Charles Garnier
Parisian Jesuit of comfortable family, dead among the Petun while absolving the wounded under attack.
- Early modern era
- North America
- Feast day October 19
- 1606 – 1649
- Priest
- Missionary
- Martyr
Listen to the life 0:40
Son of a secretary to the king, Charles Garnier left for New France at thirty and never returned; he worked thirteen years among the Huron and then the Petun, known for a gentleness that contrasted with the harshness of the mission. In December 1649 the Iroquois attacked the village of Saint-Jean while he was the only priest there. Struck by two bullets, he went on crawling towards a wounded man to give him absolution; he was finished off with a hatchet. His companions found his stripped body among the ashes. Canonised in 1930 with the seven other Canadian martyrs.
