The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval | Page 3

well in other countries, M. Olier and
the other founders of Montreal wished to establish a centre of fervent
piety which should accomplish still more by example than by preaching.
The development and progress of religious work must increase with the
material importance of this centre of proselytism. In consequence,
success would be slow, less brilliant, but surer than that ordinarily
obtained by separate missions. This was, at least, the hope of our
fathers, and we of Quebec would seem unjust towards Providence and
towards them if, beholding the present condition of the two seminaries
of this city, of our Catholic colleges, of our institutions of every kind,
and of our religious orders, we did not recognize that their thought was
wise, and their enterprise one of prudence and blessed by God.
Up to 1658 New France belonged to the jurisdiction of the Bishops of
St. Malo and of Rouen. At the time of the second voyage of Cartier, in
1535, his whole crew, with their officers at their head, confessed and
received communion from the hands of the Bishop of St. Malo. This
jurisdiction lasted until the appointment of the first Bishop of New
France. The creation of a diocese came in due time; the need of an
ecclesiastical superior, of a character capable of imposing his authority
made itself felt more and more. Disorders of all kinds crept into the
colony, and our fathers felt the necessity of a firm and vigorous arm to
remedy this alarming state of affairs. The love of lucre, of gain easily
acquired by the sale of spirituous liquors to the savages, brought with it
evils against which the missionaries endeavoured to react.
François de Laval-Montmorency, who was called in his youth the Abbé
de Montigny, was, on the recommendation of the Jesuits, appointed
apostolic vicar by Pope Alexander VII, who conferred upon him the
title of Bishop of Petræa in partibus. The Church in Canada was then
directly connected with the Holy See, and the sovereign pontiff
abandoned to the king of France the right of appointment and
presentation of bishops having the authority of apostolic vicars.

The difficulties which arose between Mgr. de Laval and the Abbé de
Queylus, Grand Vicar of Rouen for Canada, were regrettable, but,
thanks to the truly apostolic zeal and the purity of intention of these
two men of God, these difficulties were not long in giving place to a
noble rivalry for good, fostered by a perfect harmony. The Abbé de
Queylus had come to take possession of the Island of Montreal for the
company of St. Sulpice, and to establish there a seminary on the model
of that in Paris. This creation, with that of the hospital established by
Mlle. Mance, gave a great impetus to the young city of Montreal.
Moreover, religion was so truly the motive of the foundation of the
colony by M. Olier and his associates, that the latter had placed the
Island of Montreal under the protection of the Holy Virgin. The priests
of St. Sulpice, who had become the lords of the island, had already
given an earnest of their labours; they too aspired to venerate martyrs
chosen from their ranks, and in the same year MM. Lemaître and
Vignal perished at the hands of the wild Iroquois.
Meanwhile, under the paternal direction of Mgr. de Laval, and the
thoroughly Christian administration of governors like Champlain, de
Montmagny, d'Ailleboust, or of leaders like Maisonneuve and Major
Closse, Heaven was pleased to spread its blessings upon the rising
colony; a number of savages asked and received baptism, and the
fervour of the colonists endured. The men were not the only ones to
spread the good word; holy maidens worked on their part for the glory
of God, whether in the hospitals of Quebec and Montreal, or in the
institution of the Ursulines in the heart of the city of Champlain, or,
finally, in the modest school founded at Ville-Marie by Sister
Marguerite Bourgeoys. It is true that the blood of the Indians and of
their missionaries had been shed in floods, that the Huron missions had
been exterminated, and that, moreover, two camps of Algonquins had
been destroyed and swept away; but nations as well as individuals may
promise themselves the greater progress in the spiritual life according
as they commence it with a more abundant and a richer record; and the
greatest treasure of a nation is the blood of the martyrs who have
founded it. Moreover, the fugitive Hurons went to convert their
enemies, and even from the funeral pyres of the priests was to spring
the spark of faith for all these peoples. Two hamlets were founded for

the converted Iroquois, those of the Sault St. Louis (Caughnawaga) and
of La Montagne at Montreal, and fervent neophytes gathered