The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 8: Quebec, Hurons, Cape Breton, 1634-1636
History
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. 8: Quebec, Hurons, Cape Breton, 1634-1636
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America -- Canada; Jesuits -- Missions; Jesuits -- North America
On the twenty-seventh, Monsieur de Maupertuis[66] gave the name
Marie to a little girl two years old, whom the Fathers baptized;
she was the daughter of the late Capitanal, Captain of the
Savages,--a brave man and very wise for a Barbarian.[67] He had
left his wife with three children, a boy of about seventeen years,
and two little girls; the smaller of these girls is in heaven,
the boy died very pitiably, as I shall tell hereafter. At the
same time that he died, little André passed away; now, as they
were relations, they were buried in the same grave, without our
Fathers knowing it; they, when they had heard about it, went to
André's grandmother to complain that this little baptized boy had
been buried without their knowledge. Father Buteux begged them to
give him the body to place in our cemetery; a Savage [31] answered
him, "Go away, we do not understand thee." This is an answer that
the Savages occasionally make to us, when we urge them to do
something that does not suit them. It is true that, as yet, we
speak only stammeringly; but, still, when we say something which
conforms to their wishes they never use these reproaches. The
Father, seeing this, went in search of the Interpreter; he is told
that the affair is ended, that the child is buried with Capitanal's
son, and that Capitanal's wife would be offended if we were to
ransack the grave of her son. The Father goes to see her, and begs
her to allow them to take the body of this little child out of the
grave; she answers not a word; a Captain who is present begins to
talk. "Oh well," says he, "the two bodies belong to thee, take
them to the French; but do not separate them, for they are fond of
each other." "Yet they are quite distant from each other," said
the Father; "the one has been baptized and the other has not, and
consequently the one is happy and the other groans in the flames."
"If that is all it depends upon to be together and to be happy,"
said this Savage, "thou hast no sense; take up the one who has
not been baptized, and throw [32] as much water on his head as
thou wishest, and then bury them in the same grave." The Father
smiled, and gave him to understand that that would avail nothing.
This Barbarian finally acquiesced; and our Fathers took little
André from the profane grave, and placed him in holy ground. _Unus
assumetur, et alter relinquetur._ After the burial, the mother of
the one who died without Baptism, seeing her son had been discarded
like the body of a lost soul, shed bitter tears. "Ah, my son," she
said, "how sorry I am for thy death." Then the Father, who had seen
the Jugglers blowing upon this youth in his sickness, said to
her, "Behold the cure that these triflers promised to thy son; thy
little girl is sick, be careful not to summon them nor have them
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account