A Review of "Saint among Savages," by Francis X. Talbot

     

    Saint among Savages, by Fr. Francis X. Talbot is the gripping story of St. Isaac Jogues, the great Jesuit missionary to the Native Americans in Canada and New York who was martyred in 1646. Fr. Talbot tells his story in great detail and draws from many authoritative sources, including St. Isaac’s own letters and the Jesuit Relations. 

    Isaac Jogues was born in Orléans, France in 1607. He attended the Jesuit college in Orléans and entered the order in 1624. In 1636, he was ordained to the priesthood and immediately sent to evangelize the natives in New France. The Jesuits had played a major role in missionary activities there since the early 1610s when the first permanent French settlements were formed. These Jesuits took great pains to learn the native languages and customs so that they could reach the natives more easily. They were aided in this effort by "native people who served more or less willingly as informants, tutors, and translators."[1] This method of learning from the natives "required courage, patience, and humility."[2] Fr. Jogues possessed these virtues to a heroic degree. Before long, "[h]e had mastered the Huron tongue sufficiently well to converse easily" and "was habituated to the courtesies and customs of the natives."[3] He endured sickness, hostility from natives who viewed him as a sorcerer, and difficult living conditions, but his missionary efforts were met with great success.

    Six years into his mission, however, he was captured by marauding Iroquois. The Iroquois had long been the traditional enemies of the Hurons and they treated Fr. Jogues horribly. The priest escaped, however, and found refuge with the Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam before returning to France. Since he had lost two of the necessary fingers for celebrating Mass, he had to receive permission from the Pope to continue doing so. The Pope was more than happy to grant this permission to a man who had suffered so much for the faith.

    Fr. Jogues returned to New France and was chosen to represent France in a peacemaking delegation to the Iroquois. Among these people, he was treated with respect by the Wolf and Turtle clans, but with hatred by the Bear clan who regarded him as an evil sorcerer who kept an evil spirit in a chest he had left behind in a village. On October 18, 1646, a Mohawk brave of the Bear clan invited Fr. Jogues to a certain house. As soon as he entered it, a tomahawk fell down upon his head and killed him.

    Fr. Talbot relates all these events very eloquently and dramatically. His book reads like an exciting adventure novel, but it is also very informative about the customs of different Native American tribes and their relations with the French colonists. Most importantly, however, it tells us of a man who sought to lead all these people to Christ and faced sickness, torture, starvation, and death to do so.

[1] Margaret J. Leahey, "'Comment peut un muet prescher l'évangile?' Jesuit Missionaries and the Native Languages of New France," French Historical Studies 19, no. 1 (1995), 129.

[2] Michael Welton, "Cunning Pedagogics: The Encounter between the Jesuit Missionaries and Amerindians in 17th-Century New France," Adult Education Quarterly 55, no. 2 (2005), 102.

[3] Francis X. Talbot, Saint among Savages: The Life of St. Isaac Jogues (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2002), 125.