March 16

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St Jean Brébeuf Day

Jean de Brébeuf (1593-1649) was a Norman who entered the Society of Jesus in 1617 and, like all Jesuits of the time, was trained to expect torture and death in the mission fields. The evangelization of Canadian natives had been entrusted to the Récollet order but when they gave up in frustration at their lack of success, the Jesuits took up the challenge. Brébeuf was sent to Quebec in 1625 and he would spend the rest of his life there, except for the four years from 1629-33 when the English occupied the colony.

Despite enormous hardships Brébeuf was an effective missionary to the Huron people in the area of Georgian Bay. He compiled a Huron dictionary and grammar and wrote the continent’s first Christmas carol in order to teach his flock the meaning of the nativity. Part of the Jesuit approach to missions has always been cultural sensitivity so Brébeuf set the story of the birth of Jesus in terms the Hurons could understand. Here is an English translation of the original “Ehstehn yayau deh tsaun we yisus ahattonnia”:

Have courage, you who are human beings: Jesus, he is born

The okie spirit who enslaved us has fled

Don’t listen to him for he corrupts the spirits of our thoughts

Jesus, he is born

The okie spirits who live in the sky are coming with a message

They’re coming to say, “Rejoice!

Mary has given birth. Rejoice!”

Jesus, he is born

Three men of great authority have left for the place of his birth

Tiscient, the star appearing over the horizon leads them there

That star will walk first on the bath to guide them

Jesus, he is born

The star stopped not far from where Jesus was born

Having found the place it said,

“Come this way”

Jesus, he is born

As they entered and saw Jesus they praised his name

They oiled his scalp many times, anointing his head

with the oil of the sunflower

Jesus, he is born

They say, “Let us place his name in a position of honour

Let us act reverently towards him for he comes to show us mercy

It is the will of the spirits that you love us, Jesus,

and we wish that we may be adopted into your family

Jesus, he is born

The 1926 English version by Jesse Edgar Middleton which begins “‘Twas in the moon of winter-time” is now loved around the world.

In 1649 the Iroquois waged genocidal war on the Huron Brébeuf and other Jesuits captive. The Catholic Encyclopedia recounts his sufferings:

On entering the village, they were met with a shower of stones, cruelly beaten with clubs, and then tied to posts to be burned to death. Brébeuf is said to have kissed the stake to which he was bound. The fire was lighted under them, and their bodies slashed with knives. Brébeuf had scalding water poured on his head in mockery of baptism, a collar of red-hot tomahawk-heads placed around his neck, a red-hot iron thrust down his throat, and when he expired his heart was cut out and eaten. Through all the torture he never uttered a groan.

Brébeuf was canonized in 1930 along with the other Jesuits murdered by the Iroquois during those years; they are known collectively as The Martyrs of Canada and are among the patron saints of that country.

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