The account of the martyrdom of Rene Goupil is given to us by Isaac Jogues
and I am quoting from the account posted in the Ravine at Auresville.
1. "After René and I had been captives in Ossernenon (Auresville) for six weeks (September 1642) we lost all hope of again seeing Three Rivers. We consoled one another at this decree of Divine Providence, and kept preparing ourselves for anything that God might ordain. René evidently did not perceive as clearly as I our present peril. For this reason I keep warning him to be prepared for the worst...."
2. "One evening, with sad hearts, René and I went beyond the village to pray more reverently apart from its noise. Two Indian youths came after us ordering us to go back to our long house. I sensed some foreboding of what would happen and said to René : 'My dear brother, let us commend ourselves to our Lord and to our good Mother, the Blessed Virgin. I am afraid these Indians have some evil design' ...."
3. "A few minutes earlier René and I had offered ourselves to our Lord with intense devotion. We begged God to accept our lives and our blood and to unite them to His life and His blood for the salvation of these tribes. We were returning to the village praying our rosary of which we had already said four decades...."
4. "We paused near the gate of the stockade to hear what the two Iroquois had to say. One of them drew a tomahawk from under his blanket, and dealt René a blow on the head. Rene fell prostrate to the ground, uttering the holy name of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus...."
5. "At the sound of the blow I turned around and beheld the tomahawk dripping with blood. I fell to my Knees to receive the blow that would unite me with my deer companion. The Iroquois delayed. I rose again and rushed to René's side as he lay expiring but not before I had given him absolution...."
6. "It was the feast of St. Michael, September 29th, 1642, that his angel in innocence and martyr of Jesus Christ, René Goupil, gave his life for Christ Who had offered His life on the cross for him. The Indians ordered me to go back to my long house. There I awaited that day and the next the same deadly tomahawk. Everyone believed that I would not have to wait long. But our Lord averted this...."
7. "Early the next morning I eagerly inquired where the Indians had thrown the blessed body. I wanted to bury it, cost what it might. Some Iroquois who wanted to save my life said: 'Do you not see those young braves leaving the village? They will kill you once you are beyond the palisade.' This did not stop me. I went out. I searched. With the help of an Algonquin captive Indian, I found the body of René...."
8." After René had been killed, the Indian children stripped him. They tied a rope around his neck and dragged him to a torrent which flows through the ravine beyond the village. The dogs had already gnawed at his thighs. At this sight I could not hold back my tears. I lifted up the body and with the Algonquin Indian's help lowered it into the stream. I weighted it down with large stones to hide it from view. I intended to bury René the next day...."
9. "I waded into the torrent already quite cold. I plodded back and forth. I sounded with my feet to see whether the torrent had not risen and carried off the body. What groans did I utter then! I found nothing. How many tears I shed which fell into the torrent! I sang as best I could the psalms which the Church chants for the dead. After all I found nothing. I searched the woods on the opposite bank. All, all in vain...."
10. "The young braves had taken the body up and dragged it to an adjoining wood, where during the fall and winter it became food of the dog, the crow and the fox. When I had been told in the spring that the body had been dragged there, I went several times without finding it. Finally on the fourth trip I found René's head and some half gnawed bones. These I buried. Reverently did I kiss them as bones of a martyr of Jesus Christ...."
Isaac Jogues escapes