Martyrs Patron: Canada Americas

I9 October

SAINTS JOHN de BREBEUF and ISAAC JOGUES,

Priests and THEIR COMPANIONS, Martyrs

Optional Memoria

Between the years 1642 and 1649 these eight members of the Society of Jesus, who had gone to North America to preach the true faith to the pagans of that land, were killed by the Huron Indians and the lroquois tribes after they had' suffered terrible tortures. Isaac Jogues died on 18 October 1647 and John de Brebeuf on 16 March 1648.

UNIVERSALIS, the Online ‘The Divine Office’ did not include the Breviary Reading. (http://www.universalis.com/readings.htm)

From the spiritual diaries of St John de Brebeuf Let me die only for you, since you have died for me For two days without break I have felt a great desire for martyrdom and have been eager to endure all the torments which the martyrs suffered. My God and my Saviour Jesus, what return can I make to you for all the benefits which you have conferred upon me? I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings, and I will call upon your name. I make a vow in the presence of your eternal Father and of the Holy Spirit; in the presence of your holy Mother, and of her chaste spouse, Saint Joseph; before the angels, the apostles and martyrs, and my blessed fathers Saint Ignatius and Saint Francis Xavier,-yes, my Saviour Jesus, I make a vow to you never to fail, on my side, in the grace of martyrdom, if by your infinite mercy you offer it to me some day, to me, your unworthy servant. I bind myself to it in such a way that during all the rest of my life I shall no longer be free, no longer have the right, to avoid opportunities of dying and of shedding my blood for you. (Unless in some emergency I should judge that for the time being it might be for your greater glory to act otherwise.) And when I receive death's blow, I bind myself to accept it from your hand with all gladness, and with joy in my heart. And so, my beloved Jesus, I offer to you from today, in the joy that this brings me, my blood, my body, and my life j so that I may die only for you, if you grant me this favour, since you have been so gracious as to die for me. Enable me to live in such a way that finally you may grant me this favour, to die so happily. Thus, my God and my Saviour, I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings, and I will call upon your name, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. How I grieve, my God, that you are not known, that this savage country is not yet wholly converted to faith in you, that sin is here not yet blotted out! Indeed, my God, if all the torments which captives must undergo in this country, even the most cruel tortures, were inflicted on me, I offer myself most gladly to them, that I alone may suffer them.

http://www.catholicculture.org/

When Isaac Jogues returned to Paris after his first capture and torture, he said to his superior: "Yes, Father, I want whatever our Lord wants, even if it costs a thousand lives." He had written in his mission report: "These tortures are very great, but God is still greater, and immense."

In the Office of Readings we have an excerpt from the mission journal of St. John de Brébeuf, who had been a student of the great Jesuit spiritual writer, Louis Lallemant. He wrote:

For two days now I have experienced a great desire to be a martyr and to endure all the torments the martyrs suffered.... I vow to you, Jesus my Savior, that as far as I have the strength I will never fail to accept the grace of martyrdom, if some day you in your infinite mercy should offer it to me, your most unworthy servant.... On receiving the blow of death, I shall accept it from your hands with the fullest delight and joy of spirit.... My God, it grieves me greatly that you are not known, that in this savage wilderness all have not been converted to you, that sin has not been driven from it.