Statues of Jean de Brébeuf & Nicolas Viel inset into the front of the Parliament Building

Saint Jean de Brébeuf (1593–1649) was a French Jesuit missionary who traveled to New France (or Canada) in 1625. There he worked primarily with the Huron for the rest of his life, except for a short time back in France in 1629-1633. He learned their language and culture.

In 1649 Brébeuf and several other missionaries were captured when an Iroquois raid took over a Huron village. Together with Huron captives, the missionaries were ritually tortured and eight were killed, martyred on March 16, 1649. Brébeuf was beatified in 1925 and canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church in 1930.

Father Nicolas Viel, O.M.R., was a French Recollect missionary to the Hurons from 1623 to 1625. Among the first missionaries sent by France to its colony, Viel traveled to Huron territory, arriving there with fellow Recollect Father Joseph Le Caron in 1623. He was studying the language and collecting material to add to Le Caron’s dictionary. After almost two years, in May 1625 Viel decided to return to Québec. After a long period of travel, he was murdered by the three Indian companions in his canoe.

June 2014 Photo 096