Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/274

 CANADA CANADA companions remained at Quebec to look after the colonists and the neighbouring Indians. For ten years they made repeated journeys, opened schools for the young Indians, summoned recruits from France, among them Friar Viel, who was hurled into the Ottawa by an apostate Indian and drowned, and Friar Sagard, the first to publish a historyof Canada. Feeling themselves unable to carry on unaided a work of such importance, the Recollects sought the assist- ance of the Jesuits, whereupon Fathers Br^beuf, Charles Lallemant, and several others went to Canada (1625). But the united efforts of the missionaries were thwarted in a measure by the Merchant Company to which the King of France had conceded the colony. As the spirit of gain prevented the Company from help- ing the missionaries, and co-operating with them for the welfare of the country, it was suppressed by Louis XIII and Richelieu (1627), and replaced bythe"Com- pany of New France", also known as the "Company of the Hundred Associates", which pledged itself "to bring the peoples inhabiting Canada to a knowl- edge of God and to instruct them in the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Religion". These promises bore no fruit. In less than two years (1629) Quebec fell into the hands of David Kertk (Kirk) a native of Dieppe, who was battling for English interests. Acadia, with the exception of Fort Saint-Louis, had surrendered the preceding year. All the mission- aries returned to France. Canada belonged to England until 1632, when the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye restored it to France. Thereupon Cardinal Richelieu gave to the Jesuits the privilege of resuming their missions, and several of them set sail for Canada. Champlain, the governor, and Lauson, president of the "Company of the Hundred Associates" (Les Cent Assocics) lent them all possible aid. Father Lejeune organized religious services in Quebec, founded a mission at Three Rivers, and opened the College of Quebec (1635). In the meanwhile other Jesuits had estab- lished a mission at Miscou, an island at the entrance of the Baie des Chaleurs, whence they evangelized Gaspe, Acadia, and Cape Breton. For more than thirty years (1633-64) the chief results of their sacri- fices were the baptism of children in danger of death and the conversion of some adults. In 1664 the Recollects once more took charge of Acadia and of Gaspe. In the meantime Champlain had died (25 Dec, 1635) in the arms of Father Lallemant, rejoicing at the spread of the Faith. The ardour of the mis- sionaries did not cool. Father Lejeune followed the ivandering tribe of the Montagnais and returned with a definite plan of evangelization. It was profitable and even necessary, he argued, to establish missions among fixed and settled tribes like the Hurons, but this was useless among nomadic tribes. These wan- dering Indians must be induced to group themselves in villages near the French settlements, where they could be protected from hostile invasion and be taught to lead an industrious and settled life. Two settlements were made on this plan: one at Three Rivers and one near Quebec. In 1640, a new mission was opened at Tadousac, and it soon became a centre of Catholic evangelization. About this time nursing sisters and the first Ursu- lines arrived in Quebec from France. The former took charge of the H&tel-Dieu, which had been en- dowed by the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, a niece of Riche- lieu; the latter, under the celebrated Marie de l'lncar- nation, devoted themselves to the education of girls. Their protectress, Madame de la Peltrie, followed them. These heroic women vied with one another in their zeal for the conversion of the savages. Mean- while the "Company of Associates" paid no more re- gard to its obligations than had its predecessors. It attracted few colonists, did nothing towards the civilization of the Indians, and showed no interest in the spread of the Faith. On the other hand the Iro- quois were daily becoming more menacing. In 1641 Governor de Montmagny had to conduct a cam- paign against them. At this juncture the "Company of Montreal" was formed, which proposed, without laying any burden on the king, the clergy, or t he people, "to promote the glory of God and the establishment of religion in New France". This inspiration of two men of God, Jean- Jacques Olier and Jerome de la Dauversiere, encouraged by Pope Urban VIII, found in Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve a faithful instrument of its purpose. The new association pur- chased from M. de Lauson of the old company the island of Montreal (1640). Less than two years later Maisonneuve, at the head of a little band of chosen Christians, among them Jeanne Mance, future found- ress of the Hotel-Dieu, landed on the island and laid the foundations of Ville-Marie, or Montreal (IS May. 1642). We shall not recall the energy, vigilance, and resourcefulness required of Maisonneuve to strengthen and develop the infant colony, nor recount the heroic struggles made for thirty years by the colonists against the Iroquois. In 1653 there arrived at Montreal Marguerite Bourgeoys, foundress of the Congregation of Notre Dame, which has been so great an educa- tional factor in Canada and the United States. Four years later M. Olier, then on his death-bed, sent the first four Sulpicians, with M. de Queylus at their head. to Montreal, whither he himself had ardently desired to go. Meanwhile the Jesuits were actively prosecuting their labours among the Indians. For them the era of martyrdoms had arrived. The years 1648-49 saw the destruction of the flourishing mission of the Hurons, at which eighteen Jesuits had toiled for nearly ten years. In the course of their apostolic journeys they traversed the region lying between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. scarcely ever meet- ing in their residence of Sainte-Marie, save for their annual retreat. They had won many Christians to the Faith before the incursion of the Iroquois, a mas- sacre of extermination to which Fathers Daniel, Bre- beuf, G. Lallemant, Gamier, and Chabanel fell victims. Fathers Brebeuf and Lallemant succumbed before the atrocious tortures practised upon them, mingled with buffoon gibes at their religion. They were burned at a slow fire, lacerated, and mutilated with a devilish ingenuity which aimed to prolong life and drag out their sufferings. Their firmness in supporting all these horrors in order to strengthen the faith of the Hurons doomed to death like themselves has earned for them from the people the title of martyrs. The Hurons who escaped from the fury of the Iroquois took refuge, some in Manitoulin Island, others in He Saint-Joseph (Christian Island) in Georgian Bay. In the spring of 1650 this remnant came down to the He d'Orleans, near Quebec. Three years prior to the massacre of the Hurons, the Iroquois had murdered Father Isaac Jogues (18 Oct., 1646), who had at- tempted a third missionary journey to one of their tribes, the Agniers. It should be said that lather Bressani had escaped from these barbarians only with the greatest difficulty, and that Father Buteux per- ished in one of their ambushes (1652). These and other acts of violence had made the Iroquois a terror to the French colony. Montreal owed its safety solely to the heroic courage of Maisonneuve and Lam- bert Closse, and to the heroism of young Dollard. The year 1659 marks the beginning of the eccle- siastical hierarchy in Canada. Op to that time the missionaries regarded themselves first as directly de- pendent on the Holy See, and afterwards for some time as under the authority of the Archbishop of Rouen. Rightly or wrongly, the latter looked upon Canada as subject to his jurisdiction in matters spiritual, and acted accordingly. Neither t lie French Government nor the sovereign pontiff opposed this as