René Goupil was born in Anjou, France in 1606 and wanted to become a priest. He entered the novitiate (the first step in preparation to enter a religious order/group) of a Catholic religious order named the Society of Jesus, or more commonly referred to as the “Jesuits.” After he entered the novitiate, René became deaf, and at the time, this prevented him from continuing his formation to the priesthood, and he left the Jesuits.

Before joining the novitiate, René had studied to be a surgeon, and in 1639 he offered to help as a medic for the Jesuit missionaries who were heading to the “New
World”...what is now Canada and the United States. In 1640, he began working at a
hospital in Québec, Canada. He later became an assistant to Fr. Isaac Jogues S.J. (now
St. Isaac Jogues S.J.) on his missionary travel to the Huron tribe where what is now Auriesville, NY.

He and Fr Isaac Jogues were ministering to the Huron tribe when they were at-
tacked by the Iroquois tribe. After he was captured, René was brutally attacked and
tortured for weeks, and he ultimately was killed when an elder saw him making the
sign of the cross over a small child. A tomahawk (similar to an axe) to the back of
his head killed him. He was only 35 years old and was the first martyr (a person
that was killed because of their faith) in North America. Before he died, Fr Isaac
Jogues made René a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits.)

St René is now considered the patron saint of Anesthesiologists (surgeons that spe-
cialize in giving patients anesthesia to keep them unconscious during surgery.) He is
one of eight people that the Catholic Church celebrates as the “North American Martyrs,” and St. Isaac Jogues is another one of those eight. Their feast day in the
Catholic Church in the United States is celebrated on October 19th.

It is our hope that everyone in the Catholic Deaf Community can be proud of the great work that St. René Goupil did in trying to spread the faith. His passion for spreading the Gospel is inspiring. He did not allow himself to become discouraged and give up when he was not able to continue his studies to become a priest when his hearing decreased.

As try to live our faith, we can’t allow ourselves to become discouraged or tempted to give up when obstacles block us. We keep praying that God will show us the way.

You can see a beautiful picture of St. René Goupil in the CDM chapel, and there are prayer cards there for you to take with you as well. It's our hope that we can follow St. René’s example and pray for his help as we try to share our faith with other people.