Saint in the Wilderness

The New World was a dangerous and mysterious wilderness when Isaac Jogues and his fellow missionaries arrived in 1636 to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Written in simple but stirring terms, this true story of the intrepid Jesuit's adventures and hardships among the Algonquins, Hurons, and Mohawks is as thrilling as any fiction. Born in Orleans, France, in 1607, Jogues was a gifted teacher and ordained priest who longed to serve as a missionary in New France. Assigned to a mission in southern Ontario, the young priest rejoiced in his difficult and demanding post. The extraordinary tale of his prolonged martyrdom begins with his capture, torture, and year-long imprisonment by a Mohawk tribe. Despite his miraculous escape and return to France, where he met with a hero's welcome, Jogues insisted upon returning to his overseas ministry, where he sacrificed his life for the sake of planting the seed of Christianity in the New World.