"The priests are the second and most numerous class of the clergy in this country; for most of the churches, both in towns and villages (the Indian converts excepted), are served by priests. A few of them are likewise missionaries. In Canada are two seminaries: one in Quebec, the other in Montreal. The priests of the seminary of Montreal are of the order of St. Sulpitius, and supply only the congregation on the isle of Montreal, and the town of the same name. At all the other churches in Canada the priests belonging to the Quebec seminary officiate. The former, or those of the order of St. Sulpitius, all come from France; and I was assured that they never suffer a native of Canada to come among them.
"In the seminary at Quebec, the natives of Canada make the greater part.
"In order to fit the children of this country for orders, there are schools at Quebec and St. Joachim, where the youths are taught Latin, and instructed in the knowledge of those things and sciences which have a more immediate connection with the business they are intended for.
"However, they are not very nice in their choice, and people of a middling capacity are often received among them.
"They do not seem to have made great progress in Latin; for, notwithstanding the service is read in that language, and they read their Latin breviary and other books every day, yet most of them find it very difficult to speak it.
"All the priests in the Quebec seminary are consecrated by the bishop. Both the seminaries have got great revenues from the king; that in Quebec has above thirty thousand livres. All the country on the west side of the River St. Lawrence, from the town of Quebec to Bay St. Paul, belongs to this seminary, besides their other possessions in the country. They lease the land to the settlers for a certain rent, which, if it be annually paid, according to their agreement, the children or heirs of the settlers may remain in an undisturbed possession of the lands.
"A piece of land three arpents[220] broad, and thirty, forty, or fifty arpents long, pays annually an ecu,[221] and a couple of chickens, or some other additional trifle. In such places as have convenient water-falls, they have built water-mills or saw-mills, from which they annually get considerable sums. The seminary of Montreal possesses the whole ground on which that town stands, together with the whole isle of Montreal. I have been assured that the ground rent of the town and isle is computed at seventy thousand livres, besides what they get for saying masses, baptizing, holding confessions, attending at marriages and funerals, &c. All the revenues of ground rent belong to the seminaries alone, and the priests in the country have no share in them. But the seminary in Montreal, consisting only of sixteen priests, has greater revenues than it can expend; a large sum of money is annually sent over to France, to the chief seminary there. The land rents belonging to the Quebec seminary are employed for the use of the priests in it, and for the maintenance of a number of young people, who are brought up to take orders. The priests who live in the country parishes get the tithe from their congregation, together with the perquisites on visiting the sick, &c. In small congregations the king gives the priests an additional sum. When a priest in the country grows old, and has done good service, he is sometimes allowed to come into the seminary in town. The seminaries are allowed to place the priests on their own estates, but the other places are in the gift of the bishop."—Ibid.
"After the conquest of Quebec, the British government prohibited the religious male orders from augmenting their numbers, excepting the priests. The orders were allowed to enjoy the whole of their revenues as long as a single individual of the body existed; then they reverted to the crown. The revenue of the Jesuit Society was upward of £12,000 per annum when it fell into the possession of the government. It had been for several years enjoyed solely by an old father, who had survived all the rest. He was a native of Switzerland; his name, Jean Joseph Casot. In his youth he was no more than porter to the convent, but, having considerable merit, he was promoted, and in course of time received into the order. He died at a very advanced age, in 1800, with a high character for kindness and generosity: his large income was entirely employed in charitable purposes. The lands belonging to the Jesuits, as well as to the other religious orders, are by far the best in the country, and produce the greatest revenues."—Lambert's Travels in Canada, vol. i., p. 59.
"The Jesuits, who in the early settlement of the country were merely missionaries, obtained a patent (Petits Droits des Colonies Françaises, vol. ii., p. 441), by which they acquired a license to purchase lands, and hold property as in France. The property the Jesuits possessed in this country in after times was acquired by grants from the kings of France; by grants from the Company of New France; by gifts from individuals, and by purchase."—Smith's History of Canada, vol. i., p. 27; Weld, p. 249. Smith estimates the revenues of the society, when, after P. Casot's death, they reverted to the crown, at only £1600 per annum. Weld comes nearer to the statement of Lambert. He visited Quebec in 1796, four years before P. Casot's death, and states that the great possessions of the Jesuits had centered in him, and amounted to £10,000 per annum. It is to be remembered that in 1764 the order of Jesuits was abolished by the King of France, and the members of the society became private individuals.
"The college of the Jesuits at Quebec was long considered as the first institution on the continent of North America for the instruction of young men. The advantages derived from it were not limited to the better class of Canadians, but were extended to all whose inclination it was to participate in them, and many students came thither from the West Indies. From the period of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the states of Europe, and the consequent abolition of their order on that continent, this establishment, although protected by the British government, began rapidly to decline.