A. Leblond de Brumath - The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval

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Before leaving Canada the Bishop of Quebec had entrusted the
administration of the apostolic vicariate to M. de Bernieres, and, in
case of the latter's death, to M. Dudouyt. He embarked in the autumn of
1671.

To the keen regret of the population of Ville-Marie, which owed him so
much, M. de Queylus, Abbe de Loc-Dieu and superior of the Seminary of
Montreal for the last three years, went to France at the same time as
his ecclesiastical superior. "M. l'abbe de Queylus," wrote Commissioner
Talon to the Minister Colbert, "is making an urgent application for the
settlement and increase of the colony of Montreal. He carries his zeal
farther, for he is going to take charge of the Indian children who fall
into the hands of the Iroquois, in order to have them educated, the boys
in his seminary, and the girls by persons of the same sex, who form at
Montreal a sort of congregation to teach young girls the petty
handicrafts, in addition to reading and writing." M. de Queylus had used
his great fortune in all sorts of good works in the colony, but he was
not the only Sulpician whose hand was always ready and willing. Before
dying, M. Olier had begged his successors to continue the work at
Ville-Marie, "because," said he, "it is the will of God," and the
priests of St. Sulpice received this injunction as one of the most
sacred codicils of the will of their Father. However onerous the
continuation of this plan was for the company, the latter sacrificed to
it without hesitation its resources, its efforts and its members with
the most complete abnegation.[6] Thus when, on March 9th, 1663, the
Company of Montreal believed itself no longer capable of meeting its
obligations, and begged St. Sulpice to take them up, the seminary
subordinated all considerations of self-interest and human prudence to
this view. To this MM. de Bretonvilliers, de Queylus and du Bois devoted
their fortunes, and to this work of the conversion of the savages
priests distinguished in birth and riches gave up their whole lives and
property. M. de Belmont discharged the hundred and twenty thousand
francs of debts of the Company of Montreal, gave as much more to the
establishment of divers works, and left more than two hundred thousand
francs of his patrimony to support them after his death. How many
others did likewise! During more than fifty years Paris sent to this
mission only priests able to pay their board, that they might have the
right to share in this evangelization. This disinterestedness, unheard
of in the history of the most unselfish congregations, saved, sustained
and finally developed this settlement, to which Roman Catholics point
to-day with pride. The Seminary of Paris contributed to it a sum equal
to twice the value of the island, and during the first sixty years more
than nine hundred thousand francs, as one may see by the archives of the
Department of Marine at Paris. These sums to-day would represent a large
fortune.

Finally the prayers of Mgr. de Laval were heard; Pope Clement X signed
on October 1st, 1674, the bulls establishing the diocese of Quebec,
which was to extend over all the French possessions in North America.
The sovereign pontiff incorporated with the new bishopric for its
maintenance the abbey of Maubec, given by the King of France already in
1662, and in exchange for the renunciation by this prince of his right
of presentation to the abbey of Maubec, granted him the right of
nomination to the bishopric of Quebec. To his first gift the king had
added a second, that of the abbey of Lestrees. Situated in Normandy and
in the archdeaconry of Evreux, this abbey was one of the oldest of the
order of Citeaux.

Up to this time the venerable bishop had had many difficulties to
surmount; he was about to meet some of another sort, those of the
administration of vast properties. The abbey of Maubec, occupied by
monks of the order of St. Benedict, was situated in one of the fairest
provinces of France, Le Perry, and was dependent upon the archdiocese of
Bourges. Famous vineyards, verdant meadows, well cultivated fields, rich
farms, forests full of game and ponds full of fish made this abbey an
admirable domain; unfortunately, the expenses of maintaining or
repairing the buildings, the dues payable to the government, the
allowances secured to the monks, and above all, the waste and theft
which must necessarily victimize proprietors separated from their
tenants by the whole breadth of an ocean, must absorb a great part of
the revenues. Letters of the steward of this property to the Bishop of
Quebec are instructive in this matter. "M. Porcheron is still the same,"
writes the steward, M. Matberon, "and bears me a grudge because I desire
to safeguard your interests. I am incessantly carrying on the work of
needful repairs in all the places dependent on Maubec, chiefly those
necessary to the ponds, in order that M. Porcheron may have no damages
against you. This is much against his will, for he is constantly seeking
an excuse for litigation. He swears that he does not want your farm any
longer, but as for me, I believe that this is not his feeling, and that
he would wish the farm out of the question, for he is too fond of
hunting and his pleasure to quit it.... He does his utmost to remove me
from your service, insinuating many things against me which are not
true; but this does not lessen my zeal in serving you."

Mgr. de Laval, who did not hesitate at any exertion when it was a
question of the interests of his Church, did not fail to go and visit
his two abbeys. He set out, happy in the prospect of being able to
admire these magnificent properties whose rich revenues would permit him
to do so much good in his diocese; but he was painfully affected at the
sight of the buildings in ruins, sad relics of the wars of religion. In
order to free himself as much as possible from cares which would have
encroached too much upon his precious time and his pastoral duties,
Laval caused a manager to be appointed by the Royal Council for the
abbey of Lestrees, and rented it for a fixed sum to M. Berthelot. He
also made with the latter a very advantageous transaction by exchanging
with him the Island of Orleans for the Ile Jesus; M. Berthelot was to
give him besides a sum of twenty-five thousand francs, which was
employed in building the seminary. Later the king made the Island of
Orleans a county. It became the county of St. Lawrence.

Mgr. de Laval was too well endowed with qualities of the heart, as well
as with those of the mind, not to have preserved a deep affection for
his family; he did not fail to go and see them twice during his stay in
France. Unhappily, his brother, Jean-Louis, to whom he had yielded all
his rights as eldest son, and his titles to the hereditary lordship of
Montigny and Montbeaudry, caused only grief to his family and to his
wife, Francoise de Chevestre. As lavish as he was violent and
hot-tempered, he reduced by his excesses his numerous family (for he had
had ten children), to such poverty that the Bishop of Quebec had to come
to his aid; besides the assistance which he sent them, the prelate
bought him a house. He extended his protection also to his nephews, and
his brother, Henri de Laval, wrote to him about them as follows: "The
eldest is developing a little; he is in the army with the king, and his
father has given him a good start. I have obtained from my petitions
from Paris a place as monk in the Congregation of the Cross for his
second son, whom I shall try to have reared in the knowledge and fear of
God. I believe that the youngest, who has been sent to you, will have
come to the right place; he is of good promise. My brother desires
greatly that you may have the goodness to give Fanchon the advantage of
an education before sending him back. It is a great charity to these
poor children to give them a little training. You will be a father to
them in this matter." One never applied in vain to the heart of the good
bishop. Two of his nephews owed him their education at the seminary of
Quebec; one of them, Fanchon (Charles-Francois-Guy), after a brilliant
course in theology at Paris, became vicar-general to the Swan of
Cambrai, the illustrious Fenelon, and was later raised to the bishopric
of Ypres.

Meanwhile, four years had elapsed since Mgr. de Laval had left the soil
of Canada, and he did not cease to receive letters which begged him
respectfully to return to his diocese. "Nothing is lacking to animate us
but the presence of our lord bishop," wrote, one day, Father Dablon.
"His absence keeps this country, as it were, in mourning, and makes us
languish in the too long separation from a person so necessary to these
growing churches. He was the soul of them, and the zeal which he showed
on every occasion for the welfare of our Indians drew upon us favours of
Heaven most powerful for the success of our missions; and since, however
distant he be in the body, his heart is ever with us, we experience the
effects of it in the continuity of the blessings with which God favours
the labours of our missionaries." Accordingly, he did not lose a moment
after receiving the decrees appointing him Bishop of Quebec. On May
19th, 1675, he renewed the union of his seminary with that of the
Foreign Missions in Paris. "This union," says the Abbe Ferland, "a union
which he had effected for the first time in 1665 as apostolic bishop of
New France, was of great importance to his diocese. He found, indeed, in
this institution, good recruits, who were sent to him when needed, and
faithful correspondents, whom he could address with confidence, and who
had sufficient influence at court to gain a hearing for their
representations in favour of the Church in Canada." On May 29th of the
same year he set sail for Canada; he was accompanied by a priest, a
native of the city of Orleans, M. Glandelet, who was one of the most
distinguished priests of the seminary.

To understand with what joy he was received by his parishioners on his
arrival, it is enough to read what his brother, Henri de Laval, wrote to
him the following year: "I cannot express to you the satisfaction and
inward joy which I have received in my soul on reading a report sent
from Canada of the manner in which your clergy and all your people have
received you, and that our Lord inspires them all with just and true
sentiments to recognize you as their father and pastor. They testify to
having received through your beloved person as it were a new life. I ask
our Lord every day at His holy altars to preserve you some years more
for the sanctification of these poor people and our own."

FOOTNOTES:

[6] _Vie de M. Olier_, par De Lanjuere. As I wrote this life some years
ago with the collaboration of a gentleman whom death has taken from us,
I believe myself entitled to reproduce here and there in the present
life of Mgr. de Laval extracts from this book.

CHAPTER X

FRONTENAC IS APPOINTED GOVERNOR

During the early days of the absence of its first pastor, the Church of
Canada had enjoyed only days of prosperity; skilfully directed by MM. de
Bernieres and de Dudouyt, who scrupulously followed the line of conduct
laid down for them by Mgr. de Laval before his departure, it was
pursuing its destiny peacefully. But this calm, forerunner of the storm,
could not last; it was the destiny of the Church, as it had been the lot
of nations, to be tossed incessantly by the violent winds of trial and
persecution. The difficulties which arose soon reached the acute stage,
and all the firmness and tact of the Bishop of Quebec were needed to
meet them. The departure of Laval for France in the autumn of 1671 had
been closely followed by that of Governor de Courcelles and that of
Commissioner Talon. The latter was not replaced until three years later,
so that the new governor, Count de Frontenac, who arrived in the autumn
of 1672, had no one at his side in the Sovereign Council to oppose his
views. This was allowing too free play to the natural despotism of his
character. Louis de Buade, Count de Palluau and de Frontenac,
lieutenant-general of the king's armies, had previously served in
Holland under the illustrious Maurice, Prince of Orange, then in France,
Italy and Germany, and his merit had gained for him the reputation of a
great captain. The illustrious Turenne entrusted to him the command of
the reinforcements sent to Candia when that island was besieged by the
Turks. He had a keen mind, trained by serious study; haughty towards the
powerful of this world, he was affable to ordinary people, and thus made
for himself numerous enemies, while remaining very popular. Father
Charlevoix has drawn an excellent portrait of him: "His heart was
greater than his birth, his wit lively, penetrating, sound, fertile and
highly cultivated: but he was biased by the most unjust prejudices, and
capable of carrying them very far. He wished to rule alone, and there
was nothing he would not do to remove those whom he was afraid of
finding in his way. His worth and ability were equal; no one knew better
how to assume over the people whom he governed and with whom he had to
deal, that ascendency so necessary to keep them in the paths of duty and
respect. He won when he wished it the friendship of the French and their
allies, and never has general treated his enemies with more dignity and
nobility. His views for the aggrandizement of the colony were large and
true, but his prejudices sometimes prevented the execution of plans
which depended on him.... He justified, in one of the most critical
circumstances of his life, the opinion that his ambition and the desire
of preserving his authority had more power over him than his zeal for
the public good. The fact is that there is no virtue which does not
belie itself when one has allowed a dominant passion to gain the upper
hand. The Count de Frontenac might have been a great prince if Heaven
had placed him on the throne, but he had dangerous faults for a subject
who is not well persuaded that his glory consists in sacrificing
everything to the service of his sovereign and the public utility."

It was under the administration of Frontenac that the Compagnie des
Indes Occidentales, which had accepted in 1663 a portion of the
obligations and privileges of the Company of the Cent-Associes,
renounced its rights over New France. Immediately after his arrival he
began the construction of Fort Cataraqui; if we are to believe some
historians, motives of personal interest guided him in the execution of
this enterprise; he thought only, it seems, of founding considerable
posts for the fur trade, favouring those traders who would consent to
give him a share in their profits. The work was urged on with energy. La
Salle obtained from the king, thanks to the support of Frontenac,
letters patent of nobility, together with the ownership and jurisdiction
of the new fort.

With the approval of the governor, Commissioner Talon's plan of having
the course of the Mississippi explored was executed by two bold men:
Louis Joliet, citizen of Quebec, already known for previous voyages and
for his deep knowledge of the Indian tongues, and the devoted
missionary, Father Marquette. Without other provisions than Indian corn
and dried meat they set out in two bark canoes from Michilimackinac on
May 17th, 1673; only five Frenchmen accompanied them. They reached the
Mississippi, after having passed the Baie des Puants and the rivers
Outagami and Wisconsin, and ascended the stream for more than sixty
leagues. They were cordially received by the tribe of the Illinois,
which was encamped not far from the river, and Father Marquette promised
to return and visit them. The two travellers reached the Arkansas River
and learned that the sea was not far distant, but fearing they might
fall into the hands of hostile Spaniards, they decided to retrace their
steps, and reached the Baie des Puants about the end of September.

The following year Father Marquette wished to keep his promise given to
the Illinois. His health is weakened by the trials of a long mission,
but what matters this to him? There are souls to save. He preaches the
truths of religion to the poor savages gathered in attentive silence;
but his strength diminishes, and he regretfully resumes the road to
Michilimackinac. He did not have time to reach it, but died near the
mouth of a river which long bore his name. His two comrades dug a grave
for the remains of the missionary and raised a cross near the tomb. Two
years later these sacred bones were transferred with the greatest
respect to St. Ignace de Michilimackinac by the savage tribe of the
Kiskakons, whom Father Marquette had christianized.

With such an adventurous character as he possessed, Cavelier de la Salle
could not learn of the exploration of the course of the Upper
Mississippi without burning with the desire to complete the discovery
and to descend the river to its mouth. Robert Rene Cavelier de la Salle
was born at Rouen about the year 1644. He belonged to an excellent
family, and was well educated. From his earliest years he was
passionately fond of stories of travel, and the older he grew the more
cramped he felt in the civilization of Europe; like the mettled mustang
of the vast prairies of America, he longed for the immensity of unknown
plains, for the imposing majesty of forests which the foot of man had
not yet trod. Maturity and reason gave a more definite aim to these
aspirations; at the age of twenty-four he came to New France to try his
fortune. He entered into relations with different Indian tribes, and the
extent of his commerce led him to establish a trading-post opposite the
Sault St. Louis. This site, as we shall see, received soon after the
name of Lachine. Though settled at this spot, La Salle did not cease to
meditate on the plan fixed in his brain of discovering a passage to
China and the Indies, and upon learning the news that MM. Dollier de
Casson and Gallinee were going to christianize the wild tribes of
south-western Canada, he hastened to rejoin the two devoted
missionaries. They set out in the summer of 1669, with twenty-two
Frenchmen. Arriving at Niagara, La Salle suddenly changed his mind, and
abandoned his travelling companions, under the pretext of illness. No
more was needed for the Frenchman, _ne malin_,[7] to fix upon the
seigniory of the future discoverer of the mouth of the Mississippi the
name of Lachine; M. Dollier de Casson is suspected of being the author
of this gentle irony.

Eight years later the explorations of Joliet and Father Marquette
revived his instincts as a discoverer; he betook himself to France in
1677 and easily obtained authority to pursue, at his own expense, the
discovery already begun. Back in Canada the following year, La Salle
thoroughly prepared for this expedition, accumulating provisions at Fort
Niagara, and visiting the Indian tribes. In 1679, accompanied by the
Chevalier de Tonti, he set out at the head of a small troop, and passed
through Michilimackinac, then through the Baie des Puants. From there he
reached the Miami River, where he erected a small fort, ascended the
Illinois, and, reaching a camp of the Illinois Indians, made an alliance
with this tribe, obtaining from them permission to erect upon their soil
a fort which he called Crevecoeur. He left M. de Tonti there with a few
men and two Recollet missionaries, Fathers de la Ribourde and Membre,
and set out again with all haste for Fort Frontenac, for he was very
anxious regarding the condition of his own affairs. He had reason to be.
"His creditors," says the Abbe Ferland, "had had his goods seized after
his departure from Fort Frontenac; his brigantine _Le Griffon_ had been
lost, with furs valued at thirty thousand francs; his employees had
appropriated his goods; a ship which was bringing him from France a
cargo valued at twenty-two thousand francs had been wrecked on the
Islands of St. Pierre; some canoes laden with merchandise had been
dashed to pieces on the journey between Montreal and Frontenac; the men
whom he had brought from France had fled to New York, taking a portion
of his goods, and already a conspiracy was on foot to disaffect the
Canadians in his service. In one word, according to him, the whole of
Canada had conspired against his enterprise, and the Count de Frontenac
was the only one who consented to support him in the midst of his
misfortunes." His remarkable energy and activity remedied this host of
evils, and he set out again for Fort Crevecoeur. To cap the climax of
his misfortunes, he found it abandoned; being attacked by the Iroquois,
whom the English had aroused against them, Tonti and his comrades had
been forced to hasty flight. De la Salle found them again at
Michilimackinac, but he had the sorrow of learning of the loss of
Father de la Ribourde, whom the Illinois had massacred. Tonti and his
companions, in their flight, had been obliged to abandon an unsafe
canoe, which had carried them half-way, and to continue their journey on
foot. Such a series of misfortunes would have discouraged any other than
La Salle; on the contrary, he made Tonti and Father Membre retrace their
steps. Arriving with them at the Miami fort, he reinforced his little
troop by twenty-three Frenchmen and eighteen Indians, and reached Fort
Crevecoeur. On February 6th, 1682, he reached the mouth of the Illinois,
and then descended the Mississippi. Towards the end of this same month
the bold explorers stopped at the juncture of the Ohio with the Father
of Rivers, and erected there Fort Prudhomme. On what is Fame dependent?
A poor and unknown man, a modest collaborator with La Salle, had the
honour of giving his name to this little fort because he had been lost
in the neighbourhood and had reached camp nine days later.

Providence was finally about to reward so much bravery and perseverance.
The sailor who from the yards of Christopher Columbus's caravel, uttered
the triumphant cry of "Land! land!" did not cause more joy to the
illustrious Genoese navigator than La Salle received from the sight of
the sea so ardently sought. On April 9th La Salle and his comrades could
at length admire the immense blue sheet of the Gulf of Mexico. Like
Christopher Columbus, who made it his first duty on touching the soil of
the New World to fall upon his knees to return thanks to Heaven, La
Salle's first business was to raise a cross upon the shore. Father
Membre intoned the Te Deum. They then raised the arms of the King of
France, in whose name La Salle took possession of the Mississippi, and
of all the territories watered by the tributaries of the great river.

Their trials were not over: the risks to be run in traversing so many
regions inhabited by barbarians were as great and as numerous after
success as before. La Salle was, moreover, delayed for forty days by a
serious illness, but God in His goodness did not wish to deprive the
valiant discoverers of the fruits of their efforts, and all arrived safe
and sound at the place whence they had started. After having passed a
year in establishing trading-posts among the Illinois, La Salle
appointed M. de Tonti his representative for the time being, and betook
himself to France with the intention of giving an account of his journey
to the most Christian monarch. His enemies had already forestalled him
at the court; we have to seek the real cause of this hatred in the
jealousy of traders who feared to find in the future colonists of the
western and southern country competitors in their traffic. But far from
listening to them, the son of Colbert, Seignelay, then minister of
commerce, highly praised the valiant explorer, and sent, in 1684, four
ships with two hundred and eighty colonists to people Louisiana, this
new gem in the crown of France. But La Salle has not yet finally drained
the cup of disappointment, for few men have been so overwhelmed as he by
the persistence of ill-fortune. It was not enough that the leader of the
expedition should be incapable, the colonists must needs be of a
continual evil character, the soldiers undisciplined, the workmen
unskilful, the pilot ignorant. They pass the mouth of the Mississippi,
near which they should have disembarked, and arrive in Texas; the
commander refuses to send the ship about, and La Salle makes up his mind
to land where they are. Through the neglect of the pilot, the vessel
which was carrying the provisions is cast ashore, then a gale arises
which swallows up the tools, the merchandise and the ammunition. The
Indians, like birds of prey, hasten up to pillage, and massacre two
volunteers. The colonists in exasperation revolt, and stupidly blame La
Salle. He saves them, nevertheless, by his energy, and makes them raise
a fort with the wreck of the ships. They pass two years there in a
famine of everything; twice La Salle tries to find, at the cost of a
thousand sufferings, a way of rescue, and twice he fails. Finally, when
there remain no more than thirty men, he chooses the ten most resolute,
and tries to reach Canada on foot. He did not reach it: on May 20th,
1687, he was murdered by one of his comrades. "Such was the end of this
daring adventurer," says Bancroft.[8] "For force of will, and vast
conceptions; for various knowledge and quick adaptation of his genius to
untried circumstances; for a sublime magnanimity that resigned itself to
the will of Heaven and yet triumphed over affliction by energy of
purpose and unfaltering hope, he had no superior among his
countrymen.... He will be remembered in the great central valley of the
West."

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