Next day, on June 20th, the land transfer was made, the contour of the new church traced, and on June 21st the foundations were laid. On June 29th, the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, after vespers, a procession formed from the Hôtel-Dieu Chapel at the foot of St. Joseph Street, to the head of the street, and Dollier de Casson, as superior of the seminary, planted the cross, with a great gathering of people witnessing the ceremony.
Next day, June 30th, after high mass the same gathering repaired thither again in procession. The first five stones were placed, each bearing the following inscription on a leaden plate:
"D. O. M.
et
Beatae Mariae Virginis sub titulo Purificationis." [114]
These five stones were each accompanied by the arms of the persons placing them. The first was placed in the middle of the rondpoint by the governor general of Canada, Daniel Rémy, Seigneur de Courcelles, being one of his last public acts before being succeeded by Comte Frontenac in the September following. The second bore the arms of Jean Talon, intendant, inscribed in advance, for being unable to be present he was represented in the ceremony by Phillipe de Carion, lieutenant of M. de La Motte—Saint Paul's regiment. The third was placed by the governor of Montreal, Chevalier François Marie Perrot, Seigneur of St. Geneviève. [115]
The fourth was placed by Dollier de Casson in the name of M. Bretonvilliers, superior general of the congregation of St. Sulpice in Paris. The last was fittingly placed by Jeanne Mance, the administratrix of the Hôtel-Dieu, who had seen Montreal grow from its earliest infancy and had been so long the mother of the colony. [116]
FOUNDATION STONE PLACQUES
There was great desire to have the church soon completed. Divers persons imposed voluntary assessments on themselves, some in money, others in materials and labour.
The priests of the seminary resolved to demolish the ancient fort, now being allowed to fall into ruins, so as to employ the wood of the buildings and the stone bastions of the enclosure, in the church construction. Indeed in their eagerness they started the demolition before waiting to receive M. de Bretonvilliers' consent from France. Eventually he disapproved, fearing that it was premature, for if the Iroquois renewed their attacks they would repent their action. The officers of the king also forbade them to proceed further, and thus the final demolition of the battered old fort of de Maisonneuve and his harassed and beleaguered veterans, did not take place till ten years later, in 1682 or 1683.