The Montreal trade fleet again was reinforced in 1910 by the advent on May 11th of the Royal Edward from Bristol, the first of the Canadian Northern Railway steamers. On the 28th, of the same month, transportation was effected by the inauguration of the electric tramway between Longueuil and McGill streets via the Victoria Bridge.
In June the Herald Building, facing Victoria Square was destroyed by fire with the loss of thirty-three lives. During this month M. de Lesseps, of aviation fame, was received in the city hall, while on November 27th the city was visited by the Marquis de Montcalm, a name honoured in the city from the general who made Montreal his headquarters under the French régime.
In October a flight, however, has to be recorded—that of the plausible financial gambler, Sheldon, who had ruined many widows among his dupes. He was, however, captured in the following year and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
But the Eucharistic Congress of 1910, held in Montreal, at the choice of the Catholic world, was an event before which all others of a social character have paled during recent years. It was prepared for long in advance as a great civic occasion, irrespective of its denominational character. The railway and steamship companies, the civic authorities and public bodies fitly put forth all their strength to make Montreal realize its now acknowledged position as a world city, which its choice connoted.
All was in readiness when Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli, at the end of August, came to Quebec on the Empress of Britain, to represent His Holiness, Pius X. There in the old City of Champlain the eminent visitor was honourably and worthily entertained. After this the Government tugboat, the Lady Grey, and the Government steamboat Montmagny, with prominent members of the legislature and leading citizens, accompanied by other vessels, eighty yachts, motor boats, etc., went down to meet the delegate on the way up the river. Meanwhile great crowds were gathered to receive the party on the wharf, but the flotilla entered the port on Saturday afternoon, September 3d, in a downpour of torrential rain. At the foot of McGill Street, on the wharf, a splendid kiosk, topped with a handsome cupola, was crowded with the civic functionaries, who shortly left on receiving the Cardinal and the whole party were forced to adjourn to the city hall, where the ceremony of further reception by the mayor, Dr. James J. Guerin, was more worthily and comfortably performed. The rain, however, had not prevented the ringing of church bells and the shrill whistling of half a hundred steamships and numerous factories and the crowds of the expectant citizens from voicing a welcome. From the city hall, the Papal representative proceeded to the residence of Archbishop Bruchesi, who had organized the congress, to be held in Montreal, the first place in the new world to be so honoured by this national event, a sign of the growing recognition of the place of Montreal in the cities of the world. The Archbishop’s house was to be the home of the Minister for the week.
On Tuesday evening the formal opening of the congress took place in St. James’ Church on Dominion Square, amid picturesque religious ceremonies and brilliant ecclesiastical functions that surpassed anything previous on this continent. The delegate opened his remarks by a recognition of the enthusiastic reception given him by the provincial and municipal authorities, as well as by all classes. Archbishop Bruchesi, in his address of welcome, recognized the kindly feelings which other creeds had manifested towards the congress, how many prominent non-Catholic citizens, such as Lord Strathcona, had given their help in various practical ways in demonstrations of a high spiritual belief in the Unseen which the congress portended for all. Various telegrams were sent to Pius X at Rome and to George V in London expressing gratitude for the recent modification made by him in the form of the royal declaration which had continued till then to contain obsolete and obnoxious discriminations against a loyal part of his subjects.
It may also be noted here that at the luncheon given that day at the Windsor Hotel by Sir Lomer Gouin, prime minister of the Province of Quebec, the Cardinal, proposing the health of the King, congratulated the Canadians on the liberty that had been assured them under the British King who had shown how he could respect the legitimate susceptibilities of his Roman Catholic subjects throughout the Empire.
In the evening of this day, September 7th, the representative of the Federal Government, the Hon. Charles Murphy, Secretary of State of Canada, gave his official reception, which was attended by the largest throng of citizens that ever had entered this hotel. That night, midnight high mass was celebrated at the Notre Dame Church, which commenced when the great bell in the west tower, weighing 24,600 pounds, pealed out the hour of midnight, and the files of thousands of the representatives of the secular clergy and of the religious orders, and the laity, with prelates of a dozen different nations, assisted at a memorable occasion.
The practical work of the congress began on Thursday, September 8th. There were thirteen sessions held in the various large halls of the city, and in addition there were three general meetings held, two at Notre Dame Church and one in the Arena, at which three the Cardinal Legate presided. On two successive evenings, September 8th and 9th, 15,000 people crowded into the great entrance of Notre Dame to hear the most distinguished French and English speakers of the congress. Among those who spoke were His Eminence, Cardinal Logue, Primate of Armagh, Ireland; Archbishop Bourne, of Westminster, England; Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Monsignor Heylen, of Namur; Monsignor Touchet, of Orleans; Monsignor Rumeau, of Angers; Hon. Judge O’Sullivan, of New York; Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Lomer Gouin, the Hon. Thomas Chapais, and the Hon. C.J. Doherty, Henri Bourassa and J.M. Tellier, members of the federal and provincial governments of Canada. The sacred edifice, capable of seating 15,000, was crammed to the utmost, hundreds upon hundreds standing for two or three hours.