Father Anthony Daniel

VICTIM OF THE IROQUOIS

ANTHONY Daniel, the first Jesuit to give his life for the faith in the Huron country, was born at Dieppe, in Normandy, May 27th, 1593. His parents had intended him for the bar, and after the completion of his classical studies he began a course of jurisprudence. But already the call to eschew worldly honors and riches had sounded in his ear; God was inspiring him to give himself to His service. Yielding to the supernatural impulse, the young student — then twenty-three years of age — threw aside his law-books and entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Rouen, in 1621 . After he had completed his two years of probation and made his religious profession, he was sent to the Jesuit college in the same city to begin the term of teaching and regency through which members of his Order usually pass before they proceed to the study of theology and the priesthood.

A circumstance, trivial in itself, occurring in these years, evidently turned the young professor's attention to the Canadian missions. In a letter to his brother Jerome from Quebec, in 1626, Father Charles Lalemant writes: "A little Huron is going to see you; he longs to visit France. He is very fond of us and manifests a strong desire to be instructed. It is important that he should be thoroughly satisfied; for if he is once well taught, he will make our way easy into the tribes where he will be useful." This interesting youth was Amantacha, a Huron, who was taken to Rouen and baptized under the name of Louis de Sainte Foy, having as sponsors the Due de Longuevihe and Madame de Villars. While at the college of Rouen his instruction was confided to Father Daniel, and the ease with which the young savage assimilated the knowledge provided for him undoubtedly excited his teacher's interest in the land whence he had come, and gave him the desire to work among the members of the Huron tribe. Other reasons also may explain Daniel's vocation. Charles Lalemant had returned to Paris in 1627; he was at the college of Clermont when Daniel reached there for his theology in the same year. The missionary and the young student undoubtedly met and gained each other's confidence. Besides, the "League of Prayer for the Canadian Missions" was active in those years in the famous Parisian college. When future apostles like Paul Le Jeune, Jerome Lalemant, Simon Le Moyne and others, could claim membership in it, there is little doubt but that Anthony Daniel was also of the number. After his ordination to ths priesthood in 1630, the call of the Indian missions in Canada grew louder and more imperative, but he had to wait for two years at the college of Eu before he saw the accomplishment of his desire to cross the Atlantic.

The occasion which presented itself in 1632 could hardly be more favorable. His brother, Charles Daniel, a sea c.iptain in the employ of the De Caen Company, who had already distinguished himself along the coast of New France during the English occupation of Quebec, w;t:; about to sail for Cape Breton, and he offered carry his missionary brother with him. The latter, accompanied by Father Ambrose Davost, who had also volunteered for the Canada missions, set sail and arrived at St. Anne's Bay, in the summer of the same year. The two Jesuits had hardly landed when they began to exercise their ministry along the Bras d'Or estuary, among the few French colonists and fishermen who had been hitherto deprived of spiritual succor. During a whole year they lived with muse poor people, helping them to bear patiently their isolation, providing them with Mass and Sacraments and reconciling them to God.

This work, however, was only temporary- Both men were destined for the Huron missions on Georgian Bay and were called to Quebec by Paul Le Jeune to prepare for their future labors. They reached the little settlement on the St. Lawrence on June 24th, 1633. and there under the guidance of Father de Brébeuf who had returned to Canada the same summer, began to study the Huron tongue, without which their presence among the savages would be useless. It was the wish of all three to start for Georgian Bay immediately, but the danger of falling into the hands of lurking Iroquois along the route was always imminent, and they were dissuaded from undertaking the perilous journey. "I never saw more resolute men than Daniel and Davost when told that they might lose their lives on the road," wrote Le Jeune; "but as that would involve the French in war, it was agreed with M. de Champlain that the preservation of peace among the tribes was preferable to the consolation they would experience in dying. They put off their departure till the following year and decided to spend the interval in the study of the language. A few months later, their superior, Paul Le Jeune, gave them this testimonial : "Fathers Daniel and Davost are both quiet men. They have studied the Huron language thoroughly. I took care that they should not be diverted from this work which I believe to be of very great importance."

In 1634 the three Jesuits set out for Huronia. Brébeuf had already been over the arduous route, and had had a bitter experience of the hardships suffered thereon, but Daniel and Davost were to taste for the first time a journey which on this occasion, Brébeuf himself asserted, "was accompanied with more fatigues, losses and expenses than any former one." Their troubles began at the trading post of Three Rivers, the terminus of the Huron flotillas. When they reached there eleven canoes were already manned and about to start, but the savages showed great unwillingness to find room for the three Jesuits and their seven French workmen. It required the intervention of the commandant of the post, Duplessis-Bochart, coupled with several substantial presents, to find places in the canoes for them. Father Daniel had to be satisfied with a reduced amount of baggage, taking with him only what was necessary to say Mass with and the minor necessaries for life.

"Barefooted and armed with a paddle, the young missionary started out for his long journey up the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, across Lake Nipissing and down its great tributary the French River to Georgian Bay. Hunger and pain and sleeplessness were his portion during a whole month. A little Indian corn crushed between two stones, and boiled in water was his food; the bare earth or a hard rock covered with a few branches, his bed; while his daily wading through water and mud during the long and tiring portages, the entanglements of the forest shrubbery, to which must be added the stings of insects and constant intercourse with filthy savages, rendered his plight painful indeed. The almost absolute silence which missionaries ignorant of the language had ordinarily to observe along the route was another great trial he had to undergo. Happily, Father Daniel had had a year's study of the Huron tongue; he could make himself understood well enough to let his Indian companions know how keenly he felt the injustice of the act they were to perpetrate when they reached the Algonquins on Allumette Island. There the Hurons had decided to abandon him to his late and to start off without him, and his lot would have been a hard one had not a friendly captain from Ossossane overtaken the dissatisfied and mutinous crew and relieved them of their unwelcome guest for the rest of the journey. Daniel's progress in the language gave him advantages fully appreciated by Brébeuf who had been an excellent master to him during his year in Quebec. In fact, Brébeuf generously wrote that, "the pupil knew the language as well as he," and Daniel gave a proof of his ability when he translated into Huron the Lord's Prayer and obliged the savages to learn it by heart and sing it — a method which helped him greatly in teaching them the rudiments of the faith. Daniel's proficiency in the tongue gave Brébeuf the occasion to set on foot a plan long contemplated by the missionaries.

One of the projects that appealed to both the Jesuits, and to the Recollects who preceded them in those early years of the colony, was the training of the native children apart from their families. The devoted men were buoyed up with the hope that when those children had been fully instructed in the faith and in civilized ways, and had returned to their villages, their words and examples would raise the Christian religion in the esteem of their elders, and ultimately lead to their conversion. " I see no other way than that which your Reverence suggests," wrote Le Jeune, 1 "of sending a boy every year to France. Having been there two years he will return with a knowledge of our tongue, and having become accustomed to our ways, he will not leave us to return to his countrymen."

This experiment suggested by the superiors in Europe, of sending Huron youths to France was tried and deemed impracticable for many reasons, and some plan that could be carried out nearer home was resolved upon. "If a small seminary of a dozen or so of Hurons could be founded at Kebec," wrote Le Jeune, in the Relation of 1635, "in a few years incredible aid could be drawn from them to help in converting their fathers and in planting a flourishing Church in the Huron nation." "If we had only a fund for the purpose !" exclaimed the same writer elsewhere. 1 "We have marked out a little spot for the beginnings of the seminary while waiting until a special house will be erected for the purpose If we had one built, I have hopes that in a couple of years Father de Brébeuf could send us some children."

Meanwhile Brébeuf was not idle. He, too, had entered fully into the plan because it appealed to him; already, owing to his tact and the ascendency he had acquired over the tribe, he had secured the promise of twelve intelligent boys who should be sent to Quebec. The important task of taking the youths down to the colony and of acting as father and teacher to them while there, was entrusted to Father Anthony Daniel; and lest an accident should befall him on his journey down the Ottawa, Davost was named to accompany him. The date fixed for the departure was July 22nd, 1636, and everything was ready; but the missionaries had not reckoned on the inconstancy of the savage character or on the love of Huron parents for their offspring. The tears and wailings of the mothers became so eloquent at the moment of leaving that the boys refused to enter the canoes; of the twelve who promised only three could be prevailed upon to go.

The journey promised to be rapid and pleasant, wrote Daniel to Duplessis-Bochart, and everything went well until the flotilla reached the nation of the Algonquins on Allumette Island. Those Indians were naturally jealous of the growing commercial relations of the Hurons with the French colony, and the sight of canoes laden with furs which had begun to pass down yearly excited their enmity. Besides, they had for years arrogantly claimed control of the Ottawa river and tried under various pretexts to hinder the passage of the Hurons. This year the specious reason put forward for their refusal was the fact that the body of their great captain, recently deceased, had not yet been laid away. This captain was Le Borgne, the second Algonquin chief of that name, known to the missionaries as "unusually arrogant and malicious," 1 who continued till his death to be a wily enemy of the French. A regular blockade was declared, but in a letter which Father Daniel succeeded in getting through, he informed the commandant of Three Rivers that the savages were willing to let the French pass down the Ottawa; as for the Hurons they should have to return home. This would have wrecked his plans completely, and he resolved not to continue downward if the Hurons were not allowed to accompany him. Only after infinite parleying were the Algonquins persuaded to permit the flotilla to proceed.

A pleasant incident of this memorable journey of Father Daniel was his meeting, somewhere on the Upper Ottawa, with Fathers Gamier and Chastellain. fresh from France and on their way to Huronia. "They both wore their shoes in their canoes and carried no paddles," he wrote, "which led me to believe that they were kindly treated. This urged me to do something for their men that I had not done for my own. I made them a present of an herb which they adore and which we do not like — tobacco, which is high-priced this year."

The zeal of the devoted missionary found occasion to exercise itself further down the river. At Petite Nation, another Algonquin settlement on the Ottawa, he found an Iroquois prisoner tied to a stake awaiting torture and death by fire. The deep interest he took in his fate and the kind words he spoke to him, softened the heart of the poor pagan prisoner, who before his death had the happiness of being baptized.

On August 18th, 1636, the flotilla, with Daniel and the three Huron youths, arrived at Three Rivers. When the canoes hove in sight the little population hastened to the river bank to welcome them. "Our hearts melted," wrote Le Jeune, "at the sight of Father Daniel. His face was gay and happy, but greatly emaciated; he was barefooted, had a paddle in his hand, and was clad in a wretched cassock, his breviary suspended to his neck, and his shirt rotting on his back. We embraced him, and having led him to our little room, after having blessed and adored our Lord, he related to us in what condition was the cause of Christianity among the Hurons. He handed me the letters and the Relation sent from that country, and we sang a Te Deum as a thanksgiving for the blessings God was pouring out upon this new Church." Daniel's absence from the new Church was a great sacrifice. He was really necessary there, wrote Le Mercier, "for only he and Father de Brébeuf are able to wield the language easily." And yet the sacrifice was made only with the hope of gathering greater spiritual fruit. A few days later, the interpreter, Jean Nicolet, brought three more recruits from Huronia, and with his little flock of six, Father Daniel went down to Quebec, full of hope that one of the problems of the missions was about to be solved. Meanwhile other Indian boys nearer home had been persuaded to enter the seminary, and soon fifteen, including a few Montagnais, were gathered together at Notre Dame des Anges, on the banks of the St. Charles, two miles from Quebec.

But the trials and tribulations which usually go hand in hand with all works undertaken for God, were about to begin for the Huron seminary. One of the students, Tsi-ko, fell sick, and his illness became so serious that Father Daniel was at his side day and night. Tsi-ko was the nephew of a well-known Huron orator; he showed considerable talent, and much was expected later from this young man ; but in a short time he was a lifeless corpse. He had hardly been in his grave when Sabouta, another Huron youth, was carried off. These deaths affected Father Daniel very much, for they threatened to compromise the future of the seminary. What would the Huron parents and relatives on Georgian Bay say when they heard that their sons were dead in Quebec ? The worries were greater than the missionary could bear; Daniel himself broke down with fatigue and strain, and so ill did he become that for a time his life was despaired of. Happily the illness passed away; he continued his work of instructing the few remaining Hurons, and the first months promised good results. A rule of life had been given the students which mingled a great deal of recreation with a relative amount of study. This was necessary, for "a wild ass is not given to greater freedom than these little Canadians. Still they wait upon the priest at the altar with as much grace and modesty as if they had been brought up in a well regulated academy. They are ready with their lessons at the proper hour, but it is also necessary to give them time for play, and as they are not led by fear, one must seize the occasion to subdue them by love."

The only drawback to this idyllic state of things was the isolation of Notre Dame des Anges on the St. Charles River, where the Huron seminary had been temporarily located. "Experience is showing us," wrote Le Jeune, "that it must be established among the bulk of the French population, so that the French children may attract the little savages." Convinced that something should be done to bring those two elements together, the energetic superior began to consider a project which had been already discussed, but which had been delayed for several years, that of founding a college at Quebec. In 1626, a French nobleman, the Marquis de Gamache, had made a donation of sixteen thousand gold ecus- "for the establishment of a school in Canada," but the seizure of Quebec by the English, in 1629, had put off indefinitely the carrying out of this important work. Father Le Jeune took it up when he came to the colony three years later, and in 1635 laid the foundation of the college which in after years became the chief source of education for the entire country. This institution, founded two years before Harvard, was destined to flourish for nearly a century and a half, but its beginnings were modest enough, comprising only a few pupils and a professor. There the children of the French colonists were taught catechism and the rudiments of learning, and thither came the young Hurons and Montagnais from Notre Dame des Anges. It was hoped that their contact with the Europeans would civilize them and eventually facilitate the christianizing of their country- men; but unhappily this commingling of races never fulfilled the expectations so hopefully looked for by the early Jesuits in Canada. After having made the experiment for five years they had to acknowledge failure. The Relation for 1642 informs us that ''the Huron seminary which had been established at Notre Dame des Anges some years ago, to educate children of that nation has been interrupted for good reasons, the chief one being because no noteworthy fruit is seen among the Indians. Our experience of beginning the instruction of a nation through its children has made us recognize this fact."

The transfer of the Hurons from Notre Dame des Anges left Father Daniel free for work elsewhere; 1 he did not stay long enough in Quebec to witness the failure of the seminary scheme. In the fall of 1637 to rumors had reached the colony that the Hurons on Georgian Bay had risen up against the French and massacred their missionaries; Governor de Montmagny, stirred by this news, decided to send military aid to his countrymen, and a small company of soldiers quitted Quebec for Huronia in the following spring. They were accompanied by Father Daniel who took as his companion Armand, one of the seminarians. The trip nearly proved fatal for both. While doubling a point on the Upper Ottawa river, the surging of the water upset the canoe occupied by the young Huron, and he went to the bottom with the missionary's altar equipment and baggage. Daniel who had reached the shore to begin a portage was not a witness of the struggles of his companion, but perceiving the upturned canoe he flung himself on his knees and begged God to save the life of the young man. A moment later the Huron appeared on the surface; he caught hold of some branches protruding from the water and was soon rescued from his dangerous position. The first mishap, including the loss of a portable altar and baggage for the mission, was followed shortly after by another far more serious. The Huron canoes generally travelled apart, being oftentimes at quite a distance from one another, and meeting rarely except at the usual hour for camping in the evening. Daniel occupied the last canoe, and was within a day's paddling from Allumette Island. While making a portage to the head of what is probably now know as Split Rock rapid, he lost his trail in the thick woods. The unfortunate man has left us his own account of the tragic incident. "We started early one morning," he writes, "without eating or drinking, and traveiling rapidly over a very bad road and in extreme heat, I was burdened with my little baggage, and supposed that the others would stop about noon to eat something. But they kept right on and left me far behind. My weakness increasing with the heat of the day, I stopped and, almost fainting, threw myself on the ground unable to move. After having rested a little while and eating some berries, which did not help me much, I tried to start again. But I was compelled to lie down, as my head ached severely. I felt a great weakness through my whole body. . . I remained an hour or two in this condition when my people, having noticed that I delayed too long, came back and found me."

After weeks of hardship and suffering Daniel reached Huronia on July 9th, 1638; he was never again to travel over a route of which he, perhaps more than any of the early Jesuits, retained the most painful souvenirs. It was pleasant, however, for him to learn that the rumors of the Huron uprising were false. During his two years' absence missionary activity had not abated throughout the country; it promised, in fact, to extend at still further in the near future. Daniel was sent to Ossossane, a mission on Nottawasaga Bay, which had been opened the year before and was already solidly fortified against attacks of the enemy. When he went to reside there, in the summer of 1638, the residence was enclosed within a palisade of posts ten or twelve feet high, with a bastion built up of some thirty odd posts at one of the angles. This was known as the residence of the Immaculate Conception, and was occupied by Brébeuf, Le Mercier, Ragueneau and Gamier, while the other and older residence, Ihonatiria, harbored Pijart, Chastelain, and Jogues. However, Ihonatiria had lost its importance as a mission center. The bulk of the inhabitants had been carried off it entirely.

The result of this decision was the establishment of Ossossane just mentioned, and of Teanaostaye, the latter being the largest town of the Cord clan. Four hundred families resided in the latter place, many of whom were favorably disposed to the missionaries; if won to the faith they would exercise a great influence for good over the minor villages in the neighborhood. Accordingly, in 1638, Father de Brébeuf betook himself thither, conferred with the inhabitants, and carried on his negotiations with such tact and prudence that the Hurons decided to receive the Fathers and provide a cabin and chapel for them. The first Mass was said at Teanaostaye on June 25th, and thenceforward, while not always used as a residence after Fort Ste. Marie on the River Wye was built, in 1639, this mission, known as St. Joseph II, became one of the most important in the Huron country.

Father Daniel's presence there is recorded in the Relation of 1641, when, with Simon Le Moyne as assistant, he had under his pastoral care both Teanaostaye and Cahiague. For the coming nine years he exercised his zeal in these two places which were the nearest to the eastern frontier of the Huron country and consequently the most exposed to the Iroquois marauders. Cahiague was situated near the shore of Lake Simcoe, about a mile from the present town of Hawkstone, and was one of the best known spots in the country. Champlain spent the winter of 1615-16 there, before he continued his warlike expedition southward to the Iroquois country. In his time it contained two hundred lodges occupied by the Arendaenronnons, or nation of the Rock, a tribe partly Huron, partly Neutral. The memory of the great white chief was still vivid among them and had done much to link the Hurons to the French; they were the first to engage in the trade with the French and regarded themselves as their special allies. Daniel profiting by this circumstance, immediately started his work of instructing them. He had not to begin, as was the case in other Huron villages, the task of gaining their good will; this was already secured to him, and his five His zeal and years' residence in the mission of St. John its results Baptist at Cahiague, and in the surrounding villages, were years of fruitful toil. The number of fervent Christians began to grow so rapidly that the devoted missionary was no longer equal to the task. The Relation for 1641 devotes a chapter to the frontier missions of Cahiague and Teanaostaye and asserts that they were sufficiently well peopled to give employment to six or eight laborers; but the fewness of the missionaries obliged them to unite those two important villages under the care of Anthony Daniel and Simon Le Moyne. Their labor and fatigues were augmented by the distances between the settlements and by the dangers they were exposed to from the wandering Iroquois, but "their joy increased in proportion to their sufferings, since the steps one takes for the conquest of a single soul are so many steps toward Heaven. "The two devoted missionaries," Jerome Lalemant informs us, "travelled from town to town and from village to village, gathering in those ears of corn which the angels separate from the tares, so that in Heaven they may make the crown of the Elect which cost so many labors and fatigues to the Son of God."

So successful had been Father Daniel's ministry along the border of Lake Simcoe that a permanent residence might have been looked for at Cahiague, had not the Iroquois begun to make their presence felt. The village lay on the route to and from their country and was subject to hostile surprises ; it was in the danger zone, so to speak, and prudence urged the natives to disperse or to retire to spots less exposed to the enemy. This migration, chronicled by Ragueneau in 1648, had begun in 1646, and had brought a large number of the Rock clan to St. Joseph's mission at Teanaostaye. Father Daniel followed them thither and replaced Charles Gamier who had gone to begin his cruel apprenticeship in the Tobacco nation. But Teanaostaye was not beyond the reach of the Iroquois, and the brave Daniel, during the two years which preceded his great sacrifice, "carried his life in his hands, awaiting with hope and supernatural love the death which fell to his lot."

The Iroquois had grown more daring in the spring of 1648, especially along the frontiers of Huronia. Small parties of them appeared here and there and then vanished, after having raised the scalp of some unfortunate Huron or carried him off to captivity. They had begun to raid what was exclusively Huron territory, and the Jesuits and their neophytes, notably those at St. Ignace, drew nearer to Fort Ste. Marie where they looked for better protection. In the same spring a large contingent of warriors accompanied the flotilla to Quebec, not merely to protect the canoes from encounters with the enemy along the route, but also to purchase arms and ammunition from the French. Many of those warriors belonged to Teanatostaye; under the circumstances their departure from their own home was unfortunate, as it left their village with only a few defenders in case of attack. The incident, however, showed how confident the Hurons at St. Joseph II were that all was safe for the moment. Towards the close of the month of June, Daniel had gone to Fort Ste. Marie to make his annual retreat. He spent eight whole days there conferring with God alone in preparation for his passage to eternity. While unconscious of any proximate danger, he was evidently inspired to hurry back to his mission; for his retreat, having ended on July 2nd. the Relation tells us he refused to rest even a day at Fort Ste. Marie and returned to Teanaostaye. On the morning of July 4th, he had just said Mass when a swarm of Iroquois appeared behind the palisades of the town. The pious Hurons, according to their custom, were still at their devotions when the cry was heard outside : "To arms ! the enemy is here !" Terror seized the poor Indians; they rose from their knees; some took the flight; others prepared for their defence. Father Daniel realized in a moment how desperate the situation was; he stood up in their midst and encouraged them to defend themselves. He gave absolution to the Christians still kneeling at his feet and exhorted the catechumens present to prepare for baptism which they had not yet received. Unable to confer the sacrament on each one singly, he seized a handkerchief, dipped it in water, raised it above his head and sprinkled the dozens of kneeling forms before him, while he pronounced the words which brought the grace of regeneration into their souls.

Meanwhile the enemy had broken through the palisades and were becoming masters of the village. Instead of taking flight, as many of the Indians were doing, the heroic missionary hurried from cabin to cabin to baptize, to absolve the old and the sick, and encourage them to die bravely. The holy man then made his way back to the church which was now filled with terrified Hurona. Closely on his heels came the barbarians whose savage howls rent the morning air. After a second absolution and a word of consolation to his flock, Daniel went forward fearlessly and faced the enemy at the door. The Iroquois, astonished at the sight of the black-gown stand- ing so stoically before them, suddenly recoiled. A moment later they surrounded him from every side, aimed their arrows and guns at him and fired. The arrows penetrated his body in many places, while a bullet from an arquebuse pierced his breast, inflicting a mortal wound. A moment later Father Daniel yielded up his soul to God, truly as a good pastor who exposes his life for the salvation of his flock. The enraged Iroquois rushed upon his prostrate form, and, as if he alone had been the object of their hatred, washed their hands and faces with his blood, "because," wrote Bressani, "it was formed in so brave a heart." 1 They stripped his body naked, covered it with blows, and, having set fire to the church, threw the remains of the martyr into the flames. Thus ended the career of this holy Jesuit, a career precious before God and men. He was the first missionary to die among the Hurons and had for fourteen years borne the trials and sufferings so plentiful in the begining of that missionary field. In the words of Father Ragueneau, "he seemed to have been born only for the salvation of these peoples; he had no stronger desire than to die for them, and we hope all .this country will have in him a powerful intercessor before God."

The destruction of Teanaostaye was complete. The number of those killed or taken captive was probably about seven hundred souls, mostly women and children; the number of those, however, who escaped was much greater. They fled in the direction of Fort Ste. Marie where the Fathers, despite their own poverty, tried to assist them, to mourn with them in their affliction, and to console them with the hope of Paradise. Father Ragueneau feelingly concludes his account of the disaster in these words : "If only God will receive His glory from our losses, there will always be a source of gladness to us. That is enough for us, whatever it may cost us, provided we see the number of the Elect increased for eternity, since it is for heaven we labor and not for earth."

Heaven did not wait long to testify to the heroic holiness of Father Daniel. He appeared twice after his death to Father Chaumonot who had been his companion at various times in the mission-field, whom he had once saved from drowning, and with whom he had lived in a holy intimacy. The first apparition took place at the village of Ossossane when he came to Chaumonot in a dream with the features of a man about thirty years of age and surrounded with glory. According to Chaumonot's own account he seemed to be with other Fathers who wer« conferring together about the means to convert the savages. Realizing that he was in presence of one who had left this world and that he was present there miraculously, Chaumonot was seized with a great desire to speak to him, but out of respect for others who were present, the thought came to him that if Father Daniel was a saint, as he believed he was, he could speak to him intellectually, and he asked him to come to him. Father Daniel approached and embraced him. When Chaumonot asked to tell him what God required most particularly of him, the vision repeated the fifth demand of the Our Father, "Forgive us our trespasses," and then kissed his cheek. On awaking, the good Father Chaumonot was so persuaded of the reality of the apparition and so filled with compunction and fear of the justice of God, that those sentiments remained with him during the rest of his life in the Huron mission.

The same Father was favored later by a second apparition of Father Daniel. This time moved by the desire to honor him through his time relics, he asked him why the Divine goodness had permitted his precious body to be so unworthily treated after his death, so that no one had the happiness of being able to gather up its ashes. Daniel replied that he had been well rewarded; God, holy and adorable, had considered his death and sufferings and made them a great help to the souls in Purgatory. This answer filled the heart of the pious Chaumonot with fervor and devotion towards the suffering souls, and urged him ever after to make acts of humiliation and interior mortification for their alleviation. Father Ragueneau himself in 1652, three years after the death of the holy missionary, asserted under oath that what he wrote in the Relation of 1649 was the result of his personal observation and of the public testimony of more than two hundred Christian Hurons who had escaped death when St. Joseph II was destroyed, many of whom were baptized by him even while his church was in flames and who saw him giving up his life heroically for them. The Holy See will some day examine the life and virtues of this Servant of God and will give the true interpretation of the supernatural occur- rences here related; for Anthony Daniel's name figures among the "Canadian Martyrs" whose Cause has been deferred to Rome for final adjudication. Meanwhile we may ask God to hasten the day when we shall see Daniel and his companions favored with the honors of the Altar.