Jacques de Lamberville

Jacques de Lamberville was a Jesuit missionary born in Rouen, France, in 1641. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1661 and taught at several colleges before traveling to New France in 1675. There, he worked primarily among the Iroquois tribes, particularly the Mohawks and Onondagas, until his death around 1710. His most notable convert was Kateri Tekakwitha, an Algonquin captive whose family opposed her conversion. With Lamberville’s assistance, she and other converted Mohawks traveled to the St. Francis Xavier Mission at Sault St. Louis near Montreal.

During Governor Denonville’s campaign against the Seneca in 1687, Lamberville served as chaplain at Fort Cataracoui. His brother Jean also worked among the Iroquois but later returned to France due to poor health. Jacques continued his missionary work, facing challenges due to French and English rivalry for Iroquois alliances, which endangered missionaries’ lives. In 1701, at the request of the Onondagas, he returned to their mission but was forced to leave in 1709 after Abraham Schuyler instigated an attack on the chapel and his residence while he was away.

Lamberville then went to Cayuga but moved to Montreal during the outbreak of war in 1709. There, he managed the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal until his death in 1710. He was praised by Charlevoix as "one of the holiest missionaries of New France."