The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval | Page 5

opposition on its part to the new masters of the country could only have
drawn upon the whole population a bitter oppression, and we would not
behold to-day the prosperity of these nine ecclesiastical provinces of
Canada, with their twenty-four dioceses, these numerous parishes
which vie with each other in the advancement of souls, these
innumerable religious houses which everywhere are spreading
education or charity. The Act of Quebec in 1774 delivered our fathers
from the unjust fetters fastened on their freedom by the oath required
under the Supremacy Act; but it is to the prudence of Mgr. Plessis in
particular that Catholics owe the religious liberty which they now
enjoy.
To-day, when passions are calmed, when we possess a full and
complete liberty of conscience, to-day when the different religious
denominations live side by side in mutual respect and tolerance of each
other's convictions, let us give thanks to the spiritual guides who by
their wisdom and moderation, but also by their energetic resistance
when it was necessary, knew how to preserve for us our language and
our religion. Let us always respect the worthy prelates who, like those
who direct us to-day, edify us by their tact, their knowledge and their
virtues.
CHAPTER II
THE EARLY YEARS OF FRANÇOIS DE LAVAL
Certain great men pass through the world like meteors; their brilliance,
lightning-like at their first appearance, continues to cast a dazzling
gleam across the centuries: such were Alexander the Great, Mozart,
Shakespeare and Napoleon. Others, on the contrary, do not instantly
command the admiration of the masses; it is necessary, in order that

their transcendent merit should appear, either that the veil which
covered their actions should be gradually lifted, or that, some fine day,
and often after their death, the results of their work should shine forth
suddenly to the eyes of men and prove their genius: such were Socrates,
Themistocles, Jacquard, Copernicus, and Christopher Columbus.
The illustrious ecclesiastic who has given his name to our
French-Canadian university, respected as he was by his contemporaries,
has been esteemed at his proper value only by posterity. The reason is
easy to understand: a colony still in its infancy is subject to many
fluctuations before all the wheels of government move smoothly, and
Mgr. de Laval, obliged to face ever renewed conflicts of authority, had
necessarily either to abandon what he considered it his duty to support,
or create malcontents. If sometimes he carried persistence to the verge
of obstinacy, he must be judged in relation to the period in which he
lived: governors like Frontenac were only too anxious to imitate their
absolute master, whose guiding maxim was, "I am the state!" Moreover,
where are the men of true worth who have not found upon their path
the poisoned fruits of hatred? The so-called praise that is sometimes
applied to a man, when we say of him, "he has not a single enemy,"
seems to us, on the contrary, a certificate of insignificance and
obscurity. The figure of this great servant of God is one of those which
shed the most glory on the history of Canada; the age of Louis XIV, so
marvellous in the number of great men which it gave to France,
lavished them also upon her daughter of the new continent--Brébeuf
and Lalemant, de Maisonneuve, Dollard, Laval, Talon, de la Salle,
Frontenac, d'Iberville, de Maricourt, de Sainte-Hélène, and many
others.
"Noble as a Montmorency" says a well-known adage. The founder of
that illustrious line, Bouchard, Lord of Montmorency, figures as early
as 950 A.D. among the great vassals of the kingdom of France. The
heads of this house bore formerly the titles of First Christian Barons
and of First Barons of France; it became allied to several royal houses,
and gave to the elder daughter of the Church several cardinals, six
constables, twelve marshals, four admirals, and a great number of
distinguished generals and statesmen. Sprung from this family, whose

origin is lost in the night of time, François de Laval-Montmorency was
born at Montigny-sur-Avre, in the department of Eure-et-Loir, on April
30th, 1623. This charming village, which still exists, was part of the
important diocese of Chartres. Through his father, Hugues de Laval,
Seigneur of Montigny, Montbeaudry, Alaincourt and Revercourt, the
future Bishop of Quebec traced his descent from Count Guy de Laval,
younger son of the constable Mathieu de Montmorency, and through
his mother, Michelle de Péricard, he belonged to a family of hereditary
officers of the Crown, which was well-known in Normandy, and gave
to the Church a goodly number of prelates.
Like St. Louis, one of the protectors of his ancestors, the young
François was indebted to his mother for lessons and examples of piety
and of charity which he never forgot. Virtue, moreover, was as natural
to the Lavals as