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First Altar Boy 
The Life of St. John Lalande 

By t h e Ed i to r s of T h e Cathol ic Boy 





America s First Altar Boy 

The Life of St. John Laiande 

By 
The Editors 

of 
The Catholic Boy 

No. 63 

Second Edition, 10,000 

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR PRESS 
Huntington, Indiana 



Nihil Obstat: 
REV. T. E. DILLON 

Censor Librorum 

Imprimatur: 
•f JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D. D. 

Bishop of Sort Wayne 



AMERICA'S FIRST ALTAR BOY 
The Life of St. John Lalande 

"Hey, Tubby, Father Mell is here," 
yelled Jimmy as he dashed into the 
tent where Tubby was peacefully re-
clining on his cot after the evening 
meal. "Where are Jack and Pete?" 

At this news, slow moving Tubby 
jumped up with a jerk that almost 
meant disaster to the cot. 

"Honest!" Tubby exclaimed. "Oh 
boy, let's tell Jack and Pete. They're 
out getting some more wood for the 
camp-fire this evening." 

Jimmy, Tubby, Jack and Pete were 
inseparable companions. They were 
members of St. Mark's Church and 
thought the world and all of their 
pastor, Father Mell. Each summer 
St. Mark's conducted a camp for the 
boys of the parish on the shores of 
Pike Lake in the northern part of 
the State of Minnesota. The boys 
remained at Camp Chi-Shing-Wauk 
(the Chippewa for tall-pine-trees) 
for a six weeks' period and every sum-



4 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 

mer Father Mell would spend the last 
week of the camping period with his 
boys. 

That evening as some eighty-five 
boys assembled around the camp-fire 
burning in a natural amphitheatre 
and lighting up the tall Norway pines 
towering one hundred and fifty feet 
above them, there was excitement in 
the air such as was not present dur-
ing the entire camping period. 

As the flames of .the camp-fire 
leapt high in the air the boys cheer-
ed Father Mell again and again. 
Songs were sung with a gusto that 
made up in volume for any lack of 
vocal training. But as the fire died 
down, the boys crowded around Fath. 
er Mell, for their pastor was a re-
nowned story-teller and finally, Jim-
my, alwayS( quick to express his 
thoughts, said: 

"Father, won't you tell us a story?" 

"Of course, I shall," Father Mell 
replied, smiling. 

"What kind of a story would you 
boys like to hear?" 



7 AMERICA'S FIRST ALTAR BOY 

"Well, Father, as long as we are 
up here near the Indian reservation, 
wouldn't you tell us a story about the 
Indians?" asked Pete, always sen-
sible and of a practical turn of mind. 

"Yes, Peter," answered Father Mell, 
"if that is agreeable to the rest of the 
boys." 

"Fine, Father. Go ahead Father," 
replied the boys in unison. 

"I shall tell you a story," Father 
Mell began, "of America's First Altar 
Boy, St. John Lalande. It is a story 
of yelling, painted Indians on the 
war-path, of cruelty and suffering 
such as very few of us could actually 
believe to be true. It is a story of a 
boy who, with the priests he served, 
was so filled with love of God and 
zeal for the spread of Christianity 
that he seemed insensible to the most 
dreadful torments." 

"St. John Lalande," continued 
Father Mell, "who may be appropria-
tely named 'America's First Altar 
Boy' was born in Dieppe, France, 
during the early part of the seven-
teenth century. Little is known of 



6 AMERICA'S FIRST ALTAR BOY 

his early life. It is presumed that as 
a boy he played among the wharves 
and on the ships that were anchored 
in the harbor of Dieppe, from which 
seaport so many French explorers 
left on that perilous journey across 
the sea to New France. Evidently as 
a boy he heard many tales of this 
new land and his imagination must 
have been fired with the strange and 
exciting tales of adventure he heard 
from those who returned. We can 
picture him as a boy sitting on a 
wharf, his chin cupped in his hands, 
his eyes gazing dreamily across the 
Atlantic to America, the land of ad-
venture and romance, where men 
"were living lives more exciting than 
those portrayed in any story book. 
Here, too, he must have met and con-
versed with those heroic mission-
ary priests leaving their native land 
to bring the true faith to the savages 
of America and they evidently left a 
lasting impression on his youthful 
mind as we will see later in the story. 

"The next information we have of 
St. John Lalande," Father Mell con-



7 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 

tinued in his deep, rolling voice, "is 
that he had arrived in the land of his 
desire. How he came to America or 
what his exact purpose was in com-
ing we do not know. We hear of him 
in Quebec where he has become a 
donne, that is, an assistant to the 
missionary priests. From Quebec he 
accompanied different missionaries 
on their journeys to various Indian 
villages, serving Mass, instructing 
savages, sharing all the hardships 
and dangers of missionary life. 
Around Quebec, St. John not only 
taught catechism to the converted 
Indians^ but also assisted in tending 
the sick and wounded in the hospitaL 
and helped the missionary priests in. 
a hundred different ways. 

"But before continuing with the' 
story, I want you to tell me, Jack,, 
just how much you know of Indian 
villages," Father Mell said with a 
twinkle in his eyes, turning toward 
the tall, lanky member of our quar-
tet. 

"Well, Father," answered Jack, 
evidently embarrassed, "all I know is 



8 AMERICA'S FIRST ALTAR BOY 

what I have seen when we visited the 
Indian village near Cass Lake. They 
live in tar-paper shacks, not very-
clean, and one day I guess they were 
having pole-cat for dinner." 

At this the other boys broke out in-
t o hearty laughter, for they all re-
membered how an Indian squaw had 
coaxed easy going Jack into her shack 
to purchase a pair of moccasins and 
"how he came dashing out, holding 
his nose, as if a whole tribe of braves 
was after him. 

"I think you have a pretty fair 
knowledge of living conditions among 
the Indians, Jack," continued Father 
Mell. "But did you ever stop to 
think just what a hardship this was 
for America's First Altar Boy and 
the missionary priests he accompan-
ied when making journeys to the In-
dian camps? We obtain a good idea 
from the letters written by these 
missionaries to their friends at home. 

"The dwelling of a missionary was 
a miserable hut made by covering 
poles with bark. This hut, or wig-
wam, as it was called, was so small 



9 AMERICA'S FIRST ALTAR BOY 

that those inside could not stand up 
or lie down at full length. During 
the day the occupants had to remain 
either sitting or kneeling. At night 
it was impossible to stretch out, so 
they had to sleep curled up with 
their feet almost roasting from the 
fire and their heads chilled by con-
tact with the cold ground or the snow. 

"The most dreadful thing of all," 
continued the story-teller, "was the 
smoke. It was so dense in the hut 
that it frequently caused blindness. 
The eyes smarted as if salt were pour-
ed into them, and they continually 
ran water for a considerable period.-
In winter the water flowing from the 
aching eyes made it almost impossible 
to see when going outside, and this 
made it necessary for the missionary 
to have someone lead him when he 
was traveling. Then there was the 
lesser martyrdom suffered from fleas, 
lice and vermin. The Indians did not 
mind this plague, but to the mission-
ary it was torture. 

"The food they ate was very coarse 
and frequently there was not enough 



10 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 

for all. Instead of sitting at a nice 
clean table, they sat around a large 
dirty dish placed on the ground and 
everyone, even the dogs, ate from 
that same dish. Instead of napkins 
the Indians wiped their hands and 
mouths with their long hair or on the 
back of some mangy dog. After the 
meal the dish was not washed, but the 
dogs were put on K. P. and washed 
the dish by licking it; 

"There was so much filth around 
the cabins that it bred disease and in 
their ignorance the Indians thought 
that such disease was the anger of 
some offended spirit, or they attri-
buted it to the presence of the mis-
sionary. This imperiled the mission-
ary's life, for at any moment some 
disgruntled savage might sink a tom-
ahawk into his skull thinking that he 
was slaying the cause of the mis-
fortune. This caused the missionary 
to live in constant fear, because he 
did not know when a frenzied savage 
might run him through with a knife 
or knock his brains out with a club, 
as happened in not a few cases." 



11 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 

As Father Mell continued with his 
story the camp-fire burned lower and 
the crackling of the dying embers 
was plainly heard. 

"These were only a few of the 
hardships and dangers experienced 
while among the friendly Indians. 
But these intrepid men, future saints 
of God, did not come to America to 
win the souls of only a few Indians to 
God. They enlarged their field of 
labor to include those tribes which 
were hostile to the French. It was 
from these that America's first 
Altar Boy received the crown of 
martyrdom. 

"The most ferocious Indians were 
the Iroquois, who were a confederacy 
of five nations dwelling along a line 
running through central New York, 
and embracing from East to West the 
Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayu. 
gas and Senecas. It may be said that 
the Iroquois was the Indian of In-
dians, and the Mohawk was the Iro-
quois of the Iroquois. Savage, in-
human, no torture was too cruel for 
them to employ. It was amazing 



12 AMERICA'S F I R S T A L T A R BOY 

that human beings could endure that 
which the .first American martyrs 
suffered and survived. Yet through 
all their tortures the spirit of pa-
tience, fortitude and forgiveness 
prevailed. 

"Many attempts were made to con-
vert the Iroquios, but not with much 
success. After a treaty had been 
signed between the Iroquois and the 
French, the missionaries thought 
that new effort should be made to 
convert these most savage of savages. 
Accordingly Father Isaac Jogues 
was chosen to make the initial effort. 
The mission was fraught with dan-
ger, and almost certain death by tor-
ture at the hands of the treacherous 
Mohawks awaited those who would 
constitute this perilous' apostolate. 
Knowing this, John Lalande begged 
that he be permitted to be the com-
panion of Father Jogues on this 
journey. 

"This young man knew full well the 
dangers of the expedition. He knew 
how Father Jogues and other priests 
had been treated on their previous ef-



13 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 

forts to convert these savages. He 
remembered how they were compelled 
to run the gauntlet, beaten with rods 
and thorny clubs; how their fingers 
were burned and bitten and twisted; 
how they were taken captive and for 
weeks, led from one Mohawk village 
to another, were subjected to the 
most horrible of cruelties. 

"John Lalande remembered how 
the missionaries, after undergoing 
tortures all day, were thrown flat on 
the ground at night. Their bodies 
were stretched out by fastening their 
hands and feet to stakes driven in the 
ground. He remembered the stories 
telling of how the Indian children 
had their turn at torturing the cap-
tives while ,in this position. The 
most sensitive parts of the captives' 
bodies were pierced by awls and 
sharp pointed sticks. Thin slices of 
flesh were cut from their thighs, the 
nails pulled from their fingers and 
toes, hair jerked out of their heads 
and burning wood-ashes scattered on 
the raw, gaping wounds of the vie-



14 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 

tims who were unable to move their 
bodies to shake them off. 

"Yet all this knowledge did not 
frighten John. He was determined 
to be the companion of brave Father 
Jogues, even if death awaited him 
at the end of the journey. Accord-
ingly on September 27, 1646, Father 
Jogues and John Lalande left for the 
Mohawk country even though they 
had heard, while making prepara-
tions at Quebec for the journey, that 
all was not well. ' 

"Meanwhile a change came over 
the Iroquois. A series of scourges 
afflicted that part of the country to-
ward which Father Jogues and John 
Lalande were traveling. A contag-
ious disease claimed many victims. 
Following this a plague of worms de-
stroyed nearly all the crops. Being 
superstitious, ithe Mohawks attributed 
this to a box of mission goods left in 
their care by Father Jogues when he 
had helped to negotiate the treaty. 
The medicine men, envious of 
Jogues' power, fanned these sus-
picions into a flame. 



17 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY  

"As a result two factions sprung 
up, one desirous of keeping the 
treaty and the other determined on 
war. The war party finally prevail-
ed. Then one band of savages start-
ed on the warpath for Montreal and 
the other for Fort Richelieu. This 
latter band met Jogues and Lalande 
on the way, captured them, stripped 
them of their clothes, beat them, sub-
jected them to various cruelties and 
led them captive to the same village 
where Jogues had suffered so much 
on a previous occasion. 

"On October 17, 1646, conch shells 
announced to those left in the village 
of Ossernenon that a war party was 
returning with captives. Soon the 
party arrived and as they were 
brought across the river in canoes, 
two lines were formed on land by the 
braves, squaws and children with a 
lane between, through which the cap-
tives were forced to go. They were 
beaten with thorny sticks and long 
iron bars as they ran the gauntlet. 
After this they were threatened with 
death. Father Jogues was accused of 



16 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 

bringing death and disaster to the 
Mohawks. One enraged savage sliced 
pieces of flesh from their backs and 
arms and devoured them before their 
eyes saying: 'Let us see if this white 
flesh is the flesh, of a Manitou.' One 
squaw grabbed up a stone knife and 
hacked at the thumbs of John La-
lande but he did not flinch. He 
simply turned his eyes toward Father 
Jogues, who with a sign bade him to 
suffer for the sake of Christ. 

"After practicing other tortures a 
division arose among the Indians as 
to the ultimate fate of Jogues and 
Lalande. The Wolf and Tortoise 
families were for saving the prison-
ers, but the Bear family insisted on 
death. Final action was postponed 
until a council of the sachems of the 
entire nation should decide the prob-
lem. But the Bear family, correctly 
surmising that the council would de-
clare in favor of the captives, decided 
to take matters in their own hands. 

"On the evening of the next day, 
members of the Bear clan invited 
Father Jogues to their cabin for some 



17 AMERICA'S FIRST ALTAR BOY 

food. There is no doubt but that 
Father Jogues had his misgivings re-
garding thé invitation. Perhaps he 
was even warned by some friendly 
Indian. Yet resigning himself to the 
will of God he accepted the invitation 
and followed them to the cabin. As 
he reached the lodge he pulled back 
the bear skin that constituted the 
swinging door and stooped to enter. 

"At that instant a tomahawk 
swished through the air and buried 
itself in his skull. He fell forward, 
dead. Father Jogues had made the 
supreme sacrifice. Immediately his 
head was cut off and placed on one of 
the palisades surrounding the village, 
the face turned in the direction of 
the road by which he had come. 

"That night, while members of the 
tribe were torturing some of the In-
dians taken captive with Jogues and 
Lalande, three members of the Bear 
clan sneaked into the tent in which 
John Lalande was held captive. Out-
side the tent all one could hear was 
the thud of a tomahawk, the sound of 
a falling body, the words 'Jesus, 



18 AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 

Jesus, Jesus.' Then all was silent. 
John Lalande's head was cut off and 
placed next to that of Father Jogues 
and his body was thrown into the 
river. America's First Altar Boy-
had run the gauntlet for Christ." 

As Father Mell concluded his 
story an absolute silence prevailed. 
Usually after a story the boys would 
give a cheer for the story-teller, but 
this evening every boy sat quietly as 
if lost in thought. Finally Pete broke 
the stillness with a question. 

"When is St. John's feast day, 
Father?" 

"His feast is on September 26th," 
answered Father Mell. "St. John 
Lalande was beatified, declared 
blessed, together with the other seven 
American martyrs, on June 21, 1925. 
He was canonized on June 29, 1930. 
But I think it is past your usual bed-
time. I am afraid I kept you up long-
er than the rules allow. Let's all 
kneel down and we will say our night 
prayers." 

That evening as the boys retired to 
their tents a silence prevailed which 



AMERICA'S FIRST A L T A R BOY 19' 

was not present during the five pre-
vious weeks of camp. They would 
never forget the story of St. John 
Lalande, America's First Altar Boy. 



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