[wiTHRow] JESUIT MISSIONS OF CANADA 209 



and bleeding gums, they hung a collar of red-hot hatchets around his 

 neck. But he stood like a rock, unflinching to the last, without a 

 murmur or a groan, his soul even then reposing on God, an object ol" 

 amazement to even his savage murderers.^ 



The gentle and delicate Lalemant they enveloped in bark saturated 

 with pitch, which they fired, seaming his body with livid scars. As the 

 stifling wreaths of smoke arose, ho cried, " We are made a spectacle to 

 the world, to angels, and to men." They then tore out liis eyes, and 

 seared the sockets with burning coals. In derision of the rite of bap- 

 tism, wliioh the missionaries had so often administered to others, their 

 savage tormentors poured boiling water on their heads. 



The dying martyrs freely pardoned their foes, praying God to lay 

 not these things to their charge. After nan]elcss tortures, the infuri- 

 ated monsters scalped Brébeuf while yet alive, hacked ott' his feet, tore 

 out his quivering heart, and drank his blood. Lalemant endured lis 

 sufferings for seventeen hours, and died by the welcome stroke of a 

 tomahawk. Brébeuf's stronger frame succumbed to his more deadly 

 wounds in less than four hours. 



Intrepid and Messed spirits! In a chariot of flame ye passed from 

 mortal agonies and the mocking of a ril)ald mob, to join the noljle army 

 of martyrs, to wear for evermore their starry and unvvithering crown. 



In their divine repose, writes their biographer, they say, '"• We 

 passed through fire and water, but Thou hast brought us into a wealthy 

 p1ace/^ 



The skull and other relics of Brébeuf are preserved at the Ilotel- 

 Dieu at Quebec, and are averred to have wrought miracles of healing, 

 as well as the conversion of most obstinate heretics; but a more potent 

 spell is that of his lofty spirit, his noble life, and his heroic death. 



The ilight which followed this deed of blood was a night of terror 

 at Ste. Marie, situated only six miles from St. Ignace. AU day long 

 the smoke of the burning village of St. Louis was visible, and Iroquois 

 scouts prowled, wolf-like, near the mission walls. All tbat night and 

 the night following, the little garrison of forty Frenchmen stood at 

 arms. In the dhapel, vows and prayers, without ceasing, were offered 

 up. The Hurons rallied, and attacked the Iroquois in furious battle. 

 But their valour was unavailing; they were, almost to a man, cut off. 



The Iroquois in turn, panic-stricken, fled in haste, but not without 

 a last act of damning cruelty. Tying to the stake at St. Ignace, the 

 prisoners whom they had not time to torture, they fired the towni, re- 



^ " Souffroit comme un rocher. Sans pousser aucun cry, estonnoit ses 

 bourreaux mesmes; sans doute que son cœur reposoit alors en son Dieu." — 

 Ragueneau, Rflatio» des Iftironx. 1649, p. 14. 



Sec. II.. FJO-1. 14 



