in missionary work in Acadia and along the St. Lawrence; but in that year Quebec was captured by the English, and Catholic priests were forced to leave. The conquest was not a permanent one and it was restored to France in 1632. Missionary work was thereupon resumed and its prosecution soon fell into the hands of the Jesuits, who entered upon it with heroic zeal and devotion. The missions of New France became exceedingly popular in the parent country. Men of high-born connections entered the Society in the hope that they might be sent to Canada. Nuns and sisters of the Church offered themselves to the work, while the funds to carry it on were freely donated by all classes.
The missionary work of the Jesuits in New France extended from Maine to the Mississippi. The principal fields of labor were among the Abenakis in Maine; the Iroquois in New York; the Hurons in Ontario; the Illinois in the Mississippi valley, and other less important tribes scattered along the way. The zeal and devotion of the missionaries in all their undertakings, and the self-sacrifices they underwent for the sake of the faith, are the bright spots in a story which is one of uniform disaster. There was no faltering amid hardship, no yielding to discouragement, no flinching in the presence of danger; but a complete extinction of all personal considerations and a sublime devotion which looked forward to martyrdom as the most welcome reward of all their labors. Sebastian Rasles, Isaac Jogues, John de Brebeuf, Gabriel Lallemant and others are brilliant names in the Jesuit temple of fame.
In spite of the zeal and herculean toil of the Jesuits in New France, their work did not prosper. Causes beyond their control baffled all their efforts. The Iroquois destroyed the Hurons and the English gained control of the lands of the Iroquois and Abenakis. Traces of the work of the missionaries survived, and many proselytes remained true to their new faith; but the movement as a whole did not realize its expectations.
The same fate overtook the early missionary work farther