St. Anthony Daniel

St. Anthony Daniel was born on 27 May 1601 at Dieppe in Normandy, France, and entered the Society of Jesus, arriving in New France in 1633. He gave himself devotedly to the Huron people, at one time helping to conduct a school for native boys at Quebec and laboring for years in the villages of the Huron country, known for his zeal in teaching and baptizing.

On 4 July 1648 the Iroquois fell upon his mission village of Teanaustayé while many of the men were away. Daniel had just finished celebrating Mass, and rather than flee, he hurried among his people, baptizing catechumens and absolving the dying, then went out to meet the attackers to buy time for the others to escape. He was cut down by arrows and gunfire, and his body cast into the burning chapel. Canonized in 1930, he is honored among the North American Martyrs, celebrated on 19 October.