In 1632, Saint Antoine Daniel arrived in Canada, the strange, newly-discovered country that would become his home for the next sixteen years. He was a Jesuit missionary, sent to bring the Good News to the Hurons. He seems to have loved the Hurons, to have worked hard to learn their ways, and gave his life in serving them.
Saint Antoine Daniel's Early Years and Education
Saint Antoine Daniel was born in Dieppe, France in 1601 and joined the Jesuit order at the age of twenty, after completing three years of university — two in philosophy and one in law. He taught in the Jesuit colleges from 1623-1632.
During the time that he was teaching at Rouen, a young Huron student was sent there by a missionary in Quebec. While it’s unknown whether Antoine taught this Huron, Leon Pouliot asserts in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online that “the presence of the young Huron at Rouen did not escape Daniel’s notice, and it may be that it played some part in his missionary vocation.”
Saint Antoine Daniel's Missionary Work
Antoine was sent to Cape Breton, Canada in 1632. His brother, Captain Charles Daniel, had established a fort there three years earlier. Antoine spent only a year here before being sent to Quebec.
In Quebec, Antoine worked with Jean de Brébeuf, another Jesuit missionary and martyr, at the Huron mission. Pouliot notes that Antoine “made rapid progress in learning the language, and he had soon taught the children to sing the Pater and the Credo in Huron.” He also founded a school for young Huron men in Quebec and was in charge of it for two years.
Saint Antoine Daniel's Death
In 1648, war broke over the Huron mission, located near the present-day town of Hillsdale, Ontario. While the Huron men were gone, their enemies, the Iroquois, attacked. While the Iroquois were trying to get over the walls, Antoine gathered his people into the chapel and said Mass. He gave the people general absolution and baptized those ready to join the Church. Then, still dressed in his vestments, he went to meet the attackers.
Apparently, the Iroquois were so surprised by this that they halted their attack for a few minutes. Those minutes perhaps gave some of the people a chance to escape. Then the Iroquois showered Antoine with arrows and threw his body into the flames that consumed his church.
The Canonization of Saint Antoine Daniel
Saint Antoine, also known as Saint Anthony, was canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI. He was the first missionary to the Hurons and the second Jesuit martyr in New France. According to Pouliot, “Even after his death, [Antoine] inspired in his brother missionaries a wealth of tenderness and encouragement.”
His superior, Father Raqueneau, wrote that Antoine was “a truly remarkable man, humble, obedient, united with God, of never failing patience and indomitable courage in adversity.”
Saint Antoine Daniel's Influence Today
Today, there are several Catholic churches, a YMCA and a Catholic school in Ontario named for him. He and his brother Charles are two of the main characters in Susan Young de Biagi's debut novel Cibou (Cape Breton University Press, 2008). His feast day is held every October 19.
Sources:
Pouliot, Leon. "Daniel, Antoine." Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Vol. 1. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2000. 15 Jun. 2009. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=156.
Spillane, Edward. "Anthony Daniel." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 15 Jun. 2009 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04621a.htm.
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