John de Brébeuf, Blessed
John de Brbeuf, Blessed
Martyr , born Normandy, France, 1593; died Canada, 1649. In 1617 he entered the Society of Jesus; arrived in Quebec 1625; and established the first mission at Ihonatiria, near Georgian Bay, 1626. He returned to France in 1629 after the surrender of Quebec to the English, but went back to Canada after the restoration of the French colony, 1633. Having taken his spiritual vows as coadjutor, he arrived at his old mission, 1634. After fifteen years of strenuous labor he was seized by the Iroquois during their raid on the Saint Louis mission, 16 March 1649, and with Father Gabriel Lalemant was horribly tortured, burned, and beheaded. Relic at Hotel-Dieu, Quebec. Beatified , 21 June 1925. Feast for Canada , 16 March ; in the United States, 26 September .