1655-1658
THE COMING OF THE SULPICIANS
(1657)
MAISONNEUVE GOES TO FRANCE--ARRANGES FOR HOSPITALIERES AND
SULPICIANS--BISHOPRIC FOR NEW FRANCE--THE NOMINATIONS OF DE
QUEYLUS AND LAVAL--THE APPOINTMENT DELAYED--THE DEATH OF M.
OLIER--THE ARRIVAL OF DE QUEYLUS AND MAISONNEUVE AT QUEBEC--TWO
RIVAL "GRANDS VICAIRES"--DE QUEYLUS GOES TO MONTREAL AND
QUICKLY RETURNS TO RULE THE CHURCH IN QUEBEC--THE INTRUSION
RESENTED--THE SULPICIANS IN MONTREAL--TRIBUTE TO THEM AS CIVIC
AND RELIGIOUS ADMINISTRATORS--IROQUOIS HOSTILITIES RESUMED--THE
HEAD OF JEAN ST. PERE--THE CHURCH IN MONTREAL TAKES ON "PARISH"
PRETENSIONS--CHURCH WARDENS AND "LA FABRIQUE"--THE FIRST SCHOOL
HOUSE--THE FLIGHT TO MONTREAL FROM ONONDAGA--PRECAUTIONARY
ORDINANCES BY MAISONNEUVE--FORTIFIED REDOUBTS--THE ECCLESIASTICAL
DISPUTE SETTLED--DE QUEN "GRAND VICAIRE" OF QUEBEC, DE QUEYLUS OF
MONTREAL--BON SECOURS CHURCH DELAYED--JEANNE MANCE AND MARGUERITE
BOURGEOYS VISIT FRANCE.
In the autumn of 1655, profiting by the peace concluded, and seeing the
progress of the town well under way, the governor left Montreal under
the charge of Lambert Closse, and sailed for France. His object was
threefold (1) to promote the erection of an episcopal seat in Canada;
(2) to secure, as originally arranged, permanent parish priests for
Montreal from M. Olier's Seminary of St. Sulpice, since the Jesuits,
being missionaries, desired their men to be ready to visit the
far-off tribes; and (3) to bring back the sisters of the Institute of
Hospitalières, erected lately by M. de la Dauversière, in view of the
service of the Hôtel-Dieu.
On arriving in France, an agreement was entered into by which three or
four of the Hospitalières of La Flèche should come to Montreal when all
was ready. M. Olier, who had wished to finish his days in Canada, chose
for Maisonneuve three of his priests, Gabriel de Queylus, whom he named
superior; Gabriel Souart, Dominic Galinier, and a deacon, M. d'Allet.
In the choice of M. Gabriel de Thubières de Lévy Queylus as superior,
the Associates saw their likely nominee as the bishop whom they wished
to have in the see of New France. They had him in view in promoting
the creation of the episcopal see before the assembly of the bishops
on August 9, 1656, through the good services of Mgr. Godeau, Bishop
of Vence. This was again brought up before the assembly on January
10, 1657, and Cardinal Mazarin, then present, undertook to interest
the king in the formation of the episcopal see as desired. On this
occasion the name of the Abbé de Queylus was mentioned to Cardinal
Mazarin by the bishop of Vence as a man of approved "probity, capacity
and zeal, who possesses an abbacy of considerable value. He is willing
to sacrifice himself in this new episcopate, in a barbarous country,
so far from all consolation; and his person is agreeable to the Jesuit
fathers." (Procès Verbal of the General Assembly, January 10, 1657.)
M. de Queylus had many and great qualifications. He was a doctor of
theology. His capacity and zeal had been shown as the superior of the
community of the parish of St. Sulpice at Paris, when he was Olier's
right hand man. He had laboured in the ecclesiastical reform of several
dioceses in Languedoc and had established the diocesan Seminary of
Viviers, which he sustained by his liberality. He enjoyed the abbacy of
Loc Dieu. He had a private income--a valuable thing for a bishop in a
poor diocese; and his choice, it was alleged, was likely to please the
Jesuits.
This latter was an important argument, for this Order had been on the
ground so long, that they were the most fitted to understand the needs
of a missionary country, and of the natives whose languages they spoke.
They were zealous, able men, who had become necessary, and their blood
had been freely spent in the work of colonization and Christianity. It
would have been most appropriate to have chosen a bishop from among
them, except that the democratic spirit of the order is against the
acceptance of dignities, unless forced upon them. Seeing this, it was
etiquette and the wisdom of the Church not to impose an ecclesiastical
superior above them, without consulting their wishes.
But there is no proof of the above assertion that the Jesuits approved
of de Queylus; indeed, on the contrary, as soon as they learned of
his nomination in the same month of January, they proposed the Abbé
François de Laval de Montmorency, to the king, as their candidate for
the projected see of New France. This opposition shelved the immediate
question of the appointment of a bishop, which was delayed till the
consecration of Laval on December 8, 1658.
Meanwhile M. Olier thought that there should be no delay in the
Sulpicians taking up the pastoral work of Montreal. Accordingly we find
M. de Queylus and his three companions at Nantes waiting to embark,
when the sad news came that M. Olier had died at Paris on Easter
Monday, April 2, 1657.
This was a great blow, since M. Olier was looked upon as the soul of
the Montreal mission. The departure was postponed till the middle of
May. In the meantime the missionaries had recourse to the Archbishop
of Rouen with whom, by prescription, the jurisdiction of New France
lay, seeing that it had not been revoked by the Holy See in 1643. From
him they received by letters dated April 22, 1657, all the accustomed
powers granted on such occasions to Canadian missionaries. But the Abbé
de Queylus received, in addition a "proprio motu" from the archbishop,
appointing him his "grand vicar for all New France." This was a
false step on the part of the Archbishop of Rouen and M. de Queylus,
for it put, even the superior of the Jesuit missionaries under the
local superior of Montreal, a most unwise proceeding. Secondly, the
archbishop forgot that already the Jesuit superior had been granted
similar powers and he had not revoked them. He should certainly have
foreseen inevitable friction. To Rouen is to be attributed the long
drawn out battle now to commence between Quebec and Montreal.
On May 17, 1657, the four missionaries set sail with M. de Maisonneuve,
M. and Mme. d'Ailleboust and other passengers.
On reaching the Isle of Orleans, two leagues from Quebec, Maisonneuve
and the Montreal party disembarked, desirous to proceed immediately by
another vessel to Montreal. But M. d'Ailleboust, arriving at Quebec on
July 29th, announced the coming of the Sulpicians, so that kind-hearted
Père de Quen, formerly in charge of Montreal and now superior of the
Jesuit missions, immediately set forth for the Ile d'Orleans to call
upon them. He congratulated Queylus on his letters of vicar general,
and induced him to come to Quebec. It is strange that de Queylus, with
the letters he bore, did not call directly upon the Jesuit superior
whom he was to supplant. There is no doubt that the position of the
Abbé Queylus was not understood by the Jesuits. Faillon, in his history
of "La Colonie Française," says quite wrongly that there was an express
clause, in the authorization of the new grand vicar, now disclosed to
Father de Quen, especially mentioning the immediate cession of those
powers already granted to the Jesuit superior of the missionaries. M.
de Queylus, no doubt in good faith read this into his letters but he
weakly explained that he would confine the exercise of his powers to
Montreal. The letter of the archbishop certainly did not specifically
revoke previous powers given to the Jesuits. Father de Quen as a
canonist pointed out that it was more consistent that the Abbé de
Queylus, in doubt as to the revocation of the Jesuits' powers, should
follow out the full powers of universal jurisdiction claimed by him.
On this the grand vicar, who did not need much pressure, made with the
assent of Père de Quen an official visit of the parish church which
was under the charge of Father Poncet, the first Jesuit missionary at
Montreal in 1642. Father de Quen's action was weak, but wise, as he
thought, at this time. M. de Queylus confirmed the friendly Father
Poncet in the government of the parish of Quebec and handed to him
the bull of indulgence of Pope Alexander VII on the occasion of his
exaltation to the pontificate.
Father de Quen explained his temporizing acquiescence in a manuscript
letter, in Latin to the general of the society, of September 3, 1658.
"It is true that I did not wish to exercise any act [of jurisdiction,
as a vicar general] from that day on which M. l'Abbé Queylus laid his
letters patent of authority before me lest any evil should thence
arrive; however, I could not, nor would not, yield my jurisdiction
(potestatus et res) until I became certain that it had been revoked
by his Eminence the Archbishop of Rouen, who had granted it to me."
Thus the Jesuit acted constitutionally and wisely. Rouen would now be
approached by him.
In the meantime, after having been recognized as "grand vicaire" M.
de Queylus with the Sulpicians proceeded to Ville Marie. On August
12th Père Claude Pijart, the missionary, gave over the exercise of
his ministry to M. Gabriel Souart who now became the _curé_ or parish
priest. Father Pijart remained in Montreal for some time, but, on
September 3rd, he was in Quebec, where he was appointed to take the
place of Père Poncet, in the charge of the parish church. Père
Poncet, though a zealous and enterprising man, had shown himself a
difficult subject, and his obedience and his spirit of independence had
been already called in question in a letter to Rome. As this may be
accounted the beginning of the ecclesiastical trouble between Montreal
and Quebec we will follow Père Pijart.
On arriving at Quebec, Père Pijart found that the injudicious Père
Poncet had been deposed from his office by his superior, Père de
Quen, as a consequence of his promulgation of the bull left behind
by the grand vicar, announcing the opening of the jubilee for August
12th. Père de Quen, now no longer acting as grand vicar, but still
the superior of the Jesuit missions of Canada, had apparently been
ignorant of the arrival of this bull, and he considered that as his
religious superior and that of most of the clergy in the country he
should have had notification of it and he deposed the parish priest,
Père Poncet,--a power which he had arranged with M. de Queylus to
retain as a religious superior according to acknowledged ecclesiastical
etiquette. The position was a new one. Time only could straighten out
the inevitable difficulties arising in a double régime now commencing.
Père Poncet meanwhile, appointed to the Indian mission of Onondaga
started the year previously, left Quebec on August 28th and, passing by
Montreal, informed the "grand vicaire" of the loss of his parish. The
latter impetuously prevailed on him to suspend his journey, forgetful
that in his inexperience he was committing a new breach of church
etiquette in interfering with the orders of the Jesuit superior to
his own subject, and together they arrived, with M. d'Ailleboust and
the deacon, M. d'Allet, acting as Queylus' secretary, at Quebec on
September 12th.
On September 18th, Father Poncet was sent by de Quen back to France, a
sad return for an heroic man but obedience for the Jesuit is the formal
test of heroism.
M. d'Ailleboust was now called upon to act as governor general,
replacing M. de Lauson-Charny _ad interim_, till another was formally
appointed. On arriving M. Queylus, superseding Father Pijart, unwisely
and ambitiously took up the functions of parish priest himself in
the hitherto Jesuit church and remained there for a year. This was
open hostility. He was assisted on occasions by the chaplain of
the Ursulines, M. Guillaume Vignal, and that of the Hôtel-Dieu, M.
Jean Lebey, both secular priests. M. Queylus lived at the château
with the governor general while the Jesuits inhabited the official
presbytery. The position was electrical and there was open hostility.
There were two factions. Occasional interchange of courtesies and
ministry were, however, carried on and a semblance of diplomatic peace
at last arrived at, so that d'Argenson, the new governor general,
writing on September 5, 1658, a year later, says: "I was surprised,
after having heard in France of the little differences between the
reverend Jesuits and M. l'Abbé de Queylus, to see the union between
them and the church entirely at peace." He recommended, however, the
appointment of a bishop as a solution of the difficulty. D'Argenson had
arrived unexpectedly at Quebec on July 11th. He brought over powers to
settle the ecclesiastical "impasse." During the year the Jesuits had
communicated with the archbishop of Rouen, Mgr. de Harlay, and a brief
of March 30, 1656, written in French, arranged that there should be
two "grands vicaires," one for the Quebec district in the person of
the superior of the Jesuits, and M. de Queylus, who should exercise
his jurisdiction in that of Montreal only. This was not communicated
to M. de Queylus till August 8th. He was at first inclined to dispute
the situation, but d'Argenson, assuring him of the cognizance of
the Company of Montreal of this matter, he "peacefully" acquiesced,
departing from Quebec on August 21st with M. and Mme. d'Ailleboust,
whose presence was no longer required there. During his stay in Quebec
M. Queylus founded the church of Ste. Anne de Beaupré, since, the great
Canadian shrine, the scene of many pilgrimages, and in many ways showed
himself a progressive administrator. He was certainly an active man,
with the defects of his qualities.
The explanation of the letter brought by d'Argenson is as follows:
Shortly after the surprise received by the appearance of the Sulpician
vicar general the superior of the Jesuits, Père de Quen wrote to Father
Brisacier, the Jesuit rector of the college at Rouen, to ask him to
enquire of his Grace the Archbishop of Rouen if he had withdrawn his
faculties as vicar general or not.
He also wrote at the same time to the general of the order, Goswin
Nickel, acquainting him of the new situation in Canada. On December
17, 1657, the general himself also wrote to Father Brisacier in Latin
as follows: "Father J. de Quen, superior of the Canadian missions, has
written to me on September 20th of this year, that he and his subjects
are being harassed by the Abbé de Queylus, sent out there last summer
by his Eminence the Archbishop of Rouen, to act as his vicar general,
asserting that the marriages celebrated by fathers acting as parish
priests are null; that they are abusing the power and jurisdiction of
the vicar general which they had obtained; that he could dispose of
our men 'ad libitum,' and other things which have no little disturbed
the nascent church. The evil might increase from day to day unless
his Grace the Archbishop, through his zeal and piety, will early look
into the matter. Your Reverence will see whether you can obtain from
him either that the power of this abbé may be revoked or that he shall
so treat with ours that he shall have come to New France not for its
destruction but for its upbuilding." (Arch. Gen., 89.)
The final response to the difficulty came to Quebec on July 11, 1658,
when the letter of Mgr. de Harlay, the archbishop of Rouen, arrived.
"To put an end to the differences," he says, "which have intervened
between the Sieur Abbé de Queylus and the venerable superior of the
Jesuits of the house of Quebec, both our _grands vicaires_ in the
part of our diocese called La Nouvelle France, until it may be more
amply provided for by your authority, we have ordered that Sieur Abbé
de Queylus shall exercise hereafter and from the day of the present
ordinance, the vicariate which we have given him, according to the
powers we have given him, in the extent of the Island of Montreal; as
also the superior of the Jesuits of the house of Quebec shall exercise
_the same powers_ that we have accorded him, without either one or
the other of the two grands vicaires being able to undertake anything
in their different territories without the consent of the one and the
other." This act was made and signed at Paris on March 30, 1658.
It would certainly appear then that Father de Quen's powers had never
been revoked, that Abbé de Queylus had forced the sense of his letters
patent accorded April 22, 1657, since in giving him an extended
jurisdiction he did not revoke previous powers given. There were to be
two independent parallel vicariates under Rouen. In a later letter of
September 3, 1658, of Father de Quen to the general of his order, he
interprets the above as a _confirmation_ of his previous powers, and
not a _new concession_.
"The Most Eminent Archbishop of Rouen has sent me letters in which he
_confirms_ the power conceded by him to us _now since many years_, of
vicar general of Quebec and in other adjacent places. He has written
also to the Abbé de Queylus a letter which has constituted him vicar
general in the Island of Montreal only." (Arch. Gen., S. J.)
In spite of the storm clouds gathered over them, the arrival of the
Sulpicians at Montreal was welcomed. They represented to the colonists,
the Company of Notre-Dame de Montreal that had brought them out. M. de
Queylus was wealthy and a member of the Company of Montreal, and the
others were self supporting members of a body, to whom it had already
been proposed by the Company to hand over the seigneury of the whole
island, as indeed happened in 1663. This meant material advancement
for the church and progress for the settlement. Although the Jesuits
were very much loved by the people, their number was small, they had
no settled income and frequently they were called to absent themselves
from Montreal. The permanent presence of four Sulpicians, with the
prospects of an assured continuity, was indeed gratifying also from a
spiritual point of view. The honour of receiving them fell to Jeanne
Mance, and they were allotted the large room in the hospital, which
was at once the refectory, recreation, study, and bedroom, all in one.
There they remained till the stone house named the Seminary was built
for them. M. Souart being a doctor could also be on hand for assistance
to the hospital sick.
Meanwhile, the peaceful situation at Ville Marie, during the above
negotiations, claims our attention.
The advent of the Sulpicians marks the growth of organized progress in
the development of the religious and civic life of Montreal. It was due
to them that the church began to take on parish proportions, one of
their first acts being the foundation of the "Oeuvre de Fabrique" soon
to be chronicled. It was the mission of the Jesuits to be the hardy
pioneers to succour the spiritual needs during their early days of the
handful of struggling settlers; that of the Sulpicians to develop the
sense of civic administration and to guide it for many generations. A
modern historian[78] writing in 1887, pays the following tribute to the
Sulpicians:
"Thus not only the city but the entire Island of Montreal today
possesses an ecclestiastico-civil status, that is now denied even to
Rome. This circumstance must never be overlooked, for it has been
far-reaching in its influence. Montreal's first lessons in Christian
civilization were taken under the auspices I have just described--among
the best, it may safely be said, that the France of the period
could furnish--and every Protestant church, as well as every other
institution in the city, has felt the powerful sway of the gentlemen of
the Seminary."
The position of the Catholic Church in the city with its many beautiful
churches and educational establishments stands largely as a monument to
the important seeds sown in this coming in 1657.
M. de Queylus did not stay long in Ville Marie, for on September 3rd he
started for Quebec, as said, to assume the control of the parish church.
On October 25, 1857, the Sulpicians were to experience their first
taste of war, for they had three burials in one day in the same
sepulchre. On this day, Nicholas Godé was building his house at Point
St. Charles, assisted by his son-in-law, Jean Saint Père, the notary,
and Jacques Noël, their hired assistant, when several of a band of
Indians who had been in the neighbourhood, approached the house and
were hospitably treated. After a meal the three had gone unarmed on
the roof, which they were covering, when their guests treacherously
fired at them, and their hosts came toppling off the roof like wounded
sparrows. Nicholas Godé and Jacques Noël they scalped, but cutting the
head off Jean Saint Père, they fled with it, to exhibit his handsome
headpiece to their braves.
Dollier de Casson, who arrived in Montreal later, says that he heard
the following story from the lips of trustworthy persons, among them a
man, whom Marguerite Bourgeoys in her _memoirs_ names a M. Cuillérier,
who having been a prisoner among the Iroquois spoke their language, and
had heard the story from the savages themselves, that the head of Jean
Saint Père proved a trouble to them, for he reproached them in very
good Iroquois in such words as these: "You kill us, and you do many
cruel things to us; you wish to wipe out the French in this country.
You will not come to your wish. You will have to take care, for one day
we shall be your masters and you will obey us." And this, although the
deceased knew no word of Iroquois; wherever they were, day and night,
they heard the voice; in their vexation they scalped the head and threw
the troublesome skull away, but they still heard the accusing voice.
Dollier de Casson believed the story and thought he must not pass it
over in obscurity. A modern historian would explain that the frightened
Indians only heard subjectively the voice of their accusing conscience.
Not ignoring this sign of the approaching outbreak of hostilities,
d'Ailleboust, at Quebec, gave instructions, on November 1st, that all
Iroquois approaching the forts should be seized, looking upon the late
act as a declaration of war.
Two Iroquois had been seized by de Maisonneuve, one of them an
Onondagan, but not wishing by these arrests to compromise the Jesuits
at the mission at Onondaga he sent this Indian with three letters
addressed to them, asking them to explain the massacre at Point St.
Charles and telling them that the prisoners were being retained in
honourable custody, until it was learned whether the late attack had
been made by their people or not.
Amid such anxious times the new church, begun in 1656, was rapidly
nearing completion, assisted by the funds provided by the Sulpicians.
It was a modest building of wood and stood on the corner of St. Joseph
(St. Sulpice Street of today) and St. Paul. There it stood till 1678,
the first "parish" church, till it was given over entirely to the
hospital for the sick.
The church at Montreal now took on parochial airs and pretentions
although it was not canonically erected as a parish till 1678, and it
must have its _marguilliers_, or church wardens. Accordingly at an
election held November 21, 1657, Louis Prud'homme, Jean Gervaise and
Gilbert Barbier were appointed. This day must be taken as the birthday
of the foundation of the parish of Montreal. The parish or at least
the establishment of the "Fabrique" or corporation for the management
of the temporals of the church school was next to be set up. A stable
in stone, 36 by 18 feet, situated near the hospital, with a plot of
playing ground of forty-eight perches, was donated by the Company
through Maisonneuve by act of January 22, 1658. "The present concession
made to be of service for the instruction of the girls of Montreal
as well as for the dwelling for the said Marguerite Bourgeoys, and
after her decease, to perpetuity," this latter being inserted because
it was understood that Marguerite would found a body to continue the
work after her. She was then thirty-eight years of age. The donation
was accepted and witnessed by the chief officers of the community: M.
Souart, _curé_; M. Galinier, _vicaire_; the then church wardens; Marin
Jannot, syndic; Lambert Closse, "major of the island," Mademoiselle
Mance, administratrice of the hospital, and Charles Le Moyne,
storekeeper of the Company.
Montreal of today is perhaps the greatest educational centre on this
continent. It receives its students from all parts. Let us then glance
at the description given by Marguerite Bourgeoys, in her memoirs, of
the humble beginnings of the first home of education in Montreal: "Four
years after my arrival M. de Maisonneuve was good enough to give me
a stone stable to make a school of it and to lodge there persons to
conduct it. This stable has served as a dovecot and a home for cattle.
It had a granary loft above to sleep in, to which it was necessary to
ascend by an outside staircase. I had it cleaned and a chimney put
in, and all that was necessary for schoolkeeping." School was opened
on April 30. She was assisted by Marguerite Picard who on November 5
married Nicholas Godé and afterwards became Madame Lamontagne, Sieur
de la Montague, son of Nicholas, the joiner, who came in 1642. The
girls too old to go to school Marguerite formed, on July 2, 1658, into
a pious girls' club, or sodality, on the lines of the Congregation of
Externes at Troyes, of which she herself had been a member. Thus the
house became known as the "Congregation."
The next date of interest this year (1658) is that of April 3rd,
"when," says Dollier de Casson, "fifty Frenchmen reached here under
the command of M. Dupuis, with the Jesuit fathers who had been forced
to leave the mission of Onondaga for fear of being burned alive by the
Iroquois. Several of their people, less disposed than they to death by
being burned alive, as well as to any other kind which Providence might
please to send, had such a fright that they were only cured when they
came in sight of Montreal, a like miracle occurring here several times."
This is the sequel of the letters sent by Maisonneuve, and its
story must be told. The letters were not delivered, but instead the
treacherous Indian messenger told the Onondagas that the French had
just allied themselves with the Algonquins to make war against them.
This angering the Onondagans, they concerted with the Mohawks and a
delegation went to Quebec, arriving on January 3, 1658, to demand
the return of their twelve prisoners detained as hostages. But M.
d'Ailleboust gave them little satisfaction and they departed in
February.
In the same month a secret gathering was held, at Agnié of a few of
the most influential heads of all the Iroquois nations, and there was
sworn a war of extermination of the whites if their captives were not
returned, and they would commence with the settlement of the black
robes at Onondaga, which had been settled with them at their own
invitation in 1656. A Christian Iroquois revealed this plot to the
missionaries at Onondaga and these communicated it to Quebec. But how
to escape from their own impending slaughter, the like of which had
been witnessed on August 3, 1657, when seven Christians had been slain,
by these same Onondagas before the horrified eyes of Father Ragueneau,
then on his way, to be similarly repeated when, on reaching Onondaga,
some of the Christian captives were burned, including several women and
their infant children.
As Father Ragueneau was among the fugitives that came to Montreal with
Zacharie Dupuis, we may take his story as substantially that which the
terrified party told to the horror-stricken Montrealers but with more
harrowing details. But first a note on the relater. Paul Ragueneau,
born in Paris in 1605, came to Canada when he was thirty-one years of
age. In 1646 he was superior of the Huron missions. He was an ideal
superior and was very much valued by de Lauson and d'Avaugour on the
supreme council. He left Canada in 1662 and acted as the procurator
for the Canadian missions in Paris. He died in 1680, on September 3.
A year after Father Dablon had sailed with his fifty Frenchmen over
Lake Onondaga he was followed by Paul Ragueneau in August, 1657, with a
band of thirteen or sixteen Senecas, thirty Onondagas and about fifty
Christian Hurons. On the way there was a general butchery of the Hurons
by the rest of the party which Ragueneau was forced to witness. When he
reached Onondaga his practiced eye took in the unsettled situation. The
lives of the French colonists were treacherously foresworn to Indian
butchery. This plot became clearer as the autumn passed. In the early
months of 1658, Ragueneau, who was superior, called in gradually the
missionaries from the outstations and it was arranged with Dupuis, the
French commandant, to make a secret flight on the night of March 21,
1658.
Ragueneau's official account of this, to be found in the "Relations"
of this year, is as follows: "The resolution was taken to quit the
country forthwith, even though the difficulties seemed unsurmountable.
To supply the want of canoes we built, in secret, two boats of a novel
structure to pass the rapids. They were flat-bottomed and could carry
considerable freight, with fourteen or fifteen men on each. We had,
besides, four Algonquin and four Iroquois canoes. The difficulty was to
build and launch them without being detected, for without secrecy we
could only expect a general massacre.
"After succeeding in finishing the boats we invited the savages in our
neighbourhood to a solemn banquet, and spared neither the noise of
drums nor instruments of music, to deceive them as to our purpose. At
the feast, every one vied with each other in uttering the most piercing
shrieks, now of revelry, now of war. The savages sang and danced
in French fashion, and the French after the manner of the Indians.
Presents were given and the greatest tumult was kept up to cover the
noise of forty of our people outside, who were launching the boats. The
feast was concluded, the guests retired and were soon overpowered by
sleep, and we slipped out by the back way to the boats.
"The little lake on which we sailed in the darkness of the night froze
as we advanced. God, however, delivered us and, after having advanced
all night and all the following day, we arrived in the evening at Lake
Ontario. The first day was the most dangerous. Ten or twelve Iroquois
could have intercepted us, for the river was narrow, and ten leagues
down the stream it leaped over a frightful precipice. It took us four
hours to carry our boats around it, through a dense and unknown forest.
The perils in which we walked made us shudder after we escaped them. We
had no bed at night but the snow, after having passed entire days in
icy water.
"Ten days after our departure we reached the St. Lawrence, but it was
frozen and we had to cut a channel through the ice. Two days after our
little fleet nearly foundered in the rapids. We were in the Long Sault
without knowing it. We found ourselves in the midst of breakers, with
rocks on all sides, against which the mountains of water flung us at
every stroke of our paddles. The cries of our people, mingling with
the roar of the waters, added to the horror of the scene. One of our
canoes was engulfed in the breakers and barred the passage through
which we all had to pass. Three Frenchmen were drowned there; a fourth
fortunately saved himself by clinging to the canoe. He was picked up at
the foot of the Sault just as his strength was giving out and he was
letting go his hold. On the 3rd of April we landed at Montreal at the
beginning of the night."
At Montreal, the fugitives were received with tender solicitude and
the graphic details recounted at length. Thus the first attempt to
plant Christianity in New York territory, after two years had come to a
disastrous end.
Radisson, the half-civilized Frenchman, who had spent his early manhood
as an adopted Iroquois, had accompanied Ragueneau from Montreal to
Onondaga and back, tells the story in his "Travels." He dwells mostly
on the occurrences of the feast, when the Indians gorged themselves
so, that it was suggested to the priest by a Frenchman, probably by
Radisson himself, that the fugitives should massacre them in their
helpless drunken stupor and sleep--a suggestion which Ragueneau
repudiated.
The surprise of the Onondagas next day was afterwards learned. "When
night had given place to day," wrote Ragueneau, "darkness to light, the
barbarians awoke from sleep and, leaving their cabins, roved around our
well-locked house. They were astonished at the profound silence that
reigned there. They saw no one going in or out. They heard no voice.
They thought at first that we were at prayer or in council but, the
day advancing, and the prayers not coming to an end, they knocked at
the door. The dogs, which we had designedly left behind, answered by
barking." Radisson's account adds that the idea of a religious ceremony
going on within was stimulated by a pig who had a bell rope attached to
his leg, so that whenever he moved the bell pealed.
"The cock crows which they heard in the morning," says Ragueneau, "and
the noise of the dogs, made them think that the masters were not far
off, and they recovered their patience, which they had lost. But at
length the sun began to go down, and no person answering either to
the voice of men or the cries of the dogs, they scaled the house to
see what might be the condition of our men in this terrible silence.
Astonishment now gave place to fright. They opened the door; the chiefs
enter, descend to the cellar and mount to the garret. Not a Frenchman
made his appearance, dead or alive. They thought they had to deal with
devils."
This was further borne in upon them, because they had seen no boats.
A search in the woods not revealing the fugitives, they came to the
conclusion that the Frenchmen had vanished, and might as mysteriously
reappear, to fall upon their village.
The news of this disaster and the fear of a terrible uprisal at the
hands of the frustrated Iroquois caused the governor to issue the
ordinance of March 18, 1658, which was promulgated by Bénigne Basset,
the successor to Notary Saint Père. In this the habitants were again
ordered as formerly to provide themselves with arms and to fortify
their houses; not to endanger their lives, but to work as far as
possible in groups; to retire to their homes at the sound of the
bell at night and not to leave until next morning without absolute
necessity. They were not to go far for their hunting expeditions
without special permission, and they were not to use any of the canots
or chaloupes that were not their own without the express consent of the
proprietors, unless it was a case of saving life.
Such precautions as these manifested the prudence of the governor and
was the reason why there had been only one Frenchman killed between the
date of the Point St. Charles massacre, October, 1657, to April, 1660.
This solitary death was that of Sylvester Vacher dit Saint Julien, who
was slain in 1659 near the Lac des Loutres close to the town. We may
mention here several of the means adopted this year and the following
to secure public safety. On the east, a new mill was built on a rising
mound, afterwards called Citadel Hill, which was later the site of
Dalhousie Square and is now the site of the Viger station. This was
fortified as a redoubt and, together with the old fort mill at Windmill
Point on the west, guarded the river front.
In addition the Sulpicians built two fortified farmhouses as redoubts
or citadels in the extreme ends of the settlement to guard the
labourers there--that of Ste. Marie on the east and that of St.
Gabriel, named after M. Gabriel de Queylus, on the west. M. de Queylus
interested himself in city planning also and he mapped out the lines on
which the city should extend. An important protection was also secured
by the construction of a well of one hundred feet in diameter, built
by Jacques Archambault at the order of the governor, "in the middle of
the court," or of the "place d'armes" of the fort, as it read in the
contract of October 8, 1658. So far the water used had been supplied by
the river, but fear of invasion and siege, and possible burning of the
fort by the Iroquois, rendered this precaution very wise. In the next
year, 1659, a similar well was placed in the hospital garden by order
of M. de Queylus, and in the following year, 1660, a third contract
was signed by Jacques Archambault for Charles Le Moyne, Jacques Leber
and Jacques Tessard, for the mutual assistance of their houses near
the hospital; and during this year also a storehouse of 60 by 30 feet
was built by Francis Bailly dit Lafleur in the interior of the fort to
guard the grain of the hospital.
[Illustration: ST. GABRIEL'S FARM HOUSE]
[Illustration: THE ORIGINAL OR ACTUAL CHAPEL, ST. GABRIEL'S FARM HOUSE]
[Illustration: COMMUNITY HALL, ST. GABRIEL'S FARM HOUSE]
The war was now in full swing.
After the visit of the refugees from Onondaga, the Montrealers in 1658
were in daily fear, for while Three Rivers was being attacked about
June 13th by the Iroquois, a similar onslaught was valiantly repulsed
at Ville Marie. At Quebec the new governor general, Pierre de Voyer,
vicomte d'Argenson, who had arrived on July 11th, experienced his first
acquaintance with his hazardous position, when he was aroused at his
meal on the next day by the cry of "aux armes."
Such excitements added to his anxieties in settling the dispute as
to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, occupied him constantly. These
being solved satisfactorily for a time, to the great delight of the
Montrealers, the "grand vicaire" of the district of Montreal, M. de
Queylus, arrived about the end of August, 1658.
"On August 21st, he had left Quebec 'aegre' (with chagrin)," wrote
Father Vimont in a later letter to the general: "but to the great joy
of the Jesuits, who had a stormy time with M. de Queylus during his
conflict there." On the 26th of August Father Pijart, now at Quebec,
writes to his superior in Rome, "Vivimus hic quieti, ex quo Dominus
Abbas de Queylus mandato Domini archiepiscopi Rhotomagensis alio
abiit--We are living here in peace since the Abbé de Queylus has gone
elsewhere by order of the archbishop of Rouen." (Arch. Gen. S. J.)
The Sulpician, Dollier de Casson's, account runs thus: "He went to
console Montreal by his presence and to dwell there to the great
happiness of all, especially to the lively satisfaction of MM. Souart
and Galinier, who did not fear to advance well in front in the wood
without any apprehension of the Iroquois, to get ahead of his bark
coming up the river to testify to the joy that they had at his return."
He was followed by six persons from Quebec who filled three chaloupes.
In this dangerous time such protection was necessary. M. Faillon, in
his history, says that it seems that the greater part of this company
"joined to do him honour."
Certainly his advent would have given no one at Montreal more
satisfaction than Marguerite Bourgeoys and Mademoiselle Mance, who were
waiting for him.
In the spring of 1657 Marguerite Bourgeoys became interested in
building a chapel in wood on land granted for the purpose by
Maisonneuve, at some distance from her home. The ecclesiastical
superior was then Père Pijart, who gave her permission and named it
in advance "Notre-Dame de Bon Secours." "Our Lady of Good Help," as
a standing prayer against the Iroquois. Père Siméon Le Moyne laid
the first stone in the spring of 1657, and Lambert Closse, acting
governor during the absence of M. de Maisonneuve, placed the necessary
inscriptions on a copper plate. Marguerite and her sisters laboured
themselves and were helped by the settlers; some carted sand, others
wood, and others acted as masons. Everyone was personally approached by
her for some service, however small. In the spring of 1658 she applied
to obtain the permission of M. de Queylus, then still in Quebec, but he
ordered her to suspend her work till his return, which was not until
the last week of August, for he did not wish any other enterprise
to conflict with the establishment of the parish church. Thus the
operations came to a standstill till 1659, when it was finished.[79]
The arrival, therefore, of M. de Queylus was awaited with anxiety by
Marguerite Bourgeoys and Jeanne Mance. The latter, having fallen on
the ice on January 28th, 1657, had been suffering with a dislocated
right wrist and had lost the use of her hand in spite of the efforts
of the local surgeons. She had found herself useless for her hospital
work. Thus she was desirous of the help of the Hospitalières of St.
Joseph, promised but not sent, since the buildings to accommodate them
had not yet been constructed. Besides, there were not enough funds to
maintain them, so that now Jeanne Mance approached M. Queylus with her
idea of visiting Madame de Bullion for the additional funds and then
to bring back the Hospitalières. In addition she could consult the
best physicians in France on the cure of her wrist. The grand vicaire
approved of her journey.
At the same time Marguerite Bourgeoys, seeing herself without workers
for the future development of her teaching institution, asked
permission to accompany Mademoiselle Mance, who needed assistance in
her crippled condition, and to seek teachers among her old friends of
the Congregation of Troyes.
But although M. de Queylus had consented to the plan of Jeanne Mance,
he nevertheless was desirous of seeing the hospital work undertaken by
a branch of the Quebec Hospitalières, whose acquaintance he had made.
Consequently under the pretext of change of air, he had two of them
sent on to Montreal, and these arrived two days before the departure of
Jeanne Mance and Marguerite Bourgeoys.
Jeanne Mance, however, had no intention of giving the control of the
hospital to any but the La Flèche Hospitalières, and being, by the act
of foundation, the administratrix of the Hôtel-Dieu, she appointed a
pious widow known as "Mademoiselle" de la Bardillère, to replace her,
and the continuance of the Quebec nuns in Montreal was only justified
by the acceptance of the invitation of Marguerite Bourgeoys to teach
school during her absence. The two foundresses left Ville Marie on
September 20, 1658, and embarked at Quebec on a merchant vessel on
October 14th. They proceeded to La Flèche to see M. de la Dauversière
and thence to Paris. At the touch of the casket containing the heart of
M. Olier, her biographers tell of the complete cure of Jeanne Mance's
helpless wrist and hand, the news of which spread among the pious
ladies and supporters of the Company of Montreal, and created a great
sensation in Paris.
FOOTNOTES:
[78] "A History of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, St. Gabriel Street,
Montreal," by the Rev. Robert Campbell, M. A., the last pastor, 1887.
[79] M. Huguet Latour in his note on L'église de Notre Dame de
Bonsecours in the Annuaire de Montreal, 1874, says that it was finished
in 1659. The second chapel, which was of stone, was also built by
Marguerite Bourgeoys and by her given to the Marguilliers of the parish
in June, 1678. The benediction of the first stone was given on June
30, 1673, by M. Gabriel Souart, Curé, and the church was blessed and
the first mass said there on August 15, 1675. This was the first stone
church in the whole of the island of Montreal. It was reduced to ashes
in 1754, but was rebuilt in 1771 and altered since several times.