Bruyas, JACQUES, b. at Lyons, France, July 13, 1635; d. at Sault St. Louis, Canada, June 15, 1712. He entered the Society of Jesus, November 11, 1651, joined the Mission of Canada in 1666, and labored there for forty-six years among the Iroquois. From 1693 to 1698 Bruyas was Superior General of the Canadian missions, and in 1700, 1701, actively helped to secure for the French a general peace with the Iroquois tribes. Besides writing a catechism, prayers for the sick, and similar works, he is the author of the oldest known Iroquois grammar. It was published from the original MS. by the Regents of the University of the State of New York in their Sixteenth Annual Report of the State Cabinet of Natural History (Albany, 1863). Father Bruyas is considered to be the author of the “Iroquois Dictionary” preserved in the Bibliotheque de l’Arsenal of Paris.
JOSEPH M. WOODS