CHAPTER V

CATHOLIC MISSIONS

Henrion, /Histoire generale des missions catholiques depuis le XIIIe siecle/, 2 vols., 1841. Marshall, /The Christian Missions/, 2 vols., 2nd edition, 1863. Hahn, /Geschichte der Katholischen Missionen/, 5 Bde, 1857-65. Da Civezza, /Storia universale delle missioni francescane/, 9 vols., 1883-96. Meyer, /Die Propaganda/, 2 Bde, 1853. /Lettres edifantes ... des missions ... par quelques missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus/, 1617. Werner, /Missionsatlas/, 1885.

While heresy was spreading with such alarming rapidity that itthreatened to deprive the Church of her fairest provinces in Europe,new continents were being opened up in the East and the West, andChristian missionaries were being sent forth to bear an invitation tostrange races and peoples to take the place of the millions who hadstrayed from the fold. The restless energy and activity socharacteristic of the fifteenth century manifested itself strikinglyin the numerous naval expeditions, planned and carried out in face ofenormous difficulties, and which led to such important geographicaldiscoveries. The Portuguese pushed forward their discoveries along thewest coast of Africa till at last Bartholomew Diaz succeeded indoubling the Cape of Good Hope (1487), thereby opening the way forVasco de Gama's voyage to the Malabar coast in 1498. Spain, jealous ofthe new south sea route to the East Indies discovered by her rival,availed herself of the offer of Christopher Columbus to provide awestern route, and it was while engaged in this attempt that hediscovered the great continent of America. The importance of thesediscoveries in both East and West both from the spiritual and temporalpoint of view was understood clearly enough by both Spain andPortugal. The rulers of these countries, while anxious for the spreadof Christianity among the pagan races of Asia and America, were notunmindful also of the important service that might be rendered byreligion to their work of colonisation. Fortunately these new fieldsfor the Christian missionaries were opened up, at a time when thereligious spirit of Western Europe was beginning to recover from thestate of lethargy to which it had been reduced by abuses, and the crywent forth for volunteers in an age when the older religious ordershad begun to feel the influence of reform, and when the new religiousorders, particularly the Jesuits, were at hand to render invaluableassistance. The foundation of the Congregation /De Propaganda Fide/(1622), the establishment of the /Collegium Urbanum/ (1627) for theeducation and training of missionary priests, and the organisation ofthe /Societe des Missions Etrangeres/[1] (1663) in Paris helped tounify the work and to put it upon a solid and permanent basis.

The first place in this remarkable missionary development must beassigned to St. Francis Xavier[2] (1506-52), the friend and discipleof St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the most successful Christianmissionary since the days of St. Paul. On the invitation of John III.of Portugal, who had heard something about the contemplated newSociety of Jesus, St. Francis sailed from Lisbon, and landed at Goa,the capital of the Portuguese Indian colony (1542). Franciscans andDominicans had preceded him thither, but the scandalous example ofirreligion and immorality set by the colonists had made it nearlyimpossible for these devoted men to win converts amongst the paganraces. St. Francis threw himself generously into the work ofre-awakening the faith of the Portuguese before attempting theconversion of the natives. When the condition of affairs in Goa hadundergone a complete change for the better, he set out for West India,where he preached with wonderful effect, and succeeded in extendinghis efforts as far as the Island of Ceylon. He next visited Malacca,the Molucca Islands and Sumatra. Everywhere he went he won thousandsto the faith. His extraordinary kindness and charity, his untiringzeal, his simple straightforward exposition of Catholic doctrine, andthe numerous miracles by which God confirmed the truth of hispreaching, were the principal causes of his success. In the meantimeseveral other members of the Society of Jesus had arrived. These hedespatched to different parts of India to tend the flock whom he hadwon for Christ, while at the same time he established a novitiate anda house of studies to prepare a native clergy for carrying on thework.

Not content with what had been accomplished in India he set out forJapan (1549) in company with a Japanese convert, who assisted him toacquire a knowledge of the language. He landed at Kagoshima, where heremained nearly a year learning the language and preparing a shorttreatise in Japanese on the principal articles of faith. When he hadovercome these preliminary difficulties he began the work ofevangelisation, and notwithstanding the energetic opposition of thebonzes or native priests he formed a flourishing community. Throughcentral Japan he made his way preaching with success in the principaltowns, but the political troubles then raging in the capital proved aserious obstacle to the success of his work. For two years and a halfSt. Francis continued his apostolic labours in Japan, and thenreturned to Goa, not indeed to rest but only to prepare for a stillmore hazardous mission. In Japan he discovered that one of theprincipal arguments used against the acceptance of the Christian faithwas the fact that the Chinese, to whom the people of Japan looked withreverence, still preferred Confucius to Christ. Inspired by the hopeof securing the Celestial Empire for the Church, and of ensuringthereby the conversion of the entire Eastern races, he had himselfappointed ambassador to China and set off to reach the capital. On thevoyage, however, he became to seriously ill that it was necessary toland him on the little island of Sancian, where in a rude hutconstructed to shelter him he breathed his last. During the ten yearsof his mission he had won close on a million people to the faith, andhe had given Christianity a hold on the people of India and Japanwhich no political revolutions or religious persecution could everloosen. He was canonised in 1622.

After the death of the Apostle of India the work that he had begun wascarried on by his brethren of the Society of Jesus in face of veryserious difficulties. They were opposed by the Brahmins, who tried tostir up persecutions, and their progress was impeded by politicaldisturbances. The arrival of the Jesuit, Robert de' Nobili (1577-1656), in 1605 marked a new stage in the history of the conversion ofIndia. After a visit paid to the city of Madura,[3] where one of hisbrethren had been labouring for years without any visible fruit, de'Nobili came to the conclusion that the comparative failure of theChristian missionaries was due to the contempt of the Brahmins forthem as Portuguese or friends of the Portuguese and as associates ofthe pariahs, who were regarded by the Brahmins as being little betterthan beasts. He determined to adopt new methods, to come to them notas a Portuguese but as a Roman, to avoid all contact with the pariahsor outcasts, to respect the national customs and caste divisions ofthe country, and to secure a sympathetic hearing from the Brahmins byhis learning and specially by his intimate knowledge of the Indianliterature.

His method was crowned with instant success. In a short time he hadmade hundreds of converts in the very city where his colleague hadlaboured in vain for years; and he had secured his converts, not byminimising or corrupting Catholic truth, but by a prudent regard forthe caste system and for certain rites and customs connected with it,which he tolerated as partaking of a national rather than of anessentially religious character. Objections were raised against hismethods by his fellow Jesuit in Madura. He was charged withcountenancing superstition by allowing the use of pagan rites, andwith encouraging schism and dissension by permitting no interminglingbetween the Brahmins and the pariahs even in the churches. In justiceto Father de' Nobili and to those who favoured his methods, it oughtto be said that they did not like the system of castes. They hopedthat under the influence of Christian charity such divisions mightdisappear, and that just as the Church undermined rather thancondemned slavery in the first centuries, so too the missionaries inIndia might respect the prejudices of the Brahmins till theseprejudices should have been extinguished by a closer acquaintance withthe doctrines and spirit of Christianity. The highly coloured reportssent in against him produced an unfavourable impression on hissuperiors, but when his defence was received at Rome Gregory XV.refused to issue any condemnation (1623).

During the lifetime of Father de' Nobili he pursued his own methodwith success, though at the same time he never neglected anopportunity of providing secretly for the spiritual welfare of thepoorer classes. After his death in 1656 many of the Jesuits continuedhis policy, notwithstanding the fact that grave objections were raisedby some of the other religious orders. A crisis came, however, inPondicherry which belonged to the French. The Capuchins were in chargeof the mission, and attended both to the colonists and the natives.The bishop decided to share the work between the Capuchins who wereleft in charge of the colonists, and the Jesuits who were entrustedwith preaching to the natives (1699). The Capuchins appealed to Rome,and brought forward against the Jesuits the old charges that had beenlevelled against Father de' Nobili, and that had given rise to suchbitter controversies. The question of the Malabar Rites was carriedonce more to Rome, and de Tournon, Patriarch of Antioch, was sent aslegate to investigate the case (1703). After remaining eight months inthe country, and before he had an opportunity of considering bothsides of the question, he decided against the Jesuits (1704). Thisdecision was confirmed by the Pope in 1706. The controversy continued,however, till 1744, when Benedict XIV. in the Bull, /Omniumsollicitudinem/, issued a final condemnation of the Malabar Rites(1744).

In deference to the prejudices of the Brahmins a scheme was thenformulated with the approval of the Pope for organising two classes ofmissionaries, one for the Brahmins and another for the outcasts, butthe suppression of the Jesuits in the Portuguese dominions (1756) putan end to this system. The Carmelites did good service by theirefforts to reconcile the Nestorian Christians with the Church. Thefurther progress of the Catholic Church in India was impeded by thesuppression of the Jesuits, the invasion of India by the Dutch, theinsistence of Portugal upon its rights of patronage over all thechurches of India, the downfall of the religious spirit in Europeduring the eighteenth century, and finally by the destruction duringthe French Revolution of the colleges and religious houses thatsupplied workers for the mission.

St. Francis Xavier had planned to introduce the Christian faith intothe Celestial Empire, but he died almost in sight of the coast. Thefirst missionary who made any progress in that country was anotherJesuit, Father Matteo Ricci[4] (1552-1610) who arrived in China in1582. He was a man of great ability, well versed in mathematics and inthe natural sciences, and well qualified to make an excellentimpression on the educated classes. He was protected by the mandarins,and respected by the Emperor, who invited him to the imperial palaceat Pekin (1600). Although it was his scholarly attainments thatattracted the Chinese rather than his religion, Father Ricci neverfailed to seize every opportunity of directing the thoughts of hispupils and admirers towards Christianity. At his death in 1610 many ofthe mandarins had been converted, and most of the old prejudicesagainst the new religion had disappeared. Other Jesuits equallylearned and equally prudent were ready to take his place. Hissuccessor, Father Schall, was summoned by the Emperor to Pekin, andwas appointed president of the mathematical society. By his influenceat court he obtained permission for his fellow-workers to openChristian churches in China, and secured the publication of variousChristian books in the Chinese language. The revolution that precededthe establishment of the Manchu dynasty (1644) led to somepersecution, but the trouble was only of a temporary character. On thedeath of Father Schall in 1666, he was succeeded by Father Verbiestwho was also patronised by the court on account of his scholarlyattainments. Finally in 1692 an imperial rescript was issued givingthe Christian missionaries full permission to preach the gospelthroughout the empire. At that period the number of converts was abouttwenty thousand. Two bishoprics were erected, one at Pekin and one atNankin.

In the beginning, as the Jesuits were practically speaking the onlymissionaries in China, it was reserved for them as their specialmission-field by Gregory XIII. (1585). But later on Clement VIII.allowed the Franciscans to go to China, and finally the country wasopened to all Christian missionaries by Urban VIII. The presence ofthe new labourers in the vineyard was not productive of so goodresults as might have been expected. A fierce controversy that brokeout regarding the Chinese Rites[5] principally between the Dominicansand Jesuits, did much to retard the progress of the Catholic Church inthe Celestial Empire for a long period. To understand the meaning ofthis controversy it should be remembered that the Chinese people,deeply attached to the memory of their ancestors and to theirveneration for Confucius, were accustomed to perform certain rites andceremonies at fixed periods in memory of their departed relatives andin honour of Confucius. To prohibit these was to put an end to allhope of conversion, and to tolerate them looked like toleratingPaganism. Father Ricci decided to tolerate them, mainly on the groundthat they partook more of a civil than of a religious character, thatin themselves they were harmless, that the Church has been always veryprudent in regard to the national and civil customs of its converts,and that with the acceptance of Christianity all danger ofmisunderstanding would soon disappear. Furthermore, for want of betternames for the Deity Father Ricci allowed the use of Tien-tschu (Lordof Heaven), Tien and Shangti (supreme emperor), words that had beenused hitherto in an idolatrous sense, but which in themselves and asexplained by the Jesuit missionaries were orthodox enough. Bothparties in the controversy meant well, and each could adduce veryconvincing arguments in favour of its own views. The Dominicanscommissioned one of their number to denounce these customs to Rome asidolatrous. He submitted seventeen articles dealing with the ChineseRites to the Inquisition, and after a long discussion a provisionalcondemnation was issued by Innocent X. (1645). Father Martini went toRome to defend the Chinese Rites, and to point out the seriousconsequences which such a sweeping condemnation might have upon thewhole future of Christianity in China. In 1656 a decision more or lessfavourable to the Jesuits was given by Alexander VII. The decisionhelped to prolong rather than to settle the controversy. A crisis wasreached, however, when Maigrot, vicar-apostolic of Fu-Kien, one of thepriests belonging to the Society for Foreign Missions, denounced theChinese Rites as pure paganism, and interdicted their observance toall converts within his jurisdiction. The case was carried once moreto Rome, and de Tournon was despatched as papal legate to decide thecase. In 1707 he issued a decree prohibiting the Chinese Rites,incurring thereby the enmity of the Emperor, who had him thrown intoprison where he died (1710). All missionaries who obeyed his orderswere banished. The decision of the legate was supported by severaldecrees from Rome, and at last in 1742 Benedict XIV. condemned theChinese Rites, and ordered that all missionaries to China should takean oath against further discussion of the question.

The controversy was carried on with considerable earnestness on bothsides on account of the importance of the issues at stake, and wasembittered considerably by political and religious disputes in Europethat had no concern either with China or the Chinese Rites. Thecondemnation had a disastrous effect on the missions. Nearly all themissionaries were banished from the country, and the Christians wereobliged to choose between apostasy and death.

In Japan[6] St. Francis Xavier had begun the work of conversion. Heleft behind him two of his brethren who were joined soon by othermembers of the Society of Jesus, with the result that about the year1582 there were between one hundred and two hundred thousand Catholicsin the country. An embassy consisting of three of the native princesvisited Rome in 1585. In many districts the local chiefs granted fullliberty to the missionaries, and in a short time the number ofChristians rose to three hundred thousand. Some of the authorities,alarmed by the rapid growth of foreign power in the country, began towhisper among the people that the Christian missionaries were onlyspies working in the interest of Spain and Portugal. A violentpersecution broke out against the Christians in 1587, and lasted forseveral years. Notwithstanding the savagery of the Pagans and thepunishments decreed against the missionaries the Jesuits weathered thestorm, and fresh labourers arrived to support them in the persons ofthe Dominicans, the Franciscans, and the Augustinians.

But national jealousy of the foreigners, more especially of theSpanish and Portuguese, fomented as it was by the Dutch and English,led to new troubles for the Christian communities. In 1614 a royaldecree was issued against the Christians, and a determined attempt wasmade to destroy the work of the missionaries.

Punishments of the most awful kind were inflicted on those who wouldnot abjure the Christian faith, and many, both priests and people,were put to death. From 1614 till 1640 the persecution was carried onin a systematic and determined manner, so that by that time all themissionaries were either dead or banished, and the whole of the youngcommunities they had formed were scattered. For years Japan remainedclosed against the missionaries who made various attempts to escapethe vigilance of the authorities.

Whatever may be the explanation, whether it was due to the severity ofthe climate or to the savage character of the inhabitants, theChristian missions in Africa were not productive of much fruit. St.Vincent de Paul sent some of his community to work in the districtaround Tunis and in the island of Madagascar. Missionaries fromPortugal made various attempts to found Christian communities alongthe whole western coast of Africa. In the Congo the results at firstwere decidedly promising. Here the work was begun by the Dominicans,who were assisted at a later period by the Capuchins, theAugustinians, and the Jesuits. Many of the inhabitants were won overto the faith, but as years passed, and as the supply of missionariesfailed, much of what had been accomplished was undone, though theCapuchins still continued their efforts. In Angola the Jesuits led theway, in Upper and Lower Guinea the Jesuits and the Carmelites, inMorocco and in Egypt the Franciscans, while various religious bodiesundertook the work of evangelising the Portuguese colonies in EasternAfrica.

By far the greatest triumph of the Church during this age ofmissionary effort was that which was achieved by the conversion of thenative races in the territories occupied by Spain and Portugal in thewestern continent. The hope of extending the boundaries of the Churchwas one of the motives that induced Columbus and his supporters toundertake their voyage of discovery, as it was also one of the motivesurging the rulers of Spain to increase the sphere of theirjurisdiction. Hence from the very beginning great care was taken toprovide for the conversion of all the natives. Priests were despatchedfrom Spain with all the expeditions. Dominicans, Franciscans,Carmelites, Augustinians, Fathers of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy,and after the establishment of the Society of Jesus, Jesuits vied witheach other in their eagerness to risk their lives in the work.Generous provision was made by the rulers of Spain for the support ofthe clergy and the maintenance of religion. Churches were erected,episcopal and archiepiscopal Sees were founded and endowed, collegesand monasteries were established by the various religious orders, andin the course of less than a century the Church had gained in the newworld almost as much as she had lost in the old.

The Spanish rulers were not inclined to destroy or to maltreat thenative races, but they were unable to supervise the greedy officials,many of whom acted savagely towards the Indians, killing hundreds ofthem and forcing the others to work as slaves. The hatred of theIndian races for the Spaniards made the work of the missionaries moredifficult, but from the beginning the Church espoused the cause of theIndians, sought to secure protection for them against the officials,and to restrain if not to extinguish entirely the practice ofenslaving the natives. Bartholomew de Las Casas[7] (1474-1566) atfirst a secular priest, then a Dominican, and afterwards a bishop,took a prominent part in the struggle on behalf of the natives, andthough his methods were not always of the most prudent character hehelped to put down some of the most glaring abuses. Charles V. wasmost sympathetic towards the Indians, laid down very strict rules forhis subordinates, and invited the bishops to become protectors of theIndians, while Paul III. insisted strongly on the freedom of thenatives and their rights as men (1537).

Some of the West Indian Islands which Columbus discovered were thicklypopulated. The Franciscans and Dominicans set to work at once toconvert the native people of Hayti, many of whom were destroyed by theSpaniards despite the efforts of the missionaries. Cuba was takenpossession of by the Spaniards in 1511, and Mexico[8] or New Spain wasconquered by Hernando Cortes in 1519. The people that inhabited thiscountry were much more intelligent and cultured than the other nativeraces. They had flourishing towns, beautiful temples and publicbuildings, and a fairly well organised form of government. Cortesinvited the Franciscans to undertake the work of conversion. They werefollowed by the Dominicans, by the Order of Our Lady of Mercy and bythe Jesuits. Bishop Zumarraga, the first bishop in Mexican territory,opened schools for the education of the Indians, as did also theFranciscans and the other religious orders. The Jesuits establishedthe great college of San Ildefonso, and in 1553 the royal andpontifical University of Mexico was opened for the reception ofstudents. By the Bull, /Universalis Ecclesiae regimini/, full rightsof patronage over all the churches of New Spain were conferred on therulers of Spain, and religious affairs were placed under the controlof the Council of the Indies.

From the West Indies Christianity made its way into Central Americawhich was acquired by Spain in 1513. The Dominicans, Capuchins, andJesuits preached the faith in Guiana. Venezuela was evangelised atfirst by the Franciscans (1508) and by the Dominicans (1520). Later onCapuchins, Jesuits, and Augustinians took part in the work. By theyear 1600 fully two-thirds of the natives were converted. Peru wasconquered for Spain by Francis Pizarro in 1532. The inhabitants ofthis country were highly civilised, with a regular government, andwith a form of religious worship much superior to any of the Pagansystems with which the Spaniard had come into contact. For a while theconversion of the country was delayed owing to the cruelties inflictedon the natives and the conflicts between the Spanish leaders, but in ashort time the Franciscans and Dominicans undertook missions to thenatives with great success. In 1546 Lima was created an archbishopric,and in a few years a university was opened. St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617) was the first saint of American birth to be canonised officially(1671). By the beginning of the seventeenth century the majority ofthe natives were converted.

Brazil[9] was discovered by the Portuguese, Alvares de Cabral (1500),who named it Vera Cruz because his ship came to anchor there on GoodFriday. The Franciscans were early in the field to tend to thespiritual wants of the natives, who stood in need of some defenders toprotect them from the greed of the Portuguese officials. At therequest of King John III. St. Ignatius despatched some of hisfollowers to Brazil (1549). A great college was opened by the Jesuitsfor the education of young men. The wars with the French, the invasionof Brazil by the Dutch, and the opposition of officials who wereannoyed at the protection afforded the natives by the missionaries,rendered the work of conversion exceedingly difficult. But"reductions" or settlements of Indians were formed by the Jesuits,Capuchins, Carmelites, and others, and episcopal Sees were establishedthroughout the country. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1759 was asevere blow to the missions in Brazil.

Paraguay[10] was taken possession of by Spain in 1536. The FranciscanFathers who accompanied the expedition addressed themselves at once tothe conversion of the natives; but the difficulty of making themselvesunderstood, the cruelty of the first conquerors towards the natives,and the bad example of the early colonists, made their work much moredifficult than it might have been.

The Dominicans, the Augustinians and the Order of Mercy came to theassistance of the first missionaries, and three episcopal sees wereestablished. One of the bishops, a Dominican, invited the Jesuits tocome to Paraguay (1586). They established colleges in several of theleading centres, and sent out their members in all directions topreach to the Indians, over whom they acquired in a short time a verysalutary influence. But the harshness of the Spanish officials, andthe bad example they gave to the native converts, made it necessaryfor the Jesuits to form "Reductions" or special settlements, where theIndians might live apart from the Spaniards, and where they might befree from oppression and the corrupting influence of their Spanishmasters. Philip III. of Spain approved this plan, and ordained thatthe Reductions should be subject directly to the Crown. In thesesettlements the Jesuits trained the natives in agriculture and intrades, but the peace of the communities was disturbed frequently bythe slave-hunters against whom the Spanish officials refused to takeaction. As a last resource the Jesuits organised an Indian force, andprovided them with arms for self-protection. Close on a millionconverted natives were attached to the thirty-one Reductions thatformed a kingdom of independent principality subject only to Spain.This happy condition of affairs was not destined to last forever. By atreaty made in 1750 Spain, in return for some territory ceded byPortugal, handed over to Portugal seven of the Reductions. The Jesuitspleaded for delay in carrying out the eviction of the Indians who weresettled in this territory, and when their appeal was refused theyadvised the Indians to submit. Some of them followed this advice whileothers of them flew to arms only to be defeated (1756). The blame forthe rebellion was attributed to the Jesuits by Pombal and the otherenemies of the Society in Portugal. By a royal decree issued in 1767the Jesuits were expelled from Paraguay, and in a few years theflourishing communities which they had established were completelydissolved.[11]

Christianity reached the territory now known as the United States fromthree distinct sources, namely, the Spanish colonies in the south, theFrench settlements in the north, and from the English Catholic colonyof Maryland in the east. The sphere of influence of the Spanishmissionaries was Florida, California, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1526an expedition under the command of de Narvaez and accompanied byseveral Franciscan Fathers was sent to explore Florida, but theexpedition ended in complete failure. Several other attempts of asimilar kind were made with no better results till at last, aroused bythe danger of a French occupation, Menendez established a permanentsettlement at Fort St. Augustine and prepared the way for Spanishoccupation (1565). Menendez, zealous for the conversion of thenatives, invited the Jesuits to come to Florida, as did also theFranciscans. At first the work of conversion was attended with greatdifficulties and proceeded very slowly, but by the year 1700 manyChristian villages had been established. The attacks of the English onFlorida injured the missions, and the cession of Florida to England(1763) completed the work of destruction.[12]

Lower California was discovered by Cortez in 1533, and UpperCalifornia by Cabrillo eleven years later. In the beginning themissionaries encountered great opposition, but after 1697 the JesuitFathers were very successful. They formed the natives into permanentsettlements or reductions, and so rapidly did the work ofevangelisation proceed that in 1767, the year in which the Jesuitswere expelled by Spain, nearly all the Indians were converted. TheFranciscan Fathers succeeded the Jesuits, continuing their reductionsin Lower California, and introducing missions of a similar kind amongthe Indians of Upper California. The Dominicans, also, renderedvaluable assistance. In 1822 California was ceded to the UnitedStates, and the missions were broken up owing to the hostility of thecivil authorities.[13]

The Franciscans were the first to undertake missions in New Mexico(1539). Several of the missionaries suffered martyrdom in theirattempts to convert the natives, but it was only after 1597 that anyconsiderable progress was made. In Texas the earliest real effort atintroducing Christianity among the natives was made in the lastquarter of the seventeenth century. The work of the Franciscans wasdisturbed by rebellions among the Indians and by war, butnotwithstanding these obstacles several flourishing Indian settlementswere established. In 1813 the Spanish Cortes issued a decree that themissions in Texas should be secularised.[14]

Although others had preceded him, yet the honour of discoveringCanada[15] is assigned generally to Jacques Cartier who made threevoyages to the country (1534-42). Early in the seventeenth century thetwo Jesuits Biard and Masse arrived and began the conversion of theIndian tribes settled in Acadia, which embraced Nova Scotia and NewBrunswick. In 1608 Samuel de Champlain, "the Father of New France"arrived and laid the foundation of Quebec. He invited the FranciscanRecollects to preach to the Indian tribes, namely, the Algonquins andthe Hurons (1615). The Franciscans went to work with a will, preachingto the people and opening schools for the young, but finding theirnumbers too few for the mighty task, they invited the Jesuits to cometo their assistance (1625). Several Jesuits including Fathers Brebeufand Lallemant hastened to Canada and undertook missions to the Hurons.The invasion and capture of Quebec in 1629 by the English interruptedthe work for a time, but on the restoration of the territory to Francein 1632 the Jesuits continued their labours with renewed vigour. Thefierce tribe of the Iroquois were the strongest opponents of theChristian missionaries, many of whom they put to death. Father Jogueswas put to death in 1646, and a little later Fathers Daniel, Brebeuf,and Lallement together with several of their companions met a similarfate.

But notwithstanding these reverses the work of Christianising thenative races of Canada proceeded apace. In 1642 the city of Montrealwas founded, and in 1657 the superior of the Sulpicians despatchedseveral of his community to labour in the new colony. Two years laterFrancois de Montmorency-Laval arrived as first bishop and vicar-apostolic of New France. West and east the missionaries continued towin new conquests for the Church. The English, however, gave greattrouble to the missionaries by stirring up the Indian tribes to makewar on the Christian settlements. Nor was the French colony,practically deserted as it had been by the mother country, able tohold its own against the English colonists. In 1713 France ceded toEngland Acadia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay territory. In Acadiathe Catholic missions had been very successful, but in 1755 theunfortunate Catholics, who refused to take the oath that was tenderedto them, were seized and deported. In 1759 Quebec was taken, and bythe Treaty of Paris (1763) Canada passed under the dominion of theEnglish.

Many French missionaries from Canada worked in the district stretchingfrom the St. Lawrence to Lake Superior, and missions were establishedby the Jesuits in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. In1673 Father Marquette (1636-75) undertook a journey southward to visitthe great river about which he had heard from the Indians, and to openup new fields of work for himself and his associates. He succeeded inreaching the Mississippi, and sailed down the river as far as themouth of Arkansas. As a result of the information acquired from thosewho returned from this voyage of exploration, expeditions were sentout by the French to take possession of the new territories and toerect fortifications against the further advance westward of theEnglish colonists. The city of New Orleans was founded in 1717.Missionaries--Capuchins, Jesuits, and priests of the Society forForeign Missions--preached the gospel with great success to thenatives in Louisiana, Mississippi, Iowa, Arkansas, and Ohio.

The Jesuits, under the leadership of Father White, who settled in thecolony founded in Maryland (1534), devoted themselves to theconversion of the Indians, but the expulsion of Lord Baltimore in 1644and the victory of the Puritans led to the almost complete destructionof these Indian missions. ----------

[1] Launay, /Histoire generale de la Societe des Missions-Etrangeres/, 1894.

[2] Coleridge, /Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier/, 1902.

[3] Bertrand, /La Mission du Madure/, 1847.

[4] Brucker, /Le Pere Mattieu Ricci/ (/Etudes/, 1910).

[5] Daniel, /Histoire apologetique de la conduite des Jesuites de la Chine/, 1724. Pray, /Historia Controvers. de ritibus Sinicis/, 1724.

[6] Pages, /Histoire de la religion chretienne au Japan, 1598-1651/, 1869.

[7] Dutto, /The Life of Bartolome de las Casas and the First Leaves of American Ecclesiastical History/, 1902.

[8] De Berbourg, /Histoire des nations civilisees du Mexique et de l'Amerique centrale/, 1851.

[9] Beauchamp, /Histoire du Bresil/, 3 vols., 1815.

[10] Demersay, /Histoire ... du Paraquay et des Etablissements des Jesuites/, 1860-4.

[11] De Moussy, /Memoire historique sur la decadence et la ruine des Missions de Jesuites/ 1865. Weld, /The Suppression of the Society of Jesus in the Portuguese Dominions/, 1877.

[12] Shea, /Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes/, 1857. Hughes, /The History of the Society of Jesus in North America/, vol. i. (Text), 1907.

[13] Engelhardt, /The Missions and Missionaries of California/, 1908.

[14] Shea, op. cit., pp. 76-88.

[15] /The Jesuit Relations/, 1896-1901. Leclerc, /Etablissement de la foi dans la nouvelle France/, 1680. Campbell, /Pioneer Priests of North America/, 1908.