On Sunday, March 3rd, Michigan Area members and their family members participated in a special Mass with the relic of Jesuit priest and martyr St. Jean de Brebeuf at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School & Academy. 

The Order was invited by Br. James Boynton, SJ, president of the school. Mass was celebrated in the school’s Chapel of the North American Martyrs. Afterwards, the skull relic of St. Jean de Brebeuf, and the relics of his fellow Jesuit missionaries, St. Gabriel Lalemant and St. Charles Garnier, remained in the chapel for public veneration. All three were martyred in 1649 in what is now western Ontario. Presentations included “The Healing Tree: The Lives and Legacies of Jean de Brebeuf,” by Mr. Jim Kennedy, SJ, and “The Legacy of Colonization and Evangelization,” by Br. Boynton. 

The relics were “on tour” for about a month, beginning in Colorado on February 9th and ending in New York City on March 6th.

Born in Normandy, France, St. Jean de Brebeuf (1593-1649) was the first Jesuit missionary in what was then called Huronia. He learned the language of the native Huron people, writing a Huron grammar, catechism, and phrase book. Conditions were harsh, as the priest admitted in a letter to fellow Jesuits whom he was seeking to recruit for the mission. With humor, he quipped, “Add to all this that our lives depend upon a single thread. Your cabin might burn down at any moment or a malcontent may cleave your head open …”

After many years of mission work, St. Jean de Brebeuf and St. Gabriel Lalement were martyred after Iroquois attacked the Huron village where the two priests were staying. The two Jesuits were subjected to horrific tortures; the Iroquois were so impressed with their courage that they cut out and ate their hearts, hoping to imbibe their fortitude. 

Their remains were initially buried near Sainte-Marie, among the Huron villages where the priests had ministered, but the uncertainty of the time led their fellow Jesuits to exhume their remains for safekeeping. Over the years, the relics moved among various Jesuit communities for protection and veneration, finally being housed at a shrine in Midland, Ontario.

To learn more about St. Jean de Brebeuf, visit https://www.jesuits.global/saint-blessed/saint-john-de-brebeuf/.