Isaac Jogues
Jesuit from Orléans mutilated by the Mohawk, returned to France, then went back to die among those who had tortured him.
- Early modern era
- North America
- Feast day October 19
- 1607 – 1646
- Priest
- Missionary
- Martyr
Listen to the life 0:46
Arriving in New France at twenty-nine, Isaac Jogues was captured in 1642 by the Mohawk, who held him thirteen months a slave; a captive cut off his left thumb and he lost two other fingers, which canonically prevented him from saying Mass. Dutch traders helped him escape; back in France he was received like a man returned from the dead, and Urban VIII granted him leave to celebrate despite his maimed hands: it would have been unworthy that a martyr of Christ should not drink the blood of Christ. He sailed back the following year. In 1646, accused of having brought epidemic and bad harvests by sorcery, he was killed with a hatchet at Ossernenon.
