Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/595

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Rev. Father Paquet was in charge of the parish until the church was dedicated, but was succeeded soon afterwards by Father Cicjuart, whose name ap- pears in the parish records until the end of 1798. in 1838 the first church on the American side of the St. John River, St. Bruno's Church in Van Buren, was built, and Rev. Antoine Gosselin appointed its first pastor. At this time that region was in the Diocese of Quebec; after 1842 it was in the Diocese of St. John, and in 1870 it became portion of the Diocese of Port- land. On the Maine side oi the St. John River there are at present eleven churches, a college, seven convents (six with schoob), and two hospitals. Soon after the Acadians settled in this region, they were joined by a few Canadians from the province of Quebec, and a few Irish immigrants. The population to-day is made up for the most part of Acauians and Canadians in about equal proportions. By the year 1800 there was a fair sprinkling of Irish immigrants within the bor- ders, and they continued to arrive at intervals and in Bmall numbers during the greater part of the past century. Probably the period of the Irish famine of 1847 would mark the date of the coming of the larger number. ThQ Canadians came, for the most part, to the manufacturing centres during the building up of the manufacturing industries in Lewiston, Bidde- ford, Brunswick, Augusta, Waterville^ Skowhegan, and Westbrook. This was chiefly during the period from 1860 to 1880. A large number had established themselves in Old town at an even earlier period.

When one considers the poverty of the Catholic immigrants, their achievements seem truly marvel- lous. Their zeal and devotion, as evidenced by the churches and religious institutions built up by an able, aealous, and pious clergy with their assistance, arc beyond all praise. They have been most fortunate in ^eir bishops and priests, and at no period have the growth and development of the Church and its interests been more rapid than at the present time. During the past century, many Catholics of Maine have ranked among the first in ability, endowments, and character. Several were eminent in the profes- sions, and many in business. But the conditions were such as did not admit of any considerable political advancement. Times have changed, however, and to-day there is no perceptible difference in the support

given to Protestant and Catholic candidates for pub- c office.

At the session of 1907, by a unanimous vote, an appropriation to help to erect an additional building for St. Mary's College, was granted by the legislature, showing that in Maine, at least, no trace of the old- time bieotry now exists. That conditions are as they are, is due lareely to the high character of the Cath- olic clergy, aided by many able and zealous laymen. CoUecttons of Mains Historical Society, I— (Portland, 1869—); Hannat, History of Acadia (St. John, 1879); Youno, HisUny of ths Cath. Church in the New England States, I. Diocese of Portland (Boston, 1899); Ftttos, Sketches of the Establishment of the Church in New England (Boston, 1872); Stetson, Hi»- torjf and Oovemment of Maine (New York); Official Cath. Directoru and Clergy List for 1910; Maine Register (Portland, 1909); Ltons, Report of Industrial and iMbor Statistics (Portr land); Statement of the case of the United States in matter re/erred to King of the Netherlands for Arbitration by Convention of Sept. 29, 1827 (Washington. 1829); Raymond, History of the St. John River (St. John. 1905); Maine Historical Society, Tercentenary of Martin Pring's landing (1903), of De Monts* set- tlement on De Monts Island (1904), of Weymouth's landing at 8L George (1905) (Portland); Gov. Chamberlain's Address at ths Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, 1876, in Laws of Maine (Portland, 1877); Shea, The Cath. Church in the United States (New York, 1856); Spraode, Sebastian Rale (Boston); Baxter, Historical Manuscripts.

Peter Charles Keeoan.

Maine de Biran, Francois- Pierre -Gonthier, philosopher; bom at Grateloup near Bergerac, Dor- doflpie, France, 29 November, 1766; died at Paris, 16 July, 1 824. He studied at P^rigueux, join^ the army, but after a few years resigned and entered politics. In April, 1797, he was one of the Conseil des Cinq Cents;


howevel", as he incurred the hostility of the Directory by his roy^ist sympathies he withdrew to Grateloup where he devoted himself to philosophy. His consti- tution was delicate and sensitive and his philosophic bent had already manifested itself by his observations on the influence of the physical state on the moral. As an ideologist he won the prize at the Institut with his essay "Sur Thabitude" (1802); but his "Decom- position de la pens^e'* (1805) shows him deviating from the theory of that school, and in " La perception immediate (1807), and " Rapports du physique et du morale de Thomme (1811), ne is an opponent of the eighteenth-century philosophy. He then re-entered the political arena and was elected to parliament in 1812, 1815, and 1820. In his latter days his tendency to mysticism grad\ially brought him back towarcfs practical Christianity, and he died a faithful child of the Church. Three stages mark the development of his philosophy. Up to 1804, a stage called by Naville "the philosophy of sensation", he was a follower of Condillac's sensism, as modified by de Tracy, which he soon abandoned in favour of a system based on an analysis of internal reflection. In the second stage — the philosophy of will — 1804-18, to avoid materialism and fatalism, lie embraced the doctrine of immediate apperception, showing that man knows himself and exterior things by the resistance to his effort. On re- flecting he remarks the voluntary effort which differ- entiates his internal from his external experience, thus learning to distinguish between the ego and the non- ego. In the third stage — the philosophy of religion — after 1818, we find de Biran advocating a mystical intuitional psychology. To man's two states of life: representation (common to animals), and volition (volition, sensation, and perception), he adds a third: love or 'life of imion with Gcxi, in which the life of Divine grace absorbs representation and volition. Maine de Biran's style is laboured, but he is reckoned by Cousin as the greatest French metaphysician from the time of Malebranche. His genius was not fully recognized till after his death, as the essay " Sur Thabi- tude" (Paris, 1803) was the only book that appeared under his name during his lifetime; but his reputa- tion was firmly established on the publication of his writings, partly by Cousin ("(Euvres philosophiques de Maine de Biran", Paris, 1834-41), and pMtly by Naville ('^(Euvres in^dites de Maine de Biran", Paris, 1859).

Naville, Maine de Biran, sa vie et ses pensSes (Paria, 1877); Cousin, Preface to hia edition of the works (Paris, l£^4-41); Turner, History of Philosophy (Boston, 1903). 606-7: Ubbbr- WEO, HiHory of Philosophy, tr. Morris, II (New York, 1903), 340-1; Truman, Maine de Biran's Philosophy of Will (New York, 1904) *f Q^rard, PhUosophie de Maine de Biran, an essay with unpublished fragments (Paris, 1876); Matonade, Pensies et pages irUdites de Maine de Biran (Pdrigueux, 1896) ; Couail- HAC, Maine de Biran (Paris, 1905), an excellent study of his philosophy.

A. A. MacEIrlean.

Maintenon, Fran{?oise, Makqihse de, b. at Niort, 28 November, 1635; d. at Saint-C)yr, 15 April, 1719. She was the granddaughter of the celebrated Protest- ant writer, ^rippa d'Aubign^. Constant d'Aubignd, son of Agrippa, imprisoned in the Chateau Trompette at Bordeaux on suspicion of intriguing with the Eng- lish, had married in 1627 Jeanne de Cardillac, daugh- ter of his gaoler. Again imprisoned at Niort on a chaise of conspiring against Cardinal de Richelieu, he was accompanied into prison by his wife, and it was in this prison at Niort tnat Fran9oise was bom. She was oaptized a Catholic, her father having been al- ready received into the Church. In 1639 the family went to Martinique, but came back tp France in 1645. Fran9oise was then placed under the care of Mme de ViUette, a Protestant aunt, who undermined the child's faith. An order of the court transferred Fran^oise to tlie care of a Catholic relative, Mme de Neuillant, but for a time neither the kindness nor the subsequent