Overview

The Jesuit Relations, written by new world jesuit missionaries from 1632 to 1673 back to their Superior in France, have long been a remarkable source of both historical knowledge and spiritual inspiration. They provide rich information about Jesuit piety and missionary initiatives, Ignatian spirituality, the Old World patrons who financed the venture, women's role as collaborators in the Jesuit project, and the early history of contact between Europeans and Native Americans in what was to become the northeastern United States and Canada.The Jesuits approached the task of converting the native peoples, and the formidable obstacles it implied, in a flexible manner. One of their central values was inculturation, the idea of coming in by their door, to quote a favorite saying of Ignatius, via a creative process of syncretism that blended aspects of native belief with aspects of Christian faith, in order to facilitate understanding and acceptance. The Relations thus abound with examples of the Jesuits' thoughtfully trying to make sense of native-and female-difference, rather than eliding it. The complete text of the Jesuit Relations runs to 73 volumes. Catharine Randall has made selections from the Relations, some of which have never before appeared in print in English. These selections are chosen for their informative nature and for how they illustrate central tenets of Ignatian spirituality. Rather than provide close translations from seventeenth-century French that might sound stilted to modern ears, she offers free translations that provide the substance of the Relations in an idiom immediately accessible to twenty-first-century readers of English.An extensive introduction sets out the basic history of the Jesuit missions in New France and provides insight into the Ignatian tradition and how it informs the composition of the Relations. The volume is illustrated with early woodcuts, depicting scenes from Ignatius's life, moments in the history of the Jesuit missions, Jesuitefforts to master the native languages, and general devotional scenes.

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Reviews

Catharine Randall's modern translation of selections from the Jesuit Relations brings to life an exciting chapter of the French exploration and settlement of North America. In their letters home, the intrepid Jesuits write of their relationships with Native peoples, whose traditional beliefs the missionaries struggle to translate into their own Catholic terms. Their letters also illuminate the lives of the courageous nuns who founded hospitals and created schools for the girls of early Quebec, both Native and white. Blackrobes & Buckskin makes accessible to contemporary readers a fascinating chapter of North American history.-Mary Jean Green Black Robes and Buckskin is a valuable introduction to the Jesuit Relations, an extensive collection of documents crucial to understanding Jesuit history, Canadian history, particularly that of French Canada, and Amerindian culture. Catharine Randall offers a judicious selection of these seventeenth century reports to Europe from the New World, and places them in their historical context most effectively, with the background necessary for any study of these important works. This edition is an accessible and important contribution to the fields of early modern history, religious studies, and Native American studies, and will be particularly useful for introducing students to these fields.-Kathleen Long This fascinating book is essential reading for anyone interested in the early modern exploration of French Canada. Black Robes and Buckskin offers a sample of letters, some famous, others never translated, from the Jesuit Relations. These field letters by Jesuit missionaries epitomize inculturation, a two-way process whereby Jesuits taught and learned from the indigenous peoples. Unlike the English, the French cohabited with the native peoples and sought to woo minds and hearts. Catharine Randall's expert translations recapture a world we have forgotten.-Anne Larsen

Catharine Randall's modern translation of selections from the Jesuit Relations brings to life an exciting chapter of the French exploration and settlement of North America. In their letters home, the intrepid Jesuits write of their relationships with Native peoples, whose traditional beliefs the missionaries struggle to translate into their own Catholic terms. Their letters also illuminate the lives of the courageous nuns who founded hospitals and created schools for the girls of early Quebec, both Native and white. Blackrobes & Buckskin makes accessible to contemporary readers a fascinating chapter of North American history.-Mary Jean Green Black Robes and Buckskin is a valuable introduction to the Jesuit Relations, an extensive collection of documents crucial to understanding Jesuit history, Canadian history, particularly that of French Canada, and Amerindian culture.� Catharine Randall offers a judicious selection of these seventeenth century reports to Europe from the New World, and places them in their historical context most effectively, with the background necessary for any study of these important works.� This edition is an accessible and important contribution to the fields of early modern history, religious studies, and Native American studies, and will be particularly useful for introducing students to these fields.-Kathleen Long This fascinating book is essential reading for anyone interested in the early modern exploration of French Canada. Black Robes and Buckskin offers a sample of letters, some famous, others never translated, from the Jesuit Relations. These field letters by Jesuit missionaries epitomize inculturation, a two-way process whereby Jesuits taught and learned from the indigenous peoples. Unlike the English, the French cohabited with the native peoples and sought to woo minds and hearts. Catharine Randall's expert translations recapture a world we have forgotten.-Anne Larsen

Author Information

Catharine Randall, Professor of French at Fordham University, is the author of eight books, the most recent of which are From a Far Country: Camisards and Huguenots in the Atlantic World and Earthly Treasures: Material Culture and Metaphysics in the Heptameron and Evangelical Narrative.

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