St. Charles Garnier October 19

 St. Charles Garnier

Feastday: October 19

Birth: 1606

Death: 1649

Charles Garnier was the son of the treasurer of Normandy. He was born at Paris, educated at Louis-le-Grand College there, and joined the Jesuits in Paris in 1624. He continued his studies at Clermont, taught at the Jesuit college at Eu for three years, and was ordained in 1635. The following year he was sent to Quebec, Canada, with Father Pierre Chastellain and two other priests as missionaries to the Huron Indians. Charles was murdered by a war party of Iroquois, the Hurons' traditional enemies, on December 7 at the Indian village of Etarita, where he was stationed. He was canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI as one of the North American Martyrs. His feast day is October 19.

Charles Garnier, S.J., (baptised at Paris, May 25, 1606 – December 7, 1649) was a Jesuit missionary working in New France. He was killed by Iroquois in a Petun (Tobacco Nation) village on December 7, 1649.[1][2]

Biography

The son of a secretary to King Henri III of France, Garnier was born in Paris in 1606. He attended the Collège de Clermont in Paris and joined the Jesuit seminary in Clermont in September 1624.[3]

After his novitiate, he returned to the College of Clermont as Prefect. After finishing his studies in rhetoric and philosophy, he spent two years teaching at the College of Eu as a teacher. Completing years of studies in language, culture and theology, he was ordained as a priest in 1635. His father initially forbade him from travelling to Canada where he would face almost certain death as a missionary, but he was eventually allowed to go.[4] Embarking on March 25, 1636, he described the crossing in a letter to his father,

We gave Viaticum to a sailor who had fallen from the top of the mizzenmast to the deck. He was well-disposed to die. However, as I saw him in great discomfort, unable to sleep, I gave him my cabin and went in with Father Chastelain in his, but the sick man found this cabin too stuffy so the next day I occupied it again but left him my mattress so he could sleep even in the midst of the cannons. Hearing this, the Captain made me take one of his.[5]

He reached the colony of New France in June. He travelled immediately to the Huron mission with fellow Jesuit Pierre Chastellain.[6] By early August he had arrived among the Nipissings.[5]

He served for the rest of his life as a missionary among the Huron, never returning to France. The Huron nicknamed him Ouracha, or "rain-giver", after his arrival was followed by a drought-ending rainfall. He was greatly influenced by fellow missionary Jean de Brébeuf, and was known as the "lamb" to Brebeuf's "lion".[3] In 1639 and 1640 he wintered in the land of the Petun. From 1641 to 1646 Garnier was at the Saint-Joseph mission.[6]

There were raids between Iroquois and Huron forces. When he learned that Brébeuf and Lalemant were killed in March 1649 by Iroquois after a raid on a Huron village, Garnier knew he too might soon die. On December 7, 1649, he was killed by musket fire from the Iroquois during an attack on the Petun village where he was living.[5]

Charles Garnier was canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI with the other seven Canadian Martyrs (also known as the North American Martyrs.)[6] His feast day is October 19.

St. Cleopatra October 19

 St. Cleopatra

Feastday: October 19

Death: 327

and her son John, with martyr Varus in Kemet (307 A.D.), 19 Oct

Saint Cleopatra (died 319 or 327) was a Christian saint who lived between the 3rd century and 4th century. She is venerated in the Catholic Church,[1] Oriental Orthodoxy[citation needed] and Eastern Orthodoxy[2].

Cleopatra originally came from a village called Edra near Mount Tabor in Lower Galilee.[3]

She was a contemporary of the holy martyr Saint Varus and had witnessed his suffering and execution. After Varus' death, Cleopatra had his remains taken to her home in Daraa, Syria where she had them buried with reverence.

Cleopatra was a widow, whose only child, was a son named John. By 319, John had attained the officer rank of centurion, but to her great sorrow, had died suddenly. Cleopatra, in grief, turned to the relics of Saint Varus, begging the saint to return her son. She dreamt that Varus and John appeared to her as radiant in bright attire with crowns upon their heads and took this to mean that the Lord had received John into the Heavenly Kingdom, and was comforted.[3]

She moved to live by the church that she had built was over the relics of Saint Varus and her son. Miracles were reported by people who had come to pray at the church. Cleopatra spent her remaining years in the service of God. She gave her property to the poor and spent her time praying and fasting.[3] She died in 327.

Apart from Cleopatra, her son John is also recognised as a saint in Orthodox Christianity. The feast day of Saints Cleopatra and John is 19 October.

St. Desiderius October 19

 St. Desiderius

Feastday: October 19

Death: 705

Benedictine monk and disciple of St. Sigiranus. He was a hermit at La Brenne, near Bourges, France.

St. Eadnot October 19

 St. Eadnot

Feastday: October 19

Death: 1016

Bishop of Dorchester, England, who was a champion of St. Oswald of York. He is listed as a martyr in some records, having been slain in an invasion by the Danes.

St. Ethbin October 19

 St. Ethbin

Feastday: October 19

Death: 600

Image of St. Ethbin

Abbot trained by St. Samson. Amonk at Taurac, Brittany, Ethbin survived a raid by the Franks in 556 and went to Ireland. There he became a hennit at Kildare. Ethbin was a Briton.

St. Eusterius October 19

 St. Eusterius

Feastday: October 19

Death: 5th century

Fourth bishop of Salerno, Italy, of whom nothing is recorded.

St. Frideswide October 19

 St. Frideswide

Feastday: October 19

Death: 735

Benedictine hermitess and nun, the daughter of Prince Didan of the Upper Thames region of England. She is sometimes called Fredeswinda. When Prince Algar of a neighboring kingdom asked for her hand in marriage, Frideswide fled to Thomwry Wood in Birnsey, where she became a hermitess. She founded the St. Mary's Convent in Oxford and is patroness of the university of that city. Her relics are extant. In liturgical art she is depicted as a Benedictine, sometimes with an ox for companion.

St. Gabriel Lalement October 19

 St. Gabriel Lalement

Feastday: October 19

Birth: 1610

Death: 1649

A martyr of North America, assistant to St. John de Brebeuf. A Jesuit from Paris, Gabriel arrived in Canada in 1646 and worked at St. Ignace Mission in 1649. On March 16, Gabriel and St. John de Brebeuf were taken prisoners by the Iroquois. They were tomahawked the next day. Both were canonized in 1930.

Saint Gabriel Lalemant (October 3, 1610, Paris, France – March 17, 1649, Saint Ignace, Ontario) was a Jesuit missionary in New France beginning in 1646. Caught up in warfare between the Huron and nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, he was killed in St. Ignace by Mohawk warriors and is one of the eight Canadian Martyrs.

Contents

1 Life

2 Gallery

3 See also

4 References

5 See also

6 External links

Life

Gabriel Lalemant was born in Paris, October 31, 1610, the son of a French Laywer and his wife.[1] He was the third of six children, five of whom entered religious life. Two of Gabriel's uncles served the Jesuits in New France: Charles Lalemant as the first Superior of the Jesuit missions in Canada, and Jérôme Lalemant as the Vicar-General of Quebec.[2]

In 1630 Lalemant joined the Jesuits, and in 1632 he took the vow to devote himself to foreign missions. He taught at the Collège in Moulins from 1632 to 1635. He was at Bourges from 1635 to 1639 studying theology [1] and was ordained there in 1638. He taught at three different schools, being professor of philosophy at Moulins. His repeated requests to go to New France were declined by his superiors, partly because of his poor health. Eventually, his uncle Jérôme, head of the Canadian mission, intervened on his behalf.[3]

In September 1646 Gabriel arrived in Quebec,[4] where he spent the first few months studying the Huron language and customs. Father Bressani, a fellow missionary in New France, referred to him as a man of extremely frail constitution. For the first two years Gabriel worked in and around Quebec and the trading center of Trois Rivières (Three Rivers). In September 1648 he was sent to Wendake, the land of the Wyandot (Huron), as an assistant to Father Jean de Brébeuf,[5] and posted to the mission at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. In February 1649 he replaced Noël Chabanel at the mission of Saint Louis.

In March 1649, while most of the Huron warriors were away, 1,200 Iroquois attacked the settlement of Saint Ignace. A few survivors escaped to warn the village of St. Louis. Its eighty warriors fought to delay the attackers, trying to enable the elderly, women, and children to flee. Lalemant and Brébeuf remained with the warriors and were captured and taken to the nearby mission at Saint Ignace.[6] Both were tortured before being killed: Jean Brebeuf died on March 16, 1649, and Gabriel Lalemant died on March 17, 1649.[3]

After the withdrawal of the Iroquois war party from the area on March 19, seven Frenchmen went to St. Ignace to retrieve the bodies of the Jesuits and Huron. They returned them to Sainte-Marie where they were buried.[4] Their relics are now housed at the Martyrs' Shrine in Midland, Ontario.

Lalemant was canonized by Pope Pius XI on June 29, 1930.[1]

His surname may be spelled either Lallemant or Lalemant by different references.

St. Jean de Brebeuf October 19

 St. Jean de Brebeuf

Feastday: October 19

Patron: of Canada

Birth: 1593

Death: 1649

 

Image of St. Jean de Brebeuf

St. Jean de Brebeuf, 1593 - 1649, was a french born Jesuit missionary and martyr of New France who  arrived in America in 1625 to evangelise Native Americans.  He lived among the Huron for over 15 years under difficult  and challenging circumstances. In 1648 the Iroquois  launched a war of extermination against the Huron, their  traditional enemies. Refusing to flee when their Huron  villlage was attacked, Brebeuf and his assistant, Gabriel   Lalemant, were captured the following year and tortured to  death by the Iroquois. Brebeuf was canonised in 1930 with seven other missionaries who are collectively called  the North American martyrs. He is the patron saint of  Canada. His feast day is October 19th.

"Brebeuf" redirects here. For other uses, see Brebeuf (disambiguation).

Jean de Brébeuf (French: [ʒɑ̃ də bʁe.bœf]) (25 March 1593 – 16 March 1649) was a French Jesuit missionary who travelled to New France (Canada) in 1625. There he worked primarily with the Huron (Wyandot people) for the rest of his life, except for a few years in France from 1629 to 1633. He learned their language and culture, writing extensively about each to aid other missionaries.[1]

In 1649, Brébeuf and another missionary were captured when an Iroquois raid took over a Huron village (referred to in French as St. Louis). Together with Huron captives, the missionaries were ritually tortured and killed on 16 March 1649. Brébeuf was beatified in 1925 and among eight Jesuit missionaries canonized as saints in the Catholic Church in 1930.[2]

Contents

1 Biography

1.1 Early years

1.2 Missionary

1.3 Linguistic work

1.4 Death

1.5 Relics, beatification and canonization

1.6 Modern era

2 See also

3 References

3.1 Notes

3.2 Citations

3.3 Sources

4 External links

Biography

Early years

Brébeuf was born 25 March 1593 in Condé-sur-Vire, Normandy, France.[3] (He was the uncle of poet Georges de Brébeuf). He joined the Society of Jesus in 1617 at the age of 24,[4] spending the next two years under the direction of Lancelot Marin. Between 1619 and 1621, he was a teacher at the college of Rouen. Brébeuf was nearly expelled from the Society when he contracted tuberculosis in 1620—a severe and usually fatal illness that prevented his studying and teaching for the traditional periods.[5]

His record as a student was not particularly distinguished, but Brébeuf was already beginning to show an aptitude for languages. Later in New France, he would teach Native American languages to missionaries and French traders.[6] Brébeuf was ordained as a priest at Pontoise Cathedral in February 1622.[5]

Missionary

North American Martyrs

After three years as Steward at the College of Rouen, Brébeuf was chosen by the Provincial of France, Father Pierre Coton, to embark on the missions to New France.

In June 1625, Brébeuf arrived in Québec with Fathers Charles Lalemant and Énemond Massé, together with the lay brothers Francois Charton and Gilbert Burel. He worked at the Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. For about five months Brébeuf lived with a tribe of Montagnais, who spoke an Algonquian language. He was later assigned in 1626 to the Huron with Father Anne Nouée. From then on Brébeuf worked mostly as a missionary to the Huron, who spoke an Iroquoian language. Brébeuf briefly took up residence with the Bear Tribe at Toanché, but met with no success in trying to convert them to Catholicism. He was summoned to Québec because of the danger to which the entire colony was then exposed by the English. He reached Québec on 17 July 1628 after an absence of two years. On 19 July 1629, Samuel de Champlain surrendered, and the missionaries returned to France.[3]

In Rouen, Brébeuf served as a preacher and confessor, taking his final Jesuit vows in 1630.[5] Between 1631 and 1633, Brébeuf worked at the College of Eu, Seine-Maritime in northern France as a steward, minister and confessor. He returned to New France in 1633, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

Along with Antoine Daniel and Ambroise Davost, Brébeuf chose Ihonatiria (Saint-Joseph I) as the centre for missionary activity with the Huron.[3] At the time, the Huron suffered epidemics of new Eurasian diseases contracted from the Europeans. Their death rates were high, as they had no immunity to the diseases long endemic in Europe. They, with our hindsight, rightly blamed the Europeans for the deaths, with none of the parties understanding the causes.[7]

Called Échon by the Hurons,[5] Brébeuf was personally involved with teaching. His lengthy conversations with Huron friends left him with a good knowledge of their culture and spirituality.[8] He learned their language and taught it to other missionaries and colonists.[9] Fellow Jesuits such as Paul Ragueneau describe his ease and adaptability to the Huron way of life.[9]

His efforts to develop a complete ethnographic record of the Huron has been described as "the longest and most ambitious piece of ethnographic description in all The Jesuit Relations".[10] Brébeuf tried to find parallels between the Huron religion and Christianity, so as to facilitate conversion of the Huron to the European religion.[11] Brébeuf was known by the Huron for his apparent shamanistic skills, especially in rainmaking.[12] Despite his efforts to learn their ways, he considered Huron spiritual beliefs to be undeveloped and "foolish delusions"; he was determined to convert them to Christianity.[8] Brébeuf did not enjoy universal popularity with the Huron, as many believed he was a sorcerer.[13] By 1640, nearly half the Huron had died of smallpox and the losses disrupted their society. Many children and elders died. With their loved ones dying before their eyes, many Huron began to listen to the words of Jesuit missionaries who, unaffected by the disease, appeared to be men of great power.[14]

Brébeuf's progress as a missionary in achieving conversions was slow. Not until 1635 did some Huron agree to be baptized as Christians. He claimed to have made 14 converts as of 1635 and, by the next year, he claimed 86. He wrote a detailed account in 1636 of The Huron Feast of the Dead, a mass reburial of remains of loved ones after a community moved the location of its village. It was accompanied by elaborate ritual and gift-giving. In the 1940s, an archeological excavation was made at the site Brébeuf had described, confirming many of his observations.[citation needed]

In 1638, Brébeuf turned over direction of the mission at Saint-Joseph I to Jérôme Lalemant; he was called to become Superior at his newly founded Saint-Joseph II.[5] In 1640, after an unsuccessful mission into Neutral Nation territory, Brébeuf broke his collarbone. He was sent to Québec to recover, and worked there as a mission procurator. He taught the Huron, acting as confessor and advisor to the Ursulines and religious Hospitallers. On Sundays and feast days, he preached to French colonists.[5]

Brébeuf is credited with composing the "Huron Carol", Canada's oldest Christmas song, written around 1642.[15] He wrote the lyrics in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people. The song's melody is based on a traditional French folk song, "Une Jeune Pucelle" (A Young Maid).

Linguistic work

The educational rigor of the Jesuit seminaries prepared missionaries to acquire native languages.[9] But, as they had learned the classical and Romance languages, they likely had difficulty with the very different conventions of the New World indigenous languages.[16] Brébeuf's study of the languages was also shaped by his religious training. Current Catholic theology tried to reconcile knowledge of world languages with accounts in the Bible of the tower of Babel, as this was the basis of European history. This influence can be seen in his discussion of language in his accounts collected in The Jesuit Relations.[10]

Jean de Brébeuf's remarkable facility with language was one of the reasons he was chosen for the Huron mission in 1626.[17] He is distinguished for his commitment to learning the Huron (Wyandot) language. People with a strong positive attitude towards the language often learn the language much more easily.[18] Brébeuf was widely acknowledged to have best mastered the Native oratory style, which used metaphor, circumlocution and repetition. Learning the language was still onerous, and he wrote to warn other missionaries of the difficulties.[19]

To explain the low number of converts, Brébeuf noted that missionaries first had to master the Huron language.[20] His commitment to this work demonstrates he understood that mutual intelligibility was vital for communicating complex and abstract religious ideas. He believed learning native languages was imperative for the Jesuit missions, but noted that it was so difficult a task that it consumed most of the priest's time. Brébeuf felt his primary goal in his early years in New France was to learn the language.[21]

With increasing proficiency in the Wyandot language, Brébeuf became optimistic about advancing his missionary goals. By understanding Huron religious beliefs and communicating Christian fundamentals, he could secure converts to Christianity. He realized the people would not give up all their traditional beliefs.[19]

Brébeuf worked tirelessly to record his findings for the benefit of other missionaries. He built on the work of Recollects priests but significantly advanced the study, particularly in his representations of sounds.[22] He discovered and reported the feature of compound words in Huron, which may have been his major linguistic contribution.[23] This breakthrough had enormous consequences for further study, becoming the foundation for all subsequent Jesuit linguistic work.[24]

He translated Ledesma's catechism from French into Huron, and arranged to have it printed. It was the first printed text in that language (with French orthography).[25] He also compiled a dictionary of Huron words, emphasizing translation of religious phrases such as from prayers and the Bible.

Death

Bressani map of 1657 depicts the martyrdom of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant

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

Gravesite of Brébeuf and Lalemant

Brébeuf was killed at St. Ignace in Huronia on 16 March 1649.[26] He had been taken captive with Gabriel Lalemant when the Iroquois destroyed the Huron mission village at Saint-Louis. The Iroquois took the priests to the occupied village of Taenhatenteron (also known as St. Ignace), where they subjected the missionaries and native converts to ritual torture before killing them.

Three priests had been killed in Mohawk country at Ossernenon in 1642 and 1646. Antoine Daniel had been killed in a similar Iroquois raid in 1648.[27] Charles Garnier was killed by Iroquois in December 1649 in a Petun (Tobacco People) village,[28] and Noel Chabanel was also martyred that year in the conflict between the Mohawk and other tribes.[29] The Jesuits considered the priests' martyrdom as proof that the mission to the Native Americans was blessed by God and would be successful.[30]

Throughout the torture, Brébeuf was reported to have been more concerned for the fate of the other Jesuits and of the captive Native converts than for himself. As part of the ritual, the Iroquois drank his blood and ate his heart, as they wanted to absorb Brébeuf's courage in enduring the pain.[31] The Iroquois mocked baptism by pouring boiling water over his head.[32]

The Jesuits Christophe Regnault and Paul Ragueneau provided the two accounts of the deaths of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalement. According to Regnault, they learned of the tortures and deaths from Huron refugee witnesses who had escaped from Saint-Ignace.[33] Regnault went to see the bodies to verify the accounts, and his superior Rageuneau's account was based on his report.[34] The main accounts of Brébeuf's death come from The Jesuit Relations. Jesuit accounts of his torture emphasize his stoic nature and acceptance, claiming that he suffered silently without complaining.[35]

Potential martyrdom was a central component of the Jesuit missionary identity.[36] Missionaries going to Canada knew they were at risk from harsh conditions, as well as from confronting alien cultures. They expected to die in the name of God; they believed the missionary life and its risks were a chance to save converts and be saved.[37]

Relics, beatification and canonization

Statue of Jean de Brébeuf on the site of the Martyrs' Shrine, Midland, Ontario

Fathers Brébeuf and Lalement were recovered and buried together in a Sainte Marie cemetery.[38] Brébeuf's relics later became important religious objects within Catholic New France. Historian Allan Greer notes that "his death seemed to fit the profile of a perfect martyr's end" and was preceded by what were considered religious signs pointing to correspondences with the Passion of Christ, which added to the significance of Brébeuf.[39] On 21 March 1649, Jesuit inspectors found the bodies of Brébeuf and Lalement.[40] In the late spring of 1649, Christophe Regnault prepared the skeletal remains of Brébeuf and Lalemant for transportation to Québec for safekeeping. Regnault boiled away the remaining flesh and reburied it in the mission church, scraped the bones and dried them in an oven, wrapped each relic in separate silk, deposited them in two small chests, and sent them to Québec.[41]

Brébeuf's family later donated his skull in a silver reliquary to the Catholic church orders in Québec.[38] It was held by the women of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec and the Ursuline convent from 1650 until 1925, when the relics were moved to the Québec Seminary for a ceremony to celebrate Brébeuf's beatification.[42] According to Catholic belief, these relics provide physical access to the influence of the saint of whom they are a part.[43]

In 1652 Paul Raguenau went through the Relations and pulled out material relating to the martyrs of New France. He formalized this material in a document, to be used as the foundation of canonization proceedings, entitled Memoires touchant la mort et les vertus (des Pères Jesuits), or the Manuscript of 1652.[44] The religious communities in New France considered the Jesuit martyrs as imitators of previous saints in the Catholic Church.[42] In this sense, Brébeuf in particular, and others like him, reinforced the notion that "...Canada was a land of saints".[45]

Catherine de Saint-Augustin said that Brébeuf appeared to her in a vision at the Québec Hôtel-Dieu while she was in a state of "mystical ecstasy," and he acted as her spiritual advisor.[42] According to one account, Catherine de Saint-Augustin ground up part of Brébeuf's relic bone and gave it in a drink to a heretical and mortally ill man. It is said that the man was cured of his disease.[46] In another instance, in 1660–61, a possessed woman was exorcised by the aid of one of Brébeuf's ribs, again while under the care of Catherine de Saint-Augustin. The exact circumstances of this event are disputed.[47] Brébeuf's relics were also used by nuns who were treating wounded Huguenot (Protestant) soldiers, and they "reported that his assistance [bone slivers put in soldiers' drinks] helped rescue these patients from heresy".[39]

Jean de Brébeuf was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 29 June 1930, and proclaimed one of the patron saints of Canada by Pope Pius XII on 16 October 1940.[5] A contemporary newspaper account of the canonization declares: "Brébeuf, the 'Ajax of the mission', stands out among them [others made saints with him] because of his giant frame, a man of noble birth, of vigorous passions tamed by religion," describing both the man and his defining drive according to formal terms of hagiography.[48]

Modern era

Statue of Jean de Brébeuf at Trois-Rivières

It is said that the modern name of the Native North American sport of lacrosse was first coined by Brébeuf who thought that the sticks used in the game reminded him of a bishop's crosier (crosse in French, and with the feminine definite article, la crosse).

He is buried in the Church of St. Joseph at the reconstructed Jesuit mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons across Highway 12 from the Martyrs' Shrine Catholic Church near Midland, Ontario. A plaque near the grave of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant was unearthed during excavations at Ste Marie in 1954. The letters read "P. Jean de Brébeuf /brusle par les Iroquois /le 17 de mars l'an/1649" (Father Jean de Brébeuf, burned by the Iroquois, 17 March 1652).[49]

In September 1984, Pope John Paul II prayed over Brébeuf's skull before fully joining in an outdoor ecumenical service on the grounds of the nearby Martyrs' Shrine. The service was attended by an estimated 75,000 and mixed pre-Christian first-nation ritual with Catholic liturgy.[50]

Many Jesuit schools are named after him, such as Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal, Brébeuf College School in Toronto and Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis, Indiana.

St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary School in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada[51] and St. Jean de Brebeuf Catholic High School in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada are also named in his honour.

There is a high school St-Jean de Brebeuf Catholic High School in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. There is also Eglise St-Jean de Brebeuf in Sudbury, Ontario. There is also an elementary school in Brampton, Ontario, Canada named after him; called St. Jean Brebeuf Roman Catholic Elementary School as well as one in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada called St. John Brebeuf Catholic School which is part of the St. John Brebeuf Catholic Parish. Also one French elementary school in Gatineau, Québec, called École Jean-de-Brébeuf. Also included is St. Jean Brebeuf Junior High School, located in Calgary, Alberta. The school closest to his burial site in Midland is St. Jean de Brébeuf Catholic Elementary School in Bradford, Ontario. St. John Brebeuf Catholic School in Erin, ON, is part of St. John Brebeuf Catholic Parish, part of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Hamilton, ON. There is also a St. John Brebeuf Catholic Parish in Niles, Illinois, USA.

There is also a unit at Camp Ondessonk in the Shawnee National Forest named after Jean de Brébeuf. The Catholic camp is named for all of the North American Martyrs and those who helped them.

The parish municipality of Brébeuf, Quebec, is named after him, as is rue de Brébeuf on the Plateau Mont-Royal in Montreal.

The character of Christophe in The Orenda, a 2013 novel by Joseph Boyden, is based on Jean de Brebeuf.[52][53] The novel won the 2014 Canada Reads competition, a reality show with elimination-style voting on CBC Radio.

Jean de Brébeuf is the subject of Brébeuf and his Brethren, a blank-verse epic poem by the Canadian poet E. J. Pratt, FRSC, for which Pratt was awarded one of his three Governor General's Awards for Poetry in 1940.[54]

St. John de Brebeuf & Companions October 19

 St. John de Brebeuf & Companions

Feastday: October 19

Patron: of Canada

Death: 1649

Jesuit martyrs of North America. John was born in Conde-sur­Vire, in Normandy, France, on March 25, 1593 . Joining the Society of Jesus, he was ordained in 1622. Three years later he volunteered for the missions in Quebec. Canada. For the next quarter of a century. with a brief interruption, he labored among the Huron Indians. His labors were placed in jeopardy because of Huguenot ren­egades and a smallpox epidemic that decimated entire Indian villages. John left for a brief time when the English captured Quebec, but returned to the Hurons again. In 1649 he was captured by the Iroquois, who were enemies of the Huron. John and his companions were cruelly slain on March 16 at Sault Ste. Marie near Georgian Bay. His companions were: Isaac Jogues. Anthony Daniel. Gabriel Lalement, Charles Gamier, Noel Chabanel, John Lalande, and Rene Goupil -- all Jesuits. John de Brebeuf converted seven thousand Indians and composed a dic­tionary and catechism in the Huron language. He was canonized in 1930.

St. John of Rila October 19

 St. John of Rila

Feastday: October 19

Birth: 876

Death: 946

Image of St. John of Rila

John of Rila One of the first Bulgarian monastics, St. John of Rila was born c. 876/880 near Kjustendil. As a young man, he entered a monastery and eventually became a hermit in the mountains north of Sofia. As his disciples gathered around him, the monastery at Rila was established and flourished. John believed that monks should live in harmony and should include manual labor among their spiritual works. His rule is his only surviving work. He is said to have refused to receive Tsar Peter, co-ruler of Bulgaria and a supporter of monasticism, because monks should have no contact with the princes of the world. After John's death in 946, his body was translated to Sofia and eventually returned to Rila.

Saint Ivan of Rila (Bulgarian: Свети Иван (Иван) Рилски, sveti Ivan Rilski) (876 – c. 946) was the first Bulgarian hermit. He was revered as a saint while he was still alive. The legend surrounding him tells of wild animals that freely came up to him and birds that landed in his hands. His followers founded many churches in his honor, including the famous Rila Monastery. One of these churches, "St Ivan Rilski" was only discovered in 2008 in the town of Veliko Tarnovo. Today, he is honored as the patron saint of the Bulgarians and as one of the most important saints in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

The tomb of John of Rila near Rila Monastery

Life

The Cave of John of Rila near the Rila Monastery

Saint Ivan of Rila was born app. 876 a.c. in Skrino, at the foot of the Osogovo mountain (close to the modern city of Dupnitsa). He was a contemporary of the reign of emperor and saint Boris I, his sons Vladimir (Rassate) and tsar Simeon I The Great, and the son of the latter - Saint tsar Peter I.

Originally a herder, at the age of 25, Saint Ivan of Rila became a priest in the "St. Dimitrii" monastery located under peak Ruen. After accepting the life of a monk, he left the monastery in order to continue his life in solitude and prayer. Saint Ivan of Rila lived in isolation in various locations before going to the Rila Mountains. There he spent the rest of his life in prayer and deprived himself of an everyday life by settling in the uncomfortable conditions of the caves in the Rila mountains.

According to legend, Saint Ivan of Rila was known to have performed a multitude of miracles in order to help the people. These miracles brought him undesired fame as he tried to live the life of a hermit and avoid contact with others. With his growing number of followers, many young believers and supporters set up camps around his cave, seeking a blessing from him. This led the way to the creation of the Rila Monastery, which is considered to be the foremost monastery in Bulgaria.

Word of the miracles he performed reached the capital of the Bulgarian Empire - Great Preslav. Tsar Peter I (son of tsar Simeon I) took a 450 km trip to the Rila Mountains in order to meet St. Ivan and seek spiritual advice. Their meeting is described in detail in one the hagiologies of St. Ivan Rilski as well as in the Testament of St. Ivan of Rila itself. After a long and exhausting trip, tsar Peter I reached the place where St. Ivan Rilski lived, however, upon arrival, the tsar then realized that the dwelling of the saint was inaccessible, probably due to the rough local terrain. As the medieval hagiologies point out, St. Ivan of Rila refused to meet the tsar in person to avoid the temptation of vanity and pride due to the extraordinary visit. As such, the two men only bowed to each other from a distance. The emperor sent a soldier to deliver the gifts that were brought for the saint. St Ivan of Rila kept only the a small portion of food and returned all of the gold and precious gifts, advising the tsar that monarchs need gold in order to protect the country and help the poor.

Shortly before his death (August 18, 946) St. Ivan of Rila wrote his Testament (Zavet).[2] A literary work and a moral message to his successors and to Bulgarian people.

As the patron saint of the Bulgarian people, his dormition is commemorated each year on August 18 and October 19.

Remains

Saint Ivan Rilski - fresco from the church in Rila monastery, Bulgaria.

Shortly after the saint's death, his remains, which were thought to have wonder-working powers, were transferred to Sofia during the reign of Peter I.

After Magyar King Béla III conquered Sofia in 1183, the remains were sent to the Hungarian capital Esztergom and remained there for four years before being returned to Sofia in 1187.

In 1194, Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen I ordered the remains to be moved to his capital, Veliko Tarnovo. Surviving the Turkish conquest of the city in 1393, they were returned to the Rila Monastery in 1469 at the behest of Sultana Mara Branković, the widow of the late Murad II.

Patronage and tributes

The altar of St. Ivan Rilski Chapel in Antarctica

St. Ivan of Rila is considered the patron saint of Bulgaria and Bulgarian people, and he is venerated widely both in his native country as well as among the Bulgarian diaspora abroad. He is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Rila Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site regarded as one of Bulgaria's most important cultural, historical and architectural monuments. One of Chicago's two Bulgarian Orthodox churches St. Ivan of Rila Church is dedicated to him, located in the Portage Park community area.

As the patron saint of the Bulgarian people, his dormition is commemorated each year on August 18 and October 19. One of Saint Ivan of Rila's miracles is "the fable of two pies" where he helped feed the poor when he visited bearing "two pies" which were given to him by the village pie maker. This led to Saint Ivan becoming the Patron Saint of Pies and Pie Makers and it is said that "two pies Ivan" will always provide for makers of pies as thanks to the poor pie maker who gave his last two pies to the Saint. This day is still celebrated in Northern America on National Pie Day which is the 23rd of January, where its tradition to bring "two pies" to the parties.

Ioannovsky Convent, the largest convent in St. Petersburg, commemorates this saint. St. Ivan Rilski Col on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after John of Rila. The St. Ivan Rilski Chapel built in 2003 at St. Kliment Ohridski Base on Livingston Island is the first Eastern Orthodox edifice in Antarctica and the southernmost Eastern Orthodox building of worship in the world.

An icon of John of Rila is depicted on the reverse of the Bulgarian 1 lev coin issued in 2002,[3] and on the obverse of the former 1 lev banknote, issued in 1999.[4]

St. Philip Howard October 19

 St. Philip Howard

Feastday: October 19

Birth: 1557

Death: 1595

One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Philip was the earl of Arundel and Surrey and, although a Catholic, led a religiously apathetic life until his personal conversion, after which he was a zealous Catholic in the midst of Elizabethan England. Arrested by authorities, he was placed in the Tower of London in 1585 and condemned to death in 1589. The sentence was never carried out, and Philip languished in the Tower until his death at the age of thirty eight. Beatified in 1929, he was included among the English martyrs canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

St. Theofrid (Chaffre) of Orange October 19

 St. Theofrid (Chaffre) of Orange

Feastday: October 19

Death: 732

 

Theofrid, of Orange, France, became abbot of the monastery of Calmeliac, near Le Puy. When in 732 Moorish invaders advancing across southern France drew near Calmeliac, Theofrid instructed the other monks to flee into the forest and hide there. As for himself, he resolved to remain near the monastery, having explained, "It is not fitting that in a time of persecution the shepherd should flee." Two of the other monks insisted upon remaining with him. After raiding the monastery and finding it deserted, the Moors discovered Theofrid nearby, prostrate in prayer. They thereupon dragged him away and beat him. Theofrid told his attackers, "It is fitting to suffer for the sheep, and by our death save them." In the end, one of the Moors gravely wounded Theofrid in the head with a stone. But scarcely had the abbot fallen to the ground when the earth quaked and "a very dark storm cloud" overshadowed the scene, unleashing a barrage of lightning, hail, and a tornado that dispelled the attackers. The other monks returned to find Theofrid still alive, but close to death. He died seven days later.

Another St. Theofrid (or Théofroy) was a 7th-century monk at Luxeuil who became abbot of Corbie and a bishop.

A native of Orange, he is venerated as a martyr, as Christian tradition holds that he was killed by Muslim raiders who had crossed into southern France.[2]

Tradition states that the circumstances of his death are as follows: when the raiders neared Calmeliac, Theofrid ordered the other monks to hide in the forest.[2] He remained near the monastery and was found in prayer, and was dragged away and mortally wounded in the head with a stone.[3]

Abbey Church of Saint-Chaffre, Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille.

The legend further states that after Theofrid fell to the group, the earth shook and a dark storm cloud unleashed lightning, hail, and winds that dispersed the raiders.[2] Theofrid died seven days later.[2]

St. Varus October 19

 St. Varus

Feastday: October 19

Death: 307

Varus, and with him six monk-martyrs (Menologion of Basil II).jpg

Saint Varus (died ca. 307, Alexandria, Egypt) — early Christian saint, soldier and martyr.

According to his generally reliable and authentic Acts, he was a soldier stationed in Upper Egypt who had the task of guarding a group of monks awaiting execution. When one of the monks died while incarcerated, Varus embraced the Christian faith and asked to be able to fill the place of the deceased. He was taken and hanged from a tree.

St. Veranus of Cavaillon October 19

 St. Veranus of Cavaillon

Feastday: October 19

Birth: 513

Death: 590

 St. Veranus of CavaillonAs a priest of France, Veranus devoted his energies to serving God and saving and sanctifying souls. In the course of his pastoral labors, he worked several miracles that gave him a widespread reputation for holiness. Fearful of the attention drawn to him, Veranus withdrew to live in solitude in the mountain wilderness of Vaucluse. He subsequently embarked upon a pilgrimage to Rome. While passing through Sardinia on the way back from Rome, he obtained the conversion of an entire town (Albenga) to the Christian faith. After returning to France, he was chosen to become bishop of Cavaillon. In 585, at a Church synod in Macon, he manifested extraordinary zeal in defending the Church's ecclesiastical discipline. There is a legend that Veranus captured and expelled a winged dragon that had been terrorizing the region near his hermitage in Vaucluse. Making the sign of the cross, he commanded the creature "by the living and eternal God" never to harm anyone again. In the Middle Ages, mothers often prayed to Saint Veranus for the health of their small children.

"Saint Véran" redirects here. For the village, see Saint-Véran.

Saint Veranus of Cavaillon (French: Véran, Vrain; Italian: Verano) (died c. 590) was a French saint, with a cultus in Italy. He was born at Vaucluse and was bishop of Cavaillon.

Gregory of Tours writes of miracles performed by Veranus, including the expulsion of a dragon. He is also remembered as a leader in charitable works and as a patron of local monasteries, not only in France but also in Italy, particularly in the city of Albenga, where he was instrumental in the conversion of the people to Christianity.

In the early 11th century some of his relics were transferred from his place of burial to Orléans. In the 13th century most were transferred again, to Cavaillon Cathedral, which is dedicated to him, but some were sent to Albenga Cathedral in Liguria, where they are still preserved in a shrine.

Placenames

The French village of Saint-Véran is named after him.[1]

In Fontaine de Vaucluse there is a church called after the Saint. It was the place of his birth and in the small church there is a tomb reputed to be that of the Saint.