Book Review: Catherine of the Erie by Claudio Salvucci

This month I read an excellent new historical fiction work from the good folks at Arx Publishing entitled Catherine of the Erie, about the life of Catherine Gandeaktena, the Erie convert who founded the Saint-François-Xavier mission at Prairie-de-la-Magdelaine (Kentake) in Quebec in 1667. Catherine of the Erie is authored by the erudite Claudio Salvucci, a name well-known in traditional Catholic circles. Claudio has produced many excellent books and essays over the years on a rich diversity of subjects, though he is especially known for his voluminous knowledgea on the Jesuit missions of French Canada and the Catholic Native American communities they established. One of the greatest things Claudio ever produced—in concert with Tony Schiavo of Arx—was a modern reproduction of the Jesuit Relations in English. The Relations were a set of annual reports, published from 1632 to 1673, written by Jesuit missionaries in New France which detailed their missionary endeavors.

Catherine of the Erie is about the life and work of Gandeaktena, a woman of the Cat Nation (Erie), the Iroquoian-speaking tribe who lived around Lake Erie during the 17th century. The mid-17th century was a time of great turmoil along the St. Lawrence due to the Beaver Wars, a series of conflicts waged by the Iroquois in an attempt to monopolize the fur trade. These bloody conflicts against French and the surrounding tribes form the social backdrop for understanding the missionaries' struggles during the era—it was, for example, in the context of the Beaver Wars that St. Isaac Jogues was tormented and St. Kateri Tekakwitha's mother was kidnapped and brought to Ossernenon. 

Gandeaktena was born in the Erie village of Gentaienton, located somewhere in western New York near the shores of Lake Erie. In 1654, when she was still a teenager, Gandeaktena was kidnapped in a raid by the Oneida Iroquois, who destroyed her town and people and brought her captive to their settlement at Ganouaroharé (modern-day Victor, New York) where she was raised as an Iroquois. She was soon wed to another captive named Francis-Xavier Tonasahoten, a Catholic Huron who had also been adopted by the Iroquois. It was through Francis-Xavier that Gandeaktena was introduced to Catholicism, or "the Prayer" as the Iroquois called it.

Gandeaktena eventually received the faith at the hands of the Jesuit missionary Fr. Jacques Bruyas (the same priest who would later introduce Christianity to St. Kateri  as well). Eventually growing weary of the immoral atmosphere among the Oneida, Gandeaktena and her husband would relocate to Quebec where they worked with the Jesuits to found the Saint-François-Xavier mission at Kentake. Now baptized, Gandeaktena took the Christian name Catherine and began to excel in the practice of virtue. Indeed, her generosity and piety were so well-regarded that she and her husband began to attract other Christian natives to settle at Kentake. By the time of her death in 1673, the mission on Kentake was home to some 200 Catholic Indians representing 22 different tribes. Catherine died in the odor of sanctity on November 6, 1673. When the cemetery of the mission was moved in 1689, there was wrangling over her mortal remians, which were already treated as relics (although, as far as I know, no formal cause for her canonization was ever opened).

The Saint-François-Xavier mission founed by Catherine Gandeaktena would be of immense importance in the history of Catholicism in Canada and New York—in 1677, only four years after Catherine's death, a young Christian Mohawk named Kateri Tekakwitha would arrive at the Saint-François-Xavier, fleeing persecution from her kin. St. Kateri's faith would be nurtured in the rich soul of the pious community Catherine Gandeaktena had founded. 

Thus was the life of Catherine Gandeaktena. Claudio's retelling of this story is detailed and engaging, and there is obviously a lot I am leaving out. The story moves swiftly but with just the right amount of detail. I have written a fair amount of historical fiction in my life, and it can be a tricky genre. You have to be able to find your creative voice within the constraints imposed upon you by the history. You have to relate the facts of what happened without coming across too dull or drifting into "textbook" sounding exposition. In short, you have to have the creative wherewithal to bring the history to life while remaining faithful to the history itself. Claudio is a master of this. Catherine of Erie is a genuinely enjoyable read, and the depictions of life among the Iroquois are exceptionally vivid and rich. In particular, this book reveals how Christianization actually looked (and ought to look) as the faith takes root in non-Christian cultures. Claudio clearly possesses a masterful command of the subject matter, which, blended with his colorful writing, make this a wonderful little book. At 160 pages it is short, but there's a lot of depth and richness in that 160 pages! 

One thing I liked was how Claudio handled the scenes of Iroquois torture. I am a history guy and am pretty numb to the barbarities of history, but the tortures inflicted by the Iroquois upon their enemies are difficult even for me to stomach (I had a real hard time reading Francis Talbot's biography of St. Isaac Jogues because the descriptions of his torment were a bit much even for me). I was very pelased with how Catherine of the Erie treats these scenes, which are described with sufficient detail to communicate their horrors, but withholding enough to avoid making me wince. 

In conclusion, I recommend Catherine of the Erie by Claudio Salvucci for anyone interested in the Catholic misions of New France, or just anyone looking for solid Catholic historical fiction. For another discussion on the book from blog Gloria Romanorum, see their article "From Savagery to Slavery to Sanctity." I'd also like to thank Arx Publishing for the review copy! Arx is a great company that has some wonderful Catholic books, largely in the domain of history; check them out if you are unfamiliar with their work.