Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/702

 CHARLIER

632

CHARLOTTETOWN

of these Countries. With reflections on the Mistakes the French have committed in carrying on their Trade and Settlements; and the most proper method of pro- ceeding pointed out. Including also an account of the Author's Shipwreck in the Channel of the Baha- mas, and return in a boat to the Mississippi, along the Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, with his voyage from thence to St. Domingo and back to France." John Gilmary Shea issued a translation in six volumes (New York, 1866-72). The edition, limited to 25 copies in quarto and 250 in octavo, contains several portraits engraved on copper (ef . J. R. G. Hassard, in Catholic World, September, 1873). (5) "Histoire du Para- guay" (3 vols., 4to, Paris, 1756; 6 vols., 12mo, Paris, 1757; tr.,2vols.,8vo, London, 1769). (6) "Eulogy on Cardinal de Polignac", published in the "Me'moiresde Trevoux", 1742. pp. 1053 -1091. (7) " Suggestions for a History of the New World ' ', founded upon the chron- ological records of America, also in the "Memoires de Trevoux", 1735, pp. 161-172, and inserted in the "History of New France".

What the critics thought of his works may be found in his own preface to " L'Histoire de la Nouvelle- France". One censor found the whole first volume useless, another complained that he was too concise. He is accused of depreciating Kampfer's work in the "Histoire du Japon" and of having given too much space to religious matters. Rochemonteix, though regarding him as a "historien <le valeur", finds fault with him for occasional carelessness and for differing somewhat in his history from the accounts of the mis- sionaries. With regard to his "Histoire de la Nou- velle-France ", John Gilmary Shea says that "it is too well known and too highly esteemed both for style and matter to need any explanation of its scope or object. The praise of Gibbon will alone assure the reader that as an historical work it is of no inconsiderable merit".

Shea, Sistory of New France (translation, New York, 1866- 72) ; Rochemonteix, Le.s- Jesuties et la Nourelle-France au XVIIe svele (Paris. lS9.")-96>, III, 367; Thwaites, Jesuit Relations (Cleveland, 1S96-1901), index. 149; Michaud, Biog. Univ., VII, 6"'S; Sommeryogel, Bibl. de la c. de J., II, 1075-

ioso. E. P. Spillane.

Charlier, Jean. See Gerson.

Charlottetown, Diocese of (Carolinapolitana), includes all Prince Edward Island (formerly called St. John's Island), the smallest province of the Dominion of Canada. It is situated in the southern waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and, together with the Magdalen Islands lying about sixty miles to the north-east of it, constitutes a diocese which takes its name from Charlottetown, the chief town of Prince Edward Island. The history of Catholicity in the territory now comprised in the Diocese of Char- lottetown goes back to the year 1719, when all the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence were granted by the King of France to Count Saint-Pierre, a noble- man of his court. t'ii tci that time the population of Prince Edward Island consisted of a few Indians, but on its concession to Count Saint-Pierre immigra- tion set in, and soon a number of settlements were formed, the chief one being at Port La Joie, where the count had established his head-quarters. The first priest to labour in the new colony was Rene- Charles De Breslay, a Sulpician who came from Prance in April, 1721, and who was joined a few months later by Marie-Anselme de Metivier, a priest

of the same community. These I wo priests remained only about two years, anil on their return to France their place was taken by Franciscans, who for thirty years ministered to the spiritual wants of the colony. Meanwhile, by the influx of settlers from France and Acadia, the population had so increased that a sys- p in of parochial organization became necessary, and parishes were gradually formed, to preside over which four priests came from Prance by request of the Bishop of Quebec, whose diocese then comprised

the whole of Canada. Thus, in 1753, five priests laboured in Prince Edward Island, viz., Father Girard at Point Prim, Father Cassiet at Scotchfort, Father Biscaret at St. Peter's, Father Dosquet at Malpeque, and Father Aubr£, a Franciscan, at Port La Joie. PJnfortunately, these prosperous conditions did not long endure. They gave way before the English in- vasion of 1758, when most of the people were driven out, the churches razed to the ground, and the clergy forced to leave the country. For these reasons Prince Edward Island was without a resident priest from 1758 till 1772, when there arrived an immigration of Scottish Catholics, accompanied by a priest, the Rev. James Macdonald, who continued in charge of the whole colony till his death in 1785. Five years later a second band of Scottish Catholics came to swell the population, bringing with them the Rev. Angus Bernard MacEachern, the most striking figure in the early history of Catholicity in the Diocese of Char- lottetown.

At this time Father Le Roux laboured in the Mag- dalen Islands, having been sent thither by the Bishop of Quebec to minister to the Acadians who had settled in that locality. He built a small church at. the foot of Demoiselle Mountain on Amherst Island, where he remained till 1793, when he was succeeded by Father Alain. In 1798 two priests, Father De Calonne and Father Pichard, came to Prince Edward Island and took up their residence, the former in Charlottetown, the latter at Rustico. The first bishop to visit Prince Edward Island was the Rt. Rev. Pierre Denaut, Bishop of Quebec, who went there in the summer of 1803. In 1812 his successor, the Rt. Rev. Joseph-Octave Plessis, visited the Maritime Provinces, bringing with him a priest, the Rev. Jean-Louis Beaubien, whom he stationed at Rustico, and to whom he entrusted the spiritual care of all the Acadian missions in Prince Edward Island and the Magdalen Islands. In the year 1819 Father MacEachern was named titular Bishop of Rosea, and received episcopal consecration in Quebec 17 June, 1821. The following year witnessed the ordination at Quebec of the first native priest, Father Bernard Donald Macdonald, who returned home in the early autumn to take charge of the Acadian missions. The Bishop of Rosea at first was merely vicar-general to the Bishop of Quebec, and, though performing episcopal duties throughout the greater part of the Maritime Provinces, he did so without independent jurisdiction. But in August, 1829, Charlottetown was raised to the dignity of an epis- copal see, and the Rt. Rev. Angus Bernard MacEach- ern became its first bishop. Besides Prince Edward Island and the Magdalen Islands, the new diocese comprised the whole of New Brunswick.

On taking possession of his see, one of the first duties to devolve on Bishop MacEachern was to establish an institution for the education of students destined for the priesthood, and accordingly St. Andrew's College was founded at St. Andrews, Prince Edward Island, in November, 1831. On 22 April, 1835, the first Bishop of Charlottetown died and was succeeded by the Rev. Bernard Donald Macdonald, consecrated bishop at Quebec, 15 Octo her. 1837. Five years later the diocese was dismem- bered. New Brunswick being made a separate dio- cese, with the see at St. John. Bishop Macdonald closed the college at St. Andrews in L844, and in (lie beginning of the year 1855 the present College of St. Dunstan opened' its doors to its first students. On the 28th of September. 1S57, four sisters of the

Congregation of Notre-Dame opened a convent in

Charlottetown, where they began to give instruction to about sixteen pupils! Bishop Macdonald was called to his reward 30 December, 1859. and in the following year his successor, the Rt. Rev. Peter Maclntyre, received episcopal consecration in the