1 Jesuit Mission to Manitoulin 1648-50

The Jesuit Mission of St. Pierre on Manitoulin Island was established in 1648 in order to reach the Algonkian-speaking First Nations of Lake Huron’s north shore. Father Joseph Poncet (1610-75) was the first known European resident of Manitoulin Island – then called Ile de Ste. Marie by the missionaries and Ekaentoton by the Huron (Wendat). It is not known in what part of the island he worked, but it is understood that he journeyed from village to village to meet and convert the Huron to Christianity. As Huron communities across Upper Canada became split between converts to Christianity and those maintaining traditional Huron spiritual beliefs, the Huron of Manitoulin Island were similarly divided. Poncet returned to the Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons mission (Midland) in May 1649 in the midst of ongoing attacks on the Huron by the Iroquois. Weakened by European diseases and internal conflicts over the increasing influence of the Jesuits, the Huron could not withstand the superior weapons of the Iroquois. In June 1649, the Jesuit priests and their followers burned Sainte-Marie and abandoned the site in anticipation of further Iroquois attacks. Poncet returned to Manitoulin in the fall of 1649 to continue the mission, but abandoned it to join the remaining Sainte-Marie priests as they fled by canoe for Quebec in June 1650.

2 record(s) found