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Matthew Prenter

Professor May

HIST 101

October 11th, 2023

Primary Source Analysis: The Jesuit Relations

The Jesuit Relations are a series of chronicles coming from the 17th century French

settlers coming to the Americas. These chronicles were written and published on a yearly basis

for the European populations consumption, and report on the work of the Jesuit missionary

groups coming from France to the Americas and provide an interesting scope on the work of the

Jesuit and settler groups, the climate of North America pre-colonization, cultural and social

dynamics within and towards Indigenous groups, and the relations built between the Indigenous

groups and the missionaries. Analyzing these chronicles can help to reinforce and build upon our

understanding of the frameworks and systems that date back centuries that grew into the

colonizer societies of the North Americas that we reside in. These chronicles also provide an

articulate scope into the way propaganda was used on the European population to incentivize

some of the atrocious acts committed by missionary and settler groups in pursuit of claiming new

territory.

This chapter of the Jesuit Relations has a very concise focus in its writing, that being a

narrow focus on the aspect of religion, more specifically christianity, and the advent of spreading

the faith to the Indigenous groups of what is now Quebec. As such, this reading provided little

additional understanding about the geography of the nation in its infancy, apart from the
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knowledge that the town of Sillery can be dated back to the time of the article, among other

aspects of Canada pre-colonization that could be found important or even crucial to a historian

building a detailed overview of Canada from that century. An apparent fact given up by the

reading is that it came from a time where religion was seen as an incredibly important facet of

societal living, to an extent far greater than we have seen in recent history. Though historians

understand the importance of religion over the course of history, seeing its prevalence, and

relevance in a piece like this can be found as a crucial stepping stone to completing a history of

religious relevancy over the course of the modern human era, among other more nuanced aspects

of religious dynamics in society, and could help to provide an understanding for the decline in

religious observation that we have begun to experience in recent decades. Though, this could be

interpreted as a double-edged sword, as the article is written from the perspective of an intensely

religious group, who may leave out or embellish certain facts within their writings due to their

apparent bias.

The chapter being analyzed is a very clear case of propaganda. The Jesuit missionaries

who wrote the chronicles are pushing a clear and specific agenda, that being that the Indigenous

groups are a seemingly inferior group to those of the Jesuits, and they experience that inferiority

due to a lack of faith in christianity. The Jesuit Relations were created by the missionary groups

yearly to be sent back to their homeland and printed for the masses of the French residing in

Paris. The Jesuits were embarking on long voyages to the Americas, which was a new and

emerging prospect within the European continent, and as such the European populations who

were the target consumers of the chronicles may have met the work of the Jesuits with

skepticism. As such the Jesuits detail their work in almost fantastical detail, portraying the
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Indigenous peoples as lesser and providing the idea that they are a sinful group, devoid of faith

and in need of saving. The Jesuits write of single indigenous peoples in times of struggle being

overwhelmed by the presence of a christian god and engaging in a quick and dedicated devotion

to worshiping the christian god. There is a very black and white narrative baked into the texts of

a group of good guys, and a group of bad guys. The chapter also fails to elaborate upon why the

Indigenous peoples are seen as such savage and inferior groups, it is not provided what there life

is like within their villages and groups other than accounts taken by baptized indigenous peoples

who converted to the christian faith, and even then little detail is given other than temptation and

sin being abound within their villages. At the time of the writings, little was known to the

European population about the indigenous peoples of the Americas and as such the Jesuits are

very obviously seen writing their own narrative on them for the European peoples to digest. The

writings also fail to give any praise, or cut any slack for the Indigenous people, there is no talk of

their societal structures, their knowledge, their technology, their faith, among many other aspects

of their society and their ingenuity. Doing so actively de-personalizes the entire group of people

and actively neglects their crucial role in the societal dynamics emerging from that area of the

Americas during that time. Even more importantly, it creates an incomplete account of what was

truly going on at the time and makes the writings less reliable, and far less important when

fleshing out a historical understanding of the period.

The language used within the texts is a strong reinforcement of its inherent bias. Within

the chapter the Jesuits fail to flesh out an understanding of who the Indigenous are, and use

cherry picking language to justify their means. The only Indigenous names that appear in the

texts are of those who brought themselves to the Jesuits for conversion to the christian faith, we
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hear the names of Atarohiat, who receives the French-Christian name of Joseph, or of

Saouaretchi, who receives the name Ignace. While the Jesuits provide accounts of these

Indigenous names, they leave out the names of the groups these men are coming from, the names

of their nations, their elders and chiefs, or any other pertinent information to flesh out their

character or their background, instead they are vaguely categorized as “Huron”, “Algonquian”,

and “Hiroquas”. This language allows the Jesuits to paint them in the light they are presented as,

as they appear sheepish and lost when they present themselves to the Jesuit fathers. The language

they use on the few named Indigenous men is almost infantilizing at times, thinking very lowly

of them and being impressed by simple feats, such as their ability to learn prayer and commit

themselves, and portraying them as eager to abandon their country and to become immersed

within the Jesuit lifestyle as a result of its superiority over the Indigenous way of life. On

multiple occasions within the text the converted Indigenous men are shown denouncing their

nations, speaking down upon them because of their inability to adhere to the Jesuit metrics and

standards of societal living. This language serves the overarching purpose of the texts to

incentivise the conversion of the Indigenous peoples of what is now French Canada. This

language was not used by mistake, though, as the French were using these missionary voyages

for the development of the French nation, and what is lost in these texts is the aggressive truth of

these times, the Jesuits were not a group that peacefully created their communes and settlements.

Throughout the period of missionary settlements, French-Canada was wrought with war and

turmoil between the Jesuit and the Indigenous nations, over land, trade, resource, and religion.

The Jesuit Relations are a fascinating series of texts that are indescribably rich with

historical significance, though with further analysis and a critical scope we can see that that lens
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does not enrich our understanding of what was necessarily going on in the climate of

Indigenous-Jesuit relations, nor the social climate of the Indigenous inhabitants of the Americas,

but rather it gives historians and readers alike an understanding of the way the western world was

developing and how they viewed the prospect of a colonized America. The deceptive language,

and the underlying context found within the texts shows a much larger picture of Europe

increasing fascination with America, its desire for its resources, and ultimately the power

bestowed upon the nation that controls it. What the Jesuit Relations provides is a rich

understanding of the politics of the western empire and the history of propaganda and its uses

throughout time.

References:

“The Arrival of the Europeans: 17th Century Wars.” Canada.ca, April 19, 2018.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-he

ritage/popular-books/aboriginal-people-canadian-military/arrival-europeans-17th-century-

wars.html.

Veniere, Samuel. “The Jesuit Relations.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, February 7, 2006.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jesuit-relations.

Vimont, Barthélemy. “Of the Hurons who Wintered at Quebec and Sillery.” Chapter VII

in The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit

Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791. Vol. XXIV. Lower Canada and Iroquois: 1642-

1643. Edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers, 1898. 102-21.