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