Father Nicholas Viel, First Canadian Martyr
Posted By Brian Kelly On June 23, 2014 @ 4:44 pm In Catholic America,Columns | No Comments
When the Eight North American Martyrs are praised for their apostolic zeal, holiness, and fortitude, we honor their memory: Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brebeuf, Rene Goupil, Antoine Daniel, Noel Chabanel, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles Garnier, and Jean de Lalande, all of whom were martyred between 1642 and 1649. Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Lalande, and Rene Goupil were martyred in what is now New York state, the other five all shed their blood for Christ in Canada. These eight are canonized, having been raised to the altar by Pope Pius XI in 1930.
One hundred years before the Jesuits came to North America, in Kansas, in the year 1544, the Franciscan Father Juan de Padilla was martyred by the Wichita Indians. He is considered the protomartyr of America. There may well have been others if we go back to the voyages of Saint Brendan and his monks who explored Greenland and possibly the coasts of Canada in the sixth century and four centuries later, the expedition of Leif Ericson who brought Irish monks along with him following a similar route as Brendan. Did you know that Ericson's Greenland is part of North America? Gardar, Greenland, was the first American Catholic diocese, having been made so in 1124 by Pope Honorius II with his appointment of Bishop Arnaldur to that See.
I wish to introduce very briefly another North American martyr, the first in Canada. He was Father Nicholas Viel and he was martyred in 1625 by the Hurons along with a baptized Huron neophyte named Auhaitsique. They were both killed out of hatred for the Faith by a few Hurons, part of larger party whom he was accompanying from their land north of the lake that bears their name (actually they called themselves Wyandotte, the French nicknamed them Hurons) to Quebec.
Father Viel was a Recollect Franciscan. He had petitioned his superiors for three years to be sent to the new world and join his brothers in Canada. He was granted his desire, arriving in Quebec in 1623, along with Brother Sagard, who would record the early history of the Canadian missions. Soon he and Brother Sagard were off to Huronia to help Father Joseph LeCaron, who, along with Father Denis Jamet, were the first missionaries to the Hurons. As with all the early missionaries to the American Indians, he suffered intensely from the difficulty of a mission in a climate that was bitter cold nine months a year. In addition, he endured a diet of slimy eels and occasional dried meat (all grabbed out of a common pot); he had to learn a guttural language that had no words for immaterial concepts, and, worst of all, he suffered from the constant suspicion of the braves and dream-weaver shamans. He had high hopes of converting the Hurons and began composing a dictionary for that purpose. Then, suddenly, Father LeCaron and Brother Sagard were called back to Quebec and he was left alone. After one year, as summer approached, he decided to accompany a band of Hurons who were going to Quebec to trade. Father Nicholas Viel never made it to Quebec. According to the Martyrologe des Recollets, he and Auhaitsique were drowned by a few enemies of the Faith in the Riviere des Prairies, which from that time bears the name of Sault-au-Recollet, near the island of Montreal. His body was recovered and he was buried there in June 1625.
One hundred years before the Jesuits came to North America, in Kansas, in the year 1544, the Franciscan Father Juan de Padilla was martyred by the Wichita Indians. He is considered the protomartyr of America. There may well have been others if we go back to the voyages of Saint Brendan and his monks who explored Greenland and possibly the coasts of Canada in the sixth century and four centuries later, the expedition of Leif Ericson who brought Irish monks along with him following a similar route as Brendan. Did you know that Ericson's Greenland is part of North America? Gardar, Greenland, was the first American Catholic diocese, having been made so in 1124 by Pope Honorius II with his appointment of Bishop Arnaldur to that See.
I wish to introduce very briefly another North American martyr, the first in Canada. He was Father Nicholas Viel and he was martyred in 1625 by the Hurons along with a baptized Huron neophyte named Auhaitsique. They were both killed out of hatred for the Faith by a few Hurons, part of larger party whom he was accompanying from their land north of the lake that bears their name (actually they called themselves Wyandotte, the French nicknamed them Hurons) to Quebec.
Father Viel was a Recollect Franciscan. He had petitioned his superiors for three years to be sent to the new world and join his brothers in Canada. He was granted his desire, arriving in Quebec in 1623, along with Brother Sagard, who would record the early history of the Canadian missions. Soon he and Brother Sagard were off to Huronia to help Father Joseph LeCaron, who, along with Father Denis Jamet, were the first missionaries to the Hurons. As with all the early missionaries to the American Indians, he suffered intensely from the difficulty of a mission in a climate that was bitter cold nine months a year. In addition, he endured a diet of slimy eels and occasional dried meat (all grabbed out of a common pot); he had to learn a guttural language that had no words for immaterial concepts, and, worst of all, he suffered from the constant suspicion of the braves and dream-weaver shamans. He had high hopes of converting the Hurons and began composing a dictionary for that purpose. Then, suddenly, Father LeCaron and Brother Sagard were called back to Quebec and he was left alone. After one year, as summer approached, he decided to accompany a band of Hurons who were going to Quebec to trade. Father Nicholas Viel never made it to Quebec. According to the Martyrologe des Recollets, he and Auhaitsique were drowned by a few enemies of the Faith in the Riviere des Prairies, which from that time bears the name of Sault-au-Recollet, near the island of Montreal. His body was recovered and he was buried there in June 1625.
