Jean-Pierre Aulneau - Legacy

Legacy

The letters of Father Aulneau to his family were discovered with Aulneau descendants in Vendée, France in 1889. They were published in an English translation in 1893 as The Aulneau Collection Academics at St. Boniface College in Winnipeg read The Aulneau Collection, which inspired a number of expeditions to discover the old sites. By 1908 they had located the old fort, as well as the probable location of Massacre Island.

By using the letters of Aulneau and the oral tradition of the Ojibwe, in 1908 a Jesuit team from Saint Boniface College located the site of Fort St. Charles. It was just inside the territorial waters of the United States. They excavated and examined the remains of the martyred priest and his companions. The remains of Father Aulneau were identified by the hook from his cassock and his rosary, which had been placed at his feet. The party transferred the human remains and artifacts found at Fort St. Charles across the Canadian Border to Saint Boniface College, where they remain to this day.

To honor its Golden Anniversary in Minnesota, in 1949 the Knights of Columbus raised funds to buy the property of the former Fort St. Charles and build a replica of the fort there. They also created a shrine for Fr. Aulneau. The property is now owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, and is a site of pilgrimage.