Crosses in the Sky

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A Globe 100 Best Book of 2024

From the bestselling author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre Esprit-Radisson

This is the story of the collision of two worlds. In the early 1600s, the Jesuits—the Catholic Church’s most ferocious warriors for Christ—tried to create their own nation on the Great Lakes and turn the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy into a model Jesuit state. At the centre of their campaign was missionary Jean de Brébeuf, a mystic who sought to die a martyr’s death. He lived among a proud people who valued kindness and rights for all, especially women. In the end, Huronia was destroyed. Brébeuf became a Catholic saint, and the Jesuit’s “martyrdom” became one of the founding myths of Canada.

In this first secular biography of Brébeuf, historian Mark Bourrie, bestselling author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson, recounts the missionary’s fascinating life and tells the tragic story of the remarkable people he lived among. Drawing on the letters and documents of the time—including Brébeuf’s accounts of his bizarre spirituality—and modern studies of the Jesuits, Bourrie shows how Huron leaders tried to navigate this new world and the people struggled to cope as their nation came apart. Riveting, clearly told, and deeply researched, Crosses in the Sky is an essential addition to—and expansion of—Canadian history.

AUTHOR

Mark Bourrie

Mark Bourrie is an Ottawa-based author, lawyer, and former journalist. He holds a master’s in Journalism from Carleton University and a PhD in History from the University of Ottawa. In 2017, he was awarded a Juris Doctor degree and was called to the Bar in 2018. He has won numerous awards for his journalism, including a National Magazine Award, and received the RBC Charles Taylor Prize in 2020 for his book Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre Radisson.

Reviews

Praise for Crosses in the Sky

Crosses in the Sky is dramatic and enthralling Bourrie has done more than any other Canadian historian writing for a general audience to disinter the root causes of degenerating settlerIndigenous relations and disrupted Indigenous societies in the 400 years since Brbeufs death And he has done it with attentiongrabbing panacheltbr gtCharlotte Gray Globe and Mail

Bourries latest like its Charles Taylor Prizewinning predecessor Bush Runner focuses on the clash between European and Indigenous cultures in 17thcentury colonial North America Here its the events leading to the violent ruin of Huronia traditional home of the HuronWendat people as they were experienced by the French Jesuit missionary and mystic Jean de Brbeufltbr gtEmily Donaldson Globe and Mail

In 2019 Mark Bourrie published Bush Runner a biography of the adventurer PierreEsprit Radisson that was compelling authoritative not a little disturbingand a significant contribution to the history of 17thcentury North America as I wrote at the time The same can be said about Bourries latest Crosses in the Sky Jean de Brbeuf and the Destruction of Huronia In reinterpreting the Jesuits martyrdom against the backdrop of Huronias destruction Bourrie presents a revisionist historyltbr gtKen McGoogan Toronto Star

Bourries colloquial writing style and storytelling skill make Crosses in the Sky an interesting and accessible retelling of an important chapter in Canadian historyltbr gtKate Jaimet Canadas History

Gripping stuff grippingly toldltbr gtLiterary Review of Canada

Bourrie is fast becoming the dean of Canadian literary nonfiction Bourrie also manages to be panoramic in his historical descriptions of Huronia while concurrently focusing on biographical details of Brbeufs missionary work This treatment of the problematic legacy of both the cleric and his religious order is top drawerltbr gtWinnipeg Free Press

Crosses in the Sky paints a detailed and nuanced portrait of that destruction enriching our modern understanding of a time and people who have been stereotyped or simply ignored for too longltbr gtOttawa Review of Books

In Crosses the first secular biography of Brbeuf Bourrie takes the accepted Sunday school version and humanizes it Here the Jesuits arent quite so noble the Hurons are not so pure and the Iroquois are no longer onedimensional villains This is a ripping yarn in the classic sense with plenty of actionepic canoe voyages battles and of course martyrdomand it marks Bourries second foray into the early history of the French in Canadaltbr gtIan Coutts Zoomer

Crosses in the Sky provides a detailed account of the giantframed missionary who walked among the Hurons This patron saint of Canada has long been given plenty of attention by Jesuits whether for his missionary spirit or for his extreme suffering It is good to see his legend now given serious historical treatmentltbr gtMichael Taube Washington Examiner

A fascinating and engrossing tale a meticulously researched book It told me on nearly every page something I did not know about the history of this province of the lives lived here in the 17th centuryltbr gtEdith CodyRice Millstone News

Bourrie looks at how such early encounters between French colonists and missionaries and Indigenous Peoples continue to resonate in those same relationshipsltbr gtQuill amp Quire

Praise for Mark Bourrieltbr gtltbr gtBourries book positively sings Big Men Fear Me is thoroughly researched and the prose is clean and engaging McCullagh deserves to be known He made The Globe the dominant voice in English Canadian journalism Bourries biography does him full justiceltbr gtGlobe and Mailltbr gtltbr gtThere are many threads to untangle here and Bourriejournalist academic and lawyerunpicks them all Spanning the first half of 20thcentury Ontario George McCullaghs life and times become an engrossing tale of ambition politics and bipolar illnessits like little else were likely to read this year It was a tumultuous life and Bourrie tells it with wit and humourltbr gtNancy Wigston Toronto Starltbr gtltbr gtThis is a joy of a biography Bourrie a historian whose last book brought explorer Pierre Radisson to life has done right by McCullagh and not just with the marvellous title Canada doesnt like tall poppies It didnt end well But what a ride it wasltbr gtHeather Mallick Toronto Starltbr gtltbr gtA remarkable biography of an even more remarkable 17thcentury individual Beautifully written and endlessly thoughtprovokingltbr gtMacleansltbr gtltbr gtBourries writing is grounded in a strong sense of place partly because of his own extensive knowledge of the land and partly because of Radissons descriptive storytelling abilities a valuable and rare glimpse into 17thcentury North Americaltbr gtCanadian Geographic