THREATENED INVASION OF THE IROQUOIS.--HEROES OF VILLE MARIE.
In eighteen months after the destruction of the first monastery, the
Ursulines were enabled to re-open schools for the French, and a seminary
for the Indians, and so great was the increase of applicants for
admission, especially to the latter, that the Mother of the Incarnation
tells us she was obliged to her great regret to refuse many, who went
away with tears in their eyes, leaving her, as she beautifully expresses
it, with tears in her heart. The children who could not be accommodated
in the school, were taught in the parlour, and a little later, bark
cabins were again constructed in the neighbourhood of the old ash tree
for the reception of the Huron girls, eighty of whom at a time might
daily be seen receiving not only spiritual instruction, but also a
plentiful meal of the never-failing Indian meal porridge. The seminarists
resumed possession of the now vacant house of Madame de la Peltrie.
The progress of God's work was partially checked about this time by the
growing passion of the Indians for intoxicating drinks, and their
increased facility for procuring them. The sad example of the parents was
beginning to react on the children, and when the religious attempted to
remonstrate with such of these as came only for occasional instruction,
the refractory young ones took to flight "It is their nature," the Mother
of the Incarnation says, "to be easily led away by bad example, unless
thoroughly confirmed in habits of virtue." The awful calamities which we
shall meet later, led to a much-needed reformation. Among the resident
Indian pupils, happily removed from the contagion of evil example, the
labours of the zealous Mothers continued as ever to produce abundant
fruit. Of the large number instructed by the Ursulines, it is true that
only a comparatively small proportion were formed to European habits. "A
Frenchman would more easily become a savage," remarks the Mother of the
Incarnation, "than a savage a Frenchman." None of the Canadian tribes
ever advanced beyond a sort of semi-civilization, and almost all passed
away without attaining even this. But they made good Christians none the
less--perhaps all the more--for if life in the woods debarred them from
the advantages of civilized society, it secured them also from the
dangers of its corrupting influence.
Among the contrasts which the seminary of this period presented were a
widow advanced in years, and a little child only seven. Geneviève, the
widow, was an Algonquin by birth, and though certainly not a candidate
for school, she had so effectually worked on the charity of the Mothers,
that they found it impossible to refuse her request for admittance. Her
fervour was most remarkable. She followed the nuns to every choir
observance of the day, spending the time in reciting rosary after rosary
for various, intentions, among others, the conversion of the Algonquins.
She was never tired of praying, or of listening to instructions on the
mysteries of our holy faith. She was especially delighted with the choir
ceremonies, of which she asked minute explanations, giving it as her
opinion that they must be representations of what the angels and saints
are doing in heaven. Her life-long grief was that her children had died
without baptism. In the end, she left Quebec for Three Rivers, where an
opportunity offered of doing practical good among the female converts of
her own nation. Her little contemporary went to join the angels, and pray
for her benefactresses in heaven. "Catherine is going to see Jesus and
her Mother Mary," she would smilingly say to her companions when they
came to visit her; "she is very happy, and she will pray for you." And so
she was inconceivably happy to die in the house of Jesus and Mary, and in
the arms of Madame de la Peltrie, who watched her with a mother's love,
and charged her with many a message for the angels, those especially of
the Mothers and the Indians. Her sufferings were very great, but her
patience was equal to them. After death, she was attired in white and
laid in the church, where the savages came in crowds to pray around her
bier. She was the last pupil to whom the venerated Foundress rendered the
final services.
No Bishop had yet been appointed to govern the Church of Canada, ardently
as it desired, and frequently as it had implored the blessing. At last,
in 1659, the privilege was granted, to the universal joy of the colony.
The first ruler of the infant Church was Monseigneur de Laval, who bore
at first the title of Vicar Apostolic only. Of him it may, in truth, be
said, that he was a man according to God's own heart, insensible to human
respect, indefatigable in labour, detached from the world, dead to self,
poor in spirit, a model of humility, and a consoling angel of charity.
One of his first acts on the day of landing was to stand sponsor for a
Huron infant; another, to administer the last sacred rites to a dying
youth of the same nation. This was a worthy commencement of an episcopate
destined to prove so fruitful in works of holiness and of general
utility. The arrival of a vessel infected with fever, soon afforded him
ample opportunity of signalizing his love for his neighbour. Of the two
hundred persons whom it contained, nearly all had been attacked by the
malady; eight had died on the passage; many more had been carried off
after landing. The contagion spread through the town, and the hospital
was quickly filled. The good Pastor was at all times to be found in the
midst of his suffering people, ministering not only to their spiritual,
but even to their corporal necessities. He who could trace his pedigree
through a line of ancestors of the noble house of Montmorency, deemed it
not a degradation, but an honour, to make the beds of the poor patients
in the plague-stricken hospital at Quebec. No argument could induce him
to think of his own safety, for he had learned from the lessons and the
example of his Divine Master, that the good shepherd must be ready to lay
down his life, if needful, for his flock. In his establishment, and in
his personal habits, he was a model of evangelical poverty, but where the
rights of the Church and the dignity of his charge were concerned, he
understood perfectly how to maintain both, and his desire and aim were
ever to surround the ceremonial of religion with all the pomp and majesty
attainable in a country only as yet in its infancy.
The late panic had scarcely subsided, when it was succeeded by another
yet more terrible. In the spring of 1660, the inhabitants of the town
were one day dispersed through the adjoining fields, peacefully engaged
in agricultural pursuits, when suddenly the thrilling news arrived that
twelve hundred Iroquois had assembled in the neighbourhood of Montreal,
with the intention of utterly annihilating the colony. Their plan, it was
said, was to begin with the capital, as the residence of the Governor,
for they argued that the head once destroyed, the members would soon
follow. It would be vain to attempt a description of the universal
consternation occasioned by this intelligence. The first impulse of the
trembling people was to try to propitiate heaven by public prayer;
accordingly, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, and devotions in honour
of the Blessed Virgin were commenced. The Bishop, alarmed for the safety
of the Nuns, removed the two communities from their own homes to lodgings
near the Jesuits. The remaining inhabitants either fortified their
dwellings or abandoned them for others more securely located. Meantime
the monastery was placed in a state of siege; redoubts were raised; the
windows walled half-way, and well supplied with loop-holes. Every
aperture was carefully closed, and no entrance to the monastery left open
except one narrow door, through which only a single person could pass at
a time. Twenty-four men were placed on guard in the house, and, more
formidable to the enemy than any soldiers, twelve enormous dogs were
stationed on the outside. Woe to the Iroquois who should glide serpent-
like through the tall grass, or lie in ambush in the shade of the
brushwood! The sagacious animals would quickly detect his place of
concealment, fly at him in a bound, and tear him to pieces without
ceremony, a fact so well known to the hostile savages, that they feared
the dogs of the French more than their warriors or their cannon.
Undismayed by the danger, the Mother of the Incarnation obtained
permission to remain in the monastery with three other Sisters, to
prevent disorder and see that the soldiers wanted for nothing. The first
night passed over in safety, but to the inhabitants in general, it was
one of mortal agony. The next morning after Mass, seeing that all was
quiet, the Ursulines and their pupils returned to the convent. In the
evening, they again sought their refuge of the night before, and so
things went on for some weeks. It was a time of cruel suspense. Every
sound was transformed by over-heated imagination into a signal of attack;
every shadow into the form of some stealthy Iroquois; every breath of the
night breeze into the echo of an enemy's approaching step. The vast,
silent solitudes surrounding the town in every direction, the wild aspect
of the unreclaimed land, the gloomy appearance of the thickly wooded
forest seemingly formed expressly to conceal a foe, all combined to
impress the mind with that painful suspicion of unseen danger, which to
many is more torturing than actual peril. Through all the agitation and
alarm, the Mother of the Incarnation retained her accustomed self-
possession, and by the calmness of her demeanour, encouraged the timid
and desponding. During the five weeks' general excitement, she says that
she experienced no fear, though she owns that she endured extreme
fatigue. Sleep, either by day or night, was indeed a stranger to Quebec
for the whole of that most trying period. As time passed on, and no enemy
appeared, courage began to revive, but the dream of hope was soon
dispelled. Once more the people were startled by the dread announcement,
"The Iroquois are coming! They are close at hand!" While the imminence of
the danger froze the life-blood in many a heart, it seemed, however, only
to nerve the arms of the defenders of the town. In a half-an-hour every
man was at his post, prepared to defend it to the last, and surrender it
only with life. Some were even heard to wish in their enthusiasm, that
the alarm might this time prove well founded. Notwithstanding the panic,
confidence in God's providence had not deserted the inhabitants.
"Mother," said one of the workmen to the Mother of the Incarnation, "do
not imagine that the Almighty will permit the enemy to surprise us. No;
He will hear the powerful prayers of the Blessed Virgin on our behalf,
and send some friendly Huron to put us on our guard in time. The Mother
of God has never refused us this favour, nor will she now." The very next
day proved the accuracy of the prediction. Two Huron prisoners who had
miraculously escaped from the hands of the Iroquois, brought the almost
incredible news that the enemy had precipitately retreated, humbled and
confounded at the unexpected resistance which they had encountered. It
was indeed true that the colony was saved, but equally so, that its
Safety had been dearly purchased.
The continual ravages of the Iroquois had hitherto been a standing
obstacle to the progress of the young nation. Wherever they appeared,
utter devastation followed, and as no precaution could prevent, and no
foresight anticipate their incursions, life itself was felt by the
inhabitants to hang merely on a thread. At length, sixteen of the
colonists headed by an officer named Daulac, [Footnote: Sometimes written
Dolard, and Daulard.] resolved to confront the long dreaded foe, and
conquer or die in the cause of faith and country, The determination was a
bold one, and it was carried out with an unflinching spirit. Before
setting out on their expedition, the Christian warriors approached the
sacraments, and in presence of the holy altar promised never to
surrender, and never to desert each other. They took leave of their
friends as if assured of not meeting them on earth again, and having been
joined by forty Hurons and six Algonquins with their respective Chiefs,
they intrenched themselves on the first of May behind a half-ruined
palisade at Saut-des-Chaudières, on the Ottawa river. There for eight
days they resisted an army of seven hundred Iroquois, enduring meantime
the aggravating tortures of hunger, want of sleep, and worst of all,
consuming thirst. Through, the loop-holes of their little fort, they
fired with unerring precision at the Iroquois, decimating them rapidly,
while sustaining but trifling loss themselves. Even after the defection
of twenty-four of the Hurons who were lured over to the enemy by
deceitful promises, the small garrison still counted thirty-five
undaunted hearts, and but for a sad accident, might have maintained its
ground much longer. When the Iroquois bad advanced sufficiently near the
fort to render the attempt practicable, Daulac determined to attach a
fuse to a barrel of gunpowder, and fling it into the midst of them.
Unfortunately the missile caught in a branch, and was thrown back into
the fort, exploding with disastrous consequences to the besieged. The
savages taking advantage of the confusion, forced their way into the
fort;--one more desperate struggle,--then all was over. Only four
Frenchmen and four Hurons fell alive into the bands of the Iroquois, who,
terrified at a victory which had cost them so dearly, returned to their
villages as fast as possible, not daring to carry out the projected
invasion of a country of heroes such as these. Of the prisoners, some
were put to a cruel death; two of the Hurons escaped as we have noticed,
and were the first to bring to Quebec and Montreal the news of the death
of Daulac and his brave companions.
In 1663, on his return from his first voyage to France, Monseigneur de
Laval founded the seminary of Quebec, which he named the Holy Family of
the Foreign Missions. Like all great works, the beginnings of the
institution were small, yet it was destined to exercise a vast and
salutary influence over Canada, and at a later day to acquire wide renown
as the famed Laval University.