There have been since the middle of the 13th century a very few convents of Carthusian nuns, not more than ten; in recent times there have been but two or three, one situated a few miles from the Grande Chartreuse. The rule resembles that of the monks, but the isolation, solitude and silence are much less stringent. The habit of the Carthusians, both monks and nuns, is white.
A word may be added as to the famous liqueur, known as Chartreuse, made by the monks. At the Revolution the property of the Carthusians was confiscated, and on their restoration they recovered only the barren desert in which the monastery stood, and for it they had to pay rent. Thus they were for some years in want even of the needful means of subsistence. Then the liqueur was invented as a means of supplying the wants of the community; it became a great commercial success and produces a large yearly income. This income the monks have not spent on themselves, nor does it accumulate. The first charge is the maintenance of the Grande Chartreuse and the other Charterhouses, and out of it have been built and established the new monasteries of the order, as at Düsseldorf, Parkminster and elsewhere; but by far the largest portion has been spent on religious and charitable purposes in France and all over the world,—churches, schools, hospitals, almshouses, foreign missions. One thing is certain: the profits made no difference at all to the secluded and austere life of the monks of the Grande Chartreuse.
Authorities.—The most comprehensive historical work on the Carthusian order is B. Tromby, Storia del patriarca S. Brunone e del suo ordine (10 vols., 1773). References to other histories, old and new, will be found in Max Heimbucher, Orden u. Kongregationen (1896), i. § 36; Wetzer und Welte, Kirchenlexicon (ed. 2), art. “Karthäuserorden”; Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie (ed. 3), art. “Karthäuser.” For the English Carthusians, see E. Margaret Thompson, Somerset Carthusians (1895), and Dom L. Hendriks, London Charterhouse (1889). The best study on St Bruno and the foundation of the order is Hermann Löbbel, “Der Stifter des Karthäuser-Ordens,” 1899 (vol. v. No. 1 of Kirchengeschichtliche Studien, Munster); and the best account of the actual life is by Algar Thorold (Dublin Review, April 1892), who spent some months in the noviciate at the Grande Chartreuse. A little tract (anonymous) translated from French, The Carthusians, 1902 (Orphans Press, Buckley Hall, Rochdale), gives precise information on the history, spirit and life of the Carthusians.
(E. C. B.)
CARTIER, SIR GEORGES ÉTIENNE, Bart. (1814-1873), Canadian statesman, was born in the province of Quebec on the 6th of September 1814. Called to the bar in 1835, he soon gained a large practice. He took part in the rebellion of 1837, and was forced for a time to fly the country. In 1848 he was elected to the Canadian parliament. His youthful ebullition of 1837 was soon repented of, and he became a loyal subject of the British crown. So greatly had he changed that in 1854 he became a leading member of the reconstructed Liberal-Conservative party. In 1855 he was appointed provincial secretary, and in 1857 attorney-general for Lower Canada. From 1858 to 1862 he and Sir John Macdonald were joint prime ministers of Canada, and their alliance lasted till the death of Cartier. He took the chief part in promoting many useful measures, such as the abolition of seigneurial tenure in Lower Canada (see [Quebec]), and the codification of the civil law of that province (1857-1864). Above all he favoured the construction of railways, and to his energy and fearless, optimism are largely due the eventual success of the Grand Trunk railway, and the resolve to construct the Canadian Pacific. In the face of great opposition, he carried his native province into federation (1864-1867), which would have been impossible without his aid. In the first cabinet of Sir John Macdonald he sat as minister of militia and defence, and carried in 1868 an important act establishing the land forces of Canada on a sound basis. Though a devout Catholic, he became involved in a political quarrel with his church, and was defeated by clerical influence at the general election of 1872. Another seat was found for him, but his health failed and he died on the 20th of May 1873.
The Life, by Alfred O. De Celles (Toronto, 1904), may be supplemented by the sketch in Dent’s Canadian Portrait Gallery (Toronto, 1880).
(W. L. G.)
CARTIER, JACQUES (1491-1557), French navigator, discoverer of the Canadian river St Lawrence, was born at St Malo in Brittany. Of his early life nothing is known. On the suppression by Admiral Chabot of the trade to Brazil, an expedition consisting of two ships and sixty-one men was despatched from St Malo under Cartier on the 20th of April 1534, to look for a north-west passage to the East. Cartier reached Newfoundland on the 10th of May, and at once entered the strait of Belle Isle, then known to the fishermen as the bay of Castles. While the ships renewed their supply of wood and water in Belles Amours harbour on the north side of the strait, the long-boats discovered that the coast farther west was barren, rocky and uninviting. In view of this Cartier set sail on Monday, the 15th of June, for the south side of the strait, by following which he was led down almost the whole west coast of Newfoundland. Off St George’s Bay a storm drove the ships out into the gulf, but on resuming his course Cartier fell in with the Bird Rocks. The island south of these he named Brion Island, after Chabot. Cartier mistook our Magdalen and Prince Edward Islands for the main shore on the south side of this inland sea. Following the coast of New Brunswick northward he was greatly disappointed to discover Chaleur Bay was not a strait. During a ten days’ stay in Gaspé Harbour Cartier made friends with a tribe of Huron-Iroquois Indians from Quebec, two of whom he carried off with him. A mirage deceived him into thinking the passage up the river south of Anticosti was a bay, whereupon he proceeded to coast the southern, eastern and northern shores of Anticosti. On discovering the passage between this island and the Quebec shore a council was held, at which it was decided to postpone the exploration of this strait until the following year. Heading eastward along the Quebec shore, Cartier soon regained the Strait of Belle Isle and, entering the Atlantic on the 15th of August, reached St Malo in safety on the 5th of September.