The study of handwritten dictionaries on indigenous languages allows us to glimpse the way in which Jesuit missionaries perceived themselves and judged indigenous religious practices in the 17th century.e century. MS 60, a French-Wendat dictionary kept in Quebec, constitutes a very good example. Its pages are full of lessons.
“I study Huron, [ou] I teach myself [comment] the Huron language is done. ɩatrihȣaiensθa d’ȣendat ti eȣendȣten. » This is a phrase that the Jesuit missionaries had to repeat often and for a long time when they began to work among the Wendats at the mission of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (near Quebec), in the last quarter of the 17th century.e century.
For Europeans, learning an indigenous language like Wendat required long years of study and practice with native speakers. In order to support and try to speed up this process, successive generations of missionaries over time created several types of handwritten books: catechisms, prayers, sermons, grammars and dictionaries.
In this last category, we find a French-Huron dictionary today kept at the Musée de la civilization de Québec under the symbol MS 60. The entries in the manuscript are rich in information to better understand the daily life of the mission. Indeed, this manuscript was not intended to be published (and never was); we therefore find certain new details there.
The Catholic religion is obviously frequently mentioned in MS 60. There we find texts in Wendat of a few lines, for example a novena, the announcement of a service for the dead, a prayer entitled “Mary Mother of Jesus protect us keep we who are your adopted children.” Some entries evoke passages from the Gospels, such as the parable of the plowman, Jesus’ crown of thorns, Mary Magdalene who kisses Jesus’ feet or even who recognizes him after his resurrection.
The chapel and masses also occupy an important place in the Jesuit Relations (reports from missions), as in MS 60. Several entries were surely made by one or more Jesuits telling a Wendat that they were going to celebrate mass, or asking him to be an altar server.
Religious discipline
That said, and this is where MS 60 is particularly interesting, the altar servers were still children, who did not always listen to the instructions of the Jesuit priest. According to dictionary entries, a missionary had to remind the young Wendats, to whom he was showing how to serve mass, not to speak when it was not the time, not to look back and not to wander around. around the altar.
Similar criticisms were also made of children entering the chapel: the Jesuits complained that some were distracting them when they ran in the sacred space and therefore asked adults to prevent the young people from disrupting prayers. These entries from MS 60 partly illustrate the lively atmosphere of the masses at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette.
Even if the Jesuit Relations describe the Wendats who came to the chapel regularly and with fervor, the dictionaries show that not everyone came to all the masses. The missionaries thus write entries like “you do not pay attention to the prayer staniesta θo itsonniak d’atrendaent” or “you do not pay attention to the chapel staniesta θo itsonniak onnonchiatoɩeʿti de etsarie ondaon”.
Elsewhere, someone is criticized for being late or not singing during mass. MS 60 also recalls the importance of coming to mass, of not arriving late and of receiving communion… but also of not leaving before the end of the ceremony and not laughing in the chapel.
Finally, still according to the dictionary, the Catholic liturgy was not perfectly mastered or carried out by the indigenous faithful, which again raised criticism from the missionaries: “you do not make the sign of the [croix] te chiaθaʿrâθa v. te chiateʿrâkach” or “you have no state, you despise the sign of Jesus, the sign of [croix] chiakȣaesataʿkȣa d’Jesȣs hoteʿraʿχâchaȣen. (akȣaesataʿkȣi”.
This perception by the Jesuits of a lack of discipline on the part of their flock is not only found in the indigenous missions of New France, but also among the French people on both sides of the Atlantic – a movement for religious reform was taking place. was in fact taking place in France at the time. Thus, both in parishes and in missions, daily life, religious discipline and respect for ecclesial norms did not always (or often?) correspond to the expectations of priests.
In the mission of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, transgressions of expected norms are reported much more in a handwritten educational document like MS 60 than in published texts. There is even an indication that the zeal of the missionaries could be too intense and that residents of Loreto wanted them to be less present in their homes. A Jesuit thus heard (and wrote): “fleas make me want (if they bite the Robe N[oire] [pour] force him to leave the hut) onɩatieʿchandik taohak”.