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St John de Brebeuf, priest and martyr

by VP


Posted on Thursday October 19, 2023 at 12:00AM in Saints


File:Canada-iroquios brébeuf lallemant.jpg

Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant stand ready for boiling water/fire "Baptism" and flaying by the Iroquois in 1649.


"Fathers Brebeuf and Lallemant and a few Huron warriors were made prisoners. The town was fired. Immediately after their capture the Fathers were stripped of their clothes, and their finger-nails torn out by the roots, and were borne in wild triumph to the village of St. Ignatius, which had been taken the same morning. On entering its gates they both received a share of blows on their shoulders, loins, and stomach, no part of their exposed bodies escaping contumely. In the midst of this cruelty the unconquerable De Brebeuf thought only of others. his eye kindling with fire, he addressed the Christian Hurons who were his fellow-captives: "My children! Let us lift up our eyes to heaven in the midst of our sufferings; let us remember that God is a witness of our torments, and that He will soon be our reward exceedingly great. Let us die in this faith, and trust in his goodness for the fulfillment of His promises. I feel more for you than for myself; but bear with courage the few torments which yet remain. They will terminate with our lives. The glory which will follow them will have no end! "Echon" they replied, " Our hope shall be in heaven, while our bodies are suffering on earth. Pray to God for us, that He will grant us mercy. We will invoke Him even unto death."

Enraged at these words of the heroic Jesuit, the Iroquois led him apart and bound him to a stake. These fiendish savages scorched him from head to foot to silence him, whereupon, in the tone of a master, he threatened them with everlasting flames for persecuting the worshipers of God. As he continued to speak with voice and countenance unchanged, they cut away his lower lip, and thrust a red-hot iron down his throat. He still held his lofty form erect and defiant, with no sign or sound of pain, and they tried another means to overcome him.

They led our Lallemant that De Brebeuf might see him tortured. They had tied strips of bark smeared with pitch about his naked body. When Lallemant saw the condition of his superior he could not hide his agitation, and called out to him, with a broken voice, in the words of St. Paul "We are made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men." Then he threw himself at De Brebeuf's feet, upon which the Iroquois seized him, made him fast to a stake, and set fire to the bark that enveloped him. As the flames rose he threw his arms upward with a shriek of supplication to heaven. Next they hung around De Brebeuf's neck a collar made of hatchets heated red-hot, but the indomitable priest stood it like a rock. A Huron in the crowd, who had been a convert of the mission, but was now an Iroquois by adoption, called out, with the malice of a renegade, to pour hot water on their heads, since they poured so much cold water on those of others, The kettle was accordingly slung, and the water boiled and poured slowly on the heads of the two missionaries.

"We baptize you," they cried, "that you may be happy in heaven, for nobody can be saved without a good baptism." De Brebeuf did not flinch, and in a rage they cut strips of flesh from his limbs, and devoured them before his eyes. Other renegade Hurons called out to him, "You told us that the more one suffers on earth the happier he is in heaven. We wish to make you happy. We torment you because we love you, and you ought to thank us for it." After a succession of other revolting tortures, they scalped him, when seeing  him nearly dead, they laid open his breast, and came in a crowd to drink the blood of so valiant  an enemy, thinking to imbibe with it some portion of his marvelous  courage. A chief then tore out his heart and devoured it.
Thus died John De Brebeuf, the founder of the Huron mission, its truest hero and its greatest martyr.  (...)
Source: The Catholic Record, Volume 14

Prayer of Saint John de Brebeuf

Jesus, my Lord and Savior, what can I give you in return for all the favors you have first conferred on me? I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name. I vow before your eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, before your most holy Mother and her most chaste spouse, before the angels, apostles and martyrs, before my blessed fathers Saint Ignatius and Saint Francis Xavier–in truth, I vow to you, Jesus my Savior, that as far as I have the strength, I will never fail to accept the grace of martyrdom, if someday you in your infinite mercy should offer it to me, your most unworthy servant...My beloved Jesus, here and now I offer my body and blood and life. May I die only for you, if you will grant me this grace, since you willingly died for me. Let me so live that you may grant me the gift of such a happy death. In this way, my God and Savior, I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Amen.

Source: Catholicity

Collect: O God, who chose to manifest the blessed hope of your eternal Kingdom by the toil of Saints John de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues and their companions and by the shedding of their blood, graciously grant that through their intercession the faith of Christians may be strengthened day by day. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Source: Catholic Culture



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