Jean de Lalande

Who was Jean de Lalande?

Saint Jean de Lalande was a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons and one of the eight North American Martyrs.

Lalande was a member of a party led by Jesuit Isaac Jogues as an envoy to the Mohawk lands to protect the precarious peace of the time. However, Mohawk attitudes towards this peace had soured during the men's journey and they were attacked by a Mohawk party en route. They were taken to the village of Ossernenon, where they were decreed to be set free by the moderate Turtle and Wolf clans. Angered by this, the more hawkish Bear clan killed Lalande and Jogues on October 18, 1646.

At Fordham University's Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx, New York, a freshman dormitory—Martyrs' Court—has three sections, which are named for the three U.S. martyr-saints: John LaLande, René Goupil, and Isaac Jogues.

Saint Jean de Lalande is the patron saint of the Saint John LaLande Catholic Parish in Blue Springs, Missouri. Jean de Lalande also has special meaning to the Catholic youth camp Camp Ondessonk which honors the North American martyrs and their Native American friends.