JESUITS IN ENGLISH CANADA

JESUITS IN ENGLISH CANADA
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
43 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2C3 Tel. (416) 962‐4500 x225
Website: www.jesuits.ca Fax: (416) 962‐4501
communications@jesuits.ca
BACKGROUNDER: JESUITS IN CANADA
In 1540, Paul III approved the Institute of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, was elected General Superior of the Jesuits and
served in that post until his death in 1556. He wrote the Spiritual Exercises, extended prayer and
meditation, which were based on his own spiritual experiences.
The Jesuits are an order of priests and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church, who have worked
in Canada for about 400 years. They have responsibility for the direction of schools, colleges,
parishes, retreat houses and social justice ministries that span the country. Around the world,
the English and French Canada Jesuit Provinces serve people in Haiti, India, Jamaica, Nepal,
Rome, Tibet, Uganda, and Zambia. There are currently more than 300 Jesuits in the English and
French Canada Provinces.
The first Jesuits to arrive in present‐day Canada were the French Jesuit Fathers Pierre Biard, SJ
and Ennemond Massé, SJ, at Port Royal, Nova Scotia on May 22, 1611.
In 1634, at the settlement in Quebec the Jesuits established Notre‐Dame‐de‐Québec, the first
parish in Canada.
Often called “the Blackrobes” (because of their robes or cassocks), the early Jesuits reached out
to the Indigenous peoples, first to the Mi’kmaq on the Atlantic Coast and then, to the various
nations along the St. Lawrence, into the Great Lakes, onto the Prairies and eventually down the
Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Most famously, in Wendake, which Champlain called Huronia, the Jesuits established a mission
post they called Sainte‐Marie among the Hurons. It was meant to be a model of Christian
community, an inspiring “home of peace.” Tragically, however, they became caught up in the
tribal warfare that eventually destroyed the mission.
In 1639, the Jesuits, along with French workers, began construction of Sainte‐Marie, a fenced
community that included barracks, a church, workshops, residences, and a sheltered area for
Native visitors. Sainte‐Marie's brief history ended in 1649, when members of the mission
community were forced to abandon and burn their home of nearly 10 years. After extensive
archaeological and historical research, Sainte‐Marie among the Hurons is now recreated on its
original site in Midland, Ontario.
St. Jean de Brébeuf and his companions in Huronia appreciated the Natives’ rich culture. Brébeuf
once wrote: “I have never met anyone of those who have come to this area, who does not
frankly admit that the native people are quicker of mind than our ordinary country people.”
Among his pastoral work with the natives, Brébeuf wrote a dictionary of the Huron language and
Canada’s first Christmas carol ‐ “The Huron Carol,” or “Jesous Ahatonhia” ‐ in the native
language of the Huron/Wendat people.

Across the highway from Saint‐Marie is Martyrs’ Shrine which honours the eight Jesuit saints
who worked among the Native people; St. Jean de Brebeuf, St. Gabriel Lalement, St. Isaac
Jogues, St. Rene Goupil, St. Jean de Lalande, St. Antoine Daniel, and St. Noel Chabanel.
The Jesuit Saints are the first saints from the northern New World to have been canonized.
Often referred to as the “Canadian Martyrs,” they were put to death for their faith between
1642 and 1649.
The early Jesuits to Canada established celebrated educational institutions much like they had
already done in Europe. For example, they founded the Collège‐des‐ Jésuites, today Université
Laval.
The Ratio Studiorum (the Jesuit Plan and Method of Studies) eventually became the model for 12
Jesuit colleges and 15 Jesuit high‐schools spread across Canada from St. John’s to Edmonton.
For more on the relationship of the Jesuits and Blessed Kateri, see Kateri Backgrounder.