Jean-François Buisson de Saint-Cosme (1667–1706) was a Canadian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

, born in Quebec, ordained in 1690, and murdered while on a missionary trip. Jean-François came from a family with a high level of devotion to the Catholic Church. His brother Michel became a priest, a sister Marie-Françoise was a nun of the

Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

, and an unidentified sister was a nun of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. His parents administered a farm for the seminary of Quebec at

Île Jésus Île Jésus (, ''Jesus Island'') is a river island in southwestern Quebec, separated from the mainland to the north by the Rivière des Mille Îles, and from the Island of Montreal to the south by the Rivière des Prairies. It is the second-larg ...

. He was parish priest in Acadia from about 1692 until 1698 during the period of

Joseph Robineau de Villebon Joseph Robineau (or Robinau) de Villebon (22 August 1655 – 5 July 1700), a governor of Acadia, was born in New France and received much of his education and military experience in France. Robinau de Villebon's importance in history occurre ...

and appears to have been less than successful in this pursuit. Despite his lack of success in Acadia, Father St-Cosme become one of the pioneers of the missionary work by the Jesuits in the Mississippi Valley. By the end of 1704, he was alone in this work. He was murdered, with three French companions and a slave, while descending the Mississippi. St. Cosme worked in the Grand Village of the Natchez which eventually led to him marrying the Great Sun's (King of the Natchez) sister - Tattooed Arm. In the Natchez culture, it is not the Great Sun's offspring who inherit the position it is the Great Sun's sister's offspring. Sometime around 1705 Tattooed Arm gave birth to St. Cosme's son who would be the last Great Sun before the French ultimately tried to eradicate the Natchez and sold St. Cosme's son, the Natchez King, into slavery in 1731. In 1706, St. Cosme was encamped on the Mississippi River with several French companions. There they were attacked and killed by a band of Chitimacha warriors.

External links

* the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
*2009 Milne, George Edward. Picking up the Pieces: Natchez Coalescence in the Shatter Zone. ''In'' Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone edited by Robbie Ethridge and Sheri M. Shuck-Hall. pp. 388-417 Martyred Roman Catholic priests 1706 deaths 1667 births French Jesuits French Roman Catholic missionaries Jesuit missionaries in New France French murder victims {{christian-bio-stub