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 About fourteen years after the happy day on which Pius 
 VII. reestablished our least Society of Jesus, the Right 
 Rev. Benedict Joseph Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown, ever 
 on the watch for new means of promoting God's glory in 
 his vast diocese, solicited from Very Rev. Fr. Godinot, then 
 Provincial of France, some missionaries to gather in the 
 rich harvest of souls that lay, already ripe for the sickle, 
 amid the green prairies of Kentucky. 
 
 As an earnest of his eagerness to welcome the fathers, 
 he offered his own college of St. Joseph, in Bardstown, to 
 be placed at their disposal. But at that time our apostolic 
 laborers were unable to meet all the demands upon their 
 charity even in their own country ; so that, although it 
 
 - 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 must have gladdened the heart of our Very Rev. Father 
 Provincial to behold a new vista unfolding itself before the 
 reestablished Society, in that land to which the old Soci- 
 ety, in virtue of its martyred sons, had acquired so just a 
 right ; still, not a single harvester could be spared for these 
 distant fields of America. The bursting crops could but 
 bow their heads in humble submission to the Master's will, 
 and abi^de the predestined moment of its due accomplish- 
 ment. It came sooner than could have been expected. 
 The Almighty who, in His providence, transfers the gift of 
 Faith from a nation that has become unworthy of the pre- 
 cious deposit, to one more deserving, had already turned 
 his benignant countenance towards that portion of Amer- 
 ica, hitherto less favored than many other parts of our con- 
 tinent ; had heard its suppliant "Rorate Cceli desuper," and 
 destined for these fields of the New World, many of the 
 Apostles whom the Old World was on the point of pro- 
 scribing. 
 
 . The Revolutionists of 1830 were not slow in their work 
 of proscription ; and the Omnipotent made use of their very 
 impiety to further his own merciful designs. The storm 
 that swept over France served to waft the richly-laden 
 vessels of benediction that rode at anchor in its but lately 
 peaceful waters, towards other ports, and other lands. 
 America received its share of the blessings. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 The new Provincial of France, Very Rev. Fr. Druilhet 
 not unmindful of the application for missionaries made by 
 liishop Flaget, two years previous, and supposing that cir- 
 cumstances had remained unaltered in Bardstown, deemed 
 it advisable, in the present state of affairs, to comply with 
 the prelate's request. Fathers Chazelle, Ladaviere and Petit, 
 with the devoted brother Corne, were selected for this new 
 mission ; and having been kindly furnished with the means 
 of defraying their expenses by the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Faith, they bade farewell to their friends, and 
 their country, and sailed from Pauillac, near Bordeaux, Nov. 
 19th, 1830. 
 
 On the 5th of Jan., the eve of the Epiphany, the island 
 of Guadaloupe hove in sight. Here the ship cast anchor, 
 and our fathers once more gladly trod the earth, having 
 been almost two months at sea. The following day, Rev. 
 Fr. Chazelle had the happiness of opening his new career 
 by preaching, at the request of the parish priest, on Christ's 
 manifestation to the Gentiles. But the regions to which 
 he and his little band were to bring the good tidings of the 
 gospel were still far distant ; so they reembarked without 
 delay. Fifteen days more on the waves brought them to 
 New Orleans, the terminus of their journey by sea. There 
 still remained upwards of 1600 miles of overland travel, 
 before they could reach Kentucky ; but as the season 
 

 4 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 was far advanced, and the rivers closed to naviga- 
 tion for the season, they were forced to tarry two months 
 in New Orleans. This delay they turned to the greater 
 glory of God : Rev. Fr. Chazelle flew to the prison cells 
 of some slaves condemned to death, accompanied them 
 with words of hope and consolation to the place of execu- 
 tion, and then devoted himself to the work of teaching 
 catechism to the little children. The other Fathers were 
 likewise employed in spiritual works of mercy. 
 
 Meantime Rev. Fr. Chazelle had written to acquaint 
 Bishop Flaget with their arrival. The letter fell as a thun- 
 derbolt on His Lordship, as well as on the priests of his 
 diocese: for when, in 1828, the saintly prelate had found 
 it impossible to obtain any members of the Society, for the 
 management of his college, he had handed it over to the 
 secular clergy. His astonishment then, at seeing the Fa- 
 thers present themselves to enter upon the discharge of their 
 anticipated duties, was equalled only by the amazement of 
 the Fathers themselves, when they learned that these duties 
 were already fulfilled by others who iooked on them almost 
 as intruders. The Bishop scarcely knew what answer to 
 give to Rev. Father Chazelle's letter ; still he expressed a 
 hope of finding some work in his diocese for the mission- 
 aries ; and encouraged by the prelate's reply, Fr. Chazelle 
 set out with Fr. Petit, leaving the rest of the little colony 
 still at New Orleans. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Had naught been consulted but the good Bishop's love 
 for the Society, there would not have been a moment's hes- 
 itation or delay ; but as matters actually stood, the saintly 
 p relate was at a loss how to act. To send back the Fathers 
 after they had been so ardently longed for ; when, after so 
 many dangers, they were actually on the field, and on all 
 .-ides the rich harvest was waving in the breeze, as if beck- 
 oning to them not to pass by : this he could not bring him- 
 self to do, and yet it was impossible to give them now what 
 he had before intended. 
 
 The Bishop was too truly a man of God, (insignis pieta- 
 tis, says the MS.) to doubt, after the first moments of sur- 
 prise were over, whither he should look for light in his per- 
 plexity. The wings of prayer bore him aloft to the throne 
 of the Mighty Counsellor; into Whose Paternal Bosom his 
 doubts, and his troubles and his fears were poured with a 
 filial confidence. 
 
 The more surely to obtain what he sought, he enlisted 
 St. Ignatius in his cause, by beginning in concert with Rev. 
 Fr. Chazelle a novena preparatory to the feast of our Holy 
 Founder. It would indeed have been surprising, had the 
 losing Father of all mankind turned a deaf ear to the pray- 
 ers of these devoted pastors of souls, offered as they were 
 by the hands of the soul-enamoured Ignatius. And in 
 fact, the novena was not yet concluded, when the Bishop 
 
6 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 received an unexpected and extraordinary letter from a 
 priest of his diocese, the Rev. William Byrne, a man, for a 
 long time, by no means friendly to the Society, and espe- 
 cially of late, greatly opposed to the entrance of our Fa- 
 thers into Kentucky. 
 
 it would not be very difficult for us to imagine what the 
 purport of the letter might have been, but God Almighty 
 alone could have made it what it really was. Suffice it to 
 say that the Rev. Mr. Byrne offered to the Fathers the 
 College of St. Mary's which, on ground given him by the 
 bishop, he had built, and for twelve years had been improv- 
 ing and beautifying. It was situated about ten miles from 
 Bardstown, and had attached to it a farm of nearly 300 
 acres. No price was stipulated ; no condition or restriction 
 whatever laid upon the grant, save that Father Byrne should 
 continue to preside over the institution in the name of our 
 Fathers, until they would be in a condition to undertake its 
 full management themselves. 
 
 Father Byrne's kind offer was immediately referred to 
 Rome, but as delays were unavoidable, it was only on the 
 7th of July of the following year, 1832, that letters from 
 Most Rev. Fr. Roothan announced his definitive approval of 
 the acceptance of St. Mary's. 
 
 The little family, less numerous than that of St. Ignatius 
 and his first companions, seemed hardly able to meet all the 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 wants of a college ; but, as in the still smaller family of Naz- 
 areth, Jesus was one of the number: with Him, all things 
 were possible. The Fathers accordingly entered on the 
 discharge of their new functions with all their energy. A 
 kind providence was watching over them, and, one by one, 
 new laborers joined them in the vineyard they were culti- 
 
 vating. 
 
 The first was Fr. Fouche, born in Paris, May 9th, 1789, 
 and, at the time of which we speak, director of the Semi- 
 nary of Bardstown. The second was Fr. Evremond Haris- 
 sart, born in the same city, May 19th, 1792, and likewise 
 superior of a Seminary. They had both gone through a 
 spiritual retreat, under Rev. Fr. Chazelle, the preceding 
 year ; and the result was but a repetition of the first victory 
 of the Exercises, three hundred years ago. It was the same 
 i nspired book of the Exercises that was doing its work over 
 
 again. 
 
 As our nascent mission could not then boast of a house 
 of probation, the Province of Maryland, our elder sister, 
 kindly placed at our disposal its Novitiate at Whitemarsh. 
 Fr. Evremond was accordingly received within its friendly 
 enclosure and began his noviceship at once. Fr. Fouche 
 could not succeed in resigning his post in the Bardstown 
 Seminary before September of the following year ; and as 
 our Most Rev. Fr. General had, by that time, decided that 
 
A ew ] r ork and Canada Mission. 
 
 a Novitiate should be opened in Kentucky itself, under Rev. 
 Fr. Chazelle as Master of Novices, Fr. Evremond bade a- 
 dieu to Whitemarsh, and with many fond recollections of 
 his first home lingering in his heart, joined Fr. Fouche at 
 St. Mary's. Thus it was that the first two novices of our 
 mission exchanged their lofty stations for the humble life 
 of the Novitiate. 
 
 The 22nd of December, 1832, though astronomically one 
 of those days on which the rays of the sun are most chary 
 of their gladdening visits to our earth, was more than usu- 
 al ly blithesome and sun-bright for our little family at St. 
 Mary's; announcing, as it did, the arrival of three more 
 Fathers from Europe. France had already sent her mission- 
 aries to the forests of Kentucky, and, this time, Spain, Italy 
 and Switzerland furnished their quota. Not that the new- 
 comers were natives of these parts of the globe, for Fr. 
 Maguire was born in Ireland, and Fathers Gilles and Le- 
 gouais in France, but they were actually laboring in these 
 several countries, and these countries it was that made the 
 sacrifice for the good of America. 
 
 With what heartfelt emotions Rev. Fr. Chazelle must 
 have pressed to his bosom these brothers from the Old 
 World, those alone who have left country, and family and 
 home for Christ's sake can imagine. A day or two was al- 
 lotted to repose after the fatigues of the journey, and then 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 the five co-laborers entered on the regular life of the Soci- 
 ety with all the punctuality and exactness observed in the 
 oldest house in Europe. 
 
 The first need that made itself felt was a knowledge of 
 the English tongue ; and accordingly, all who were defi- 
 cient in this respect, gave themselves up to the study of 
 the language of the country, with incredible ardor : FE. 
 Fouche and Evremond acting as professors of English lit- 
 erature to Eathers Gilles and Eegouais. So really heroic 
 was their desire to advance in their studies, that, as we find 
 recorded in the MS. diary of those days, it was strictly 
 forbidden to say a single word in French ; and this gener- 
 ous sacrifice of what is so dear to everyone, the sweet mu- 
 sic of his native tongue, was offered, as a pleasing holocaust 
 to Mary, during her lovely month of May. 
 
 Hitherto some of the members of our mission had never 
 met, but on the 13th of May, 1833, those Fathers who 
 had remained, as we have seen, at New Orleans, aiding 
 the good Bishop of that diocese, joined their companions 
 in Kentucky. Thus, for the first time, "sine quidem huma- 
 110." says the MS., "non autem absque divino consilio," all 
 the FF. of the French Province, then in America, with the 
 exception of Father de Grivel, who filled the office of Mas- 
 ter of Novices in the Province of Maryland, met together, 
 in their common home, to the number of eight: "cum in- 
 
io New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 genti sane omnium gaudio, et mutua gratulatione." We 
 
 arc fain to believe that, if the edict expelling the French 
 language from the community had not yet been repealed, 
 the exile was recalled from his banishment, at least for a 
 tew hours ; hours so swift-footed on such an occasion.* 
 
 \\ e have dwelt thus at length on the infancy of our mis- 
 sion, for the reason that there is always something sweetly 
 attractive in tracing out the first beginnings of even the 
 least of God's works ; and because the halo of sanctity in- 
 variably encircles all pioneers on a new field of God's glorv. 
 
 We have even (^erstepped a little the actual date, at 
 which our sketch has now arrived, in order to display at 
 
 * The aged Fathers of our mission divide its history inlo three dis- 
 tinct periods: the Heroic, or Fabulous, the Pre-Historie, and the His- 
 toric proper. Thus far we have been treating of the Fabulous times, 
 slightly encroaching, however, on the era that begins to be dimly histor- 
 ical. The appellation given to the first period could not be more appro- 
 priate, for, the MS. diary bears testimony to facts which, in our days, 
 seem fabulous indeed. How the students, not a hundred in number, 
 could be boarded and taught at the annual rate of $60 each : —How tur- 
 keys were one of the cheapest articles of food to be found : twenty -five 
 cents being sufficient to procure from any neighboring cabin a beautiful 
 specimen already dressed, cooked and fit for the table :— How the receipts 
 for tuition were seldom deposited in the hands of the treasurer, but 
 driven by the farmer, into the barn-yard, in the shape of well-fed porkers, 
 or else poured into the milk cans of the dairy. 
 
 The peculiar sort of book-keeping recmisite in such circumstances, was 
 perhaps, more complicated than ordinary Double Entry ; and the disposal 
 of the live-stock was not unfrequently the great event of the day. Thus, 
 the only item of information we find recorded for Nov. 30th, 1838, is the 
 terse, but fearfully significant sentence ! "porcis plurimis dies fatalis ;" 
 and this fatal day. was probably of no rare occurrence in the domestic 
 economy of St. Mary's. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 11 
 
 once all the beauties of this picture of religious peace and 
 happiness, lest the coming storm-clouds should prevent our 
 noticing some of its less salient, but no less charming traits. 
 Though, in very deed, the storm-clouds themselves form 
 the most natural feature in every picture of the Society ; and 
 a scene in which no such signs of the continued prayers of 
 Ignatius would be visible, either actually over the land- 
 scape, or already disappearing in the distance, or but just 
 merging from the horizon, would be but a chilling prospect 
 to every true son of our sainted Father : the finger of God 
 would not be there. And of the three, perhaps the scene 
 in which the storm is just appearing, is the most consoling ; 
 for, the peaceful traits are still undisturbed, but, at the same 
 time, the rising clouds are an earnest that our peace is not 
 the false tranquillity of the world ; that it is a peace, not 
 enervating, but strong and holy ; and one that by no means 
 clashes with the sword Christ brought on earth. 
 
 How much soever the great ones of the earth may at 
 times seem to favor us, it will never cease to be true, that 
 the birthplace of the Society was the mount of Martyrs ; and 
 that not one of its many colonies has belied our first home : 
 not a single new province or mission has been founded, but 
 has been blessed with its share of crosses, and consequent 
 crowns. .The first token of the coming storm was the ad- 
 vent of that messenger from above, that true scourge of 
 
12 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 God, the cholera. This fearful epidemic had, the preceding 
 year (1832), visited the shores of North America and har- 
 vested its victims by thousands, filling the land with mourn- 
 ing and desolation ; but its work was not completed, and 
 now it was once more on our shores, to glean what had es- 
 caped it before. Its approach was sudden : the first notice 
 of its entrance into the immediate vicinity of our Fathers, 
 was the cry for spiritual help from a woman attacked by the 
 terrible plague, Monday, June 2nd, 1833. This was the 
 moment, for devoted soldiers to fly to the post of danger ; a 
 moment which might prove the recompense of years of toil 
 and privation, which might be the stepping stone to a mar- 
 tyr's crown. Yet (with the exception of one unacquainted 
 with the language) not a priest was in the house, save 
 Father Bvrne ; all our Fathers who were wont to betake 
 themselves every Sunday, for the exercise of their minis- 
 try, to the neighboring villages, were still at their posts. 
 But the zealous Father Byrne, though, in his feeble state of 
 health, he might justly have feared to be, in the present 
 case, the victim rather than the saviour, hesitated not an in- 
 stant — he was beginning on earth a triduum of charity 
 which he was to close in heaven. He visited the dying 
 woman assiduously on the 3rd and 4th inst, but on the 5th, 
 the eve of Corpus Christi, he read the smile of approval on 
 his Master's countenance ; he gazed for the last time on the 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 13 
 
 veiled body of his Saviour, and was then admitted to behold 
 It face to face, to celebrate the Feast of that adorable Body 
 in the abode of bliss. Nine hours had not elapsed between 
 the first struggle and the crown. The Master had come 
 suddenly, but he found his servant watching, the lamp 
 of faith burning brightly in his hands ; the garment of 
 charity closely girt around him. The spot for his tomb 
 was, by permission of the Bishop, chosen on the ground of 
 the deceased; that amid the very fields on which he had 
 toiled so long and with so much energy, and which he had, 
 with noble disinterestedness, dedicated to God's glory, he 
 might at last rest in peace. Father Byrne was by no means 
 an old man, but he had lived for God, and 
 
 "Virtue, not rolling suns, the mind matures : 
 That life is long which answers life's great end." 
 
 Rev. Fr. Chazelle had to enter immediately on the full 
 administration of the College. His first concern was to 
 provide for the safety of the students, but they themselves 
 soon rendered all further measures of precaution impossible. 
 A panic seized numbers of them, who, the very moment Fr. 
 Byrne's obsequies were concluded, without a thought of 
 asking leave, forsook the college precincts. Of the refugees, 
 some passed the night in the neighboring farm-houses ; 
 others, less favored, after losing their way, were forced to 
 lie down on the hard ground, with no shelter above them 
 
14 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 save the wide-spreading oak of the forest. Meanwhile the 
 Fathers devoted themselves to their ministry untiringly, 
 nisrht and dav. The calls upon their charity, whether by 
 the plague-stricken, or those who only feared the approach 
 of the epidemic, were so numerous, that the few laborers 
 could scarcely respond to them all. Still, almost countless 
 was the number of souls which this merciful visitation of 
 the Almighty, Who loveth even while He chastiseth, gath- 
 ered into the heavenly garners, and which, otherwise, would 
 one day have been cast with the unprofitable cockle into 
 eternal flames. 
 
 But God still demanded as a holocaust from our own 
 number, one of the most useful of the little band — the price 
 of Calvary's blessing on our future labors ; at a moment, 
 too, when every laborer was extending so strenuously the 
 kingdom of God in the hearts of men : so little necessary 
 for God's work, are even the most devoted. 
 
 The terrible devastator after carrying off two of the stu- 
 dents who had remained, and one servant, came finally to 
 Fr. Maguire. This zealous missionary felt that he had not 
 long to live; he heard within him the call of death, and, 
 piously avaricious, dreading the loss of the least particle 
 of so precious a time, begged the assistants not to allow 
 him to be overcome by lethargy, but to rouse him by fre- 
 quent aspirations. Their task was a light one indeed — no 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 15 
 
 external monitor was necessary to inflame the dying ser- 
 vant of God: his heart allowed no thoughts but those of 
 heaven to enter ; his lips gave passage to no words save those 
 of eternity. Before his senses failed him, he earnestly, 
 begged that his crucifix, his rosary and his book of rules 
 should repose upon his bosom ; that as they had been the 
 objects of his love in life, they might be his solace in 
 death ; and it was his special request that all care should be 
 taken, lest the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin which he had 
 worn from infancy should by any chance be removed. An 
 agony of excruciating intensity served to purify more and 
 more the wedding garment of the departing soul ; and as 
 the holy religious had led a life of perfect obedience, so his 
 last moments were the fulfilment to the letter of the recom- 
 mendation of the Constitutions, (Pars VI. Cap. 4.) In morte 
 unusquisque de societate eniti et curare debet ut in ipso 
 Deus ac Dominus noster Jesus Christus glorificetur et 
 proximi aadificentur. Fr. Maguire was only 33 years of age, 
 and had been 8 years in the Society. 
 
 From the death bed of Fr. Maguire the holy viaticum 
 
 was carried to the couch of Fr. L whose recovery 
 
 no one expected ; whilst about the same time, Fr. Fouche, 
 busy with the dying at the neighboring village of Loretto, 
 was suddenly prostrated by the disease. It seemed indeed 
 as though our little bark would never be able to weather the 
 
1 6 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 storm : one of the stalwart rowers had already been swept 
 away ; two more seemed about to share the same fate — and 
 still the Divine Master slumbered. But the shadow that 
 hung so darkly over us, was only that of the cross ; the 
 clouds that had gathered so tearfully and so threateningly 
 around us, were of no deeper hue than those of Calvary — 
 and Calvary had its Easter. Calvary saw the rising of its God 
 — that God Who is ever able to inspire hope against hope. 
 
 At that very hour consolation was at hand, and though 
 it seemed only a stray beam that had found its way be- 
 tween ; the dark masses of clouds, silvering for an instant all 
 it met on its path to be followed next moment by a yet 
 thicker darkness, still a long' series of brighter davs was 
 not far off. 
 
 Fr. Fouche recovered after a week's illness ; Fr. L 
 
 though sustaining an attack of more than 12 days, was not 
 so soon to be called to his rest ; but was to be reserved for a 
 long life of useful toil, becoming the spiritual Father of 
 children unto the third and fourth generation. 
 
 The Cholera had disappeared, but God's chastening rod 
 was still upraised. The 30th of December, 1833, was a 
 memorable day in the early history of our mission. Father 
 Chazelle had set out on horseback that afternoon to trans- 
 act some business, intending to return before nightfall ; 
 but, as frequently happened to travellers in those days. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 17 
 
 when roads were a luxury rarely met with, and when more 
 depended on the instinct of the beast of burden than the 
 intelligence of the rider, he lost his way in the forest, and 
 night coming on, was forced to seek shelter in a stranger's 
 cabin. Thus, says the pious MS., did Divine Providence 
 spare the guardian of the house, the sight of the fearful 
 disaster that was about to fall upon it : sweet sleep, after a 
 day spent in fatigue for God's service, soon closing his 
 heavy eyelids, while his flock was suffering so keenly for 
 want of its shepherd. But the kind Master for whom he 
 had toiled, took the place of the care-worn servant ; the 
 Great Shepherd kept watch over the fold, and no harm was 
 to come to it but what He, in His providence, permitted. 
 
 The students had just finished their night prayers in the 
 chapel, and were crossing the yard on their way to the dor- 
 mitory, situated in an adjoining building, when, on a sud- 
 den, a huge column of flame burst forth from the very 
 building which they were approaching. There was a mo- 
 ment's stand-still in utter amazement and awe. Fire! fire! 
 were the first words that rang out from the mouth of even- 
 student, on the clear, cold air of that winter's night ; and 
 then followed the usual rushing of persons madly to and 
 fro, according as each one thought of some cherished object 
 that might still be snatched from the flames, or imagined 
 some new means of stemming the burning torrent. But 
 
1 8 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 no water was to be had — not even a ladder could be pro- 
 cured — and, especially, there was no one to direct the will- 
 ing hands that were wasting their strength in efforts, un- 
 availing because not united. And, all this time, poor Fr. 
 Chazelle was quietly reposing, a few miles away, utterly un- 
 conscious of the dread visitor of his little home. 
 
 Some of the students' beds, and a number of books was 
 all that was rescued from the flames : the entire building, 
 save the four outside walls that still stood amid the wreck, 
 had become a heap of ruins. The work of destruction 
 was completed in half an hour ; but the pang it caused was 
 of far longer duration, and was the more deeply felt as the 
 authors of the conflagration were, some time afterwards, 
 discovered to be two or three unruly students, who through 
 a motive of fiendish revenge, had coolly plotted this terrible 
 crime. 
 
 The Fathers, however, did not murmur at this new visi- 
 tation from on high ; on the contrary thev found matter for 
 sincere thanksgiving in the fact that amid such confusion 
 and danger, not a single person had been injured; audit 
 was a sweetly consoling thought in their personal distress, 
 that though they had lost one of their own dwellings, the 
 house of their loving Saviour, the temple of God had been 
 spared. In fact, when the conflagration was at its height, 
 and it seemed evident that not a single one of the buildings 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 19 
 
 could escape, the wind had suddenly veered around in 
 another direction. 
 
 During the whole time of the fire the students had given 
 proofs of great devotedness and bravery, and though beds 
 had been prepared for them in an adjoining building, but 
 few cared to retire to rest. The greater number passed a 
 wakeful night beside the still smoking ruins, and as they 
 stood there, peering into the dying embers, their shadows 
 cast darkly on the crisp ground behind them, manifold 
 were their expressions of sincere condolence with their be- 
 loved instructors. But, at the same time, they could hard- 
 ly have been able entirely to curb an undercurrent of less 
 saddening reflections concerning, themselves personally ; 
 and although they would probably have been better pleased 
 had a few more beds been spared, even at the price of all 
 the rescued books ; they must have found a boyish conso- 
 lation in the thought that many a hard puzzling lesson was 
 deeper down in the heaps of smouldering ashes before 
 them, than it had ever been able to penetrate into their less 
 pervious skulls, and many a dog-eared volume was now- 
 paying in the flames the penalty of having so often racked 
 young, innocent brains. 
 
 It was a fearful blow for poor Fr. Chazelle when the next 
 morning at daybreak, he was found and informed of the 
 dire catastrophe. He was not, however, disheartened : the 
 
20 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 man who has placed his trust in heaven, earth's shocks can 
 
 not overcome. 
 
 "Though tempest frowns, 
 Though nature shakes, how soft to lean on Heav'n ; 
 To lean on Him on Whom Archangels lean ! " 
 
 His first act was to have recourse to the Giver of all life and 
 strength. This done, he held a consultation, and, at its close, 
 informed the students that the first session was at an end ; 
 that studies would be resumed towards the middle of the 
 coming month. 
 
 That evening, the last of the old year, the community as 
 customary in the Society, entoned the Te Deum with grate- 
 ful hearts, for the blessings of the past twelvemonth ; and, af- 
 ter litanies, presented with filial love, to the head of the house 
 their best wishes for the coming year. Rev. Fr. Chazelle in 
 his turn, thanked them with an overflowing heart, and with 
 paternal kindness, exhorted all not to be depressed by their 
 present misfortunes, but to labor strenuously and with union 
 of wills to endow their institution, already proved by so 
 man)' trials, with all possible stability, according to the 
 measure of God's grace. It was the same vein of thought 
 as that in which, a few days later, he wrote to Very Rev. 
 Fr. Provincial. "Trials," said he in his letter, "must be ac- 
 counted as graces, especially in the Society. As long as 
 God will be pleased to afflict us, we are far from being 
 unhappy, provided His crosses find us true sons of our 
 Father, St. Ignatius." 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 21 
 
 The indomitable spirit that animated the head, actuated, 
 likewise, all the members ; and the work of repair was un- 
 dertaken with ardor. Many of the students and neighbors 
 imitated the example of the Fathers, who might be seen 
 here collecting the scattered bricks, there hewing massive 
 pieces of timber ; or, when the building was roofed, nailing 
 laths to the joists, and, owing, no doubt, to the inferior qual- 
 ity of the iron, breaking vast quantities of nails, during 
 this their first apprenticeship in the carpenter's trade. 
 
 Where none were idle, the work must needs have rapidly 
 progressed ; and indeed, despite the asperity of the season, 
 the very depth of winter, on the 23rd of January, the build- 
 ing was sufficiently repaired once more to receive the 
 students. 
 
 Nothing of note, now disturbed the pleasant monotony of 
 college life, previous to the 26th of July, 1834, the First 
 Annual Commencement Day of St. Mary's College, since 
 its full management had devolved on the Fathers. The 
 exercises took place on a rustic stage erected under the 
 shady trees that surrrounded the house, and comprised, 
 among other literary productions, a tragedy, composed by 
 Rev. Fr. Chazelle, who, says his MS. biography, ' was con- 
 vinced that to promote the glory of God in America, and in 
 Kentucky, he must first become a real American, and a 
 Kentuckian. The play was entitled "Redhawk," and was 
 
22 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 designed to illustrate the ancient customs of the Indians, 
 and the labors of the early American settlers: all turning to 
 praise of Christianity. The bright costumes of the natives, 
 in which the actors were arrayed, contributed not a little to 
 the success of the drama. 
 
 Perhaps it was owing to these and other sincere tokens 
 of love for America, exhibited by the Fathers, that a deep- 
 rooted affection towards them gradually took the place, in 
 the hearts of the people, of that feeling of suspicion and 
 distrust with which they had first looked upon the mem- 
 bers of the Society. But whatever may have given it rise, 
 unequivocal proof that this affection really existed, was 
 shown by a deputation from the citizens of the neighbor- 
 ing village of Lebanon, who waited on Rev. Fr. Chazelle, 
 and offered to open a subscription for rebuilding the college 
 on a much grander scale. The Father received them most 
 affably and thanked them sincerely, regretting that he was 
 unable to give them, at once, a definitive answer. The 
 question was immediately referred to Rome, and after it 
 had been agitated for a considerable time, and recourse to 
 earnest prayer had been had on the part of all, it was final- 
 ly brought to a close in 1836, when the foundations of the 
 new wing were laid. During the years in which the build- 
 ing was in process of erection, the devout annalist informs 
 us that God, in His fatherly providence so tempered the 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 23 
 
 bitter with the sweet, that although new trials came to pre- 
 vent our fathers from being too much elated by prosperity, 
 new joys succeeded lest they should be too much cast 
 down by adversity ; and this, in so loving and merciful a 
 way, that the dark and troublous days were always out- 
 numbered by those of sunshine and peace. 
 
 NOTE— It will, no doubt, interest many readers of the "Letters" to 
 peruse a page from the earliest Catalogue of France we have been able to 
 procure, that makes mention of "Collegium Kentuckeiense ad S. Mariam 
 tt convictus," ineunte MDCCCXXXVI. 
 
 • 
 R. P. Petrus Chazelle, Y. Rector. 
 
 P. Thomas Legouais, Minister, Magister Novitiorum, Prof. Math., etc. 
 
 P. Gulielmus Murphy, Professor, etc. 
 
 P. Nicolaus Petit, Primus praefectus morum, etc. 
 
 P. Nicolaus Point, Praefectus studiorum, etc. 
 
 P. Simon Fouche, Prof. Math. ; praefectus morum, etc. 
 
 P. Xaverius (Evremond) Herissart, Prof, linguae Graeeae, etc. 
 
 P. Vitalis Gilles, Praefectus Spiritualis : Professor linguae Gallicae, etc. 
 
 Philippus Corne, Ad omnia. 
 
 Philippus Ledore, Coquus. 
 
24 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Up to the period our sketch has now reached, St. Mary's 
 enjoyed, only by privilege, the title of College ; but in 1836, 
 after a sharp contest, in the Legislature, between our friends 
 and our enemies, it received its charter as a University. 
 This victory was, in great measure, due to the influence of 
 Fr. Murphy, who had lately arrived in Kentucky, and who 
 devoted himself unsparingly to promote the good of the 
 College. 
 
 But it was not only by thus perfecting what our Fathers 
 had already undertaken, that He for whom alone they toiled, 
 gave His blessing to their unassuming labors : in His 
 providence He destined for the little colony of St. Mary's a 
 still wider, and far distant field of action. For it He re- 
 served the honor of sending the first pioneers of the new 
 Society to a land which had been crimsoned with some of 
 the noblest blood of the old, to inherit the mantle which 
 had fallen from a Brebeuf and a Lalemant, as they # rose 
 into Heaven amid the whirlwind of savage persecution, and 
 to revive their spirit in the hearts of those who guarded so 
 jealously the precious deposit of their glorious bodies. 
 
 Mgr. Bourget, the zealous and devoted Bishop of Mon- 
 treal, ardently wishing to see the Society once more at work 
 in its heavenly-appointed vineyard, invited Rev. Fr. Cha- 
 zelle, in the year 1839, to conduct the annual ecclesiastical 
 retreat for the priests of the diocese. 
 
Nfiw York and Canada Mission. 25 
 
 His presence awoke, throughout the whole of Canada, 
 fond and saintly memories which long had slumbered. 
 Forthwith, the brothers of those heroes that had died in 
 blessing the land, and blessed the land in dying, were eag- 
 erly pressed to re-enter the country ; and no later than 1842 
 this new branch of our mission was founded. So desirous 
 to see the Fathers at once established in his diocese was 
 Mgr. Bourget, whose attachment to the Society has ever 
 displayed itself in an unceasing solicitude for the welfare of 
 its members, that he could not wait till a suitable building 
 should be erected, but kindly interested in their behalf the 
 pious Mr. Rodier, then a distinguished member of the Bar, 
 but some years later the still more distinguished Mayor of 
 Montreal. This worthy representative of genuine catholic 
 charity declared to the Fathers that he would consider it a 
 personal favor if they would accept half of his own house, 
 to be their home as long as they wished. What was offered 
 with such noble disinterestedness was received with heart- 
 felt gratitude. As the spacious mansion had already been 
 partitioned off into two, the Fathers soon after took posses- 
 sion of their quarters, and, on Sept. 9th, 1843, gave the 
 habit of the Society to our first Canadian novice. This 
 favored subject, in less than a month, gave, in his turn, the 
 warm embrace of the Society to a fellow-novice, and both 
 together, began the ascent of the rugged road of perfection, 
 
26 New York and Canada Mission-. 
 
 helped by each other's example.* Of course, our ordinary 
 means of subsistence were not, as yet, secured, but 
 
 "He, who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, 
 And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride," 
 
 provided, no less bountifully, for the well-being of his ser- 
 vants. The alms of the faithful were abundant, and if want 
 were occasionally felt, it served only to give zest to succeed- 
 ing plenty. Such being the case it is hard to understand 
 how it became noised abroad, through the city, that the 
 fathers were dying of hunger. The rumor came to the ears 
 of our best of friends, his Lordship, the Bishop, and grieved 
 him to the heart. He started without delay for our resi- 
 dence, and calling for Fr. Luiset, the Master of novices, 
 asked him, in a voice in which loving tenderness struggled 
 with paternal severity, how he could have had so little 
 confidence in him, as not to inform him of the straits to 
 which the community was reduced. Fr. Luiset was at a 
 loss for a reply : — a few moments however, cleared up the 
 mystery ; the fears of the good Bishop were dispelled, and 
 had he sat down with the community at the next meal, he 
 would have been convinced, beyond the shadow of a doubt, 
 
 * Respect for the feelings of the living banished from the text 
 the names of these first-fruits of the new Society in Canada ; but here in 
 the foot-notes the desire to be useful to future annalists, allows us to 
 mention, the names of Fr. Regnier, now "operarius" in Troy ; and of 
 R. Fr. H. Hudon our kind Rector at St. Francis Xavier's. 
 
*»SW» OOLUMg tlBiUK* 
 «"W HIM, *™ 
 
 New York and Canada Mission. 27 
 
 of the want of foundation of the rumor, and seen, to his 
 great satisfaction, that, owing to the charity of their friends, 
 they were far from starving. Many more must have been 
 the trials of paternal solicitude on the part of Monseigneur, 
 and many too the pleasing incidents that occurred, during 
 the year, when the quiet occupation of the Jesuit novices 
 ran side by side with the already busy life of the future 
 magistrate — church and state in such close and harmonious 
 relations ; — but, owing to our distance from the source of 
 information, we are forced to leave the record of these facts, 
 as well as the heroic days of our college of St. Mary's, in 
 Montreal, to some of our more favored brothers of the 
 North.* We, ourselves, however, still love to remember 
 
 *A little anecdote has been related to us, the artless simplicity 
 of which is too charming to be lost. "Shortly after breakfast every day 
 during the summer months," says one of the novices of those times, now 
 a venerable Father, "the bell was rung for 'Manualia,' and at once we 
 three novices repaired to our little garden, to dig potatoes for the com- 
 munity dinner. The task was almost Herculean, for the good brother 
 charged with planting the potatoes had a favorite theory, based on what 
 principle of horticulture he never told us, that the deeper they were sunk 
 into the ground, the more plentiful would be the crop. Accordingly he 
 had procured a stout pole, about six feet long, and, applying it somewhat 
 after the manner of a modern pile-driver, had succeeded in burying the 
 forlorn seedling as far out of sight as possible; trusting perhaps that 
 their proximity to the central fires of the earth would keep them from 
 freezing, should Spring, as was sometimes the case in those regions, prove 
 rather backward ; and the ice in the St. Lawrence refuse to forsake its 
 adopted home till Summer was on its heels. 
 
 "The good brother took great delight in superintending the labors of 
 the poor novices, and pointing out the^exact spot in which his novel imple- 
 ment of husbandry had descended ; and when any of us, having dug a 
 
28 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 with what fatherly affection the venerable Mr. Rodier wel- 
 comed to his bountiful table, only a few years ago, all the 
 novices from the Sault-au-Recollet; with what pleasure he 
 spoke of the days when his house was our only novitiate, 
 and assured us, with tears in his eyes, that they were the 
 happiest of his life. May the eternal Father repay his 
 charity a hundred fold : 
 
 The stranger and the poor by God are sent 
 And what to these we give, to God is lent. * 
 
 That hearts so loving and devoted as those of our gen- 
 erous friends really were, should crowd around the cradle 
 of the Canada Mission, when, without them, it could not 
 
 ditch some three feet in depth and two in width without even the sign of 
 a potato, would turn to him in despair, and, pointing to the small moun- 
 tain beside us, monument of our labor, ask imploringly, 'how much far- 
 ther down?' he would deliberately gauge, with his eye, the heap of clay 
 at his feet, and then, in his most soothing voice reply, that we must be 
 near them now ; they could not be more than two feet deeper. 
 
 "Under such circumstances, you may imagine how great was our de- 
 light to see, on the other side of the low rail fence that divided the gar- 
 den, good Mr. Rodier coming into his orchard. We were not disappointed : 
 the first thing our kind neighbor TV ould do, would be to shake down 
 some of the largest and ripest apples that hung on his trees ; then, lean- 
 ing for a few seconds on our fence, he Would exclaim : 'Pauvres freres, 
 pauvres freres ! Here, my children, you must be tired by this time ; you 
 have dug enough for this morning ;' and with these words he would toss 
 us the rosy-cheeked fruits. Oh ! how pretty they looked, in comparison 
 
 * Homer says : 
 
 Ilfit): yap J'.o; elrro a—avrzc 
 Eslvm r= -zor/oi «. Odys. VI. 208. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 29 
 
 have long survived its birth, was owing, no doubt, in great 
 measure, to the prayers of the saintly men who, at this 
 time, successively filled the office of Master of Novices, 
 The line began with Father Luiset, already mentioned, who, 
 in fact, may be said to have taken actual possession of Can- 
 ada in the name of the Society. In 1843, on the feast of 
 the Holy Name of Jesus, the very day after his arrival at 
 Montreal with some other Fathers from France, he preached, 
 at the invitation of Monseigneur Bourget, in the grand 
 cathedral, since destroyed by fire. He chose for his text 
 the words of St. Paul : "In nomine Jesu omne genu flecta- 
 tur, coelestium, terrestrium, et infernorum" (Phil. 2. 10.), 
 and, by the strain after strain of fervid eloquence which he 
 poured forth on the glories of the Redeemer, completely 
 won the hearts of his vast audience. 
 
 The knowledge of Christ, and Him crucified, which the 
 zealous missionary had unfolded to his hearers in the pop- 
 ulous city, he afterwards diffused through the villages and 
 hamlets for miles around, with so much unction and vigor as 
 
 with the spectral potatoes that had been haunting our minds so long. 
 Fr. Master allowed us 'Deo Gratias,' and had given general permission 
 to eat whatever Mr. Rodier might think proper to offer. The good 
 brother was the only one that seemed crest-fallen at our leaving off when 
 bushels of potatoes were so near. To console him, we would offer, with 
 generous magnanimity, to the author of our woes, a share in our good 
 fortunes; asking, in return, only one thing, that next Spring, when about 
 to plant his potatoes, he would use a somewhat shorter pole for a spade." 
 
3<3 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 to electrify those who came within reach of his burning 
 words, and to cause all, priests and laity, actually to clamor 
 for the entrance of the Fathers into their parishes. 
 
 From his apostolic journeys, in which he had scattered 
 broadcast over an extensive portion of the Lord's vineyard, 
 the fertile seed of the Divine Word, he returned to the 
 secluded garden where bloomed the Almighty's flowers of 
 predilection ; to the care of these, few though they were, 
 he devoted his unwearied attention. To his novices, Father 
 Luiset displayed the same image of the Redeemer, that he 
 had exhibited in the cities and the villages, and, as they 
 were called to the perfect imitation of the divine Model, he 
 descended into every detail, and showed by his solid con- 
 ferences, and by the example of his daily life, how the 
 spirit of the cross was to actuate their every thought, word 
 and deed. 
 
 But nothing, perhaps, proved more conclusively that 
 what he had so long preached was really from the abun- 
 dance of the heart, and that the cross had struck deep roots 
 therein, than his edifying conduct under the terrible affliction 
 which, during the third year of his office as Master of 
 Novices, God was pleased to send him. An operation 
 performed by a celebrated oculist for the cure of some 
 slight ailment of his eyes, resulted in total blindness for 
 the rest of his life. This severe trial, far from wringing 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 31 
 
 from him the least complaint, only caused him to ex- 
 claim with patient Job : "If we have received good 
 things at. the hand of God, why should we not receive 
 evil?" <Job. 2. 10.) He did not even yield to the subtile 
 temptation that he would thenceforth be less able to work 
 for God's glory, but assured that 
 
 "God doth not need 
 Either man's works, or His own gifts ; who best 
 Bear His mild ) r oke, they serve Him best,"* 
 
 he reposed with such perfect resignation on the divine will, 
 that, though frequently pressed to make a novena for the 
 recovery of his sight, he constantly refused, saying: "It is 
 God's holy will I should be blind, and God's will is mine." 
 The truth was, he scarcely looked upon his affliction as an 
 evil at all, and, charmed at being no longer disturbed by 
 the sight of created things, he centred his gaze more stead- 
 ily than ever on the Creator, and drank in with fewer 
 distractions the vision of his God. 
 
 But if the bodies of men had vanished, with the whole 
 visible world, forever from his sight, their souls still ap- 
 peared to him of priceless value, and such was his zeal to 
 rescue these from Satan's power, that he easily overcame 
 all the obstacles his blindness placed in his way. At the con- 
 clusion of his three years as Master of Novices, he was sent 
 
 * Milton — Ode on his blindness. 
 
32 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 to Quebec, where he preached with his wonted fire. Such 
 was his conviction of the responsibility of this apostolic 
 duty, that he delivered no sermons but such as he had care- 
 fully written out before, and which he still remembered, or 
 had read to him before ascending the pulpit- The clear 
 sequence of ideas that runs through these sermons, some 
 of which are still extant, the striking reflections they em- 
 body, and the beautiful language in which they are ex- 
 pressed, prove the thoughtful care and labor expended on 
 their composition ; while the glow of divine love that ani- 
 mates the whole, shows the man of prayer clothed with 
 the learning of the scholar and the eloquence of the orator. 
 
 However, to do good to souls then, he no longer needed 
 such preparation ; for he had already preached most forci- . 
 bly even before uttering one word of his prepared sermon, 
 and all hearts were deeply moved by beholding the zeal- 
 ous old man still so vigorous, but obliged to be led by 
 the hand to the foot of the pulpit, then slowly groping his 
 way up the steps, and finally turning his sightless eyes on 
 his audience, hushed in the deepest attention : no more 
 efficacious exhortation could be given — to rejoice in the 
 midst of affliction, and to kiss the hand that chastiseth. 
 
 After a year spent in Quebec he returned to the novitiate, 
 in the capacity of Socius of the Master of Novices, and 
 prevented from ascending the pulpit, as his superiors judged 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 33 
 
 it better for him not to preach any more by word of mouth, 
 his zeal sought an outlet in his assiduous attendance in the 
 confessional. His exactness to follow in this, as in all other 
 respects, the least prescription of our holy rules, nay what 
 he considered to be their spirit, even when the letter was 
 silent amounted almost to scruple, and gave rise to the 
 following amusing incident : 
 
 It was Fr. Luiset's custom to be at his post especially 
 about 6 o'clock in the evening to receive men on their 
 return from work. In summer, of course, it was light at 
 that hour, but as winter came on, knowing it must then be 
 getting dark he called one of the novices and bade him 
 place a candle near the confessional, saying it was not 
 becoming for one of ours to hear anyone's confession, in 
 his room, after nightfall without a light. The young relig- 
 ious not quite yet as blind in his obedience, as the good 
 father in his sight, was at a loss how to apply this to the 
 case of the exact servant of God, and fearing some accident 
 from fire, ran off in haste, as a true novice, to unbosom 
 himself in his perplexity to Father Master. His spiritual 
 Father smiling told him he might get the candle, take it 
 unlit to the father's room and retire. The good novice did 
 as directed and was leaving the room, when to his surprise, 
 Fr. Luiset solemnly said : "Bring hither the candle and put 
 it beside me." Prompt obedience this time on the part of 
 
34 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 the novice, but still with a vague fear for the consequences. 
 And well he might fear ; for the precise old man, taking 
 hold of the candlestick, deliberately ran his hand along the 
 candle towards the wick. Fain would the trembling novice 
 have lighted the taper, even at the eleventh hour ; but the 
 eleventh hour unfortunately was a very short one : — it was 
 already over; Fr. Luiset had reached the top, and feeling 
 no heat, turned sharply around on this remorse-stricken 
 culprit and exclaimed with all his animation : "What ! 
 brother, is it possible you wish to deceive me ! Have you 
 no more respect for our holy rules?" The speechless novice 
 suddenly felt as if he would just then like to unbosom 
 himself again to Father Master and, with all possible haste 
 flung out of the room. 
 
 Fr. Luiset's unbounded respect for even the least rule, 
 naturally led him to observe with extraordinary precision 
 that continual mortification in all things, and that applica- 
 tion to spiritual pursuits on which St. Ignatius so repeatedly 
 insists. That this mortification extended itself to his re - 
 freshment of the body, and that even at his meals his 
 spirit was far away from the earthly objects around him, 
 the same novice had daily occasion to witness. Instead of 
 going through some of the usual "experimenta" of our 
 novitiates (which circumstances then rendered impossible) 
 he was appointed to bring the blind father his breakfast, 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 35 
 
 and help him to what he might need. Whether the novice 
 still felt a little chafed on the subject of the father's scrupulous 
 exactitude, and was anxious to overcome a too natural im- 
 pulse by a generous revenge, or whether, in reading the 
 life of St. Ignatius, he had been more struck by that part 
 which narrates the guileless tricks of Fr. Ribadineira on 
 our Holy Founder, than by some other portions of the same 
 life, we dare not decide ; but certain it is that he observed 
 with surprise how Fr. Luiset had prescribed to himself a 
 very limited amount of daily food, and that this limit he 
 never overstepped. The abstemious religious would cut the 
 small slice of dry bread handed to him, into five or six still 
 smaller squares, and then, seated at some distance from the 
 table, would alternately, with one hand slowly raise to his 
 mouth a spoonful of coffee, and with the other one of the 
 morsels of bread : while, at each mouthful, he would turn 
 his countenance towards heaven, whence every good gift- 
 descends. The charitable attendant thought with dismay on 
 the sorry plight to which his own young fibres and ardent 
 spirits would soon be reduced if allowed only so scanty'a 
 supply of "nitrogenous aliments ;" and, convinced that 
 such lenten diet was utterly insufficient to repair the daily 
 waste of bone and sinew in the blind but vehement old man, 
 he so far presumed on his charge's infirmity as, the moment 
 one mouthful of bread disappeared, quietly to replace it by 
 
36 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 another, and as the coffee gradually diminished in the cup, 
 noiselessly to pour in some more. 
 
 The unsuspecting Father, who was always very exact in 
 eating whatever he had cut for himself, and sipping his 
 coffee, spoonful after spoonful, till all was gone, kept on at 
 his meal, as usual, wholly occupied with other thoughts. 
 Perhaps even then he was reflecting on the miraculous 
 multiplication of the loaves and fishes ; but if so, his mind 
 was so intent on the goodness of God in this miracle as to 
 take no notice of the present multiplication of bread and 
 coffee, by which he was, so unwittingly, being benefitted. 
 At last, however, through sheer fatigue at raising the spoon 
 to his lips so much oftener than usual, he turned quietly to 
 his kind-hearted attendant, and remarked : "Cette tasse est 
 bien grande, mon frere." The novice did not attempt to 
 deny the fact, but was warned by this how far he could go 
 in his charitable fraud without awakening suspicion : and 
 so frequently did he ever after (with permission of the 
 Master of Novices j regulate his perpetual miracle, that he 
 had time to see the poor blind Father actually thriving 
 under his treatment. 
 
 Father Luiset continued to edify the Novices by his 
 exact observance of the rules, and his spirit of mortification 
 till his death in 1855, at the age of 67. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 37 
 
 The second equally saintly man to whose prayers and 
 3ioly life the early days of the Canada Mission owed so 
 many heavenly blessings was Father George Schneider, 
 who had succeeded Fr. Luiset as Master of Novices, in 
 1848. Unable, for want of space, to dwell at any length 
 on the life of this fervent religious, we give, in a word, its 
 correct epitome when we say that it was one continued act 
 of devotion to St. Joseph, and of unbounded confidence in 
 this holy Patriarch, repaid by countless favors of all kinds. 
 Were we deficient in example to prove that St. Joseph is 
 the same as in the past to those that fly to him, the exam- 
 ple of this devout Father alone would be sufficient. 
 
 He first entrusted to this holy Patriarch the care of the 
 whole house, even down to the pantry itself; and from the 
 manner in which the faithful steward discharged this last 
 part of his commission we may judge how he fulfilled the 
 rest. Occasionally indeed instead of the expected sound 
 of the breakfast-bell the silvery voice of Fr. Schneider 
 would greet the ears of the novices, as he stepped into their 
 room, and told them, with a smile, that although they had 
 not yet taken a vow of poverty, the Almighty was pleased 
 to try them a little on the score of that virtue even then ; 
 that they would have to wait a while for breakfast, as there 
 was not a mouthful to eat in the house : but that it would 
 not be long ; St. Joseph had never failed them yet. On 
 

 
 38 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 such occasions, the good novices were only too g"lad to 
 suffer something' in view of their future vow, and with 
 perhaps a short invocation to St. Joseph that he would not 
 tarry too long, cheerfully resumed their mental repast, while 
 awaiting that which was to refresh the body. Fr. Schneider 
 had spoken truly : they had not to wait long ; for never, no, 
 not once, during all the years he was Master of Novices, 
 did an hour pass ere in came from some one, often they 
 knew not from whom, a supply of provisions sufficient for 
 the community. 
 
 Having thus secured, forever, food for his novices, the 
 next step was to procure novices. Fr. Schneider had seen 
 with deep concern how few vocations had as yet developed, 
 since the arrival of the Fathers in Montreal, and looking 
 with anxiety to the future, he referred the matter to his 
 heavenly counsellor. The result was a recommendation to 
 the novices to unite with Fr. Master, during the nine days 
 preceding the feast of St. Joseph, in a fervent novena for 
 the obtaining of new members. The effect of this appeal 
 to the holy Patriarch was almost miraculous ; for whereas, 
 previously, only two or three scholastic novices had been 
 received each year, after the novena four or five begged 
 admittance into the Society before the month was over, and 
 during the following month the number ran up to eight. 
 Ever since then the novitiate has received a very fair yearly 
 
Neil York and Canada Mission. 39 
 
 increase, and of late years, after a general novena to the 
 same heavenly Procurator, made by order of Rev. Father 
 Bapst, in all the houses of the mission, a most extraordina- 
 ry supply of new members. 
 
 Fr. Schneider knowing that he was far from having ex- 
 hausted St. Joseph's liberality, was, on his part, far from 
 desisting in his petitions. He had obtained food and sub- 
 jects ; there was still wanting a novitiate. To build this he 
 had not a single dollar, and, moreover, knew not where to 
 find one ; but his generous Treasurer knew where they 
 could be had in abundance. Permission to begin the build- 
 ing had been refused until enough money had been collected 
 to cover all expenses. Fr. Schneider starts for Quebec, on a 
 mission of some weeks' duration ; returns at the end of that 
 time with the required amount. The year 1853 saw the 
 completion of the large Novitiate at Sault-au-Recollet, 
 about eight miles from Montreal ; and Father Schneider, 
 through gratitude towards its heavenly Founder, and to 
 secure its future prosperity, placed it under his invocation. 
 The novices had about a year before left the home where 
 they had been so charitably sheltered for so many years, 
 and, calling down many blessings upon their benefac- 
 tors, taken up their abode in St. Mary's College, which had 
 been in successful operation since Sept. 20th, 1848. Now 
 that their own home was ready to receive them, they re- 
 
40 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 paired with joy from the crowded city to their peaceful 
 retreat amid the fields. 
 
 These favors, great though they were, were far from be- 
 ing all that Fr. Schneider owed to his glorious Patron. The 
 devout religious saw with deep grief the seminary of some 
 Protestant sect just in front of our first novitiate, and re- 
 marked that it was a pity to have the work of Satan in such- 
 close proximity to the work of God. He complained of it 
 to St. Joseph, during the month of March, the period of 
 the year when all his special requests were made ; the month 
 was hardly over, when the building was sold, at a great 
 bargain to the Catholics, and became St. Patrick's Hospital 
 In later years, he set his heart on obtaining a certain piece 
 of ground, near our College in Montreal, to build thereon 
 a church in honor of the Sacred Heart. He prayed to St. 
 Joseph, and that very piece of ground was presented to him 
 by one of our kind benefactors. He often had obdurate 
 sinners to convert : he entrusted their conversion to St. 
 Joseph, and such was his certainty of success that, on one 
 occasion, speaking of one of them, he exclaimed with sud- 
 den animation: "He is mine to-night." 
 
 This short account of Fr. Schneider's devotion to St. 
 Joseph and of a few of the favors with which it was re- 
 warded, forestalls all necessity of adding a word about 
 his sanctity. St Theresa tells us in her autobiography, that 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 41 
 
 she never knew anyone who had a true devotion to St. 
 Joseph, who was not advanced by it in virtue. Now if such 
 be the case, as it most undoubtedly is, we may easily imag- 
 ine what a height of perfection Father Schneider attained, 
 when his whole life was impregnated with so constant and 
 so filial a devotion to the foster father of Sanctity itself. 
 St. Joseph who had been his consoler in life, smoothed 
 likewise his passage to eternity : and Fr. Schneider's death 
 in 1868 was, like that of the Faithful Servant himself, the 
 bright dawn of eternal day. 
 
 Not to sever the cord of triple strand, of charity on the 
 one side, and of zeal and gratitude on the other, that linked 
 the early days of the Canada Mission one with the other, 
 and bound them all to Rev. Father Chazelle, we have con- 
 siderably outrun our dates. When most of these results 
 just described were actually realized, this indefatigable la- 
 borer had already been called to his rest. He had returned 
 to Kentucky, in October, 1839, an< ^ was » tne following 
 year, succeeded in his double office of Superior and Presi- 
 dent of St. Mary's by Rev. Fr. W. Murphy. Soon afterwards 
 he departed on matters of business for Rome, and returned 
 again to the country of his adoption as Superior of the 
 little band of missionaries, including Fathers Tellier, F. 
 Martin, D. Duranquet, Luiset and three lay brothers, which, 
 at the request of Mgr. Bourget left Europe in 1842 for the 
 
42 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Canada branch of our mission, and was occupied, prior to 
 the erection of St. Mary's College, in our residence of the 
 Assumption at Sandwich, and of St. Francis Xavier, at La 
 Prairie. 
 
 As Rev. Father Chazelle now ceases to figure in our 
 sketch, we cannot dismiss his name without a few words on 
 the death of this saintly religious, the father of our mission. 
 In the Summer of 1845, Very Rev. Fr. Boulanger, and his 
 companion, Rev. Fr. Hus, extended their visit to the Indian 
 Missions of Upper Canada. 
 
 The good missionaries in these regions, deprived in 
 great measure of the community-life of the Society, and 
 almost perfect strangers to those family joys it knows so 
 well how to foster, had looked forward with unbounded 
 delight to this visit, as to the dawn of a new era for their 
 apostolic labors. A letter written some months later by 
 Fr. P. Point, says that when they actually saw among them 
 these representatives of the head of the Society, they gave 
 themselves up unreservedly to the joys of the present and 
 hopes of the future. But it adds : "Will not, perhaps these 
 last prove an illusion ? For we are not wont, we children 
 of St. Ignatius, long to bask in the sunshine." The good 
 Father was right in his apprehensions, and this very letter 
 was to bring to V. R. F. Boulanger the first news of the 
 sickness and death of him on whom most of their hopes 
 for the future were based. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 43 
 
 At the conclusion of the visit it was determined to push 
 the labors of the Society more to the North-West, and 
 revive if possible the old settlements of our first Fathers in 
 the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie. Fr. Chazelle was deputed 
 to visit that part of the country, and to decide on the pos- 
 sibility of founding a residence there to be the nucleus of 
 future missionary labors through the surrounding country. 
 
 On the 8th of August, full of joy at the prospect of 
 opening a new field for God's glory, Fr. Chazelle started 
 for Detroit, where he was to take the steamboat for Macki- 
 naw, and there find another which would carry him to the 
 Sault. Having arrived at Mackinaw, he found no vessel 
 ready to start, so he travelled on as far as Green Bay to see 
 if it might not be possible to start a permanent residence 
 among the tribes bordering on the Riviere du Loup — a river 
 along which, almost two hundred years before, Fr. Mar- 
 quette had travelled in the voyage which led to the discov- 
 ery of the Mississippi. The very day after his arrival at 
 Green Bay, Fr. Chazelle had a slight attack of fever, which 
 increased to such an extent that, shortly after, he was forced 
 to take to his bed. While in this state of suffering, he 
 heard that a steamboat was on the point of starting for 
 Mackinaw. At this news it was impossible to keep him 
 back : — sick as he was, he literally leaped from his bed into 
 the saddle, and hastened towards the wharf. But God, for 
 
44 
 
 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 whose glory he sought these new fatigues, was satisfied 
 with his good will ; and the same loving Master who, years 
 before, in Kentucky, had sent him forth on an errand of 
 charity that he might not be an eye-witness of the calamity 
 that was to befall his flock, this time, with like fatherly 
 providence, prevented his setting out ; lest, as his end was 
 approaching, he who had been an angel of consolation at 
 so many death-beds, should himself die where he must 
 needs be deprived of the last consolations of his religion. 
 
 Despite all his haste, Father Chazelle learned to his sor- 
 row, that he was too late ; the boat had already started, 
 and he had no alternative but to retrace his steps. Once 
 more at the house, he again sank under his illness, now, 
 owing, perhaps, to the excitement his late effort had caused, 
 more violent than before. In the midst of his acute pains, 
 as if to gain strength from the example of his suffering 
 mother, he often reverted to the Society and its recent trials 
 in Europe. It was in the same spirit in which, about a 
 month before, hearing of new persecutions excited against 
 us by the English Government, he had cried out with sud- 
 den enthusiasm : Wicked men that they are ; they wish to 
 kill my mother ! 
 
 The missionary priest of Green Bay attended him in his 
 sickness, and despairing of his recovery, administered to 
 him the last sacraments. Almost immediately the holy 
 religious fell into a protracted agony which ended only with 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 45 
 
 his life, four days later, Sept. 4th, 1845. He was fifty-six 
 years old, and had been twenty-three years in the Society. 
 
 The Indians, for whom he was planning works fraught 
 with so much good, carried his remains to an humble rest- 
 ing place in the quiet cemetery near "The Fathers' Rapids." 
 This place belonged of old to the missionaries of the Soci- 
 ety in these regions ; and it was a strange contrast to the 
 "long, long views" of poor devising man, that he who hoped 
 to revive these once flourishing missions, and instil new life 
 into these neglected works, should expose himself to num- 
 berless dangers and fatigues, and arrive on the spot, only 
 to be received, he too, as they had been, into the arms of 
 all-absorbing death. It is indeed the same contrast as is 
 exhibited in man's very nature: 
 
 "An heir to glory: a frail child of dust." 
 But Father Chazelle had now ceased to be the frail child of 
 dust, and had entered on his inheritance of glory. 
 
 Worthy brother of St. Francis Xavier, whose burning 
 zeal seemed, in him, to live again, he died, as his holy pre- 
 decessor, far away from his brethren, with none but stran- 
 gers to receive his last sigh, and with his eyes turned 
 yearningly towards the fields he had already in spirit con- 
 quered for Christ. These indeed were kindred spirits, "one 
 in willing and in not willing the same;" and the voice that 
 called away the pure soul of Father Chazelle, was that of 
 the loving Master of both, about to give to beings such as 
 they, one in spirit, one abode. 
 
46 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 The Canada branch of our mission was not to absorb all 
 the advantages arising from our first Fr. Superior's visit to 
 the North ; for, as he was the father of both branches, so 
 in God's bountiful providence, both were to profit by it. 
 That of Canada was indebted to him for its very existence ; 
 that of Kentucky for a member who was greatly to contrib- 
 ute to its prosperity, and to reflect great lustre on the 
 Society in America : we refer to the Rev. John Larkin, a 
 priest of St. Sulpice, whom Rev. Father Chazelle during 
 his stay in Canada received into the Society, and who the 
 following year, 1840, began his novitiate in Kentucky. 
 The life of this remarkable man demands more than a pass- 
 ing allusion. Father Larkin was born in 1800, in the county 
 of Durham, Fngland, and after pursuing his classical stu- 
 dies at Ushaw under the celebrated Dr. Lingard, in the 
 same class with the late Cardinal Wiseman, undertook a 
 journey to Hindostan ; and on his return studied theology 
 at Paris, in the Seminary of St. Sulpice. About the year 
 1830, being then a priest of the order, he was sent to occu- 
 py the chair of philosophy in the Sulpitian college at Mon- 
 treal. His very presence gave a new impetus to the studies, 
 especially to that of the dead languages. For himself, in 
 expounding his theses to the class, he preferred the lan- 
 guage of Aristotle, and so nobly did his pupils emulate his 
 example, and so well did they succeed under his careful train- 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 47 
 
 ing that they were soon able to copy their master, and were 
 only allowed the choice between the idiom of the Philoso- 
 pher and the language of Cicero. 
 
 Fr. Larkin continued in his professorial chair till his en- 
 trance into the Society. He was accompanied to Kentucky 
 by a young Prussian, who in 1841 likewise assumed the 
 Jesuit habit, and whose ministry was, in after time, to be 
 connected with the earliest days of that last great work of 
 the Society in America, — that most precious boon of a 
 zealous father to the Society's children in the new World — 
 Woodstock College : an institution round which, though 
 still young, so many loving memories already cluster, thick 
 as the running ivy that fringes its own mountain slopes ; a 
 mansion that "Wisdom has built for herself," where the full 
 training of the Society is extended by devoted Fathers to 
 deeply grateful sons, — that training, offspring of a saint's 
 mind o'ershadowed by the Holy Ghost, which of itself 
 alone if only unimpeded in its slow but all-efficient course 
 permits our persecuted Mother confidently to count on 
 heroes where she numbers men ; — a home of brotherly love 
 which is daily linking our provinces closer and closer to- 
 gether in the network of charity, — light as the filmy thread 
 that scarce sustains its pearl of morning dew, but for those 
 it twines around "indissolubly strong," — an abode of sancti- 
 ty that encloses within its walls more than one chosen friend 
 
48 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 of God, and can already point to the hallowed grove— 
 "Where sleep its sainted dead." 
 
 And finally, a sanctuary of the Sacred Heart, to which 
 Jesus has left His name and His Heart forever; where 
 numbers of the future body-guard of the Church are to be 
 rendered invulnerable by being steeped in the living waters 
 that gush from the Source of all strength, and where the 
 Fathers who are so untiring in their labors, have even now 
 received a pledge of the crown that awaits them and their 
 children, in the aureole of glory just fallen on the whole 
 institution ; amid the effulgence of which, Woodstock Col- 
 lege, with its closets for study, its halls for disputation, its 
 green lawns and shady walks for recreation, seems to disap- 
 pear, while the Sacred Heart rises in its place, open wider 
 than ever, to be henceforth shrine and study, class-room 
 and bower for all the inmates. But fond memory, disport- 
 ing in the dreamy "light of other days," forgets that it is 
 not now called on to weave a tribute of gratitude, but a 
 simple historical narrative ; we beg pardon and resume our 
 theme. 
 
 Fr. Larkin's noviceship was scarcely ended when he was 
 appointed prefect of studies, and, some months later, presi- 
 dent of the day-college lately opened in Louisville. The 
 people of that city were not slow in discovering that in the 
 new president they possessed no ordinary man : and so 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 49 
 
 completely did he captivate the hearts of all, Catholics as 
 well as Protestants, that he was invited to deliver the cus- 
 tomary oration on our great national holiday, the 4th of 
 July. Some years previous he had been solicited by a 
 literary society of the city to lecture before them, instead 
 •of the celebrated John Quincy Adams, who had been pre- 
 vented by sudden illness from delivering a discourse already 
 announced, but this time the invitation was tendered to him 
 by the military themselves. Besides those who had already 
 heard of Fr. Larkin, crowds of strangers had assembled 
 even from distant parts of the state to behold the pageantry 
 of the day in the capital, and listen to the discourse for 
 the occasion ; but what was their surprise on seeing as- 
 cend the rostrum in the open square, not a military officer, 
 nor a civil magistrate, but a Catholic priest in cassock, sur- 
 plice and stole. Now, if ever, had the orator need of all 
 his power of insinuation ; and never perhaps did speaker 
 wield his exordium with more success. He had been 
 invited, Fr. Larkin said, to address the assembly by the 
 military of the city : — he too was a soldier, — but under the 
 standard of the cross. They stood before him arrayed in 
 their warlike costume, uniform, belt and sword ; — would not 
 his appearence be out of harmony with theirs had he ad- 
 dressed them in any other garb than his own uniform, the 
 insignia of his sacred calling ? 
 
50 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 The eyes of 20,000 men, riveted from that moment on 
 the glowing countenance of the minister of the God of 
 armies, vividly spoke his triumph. His subject was : 
 True Liberty : the liberty that Christ came to set up 
 among men ; and for nearly two hours, his rich voice, and 
 still richer thoughts, filled the ears and minds of that vast' 
 multitude, who forgot all else as they listened. 
 
 Fr. Larkin's eloquence was clear, fervid and heart-felt : 
 the weapon of the word, in him, was moulded in his broad, 
 solid intellect ; but before passing to his hearers, it was 
 plunged into his deep, loving heart : here it received its 
 temper, keen as the sword's. Perhaps we should describe 
 it most to the life by applying to it what our English 
 Homer says of the energetic valor of the younger Atrides, 
 
 ■ 
 
 in the heat of the conflict : 
 
 "He sent Ms soul with every lance he threw." * 
 
 Fr. Larkin aimed his weapon to his hearer's reason, but it 
 rested not till it had forced its passage to the heart. It was, 
 in a word, heart speaking to heart, man to man. No won- 
 der then that the crowds listened spell-bound, breathless ; 
 and, as men who have been drinking in for a length of time 
 a delightful melody, even when he has ceased — 
 "Listening still they seemed to hear." 
 
 * Pope's Iliad, Bk. xvii. 1. 647. The original has simply : 
 a/jrs-'.m doufA (fasrsw. 1. 574. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 5 1 
 
 A few days later, a journal of the city referred to the pro- 
 found erudition and the polished style of this celebrated 
 Jesuit, as having invested the trite subject of National In- 
 dependence with a light and beauty till then unknown to his 
 audience. Seen from a distance, in his rural Sanctuary, it 
 continued, his commanding form towering above the plat- 
 form until it almost reached the branches of the trees 
 above ; his sacerdotal vestments contrasting with the bril- 
 liant uniforms around ; his animated figure and commanding 
 gesture, fixing the attention of the steady soldier and the 
 respectful citizen — Father Larkin reminded us of scenes 
 in the Middle Ages, when an humble minister of the Ro- 
 man Church would review the Christian leg-ions, which, 
 bristling with steel, marched to the rescue of the Holy 
 Sepulchre. * But more serious matters than lecturing now 
 claimed Father Larkin's attention. The College that had 
 been entrusted to his care was far from being prosperous — 
 it was only a private residence fitted up for class rooms, and 
 had never yet numbered a hundred students. Fr. Larkin 
 conceived the plan of erecting a grand edifice, to be in 
 every way worthy of the name he intended it should bear, 
 Loyola College. 
 
 His plan approved, he went to work at once, and 
 
 * Louisville Advertiser : apud Daurignac's Hist, of the Soc. of Jesus 
 Vol. 2. p. 314. 
 
52 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 "What he greatly thought, he nobly dared" 
 A fine piece of land was purchased at some distance from 
 the city, and before long, the massive granite walls had 
 risen some fifteen feet above the ground, when an event 
 occurred, already alluded to in our account of Father Cha- 
 zelle's death, which completely changed the destinies of 
 our mission, and transported our toils and labors to an 
 entirely new field of action. 
 
 During the thirteen years of its existence it had risen 
 From the original four members, till, in 1844, >t numbered, 
 including those in Canada, thirty-nine, of whom nineteen 
 were priests, three scholastics, ten coadjutor brothers, and 
 seven novices ; but it had never as yet been favored by any 
 gladdening visit from the centre of unity in the Society. 
 In 1845, the joyful news came that Rev. Fr. Boulanger 
 had been deputed to visit the French missions in America. 
 F"or some years back there had been question, at different 
 epochs, of a visit from this Father, then our Provincial, but 
 obstacles had always prevented the projected journey, until 
 the present year, when, being relieved of his duties as 
 Provincial by Rev. Fr. Rubillon, he was named Visitor by 
 Most Rev. Fr. Roothaan ; and Fr. J. B. Hus assigned him 
 as his companion. The two Fathers reached St. Mary's, 
 Kentucky, on the 14th of June. 
 
 Rev. Fr. Boulanger was a man of nerve and discernment: 
 he required no very considerable time to decide upon any 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 53 
 
 matter once he had grasped it in all its bearings. Such a 
 man was needed, for several vital questions had been pend- 
 ing for years, and were, in fact, definitely settled during his 
 stay among us. 
 
 The first was the absolute refusal to receive the College of 
 .Bardstown, which had, ever since our Fathers' arrival, been 
 repeatedly pressed on their acceptance. 
 
 The second wafc of still greater moment. From the very 
 first entrance of the Society into Kentucky, opinions had 
 been divided as to the final success of the undertaking. 
 There were indeed human considerations enough to cast a 
 deep gloom over the still uncertain future : we were actually 
 in the wild woods, not even an ordinary country road being 
 visible for miles around ; Catholics were few, and poor at 
 that, Protestants surrounded us on all sides ; and moreover 
 the brothrely intercourse essential to union could hardly be 
 kept up between the colony of the Society lately planted in 
 Canada and that of Kentucky, when so great a distance 
 separated the two branches of the same family stock. To 
 crown all, the number of novices was so small as to leave 
 no hope of replacing the already silvered veterans, whom 
 old age and ceaseless toil would soon be sending to their 
 rest. 
 
 Whilst our Very Rev. Fr. Visitor was weighing these 
 items of dissatisfaction with the advantage of a prolonged 
 
54 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 stay in Kentucky, and seemed to doubt for a time, to which 
 side the scales inclined, a letter arrived from the newly-ap- 
 pointed Bishop of New York, the Rt. Rev. John Hughes, 
 which at once stopped the oscillation of the balance. The 
 letter contained a request that Rev. Fr. Boulanger would 
 accept the Bishop's new College of St John, situated at 
 Fordham, about ten miles from New York ; and concluded 
 by asking an immediate interview, as his Lordship was 
 soon to set out for Europe. Indecision formed no part of 
 Bishop Hughes' character, and when he had to deal with a 
 man of like disposition, neither time nor words were lost. 
 It was agreed to transfer to St. John's all the members of 
 the Society then in Kentucky. 
 
 When it became noised abroad that the Jesuits were 
 going to leave Kentucky, both Catholics and Protestants, 
 who saw themselves about to be deprived of the honor of 
 having a College in their midst, eagerly strove to alter their 
 determination ; they went so far as to present a petition to 
 the Fathers, begging them to remain ; and, at the same time, 
 made liberal offers of aid and money. Even the daily 
 newspapers of Louisville ignorant of the new field opened 
 to their zeal in Fordham, and suspecting that they were 
 forced to leave against their will, broke out into loud in- 
 vectives against the ecclesiastical superiors. Bishop Flaget 
 was deeply grieved at the thought of losing the Fathers 
 
Nezu York and Canada Mission. 55 
 
 whom he esteemed so highly, but finding it impossible to 
 alter their determination, called in the priests of the Holy 
 Cross, who took possession of the College of St. Mary's. 
 The uncompleted edifice at Louisville was sold back to the 
 original owners of the property. 
 
 As the minds of some were not a little excited on the 
 subject of our entering St. John's, and even the students 
 seemed to entertain a dread of having Jesuit teachers, it 
 was not deemed advisable that all should start at once. 
 
 « 
 
 Accordingly, towards the close of April, 1846, two Fathers 
 were despatched to Fordham and incorporated with the 
 then existing Collegiate staff. 
 
 The device succeeded to perfection : the hearts of the stu- 
 dents were soon won by the kindness of the Fathers ; and 
 the parents, were, in a short time, happy to have their 
 children receive the food of instruction from the hands of 
 the Jesuits. Though the College had been opened in 1841, 
 on the 24th of June,* feast of its Patron, St. John the 
 Baptist, it was only on July 15th, 1846, a few months after 
 the arrival of the two Fathers who had been sent to pre- 
 pare the way for the rest, that it celebrated its first annual 
 commencement since the reception of its charter. At the 
 conclusion of the exercises on that occasion, the Rt. Rev. 
 Bishop Hughes, but lately returned from Europe, after 
 
 De Courcy, Cath. Church in U. S. c. xxv. p. 240. 
 
56 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 praising in the most cordial terms the members and labors 
 of the Society, unfolded his whole design to the audience. 
 The Fathers had no longer anything to fear ; by the end of 
 August the entire transfer had been effected, and Rev. Fr. 
 A. Thebaud entered on his duties as President of the College. 
 
 Fr. Theabud was the fourth who sat in the presidential 
 chair. The present Archbishop of New York, a man uni- 
 versally esteemed for his talents and amiability, had been 
 taken from his pastoral duties at St. Joseph's Church, N. Y., 
 to be the first President, as well as Professor of Rhetoric 
 and Belles-Lettres. He was succeeded in 1842 by the Rev. 
 Ambrose Manahan, D. D., who was in turn replaced by the 
 Rev. John Harley. On the first staff of the College, we find, 
 as Professor of Latin, the name of Mr. John J. Conroy,* 
 now Bishop of Albany, whilst the present Archbishop of 
 Baltimore, J. Roosevelt Bayley, was acting president under 
 Fr. Harley, who accompanied Bishop Hughes to Europe in 
 hope of finding health. 
 
 The College was not the only institution on the estate, 
 for in 1 840, the Bishop had transferred thither from Lafarge- 
 ville, and had placed under the invocation of St. Joseph, his 
 diocesan Seminary. The seminarians at first occupied a 
 small stone building North-west of the College, but in 1845, 
 were laid the foundations of the beautiful fortress-like 
 
 * Hassard.Life of Archbishop Hughes, c. xiv, p. 252. 
 
L_ I . 
 
 New York and Canada Mission. S7 
 
 building which they afterwards occupied. The same year, 
 the indefatigable Bishop began the erection of the Church 
 adjoining the Seminary ; and he has left us a convincing 
 proof of his zeal for the house of God, as well as his good 
 taste and love of the fine arts in the stained glass windows 
 which he had made to order at St. Omers, France, express- 
 ly to beautify the temple he was raising to his Maker. The 
 Apostles St. Peter and St Paul and the four Evangelists are 
 depicted in the six windows, three on each side. The fi- 
 gures are executed in the best style of modern stained-glass ; 
 they stand on floriated Gothic pedestals of gold, surmounted 
 by a rich canopy of the same, while at the foot of the 
 pedestal is a golden escutcheon containing the name of the 
 Saint* 
 
 St. Joseph's Seminary was not sold with the College, but 
 remained under the control of the Bishop for a number of 
 years, though our Fathers were employed in it as Professors 
 of Theology. As the number of the Fathers was too 
 small to suffice for all the branches of instruction taught 
 both in the College and Seminary, aid was asked from the 
 Society in Europe. Among the Fathers that responded to 
 the call was our late Reverend Fr. Charles Maldonado, whose 
 devoted labors in our mission for a number of years, later 
 gave us a right to wreathe at least a few flowers into the 
 
 * R. Bolton, Jr. History of the County of Westchester, vol. ii, p. 331. 
 
58 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 garlands that already twine around his tomb — and this right 
 we dearly prize. We look upon it, in fact, as a real blessing 
 to have had among us so perfect a type of the true Jesuit ; 
 for, as says his Obituary in a back number of the Letters, 
 "he was eminently," and we would add, emphatically, "the 
 child of the Society ; * and to say this is, we think, to 
 strike the key-note of his character. 
 
 It has ever been impossible for us to associate the idea of 
 advanced age with the pleasing image of Fr. Maldonado, 
 which our memory loves to trace. Even his depth of 
 learning could not make one forget his "innocent playful- 
 ness ;" nay, it was this latter quality that first struck the 
 beholder, and to discover the former, one had to pierce 
 this exterior surface and sink down into the well-stored 
 mind. Yet we would not intimate that he strove to hide his 
 learning, that would imply a strain at variance with his 
 open guileless character ; he merely seemed to ignore its 
 existence, and 
 
 "Unconscious as the mountain of its ore, 
 Or rock of its inestimable gem." 
 
 without any effort concealed what cost him such persever- 
 ing efforts to acquire. 
 
 That simplicity so charming should be found united with 
 erudition so vast might seem, at first, a matter of surprise ; 
 
 * Woodstock Letters, vol. i, No. 3, p. 202. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 59 
 
 and yet these qualities far from being opposed, may be al- 
 most said to form but one, or at least to be as closelv 
 linked together as cause to effect. For surely, stainless 
 must be the soul that produced so spotless a flower ; and 
 the purest of hearts the only possible sanctuary where such 
 dove-like innocence could nestle. Now it is the special 
 privilege of the pure of heart to sec God ; to contemplate 
 the very source of all wisdom and knowledge. 
 
 To say that with so attractive a disposition, Fr. Maldo- 
 nado endeared himself to all the inmates of St. John's, 
 both young and old, students and Professors, would be 
 simply to note the application to the moral order of those 
 facts of nature our meads and prairies daily exhibit : that 
 the sweet-brier and honey-suckle are sought alike by our 
 sober-suited songsters, and sportive humming-birds. 
 
 Fr. Maldonado returned with interest the affection of 
 which he was the object ; and Fordham and its associations 
 so interlaced themselves around his heart that it was ever 
 after his delight to revisit the scenes of his first home in 
 America. 
 
 It is no doubt to these lingering memories that we scho- 
 lastics are indebted for the happy hours we spent in his 
 company, only a few days before death snatched him from 
 us. After suffering himself to be enticed from his quiet 
 retreat of study and prayer at Woodstock, to spend a few 
 
6o New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 days in our Mission, he consented to join us at Fort Hill ; 
 and during his short sojourn in our midst, his innocent 
 simplicity of character seemed to reveal itself by traits 
 more charming than ever, as he was approaching the time 
 when this very quality was to be his passport to the arms 
 of the Saviour who has said : "Unless you become as little 
 children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 It was indeed a sight we shall never forget to behold the 
 learned divine, successor of Suarez in the chair of Theology 
 at Salamanca, seated on the boards of our piazza, and look- 
 ing with an all-absorbed gaze on the sprightly gambols of 
 a little pet squirrel in his wire cage. With what delight he 
 would eye the "little fellow," as he called him, and every 
 now and then as the little prisoner exhibited some new 
 antic, some bold feat of agility, break out with : "Nonne 
 Mirandum /" It was the man of prayer finding matter for 
 wonder and amazement in the smallest of God's creatures. 
 
 So much of the spirit of St. Francis of Assisium did 
 
 we see in our beloved guest that we would hardly have 
 
 been surprised, if while he strolled along with us through 
 
 our shady woods, the birds that twittered and circled round 
 
 him had ceased their warbling, and alighting on his shoulders 
 
 and hands remained motionless and attentive to his words, 
 
 till, as St. Francis,* he had dismissed them with the sign of 
 the cross. 
 
 *Life of St. Thomas Aquinas, by R. B. Vaughan. Vol. I. c. 5, St. 
 Francis and St. Dominic. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 61 
 
 Why should it not be so? when on innocent man 
 
 "'all things smiled :" 
 
 ind when around Adam and Eve 
 
 "as they sat recline 
 On the soft downy bank damasked with flower^, 
 
 frisking played 
 All beasts of th'earth, since wild, and of all chase 
 In wood or wilderness, forest or den."* 
 
 But it was of little moment to him that the birds of our 
 forests should cluster around him, when he was so soon to 
 be surrounded by beings of far fairer wing, of far sweeter 
 note than any this poor world can boast of; when the very 
 angels of God were so soon to welcome him into the Divine 
 Presence. Truly of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 But to return to St. John's. Rose Hill, as the estate was 
 called on which the College stood, and which for a time 
 gave its name to the institution, f was a lovely spot that 
 would have charmed even a far less genial converser with 
 Nature than our dear Fr. Maldonado. In front of the stone 
 building that capped a gentle eminence, stretched, with easy 
 descent, a beautiful lawn some twenty acres in extent, and 
 up and down this verdant slope the playful breezes seemed 
 never to tire of chasing each other in mazy pursuit. Nor 
 has time made them less sportive, for, now, as well as then, 
 
 * Paradise Lost. Bk. IV. and Bk. VIII. 
 
 f It was for some time known as Rose Hill College. Bayley Oath. 
 Church in N. Y. p. 106, Note. 
 
62 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 from the College porch, especially of a morning- in early- 
 Spring, when the soft green texture of each velvet blade is 
 just fresh from Nature's loom, and the whole lawn glistens 
 with its myriad drops of sun-lit dew, at a moment when 
 
 led by the breeze, 
 The vivid verdure runs, 
 
 one is easily charmed into the belief that Nature has sud- 
 denly reversed before his eyes Nero's astounding pageant, 
 the solid earth seeming to have suddenly disappeared, and " 
 himself to be actually gazing on the wavy ripplings of the 
 sea. 
 
 Along the edge of this mimic ocean, like so many giant 
 cliffs, forest-crowned, merging from the waves, rose tall and 
 majestic some magnificent elms, the grafts of which, — so 
 the proprietors were fond of telling — had been brought in 
 olden times from Holyrood Palace, the once noble residence 
 of the Scottish Sovereigns, and witness to the many woes, 
 as well as hallowed by the sublime virtues of the saintly 
 Mary Queen of Scots. 
 
 Nearer the College a clump of the same towering trees, ^ 
 cast its refreshing shade, like a wooded Island bosomed in 
 the ocean ; and just in front of the marble steps leading to 
 the entrance, an aged weeping-willow gnarled and grotesque, 
 drooped to the very earth — beautiful image of old age re- 
 pentant. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 63 
 
 In the rear of the edifice lay a large and productive 
 farm reaching to the verge of an extensive wood, through 
 which, as liquid boundary of the property, glided the peace- 
 ful Bronx, 
 
 "now fretting o'er a rock, 
 Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool, 
 Now starting to a sudden stream, and now 
 Gently diffused into a limpid plain." * 
 
 Besides these rural beauties with which Nature had adorned 
 the environs of St. John's, the part of Westchester county 
 in which it lay was classic ground — the scene of many a 
 march and counter-march of the Continental forces in 1776. 
 "There was hardly a little stream for miles around, hardly 
 a grass-grown lane," says the biographer of Archbishop 
 Hughes, "which had not been the scene of conflict ; hardly 
 an old house with which some thrilling incident of the war 
 was not associated ; hardly a commanding hill upon which 
 the antiquary might not still trace the marks of an ancient 
 camp, or the lines of a ruined fortification." f 
 
 Fordham Heights especially, a ridge of hills little more 
 than a stone's throw in front of the College grounds, were 
 celebrated as being the position occupied by Gen. Wash- 
 ington previous to the battle which took place at White 
 
 * Thomson's Seasons — Summer, li. 481. 
 
 t Address delivered before the Historical Association of St. John's 
 College, Dec. 3rd, 1863, by J. R. G. Hassard. 
 
64 Nciv York and Canada Mission. 
 
 / 
 
 1 
 
 Plains, about thirteen miles farther north, on October 28th, 
 1776. It was probably at this time, while the Commander- 
 in-chief was directing in person some of the movements of 
 the Americans, that he, according to a popular tradition, 
 passed the night in the old wooden farm-house to the left 
 of the College. The sister tradition, however, which points 
 to the parlor of the same cottage as the place in which 
 Washington signed the death-warrant of Major Andre, a 
 legend to which the students clung with patriotic tenacity, 
 is, according to the same writer just mentioned, "most cer- 
 tainly untrue ; as Fordham at the time of Andre's execu- 
 tion, was within the British lines." 
 
 In fact, after the battle of White Plains, Gen. Howe, the 
 English commander, took possession of the fortifications 
 along the Heights, which the Americans had abandoned, 
 and kept them till the end of the war. 
 
 There exists still another traditionary legend, on which 
 most probably the same verdict of "unfounded" must be 
 passed : it is that Washington once fastened his charger to 
 the old willow above described. And well, perhaps, it is 
 for the aged tree not to have this new title to renown, else, 
 instead of exciting the admiration of all passers-by on ac- 
 count of its strongly-developed and characteristic bumps, 
 with life enough in it to put forth its pendant verdure for 
 years to come, it might have met the fate of the Royal Oak, 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 65 
 
 whose thick foliage sheltered for a whole day tlu Cavalier 
 King, saved him from the Roundheads in hot pursuit, and 
 was, as history relates, afterwards destroyed to satisfy the 
 veneration of the Cavaliers.* Still even this tradition may 
 be true, for that an engagement, in which Washington him- 
 self, perhaps, was present, must have taken place much 
 nearer to Rose Hill than that of White Plains, nay, most 
 probably on the estate itself, is evident from the large- 
 grassy mound covering the remains of a number of soldiers, 
 which formed a very conspicuous object on the North side 
 of the lawn, and on which the people even now look with 
 great reverence. 
 
 The quiet Bronx itself had its warlike associations, hav- 
 ing been once the only barrier that separated the contending 
 armies ; for in those days, before mills and dams had en- 
 croached upon its copious waters, it was considered a 
 sufficient obstacle to stay a hostile force. Besides, when it 
 had passed the College property, it had already travelled 
 for miles through the valley it fertilizes, to which it gives 
 its name, and many a time must it have hushed its waters 
 into deeper stillness as it met in its course some hallowed 
 spot, where heroes fought and bled. Many an act of noble 
 daring must it have seen in those by-gone days, when, too, 
 
 I * Lingard. Hist, of Engl., Vol. x, p. 336. 
 
66 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 it was the only witness of the deed, and the rocks on its 
 banks the only herald, by their echo, of the valorous shout 
 or encouraging cheer of man to man. Many a purple rill 
 of patriot blood must have trickled through the valley and 
 found its way to the peaceful bed of the river, dyeing its 
 crystal waters ; and many a wounded soldier must have 
 dragged himself to its edge to cool his fevered lips, and 
 whisper, perhaps, a faint farewell to its gently gliding waves, 
 in the frenzied hope that they might bear it along on their 
 rippling crests to the loved ones far away. 
 
 Even after the jarring sounds of war were hushed by the 
 peace of 1783, Rose Hill was still connected with those 
 who had fought our battles, being the residence of Colonel 
 John Watts, who had married the celebrated Lady Mary 
 Alexander, daughter of Major-General Lord Stirling, whose 
 claims to the peerage, however, were not acknowledged by 
 the House of Lords. 
 
 Such then was the new field of labor on which our 
 Fathers entered in 1846, and though they had encountered 
 many difficulties in the realization of their plan, they were 
 soon greatly consoled by the piety of the students entrusted 
 to their care. Among the hundred and fifty students on 
 the College roll, were, as we learn from the Annual Letters 
 of those days many really devout children, and very loving 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 6j 
 
 clients of the Blessed Virgin. Animated with a zeal un- 
 common at their age, they had formed a Society for the 
 conversion of sinners, and recommended to each other's 
 prayers, one a father who had neglected his religious duties, 
 another a mother still outside the true Church, etc. The 
 prayers of these innocent souls were very efficacious, and 
 in a short time five Protestants, for whom they had been 
 petitioning the Almighty, entered the one Fold of Christ ; 
 and two hardened sinners returned to a better life. 
 
 Far from being an obstacle to their studies, their piety 
 only took another form when there was question of prepa- 
 ration for class, and showed itself in serious application to 
 their books. The next annual commencement, which took 
 place "under the elms," in July, 1847, the first since the 
 College had been entrusted to our Fathers, gave abundant 
 evidence of the students' progress. The programme com- 
 prised five discourses, two of which, at least, seem -to have 
 been really extraordinary. One, which, says the annalist, 
 surpassed all expectation, was in Latin, and entitled : "De 
 Latinae Linguae Laudibus," "ipsa laude dignissima," adds 
 the MS. The other was in English and was graced with 
 the novel heading : "Nothing Original :" yet so very origi- 
 nal did it prove to be — saving the paradox — that two Prot- 
 estant papers deemed it worthy of a verbatim transcription 
 
68 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 the following day. An orchestra from the city added its 
 charms to the other attractions of the occasion, and the 
 two thousand spectators, including a large number of the 
 clergy, were loath to leave the spot, where the productions 
 of science and art to which they had listened, were only 
 outdone by the beauties of Nature which greeted their eyes 
 wherever they turned. Thus were inaugurated those annual 
 festivities now so well known in the vicinity of New York, 
 and always so welcome to the many friends and alumni of 
 St. John's. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 69 
 
 For some months after the arrival of the Fathers at 
 Fordham, they confined their works of zeal mostly to the 
 neighborhood of St. John's ; but in the year of the Jubilee, 
 1847, several of them were, after the hours of literary and 
 scholastic labor, called to New York, for the exercise of 
 the various duties of the ministry. This Jubilee, besides 
 producing innumerable salutary effects in the souls of the 
 faithful, had the advantage of teaching Catholics their own 
 strength and numbers. The Fathers, themselves, seeing 
 the great good that might be done by their continual 
 presence in the midst of so flourishing a Catholic popula- 
 tion, were anxious to have a permanent residence and 
 College within the city limits, and accordingly laid their 
 plan before the Archbishop. His Grace approved of it 
 most heartily, a similar project having been already matur- 
 ing in his own mind, and offered at once the Church of 
 St. Andrew, in Duane Street. This edifice, however, was 
 loaded with a heavy debt, and owing to its situation in a 
 very unfavorable part of the city, was not such as the 
 Fathers desired. 
 
 Meanwhile Fr. Larkin had been appointed Superior of 
 the residence in contemplation, and, in the summer of the 
 same year, left St. John's in the true apostolic spirit, with-, 
 out gold or silver in his purse. As he said himself, in a 
 sermon preached some years later, he started from Ford- 
 
jo New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 ham with fifty cents in his pocket to purchase a church and 
 a house in the city. Twenty-five cents he paid for his fare 
 in the cars, twenty cents more for the carriage of his trunk 
 from the station to the residence of a friend, and had thus 
 five cents left to found his new house and church. But 
 confidence in God stood him instead of riches ; and Divine 
 Providence did not disappoint him. 
 
 While awaiting the moment when Divine Providence 
 would manifest its will more in detail regarding the new 
 undertaking, Fr. Larkin accepted the kindly proffered 
 hospitality of Fr. Lafont, Pastor of the French Church ; 
 where, together with Fr. Petit, who had been given him as 
 Socius, he remained occupied in earnest prayer for the 
 success of his plans. They had not to wait long. It hap- 
 pened just at this time, that the congregation of the Prot- 
 estant church, situated in Walker St., near Elizabeth, split 
 into two violent factions : the occasion being the advent of 
 a young curate, with whose new views, exposed with capti- 
 vating eloquence, the younger members immediately sided. 
 in opposition to the more sedate portion of the congrega- 
 tion, who still stood by the old vicar. A stormy session 
 followed, and at its conclusion the young party was invited 
 to find a meeting house somewhere else — which they ac- 
 cordingly did. But the old party had not calculated the 
 strength of the schismatics, who proved so numerous, that 
 
Njw York and Canada Mission. 7 1 
 
 on their withdrawal, it became a matter of necessity to sell 
 the church in order to meet the interest. Fr. Larkin heard 
 of the affair, and at once sought to turn the wranglings of 
 these sects within a sect to the furtherance of God's Church. 
 The trustees were willing to strike the bargain for $18,000, 
 provided $5,000 were paid at once, and the rest by regular 
 instalments. Fr. Larkin asked time to decide. But how 
 was he to find $5,000? How indeed, but by fervent recourse 
 to heaven ? "Now" said he to Fr. Petit, with all the earnest- 
 ness of his soul, "now is the time for prayer ; we must both 
 offer the Holy Sacrifice to-morrow for this intention." Fr. 
 Petit had just finished Mass the next day, when he was 
 called to the parlor by a gentleman with several members 
 of his family. The stranger informed the Father that, with 
 his family, he had just arrived from France and had assist- 
 ed at his Reverence's Mass in thanksgiving for their safe 
 journey. "I have come," continued the visitor, "to find 
 work in this country, and have with me about 20,000 
 francs which I would like to place in safe keeping. Hear- 
 ing that the banks are not always secure I have come to 
 ask you if you can tell me where I can best dispose of my 
 money." This indeed was a God-send ! Fr. Petit replied 
 that if he would call again in the evening, he thought he 
 could offer him the required security. Fr. Larkin, hearing 
 of this was deeply affected at so striking an interposition of 
 
j 2 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Divine Providence ; he received with gratitude the $5,003 
 and gave in return a mortgage on the property. But the 
 pious Frenchman's act of devotion was not only beneficial 
 to the Fathers ; that Mass of thanksgiving was to prove 
 the occasion of all his own future success. He was, in 
 fact, an artist in fresco painting. He came, he said to Fr. 
 Larkin,to seek his fortune by means of his art, as yet little 
 known in this country. "Sir," replied the Father, "your 
 fortune is made ; and I myself will give you to start with, 
 85,000 for the decoration of the church." 
 
 Fr. Larkin's predictions were verified ; for, as many peo- 
 ple, both Protestants and Catholics, visited the place while 
 the Frenchman and his son-in-law were at work, the artists 
 soon became well known, and were engaged to fresco many 
 banks and public buildings. At the touch of the devout 
 painter the four bare walls of the cold Protestant meeting 
 house began rapidly to assume the living catholic glow ; 
 and even before all was completed, the church was by a 
 solemn benediction, dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus. 
 Fr. Larkin having thus his church already built, next rent- 
 ed a house in Elizabeth St., the garden of which adjoined 
 the square in front of the church door. Here, in view of 
 starting his college, he collected his community of four 
 fathers, three scholastics, and one brother. 
 
 As we may imagine from the condition of the founder's 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 73 
 
 purse, poverty was a constant guest in the new residence. 
 Still, amid many privations, the work of God went on pro- 
 gressing. During the months of August and September 
 the basement of the Church was fitted up for class rooms, 
 and the school of the Holy Name of Jesus opened in 
 October, with 120 students from New York, Brooklyn or 
 jersey City. 
 
 J his was not the first educational establishment of the 
 Society in New York : as far back as 1:685, Col. Dongan, 
 Catholic Governor of the City, had sent to Europe for 
 some English Jesuits to convert the Iroquois to Christianity, 
 as he was opposed, on national grounds, to using the zeal- 
 ous Erench missionaries for that purpose. Three Eathers 
 are mentioned in the Roman Catalogue as residing in New 
 York about this time ; they are probably those who re- 
 sponded to the Governor's call, viz : Eathers Thomas 
 Harvey, Henry Harrison and Charles Gage. Being unac- 
 quainted with the Iroquois dialects, they proceeded no 
 farther than New York ; but profited by their stay in the 
 City to open a college. The Catholic element, however, 
 was too weak to support it, as we may judge by the follow- 
 ing letter, written to the Governor of Mass. by Leisler, a 
 fanatical merchant who had become the head of the Prot- 
 estant party for refusing to pay duties to a Catholic collec- 
 tor ; and on the fall of James II., had usurped the office of 
 
74 Neiv York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Lieut. Governor of New York. His letter is dated August 
 13th, 1689, and after expressing true Protestant apprehen- 
 sions on the score of "some six or seven french families 
 all or most rank french papists that have their relationes at 
 Canada & I suppose settled there [at a place called Schor- 
 achtage) for some bad designe," adds : " I have formerly 
 urged to inform your Honr that Coll : dongan in his time 
 did erect a jesuite College upon cullour to larne latine to 
 
 the judges west Mr Graham Judge palmer & John 
 
 Tudor did contribute their sones for some time, but no 
 boddy imitating them the collidge vanished I recommended 
 \ our Honr againe to spare us for their majesties use some 
 threat gunes and watt pouder your Honr can" . . . etc.* In 
 fact, so fatal to the spread of Catholicity seems to have 
 been the rule of Leisler, that in 1696, Mayor Merritt in 
 compliance with an order from Gov. Fletcher for the names 
 
 * E. B. O'Callaghan — Documentary History of N. Y. State, Vol. 
 LI., ]>. 14. We copy the letter exactly as it is found in the original. 
 punctuation and all. No doubt Leisler's untiring efforts to bring to 
 naught the "bad designes" of the "rank french papists" so absorbed all 
 his mental energies — which were not extraordinary, admits a friendly 
 biographer— as to preclude the possibility of attention to any minor 
 subject, that could not affect the "preservation of the Protestant reli- 
 gion." Unfortunately for the poor Lieut. Governor, his zeal for the 
 preservation of his religion seems to have made him neglect the preser- 
 vation of his own head, which his Protestant friends, rather ungrate- 
 fully, placed beyond the possibility of any further application to the 
 thwarting of "papist designes," by putting a halter around his neck two 
 years after his assumption of sovereignty. The charges were murder 
 and treason. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 75 
 
 of "all the Roman Catholicks or such as are reputed Pa- 
 pists within the city of New Yorke" returns a list of only 
 ten names.* The "Brief Sketch of the History of the 
 Cath. Church on the Island of New York," mentions only 
 nine names : the error arising most probably from the close 
 resemblance of two out of the ten given in the document 
 itself, viz. : Peter Cavileir and John Caveleir. 
 
 Under such circumstances the College of the Society 
 could hardly be expected to prosper. A little more than 
 a century later, in 1809, and, at the request of Archbishop 
 Carroll, Father Anthony Kohlman was sent from George- 
 town, to attend, as Vicar General, the diocese of New York, 
 till the expected arrival of its first Bishop, the Right Rev. 
 Dr. Luke Concanen.| This father was accompanied by 
 Father Benedict Fenwick, a native of Maryland, lately- 
 ordained, and one of the first subjects to enter the Scho- 
 lasticate at Georgetown, after the restoration of the Society 
 in the United States. St. Peter's, then the only Catholic 
 Church in the city, was placed under their charge ; and 
 although the functions of the parochial ministry must have 
 filled up the days of these zealous missionaries, they did 
 
 *E. B. O'Oallaghan— Documents relative to the Colonial History of 
 N. Y. State. London Documents, X., p. 166. 
 
 t Bishop Concanen never reached New York, as he died at Naples on 
 the eve of his intended departure. 
 
7 6 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 not lose sight of one great object of their coming — the 
 favorite work of the Society itself — the education of youth. 
 They had brought with them four young Scholastics, 
 Michael White, James Redmond, Adam Marshall and 
 James Wallace ; and soon after arriving, purchased som.e 
 lots fronting those on which F. Kohlman had just laid the 
 corner-stone of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and situated be- 
 tween the Broadway and the Bowery road. Here they 
 opened their school, the nucleus of a future College.* 
 Concerning the school, Father Kohlman thus wrote in the 
 following July: "It now consists of about thirty-five of the 
 most respectable children of the city, Catholic as well as 
 Protestant. Four are boarding at our house, and in all 
 probability we shall have seven or eight boarders next 
 August." This school was transferred to Broadway in 
 September ; but in the following year it was removed far 
 out into the country, to a spacious building near what is 
 now known as the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Fiftieth 
 Street.t 
 
 * De Courcy — Catli. Ch. in the U. 8., c. xxiii, p. 367. 
 
 f Archbishop Bayley — Brief Sketch, etc., c. iii, p. 67— A strange 
 substitution of 15th Street for 50th occurs in Shea's translation of De 
 Courcy's work, c. xxiii, p. 367 ; attributable, Mr. Shea informs us, to the 
 compositor's transposing 51, the number of the Street named in the 
 original. Since the time when his Grace, Archbishop Bayley, wrote his 
 interesting and valuable little Sketch of the progress of Catholicity on 
 the Island of New York, the old frame house occupied by the New 
 
New York and Canada Mission. jy 
 
 The rising College assumed the name of the New York 
 Literary Institution, and was the means of doing immense 
 
 good. A biographer of Bishop Fenwiek, speaking of its 
 usefulness, remarks: "The New York Literary Institution 
 under his guidance reached an eminence scarcely surpassed 
 by any at the present day. In 1813 it contained seventy- 
 four boarders, and such was its reputation even among 
 Protestants, that Gov. Tompkins, afterwards Vice President 
 of the United States, thought none more eligible for the 
 
 York Literary Institution has experienced the changeableness of human 
 things, as it now no longer stands on its old site, but has been rolled 
 bodily back about 800 feet, so as to front, on Madison Avenue instead of 
 Fifth. Some of the details illustrative of the checkered history of this 
 ancient building, as we gathered them a few days ago from the lips of 
 its present occupant, the pastor of St. John the Evangelist's Church, are 
 well worth recording. 
 
 Our kind informant assured us that it is one of the oldest edifices on 
 the Island, dating back, most probably, 150 or 200 years. The wood- 
 work in the interior was all of solid oak, and had, no doubt,.hrst shaded 
 the spot as wide-spreading trees, before being felled for girders and joists. 
 But solid oak though it was, the long lapse of years had told on it, and 
 the half decayed rafters and beams had to be completely renewed at the 
 time of the transportation. It is not, however, only from its time-worn 
 condition that we may calculate its age — its very build is old-fashioned : 
 the double flight of wooden steps leading- to the doorway, and the mas- 
 sive angular projections each side, like huge bay windows, remind as of 
 one of those way-side inns of former days, or hospitable old farm houses, 
 
 half inn, half homestead, with " whitewashed walls and nicely sanded 
 floor," 
 
 " Where nut-brown draughts inspire I, 
 Where gray-beard ninth and smiling toil retired; 
 There village statesmen talked with looks profound. 
 And news much older than their ale went round." 
 
 But the day was not very far distant when the spot it occupied was to 
 be graced by a far nobler pile, destined to cast its Gothic shadows o'er 
 yet unbroken fields, and send its chaste spires to the very skies. 
 
78 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 education of his own children ; and ever afterwards pro- 
 fessed towards its President the highest esteem.* 
 
 The professors were talented men, and Mr. Wallace, who 
 was an excellent mathematician, wrote a full treatise of 
 over five hundred pages on astronomy and the use of the 
 globes : one of the first contributions of the Society in 
 America to the exact sciences. f 
 
 But it was impossible through dearth of men to carry on 
 the College without sacrificing other varied and important 
 duties. Accordingly in the Summer of 1 813, Our Fathers 
 retired from its direction, and entrusted it to the Trappists, 
 who had recently entered the diocese, and were passing the 
 
 After the change of possessors, already described in the text, and 
 another mentioned a little farther on, the old building was entrusted by 
 Archbishop Hughes to the Lazarists, a year or so previous to the pur- 
 chase of St. John's, Fordham, to be used as his Seminary. In it was 
 held the diocesan syuotl in which his Grace, with characteristic foresight 
 and rare breadth of view, laid before his priests his project of building 
 on that very spot a new Cathedral worthy of his metropolitan See. But 
 even his energetic eloquence almost failed to secure approbation for a 
 Cathedra] "in the country;" for at that time (1850), there were but three 
 houses between Madison Square (26th Street) and 50th Street. To begin 
 at once to draw the Catholics around the neighborhood, he appropriated 
 part of the house for a parish church, until time allowed him to raise a 
 small temporary chapel in honor of his patron, St. John the Evangelist. 
 Finally, to make ro >m for his Cathedral, the former wayside inn was 
 transfened to its present position, and now stands directly in the rear 
 of the grand edifice that is little by little nearing its completion — noble 
 tribute of a noble soul to the majesty of God. 
 
 * Clarke's Lives of Deceased Bishops, Vol. I, p. 378. 
 
 t Do Courcy, Cath. Church in N. Y. c. xxiii, p. 3(58. The title page of 
 the book ran thus : A New treatise on the Use of the Globes and Practi- 
 cal Astronomy, by J. Wallace, member of the New York Literary 
 Institution. New York: Smith and Forman, 1812. 
 
Nezv York and Canada Mission. 79 
 
 years of their exile from France on the hospitable shores 
 of America. 
 
 The school of the Holy Name of Jesus, opened by Fr. 
 Larkin in the basement of his church, was thus the third 
 attempt at an educational institution of the Society in New 
 York ; and this last was in God's providence, destined to a 
 longer life than had been granted to its predecessors. Its 
 beginnings however seemed to augur anything but a pro- 
 tracted existence, as the entire church which, the beautiful 
 decorations were rendering daily less unworthy of the 
 Adorable Victim offered up therein, was to become, in a 
 short time, itself a victim, on an altar of flame ; and the 
 blooming frescos were to prove, so to speak, but the gar- 
 lands twined round it before the sacrifice. The cross of 
 fire that had blessed our outset in Kentucky was also to 
 cast its chastening rays on our first undertaking in New 
 York. 
 
 It would seem almost as if Fr, Larkin had peered into 
 the uncertain future, when, in one of his grand exhorta- 
 tions to the community, the eve of the Holy Name of Jesus, 
 their patronal feast, he counselled all to prepare for crosses ; 
 they were prospering, he said, too rapidly, not to expect at 
 the hands of the Almighty the granting of the famous 
 prayer of our Holy Founder : that the Society might nev- 
 er stray far from Calvary. 
 
80 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Saturday evening, the 28th of January, 1848, just one 
 week after Fr. Larkin's prophetic warning had been given, 
 all the fathers were occupied confessing the throngs of pen- 
 itents that filled the church. At 7 o'clock they left the con- 
 fessional to snatch a hasty cup of tea, and as the number of 
 people in the church seemed in no ways diminishing, unan- 
 imously agreed to devote the whole night to the sublime 
 work of reconciling man to his creator. 
 
 The fathers had been at their posts an hour or so, when 
 they perceived an extraordinary heat throughout the church. 
 At a loss to account for this, they descended to the cellar, 
 and great was their dismay at finding that, owing to some 
 defect in the new furnaces, completed but a few weeks 
 before, the fire had communicated to the joists of the base- 
 ment flooring, then sped along to the lathing, and rushing 
 up, as through a chimney, between the lathing and the 
 walls, had burst forth from the very steeple before they 
 were aware of the accident in the church below. The 
 alarm was immediately given, and numbers of Catholics 
 rushed to the spot with concealed weapons, suspecting that 
 enemies had attacked and set fire to the church ; though 
 the truth was that the Protestants of the neighborhood 
 vied with the Catholics in endeavoring to save what they 
 could. But it was already too late : barely was there time 
 to remove the Blessed Sacrament, as the ceilings and walls 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 81 
 
 of the class rooms in the basement were blazing, and 
 above, the steeple was a pillar of fire, where the flames 
 raged in all their fury, far out of reach of the engines. 
 The roof fell in and gave hope of preventing any farther 
 spread of the flames. 
 
 Meanwhile, amid the din and confusion that surrounded 
 him, Fr. Larkin maintained perfect self-possession, aiding 
 and encouraging his afflicted community by word and ex- 
 ample. When he saw that no more could be done, he 
 assembled them together, as well as circumstances permit- 
 ted, and gave the sad permission to disperse as numbers of 
 kind families had already earnestly solicited the favor of 
 harboring some of the harborless. But we cannot do bet- 
 ter than quote the very words of the kind Father, then a scho- 
 lastic, to whom we are indebted for these details. Covered 
 with a fireman's coat, which had been forced on him by one 
 of that devoted class, he had sought shelter at a friend's 
 house, there to pass the night. "The next morning I 
 arose," he says in his diary, "and repaired to the scene of 
 the disaster — found the walls still standing, as likewise the 
 steeple ; but all else, as well as the two adjoining houses, a 
 heap of ruins. While contemplating with a heavy heart 
 the ravages the fire had made in so short a time, in the just 
 finished church and school, and reflecting that our little 
 community had been so scattered that I knew not where to 
 
82 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 find a single member, I heard by my side a most agonizing 
 scream which soon brought me to my senses, Turning 
 round I beheld motionless on the ground, the pious and 
 charitable Mrs. S. . . ., who with her two daughters and her 
 grandson had come as usual to the half past five o'clock 
 Mass. She had learned nothing of the accident until she 
 had reached the very spot, and, unable to bear the shock, 
 had fainted on the ruins of her loved church ! — Again I am 
 alone, I walk around towards our house — find the door 
 open and enter. All within is bare and desolate. Not a 
 chair or table in the house ! the floors and walls streaming 
 
 with water. I descend to the kitchen, and there find our 
 devoted Brother D . . . ., busy drying up the place and pre- 
 paring to make a little coffee for the community, which he 
 hoped would assemble in the course of the morning : he 
 had remained in the house all night I went to the French 
 church to Mass, and then returned to keep house and let the 
 Brother go. After a second tour amid the ruins, I again 
 entered the house, and found all the community assembled, 
 taking their coffee, each having his adventure of the night 
 to relate. Rev. Fr. Boulanger who had been Superior of 
 the Mission since 1846, having seen in the morning's 
 Herald, an account of the accident, had come in all haste 
 from Fordham to the City, and was only soothed in his 
 grief by the cheerful resignation he found in the sufferers. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 83 
 
 The countenance of Fr. Larkin especially appeared as fresh 
 and as cheerful as ever : the storm, if storm there was, 
 raged all within. So too we often find in nature, many a 
 peaceful and smiling landscape actually covering confused 
 and disjointed masses of rock, which to the piercing eye 
 of science reveal the terrible upheavals and convulsions 
 that must have preceded that scene of rural beauty and 
 repose, on which the eye loves to dwell. If sorrow had, 
 the evening before, deepened the lines on his open counte- 
 nance, saintly resignation had smoothed away all trace of 
 sorrow's visit ; if a tear for the sufferings of others had 
 escaped him in this visitation from on High, 
 
 "It was a tear so limpid and so meek, 
 It would not stain an angel's cheek." — 
 
 Ere morning dawned he had already carefully matured his 
 plans for the future ; and on Rev. Fr. Boulanger's announc- 
 ing that all were to go to Fordham with him, he quietly 
 asked : "and what shall we do for professors and confessors 
 if you take all away ? " Rev. F. Superior opened his eyes 
 in blank astonishment, and exclaimed : " You have neither 
 church nor school, scarcely a house to spend the night in, 
 what can you do with professors?" Fr. Larkin to every 
 one's surprise, coolly remarked; "The professors shall 
 teach their classes to-morrow, and the Fathers attend to 
 their confessionals as usual." A dead silence followed this 
 
84 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 announcement Had the blow, fatigue and excitement 
 clouded his reason ? Such was the dread thought upper- 
 most in the minds of all. But it vanished as he added — 
 " Yes, I shall make arrangements with Fr. Smith, Pastor of 
 St. James' in James Street, to open without delay our clas- 
 ses in the basement of his church, till we find better 
 accommodations ; and our parishioners we can attend to 
 in the French church." 
 
 " His plan was followed ; Fr. Smith kindly made all the 
 necessary preparation, and two days later, to the great joy 
 of our students, who had thronged the house daily, to 
 condole with their afflicted professors, the classes were 
 resumed. Fr. Larkin's next thought was for his church, 
 which all urged him to rebuild at once. He determined, 
 — yielded to their wishes, and in a week's time had already 
 collected $6,000, brought to the house by the zealous and 
 charitable members of the congregation." 
 
 He had many anecdotes to relate, in his own pleasing 
 way, respecting those who offered him their little mites 
 towards the erection of the new church. One day at 
 dinner, he drew from his pocket two large, rosy apples, 
 saying: "These apples certainly deserve a 'Deo Gratias!' I 
 was passing through the Bowery to-day, he continued, 
 when I was accosted by an apple woman, who began her 
 salutation with a 'well Fr. Larkin. your church is burnt ; 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 85 
 
 the Lord be praised !' 'The Lord be praised !' I repeated, 
 are you then glad of it? "Oh! God forbid,' she replied, 
 " but then we must give God glory for everything.' I 
 acknowledged in my heart the truth of her remark, and 
 resolved to profit by the lesson she gave me. 'Ah ! Father,' 
 she continued, ' if I had some money to give you ! but I 
 am a poor widow with five children, that I must support 
 by my apples. Something I can give, and I hope it will 
 have all the blessings of a widow's mite. You must take 
 the two finest apples in my basket.' She then offered me 
 these two apples, which I was forced to take ; but she 
 absolutely refused to tell me her name." Each member of 
 the community received his share of the fruit, rendered 
 doubly sweet by the christian charity that prompted the 
 giver. On another occasion, a poor woman called at the 
 door and offered $25 towards the erection of the church. 
 Fr. Larkin, judging from her appearance that she could 
 not well afford to give that sum, asked her if she was rich 
 enough to give so much. " What I give you," she replied, 
 'is all I have been able to save after many years of labor. 
 I have not another cent." "Oh ! then, I cannot accept it," 
 replied Fr. Larkin. "O Father !" replied the good woman, 
 "you cannot refuse it. God, to whom I give it, will not 
 permit me to die of hunger." She, too, would not give 
 her name. 
 
86 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Despite the generosity of the faithful and the eagerness 
 of all to see the church rebuilt, new difficulties arose, 
 which produced another new phase in the affairs of our 
 Mission. His Grace, the Archbishop, with his character- 
 istic firmness, positively refused to consent to the erection 
 of the new church, unless Our Fathers would accept all the 
 responsibilities of parish priests. This Fr. Larkin was un- 
 willing to do ; and as the neighborhood was unsuitable for 
 the erection of a college alone, it was determined to sell 
 the property, pay off all the debts, and seek a more eligible 
 portion of the city for a new college. 
 
 Meantime the classes were continued, amid a thousand 
 difficulties, in the basement of St. James' Church. We 
 again quote from the diary before referred to : "The stu- 
 dents suffered still more than ourselves, but we mutually 
 consoled each other with the hope that we should soon 
 have a fine college. We continued to reside as before, 
 near the old church, now in ashes, — took our breakfast at 
 half past six, and then started with the first students that 
 passed our house for St. James' Church. Here we re- 
 mained teaching till 3, p. to., when we dismissed the boys 
 for the day, and returned home for our dinner at 4. Only 
 God and those who have experienced it, know how hard a 
 life that was ! How often in going to the school rooms in 
 the morning, were we drenched with rain, and had to re- 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 87 
 
 main all day in our wet clothes. Yet neither ourselves, nor 
 any of our pupils, thanks to God, ever fell sick during the 
 whole winter. The students afforded us great consolation, 
 and it was their delight to accompany us on our way home 
 after the classes were over. 
 
 " But it was impossible to keep the school any longer 
 in its inconvenient situation ; and, as much time would 
 necessarily be consumed in the purchase of lots and the 
 building of the new college, it remained only to hire for a 
 time some more appropriate building. This was no easy 
 task, as no one wished to rent his house for a Jesuit school. 
 Father Larkin, who was animated with a great devotion 
 towards the Holy Angels, requested all the community to 
 enter on a novena to these heavenly spirits. On the first 
 or second day after the novena had been begun, two ladies, 
 who had indeed for a long time been ministering angels to 
 our community, came to inform us that No. JJ, 3rd Ave- 
 nue, near nth St., was a dwelling house that would suit. 
 Accordingly, on the 1st of May, 1848, the community 
 removed to their new abode. Owing, however, to the in- 
 creased distance, the students from Jersey City and Brook- 
 lyn, by degrees left us, and our number was reduced to 60.'' 
 
 While Fr. Larkin was still busily engaged in his search 
 after a fitting site for his new college, he was astounded 
 one day, by the receipt of a letter from the Archbishop of 
 
88 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Quebec, congratulating him on his promotion to the epis- 
 copacy, and stating that his Grace had just received orders 
 from Rome to consecrate him for the See of Toronto ; 
 moreover, that Fr. Larkin himself would, in a few days, 
 receive from His Holiness the necessary documents and 
 commands. A copy of the Brief accompanied the letter. 
 In the spirit of those humble men against whom a coun- 
 cil of the early Church thought it necessary to issue a 
 special canon forbidding any one falsely to accuse himself 
 in order to escape episcopal ordination,* Fr. Larkin re- 
 turned the Brief unopened, and, in haste, flew to his Superior 
 for permission to cross the ocean immediately, before positive 
 orders could arrive, and, by a personal interview, induce the 
 Sovereign Pontiff not to insist on his acceptance of any ec- 
 clesiastical dignity. The Superior of the mission yielded at 
 once to his earnest entreaties, and Fr. Larkin started with- 
 out delay. It was none too soon, for, on his passage he 
 crossed the wake of the ship bearing the positive orders of 
 Pius IX., which he was so anxious to escape. Arrived in 
 France, he visited the papal nuncio in the hope of inducing 
 him to urge his suit, but was sadly disappointed when the 
 prelate, struck with his lofty bearing and noble presence, 
 sportively replied to all his arguments : "Why, you are the 
 very kind of man we want to wear the mitre ; and I warn 
 
 * Darras— Hist, of Cath. Church. Vol. I, p. 509. 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 89 
 
 you, if you wish to escape it, not to let his Holiness see 
 you ; if you do, you are surely undone." Happily, for the 
 distressed Father, in his flight from honors, very Rev. Fr. 
 Provincial had not to consult so immediately the good of the 
 Church at large, and could fully enter into his state of 
 mind. Though on embracing Fr. Larkin, he had expressed 
 great surprise at seeing him so far away from his diocese, 
 and smilingly rallied him for so flagrant a breach of the 
 canons ; he at once wrote to our most Rev. Fr. Roothaan, 
 begging him to intercede with his Holiness, in behalf of 
 the humble child of the Society. 
 
 Still, the warning of the nuncio kept ringing in Fr. Lar- 
 kin's ears, and, fearing to proceed on his journey, he begged 
 to be sent at once to Laon, for his third year of probation. 
 His Superiors once more granted his request; and, in the 
 mean time, an account of the whole matter was forwarded 
 to the Sovereign Pontiff who could find no words of blame 
 for the detached religious, and kindly consented to insist 
 no longer. 
 
 The departure of Fr. Larkin rendered necessary the 
 appointment of a new Rector ; and Fr. Ryan was accord- 
 ingly named. He agreed to accept the conditions regarding 
 the parish Church, which Fr. Larkin had judged proper to 
 refuse, and soon found what he considered a suitable situa- 
 tion in 9th Street ; but the title of the deed of property 
 
go Nnv York and Canada Mission. 
 
 was discovered to be unsafe ; and it was only some time 
 after, that he succeeded in purchasing the place we now 
 occupy on 15th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues. 
 
 To enable Fr. Ryan to cover the necessary outlay for the 
 new institution, our late lamented Fr. Maldonado kindly 
 consented to accompany one of the Fathers of our Mission 
 in a tour through Mexico, for the purpose of appealing to 
 the charity of the Catholics of that country. The two 
 Fathers started in November, 1850, provided with letters of 
 introduction to the first Mexican gentlemen, both clerical 
 and secular ; and during the fourteen months of Fr. Maldo- 
 nado's sojourn there, by his polished manners and engaging 
 disposition, he succeeded in completely gaining the hearts 
 of all : so that both clergy and laity responded with true 
 catholic liberality to his appeal in favor of a distant work of 
 charity. The other Father remained some months longer, 
 and may be literally said to have travelled over the whole 
 of Mexico. About $ 1 8,000 was collected, besides paintings, 
 vestments, and sacred vessels ; and for this timely aid our 
 Fathers owe a lasting debt of gratitude to the Mexicans, as 
 without it, Rev. Fr. Ryan would never have been able to 
 build the College. 
 
 About two years were employed in its erection, and on 
 the 25th of Nov., 1850, the former students of the School 
 of the Holy Name of Jesus, entered their new and commo- 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 91 
 
 dious abode. In making the transition, however, both 
 School and Church lost their old names, and, at the request 
 of his Grace the Archbishop, were placed under the patron- 
 age of St. Francis Xavier: the College and the Church of 
 St. Francis Xavier thus germinating, as it were, from the 
 Holy Name of Jesus. The College opened with about two 
 hundred and. fifty students. 
 
 These works, however, were far from engrossing- all the 
 attention of the Fathers in New York, for the city afforded 
 opportunities for numerous other ministries of zeal. As 
 the rootlets of the plant naturally seek those portions of 
 the soil, where moisture is more abundant ; so the various 
 offshoots of the Society, by the very nature of the holy 
 sap flowing through them, have ever sought out the abodes 
 of misery where suffering is to be relieved and crime pre- 
 vented. Now, New York, in its various Public Institutions 
 of Charity and Correction, offered the Fathers a very har- 
 vest of miseries, which a Xavier himself might have envied. 
 In the words used by Fr. Du Ranquet, the present chaplain, 
 when soliciting Archbishop Hughes for the care of these 
 Institutions : " In other apostolic works, the missionary 
 resembles the ordinary hunter, who needs must exert all 
 his strength and skill to succeed in securing, one by one, 
 a few game ; but here is a royal hunting ground, with 
 numbers of men solely employed to start the game, and 
 
92 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 drive them before the huntsman : the men thus employed 
 are the police." 
 
 As early as 1852, the Fathers, with the hearty approval 
 of his Grace, began the work of mercy by visiting the 
 Tombs, or city prison, where the criminals are detained 
 prior to their sentence, — and once or twice a month brought 
 the consolations of religion to the inmates of the state 
 prison at Sing-Sing, whither those condemned to hard 
 labor are mostly sent. But it was only in 1861, that secta- 
 rian prejudice and bigotry so far yielded, or were forced to 
 yield, to the instances of his Grace as to admit the members 
 of the Society into that wider field of labor for which they 
 yearned. 
 
 The Public Institutions of Charity and Correction of the 
 City of New York are mostly built on a number of small 
 islands, situated in the East River, as the channel is called 
 which, some fifteen miles in length, connects Long Island 
 Sound with the Harbor. These islands are known as 
 Blackwell's, Ward's, Randall's and Hart's. To begin with 
 that nearest the city : Blackwell's Island, contains five 
 public institutions : 1, A vast hospital ; with a smaller one, 
 somewhat apart, for contagious diseases, especially the 
 small-pox ; these buildings are situated at the extreme 
 southern end of the island. 2, The Penitentiary, viz. : a 
 prison for criminals condemned to detention for less than 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 93 
 
 two years. 3, An asylum for the poor, called the Aims- 
 House. 4, Another prison called the Work-House, where 
 those are confined who are punished by only a few day's 
 detention, as for vagrancy, drunkenness, etc. 5, An 
 Insane Asylum. On the next island, Ward's, is an Asylum 
 where destitute emigrants, not having as yet had time to 
 acquire the privileges of citizens, are offered a home for 
 any length of time during the five years following their 
 arrival, provided that, either through sickness or dearth of 
 work, they are really in want of the necessaries of life. On 
 this island also are two large edifices recently erected, to 
 make good the insufficiency of those of Blackwell's Island 
 for city convicts. On the third island, Randall's, are the 
 establishments for the children of destitute parents, or for 
 orphans, or those taken up as vagrants. Hart's Island, 
 twenty miles to the East, has, of late years, been appropri- 
 ated by the city to receive the excess of inmates of the 
 others. During epidemics or contagious diseases, the per- 
 sons attacked by these maladies are transported thither. 
 In connection with a school-ship, a school has been estab- 
 lished on the island, to receive the young unfortunates of 
 Randall's Island, when they become old enough to be able 
 to work, and manifest an inclination to become sailors. 
 All these establishments are divided into two departments, 
 one for males, the other for females ; and it is not an exag- 
 
94 
 
 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 gerated estimate to set down at 6,000, the number of persons 
 in the various institutions, counting in the officers and 
 employees. 
 
 Blackwell's Island was the first to admit one of the 
 Fathers, but even he was not permitted to pass the night 
 there. Fr. Jaffre, a former missionary of Upper Canada, 
 started daily from the College, visited in turn each of the 
 institutions, and after displaying a zeal which, in presence 
 of so much misery, nothing could moderate, returned home 
 at night completely exhausted, only to begin his work 
 again, the day following. In one month's time he was in 
 his grave, a victim of the typhoid fever.— The pioneer in 
 the good work, had fallen, but there were hundreds anxious 
 to take his place, and within the three following years, 
 three more Fathers — Chopin, Laufhuber, and Pavarelli — 
 sank at the same post, under the same disease. It would 
 be surprising, indeed, if the heavenly spirit, which vivifies 
 the Society, were less fruitful than the sap which Nature 
 infuses into even her lowliest trees and shrubs ; and do we 
 not there behold ever clustering around the buds on which 
 their growth depends, a number of accessory or latent 
 germs, awaiting only the moment, when the principal bud 
 by some accident is destroyed, to burst forth into a vigorous 
 life, and carry on the plant or tree to its full development, 
 lest Nature's work should be frustrated ? 
 
Neiv York and Canada Mission. 95 
 
 The dcvotedness of the Fathers, heroic though it was, 
 was not greater than was required to enable them to cope 
 with the difficulties attending their work — "difficulties," 
 says Fr. Du Ranquet, "which now appear incredible." 
 As long as the Fathers came daily from the city, and 
 returned at night, matters came to no crisis ; but when, 
 seeing the drawbacks of such a position, they strove to 
 gain a permanent residence on the Island ; then indeed the 
 storm burst in all its fury, and subjected them and the 
 Catholic patients to every kind of annoyance. 
 
 Father Marechal", chaplain at this time, determined, with 
 his accustomed energy, to say Mass every morning in the 
 Poor House Chapel, which was used by Protestants as 
 well as by Catholics. Breakfast hour being six o'clock, he 
 announces Mass for half past five ; but the director of the 
 establishment is on the alert : unfortunately, Mass is not 
 over at six — so much the worse for those who have 
 assisted at it— no breakfast for them that day. At the 
 Hospital, bigotry showed itself in a still more persecuting 
 spirit. Fr. Marechal had just installed his assistant co- 
 laborer, when the young physicians, alarmed at this new 
 clerical invasion, and animated no doubt with the spirit of 
 the Constitution of the United States, which allows every 
 man to worship God according to the dictates af his own 
 conscience, took the affair in their own hands, and hit upon 
 
g6 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 a remarkable way of illustrating their idea of freedom of 
 conscience, — a plan, which, they were convinced, would 
 soon cool the ardor of both priest and people. — The very 
 first day Mass was said, on making the rounds of the sick 
 room, they took care to ask of each of the Catholic inva- 
 lids : "Have you been at Mass to-day ?" Was the answer — 
 «Yes" — they at once rejoined : "Since you are well enough 
 to go to Mass, you are well enough to go home ; " and they 
 actually had the cruelty to dismiss thus a crowd of poor 
 Catholics, with one foot already in the grave. The physi- 
 cians were young men ; probably had never before had to 
 deal with Irish Catholics in matters of religion, and sadly 
 indeed were they disappointed if they hoped by persecution 
 to root out their faith and their love for their religion. — At 
 present, the poor Irish Catholic may be said to have almost 
 won the day — for three Fathers remain constantly on the 
 islands, and two others go there during the day, now to one 
 place, now to another. Even a greater number might be 
 employed, for, to mention only one item, on Blackwell's 
 alone, the annual number of deaths amounts to 2,000, which 
 gives an average of about six a day. Chapels are now to 
 be found in the principal edifices, and not only do the faith- 
 ful receive the sacraments and other succors of religion, 
 but a great many children are baptized, and numbers of 
 adults, especially at the moment of death and in time of 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 97 
 
 pestilence, abjure their errors, and are received into the 
 bosom of the Church. His Grace, the Archbishop, has 
 already several times visited the islands for the purpose of 
 administering the Sacrament of Confirmation. But let us 
 hear Fr. Du Ranquet himself describe the good that is at 
 present being done among the wretched inmates of these 
 islands.* — " That which has struck me most forcibly," he 
 says, " in this ministry, is the desire expressed by so many 
 Protestants to become Catholics, when they see death 
 approaching. Many of our invalids have nourished for 
 years this thought of final conversion ; others are moved 
 by the confidence of the dying Catholics, and some begin 
 by saying : ' Father, let me kiss your crucifix.' I remember 
 especially one Protestant woman, who had probably been 
 struck by seeing her neighbors kiss the cross so reverently, 
 and who told me she had seen in her sleep a majestic per- 
 sonage holding a large key in his hand. This key, he 
 informed her, opened and shut the kingdom of Heaven, 
 and unless she kissed the crucifix, he would never unlock 
 the gate of bliss for her. She was converted, and became 
 a devout Catholic. 
 
 " Occasionally, on my rounds I come in contact with 
 Protestant ladies and ministers busy distributing tracts and 
 books ; but if I wish to escape their society, I have only to 
 
 * Letter published in the "Etudes religieuses," etc., 4th Series, 2. vol. 
 p. 131. 
 
98 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 enter the ward reserved for typhoid or small-pox ; here 
 there is no danger of interference from them. The propor- 
 tion of Protestants and Catholics in the various institutions, 
 is worthy of note. About four-fifths of the inmates of the 
 hospital are Catholics, but in the penitentiary, only two- 
 thirds. Thus, though all these establishments are filled 
 generally from the lower classes, and these classes are in a 
 great measure composed of Catholics — the prisons contain 
 far fewer of the latter than the other institutions. During 
 the day, those that are well labor outside or in the shops, 
 — but, at night, they are locked up separately in very small 
 cells, and here it is I catch them. I devote about three 
 hours every evening to visits to the different cells, where I 
 try to gain the prisoner's confidence by kind words through 
 the iron grating. At Mass, I sometimes have forty or fifty 
 communicants, of whom perhaps eight or ten, receive for 
 the first time. — I was surprised one day by a visit from an 
 individual arriving from Oregon, where he had been fight- 
 ing in the wars against the unfortunate Indians. He came 
 to fulfil a promise made to a dying comrade on the battle 
 field beyond the Rocky Mountains ; where, unable to find 
 a priest, he had tried as well as he could to supply the place 
 of one, — and had asked the wounded soldier if he died 
 content. ' I'll tell you,' answered the dying man, ' how 
 wicked I have been. You know what the New York Boys 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 99 
 
 are, — well, I was among the worst of them : but one day, 
 about two or three years ago, when I was in prison at the 
 Tombs, I went to confession for the first time ; since that 
 day, I have behaved myself pretty well, and now I die 
 happy.' ' Oh ! ' replied the other, ' I know the Father at 
 the Tombs, and as soon as I arrive in New York, I will tell 
 him all.' — " No fact," adds Fr. Du Ranquet, " ever encour- 
 aged me in my work at the prison as much as this." 
 
 While the Fathers employed in these holy labors were 
 opening Heaven to numbers of souls and earning for them- 
 selves eternal crowns, one of the most distinguished mem- 
 bers of our mission, was suddenly stopped in his saintly 
 career, and when but half the race seemed run, was called 
 to his reward. 
 
 We left Fr. Larkin in Europe relieved of the responsibil- 
 ity of the episcopacy — in 1849. After remaining some 
 time in England, he entered upon his third year of proba- 
 tion in France, and when that was over, reviewed his theo- 
 logical studies at Laval. In July, 1851, he was appointed 
 Rector of St. John's, Fordham, and, at the expiration' of 
 his term of office, once more crossed the ocean and devoted 
 himself with his accustomed zeal to the work of the minis- 
 try in England. Here he received a letter from our present 
 very Rev. Father General investing him with the hio-h and 
 responsible duties of Visitor of the Vice-Province of 
 
ioo New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 Ireland. Having accomplished to the satisfaction of all the 
 task imposed on him, he returned to New York in 1856, 
 and for about two years was employed in the parish. On 
 the nth of Dec, 1858, he had been hearing Confessions as 
 usual, and when the supper bell rang, obeyed its summons 
 to take a hasty cup of tea. While seated at table he felt a 
 sudden stroke of apoplexy, and had only time to stretch 
 out his hand to the Father next him, saying : " It is all over 
 now ! " — when he sank heavily to the ground. Medical aid 
 was at once sent for, — but the call was from above, and no 
 human power could " bribe the poor possession of a day," 
 or " lend a morrow." As it was impossible for the dying 
 servant of God to get to his room, he remained in the 
 arms of the Fathers, who did all they could to relieve him, 
 while the other members of the community hastened to the 
 chapel, to beg, if it were God's will, a few years more of 
 life for so useful a laborer. The blow had been struck in 
 mercy as Fr. Larkin had ever desired a sudden death :— his 
 heart having flown to heaven long before the knell that 
 called his body to the grave, — while he himself had ever 
 looked on the present but as 
 
 "A narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas — 
 The past, the future, two eternities." 
 
 The world to come was all he thought of — all he cared for ; 
 no pang of sorrow, then, no vain regret disturbed the tran- 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 101 
 
 quil passage of his soul, which, three hours after his first 
 attack, peacefully went to its Creator. Fr. Larkin had 
 nearly completed his 58th year, having been born in 1801 
 on the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin.* 
 
 It was not only the parish, in which Fr. Larkin had been 
 principally employed, that felt his loss ; even the students of 
 the College, many of whom had had the happiness of at- 
 tending at least one of his retreats, grieved for him as for a 
 father. No doubt he continued in heaven to pray for the 
 children he left behind on earth, and for the success of the 
 work of the education of youth, in which he took so deep 
 an interest. Certain it is that the state of the College was 
 very prosperous. It was only a few years since it had been 
 built, and already it was found to be far too small for the 
 ever increasing number of students. A new building; 60ft 
 by 120, was accordingly begun, and in June, 1861, six 
 months after the date of the charter, part of it was fit for 
 use ; so that, in the following September, the College of St. 
 Francis Xavier received its 500 students in an edifice in 
 keeping with the dignity of its sainted Patron. 
 
 We have now sketched, however imperfectly, some of 
 the principal facts in the history of our Mission ;* we say, 
 some, for besides the large gaps in our account of the rise 
 of our Colleges at Fordham and New York we have, 
 
 * On a foregoing page the year of his birth is, by some mistake, put 
 down as 1800. 
 
102 New York and Canada Mission. 
 
 through want of the requisite information, but barely allud- 
 ed to that of St. Mary's, Montreal, and have not written a 
 single word about our residences in Guelph, Chatham and 
 Quebec ; in Troy, Yorkville and Jersey City. Should a 
 future day find us conversant with the details of these 
 foundations, it would afford us great pleasure to record 
 them. For to relate to those unacquainted therewith the 
 onward march of the Society, however unpretending, in 
 any part of the world, is the least we can do to show our 
 appreciation of our high calling, together with our filial 
 love for her who brought us forth in religion ; and to hand 
 down to those who come after us, the memory of the labors 
 and combats of our fathers, to whose saintliness of life 
 joined with heroism amid whole hosts of obstacles, and 
 persevering energy under difficulties almost insurmountable, 
 many of us are indebted for our acquaintance with the 
 Society, and, after God, for the priceless grace of our en- 
 trance therein, is, we think, the smallest tribute of gratitude 
 we can offer. It is nature itself, and nature in one of its 
 holiest instincts that prompts the child to trace, with what- 
 ever materials it may happen to have at hand, the features 
 of that countenance which is all in all to him ; his unskilled 
 hand will err, no doubt, and produce perhaps only a homely 
 caricature where the fairest of images was intended, but the 
 rough draught, such as it is, has had its effect : the memory 
 
New York and Canada Mission. 103 
 
 has once more conjured up the true picture, and impressed 
 it still more indelibly in the soul, and then, the loving heart 
 at once supplies all the deficiencies of the erring hand. 
 
 A fezv details concerning onr Indian Missions in Canada, 
 on which we chanced too late for insertion in their proper place, 
 are reserved for an appendix. 
 
APPENDIX.* 
 
 When, as stated in the body of the Sketch, Fr. Chazelle 
 with his little band of Missionaries returned in 1842, to 
 Canada, there was no residence in Montreal as yet ready 
 for his reception. To avoid inaction he gladly accepted the 
 parish of La Prairie, a charming village just opposite 
 Montreal, on the St. Lawrence and formerly one of the 
 "Seigneuries des Jesuites." Here in fact, the Fathers had 
 in 1668 planted a small French colony, and laid the founda- 
 tions of their first permanent mission among the Iroquois, 
 which afterwards became so celebrated under the name of 
 Sault St. Louis. 
 
 The year following Fr. Chazelle's return, the Bishop of 
 Toronto offered the Society the charge of the Indian Mis- 
 sions of his diocese, together with a residence in Sandwich, 
 a town opposite Detroit, on lake St. Clair. This place had 
 formerly been the centre of the missions of the Society 
 among the Hurons and Algonquins,and about it were now 
 collected a great part of the French Canadians who had 
 founded Detroit! For at the time when that city and all 
 the lands on the West bank of the River St.. Clair were 
 ceded to the United States, they crossed to the Canadian 
 
 * The following details are mostly taken from an account forwarded 
 by a former Superior of our Mission, to the Society for the Propagation 
 of the Faith. 
 
ii Appendix. 
 
 side, and there preserved their language and their faith. 
 To meet this new offer, two other Fathers left France for 
 Canada, and accompanied by one from Montreal, and two 
 brothers began their apostolic work. In 1844, this mission 
 round which the labors of our Indian missionaries now 
 principally extend, was separated from that of Montreal and 
 under the title of "Mission of Upper Canada" entrusted to 
 Rev. Fr. Chazelle ; while that of Lower Canada welcomed 
 Rev. Fr. Martin as its Superior. 
 
 At the time of the reinstalment of our Fathers at Sand- 
 wich, the Indians who, in olden times, had lived in great 
 numbers around lake St. Clair, had either been almost 
 entirely destroyed or compelled by the whites to transport 
 their wigwams towards the North, and the West. Not 
 more than 1 500 of them still remained about the lake, and 
 on the island of Walpole, which lies close to its Eastern 
 shore. Deprived of Catholic missionaries for more than 
 half a century, these poor people had greatly fallen off 
 from their former simplicity and purity of manners. Prot- 
 estant missions, established, at great expense, by the Bible 
 Societies of England, and powerfully supported by the 
 government, had succeeded in partly estranging them from 
 the Catholic Faith, and had left them plunged in every vice. 
 Drunkenness especially, encouraged by the merciless cupi- 
 dity of the whites, made fearful ravages among them. 
 
 It was under these unfavorable circumstances that Fr. D. 
 Du Ranquet was directed by Rev. Fr. Chazelle to leave 
 Sandwich, and endeavor to establish himself in the midst 
 of the Indians of Walpole island. With no other help 
 than that of the Brother who accompanied him he built on 
 a corner of the Island a rough chapel, and 'alongside a hut 
 for a dwelling-place. This done, in a light canoe he went 
 in search of the Indians through that marshy country, 
 intersected as it is in all directions with natural canals ; and 
 for six years amid extreme privations and fatigues, he 
 labored in the place with but little apparent fruit. On the 
 
Appendix. iii 
 
 one hand, the attachment of the people to their vices, and 
 on the other, the abundant temporal assistance, which they 
 received from the Protestant ministers, prevented their 
 profiting by the exertions of our missionaries. It was not 
 only indifference that thwarted Fr. Du Ranquet's plans for 
 their salvation, positive hatred also rankled in their hearts. 
 On a Sunday, when he had crossed the river to offer the 
 Holy Sacrifice for a congregation of whites, whom he visit- 
 ed from time to time, some of the Indians maliciously set 
 fire to his chapel, which with a portion of his dwelling was 
 soon reduced to ashes. However, the good Father, nothing 
 daunted, at once set about repairing the disaster. A certain 
 number of the natives, who till then had remained unmoved 
 at his trials and suffering, seemed really affected by his re- 
 cent misfortune and lent him their assistance ; only asking 
 in return that he would remain among them, as long as he 
 could. No doubt, their request would have been cheerfully 
 granted, had not Fr. Du Ranquet that very year, 1849, un ~ 
 expectedly received an order to leave Walpole for the 
 island of Manitouline. 
 
 This new field opened to his zeal, is the largest of the 
 almost countless islands that dot the great lakes of North 
 America, and lies in the northern portion of Lake Huron, 
 running East and West for a distance of nearly 80 miles. 
 The greater portion of it is studded with more than 30 
 small lakes, while the rest, at the time of which we speak, 
 was covered with immense forests. Near the Eastern 
 extremity of the island, on the shores of Wikewemikong or 
 Castor Bay, a devoted Canadian priest, Rev. Father Proulx, 
 had some years previous planted a large cross, and around 
 it had succeeded 'in gathering a number of Indian families. 
 The village thus formed he called "Holy Cross," and in it 
 he protected his flock against the pernicious influence of 
 their Protestant neighbors so plentifully assisted by the 
 Government. F. Proulx, however, soon perceived that in 
 spite of all his efforts he would be unable to carry out, 
 
iv Appendix. 
 
 single-handed, the work he had undertaken, and that a 
 religious Order would be more likely to succeed in it. He 
 accordingly offered our Fathers the charge of his little flock 
 at Holy Cross : and in the fall of 1843 F r - P- Chone was 
 sent with one Brother to relieve the devoted priest. 
 
 The importance of this Residence of Holy Cross on 
 Manitouline Island, soon determined the Superiors to des- 
 patch some more Fathers to the aid of Fr. Chone. Fr. 
 Joseph Hanipaux* was accordingly sent thither in 1845 > 
 and about the same time, Fr. D. Du Ranquet, as already 
 mentioned, received word to leave Walpole for this more 
 important centre of action. Still later, Fr. Nicholas Point 
 joined the little community on Manitouline and erected a 
 church there for the poor Indians. Important though this 
 station was, a single residence did not suffice to enable the 
 Missionaries to visit all the Indians, scattered as they were 
 over the country, especially in the neighborhood of Lake 
 Superior : and it was the desire of remedying this that 
 induced Fr. Chazelle to undertake the journey during 
 which he died. After his death Fr. Menet, at the earnest 
 solicitation of Mgr. Baraga, Bishop of the new diocese 
 of Sault Ste. Marie, was sent to assist his Lordship in his 
 noble labors for the conversion of the Indians. 
 
 It was at this time the policy of the English Government, 
 to portion off the Indians everywhere into "Reserves" at a 
 distance from the sites which it wished to occupy. Thus, 
 on the Canadian side of the River of Sault Ste. Marie they 
 were forced to leave the shores of the Sault and occupy a 
 Reserve 12 miles further down, near a river which they, 
 through longing regret for their old haunts, called the Riv- 
 er of the Desert, but which the whites, as if in derision, 
 named Garden River. Amongst these exiled tribes Fr. 
 Kohlerf took up his residence. Finally in 1852, Fr. Du 
 
 '-This devoted Father died riot long ago at Quebec, after 27 years of 
 labor in our Indian Missions. See "Woodstock Letters," vol. i, p. 122. 
 
 tThis Father perished about 2 years ago in a shipwreck on Lake 
 Huron. 
 
Appendix. v 
 
 Ranquet once more changed his residence, and set out for 
 the purpose of founding a new house at Fort William, near 
 the northern extremity of Lake Superior. An agency of 
 the Hudson Bay Company established on this spot makes 
 it one of the most important points in that part of the 
 Canadian territory. 
 
 These three Residences comprise all our Indian Missions 
 in Upper Canada, or Ontario : each one being a centre for 
 long excursions radiating in all directions whether in Can- 
 ada itself or in the United States, wherever a few natives 
 happen to be collected. The various tribes scattered about 
 these parts are all of the great Algonquin family ; but it is 
 difficult to estimate their exact number, which probably 
 does not exceed 10,000. Of these only one-third are 
 Catholics, a thousand perhaps, call themselves or allow 
 themselves to be called Protestants ; the rest are infidels. 
 
 The question has often been asked what results can be 
 shown to have repaid the devotedness of the missionaries ; 
 but to arrive at a just appreciation of these results, regard 
 must be had both to the character of the Indians and their 
 actual circumstances. As to their character it is almost 
 proverbial ; and modern civilization seems to have stopped 
 short of their wigwams. 
 
 Owing to their inferiority of intellect and inconstancy of 
 disposition, this poor race seems capable but of a very lim- 
 ited degree of cultivation ; and hence, they have no pros- 
 pect of success among the whites, unless the latter, with 
 compassionate charity, take' care of them as they would of 
 children. This is what the Catholics of Canada have been 
 doing for a long time back. But where can this spirit of 
 faith and charity be found in the governments of our day ? 
 True, they take some precautionary measures to avoid still 
 greater evils, but the glaring fact still stares them in the 
 face, that wherever the Indians come into habitual contact 
 with the whites, their moral corruption, and, as a necessary 
 consequence, their gradual extinction, is the inevitable 
 
vi Appendix. 
 
 result. Before passing judgment then on the labors of 
 our missionaries, it will be much to the purpose to glance 
 at the results achieved by the English government working 
 under the most favorable conditions possible, and with 
 unlimited resources. To insure the success of its under- 
 taking it began to build for the Indians the village of 
 Manitounang, a few miles west of Holy Cross ; and was 
 overjoyed to find them all eager to avail themselves of the 
 advantages thus offered them. A church and a school 
 were erected ; and their necessary appendages, a minister 
 and a schoolmaster were, no doubt for a slight compensa- 
 tion, prevailed on to forego the luxuries of civilized society 
 and devote their lives to the moral and mental enlighten- 
 ment of the benighted natives. A number of master-crafts- 
 men, and of ordinary laborers in iron and wood were also 
 secured to erect houses for all who wished to abandon 
 their wandering mode of life for more sedentary occupa- 
 tions. Such was the foresight of the Protestant govern- 
 ment, that, to provide with more than ordinary pressure 
 against any sudden return of the old love for the woods and 
 prairies, each homestead was to be surrounded by a 
 charming little plot of ground enclosed with palings. 
 Here the Indian could once more don his hunting gear and 
 give chase, at least for the space of a few yards, to some 
 unsuspecting squirrel ; or daubed with his war-paint could 
 recline in his rustic arm-chair, under a transplanted tree of 
 the forest, and shoot his poisoned arrows against the 
 painted stakes of his fence. The excess of pressure thus 
 innocently removed, he could pick up his arrows, return in 
 a twinkling to the bosom of civilization ; and having 
 washed off all the war-paint and slept off any remnant of 
 the old forest-feeling — could, the following day, hoe his 
 potatoes as usual with the rest of the warriors. Yes, hoe 
 his potatoes, for, to leave no stone unturned for the happy 
 issue of its enterprise, the government had provided abun- 
 dant implements of husbandry ; and these, together with 
 
Appendix. vii 
 
 various kinds of seeds and grains, fine cattle and young 
 fruit trees, were at the disposal of the Indians, while skilful 
 workmen were hired to instruct the uninitiated. 
 
 The only conditions for the enjoyment of these advanta- 
 ges were docility in submitting to the regulations, assistance 
 at the meeting-house once a week, sedate behavior during 
 the minister's sermon and the sending of the children to 
 the school. 
 
 As long as the presents lasted and the distribution of 
 provisions, clothing, &c. continued — all was well ; but after 
 a while the government deemed the Indians fully settled 
 down, and sufficiently instructed in the manner of providing 
 for their wants by their own labor, so that it gradually di- 
 minished the great expenses thus far incurred in their behalf. 
 Surely it was not exacting too much to ask them to hew 
 their own fire-wood in the adjoining forest ; especially 
 when the means of transport were furnished gratuitously. 
 The government accordingly represented to them the pro- 
 priety of their so doing. But civilized life had so far 
 sharpened Indian natural shrewdness that the object of all 
 this solicitude hit on a much simpler plan for procuring 
 fuel ; and judging it labor lost to fell trees and cart wood 
 when there was just at hand such an abundance of splen- 
 did palings, perfectly dry and all ready for the fire, they 
 showed their predilections by daily multiplying the breaches 
 in their neat little fences. The destruction of the palings 
 was at once followed by a series of representations on the 
 part of government, of reproaches, and of menaces ; it 
 even forced itself into the minister's Sunday sermons ; but 
 to no purpose : it was necessary to treat the Indians as 
 spoiled children, and "pass their imperfections by." When 
 the palings had disappeared and thus reduced the trim 
 gardens to their original prairie-like appearance, the beams 
 inside the houses were attacked, then the flooring, doors 
 and lastly the outside porches. All the dwellings were 
 treated in the same way, and when all vestiges of timber 
 
viii Appendix. 
 
 had vanished from them, the agricultural implements were 
 next seized and broken to bits, to secure the wood work. 
 The domestic animals could not long be kept from the 
 voracity of the Indians, and what with the houses for fuel 
 and the oxen for food, the natives were indebted to the 
 Government for many a hearty meal. A few years later, 
 tired of so many useless efforts, it ceased its frequent dis- 
 tributions and at once the Indians dispersed, quitting the 
 famous village, now composed only of the school, the 
 meeting house, and a few of the government buildings. 
 About this group of dwellings, portions of the chimneys 
 of the former houses of the Indians still stand : an ironical 
 protest against the powerless efforts of all civilization of 
 which the Church is not the author, and the motive power, 
 religion. 
 
 Meanwhile, what was passing, a few miles off, at the vil- 
 lage of Holy Cross ? The principal resources of the 
 Catholic Missionaries there, were the alms received from 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Faith ; but the grace 
 of God enabled the devoted Fathers, even with such limited 
 means, to succeed in overcoming the natural indolence and 
 carelessness of the Indians. On plans drawn up by the 
 Missionaries, and without the aid of the whites, if we 
 except two or three coadjutor Brothers of the Society, the 
 Indians built a large stone church, and a house for the 
 Fathers, also of stone ; moreover a school for their chil- 
 dren, and finally frame houses for themselves along regular 
 streets traced out for them beforehand. All these labors 
 presupposed a great number of others, all which they 
 performed themselves. Thus they had to fell the trees, and 
 hew the timbers for the frame-work, quarry the stones, dig 
 out the lime and prepare the mortar. All that was bought 
 for them were planks for flooring, which it would have been 
 more costly to cut in the woods. The secret of this success 
 lay in the fatherly encouragement given to the Indians, and 
 the judicious payment for their services. Large quantities 
 
Appendix. ix 
 
 of warm clothing, and provisions, such as flour and espe- 
 cially salt meat were purchased, and all the work was paid 
 for in these articles. During all the time these labors 
 lasted, the Indians lived contented, happy and quiet ; and 
 acquired, as far as their nature admits, a habit of working 
 which they have ever since preserved. To encourage them 
 still more, and reward them for their perseverance, the 
 Fathers built them a small water-mill to grind their grain ; 
 but as the island could boast of no river near the village, 
 they could only succeed in forming a very small reservoir. 
 It was however sufficient to grind the produce of each year. 
 In spite of all of these favorable prospects the Missionaries 
 had still their share of anxiety, owing to the total want of 
 foresight on the part of the Indians which seems to be an 
 incorrigible defect of their character. These simple natives 
 had to be continually urged and entreated not to let the 
 time for planting or sowing pass by ; but once the seed 
 began to appear above the ground, the contrary excess had 
 to be guarded against, and no little eloquence was necessary 
 to prevent their reaping before the crops were ripe, or set- 
 ting off on a hunting or fishing excursion just at harvest 
 time. It was necessary, besides, to conceal the grain to be 
 used as seed the following year, as it is almost impossible 
 for the Indians to resist the temptation of devouring every- 
 thing within their reach. All these cares, and many others 
 besides, required no doubt on the part of the missionaries 
 great patience and watchfulness ; in a word, great charity 
 with all the qualities enumerated by St. Paul. But in. the 
 end, they obtained what seemed impossible, and what really 
 is so, even with unlimited resources for a government 
 unaided by the charity of Jesus Christ. In fact this village 
 of Holy Cross in 1872 contained about 500 souls, twice as 
 many as can be found in any other settlement throughout 
 the whole country, except similar Reserves attended by the 
 Sulpician and Oblate Fathers near Montreal. Moreover 
 the Indians live there peaceably, no police being necessary 
 
x Appendix. 
 
 to maintain order ; they assist orderly at the religious 
 offices, regularly approach the Sacraments, many very fre- 
 quently ; while the children assiduously frequent the 
 schools. Pious sodalities have been organized for all — men, 
 women, boys and girls — and to enable each to assemble 
 its members apart, a little chapel has been erected by the 
 Indians themselves without any help from the Missionaries. 
 
 The Indian Administration could not see without chagrin 
 the very different results of its own efforts and of the labors 
 of the Fathers ; and to do away with the standing con- 
 demnation of its method, resolved with more or less com- 
 pensation made to the natives, and a more or less forced 
 consent extorted from them to appropriate the whole of the 
 island. But many of the Indians especially those of Holy 
 Cross were opposed to all cession. The same means how- 
 ever that procures majorities in more civilized assemblies 
 were employed, not without effect, in the forest council of 
 Manitouline, and the Government triumphed. To appear 
 condescending in its victory, and throw around its proceed- 
 ings an air of justice, it left to the Indians of Holy Cross 
 the eastern extremity of the Island, in which the village 
 lies. This small portion then about the twelfth part of the 
 entire island, still remains to them — though they cannot be 
 said to possess it, but only to have the use of it, and a very 
 restricted use at that. Under the pretence of preventing 
 the destruction of the forest, they are forbidden to sell to 
 the whites the timber that grows in the neighborhood ; 
 they can only deliver it up to the Indian administration at 
 a fixed price far less than they could obtain elsewhere. 
 
 Providence however seems to have wished to punish 
 the cruel rapacity of the administration, as two large 
 conflagrations have, within a few years of each other, 
 all but entirely consumed the forests that still remained in 
 the Reserve ; and even burned in great measure the very 
 soil which is now almost entirely unfit for cultivation. The 
 state of poverty to which the village is thus reduced en- 
 
Appendix. xi 
 
 courages the hope that the government will make no more 
 efforts to deprive the Indians of what remains of their once 
 lordly possessions. Though deprived of the riches once 
 spread over their land, the water still furnished an abundant 
 means of support in the rich fisheries near the Island. 
 But the government hankered after these too ; and having 
 purchased the right of possessing the Island, concluded, 
 according to the immemorial law of the lion's share, that 
 the fisheries had been surrendered with the land. 
 
 A number of speculators of Upper Canada had for a long 
 time coveted these sources of wealth, aud accordingly 
 bought them of the administration. Great was the indig- 
 nation of the Indians, when they learned this new invasion 
 of their rights, of which there had not been the slightest 
 question in the pretended contract for the cession of their 
 Island. They therefore resolved to oppose this usurpation, 
 and, in fact, when the whites came to fish at these ancient 
 fisheries, the* natives drove them away, and for the time 
 being, had the advantage by reason of their number. This 
 incident, which the administration, accustomed to the usual 
 inert docility of the Indians, did not expect, was neverthe- 
 less heard of with pleasure. There was at length legal 
 matter to justify the application of force and to put down, 
 by a great stroke of authority, all further resistance to the 
 civilizing efforts of the Government. An act of rebellion 
 had been consummated, and the Missionaries, whom the 
 entire village obeyed, had no doubt been the instigators of 
 the revolt. A warrant of arrest was at once issued against 
 the Indians accused of the act of violence, and against the 
 Superior of the Missionaries ; while the person to whom 
 the fisheries had been sold was himself endowed with the 
 necessary authority, and, accompanied by a sufficient num- 
 ber of men, embarked for the village of Holy Cross. On 
 landing he went straight to the home of the Missionaries, 
 and summoned the Father, whose name was on his warrant, 
 to follow him on board his boat. Now the accusation had 
 
xi i Appendix 
 
 so little foundation, and the warrant had been so hurriedly 
 issued, that the Father accused by name was actually absent 
 from the Island ; having left for a tour throughout the 
 Mission, before the breaking out of the troubles in question. 
 The man with the warrant was not prepared for this, and 
 feigned at first to disbelieve the absence of the Father ; but 
 as it was a fact too easily proved, he bethought himself of 
 a way out of his difficulties. "No matter about the name," 
 said he to Fr. Chone who received him, "if it was you who 
 were in the Island during the rebellion, it is you who are 
 its author, you must follow me." As there was no order 
 of arrest against him y Fr. Chone postively refused to obey. 
 While these things were taking place, the Indians of the 
 village, suspecting what was toward, had surrounded the 
 house and penetrated into the room where the scene was 
 passing. The discussion was growing warm : the man of 
 the warrant fearing to fail in his attempt, if he did not bring 
 it to an end at once, produced irons to fetter the Father's 
 hands, when a shout of indignation burst from all parts of 
 the room. The man drew a revolver, and threatened to kill 
 whoever should attempt to oppose the execution of his 
 orders. An Indian thrust himself before the pistol, and 
 baring his bosom : "Kill me if you wish," said he, "but woe 
 to you if you dare." It was a critical moment : the Father 
 wishing to prevent, at any price, the shedding of blood, or- 
 dered the Indians to withdraw and said to the man, that, 
 though protesting against the injustice and illegality of the 
 proceeding, still he would follow him. The Indians obeyed 
 the Father, and the latter departed at once with the man 
 and his followers, who steered straight for Sault Ste. Marie, 
 where the court was sitting which was to try the authors of 
 the rebellion. Sault Ste. Marie is about 150 miles from the 
 village of Holy Cross ; and was reached only the next day, 
 when the Father and his accusers appeared before the 
 court. The arrest being so evidently illegal, and so com- 
 plete the absence of proof regarding any offence on the 
 
Appendix. xiii 
 
 part of the Father, he was immediately acquitted, and the 
 man of the warrant reprimanded by the court, for having 
 exceeded his powers. Covered with confusion and full of 
 rage, he reembarked, and, the following night, when the 
 boat was in the middle of the lake, disappeared. He had 
 been seen on deck the evening before, silently pacing to and 
 fro with a gloomy air that bespoke some dark intention. 
 Every one understood that despair had caused him to throw 
 himself into the lake. Some weeks later, after much search, 
 the remains of his dead body were found. 
 
 Such was the end of this appeal to the law ; the punish- 
 ment of the guilty one being so striking, no further meas- 
 ures were taken to punish the rebellion of the Fathers. 
 Force however was used to prevent the Indians from troub- 
 ling for the future the whites in the working of the fisher- 
 ies ; and after the first excitement was over, the Indians 
 with their natural apathy and the consciousness of their 
 inferiority, resigned themselves to endure what they could 
 not prevent ; thus the village was quiet again for a time. 
 
 Somewhat later an attempt was made by the Indians of 
 Holy Cross to avail themselves of the right secured to 
 them by an early treaty with the English to govern them- 
 selves, at least in the interior of the Reserve ; but the only 
 reply of the Government was the throwing into prison of 
 the foremost among the agitators. Fr. Chone himself, with 
 the ancient treaty in his hand, went to plead the cause of 
 his poor Indians before the Government in Canada, but he 
 was not even listened to ; s^pme independent journals pub- 
 lished his appeal, but no more attention was paid to it, and 
 the entire spoliation of the Indians was an accomplished 
 fact. 
 
 Manitouline, the Island of the Great Spirit, has thus lost 
 the character it once had as the last stronghold of Indian 
 nationality ; but the village of Holy Cross still possesses 
 in the eyes of the Indians a great prestige as -centre of the 
 Religion of the Great Spirit. At Corpus Christi, the pro- 
 
xiv Appendix. 
 
 cession in the village, and the ceremonies performed with 
 all possible solemnity, attract the Indians from great dis- 
 tances, so that an unusual number of boats and canoes, for 
 several days together, cover the bay with life. The con- 
 course, however, is less now than formerly, owing to the 
 greater poverty of the Indians, and the disappearance, 
 through the want of products for barter, of the fair that 
 used to be held on occasion of this feast. 
 
 If all the Catholic Indians were able and willing to as- 
 semble at Holy Cross, their religious instruction would be 
 more easy and complete ; but deriving their principal 
 means of subsistence from hunting and fishing, from maple 
 sugar and wild fruits, they are unable to live together in 
 great numbers ; especially now when the resources are as 
 rapidly diminishing as the whites are advancing. The great 
 number collected at Holy Cross is therefore an exception ; 
 and besides the Catholics of this village, about an equal 
 number are scattered throughout that part of the Mission 
 intrusted to the Fathers of Holy Cross. For this reason, 
 while one of the Fathers stays at the village, the other, or 
 the others, if there are several, are obliged to scour the 
 country, summer and winter, across forests and lakes, in 
 search of their flock. In summer, the Missionary sets out 
 in a little bark canoe, light enough to be carried from one 
 river to another, or to be taken from the water where rapids 
 prevent navigation. But in winter, he has to travel on 
 large snow-shoes, and to draw after him his baggage on a 
 little sleigh. At all seasons, he is obliged to pass the night 
 in the open air, and for this reason, usually carries a buffalo- 
 robe to shelter himself against the storms in summer or the 
 cold in winter. Besides this, he needs also a little chapel 
 to say Mass, vestments and books, etc. For the transpor- 
 tation of these objects, one or two Indians usually accom- 
 pany the Father on his journeys. Arrived at a station of 
 Indians, our Missionary at once sets to work. He begins 
 by reciting, and making them repeat the principal articles 
 
Appendix. xv 
 
 of the Christian doctrine ; he then administers the Sacra- 
 ments, according to their needs, and sees that all fulfil 
 their duty of yearly communion. This done, he sets out for 
 the next station, distant generally several days' journey ; 
 and thus a tour is made, lasting one, two or even three 
 months. 
 
 During the fine season, which lasts three, or, at most, 
 four months, 4 some Protestant ministers, mostly Methodists, 
 traverse the country, collecting about them some of the In- 
 dians, and not being exacting as to the conditions necessary 
 for the admission of neophytes, usually publish, on their 
 return to the cities of Canada, an account of the astonishing 
 fruits of salvation they have produced ; of the thousands 
 of Indians who have escaped the toils of the Arch Enemy, 
 and the thousands of others, who ask only to hear the good 
 tidings in order to throw themselves on the Lord. A few 
 years of such extensive conversions, would, one would 
 think, leave no more work for the Bible Societies, and yet, 
 strange to say, year after year, new thousands are converted 
 in the official reports and still a few thousands always re- 
 main to throw themselves on the Lord the following year 
 — for these, of course, generous contributions are of abso- 
 lute necessity. Besides these fine weather missionaries, there 
 are at the Island of Manitouline, at Bruce Mines, and at 
 Garden River, near Sault Ste. Marie, stationary Protestant 
 ministers, who have a certain number of Indians settled 
 around them ; but the number of Protestant Indians is very 
 limited ; as the natives that have no fixed abode but wan- 
 der over the country, are all either Catholics or infidels. 
 
 We have spoken almost entirely of the Residence of 
 Holy Cross at Manitouline, because it is the most impor- 
 tant of the three ; but the same account may be substan- 
 tially applied to the other two, except that circumstances 
 in these latter are less favorable for the preservation of the 
 Faith and of purity of morals among the Indians, owing to 
 more frequent intercourse with the whites than exists at 
 Holy Cross. 
 
xvi Appendix. 
 
 In the part of the Mission, north of Lake Superior, visit- 
 ed by the Fathers residing at Fort William, there has been 
 for many years past not even the shadow of a Protestant 
 preacher, the country being too wild, and the journey 
 thither too painful. As the Indians are occupied almost 
 entirely in hunting for furs, to be sold to the agents of the 
 Hudson Bay. Company, they are almost constantly dis- 
 persed in the forests, and can thus be but rarely visited by 
 the Missionary. This is a great drawback, as deprived of 
 the religious instruction, and the immediate society of the 
 Missionary, it is with great difficulty they can preserve 
 themselves from evil. 
 
 Such being the actual condition of our Missions of Upper- 
 Canada, it may be asked : what is to become of them ? 
 and should we still continue the labors and sacrifices neces- 
 sary for their existence ? 
 
 To the first question, it may be answered that, in all pro- 
 bability, the Indians will remain for quite a while longer, 
 in their present condition, as the greatest portion of their 
 country is unfit for cultivation ; and it will only be in case 
 rich metal mines are discovered, that a large population of 
 whites will resort thither. The advent of the whites would 
 be sure to drive the Indians further northward ; but even 
 then, the positions occupied by the Catholic Missionaries 
 would be very useful for them to act upon the whites them- 
 selves ; and besides, it would be necessary to follow the 
 Indians into their exile ; a fact which would require a still 
 greater number of Missionaries. 
 
 As to the second question, it must be confessed, it is not 
 unusual to met with very good people who own themselves 
 wearied at seeing the Indians profit so little by all the 
 efforts made for their improvement. Is it not time at length 
 for these extraordinary cares to cease ? Now that the 
 whites have penetrated so far in every direction, if the In- 
 dians have good will, what prevents them from profiting by 
 the advantages of civilization within their reach ? And if 
 
Appendix. xvii 
 
 they do not wish to do so, have they any right to expect 
 these extraordinary succors ? "In reply to these queries, I 
 can but repeat," says the Superior of our Mission, referred 
 to in the beginning-, "the answer I received from one of 
 these Indians on this very subject. At a visit, I had occasion 
 to make, some years ago, to Holy Cross, Manitouline, the 
 chiefs were assembled at the house of the Missionaries to 
 bid me good-bye. I addressed them a few words, to move 
 them to gratitude towards the Fathers, who were, amid so 
 many sacrifices, devoting themselves to their welfare ; and 
 at the same time, to urge them to greater efforts to place 
 themselves on a level with the whites, in order at length to 
 get on by themselves. They listened with deep attention 
 to my address, which one of the Fathers interpreted for 
 them, sentence by sentence ; and when I had finished, one of 
 the chiefs, rising with the approbation of the others, replied 
 in their name : he declared how much he and his compan- 
 ions were convinced of what I had said, and of the advan- 
 tage they would derive from their emulation of the industiy 
 and arts of the whites. 'But, Father,' said he, in conclu- 
 sion — 'there is one thing you have forgotten to take into 
 consideration : that we may be capable of the improvement 
 which you recommend to us, you must find a means to 
 chanee our Indian skin into the skin of the whites ; for as 
 lone as we remain with the skin in which we were born, we 
 will not be able to acquire more talents and intelligence than 
 the great Spirit has thought proper to allow us. Should 
 you not, then, have compassion on our weakness, and con- 
 tinue to supply us, as your own children, with that aid, 
 without which we will never be able to succeed !' 
 
 "Such was the really wise conclusion of this Indian, and 
 I had nothing to reply, but that we would continue our 
 assistance as long as possible. In fact, if it be true, as Our 
 Lord tells us, that no one, with all his efforts, can add one 
 inch to the height of his body, it is not less true that our 
 intelligence also has its limits, different, not only in each in- 
 
XVI 11 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 dividual,, but also in each race, as the history of all ages 
 clearly proves ; limits which God has with infinite wisdom 
 and goodness fixed in the designs of His Providence, for 
 the greater good of each one. And if we consider what 
 use civilized nations, above all, those of our day, make, for 
 the glory of God and the salvation of their souls, of that 
 elevated degree of intelligence, with which they have been 
 enriched by Divine Providence, we will easily perceive that 
 they have no right to reproach the Indians with their negli- 
 gence in this respect, and that they should rather apply to 
 themselves the words of our Divine Saviour : "Blessed are 
 the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." 
 
 LOYOLA SGHGOL 
 
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