• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

We’re a 501(c)3 public charity established in 2006. We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and run no advertisements. We exist solely by the generosity of small donors.

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

Revitalizing Our Missionary Spirit

Fr. David Friel · October 19, 2014

ODAY is World Mission Sunday, a day on which we focus on praying for the missions and supporting them financially. The work of the missions is to bring the Gospel to lands where it has not yet been preached. Today is also October 19th, the date each year when the Church observes the feast of St. Isaac Jogues & his companions, who were among the earliest missionaries to work in what we now call the United States. These remarkable men are, of course, the patron saints adopted by Corpus Christ Watershed.

It may be worthwhile today to take a brief trip back to the mid-1600’s, when Fr. Jogues and his Jesuit companions were working among the Iroquois & Mohawk & Huron Indians of upstate New York. The missionaries began by teaching the Indians the very basics of the Catholic faith. If you visit the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY, you can still see how they wrote the name “Jesus” on the trees to teach love and respect for the divine name. They learned some of the native languages so that they could teach catechism lessons and the basic prayers. They really lived out the spirit of Psalm 96 to “tell His glory among the nations, among all peoples.”

Not all of their efforts, however, were met with a terrific welcome. One day, one of the lay Jesuit brothers, Bro. Rene Goupil, was teaching a child how to make the Sign of the Cross. Some of the Mohawks who did not approve of the Christian missionaries saw this, and they martyred him with a hatchet.

Another day, in August of 1642, Isaac Jogues was captured in Ossernenon (now called Auriesville, NY). There, he was ritually tortured and had his two index fingers cut off in the process. This was a very intentional act on the part of his tormenters, since a priest was required to have his two index fingers and two thumbs in order to celebrate Mass. After the dismemberment, Fr. Jogues had to leave America and return to Europe to ask permission to celebrate Mass even with mutilated hands. Pope Urban VIII granted him this dispensation.

At this point, most people would have given up. Most people would not have returned to the New World. Most people would have been happy just to have returned to their homeland and the comparatively comfortable life of Renaissance France. Amazingly, Fr. Jogues wanted to return to the missions to continue his work. He did, in fact, return, and months later, on October 18th, he was killed with a tomahawk. The next day, October 19th, another of his companions, Bro. Jean de LaLande was also martyred.

HOSE JESUIT MISSIONARIES gave so much—including their very lives—to bring the native peoples of our country to faith. The great pioneer of the Jesuit missionaries was a priest named John de Brébeuf. Once, after anointing a dying Indian child, he said: “For this one single occasion I would travel all the way from France; I would cross the great ocean to win one little soul for Our Lord.” Their efforts bore much fruit. We have them to thank for St. Kateri Tekakwitha and for paving the way so that we might also have faith and the freedom to practice it.

Since the time of those missionaries, the United States has brought up thousands more missionaries and sent them all across the world. There is a strange reality, though, in which our country is again, in many ways, mission territory. So many people in our cities and in our countryside do not know their catechism or their basic prayers. So many have strayed from the practice of the faith that they were once taught. More & more priests & sisters are coming here from Africa & Asia—areas to which we once sent American missionaries.

We need a revitalized missionary spirit—in our world, in our country, in our dioceses, in our neighborhoods. We need a renewed and re-energized spirit of evangelization and zeal for souls.

St. John de Brébeuf wrote a beautiful prayer in one of his diaries:

My God, it grieves me greatly that You are not known, that in this savage wilderness all have not been converted to You, that sin has not been driven from it. My God, even if all the brutal tortures which prisoners in this region must endure should fall on me, I offer myself most willingly to them and I alone shall suffer them all.

Is the same missionary spirit that was in the hearts of those Jesuit missionaries of the mid-1600’s alive in you?

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Passing on Tradition, St Isaac Jogues Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“You have thereby removed from the celebration of the Mass all superstitions, all greed for lucre, and all irreverence … removed its celebrations from private homes and profane places to holy and consecrated sanctuaries. You have banished from the temple of the Lord the more effeminate singing and musical compositions.”

— ‘Bishop Racozonus, speaking at the last session of the Council of Trent (1563)’

Recent Posts

  • Hidden Gem: Ascendit Deus (Dalitz)
  • PDF Download • Soprano Descant — “Hail, Holy Queen Enthroned Above”
  • “Dom Jausions had a skilled hand. His transcriptions are masterpieces of neatness & precision.”
  • Pope Leo XIV pays tribute to Palestrina
  • PDF Download • Palestrina’s “Ave Maria”

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up