René Goupil, (15 May 1608 – 29 September 1642), was a French

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

lay

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who 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.Thoma ...

(, "given" or "one who offers himself") who became a lay brother of the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

shortly before his death. He was the first of the eight North American Martyrs of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

to receive the crown of martyrdom and the first canonized Catholic martyr in North America.

Life

Goupil was baptized in St-Martin-du-Bois, near

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

, in the ancient Province of Anjou, on 15 May 1608, the son of Hippolite Goupil and Luce Provost. He was working as a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the

(Jesuits) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 16 March 1639. He had to leave the novitiate due to deafness.René Goupil
Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

/Université Laval. Retrieved 26 October 2011. Goupil volunteered to serve as a lay missionary working to assist the Jesuit Fathers. In 1640 he arrived in

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, 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 Kingdom of Great Br ...

. From 1640 to 1642, he served at the Saint-Joseph de Sillery Mission, near

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, where he was charged with caring for the sick and wounded at the hospital. His work primarily involved wound dressings and bloodlettings. In 1642 Goupil traveled to the Huron missions with about forty other persons, including several Huron chiefs and Jesuit Father

Isaac Jogues Isaac Jogues (10 January 1607 – 18 October 1646) was a French missionary and martyr who traveled and worked among the Iroquois, Wyandot people, Huron, and other Native populations in North America. He was the first European to name Lake Geo ...

. They were captured by the Mohawk, taken to their easternmost village of Ossernenon (about 9 miles west of present-day Auriesville, New York),Dean R. SNOW, (1995) ''Mohawk Valley Archaeology: The Sites,'' University at Albany Institute for Archaeological Studies (First Edition); ''Occasional Papers Number 23,'' Matson Museum of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University (Second Edition). and tortured. After teaching a Mohawk boy the

sign of the cross Making the sign of the cross (), also known as blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is both a prayer and a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. It is a very significant prayer because Christians are acknowledging ...

, Goupil was killed on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, 29 September 1642, by a blow to the head with a tomahawk. He died uttering the Holy Name of Jesus, as he had practiced in case of martyrdom. Fr. Jogues was present and gave Goupil absolution before expiring. Before being martyred, Goupil had professed

religious vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhist tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, many different kinds of r ...

as a Jesuit lay brother before Fr. Jogues. Many of the 24 Huron accompanying Goupil were baptized Catholic converts. Traditional enemies of the Mohawk, they were slowly tortured per Iroquois ritual before being killed.

Veneration

Goupil is venerated as the first Jesuit martyr of Canada and one of three martyrs of the present United States territory. He was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...

on 29 June 1930 by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

along with the seven other Canadian Martyrs or "North American Martyrs." He is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of anesthetists. At

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

's Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx, New York, a freshman dormitory—Martyrs' Court—has three sections, which are named for the three US martyr-saints: René Goupil, Isaac Jogues, and Jean Lalande. Goupil is also honored at the Catholic youth camp Camp Ondessonk, where a unit is named after him.

References

External links

René Goupil
Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. University of Toronto/Université Laval * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goupil, Rene Jesuit saints 1608 births 1642 deaths People from Maine-et-Loire French surgeons French Roman Catholic missionaries 17th-century French Jesuits Roman Catholic religious brothers Jesuit martyrs 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Canonizations by Pope Pius XI 17th-century Christian saints Canonized Roman Catholic religious brothers American Roman Catholic saints French Roman Catholic saints Jesuit missionaries in New France French people murdered abroad People murdered in New York (state)

Life

Veneration

See also

References

External links