Tomorrow is the feast day Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, and Companions, the great Jesuit missionaries who were killed by natives in the mid-17th century in both Canada and upstate New York.
The Diocese of Lansing’s 29 seminarians made a prayerful pilgrimage to the Martyrs Shrine in Midland, Ontario, in August in order to seek the heavenly intervention, and inspiration, of those North American martyrs.
One of the seminarians featured is Ryan Ferrigan of Saint Martha parish in Okemos, pictured, who is a student at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit. Here's his reflection on why the North American Martyrs inspire him in his vocation.
The North American Martyrs, particularly Saint John de Brébeuf and Saint Isaac Jogues, have become a great inspiration to me. They were Jesuit missionaries from France, who dedicated their lives to spreading the Gospel in the Huron region of North America in the mid-17th century. After reading their writings, I was profoundly struck with the zeal they had for evangelization, coming from their own conviction of God’s love for all men, particularly those who haven’t heard the Gospel yet. This quote from Saint Jean de Brébeuf was particularly striking to me:
“O my God, why are you not known? Why is this barbarous country not all converted to you? Why is not sin abolished from it? Why are you not loved? Yes, my God, if all the torments which the captives can endure in these countries in the cruelty of the tortures, were to fall on me, I offer myself thereto with all my heart, and I alone will suffer them.”
John de Brébeuf, despite the harsh conditions and ill treatment he received on his mission, was determined to labor for the salvation of the people to whom he was sent. So much so, that after he was forced by the English to return to France in 1629, he pleaded to go back! He eventually would return to North America in 1634, where he would later be martyred in 1649.
The heroic witness of the North American martyrs is inspiring for me as I approach ordained ministry because they are such clear examples of what the priesthood is all about: zeal for souls. Just as they were motivated by God’s desire to be known and loved by all people, I also must allow this to be the reason for my mission – that God may be glorified, and that souls may be saved.