The Jesuits of Canada are in the midst of a year of celebration, in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Jesuit arrival in Canada in 1611, in what is now Cape Breton. We are being renewed by the example of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America, men such as Saint Gabriel Lalemant, one of the group of eight martyrs.
Gabriel Lalemant was born on October 31, 1610 in Paris, the third of six children of a gifted French lawyer. Religious commitment ran deep in the family. Five of the children entered religious life. After his mother was left a widow, she brought up her children with a strong sense of dedication. She herself, after her children had grown and after Gabriel died a martyr’s death in New France, joined a religious community and devoted her last years to prayer and seclusion.
Gabriel became a Jesuit at the age of 19. He was the third of his family to join the Society of Jesus. His uncle Charles had travelled to New France with Jean de Brébeuf in 1625. Another uncle, Jérôme Lalemant, replaced Brébeuf as the superior and was instrumental in building Sainte-Marie, the ambitious central mission residence, and in introducing donnés to New France.
Donnés, such as Saints René Goupil and Jean de la Lande, were committed laymen who assisted the Jesuit priests by performing a variety of services. We know that hearing accounts of his uncles’ missionary activities had instilled a similar desire in Gabriel. After his ordination to the priesthood, he lived a successful academic life in France, but had a deep desire for the missions. At first, it was passed over by his superiors, partly because of Gabriel’s frail nature. Eventually, they agreed with Lalemant and missioned him to New France. No doubt they were motivated by his obvious goodness, generosity and insistence.
Father Lalemant arrived in Quebec in 1646 and helped with priestly ministry in and around Quebec for two years. His uncle Jérôme sent him with a large party of Frenchmen and Hurons to Huronia two years later. He accomplished a great deal in the short seven months he spent in that region. He was just beginning to gain proficiency in the difficult native language when he went to assist Jean de Brébeuf in February 1649. Neither could have known that they would have less than a month to labour side by side in their priestly ministry among the villages just east of Sainte-Marie.
The villages were experiencing incessant incursions by the Iroquois, who overtook the village of St. Ignace on March 16. A few Hurons escaped and warned the village of St. Louis. Many Hurons managed to escape from St. Louis. Both Fathers Brébeuf and Lalemant stayed with those still in the village, to provide encouragement and the sacraments. As their superior later wrote, “the salvation of their flock was dearer to them than life itself.” The Iroquois eventually took possession of the village and captured the two Jesuit priests.
Brébeuf and Lalemant experienced excruciating torture at the stake and eventual martyrdom. The Jesuit Relations offer exacting descriptions of the deliberate and cruel torture endured by both men. Lalemant witnessed Brébeuf’s torture and death late in the afternoon of March 16. Lalemant’s own brutal torture was next and he died the following morning, on March 17, 1649. It has been recorded that he, “lifted his eyes to Heaven, clasping his hands from time to time and uttering sighs to God, whom he invoked to his aid.”
He died at the age of 39, after just a few intense months with the Hurons. His martyrdom has given him the place of honour among three Lalemants who served in 17th century New France. It was his uncle Jérôme who broke the news of Gabriel’s death to his family in France.
Gabriel Lalemant was canonized along with the other Jesuit Martyrs of North America toward the end of June 1930. His memory is often linked with that of Jean de Brébeuf, with whom he laboured and died. Along with the other Martyrs, Saint Gabriel Lalemant is celebrated on September 26 in Canada and October 19 in the United States. Saint Gabriel Lalemant, pray for us!