The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval | Page 7

fact, had left his family in a rather precarious condition of fortune. He
was to remain to the end of his career the pupil of his preferred masters,
for it was under them that, having at the age of nineteen left the
institution where he had brilliantly completed his classical education,
he studied philosophy and theology at the Collège de Clermont at Paris.
He was plunged in these noble studies, when two terrible blows fell
upon him; he learned of the successive deaths of his two eldest brothers,
who had fallen gloriously, one at Freiburg, the other at Nördlingen. He
became thus the head of the family, and as if the temptations which this
title offered him were not sufficient, bringing him as it did, together
with a great name a brilliant future, his mother came, supported by the
Bishop of Evreux, his cousin, to beg him to abandon the ecclesiastical
career and to marry, in order to maintain the honour of his house. Many
others would have succumbed, but what were temporal advantages to a
man who had long aspired to the glory of going to preach the Divine
Word in far-off missions? He remained inflexible; all that his mother
could obtain from him was his consent to devote to her for some time
his clear judgment and intellect in setting in order the affairs of his
family. A few months sufficed for success in this task. In order to place
an impassable abyss between himself and the world, he made a full and

complete renunciation in favour of his brother Jean-Louis of his rights
of primogeniture and all his titles to the seigniory of Montigny and
Montbeaudry. The world is ever prone to admire a chivalrous action,
and to look askance at deeds which appear to savour of fanaticism. To
Laval this renunciation of worldly wealth and honour appeared in the
simple light of duty. His Master's words were inspiration enough: "Wist
ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"
Returning to the Collège de Clermont, he now thought of nothing but
of preparing to receive worthily the holy orders. It was on September
23rd, 1647, at Paris, that he saw dawn for him the beautiful day of the
first mass, whose memory perfumes the whole life of the priest. We
may guess with what fervour he must have ascended the steps of the
holy altar; if up to that moment he had merely loved his God, he must
on that day have dedicated to Jesus all the powers of his being, all the
tenderness of his soul, and his every heart-beat.
Mgr. de Péricard, Bishop of Evreux, was not present at the ordination
of his cousin; death had taken him away, but before expiring, besides
expressing his regret to the new priest for having tried at the time,
thinking to further the aims of God, to dissuade him from the
ecclesiastical life, he gave him a last proof of his affection by
appointing him archdeacon of his cathedral. The duties of the
archdeaconry of Evreux, comprising, as it did, nearly one hundred and
sixty parishes, were particularly heavy, yet the young priest fulfilled
them for seven years, and M. de la Colombière explains to us how he
acquitted himself of them: "The regularity of his visits, the fervour of
his enthusiasm, the improvement and the good order which he
established in the parishes, the relief of the poor, his interest in all sorts
of charity, none of which escaped his notice: all this showed well that
without being a bishop he had the ability and merit of one, and that
there was no service which the Church might not expect from so great a
subject."
But our future Bishop of New France aspired to more glorious fields.
One of those zealous apostles who were evangelizing India at this
period, Father Alexander of Rhodes, asked from the sovereign pontiff

the appointment for Asia of three French bishops, and submitted to the
Holy See the names of MM. Pallu, Picquet and Laval. There was no
question of hesitation. All three set out immediately for Rome. They
remained there fifteen months; the opposition of the Portuguese court
caused the failure of this plan, and François de Laval returned to France.
He had resigned the office of archdeacon the year before, 1653, in
favour of a man of tried virtue, who had been, nevertheless, a prey to
calumny and persecution, the Abbé Henri-Marie Boudon; thus freed
from all responsibility, Laval could satisfy his desire of preparing
himself by prayer for the designs which God might have for him.
In his desire of attaining the greatest possible perfection, he betook
himself to Caen, to the religious retreat of M. de Bernières. St. Vincent
de Paul, who had trained M. Olier, was desirous