The Makers of Canada: Champlain

by N.-E. Dionne

The field of the missionaries was divided after the year 1650. Father de Lyonne took charge of the mission at Chedabucto, while the stations at Miscou and Nipisiguit were under the control of Father Richard, and Father Frémin was given charge of the Richibucto mission. In the year 1661, Father Richard replaced Father de Lyonne at Chedabucto, but he only remained there one year.

The missions of the Jesuits in Acadia and Baie des Chaleurs closed with the departure of Father Richard. Some historians of Acadia mention the labours of Father Joseph Aubéri, whom Chateaubriand has immortalized in his "Atala." Father Aubéri prepared a map of Acadia, and also a memorandum of the boundaries of New France and New England in the year 1720.

The mission-station at Cape Breton was commenced in 1634, and Father Julian Perrault, a Jesuit, took up his residence there and gave religious instruction to the Micmacs, whom he found very attentive. The Micmacs were a hardy race, of great stature. Some of the men who were upwards of eighty years of age had not a single white hair.

Champlain gave to Cape Breton the name of St. Lawrence Island. The name was originally given to the cape but it was afterwards applied to the island. Bras d'Or was called Bibeaudock by the Indians, and Louisburg was commonly known as Port aux Anglais. The Portuguese had formerly occupied the island, but they were forced to leave it on account of the temperature and other causes. Nicholas Denys, who had been obliged to abandon Chedabucto, in Acadia, came to the island and founded Fort St. Pierre, which was taken from him in the year 1654 by Emmanuel le Borgne de Belle Isle, and by one Guilbault, a merchant of La Rochelle. Denys then took up his residence, sometimes at Miscou, sometimes at Gaspé or at Nipisiguit. His son Charles Denys, Sieur de Fronsac, had settled on the shores of the river Miramichi.

The first Jesuits who were invited to take charge of the Cape Breton mission were Fathers Vimont and de Vieux-Pont, who had been brought out by Captain Daniel, who, it will be remembered, lost a great deal of time in attacking the fort which had been built on the river du Grand Cibou by Stuart. The two Jesuits and forty men were left here. The Jesuits, however, returned to France in 1630. Fathers Davost and Daniel were missionaries at Cape Breton in 1633, and when Champlain visited the place on May 5th of that year, he met the two Jesuits, who soon afterwards returned with him to Quebec.

Father Perrault resided at Cape Breton during the years 1634 and 1635, and Fathers Richard and d'Endemare came in the following year and took up their residence at Fort Ste. Anne in Grand Cibou Bay. This place had many advantages, as it was naturally fortified, and three thousand small vessels could anchor safely in the bay. The Jesuits remained at Cape Breton until the arrival of Bishop de Laval in 1659. These various missions which we have recorded, constitute the religious history of the islands and coasts of the gulf of St. Lawrence during the greater part of the seventeenth century, and they were all founded by Champlain or under his administration, and he certainly took an active part in the civilization of the Micmacs.

In a memorandum addressed to the king, Champlain had set forth his intention to erect a church at Quebec, to be dedicated to the Redeemer. He was, however, unable to accomplish his design. He had also made a solemn promise to the Blessed Virgin, between the years 1629 and 1632, to erect a church in honour of Notre Dame de la Recouvrance, and on his return to Quebec he set out to fulfil his obligation. The occasion was favourable, as the chapel near the habitation in Lower Town had been completely ruined.

The chapel of Notre Dame de la Recouvrance was erected during the summer of 1633, and in the autumn of the same year the Jesuits said mass for the inhabitants within the building. The increase of the population and of their religious zeal within the two following years, induced Champlain to raise this humble chapel into a small church. The building was therefore enlarged, and from that date the services assumed a character of solemnity which had been unknown before. Grand mass was celebrated every Sunday by a Jesuit, and the inhabitants each in turn offered consecrated loaves. In the afternoon, after vespers, the catechism was explained by the fathers. The French were very regular in their attendance at these ceremonies, and also at the religious instructions.

Father Charles Lalemant was the first Jesuit who lived at the presbytery as a parish priest. His successor was Father Jean de Quen. Father Le Jeune wrote at that time:—"As soon as we had been lodged near the church (Notre Dame de la Recouvrance) Father Lalemant who had just begun to live at the residence, at the same time initiated its solemnities; Father de Quen has succeeded him with the same inclination for ceremony. I frankly confess that my heart melted the first time I assisted in this divine service, at the sight of our Frenchmen so greatly rejoicing to hear sung aloud and publicly the praises of the great God in the midst of a barbarous people, at the sight of little children speaking the Christian language in another world.... Monsieur Gand's zeal in exercising all his energies to cause our French to love these solemn and public devotions, seems to me very praiseworthy. But the regulations of Monsieur our governor, his very remarkable example, and the piety of the more prominent people, hold all in the line of duty."

When Champlain was on his deathbed he was aware that his promise had been fulfilled. Notre Dame de la Recouvrance was then a nice church, and it was due to his labours. By his last will he bequeathed to this church all his personal chattels, and three thousand livres in stock of the Company of New France, and nine hundred livres which he had invested in a private company founded by some associates, together with a sum of four hundred livres from his private purse. It was the whole fortune of the first governor of New France. This will was afterwards contested and annulled, and the church was only allowed to receive the sum of nine hundred livres, which had been realized from the sale of his personal property. This sum was devoted to the purchase of a pyx, a silver gilt chalice, and a basin and cruets.