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Dan Mathis

4/19/2016

Forgoing Martyrdom: Religious Conflict and Participation

in Colonial New France and New England

Introduction

In July of 1693, Marie de St. Joseph, the Mother Superior of the Ursulines of Québec, was

called upon to assist in preparations for the defense of the city. She likely instructed her fellow

sisters to walk the grounds of her monastery accounting for any concessions she could allow and

anything that could be given up in the name of making her city more secure. She had received

requests from the French authority in Québec for help in the repair and renovation of the

fortifications of the city, so they made note of the stables and stockades on the grounds, and

deemed that they could be sacrificed; the sisters would simply need to find alternative ways to

manage their livestock. She likely knew that the defense of the city remained vital, and that all

inhabitants were expected to participate in any way they could, as all could be subject to the

consequences of failure. For Marie, the city was delivered from the peril of protestant cannon

through divine intersession of the Holy Virgin less than three years prior, but the clear threat

remained as the heretical English still posed a great danger to the city and to the spiritual destiny

of the colony.1

The association of warfare and national conflict and religion was a salient aspect of the

series of wars endemic to the French and English colonies for a majority of the later 17th and into

the 18th century. It was prevalent in rhetoric, in justification, and in acts of war themselves, yet

1 Archives du Monastère des Ursulines de Québec. 1/K,1,1,1,3 – Les Actes des Assemblées Capitulaires 1, p 27.

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sometimes this issue is overlooked in discussion of colonial conflict. The age of true and outright

religious warfare ended with the Thirty Years War, or according to some with the English Civil

War. Yet, that did not mean that these stark and real religious differences and tensions did not play

themselves out to a great degree in colonial conflict between the Catholic colonies of France and

the Protestant English.

This paper will argue that religion was a prominent justification for continued warfare and

tension in certain colonial conflicts between New France and New England in the 17th and 18th

centuries. First, the simple voracity and ubiquitousness of religious rhetoric during these conflicts

suggests that it was at the forefront of the minds of many participants. If one frames their

experience in religious terms, then it is safe to assume that it could in some way be a real concern

or justification. Second, the nature of warfare between the French, the English, and the Native

Americans in the frontier of New England, as well as the violence and connection of French

alliance to religion and Catholic missionaries created an increased atmosphere of fear and mistrust

of the religious “other.” And lastly, the active participation of Catholic missionaries in Native

American warfare demonstrates both a break from the “heroic” image of the peaceful martyrs of

17th century New France, and that the religious overtones of the conflicts could become manifest

in overtly religious actors. In fact, due to points outlined above, it is easy to imagine how Catholic

missionaries could become embroiled in the conflicts as active players, even if contemporary

accounts conflicted as to the extent of their participation.

Religion and warfare is a common topic for historians, but few have illuminated the series

of colonial conflicts between England and France through the specific lens of religion. Since

Francis Parkman’s notorious work in the 19th century, an overt association between religion and

conflict in the colonies has been relatively rare. Robert Lahaise, in Nouvelle-France, English

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Colonies writes convincingly of the inevitability of conflict between New France and New

England on the frontier, but he does not discuss religion to a great degree.2 Perhaps the most

interesting study on the topic is Laura M. Chmielewski’s The Spice of Popery. Her fascinating

work uses the area of what is now Maine to explain religious and cultural tensions between the

English and the French. She argues that religious sentiment was defined by the fear and perception

of the religious “other,” and that the situation on the Maine frontier and the proximity of protestant

New Englanders and Catholic missionaries and Native Americans created both increased tension

and warfare, as well as greater levels of understanding as the “other” became less of a mystery to

those who lived near.3 This study is similar in that it uses the frontier as an example, and will

similarly discuss the relevant events. Yet this paper tends to look a bit closer on the French Catholic

side of the conflict, still using sources from religious people of both faiths, and also examines how

the rise of warrior missionaries was possible in this time period.

Religious Rhetoric and Warfare

The initial acts of settlement of both New France and New England were plentiful in

examples of religious connotations, rhetoric, and even justification in some cases. The settlement

of New France is accompanied by the presence and work of Catholic missionaries from the very

start, which crafted a distinct religious identity for the colony that continued to run concurrently

with the development of the colony throughout the 17th century. Similar notions of religious

destiny and providence were important in the settlement of New England, as the protestant

founders went about creating what was meant to be a model puritan society. Both were exclusive

2 Robert Lahaise, Nouvelle-France English Colonies: L'impossible coexistence, 1606-1713. (Quebec: Septentrion, 2006). 15-17. 3 Laura M. Chmielewski, The Spice of Popery: Converging Christianities on an Early American Frontier, (Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame, 2012). 19-20.

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also, as French law prohibited the settlement of Protestants early on, and the development of New

England saw several anti-Catholic restrictions on religious toleration and even examples of

persecution of other protestant religions. Just as Robert Lahaise described the development of New

france and New England as one where political competition and violent conflict were largely

inevitable, it is plausible to argue that religious confrontation was just as inevitable a situation.4

This section focuses on issues of conflict between New France and New England, and establishes

the fact that religious rhetoric and justification were just as prominent as any political or economic

concerns by looking at a few specific examples involving the series of endemic wars in the late

17th and early 18th century. While it is a great and inaccurate stretch to refer to these conflicts as

“wars of religion,” the religious aspects surrounding them is worthy of note as much as any secular

concerns.

During the 17th century, a series of events were to act as a manner of tribulation for the

French settlement of New France. One, which will be touched upon later, involved the Beaver

Wars and conflicts between the Iroquois and Huron, when several Jesuit priests attempting to start

missionary communities and alliances among the Huron, were killed in Iroquois attacks. Another

occurred in 1629, when the French actually lost possession of the settlement at Québec. In response

to the beginning of Richelieu’s campaign against the Huguenots at La Rochelle as part of the Thirty

Years War, King Charles I of England authorized an expedition to “displace the French from

[Canada].”5 A small fleet of English ships under the leadership of David Kirke and his brothers

was able to force the surrender of Champlain and take control of the settlement. As a result, all of

4 Lahaise 15-17 5 John S. Moir, “KIRKE, SIR DAVID,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. Available at http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/kirke_david_1E.html.

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the Catholic missionaries were captured and either returned to France or sent to England, and all

but one French family abandoned the colony.6

Although, the colony was restored to the French in 1632, the missionaries considered it a

great tragedy and impediment to their work. On writing of the events of the Kirkes’ victory and

the priests’ ordeal in captivity or exile, Charles Lallemant, the head of the Jesuit mission to Canada,

framed the story in overt terms of religious warfare. His writing on the event was extensive,

encompassing several letters and entries in the Jesuit Relations, and through all of it, he refers to

the frères Kirke or the English by name only once, instead using the term “heretic” each time he

referred to them. This rhetoric became prevalent in Jesuit writing in the 17th century, as Lallemant

wrote of the colony in constant fear of the heretical English, saying:

"Do not forget the prayers for our souls, and make them from time to

time. In any case when you remember us in your holy sacrifices, offer them up

for such and such a one, living or dead. The help which has reached us from

France is a good beginning for this Mission, but things are not yet in such a

condition that God can be faithfully served here. The heretic holds as complete

dominion here as ever.”7

New France became involved in a series of conflicts in the remainder of the 17th century,

all of which involved either the persistent threat of the Iroquois, who were the dominant political

entity in the region, or the English who were the primary colonial rival. By the onset of King

William’s War in 1688, tensions between the French and English were high, especially due to the

close proximity of the French colonies of New France and Acadia and the further encroachment

6 This was the family of Guillaume Couillard. Louis XIV later ennobled his son Louis. In the declaration, he is praised for his aid in defending the settlement against the Iroquois, and it is also framed within religious wording. 7Charles L'Allemant, "Letter from Father Charles L'Allemant, Superior of the Mission of Canada, of the Society of Jesus, to Father Jerome l'Allemant, his Brother." in the Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, ed. Reuben G. Thwaites (73 vols., Cleveland, 1896-1901) puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations. Vol. I, 144-152. All documents from the Thwaites series will be cited hereafter as the Jesuit Relations. The Relations are comprised of 73 volumes of letters and journal entries chronicling the Jesuit experience in New France. They were not necessarily meant as personal correspondence, as the Jesuits firmly decided that they would be published. This was in an effort to show Europe the promise of their missionary efforts, as well as to secure political favor to fund continued efforts.

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of English settlers from New England moving further north into what is now Maine. The religious

implications of the conflict were not lost on both sides, and they were manifest in two particular

incidents discussed here, which were the English attacks on Port Royal and Québec. In 1690,

William Phipps was placed in charge as major-general of an expedition sailing out of Boston to

seize French territory in Acadia, with the ultimate goal of a later attack and capture of Québec.

Phipps’ attack on Port Royal, the French capital of Acadia, gives evidence to the religious

implications of his expedition. The endeavor was given the fervent blessing of prominent Boston

religious leader Cotton Mather, and that same year, Phipps seems to have undergone a sort of

political religious conversion. At the same time as his appointment to major-general, Mather

received Phipps into the Second Church of Boston.8 On 19 May, 1690, the attack on Port Royal

commenced, and the settlement capitulated two days later. Once the victory was secured and the

English moved in, the men under orders from Phipps commenced the destruction and pillage of

the church in Port Royal. According to Phipps’ report, he wrote that “We cut down the cross, rifled

the Church, pulled down the High-Altar, breaking their images.”9 The priests were captured, and

other items of liturgical significance were seized and returned to Boston, partially in demonstration

of proof of the religious importance of the victory. As for the reasons for Phipps ordering the

attacks on the church and allowing such actions by his men, Laura Chmielewski argues that he

was trying to make a statement of his religious devotion, primarily because he wanted to avoid the

mistakes of Admund Andros, who had suffered a tarnished reputation and lost considerable favor

due to his refusal or reluctance to destroy the enemy’s Catholic religious symbols, and who was

accused by some of being a “crypto-papist.”10 With his actions, Phipps made a statement that his

8 C. P. Stacey, “PHIPS, SIR WILLIAM,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/phips_william_1E.html. 9Ibid 10 Chmielewski, 337.

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expedition was one not only of political goals and military significance, but also of Protestant

fervor, and that his victories would come at the expense of the safety of French Catholicism. This

message was not lost on the inhabitants of Québec.

After returning to Boston, Phipps took several months organizing the next phase of his

operation and then waiting for favorable weather to be able to sail out for the ultimate prize –

Québec. By October of 1690, his fleet of thirty-three ships had sailed up the St. Lawrence River

and were poised to attack. The religious inhabitants of Québec, upon learning of an impending

attack, scrambled to prepare. Bishop Laval raised a banner of the holy family, and urged the people

to fight against “the enemies of not only the French people, but of our faith and our religion.”11

The Augustinian sisters of the Hotel-Dieu even participated in digging trenches around their

monastery and attempted to bury the majority of their treasury and liturgical objects. They

considered evacuating, Governor Frontenac hastily returned from Montréal and convinced them

to stay so that the colonists and defenders would not lose hope and religious spirit.12

It is very plausible to argue that the monastery and other religious institutions in the city

would be major targets of the invading New Englanders. Phipps’ plan of attack consisted of a naval

bombardment to cover the advance of soldiers along the northern shore of the St Lawrence, across

the St. Charles river and up the bluff into the Haute-Ville, or the Upper Town. The Haute-Ville

also contained the highest concentration of religious buildings, including the diocese, the seminary,

and the religious houses of the Jesuits, Récollets, Ursulines, and Augustinians. The Hotel-Dieu

was located to the north overlooking the St. Charles, and it was in the direct path of Phipps’

intended attack, during which cannon from the English ships directly bombarded the building. The

Jesuits spread out to minister among the people, yet the Superior and the older members of the

11 H.H. Walsh, the Church in the French Era: from Colonization to British Conquest, (Ryerson: Toronto, 1966). 158. 12 W.J. Eccles, Frontenac: the Courtier Governor, (University of Nebraska: Lincoln, 2003). 234-235.

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order stayed in the college. Should the English have succeeded, they resolved go into the church

and wait there to “receive the death-blow at the foot of the great Altar.”13 According to the

Relations, French prisoners who had overheard the New Englanders aboard the ships and who

were returned after the battle informed the Jesuits that:

“before setting out on the expedition, the officers of the fleet had more

than twenty lawsuits settled in regular form on the subject of the rich booty that

would be obtained at Quebec... These same Frenchmen have asserted that the

intention of these heretics was to drive from Canada the Ecclesiastics and the

Nuns, to take the latter to [Boston], and to send the former back to France; but, as

for the Jesuits, they were to cut off the ears of all these, to make chaplets for the

bandoleers of the soldiers, and then break their heads.”14

However grave the risk may have been, the attack failed, and the city was successfully

defended. Immediately after the victory, the people of Québec erupted into displays of religious

zeal and thanksgiving for what they saw as divine intersession from the Virgin Mary in the

deliverance from their protestant enemies.15 On 28 October, the Ursulines called a special mass of

celebration in their monastery, where they practiced special observances of devotion thanking the

Virgin Mary for interceding and saving the monastery. The mother Superior, Marie de Joseph,

called for the special observation and remembrance to continue through 4 November.16 Also in

remembrance of the victory, the church in the Lower Town of Québec was renamed Notre dame

de la victoire, or “Our Lady of Victory.”17

The reaction from New England to the defeat was one of despair, but also of a resolute

view for the future. Governor Bradstreet wrote, “Shall our Father spit in our face, and we not be

ashamed? God grant that we may be deeply humbled and enquire into the cause, and reform those

sins that have provoked so great anger to smoke against the prayers of his people, and to answer

13 Jesuit relations, Vol LXIV, 45. 14 Ibid, 44-45. 15 Walsh, 158. 16 AUQ, 16. 17 Jesuit Relations, Vol. LXIV, 46; In 1711, after another English attempt, the church was again renames “Notre Dame des Victoires,” or “Our Lady of the Victories.”

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us by terrible things in righteousness.”18 Cotton Mather also expressed an opinion declaring that

“an evident hand of Heaven,” had sent them “one unavoidable disaster after another.”19 The

religious and providential overtones of the conflict are here reflected by both a secular and a

religious authority in New England, and the loss was perceived a major setback, both politically

and spiritually. Yet, voices from New England remained resolute. Mather’s writing reveals much,

as he concluded that the real route to capture New France was through attacking by water up the

Saint Lawrence. Also, an interesting paper that was in the possession of Increase and Cotton

Mather, but whose authorship is unproven, determined that the long term threat posed by the

French, specifically the violent raids and incursions of Native Americans with their Jesuit

missionaries, could not likely be resolved with a peace between England and France. It concluded,

“delenda est Carthago,” or “Carthage must be destroyed.”20

At the same time that New Englanders continued to live in greater fear of attacks from

French-allied Native Americans in the frontier, the Jesuits claimed that the victory at Québec led

to an increased number of conversions to their missions.21 As will be argued in the next section,

the place of religion in this conflict cannot be separated from the issues surrounding certain Native

Americans and their alliances with the French. This will lead to the development to an interesting

religious dynamic to the war in Acadia and the New England frontier, where fear and mistrust of

Native Americans became integrated with a fear and mistrust of Catholicism.

Native Americans and Christianity

18 William D. Le Sueur, The Makers of Canada: Frontenac, Morang and Co.: Toronto, 1907). 300-301. 19 Ibid, 301. 20 Two Narratives of the Expedition to Quebec, AD 1690, (John Wilson and Son: Cambridge, 1902). 21 Jesuit Relations, LXIV, 47- 48.

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From the very beginning of the establishment of New France, the missionary Church

played an important role, which was the active and vigorous attempt to convert Native Americans

to Catholicism. This, however, should not be characterized as merely a religious undertaking,

because it had extensive political ramifications, as well. French missionaries not only operated as

messengers of a religion, they also functioned as representatives of the French colonial endeavor,

whether it was in intent or in effect. For the establishment of relationships and alliances, it could

be argued that religion played a role with similar importance to the fur trading networks and

relationships, as well as military concerns. For example, when the Mi’qmak people of Acadia

converted to Catholicism, it was performed in a ritualistic and stately matter, as the chief promised

the conversion of his people and an alliance with the king of France in the same ceremonial display.

In many cases, missionaries would be the only French people in and around Native American

communities in the frontier, and thus it was imperative for them in many cases to ensure good

feelings toward the colony as well as religion, especially with the threat of the English and their

allies in the New England frontier.

Some of the more successful missionary attempts were made to the peoples of tribes within

the Wabanaki Confederacy, whose territory stretched from Maine and the New England frontier

to what is now the Maritime Provinces.22 What is certain is that the missionary efforts, partially

through both Jesuit cultural relativism and Indian desire to hold on to traditions, fueled the

development of unique Native American brands of Catholicism. The real focus here is on the extent

that Catholicism helped to foster both French alliances and English perceptions and thus became

tied to Native American conflict.

22 Success in this instance refers to the numbers of nominally converted peoples and tribal leaders, as the question of whether or not this extended to actual conversion to traditional doctrine and practice is an ongoing debate that is not addressed in this paper.

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For the New Englanders who experienced and lived under the perceived threat and

ubiquitous fear of Native American incursions into New England and the frontier, on many

occasions they had begun to identify an Indian threat with a Catholic threat as well. Captivity

narratives could have helped to facilitate this, as they became a source of information on Native

Americans for people living in New England. In some cases, the tales could be retold and

sensationalized, which had the potential to fuel even more fear and animosity. Many captives, as

well as New England emissaries, reported back the presence of Catholic practices among

Wabanaki communities, as well as unique outward displays of adherence to the religion. They

reportedly wore “Jesuit rings” displayed rosaries, and covered their bodies in tattoos of crucifixes

and other religious iconography.23 Also, Native Americans could also frame their own conflicts

with the English in religious terms. Bomazeen, a Wabanaki chief, was imprisoned in Boston

between 1694 and 1698 when he threatened that:

“the Lord Jesus Christ was of the French nation; that his mother, the virgin Mary,

was a French Lady; that they were the English who murdered him and that

whereas he rose from the dead, and went up to the Heavens, all that would

recommend themselves unto his favour, must revenge his quarrel upon the

English as far as they can.”24

Statements like this have many implications. First, they became even more cause for

concern to the protestant inhabitants of New England, as tribes of the Wabanaki were frequently

those that carried out raids and incursions throughout the frontier. Also, it reinforced the notion on

the part of New Englanders that the threat of Native Americans and that of Catholic missionaries

was intertwined and inseparable. Language like this suggests that the missionaries were inciting

the Wabanaki to raid and antagonize the English, and using religious messages to justify it. After

all, there must have been a source to the proliferation of those particular anti-English religious

23 Chmielewski 100. 24 Chmielewski 226.

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messages to Bomazeen and other Wabanaki, and Catholic missionaries were a logical answer. The

possibility and accusation of missionary participation in Native American warfare was a defining

aspect of the war on the frontier during this period.

War on the Frontier and Missionary Participation

The series of conflicts in the New England frontier and Acadia in the late 17th and early

18th centuries often consisted of each side becoming outraged at raids they deemed particularly

egregious, violent, or sacrilegious in some cases, and their violent reprisals. For many in New

England, these were often wrapped up in the claims that Catholic missionaries were using their

position among the Wabanaki to incite raids on New England, and even go so far as to actively

participate. One of the more infamous episodes involved a raid on York, in Maine, in 1692. Over

two-hundred Indian raiders from the Wabanaki Penobscots descended upon the town and

proceeded to burn the houses, killing an estimated one-hundred inhabitants, and capturing sixty.

Infamously, the minister of York, Shumael Dummer was shot and killed. This raid caused outrage

in New England for the killing of a minister in such a manner. Cotton Mather wrote that Dummer

was shot “at his own door, upon a journey in the service of God, when the tygres that were making

their depredations upon the sheep of York seiz’d upon their shepherd; and they shot him so, that

they left him dead among the tribe of Abel on the ground.” Mather also claimed that the raid was

plotted by “some Romish Missionaries who had long been wishing, that they might embrue their

hands in the blood of some New-English MINISTER.”25 In fact, the raid was accompanied by the

Sulpician priest Louis-Pierre Thury.

25 Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, 7, 77. available at https://archive.org/details/magnaliachristia00math

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This was a defining and inflammatory aspect of several raids and Native American

incursions – that the catholic missionaries were not only inciting and encouraging violence against

New Englanders, but actively participating as well. From the evidence of how deep religious

sentiment was connected to warfare in the period, and the nature of Native American alliances, it

is not a stretch to believe that these sorts of “warrior-priests” were real and active in the Indian

conflicts. However, certain traditional perspectives of the history of the missionary efforts of New

France tend to lean towards the image of the priests as martyrs, rather than warriors. This is most

likely attributed to both national biases and to one of the defining moments of the settlement of

New France – the North American Martyrs. They were a series of eight Jesuit priests who were

tortured and killed and their mission in Huron country destroyed at the hands of the Iroquois during

their war against the Huron. This made it somewhat difficult to reconcile the stories of martyrdom

with those of priests committing violent acts.

Thury was one of several priests who were directly involved in raids and warfare. Another

was the Sulpician Jean Baudoin. Baudoin was a Sulpician from Nantes who was eventually placed

as a missionary among the Wabanaki in Acadia. During his time there, he was purported to

accompany the Indians on raids. He obviously desired involvement beyond mere missionary work,

as he even came into conflict with Joseph Robineau de Villebon, the governor of Acadia, for

involving himself to much in civil matters with the Native Americans.26 Tensions were so high he

was eventually asked to return to France in 1694, yet he returned two years later accompanied by

Pierre le Moyne d’Iberville, who had been tasked with a military campaign against the English.

Baudoin accompanied Iberville on his entire campaign through Newfoundland.27 His eagerness to

26 Honorius Provost, “BAUDOIN, JEAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003., http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/baudoin_jean_1E.html. 27 ibid

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fight should not be a surprise; not only did the religious tension of the period encourage it, but

also, his career prior to joining the priesthood was as a king’s musketeer.

Perhaps the most notorious of the priests who were associated with raids on New England

was Sébastien Rale. He was a Jesuit priest who had gained extensive missionary experience with

his work in other parts of New France, and then was appointed as the missionary for the settlement

of Norridgewock in 1694, on the Kennebec River. He remained as the primary Jesuit missionary

in the area until his death in 1724, and during that time he became more and more involved with

his role as an ambassador to the Wabanaki, and not merely as a spiritual advisor and missionary.

By the time of his death, he would be involved a series of two wars, actively encourage Native

American attacks on the English, and became one of the most detested figures amongst the

authorities in New England.

Rale’s involvement in the frontier conflicts really begins with the outbreak of Queen

Anne’s War. In 1703, when war had broken out in Europe and conflict in America was imminent,

Governor Joseph Dudley asked for a meeting with the Abenaki at Casco Bay. His goal was to

persuade them to remain neutral, and to not conduct any raids in New England on behalf of the

French. This episode is one of many involving Rale, and other so-called “warrior priests” on the

frontier, where accounts conflict considerably, depending on the affiliation of the writer. Rale’s

account of the meeting in a letter to his brother claims that he was forever a proponent of peace:

“…the English Governor, who had recently arrived at Boston, asked our

Savages to give him an interview on an island in the sea, which he designated

They consented, and begged me to accompany them, that they might consult me

about the crafty propositions that would be made to them — so as to be sure that

their answers should contain nothing contrary to Religion, or to the interests of

the Royal service. I followed them… During that time, the Governor, taking me

aside, said to me: “Monsieur, I beg you, do not influence your Indians to make

war upon us.” I answered him that my Religion and my Office of Priest were a

security that I would give them only exhortations to peace.”28

28 Jesuit Relations LXVII 198-199

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While Rale claimed that he was an arbiter of peace there to advise his flock, Governor

Dudley’s account made no mention of him at all, especially not any moment where he personally

took Rale aside. In fact, he explicitly claims that “their [the Indians’] Friars did not dare to be seen

on this occasion.”29

It is quite possible that Rale was somewhat hiding behind his office. His actions throughout

the war and after conflict with his image as a proponent for peace. All he admits is that he continued

to try and strengthen their bonds to Catholicism, and he acknowledged that stronger religion would

drive them closer to the French. During the war, it is probable that he went along with the Native

Americans on raids against New England, and even that he participated in the infamous raid at

Deerfield in 1704.30 The events after the conclusion of the war in 1713 gained the most notoriety,

however. For ten years after the treaty of Utrecht, he continued to live amongst the Abenaki at

Norridgewock, even though it was in territory disputed by the English and the French, as the terms

of the treaty were too ambiguous in their definitions. His precarious situation was compounded by

the fact that they were geographically much closer to English settlements than to any of the French.

As the New Englanders continued to push into the Kennebec region, tensions flared, and Rale took

a position of support for Abenaki raids against them. According to his letters, he claimed that he

was determined to stay amongst the Abenaki, even in the face of numerous attempts by the English

to secure his capture or death, saying, “I have the most to fear from the English Gentlemen of our

neighborhood. It is true that they long ago resolved upon my death; but neither their ill will toward

me, nor the death with which they threaten me, can ever separate me from my old flock.”31

29 Thomas Charland, “RALE, SÉBASTIEN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/rale_sebastien_2E.html. 30 Walsh, 156-157. 31 Jesuit Relations LXVII 228

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Without question, he involved himself in military matters, as his correspondence with

Governor Vaudreuil at Québec indicated his assurance that the Abenaki were “ready to take up the

hatchet against the English whenever he gave them the order.”32 One of Vaudreuil’s reply’s in

1721 pleaded that the Abenaki not hesitate to respond to English incursions by any means

necessary, and he assured Rale of support, saying that he “must not be afraid of being short of

ammunition, for I am sending them enough.”33

Rale continued to be one of the greatest threats to the frontier in the minds of much of New

England. One English attack on Norridgewock in 1722 was unsuccessful in capturing Rale, but

they were able to recover letters left behind which implicated Rale in his dealings with the

government of New France and the explicit goal of inciting the Abenaki to fight. For New England,

this was the moment where they finally had some written proof for Boston of what they were sure

of for so long, and the culpability of the fighting Jesuit was certain. Governor Samuel Shute

advocated for war, especially after Abenaki reprisals in retaliation for the Norridgewock raid. He

was eventually able to convince the Massachusetts Assembly to authorize incursions into

Wabanaki territory with the specific goal of wiping out the mission centers on the frontier, along

with their Jesuits.34

The fateful day arrived on 12 August, 1723, when a raiding party of New Englanders

achieved complete surprise and attacked the mission community at Norridgewock. In the process,

Sébastien Rale was among the dead. As with other situations involving this frontier warfare, the

accounts differ. The French account, written by Pierre La Chasse, a former associate of Rale, was

likely based on the word of Abenakis who had escaped and fled to Québec. He described as a

32 Charland. 33 Jesuit Relations LXVII 61-63 34 Chmielewski 202.

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vicious attack of eleven-hundred men, while English reports only indicate just over two-hundred.

His treatment of Rale is not unlike those of the old stories of the North American Martyrs, where

Rale is described as the ablest missionary who walked out to meet the attackers in the middle of

the village, standing fearless beneath the cross. “He expected by his presence either to stop their

first efforts, or, at least, to draw their attention to himself alone, and at the expense of his life to

procure the safety of his flock.”35 The English reports, however, claim that Rale was found after

he had fled to his cabin, and was in the process of loading his musket. In both accounts, Rale was

shot and killed, and he was subsequently scalped with the trophy being sent back to Boston as

proof of the victory over the Catholic menace that had antagonized New England for years.36

Conclusion

A clear indication of the extent of Rale’s participation as fighter who actually took up arms

on the offensive in Native American raids may never be reached. The sources conflict to a great

degree and are mired with religious biases. Yet, looking at the other examples of religious aspects

of colonial warfare, it is not a difficult to imagine Father Rale as the New Englanders did, at least

without sensationalized details. As we saw in Port Royal and Québec, both the attackers and the

defenders saw the conflict as one of religious significance, and that the religious destiny of

America was at play in some capacity, not just those of political and economic concerns Also, the

situation of Catholicism among the Native Americans had married religion and politics, and

Catholicism became identified with the French alliances as well as the fear and mistrust on the

frontier. The story of Rale and the other similar Jesuit and Sulpician missionaries was not a product

of outright religious warfare. However, they were situations that were symptomatic of the deep

35 Jesuiit Relations LXVII 225 36 Charland.

18

religious differences and tensions that existed for so many years and manifest in the unique

colonial setting.

19

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