The Jesuit Relationsby

Kyle Fluck

Jesuit Relations Introduction

• The Jesuit Relations constitute the most important set of documentary materials on the 17th century encounter of Europeans and Native Americans.

– Relations are the annual reports of French missionaries of the Society of Jesus on their efforts to convert the natives to Christianity.

– They describe in detailed reports the customs, habits, and cultures of native nations.

– The Relations are yearly chronicled to give information about the progress of colonization, outbreaks of war, the spread and destruction of epidemics, and any other events affecting the Indians.

– The Jesuit Missionaries were all college teachers during there career, they were well prepared to teach arithmetic , writing, rhetoric and speech.

Intro. Cont.• There were tribes known as the Hurons that

were formed far before the Europeans arrived.• Before the Jesuits arrived in North America, the

natives had already had extensive contact with French Fishermen and explorers.

• In 1625 when the Jesuits arrived they made Quebec their headquarters.

• The trip for the Jesuits was paid for by themselves, they were here to teach the natives because they believed they must ‘sacrifice themselves’ for New France.

Jean de Brebeuf

• He was a Jesuit Missionary, He spent a great amount of his life living among the Huron people. He did this to learn about their customs and rituals.

• He found that through translation of their stories they were very similar to scripture.

Cont.• Their stories were comparable to the

scriptures about Adam and Eve, the flood, and Kane and Abel.

• It is shown that the Hurons were an organized civilization, they had a government in place, they held trials for murderers, they punished sorcerers, and did not tolerate thieves. Because of this they were not compared to civilizations of the East.

Diplomacy and War

• The Jesuits were not there to conquer, but instead to really coexist and integrate themselves within the tribes.

• Although they were there in peace tribal conflicts did intensify because of the introduction of European weaponry due to trading.

• However in 1645 Peace was negotiated between conflicting tribes at a place known as “Three Rivers”

Diplomacy & War Cont.

• This peaceful negotiation led to a second short era of peace known as “The Great Peace of Montreal” between New France and the 40 nations in 1701.

• In between these two events a war of fur trading took place. It placed the Huron's and Algonquin's against the Iroquois and League of Five Nations.

• During this time the Jesuits converted many Huron’s but the Iroquois invasions took their toll and wiped out many Huron’s and Jesuits.

Writings On the Natural Environment

• The tribes surrounding New France believed very much in the supernatural world.

• There were stories regarding eclipses that the Indians had that explained that there were supernatural women and children who blocked out the sun as a sign of accomplishment.

• Another Story was that comets were “fiery serpents flying through the air intertwined with caduceus (the Indian interpretation of the wand of Mercury), borne on wings of flame.”

Writings on the Natural Environment

• Because the Indians worshiped the land they were unwilling to separate the happenings between nature and faith.

• The Jesuits however were fascinated with the stars and sky and studied them and recorded any comets or activity.

• The Natives taught the Jesuits about the land and how to use it for food and shelter, both sides learned significant things from the other.

Exploration

• The Jesuits often traveled With the French as ChaplainsTo look for possible mission sites.

-During their trips they met with several tribes and learned from them, they traded with them and worked on converting them.

Father Marquette

• Father Marquette had relations with many Indian tribes and traded and learned from them, he led the way for many of the Jesuits influence.

• Father Marquette used the Mississippi river during his Travels and learned all about The tribes along it and the Woods and creatures around the river