Some of you no doubt recognize it even before I give the link, but this is a photo of the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario, dedicated to the memory of the eight Jesuits – Jean de Brébeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Antoine Daniel, Charles Garnier, Noël Chabanel, Isaac Jogues, René Goupil and Jean de Lalande – who first came to the shores of Canada in the mid-17th Century with the intent of converting the Huron Nation to Christianity.  All of them endured incredible hardships.  Most of them also endured unbelievably horrific tortures at the hands of their flock’s enemies.  All of them also met gruesome deaths in and around lonely outposts scattered about the eastern Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, as their mission was reduced – literally – to blood-soaked ashes.  And all of them faced these trials with almost inconceivable bravery, dignity and grace.

I mention this because, after reading about 350 pages of Francis Parkman over the weekend, I dreamed all last night of missionaries, Hurons and endless pursuit by marauding  Iroquois.  Whoa.

By the way, I would point out that Parkman, while making abundantly clear his own “heretical” status and his opinions of the faults of the Church, nonetheless has nothing but genuine praise and admiration for these extraordinary men.