CONTENTS—French Missionaries—First in 1615—Recollets—With Champlain—
Jesuits, in 1625—Valuable records—Bishopric of Quebec, 1674—First
Bishop of Canada, Laval—Rivalry—Power of Jesuits—Number of
Missionaries—Their “Relations”—First mission field; Bay Quinté
region—“Antient mission”—How founded—First missionaries—Kleus,
abbe D’Urfé—La Salle, to build a church—The ornaments and sacred
vessels—The site of the “Chappel,” uncertain—Bald Bluff, Carrying
Place—Silver crosses—Mission at Georgian Bay—The “Christian
Islands”—Chapel at Michilmicinac, 1679—The natives attracted—
Subjects of the French King—Francois Picquet—La Presentation—
_Soegasti_—The most important mission—The object—Six Nations—The
Missionary’s living—“Disagreeable expostulations”—Putting stomach
in order—Trout—Picquet’s mode of teaching Indians—The same
afterward adopted by Rev. W. Case—Picquet’s success—Picquet on a
voyage—At Fort Toronto—Mississaugas request—Picquet’s reply—A
slander—At Niagara, Oswego—At Frontenac—Grand reception—Return to
La Presentation—Picquet in the last French war—Returns to France—
By Mississippi—“Apostles of Peace”—Unseemly strife—Last of the
Jesuits in Canada.
THE FIRST FRENCH MISSIONARIES.
In introducing this subject, we propose first to glance at the original
French Missionaries, and then at the first Protestant Missionaries and
clergymen, who labored in the Atlantic Provinces.
The first missionaries of Christianity to America, came to Canada in the
year 1615. They were four in number, and belonged to the order of
Recollets, or Franciscans, of Spanish origin, a sect who attended to the
spiritual wants of the people without accepting any remuneration. Four
of these devoted men attended Champlain on his second visit to Canada in
1615. Three years later the Pope accorded the charge of missions in
Canada to the Recollets of Paris. In 1625 members of the society of
Jesus likewise entered the mission of America. Ignatius Loyola founded
the Jesuit society in 1521. These two orders of Roman Catholics,
especially the Jesuits, contributed much to the advancement of French
interests in Canada, and by their learning assisted greatly to elevate
the people. Side by side they traversed the vast wilderness of America,
with the intrepid explorers, and by their close observations, committed
to paper, they have left most valuable records of the country in its
primeval state; and the different tribes of savages that held possession
of the country.
Canada was “constituted an apostolic vicariate,” by the Pope, in 1657;
and became an episcopal see, named the Bishopric of Quebec, about 1673.
The first bishop of Canada was Francis de Laval, of the distinguished
house of Montmorency. The rivalry which existed between the Jesuits and
the Recollets, led to the withdrawal from the country of the latter. But
they returned again about 1669. They were welcomed by the people, who
preferred their self-supporting principles to the Jesuits, under Laval,
who required sustentation from them, which was exacted by a system of
tithes. The Jesuits became a very powerful ecclesiastical body, and
commanded even sufficient political influence to secure the recall of
the Governor, who was obnoxious to them, in 1665. Yet the people did not
like them, in their usurpation of temporal power. The second bishop of
Canada was M. de Saint Vallier, who was elevated to that position in
1688.
“Between the years 1635–1647, Canada was visited by eighteen Jesuit
missionaries.” It was due to these missionaries, who remained with, and
adapted themselves to the Indian tribes, that Canada held such a
position among the Aborigines. The relations of these missionaries are
of thrilling interest, and deserve the attention of all who desire to
become a student of history.
When there were no more than sixty inhabitants at Quebec, in 1620, the
Recollets had begun to erect a convent and chapel upon the banks of the
St. Charles River.
The Bay Quinté region may be regarded as the earliest mission field in
America. Of the four Missionaries who came with Champlain from France,
in 1615, one at least accompanied him in his journey up the Ottawa,
across to Georgian Bay, and down the Trent to the Bay. This was in July,
and Champlain was under the necessity of remaining in this region until
the following spring, in the meantime visiting several of the tribes all
along the north shore of Lake Ontario. During this period the zealous
Recollet earnestly labored to lay the foundation of Christianity among
the natives, and planted the “antient mission” spoken of by father
Picquet, 1751. We have positive statements to this effect. Probably when
Champlain returned to Montreal, in the spring of 1616, he was not
accompanied by the missionary; who stayed to establish the work he had
commenced. We find it stated that the earliest missionaries to this
region were M. Dolliere de Kleus, and Abbé D’Urfé, priests of the Saint
Sulpice Seminary. Picquet remarks that the ancient mission at the Bay
Quinté was established by Kleus and D’Urfé.
In June, 1571, DeCourcelles, as we have seen, visited Lake Ontario,
coming directly up the St. Lawrence. On this occasion, it is recorded,
he sent messages from Cataraqui “to a few missionaries residing among
the Indians.” Two years later, when Frontenac came, with a view of
establishing a fort, we find it stated that as he approached Cataraqui,
he was met by a canoe with the “Abbé D’Urfé, and the Captains of the
Five Nations.” The following year, 1674, LaSalle, in his petition for
the grant of Fort Frontenac, and adjacent lands, proposed “to build a
church when there will be 100 persons, meanwhile to entertain one or two
of the Recollet Friars to perform divine service, and administer the
sacraments there.” In the reply to this petition by the King, it was
stipulated that LaSalle should “cause a church to be erected within six
years of his grant.”
When Bradstreet, nearly a hundred years later, in 1751, captured Fort
Frontenac, the Commandant, M. de Moyan, obtained the promise from
Bradstreet, to “permit the ornaments and sacred vessels of the chappel
to be removed in the luggage of the Chaplain.”
By the foregoing, we learn the interesting fact, that for 150 years
before the capture of Canada by the English, and nearly 170 before Upper
Canada was first settled, there existed at the Bay Quinté an active
mission of Roman Catholic Christianity. The exact location of the
“chappel” cannot be fixed; but there is every reason to suppose that it
was upon the shores of the Bay, at some distance westward from
Cataraqui, inasmuch as reference is made to the chapel as quite apart
from the Fort, at Cataraqui.
From the nature of the relics found in the Indian burying ground, near
the Carrying Place, at Bald Bluff, by Weller’s Bay, it might even have
been situated there. Silver crosses, and other evidences of Roman
Catholic Christianity, have been found in this place. Father Picquet
remarks that the land was not good, but the quarter is beautiful.
There seems every probability that not many years after the
establishment of the mission by the Bay Quinté, another was established
in the neighborhood of Lake Huron, or Georgian Bay. Upon the river Wye,
some six miles north of Penetanguishene, Pe-na-tang-que shine, so called
by the Indians upon first seeing the sand banks, meaning “see the sand
is falling,” was established a French fort, at an early date, the
foundation of which may yet be seen. It appears likely that at this
point, at the Christian Islands, (a significant name,) situated between
the Manitoulin Islands and the mainland; and also at Michilmicinac, were
commenced missionary labors by the Recollets and others. We find it
stated that in 1679 there was a chapel at Michilmicinac, which may refer
to the Christian Islands. Here LaSalle, on his way westward, stopped and
attended mass, with the celebrated Recollet, Pére Hennepin.
The natives were strongly attached to these French missionaries.
Presents of porcelaine beads to make wampum, with a kind demeanor, soon
won many of them to become Roman Catholics; and the cross was set up in
their midst. And the time came when they were willing to acknowledge
themselves under the protection of, and subject to the French King.
At the present site of Ogdensburgh, in the year 1748, “Francis Picquet,
Doctor of the Sarbonne, King’s Missionary, and Prefect Apostolic to
Canada,” began to found the mission of _La Presentation_. By the river
Oswegotchie, then called by the Indians _Soegasti_, he succeeded in
planting a mission, which became the most important in all Canada. The
object was to convert the Six Nations to Roman Catholic Christianity,
and thereby to win them from their connection with the English. M.
Picquet was a devoted man. “He received at that time neither allowance
nor presents. From the King he had but one half pound of pork a day,
which made the savages say, when they brought him a buck and some
partridges, “We doubt not, Father, but that there have been disagreeable
expostulations in your stomach, because you had nothing but pork to eat.
Here is something to put your affairs in order.” They sometimes brought
him trout weighing eighty pounds.
In 1749, when French interests were declining in the new world, and when
every effort to secure the alliance of the Iroquois was devised,
Governor de Veudreuil sent the Rev. Abbe Picquet of the missionary house
at La Presentation, he being well and favorably known among the Five
Nations. The object was to draw within the bounds of La Presentation
many of the families, where they should not only be taught the Catholic
religion, but also the elements of husbandry. It was somewhat the same
idea as that which led the Rev. William Case, in later days, to
domesticate the Mississaugas on the Grape Island. L’Abbe Picquet was
successful in his mission, and in 1751, he had 396 heads of families
living at the place. Among these were the most distinguished and
influential families of the Iroquois. The settlement was divided into
three villages, and much taste and skill were displayed in the planning.
Great attractiveness characterized the place up to the conquest of
Canada.
In the month of June, 1751, Father Picquet set out upon a voyage up to
Fort Frontenac, and thence up the Bay Quinté, and the River Trent to
Fort Toronto, and so on around Lake Ontario. He embarked in a King’s
canoe, accompanied by one bark, in which were five trusty savages. The
memoir of this trip is curious and edifying.
Proceeding to Fort Toronto, by way of the Trent, then an important
trading post with the Indians, he found Mississaugas there who flocked
around him; they spoke first of the happiness their young people, the
women and children, would feel, if the King would be as good to them as
to the Iroquois, for whom he procured missionaries. They complained that
instead of building a church, they had constructed only a canteen for
them. Abbe Picquet did not allow them to finish, and answered them, that
they had been treated according to their fancy; that they had never
evinced the least zeal for religion; that their conduct was much opposed
to it;—that the Iroquois, on the contrary, had manifested their love for
Christianity, but as he had no order to attract them to his mission, he
avoided a more lengthy explanation,” (Paris Doc). This conduct on the
part of Abbe Picquet must be regarded as heartless in the extreme. Such
language ought not to come from the lips of a missionary. It shows that
the Iroquois, because of his relationship with the English, had souls of
far more importance than the Mississauga, whose character for peace
rendered him of minor importance. The reflection upon the character was
uncharitable; and, judging by the light supplied by later days, it was
untrue—shamefully untrue. That the Mississauga Indians acquired a taste
for the brandy vended to them by the French trader was certainly a fact;
but that did not indicate an unwillingness on their part, to become
Christians. Missionaries, of the present century, have succeeded in
raising the Mississauga, not alone from paganism, but from a degrading
love of spirituous liquors acquired of the French, to a distinguished
place among converted Indians.
Abbe Picquet went from Fort Toronto, probably by the River Don, and
thence across the lake, to Fort Niagara, to negotiate with the Senecas.
Passing along the south shore, he visited the English fort at the mouth
of the River Oswego, called _Choueguen_. He also visited the River
Gascouchogou, (Genesee) and returned to Frontenac, where a grand
reception awaited him. “The Nippissings and Algonquins who were going to
war, drew up in a line of their own accord above Fort Frontenac, where
three standards were hoisted. They fired several volleys of musketry,
and cheered incessantly. They were answered in the same style from all
the little crafts of bark. M. de Verchere, and M. de la Valtrie, caused
the guns of the fort to be discharged at the same time, and the Indians,
transported with joy at the honors paid them, also kept up a continual
fire with shouts and exclamations which made every one rejoice. The
commandants and officers received our missionary at the landing. No
sooner had he landed than all the Algonquins and Nippissings of the lake
came to embrace him. Finally, when he returned to _La Presentation_, he
was received with that affection, that tenderness, which children would
experience in recovering a father whom they had lost.” Three years later
war was, for the last time, in progress between the French and English
in America. Father Picquet contributed much to stay the downfall of
French domination. He distinguished himself in all the principal
engagements, and by his presence animated the Indian converts to battle
for the French King. At last, finding all was lost, he retired on the
8th May, 1760. He ascended the Bay Quinté and Trent by Fort Toronto, and
passed on to Michilmicinac, and thence to the Mississippi; and then to
New Orleans, where he stayed twenty-two months. Died 15th July, 1781,
called the “Apostle of the Iroquois.”
During the French domination in Canada, the dissentions between the
Recollets and Jesuits were almost incessant. Now the one was sustained
and patronized by the governor regnant, now the other, and many were the
struggles between Church and State. The closing days of French rule
witnessed scenes of unseemly strife between the clergy and the
governors. The last of the Jesuits in Canada, Father Casat, died in
1800, and the whole of their valuable possessions came to the
government.