author

Francesco Giuseppe Bressani

1612–1672

An Italian Jesuit missionary in New France, he lived through extreme hardship and left behind vivid accounts of the early colonial world. His name is also remembered for a 1657 map that helped shape European understanding of the Great Lakes region.

1 Audiobook

Captives Among the Indians

Captives Among the Indians

by Francesco Giuseppe Bressani, Massy Harbison, Mary White Rowlandson, James Smith

About the author

Born in Rome on May 6, 1612, he joined the Jesuits and later traveled to New France as a missionary. He worked among Indigenous communities in the 1640s, during a dangerous and turbulent period in the colony.

He is especially remembered for surviving capture and torture by the Mohawk during the conflicts of the time. After eventually returning to Europe because of poor health, he published an account of his experiences that helped make the story of the Jesuit missions in North America known to readers in Italy.

Bressani also has a place in the history of cartography. A map associated with him from 1657 is noted as one of the early printed maps to show the Great Lakes in a recognizable way. He died on September 9, 1672.