The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval | Page 2

gliding slyly along by the reeds of the
shore, scarcely stopping except to permit its crew to kindle a fire, to
make prisoners or to scalp some enemy.
A heroic courage was necessary to undertake to carry the faith to these
savage tribes. It was condemning one's self to lead a life like theirs, of
ineffable hardships, dangers and privations, now in a bark canoe and
paddle in hand, now on foot and bearing upon one's shoulders the
things necessary for the holy sacrament; in the least case it was braving
hunger and thirst, exposing one's self to the rigours of an excessive cold,
with which European nations were not yet familiar; it often meant
hastening to meet the most horrible tortures. In spite of all this,
however, Father Le Caron did not hesitate to penetrate as far as the
country of the Hurons, while Fathers Sagard and Viel were sowing the
first seeds of Christianity in the St. Lawrence valley. The devotion of
the Récollets, to the family of whom belonged these first missionaries
of Canada, was but ill-rewarded, for, after the treaty of St.
Germain-en-Laye, which restored Canada to France, the king refused
them permission to return to a region which they had watered with the
sweat of their brows and fertilized with their blood.
The humble children of St. Francis had already evangelized the Huron
tribes as far as the Georgian Bay, when the Company of the
Cent-Associés was founded by Richelieu. The obligation which the
great cardinal imposed upon them of providing for the maintenance of
the propagators of the gospel was to assure the future existence of the
missions. The merit, however, which lay in the creation of a society
which did so much for the furtherance of Roman Catholicism in North
America is not due exclusively to the great cardinal, for Samuel de
Champlain can claim a large share of it. "The welfare of a soul," said
this pious founder of Quebec, "is more than the conquest of an empire,
and kings should think of extending their rule in infidel countries only
to assure therein the reign of Jesus Christ."
Think of the suffering endured, in order to save a soul, by men who for

this sublime purpose renounced all that constitutes the charm of life!
Not only did the Jesuits, in the early days of the colony, brave horrible
dangers with invincible steadfastness, but they even consented to
imitate the savages, to live their life, to learn their difficult idioms. Let
us listen to this magnificent testimony of the Protestant historian
Bancroft:--
"The horrors of a Canadian life in the wilderness were resisted by an
invincible, passive courage, and a deep, internal tranquillity. Away
from the amenities of life, away from the opportunities of vain-glory,
they became dead to the world, and possessed their souls in unalterable
peace. The few who lived to grow old, though bowed by the toils of a
long mission, still kindled with the fervour of apostolic zeal. The
history of their labours is connected with the origin of every celebrated
town in the annals of French Canada; not a cape was turned nor a river
entered but a Jesuit led the way."
Must we now recall the edifying deaths of the sons of Loyola, who
brought the glad tidings of the gospel to the Hurons?--Father Jogues,
who returned from the banks of the Niagara with a broken shoulder and
mutilated hands, and went back, with sublime persistence, to his
barbarous persecutors, to pluck from their midst the palm of martyrdom;
Father Daniel, wounded by a spear while he was absolving the dying in
the village of St. Joseph; Father Brébeuf, refusing to escape with the
women and children of the hamlet of St. Louis, and expiring, together
with Father Gabriel Lalemant, in the most frightful tortures that Satan
could suggest to the imagination of a savage; Father Charles Garnier
pierced with three bullets, and giving up the ghost while blessing his
converts; Father de Noue dying on his knees in the snow!
These missions had succumbed in 1648 and 1649 under the attacks of
the Iroquois. The venerable founder of St. Sulpice, M. Olier, had
foreseen this misfortune; he had always doubted the success of
missions so extended and so widely scattered without a centre of
support sufficiently strong to resist a systematic and concerted attack of
all their enemies at once. Without disapproving the despatch of these
flying columns of missionaries which visited tribe after tribe (perhaps

the only possible method in a country governed by pagan chiefs), he
believed that another system of preaching the gospel would produce,
perhaps with less danger, a more durable effect in the regions protected
by the flag of France. Taking up again the thought of the Benedictine
monks, who have succeeded so