St. Isaac Jogues and the Domine

Our neighbor's faith

These days, it would be "politically correct" to portray our colonial era as the ruthless invasion of this continent by the white man to deprive the Indians of their native land.

More historically accurate would be to describe the epoch as the clash of two incompatible cultures that were incapable of understanding each other. A striking example of this is the tragic tale of St. Isaac Jogues in the mid-1600s.

This gentle Jesuit priest from France was called to bring Christ to the Indians but became frustrated by the inability of many of them to respond to his Christian revelations. They regarded this stranger in their midst with suspicion, blaming him for whatever mishaps befell their tribe. After only limited success in his mission of several years among the Hurons, Jogues found himself a captive of the Mohawks, being subjected to hideous tortures in anticipation of his execution.

A comparable distortion of history would be to characterize the immediate post-Reformation era as a period of universal religious strife, with Protestants pitted against Catholics in bitter conflict similar to the enmity that has poisoned Northern Ireland.

Had that been the true picture, it would indeed be an extraordinary anomaly for the first Protestant preacher sent by the Dutch to Albany, Domine Johannis Megapolensis, to have risked both his own life and the safety of his family by intervening to provide Isaac Jogues sanctuary after the good Father managed to escape his Indian captors.

Though the exact details differ in different versions of the story, all accounts agree that it was Megapolensis who stepped in to assure that the life of Jogues was spared until he could be safely dispatched back to France.

Even at this early date, the Dutch were ahead of their time in tolerating religious diversity. Coming from a homeland at the confluence of several of Europe's great rivers, in an era when the Dutch had become rulers of the high seas, the Netherlands were the center for world trade. As such, their major cities experienced a constant flow of travelers from both near and far, creating an extremely cosmopolitan atmosphere in which the populace accepted a wide diversity of language, customs and faith.

It is true that at the Dutch trading post of Fort Orange (now Albany), it was against the law to conduct public religious worship in any form except the Reformed Calvinist faith. However, that rule must be placed in the context of an era in which it was traditional for nations to decree a state religion.

In receiving newcomers, our Dutch Church was prepared to relax its own religious proscriptions in order to extend a warm welcome to those of other faiths. While there may have been an element of condescension in this attitude, the success of the Dutch welcome is proven by the number of non-Dutch who became prominent in both the life of the community and even in the Dutch Church itself. A notable example was the Scottish Livingston family.

There was really nothing extraordinary, therefore, in the Dutch Domine coming to the aid of the Jesuit missionary. Indeed, a half century later, a successor to Megapolensis, Domine Dellius, was effectively banished from the colony by a bigoted English governor who objected to the way this Dutch preacher maintained friendly relations with French missionaries.

It is human nature to seek out the company of those with whose beliefs and traditions we feel most comfortable. It is important to understand, however, that the divisions that have developed in our Christian family had more to do with ecclesiastical politics than with the basic tenets of our common Christian faith.

Thus, the act of the Dutch Domine in coming to the aid of the French Father was nothing more than should be expected of any Christian. St. Jogues' dedication to his calling brought him back a few years later to renew his mission to the Indians. Unfortunately, on that occasion, he was to suffer a martyrdom from which his Dutch friends could not save him.

(Editor's note: Robert S. Alexander is professor emeritus of Albany Medical College, historian of the First Church in Albany and author of "Albany's First Church" and "Religion in Rensselaerswijck." The full story of St. Isaac Jogues and Domine Megapolensis can be found in "Canals & Crossroads.")

(10-16-97)