Olier and his associates, that the latter had placed the Island of
Montreal under the protection of the Holy Virgin. The priests of St.
Sulpice, who had become the lords of the island, had already given an
earnest of their labours; they too aspired to venerate martyrs chosen
from their ranks, and in the same year MM. Lemaître and Vignal perished
at the hands of the wild Iroquois.

Meanwhile, under the paternal direction of Mgr. de Laval, and the
thoroughly Christian administration of governors like Champlain, de
Montmagny, d'Ailleboust, or of leaders like Maisonneuve and Major
Closse, Heaven was pleased to spread its blessings upon the rising
colony; a number of savages asked and received baptism, and the fervour
of the colonists endured. The men were not the only ones to spread the
good word; holy maidens worked on their part for the glory of God,
whether in the hospitals of Quebec and Montreal, or in the institution
of the Ursulines in the heart of the city of Champlain, or, finally, in
the modest school founded at Ville-Marie by Sister Marguerite
Bourgeoys. It is true that the blood of the Indians and of their
missionaries had been shed in floods, that the Huron missions had been
exterminated, and that, moreover, two camps of Algonquins had been
destroyed and swept away; but nations as well as individuals may promise
themselves the greater progress in the spiritual life according as they
commence it with a more abundant and a richer record; and the greatest
treasure of a nation is the blood of the martyrs who have founded it.
Moreover, the fugitive Hurons went to convert their enemies, and even
from the funeral pyres of the priests was to spring the spark of faith
for all these peoples. Two hamlets were founded for the converted
Iroquois, those of the Sault St. Louis (Caughnawaga) and of La Montagne
at Montreal, and fervent neophytes gathered there.