JUNE 24:

June 24, 1610:  Membertou (Mi'kmaq) becomes the first Indian Catholic.
 

BACKGROUND:
 

From http://www.dickshovel.com/mic.html
 

In 1604 Samuel de Champlain and Pierre De Monts established the first French settlement in North America at the mouth of the St. Croix River, the current boundary between Maine and the New Brunswick. Although it was close to both the Abenaki and Maliseet villages, the location proved a terrible choice, and the French stayed there only one winter. Frozen and flooded, half the party died of scurvy, and Champlain and the survivors moved across the Bay of Fundy to the Nova Scotia's Annapolis Basin in 1605. The new site became known as Port Royal, and was located in Micmac territory. Although this gave the Micmac a definite advantage, the French continued to trade with the Abenaki, particularly the Penobscot. The Penobscot prospered as a result, and their sachem Bashaba was able to form a powerful alliance which threatened the Micmac across the bay. The rivalry over the French fur trade aggravated earlier animosities and by 1607 escalated into the Tarrateen War which broke out between the Bashaba's Penobscot confederacy and the Micmac and their Maliseet allies.

The fighting continued for eight years. Although the French were not pleased with the warfare, they managed to trade with both sides. Meanwhile, the first Jesuit missionaries had arrived at Port Royal in 1610 and met immediate success working among the Micmac. Their first important convert was the sachem Membertou who was baptized with his entire family in 1610. Unfortunately, conversion did not protect him from epidemic, and Membertou died the following year.
 

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>From http://www.mikmaq.com/net/history/1601ce-1700ce.html
 

The Concordat with the Vatican was created. It affirmed the Míkmaq right to choose Catholicism, Míkmaq tradition, or both. Kjikeptin Pesamoet spent a year living in France and he realized that a large number of French people would be settling in Míkmákik, it was necessary therefore, to form good relations with them. This meant accepting and protecting the Catholic religion.

Kjisaqmaw Maupeltuk (Membertou) was the first Indigenous North American to be baptized. Kjisaqmaw Maupeltuk along with 21 members of his family were baptized by Abbé Jessé Fléché as a sign of alliance and friendship. Maupeltuk became known as Henri Membertou.
 

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>From http://www.lafete.org/new/acadia/timeE/memb.htm
 

Membertou (? - 1611)

Membertou was the chief of the Mi'kmaq living near the new settlement of Port Royal. He was a tall bearded man who remembered Jacques Cartier's visit in 1534. That would make him over 80 at the time that Port Royal was settled.

(Membertou remembered white men visiting Acadia when he was a boy. This image taken from a native stone glyph shows these early visitors.)

Membertou became a good friend with Poutrincourt, Lescarbot and Champlain. Membertou sat at the head table with his friends when the Order of Good Cheer met for its banquets.

The Mi'kmaqs taught the French where to hunt and which plants to eat or to use as medicine. One winter, Membertou saved the starving French by allowing them to live with his people.

Membertou was still a strong man, despite his advanced age. When one of his braves was killed by another tribe while guiding Champlain, he led an avenging war-party across the Bay of Fundy and easily defeated his enemies.

In 1607, after the French were ordered by the King to return to France, Membertou looked after the empty buildings for the three years they were gone. The French returned to buildings that were in as good condition as they were when they left.

In 1610, Membertou was baptized a Christian. He was the first Native Canadian to do so. He took the name "Henri" as his new name and his wife became "Marie", named after the King and Queen of France. He died the year after, in 1611. He was mourned by all of Port Royal, both the Mi'kmaq and the French.