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Sainte Marie among the Hurons

Tay, Canada

Sainte Marie among the Hurons

Sainte-Marie among the Hurons (French: Sainte-Marie-au-pays-des-Hurons) was a French Jesuit settlement in Huronia or Wendake, the land of the Wendat (Huron), near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first European settlement in what is now the province of Ontario. Eight missionari

es from Sainte-Marie were martyred by the Haudenosaunee and were canonized by the Catholic Church in 1930. Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1920. A reconstruction of the mission now operates as a living museum. A nearby historic site, Carhagouha, marks the spot where an earlier Récollet missionary to Wendake, Father Joseph Le Caron, presided in 1615 over the first Catholic mass conducted in present-day Ontario. Another related site of historical interest is Saint-Louis Mission National Historic Site, located in present-day Victoria Harbour, Ontario. It was at Saint-Louis that Jesuit missionaries Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalement were captured when the Wendat village was attacked by the Haudenosaunee on March 16, 1649.

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