In 1697 - The Life of a Montagnais Missionary, François de Crespieul, a French Jesuit missionary, documented his years of labor and devotion among the Montagnais (Innu) people in the unforgiving wilderness of New France. This account, written in the twilight of his life, is more than just a personal reflection on his missionary work; it stands as a testament to the broader clash of cultures that defined the early history of Canada. De Crespieul’s work reflects the complex interplay between the spiritual, cultural, and social worlds of the French colonizers and the Indigenous peoples, specifically the Montagnais, a nomadic Algonquian-speaking group who inhabited the northeastern regions of present-day Quebec and Labrador.
De Crespieul’s writings provide an invaluable window into the Jesuit mission to "save" Indigenous souls through Christian conversion while attempting to impose European cultural norms on peoples who had long established ways of life. His reflections illustrate the challenges and moral dilemmas faced by missionaries in the New World—men of deep faith, yet bound by their Eurocentric worldviews, who sought to reconcile the Christianization of Indigenous populations with the need to understand, or at least tolerate, deeply entrenched cultural practices that were alien to them. While the Life of a Montagnais Missionary chronicles de Crespieul’s work in spreading the gospel, it also exposes the missionary zeal that sometimes blinded these men to the profound disruptions they were causing to the social fabric of Indigenous life.
De Crespieul arrived in New France in 1670, part of the Jesuit mission aimed at converting the Indigenous peoples of North America. From the outset, he was thrust into a world that was both bewildering and hostile to the European mind—vast forests, extreme winters, and a people whose lives were intimately connected to the land, who were accustomed to hardship and had evolved their own systems of governance, spirituality, and social organization over millennia. The Montagnais, with whom de Crespieul primarily worked, lived a semi-nomadic existence, following the seasonal migration of animals and resources. They had their own spiritual beliefs, tied to the natural world and the spirits that inhabited it. For de Crespieul, their animistic traditions were not merely alien, but fundamentally wrong, a barrier to salvation that needed to be dismantled through the teachings of Christianity.
Throughout the document, de Crespieul writes of his tireless efforts to introduce the Montagnais to Catholicism, particularly focusing on the importance of baptism and salvation. He recounts the long, often grueling journeys he took to reach scattered bands of Montagnais, his efforts to learn their language, and his determination to offer them spiritual guidance in the face of their resistance and skepticism. His descriptions of these journeys—carried out in canoes along dangerous river routes or through deep snow—underscore the physical hardship of the missionary life, yet his writings are suffused with a sense of divine mission. For de Crespieul, every baptism represented not only a personal victory for the missionary but also a triumph for God in the wilderness of the New World.
However, de Crespieul’s memoir also reveals the inherent contradictions in the Jesuit approach to missionary work. While the Jesuits, including de Crespieul, sought to convert the Montagnais to Christianity, they were forced to adapt their methods to the realities of Indigenous life. Unlike the sedentary agricultural societies of Europe, the Montagnais were constantly on the move, and their social structure was not conducive to the establishment of permanent missions or churches. De Crespieul and his fellow missionaries had to become itinerants themselves, following the Montagnais on their seasonal migrations and often living in conditions that tested their own physical endurance. While the missionaries’ goal was to create stable Christian communities, the nomadic lifestyle of the Montagnais made this impossible, and de Crespieul was often frustrated by his inability to fully impose European norms of settlement and church life on the Indigenous population.
De Crespieul’s account also speaks to the broader question of the cultural disruption caused by the arrival of Europeans in North America. The Jesuit mission was not merely about spiritual conversion; it was part of a larger project of colonization and cultural transformation. The imposition of Christianity often went hand in hand with the imposition of European social norms, including patriarchal structures, private property, and sedentary agriculture. The Montagnais, like many other Indigenous peoples, found themselves caught between two worlds—their own traditional ways of life and the demands of the European settlers who were encroaching on their lands and trying to reshape their society. De Crespieul, despite his genuine concern for the souls of the Montagnais, was also an agent of this broader process of colonialism, which sought to replace Indigenous ways of life with European ones.
One of the most striking aspects of The Life of a Montagnais Missionary is the tension between de Crespieul’s admiration for the Montagnais and his deep conviction that their way of life needed to be fundamentally changed. He often expresses a respect for their resilience, their knowledge of the land, and their ability to survive in harsh conditions that would have been unthinkable for most Europeans. Yet, at the same time, he viewed their spiritual beliefs and cultural practices as barriers to their salvation. The Jesuits’ commitment to conversion was often at odds with the need to understand and respect the cultural autonomy of the people they were trying to convert. This tension is a recurring theme in de Crespieul’s writings, as he struggles to reconcile his admiration for the Montagnais with his belief that their culture was inferior to that of Christian Europe.
The Life of a Montagnais Missionary also sheds light on the role of Indigenous women in the Jesuit mission. De Crespieul, like other Jesuits, was deeply concerned with converting Indigenous women, whom he saw as the key to the future of the faith among the Montagnais. He believed that if women were converted, they would raise their children in the Christian faith, thereby ensuring the long-term survival of Catholicism in the region. However, Indigenous women often had significant spiritual and social authority within their communities, and their conversion was not easily achieved. The Jesuits’ efforts to impose European gender roles on Indigenous women, who traditionally held powerful positions in many Indigenous societies, often met with resistance. De Crespieul’s writings reveal the challenges the Jesuits faced in trying to reshape Indigenous family life and gender relations to fit their own Christian ideals.
The broader implications of de Crespieul’s missionary work are profound for the history of Canada. His efforts to convert the Montagnais were part of the larger Jesuit mission that spanned much of New France and beyond. The Jesuits played a crucial role in the French colonization of North America, serving not only as spiritual leaders but also as cultural intermediaries between the French and Indigenous peoples. Their missionary work was often intertwined with France’s broader imperial ambitions, as the Jesuits sought to create Christian, French-speaking communities that would support the colonial enterprise. De Crespieul’s account highlights the ways in which religion, culture, and colonialism were inextricably linked in the history of New France.
The legacy of de Crespieul’s missionary work, and of the broader Jesuit mission, is complex. While the Jesuits succeeded in converting some Indigenous people to Christianity, their efforts also contributed to the erosion of Indigenous cultures and ways of life. The imposition of Christianity often came at a high cost, as Indigenous spiritual traditions were marginalized or suppressed. The Jesuits, despite their best intentions, were part of the larger process of European colonization that would eventually lead to the displacement and marginalization of Indigenous peoples across North America.
In the context of Canadian history, The Life of a Montagnais Missionary serves as an important document for understanding the early interactions between French settlers and Indigenous peoples. It provides valuable insight into the mindset of the Jesuit missionaries and their role in shaping the early history of Canada. The document also highlights the resilience of the Montagnais and other Indigenous peoples, who, despite the pressures of colonization, maintained their cultural practices and adapted to the changing realities of life in New France. The story of de Crespieul’s missionary work is a reminder of the complexity of Canada’s colonial history, where religious, cultural, and political forces intersected in ways that continue to shape the nation’s identity today.
In conclusion, François de Crespieul’s The Life of a Montagnais Missionary is a critical historical document that offers deep insights into the Jesuit mission in New France, the cultural interactions between French settlers and Indigenous peoples, and the broader processes of colonization in early Canada. De Crespieul’s writings reflect both the dedication of the missionaries and the challenges they faced in attempting to convert and reshape the lives of the Montagnais. His account is not just a personal reflection on a life spent in the service of the Church, but a window into the broader forces of cultural transformation and resistance that defined Canada’s early colonial history.
Presented to his Successors in the Montagnais Mission for Their Instruction and Greater Consolation by Father François de Crespieul, Jesuit, and an Unprofitable servant of the Missions of Canada from 1671 to 1697, which completes the 26th wintering in the Service of the Tadoussac Mission, and the 4th at the Mission of St. Xavier at Chicoutimi April 21, 1697.
The life of a Montagnais missionary is a long and slow martyrdom:
Is an almost continual practice of patience and of mortification:
Is a truly penitential and humiliating life, especially in the cabins, and on journeys with the savages.
1. The cabin is made of poles and birch-bark; and fir-branches are placed around it to cover the snow and the frozen ground. 2. During nearly all the day, the missionary remains in a sitting or kneeling position, eased to an almost continual smoke during the winter. 3. Sometimes he perspires in the day-time and most frequently is cold during the night. He sleeps in his clothes upon the frozen ground, and sometimes on the snow covered with fir-branches, which are very hard. 4. He eats From an ouragan (dish) that is very seldom cleaned or washed, and in most cases is wiped with a greasy piece of skin, or is licked by the dogs. He eats when there is anything to eat, and when some is offered to him. Sometimes the meat is only half-cooked; sometimes it is very tough, especially when smoked (dried in the smoke). As a rule, they have a good meal only once - or, when provisions are abundant twice; but it does not last long. 5. The savage shoes, or the dogs' hairy skins, serve him as napkins, as the hair of the savage men and women serves them. 6. His usual beverage is water from the streams or from some pond - sometimes melted snow, in an ouragan that is usually quite greasy. 7. He often scorches his clothes, or his blanket, or his stockings during the night - especially when the cabin is small or narrow. He cannot stretch himself, but he curls himself up, and his head rests upon the snow covered with fir-branches; this chills his brain, and gives him toothache, etc. 8. He always sleek with his clothes on, and takes off his cassock and his stockings only to protect himself against vermin, which always swarm on the savages, especially the children. 9. Usually when he wakes he finds himself surrounded by dogs. I have sometimes had 6, 8, or 10 around me. 10. The smoke is sometimes so strong that it makes his eyes weep; and when he sleeps he feels as if some one had thrown salt into his eyes; when he awakes, he has much difficulty in opening them. 11. When the snow thaws, while he is walking upon lakes or long rivers, he is so dazzled for 4 or 5 days by the water that drops continually from his eyes that he cannot read his breviary. Sometimes he has to be, led by the hand. This has happened to Father Silvy, to Father Dalmas, and to myself; while on the march I could not see further than the edge of my snowshoes. 12. He is often annoyed by little children, by their cries, their weeping, etc.; and sometimes he is made ill by the stench of those who have scrofula, with whom he even drinks out of the same kettle. I have spent more than 8 days in the cabin of Kawitaskawat, the chief man among the Mystassins, and have slept near his son, who was troubled with that disease; and the stench from him often caused me nausea, both by day and night. I have also eaten and drunk from his ouragan. 13. He is sometimes reduced to drinking only water obtained from melted snow, which smells of smoke and is very dirty. For 9 weeks I have drunk nothing else, while 1 was with strangers in the region of Peokwagamy. I have never seen savages dirtier than these, as regards eating, drinking and sleeping. Among them the meat was often covered with moose-hairs or sand. An old woman, with her long nails, gathered up handfuls of grease in the kettle into which snow had been thrown, and then offered it to us to eat, in a very dirty ouragan: and all drank broth out of the same kettle. 14. In the summer-time, while travelling, especially on the Saguenay and on the great River, he often drinks the very dirty water obtained from ponds. During 9 days, while detained by contrary winds, we drank no other water. Sometimes the wind compels him to take refuge in places where there is none at all. This has happened to me more than once - indeed, more than 9 times. I have been obliged to drink from ponds in which I saw toads, etc. 15. In most cases during the winter, while on long and difficult journeys, he does not find a drop of water wherewith to quench his thirst, although exhausted with toils and fatigues. 16. He suffers greatly from cold and from smoke, before the cabin is finished, for 2 or 9 hours when the weather is very severe in winter. His shirt, which is wet with perspiration, and his soaked stockings, render him benumbed with cold; he suffers also from hunger, because in most cases he has had nothing but a piece of dried meat, eaten before the camp was struck. 17. Suffering and hardship are the appendages of these holy but arduous missions. Faxit Deus ut iis diu immoretur et immoriatur Servus Inutilis Missionum Franciscus, S.J. (God grant that in them may long remain and die the Useless servant of the missions, François, S.J.). ***Cite Article : www.canadahistory.com/sections/documents
Source: The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, ed. R.G. Thwaits, Secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; or The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1954), edited by Edna Kenton.