Charles Garnier, S.J., (baptised at

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, May 25, 1606 – December 7, 1649) was a Jesuit

missionary A missionary is a member of a 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.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

working in

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

. He was killed by

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

in a

Petun The Petun (from french: pétun), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati ("People Among the Hills/Mountains"), were an indigenous Iroquoian people of the woodlands of eastern North America. Their last known traditional homeland was sou ...

(Tobacco Nation) village on December 7, 1649.

Biography

The son of a secretary to King

Henri III of France Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke o ...

, Garnier was born in Paris in 1606. He attended the

Collège de Clermont In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

in Paris and joined the Jesuit seminary in Clermont in September 1624. After his novitiate, he returned to the College of Clermont as Prefect. After finishing his studies in rhetoric and philosophy, he spent two years teaching at the College of Eu as a teacher. Completing years of studies in language, culture and theology, he was ordained as a priest in 1635. His father initially forbade him from travelling to Canada where he would face almost certain death as a missionary, but he was eventually allowed to go. Embarking on March 25, 1636, he described the crossing in a letter to his father,

We gave Viaticum to a sailor who had fallen from the top of the mizzenmast to the deck. He was well-disposed to die. However, as I saw him in great discomfort, unable to sleep, I gave him my cabin and went in with Father Chastelain in his, but the sick man found this cabin too stuffy so the next day I occupied it again but left him my mattress so he could sleep even in the midst of the cannons. Hearing this, the Captain made me take one of his.

He reached the colony of

in June. He travelled immediately to the Huron mission with fellow Jesuit Pierre Chastellain. By early August he had arrived among the Nipissings. He served for the rest of his life as a missionary among the

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

, never returning to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The Huron nicknamed him ''Ouracha'', or "rain-giver", after his arrival was followed by a drought-ending rainfall. He was greatly influenced by fellow missionary

Jean de Brébeuf Jean de Brébeuf () (25 March 1593 16 March 1649) was a French Jesuit missionary who travelled to New France (Canada) in 1625. There he worked primarily with the Huron (Wyandot people) for the rest of his life, except for a few years in Franc ...

, and was known as the "lamb" to Brebeuf's "lion". In 1639 and 1640 he wintered in the land of the

. From 1641 to 1646 Garnier was at the Saint-Joseph mission. There were raids between Iroquois and Huron forces. When he learned that Brébeuf and Lalemant were killed in March 1649 by Iroquois after a raid on a Huron village, Garnier knew he too might soon die. On December 7, 1649, he was killed by musket fire from the

during an attack on the

village where he was living. Charles Garnier was canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI with the other seven Canadian Martyrs (also known as the North American Martyrs.) His feast day is October 19.

References

Bibliography

* * "De la prise et désolation de la mission de Saint-Jean, par les Iroquois, et de la mort du P. Charles Garnier, qui y était en mission" and "Abrégé de la vie du Père Charles Garnier," in ACSM, "Mémoires touchant la mort et les vertus des pères Isaac Jogues . . ." (Ragueneau), repr. APQ ''Rapport, 1924–25'', 76–85. * APQ ''Rapport, 1929–30'', 1–43, "Lettres de Saint Charles Garnier." ''JR'' (Thwaites), XXXV, 118–44; ''et passim''. ''Positio causae''. * Florian Larivière, ''La vie ardente de Saint Charles Garnier'' (Montréal, 1957). * Rochemonteix, ''Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France au XVII^e siècle'', I, 97–100, 409–18. {{DEFAULTSORT:Garnier, Charles 1606 births 1649 deaths Jesuit martyrs Jesuit saints Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada Canadian clergy 17th-century French Jesuits Canadian Roman Catholic saints French Roman Catholic saints 17th-century Christian saints 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs French Roman Catholic missionaries Jesuit missionaries in New France

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography