126 PERSECUTION. [1637-40. 



the all-enduring Jogues, the enthusiastic Chau- 

 monot, Lalemant, Le Mercier, Chatelain, Daniel, 

 Pijart, Ragueneau, Du Peron, Poncet, Le Moyne, 



— one and all bore themselves with a tranquil bold- 

 ness, which amazed the Indians and enforced theii* 

 respect. 



Father Jerome Lalemant, in his journal of 1639, 

 is disposed to draw an evil augury for the mission 

 from the fact that as yet no priest had been put to 

 death, inasmuch as it is a received maxim that the 

 blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.^ 

 He consoles himself with the hope that the daily 

 life of the missionaries may be accepted as a living 

 martyrdom ; since abuse and threats without end, 

 the smoke, fleas, filth, and dogs of the Indian 

 lodges, — which are, he says, little images of Hell, 



— cold, hunger, and ceaseless anxiety, and all these 

 continued for years, are a portion to which many 

 might prefer the stroke of a tomahaAvk. Reason- 

 able as the Father s hope may be, its expression 

 proved needless in the sequel ; for the Huron church 

 was not destined to suffer from a lack of martyrdom 

 in any form. 



1 " Nous auons quelque fois doute, s9auoir si on pouuoit esperer la con- 

 uersion de ce pais sans qu'il y eust eflfusion de sang : le principe re9eu ce 

 semble dans I'Eglise de Dieu, que le sang des Martyrs est la semenc»> des 

 Chrestiens, me faisoit conclure pour lors, que eela n'estoit pas a esperer, 

 voire mesme qu'il n'e'toit pas a souhaiter, considere la gloire qui reuient 

 a Dieu de la Constance des Martyrs, du sang desquels tout le reste de la 

 terre ayant tantost este abreuue, ce seroit vne espece de malediction, que 

 ce quartier du monde ne participast point au bonheur d'auoir contribue a 

 I'esclat (le ceste gloire." — Lalemant, JRelation des Hurons, 1639, 56, 57. 



