THE ADVENTURES OF ISAAC JOGUES. 51 



Early iu November, Jogues took passage in a small barque for Holland.. He suftered 

 much ou the voyage. His bed ou the deck or ou a pile of ropes w^as ofteu dreuched by 

 the waves. His food was scanty, his clothing light, the cold inteuse. After two months 

 tossing on the sea, he reached Falmouth late in December. The sailors went ashore, 

 leaving Jogues in charge of the vessel. During the night it was boarded and pillaged 

 by a gang of laud-sharks, one of whom, presenting a pistol at Jogues' head, robbed him 

 of his clothing, the gift of his Dutch friends. Through the compassion of a French crew 

 he got passage in a small collier to the Bretagne coast. On Christmas day, he was put 

 ashore near Brest. No language could express his joy as on the anuiversary of the 

 Saviour's birth he knelt at the altar and partook of the Holy Sacrament. 



On the morning of January 5th, 1644, he reached Eennes, and soou knocked at the 

 door of the Jesuit College. The janitor, seeing a man in the garl) of a beggar, refused 

 him admission. Jogues asked for the Rector. 

 " He is robing for the Mass," was the reply. 

 " I have news from Canada," said Jogues. 



The word was like the utterance of a spell. The Canadian Mission was dear to the 



heart of all France, especially to the Jesuits ; and Jogues' name, immortalized by the 



account of his sufferings in the published Eclations of the previous year, was on every lip. 



The Rector immediately appeared. " Did you know Father Jogues ? " he eagerly 



inquired. 



" I knew him well," replied the seeming mendicant. 



" Have the Iroquois massacred him ? Is he still a captive, or is he slain ? " exclaimed 

 the Rector. 



"He is at liberty, and I am he. Reverend Father," and he threw himself on his knees 

 before the Superior of the college to receive his benediction. 



The Rector embraced him and led him into the hall of convocation, and great was 

 the rejoicing of the brethren at his return, " like a Lazarus risen from the dead." ' 



That day he wrote to his friend Lalemant, the Superior of the Canadian Missions, not 

 without a touch of pious cynicism, " What joy, after having dwelt so long among savages, 

 after having conversed with Calvinists, Lutherans, Anabaptists, and Puritans, to find 

 myself among the servants of Grod in the Catholic Church ! It is an earnest of the joys 

 of Paradise when Grod shall gather the dispersed of Israel." " 



From Rennes, Jogues was summoned to Paris to recount to the court his marvellous 

 adventures, surpassing those of romance. The beautiful cj^ueen, Anne of Austria, touched 

 with compassion at the story of his living martyrdom, kissed his mutilated hands ; and 

 the nobles and court ladies vied in acts of tender reverence to the heroic confessor of the 

 faith. 



But Jogues was impatient to return to the sacred toils of the Canadian Mission, and 

 in the early spring he set sail from Rochelle for Quebec. There was, however, one 

 impediment to the discharge of his spiritual functions. The Catliolic, like the Aaronic 

 priesthood, must be free from personal blemish, and Jogvxes' mutilated lingers were a 

 barrier to his offering the sacrifice of the mass. But his injuries having been received in 



' Ibid., 1647, p. 35. 



- Quel bonheur. . . lorsque dlupcrsioncs Israelis comjrcgahit. Letter from Jogues to Lalemant, dated from 

 iËenues, Jan. 5, lG-14. 



