As a schoolboy in Brittany, Pierre Henri dreamed of traveling one day to the frozen Arctic. As a missionary priest of the Oblate Order of Mary the Immaculate, he finally got the chance to realize his dream.
Traveling alone by dog sled in 1932, lean Father Henri arrived in King William Land, near the Magnetic Pole, with a portable altar and a bare minimum of supplies. Because of his rust-colored beard the Netsilik Eskimos called him Kai-i-o (The Red One); they were fascinated by his long black cassock, and asked whether they could make a tent out of it.
Finding the Eskimos well-adjusted...