Caught up in warfare between the Huron and nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, he was killed in St. Ignace by Mohawk warriors and is one of the eight Canadian Martyrs.

[3] In September 1646 Gabriel arrived in Quebec,[4] where he spent the first few months studying the Huron language and customs.

François-Joseph Bressani, a fellow missionary in New France, referred to him as a man of extremely frail constitution.

Its eighty warriors fought to delay the attackers, trying to enable the elderly, women, and children to flee.

[3] After the withdrawal of the Iroquois war party from the area on 19 March, seven Frenchmen went to St. Ignace to retrieve the bodies of the Jesuits and Huron.