Joseph the Huron

Much like an unexpected buried treasure, this narrative of a young Huron man has come to light again today. “Chiwatenwa’s” story, recaptured by author Antoinette Bosco from the records of the earliest Jesuit missionaries in Canada, portrays the man (who would one day be christened “Joseph”) in the fascinating details of his tribal culture. In Joseph Chiwatenwa the life of faith is on trial before his family and native people, with the verdict in the balance. Joseph’s story witnesses dramatically to the contest within human souls and even nations; it points to a goal beyond the limits of one’s own culture: the encounter of man with the fullness of truth.