Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia

by Mark Bourrie

From the bestselling author of Bush The Adventures of Pierre Esprit-Radisson

A biography of Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf and a history of the colonization of Huronia, the home of the Huron-Wendat nation, Crosses in the Sky is the story of how and why the Jesuits came to “New France,” what happened when they arrived, and how these early encounters have shaped settler relationships with Indigenous people to this day. Departing from existing sainthood narratives of Brébeuf, this deeply researched narrative considers not only the missionary’s fate, but the ongoing tragedy of his colonial legacy and is an essential addition to—and expansion of—Canadian history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Indigenous, Religion, Canada

448 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happened, and, why? The classic historian's questions asked and answered here.

Yes, Iroquois warriors brutally tortured and killed Brébeuf. Yes, he was an incorrigibly stubborn and intolerant hard-head who you might say had it coming. Yes, the Indigenous people of Huronia had their own plans, agency, and rivalries. Yes, the Jesuits came with their own heterogenous motives, intolerances, and designs.

You see, history has a lot of "yes-ands". It's nuanced and a lot of things can be true at once.

[Marie-Josée Therrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cet ouvrage historique est absolument fascinant. Je l’ai lu comme un roman. Je savais si peu sur le sujet et bien sûr ce que je connaissais n’était que la version officielle et très catholique qu’on nous a enseignée à l’école. Bourrie est un historien à la plume exceptionnelle. Le récit qu’il fait de ces premiers contacts entre jésuites et Hurons est bouleversant. Comment deux visions du monde aussi éloignées l’une de l’autre ont-elles pu apprendre à se connaître? J’ai été saisie par les portraits très humains que Bourrie fait de tous les personnages dont les vies sont transformées à tout jamais au cours de leurs interactions. Bourrie ne nous épargne pas les détails, au contraire. Jamais je n’aurai lu des descriptions aussi précises des tortures que les Hurons et Iroquois s’infligeaient ou infligeaient à nos “saints martyrs” canadiens comme on nous l’a appris. Au-delà de cette cruauté, on comprend qu’il y a tout un autre rapport à la douleur et l’endurance parmi ces groupes autochtones. Le personnage central européen est Jean de Brébeuf, un mystique qui s’autoflagellait et qui avait des visions inspirées par son dieu. Son expérience mystique de la douleur se rapproche, dans une certaine mesure, de celle des peuples qu’il a rencontrés. L’interprétation des événements est très fouillée, ce qui permet de comprendre les dissensions au sein des différents clans hurons, divisés entre les traditionalistes et les convertis. En toile de fond, c’est aussi l’histoire des guerres opposant les Hollandais (Iroquois/Mohawk) aux Français (Hurons) et la rapide décimation des peuples autochtones de la région. J’aimerais que tous les livres d’histoire soient si bien écrits!

[Joe Pugh]

I really enjoyed the author's previous biography of Pierre-Esprit Radisson, and was excited to pick this up. It didn't disappoint.

Although they both made their fame in 17th century North America, Radisson and Brébeuf lived very different lives. One, a swashbuckling salesman who spent his life moving through different cultures, walking the line between blending in and never quite being at home, the other, a self-flagellating missionary, so fervent in his convictions he was willing to court death to propagate them in a foreign country.

Whereas Radisson's story is a globe trotting epic, with it's central character described by Bourrie as a kind of 17th Forrest Gump, Crosses in The Sky is more Huronia's story told with Brébeuf's life as the frame.

While not as geographically sweeping, the story is no less epic. Without having read the Jesuit Relations, or studied the period and source material in depth, it's difficult to know, but the author seems to do a good job of interpreting it through a 21st century lens for a contemporary reader.

For example the attention given to, and the framing of Chiwatenha's story stands out as particularly memorable and moving amidst the myriad tragedy and complexity that make up the story.

I would have appreciated a bit more of a direct assessment or commentary on the sources themselves, even if only a more detailed explanation and contextualization of what the Jesuit Relations were in an appendix at the end. The author does offer critical analysis of 19th and 20th century archeological work on Huronia.

If you're reading this review on Goodreads, you're probably either my friend or interested in Canadian history. In either case, I'd recommend Crosses In The Sky (as well as Bush Runner!)

[David Cavaco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history of the Jesuit mission to convert the Hurons and other First Nations to the Christian faith. The Georgian Bay area (central Ontario) is the focus of the successes and failures of the Jesuit efforts to convince the Hurons (Wendats) to leave their traditional beliefs asunder for the faith of the Cross. Ultimately, Jean de Brebeuf and other Jesuit fathers would be martyred. The perspective of indigenous peoples are equally presented along with that of European colonial and religious players. This book will make one appreciate any future visits to the Martyr's Shrine and Ste. Marie among the Hurons even more so. Great balanced history for a new generation of readers.

[Lee Torvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not everyone wants to read such a detailed account of history but we should all know this pivotal Canadian history. Huronia, the country of the Huron nations, in SW Ontario was a thriving, well established agricultural community when the Jesuits arrived in the early 1600s. Their efforts to convert the Hurons to Christianity meant their intentional efforts to destroy the Huron culture.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe more of a 4.25, but I feel the topic is so important I'm rounding up to 5.

Oh my gosh - this is the kind of book where a review has to navigate the quality of the book and writing, vs. the importance of the content of the book.

I want to start by saying that I live in the region of the Huronia of this book, and in fact I frequently bike along a bicycle path that skirts right beside the walls of the modern day Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. I also have access to the "Jesuit Relations", which were a vital part of Bourrie's source material for his book.

The Jesuit Relations were annual reports that Jesuit mission leaders sent back to their superiors in Europe, to describe their activities over the past year. In the case of the Huron mission in New France, the Jesuit Relations additionally appeared as newsletters that could be bought and read by French high society, which had the bonus of generating contributions to the Jesuit mission in New France.
To give you a taste of the "tone" of the Jesuit Relations, here are snippets from the introductory notes from two different volumes:
Vol 1: Acadia: 1610 to 1613 ... [Jesuits were cultivated men who left behind the most luxurious country in Europe..] "to seek shelter in the foul and unwelcome huts of one of the most wretched races of man. To win these crude beings to the Christian Faith, it was necessary to know them ..." (General Preface, page viii).
So right away we see that the European Jesuits were some sort of enlightened higher beings who went out to preach the faith to people who may or may not have even deserved to be called human.

Vol 9: Quebec: 1636 "the number of baptisms is greatly increasing, especially as the Indians are, especially since the coming of the missionaries, in wholesome dread of the fires of hell." (Preface, page i).
And yay! Lucky for the Hurons, a bunch of foreign interlopers bullied their way into their society, and told them they were all sinners and were going to burn in hell.

So infuriating.

Okay let me give my quick criticism of the "writing" and nature of this book. It was too heavy of a read.
One thing which happens when there is an abundance of great source material, is that an author/editor will see FAR too many anecdotes or tales from the source material to be a great example of this or that, and they incorporate too many of the tales into the book, at the cost of weighting down the readability of the book.
I don't need non-fiction or history to be as light and conversational as a Malcolm Gladwell book, but there needs to be a happy medium, which I think Bourrie found a bit better in his Radisson book, then he did in this one.
The string of several pages, around page 154, about the torture of Saouandanoncoua, are an example of a place where Bourrie could have been more ruthless with his word count, and gotten more quickly to the point, instead of giving us every detail involved with this story.

So that's my one criticism. Otherwise, thank you Mr. Bourrie for writing this book - even with the "bet" you mention in the acknowledgements where a literary agent told you no one would ever read a book on this topic.

Otherwise, this is the story of a society, and a belief system, being corrupted and destroyed by imperious, arrogant foreigners, who believed that their culture and belief system was superior to all others.

Again, so infuriating.

From very early on in "the mission" to the Hurons, the main gift that the Jesuits gave to their Hurons was influenza and disease.
Pg 252: There had been 30,000 Huron [20 years before]. The first epidemics killed at least half of the Hurons and smallpox killed another five thousand. Even if there had been no wars, the Hurons faced demographic destruction because so many children had been lost

And then, with their european illnesses killing all the Hurons, the Jesuits were going around, barging into the grief and final goodbyes of these families, trying to baptize people on their deathbeds.
Pg 168: The priests' determination to perform rituals on their dying children seemed creepy and evil to the Hurons. The Hurons were never sure what baptism was, and what it did. Was it a curing ritual? It didn't seem to be, since most Hurons died after baptism. Did it cause death? That seemed logical, since Jesuits often asked, before baptizing someone, whether they wished to go to heaven or hell.

And the fierce, arrogant, bullying of the Hurons' own culture...
Pg 209: [Huron] girls were not interested. They had a lot to lose from Christianity. The priests had already told the Ossossane council that they wanted to control women's sex lives and and abolish their rights to divorce and child support

The use of trade (and goods from the French... including guns eventually)... to bribe Hurons into becoming Christian..
Pgs 288/289: "I give you this weapon to use against the Iroquois, who hate you so cruelly," the governor said, as he placed a musket in Sondatsaa's hands.
And Sondatsaa's paraphrased reply was: "this gun which you have added will make a great talk in our country. It will show the regard that you have for believers."

And then, a statement of resignation, which is heartbreaking, when a Huron chief, around 1647, tells the Jesuits that THEY (the Jesuits), not the Hurons, are in control of the country... a statement that comes after the years of disease, population collapse, corruption of their traditional beliefs, and onslaught from the Iroquois:
Pg 332: My brother, have pity on this country. You alone can restore life to it. It is for you to collect all those scattered bones, for you to close up the mouth of the abyss that seeks to swallow us. Have pity on your country. I say your, for you are the master of it...

:(

Anyway - through disease, and then turning the Hurons against each other (those who came to accept Christianity vs those who maintained traditional beliefs), the Jesuits did nothing but weaken Huron society until it could do nothing but collapse when the Iroquois eventually decided to finish off their rivals with whom they had once shared a balanced rivalry with.

This is a very important book, especially if you live in this region.
It is the story of destroying an entire culture through sheer arrogance, and it's heart-breaking.

[Cal Deobald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could.

This is the second of Bourrie's books for me. I really enjoyed the first, Bush Runner, the story of Pierre-Esprit Radisson. But I found this return to early North American history a bit more of a slog. I suspect that's less a function of the writing itself and more to do with the subject matter. Bush Runner, if you'll pardon a raw analogy, was more like an action film. This book's driving force is less action and more the prolonged, seesaw conflict between ideas and ideologies. That's not to say that there isn't any action, plenty of it gruesome enough to satisfy a fan of the grisliest horror. But there's a decided lack of *progress*. The first ten years of the Jesuit's mission were rewarded with nary a convert. Then again, history doesn't provided neatly portioned-out narratives that advance the plot. I get that.

I will applaud Bourrie for the depth of his research, and I always find he's balanced in his treatment of the cultures involved. He certainly doesn't whitewash the Jesuits, but neither does he skirt the brutality and torture of the internecine conflicts among indigenous nations. Overall, as the title suggests, he leans toward empathy for the Huron nation, ill equipped to withstand the prolonged onslaughts, from both European and Indigenous forces, that beset its people.

So where does that leave me?
As a book that compelled me to read and read on, it lands as a 3.0.
But as a book I think others should read, particularly if they're at all interested in our early history, I'd give it 4.5.

Take from that what you will.

[Gwen Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many, my knowledge of Huronia and its destruction by the Iroquois in 1649 was slim, perhaps most marked by the accounts of the gruesome torture and death of Fathers Brebeuf and Lalement. Mark Bourrie fills in the customs and culture of the Hurons, the relationship with the French, the evangelical presence and zealotry of the Jesuit priests, the deadly competition with the Iroquois over trade and furs, the political alliances among Indigenous peoples, the devastating loss of lives through waves of influenza and smallpox from the early-1600s on, the scheming of the French, Dutch and English. Bourrie brings the story to the present day in the creation of the shrine, Ste. Marie Among the Hurons, in Midland, Ontario.

Crosses in the Sky is excellent in all respects for content and ease of reading. Especially valuable are the descriptions of the customs and lives of the indigenous people, such as their allowance for divorce, their use of traditional medicines, and their sharing practices and participation in communal feasts. However, the chapters become tedious in the detail about the Jesuit efforts to convert the indigenous to Christian beliefs and about the torture exacted by Huron and Iroquois in war, and as we know, some Jesuit priests.

Naturally, the life story and ambitions of Fr. Jean de Brebeuf are of great interest - that man was born to be a martyr.

[Gillian Scobie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was extremely well researched but, despite the history lesson and the Hurons' bemused relationship with these strange men, frankly I got really tired of Brebeuf and his Jesuit brethren's fanaticism, arrogance, ignorance and general nuttiness. And I had no desire to read of Brebeuf's agonizing and much longed for torture and death. So, spoiler alert!, I didn't finish the book.

Also, as an editor, I found the copy editing of Crosses left a lot to be desired. Possibly not noted or observed by other readers, but there were many instances of wrong tenses, a number of apparent typos, words in the wrong order, unclear sentences where a simple addition of "that" would have helped. Perhaps the publisher, Biblioasis, doesn't pay its editors very much? They could do better. I question whether the book was proofread either.

A much better written and far briefer summation of the Jesuits and the kinds of men they were (nuts) and the awful legacy they left can be found in The Wolf's Head: Writing Lake Superior by Peter Unwin. The writing is wonderful and the stories the author has found are fascinating. A whole history of Canada's early years in a compact volume.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up because of the impact that this book will have on future historical research. Having read Bourrie's fascinating account of the exploits of Pierre Esprit Radisson, I was very excited to find this new book covering more of North American history. This book did get bogged down with detail at some points but the meticulousness of the research is remarkable. IMO, it will be a book that future historians will refer to over and over again.
The story of the Jesuits during the 1600's and their single-minded missions to convert the indigenous people to Catholicism is a brutal and, for the Jesuits, a frustrating one. Brebeuf came to New France with the idea that this was his way to martyrdom. He believed that his life purpose was to convert as many of the native people as possible to Catholicism.
A warning, some of the brutality of the tribes is hard to read and Bourrie does not soften any of this.

[Christopher Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

An thrilling read about Jean de Brebeuf's attempts to create a catholic state in modern day Ontario. A majority of the book is taken from Brebeuf's diaries, with the author adding all the historical context to make sense of his life. It covers a range of topics, including New France (early Quebec), the French Wars of Religion, the Catholic Refomation, the Beaver Wars, Dutch trade, English settlement of North America, and, most importantly, the society of the Huron and Iroquois people. Absolutely worth it for anyone interested in this period of time, or wanting to gain perspective on the early colonialisation of North America. The author does a great job at showing things are not as black and white as we make them out to be.

[Karen Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Jesuit account of the life of the Wendat people of Huronia, what Jean Brebeuf was trying to accomplish and his view of the Wendat who he called by a derogatory French word, Hurons. This book makes clear the one track mind of the Catholics to convert the natives and the Frenchman’s ability to see the native’s strength in community and knowledge of Mother Nature but to continue to disregard their culture in order to fit them into his mold.
He highlights their violence instead but disregards the part the Catholics played in some of the disputes and the disease that the white man brought that wiped out two thirds of the population.
A worthwhile read but be aware there are graphic descriptions of violence.

[Pat Michener · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author first won me with his fantastic book on Radisson. His new book is a large chunk of history, some of it rather dense and indigestible but a great accomplishment nonetheless for its comprehensiveness and accuracy. It is not a comfortable read. it shows how the Jesuits uprooted and eventually upended a society that was viable, worked well for it citizens and was well suited to their way of life. The interlopers' disrespect and arrogance, even if their intentions were good, permeated this chronicle. It was only understandable in the context of their age; but in this era of reconciliation, still filled me with unease that was unpleasantly close to sorrow.

[Marc Rosove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly a fascinating book. Especially for those interested in the history of what became Canada.

I'm forced however to compare this to a similarly themed book, by the same author, Bush runner, which was amazing. Both books were fascinating. This one was less enthralling and became a bit repetitive at times. I still hope we'll get another book on Canadian history by this author.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I weep for the losses of Huronian indigenous culture, learning and lore. A fascinating story of early contact & conflict between fanatical Jesuits and indigenous people in eastern Canada. The myth of Brebeuf and his martyrdom sadly resonates in ill founded histories today.

[Debi Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little repetitive but certainly well-researched and written. I love the sense of humour in his endnotes.

[Doug Seville · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best researched book on this subject that I've ever read.

[Jacques Poitras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important and comprehensive, but could use some pruning.

[Marguerite Gratton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The research seems dated, and a bit of bias comes through. Struggled in the midsection of the book, awkward writing style was the issue. A number of spelling errors.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read his previous book on Radisson. This was not even close to as interesting. It seemed to plod along with day-to-day missteps by Brebeuf and colleagues. It was

[Amanda Borys · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to rate. The writing is good and the pace keeps the story flowing. The author is sympathetic to the Huron people without being heavy handed. Overall, a well written and interesting book that deserves more stars.

The issue is that the Jesuits of New France were, to a man, such nasty, bigoted, and conceited men they are impossible to like. The Jesuits were made up of the sons of wealthy French families who were deemed attractive and smart by the society at that time. Though I am sure they thought of themselves as the elite of their society, their values and practices are the antithesis of what is acceptable today. And they were clearly unable to see the hypocrisy in their attitudes towards the traditions of the Huron, which were reflected back on them by the Huron healers and leaders. Also, Brebeuf's desire to be a martyr was very disturbing, especially as his 'visions' (more properly called hallucinations) clearly indicated mental health issues.

In the end the ratings will reflect on the author, not the subject, so I am giving the book 3 stars.