The Destruction of Sainte‑Marie among the Hurons

Le Massacre des Hurons par les Iroquois, Joseph Legare (1827). The mid‑17th century was a time of great turmoil and transformation for…

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The Birth of Sainte-Marie: The Construction and Development of a Jesuit Mission in New France (1630s-1640s)

A number of Jesuit Fathers starting with P. Chazelle first attempted to identify the remnants of Indigenous villages and European ruins with the documentation found…

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Early Catholic Missionary Work in New France: The Recollects, Pioneers of Evangelization

In 1534, Jacques Cartier began the first of three expeditions to explore the territory that would briefly be known as New France. Though his attempts at settlement…

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Opening of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons

In 1964 the Jesuits negotiated an agreement between the Upper Canadian Province of Jesuits and the Government of Ontario whereby the historic site of Sainte-Marie and adjoining land on…

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Purchase of Saint-Marie

At the end of the Depression, it took three years of appeals for director, Fr. Lally to collect the $4,000 purchase price of the Sainte-Marie property from a local…

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Canonization of the Canadian Martyrs

Nearly four years to the day later, on June 29, 1930, as Pope Pius XI was canonizing the eight Canadian Martyrs in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, another vast…

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Completion of the Shrine Church

On June 26, 1926 in advance of Fr. Filion’s deadline, the church was finally built. It was a long fall and winter season for Fr. Filion and the tradesmen…

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