Joseph Chiwatenhwa

Who is Joseph Chiwatenhwa?

Joseph Chiwatenhwa was amongst the first believers of the indigenous peoples of Canada who accepted the Christian faith through the missionary and evangelistic work of the French Province of the Society of Jesus in the 17th century.

The Jesuits established their first missions in Canada in the early decades of the 1600s and were assisted in Huronia by a number of new believers, amongst whom were Joseph Chiwatenhwa and his wife Marie Aonnetta, in addition to his brother Joseph and other members of the family, all of whom "lived and witnessed to their faith in a heroic manner." Chiwatenhwa was deeply moved by the Christian teachings of the Jesuit missioners in 1636 when he first encountered them, despite the fact that others of his Huron tribe blamed these missionaries for the epidemics that had broken out in Huron lands.

Joseph Chiwatenhwa sensed that he might eventually be killed for his faith and love for Jesus Christ. He was martyred on 2 August 1640, aged 38. Jesuit martyr of North America Gabriel Lalemant considered Chiwatenhwa a great catechist amongst his own people, "their apostle".

After Joseph's martyrdom his family continued in the service of Christ in collaboration with the Jesuits, and more members of the Huron nation were baptised into the Catholic Church.