The Jesuits in North America in the seventeenth century . omrashness by a cool and vigorous judgment; for,extravagant as were the chimeras which fed the firesof his zeal, they were consistent with the soberestgood sense on matters of practical bearing. Lalemant, physically weak from childhood, andslender almost to emaciation, was constitutionallyunequal to a display of fortitude like that of hiscoUeag-ue. When Brdbeuf died, he was led back tothe house whence he had been taken, and torturedthere all night, until, in the morning, one of theIroquois, growing tired of the protracted entertain-ment
The Jesuits in North America in the seventeenth century . omrashness by a cool and vigorous judgment; for,extravagant as were the chimeras which fed the firesof his zeal, they were consistent with the soberestgood sense on matters of practical bearing. Lalemant, physically weak from childhood, andslender almost to emaciation, was constitutionallyunequal to a display of fortitude like that of hiscoUeag-ue. When Brdbeuf died, he was led back tothe house whence he had been taken, and torturedthere all night, until, in the morning, one of theIroquois, growing tired of the protracted entertain-ment, killed him with a hatchet. ^ It was said that 1 Charlevoix, i. 294. Alegambe uses a similar expression. 2 We saw no part of his body, says Ragueneau, from headto foot, -which was not burned, even to his eyes, in the sockets ofwhich these wretches had placed live coals. — Relation des Ilurons,1G49, 15. Lalemant was a Parisian, and his family belonged to the class ofgens de rohe, or hereditary practitioners of the law. lie was thirty- Jean de 1649.] RELIC OF BREBEUF. 215 at times he seemed beside himself; then, rallying,with hands uplifted, he offered his sufferings toHeaven as a sacrifice. His robust companion hadlived less than four hours under the torture, whilehe survived it for nearly seventeen. Perhaps theTitanic effort of will with which Br^beuf repressedall show of suffering conspired with the Iroquoisknives and firebrands to exhaust his vitality; perhapshis tormentors, enraged at his fortitude, forgot theirsubtlety, and struck too near the life. The bodies of the two missionaries were carried toSainte Marie, and buried in the cemetery there; butthe skull of Brebeuf was preserved as a relic. Hisfamily sent from France a silver bust of their mar-tyred kinsman, in the base of which was a recess tocontain the skull; and, to tliis day, the bust and therelic within are preserved with pious care by thenuns of the Hotel-Dieu at Quebec.^ nine years of age. His physi
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Keywords: ., bookauthorpa, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectjesuits
