Page:The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 19.djvu/734

724 other, he had a wife, six children, and a very moderate fortune. Again, there was at Paris a young priest, about twenty-eight years of age, — Jean Jacques Olier, afterwards widely known as founder of the Seminary of St Sulpice. Judged by his engraved por- trait, his countenance, though marked both with energy and intellect, was anything but prepossessing. Every lineament proclaims the priest. Yet the Abbd Olier has high titles to es- teem. He signalized his piety, it is true, by the most disgusting exploits of self-mortification ; but, at the same time, he was strenuous in his efforts to reform the people and the clergy. So zealous was he for good morals, that be drew upon himself the imputa- tion of a leaning to the heresy of the Jansenists, — a suspicion strengthened by his opposition to certain priests, who, to secure the faithful in their alle- giance, justified them in lives of licen- tioysness. Yet Oiler's catholicity was past attaintment, and in his horror of Jansenists he yielded to the Jesuits alone. He was praying in the ancient church of St. Germain des Pr^s, when, like Dauversi^re, he thought he heard a voice from Heaven, saying that he was destined to be a light to the Gentiles. It is recorded as a mystic coincidence attending this miracle, that the choir was at that very time chanting the words, Lumen ad revelationem Gen- tium ; and it seems to have occurred neither to Olier nor to his biogra- pher, that, falling on the ear of the rapt worshipper, they might have un- consciously suggested the supposed revelation. But there was a further miracle. An inward voice told Olier that he was to form a society of priests, and establish them on the island called Montreal, in Canada, for the propaga- tion of the True Faith ; and writers old and recent assert, that, while both he and Dauversi^re were totally ignorant of Canadian geography, they suddenly found themselves in possession, they knew not how, of the most exact de- tails concerning Montreal, its size, shape, situation, soil, climate, and pro- ductions. The annual volumes of the Jesuit Relations^ issuing from the renowned press of Cramoisy, were at this time spread broadcast throughout France, and in the circles of haute devotton Canada and its missions were every- where the themes of enthusiastic dis- cussion ; while Champlain, in his pub- lished works, had long before pointed out Montreal as the proper site for a settlement But we are entering a re- gion of miracle, and it is superfluous to look far for explanations. The iUusioo, in these cases, is a part of the history. Dauversi^re pondered the revelation he had received ; and the more he pon- dered, the more was he convinced that it came from God. He therefore set out for Paris, to find some means of accomplishing the task assigned him. Here, as he prayed before an image of the Virgin in the church of Notre Dame, he fell into an ecstasy, and be- held a vision. "I should be £(dse to the integrity of history," writes his biographer, "if I did not relate it here.** And he adds, that the reality of this celestial favor is past doubting, inas- much as Dauversi^re himself told it to his daughters. Christ, the Virgin, and St Joseph appeared before him. He saw them distinctly. Then he heard Christ ask three times of his Virgin Mother, " Where can I find a faithfid servant ? " On which, the Virgin, tak- ing him (Dauversi^re) by the hand, replied, " See, Lord, here is that faithful servant ! " and Christ, with a benignant smile, received him into his service, promising to bestow on him wisdom and strength to do his work. From Paris he went to the neighboring cha- teau of Meudon, which overlooks the valley of the Seine, not fiur firom St Coud. Entering the gallery of the old castle, he saw a priest approaching him. It was Olier. Now we are told that neither of these men hid ever seen or heard of the other ; and yet, sajrs the pious historian, '* impelled by a kind of inspiration, they knew each other at once, even to the depths of their