LXXII-LXXIII MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS, 1650 LXXII.- Epistola P. Pauli Ragueneau ad R. P. Vincentium Jesu; ex Domo Sanctæ Mariæ in Insula Sancti LXXIII. Journal des PP. Jésuites, en l'année 1650 SOURCES: Doc. LXXII. is from Rochemonteix's Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France, t. ii., pp. 466-469. Doc. LXXIII. we obtain from the original MS. in the library of Laval University, Quebec. Epistola P. Pauli Ragueneau ad R. P. Generalem Vincentium Caraffam. N OSTER ADMODUM REVERENDE IN CHRISTO PATER, Superiore anno, nihil literarum accepimus ex Europa; imo ne Quebeco quidem responsum ad nos ullum est allatum, ad eas literas, quas scripseram, fusas satis, de rerum nostrarum statu. Ut ante cæperat, ita nunc etiam pergit manus Domini nos tangere. Nec quærimur tamen, nec dicimus: miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei; quia potius lætamur, et gaudemus semper, quia et nostro, omnium quotquot hîc sumus, et ecclesiæ nostræ bono, eveniunt mala, quibus permittit Deus nos probari, et quibus sane nos coronet potius, quam affligat. Intellexit Paternitas vestra, posterioribus meis literis de pretiosâ morte, aut potius martyrio Patrum nostrorum; Patris Antonii Daniel, Patris Joannis de Brebeuf, et Patris Gabrielis Lallement; quos barbari Iroquæi, Ecclesiæ huic nascenti eripuerant crudeliter, cum grege christiano pastorem etiam mactantes, unumquemque omnibus suis invigilantem. Sub finem exeuntis ejusdem anni 1649, duo alii Patres simili morte perfuncti sunt, in statione sua: Pater Carolus Garnier, vir apostolicus, vereque natus Letter of Father Paul Ragueneau to the Very Reverend Father General, Vincent Caraffa. Ο UR VERY REVEREND FATHER IN CHRIST, Last year, we received no letters from Europe; not even from Quebec did any reply come to those letters which I wrote, fully describing the condition of our affairs. As before, the hand of God has continually stricken us. Yet we complain not, nor do we cry: Miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei; because we rather are glad, and always rejoice, for these evils by which God permits us to be tried result in blessing to all of us who are here, and to our church; and by them he certainly crowns us, rather than casts us down. Your Paternity has learned from my last letter of the precious death, or rather martyrdom, of our Fathers, Father Antoine Daniel, Father Jean de Brebeuf, and Father Gabriel Lallement, whom the savage Iroquois cruelly snatched from this growing Church, slaying each of these pastors with his Christian flock, as he watched over his own. Toward the close of this same past year, 1649, two other Fathers suffered a like death, at their posts,Father Charles Garnier, an apostolic man, who certainly was born for the salvation of those peoples, and to whose complete holiness nothing was lacking; and his companion, Father Noël Chabanel, who had in salutem istarum gentium, cuique nihil omnino deerat ad perfectam sanctitatem; et Pater Natalis Chabanel ejus socius, qui ex Provincia Tolosana ad nos venerat. Alter die septima Decembris occisus est, hostili manu, medio in oppido; quod victores Iroquæi irruptione facta, ferro atque igne vastarunt. Alter, postridie solum extinctus est, Immaculatæ Virginis Conceptioni sacro: incertum qua manu; an hostili an potius perfidi apostatæ, qui per sylvas invias errabundo Patri, ac profugo, necem sit molitus, ut ejus suppellectili, quantumvis paupere, veste nimirum et calceis, potiretur, pileoque jam lacero. Sed de his fusius perscribam alibi. Neque vero bello solum afflicti sunt Hurones nostri; sed funesta fame, et contagiosa lue, simul omnes misere pereunt. Effossa passim e sepulchris cadavera, nec fratribus modo fratres, sed ipsis etiam matribus filii, jam evecti fame, pretiosa nuper pignora, filiisque parentes sui, pabulum non semel dedere: inhumanum quidem, nostrisque barbaris haud insuetum minus quam Europæis, qui suorum carnibus vesci abhorrent. Sed nimirum nihil in cibo discernunt dentes fameilci; neque eum agnoscunt, in cadavere mortuo, quem parentem, quem filium, quem fratrem nuper vocarent, dum expiraret; imo neque humano, belluinoque stercori parcitum. Felices quibus amara glande et porcorum siliquis uti licuit, innocuo cibo, neque vero ingrato, cui fames condimentum daret; cuique hoc anno raritas pretium longe majus fecit, quam antea frumento Indico solitum esset dari. One of come to us from the Province of Toulouse.1 these was murdered by the hand of an enemy, on the seventh day of December, in the middle of the village, which the victorious Iroquois had raided and laid waste with fire and arms. The other was slain only the next day, a day sacred to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. It is uncertain by whose hand he fell, whether that of an enemy, or, more probably, that of a treacherous apostate, who may have murdered the Father as he wandered, a fugitive, through the trackless forest, that he might rob the priest, poor as he was, of even his clothes, shoes, and torn hat. But of these matters I will write more fully at another time. For, in truth, our Hurons are distressed not only by war, but by a deadly famine and a contagious plague; all are miserably perishing together. Everywhere, corpses have been dug out of the graves; and, now carried away by hunger, the people have repeatedly offered, as food, those who were lately the dear pledges of love,— not only brothers to brothers, but even children to their mothers, and the parents to their own children. It is true, this is inhuman; but it is no less unusual among our savages than among the Europeans, who abhor eating flesh of their own kind. Doubtless the teeth of the starving man make no distinction in food, and do not recognize in the dead body him. who a little before was called, until he died, father, son, or brother. Nay, more, even the dung of man or beast is not spared. Fortunate are they who can eat the food of swine,- bitter acorns, and husks,innocent food, and indeed not without relish, to which hunger adds a sauce; to these, the scarcity of |