Wandering into Martyrdom
The Mohawk did not release Father Jogues. Instead, he was considered a prisoner at large meaning he could not integrate into Mohawk society nor could he live in any village. Anyone who was caught helping him would be executed. Father Jogues was forced to wander alone in the woods with nothing but his black robe starving. Yet, throughout his ordeal he remained true to his faith and spent many hours each day in deep prayer. Even in physical distress he was able to save a pregnant woman who fell into an icy river, he absolved people of their sins, advised in religious matters, and even baptized the man who had cut him down from the wooden plank.
Finally in the autumn of 1643, the Mohawks took Jogues to a town where he escaped. Father Jogues went to New Amsterdam where he awaited a ship to take him back to France. This made him the first Catholic priest to set foot in Manhattan. Upon his return to France, Pope Urban VIII gave Jogues dispensation allowing him to hold mass with his mutilated hands. But life in France was not for Father Jogues. He returned to New France as a co-Ambassador to ensure the fragile peace between the French and Huron, Algonquin, and tribes in the Iroquois Confederation.
Things did not go as planned. When Father Jogues arrived in New France the indigenous people were dying from yet another outbreak of smallpox and measles. Mohawk warriors believed the Black Coat was full of magic because he had a mysterious familiarity to the topography of the Iroquois lands. Then on October 18, 1646, the Mohawks killed Father Jogues with a tomahawk. They threw the priest’s body unceremoniously into the Mohawk River and let if float downstream and left it to the elements.
Father Isaac Jogues was a martyr. His devotion to his faith while forced to wander in the wilderness mirrored that of Jesus while on the Cross. As a martyr, Father Jogues gave hope for those suffering in captivity for their religious beliefs. In 1930 he was canonized. There are numerous monuments in North America that honor Saint Isaac Jogues including the door on St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
Henretta, James A., Rebecca Edwards, Robert O. Self, eds. America: A Concise History 2012