St. Isaac Jogues Research Paper

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St. Isaac Jogues

"We begged God to accept our lives and our blood and unite them to His life and His blood for the salvation of these tribes."1 This quote gives a small window into the heroism and abandon in which St. Isaac Jogues lived out his call to evangelize the native people of New France (Canada). Driven by a deep admiration for the Jesuit missionaries of Japan and China, he sacrificially dove deep into the culture of those who he lived with. He did this so that Jesus would not not simply come across as a European savior, but as a universal redeemer who speaks to people in their own language, through their own heritage and traditions. Even after facing brutal torture at the hands of the Mohawks, St. Isaac Jogues persisted in spreading the gospel in Canada, trusting that through his sufferng God would bring about salvation. Isaac Jogues was born on January 10, 1607 in Orleans, France. From a young age he attended Jesuit schools, and at seventeen joined the Jesuit noviciate. Leading up to his ordination in 1636, he was greatly …show more content…

Pope Urban VII called him a “living martyr”, and gave him a special dispensation to say Mass even though he had lost fingers during his captivity. It would have been easy for Fr. Isaac to stay in France, and live a life of great honor, but that was not what he chose. Following a longing and appreciation for matyrdom that awoke during his time as a prisoner, Fr. Jogues and companion Jean de Lalande returned to New France in 1626 to act as French ambassadors to the Mohawk tribe. After a disease broke out and crops failed, the tribe blamed the Catholics for using magic. On October 18, 1646 Fr. Jogues was killed by a tomahawk, and Lalande was killed the next day. Interestingly, the man who killed Fr. Jogues was later captured by the French and condemned to death. Before his execution, he was baptized and took the Christian name Father Isaac

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