EDUCATION--PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TECHNICAL
A RECORD FROM 1657 TO 1760
FRENCH PRONUNCIATION--SCHOOL FOR GIRLS--THE CONGREGATION--BOARDING
SCHOOLS--SCHOOLS OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY--NORMAL SCHOOLS--SCHOOLS
FOR BOYS--ABBE SOUART FIRST SCHOOLMASTER--THE FIRST ASSOCIATION
OF TEACHERS--SCHOOL BOOKS--BOOKS ON PEDAGOGY--LATIN SCHOOLS, THE
HIGH SCHOOLS OF THE PERIOD--LATIN BOOKS--ATTEMPT AT A CLASSICAL
COLLEGE--FAILURE--TECHNICAL EDUCATION--JEAN FRANÇOIS CHARON--THE
GENERAL HOSPITAL--ARTS AND MANUFACTURES--LES FRERES CHARON--A
NORMAL SCHOOL FOR CANADA AT ROCHELLE PROJECTED--FRERE TURC GOES TO
ST. DOMINGO--THE BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS INVITED TWICE
TO COME TO CANADA--BROTHER DENIS AND PACIFICUS IN MONTREAL--THE
FRERES CHARON IN EVIL DAYS--THE HOSPITAL TRANSFERRED TO MADAME
D'YOUVILLE.
At various points in this story there has been indicated the first
beginnings of the educational system of Montreal under the French
régime. We may now present a short _résumé_ of the various systems in
vogue from 1657 to 1760. We have seen that the education began with
Marguerite Bourgeoys in a very humble way, such as was needed in a
community composed mainly of the children of labourers, mechanics and
soldiers; for there were few of the _bourgeois_ class, and less of the
gentry. Many there were of the first colonists who could not read or
write, a fact not to be wondered at, from those who came from small
provincial towns or country places in the days when the three R's
were rare. Yet they were not ignorant or unpolished, for great care
was taken in their choice. It must, also, be fairly conceded from an
examination of their signatures that a good number could read, write
and count.[190] Even their French accent was not barbarous. It seems to
have preserved a singular purity, although naturally marked with an
admixture of the patois of Normandy, and of the northern districts of
Maine and Poitou. Yet a surprising democratic uniformity seems to have
arisen in their speech which struck Talon in 1667, as it did also
subsequent serious writers such as Leclerc, Charlevoix and la Potherie.
A similar uniformity in speaking English among Canadians of diverse
national origins is noticed by those coming from England today.
Although some attempt at teaching had been made as early as 1616 at
Three Rivers by the Recollect lay brother, Pacifique Duplessis, and
at Tadoussac by Father Joseph Le Caron about the same time, the first
regular school in the colony was opened in Quebec, in 1635, by the
inhabitants, who built a schoolhouse near the fort, under the auspices
of the Jesuits, Lejeune, Lalemant and de Quen. The latter was replaced
in 1637 by Davost. We mention these since all but Lalemant later served
the Montreal Mission. In 1635 the Jesuits established their college at
Quebec for primary instruction in the first instance to young French
and Indian children. This was the origin of the "petites écoles" of
Canada. Later, Latin, grammar, mathematics, rhetoric and philosophy
were added to the college course.[191]
SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
School was not begun in Montreal till 1657, when the first
schoolmistress, Marguerite Bourgeoys, assisted by Soeur Pacaud, opened
her school in a stable given by M. de Maisonneuve. Till that date there
had been no children of school age, and Marguerite had remained four
years after her arrival in charge of the governor's domestic affairs,
waiting to fulfill the mission of teaching she had come upon. The
first school certainly was a mixed one of boys and girls. Later, the
Sulpicians taught the boys about 1661 at the earliest date. In the
autumn of 1658 she went to France to obtain other teachers, and in the
meantime handed over her work to two of the "Hospitalières de Québec"
sisters, de la Nativité and St. Paul, who came to take charge of the
hospital during the absence of Jeanne Mance, who was accompanied by
Marguerite Bourgeoys. The three new workers for the schools of Montreal
were Sisters Chatel, Crolo and Raisin. On May 21, 1669, permission was
given by Bishop Laval to the teachers to instruct children throughout
his diocese. The beginning of the Congregation of Notre Dame as a
teaching order now must be noticed. In 1670 the foundress visited
France again and obtained letters patent for her congregation from the
king, dated May, 1671, and registered at the parliament on June 24th
following. It was not till August 6, 1676, that Laval formally approved
of the congregation. On June 24th following the sisters of the mother
house accepted the rules drawn up for them by Bishop de St. Vallier
and on August 4th following the missionary sisters, established at the
Island of Orleans and of Château Richer, accepted the same community
rules.
A regulation of 1686 to the missionary sisters states that "Although
the sisters ought to teach the children gratuitously, they may,
however, take twenty _sols_ a year from them to furnish the Latin and
French books necessary, for which they shall pay each year on entrance.
The children shall furnish, also, the wood to maintain the school
fires. The origin of boarding schools may be traced to the same date,
for in consideration of their great poverty the sisters could take
_pensionnaires_ if they could find suitable accommodations which would
give them a more easy means of livelihood." Mgr. de Laval wrote in 1676
that the sisters were teaching in Montreal and other places. Faillon
interprets this as including the parishes of Champlain and Batiscan.
The house at Champlain was burned in 1676. The school of Pointe aux
Trembles was established about 1693. Lachine had its school about 1680,
the Ile d'Orleans, in 1685.
Another form of education undertaken was through the formation of the
"congregation of extern girls" beyond school age, who met on Sundays
for religious instruction. In 1686 on the occasion of a visit to
Montreal of Bishop de St. Vallier the sisters were then teaching more
than twenty older girls in domestic arts, to enable them to earn their
living in service. This may be accounted the origin of the "écoles
ménagères" or schools of domestic economy. In this same year the
governor of New France, Denonville, recommended to the minister in
France that the sisters could commence some manufactures "if you would
have the goodness to make them some subsidy."
The origin of the normal school for girls may be traced to the
novitiate which was now preparing future teachers for Montreal and the
rural districts of the province. To aid the community in their work,
Bishop de St. Vallier gave a perpetual grant on September 7, 1693, of
600 _livres_ of France, or 800 of this country, to aid the communities
to furnish teachers in the other parishes. This was followed by
additional grants. In 1691 the sisters were called by St. Vallier to
Quebec where, besides managing a house of charity, they established a
free school in the Lower Town to supplement the education given by the
Ursulines, working, however, outside the class at female occupations to
support themselves. The sisters remained in Quebec till 1659, when the
siege forced them to return to Montreal. Their convent in Lower Town
was burned and it was not till 1769 that they returned to Lower Town.
SCHOOLS FOR BOYS
The date of origin of the schools for boys in Montreal is in some
doubt. The Sulpicians came in 1657. But the Abbé Faillon in his
"Histoire de la Colonie Française au Canada" says that Marguerite
Bourgeoys taught the boys at her school till about 1666. It is almost
certain that the Abbé Souart was what he loved to sign himself,
"superior of the Seminary of Montreal, first curé of the town and
the first schoolmaster of this country," doubtless meaning Montreal
District, for already the Jesuits had been schoolmasters in Quebec
since 1635. The good abbé was superior of the seminary from 1661
to 1668, he was curé from 1657 to 1677 and the manuscript of the
seminary cited by Jacques Viger bears out that "M. Souart during his
superiority, made several foundations, among others the steps for the
commencement of the establishment of _les petites écoles_." In an
act of 1686 he is spoken of as the former curé of Notre Dame of this
town, "who formed (_a fait_) the first schools of this place." Let
him, therefore, have the credit of the first schoolmaster of Montreal
under the French régime. He was, however, assisted in the formation
of the schools by two Sulpicians, MM. Guillaume Bailly and Mathieu
Ranuyer, who arrived after some time. M. Bailly was charged with the
Mountain Mission. Six years later, in 1672, M. Rémy, a subdeacon,
came from France to teach. M. Barthélemy, a priest, also helped for
a time. M. Certin arrived in 1683, M. de la Faye in 1684, and both
taught in the school. About 1685 there was talk of a boarding school
for scholars from afar. M. Certin, who died in 1687, seems to have
been the director, urging this with M. Tronson, the superior in Paris.
In 1686 there was the first attempt at a new school commission, which
was to carry on the existing schools or others if judged convenient,
through the formation of an Association of Citizens of Ville Marie.
The associates were Mathurin Rouiller, Nicholas Barbier, Philibert
Roy, an ecclesiastical student, and Jacob Thomolet. The object was
favoured by the Sulpicians, who seemed to have desired to found schools
to be taught by others than themselves. Hence it was that in the act
of September 15th we find M. Souart giving 1,000 _livres_, and M. de
la Faye a half _arpent_ of land with a house on it (in fact, his own
schoolhouse and grounds on Notre Dame Street opposite the seminary) to
Sieur Mathurin Rouiller, a devoted and pious man of exemplary life, and
his associates, who would all seem to have acted as schoolmasters. This
association did not succeed longer than seven years, for by October 9,
1693, all the school grounds, properties and furnishings were returned
to the Gentlemen of St. Sulpice. The Abbé Chaigneau now took the
direction. M. Antoine Forget, a simple tonsured cleric, who arrived in
July, 1701, and left for France in 1715, taught during these fourteen
years. He was followed in 1716 by M. Jean Jacques Talbot, a cleric
in minor orders, who taught for about forty years. M. Jean Girard, a
simple tonsured cleric, arrived in 1724 and died here February 25,
1765. During this forty years, besides teaching he was the parish
organist and choirmaster. Besides these teachers named there were
others, either simple clerics or laymen, who furthered the work of the
director of the _petites écoles_. The schools were opened gratuitously,
but the public were invited to give voluntary subscriptions, and for
the purpose the syndic, accompanied by the clerk of justice, made a
canvass of private persons each year. If it was not successful the
seminary supplied the deficit. (Faillon, "Histoire de la Colonie
Française," Vol. III, page 265.)
Since there was no printing press in Canada, the books used in
the schoolrooms were brought over from France, such as the "Petit
Alphabet," the "Grand Alphabet;" then the Psalter and the "Pensées
Chretiennes," the "Introduction to a Devout Life;" for the more
advanced, books on pedagogy, politeness, and deciphering of manuscripts
and contracts. The last two were important branches of a finished
education in the days when printing was undeveloped. A note found in
the papers of the late Abbé Verreau tells us that in 1740 and 1742 the
gentlemen of the seminary received from France alphabets, psalters, and
offices of the Blessed Virgin and numerous copies of "L'Instruction
de la Jeunesse" and "L'Instruction Chretienne" for the girls. On the
list of 1742 for M. Talbot, schoolmaster at Montreal, there were
twelve copies "l'Ecole Paroissiale." This was a handbook on pedagogy
for teachers. While some of these may have been for the sisters of the
congregation, it was likely that others were for his assistant teachers
or the masters of branch schools for boys which were doubtless being
established in the rural parishes, following the example of Lachine,
which already had its schools before 1686. Probably there was a little
school at Contrecoeur, Boucherville, Longueuil, or Pointe aux Trembles,
served by the Sulpicians, which needed a guide book for the school, in
the curé's presbytery, taught by himself or by a pious layman. The
education was of a simple character, with religion playing a dominant
part in it.
LATIN SCHOOLS
In addition to the primary education of the _petites écoles_, there
were Latin schools. These classes were started by the Jesuits in Quebec
about 1637 and were introduced by them into Montreal about 1694, at
least after they had taken up their residence in 1692. About 1695
the Sulpicians were anxious also to undertake the work, but as the
Jesuits were already in the field, such work being in their institute,
the project of regular Latin classes was abandoned. Yet the teaching
of Latin was in time included in their courses. Gervais Lefebre, a
young man of eighteen years, entered the Seminary of Quebec in 1703,
after having made his course of humanities and a year of philosophy
with the Gentlemen of the Seminary of Montreal. The account books of
the Seminary of Quebec for 1730 show that this year six "rudiments,"
four "methods," six "Phèdre" and a dozen "Despanticière" were sent to
the Seminary of Montreal. In 1742 the latter in obtaining from France
its own books received the letters of Cicero, a dozen rudiments, six
"Imitation of Christ" in Latin. The Latin teachers in the beginning
were probably the clerics who taught the primary schools, such as M.
Léonard Chaigneau, François Vachon de Belmont, Mathieu Ranuyer, Pierre
Rémy, Antoine Forget, Jean Jacques Talbot, and Jean Girard. Later the
Latin class was intrusted to the priests, among whom were Guillaume
Chambon, Jean Claude Methevet, Mathieu Guillon, Charles de Metry
Creitte, and Jean Baptiste Curatteau.[192]
The Jesuits had been permitted by Bishop de St. Vallier to found on
August 22, 1692, a residence in Montreal. It was their ambition to
reproduce here their successful college courses started so humbly in
1635. In 1694, as we learn from two letters of the Jesuit, Père Claude
de la Chauchetière, written from Montreal, in the months of August
and September, there was an attempt to found a classical college.
Already, at least for a year, school had been kept by him for fifteen
scholars and some grown-up young officers of the troops. But funds were
scarce and he needed teachers, for he says that he himself expected
to be necessary for the missions and might be called away any time.
At this time there were only two or three Jesuits available for the
church, residence, and the care of transient Indians, as well as for
the direction of the first congregation of men erected canonically in
their church under the title of the Assumption of Our Lady.[193] Father
de la Chauchetière's letter of September 20, 1694, tells us: "I am here
like a bird on a branch, ready to fly on the first opportunity.... We
have a kind of college here which is not founded. I have some scholars
who are good _cinquiesmes_, but I have others who have beards on their
chins, to whom I teach marine and fortification, and other mathematical
subjects. One of my scholars is a pilot in the fleet going north.[194]
We are very badly housed as far as the buildings are concerned, but we
have a very good view, on an _arpent_ of land outside the town. Our
church is about half an _arpent_ distant from us. The garden is between
us and to get to the church we are exposed to the rain, the wind and
the snow, because we have no means of building. We ask our reverend
superior only for a little building of twenty feet at the end of the
church, but he has no means of helping us."
[Illustration: THE JESUITS' CONVENT]
This "kind of a college" having no funds but maintained at the expense
of the Jesuits, never rose beyond the dignity of a Latin school, with
the added splendour of teaching a few of His Majesty's pilots. For
thirty-three years, the Jesuits allowed the i that they had caressed
for a while, a college like that of Quebec, to slumber. Although the
view was good, funds were scarce and Father de la Chauchetière went
to his dear savages again. In 1727 the inhabitants, desirous of a
classical college in their town, to avoid sending their boys to Quebec
for the purpose, petitioned the governor, Beauharnois. Their preamble
shows that all the population, "military officers, law officers, the
_bourgeoise_, the merchants and the inhabitants, moved very keenly by
the ignorance and laziness of their children that had given rise to
lamentable disorders, have recourse to you to pray you, humbly and
very urgently, to second their good intentions, by procuring them the
means of maintaining youths in order, and of inspiring them with those
sentiments of submission necessary to render these children, at the
same time good servants of the king, as well as of God." The petition
then prays for the choice of the Jesuits for the purpose and for
government subsidy for the foundation. This request was well received
by Beauharnois, who transmitted it to the minister, at the same time
announcing that the Intendant Dupuy would join to the common letter,
a memorial of the Jesuits on the same subject. This the intendant did
not choose to send. Indeed, he wrote discountenancing the expenditure
on the ground that it was better to complete the courses at Quebec
before establishing another college at Montreal, thus avoiding two
imperfect foundations. He had a brilliant alternative. "Unless," he
wrote, "you should so arrange that the classes wanting at Quebec should
be supplied at Montreal, which would give the youths the opportunity
of seeing the whole of the colony and forming connections, by those
of Montreal going to Quebec to commence their course or those from
Quebec finishing at Montreal, or _vice-versa_, if the contrary was more
expedient." On May 12, 1728, Maurepas wrote to Beauharnois that the
enterprise of the college at Montreal would be too burdensome on the
king. In 1731 Beauharnois with the Intendant Hocquart again exerted his
efforts to obtain a subsidy for a classical course at Montreal under
the control of the Jesuits, but in vain. In 1736 Hocquart, seeing that
he could not get all he asked, determined to ask for less and advised
the appointment by the government of a technical master at Quebec and
Montreal to teach geometry, fortification and geography to the cadets
who were not able to follow the courses already in vogue at both
places. This failed again. Thus the college of the Jesuit residents
never rose beyond the dignity of a Latin school, or the high school of
the period.[195]
TECHNICAL EDUCATION AT MONTREAL
The beginning of technical education in Montreal must be attributed to
Jean François Charon, the founder of the _Frères Hospitaliers de St.
Joseph de la Croix_, who was born at Quebec, where he was baptized on
September 9, 1654. He was blessed with a considerable fortune for the
time, which he wished to consecrate to the relief of the sick, the weak
and orphans. As far back as 1688 it was his desire to found a hospital
for this purpose and he gathered around him among other associates
Pierre LeBer, brother of the recluse, and Jean Fredin. On October 28,
1688, he had conceded to him by Dollier de Casson, under private seal,
a piece of ground on which to found a house of charity. In 1692 the
king had by letters patent, given permission for the establishment
at Quebec and in other places where they were necessary, a general
hospital and houses of charity. Montreal was not slow in availing
themselves of this privilege. Champigny, writing to the minister in
November, 1693, says: "The establishment of a hospital at Montreal with
the king's permission, has started with the building of a very fine
house to which Sieur Charon, the principal founder, has joined two
good farms which will support eighty to one hundred persons. This will
effect all the good that can be desired, in instructing the young and
in employing them in manufactures and in teaching them trades. As they
have expressed a wish to commence next spring a brickyard near their
house, I believe that you will not disapprove of the permission given
by me to a soldier, a tiler and brickmaker to work there." The letters
patent for M. Charon's hospital, signed by the king in 1694, on the
request of Bishop St. Vallier, Frontenac and de Champigny specifically
adds to the hospital aims that of teaching trades to the young. Five
years later, in 1699, new letters patent were granted, permitting the
establishment of art manufactures and handicrafts in the house and
inclosure of the hospital brothers of Montreal. Thus it is clearly
seen that Charon laid great stress on the technical educational side
of his charitable work. He cannot, however, claim to be the pioneer
of technical education in Canada. Laval must be ever remembered in
this regard. He had solemnly opened the _petit séminaire_ at Quebec on
October 9, 1668, with thirteen scholars, seven French and six savages,
out of which he desired to find candidates for a native clergy. He
quickly found that some were not apt for study or the ecclesiastical
state and he bethought himself of establishing a second course
where the pupils might learn to earn their livelihood. A school of
"_arts et métiers_" of considerable importance for the time, grew up
simultaneously, both at the seminary and at its country branch of St.
Joachim at Cap Tourment where the bishop owned two farms and to which
boys were sent for their elementary education and to apply themselves
to those works to which they showed the greatest aptitude. In 1685 Mgr.
de St. Vallier in the absence of Mgr. Laval and with the assistance of
Denonville, had great schemes for the aggrandizement of St. Joachim as
a classical college also, but after a year's trial it came to naught.
On his return in 1688, Laval reverted to his original plan of St.
Joachim as mainly a technical school and in 1693 founded six burses
for its pupils. By 1705 it appears to have been, properly speaking,
an agricultural school or a model farm. By 1715 it became both an
elementary and a Latin school and continued as such till the end of
the French domination, whether it maintained its purpose as a school
of _arts et métiers_ not being so certain. In 1685 at St. Joachim the
"arts and métiers" were flourishing with joinery, sculpture, painting,
gilding, etc. There were tailors, shoemakers, edged-tool makers,
sawyers, tilers, etc., engaged to teach their trades to the young
students.
When Charon and his associates were planning their hospital and school,
they had St. Joachim in view as an ideal to reproduce in Montreal. They
essayed also to make it a normal school to form teachers for the rural
parishes and in this they were seconded by the intendant, Raudot, who
wrote in 1707, in their favour for government support. In passing, it
may be noted that in 1707, at least, the Charon Frères were teaching
navigation and fortification. Unfortunately at this time other matters,
concerning the _frères hospitaliers_ as a body having pretentions to be
recognized as a religious community, began to occupy the attention of
France. The minister, de Pontchartrain, ordered Raudot to publish an
ordinance as he did on December 14, 1708, enjoining the _hospitaliers_
to quit their religious uniform, the black _capot_, the silk _ceinture_
and the _rabat_ and to take no vows, those being declared null, already
made. They were to be only laymen living in a community. There was
great opposition at this time to the multiplication of religious
orders of the more severe types. On June 6, 1708, we find that the
king expressed, through the minister, his desire that the sisters of
the Congregation should not be cloistered, as he thought this would
render him less useful. He also hears that the hospitaliers of the
general hospital under M. Charon wished to take a religious uniform
and that they are wearing the rabat and taking simple vows. He desires
that this shall cease. Later, on May 10, 1710, the king still refuses
their insistent demand for recognition as a religious fraternity, on
the grounds that their letters patent were granted on the condition
that they should take no vows. In 1717 the Charon Brothers, assisted
by the Sulpicians, opened a school for boys at Pointe aux Trembles,
near Montreal. In 1718, however, the marine department came tardily
to their assistance and decided to allow a sum of 3,000 livres for
the maintenance of the public school of the hospital, and that of six
masters for the parishes of the diocese, and on July 5, 1718, announced
to Bégon that the funds for this purpose were to be taken from those
originally allotted since 1670 for the encouragement of marriages.
In 1718 and 1719 François Charon was in Paris and he then preferred a
request to the king to confirm by letters patent a normal school to be
taught by a religious community to be settled at Rochelle to train up
teachers for Canada. This community, not named, was undoubtedly the
Sons of St. John Baptiste de la Salle, or the Brothers of the Christian
Schools. Indeed the Abbé Guibert in his "Histoire de St. Jean Baptiste
de la Salle" tells us that two days after certain brothers had been
designated for this far off mission and their passage money paid, the
permission was cancelled, one of the contributing causes being that
it was learned from M. Charon, that de la Salle's brothers would be
separated throughout the parishes, an idea militating directly against
the spirit of community life. The normal school at Rochelle was not
realized. In the autumn of 1719, while bringing over six teachers from
France, on the Chameau, François Charon died on the vessel. His loss
was a great blow to his institute. His name should be ever held in
respect. Frère Turc was now nominated superior by Bishop de St. Vallier
and the Sulpicians made it possible for schools to be opened in their
parishes of Pointe aux Trembles, Boucherville, Longueuil, Batiscan and
Three Rivers.
But although Vaudreuil, the governor, and Bégon, the intendant, may
have, in 1718, looked propitiously on the needfulness of the scheme,
it was left to de Ramezay to vilify the brothers. On October 4, 1721,
the governor of Montreal wrote in exaggerated terms to the council of
the marine department that the new teachers were mostly inefficient
and incapable, neglectful of their duties to the children and to the
eleven old men in the hospital, consuming the goods of the poor instead
of being at work in the parishes as expected, that three of those
brought by M. Charon had left the community and those remaining were
as worthless. He concluded by asking that the money granted up to this
time to the Frères Charon should be given to the nuns of the Hôtel
Dieu. In spite of de Ramezay's protest the grant of 3,000 _livres_
accorded since 1718, was ratified on March 22, 1722, viz., that 375
_livres_ should be paid annually for the support of eight teachers,
two in the hospital, six in the parishes. The instruction was free
though voluntary contributions were allowable from the inhabitants to
supplement the grant. In the spring of 1723 the home government, taking
interest in the movement, gave a passage on the king's ship to twelve
men for the service of the hospital and the schools. On their arrival
they were distributed according to the orders of Brother Chretien
Turc, now superior. In spite of this apparent progress, a rumour was
prevalent in Canada that the Charon Frères were about to be suppressed
by the court. This was due to the imprudence of Brother Chretien, who,
having gone to France to renew the question of a normal school at La
Rochelle, was accused of escaping[196] his financial embarrassments
caused by the loan raised by him in the name of his community by
fleeing from his creditors to the Spanish portion of the Isle of St.
Domingo. The Charon Brothers began now to lose the confidence of the
people, although they were sustained by the bishop and the continuance
of the government grant. Even this was withdrawn in 1730 on the
alleged grounds of inefficiency in carrying out the duties for which
it was given. In 1737 a second futile attempt was made to induce the
Brothers of the Christian Schools to come to Canada. Indeed, Brothers
Denis and Pacificus came to Montreal to survey the situation. At
last, on October 19, 1745, the two remaining brothers of the moribund
institute asked to be relieved of the direction of the hospital. This
was acceded to in 1747. The last superior, Michel André, died in June
and on August 27th following, by a regulation of the bishop, the
governor and the intendant, the charge of the hospital was transferred
to Madame d'Youville, who became the foundress of the Grey Nuns, who
still continue the work to this day. The people received the change as
inevitable. The Charon Frères had outlived their usefulness. François
Charon deserves well of Montreal. He initiated a system admirably
progressive for the time. Had his followers been as self-sacrificing
and as competent as their founder, the noble work he planned would not
have fallen on evil days. None the less, their work does not meet from
some modern French historians the just appreciation it undoubtedly
received from competent authors in its early flourishing days.
[Illustration: MADAME D'YOUVILLE]
[Illustration: THE HOSPITAL GENERAL AFTER THE FIRST ADDITIONS BY MADAME
D'YOUVILLE]
[Illustration: THE HOSPITAL GENERAL UNDER THE CHARON FRERES]
FOOTNOTES:
[190] Garneau, Histoire du Canada, Edit. of 1859, Vol. II, page 104;
Joseph Edmond Roy, Histoire de la Seigneurie de Lauson, Vol. I, page
495; Benjamin Suite, Histoire de la Ville de Trois Rivières, Vol. I,
page 3; Phileas Gagnon, Recensements du Canada, 1871, Vol. IV. The
student of the Educational System of New France should consult the work
by M. L'Abbé Amédée Gosselin of Laval University, Quebec, entitled
"L'Instruction au Canada Sous le régime Français."
[191] Harvard was founded in 1836. On October 28, 1836, the general
court of Boston voted 400 pounds sterling for the foundation of a
school destined for ministers. John Harvard arrived in 1837. He died in
1838, leaving a legacy to the school, founded two years previously, of
four to five hundred pounds sterling and his library.
[192] It was this latter, who was afterwards, under the English rule,
to be the first superior at the _Petit Séminaire_, opened officially in
1773 as the classical college of St. Raphael, the foundations of which
he had laid at his presbytery at Longue Pointe. St. Raphael's College
is continued under the name of the "College de Montreal" situated on
Sherbrooke Street, adjoining the _Grand Séminaire_, both being on the
historical site of the Mountain Mission.
[193] This still flourishes in its various branches in the parishes of
Montreal.
[194] In 1694 an expedition was being prepared for Hudson's Bay, but
the voyage being long, it was thought good to give the officers a
professor of mathematics to occupy them on their way. Father de la
Chauchetière was thought of, but eventually another Jesuit, Father de
Silvy, an excellent mathematician, was chosen.
[195] In 1773 under the British régime the Society was suppressed by
the papal brief "Dominus ac Redemptor." Gradually the members became
extinct in Canada. The last of the number in Montreal, whose death was
registered in 1791, was Father J. B. Well, celebrated for the length of
his sermons, as well as for his goodness of heart. The last Jesuit in
Quebec was Father Casot, who died in 1800. The Jesuit estates then were
annexed by the crown. It was not till 1847 that the second attempt at a
clerical college was made with success when the Jesuits rehabilitated,
as an order, after having been recalled to Canada by Bishop Ignace
Bourget of Montreal, commenced the present college of Ste. Marie on
Bleury Street, which was not ready for occupation till 1851. A school
was, however, opened in 1848 in a frame house still standing in 1914
on the southeast corner of St. Alexander and Dorchester Streets. The
Church of the Gesu on Bleury Street was not opened for service till
December 3, 1865.
[196] In justice to Chretien Turc it must be said that his object was
rather to raise funds by embarking on a mercantile project so as to
restore the fortunes of the Montreal hospital. Here he failed again,
being a man of good heart, but of no business capacity. He left an
honoured name in St. Domingo as a worker in charitable causes, but he
begged to be relieved of the financial responsibility.