THE JESUIT INFLUENCE Christianity followed close on the heels of exploration of the North American wilderness. The Roman Catholic Church in France was the driving force behind the surge of missionary zeal that dispatched a number of priests to contact and Christianize the Indians. The Jesuits, who ultimately came to dominate the religious life of New France, were the most avid missionaries working amongst the Indians. The fact that the Ojibway at Bawating greeted the Jesuits without hostility did not mean that they accepted the teachings of the "black robes " or that they were prepared to surrender their traditional religions. Ojibway mythology accorded Bawating a sacred significance and the annual gatherings on the shores of the river bore strong religious significance. Several religious groups existed within the confines of the native community. The most intricate of these was the sacred Medewin society, which was based on myth, ritual, and tradition. Another was the Mashkike, a group composed predominately of women. they practiced the art of herbalism. The Walones were a highly elusive group who presided over mystic ceremonies such as night-long feasts, and performed dangerous fire tricks. The final native religious group was the Jessakkids. They were seers with the power to isolate and destroy fire spirits. The Jessakkids, more than any other of the Ojibway religious groups, resisted the teachings of the Jesuit priests. The first Jesuits to travel to the area were Fathers Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbault, who arrived in 1642. The two priests, if not their teachings, were accepted by the Ojibways, and they were invited to live among the Indians at Bawating, an invitation that they declined because of the isolation of the community, according to the Jesuit Relations of 1642: "The captains of this Nation of the Sault invited our Fathers to take up their abode among them. They were given to understand that this was not impossible, provided that they were well disposed to receive our instruction. After having held a council they replied that they greatly desired this great fortune, that they would embrace us as their brothers, and would profit by our words. But we need Labourers for that purpose; we must first try to win the Peoples that are nearest to us, and meanwhile pray to Heaven to hasten the moment of their conversion." Nineteen years elapsed between the departure of Fathers Jogues and Raymbault and the arrival of the next priest, Father Rene Menard. Menard in turn was followed by Father Claude Allouez in 1665. Father Allouez provided an interesting and invaluable description of the Ojibway religion, which was recorded in the Jesuit Relations for that year: "The Savages regard this Lake Superior as a Divinity, and offer its sacrifices whether on account of its size, for its length is two hundred leagues, and its greatest width eighty, or because of its goodness in furnishing fish for the sustenance of all these tribes, in default of game, which is scarce in the neighbourhood, One often finds at the bottom of the water pieces of pure copper ... I have seen such pieces several times in the savages hands; and since they are superstitious, they keep them as so many divinities..." As a result of Father Allouez's reports to the Jesuits superiors in New France, it was decided that a permanent mission should be constructed at the Sault. According to the recollections of Father Mercier, again recorded in the Jesuit Relations, the Sault was selected as the site for the mission because "... it was the place where the natives were first encountered in the upper country and it was the rendezvous of all the natives who composed the great trading fleets which annually went down to Montreal." Father Jacques Marquette was dispatched to the Sault in 1668. As Apostle for the District, his job was to assist Father Claude Dablon in ministering to the spiritual needs of the natives of the Algonkian nation. It was Marquette who was responsible for the construction of the mission. It consisted of a residence for the missionaries as well as several outbuildings. The entire site was surrounded by a 12-foot palisade. The location of the mission on the shores of the St. Mary's River was deemed to be "very advantageous in which to perform apostles functions since it is the greatest resort of most of the Savages of these region . . ." Marquette remained at the Sault until 1669, when he was transferred to La Pointe du Saint Esprit at Chequogemon Bay. He did, however, leave one lasting reminder of his stay: he changed the name of the settlement from Sault du Gaston to Sault de Sainte Marie in honour of the Virgin Mary. Following the departure of Father Marquette, the mission remained operational. When Father Galinee, a Superior missionary, and his travelling companion de Casson undertook a voyage to the upper lakes in 1670, they found the mission to be a thriving hub of activity: "At last we arrived ... at the Sainte-Marie of the Sault, the place where the Jesuit Fathers have made their principal establishment for the mission of the Ottawas and their neighbouring tribes. They have two men in their service since last year, who have built them a pretty fort, that is to say, a square of cedar posts twelve feet high, with a chapel and house inside the fort so that they now see themselves in the condition of not being dependent in any way on the Indians. They have a large clearing well planted, from which they ought to gather a good part of their sustenance ... The fruit these fathers are producing here is more for the French who are often here to the number of twenty or twenty-five than for the Indians; for although there are some who are baptized, there are none yet that are good enough Catholics to be able to attend divine service ... I saw no particular sign of Christianity amongst the Indians of this place . . ." Until 1671 no formal claim to the land surrounding Sault Ste. Marie had been made. Then, on June 4 of that year, the French asserted title at a colourful pageant. Simon-Francois Daumont, Sieur de St. Lusson, took possession of all of North America west of Montreal in the name of King Louis XIV of France. St. Lusson had been sent out in 1670 to find the copper mines in the Lake Superior region and to locate, if possible, the still-sought Northwest Passage. This action was taken by the French in retaliation against British expansion and fur trade activity in the area surrounding Hudson Bay. At a pageant at Sault de Ste. Marie, St. Lusson " caused the greatest portion possible of the other neighbouring tribes to be assembled there, who attended to the number of fourteen nations ..." Through his interpreter, Nicolas Perrot, St. Lusson informed the natives of the new sovereignty of all the territory, both discovered and as yet unexplored. After informing the Indians of his intentions, St. Lusson erected ". . . a cross ... in order that the fruits of Christianity be produced there, and near it a cedar pole to which he later affixed the arms of France . . . " Father Claude DabIon, who witnessed the pageant as a representative of the Roman Catholic Church, reported that the declarations of St. Lusson were accepted by the natives "... with the delight and astonishment of all these people who had never seen anything of this kind." Although the cross and the pole were soon uprooted by the Ojibway, they were unable in any way to alter the far-ranging implications of the pageant. In effect it marked the introduction of explorations that saw the French expand north to James Bay, west to the Rocky Mountains, and south to the Gulf of Mexico. The Pageant of St. Lusson provided the impetus for the development of the mission at Sault de Ste. Marie. In a letter dated October 1683, the Superior of the Jesuit Missions described the work being done at this northern locale. The Superior, like many of his contemporaries, noted that the Indian tribes used the settlement as a meeting place: "We have houses with chapels at Sault de Ste. Marie ... wherein we perform with entire freedom all the exercises of Religion ... Father Charles Albiane ... has now entire charge of the entire mission at the Sault. There he works for the Instruction not only of the Saulteurs, but also of the Crees and of many savages who dwell to the North of Lake Superior, and who come to Sault Ste. Marie. " The small mission at the Sault was plagued by disaster. In 1671 the original mission was burned to the ground. A second mission was constructed in 1674 but it, too, was doomed. It was destroyed in the course of an Indian war that took the lives of 230 people. The mission was reconstructed once more, but by 1689 the Iroquois had advanced as far northward as Sault Ste. Marie, which threatened its existence still another time. The ensuing wars between the Ojibway and the Iroquois led to the closure of the mission and to a temporary cessation of attempts to explore and Christianize the area. As a consequence, the European factor, passed from the local scene. When European movement in the area resumed, the focus had changed; although the missionaries remained active, the compelling force behind the French incursion was commercial. The region surrounding Sault Ste. Marie, which had originally appeared to offer so little, had yielded something as valuable as the exotic riches of the Orient sought by the early explorers, namely furs. The Jesuit missionaries introduced the Christian religion to the Indians of Sault Ste. Marie in the first half of the seventeenth century, and for many years they were the sole purveyors of Christianity in the area. OTHER RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES Baptist and Methodist preachers settled on the American side of the St. Mary's River, but worshippers on the British side of the border did not have this variety from which to choose. It was not until 1821 and the North West / Hudson's Bay Company merger that formal Church of England, or Anglican, worship became available. Prior to the arrival of the First Anglican clergymen, Hudson's Bay Company officials were charged with the power of ex-officio deacons. They were authorized to conduct church services and to perform baptisms, marriages, and funerals in the absence of ordained Anglican clergy. The Hudson's Bay Company officials were divested of their religious functions in Sault Ste. Marie in 1830 with the arrival of the Reverend D. Cameron. He was succeeded by William McMurray in 1832. The officials in York sent McMurray, even though they did not know where Sault Ste. Marie was. They had to send him to Detroit to find out. To fulfil his mandate to establish a mission among the Ojibway people McMurray rented the house and property that had been occupied by Charles Oakes Ermatinger until the Ermatinger family's departure to Montreal in 1828. McMurray also obtained a piece of property on the Great Northern Road (now Pine Street) and Borron Avenue and built the first church in Sault Ste. Marie. During week days the building was used as a school, with Mr. McMurray as teacher. Subsequently the Church was closed, the building sold to David Pim and services were held in the Ermatinger stone house.