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age Father Raffeix also spent his time hearing confessions until he died (Dictionary of
Canadian Biography 2009).
Francois Vaillant De Gueslis
Born: July 20, 1646 Orléans; Died: September 24, 1718 Moulins
François Vaillant de Gueslis entered the Jesuit novitiate on November 10, 1665 in
Paris. He sailed for Quebec in 1670 without finishing his university studies. He began
mission work under the guidance of Father Chaumonot at Lorette from 1675-
1676. Afterwards, de Gueslis went to the Mohawk country to assist Father Jacques de
Lamberville. When war closed the Mohawk missions, de Gueslis appears to have
made a fateful decision. According to the Dictionary of Canadian biography:“he
accompanied Brisay de Denonville on his expedition against the Senecas, and on July
19, 1687, set his hand to the act taking over their country. On 31 December 1687 he
went as an ambassador to Thomas Dongan, the governor of New York, to try to
persuade him to promote peace between the French and the Iroquois” (Dictionary of
Canadian Biography 2010). The sources do not indicate what prompted de Gueslis to
take such actions, nor is it mentioned what consequences his choice of allegiances
may have had, given the pains his Jesuit colleagues in New France took to avoid
association with the French military. During the 1690s de Gueslis remained in
Montreal, functioning as a Superior for a community of men. When the position ended
in 1697, de Gueslis was then sent to a Detroit mission, which only lasted for a few
months due to the hostility he was met with. In 1702, he accompanied Julian Garnier
to Seneca territory. Sources do not indicate what particular Seneca mission de Gueslis
worked at, nor is there any mention of his time in Seneca Territory in the Jesuit
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