Letter Of Father Jacques Bigot Summary

The Letter of Father Jacques Bigot, respecting the mission of the Abnaquis at St. Missel de Sillery The Letter of Father Jacques Bigot, respecting the mission of the Abnaquis at St. Missel de Sillery (June 24th, 1681) from The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents Vol. LXII was written to relate recent events at the mission to Bigot’s recently departed predecessor Jacques Vaultier. Bigot mentions several positive changes in the seven months after Vaultier’s departure, notably, an increase in the indigenous population at the mission (Bigot mentions in a later passage how one hunter has left the mission to bring members of his family back) a decrease in their intoxication and an increase in their baptism. In support of these claims, he recounts of the baptism of a twenty-five person family: “there was but one woman who had once been slightly intoxicated, and who on that account felt deep regret when she saw her three adult children baptized, without her securing the same happiness.” Furthermore, he tells of a “savage” who goes to great lengths to deter one of his
Additionally, he mentions that these two are not the only members of the community who are regular in their devotion; no less than three prominent members who are “animated in the same