CHAPTER V

MGR. DE LAVAL AND THE SAVAGES


Now, what were the results accomplished by the efforts of the
missionaries at this period of our history? When in their latest hour
they saw about them, as was very frequently the case, only the wild
children of the desert uttering cries of ferocious joy, had they at
least the consolation of discerning faithful disciples of Christ
concealed among their executioners? Alas! we must admit that North
America saw no renewal of the days when St. Peter converted on one
occasion, at his first preaching, three thousand persons, and when St.
Paul brought to Jesus by His word thousands of Gentiles. Were the
missionaries of the New World, then, less zealous, less disinterested,
less eloquent than the apostles of the early days of the Church? Let us
listen to Mgr. Bourgard: "A few only among them, like the Brazilian
apostle, Father Anthony Vieyra, died a natural death and found a grave
in earth consecrated by the Church. Many, like Father Marquette, who
reconnoitred the whole course of the Mississippi, succumbed to the
burden of fatigue in the midst of the desert, and were buried under the
turf by their sorrowful comrades. He had with him several Frenchmen,
Fathers Badin, Deseille and Petit; the two latter left their venerable
remains among the wastes. Others met death at the bedside of the
plague-stricken, and were martyrs to their charity, like Fathers Turgis
and Dablon. An incalculable number died in the desert, alone, deprived
of all aid, unknown to the whole world, and their bodies became the
sustenance of birds of prey. Several obtained the glorious crown of
martyrdom; such are the venerable Fathers Jogues, Corpo, Souël,