The Jesuits first arrived in New France (what is now eastern Canada) in 1611. In 1632, they began an annual report—Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France—as a chronicle of their missionary efforts and as a way of helping to raise funds for their missions. The last issue of this annual report was published in 1673. The Jesuit Relations were originally written in Latin, French, and Italian. Today’s scholars consider them to be among the earliest ethnographic accounts of the American Indians.
Background
The Jesuits (Society of Jesus) are a Catholic religious order which had been founded in 1540. Jesuit missionaries are considered soldiers of their god and have been described by some as the shock troops of the Catholic Counter Reformation. Their task is to defend and propagate the faith.
In New France, one of the first tasks of the Jesuit missionaries was to learn the Native languages as a way of carrying their message to Indian people.
In 1627, the Compagnie de la Nouvelle France (Company of the 100 Associates) was organized and sought a royal charter giving it a fifteen-year monopoly on all commerce except for fishing in New France. The charter excluded all religions except for the Catholic Church. The Jesuits were given the position of spiritual advisors to the colonies and the Récollets, another Catholic missionary order, were banned.
In 1632, French policy in the Americas changed, giving all existing and future French possessions to the Company of One Hundred Associates whose aim was the conversion of Indians to Christianity. According to historian William Eccles, in his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 2: A Continent Defined:
“All furs had to be sold to the Company’s agents and the profits from their sale were to be used to sustain the missionary drive, given over exclusively to the Society of Jesus.”
Unlike the Recollects, the Jesuits saw no advantage in assimilating the Indians into French culture. They did not wish to alter Indian culture any more than was necessary for them to convert to Christianity.
Events
Briefly described below are just a few of the events and observations which were recorded in the Jesuit Relations.
In 1632 the Jesuits in New France began publishing an annual report on their missions. In his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Mason Wade notes:
“They were truthful propaganda, feeding French curiosity about the Indians and the New World, and spurring pious zeal for the conversion of the Indians.”
In his book Indian and Jesuit: A Seventeenth-Century Encounter, James Moore writes:
“Reporting on all mission news from everyday events to accounts of the martyrdom of men whom many immediately viewed as saints, the Relations kept before the French public the trials and triumphs of the missionaries and their neophytes.”
English professor William Clements, in an article in American Indian Quarterly, writes:
“Among the ethnographic data reported by the Jesuits are numerous materials relevant to oral literature, including descriptions of the contexts and styles in which literature might be performed, texts of songs, stories, and especially orations, and summaries of Native belief systems.”
In 1634, the Jesuit missionary Father Julien Perrault described the unique culture of the Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia. In his report he told how they lived with the seasons, how they dressed and behaved, and what they looked like. Reflecting his Jesuit bias, he reports that
“what they do lack is the knowledge of God and of the services that they ought to render to him.”
In the Jesuit Relations, Father Le Jeune reported that he attended an Indian ceremony in which the spirits, manifested as sparks of fire, entered a darkened room. James Moore writes:
“He was not quite ready then to admit outright the reality of any supernatural occurrence, but at the same time he did not attempt to explain away the event.”
In the 1637 Jesuit Relations Father Le Jeune reported on witnessing a shaking tent ceremony. According to James Moore:
“At the time, he suspected the shaman had moved the tent. Upon subsequent reflection, however, of how the tent was erected, its weight and the duration of its quaking, coupled with the testimony of those who he trusted, he was inclined toward the position that the movements were caused by non-human forces.”
In 1639, the Jesuit Relations recorded nine Petun villages in what would become Ontario. According to Charles Garrad and Conrad Heidenreich, in their chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians:
“In organizing the Mission of the Apostles to the Petun, the Jesuits divided the territory to recognize the existence of ‘two different nations,’ one called the Nation of the Wolves (Mission of Saint Jean) and the other the Nation of the Deer (Mission of Saint Matthias).”
The principal village of the Nation of the Deer was Ekarenniondi (“the place at the rock point”) and the principal village of the Nation of the Wolves was Ehwae.
In the 1639 Jesuit Relations, Father Le Jeune wrote of Native medicine people:
“I am inclined to think that there are, really, some among them who have communication with the Demons; but the majority of them are only imposters, practicing their enchantments to obtain presents from the poor sick, to render themselves popular, or to make themselves feared.”
In the 1646 Jesuit Relations, Father Jérome Lalemant wrote that he found the grammatical construction of the Indian languages to be both intricate and admirable. James Moore reports:
“This was further evidence, he wrote, of the existence of God. No human wisdom, in his estimation, could have caused so many people to develop the intricate order around which the native languages centered, an order entirely unlike that of any European language.”
According to Lalemant, any language developed under divine guidance can be used to convey the truths of Christianity, not just Latin or French.
Indians 101
Twice each week Indians 101 explores American Indian topics. More seventeenth-century history from this series:
Indians 101: The First Anglo-Powhatan War
Indians 101: Early Spanish Invasions of the Great Plains
Indians 101: Virginia and the Indians, 1606 to 1608
Indians 101: 17th Century Books About Indians
Indians 101: The 17th Century Wampanoag
Indians 101: New Sweden and the Indians
Indians 101: Canadian First Nations 350 years ago, 1670
Indians 201: European Colonists and Missionaries in Early Maine