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Views from the Choir Loft

Relics of Father Brébeuf Touring the United States!

Jeff Ostrowski · February 29, 2024

ATHER NICHOLAS NELSON kindly alerted me to an article in the National Catholic Register explaining that the holy relics of Saint Jean de Brébeuf are currently touring the United States. As the article puts it: “The skull of Saint Jean de Brébeuf, packed in a Volkswagen manned by three Jesuit priests, is slowly making its way across the USA.” The tour will end in New York City on 6 March 2024. The relics of his fellow missionaries, Saint Gabriel Lalemant (d. 17 March 1649) and Saint Charles Garnier (d. 7 December 1649), travel along with his skull.

25 March • If you open the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal and look on page 921—incidentally, one of the book’s most beautiful pages—you can learn why 25 March is a very special day in the life of Father Brébeuf. In honor of this RELIC VOYAGE I’ve decided to give 25% off my 10-hour seminar (Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster) until 25 March 2024:

*  Seminar • SECRETS OF THE CONSCIENTIOUS CHOIRMASTER

Coupon Code •  Anyone who uses the secret coupon code (“SAVE25”) will instantly save 25% on that seminar until 25 March 2024.

Excerpt from the Life of Saint John Brébeuf:

N THE MORNING of March 20 the Jesuits at Sainte-Marie received full confirmation of the Iroquois retreat. They had heard too of the fate of Brébeuf and Lalemant, and the missionary Father Jacques Bonin was sent with seven armed Frenchmen to Saint Ignace to recover their bodies. The party passed through Saint Louis, where the ground was strewn with uncounted dead Hurons and Iroquois. On to Saint Ignace they continued, where all was gruesome silence and death. Among the ashes of the burned-out cabins charred corpses were scattered, and they came upon the blackened, mutilated body of Brébeuf. The mangled remains of Lalemant they found with the tortured Hurons a short distance away. Tenderly Father Bonin and his companions lifted the two bodies on stretchers of bark and carried them the six miles to Sainte-Marie. They were laid side by side on the floor of the living room. Priests, brothers, donnés, and workmen gazed at them with awe and lovingly examined them. Father Bonin knelt for two hours by the body of Gabriel, who had been his dearest friend, and kissed the wounds as he would the relics of a saint. “They are the relics of the love of God which alone triumphs in the death of martyrs,” exclaimed Father Ragueneau.

The missionaries had learned—from a few Hurons who had escaped the holocaust at Saint Ignace—details of the torture and death of Brébeuf and Lalemant. Confirmation now was before their eyes. The bodies of Brébeuf and Lalemant were cleansed and clothed in priestly vestments and placed in roughhewn boxes. Through the night they reposed before the Blessed Sacrament. “We buried these precious relics,” relates Father Ragueneau, “on Sunday, March 21, with so much consolation and such tender feelings of devotion in all who were present at the obsequies that I know none who did not desire rather than fear a similar death, and who did not regard himself as blessed to live in a place where, perhaps a few days from then, God would accord him the grace of shedding on a similar occasion both his blood and his life. Not one of us could force himself to pray to God for them, as if they had any need of prayer. On the contrary, our spirits were carried up toward Heaven where, we had no doubt, their souls resided. Be this as it may, I pray to God that he fulfill in us His Will, even to death, as He has done toward them.”

Father Jean de Brébeuf was fifty-six when he gave his body to the Iroquois and his soul to God. With heavy heart Father Ragueneau wrote to his superior in France, telling the loss of their ablest missionary. When Brébeuf first set foot in Huronia twenty-three years before, he recalled, there was not a Christian in that extensive territory. Since that day nearly seven thousand had been baptized, and to Brébeuf more than to any other that long line of conversions must be credited.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: February 29, 2024

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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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

[Speaking of those who wish to eliminate Latin from the liturgy.] “One may well wonder what the origin is of this new way of thinking and this sudden dislike for the past; one may well wonder why these things have been fostered.”

— Pope Saint Paul VI (15 August 1966)

Recent Posts

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  • Available! • Free Rehearsal Videos for Agnus Dei “Mille Regretz” after Gombert (d. 1560)

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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.

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