Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Totiri, Stephen

TOTIRI, Stephen (to-tee'-ree), Indian convert, lived in the first half of the 17th century. He resided in the town of St. Joseph, where he was regarded as a saint. When missionaries came to his village in 1641 he offered his cabin for a chapel, and, after their departure, instructed the catechumens in Christian doctrine. In 1643 he accompanied Father Jogues, and was captured with him by the Iroquois, but he eluded their vigilance and escaped to his own country, where he preached the gospel in every direction. The French missionaries, having been forced to discontinue their work among the Attiwandaronks, a tribe known as the “neutral nation,” in 1644, Totiri went thither. He explained the Christian doctrine by means of symbols, and the curiosity that he excited resulted in his making many converts. He returned to his tribe in 1646. On one occasion, after vainly trying to save an Iroquois prisoner that was about to be put to death, he instructed him in the Christian faith, and, although threatened with death by his kinsmen, baptized the Iroquois before he was sent to the stake. A number of his tribe remained heathens, and he several times nearly lost his life. But his calmness and courage eventually prevailed, and the village gradually submitted to his control.