Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/604

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MONTREAL


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MONTREAL


yielding up the spiritual rights which he believed to be his (sec Laval, Saint-Sulpice). On 28 October, 167S, Mgr de Laval erected canonically the parish of Notre-Dame at Montreal, which was naturally confided to the Sulpicians. From that time to the cession, the successive cur<'\s were MM. Francois DolUer de Ousson (30 Oct., 167S) ; Fran<,i)is \'achim do Bellemont (2S Sept., 1701); Louis Normant (25 May, 1732); Etienne Montgolfier (21 June, 1759). The third successor of Mgr de Laval, Mgr Dosquet, from 1725 till 1739 Coadjutor, and later Bishop, of Quebec, was an old Sulpician from Montreal. In 1682, the Recollects were called to Montreal. From the time of their arrival at Quebec in 11515, these religious had been travelling through the country, and one of their number. Father Viel, had perished, with his disciple Ahuntsic, in the Sault-au-Recollet, near Montreal, both victims of the treachery of a Huron.

The Jesuit missionaries constantly journej-ing through these regions, frequently passed by Montreal in these early days. It was in 1669 that the Prairie


LocBDEa, MONTREA


de la Magdeleine was established south of Montreal. This Jesuit Mission was transferred later to Sault- Saint-Louis, now Caughnawaga. The house, and the desk at which the celebrated Pere Charlevoix wrote his "Relations ", are still to be seen there. It was there, too, that the saintly Iroquois, Catherine Tegakwitha, lived. The Iroquois mission of Caugh- nawaga has lately been again taken under the care of the Jesuits. Mile Mance had founded the Hotel- Dieu, on her arrival, in 1642. In 1658 the Venerable Marguerite Bourgeoys established the Sisters of the Congregation, for the instruction of young girls. Then, in 1738, Venerable Marguerite Dufrost de la Jemmerais (the widow d'Youville) laid the foun- dations of the Institute of the Grey vSisters. The superiors of Saint-Sulpice, in addition to being cures of Notre-Dame, were also vicars-general of the Bishop of Quebec. After the \-ictory of Wolfe over Montcalm on the plains of Abraham and the capitula- tion of Quebec (1760), Mgr de Pontbriant, the last bishop of the French period, withdrew to the Sulpi- cians at Montreal.

B. From the Cession to the Formation of the Diocese (1836). — Montreal remained a part of the Diocese of Quebec until 1836. The cur^s of Notre-Dame during this period were after M. Montgolfier, MM. Jean Brassier (.30 August, 1791); Jean-Auguste Roux (24 Oct., 1798); Joseph-Vincent QuibUer (12 April, 1831). The Treaty of Paris (1763) pro\-ided that the Cana- dians should enjoy "the free exercise of their religion, as far as is permissible under the laws of Great Britain". A great struggle followed. The Sulpi- cians of Montreal, as well as the Recollects and the Jesuits, were forbidden to receive any additions to their ranks. They had numbered 30 in 1763, but in


1793 there remained only two, who were septuagena- rians. The British Government, however, at that time allowed the French priests who were driven out by the Kevohition to settle in Canada, and of the thirty-four who came twelve were Sulpiciaivs. In 1767 the College of Montreal was founded by the Sulpician, M. Curattcau de la Blaiserie. In 1765, the Hotel- Dieu, and in 1769 the establi.shment of the Sisters of the Congregation, which had been burnt, arose from their ruins, thanks to Saint-Sulpice. In 1801, Mgr Plessis (b. at Montreal in 1763) was consecrated at Quebec. This was the great bishop (1801-1815) who fought so ably and so resolutely for religious liberty. The clergy of Montreal supported him. Mgr Plessis, having asked for auxiliaries, obtained, among others Mgr Provencher for the West and Mgr Lartigue, a Sulpician, for Montreal. The latter was consecrated Bishop of Telmessus in 1820. In 1809 the College of St. Hyacinthe was founded by M. Girouard; in 1825 the College of Saint-Th<^rese, by M. Ducharme; in 1832, the College of the Assumption, by M. Francois Labelle. This was the answer given to the English Protestants, who, with their Institution Royale, wished to monopolize education in all its branches. In 1824 thefahriques (administrative coun- cils in charge of church revenues) were authorized to acquire and hold property for the support of the schools. In 1838 normal schools were established by the help of the clergy. In 1832, and again in 1834. a cholera epidemic afforded opportunities for the displaj- of heroic zeal. In 1836 the Society for the Propagation of the Faith was estabhshed at Montreal, on the model of the society founded at Lyons in 1822, with which it became affiliated in 1843, but from which it separated in 1876. Mgr Plessis was succeeded in the See of Quebec by Mgr Panet, in 1825, and Mgr Signay (Sinai) followed in 1832. Finally, on 13 Februarj^ 1836, Montreal was erected into a diocese by Pope Gregory XVI.

C. From 1S36 to the Present Time (1910).— This was a disturbed, but very fruitful and prosperous period. After the unfortunate events of 1837-38 (when several Montreal villages, on the Richelieu and at Deux Montagues, inspired by a noble-hearted gen- erosity rather than by prudence, rose up in arms against the encroachments of British bureaucracy) there followed the period called the Union of the Two Canadas (1840-67). ParHamentarj' institutions de- pendent on the people were established by the efforts of Lafontaine and Carrier. The Confederation was estabhshed in 1867. (See Canada). During this period the bishops and archbishops of Montreal were: Mgr Lartigue, consecrated in 1821, titular in 1836, d. 1840; Mgr Bourget, coadjutor in 1837, titular in 1840, resigned in 1876, d. 1885; Mgr Fabre, coadjutor in 1873, titular bishop in 1876, archbishop in 1886, d. 1896; Mgr Bruch<'"si, archbishop from 1897 to the present time. The superiors of Saint-Sulpice, after M. Quibher, were MM. Bilaudele (1846), Granet (18.56), Bayle (1866), Colin (1881), and Lecoq (1902).

The foundation of the Grand Sominaire at Montreal took place in 1840; of the Canadian CoUejje at Rome, in 1888; of the Sdminaire de Philosophic, near the Grand S^minaire, at Montreal, in charge of the Sul- picians, in 1894. The Brothers of the Christian Schools arrived in 1837; the Oblates of Mary Immacu- late, in 1841. The Jesuits returned in 1842, their novitiate was opened in 1843, and the College Sainte- Marie, in 1848. The Viateurs and the Fathers of the Holy Cross arrived in 1847. Of the communities of women, the Religious of the Society of the Sacred Heart arrived from France in 1842; the Sisters of the Good Shepherd of Angers, for teaching and establish- ing homes for penitents, arrived in 1843; in the same year the Sisters of Providence were founded by Madame Gamelin, for teaching and works of charity, as were the teaching Sisters of the Holy Names of