{"id":2877,"date":"2026-09-04T15:51:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/?page_id=2877"},"modified":"2026-09-14T04:31:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T04:31:57","slug":"faith-in-action","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/la-foi-en-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith in Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2877\" class=\"elementor elementor-2877\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9376c8c e-con-full eop-page e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"9376c8c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8735d97 e-con-full eop-band eop-band--hero e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"8735d97\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4bb100c elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"4bb100c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"eop-hero eop-hero--photo\" id=\"top\">\n  <div class=\"eop-hero__bg\" style=\"--pos:center 55%;background-image:url(https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/martyrs-shrine-1920.webp)\"><\/div>\n  <div class=\"eop-hero__veil\"><\/div>\n  <svg class=\"eop-hero__cross\" viewBox=\"0 0 100 100\" aria-hidden=\"true\" fill=\"currentColor\"><path d=\"M44 8h12v28h28v12H56v44H44V48H16V36h28z\"\/><path d=\"M22 14h5v6h6v5h-6v6h-5v-6h-6v-5h6zM73 14h5v6h6v5h-6v6h-5v-6h-6v-5h6zM22 69h5v6h6v5h-6v6h-5v-6h-6v-5h6zM73 69h5v6h6v5h-6v6h-5v-6h-6v-5h6z\"\/><\/svg>\n  <div class=\"eop-wrap\">\n    <p class=\"eop-hero__kicker\"><span>Faith<\/span><\/p>\n    <h1 class=\"eop-h1\">Faith in Action<\/h1>\n    <p class=\"eop-hero__tag\">Witness, reflection and the evidence of things unseen<\/p>\n    <span class=\"eop-hero__rule\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span>\n    <p class=\"eop-hero__sub\">Stories and studies gathered by the Lieutenancy &mdash; martyrs of our own soil, a Doctor of the Church who still unsettles us, and the signs that draw even the eye of science toward mystery.<\/p>\n    <nav class=\"eop-hero__nav\" aria-label=\"On this page\">\n      <a href=\"#canadian-martyrs\">The Canadian Martyrs<\/a><i>&middot;<\/i>\n      <a href=\"#st-augustine\">St Augustine<\/a><i>&middot;<\/i>\n      <a href=\"#the-evidence\">The Shroud &amp; the Eucharist<\/a>\n    <\/nav>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fb52c31 e-con-full eop-band e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"fb52c31\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3af48cc elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"3af48cc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"eop-sec\" id=\"canadian-martyrs\">\n  <div class=\"eop-wrap\">\n    <div class=\"eop-sechead\">\n      <p class=\"eop-rubric\"><span>Witness &middot; 26 September<\/span><\/p>\n      <h2 class=\"eop-h2\">The Jesuit Martyrs of North America<\/h2>\n      <p class=\"eop-lead\">Eight men whose blood consecrated the soil of what is now Ontario and upstate New York &mdash; <em>the Canadian Martyrs<\/em>, patrons of Canada, whose shrine stands a short drive north of Barrie.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"eop-article\">\n      <aside class=\"eop-aside\">\n        <div class=\"eop-card\">\n          <img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/N.a.-martyrs.jpg\" alt=\"The eight North American Martyrs\" width=\"476\" height=\"397\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\">\n          <div class=\"eop-card__body\">\n            <p class=\"eop-card__title\">Six priests and two lay brothers<\/p>\n            <ol class=\"eop-roster\">\n              <li><span>Saint Jean de Br&eacute;beuf<\/span><b>1649<\/b><\/li>\n              <li><span>Saint Isaac Jogues<\/span><b>1646<\/b><\/li>\n              <li><span>Saint Ren&eacute; Goupil<\/span><b>1642<\/b><\/li>\n              <li><span>Saint Jean de Lalande<\/span><b>1646<\/b><\/li>\n              <li><span>Saint Antoine Daniel<\/span><b>1648<\/b><\/li>\n              <li><span>Saint No&euml;l Chabanel<\/span><b>1649<\/b><\/li>\n              <li><span>Saint Charles Garnier<\/span><b>1649<\/b><\/li>\n              <li><span>Saint Gabriel Lalemant<\/span><b>1649<\/b><\/li>\n            <\/ol>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/aside>\n      <div class=\"eop-prose\">\n        <p>On September 26, the Church remembers eight men whose blood consecrated the soil of what is now Ontario and upstate New York: Saints Jean de Br&eacute;beuf, Isaac Jogues, Gabriel Lalemant, Antoine Daniel, Charles Garnier, No&euml;l Chabanel, Ren&eacute; Goupil, and Jean de Lalande &mdash; the Canadian Martyrs, as they are known here, or the North American Martyrs more broadly. Six were priests of the Society of Jesus; two, Goupil and Lalande, were laymen serving as <em>donn&eacute;s<\/em>, giving their labour to the mission without vows.<\/p>\n        <h3>The Mission<\/h3>\n        <p>These men arrived in New France between 1625 and 1649, sent to evangelize the Huron-Wendat and other Indigenous nations of the Great Lakes region. It was gruelling, patient work &mdash; learning Wendat and Iroquoian languages, living among communities whose worldview and customs were entirely foreign to them, enduring the brutal winters of a land with no roads, no shelter but bark longhouses, and no guarantee of welcome. Br&eacute;beuf, the towering figure among them, spent nearly two decades in the mission field and became so fluent in Huron life that he composed what may be the first Canadian Christmas carol, the &ldquo;Huron Carol,&rdquo; in the Wendat language.<\/p>\n        <p>Their evangelization coincided with catastrophe. European contact brought smallpox and other epidemics that devastated Huron communities, and some blamed the Black Robes for the plague &mdash; a suspicion that hardened as the Iroquois Confederacy, armed by Dutch traders and locked in a struggle for the fur trade, began systematically destroying Huron villages in the late 1640s.<\/p>\n        <h3>Their Deaths<\/h3>\n        <p>Between 1642 and 1649, the eight died at Iroquois hands under a range of brutal circumstances tied to this wider war. Ren&eacute; Goupil, a former surgeon, was tomahawked in 1642 for making the Sign of the Cross over a child &mdash; the first of the group to die, and arguably the first martyr of Canada. Isaac Jogues survived capture and mutilation, was ransomed by the Dutch, returned to France, and then &mdash; astonishingly &mdash; asked to go back to the missions. He was killed in 1646 at Ossernenon, in present-day New York, along with Jean de Lalande.<\/p>\n        <p>The most harrowing deaths came in 1649, when Iroquois forces overran the Huron mission village of Saint-Ignace. Br&eacute;beuf and his young companion Gabriel Lalemant were captured and subjected to prolonged torture &mdash; ritual mockery of baptism, mock-baptism with boiling water, mutilation &mdash; that both men endured, by every account, with extraordinary composure. Br&eacute;beuf reportedly encouraged the other captives even as he suffered. Antoine Daniel died that same year defending his mission church at Saint-Joseph, shot while giving his people time to flee. Charles Garnier and No&euml;l Chabanel died in the same wave of destruction that scattered the Huron nation and effectively ended the Jesuit mission to the Wendat.<\/p>\n        <blockquote class=\"eop-pull\">Eight men freely chose to remain in mission when withdrawal was possible, believing the Gospel worth the cost, and met death without renouncing that belief.<small>Canonized together by Pius XI, 1930 &middot; Patrons of Canada, 1940<\/small><\/blockquote>\n        <h3>Canonization and Meaning<\/h3>\n        <p>Pope Pius XI canonized all eight together in 1930, naming them patrons of Canada in 1940. Their shrine &mdash; the Martyrs&rsquo; Shrine in Midland, Ontario &mdash; stands near the site of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, close enough to Barrie that it is a natural pilgrimage for anyone in the Diocese, and a living link between the Bulletin&rsquo;s Holy Land coverage of Christian witness under pressure and this continent&rsquo;s own foundational witness.<\/p>\n        <p>It is worth resisting a simplified reading of their story. The modern Church, including in Canadian bishops&rsquo; own statements, has increasingly stressed the need to hold the martyrs&rsquo; heroic charity together with honesty about the colonial context of the mission and its devastating effects on Indigenous communities &mdash; smallpox, cultural disruption, the entanglement of evangelization with European commercial rivalry. The martyrs themselves were not colonizers in the political sense; men like Br&eacute;beuf were noted for defending Huron customs against other Frenchmen&rsquo;s contempt, and for genuine linguistic and cultural immersion rare for the era. But their deaths cannot be lifted out of that larger, painful history without distortion.<\/p>\n        <p>What remains, theologically, is this: eight men freely chose to remain in mission when withdrawal was possible, believing the Gospel worth the cost, and met death without renouncing that belief. Their feast (September 26 in Canada and the United States; October 19 in the wider Roman calendar) falls fittingly in autumn, as the Church&rsquo;s year turns toward remembrance of the dead and the harvest of what has been sown in hard ground.<\/p>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <figure class=\"eop-wide\">\n      <img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/martyrs-shrine-1600.webp\" alt=\"The Martyrs' Shrine, Midland, Ontario\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\">\n      <figcaption>Martyrs&rsquo; Shrine, Midland, Ontario &mdash; near the site of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons<\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-01b9708 e-con-full eop-band e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"01b9708\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e55c99b elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"e55c99b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"eop-sec eop-sec--tint\" id=\"st-augustine\">\n  <div class=\"eop-wrap\">\n    <div class=\"eop-sechead\">\n      <p class=\"eop-rubric\"><span>Reflection<\/span><\/p>\n      <h2 class=\"eop-h2\">Augustine of Hippo: Why He Still Matters<\/h2>\n      <p class=\"eop-lead\">Philosopher, bishop and confessor, Augustine (354&ndash;430) shaped Western Christianity so profoundly that to understand him is to understand why Catholic, Protestant and even secular thought looks the way it does. <em>Sixteen centuries after his death, his questions remain our questions.<\/em><\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"eop-feature\" style=\"margin-bottom:44px\">\n      <div class=\"eop-prose\" style=\"max-width:none\">\n        <p>Our bulletin essay follows four threads that still run through modern life: the <strong>restless heart<\/strong> and the problem of desire; the <strong>Pelagian controversy<\/strong> and whether human effort alone can mend what is broken in us; the <strong>two cities<\/strong> &mdash; the earthly and the heavenly &mdash; and what a Christian owes to political life; and <strong>time, memory and the search for the self<\/strong> in the <em>Confessions<\/em>.<\/p>\n        <p>Augustine refuses the easy options. He will not say that human beings are basically fine and only need better circumstances, nor that the political order can be redeemed into the Kingdom of God, nor that faith is a private transaction sealed off from the body, community and public life. In a cultural moment marked by fragmentation and a hunger for meaning that consumer society cannot satisfy, his questions land with peculiar force.<\/p>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"eop-notice\"><strong>Read the full essay.<\/strong> The four pages below are reproduced from the Lieutenancy&rsquo;s bulletin. Select any page to open it full-size, then move through the pages with the arrows.<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <ul class=\"eop-gallery\" aria-label=\"Augustine of Hippo essay, four pages\">\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/August-caravel-v.715.jpg\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow=\"augustine\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"Augustine of Hippo \u2014 page 1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/August-caravel-v.715.jpg\" alt=\"Augustine of Hippo essay, page one\" width=\"612\" height=\"711\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><span>Page one &middot; The restless heart<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/August-caravel-v.716.jpg\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow=\"augustine\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"Augustine of Hippo \u2014 page 2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/August-caravel-v.716.jpg\" alt=\"Augustine of Hippo essay, page two\" width=\"612\" height=\"711\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><span>Page two &middot; Grace and the two cities<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/August-caravel-v.717.jpg\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow=\"augustine\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"Augustine of Hippo \u2014 page 3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/August-caravel-v.717.jpg\" alt=\"Augustine of Hippo essay, page three\" width=\"612\" height=\"718\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><span>Page three &middot; Time, memory, the self<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/August-caravel-v.718.jpg\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow=\"augustine\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"Augustine of Hippo \u2014 page 4\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/August-caravel-v.718.jpg\" alt=\"Augustine of Hippo essay, page four\" width=\"612\" height=\"696\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><span>Page four &middot; Why Augustine, why now<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2caddb5 e-con-full eop-band e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"2caddb5\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-57ee90d elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"57ee90d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"eop-sec eop-sec--dark\" id=\"the-evidence\">\n  <div class=\"eop-glow\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n  <div class=\"eop-wrap\">\n    <div class=\"eop-sechead\">\n      <p class=\"eop-rubric\"><span>The evidence of things unseen<\/span><\/p>\n      <h2 class=\"eop-h2\">Where Science Meets Mystery<\/h2>\n      <p class=\"eop-lead\">Two presentations the Lieutenancy recommends &mdash; on the cloth that may have wrapped the Lord in the tomb we are named for, and on the miracles that have surrounded the Eucharist across the centuries.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"eop-videos\">\n      <article class=\"eop-video\" id=\"the-shroud\">\n        <div class=\"eop-video__frame\" data-yt=\"mX-sjrtuhYU\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"Play: The Shroud of Turin is real \u2014 all the evidence\">\n          <img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/mX-sjrtuhYU\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\">\n          <span class=\"eop-video__play\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span>\n        <\/div>\n        <p class=\"eop-video__kicker\">The Shroud of Turin &middot; Parousia Media<\/p>\n        <h3 class=\"eop-video__title\">The Shroud of Turin is Real &mdash; All the Evidence<\/h3>\n        <p class=\"eop-video__text\">Fr Robert J. Spitzer walks through the latest scientific findings on the Shroud &mdash; the image, the blood, the pollen and the dating &mdash; and what they suggest about the burial cloth of Christ.<\/p>\n      <\/article>\n      <article class=\"eop-video\" id=\"eucharistic-miracles\">\n        <div class=\"eop-video__frame\" data-yt=\"RHO8L9477aU\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"Play: Every scientifically proven Eucharistic miracle\">\n          <img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/RHO8L9477aU\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\">\n          <span class=\"eop-video__play\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span>\n        <\/div>\n        <p class=\"eop-video__kicker\">Eucharistic Miracles &middot; Truthly<\/p>\n        <h3 class=\"eop-video__title\">Every Scientifically Proven Eucharistic Miracle<\/h3>\n        <p class=\"eop-video__text\">From Lanciano to Buenos Aires: the documented cases in which consecrated Hosts were examined under the microscope, and what the laboratories found.<\/p>\n      <\/article>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<script>(function(){function play(f){if(f.dataset.on)return;f.dataset.on='1';var id=f.getAttribute('data-yt');var i=document.createElement('iframe');i.src='https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/'+id+'?autoplay=1&rel=0&modestbranding=1';i.allow='accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; fullscreen';i.setAttribute('allowfullscreen','');i.title=f.getAttribute('aria-label')||'Video';f.innerHTML='';f.appendChild(i);}\ndocument.querySelectorAll('.eop-video__frame[data-yt]').forEach(function(f){f.addEventListener('click',function(){play(f);});f.addEventListener('keydown',function(e){if(e.key==='Enter'||e.key===' '){e.preventDefault();play(f);}});});})();<\/script>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d8ef39f e-con-full eop-band e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d8ef39f\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fcdc965 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"fcdc965\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"eop-sec eop-close\">\n  <div class=\"eop-wrap\">\n    <p class=\"eop-rubric\" style=\"justify-content:center\"><span style=\"position:relative;padding:0 16px\">Carry it into prayer<\/span><\/p>\n    <h2 class=\"eop-h2\">Faith that acts begins in prayer<\/h2>\n    <p class=\"eop-body\">Light a candle for an intention, keep the feast the Church is celebrating today, or write to us about a story of witness you would like to see here.<\/p>\n    <div class=\"eop-cta\">\n      <a class=\"eop-btn eop-btn--primary\" href=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/light-a-candle\/\">The Prayer Garden<\/a>\n      <a class=\"eop-btn eop-btn--ghost\" href=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/the-feast-of-the-exaltation-of-the-holy-cross\/\">Feast Days of the Order<\/a>\n      <a class=\"eop-btn eop-btn--ghost\" href=\"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/contact-us\/\">Contact Us<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2877","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"campaignId":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2877"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3074,"href":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2877\/revisions\/3074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eohsj.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}