Nous les menasmes en nostre petite chapelle, qui a commencé ceste année à l'embellir.—Vide Relations des Jésuites. Québec ed. 1633, p. 30.
La sage conduitte et la prudence de Monsieur de Champlain Gouuerneur de Kebec et du fleuve sainct Laurens, qui nous honore de sa bien- veillance, retenant vn chacun dans son devoir, a fait que nos paroles et nos prédications ayent esté bien receuens, et la Chapelle qu'il a fait dresser proche du fort a l'honneur de nostre Dame, &c.—Idem, 1634, p. 2.
La troisiéme, que nous allons habiter cette Autome, la Residence de
Nostre-dame de Recouvrance, à Kebec proche du Fort.—Idem, 1635, p.
3.
112. According to Père Le Jeune, from five to seven hundred Hurons had
assembled at Quebec in July, 1633, bringing their canoes loaded with
merchandise.—Vide Relations des Jésuites, Quebec ed. 1633, p. 34.
113. This letter was printed in oeuvres de Champlain, Quebec ed. Vol. VI.
Pièces Justificatives, p 35. The original is at Paris, in the
Archives of Foreign Affairs.
114. Vide Relations des Jésuites, Quebec ed. 1636, p. 56. Creuxius,
Historia Canadensis, pp. 183-4.
115. Monsieur le Gouverneur, qui estimoit sa vertu, desira qu'il fust enterré prés du corps de feu Monsieur de Champlain, qui est dans vn sepulchre particulier, erigé exprés pour honorer la memoire de ce signalé personnage qui a tant obligé la Nouuelle France.—Vide Relations des Jésuites, Quebec ed. 1643, p. 3.
116. The exact spot where Champlain was buried is at this time unknown. Historians and antiquaries have been much interested in its discovery. In 1866, the Abbés Laverdière and Casgrain were encouraged to believe that their searches had been crowned with success. They published a statement of their discovery. Their views were controverted in several critical pamphlets that followed. In the mean time, additional researches have been made. The theory then broached that his burial was in the Lower Town, and in the Recollect chapel built in 1615, has been abandoned. The Abbé Casgrain, in an able discussion of this subject, in which he cites documents hitherto unpublished, shows that Champlain was buried in a tomb within the walls of a chapel erected by his successor in the Upper Town, and that this chapel was situated somewhere within the court-yard of the present post-office. Père Le Jeune, who records the death of Champlain in his Relation of 1636, does not mention the place of his burial; but the Père Vimont, in his Relation of 1643, in speaking of the burial of Père Charles Raymbault, says, the "Governor desired that he should be buried near the body of the late Monsieur de Champlain, which is in a particular tomb erected expressly to honor the memory of that distinguished personage, who had placed New France under such great obligation." In the Parish Register of Notre Dame de Quebec, is the following entry: "The 22d of October (1642), was interred in the Chapel of M. De Champlain the Père Charles Rimbault." It is plain, therefore, that Champlain was buried in what was then commonly known as the Chapel of M. de Champlain. By reference to ancient documents or deeds (one bearing date Feb. 10, 1649, and another 22d April, 1652, and in one of which the Chapel of Champlain is mentioned as contiguous to a piece of land therein described), the Abbé Casgrain proves that the Chapel of M. de Champlain was within the square where is situated the present post-office at Quebec, and, as the tomb of Champlain was within the chapel, it follows that Champlain was buried somewhere within the post-office square above mentioned.
Excavations in this square have been made, but no traces of the walls or foundations of the chapel have been found. In the excavations for cellars of the houses constructed along the square, the foundations of the chapel may have been removed. It is possible that when the chapel was destroyed, which was at a very early period, as no reference to its existence is found subsequent to 1649, the body of Champlain and the others buried there may have been removed, and no record made of the removal. The Abbé Casgrain expresses the hope that other discoveries may hereafter be made that shall place this interesting question beyond all doubt.—Vide Documents Inédits Relatifs au Tombeau de Champlain, par l'Abbé H. R. Casgrain, L'Opinion Publique, Montreal, 4 Nov. 1875.