Feast Day: St. Isaac Jogues and Companions

Today is the feast celebrating the martyrdom of Jesuit missionaries who came to the New World in the mid-1600s to evangelise the Native North American tribes as well as ministering to the French immigrants who were attempting to settle these lands.  These brave men became known as the North American Martyrs.  Isaac Jogues, the leader of the group, was captured and spent 13 months in slavery, rescued and brought back to France.  A few years later, feeling that God still wanted him to evangelize, Fr. Jogues went back to the Manhattan Island region (now part of Canada and the United States) to negotiate peace with the Iroquois.  He and his companions were seized, tortured and decapitated.

St. Isaac Jogues and Companions, you never let fear deter you from doing what you believed was God's will, always striving to give yourself to the work and remain faithful to God.

please pray that we, too, may never fear, never give up the good fight.

St. Isaac Jogues and Companions, pray for us!