Another Joseph in Egypt
by Fr. Myles GaffneyDevotion to St. Joseph has been associated with Canada since the beginning of its Christian history. For example, in 1624, the Recollet missionaries consecrated New France to St. Joseph. The Jesuit missionaries who followed them took him as the patron for their mission in Huronia. In more recent times St. Andre Bessette of Montreal is known for the same devotion and for his role in establishing St. Joseph's Oratory — the largest shrine dedicated to this saint in the world. Today St. Joseph is the principal patron of Canada.
There is another significant link with St. Joseph from our Christian patrimony who is not so well known — the 17th century Huron Joseph Chiwatenhwa. He became such a force for Christianity that one of his guides, Fr. Francois Le Mercier, S.J. described him as "another Joseph in this Egypt," (a reference to the Joseph in the Book of Genesis). Chiwatenhwa took "Joseph" as his Christian name after he was healed of a serious illness. Both he, and the Jesuit priests who were his mentors, credited this saint's intercession with Chiwatenhwa's miraculous healing.
Most of what we know about Joseph Chiwatenhwa comes from the Jesuit Relations. (The Relations were the annual reports that the Jesuit missionaries sent to their superiors.) While these reports were scholarly and serious, they use exceptional language to describe Chiwatenhwa. He is described as a "saint," an "apostle," the "pearl of our Christians," "the Christian par excellence," and that "it was in this Christian that we had our hope after God." After Chiwatenhwa's death the mystic saint and martyr, Fr. Jean de Brebeuf S.J. had a vision of a tent resting on this man's grave and then departing off into the sky. Brebeuf believed this indicated that Joseph had gone to heaven.
Chiwatenhwa was murdered on August 2, 1640, the exact circumstances of which will never be known. The Relation for that year states that he was murdered by the Iroquois, though there is also a strong possibility that he was killed by his own people, due to his conversion to Christianity and robust defense of the Catholic faith. If this latter possibility is true, it would make Chiwatenhwa Canada's protomartyr or first martyr.
From: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/7517363874_29325450f4.jpg
Joseph Chiwatenhwa's compelling life story is one which deserves to be known – not only because of its "high drama," but also because he is a model for holiness. After giving examples of Chiwatenhwa's faith, hope and love and listing a number of his other virtues, in the Relation for 1639 Le Mercier writes:
I would not find myself less embarrassed if I had undertaken to declare all the acts of remarkable virtue and all the good examples Joseph has continued to manifest since the time of the previous Relation, whether in health or in sickness, in prosperity or in adversity….this good soul has seemed to us to be more and more filled with the Holy Spirit and to have entered the path of the Saints, of which he has given many other proofs, not only in attacks against his chastity and religion, but in his exercises of charity and mercy.The only other figure for whom similar attention was given for their virtue by the early missionaries in New France was Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.
One characteristic of genuine holiness is that an example of it serves for eternity, pointing us the way to heaven. Chiwatenhwa's witness is no exception and is also relevant today for the example he gives to us for the New Evangelization. We need the same kind of spirit-filled courage and wisdom that this Joseph was given to help our modern-day Egypt. Joseph Chiwatenhwa pray for us!
From: http://god-squad.ca/?p=570
