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induce her to consent more readily that I might speak to her of God, and of the eternal
unhappiness or blessedness of her soul” (JR 58:237).
Baptism, the first of all Catholic sacraments received by a neophyte, was
initially feared when the Jesuits first arrived in Iroquoia (Richter 1985:2). However, in
the Seneca missions, it seems baptism quickly became a “medicine” that many desired
(JR 55:9). This may be credited to Chaumonot’s positive first visit in 1656 with the
Seneca. He adhered to the Seneca social conventions by bestowing gifts on his hosts
and then spoke, afterwards allowing the elders to deliberate (JR 44:21). Many in the
audience were moved by Chaumonot’s words and asked for immediate baptism: “One
was more deeply touched than the others; he would not allow the Father to depart
before he had been instructed and baptized, and had obtained the same happiness for
his wife” (JR 44:21). However, the most notable neophyte included a Seneca chief,
who found himself miraculously cured after his alleged conversion:
Annonkenritaoui, who is the Chief of these peoples, was inclined to surpass all
in fervor, and was one of the first Christians. A canker that was eating away his
thigh compelled him to take to his bed. The Father, although ill himself, went
to see him, and converted him to the Faith. He will, doubtless, be a great prop
to it in his own country, for God seems to have cured him, solely with that
design, of a disease which everyone considered incurable (JR 44:21).
As skeptical as one may be of Annonkenritaoui’s miracle cure, and whether or
not he actually remained a practicing Christian, it appears that this incident provided
some much needed “good publicity” for baptism; the association people made between
baptism and the dying is repeatedly noted throughout the Relations, as the Jesuits
rushed to administer it to sick children and adults alike (Richter 1985:2). In 1674 at La
Conception, Father Raffeix gives us a touching account of mothers desperately
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