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approval (1755). He aided the victims of the plague in 1746, 1757, and 1758, enabled the Ursulines to re- build their convent at Three Rivers, destroyed by fire (1752), and retrieved a similar disaster fallen upon the Quebec Hotel-Dieu (1755). In his pastoral let- ters, he exhorted the clergy to grant to the king for his wars a part of their tithes and encouraged Cana- dians to do their duty to their country, recalling the fate of the Acadians in 1755. During the siege of Quebec, broken in health by work and cares, he retired to a nearby parish and could see after the sun'ender, his palace and the seminary, the churches of the Jesuits and the Recollects greatly damaged by bullets and shells, half of the city houses, the church of the Lower-Town and the cathedral, which he had recently (1744-9) rebuilt on a larger scale, entirely destroyed. (7) Jean-Olivier Briand (q. v.), bishop from 1766 to 1784. One of the vicars-general charged with the administration of the diocese during the vacancy, he ruled the district of Quebec. The Canadians, by two delegates, and the chapter, by an address, had en- treated the King of England to maintain the Catholic hierarchy. More successful than the Abbe Mont- golfier, rejected by England, the Abbe Briand, elected by the chapter in his place, was indirectly notified that the Government would not oppose his consecra- tion, which took place in Paris (1766). He had to thwart the intentions of England of angUcizing her new subjects in faith and language. Circumstances besides seemed most unfavourable. The population, 42,000 in 17.39, was in 1760, 60,000; of 181 priests only 138 remained. The Recollects and Jesuits were forbidden to receive novices. The chapter, prevented from filling its vacancies, soon died. Canonically notified — or not (it may be doubted) — of the suppres- sion of their order, the Jesuits were left, until the death of the last. Father Casot (1800), in peaceful possession of their estates, which were afterwards for- feited to the Crown. In Louisiana they had been all banished after 1763, with the e?vception of Father Meurin, and their several chapels among the Illinois destroyed, while the properties of the mission of the Tamarois were sold for a farthing by the Abbe Forget- Duverger, the last priest sent by the seminary. The Recollects disappeared one by one. Father Berey, the superior, who received an annuity of £500, dying in 1800, and the last priest of the order, in 1813. The college of the Jesuits having been changed into mili- tary stores and barracks, the hope of education rested upon the seminary of Quebec, where classes opened in 1765. The loyalty of the bishop during the American War of Independence greatly contributed to obtain rehgious liberty for Canada. He could write in 1775: ' ' Religion is perfectly free. I can exercise my ministry without any restriction." As a proof that he united firmness with the respect of civil authority, it may be remembered that he refused to take the Test Oath, until the formula was made acceptable to a Catholic, and once said to General Murray: "My head shall be cut off before allowing you to appoint priests to any parish." The Government granted him an annuity of £250 besides £150 for the episcopal palace that he had rebuilt and rented for public use. With three thousand francs voted by the clergy of France in 1765, it formed nearly all his revenue. Nevertheless, he found means for frequent and abundant charities. The number of parishes was about one hundred, more than twenty-five having been erected since the Con- quest. A pastoral letter of 1777 contains interesting statistics: 46,.323 births and 24,731 burials from 17.59 to 1769, and 43,995 births with 26,127 burials from 1769 to 1777, giving a net increase of 39,460 for the whole period between 1759 and 1777. From 1767 Bishop Briand regularly visited his diocese. He ordained ninety priests. Having been allowed by Rome, for fear of a vacancy, to choose and consecrate a coadjutor with future succession, he consecrated in

1772 the Bishop of Dorylsea and gave him authority in 1784.

(8) Louis-Philippe Mariauchau D'Esglis (q. v.) was the first Quebec bishop born in Canada. He was pastor of Saint-Pierre-d'Orleans and kept until his death his small parish. According to the Ursuline annals, in 1782 priests were very scarce and several parishes without pastors. Vacancies were quickly filled, whereas, in 1788-90, the number of parishes being 121, the census of 1790 numbers 146 priests, of whom 142 were in office. Returning Acadians settled in several of the maritime provinces and were served by Vicar-General Bourg and the Fathers Girouard, Le Roux, and Donat, of the congregation of the Holy Ghost, while the Irish and Scotch Catholics of the same region were attended by the Abbes Phelan and Jones, who resided at Halifax.

(9) Jean-Frangois Hubert (q. v.), consecrated Bishop of Almire and coadjutor of Quebec (1786),

filled the see from 1788 to 1797. Every year he spent three months visiting the religious communities and a part of his diocese. In 1795 he visited Baie-des- Chaleurs. He ordained 53 priests and confirmed 45,148 people. The number of priests, in 1794, was 160 for a population of 160,000 Cathohcs. During the French Revolution, 34 came from France. Nine were sent to Acadia and four to Upper Canada. The seminary of Montreal, on the verge of ruin, obtained re- cruits, and kept possession of its estates, which, thanks to the firmness of Bishops Plessis and Panet, were de- clared, under Queen Victoria, its lawful property. Bishop Hubert, to please Lord Dorchester, appointed coadjutor the Abb^ Bailly de Messein, parish priest of Pointe-aux-Trembles (Portneuf CO.), consecrated Bishop of Capsa in 1789. A distinguished man in some regards, successful missionary in Acadia (1767- 71), professor of the seminary (1772-7), and after- wards (1778-82) private teacher of the governor's children, he favoured the establishment of the mixed university contemplated by some New England loyal- ists settled in Canada, and which Bishop Hubert con- sidered and firmly opposed as an anti-Catholic agency. The coadjutor died in 1794, apologizing for his errors. Another and different coadjutor was chosen, Pierre Denault, to whom Bishop Hubert resigned his au- thority in 1797.

(10) Pierre Denault (q. v.) was pastor of Longueuil and kept his parish even after his consecration as Bishop of Canathe (1795). The parishes of Lower Canada numbered then about one hundred and forty, some of which he visited every year. He also visited Upper Canada in ISOl and 1802, and created, for English-speaking Catholics, the parishes of St. An- drew and St. Raphael, which he entrusted to Rev.