SISTER BOURGEOIS' ARRIVAL IN CANADA.
The voyage from various causes having lasted three months, the fleet did
not arrive in Quebec until the 22d of September, 1653. She therefore set
her foot on Canadian soil for the first time in the capital of New
France. It was like taking possession of the Province she was afterwards
to edify and instruct, by word and example, not only by her own
immediate labors, but also by the zeal of those who were in the designs
of God to continue the good work she so happily commenced, and to
continue it for centuries throughout the whole extent of that vast
country. Yet it was not Quebec but _Montreal_, that God intended to be
the centre of her missionary zeal, and that of her spiritual daughters.
She therefore made but a short stay in the capital, and could not rest
until she arrived at her final destination, accompanied by M. de
Maisonneuve. Words would be quite inadequate to express the joy she felt
on approaching Montreal. She was overpowered with gratitude to the
Almighty God when she first beheld the young city for which she had so
long sighed, and which was indeed the City of Mary, having been
consecrated to her, and this joy was so much the purer as it was
purchased by the pains and humiliations she endured for Christ's dear
sake. In addition to what has been already related of this voyage,
Sister Bourgeois says in her manuscripts, that as soon as they weighed
anchor, it was discovered the ship was rotten, and leaked in many
places. However, as it was well manned, having, besides the usual number
of sailors, 108 soldiers on board, it was hoped they would be able to
brave the sea, but the hope was vain. Although they worked night and day
at the pumps, the ship could not be kept afloat. The water gained
rapidly, and their provisions were nearly destroyed. They were obliged
to return to the port of St. Lazare, on nearing which they must have
perished but for the timely assistance rendered by the inhabitants of
the place. Margaret Bourgeois felt the danger more keenly, as there was
not a priest on board, and very few were prepared for death. M. de
Maisonneuve took the wise precaution of putting the soldiers ashore on
an island, to prevent desertions; but a few in despair cast themselves
into the sea to effect an escape, as the ship was sinking before their
eyes, and they believed M. de Maisonneuve was leading them to perdition.
One alone was calm amidst that wild tumult of passion, and that one was
Sister Bourgeois, who willingly and repeatedly offered the sacrifice of
her life to God. In the meantime M. de Maisonneuve was fortunate enough
to secure a new ship, and all other things necessary to continue the
voyage. So they set sail again on the feast of St. Margaret, after
having assisted at Mass, a happiness they had not enjoyed for a long
time. As if to add to their misery, sickness now became general, and
Sister Bourgeois was alternately priest and infirmarian, eight persons
having died in her arms. As soon as they were finally settled in
Ville-Marie, She requested M. de Maisonneuve to lead her to the cross he
had erected in 1640. But that one having been weather-beaten and broken,
he replaced it with another, higher up on the mountain, with an image of
Mary near it. This was a rendezvous for the savages, who assembled there
to receive religious instruction. He carried the second cross on his
shoulders through thorns, and rocks, and forest trees, there being no
pathway up the hill-side, and having secured it on the platform prepared
for it, placed beside it the statue of the Blessed Virgin given him by
the Congregation Sisters. The erection of this cross was quite a
religious ceremony, and occurred on the _same day_, and at _then same
hour_, on which Sister Bourgeois received the first miraculous favor
from the Mother of God, in the porch of the church of Notre Dame, in the
city of Troyes. She always believed that this extraordinary event
determined her vocation for Canada. The consecrated hillside became
afterwards the "Mission of the Mountain." The following year an altar
was erected at the foot of the cross, and the early missionary priests
of Ville-Marie celebrated Mass there for the converted savages. It
happened once, that of fifteen or sixteen persons present at the Holy
Sacrifice, not one knew how to serve Mass, and Jean Mance had to get a
little child, four years old, to wait on the priest, by suggesting the
responses, and indicating the ceremonies. At the foot of this mountain,
in after years, the Indians assembled by hundreds, to embrace
Christianity, and receive instruction from the priests and the Sisters
of the Congregation. The first time M. de Maisonneuve conducted Margaret
Bourgeois to the time-honored cross, he was obliged to have an escort of
thirty men, lest the Iroquois should surprise and maltreat them. What
then must have been her disappointment and grief to find it thrown down
and broken. The Indians had watched their opportunity to insult the
Christian standard, yet wonderful to relate, the statue of the Blessed
Virgin was not in the least injured. She resolved on the spot to erect a
third cross, with M. de Maisonneuve's permission, which she of course
obtained, and for three days and nights they labored together on the
mountain until the pious work was completed. This time they surrounded
it with a strong palisade of stakes, and for years the colonists were in
the habit of making annual pilgrimages to it. It was still standing in
1760, when the English became masters of Montreal, but from that time it
was seen no more. Sister Bourgeois soon after her arrival, commenced her
labor of Christian love. Ville-Marie then contained about fifty houses
scattered here and there, with a fort for the garrison. A few colonists
settled in the surrounding country, where they made successful attempts
to cultivate the ground, and some converted savages erected cabins in
the vicinity. These constituted the entire population of Montreal at
that remote period, and our heroine visited each house daily, like the
Apostles of old, to animate the people with a portion of her own zeal in
the discharge of their religious duties. She was to be found everywhere
that the good of her fellow-creatures required, either waiting on the
sick, consoling the afflicted, instructing the ignorant, washing and
mending--gratis--the clothing of the poor soldiers, preparing the dead
for burial, or despoiling herself of necessaries in favor of the
destitute, which was the routine of her daily life. And it might be
truly said in the words of Scripture, that her days were full. We have
already related that M. le Coq gave her a sleeping outfit, consisting of
a mattress, palliasse, two comforters, and a pillow. Although the first
winter she spent in Montreal was an unusually severe one, she never used
these articles of comfort _herself_, but freely bestowed them on
_others_. A poor soldier, badly frozen, hastened to tell her his misery;
the mattress was instantly given to him. A comrade hearing of his good
fortune, presented himself for relief; the palliasse became his
property, the comforters being bestowed on a third, who was as
wretchedly lodged as the others. There was as yet no applicant for the
pillow, which was a useless article of furniture to her, as she slept on
the bare ground, or a plank, resting her head upon straw,
notwithstanding the inclemency of Canadian winters. Yet she felt amply
rewarded for her privations, by being permitted to perform charitable
offices for others. She was the common mother of the young colonists,
being an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, consolation to the
afflicted, a support to the weak and indigent, making herself like the
Apostle, "all to all, in order to gain all to Christ." But her principal
aim was the instruction of the little ones, and as she had no
school-room to teach in, she followed them from house to house,
instructing them in their religious duties, and inspiring them with
devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God. While M. de Maisonneuve, her
faithful fellow-laborer, struggled for the material prosperity of the
colony, she endeavored to erect a spiritual empire in the hearts of the
faithful. But as the population increased the extent of her
foot-journeys covered a vast tract of country, and the number of
children she instructed was greater than one teacher could attend to.
Although her strength and courage never flagged, she evidently required
assistance, which Almighty God provided in His own mysterious and
adorable manner, as will soon be related.