The French in the Heart of AmericaFinley, John H. (John Huston)
History
The French in the Heart of America
Finley, John H. (John Huston)
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); French -- North America; Mississippi River Valley -- History
Then came the Hooded Faces, the friars and the priests. To the four
Récollet friars whom Champlain brought out with him in 1615 from the
convent of his native town (Brouage), Jamay, D'Olbeau, Le Caron, and a lay
brother, Du Plessis, others were added, but there were not more than six
in all for the missions extending from Acadia to where Champlain found Le
Caron in 1615 in the vicinity of Lake Huron. Their experiences and ardor
(not unlike those of other missionaries in other continents and in our own
times) have illustration in this extract from a letter written by Le
Caron: "It would be difficult to tell you the fatigue I have suffered,
having been obliged to have my paddle in hand all day long and row with
all my strength with the Indians. I have more than a hundred times walked
in the rivers over the sharp rocks, which cut my feet, in the mud, in the
woods, where I carried the canoe and my little baggage, in order to avoid
the rapids and frightful waterfalls. I say nothing of the painful fast
which beset us, having only a little sagamity, which is a kind of
pulmentum composed of water and the meal of Indian corn, a small quantity
of which is dealt out to us morning and evening. Yet I must avow that amid
my pains I felt much consolation. For alas! when we see such a great
number of infidels, and nothing but a drop of water is needed to make them
children of God, one feels an ardor which I cannot express to labor for
their conversion and to sacrifice for it one's repose and life."
[Footnote: Le Clercq, "First Establishment of the Faith in New France
(Shea)," 1:95.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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