian religious life. It gave great
trouble in Frontenac's days BY the
refusal Of it's austere members To at-l