70 BR^BEUl!' AOT) HIS ASSOCIATES. [1635 



that, if the Indians would renounce their sins and 

 obey the true God, they would make a procession 

 daily to implore His favor towards them. 



There was no want of promises. The proces- 

 sions were begun, as were also nine masses to St. 

 Joseph ; and, as heavy rains occurred soon after, 

 the Indians conceived a high idea of the efficacy 

 of the French " medicine." ^ 



In spite of the hostility of the sorcerers, and the 

 transient commotion raised by the red cross, the 

 Jesuits had gained the confidence and good-will Of 

 the Huron population. Their patience, their kind- 

 ness, their intrepidity, their manifest disinterest- 

 edness, the blamelessness of their lives, and the 

 tact which, in the utmost fervors of their zeal, 

 never failed them, had won the hearts of these 

 wayward savages ; and chiefs of distant villages 

 came to urge that they would make their abode 

 with them.^ As yet, the results of the mission 

 had been faint and few ; but the priests toiled on 

 courageously, high in hope that an abundant har- 

 vest of souls would one day reward then labors. 



1 " Nous deuons aussi beaucoup au glorieux sainct Joseph, espoux de 

 Nostre Dame, et protecteur des Hurons, dont nous auons touche au 

 doigt I'assistance plusieurs fois. Ce fut vne chose remarquable, que le 

 iour de sa feste et durant FOctaue, les commoditez nous venoient de 

 toutes parts." — Brebeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 41. 



The above extract is given as one out of many illustrations of the 

 confidence with which the priests rested on the actual and direct aid of 

 their celestial guardians. To St. Joseph, in particular, they find no 

 words for their gratitude. 



2 Brebeuf preserves a speech made to him by one of these chiefs, as 

 a specimen of Huron eloquence. — Relation des Hurons, 1636, 123. 



