French Jesuits were the first missionaries to go to Canada and North America after J. Cartier discovered Canada in 1534. Their mission region extended from Nova Scotia to Maryland. Isaac Jogues, John de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Noel Chabanel, Charles Garnier, Anthony Daniel, Rene Goupil and John de Lalande (the first six Jesuits, the last two laymen) preached the gospel to the Iroquois and Huron Indians, and after being tortured, they were martyred in the area of what is now Auriesville, New York. The martyrdoms took place between 1642 and 1649. Ten years after the martyrdom of St. Isaac Jogues, Kateri Tekakwitha was born in the same village in which he died. These martyrs are co-patrons of Canada.
Peter, surnamed Alcantara after the town of his birth, was eminent among the saints of the sixteenth century for an extraordinary spirit of penance and for attaining the heights of contemplation. He was a great mystic. Born in 1499, at the age of sixteen he entered the Order of Friars Minor. He was an apostle of spiritual reform in his own community and aided St. Teresa in her reform of the Carmelites. God revealed to her that no one would remain unheard who begged in the name of Peter; thereafter she was most eager to have his prayers and honored him as a saint while he was still alive. With great humility Peter shunned all favors from eminent personages, even though they esteemed him as the mouthpiece of God or asked his counsel; for instance, he declined the request to act as confessor to Charles V. Although she was at quite a distance at the time of his death, St. Teresa saw his soul entering heaven. Later he appeared to her and said: "O happy penances which won for me such blessedness!" God created man in His own image, male and female He created them, and He found them very good. He watches over man and knows his every move, his every thought, even before he moves and thinks them. Every hair on his head is numbered. He made man with a free will, a conscience to decide what action to take in order to attain his purpose in life. God desires that such purpose would be life of eternal bliss with Him in His Kingdom. God loves man so much that He came down to earth to redeem mankind from the control of the evil one, brought about by the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve.
The evil one continues to seduce mankind to prefer the flitting joys of earthly fame and fortune over the eternal life in God’s kingdom. He deceives man into believing that the evil which they do to attain His will remain a secret, known only to them. In this way, the evil one successfully kills man and throws him into hell. We must use our free will, our conscience, to choose God’s will for us, over the seduction of the devil. We must remember the reminder of Jesus that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
