Troop Leadership Past and Present
Who was Saint Isaac Jogues? (Donated by Richard Marby from an unknown source)
Father Isaac Jogues, discoverer of Lake George, was born in Orleans, France in 1607. Ordained a priest of the Jesuit Order, he came to Canada as a missionary to the Huron Indians. In 1642 Jogues and two companions were captured by a party of Mohawk Indians and taken to the Mohawk village called Os-er-nay-non, in the Mohawk Valley. Here they were tortured and mutilated by their captors; a thumb and finger of Jogues was severed with the edge of a clamshell. Jogues' companion LePoule also lost a thumb and shortly thereafter LePoule was murdered. Father Jogues was spared and in the autumn of 1643, with the help of the Dutch Governor at Albany, he escaped and returned to his native country.
Early in 1645 Jogues returned to New France, and as there was an uneasy peace between the Iroquois and their northern neighbors, he journeyed to the Mohawk Valley to establish a mission. He followed the water route from Canada, down the St. Lawrence to Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Guided by a Mohawk Indian, Jogues and his companion Leland then turned to the southwest, towards a lake which his guide called Anday-tay-roc-tay. Because he first saw thes gem of beauty on a holy day and was impressed by its pure clear water, Jogues named it "Lac-du-Saint-Sacrement" or Lake of the Blessed Sacrement.
Arriving at the Mohawk village, Jogues was received with civility. Early in October, he began a journey through the Mohawk towns; however, the temper of the Mohawks had changed since his last visit. One of their war parties captured the priest somewhere between Lake Saint Sacrement and the Mohawk River. Taken to Os-er-nay-non, he was greeted with scorn and abuse. The same evening Jogues was summoned to the house of the chief. As he entered he was killed by a tomahawk from behind. The following day Leland met the same fate. Both men were decapitated and their heads exhibited on poles. Their bodies were thrown into the Mohawk River.
A shrine of martyrs has been established at Auriesville, New York, near the sight of the old Indian town of Ossernaynon. In June of 1930, Pope John XI canonized Isaac Jogues as Saint of the Roman Catholic Church.