Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/672

 QUEBEC

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QUEBEC

with 30 students. — Female. — Ursulines*, Sisters of the Good Shepherd*, Congregation of Notre Dame, Serv- ants of the Holy Heart of Mary*, Dominican Sisters of the Infant Jesus*, Franciscan Missionaries of Mary*, Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus*, of Charity*, of Jesus- Marie*, of the Holy Family, of Charity of St. Louis*, of St. Francis of Assisi, of the African Missions (White Sisters)*, of St. Joseph of St. \'allier*, of the Perpetual Help*, of the Holy Redeemer (Redemptoristines)*, of the Precious Blood*, of Hope, and Cistercian Sisters (Trappistines)*.

StatistUs (1910): 359,000 CathoUcs; 510 secular and 100 regular priests; 21S parishes and 25 missions; 266 churches and chapels (only two parishes are ex- clusively composed of Irish or English Catholics; about fifteen are mixed, but mostly all with a much larger proportion of French-Canadians) ; 1 university (Laval) with 405 students, of whom 116 for theology; 3 colleges or seminaries with 1601 students; Laval Normal School, with 95 young ladies and 61 young men trained for teaching, and 174 other pupils; 49 academies and 143 high schools (ecoles modeles), with 27,579 children educated by 196 brothers, 745 sisters of different orders, 21 lay schoolmasters and 136 schoolmistresses; 1279 primary schools (ecoles elemen- taires), in which 14 brothers, lOS sisters, 4 school- masters and 1293 schoolmistresses give instruction to 43,933 children.

TtrcLes Ettques de Quibec (Quebec. 1S99); Mandements del (viques de Quibec (Quebec, 1887-1910); Le palais episcopal (Quebec, 1896); Journal d'un voyage en Europe par Mgr Plessis (Quebec, 1903); Journal des visiles pastorales de 1815-16. par Mgr Plessis (Quebec. 1903); Conciles de Quebec (Queljec, 1870- 18S8); Documents historiques sur la Noutelle France (Quebec, 1883-3); Jesuit Relations, ed. Thwattes (Cleveland, 1896-1901); GmsEJLV, Hist, du Canada (4th ed., Montreal, 18S2); Ferlaxd, Cours d'histoire (2nd ed., Quet)ec, 1882); Auguste Gosseun Vie de Mgr de Laral (Quebec, 1890) ; de Pontbriaxd, Mgr de Pontbriand (Paris, Champion. 1910); Les Ursulines de Quibec (Quebec, 1863-6); Casgraix, Hist, de VH6td-Dieu: AMtn^E GossEUX. U Instruction au Canada sous le regime fran^ais (Que- bec, 1911): MoKiCE, Diciionnaire des Canadiens et des Mitis fran^is de V Quest (Quet>ec, 1908); Idem, History of the Catholic Church in Western Canada (Toronto, 1910); Rapports sur les missions du diockse de Quibec (Quebec, 1839-74); Le SOOe anni- versaire de la fondation du Seminaire de Quebec (Quebec, 1863): Le premier concile pUnier de Quibec, priparation, seances solen- Tielles et allocutions (Quebec, 1910); Le £e centenaire de Verection du diodse de Quibec (Quebec, 1874); Soutenir des fites du SI, S2 et S3 }uin 1908 (Quebec. 1908); Mignault, Droit paroissial (Alontreal, 1S93) ; Rapport du surintendant de I'inslruction pubtique pour 1909-1910; Le Canada ecclisiastique (Montreal, 1911).

H. A. Scott.

Quebec, Province op. — Geography. — The prov- ince of Quebec occupies mainly the two slopes of the vast basin formed by the St. Lawrence River whose course runs chiefly between the Laurentian and Alle- ghany ranges. Its boundaries are: to the north, the district of I'ngava; to the northeast, Labrador; to the ea-st, the Gulf of St. Lawrence; to the south- east, New Brunswick, and the States of Maine and New Hampshire; to the south, the States of Vermont and New York, and the Counties of Glengarry and Prescott in Ontario; to the west, the pro\'ince of Ontario. Quebec is comprised between the 45th and 54th degrees of latitude north, and the 57th and 79th degrees of longitude west of Greenwich. Its area measures 354,873 square miles; about equal to that of the L'nited Kingdom, France, Belgium, and Holland united. No country in the world of the same extent possesses so many and so abundant waterways. chief of which are the St. Lawrence, discharging the Great Lakes, and navigable to its very source, and its principal tributaries: the Ottawa, the St. Maurice and the Saguenay, each of which surpasses in navi- gableness the largest rivers of Europe. Innumerable cascades falling from the Laurentian heights represent boundless mechanical forces; the forest resources of Quebec are still immense, and its asbestos mines the richest in the world. The principal cities are: —

Quebec, the capital, founded in 1608, population,

according to the last census (1901), 68,840; Montreal, founded 1642, population, exclusive of lately annexea municipalities, 267,730; Three Rivers, founded 1634, population, 9981; Sherbrooke, 11,765; Hull, 13,993; Valleyfield, 11,055. Quebec, the cap- ital, long enjoyed a political, military, and com- mercial superiority over all Canada. Although since surpassed in material prosperity, if still appeals to the scholar and student, teeming as it is with his- torical interest, while to the tourist it offers a ^^ew of magnificence and picturesqueness perhaps unique in the world. Here landed the discoverers of the country and the founders of the nation; hither came the bare-footed Recollect, the black-robed Jesuit, the Ursuhne and the hospital Sisters; here the noble and saintly Laval ruled the infant Church of New France; from hence the Faith radiated throughout North America. Here was bom Joliet, the discoverer of the Iklississippi; here the Wceroys held court; here flourished, from the verj- outset, many of the dearest devotions of the Church. Laval's first ca- thedral was dedicated in 1666 to the Immaculate (Conception; the cult of the Holy Family wasapproved in 1665, a fact lauded by Leo XIII in his Letter "Neminem fugit" (14 June, 1892); the first celebra- tion of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the New World took place in the Ursuline chapel (1700). Traditions of courtesy as well as of piety were created that have left their impress on the people's charac- ter. Almost the entire population of the province of Quebec, i. e. about five-six-ths, consists of French- Clanadians; the remainder comprises chiefly the descendants of Enghsh, Scotch, and Irish immi- grants. About 12,000 Indians and half-breeds of the Iroquois, Huron, Micmac, Abenaki, and Montagnais tribes occupy reservations in different sections of the province. With one or two exceptions, these abo- rigines are instructed by missionaries in their re- spective tongues, which they have faithfully preserved in spite of their environment.

Present Conditioxs. — Although there is no state religion, and freedom of worship is sanctioned by law, the immense majority of the population being Catholic in faith and practice, the relations between Church and State are, as a rule, harmonious. The hierarchy and clergy are habitually treated \\ith due consideration and respect, in recognition not only of their sacred character, but also of the efficient part they have ever taken in the moral as well as the social well-being of the countrj-. Pubhc order, education in every degree, agriculture, colonization, and even industry, all owe a debt to the influence of the Church, which the poUtical authorities are prone to recognize. In all puWic rehgious demonstrations, such as the procession of Corpus Christi, the digni- taries of the State occupy a prominent rank. The proNnnce of Quebec comprises three metropolitan sees: Quebec, Montreal, and Ottawa. That of Quebec counts four suffragran dioceses: Three Rivers, Rimouski, Chicoutimi, Nicolet, and one ^•icariate apostohc, the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The suffragan sees of Montreal are: St. Hyacinth, Sherbrooke, Valleyfield, and JoUette. The ecclesiastical pro%-ince of Ottawa, partly situated in Ontario, comprises the Diocese of Pembroke and the Vicariate Apostolic of Temiscamingue. The CathoHc population of the province, according to the last government census (190n,was 1,449,716, out of a total of 1,648,898. Later statistics (ecclesiasticalt, including 1910, show an increase for the two ecclesiastical provinces of Quebec and Montreal, and exclusive of that portion of the civil pro\-ince depending on the metropolitan See of Ottawa, of 163,611, gi\-ing a total Catholic population for 1910 of 1,613,327, Quebec and suf- fragan sees having a total of 731,609, and Montreal, with its suffragans, of 789, ,502. This increase in a province where race-suicide is unknown and families