Born in the French city of Orléans in 1607, Isaac Jogues joined the Society of Jesus in 1624. After ordination he was sent, in 1636, at his own request to the missions of New France. With his fellow Jesuit Charles Raymbault, Jogues was one of the first Europeans to go as far inland as Sault Ste. Marie on Lake Superior.

Captured, tortured, and mutilated by Mohawks in 1642, Jogues was freed by Dutch traders and taken to New Amsterdam – the first catholic priest to visit the city that would one day be renamed New York. Sent home to France to recuperate, Jogues returned to the missions in 1644.

In the autumn of 1646 he was captured again by a band of Mohawks, tortured and put to death on October 18, 1646. At the same time, René Goupil, a surgeon, and Jean de Lalande were also martyred. Jogues, Brébuf and six other Jesuit missionaries were canonized as martyrs in 1930.