on what they were formerly and what they are now. Formerly they were
ferocious idolaters, now they are gentle and they know the true God.
If the Government had chosen to help us we could have done for the
Esquimaux what the early missionaries did for the people of which we
speak; and even these latter for whom we have worked would, without
doubt, have become much more civilized. We would have ventured to
promise to make of them, not only well instructed and perfect
Christians, but also good laborers and good workmen, in a word, good
citizens who would be useful to society and not a burden to the State
as they have hitherto been. The way in which they have profited by the
few lessons that they have received from us on agriculture is a proof
of the success that we should have had. We have worked with them and
our example has encouraged them. It is well that they know how to farm
a little, for instance, how to plant potatoes, for the country is
beginning to be populous, and they do not find enough game to subsist
upon, and there are times when they cannot fish. It is then charitable
as well as necessary to teach them to gain their livelihood in some
other way. But all that is only a small part of the good that we
propose to do; to work efficaciously at the saving of their souls, to
render them humble, sober, industrious, charitable, &c., from
religious principles which is the way by which we hope to complete and
perfect the good work. Not having succeeded so far in making an
establishment of any consequence, by reason of want of means, we have
contented ourselves with forming a little school for girls, more
especially for the young Micmac squaws. This school is taught by three
excellent women, natives of the place, who live as religious of the
third order of La Trappe, until such time as they can establish a
house of the first order. They have already gone through a year of
novitiate at the convent of the Ladies of the Congregation of
Montreal, in Canada, which congregation was founded by Sister
Bourgeoys, as one reads in the history of the discovery of that great
country. These three women are stationed in the parish of Pomquete,
one of the three parishes with which I am especially charged, and of
which mention has been made at the beginning of this narrative. It is
a good little parish, composed of French people, born most of them at
St Malo, Dinan or Grandville. When I left these poor people in order
to return to France, they were inconsolable, fearing they would have
no priest. They called a meeting to discuss what they should do in the
event of so sad a situation. Many were resolved to follow me with the
hope of bringing me back, or of returning with another priest. All
were agreed to pay the passage of the missionary who should come to
them, as well as to undertake to supply all that might be necessary
for food or raiment while he should be with them. One man named
Dominique Phillippar, born in Paris, and a resident of Pomquett for
about thirty years, was chosen for an important errand. He was to
accompany me to France, and to entreat the Reverend Father Abbot, my
Superior, that I or some other member of our Order might return with
him. In case that could not be managed, we were by his recommendation
and through his instrumentality to address ourselves to the Bishop,
asking for some zealous priests who were willing to consecrate
themselves to the North American missions, and to minister to people
who had no spiritual help. His place was secured in the ship that took
me to France, but as he had not arrived from his parish when we set
sail, he lost his passage, the ship having sailed a day earlier than
was expected. Doubtless the good man experienced poignant regret. He
was ready to journey almost two thousand leagues (including going and
coming) in order to get a priest. This fact illustrates the faith and
zeal for religion existing in the Catholics of these countries. I hope
that God who is often satisfied with our good will and who permitted
this event, will inspire some good ecclesiastics with the desire of
going to the aid of these poor souls who so well deserve assistance.
When we arrived in America we found most Catholics well disposed.
Their religion was obscured, but they seemed to be impressed with the
first invitations or instructions that we gave them; of this they gave
exterior proof, such as building churches, erecting crosses on the
roadside, establishing Calvaries, and making the way of the cross, a
devotion which touches the heart and bears excellent fruit. I, myself,
have often been witness of the good effect produced by the Stations,
and it is not long since one of my parishoners who was given over to
drunkenness was completely converted after assisting at this devotion.
He threw himself at my feet dissolved in tears, made his confession,
and since that time he has always been extremely sober and filled with
the fear of God. I often make the Stations in the different places
where I go to hold missions, and as I have remarked a change for the
better in the manners and in the amusements, the dancing, vanities,
&c, of the people, I attribute it to the grace attached to the
devotion of the way of the cross.
Those who have resolved to go over to those countries will do well
to procure the faculty for establishing this precious devotion
everywhere.
_Ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur caelestium, terrestrium et
infernorum. Ad Philippenses, 2 10_.
"At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, whether in heaven, or on
earth, or in hell."
[Footnote: The Procession of the most Holy Sacrament made by the
Indians of Cape Breton and the Bras d'Or has not been mentioned in
these pages, as it took place since this narrative was written.]
* * * * *
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
The foregoing very imperfect translation of Father Vincent de Paul's
quaint narrative, is published at the request of the leading clergy
of Antigonish County, that section of Eastern Nova Scotia in which
the holy Trappist so long lived and labored.
The original from which the translation was made, was printed in
France in the year 1824, and, as far as is known, is the only copy in
Canada. It was for many years lying _perdu_ in the old convent
of the Trappistine Sisters, in Tracadie, Nova Scotia, where it was
discovered in the autumn of 1883. It is interspersed with corrections
and footnotes in the pious monk's own handwriting and was printed at
a private press, in the Trappist Monastery at Bellefontaine, France.
Father Vincent's labors were, generally speaking, confined to the
district over which he presided, but occasionally in cases of urgent
need, he would be sent for to administer the Sacraments to the dying
in Prince Edward Island. Old Catholic residents along the northern
and eastern shores of King's County, will tell how, with Father
Vincent seated in the prow, the smallest boat would ride safely over
an angry sea.
His apostolic zeal it was that kept the Faith alive in Eastern Nova
Scotia, in the days when, with the exception of a few French
missions, it lived only in the hearts of the poor Micmac Indians.
Before his death, however, he had the happiness of seeing the
Catholic religion firmly rooted in the land he so loved, by the
arrival and establishment there of the loyal Highlanders, who by
their energy and perseverance have changed the desert through which
Father Vincent made his perilous journeys into a beautiful and
fertile country.
To the Right Rev. Dr. Cameron for his kindness in writing the
preface, to the Rev. Clergy for their liberal patronage, and to the
Trappistine Sisters for the loan of the original copy of Father
Vincent's book, are due the most grateful thanks of
THE TRANSLATOR.
Charlottetown, P.E. Island, 18th June, 1886.
[Transcriber's Note: The words "mattrass," "preceeded," "shreded,"
"tractible," and "transparancy" appear thus in our print copy; also,
"Pomquet" is variously spelled as "Pomquet," "Pomquett," and
"Pomquete"; we have retained these spellings as they appeared in the
published work.]