Moreau, Right Rev. Louis Zephirin, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, was born at Becancourt, province of Quebec, the 1st of April, 1824. His father was Louis Moreau, farmer, and his mother, Marie Margaret Champoux. He followed a classical course of study at the seminary of Nicolet, from 1839 to 1844, and taught in the same college for upwards of two years. In September, 1846, he went to the palace of the Bishop of Montreal, where he was ordained a priest in December of the same year. From 1846 to 1852, he remained at the palace in the capacity of chaplain to the cathedral, and assistant secretary of the diocese. On the 2nd of November, 1852, he left Montreal for St. Hyacinthe, as secretary to the first bishop of that place, Monseigneur J. C. Prince. He then occupied the position of parish priest and vicar-general of the diocese. On the 19th of November, 1875, he was appointed by His Holiness Pope Pius the IX. the fourth bishop of St. Hyacinthe, and was consecrated on 16th January, 1876. Since then his lordship has made two trips to Rome in the interest of his diocese, which is comprised of 120,000 Roman Catholics, and 18,000 Protestants, containing seventy-six churches, one hundred and sixty priests, two seminaries, three colleges, two male communities, five communities of women, and five hospitals in charge of nuns. The St. Hyacinthe Cathedral is one of the finest edifices in the Dominion, and it is owing to Bishop Moreau’s indefatigable efforts and energy that the citizens are indebted for its erection, as well as for the establishment of the other above-mentioned institutions of learning and benevolence.
Stevens, Hon. Gardner Green, Waterloo, province of Quebec, was born on 13th December, 1814, at Brompton, Quebec. His father was born at Newfane, Windham county, Vermont, and his grandfather, Lemuel Stevens, at Petersham, Worcester county, Mass. The family moved into Canada soon after the close of the struggle for the independence of the colonies, they being strong adherents of the British crown. His mother came from Brookfield, Vt. His father, Gardner Stevens, was one of the early settlers in Brompton, and was, in his day, an industrious, well-to-do farmer, and a prominent citizen. He met with an accident in 1845, when sixty-three years of age, which terminated fatally. The subject of this sketch received the ordinary education of farmers’ sons in this locality fifty years ago; aided his father in cultivating the soil until of age; then took charge of a farm, mill, and store at Waterville, county of Compton, and was thus employed for ten years, when, in March, 1851, he became agent for the British American Loan Company, taking up his residence at Waterloo, and he has since devoted his attention almost entirely to that agency. Except four years spent at Roxton Falls, he has resided there for thirty years, holding various positions of trust and honor, both at Roxton and Waterloo. While at the former place, he was municipal councillor and mayor of the town. Here he has been justice of the peace for a long period; has been councillor, mayor of the township from 1870 to 1875 inclusive, and warden of the county. While warden he was ex-officio a director of the South-Eastern Railway. He has been a director, and is now president, of the Stanstead, Shefford, and Chambly Railway, of which company he was the first treasurer. He is one of those enterprising men who like to have a hand in any movement calculated to benefit the country—its material interests, or for the improvement of the people. Since February 19th, 1876, he has represented the constituency of Bedford in the Senate of the Dominion, taking the place of Hon. Asa B. Foster, who resigned that year. In 1847, Senator Stevens married Relief Jane, daughter of Sidney Spafford, of Compton, and has issue five children—three sons and two daughters. The family attend the Methodist church. It was during the first term of Senator Stevens’ service in the mayor’s chair that Prince Arthur visited Waterloo, June 13, 1870, and he had the honor of presenting an address to His Royal Highness. The Chronicler of Shefford thus speaks of our subject: “Mr. Stevens is emphatically a self-made man, and like all men of his class, his perceptive faculties, sharpened by cultivation, made him keenly cognizant of whatever affects his own interests, or anything committed to his trust. A man of extensive reading and retentive memory, with ready powers of conversation, he is eminently qualified to amuse or instruct. Accustomed to habits of industry, he appreciates this quality in others, and while he is ever ready to assist the young man who is bravely fighting the battle of life, he has no sympathy for one who shrinks from hardships, or who, with everything in his favor, makes shipwreck of his possessions.”
Wood, Rev. Enoch, D.D.—This reverend gentleman, who died at Davenport, Toronto, on the 31st January, 1888, was among the early missionaries sent out to America from the old country. He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1804, and entered the service of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1825. After serving for three years in the West Indian missions, he was transferred to the province of New Brunswick, where he labored for nineteen years. At the close of this term of service he was appointed by the British conference superintendent of missions in Canada, when he removed his residence to Toronto. Dr. Wood had pastoral charges in St. John, N.B., in 1829, 1836, 1838, 1841, and 1844, and in Fredericton in 1846, in addition to others in New Brunswick. Of his work in that province, a writer says:—“The older Methodists of New Brunswick still treasure the memory of his long and powerful labors among them with emotions of almost filial gratitude, and recall his gentle, lovable manner and character with ever fresh delight.” In 1874, Dr. Wood came to Toronto as superintendent of missions, and afterwards as missionary secretary, and continued to hold that office while he was president of the Wesleyan Conference for seven years, from 1851 to 1857. He was again president of the conference in 1862. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Victoria University, in 1860. He was elected first president of the Toronto Conference in 1874, after the union of the several denominations in that year. He was on the list of superannuated ministers at the time of his death. Dr. Wood had been suffering for several years, and had been confined to his room, but he bore his illness with great patience and Christian resignation. He was strongly attached to the old-fashioned Methodism, and was a conservative with regard to any changes. He was a man of great tenderness, and of a very sympathetic nature, which made him a very impressive preacher. His sermons were suggestive rather than exhaustive. He possessed a very considerable amount of administrative ability, and presided with dignity over the conference during the time he was president. The death of his son-in-law, Rev. Dr. Nelles, some months ago, gave him a great shock, which doubtless hastened his end. He left behind him a daughter, the widow of the late Rev. Dr. Nelles, and two sons, John and R. A. Wood, of Toronto.
Courtney, Rev. Dr. Frederick, Episcopal Bishop of Nova Scotia, is a native of Plymouth, England, and is fifty years old. He was educated in part at Christ’s Hospital, first at the preparatory school at Hartford, then the Bluecoat School in Newgate street, London. After that he graduated in the first class from King’s College, London, in 1863. He was curate of Hadlow, near Pembridge, Kent, from 1864 to 1865; incumbent of Charles Chapel, now St. Luke’s, Plymouth, from 1865 to 1870; incumbent of St. Jude’s, Glasgow, Scotland, from 1870 to 1876, and assistant minister of St. Thomas’ Church, New York, of which Dr. Morgan is rector, from 1876 to 1880. He began his labors with St. James’ Church, Chicago, in 1880, and remained in that pastorate until March, 1882, when he removed to Boston. He was elected Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1888. Dr. Courtney is tall, erect, and well formed. He has greyish blue eyes. His cast of mind is not one-sided, and yet it is logical, analytical, and acute, rather than emotional, poetical, or imaginative. In theology, he describes himself as “high, low, and broad.” It is sufficiently evident, however, that he has no doctrinal sympathy with ritualism, and that he is decidedly evangelical and spiritual in his views of the Christian religion. As a preacher, Dr. Courtney in many respects, at least, has very few equals. His sermons are about thirty-five minutes in length. He uses no manuscript or notes, and yet his discourses have a rhetorical finish which is marvellous. In a whole sermon he will not hesitate for a word, or use one infelicitously. His diction is not floral, but copious and expressive, and includes a fair proportion of metaphor. His illustrations are drawn mostly from Scripture, and he seems to carry the very words of the whole Bible on his tongue’s end. His delivery is generally calm and deliberate, but occasionally becomes impassioned. His enunciation is distinct, and his emphasis always correct.
Aubrey, Rev. François Fortunat, Parish Priest, St. John’s, Quebec, was born in the parish of St. Lawrence, near Montreal, in July, 1830. He is the son of Hyacinthe Aubrey, a farmer, and Genevieve Leduc, his wife. The great-grandfather of Hyacinthe Aubrey was an Irishman, born in Ireland, and bearing the name of Cornelius O’Brennan. The subject of this sketch went through his classical course of studies in the College of Ste. Therese, county of Terrebonne, Quebec, and at 22 years of age entered the clerical order, and was ordained priest in September, 1855. He was professor in Ste. Therese college from 1852 to 1857, teaching rhetoric and natural sciences. In 1857 he was curate at Longueuil, and St. John’s, Quebec; in 1858-9 he was missionary at Prince Edward Island, and in the fall of 1859 he was appointed parish priest at Ste. Marthe, county Vaudreuil, diocese of Montreal. In the fall of 1862 he was called by the late Bishop Joseph Larocque, to be parish priest of the Cathedral of the city of St. Hyacinthe; but in the fall of 1864 he returned to Ste. Marthe, and remained two years. In the fall of 1866, he was called to succeed as parish priest of St. John’s, the late Bishop Charles Larocque, who had been appointed Bishop of St. Hyacinthe. He established, in 1868, an hospital conducted by the Grey Nuns of Montreal, and the same year had the Brothers of the Christian schools to teach the young boys. In the spring of 1878, he left for Europe; where he spent five months, visiting in the course of his tour the chief cities of France, Italy, Belgium, etc. Father Aubrey was always and hopes to be always a devout child of the Roman Catholic church, knowing quite well that the Holy Catholic Roman church is the only one founded by our Saviour Jesus Christ.