Jacques Frémin (12 March 1628, in

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

– 21 July 1691, in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

) was a French

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary to

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

(Canada).

Life

Frémin entered the Society of Jesus in 1646, and taught for five years at Alençon. He was ordained in 1655 at Moulins. He studied languages and culture to prepare to serve as a missionary. In 1655 he sailed to Canada, where he was assigned to the

Onondaga Onondaga may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League * Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capit ...

mission. The Onondaga were part of the Iroquois Confederacy and located south of Lake Ontario. He devoted the rest of his life to

evangelization Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as persona ...

.Quinn, Stanley. "James Fremin." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 14 January 2018 He made a brief trip to France in 1659, and upon his returned served among the Montagnais near Trois-Rivières.
/ref> At the invitation of a

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chief he set out, in 1666, for Lake Tiohero, near the present Cayuga. He stayed there a short time. The next year he was sent to revive the mission founded by Father Jogues among the

Mohawk Nation The Mohawk, also known by their own name, (), are an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of North America and the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the Five Nations or later the ...

. On his way, he founded the first Catholic settlement in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, on

Isle La Motte Isle La Motte () is an island in Lake Champlain in northwestern Vermont, United States. At 7 mi (11 km) by 2 mi (3 km), it lies close to the place that the lake empties into the Richelieu River. It is incorporated as a New Engl ...

. After settling at Tinnontoguen, the Mohawk capital, he acquired the language and won respect. His chief work seems to have been to attend to the

Huron Huron may refer to: Native American ethnography * Huron people, who have been called Wyandotte, Wyandot, Wendat and Quendat * Huron language, an Iroquoian language * Huron-Wendat Nation, or Huron-Wendat First Nation, or Nation Huronne-Wendat * N ...

captives who were already Christianized. In October 1668, Frémin proceeded to the Seneca Indian country. They were engaged in war with the

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and the

Susquehannock The Susquehannock, also known as the Conestoga, Minquas, and Andaste, were an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian people who lived in the lower Susquehanna River watershed in what is now Pennsylvania. Their name means “people of the muddy river.” T ...

, which prevented his making much progress or many conversions. In August 1669, he left for Onondaga to preside at a general meeting of the missionary priests. Soon he returned to Tinnontoguen to resume his work among the captive Huron. In 1670, he was recalled to La Prairie, the Christian settlement near

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where the converted Indians had been gathered. He improved conditions at the settlement, eliminating the liquor traffic and establishing a regular cycle of prayers. From that time on, with the exception of several voyages to France in the interest of the mission, he devoted himself exclusively to the work of preserving in the Catholic faith those Indians who had been baptized. Fermin died in Quebec 21 July 1691.Corrigan, Michael. "Register of the Clergy Laboring in the Archdiocese of New York", ''Historical Records and Studies'', Vol. 1, United States Catholic Historical Society, 1899 p. 25
/ref> According to J. Monet, "Father Frémin’s intelligence was not great, and his manners lacked refinement, but his courage and good sense were particularly outstanding."

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fremin, Jacques 1628 births 1691 deaths Clergy from Reims 17th-century French Jesuits French Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada Jesuit missionaries in New France