THE VENERABLE MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS 
 FOUNDRESS OF THE "CONGREGATION DE NOTRE DAME DE MONTREAL" 
 
The Life and Times 
 
 of 
 
 Margaret Bourgeoys, 
 
Copyrighted, 1907 
 
 CONGREGATION DE NOTRE DAME, 
 of Montreal. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
The Life and Times 
 
 OF 
 
 Bourgeois 
 
 (THE VENERABLE) 
 
 By 
 
 Margaret Mary Drummond 
 
 Revised, with Preface by 
 Rev. Lewis Drummond, S.J, 
 
 ANGEL GUARDIAN PRESS 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
Imprimatur: 
 
 ^JOANNES JOSEPHUS, 
 
 Archiep. Bostoniensis, 
 
MONTREAL, August the 4th, 1906. 
 REVEREND MOTHER ST. ANACLET, 
 SUPERIOR- GENERAL OF THE 
 
 CONGREGATION OF NOTRE DAME. 
 DEAR REVEREND MOTHER, 
 
 I thought that I had already a fairly good knowledge 
 of the events and the personages that make up the 
 early history of Canada. But this life of the Venerable 
 Mother Bourgeoys is a new revelation to me. From 
 the first to the last of its delightful pages the mind 
 is filled with wonder at the admirable ways in which 
 Divine Providence leads the truly apostolic soul of 
 this saintly virgin to the full development of her 
 great work for religion and humanity. The generous 
 and- constant fidelity of the Venerable Marguerite 
 Bourgeoys to the will of God, her courage and her 
 fortitude, adorned by modesty, gentleness and seren- 
 ity in the midst of bitter trials and disappointments, 
 present a fascinating portrayal of a true servant of 
 God. 
 
 The gifted authoress of this life of your Foundress 
 fras conferred a favor upon our Catholic people by 
 producing this truly admirable book. The remark- 
 able skill with which she has interwoven with the 
 life of her heroine the most beautiful and thrilling 
 
 [.' 583 
 
incidents of the history of this city of Mary, gives 
 additional value to her work. I hope this charming 
 book will be extensively read, especially by our 
 young people, who will find in it a glorious record 
 of the sterling virtues of their ancestors and an anti- 
 dote to the baneful literature of the day. 
 
 Personally, I welcome this new tribute to the ex- 
 alted virtues of the Venerable Marguerite Bourgeoys 
 in the hope that it may hasten the accomplish- 
 ment of an event for which, as you know, I have 
 prayed and laboured in my humble way, the placing 
 of her name among the canonized saints of the 
 Church. 
 
 I remain, dear Reverend Mother, 
 
 Yours devotedly in Christ, 
 
 PAUL, ARCH. OF MONTREAL. 
 
WITH LOVING HOMAGE 
 TO 
 
 MARY IMMACULATE 
 
 AND 
 
 IN GRATITUDE TO THE 
 FIRST TEACHER OF VILLE-MARIE 
 
 MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS 
 
 DECLARED VENERABLE 
 BY 
 
 HIS HOLINESS LEO XIII. 
 
 DECEMBER 7, 1878, 
 
 THIS TRUTHFUL STORY OF HER LIFE IS OFFERED 
 TO THE 
 
 PUPILS PAST AND PRESENT 
 
 BY ONE 
 OF HER OWN 
 
 CONGREGATION DE NOTRE-DAME. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE biography here presented to the public is 
 one that ought to interest all Catholics. The Vener- 
 able Margaret Bourgeoys is revealed to us as a valiant 
 woman with a well-balanced mind, an extraordinary 
 but quiet force of character, an energizing faith, a 
 deep humility and a burning love of God and of her 
 neighbor. 
 
 For Canadians especially this life is full of interest. 
 Margaret Bourgeoys, though she little dreamt of 
 any such distinction, is one of the heroic figures 
 that contributed most to the making of what is best 
 in our Dominion. Her early association with the 
 work of that knightly and fearless man of God, Paul 
 Chomedy de Maisonneuve, throws into strong relief 
 the inflexible sense of duty and the ardent zeal 
 which made these two pioneers of Catholicism in 
 Montreal models for all succeeding generations. 
 The dauntless soldier stays by an apparently forlorn 
 hope in an outpost of extreme peril, and when the 
 jealous Governor- General orders him back to France, 
 he accepts the capricious command as a manifesta- 
 tion of God's will, and ends his days in saintly ob- 
 scurity. Margaret, on the contrary, is allowed to 
 build up the character of the sorely tried, slowly 
 growing colony, and lives on for nearly eighty years 
 
to behold her life's work prospering in spite of many 
 heart-piercing vicissitudes. In both we have the 
 same purity of intention, tested in the one by seeming 
 failure but real, everlasting success before God, and 
 in the other by unflagging constancy in overcoming 
 obstacles from without and within, from above and 
 below. 
 
 This life shows a combination, usual only in the 
 lives of great saints, of providential guidance with 
 personal effort, of sustained singleness of human 
 purpose with absolute conformity to the Divine will, 
 of self-diffidence the most utter with courage the 
 most heroic. One has only to read the following 
 pages with an open mind to marvel at the wondrous 
 way in which Margaret Bourgeoys was guided by 
 an all-ordering Providence into the great work of 
 her life, and to admire the promptness with which 
 she seized on every intimation of God's wishes. 
 From the early age of twelve, circumstances intro- 
 duced her to the responsibility and devotedness of 
 that teaching profession which was to be her life- 
 long passion. As soon as she had grown to full 
 womanhood, the precocious piety of her childhood 
 developed into a longing for the contemplative life. 
 She tried to be a Carmelite, but was not accepted. 
 The Holy Ghost often breathes such ineffectual 
 yearnings into the souls of those whom He destines 
 to a life of great activity, in order that they may 
 be rooted and confirmed in prayerful union with 
 Him and thus ever preserve, amid the cares and 
 
distractions of their busy lives, the deepest interior 
 recollection. 
 
 Of personal effort and ready response to the call 
 of divinely prepared opportunity these pages are full. 
 Read how Margaret grasps at the providential offer 
 of M. de Maisonneuve and promptly affronts the 
 dangers of a journey to Montreal and a permanent 
 sojourn there, when the plain risk was death at the 
 hands of pitiless savages; how thrice again, at differ- 
 ent times, she braves the terrible hardships then 
 attendant upon a double crossing of the Atlantic in 
 poverty the most dire; how her daily self-inflicted 
 mortification, superadded to actual want, is the wonder 
 of her companions ; how even at the age of sixty-nine 
 she walks one hundred and eighty miles in the deep 
 snow to confer with the Bishop of Quebec on an 
 undertaking which he had proposed to her. 
 
 The one purpose of her mature years was the 
 establishment of a teaching order of uncloistered 
 women. At that time this was a thoroughly new 
 departure. Hitherto all the training of girls had been 
 confided to cloistered nuns exclusively, simply be- 
 cause all communities of religious women were then 
 bound to strict enclosure. As late as the second 
 decade of the seventeenth century St. Francis de 
 Sales, although himself such a living embodiment of 
 perfection in the common life, insisted upon enclos- 
 ure, which St. Jane Frances de Chantal, the co- 
 foundress of the Visitation Order, at first wished 
 to dispense with. And in Margaret's time Mary 
 
Ward's disheartening difficulty in securing approval 
 for her own uncloistered order of women must have 
 been fresh in the minds of many. So it is no wonder 
 that Margaret Bourgeoys had respectfully to with- 
 stand the urgent proposals of two successive Bishops 
 of Quebec that she should incorporate her congre- 
 gation into the Ursuline Order. Both these well 
 meant efforts were made at most trying moments of 
 her life, the first by Mgr. de Laval just after the 
 destruction of her convent by fire, when her Sisters 
 were in complete destitution, and the second by Mgr. 
 de Saint-Vallier, when Margaret was enfeebled by age. 
 But in both cases her quiet remonstrances in favor 
 of her special work convinced these zealous prelates 
 that she was really carrying out the designs of God. 
 Margaret's mistrust of herself in spite of the great 
 things she had accomplished is the strongest proof 
 of her humility. Twice did she urge upon her nuns 
 her own incapacity and the advantage it would be 
 for them to elect another Superior, and twice the 
 only possible successor was removed by death; so 
 that Margaret had on each occasion to take up her 
 burden once more. But this saintly diffidence of 
 self was coupled with the highest moral courage. 
 Of this, besides the examples already mentioned, one 
 of the most striking instances is her refusal to accept 
 an endowment that would have ensured the future 
 of her community and that was offered to her at the 
 beginning of her great enterprise. Only those who 
 have experienced the pinchings of poverty can realize 
 
what courageous trust in God this refusal implies. 
 She feared that the assured possession of a compe- 
 tency would endanger the spirit of religious poverty 
 which she felt to be the bulwark of the religious life, 
 and this fear made her heroically brave to trust the 
 Divine promises. 
 
 Humdrum and plain, hidden and humble though 
 Margaret's daily life was, it moved in an atmosphere 
 of virtue so exalted as to seem unreal to those who 
 " perceive not these things that are of the spirit of 
 God." It is well, therefore, to let it be seen that hers 
 is not a solitary instance in the Canadian life of the 
 time. Hence the opportuneness of devoting special 
 chapters to what otherwise might seem digressions, 
 such as the Dollard episode and the lives of Catherine 
 Tegakwitha and Jeanne LeBer. There were spiritual 
 giants in those days. The whole country was satu- 
 rated with the Catholic faith in all its purity, without 
 the slightest admixture of religious error, and so it 
 seems almost natural that Canada in the period of 
 its doctrinal integrity should have produced such a 
 woman as Margaret Bourgeoys, matter-of-fact and 
 yet enthusiastic, gently ruling everybody about her 
 for more than forty years and yet ending her days in 
 glad obscurity, building up with great labor a per- 
 manent order of devoted women and yet sacrificing 
 her own life to prolong that of another. 
 
 LEWIS DRUMMOND, S. J. 
 St. Boniface, Manitoba. 
 January 26, 1907. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 TROYES THE BOURGEOYS FAMILY MARGA- 
 RET'S BIRTH THE LITTLE TEACHER 
 FIRST TRIALS A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY 
 CHXDHOOD AND YOUTH THE POWER 
 OF A LOOK i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OUR LADY'S SODALITY MARGARET AS A 
 SODALIST ALL FOR GOD SEEKING 
 THE LIGHT DISAPPOINTMENT A PART- 
 ING HEAVENLY CONSOLATION A VISION. 9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OUR LADY'S KNIGHT LA "FOLLE ENTRE- 
 PRISE" BACK TO FRANCE SEEN IN 
 SLEEP WHAT CAME OF A DREAM 
 LIGHT AT LAST HESITATION "Go, I 
 
 SHALL BE WITH YOU!" 1 6 
 
CHAPTER IV. PAGE. 
 
 A JOURNEY TO PARIS IN THE COACH PARIS 
 A FIERY TRIAL THE PROBLEM 
 SOLVED PARIS TO ORLEANS REJECTION 
 BY RIVER TO NANTES A NEW 
 HUMILIATION ARRIVAL A HARSH RE- 
 CEPTION THE LAST CONFLICT A HEAVY 
 HEART AT REST. . . . .26 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SAINT NAZAIRE PREPARATION CROSSING THE 
 ATLANTIC IN 1653 SHIP FEVER NURSE 
 AND TEACHER A WEARY VOYAGE 
 CANADA AT LAST A GLAD WELCOME. 36 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OPPOSITION KINDRED SOULS FIDELITY 
 TRIUMPHS THE FIRST SIGHT OF VILLE- 
 MARIE A RETROSPECT THE MOUN- 
 TAIN CROSS A DANGEROUS TASK 
 WONDERS OF CHARITY "ONE HEART 
 AND ONE SOUL" HEROES OF THE CROSS. 42 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A MOMENTOUS DECISION SULPICIANS IN 
 CANADA THE BIRTH OF A COMMUNITY 
 A PROJECT AND A PROHIBITION FIRST 
 FRUITS OF AN APOSTOLATE THE BURDEN 
 GROWS TOO HEAVY MARGARET'S PLAN. 54 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 A PROVIDENTIAL OPPORTUNITY A STORMY 
 CROSSING FRANCE ONCE MORE BRAVE 
 RECRUITS A FATHER'S SACRIFICE AN 
 EVENTFUL JOURNEY PARIS TO LA 
 ROCHELLE THE ST. ANDRE SAILS A 
 TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE NEW RESPONSI- 
 BILITIES QUEBEC TO VILLE-MARIE. . 62 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A LOWLY HOME WORK RESUMED A STREN- 
 UOUS LIFE IDEALS IN ACTION NEW 
 FOUNDATIONS SUMMARY MATCH-MAKING 
 A WOMAN'S INFLUENCE. . . .73 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A FORLORN HOPE AGGRESSIVE IROQUOIS 
 BOLLARD'S BRAVE SCHEME How HEROES 
 PREPARE FOR DEATH THE OATH 
 LAST FAREWELLS THE ENCOUNTER 
 THE SIEGE THE BLOCKADE DESER- 
 TION OF ALLIES FATAL EXPLOSION 
 DOLLARD'S DEFEAT SAVES THE COLONY. 82 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NOT IN VAIN HOSTILITIES RENEWED A 
 HEROINE OF VILLE-MARIE SURROUNDED 
 
PAGE. 
 
 BY FOES IROQUOIS OUTRAGES THE 
 WONDERFUL HANDKERCHIEF LAMBERT 
 CLOSSE 1663 VILLE- MARIE LOSES ITS 
 FOUNDER THE HEROIC AGE ENDED 
 A NEARER VIEW THE CONGREGATION 
 IN 1669 A PUBLIC TRIBUTE A PAS- 
 TORAL VISIT MORE WORKERS REQUIRED 
 BACK TO FRANCE . . . .94 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AN INTERRUPTED VOYAGE ARRIVAL AT LA 
 ROCHELLE THE JOURNEY TO PARIS 
 IN THE CAPITAL CONFIDENCE REWARD- 
 ED A VISIT TO MAISONNEUVE A 
 WONDERFUL MEETING A FRIEND AT 
 COURT DUNKERQUE Louis XVI. 
 GRANTS LETTERS- PATENT AN EXTRACT 
 -THE SEARCH FOR NOVICES Six 
 RECRUITS PIERRE CHEVRIER, BARON 
 DE FANCAMP FROM PARIS TO ROUEN 
 WEARY WAITING NOTRE DAME DES 
 NEIGES THE RETURN TO CANADA. . 1 1 1 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 EVIL TIDINGS A JOYOUS WELCOME POV- 
 ERTY INDEED A GLANCE AT CANADIAN 
 HISTORY THE ANNUAL FAIR. . 130 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 NOTRE DAME DE BONSECOURS THE TASK 
 RESUMED PRELIMINARIES How THE 
 FIRST CHURCH WAS BUILT A RENEWAL 
 OF FERVOR A BACKWARD GLANCE. . 138 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AFTER TWENTY YEARS THE PRAYER OF 
 FAITH THE SHIPS DELAYED OTHER 
 MARVELS A BEAUTIFUL LIFE. . .147 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MGR. DE LAVAL VISITS VILLE-MARIE EPISCO- 
 PAL APPROBATION SOMETHING LACKING 
 MARGARET RESOLVES TO MAKE A THIRD 
 VISIT TO FRANCE THE FIRST SUPERIOR 
 OF OUR LADY'S CONGREGATION IN 
 QUEBEC THE CROSSING MARGARET'S 
 NARRATIVE A DISAPPOINTMENT THE 
 RULE OUTLINED THE RETURN A 
 THRILLING MOMENT SAVED! QUEBEC 
 AGAIN. ...... 155 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A DIGRESSION KATHERINE TEGAKWITHA 
 A WONDERFUL GRACE A VISIT TO HER 
 UNCLE'S LODGE THE YOUNG NEOPHYTE 
 
PAGE. 
 
 BAPTISM FLIGHT LIFE AT CAUGHNA- 
 WAGA A TRIP TO VlLLE-MARIE THE 
 FIRST INDIAN VIRGIN A LINGERING 
 DEATH THE CROWN is WON. 168 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A SPARK KINDLED ZEAL FOR THE CON- 
 VERSION OF INDIANS FUTILE ENDEAVORS 
 CHRISTIAN SETTLEMENTS THE MOUN- 
 TAIN MISSION EDUCATION OF INDIAN 
 CHILDREN THE MISSION CONFIDED TO 
 MOTHER BOURGEOIS DIFFICULTY AND 
 SUCCESS SOME BEAUTIFUL CONVERSIONS 
 SOEUR BARBIER AT THE MOUNTAIN 
 MISSION. ..... 175 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 RESUMING THE NARRATIVE FIRST CANADIAN 
 POSTULANTS TERRIBLE TRIAL WIDE- 
 SPREAD SYMPATHY PROVIDENCE CARES 
 FOR ITS OWN MGR. DE LAVAL'S 
 PROPOSAL CONFIDENCE AGAIN RE- 
 WARDED CONVENT REBUILT INFLUX 
 OF NOVICES WHAT MARGARET REQUIRED 
 OF HER DAUGHTERS. . . . .191 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 A BIT OF HISTORY CANADIAN MISSIONS 
 - AN ELOQUENT PLEA POVERTY OF 
 FIRST HOUSES MARGARET'S PARTING 
 WORDS THE CONGREGATION'S PATRONAL 
 FEAST THE ISLE OF ORLEANS TRANS- 
 FORMED WORDS OF PRAISE THE 
 GENERAL HOSPITAL A HEROIC 
 UNDERTAKING SPIRITUAL TRIALS - 
 THE QUEBEC FOUNDATIONS AGAIN 
 PROVIDENCE INTERFERES ONCE MORE 
 NEW MISSIONS ESTABLISHED. . . 204 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 QUIET RESTORED THE BURDEN LAID 
 DOWN SISTER BARBIER'S ELECTION 
 
 CHANGES AT THE MOUNTAIN MISSION 
 
 APPROBATION OF RULES RENEWED 
 EFFORTS OF MGR. DE ST. VALLIER 
 THE HOTEL DIEU FIRE THE DIVINE 
 GUEST OF THE TABERNACLE - A 
 TOUCHING PROCESSION. . . .220 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 JEANNE LEBER CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 
 GAIN FROM Loss A SECOND CATHERINE 
 OF SIENNA Two GLIMPSES OF THE 
 
PAGE. 
 
 RECLUSE JEANNE AND THE CONGRE- 
 GATION WORK AND PRAYER A DANGER 
 AVERTED JEANNE LEBER AND MARGARET 
 BOURGEOYS FROM A CELL TO PARADISE. 230 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE RULE AGAIN MGR. DE ST. VALLIER 
 YIELDS AT LAST THE FIRST PROFESSION 
 
 SOEUR DU SAINT-SACREMENT ELEC- 
 TIONS "Now, O LORD, DISMISS THY 
 SERVANT" A FINAL ACT OF HUMILITY 
 
 -"HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD." . 243 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE LAST ACHIEVEMENT A SPIRITUAL 
 LEGACY MARGARET'S SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT 
 OF THE GOSPEL OUR LADY, THE PERFECT 
 EXEMPLAR MARGARET'S TEACHINGS 
 THE TRANSCRIPT OF HER OWN LIFE - 
 A MOTHER'S PRAYER. . . .250 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE REWARD AT HAND THE CROWNING 
 
 SACRIFICE IN ILLNESS AS IN HEALTH 
 
 - LAST COUNSELS THE HOUR DRAWS 
 
 N EAR GOD CLAIMS His OWN A RAY 
 
 OF GLORY. 260 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 PEOPLE'S GRATITUDE THE LAST 
 TRIBUTE GLORIFIED BY GOD AND 
 MAN MARGARET BOURGEOYS' INSTITUTE 
 A PARTING GLANCE HEROINE AND 
 APOSTLE HER CHILDREN'S PRAYER. 268 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 THE VENERABLE MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS . 
 
 Frontispiece 
 DE MAISONNEUVE .... Facing 16 
 
 JEANNE MANCE 42 
 
 JEAN JACQUES OLIF.R 64 
 
 PRIESTS' FORT . . . . .184 
 
 MGR. FRANCOIS DE MONTMORENCY LAVAL 191 
 
 MLLE. JEANNE LEBER .... 230 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 TROYES THE BOURGEOYS FAMILY MARGARET'S 
 BIRTH THE LITTLE TEACHER FIRST TRIALS 
 A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY CHILDHOOD AND 
 YOUTH THE POWER or A LOOK. 
 
 IN the earlier years of the seventeenth century, 
 while Louis XIII. was reigning over France, and 
 James I, the stern enemy of both Catholics and 
 Puritans, sat on the English throne, a fierce blast of 
 intense religious feeling swept over both countries. 
 Minds were uprooted from their common interests 
 and ordinary cares, hearts were stirred by a lasting 
 enthusiasm but how widely the cause and object 
 differed in either country! 
 
 The Puritans, cruelly perescuted by the English 
 king, longed only for liberty to practise their own 
 stern principles. They had vainly sought this free- 
 dom in Holland, and they now hoped to find it in a 
 new country, where kings were quite unknown. 
 When the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth on the 6th 
 of September, 1620, it bore towards America a party 
 of austere and gloomy men who asked nothing from 
 their new home beyond the right to believe what 
 they chose and live as they pleased. Both before 
 
2 THE LIF AND TIMES OF 
 
 and after this date, French men and women set out 
 for the same distant continent. They went, not to 
 seek liberty or peace, but to encounter toil, privation, 
 and danger in an uncivilized country. They left a 
 dearly-loved land, where their lives were secure, not 
 a country whose persecutions drove them away. 
 Their aim was not to live in a strange land according 
 to beliefs scorned in their own, but rather to share a 
 cherished faith with wretched souls dwelling in the 
 darkness of ignorance and idolatry. 
 
 Tales of missionary toils, of souls saved, of lives 
 sacrificed for the glory of God, came back to the 
 Mother country, kindled the flames of apostolic zeal 
 in generous hearts, and thus prepared new laborers 
 for the vineyard. When little French children of 
 that time, who had at least one taste in common with 
 those of to-day, asked for a "story," their mothers 
 would tell them of a strange, far-away country called 
 Canada, and of holy men who were trying to teach 
 Catechism to wild, red-skinned people called Indians. 
 These poor creatures knew nothing about God or 
 Heaven, or the dear little Infant Jesus. They were 
 as ignorant as the untamed animals that roamed 
 through the gloomy Canadian forests. So, we may 
 be right in thinking that such thrilling narratives 
 had some influence upon the little child born at 
 Troyes, nearly five months before the Pilgrim Fathers 
 sailed from Plymouth, and more than five years after 
 the arrival of the first Recollet missionaries in Canada. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 3 
 
 Like the latter, she was destined to leave home and 
 kindred, to give up all the comforts and pleasures of 
 life in order to labor in a newly-founded settlement 
 for the glory of God. 
 
 This Troyes, dear to us because of Margaret 
 Bourgeoys, is by no means an insignificant town. 
 It has a stirring history, from the far-off time when, 
 under the name of Augustobona, it belonged to an 
 old Roman province, till the third century, when it 
 first received the light of faith; on through the stormy 
 fifth century when it was saved from the ravages of 
 Attila by its holy bishop, Lupus, until the twelfth, 
 when its fame was increased by two of its sons, 
 Chretien, the Trouvere, and Thibault IV., the Cru- 
 sader. In 1420, (just two centuries before our hero- 
 ine's birth), Isabeaude Baviere signed within its 
 walls the Treaty by which the fair realm of France 
 was given to an English king. In 1429, Charles the 
 VII. reconquered it, and since that day Troyes has 
 witnessed many other scenes of strife and bloodshed. 
 
 Not warriors, not poets only, were born in the 
 quaint old town, with its . narrow, winding streets, 
 pretty boulevards, wooden houses and splendid 
 Gothic churches. Urban IV., a pontiff whose chief 
 title to honor is the institution of the feast of Corpus 
 Christi, claimed Troyes as his birthplace. The 
 waters of the Seine flow past the picturesque and his- 
 toric town; that Seine, which, not many miles to the 
 
4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 north, also passes through the famous city where toils 
 the eager mind and throbs the uneasy heart of France. 
 
 So, on the lyth of April, 1620, while Catholics 
 were celebrating the day of our Saviour's death, 
 Margaret Bourgeoys began a life that was to leave 
 its mark upon a distant land; a life whose busiest 
 years were to be spent on the shores of another 
 great river, more grandly beautiful than the Seine, if 
 less rich in glorious memories. On the same day 
 the little child was admitted by Baptism into the 
 Church. This initial event of her Christian life took 
 place in the old church dedicated to St. John, still 
 one of the finest in Troyes. 
 
 Of the early years of this life we know but little. 
 None of those charming little anecdotes of childish 
 days, so lovingly dwelt upon by the biographers of 
 other great men and women, has come down to us. 
 This much we do know Margaret's parents, 
 Abraham Bourgeoys and Guillemette Gamier were 
 but moderately endowed with worldly goods. The 
 former was a tradesman, honest and hard-working; 
 the latter, a gentle, loving woman, earnest and pru- 
 dent, faithful to every duty of wifehood and mother- 
 hood, and ever "seeking first the Kingdom of God 
 and its justice." Their reward, in this life, was a 
 peaceful, happy home, brightened by the presence of 
 five children. We are told that like many of God's 
 chosen saints, Margaret gave early proofs of a re- 
 markable inclination to piety and holiness. Fervent 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 5 
 
 in prayer, docile, kind and unselfish, the child seemed 
 to turn naturally to humility and mortification. The 
 peace promised to the "meek and humble of heart" 
 must have been her share all through life, from its 
 dawn to its close. Grace worked swiftly and easily 
 in her rarely gifted nature; an ardent soul, a loving 
 heart, a strong will, a mind in which unusual intelli- 
 gence yielded prompt obedience to calm reason and 
 unfailing prudence what better soil could be found 
 for the growth of virtue! 
 
 If, some ten years after Margaret's birth, we had 
 entered the Bourgeoys' homestead, we should often 
 have seen a pretty picture. In a simply furnished 
 room, seven or eight little girls are gathered round 
 a child of their own age. Some are sewing, one is 
 dressing a little altar, all seem to be listening intently 
 to the serious little maiden, who plays the part of 
 teacher, while they readily accept that of submissive 
 pupils. This central figure has something very un- 
 common about it; the sweet face is so earnest; the 
 clear, calm eyes have such a steady light in them; 
 the gentle voice conveys such an impression of strength 
 and energy. Margaret is telling of her plans for the 
 future, that future which seems so very distant to 
 these little ones who have taken only a few steps in 
 the path of life. She has brought her friends to- 
 gether for prayer and work and play, for she feels 
 that anything done in common has more value than 
 when achieved alone. Perhaps our Lord's promise 
 
6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to be in the midst of two or three gathered 
 together in His name inspired the child with this 
 idea, for she had never seen anything in the way of 
 a sodality for girls. Her projects for after life are 
 not the result of dreams in which wealth or pleasure 
 play the principal part ; her ideal of happiness is to do 
 good to others, to win souls to God, though the man- 
 ner and the means be but dimly outlined in her 
 childish mind. 
 
 Sorrow purifies and strengthens noble hearts, so 
 its influence could not be lacking in Margaret's life. 
 She was only twelve when her mother died, and yet, 
 after this great trial, a heavy load of responsibility 
 was laid upon her shoulders, still very weak for so 
 heavy a burden. 
 
 Abraham Bourgeoys, seeing in his little daughter's 
 character so much strength and wisdom, chose her to 
 replace the mother whom God had taken from his 
 once happy home. A younger brother and sister 
 were confided to Margaret's tuition, and thus this 
 child of twelve, in addition to the new duties of a 
 housewife, had to assume the higher and more serious 
 ones of a teacher. We can imagine how carefully 
 the little housekeeper did each daily task, anxious 
 only for the comfort of others, and never sparing 
 herself or shirking any duty. 
 
 So Margaret passed from childhood to youth, lead- 
 ing a simple, earnest, well-filled life, of whose labors 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 7 
 
 or virtues she has left no record, save humble lamen- 
 tations over some slight faults caused by an inclination 
 to vanity. But Sister Bourgeoys probably exag- 
 gerates the guilt of her desire, so natural to youth, 
 to be as well dressed as others; to her pure and lowly 
 mind this imperfection seems a real sin. 
 
 Like Saint Teresa in her girlish days, Margaret 
 was still held captive by some earthly bonds, but God 
 willed that these should be broken, and broken 
 through Mary's intervention. 
 
 This day of signal grace dawned for our heroine 
 with the first Sunday of October, 1640, when the 
 Dominicans of Troyes celebrated the Feast of the 
 Rosary by a solemn procession. As it wound through 
 the narrow streets of the ancient town, the sweet 
 sound of hymns sung by fresh young voices rose 
 and fell upon the cool autumn winds. The long 
 cortege, with its gay banners waving to and fro, neared 
 the picturesque old Abbey of Notre Dame-aux- 
 Nonnains, and Margaret, who had fallen into the 
 ranks some time before, raised her eyes in loving 
 reverence, to the stone statue of the Blessed Virgin 
 surmounting the massive gate. At that moment, the 
 figure of Our Lady seemed radiant with a celestial 
 beauty unnoticed by Margaret until then, and in- 
 visible to all others. The heavenly face bent upon 
 the startled girl a look of unutterable tenderness, a 
 look which filled her heart with contempt for all 
 earthly things. The procession moved on, Margaret 
 
8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 went with it, nothing in her appearance revealing 
 the wonderful change that one short moment had 
 wrought in her soul. 
 
 In her memoirs, written years afterwards by order 
 of her confessor, Margaret says: "The impression 
 received on that occasion so touched and transformed 
 me, that I no longer knew myself, and the change in 
 me was soon apparent to all ... from that moment 
 I gave up every amusement, retired from the world 
 and dedicated my life to the service of God." Hence- 
 forth, vanity and love of dress having lost their hold 
 upon her, Margaret wore the simplest attire, of a 
 dark color, and prepared to suffer continual humilia- 
 tions, for which, as we shall see, she seemed to thirst 
 until her life's end. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 OUR LADY'S SODALITY MARGARET AS A SODA- 
 LIST ALL FOR GOD SEEKING THE LIGHT 
 DISAPPOINTMENT -- A PARTING -- HEAVENLY 
 CONSOLATION A VISION. 
 
 A SODALITY for young girls had been recently 
 affiliated to the Congregation de Notre Dame, 
 founded by Blessed Peter Fourier in 1628. Its 
 members were young girls who met on Sundays and 
 Holydays, their aim being to serve God by prayer, 
 and their neighbor by acts of kindness and charity. 
 Several members of this Sodality knew Margaret, 
 and seeing her goodness and piety, wished her to 
 join them. Until now, she had always refused, not 
 only because she feared ridicule, but also because a 
 lingering fondness for dress kept her from joining a 
 society whose rules forbade anything in the way of 
 finery or useless ornament. Now, however, that 
 glance from the radiant statue of the old Abbey- 
 Church marked the turning point of her career, and 
 the imperfection which most people hardly recog- 
 nize as such when they call it love of dress fell from 
 her soul as dust from the wind-shaken lily-leaf. It 
 had gone no deeper than the surface, it had merely 
 
TO THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 dimmed the pure brightness of her girlish heart, but 
 Our Lord could not suffer even a flaw in one He had 
 chosen to be His and His alone. 
 
 Having purified her soul from its slight stain by a 
 fervent confession, Margaret was admitted into the 
 Sodality and soon edified all by her humility, charity 
 and wonderful spirit of self-sacrifice. This gentle, 
 unselfish holiness endeared her to every one, and, at 
 the first elections following her admission, she was 
 chosen President. So faithfully did she discharge her 
 new duties that only her departure for Canada twelve 
 years later, could induce the Sodality to give her 
 place to another. 
 
 A tender devotion to our Lady was the source 
 whence Margaret derived those virtues which, lead- 
 ing her ever higher on the upward path, drew others 
 upward also by the sweetly constraining force of good 
 example. This devotion took the form of a constant 
 endeavor to imitate the Blessed Virgin's virtues and 
 to unite with her intentions in every action. This 
 practice Margaret afterwards recommended often and 
 urgently to her spiritual daughters. 
 
 Margaret's leisure hours during this period of her 
 life were devoted to all sorts of charitable labors. 
 How often she went into poor and sorrow T -darkened 
 houses, bringing with her help and consolation! How 
 often she took her place beside weak and fretful 
 sufferers, tending them with loving hands, her very 
 presence seeming to lighten their pain and fill their 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. u 
 
 hearts with fresh courage! How often the sound of 
 her sweet voice, speaking with irresistible eloquence 
 of God's merciful love, brought back peace and hope 
 to some poor soul trembling on the brink of eternity! 
 
 While thus lavishing upon others her never-failing 
 kindness and compassion, Margaret asked nothing 
 for herself, but joyfully received all trials and humilia- 
 tions. As her heart became more closely united to 
 God through Mary, she conceived a great wish to 
 leave the world and serve her Lord more perfectly. 
 After praying earnestly, thinking seriously, and 
 humbly seeking advice, Margaret determined to 
 enter the Carmelite Order. As devotion to Our Lady 
 and love of mortification were so deeply rooted in her 
 heart, it seemed quite natural that she should serve 
 God in silence, holiness and austerest penance, in 
 one of the Blessed Virgin's most privileged orders. 
 
 Abraham Bourgeoys, at first, surprised and grieved 
 by her desire to leave him in his lonely old age, at 
 last, with touching resignation, made up his mind to 
 let her follow God's call. But, when the young girl 
 made her humble request for admission into the no- 
 vitiate, the daughters of Saint Teresa, unconsciously 
 obeying in this the will of God, kindly, yet firmly, re- 
 jected her petition. Although this refusal was a 
 great sorrow to Margaret, no anger or irritation dis- 
 turbed her peace of heart. 
 
 Seeking only to discover the designs of Providence, 
 she then knocked at the lonelv convent of the Poor 
 
i-2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Clares; for here, too, penance and solitude would be 
 her lot. She was met by another bitter disappoint- 
 ment; like the Carmelites, the daughters of Saint 
 Clare refused to admit her. 
 
 Grieved, but not discouraged, she now resolved 
 to seek perfection in the world. Having waited some 
 time in obedience to her confessor's advice, she made 
 a vow of perpetual chastity on December 21, 1643, 
 just one year after the foundation of Ville-Marie, 
 whither her unsuspected vocation was soon to lead 
 her. A little later she made a vow of poverty. 
 
 About this time Father Gendret, a zealous priest 
 whom Margaret had chosen as her confessor, sought 
 to found a teaching community, whose object was to 
 honor the missionary life of Our Blessed Lady, and 
 her zeal for the Infant Church, after her Son's Ascen- 
 sion. 
 
 The new institution was confided to Margaret's 
 care. But the plan was doomed to failure. God 
 had other things in store for her. Subsequent events 
 not only proved this clearly, but also inflicted new 
 grief upon our heroine, who had thought to find, at 
 last, her own special sphere of action. 
 
 After all these trials, a great loss saddened Mar- 
 garet's life. It was the death of her loving father. 
 After caring for him most tenderly during his long 
 illness, and praying by his side during his agony, she 
 sadly closed his eyes. Then, unwilling to let stranger 
 hands touch his lifeless body, she prepared it for 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 13 
 
 burial. It would seem as if this action, prompted by 
 her tender affection, was rewarded by an increase of 
 love for her neighbor. From this day Margaret 
 added to her other good works the truly Christian 
 custom of laying out the dead. 
 
 Were we to consider only the outward circumstances 
 of Margaret's life at this period, we should think it 
 very gloomy and desolate. Fatherless and mother- 
 less, crushed by one disappointment after another, 
 longing to do God's will, and unable to discover His 
 designs upon her, surely she must be leading a 
 wretched life. But in reality, Our Lord amply repaid 
 her for the bitterest trials. Of her, the words of the 
 Gospel are indeed true: ''Blessed are they that 
 mourn, for they shall be comforted/' More than 
 once, the Divine Consoler, entering her heart by Holy 
 Communion, filled her with so fervent a love and so 
 great a joy that she could scarcely repress some out- 
 ward sign of her inward happiness. 
 
 But a more signal favor was soon to be hers. The 
 fifteenth day of August, 1650, was to be one of the 
 most memorable dates in Margaret's life. It would 
 seem as if, in order to attach her even more to the 
 service of Mary, our Lord chose His Blessed Mother's 
 feasts to enrich her with most wonderful favors. This 
 day, on which the Church celebrates Our Lady's 
 glorious entrance into her Son's heavenly kingdom, 
 was marked by the exposition of the Blessed Sacra- 
 ment and by a solemn procession in honor of the 
 
i 4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Queen of Heaven. While this procession was passing 
 along the streets, catching on its banners the shafts 
 of the midsummer sun, a few chosen souls knelt be- 
 fore their Lord in the quiet church. What a con- 
 trast between the cool dimness of the Gothic temple, 
 where the light fell in softened beams through the 
 pointed windows, and the dazzling sunshine in the 
 streets without! Yet there was a brightness within, 
 too, for many tapers glowed upon the altar, where 
 the warm-tinted sumrher flowers were giving their 
 last breath to adorn a humble throne. Above flowers 
 and lights, the King Himself, from His tiny golden 
 prison, looked down upon the worshippers below. 
 Margaret was kneeling there, her kind hands now 
 folded, her head bowed, her whole attitude expressive 
 of humble adoration. Suddenly, she lifted her eyes, 
 and fixed them lovingly upon the Sacred Host. Then 
 Our Lord deigned to favor her with a gracious vision; 
 instead of the Host, she saw, smiling down upon her, 
 a little child whose celestial beauty filled her heart 
 with joy and peace. What passed within her as, 
 blind and deaf to all earthly things, she gazed upon 
 the great God of Heaven, revealing Himself in so 
 sweet and gentle a form ? We cannot tell, for God's 
 work in a soul is ever as silent as it is swift and power- 
 ful. The task begun by Our Dear Lady was now 
 completed by her Divine Son. A look from the 
 Mother had once broken the bonds of vanity; a 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 15 
 
 glance from the Son infused into Margaret's heart an 
 utter disgust for the allurements of the world. Hence- 
 forth, Sister Margaret lived upon earth as an angel 
 might, using the necessaries of life reluctantly, in- 
 different to all earthly delights, her thoughts and her 
 desires dwelling ever in Heaven. 
 
 This complete detachment of heart and mind had 
 been brought about by God's grace, in order to fit 
 her for the fulfilment of the mysterious designs which 
 her departure for Canada was soon to make known. 
 These progressive victories of grace in a soul already 
 so holy are an encouragement to us all, for they teach 
 that though the Saints may have had faults like ours, 
 yet they became Saints, not all at once, but by dint 
 of prayer and conflict, for, says the Imitation: "The 
 old custom will stand in thy way but by a better 
 custom it shall be overcome." (Book III. Chap. XII.) 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 OUR LADY'S KNIGHT LA "FOLLE ENTREPRISE" 
 BACK TO FRANCE SEEN IN SLEEP WHAT 
 CAME OF A DREAM LIGHT AT LAST HESITA- 
 TION "Go, I SHALL BE WITH YOU!'* 
 
 STRANGE circumstances were to bring Marga- 
 ret Bourgeoys into close contact with one of the 
 most striking characters in a singularly varied 
 and interesting page of history. It will perhaps not 
 come amiss to speak here of this man Paul Chomedy 
 de Maisonneuve with whom Margaret was to co- 
 operate in a great and perilous work. 
 
 "De Maisonneuve was a great man, knightly in 
 bearing, brave as a lion and devout as a monk."* 
 There words excellently portray this man, in whom 
 tender piety, far-seeing prudence and indomitable 
 energy were blended in so rare a degree. Little is 
 known of him before his providential appearance as 
 leader of the colony sent out to Canada by the Mon- 
 treal Company.f Of his childhood only one glimpse 
 
 * Picturesque Canada. 
 
 f The Montreal Company was an Association of thirty -five 
 men of wealth and influence, formed to establish a colony on 
 the island of Montreal, and to build there a city called Ville- 
 Marie which should be consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, 
 
PAUL DE CHOMEDEY SIEUR LE MAISONNEUVE 
 FOUNDER AND FIRST GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 17 
 
 is given; at the age of thirteen he heads a regiment 
 on a battle-field in Holland, but that one glimpse 
 reveals his whole character. He seemed born to 
 fight and to command. His courage was both moral 
 and physical, drawing all its strength from Jove of 
 God and of His Blessed Mother. He well deserved 
 to be called "One of the knights of the Queen of 
 Angels." 
 
 Brave soldier and strenuous worker though he was, 
 he found time every day to say his beads and recite 
 the Little Office. As a mere boy, in an effeminate 
 and pleasure-loving environment, he bore his soul 
 untainted through all the temptations of camp life. 
 In later years, as in youth, neither argument nor op- 
 position could induce him to deviate in the least from 
 the line of clear duty. So, when entrusted, in 1641, 
 with the mission of founding, in the then most dan- 
 gerous spot in Canada, a settlement in honor of the 
 Blessed Virgin, nothing could persuade him to give 
 up or even alter the plans entrusted to him. To the 
 reproaches and expostulations with which he was met 
 in Quebec, he simply replied: "I have not come here 
 
 A part of the Island was sold to the Company by the 100 
 Associates in 1646, on the condition that a settlement be formed 
 there. The Company held its powers directly from the King; 
 it received a charter and was allowed the privilege of a Governor 
 for the island. 
 
 In 1655, the entire island became the property of the 
 Montreal Company, and on its dissolution, it was purchased 
 by^the Sulpicians. 
 
1 8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to deliberate, but to act. It is my duty and my 
 honor to found a colony at Montreal; and I would 
 go if every tree were an Iroquois."* 
 
 A weaker or a less prudent man would have in- 
 evitably failed in the " crazy undertaking," "la folle 
 entreprise," as it was then styled, and with him would 
 have perished the whole colony of New France. But 
 the indomitable pluck of de Maisonneuve held one 
 little battered outpost, year after year, against the 
 whole brunt of Iroquois war, and thus protected the 
 lives and property of those behind him. 
 
 At last, however, the garrison dwindled to almost 
 nothing, and even the brave Governor deemed further 
 resistance almost useless. As a last resource, he de- 
 termined to go himself to France, to ask for more 
 men and funds. If he could not obtain at least a 
 hundred men, he was to write and order the evacua- 
 tion of Ville-Marie. 
 
 De Maisonneuve had two sisters living in Troyes; 
 one, Madame de Chuly, with whom Margaret lived 
 for some time after her father's death; the other, a 
 religious in the Convent of the Congregation de Notre 
 Dame. This sister, Soeur Louise de Ste. Marie, 
 was the confidant of all de Maisonneuve 's plans. 
 She had ever prayed fervently for him; she it was 
 who had urged his devoting himself to the cause of 
 France in the New World. Previous to his leaving 
 
 * Parkman, The Jesuits in North America in the Seven- 
 teenth Century. (Boston, LITTLE BROWN & Co., 1868), p 203. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 19 
 
 for Canada, she had given him a picture of Our Lady, 
 around which, with artless faith, were traced the 
 words : 
 
 "Mother of God, on thy true heart we call, 
 Grant us a place in thy Montreal." 
 
 For all the nuns were inflamed with a zeal akin to 
 that of de Maisonneuve. They yearned to dare all 
 perils and spend their lives in the effort to convert 
 the pagan tribes of America. Let us not forget that 
 this was the first and foremost intention of the founders 
 of Montreal, and, though it may have been lost 
 sight of later, it was never forgotten by the pioneers 
 of Ville-Marie. Scarce knowing what was to be 
 his life in the future, or what that of his followers in 
 the distant land of their dreams, de Maisonneuve 
 promised to come back for the sisters when a little 
 settlement would have arisen. 
 
 However, the ardent nuns were doomed to disap- 
 pointment. Ten years later, de Maisonneuve, some- 
 what worn by his hand-to-hand struggle with death 
 in many a shape, but a truer knight and a truer saint 
 than ever, came back to France for help. Having, 
 with much trouble gathered together one hundred 
 and eight able-bodied men, most of them laborers 
 or artisans, he was nearly ready for the return trip. 
 As was his custom, he came to take leave of his sisters 
 in Troyes. Sceur Louise de Sainte Marie and her 
 companions reminded him of the half promise he had 
 made them. Had not the time come for Soeur Louise 
 
20 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and three or four of her nuns to go with him to help 
 evangelize Montreal? De Maisonneuve now knew 
 better the requirements of his sorely tried colony. 
 He told them that, for the present, the foundation of 
 a cloistered convent was quite out of the question. 
 But they had dreamt so long of Ville-Marie it 
 seemed to have become their own; and they pleaded 
 with him, urging that whatever work there might be 
 outside the cloister could be done by the Sister Pre- 
 fect of their young girls' sodality, whose talents and 
 sterling qualities would prove of inestimable worth 
 to the colony. They had sometimes spoken to this 
 person of their cherished plans and asked her if she 
 would not like to go with them to Canada. She had 
 always replied that nothing would give her greater 
 pleasure, provided it were the will of God. They 
 praised this young girl so warmly that de Maisonneuve 
 grew curious, and asked if he might be allowed to 
 see her. Margaret Bourgeoys, whose home was 
 probably near the convent, was at once sent for. 
 
 De Maisonneuve had been waiting only a few 
 minutes when a very simply dressed young woman 
 came into the room with light, quick step. She was 
 of about medium height, her face was firm and kind, 
 with clear dark eyes under a singularly broad and 
 calm brow. She looked at de Maisonneuve, as 
 Sceur Louise was about to speak, and suddenly an 
 expression of astonished recognition overspread her 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 21 
 
 face. Throwing up her hands, she exclaimed: "Here 
 is my priest! Here is he whom I saw in my dreams! " 
 
 Thoroughly perplexed and surprised, de Maison- 
 neuve and the nuns begged her to explain the mean- 
 ing of this singular outburst. Margaret hesitated, 
 then, with a directness that characterized her, told 
 them that a few days previous she had had a most 
 vivid dream, which had returned once and once 
 again. Each time she had seen a venerable man 
 dressed in a sober, half-clerical garb, like that com- 
 monly worn by priests when travelling. The features 
 of this man, though seen for the first time, remained 
 impressed on her mind, while the firm conviction 
 was forced upon her that one day she would meet 
 this stranger and find in him a co-laborer in the har- 
 vesting of God's glory. Now, the face she had seen 
 three times in her sleep, was unmistakably that of 
 M. de Maisonneuve. 
 
 Sister Bourgeoys' dream and her recognition of the 
 Governor of Montreal were at first deemed nothing 
 more than amusing coincidences, but subsequent 
 events were to prove them the means employed by 
 God to make known His Holy Will. 
 
 That God does often make use of dreams to reveal 
 His designs upon chosen souls may be proved by 
 many examples recorded in the Holy Scriptures and 
 the lives of the Saints. For instance, we read in the 
 wonderful life of St. Francis Xavier that it was by a 
 
22 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 dream he learnt his vocation to the Indies. So was 
 it to be with Margaret Bourgeoys. 
 
 De Maisonneuve, like the great captain he was, 
 at once perceived the rare, strong qualities that under- 
 lay the modest appearance of the young and inex- 
 perienced woman before him. Here was one who 
 could be relied upon, one who would be ready for 
 any emergency. Few words had been spoken before 
 he came to the point with soldierly abruptness. 
 "Would you be willing," he said, "to go to Montreal 
 and to open there a school for children?" Margaret, 
 who on her side felt an instinctive respect and esteem 
 for de Maisonneuve, replied at once: "If my Supe- 
 riors approve, I will go joyfully and consecrate my 
 life to the service of God and my neighbor in that 
 distant land." 
 
 When Sister Margaret pronounced these words 
 she knew that she was very possibly going to mar- 
 tyrdom she knew that she was going to be alone 
 to bear all the weariness of teaching children whose 
 language was first to be acquired; and that after- 
 wards, should the cruel Iroquois make a successful 
 raid into the little Christian settlement, she would 
 probably be burnt alive. Her ready acceptance of 
 such possibilities was nothing short of heroic. 
 
 De Maisonneuve was much pleased with the un- 
 foreseen result of his visit to the convent. He had 
 found one school teacher and no more would be 
 wanted for manv years to come. There were as yet 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 23 
 
 very few French children in Ville-Marie, and those 
 few were still too young to immediately require a 
 teacher, but there was need of somebody to care for 
 the children of Indian converts and to help Jeanne 
 Mance* in the performance of her gentle, womanly 
 ministrations. 
 
 Margaret had accepted, but conditionally. In 
 such an important matter she would not trust to her 
 own impulse, but humbly sought advice from those 
 who could give it best. A few days were spent in 
 earnest deliberation and prayer. Mature thought 
 could only show more clearly the insurmountable 
 difficulties that beset the undertaking. She was poor 
 and had no natural protectors; New France was 
 threatened with total destruction; the journey was 
 long and dangerous, and she would have to undertake 
 it alone with rough men. At this thought even Mar- 
 garet grew afraid. 
 
 Something above human wisdom and prudence 
 must have inspired Father Gendret, Margaret's con- 
 fessor, to approve most strongly her apparently rash 
 and hasty decision. He urged his now sorely-per- 
 plexed penitent to go on without doubt or hesitation, 
 for God's Providence had at last revealed her life- 
 work. In Canada, and at Ville-Marie, he foretold, 
 
 * Jeane Mance, foundress of the Hotel-Dieu, the first 
 hospital of Ville-Marie. She was present at the foundation 
 of Maisonneuve's colony in 1642, and from that time forth, 
 devoted herself to the sick and the wounded. 
 
24 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 she would permanently establish the Community, the 
 foundation of which they had striven in vain to lay 
 in the soil of Troves. 
 
 "But I am quite alone," said Margaret; "how 
 shall I found a Community?" 
 
 "Your Guardian Angel," counted Father Gendret, 
 "mine, and you; that makes three already." 
 
 "But there is no woman to go with me," she re- 
 plied, "and how can I go alone with an unknown 
 gentleman ?" 
 
 "Put your whole trust in M. de Maisonneuve's 
 protection, as you would in that of one of the first 
 knights of the Queen of Angels." 
 
 These brave, kind words somewhat reassured Mar- 
 garet, but her pure soul was to be flooded with such 
 consolation as no human voice could give. What 
 happened at this trying juncture let us tell in her own 
 earnest, simple words, as written down years after- 
 wards : 
 
 "One morning, when thoroughly awake, I saw 
 before me a tall lady, clothed in a robe of white 
 serge-like material, who said, 'Go, and I will never 
 abandon thee.' And I knew that it was Our dear 
 Lady, although 1 did not see her face. This reas- 
 sured me for the journey and gave me a great deal of 
 courage. Nothing, indeed, now seemed difficult, 
 although I was on my guard against illusions." 
 
 With that heavenly voice ringing in her ears, what 
 were obstacles and what were dangers? Margaret 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 25 
 
 felt all her doubts and hesitations vanish like a 
 morning mist before the rising sun. 
 
 She went on her way as usual, going from one 
 house of suffering to another, comforting and cheer- 
 ing, and thus waited quietly for news from de 
 Maisonneuve who had returned to Paris. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A JOURNEY TO PARIS IN THE COACH PARIS - 
 A FIERY TRIAL THE PROBLEM SOLVED 
 PARIS TO ORLEANS REJECTION BY RIVER 
 TO NANTES A NEW HUMILIATION ARRIVAL 
 A HARSH RECEPTION THE LAST CONFLICT 
 A WEARY HEART AT REST. 
 
 WHEN the heavenly light had shone, revealing 
 to Margaret the thorny path she was to 
 tread, the obstacles it so clearly indicated 
 did not daunt her courage. But she knew how insur- 
 mountable they would seem to others, especially to 
 those who loved her; for this reason she kept her de- 
 cision a secret from all but the priests to whom she 
 trusted for guidance, and one intimate friend Mar- 
 guerite Crolo her protegee and fellow-worker. Not 
 even Madame de Chuly, with whom she lived, was 
 informed of her project. 
 
 The day came when de Maisonneuve wrote to 
 this sister, this very Madame de Chuly, asking her 
 to meet him in Paris, that they might take leave of 
 each other. It happened that Margaret's uncle, 
 Mr. Cossard, (who was also guardian of her younger 
 brother and sister), had business to transact in Paris 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 27 
 
 at the same time. So Margaret begged leave to 
 make the journey with them, under the pretext of 
 having some business of her own in the great capital. 
 
 When, on the 8th of February, 1653, the three 
 fellow-travellers were seated in the rude, weather- 
 beaten public coach, and Margaret looked back at 
 the quaint old city, with a fond thought for the stone 
 statue above the Abbey portal and for the dim church 
 in which the Divine Infant had appeared before her, 
 Madame de Chuly and Mr. Cossard little dreamed 
 that what, to them, was a mere temporary departure 
 was to Margaret a definite breaking away from the 
 past, from home and friends and country. 
 
 The rumbling vehicle had left Troyes far behind, 
 when Margaret rent the veil that had hidden her pro- 
 ject, and explained what this journey meant to her. 
 She unfolded her plans so simply, spoke of crossing 
 the ocean, going to Canada, braving all its unknown 
 dangers, with so much brightness and gaiety, that 
 her friend and her uncle thought she was only jesting, 
 and heard her disclosures with an indulgent smile. 
 Perhaps one thing especially confirmed them in this 
 idea; who could dream of leaving on such a journey 
 without money or luggage ? And Margaret had with 
 her only a little bundle of clothes. But she herself 
 explains this in her Memoirs: "After the apparition, 
 as I dreaded illusion, I thought that if it came from 
 God I had no need to take anything for the journey, 
 and I said to myself: 'If God wills that I should go 
 
28 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to Ville-Marie, I need nothing,' and I left without 
 money or clothes, having only a parcel small enough 
 to be carried under my arm. " Before leaving Troyes, 
 she distributed to the poor whatever ready money 
 she possessed. The Master had said : " Take nothing 
 for your journey; neither staff nor scrip, nor bread, 
 nor money," (Luke ix., 3.), and Margaret obeyed, 
 trusting in that other word of His: "Be not therefore 
 solicitous for tomorrow, for the morrow will be solic- 
 itous for itself." (Matthew vi., 34). 
 
 During the tedious journey thirty-six miles in 
 an old-fashioned, comfortless, jolting coach Mar- 
 garet's sweetness and gayety were unchanging and 
 her companions became more and more convinced 
 that her startling announcement was a mere joke. 
 But when the journey was ended, the lodging house 
 reached, the first bustle of arrival over, Mr. Cossard 
 was surprised by an unexpected request; his niece 
 wished to see a notary and begged him to accompany 
 her. He consented readily enough, though with some 
 curiosity. When Margaret quietly stated that she 
 wished to relinquish all right to whatever might 
 be coming to her from her parents, in favor of a 
 younger brother and sister, Mr. Cossard's astonish- 
 ment knew no bounds. For the first tune he realized 
 that she was not only quite serious, but most earn- 
 estly bent on carrying out her, (to his mind), mad 
 project. He tried to change her purpose by reasoning, 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 29 
 
 pleading, entreating, but all in vain. The deed of 
 gift was drawn up and duly signed. 
 
 Then Margaret came forth to face a storm of oppo- 
 sition. Her uncle, after telling Madame de Chuly, 
 hastened back to Troyes to spread the strange news. 
 A few days later a very avalanche of letters, some 
 pathetic, some angry, some coldly sarcastic, some 
 tenderly persuasive, poured in upon poor Margaret. 
 She read them quietly but remained unshaken in her 
 resolute purpose. 
 
 Severer trials met her before long. Madame de 
 Bellevue, the good woman with whom she lodged, 
 had a brother who was Provincial of the Carmelites. 
 She urged Margaret to revert to her former design 
 and enter the Carmelite Order, promising to obtain 
 a place for her in the Novitiate through her brother's 
 influence. Evil tongues had already endeavored to 
 gain a similar end by slandering de Maisonneuve, 
 hoping thus to prevent her from accompanying him. 
 Though fully convinced of Chomedy's uprightness, 
 Margaret was troubled and perplexed. The old 
 attraction for the peaceful cloister, where prayer and 
 penance join hands to lead the daughters of Carmel 
 heavenward, revived in her heart, moving her almost 
 irresistibly to accept the Provincial's readily-proffered 
 help. Yet . . . her place was already taken in the 
 coach that would leave next day for Orleans and 
 her dream and her confessor's advice and the 
 vision and so many secret indications of God's 
 
30 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 will ; did not all these point to Canada as her destined 
 field of labor? 
 
 Tossed to and fro by conflicting feelings, worn 
 out by the wearing strain of uncertainty, she decided 
 to seek advice from the sons of St. Ignatius, ever 
 famed for their wisdom in the guidance of souls. 
 She hurried to the Rue St. Antoine, where stood one 
 of the most celebrated Jesuit houses, and asked for 
 a priest. God sent a wise and saintly missionary 
 who had toiled in Canada and knew its dangers and 
 its needs. With the candor of a child, Margaret, as 
 Teresa had done a hundred years before, laid bare 
 the most secret workings of her heart, and waited 
 meekly for his decision. Like Francis Borgia listen- 
 ing to the Saint of Avila, the wise missionary saw at a 
 glance the full beauty and strength of this privileged 
 soul. Moreover, through all her efforts and trials, 
 he clearly traced the guiding thread of a Providential 
 mission. "Go to Canada," he said, "and fear noth- 
 ing it is God's will.'' Margaret rose, comforted 
 and strengthened, and went to prepare for the mor- 
 row's journey. 
 
 A disciple of St. Ignatius had been chosen by God 
 to fortify her troubled soul and give an apostle to 
 Ville-Marie. When Canadians seek to calculate how 
 much the Church in Canada owes to the Society of 
 Jesus, this debt should not be forgotten. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 31 
 
 Next day, Margaret Bourgeoys took her place in 
 the coach* to begin her long drive from Paris to 
 Orleans. 
 
 She was alone, dressed plainly and carrying all 
 her possessions in a small bundle; this sufficed to 
 draw upon her at first curious, then suspicious looks 
 from her companions. They all treated her with 
 contempt, some even with rudeness. When the 
 stage drew up before the hostelry at Orleans, the 
 other lodgers spurned her, saying that they would 
 not have her in their company, and the inn-keeper 
 bade her seek lodgings elsewhere. So she slept, or 
 rather stayed, for she spent the long hours in prayer, 
 in a wretched house to which she was led by the 
 
 * This word "coach" brings to our minds the curious 
 picture of a conveyance as unknown now as was the old-time 
 chariot to our grand-parents. It was merely a covered box 
 hung, not on springs, but on leather straps, and capable of 
 accommodating as many as twelve passengers. This very plain 
 vehicle was drawn by two or four stout cobs. The variety 
 known as stage took its name from the fact that it journeyed 
 by "stages," stopping several times before its destination was 
 reached. The coach is said by some to be of French, by 
 others, of Hungarian origin. The latter explain that the name 
 itself is derived from the word "covered" as spoken by the 
 people of Hungary. However this may be, the thing itself 
 had, in 1653, been in use little over a century, there being but 
 two in Paris during the reign of Francis I. and three in 1550. 
 Previous to this, kings travelled on horseback, princesses were 
 carried in litters and ladies rode behind their squires. At the 
 end of the i6th century, people of quality t began to drive in 
 close carriages of good workmanship and the first of these let 
 for hire was sent out by the Hotel Fiacre (hence the name 
 "fiacre") just three years before Margaret took her place in 
 the stage coach that travelled between Paris and Orleans. 
 
32 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 driver of the coach. She left the miserable place in 
 the early morning and embarked on the rough boat 
 bound for Nantes. Among the twelve passengers, 
 there was but one other woman with her child. Yet 
 Margaret induced all on board to join her in prayer, 
 and the time was spent in that boat as it might have 
 been in a convent, all the way to Saumur. So great 
 was her influence that, one Saturday, fearing to miss 
 Mass, she even persuaded the captain of the boat to 
 travel by night instead of waiting for the day. Yield- 
 ing to her will, he consented to act in opposition to 
 his hitherto invariable custom, and consequently all 
 on board had the happiness of hearing Mass early 
 Sunday morning. 
 
 About half way to Nantes, there was a halt at 
 Saumur, where a night was to be spent on land. The 
 little party of travellers passed from the boat to the 
 shore and went in search of lodgings. At the chief 
 hostelry, the people of the inn, seeing Margaret poor 
 and alone, refused to admit her. Her fellow-travellers 
 even the woman, far from pleading her cause, re- 
 mained perfectly indifferent to her plight. However, 
 a respectable citizen was moved to compassion and 
 offered her lodgings with his family. She accepted 
 gratefully, secretly rejoiced at having experienced 
 the humiliation and rejection once suffered by Mary 
 and Joseph in Bethlehem. Strange to say, this affront 
 did not diminish the respect of her fellow-travellers, 
 nor even her influence over them. On the following 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS, 33 
 
 day, all met again on board the boat and the trip was 
 resumed as before. 
 
 After three or four days of travel down the great 
 Loire, Nantes was reached, and Margaret parted 
 from her companions, going to seek Mr. Le Coq, 
 for whom de Maisonneuve had given her a letter of 
 introduction. She passed through the streets, with 
 their curious houses of unattractive aspect, asking 
 her way from time to time, but never meeting anyone 
 who knew Mr. Le Coq. 
 
 At last she stopped a passer-by and asked her 
 usual question. "Mr. Le Coq," the man returned, 
 "I am Mr. Le Coq. And could you be the person 
 about whom M. de Maisonneuve has written, telling 
 me she intends going to Canada with him, and begging 
 me to receive her as cordially as I would receive him ? " 
 "I am," replied Margaret, handing him the Gov- 
 ernor's letter. Immediately Mr. Le Coq showed her 
 the way to his house, as he had some business to 
 despatch. With a feeling of such relief as might well 
 be experienced after so many troubles, Margaret 
 hastened towards the place pointed out by the good 
 merchant. 
 
 Unfortunately, it was not customary in those days 
 for women to travel without protectors, and seeing 
 our heroine unaccompanied by a servant or chaperon, 
 Madame Le Coq refused to admit her. Even this 
 last blow did not disconcert Margaret. She received 
 it meekly from the hand of God, and turning away 
 
34 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 entered a neighboring church belonging to the 
 Dominicans. There, a procession in honor of the 
 Rosary was in progress. She assisted at it with even 
 more than her usual fervor, and then returned to the 
 Le Coq homestead only to be met by a new affront 
 from the irascible housewife. However, while she 
 was gently explaining her identity to the angry dame, 
 Mr. Le Coq himself came upon the scene and made 
 everything clear to his wife. Then Madame Le 
 Coq, with profuse apologies, begged Margaret to 
 enter and accept their hospitality. During her whole 
 stay, both husband and wife strove, by kindness and 
 civility, to make their gentle guest forget the rude- 
 ness of her first reception. 
 
 Before the final departure, a last great trial was to 
 test her vocation. Wishing to receive Holy Commun- 
 ion, and drawn by the ever- powerful attraction of her 
 constant heart, she entered a Carmelite Church and 
 there went to confession. It chanced that the priest, 
 hearing of her project, thought fit to advise her to 
 remain in France, and return to her early resolution 
 of becoming a Carmelite. The hard-won peace, re- 
 stored to Margaret's heart but a short time before 
 in Paris, was suddenly and violently troubled. Once 
 again the tempest of doubt and perplexity tossed her 
 mind and will. 
 
 With anxious soul and tear-stained cheek, she went 
 out of the church, passed aimlessly along the streets, 
 then entered another church, where the Blessed 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 35 
 
 Sacrament was exposed. There, she fell upon her 
 knees weeping and praying, pouring out her woes 
 in the presence of her Lord. All the fervor of her 
 ardent soul breathed in her supplications to know 
 God's will this, she protested, was her sole de- 
 sire; to know His will that she might do it. In this 
 her agony she breathed the same prayer as her Master, 
 "Not my will, but Thine be done." None can tell 
 what passed between God and her soul, but when 
 she rose and left the church, all doubts were laid to 
 rest forever and perfect serenity had settled upon her 
 heart. One ray of divine light, one touch of divine 
 grace and. the will of God was made known, and 
 her own will rose up to meet It and become one with 
 It. 
 
 Three weeks passed before Margaret left Nantes; 
 there was much worry about temporal concerns, much 
 bodily fatigue but never again did she question the 
 certainty of her vocation to Canada. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SAINT NAZAIRE PREPARATION CROSSING THE 
 ATLANTIC IN 1653 SHIP FEVER NURSE AND 
 TEACHER A WEARY VOYAGE CANADA AT 
 LAST A GLAD WELCOME. 
 
 FROM Nantes, Margaret sailed in a small river- 
 craft, and passed down the beautiful Loire, 
 France's greatest river. Did her eyes linger 
 regretfully on each detail of the picturesque shores, 
 taking a silent farewell of her beloved France? 
 
 At last the boat stopped at a point of land where 
 on the right bank of the Loire at its mouth, lies the 
 once prosperous town of Saint Nazaire. Here, Mar- 
 garet found some young women whom M. de la 
 Dauversiere had recommended to the future Governor 
 of Montreal and who were to sail with him. What 
 a welcome sight were these fellow travellers to her 
 who had long dreaded being, for weeks, the only 
 woman in the midst of a motley gathering! 
 
 The great moment of Margaret's life has come; 
 she is about to begin that work for which God has 
 destined her from all eternity and towards which 
 His Providence has slowly, but surely, guided her 
 docile steps. Let us look at her as, still calm and 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 37 
 
 strong as ever, she steps upon the deck of the "Saint 
 Nicholas." Through her historian's eyes we see a 
 youthful countenance in which are mirrored frankness, 
 loyalty, and womanly gentleness. Her words and 
 actions bear the stamp of a rare combination of good 
 qualities : sound sense, extreme conscientiousness, and 
 true warmth of heart.* 
 
 The ship weighs anchor and slowly leaves the land, 
 towards which Margaret casts a farewell look but 
 that farewell, made on the 2oth of June, 1653, was 
 not to be final. The "Saint Nicholas" had journeyed 
 but a few days when it sprang so serious a leak that 
 it had to turn back for repairs. A spirit of revolt 
 now seized the colonists, and great excitement pre- 
 vailed. Maisonneuve confined the refractory soldiers 
 in a neighboring island, and so secured them until 
 the ship was ready to sail. In the midst of this general 
 commotion Margaret remained calm and self-pos- 
 sessed, her quiet courage being most useful in restoring 
 peace. 
 
 At last everything was ready, and on the 2oth of 
 July, the feast of her patroness, St. Margaret, Martyr, 
 she left her native land and began a long and eventful 
 journey. We of this "enlightened" twentieth cen- 
 tury, cannot realize what crossing the stormy Atlantic 
 meant some two hundred and fifty years ago. We 
 must forget the floating palaces that steam so swiftly 
 over the ocean to-day and see only a wooden ship, 
 
 * Parkman. The Jesuits in North America, p. 201. 
 
38 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 with a network of rigging, and great sails that flap 
 idly, or fill and strain, as the wind falls or rises. From 
 the narrow deck a ladder leads down into the hold, 
 gloomy, damp and low-roofed. There, in that month 
 of July, 1653, was crowded the group of colonists in 
 a space that would now seem unfit, both as to size 
 and comfort, for a consignment of valuable cattle. 
 
 Slowly the wretched old vessel crawled on, now 
 tossed on stormy seas and beaten about by fierce 
 winds, now laboriously creeping onward in an almost 
 lifeless calm. To add to the misery and discomfort 
 of the dreary crossing, a contagious fever, probably 
 the result of bad water and unsanitary quarters, broke 
 out among the travellers. 
 
 Margaret toiled night and day nursing the unfortu- 
 nate victims, eight of whom died before land was 
 reached. She cared for each of the sufferers with 
 motherly tenderness and gladly gave up for their use 
 the delicacies regularly sent her. Though in her 
 sweet humility she declined the place reserved for her 
 at the Governor's table, she readily accepted what- 
 ever could be bestowed upon the fever-stricken pa- 
 tients. Several barrels of fresh water had been put 
 on board for Margaret's exclusive use, as the kindly 
 captain knew that she never took wine. But she 
 would drink only the brackish water allowed to the 
 sailors, and gave her own provision to the poor in- 
 valids. Her constant practice was to drink but once 
 a day, from a leathern cup that hung from her girdle, 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 39 
 
 never completely slaking her thirst. Nor did her love 
 of suffering rest satisfied with this privation; she 
 gave up to the sick her own bed, happy to take her 
 few hours' rest upon the coils of rope on deck. 
 
 Though so hard upon herself, Margaret was always 
 sweet and cheerful. Her bright and joyous courage 
 like a ray of gladsome sunshine, dispelled the clouds 
 of fear, impatience or utter discouragement which 
 often settled upon many a heart in that dismal abode 
 of hardship and sickness. 
 
 But Margaret was not content with a passive in- 
 fluence, of which she was probably unconscious; 
 with true missionary zeal she delighted in teaching 
 the soldiers and sailors. These sturdy men learned 
 their catechism, said their prayers morning and night 
 and joined in the pious exercises led by Sister Bour- 
 geoys with a child-like simplicity that must have 
 filled their gentle teacher with great courage for the 
 future. The long sea-voyage, with its serious incon- 
 veniences, its trials and dangers, afforded a fruitful 
 field for her untiring zeal. 
 
 Each morning weary eyes gazed upon the same too 
 familiar sight of infinite ocean and infinite sky, look- 
 ing in vain across the shoreless waters for some 
 glimpse of land. At last, after sixty-three long days, 
 far ahead appeared the blue outline of the land for 
 which they sighed. 
 
 With what feelings of longing and gratitude Mar- 
 garet looked for the first time upon that new country 
 
40 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to which God had called her! She breathed a fervent 
 prayer for help and placed herself once more under 
 Mary's protection, while she gazed at the evcr-nearin^ 
 shores of Canada, truly her "promised land." 
 
 On moved the " Saint Nicholas" past the high 
 rocky banks of Newfoundland, the undulating shores 
 of Nova Scotia, the picturesque islands of the St. 
 Lawrence, with its lovely bays and fertile banks ra- 
 diant in the September sun. Then the ship, with its 
 tired yet eager passengers, moved up the glorious 
 St. Lawrence, leaving far behind Anticosti, the "great 
 sterile island." The aromatic perfume of the pincy 
 forest greeted every nostril with invigorating freshness, 
 and each tired eye rested contentedly on the green 
 shores that looked so fair and attractive after the un- 
 broken monotony of sea and sky. 
 
 And now on the 22d of September, 1653, a rocky 
 height looms up in all its grand, imposing beauty. 
 High over the great cliff floats the flag of Saint Louis, 
 nearer the water are clustered one or two rambling 
 store houses and a few rude wooden dwellings ; lower 
 still, canoes and boats are drawn up on the shelving 
 beach. And see! an excited crowd is gathering upon 
 the brow of the precipitous hill, while eager men run 
 down the steep, narrow road, shouting an exultant 
 welcome to the happy immigrants. 
 
 "We were most joyously received," writes Sister 
 Bourgeoys. All the more joyously since news of the 
 ship's intended sailing had reached Quebec long before 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 41 
 
 and, after weary waiting, the sore-pressed colonists 
 had given up all hope of news or aid from their 
 distant home. Public prayers had been offered for 
 de Maisonneuve's safe arrival. The long delay was 
 inexplicable, the cruel Iroquois were threatening 
 was the colony doomed to utter annihilation? At 
 last the Blessed Sacrament had been exposed and the 
 faithful prayed with redoubled fervor, imploring the 
 Almighty to send them the needed help. What won- 
 der if unutterable gladness now burst forth at sight 
 of a sail, as a great cry went up, a cry that sounded 
 like a thanksgiving, "The 'Saint Nicholas' has come! " 
 Petition now gave place to bursts of gratitude and 
 the whole population flocked to the church. Thank 
 God, the colony was saved, de Maisonneuve had 
 brought a brave band to drive back the fierce Iroquois! 
 Anxious watchers of the young colony and welcome 
 travellers from the old land, their anguish and trials 
 forgotten, felt the same joyful relief, as, with grate- 
 ful hearts and glad voices, they intoned a solemn 
 "Te Deum." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OPPOSITION KINDRED SOULS FIDELITY TRI- 
 UMPHS THE FIRST SIGHT OF VILLE-MARIE 
 A RETROSPECT THE MOUNTAIN CROSS A 
 DANGEROUS TASK WONDERS OF CHARITY 
 "ONE HEART AND ONE SOUL" HEROES OF 
 THE CROSS. 
 
 DE MAISONNEUVE'S little company had accom- 
 plished the greater part of a long journey; but 
 its trials were not yet over. De Lauzon, the 
 Governor of New France, had sore need of soldiers, 
 and the brave little contingent for Ville-Marie would, 
 he thought, in great measure supply this pressing 
 need. Therefore, he did all in his power to detain 
 it in Quebec, while cherishing the secret design of 
 keeping it there altogether. To attain this end, he 
 exaggerated the difficulties of a trip to Ville-Marie, 
 and the folly of trying to found a colony there, dwell- 
 ing on its exposed position and its past struggles for 
 existence. Finally, when de Maisonneuve's resolve 
 still remained unshaken, de Lauzon refused to provide 
 the boats which he had promised. Such stubborn 
 resistance would have discouraged a weaker man, 
 but it did not disturb the Governor of Ville-Marie. 
 
JEANNE MANCE 
 FOUNDRESS OF THE HOTEL DIEU DE MONTREAL. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 43 
 
 He maintained, with quiet firmness, that the men 
 sent out to the settlement would fail in their duty by 
 staying in Quebec; and when the promised boats 
 were withheld, he set about seeking for others.* 
 
 In the meantime, Margaret had not been idle. 
 Soon after her arrival in Quebec, she became friendly 
 with the Ursuline nuns, in whom she found a spirit 
 of zeal and devotedness akin to her own. They 
 urged her to remain with them until the time for de- 
 parture; but thinking it a duty to share in the hard- 
 ships of her fellow-travellers, she regretfully and grate- 
 fully refused. 
 
 And when, admiring her rare gifts of heart and 
 mind, the daughters of Saint Ursula asked Margaret 
 to join their Community, her answer was the same: 
 Since God called her to Ville-Marie would it be right 
 to stop on the way? 
 
 During her enforced sojourn in Quebec, Margaret 
 met another kindred soul, with whom she was to 
 labor during many years for the good of Ville-Marie. 
 This was the foundress of the Hotel-Dieu of Montreal, 
 Jeanne Mance, to whom de Maisonneuve had recom- 
 mended Margaret as a precious auxiliary in their 
 work.f 
 
 With that of Margaret Bourgeoys, the name of 
 Jeanne Mance shines out, fair and bright, in the early 
 
 * P. Rousseau, P.S.S. "Vie de Paul C. de Maison- 
 neuve." C. xvm., p. 127. 
 
 t "Eloge historique" par M. 1'abbe Sausseret, p. 26 et 27. 
 
44 THE LIFE AND TIMES OE 
 
 annals of Ville-Marie. To her belongs the signal 
 honor of being the first of those brave women who 
 helped to build up our home and make our history. 
 In the bloom of early womanhood, fearless, firm, effi- 
 cient, upheld by divine grace, urged on by apostolic 
 zeal, she came with scarcely a female companion into 
 a wilderness swarming with pitiless savages, covered 
 with trackless forests, exposed to dangers of every 
 kind, abounding in toil, privation and hardship. 
 After de Maisonneuve, she was the leading spirit, the 
 very life and strength of the enterprise; her energy 
 stimulating the indolent, her undaunted courage 
 shaming the timid, her womanly gentleness comfort- 
 ing the sick and wounded. Such was the fellow- 
 laborer, to whom de Maisonneuve presented Sister 
 Bourgeoys. Guided by the same heavenly light, 
 working with the same strong will and the same 
 brave, loving heart for the same unselfish end, Jeanne 
 Mance and Margaret Bourgeoys became compan- 
 ions and sisters, closely bound to each other by a 
 friendship as deep and tender as it was holy. 
 
 In the store-house of the Montreal Company, 
 rough and comfortless, de Maisonneuve and his 
 recruits had taken up their temporary abode. Here 
 Margaret continued the work begun on shipboard 
 caring for the now convalescent fever-patients and 
 cheering all by her unfaltering courage and winning 
 sweetness. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 45 
 
 The last days of September had gone, and October 
 was well begun before the travellers could leave for 
 Ville-Marie. As Margaret was borne slowly up the 
 Saint Lawrence, she looked upon the same lovely 
 Canadian sky and the same deep-blue river that we 
 see to-day. But no white farm-houses stood among 
 pleasant fields, no picturesque stone or brick churches 
 reared their slender spires above clustering villages; 
 instead of these, vast forests, dark and mysterious, 
 reached to the water's edge. 
 
 On the 1 6th day of November, de Maisonneuve 
 reached Ville-Marie for the distance our steam- 
 boats now cover in twelve hours, then entailed a 
 whole fortnight of danger and hardship. Not since 
 its foundation, eleven years before, had our Lady's 
 town witnessed a more impressive scene. Upon the 
 rippling waves lay the gray shadow of the dull No- 
 vember sky as the heavily-laden boats moved slowly 
 up the river, passed Saint Helen's gracefully wooded 
 shore and drove their keels into the soil of the new- 
 settlement. 
 
 With eager delight, Major Closse and the brave, 
 war-broken little garrison welcomed de Maisonneuve 
 and his followers, while the latter began to look 
 more closely at their new home. On the pres- 
 ent site of Saint Paul Street stood a strongly built 
 fort, some three hundred and twenty feet in length, 
 quadrilateral in shape, flanked by four stone bastions 
 connected by a wooden curtain about twelve feet 
 
46 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 high.* Around it were grouped the rude cabins of 
 the settlers; south of this fort, upon rising ground, 
 (now the north-east angle of St. Paul and St. Sulpice 
 Streets), was the Hotel-Dieu, a large solid building 
 surrounded by a row of stout stakes. To the right 
 of the central fort, on a slight eminence, rose a massive 
 windmill with a loop-holed palisade. All around, 
 fields studded with charred and blackened stumps, 
 stretched away to the edge of dim, majestic forests. 
 Above and behind all, the russet mountain was out- 
 lined against the sky.f 
 
 This wild, if beautiful place, peopled by the white 
 race only eleven years before, had been the scene of 
 heroic deeds and wonderful conversions since that 
 feast of St. Teresa when Jesus in the Eucharist began 
 a reign, which to this day has never been interrupted. 
 Here Father Vimont had said the first Mass, and 
 Jeanne Mance had toiled with unflagging energy 
 among the sick and wounded. There Lambert Closse , 
 defending the Hotel-Dieu with thirteen soldiers, had 
 driven off in terror two hundred Iroquois. From the 
 fort near by, men had issued day by day at the sound 
 of a bell, with gun in one hand and tools in the other, 
 to build houses and gather in the grain; and often 
 before the same bell summoned them home, more 
 
 * P. Rousseau, P.S.S., Vie de Paul C. de Maisonneuve, 
 ch. V., N. 52. 
 
 t Parkman. "Old Regime in Canada," ch. V. p. 99. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 47 
 
 than one had fallen, pierced by an Iroquois arrow or 
 stabbed by an Iroquois knife. 
 
 The Jesuit Relations tell us that the "extraordi- 
 nary succor" given by de Maisonneuve's arrival 
 with over a hundred men, each "stout of heart and 
 skilful in his craft," had given joy not to Ville-Marie 
 alone, but to the whole colony as well. "May God 
 bless and reward them a hundred fold who began the 
 great work, (the foundation of Ville-Marie), and grant 
 them the glory of a holy perseverance " thus finishes 
 the chronicle. 
 
 From this i6th of November, 1653, Montreal, until 
 then only a garrison, became a permanent settlement. 
 
 Their first days at Ville-Marie were busy ones for 
 the new colonists. When the most pressing work 
 was done, Margaret asked de Maisonneuve to take 
 her to the "Mountain Cross" of which he had once 
 spoken to her. During one of their conversations 
 on board the "Saint Nicholas," the Governor had 
 told Margaret a most interesting incident of his stormy 
 life in the new island colony. 
 
 In the winter of 1643, there had been a sudden 
 thaw. The river had swollen so rapidly that on 
 Christmas Day the waters threatened to submerge the 
 fort. The "Little River "* overflowed, and its waves 
 crept nearer and nearer. The Governor and his 
 
 * The present Craig Street, one of the thoroughfares of 
 Montreal, covers the bed of the "Little River," which in the 
 early days of the colony formed one of the boundaries of 
 Ville-Marie. 
 
4 8 THE LIFE AND TIME OF 
 
 people prayed earnestly for deliverance, and the former 
 moved by a sudden impulse, promised on bended 
 knees that, if the waters fell without harming the fort, 
 he would carry a cross upon his shoulders to the moun- 
 tain top and plant it there. Still, as if to try his faith, 
 the waters rose higher and higher, until they filled 
 the moat and lapped against the very threshold of 
 the door. Then, pausing one moment, they gradually 
 receded until all danger was over. At once the Gov- 
 ernor gave orders for the making of a cross. 
 
 On the Feast of the Epiphany, a little procession, 
 singing hymns as it went, made its slow and painful 
 way up to the summit of Mount Royal. At its head 
 walked the Jesuit du Perron, followed by Madame 
 de la Peltrie, the artisans and soldiers, and last of all, 
 by Maisonneuve. The Governor of Ville- Marie 
 bore upon his shoulders the great cross that was soon 
 to crown the mountain and proclaim to the surround- 
 ing country God's mercy and a loyal Christian's 
 gratitude.* 
 
 And de Maisonneuve had said to Margaret at the 
 story's close, "When we reach Ville-Marie, I shall 
 take you up the mountain and show you this cross." 
 
 The hour had now come to fulfil his promise, but 
 de Maisonneuve could not spare the time required 
 for the expedition. Margaret therefore resolved to 
 go without him. Ascending Mount Royal was no 
 trifling excursion when an Iroquois might be hidden 
 
 * Vimont, Relation, 1643-52-53. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 49 
 
 behind every shrub and the roads were of the most 
 primitive kind. To insure safety from the blood- 
 thirsty Indians, the Governor sent with Sister Bour- 
 geoys an escort of thirty armed men. 
 
 After a long climb, the little band reached the sum- 
 mit. Margaret stepped forward, and uttered a low 
 exclamation of dismay echoed by her companions. 
 During the Governor's absence the cross had been 
 ruthlessly destroyed by the Iroquois only scattered 
 fragments marked the place where it had stood. 
 With saddened hearts the would-be pilgrims retraced 
 their steps down the woody slope. 
 
 Margaret urged de Maisonneuve to replace the 
 mountain cross, for she yearned to restore to the in- 
 habitants of Ville- Marie their place of pilgrimage. 
 He consented readily, asking her to supervise the 
 dangerous work. Margaret, the soldiers and the 
 workmen toiled up the mountain-side, and began the 
 task of building and erecting another large cross. 
 Inspired by a beautiful spirit of faith, she helped the 
 workers by word and action, directing and encour- 
 aging them and even serving them at meals. After 
 the third day, the cross stood erect once more, pro- 
 tected by a palisade of stakes ; but the zealous workers 
 were debarred from returning to visit it, for the 
 Iroquois lurked behind surrounding bushes watching 
 their chance to leap out upon them with murderous 
 knife or tomahawk. 
 
50 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 This second cross stood out boldly upon the moun- 
 tain's highest crest until about the time of the Con- 
 quest, when it disappeared. 
 
 During the first months of Margaret's sojourn in 
 Ville-Marie, comparative quiet reigned in the colony. 
 As no French children were old enough to be taught, 
 those born in Montreal having nearly all died in 
 infancy, her duties as educator did not begin for some 
 time. The zeal that consumed her heart found an 
 outlet in other good works. As an anonymous 
 writer of Margaret Bourgeoys' life, a biographer, 
 whose quaint simplicity and touching piety seem to 
 bring the reader back to the ages of faith, has sweetly 
 said, she was " a common mother, the eye of the blind, 
 the foot of the lame, the consolation of the afflicted 
 the support of the feeble and of the indigent, making 
 herself all things to all men, in order to gain them 
 all to Jesus Christ." 
 
 Her tender, unselfish sympathy found many ways 
 of doing good that others might have despised. She 
 even washed and mended clothes for the poor and 
 for the brave soldiers of Ville-Marie. Still, that one 
 irresistible attraction, which she had felt even as a 
 child of ten, drew Margaret towards the young girls 
 of the colony, many of whom had had no opportunity 
 to improve their minds. 
 
 There were then about fifty houses in Ville-Marie, 
 and to each of these she went by turn speaking words 
 of counsel or instruction to old and young alike. To 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 51 
 
 quote once more the saintly chronicler mentioned 
 above, Sister Bourgeoys was "de Maisonneuve's 
 worthy co-operator; while the latter was building a 
 material town in Mary's honor, she erected a spiritual 
 empire in the hearts of the faithful." 
 
 One bitter winter's day, a poor half-frozen soldier 
 came to Sister Bourgeoys, complaining that he had 
 no bed. On a similar occasion, Martin of Tours 
 had given half his cloak to a shivering mendicant, 
 Elizabeth of Hungary had despoiled herself of her 
 rich ducal mantle, Aidan had bestowed his horse, a 
 king's gift, with all its costly trappings. With these 
 and many of God's other saints, Margaret shared the 
 generous spirit of self-sacrifice that marks true 
 charity. As she heard the soldier's complaints, the 
 thought of Mr. Le Coq's gift a bed with all its 
 accessories came into her mind. Without a mo- 
 ment's hesitation, she placed the mattress in the now 
 happy soldier's hands. Soon afterwards, a second 
 soldier having heard of his companion's good luck, 
 repeated to Sister Bourgeoys the same piteous tale. 
 Gladly welcoming an opportunity of further priva- 
 tion, Margaret had soon parted with her paillasse, 
 and the suppliant departed well pleased. Before 
 darkness had settled upon the island two miserably 
 dressed men came for an alms, little dreaming that 
 Margaret was robbing herself to give to others. On 
 them she bestowed her bed coverings. He who forgets 
 not to reward the gift of "even a cup of cold water," 
 
52 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 must have bidden His angel write this deed in letters 
 of gold upon the pages of the Book of Life. Mean- 
 while, Sister Bourgeoys took her rest upon the cold, 
 hard ground, thanking God in lowly gratitude for the 
 heavenly joy that flooded her soul that night. 
 
 During four long years in the midst of attacks of 
 the Iroquois, (for hostilities began again in the spring 
 of 1654), while the small colony lived in a state of 
 continual watchfulness and alarm, Margaret led the 
 same life of labor, self-denial and universal charity. 
 The fact that she was chosen by de Maisonneuve to 
 restore the mountain cross, and that the colonists 
 were always eager to forward all her wishes abun- 
 dantly proves the respect and ascendancy which she 
 had won in Ville- Marie by her wisdom and holiness. 
 
 Fear of the outside foe did not mar the peace that 
 reigned within. Sceur Morin of the Hotel-Dieu, 
 gives us a charming picture of Ville- Marie in 1654 
 a picture that might have been taken from "the Acts 
 of the Apostles " or from the records of another French 
 colony of this and a later period, the dwelling place 
 of those gentle Acadians, 
 "Whose lives glided on like rivers that water the 
 
 woodlands, 
 
 Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an 
 image of heaven." 
 
 "Nowhere," she tells us, "were locks or keys con- 
 sidered necessary; for houses, chests, cellars, were 
 left open and there was never any reason to regret this 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 53 
 
 seeming imprudence. The well-to-do settlers shared 
 their goods with the poorer ones, not even waiting 
 to be asked for aid but giving freely and generously. " 
 Is not this an exact counterpart of Longfellow's de- 
 scription of Grand-Pre? 
 
 " Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to 
 
 their windows; 
 But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts 
 
 of the owners; 
 There the richest were poor, and the poorest lived 
 
 in abundance." 
 
 (Evangeline). 
 
 Meanwhile, the spiritual wants of the colonists 
 were supplied by those ardent soldiers of Christ of 
 whom a Protestant historian has said: "Not a cape 
 was turned, nor a river entered, but a Jesuit led the 
 way."* From Montreal, they set out to teach and 
 baptize the savage tribes that lived in the neighbor- 
 ing wilds, and to Montreal they returned, worn out 
 with labor and travel and often bearing the mark 
 of brutal torture and mutilation. 
 
 But now we have come to a new period in the his- 
 tory of Ville-Marie and in the life of Margaret Bour- 
 geoys; in the year 1657 the Sulpicians came to the 
 island and Margaret opened her first school. 
 
 * Bancroft. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A MOMENTOUS DECISION SULPICIANS IN CANADA- 
 TUB BIRTH OF A COMMUNITY A PROJECT AND 
 A PROHIBITION FIRST FRUITS OF AN APOS- 
 TOLATE THE BURDEN GROWS TOO HEAVY 
 .\ 1 A RGARET'S PLAN. 
 
 DURING six years one Jesuit alone ministered to 
 several hundred souls in Ville- Marie. We 
 read of Pere Claude Pijart, Margaret Bour- 
 gcoys' director, as the only priest in the settlement 
 until he resigned the heavy charge on August 12, 
 1657.* The chief aim of his society in Canada at the 
 time was the conversion of Indians, and, owing to the 
 ever-increasing number of converts among distant 
 tribes, parish work became well nigh impossible. 
 
 * Pere Claude Pijart began his ministrations in Montreal in 
 1650, and from 1651 to 1657 he a l ne had spiritual charge of 
 of the parish. Previous to him fourteen Fathers of the Society 
 of Jesus had labored there. Their names may be found in a 
 small MS. volume, dated 1836, and entitled "Le Petit 
 Registre in 4to de la Cure de Montreal," par Jacq. Viger, 
 ear., kept in the Archives of Saint Mary's College, Montreal. 
 It is interesting to note among them the name of Isaac Jogues, 
 the great Jesuit whom the Iroquois martyred in 1646. He was in 
 Montreal the previous year. All those named in the above 
 mentioned book had made entries in the parish register of 
 births, marriages or burials. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 55 
 
 The colonists, often deprived of the ministrations 
 of a priest, urged de Maisonneuve to appeal to France 
 for resident pastors. 
 
 Father Olier, one of the most zealous members of 
 the Montreal Company, and founder of the Sulpician 
 order, had long desired to come to Canada, but the 
 noble task of opening seminaries for the French 
 clergy at home debarred him from realizing his pious 
 wish, and his desire to send missionaries to work in 
 his stead was fulfilled only when the end of his life 
 was very near. 
 
 Pressed by the colonists, Margaret Bourgeoys, 
 Jeanne Mance and de Maisonneuve himself agreed 
 that the time had come to make a strenuous appeal 
 to the founder of the Sulpicians. It was decided 
 that de Maisonneuve should go to France and lay 
 the facts of the case before Father Olier. In Paris, 
 the Governor of Ville-Marie saw the aged and feeble 
 Superior of Saint Sulpice. He urged the state of 
 Ville Marie, the earnest wish of its inhabitants and 
 his own desires with so much eloquence that Father 
 Olier, after fervent prayer and serious deliberation, 
 decided to send to Canada, Gabriel de Queylus, a 
 member of the Montreal Company, Francois d'Allet, 
 Gabriel Souart and Dominique Galinier. In naming 
 and sending the first of those missionaries who were 
 to play so great a part in the history of Ville-Marie, 
 Father Olier performed his last official act of authority, 
 for he died on the 2d of April, 1657, before their de- 
 parture. 
 
56 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 On his arrival in Canada de Queylus went up to 
 Montreal, introduced his companions to their new 
 field of labor, and then returned to his headquarters 
 at Quebec. Shortly afterwards, he was called upon 
 to visit a place as dear to Canadians of to-day as it 
 was to their ancestors of the " Grand Siecle." It may 
 not be inopportune to remind readers of Mother 
 Bourgeoys' life that, together with the devotion to 
 Our Lady and Saint Joseph, devotion to Saint Anne, 
 the Blessed Virgin's mother, was brought to Canada 
 by the first missionaries. In the early days of New 
 France a little chapel was built in honor of Saint Anne 
 on the banks of the Saint Lawrence, seven leagues 
 below Quebec and became a place of pilgrimage. 
 To this day Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre is loved by all 
 Canadians and is still made famous by well-authen- 
 ticated miracles. 
 
 Another interesting event of the same year was the 
 death, at the Hotel-Dieu, of the first Iroquois nun, 
 a young maiden, Agnes Shannadhoroi. She received 
 the holy habit from Father de Queylus, and made 
 her vows on the eve of her death. 
 
 On the 2ist of November, 1657, Ville-Marie be- 
 came a parish, and Father Souart was named Cure. 
 Speaking of this period, Parkman, the most interest- 
 ing and most prejudiced of Protestant historians, 
 says: " The priests of Saint Sulpice, who had assumed 
 the entire spiritual charge of the settlement, and who 
 were soon to assume its entire temporal charge also, 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. ^ 
 
 had for years no other lodging than a room at the 
 hospital adjoining those of the patients. They caused 
 the building to be fortified with palisades, and the 
 houses of some of the chief inhabitants were placed 
 near it for mutual defence. They also built two for- 
 tified houses, called Sainte-Marie and Saint-Gabriel, 
 at the two extremities of the settlement, and lodged 
 in them a considerable number of armed men whom 
 they employed in clearing and cultivating the sur- 
 rounding lands, the property of their Community. 
 The laborers always carried their guns to the field, 
 and often had need to use them." * 
 
 The wish grew within Margaret's heart to glorify 
 God and honor our Blessed Lady by building a 
 chapel in which she could gather together the young 
 girls of Ville-Marie and instil into their lives a deep 
 and practical devotion to the Blessed Virgin. She 
 was encouraged by Pere Pijart, and de Maisonneuve 
 willingly agreed to help in the execution of her pro- 
 ject, leaving her free to chose the site of the proposed 
 chapel. Margaret's choice was the place where the 
 old church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours now stands, 
 then about four hundred paces from the town. 
 
 Most of the colonists were eager to help with the 
 good work; some brought wood, others stone, the 
 prosperous settlers gave money, the poorer ones gave 
 time and labor. Thanks to this zealous co-operation, 
 the foundations were soon laid and the building itself 
 
 * The Old Regime in Canada, p. 54. 
 
58 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 begun. In the meantime, M. de Queylus arrived and, 
 not knowing either de Maisonneuve or Margaret 
 Bourgeoys, forbade the building of the new chapel; 
 so everything came to a standstill, for, when lawful 
 authority spoke, Margaret neither reasoned nor hesi- 
 tated. Out of this seeming misfortune came a great 
 advantage. Instead of a wooden chapel the colonists 
 had, later on, a stone one, and it was partly to this 
 event that they owed the Congregation de Notre Dame. 
 According to an old writer, Margaret, when planning 
 to gather girls together in a chapel dedicated to Our 
 Lady, had not thought of founding a Community as, 
 with God's help, she later resolved to do. 
 
 To us, however, the most interesting event of the 
 year 1657 was the opening of Margaret Bourgeoys' 
 first school. As the years went on, the number of 
 colonists increased so steadily that Margaret found it 
 impossible to go from house to house as she had done 
 in the beginning; so she determined to open a school 
 for both boys and girls. She tells us in her "Memoirs" 
 how and where this first school was opened: "Four 
 years after my arrival, M. de Maisonneuve gave me 
 a stone stable as a dwelling for those who would help 
 in the school. This stable had been used as a cattle- 
 shed and dove-cote. Above, and reached by an out- 
 side ladder, was a loft in which we slept. The build- 
 ing was cleaned, a chimney built and everything pre- 
 pared for the children's comfort." Here Sister Bour- 
 geoys laid the foundation of her Community a 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 59 
 
 Community destined to spread, throughout the con- 
 tinent and for centuries to come, the spirit and virtues of 
 the Mother of God. Like many other great foundations, 
 it had a humble beginning in order that God might be 
 glorified by its wonderful success. Born in a stable, 
 like the Redeemer of mankind, it was to extend over 
 all our country to the honor of the Catholic Church and 
 the happiness of innumerable families. 
 
 Margaret left the Governor's house,* and with her 
 only companion, Margaret Picaud, took possession 
 of her new home on the Feast of Saint Catherine, to 
 begin as a teacher that life which was to prove so 
 marvellously fruitful. 
 
 Another of Margaret's good works, dating also 
 from this period, was the education of little Indian 
 girls whom she adopted and cared for with all a 
 mother's devotion. Their own mothers were quite 
 willing to part with them for some trifling gift. The 
 first of these little girls was baptized on the fourth of 
 August, 1658, receiving the name of Marie des Neiges. 
 According to Pere Lemoine, she was the first Iroquois 
 ever baptized in the colony. Elizabeth Moyen, wife 
 
 * While Margaret Bourgeoys lived at the Governor's house, 
 she looked after it, cared for the chapel, and devoted herself t 
 various charitable works. She also took charge of two littl* 
 children, Jeanne Loysel and Jean Desrochers, both born in 
 1649. They are said to have been under her care in 1653. 
 Les Sen>antes de Dieu en Canada. C. de Laroche Hern, 
 (Montreal, John Lovell, 1855,) p. 45. 
 
60 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of Lambert Closse, being godmother.* She died at 
 the age of six, while still under Margaret's care. 
 Later, two other Iroquois girls, adopted by Margaret 
 Bourgeoys, also received the name of Marie des Neiges 
 Another proof of her devotion to the Blessed Virgin 
 under this title is the fact that, on her suggestion, the 
 mountain of Montreal was placed under the patronage 
 of Our Lady of the Snows. 
 
 Margaret's maternal solicitude for Indian children, 
 shared by all her companions and inherited by her 
 spiritual daughters, has been perpetuated to this 
 day in the Indian mission of Oka, Lake of Two 
 Mountains. 
 
 The population of Ville-Marie was ever increasing 
 as the settlement spread and developed. Very soon 
 Margaret and her companion found the task of teach- 
 ing all the children too heavy for their unaided efforts. 
 Even their zeal and devotedness could not impart 
 enough strength for labors that grew harder each 
 day. Margaret saw clearly that, if her mission was 
 to be continued, it was absolutely necessary to find 
 companions to share her work and lighten her burden. 
 As there were none in the young colony, she resolved 
 to return to France, and there seek aid. 
 
 All these years she had lovingly remembered the 
 
 maidens of Troyes who were to have co-operated with 
 
 her in the education of young girls. The time had 
 
 now come for this incipient community to be planted 
 
 * Petit Registre in 4to de la Cure de Montreal, Js. Viger, p. 25. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 61 
 
 in Canadian soil, and Margaret determined to seek 
 out her former companions and ask them to come 
 with her to labor for God and souls in the New World. 
 From a merely human standpoint this journey 
 seemed a rash, an absurd undertaking. What could 
 Margaret Bourgeoys hope to obtain by setting out 
 from Montreal alone, unprotected and penniless, to 
 undertake a tedious and often perilous voyage across 
 the ocean? Could she expect that naturally weak 
 and timid girls would even listen to her proposal, 
 much less forsake their homes and go with a compara- 
 tive stranger to a land whose inhabitants were being 
 decimated by the severity of a rigorous climate or the 
 cruelty of blood-thirsty Indians? Yet no such fears 
 came to shake her resolve, obeying what she thought 
 to be a heaven-sent inspiration, she prepared to leave 
 Canada, upborne by a firm hope of success, " perhaps " 
 says one of her biographers, "with a distinct and pro- 
 phetic foresight of all that was to occur, as may be 
 conjectured from the assurance she gave to one in 
 whom she had great confidence that her journey 
 would not outlast a vear." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A PROVIDENTIAL OPPORTUNITY A STORMY CROSS- 
 ING FRANCE ONCE MORE BRAVE RECRUITS 
 A FATHER'S SACRIFICE AN EVENTFUL JOUR- 
 NEY PARIS TO LA ROCHELLE THE ST. ANDRE 
 SAILS A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE NEW RK- 
 
 SPONSIBILITIES QUEBEC TO VlLLE-MARIE. 
 
 MARGARET, having laid her plans, was now 
 awaiting a favorable opportunity. A seem- 
 ingly Providential one soon presented it- 
 self. During the winter, Jeanne Mance had slipped 
 on the ice and broken her right wrist. The injured 
 arm recovered partially, but remained so weak and 
 painful that she could scarcely use it. This proved a 
 great hindrance in her work among the sick and 
 wounded. Grieved at being forced to interrupt her 
 labors, she resolved to cross over to France, see M. 
 de la Dauversiere* and ask him for two or three of the 
 religious belonging to his new foundation at La 
 Fleche. Her almost useless arm made travelling 
 
 * Dauversiere, (JeVome Leroyer de la) member of the 
 Montreal Company, of which he was the prime mover and 
 first general agent. One of the most zealous workers in behalf 
 of the foundation of Ville-Marie, and more particularly of the 
 Hotel-Dieu. Died in 1660. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BO URGED VS. 63 
 
 without a companion well-nigh impossible. Mar- 
 garet Bourgeoys, like a true sister, came to her 
 rescue and offered to share with her friend the 
 fatigues and trials of the long journey. Together 
 the two foundresses left Montreal for Quebec, whence 
 they sailed in the month of October. 
 
 As the ship in which they crossed the Altantic was 
 filled with Huguenots, the two sisters were lodged in 
 the gun-room, which they left but seldom during the 
 whole voyage. Morning and night, regardless of the 
 King's orders limiting the Edict of Nantes,* the 
 heretics raised their voices in noisy hymns and 
 prayers, until Jeanne Mance reminded them of their 
 duty as subjects of King Louis. Awed by her cool- 
 ness and determination, they not only interrupted 
 their loud demonstrations but, during the remaining 
 days of the voyage, they treated the defenceless women 
 with marked respect. 
 
 The ship reached La Rochelle only about Christ- 
 mastide. The two fellow-travellers went at once to 
 La Fleche, a little town on the Loir, whose name is 
 derived from the spire placed above St. Thomas' 
 Priory in the twelfth century. They met de la Dau- 
 versiere, and a little later, set out for Paris. In the 
 French capital, they saw the priests of Saint Sulpice, 
 and Jeanne Mance received an extraordinary favor; 
 
 * Edict of Nantes. Published by Henry IV. of France, al- 
 lowing Calvinists liberty of conscience, freedom of worship and 
 admission to public offices, A. D., 1598. Revoked by Louis 
 XIV. in 1685. 
 
64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 her injured wrist was miraculously cured by mere 
 contact with a leaden case containing Father Olier's 
 heart. 
 
 Sister Bourgeoys soon after left Paris for her native 
 town, where she stayed with the religious of the Con- 
 gregation de Notre Dame. She told them the object 
 of her journey and they favored her project though 
 realizing its manifold difficulties. Like all who heard 
 of her project, they recognized that success depended 
 entirely on the help of Providence, for it was far above 
 the sphere of merely human energy and endeavor. 
 "I hoped for this aid," writes Sister Bourgeoys, "nor 
 was I disappointed in my expectation, for it never 
 failed me in time of need." 
 
 As soon as the news of her arrival and the reason 
 for her visit spread through the little town, three of 
 her former companions came to offer themselves as 
 missionaries to Canada. " These," she tells us, " were 
 Sister Aimee Chatel, Sister Catherine Crolo, and Sister 
 Marie Raisin; the last-named hoped to obtain her 
 father's consent in Paris, where he was staying." 
 
 If Margaret's courage in leaving France for Canada 
 is admirable, that of her new companions is no less 
 wonderful. They tore themselves away from parents 
 and friends, gave up the joys of family life, left their 
 native land forever and to what end? To follow 
 a woman but little older than themselves, whose only 
 fortune was her unlimited confidence in God and 
 who could promise them nothing but labor, poverty 
 
REVEREND J. J. OLIER 
 FOUNDER OF THE SULPICIAN ORDER 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 65 
 
 and humiliation. What glorious results might safely 
 be expected from such Christ-like beginnings! 
 
 " Above all else," relates Sister Bourgeoys, "I ad- 
 mired the manner in which M. Chatel, who was apos- 
 tolic notary, confided his dearly-beloved daughter to 
 me. As he had repeatedly asked how we should live 
 in Ville-Marie, I showed him the contract giving me 
 possession of the stable formerly used as dove-cote 
 and cattle-shed. "Well," said he, "that may do for 
 your lodging; but what about your other needs?" 
 I told him we should work for our support and that 
 I could safely promise my companions bread and 
 pottage. At this, the tears started to his eyes. He 
 loved his daughter fondly, but he would not oppose 
 the designs of Providence upon her. The bishop 
 having been consulted, the contracts binding Aimee 
 Chatel and Catherine Crolo to live together as teachers 
 in Ville-Marie, were duly drawn up and signed in 
 M. Chatel J s own office. "Sister Chatel's father," 
 continue the Memoirs, "was kind enough to provide 
 a trunk for his daughter's clothes and a chest for 
 her linen. Moreover, by his orders, 150 livres in 
 gold were sewed into her clothing, with the injunc- 
 tion that this fact be mentioned to no one; so that, 
 should she wish to return, the means would be at her 
 disposal. Finally, he wrote to all the important places 
 through which we were to pass, ordering that if his 
 daughter required anything on the way, it should be 
 
66 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 given to her, as well as whatever she might need to 
 return to Troyes, should she wish to do so." 
 
 At last Margaret and her companions set out for 
 Paris. Although a father's provident solicitude for 
 his daughter had sought to smooth their path before- 
 hand, the journey was not without trials. First of 
 all, their coachman was arrested, because it was for- 
 bidden to hire a private carriage to the exclusion of 
 public conveyances. The travellers retraced their 
 steps, and arriving at Troyes, went to M. Chatel for 
 help and advice. Through his influence they were 
 enabled to resume their journey. Then, one Sunday, 
 the surly coachman refused to stop over that the Sis- 
 ters might hear Mass. However, just as they were 
 passing a church one of the wheels of the carriage 
 rolled off, and while the driver strove to mend it, 
 Margaret and her companions were able to be present 
 at the Holy Sacrifice. The wheel proved quite use- 
 less, and none could be had nearer than Paris. Those 
 who could not walk so great a distance were obliged 
 to wait until the coachman went to Paris and returned 
 with another carriage for them. 
 
 At length Paris was reached, and Marie Raisin 
 went to seek her father's consent. The task was a 
 hard one, but after much pleading the loving father 
 yielded to his only daughter's prayer. The usual 
 contract was signed, and Mr. Raisin offered Margaret 
 Bourgeoys one thousand francs as his daughter's 
 dowry. She would not accept more than three 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURCEOYS. 67 
 
 hundred, but M. Raisin refused to be outdone in 
 generosity. " Every year of his life," says Sister 
 Bourgeoys "he gave us 35 livres for the 700 I had re- 
 fused ; and after his death, his son continued the same 
 charity. When this son died, we received a pension 
 of 300 livres in favor of his sister." 
 
 In Paris also, several volunteers joined the little 
 band of missionaries. Of one of these, the Memoir^ 
 say: "M. Blondel gave me one of his nieces that I 
 might bring her to Canada;" this was Soeur Hioux, 
 who was the first to be received into the Community 
 in 1659, under the name of St. Clare. 
 
 Taking advantage of Margaret Bourgeoys and 
 Jeanne Mance's return to Canada, the Sulpicians 
 went to great expense to equip and send out a large 
 number of men and girls; they selected twenty-three 
 men and thirty-two young women, all of unimpeacha- 
 ble character. The latter were placed under Sister 
 Bourgeoys' care. She devoted herself to them with 
 motherly solicitude during the entire crossing, and 
 afterwards received them into her house, and con- 
 tinued to watch over them and help them in every 
 way until they were married. 
 
 Speaking of this voyage, Dollier de Casson* re- 
 lates an incident that proves more conclusively than 
 
 * Casson (Francois Dollier de) Third Superior of St. 
 Sulpice and Seigneur of Montreal. At first a soldier, he served 
 under Turenne as captain of cavalry. Entered the Sulpician 
 order in 1657. Came to Canada in 1665. Died in 1701. 
 Wrote a History o] the Island o] Montreal, 
 
68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 anything hitherto narrated the sincerity of Margaret 
 Bourgeoys' disinterestedness. A member of the 
 Montreal Company, deeply moved by her apostolic 
 zeal, offered her an endowment sufficient to assure 
 the future of the infar. f Community. Sister Bour- 
 geoys rejected the offer, fearing that the possession 
 of so much money would endanger the spirit of poverty 
 so carefully cherished by her: the dearest wish of 
 her heart being to leave that spirit to her daughters 
 as a precious heritage. 
 
 The out-bound ship was to sail from La Rochelle, 
 so Margaret went thither with her companions. 
 Jeanne Mance, with three recruits, soon joined her. 
 Troubles now arose to delay their departure. The 
 captain, conceived the idea perhaps suggested to 
 him by enemies of the Montreal Company, that the 
 would-be passengers were planning to cheat him. 
 Though he had agreed to take them for a smaller 
 sum, he insisted on obtaining 175 livres from each. 
 "And," adds Sister Bourgeoys, "we had no money; 
 they refused to accept M. de Maisonneuve's name 
 as our security, and demanded that Sister Raisin 
 return to Paris and obtain means of paying I was 
 very much worried." Nevertheless, the captain was 
 at last content with a promise of payment, and soon 
 after, the vessel set sail. 
 
 It was on the 2nd day of July, after a delay of three 
 months, that the St. Andre spread her sails and moved 
 away towards New France. So, on the Feast of the 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 69 
 
 Visitation, Margaret and her first companions left 
 France for Canada, urged onward by a spark of the 
 charity that burned in the young Virgin-Mother's 
 heart when she hastened over the "hill country" to 
 visit her cousin Elizabeth. It was certainly a beauti- 
 ful coincidence for souls whose chief aim was to imi- 
 tate the missionary life of Our Lady. 
 
 The ship was crowded; there were over two hun- 
 dred passengers; colonists for Montreal, sturdy la- 
 borers, artisans, peasants and soldiers; there were 
 two priests, the future martyrs Le Maitre and Vignal, 
 but, as Parkman tells us: "The most conspicuous 
 among these passengers were two groups of women 
 under the direction of Margaret Bourgeoys and Jeanne 
 Mance; Margaret Bourgeoys, whose face bespoke 
 her fitness for the task, was the foundress of the 
 school for female children at Montreal; her com- 
 panion, a tall, austere figure, worn with suffering 
 and care, was the directress of the hospital."* 
 
 The Saint Andre was a large ship and comfortable 
 enough, yet the journey was far from prosperous. 
 The vessel had served for two years as a military 
 hospital, and, owing to a carelessness that seems 
 inexplicable, had never been disinfected. It was, in 
 truth, a very hot-house of disease, as the unfortunate 
 colonists discovered to their cost. Nearly all fell 
 victims to pestilence. A very short time after the 
 
 * Parkman, The Old Rtgime in Canada, (TORONTO, GEO. 
 N. MORANG& Co., 1899.) P. 91. 
 
70 THE LIFE AND TIMLS OF 
 
 ship's departure, seven or eight passengers died, and 
 after a brief, heart-rending ceremony, then* bodies 
 were cast into the deep. 
 
 At first, the Hospitalieres de St. Joseph, were de- 
 barred from lending their aid to combat the dreadful 
 scourge; but finally, their pleading won, and they 
 devoted themselves to the stricken victims. From 
 that hour, no fresh names were added to the death- 
 list. Margaret Bourgeoys lent her aid with unstinted 
 generosity, and those whom she tended found in her 
 the kindest of nurses. 
 
 She did not escape contagion altogether, but had a 
 slight attack of fever; her companions suffered 
 severely, so did the hospital nuns, Jeanne Mance 
 being brought nearer death than any of the others. 
 We need not the testimony of historians and biog- 
 raphers to convince us that Margaret allowed no one 
 to take her place by her friend's bedside. With sis- 
 terly devotion, she watched by her fellow-worker, 
 bringing her back to life and strength by tender care 
 and skilful nursing. 
 
 "The whole Thibaudeau family," Sister Bourgeoys 
 tells us, "was brought to the last extremity, save 
 one baby girl still in the cradle, of whom no one 
 would take charge. I heard some people talk of 
 throwing her into the sea, but the mere thought of 
 such a thing grieved me exceedingly. Against the 
 advice of all our party, most of whom were ill, I asked 
 leave to care for her." So here was a new occupation, 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 71 
 
 added to all those that Margaret's kind hands 
 found to do from sunrise to sunset in the crowded 
 ship! 
 
 At length, after being buffeted by frequent storms 
 in a close, infected ship, the sorely-tried colonists an- 
 chored under the great rock of Quebec on the Feast 
 of the Nativity of Our Lady, 1659. Mary's daughters, 
 having left France on one of their mother's feasts and 
 reached their new home on another, felt very sure 
 of the Blessed Virgin's blessing on their unselfish 
 task. 
 
 The ship's company, having been duly welcomed 
 by the citizens of Quebec, remained there until the 
 invalids had completely recovered, Margaret and 
 Jeanne Mance, with their companions, continuing the 
 ministrations begun during the crossing. 
 
 This is the conclusion of the touching story of 
 Margaret Bourgeoys' little charge, as related in her 
 own quaint words. "When we reached Quebec, I 
 went with all our girls to lodge in the Montreal Com- 
 pany's store-house. As the child, by her constant 
 crying, and the fear of contagion her presence inspired, 
 was a source of trouble to many of our party, and 
 as I was obliged to attend to my business in Quebec, 
 I confided the tiny girl to her father, who was then 
 in better health, promising that on our departure for 
 Montreal, I would take her once more. The end of 
 September had come, the weather in Quebec was 
 very cold; so the men belonging to the crew had mad 
 
72 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 a great fire in their quarters. The baby's father 
 laid her to sleep near the fire, but a little too near, for 
 her back was badly burnt. This was a new compli- 
 cation for me, since I had to attend to her burns with- 
 out either bandages or remedies for the purpose. 
 
 All this was the occasion of much care and trouble 
 to me during all the time of the trip from Quebec to 
 Montreal. However, when we reached Montreal, 
 the child was well. Then I gave her in charge to a 
 nurse, but she died shortly after. Some thought 
 the change of food had killed her, and I was deeply 
 grieved at her death. " Truly, in Margaret Bourgeoys' 
 heart strength and tenderness were admirably blended, 
 and her life reminds us of Lamartine's words, "Rien 
 n'est si doux que ce qui est fort." 
 
 But to return to the colonists brought out by the 
 St. Andre". When the patients were well again, or 
 at least on the road to recovery, the little troop of 
 settlers left for Ville-Marie. " We reached Montreal," 
 writes Sister Bourgeoys, "on St. Michael's day. In 
 this event, I admired the kindness of Providence ; for, 
 on my departure, having begged Father Galinier not 
 to deprive me of my post as sacristan, he replied that 
 I should have it no longer if my journey outlasted 
 a year. And we arrived on the self-same date as that 
 on which we had left the preceding year, and at nearly 
 the same hour. The care of the sacristy with its at- 
 tendant duties, in'so far as a woman can discharge 
 them, was confided to me according to my wishes." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A LOWLY HOME WORK RESUMED A STRENU- 
 OUS LIFE IDEALS IN ACTION NEW FOUNDA- 
 TIONS SUMMARY MATCH-MAKING A WOMAN'S 
 INFLUENCE. 
 
 IT was to the little stone building described in 
 the last chapter, the one-time stable and pigeon- 
 loft, that Margaret, her face shining with a joy- 
 ous welcome, introduced her new companions. This 
 is the one home she seems to have really loved in her 
 whole life with a tender, clinging love. During the 
 past year of travel and inevitable worry, her mind 
 had often reverted to it as to a haven of rest, prayer 
 and peace. She had loved every rough stone and 
 every bare plank in it. She loved them for the very 
 bareness and simplicity that recalled Bethlehem and 
 Nazareth. Leaving it, was to be one of the greatest 
 sorrows of her life. She wanted her co-laborers to 
 love it also; appreciation of it was, in a way, the test 
 of their fitness to be her companions and co-workers. 
 The birth-place of the Congregation was once more 
 made clean and neat. It must have been attractive 
 for one of Mother Bourgeoys' historians quaintly 
 
74 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 says: "In their poverty, they adorned it, in a fashion 
 that might inspire love of holiness and poverty, even 
 in the proudest and most fastidious." 
 
 So Sister Bourgeoys, now helped by Sisters Crolo, 
 Chatel and Raisin, took up once again the burden ol 
 work she had laid down one year before. The colony 
 had considerably increased, two hundred men and 
 forty girls being added to the population during the 
 years 1658-59. There was consequently more work 
 and more teaching. Yet the number of pupils was 
 at first comparatively small and they taught both 
 boys and girls, until the Sulpicians, some years later, 
 took charge of the former. Margaret's very first 
 little pupil is said to have been a girl named Jeanne 
 Loisel, the first child born in Montreal who survived 
 the early years of hardship, and the first young girl 
 to be married there. But little later came Marie 
 Barbier, who passed from childhood to youth under 
 Margaret's care, and then asked to be received among 
 her followers. At that time, the little Community 
 could scarcely be said to constitute a religious order, 
 for they were without rules and lived in a manner 
 distinct from that of any existing order. As the old 
 biographer of 1818 says: "They were truly without 
 bonds in an open prison." But Margaret had 
 always in mind the Community the foundation-stones 
 of which had been laid in Troyes, and these com- 
 panions she moulded and prepared and fitted to do 
 the work most necessary in Canada. They must 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 75 
 
 exact nothing and be a burden to no one, for God 
 had sent them to help and not to hinder in any way. 
 Where every one was poor and obliged to work from 
 morning till night to obtain the very necessaries of 
 existence, they must be poorer than all, and work, 
 if need be, from night till morning as well as from 
 morning till night. No remuneration could be ex- 
 pected for teaching the children whose heavily-taxed 
 mothers found little time to look after them, since 
 the women had to help the men in the fields. 
 
 One cannot help wishing there were more details 
 concerning the life of these first religious of a new 
 order in so young a country. That their life was 
 hard and their privations many, both Sister Bourgeoys' 
 own words and the writings of the time show very 
 clearly; but they deal mostly in generalities, while our 
 modern minds demand more incidents and proofs. 
 One has to supply the necessary details from pictures 
 drawn from other sources. Here are a few lines from 
 the annals of the Hotel-Dieu, written by a contem- 
 porary nun: "They (her four companions) have 
 been, with her, the worthy founders of the Congrega- 
 tion, toiling night and day at sewing and cutting, 
 in order to dress the women and clothe the savages, 
 teaching in the schools at the same time. 
 
 Sister Crolo's charge was the care of the farm, in 
 which she consumed her strength and her years and 
 was thereby most useful to her sisters; washing clothes 
 in the day, after having mended them by night, 
 
76 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 baking the bread, indefatigable at work always, yet 
 looking upon herself as the last of all and the servant 
 of the house." 
 
 It were tedious to give a detailed account of the 
 system of teaching adopted by the new Community. 
 Children were received as soon as they could learn, 
 that seeds of good might be sown while their hearts 
 were still candid and docile. 
 
 Out of Margaret's ardent love for Jesus in the 
 Eucharist and her tender affection for her pupils came 
 a special solicitude for children who were preparing 
 for First Communion. As the great day drew nearer, 
 she redoubled her watchful care with an unwearying 
 devotion for each of the souls so soon to be living 
 tabernacles. 
 
 One writer says: "The first pupils united to piety 
 an ease of manner and a gentle, modest freedom that 
 were attributed to the uncloistered life of the Sisters." 
 So strong was Margaret's uplifting influence that, ac- 
 cording to Pere Charlevoix, the women of the colony 
 were superior to the men. Long after her death, he 
 says: "If, to this day, there prevail in Canada so 
 great a gentleness in the manners of all classes of 
 society and so much charm in the intercourse of life, 
 it is owing in great measure to the zeal of Sister 
 Bourgeoys." * 
 
 Her eyes looked far below the surface of things 
 into their real meaning and scope ; she saw thus clearly 
 * P. Charlevoix, Histoire du Canada. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 77 
 
 not only the present, but also the future and its 
 probable needs. When she drew into her classes 
 little pupils both white and red, when she sought 
 to mould their minds and wills, she saw not only the 
 children she was actually teaching, but also the future 
 generations they were destined to influence, either 
 directly or indirectly. In educating the young, her 
 aim was to prepare good Christian families, then, a 
 truly Christian society, and as a final result of the 
 present labor, a great Christian country. With this 
 end in view, she refused to allow her Community to 
 be cloistered, for if it were cloistered, how could she 
 and her companions go out to the people and help 
 them in their spiritual or temporal need ? She foresaw 
 also that a more untrammelled manner of living and 
 teaching would be more suitable to a young country. 
 Margaret's zeal was not centered exclusively in the 
 little ones of the colony; it embraced as well the older 
 girls for the improvement of whose minds little or 
 nothing was being done. To protect and guide those 
 of maturer years was in her eyes a most important 
 work, and she often urged her daughters to devote 
 themselves to it with faithful perseverance. For 
 their benefit she founded a Sodality of Children of 
 Mary by which she could reach young women who 
 were too old to mingle with the children in the classes. 
 Its first meeting was held on the 2nd of July, 1658. * 
 
 * This Congregation, or gathering gave its name, say some 
 historians, to Mother Bourgeoys' entire Community. 
 
7 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 "During the voyage with Mademoiselle Mance, be- 
 sides the young girls joining our Community, there 
 were also several 'filles du roi,' sent out by the king 
 from France, girls of high principles and destined to 
 help to colonize this country. Some years after, 
 while the house lately bought from St. Ange was being 
 repaired, there came to Montreal for the same pur- 
 pose a band of seventeen or eighteen young girls. 
 As they were to be the mothers of future families, I 
 thought it only right that they should be brought 
 together in a safe place, and that of all others, the 
 Blessed Virgin's house ought to be opened to her 
 children. Full of this idea, and scarcely waiting to 
 consult the sisters, I hastened to the shore to meet 
 these girls and to take them to our house. It was 
 too small to accommodate them all. It was there- 
 fore necessary to take them to the little house bought 
 from St. Ange, where I was obliged to stay some 
 time with them to give them the necessary instruc- 
 tion." * 
 
 About the same time a boarding school was opened 
 for children of the wealthier class and an "ouvroir" 
 or industrial school for the poorer girls of the colony. 
 The latter was aptly named "La Providence," and 
 here Margaret Bourgeoys taught her charges how to 
 work, but above all, how to sanctify their work and 
 make it contribute, not solely to the sustenance of 
 
 * Memoirs of Margaret Bourgeoys. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 
 
 7V 
 
 their bodies, but likewise to the strength and growth 
 of their souls. 
 
 We have alluded to the hard, laborious lot of 
 women in the new colony. One can well imagine that 
 the young girls sent out by the King were little fitted 
 for this kind of work. Many would never have held 
 out had it not been for Margaret Bourgeoys and her 
 companions, who taught them to cut and sew and 
 bake, and, after their marriage, cared for their chil- 
 dren and cheered the mothers in sorrow and utter 
 discouragement. History does not say whether 
 Sister Bourgeoys housed the "filles du roi" who had 
 come with her from France in 1659, as she certainly 
 did later, or whether they were received in the Gov- 
 ernor's house, but she certainly continued to care for 
 them and instruct them in Ville-Marie as she had 
 done during the passage out. One after the other 
 was married to some shy settler who had come to ask 
 for a wife, and she left the convent or the fort to go 
 to be mistress of a tiny log-cabin. One cannot 
 help smiling at this summary match-making, but 
 Margaret Bourgeoys and de Maisonneuve were both 
 very wise, and both knew their charges well, so they 
 possibly made a better choice than the young people 
 could have done for themselves. At all events, there 
 was no question afterwards of " incompatibility of 
 temper." The fate of these poor young orphans, many 
 of whom were of noble, or, at least, of gentle birth, 
 brought up in the French "Hdpitaux" and then 
 
8o THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 bundled off to marry men whom they had never set 
 eyes upon, seems a most strange and cruel one. Very 
 little is known of them, beyond their names, previous 
 to their being sent to Canada. The dates of the mar- 
 riages may be seen in the contracts kept on file in 
 Montreal, most of which bear Mother Bourgeoys' 
 small, neat signature, and are dated from the " par- 
 loir de la Congregation." These strangely contracted 
 marriages turned out happily, for the little French 
 girls became good, brave wives thanks, in great 
 measure, to Mother Bourgeoys' influence. 
 
 This blessed influence was maintained over her 
 former pupils and protegees long after they had homes 
 of their own. Indeed, the most recent examination 
 of obituary certificates kept in the archives of the 
 Church of Notre Dame, Montreal, proves that the 
 motherly care of Mother Bourgeoys did not cease at 
 the period when real mothers too often consider 
 their responsibilities ended. She watched over the 
 girls she had trained and prepared for the grave 
 duties of married life as long as they needed her af- 
 fectionate solicitude. They returned to her hospita- 
 ble roof even after marriage. Thus, there is a record, 
 and a very touching one it is, of the death at the 
 Congregation of an infant only four days old and of 
 its mother, aged nineteen. 
 
 Knowing how easily fervor may give way to 
 tepidity, Margaret brought her former pupils together 
 yearly for a short retreat. Wives and mothers and 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 81 
 
 young girls, both rich and poor, came back to their 
 teachers to learn again the great lessons of piety, 
 fidelity to duty, and generous self-denial. To this 
 day these retreats are a cherished tradition in the 
 Congregation de Notre Dame. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A FORLORN HOPE AGGRESSIVE IROQUOIS DOL- 
 LARD'S BRAVE SCHEME How HEROES PREPARE 
 FOR DEATH THE OATH LAST FAREWELLS 
 THE ENCOUNTER THE SIEGE THE BLOCK- 
 ADE DESERTION BY ALLIES FATAL EXPLO- 
 SION DOLLARD'S DEFEAT SAVES THE COLONY. 
 
 WE have now come to the year 1660, destined 
 to witness the most glorious exploit in the 
 annals of Canada; the famous encounter 
 between French and Iroquois at the foot of the Long 
 Sault rapids. 
 
 Though not immediately connected with Margaret 
 Bourgeoys, this event cannot be passed over in silence. 
 It not only occurred during her lifetime, but she had 
 shared for years the life of its heroes. We may even 
 cherish the thought that her influence had something 
 to do with it; many of these youths had been her 
 companions during the first journey to Canada; she 
 had nursed some of them with untiring devotion 
 during a long, fever-darkened sea-voyage and had 
 gently turned their thoughts heavenward, inspiring a 
 nobler impulse than mere youthful enthusiasm, love 
 of adventure, or thirst for glory. Later, during the 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS, 83 
 
 strenuous life at Ville-Marie, when they stood in need 
 of womanly help or counsel, when they had a quarrel 
 to mend or a doublet to patch, they came to wise 
 Sister Bourgeoys, and she, in turn, often claimed their 
 aid to build, or draw, or fell. 
 
 Ever since the defeat and almost total annihilation 
 of their hereditary foes, the Hurons, the small bands 
 of Iroquois that infested the country had grown 
 bolder and more aggressive. Their number increased. 
 Not a day passed without some Iroquois being dis- 
 covered skulking behind trees, seeking an opportu- 
 nity for mischief. Numerous treaties, concluded 
 between French and Iroquois chiefs, were not con- 
 sidered binding by individuals, as any accident a 
 personal grievance, real or imaginary, a portentous 
 dream, the sudden rage of drunkenness or mere 
 caprice might bring a handful of braves down 
 upon an isolated, unprepared homestead, spreading 
 fire and bloodshed. 
 
 The whole colony was in suspense, dreading every 
 moment a sudden inroad of screeching, howling 
 cannibals. None dared open a door at night, nor 
 even walk a few steps in broad daylight without gun 
 or pistol. He who went fifty paces from his house 
 carried his life in his hands. But fields must be 
 tilled and harvests reaped, even if watered with blood, 
 for the worse foe, famine, must be kept at bay. So 
 life went on as usual, except that every man held him- 
 self ready to appear before God. Life was prayerful 
 
84 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 and earnest in New France, and crimes among the 
 colonists were few. 
 
 In Ville-Marie hot heads were growing deadly 
 weary of inaction, of the prospect of sudden death 
 in ambush, or the longer horror of captivity and 
 torture at the hands of inhuman fiends. Something 
 must be done to intimidate the enemy. There were 
 at the time in the settlement about one hundred and 
 forty fighting men, of whom fifty were married. 
 
 The commandant of the garrison was a youth of 
 twenty-five, Adam Dollard, sometimes written Daulac, 
 Sieur des Ormeaux, brave, adventurous, and perse- 
 vering, who is said to have come to Canada with the 
 avowed purpose of distinguishing himself in some 
 glorious adventure. He it was who conceived the 
 idea of striking one great blow that would shatter 
 the Iroquois force. 
 
 So far the French had never ben the aggressors.* 
 De Maisonneuve had sternly upheld the policy of 
 prudence and dogged resistance. Lives were too 
 precious to be wasted in foolhardy attack. 
 
 Now that a few men might be spared, Dollard pro- 
 posed to meet the large body of Indians returning 
 from their hunting grounds up the Ottawa, engage 
 them in a death struggle and so cripple their forces 
 that quiet might be assured for some time at least. 
 A very few Frenchmen, armed and protected, thus 
 
 * If we except Champlain's famous expedition with the 
 Huroos up Lake Champlain in 1609. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 85 
 
 surprising the enemy, could make great havoc in 
 their ranks. It was a desperate, a heroic plan. But 
 it was a heroic age, and Bollard's enthusiasm swept 
 through the garrison. 
 
 Sixteen young men clasped hands with their officer 
 and swore to sell their lives and sell them dearly for 
 the good of all. Among them, some were soldiers, 
 others artisans, and a few, simple settlers; none were 
 much over thirty, their ages ranging from twenty- 
 one to thirty-one. More would have joined them 
 had they but been willing to wait. Dollard, however, 
 would not delay; no time was to be lost. 
 
 With grief-laden hearts the colonists watched these 
 men, inspired by youth and hope, prepare for battle 
 and prepare for death. Each wrote his will, the 
 quaint originals of which are still extant; and having 
 all received absolution, they came together to receive 
 Holy Communion, truly their Viaticum. 
 
 The cool, sweet air of an early spring comes in light 
 gusts through the open windows of the Hotel-Dieu 
 chapel, which is filled to the doors with sturdy colo- 
 nists. The gay sunlight gleams on altar and vest- 
 ment, and falls on heads bowed in subdued sorrow, 
 or upturned faces bright with unwonted fervor. 
 
 Between the railing, with its Communion cloth of 
 snowy white and the crowd behind, our seventeen 
 young men, fully armed, kneel side by side; each 
 face set in the stern lines of unflinching resolve, each 
 eye bright with the flash of enthusiasm. Behind 
 
86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 them, among the worshippers, mastered by the same 
 powerful emotion, are seen the serious countenance 
 and knightly bearing of de Maisonneuve, the strong 
 face of Charles Lemoyne, the stalwart form of Lam- 
 bert Closse, the brave Major of Ville-Marie, who 
 gazes at his young brothers-in-arms with something 
 akin to envy. Jeanne Mance is there also, praying 
 with downcast eyes, and Margaret Bourgeoys' fair 
 face appears, pure as an angel's, gentle and kind as 
 a mother's, while she calls down Heaven's blessing 
 upon this enterprise, and grace and strength upon the 
 hearts of its unflinching heroes. 
 
 The solemn silence is broken only by the low, 
 reverent tones of the priest, and sometimes by a 
 smothered sob from a heart-broken mother. At the 
 priest's Communion, there is a stir in the chapel; the 
 seventeen young men kneel at the altar-rail. After 
 receiving with tender devotion the Bread of Heaven, 
 the Strength of Martyrs, the youths rise and stand, 
 strong and calm, facing the altar. 
 
 Adam Bollard's deep, musical voice rings out clear 
 and unwavering, as with uplifted hand, he slowly 
 pronounces the solemn oath. His companions re- 
 peat the pledge that binds them to fight the Iroquois 
 to the death, neither craving quarter nor granting it. 
 
 There were brief, heart-broken leave-takings, and, 
 on April iQth, the canoes turned slowly up the stiff 
 current. Scarce had they paddled a mile when they 
 met a little party of Iroquois near St. Paul's Island. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 87 
 
 A sharp skirmish ensued, the enemy was driven off, 
 but of the band of Frenchmen, one had been killed 
 and two were drowned. Sadly the canoes were turned 
 homeward, for Bollard had resolved to bring his 
 comrades' bodies back for Christian burial. 
 
 Next morning the colonists met in the chapel for 
 another more impressive ceremony. A solemn service 
 was chanted for the dead soldiers. Around the 
 coffins knelt the survivors, grieving for their com- 
 rades and saying for their own souls the final prayers 
 of the Church. 
 
 Once more the canoes glided away over the blue 
 waters, brave young voices rising in a hymn which, 
 like a last farewell, came sweetly back to the gazing 
 colonists on the shore. They passed up the blue 
 St. Lawrence, and, turning to the right, encountered 
 the downward flow of ice at St. Anne. After a week's 
 delay, they swept into the grand lake of Two Moun- 
 tains with its pine groves and undulating hills on the 
 one side and graceful elms and oaks on the other. 
 On, on, until Carillon was passed, until the mighty 
 roar of waters rose high above the lapping of waves 
 and the murmur of forests; until the great rocks and 
 foaming rapids came into sight. There at the foot 
 of Long Sault, five or six miles above Carillon, they 
 paused, probably at a place now called Greece 
 Point. 
 
 Here they found a deserted and half-ruined lodge 
 built by the Algonquin hunters the preceding year. 
 
88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 This frail little fortress crowned a slope covered with 
 graceful elms and maples and stately pines. They 
 were soon joined by a friendly party of thirty-nine 
 Hurons under Anahotaha, and by four Algonquins. 
 Most of these Indian allies were Christians who had 
 volunteered to join forces with the French.* To- 
 gether they waited two or three days. "Morning 
 and noon and night, they prayed in three different 
 tongues; and when at sunset the long reach of forest 
 on the farther shore basked peacefully in the level 
 rays, the rapids joined their hoarse music to the note 
 of their evening hymn."t 
 
 One evening, as the last rays of the setting sun cast 
 golden ripples on the troubled waters and lighted up 
 the thick forest on the other shore, the doomed men 
 knelt in prayer. Around them lay the unpeopled 
 wilderness of trees; before them, the river, foaming 
 and angry after its battle with the slippery boulders 
 of the fall. Besides their earnest tones, only two 
 sounds broke the stillness, but these two of Nature's 
 grandest, most mysterious voices; the voice of waters, 
 the steady deep-mouthed roar of a fall; and the voice 
 of the wind, now moaning and sighing, now r softly 
 murmuring through the great trees in the depths of a 
 virgin forest. Never had their prayers been so fer- 
 vent, for they felt that the hour of combat was near 
 
 * According to the author of the Petit Registre, there took 
 part in the fight at Long Sault, 61 French and Indians and 
 800 Iroquois. p. 44. 
 
 f Parkman, The Old R&ginu in Canada, p. 76. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 89 
 
 at hand. Soon a small advance guard of the enemy 
 was sighted, shot at and dispersed. Innumerable 
 canoes glided swiftly down the rapids, landed, and 
 the French and allied Indians had barely time to 
 crowd into the fort before three hundred hideously 
 painted Iroquois were upon them with diabolical 
 warwhoops. So warmly were they received that they 
 retreated in disorder, leaving many dead behind. 
 
 Seeing that victory would not be so easy, they set 
 about building a fort in the wood. This gave the 
 French time hurriedly to strengthen their palisades 
 with a row of stakes, filling up the gaps with earth 
 and stones. 
 
 These preparations were not completed when there 
 came a wild rush of Iroquois with burning brands, 
 fragments of the destroyed French and Indian canoes. 
 A well-directed volley from the loopholes drove them 
 back in confusion. They rallied, and twice again they 
 tried to rush the fort, only to be balked each time in 
 their attempt. The French had not lost a man ; the 
 Iroquois dead strewed the ground; the enemy's yells 
 grew more fiend-like when they saw above the jagged 
 stakes of the palisades the ghastly heads of their 
 fallen comrades around that of their favorite chief. 
 Apparently discouraged, the Iroquois retreated be- 
 hind logs and tree-trunks, keeping up, however, an 
 incessant fire of arrows and bullets. The siege had 
 been exchanged for a blockade. 
 
QO THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Within the fort, Dollard and his men, resting 
 neither night nor day, grew gaunt and weak; for 
 three enemies, more terrible even than the Iroquois, 
 were daily sapping their strength lack of sleep, 
 lack of food, lack of water. The Frenchmen could 
 only moisten their parched lips in the few drops of 
 water that oozed through a muddy hole dug in the 
 earthen wall of the fort. Once they had rushed to the 
 river's edge, but there were no vessels to carry back 
 a supply of water. The Hurons' ammunition had 
 run out and they had to take from the Frenchmen's 
 provision, when a renegade Huron left the Iroquois 
 ranks and parleyed with his brothers in the fort. He 
 told them they must die unless they joined them. 
 Summoned by a swift messenger, an army of five 
 hundred men was now on its way from the Richelieu 
 to join the enemy's forces. The French and Algon- 
 quins knew what to expect from an Iroquois promise, 
 and continued to fight and pray as men fight and pray 
 only when face to face with inevitable death. The 
 fickle Hurons were deceived, and first one, then an- 
 other, then groups of four or five slipped over the 
 walls, leaving only their brave old chief, Annahotaha, 
 and the four staunch Algonquins. This reduced 
 the garrison to nineteen. 
 
 Suddenly, on the sixth day of this awful blockade, 
 the green woods resounded with a deafening whoop, 
 the long vistas filled with leaping, painted figures, 
 the reserve of the Iroquois was upon them. There 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURCEOYS. 91 
 
 were fourteen white men and five Indians against 
 seven hundred warriors 1 Rush followed rush. The 
 Iroquois drew a little nearer each time, but the mus- 
 kets repulsed them and bloody corpses rose in ghastly 
 heaps in the clearing. 
 
 Reeling with exhaustion, Dollard and the thinning 
 ranks of his followers held out for three days. At 
 last the Iroquois, dispirited and well-nigh discour- 
 aged, assembled their chiefs in council. The French, 
 they concluded were demons, and invincible. Many 
 warriors were tired and sighed for their lodges. 
 Older men were made desperate by the thought that 
 the unconquered Iroquois were to be defeated by a 
 handful of French. It was finally decided that one 
 more desperate attempt would be made. 
 
 The bravest men volunteered, and making great 
 shields with faggots, rushed upon the wooden pali- 
 sades, reached them, and crouching beneath the range 
 of muskets, hacked at the walls until they succeeded 
 in breaking through. Sword, and knife or hatchet 
 in hand, Dollard and his men rushed to the breaches 
 fighting for their lives. One after another fell be- 
 neath an Iroquois tomahawk only to be replaced by 
 his comrade. Dollard hastily crammed a large 
 musketoon with powder and grape, attached a lighted 
 fuse, and threw it towards the Iroquois. But it 
 struck an overhanging branch and fell back into the 
 fort, where it exploded, killing one and wounding 
 many. 
 
92 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Heroic Dollard fell back, dead, just as the enemy, 
 firing a murderous volley, rushed into the fort from 
 every side. The few survivors, back to back, and 
 still fighting, were shot down, and the ten days' strug- 
 gle was over. The Iroquois force, decimated and 
 thoroughly discouraged, broke up into small detach- 
 ments and turned into the gloomy forest. 
 
 Bollard's defeat achieved more than has been 
 gained by many victories. He was the unconscious 
 instrument in the hands of Providence for the salva- 
 tion of New France. On the seventeenth of May, 
 Quebec was thrown into a panic of terror on hearing 
 from a captive Iroquois that some twelve hundred 
 of the Five Nations were gathering below Ville-Marie 
 to overwhelm Quebec, then Three Rivers and Mon- 
 treal. This was the army that broke its strength 
 against the little fort of Long Sault. Had Dollard 
 not met it before that date, Quebec, with its scattered 
 houses and unsuspecting inhabitants, would have 
 been the scene of a massacre that would have rivalled 
 the most tragic pages of colonial history. 
 
 A fortnight later, very near the chapel before whose 
 altar the commandant had vowed to give his life for 
 Ville-Marie, an escaped Indian recounted in his pic- 
 turesque language, to the colonists gathered around 
 him, how Dollard had fought and died. Gratitude 
 filled all hearts, for now they knew that truly he had 
 saved the Colony, and they greeted the tidings of his 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 93 
 
 glorious defeat with the triumphant music of the "Te 
 Deum." 
 
 The news comes to Sister Bourgeoys, and her heart, 
 noble enough to understand the sublimity of such a 
 sacrifice, thrills with emotion at the glorious tale. 
 She does not grieve for those youths whom she loved 
 as a mother, for she knows that they died not as mere 
 heroes, but as heroic Christians. 
 
 Doubtless this wonderful interposition of Divine 
 Providence may be attributed to the prayers of Mother 
 Bourgeoys and other holy souls both in Quebec 
 and Ville-Marie. In this we may see the fulfilment 
 of Pere Lallemant's words: "My fourth source of 
 consolation in this afflicted country is the generosity 
 and courage of our nuns they also lead me to hope 
 for the preservation of the country, as I cannot think 
 that God would abandon souls such as these, so holy 
 and charitable. It rather seems to me that all the 
 saints in Paradise would come to their help, were it 
 to happen that men should fail in preserving their life 
 in this New World." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NOT IN VAIN HOSTILITIES RENEWED A HERO- 
 INE OF VILLE-MARIE SURROUNDED BY FOES 
 IROQUOIS OUTRAGES THE WONDERFUL HAND- 
 KERCHIEF LAMBERT CLOSSE 1663 VILLE- 
 MARIE LOSES ITS FOUNDER THE HEROIC AGE 
 ENDED A NEARER VIEW THE CONGREGA- 
 TION IN 1669 A PUBLIC TRIBUTE A PASTORAL 
 VISIT MORE WORKERS REQUIRED BACK TO 
 FRANCE. 
 
 NOT in vain had seventeen young lives been cut 
 down in all the vigor of their springtide. A 
 pause ensued, and the colonists had time to 
 breathe a space before taking up the burden of 
 haunting suspense and death-encompassed lives. 
 
 Bollard's bold blow had shattered the Confederation 
 of the Five Nations and stopped the projected inva- 
 sion as surely as the mighty cliff stops the in-rushing 
 wave. But even his great sacrifice could only hinder 
 for a time, not quell forever, the savage warfare. The 
 now separated tribes began to fight each on its own 
 account, hope of ultimate revenge goading them on 
 to fiercer efforts. For the time being, however, the 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 95 
 
 course of the Ottawa was free, and the Iroquois, 
 though everywhere astir, seemed rather cowed by 
 their recent losses. 
 
 Nevertheless, bands of hostile Indians soon spread 
 over the colony. One day, Maisonneuve took into 
 custody sixteen Iroquois, who had asked to parley. 
 In the autumn, six hundred savages of various tribes 
 came down upon Montreal, intent on murder and 
 rapine; but, hearing of their allies' captivity, swiftly 
 turned back, abandoning all their projects.* 
 
 In the early months of 1661, the Iroquois gathered 
 in large numbers around the constantly harassed 
 settlement. One day, in chill February, some colo- 
 nists were working on the edge of the outlying forests. 
 Attacks being rare at this season, the laborers were 
 unarmed and free from any apprehension. A chorus 
 of yells, a vision of leaping, painted bodies, a glitter 
 of sharp knives the enemy was upon them! A 
 moment of hopeless, desultory fighting, and thirteen 
 prisoners were in the clutches of the Iroquois. The 
 rest of the party gave up the unequal conflict, and 
 sped for their lives towards the fort, their retreat 
 covered by Charles Lemoyne who steadily faced the 
 foe with a cocked pistol in each hand. The lithe 
 savages, however, were gaining on the pursued, and a 
 fierce rush would soon overpower a single armed man. 
 A woman's presence of mind saved the day. Safe 
 
 * "Vie de Maisonneuve," chap. 23, p. 161. P. Rousseau 
 P.S.S. 
 
96 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 within the fort, Madame Duclos had been drawn to 
 a loop-hole by the noise of the conflict. One look 
 was enough, she caught up rifles and ammunition, 
 breathed a short prayer, unbarred the ponderous 
 door, and ran, with stumbling steps, towards the 
 flying band, friend and foe now separated only by a 
 few short paces. Eager hands soon relieved her of 
 her heavy b v urden. Weapons in hand, the men 
 turned upon their baffled pursuers, and soon, scat- 
 tered by a sharp volley, the whole troop of Iroquois 
 sought shelter in the woods. So was Ville-Marie 
 saved by one woman's promptness and courage.* 
 
 Spring deepened into summer, and never had hearts 
 been so heavy. Already, twenty-six Frenchmen from 
 Ville-Marie had been either killed or carried into a 
 captivity worse than death. The Relation of this 
 year says of the Iroquois: ''These hobgoblins some- 
 times appeared at the edge of the wood, assailing us 
 with abuse; sometimes they glided stealthily into the 
 midst of the fields to surprise the men at work; some- 
 times they approached the houses, harassing us 
 without ceasing, and, like importunate harpies or 
 birds of prey, swooping down on us whenever they 
 could take us unawares.'* f 
 
 One advantage resulted from this arduous life, as 
 Dollier de Casson writes: " God made a marvel- 
 lous use of these calamities to hold the people firm in 
 
 * Ferland, Histoire du Canada, p. 467. 
 
 f Parkman, The Old Regime in Canada, p. 467. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 97 
 
 their duty towards Heaven. Vice was then almost 
 unknown here, and in the midst of war, religion flour- 
 ished on all sides in a manner very different from what 
 we now see in times of peace. "f A simple, earnest, 
 prayerful life, begun each day at the foot of the altar 
 and spent face to face with possible, nay, probable 
 death, was the life at Ville-Marie at the time the his- 
 torian describes. 
 
 It had its festivals and holidays, its pure joys, all 
 the sweeter because they blossomed in innocent and 
 truly pious hearts. The welfare of each settler, his 
 spiritual and temporal needs, were carefully safe- 
 guarded and fostered by the Sulpicians, by de Maison- 
 neuve, until his untimely departure, and by Jeanne 
 Mance and Margaret Bourgeoys, who were always 
 consulted in the most important as in the most trifling 
 affairs of the colony. * 
 
 Meanwhile, Our Lady protected her daughters in 
 a marvellous manner. The Iroquois were not ex- 
 cluded from the town, in the hope that a few might 
 be brought to the light of faith. While they roamed 
 without in quest of fresh victims, Margaret Bourgeoys' 
 little Community, tranquil and undismayed, toiled 
 through all the long days in the small classes, teach- 
 ing and training the children of Ville-Marie. ** In 
 the stillness of the night, while a dim light shone 
 
 f Parkman, The Old Regime in Canada, p. no 
 * P. Rousseau, P.S.S., Vie de Maisonneuve, p. 260. 
 ** P. Rousseau, P.S.S., Vie de Maisonntuve, p. 264. 
 
98 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 faintly, showing where Margaret and her sisters 
 were curtailing their needed sleep for longer work, 
 or when secure under Mary's protection, they took 
 a few hours of well-earned rest, dark figures slipped 
 over the palisades, crawled noiselesly through the 
 shadowy yard, and there crouched like beasts of 
 prey. Until the dawn paled the eastern sky, those 
 dark forms would lie and wait, kept back by some 
 mysterious, God-sent dread, but always hoping an 
 unsuspecting victim would emerge from the silent 
 house. This hope was ever vain, and when they 
 rose and departed as silently as they had come, it 
 was with a still unquenched thirst for blood. How 
 often the sisters rose with the sun and entered cheer- 
 fully on another day of toil, little dreaming by what 
 blood-thirsty sentinels their slumbers had been 
 watched! * 
 
 On the twenty-ninth day of August, Feast of the 
 Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, Jacques Le- 
 maitre, a priest of Saint Sulpice, while acting as sen- 
 tinel for the harvesters who were at work on Saint 
 Gabriel's farm, was treacherously shot down by a 
 band of ambushed Iroquois. Margaret Bourgeoys 
 relates a marvellous fact about this martyred priest. 
 "It is said," she tells us, "that the imprint of M. 
 Lemaitre's face was so distinctly outlined on the hand- 
 kerchief in which the savages had carried away their 
 victim's head, that it could easily be recognized. 
 * Sausseret, "Eloge historique," p. 37. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 99 
 
 Some time after, when I was preparing to go to 
 France, it occurred to me to ascertain the real truth 
 of this matter, that I might speak positively should 
 inquiries be made on the subject. I went, therefore, 
 to find Lavigne, who had been brought back from 
 captivity in the Iroquois' country, where the fiends 
 had torn off one of his fingers. He assured me that 
 the account of the impression of the Father's face 
 was perfectly true he had seen it, and had endeav- 
 ored to induce the Iroquois to sell the handkerchief, 
 but they would accept none of his offers, saying they 
 would use it as a flag when they went to battle to 
 make them invincible."* 
 
 This marvel is also described on the authority of 
 Lavigne by Sister Morin and Dollier de Casson. The 
 annals of the Hotel-Dieu add that a Jesuit, captured 
 by a more distant tribe, heard of the prodigy from 
 the savages themselves, who spoke of it as an extra- 
 ordinary experience. Later, they became so much 
 afraid of the mysterious handkerchief, with its fine 
 clear-cut outline of their victim's face, that they sold 
 it to the English, threatening them with dire punish- 
 ment if it ever fell into Jesuit hands. These threats 
 were so effectual that nothing more was ever heard 
 of it by any of the French priests or colonists. 
 
 Fighting, toiling, praying, the colonists saw harvest- 
 time follow the Summer. They were allowed to 
 gather in the grain unmolested. But gloom settled 
 
 * Farkman, The Old Regime in Canada. 
 
ioo THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 over Ville-Marie, when the news came of de Lauzon's 
 awful fate. The young seneschal of New France had 
 been killed on a reconnoitring expedition by a party 
 of ambushed Iroquois. 
 
 In October, the brave chief Garecontia, an Indian 
 by birth and by breeding, but a Christian at heart 
 and a hero in conduct, brought back nine liberated 
 prisoners to Ville-Marie. The grand old chief was 
 proclaimed by the grateful settlers " the Frenchman's 
 father," and sent back to his lodge loaded with gifts. 
 This little rift in the cloudy sky closed into a deeper 
 gloom when the Iroquois, only a few weeks later, 
 captured M. Vignal, a Sulpician, in the Isle a Pierre. 
 There, with a few companions led by the heroic de 
 Brigeac, he had gone to get stone for building. Claude 
 de Brigeac lived to suffer, with a martyr's patience, 
 the most barbarous tortures; but Vignal, being 
 wounded unto death while endeavoring to escape, 
 was killed almost immediately, and his body, burned 
 at the stake, was devoured by the inhuman cannibals. 
 
 Each season of this sadly eventful year had been 
 marked by some disaster; Winter brought perhaps 
 the sorest loss for Ville-Marie in the death of gallant 
 Lambert Closse, "a man," says Parkman, " whose 
 intrepid coolness was never known to fail in the 
 direst extremity." Going to the aid of a party of 
 laborers, attacked by the Iroquois, he was met by a 
 crowd of savages, eager to kill or capture him. His 
 servant ran off. He snapped a pistol at the foremost 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 101 
 
 assailant but it missed fire. His remaining pistol 
 served him no better, and he was instantly shot down. 
 "He died," writes Dollier de Casson, "like a brave 
 soldier of Christ and the King." * 
 
 The spring of 1663 brought a renewal of hostilities. 
 Indians fought Indians within the very walls of the 
 town. Even the sick at the Hotel-Dieu were to be 
 dreaded, since one Iroquois, after being tenderly 
 nursed by the nuns, turned upon one of them and 
 tried to smother her as she stood between a door 
 and a cupboard. The other patients hurried to the 
 rescue, and the wily savage pretended that his un- 
 grateful outrage had been a mere pleasantry! 
 
 The same year, when winter was drawing to a 
 close, awful earthquakes shook the colony and terri- 
 fied its inhabitants. Contemporary writers describe 
 them as terrible in the extreme. "In the forest, 
 the trees struck against one another; hills and large 
 tracts of forest slid into the river and some into ad- 
 jacent valleys." And these terrific phenomena were 
 repeated until midsummer. The length of time 
 they lasted, the extent of country visited and the 
 manifest protection of Providence that shielded both 
 French and Indians showed this upheaval to be a 
 warning for the evil-doers of the colony. In Ville- 
 Marie, where the settlers were devout and earnest, 
 the wild panic that drove the people of Quebec to 
 the confessionals was almost unfelt. 
 
 * Parkman, The Old Regime in Canada, p. 108. 
 
102 THE LIFE AND TIME OF 
 
 In this year also, a notable one for Ville-Marie, 
 the Island of Montreal was ceded to the Sulpicians 
 by the Montreal Company. Maisonneuve then 
 established, for the men of Ville-Marie, the Milice 
 de la Sainte Famille. Madame d'Ailleboust, widow 
 of the former Governor of New France, wishing to 
 form a similar society into which women and chil- 
 dren might also be admitted, consulted Pere Chau- 
 monot, who lived with the Sulpicians in the intervals 
 of his apostolic journeyings. With Mr. Souart's 
 warm approval, the Societe de la Sainte Famille was 
 founded on the 3ist of July, Feast of St. Ignatius. 
 The act drawn up on that date bears the signature 
 of Margaret Bourgeoys, Madame d'Ailleboust, Jeanne 
 Mance and Sister Crolo. This sodality, probably 
 the oldest in Canada, soon spread over the colony, 
 and as family after family inscribed its name on the 
 list of membership, the virtues of Jesus, Mary and 
 Joseph grew up and bore fruit throughout the land. 
 
 The year 1664 brought a sad loss to Ville-Marie 
 and a deep grief to Mother Bourgeoys, since it robbed 
 her of a trusted and loyal friend. De Tracy, the 
 Vice-Roy with no better reason than prejudice, and 
 jealousy of Maisonneuve's supreme authority over 
 Ville-Marie, deprived the latter of his title and of 
 his office. "They ordered him; back to France as 
 being incompetent for the position of Governor which 
 he held here; this I could scarcely have believed had 
 another than Sister Bourgeoys told me of it. He 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 103 
 
 took the command as an expression of God's will, 
 and returned to France, not to complain of the bad 
 treatment he was receiving, but to live there in lowli- 
 ness and humility." Thus writes Sister Morin. Per- 
 haps the best appreciations of de Maisonneuve are 
 to be found in the work of a Protestant historian who 
 speaks of him "as the pious and valiant Governor of 
 Montreal to whom its succeessful defence is largely 
 due." In another volume, he declares: "Quebec 
 and Montreal are happy in their founders. Samuel 
 de Champlain and Chomedy de Maisonneuve are 
 among the names that shine with a fair and honest 
 lustre on the infancy of nations."* 
 
 And still the years went by, much the same as 
 those just described. In 1666, there came a quieter 
 time for Ville-Marie. Not only was it protected by 
 its excellent fortifications, but the Iroquois them- 
 selves were greatly intimidated by de Tracy'sf vigor- 
 ous campaign, carried into the heart of their own 
 
 * Parkman, The Jesuits in North America, etc., p. 275. 
 
 f Tracy, de M. le Marquis de Tracy came to Canada as 
 viceroy in 1665 at tne nead of a small army of regular troops, 
 chiefly from the Carignan regiment most of the officers and 
 soldiers of which settled in Canada. Before the end of that 
 year he built forts at Sorel, Chambly and near St. John's on 
 the Richelieu river. In January, 1666, he placed Mr. de 
 Courcelles at the head of an expedition which went a 
 little further than Albany in the present state of New York, 
 but found the Iroquois gone on a distant raid, and had to re- 
 turn, after great loss from hunger and cold. In September, 
 1666, M. de Tracy himself at the head of 600 hundred soldiers 
 of the Carignan regiment, six hundred Canadians and one 
 
104 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 country. In fact, most historians fix this period as 
 the close of the age truly called "Heroic," because it 
 was indeed so marvellously prolific in gallant deeds 
 and noble lives. 
 
 We have seen Margaret Bourgeoys ever foremost 
 in affairs of state or religion, but we would do well 
 to look more closely into her life as the first teacher 
 of Ville- Marie. From the state of the city as well 
 as from what Margaret Bourgeoys' biographers tell 
 us, we can form an idea of her life at this time. 
 
 Toil, incessant, brain-wearying and strength-wear- 
 ing, scarcely relinquished for the few brief hours of 
 rest, usually taken on the hard ground; privations of 
 all kinds, partly imposed by circumstances, but more 
 voluntarily embraced, such was the outward aspect 
 of this laborious and utterly unselfish existence. 
 Only the serene expression of brow and eye told of 
 the complete and unbroken union of Margaret's 
 heart with Jesus through Mary. Her sisters followed 
 closely in her footsteps, sharing her labors and striving 
 to imitate her virtues. God's rarest blessings fell 
 on those who worked so earnestly for Him temporal 
 
 hundred Hurons and Algonquins, marched into the territory 
 of the Agniers Indians who had fled before his advance. 
 M. de Tracy burnt their four villages and then marched back to 
 Quebec. Although these expeditions did not exterminate, as 
 they were intended to do, the Iroquois, and did not even 
 prevent the latter from raiding the outposts of the French 
 during forty subsequent years, they certainly struck terror 
 into the heart of the Five Nations and made the situation of 
 the colonists at Montreal more secure. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 105 
 
 blessings as well as spiritual, for how, without his aid, 
 could they have continued their task of teaching 
 gratuitously all the children of Ville-Marie? 
 
 Dollier de Casson speaks thus of the Congrega- 
 tion nuns: "What I thought most admirable is that 
 these women, without any means of their own and 
 wishing to teach children gratuitously, acquired never- 
 theless, by God's blessing on their manual labor, and 
 without being a burden to any one, several houses 
 and farms on the island of Montreal." 
 
 The first grant of land received by the Congrega- 
 tion consisted of thirty acres near Lake St. Joseph. 
 Later, through M. de Bretonvilliers, several others 
 were conceded to them; thirty acres were cultivated 
 and the revenue was sufficient to supply in part the 
 wants of the Community. 
 
 The transformed stable of 1657 soon became too 
 small for the nuns, the classes and the boarding 
 school. A larger house was built on the same tract 
 of land and another adjacent one bought, but even 
 these two houses proved inadequate. In 1669, yield- 
 ing to the urgent requests of her co-workers, Sister 
 Bourgeoys consented to the erection of a still larger 
 convent, built of stone, on the land adjoining the old 
 stable. Later, she bitterly regretted the building of 
 this large house: "In the trouble that oppressed me," 
 says Mother Bourgeoys, "I promised to build a 
 chapel in the Blessed Virgin's honor, and at the same 
 instant, I felt immediate relief." In the meantime 
 
106 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Margaret had a wooden shed erected, a poor and 
 simple shrine, but so devotional, say the annals of 
 the Hotel-Dieu, that the people flocked there as to 
 an assured refuge in every need. Several cures there 
 effected were considered miraculous." 
 
 But we must go back a few years, and note several 
 events which greatly influenced the standing of the 
 Congregation. 
 
 In obedience to his instructions, Intendant Talon 
 came to make a series of domiciliary visits in Mon- 
 treal. The object of these is explained by Colbert in 
 a letter to the Intendant: " seeing that nothing 
 can better promote this end (the encouragement of 
 the people to trade and industry) than entering into 
 the details of their household and of all their personal 
 affairs, it will not be amiss that he (the Sieur Talon) 
 visit all the settlements, one after the other, to learn 
 their true conditions, provide as much as possible for 
 their wants, and performing the duty of a good head 
 of a family, put them in the way of making some 
 profit."* To fulfil this mission he came to Montreal. 
 In the course of his visitations he duly entered the 
 Congregation convent and inquired into its rules, 
 teaching and mode of life. The answers proved so 
 satisfactory and the beneficial results of the sisters' 
 work had been so apparent in all the homesteads pre- 
 viously visited, that Talon' fully approved the Com- 
 munity. Moreover, he gave a most favorable 
 * Parkraan: The Old Regime in Canada, p. 259. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURCEOYS. 107 
 
 appreciation to Governor Courcelles, thus inducing 
 the latter to add his own approbation to that of his 
 subordinate. 
 
 Before this, however, Talon, to give more scope 
 to Sister Bourgeoys' zeal, by establishing her Com- 
 munity on a more solid basis, authorized the people of 
 Montreal to carry out a long-cherished design. Ten 
 years had elapsed since Margaret Bourgeoys opened 
 her first school, yet her community had no legal 
 existence. The citizens of Ville-Marie had urged 
 her to obtain letters-patent from Louis XIV., recog- 
 nizing and approving the Congregation de Notre 
 Dame. This appeal Talon now authorized them to 
 renew. 
 
 In the month of October the Seminary received 
 a delegation of the citizens. The largest room was 
 soon crowded and it was proposed that the King be 
 asked to approve Sister Bourgeoys' order. The chief 
 men of the town, the Sulpicians, Seigneurs of the 
 Island, the Syndic for that year, soldiers, farmers 
 and artisans, all came to give their testimony in favor 
 of the humble nun. It \vas unanimously agreed that 
 a petition be drawn up and presented to Louis XIV., 
 asking him to approve the Congregation by letters- 
 patent. This petition was signed by all the most 
 prominent citizens, and with a full account of the 
 proceedings, duly attested by a large number of sig- 
 natures, the document was handed to Sister Bourgeoys. 
 
 As she knew the object of the meeting, we may be 
 
io8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 very sure she was not present at it; the very thought 
 of receiving such a public manifestation of respect 
 and gratitude, would have been most repugnant to 
 her humility. 
 
 Gratefully, but with an almost startled sense of 
 surprise at seeing this palpable proof of the colonists' 
 deep appreciation, Margaret received the petition 
 then laid it by, and soon forgot it completely. Her 
 mind was too full of God and souls to dwell on such 
 vain things as the esteem of men; besides, she counted 
 implicitly on Providence for the spread and confirma- 
 tion of her Community. 
 
 Two years had elapsed since the framing of the 
 petition to the King in 1667. Each passing day 
 drew Margaret into closer union with God, deepen- 
 ing her humility, perfecting her unbroken recollection 
 and enlivening her zeal for souls. Outwardly, she 
 was ever the wise counsellor whose opinion often 
 determined, always influenced, the decisions of Mon- 
 treal's rulers; the gentle teacher, to whom children 
 clung as to the best of mothers; the kind sister, to 
 whom her companions turned on every occasion for 
 aid, comfort or advice above all, the untiring 
 worker, whose every moment was given up to others. 
 
 On the 1 6th of May, 1669, Monseigneur de Laval, 
 titular Bishop of Petrea and Vicar- General of New 
 France, made a visit to Ville-Marie. The doors of 
 the Congregation de Notre Dame were thrown open 
 to him, and he saw tlie classes, the pupils, the teachers, 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOVRGEOYS. 109 
 
 spoke to Margaret Bourgeoys herself, and he left the 
 convent, poor and simple as it still was, filled with ad- 
 miration for those who had done so great a work in 
 the very midst of danger and privation. His admira- 
 tion did not expend itself in vain words. He did what 
 he could for the Community by approving it in his 
 own handwriting, and authorizing Margaret Bour- 
 geoys to spread her institute over a diocese whose 
 extent now seems incredible, since it embraced all 
 the French possessions in North America. 
 
 A year later, after mature deliberation, Sister Bour- 
 geoys yielded to her director's advice, and agreed to 
 leave Canada once more in order to consolidate her 
 Community by obtaining letters-patent giving it legal 
 status. 
 
 Another reason, more urgent even than this, 
 prompted Margaret to undertake a journey so repug- 
 nant to her love of silence and retirement; no novices 
 had applied for admission into the Congregation; 
 and, as in 1658, the increase of population had ne- 
 cessitated a voyage to France, so in 1670 the scholars 
 had become too numerous to be adequately taught by 
 only five nuns. The Community must be reinforced; 
 new members could certainly be found in France, 
 therefore in France must they be sought. 
 
 The two missions were difficult; it were surer to 
 go in person than to trust to correspondence only, 
 so slow in those days. Besides, both demanded 
 courage, patience and tact, Rather than impose so 
 
no THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 heavy a burden on any of her sisters, Margaret, 
 trampling under foot her tastes and inclinations, gave 
 up, for how long she knew not, her well-loved labor, 
 the companionship of her devoted sisters, the calm 
 regularity of her prayerful life, and left Ville-Marie 
 and the grief-stricken convent to travel down to 
 Quebec, and begin from there her second journey to 
 France. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AN INTERRUPTED VOYAGE ARRIVAL AT LA Ro- 
 CHELLE THE JOURNEY TO PARIS IN THE 
 CAPITAL CONFIDENCE REWARDED A VISIT TO 
 DE MAISONNEUVE A WONDERFUL MEETING - 
 A FRIEND AT COURT DUNKERQUE Louis 
 XIV. GRANTS LETTERS-PATENT AN EXTRACT 
 THE SEARCH FOR NOVICES Six RECRUITS 
 PIERRE CHEVRIER, BARON DE FANCAMP 
 FROM PARIS TO ROUEN WEARY WAITING 
 NOTRE DAME DES NEIGES THE RETURN TO 
 CANADA. 
 
 SISTER BOURGEOYS had received letters of intro- 
 duction from Father Souart, Superior of the 
 Seminary, and from Father Perrot, cure of Ville- 
 Marie. In Quebec, she further obtained the entire 
 approbation of the highest authorities the Gov- 
 ernor, the Bishop, and the Intendant. Almost on 
 her arrival there, she was obliged to go to the hos- 
 pital, in which she spent several days, gentle and pa- 
 tient in sickness as in health. She tells us in her 
 Memoirs: "On the day named for the departure, I 
 was in pretty good health and had been to Benedic- 
 tion of the Blessed Sacrament at the Jesuits' church. 
 
ii2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 As we were returning thence, the signal for embark- 
 ation was suddenly given, and the servant" to whom 
 she had confided the box containing her clothes and 
 papers "assuring me that all was in readiness, I 
 went on board without waiting to make any prepara- 
 tions ; once on board, I looked for my box, but it was 
 nowhere to be found." It was too late to go back 
 or even send to Quebec for it, so Sister Bourgeoys 
 wrote to M. Dupuis, Major of the Montreal garrison, 
 who was then in Quebec. The papers were forwarded 
 to her in Paris, and the clothes were sent back to the 
 nuns in Montreal. "So there I was," writes our 
 heroine, "on board ship, without luggage, without 
 clothes, without provisions, without even ten sous 
 at my disposal and the only woman on board. 
 But there were in the vessel two priests who were 
 to me a refuge and a consolation. A bag of tow and 
 a coil of rope on deck were my bed during the whole 
 crossing. It was not very long; in thirty-one days 
 we arrived at La Rochelle." 
 
 When Margaret Bourgeoys stepped from the gang- 
 way to the shore, she was returning to her native 
 land as a penniless stranger, not knowing where or 
 how she was to obtain food and lodgings. In the 
 midst of such difficulties Margaret's unswerving trust in 
 Providence was always rewarded. Father de Fenelon, 
 one of the priests who had crossed with her, lent her 
 50 livres; more than half of this went to secure a 
 place in the Paris coach, the remainder was barely 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 113 
 
 sufficient to pay for food, lodging and clothes. "M. 
 de Fenelon, Pere Fremy, a Jesuit, who had proved 
 a kind friend throughout the crossing, and a third 
 priest who shared the carriage with them, obtained 
 a place for me at a cheaper rate than usual; through 
 their influence, I also got lower rates at the inns, 
 where I took my meals alone. They often urged me 
 to eat with them, but I always refused." 
 
 Then follow a few details of the trip from La 
 Rochelle to Paris: "I used to leave the carriage only 
 to spend the night at the inn, where I would buy 
 something for my supper. The remnants I kept 
 for the morrow's dinner, which I ate alone in the 
 carriage, while my companions left it and went to 
 dine. We always rose early that the journey might 
 not be delayed; for the three priests never failed to 
 say Mass each day before setting out, and I had the 
 consolation of assisting at their three Masses." * 
 
 The touching simplicity of this narrative cannot 
 detract from its interest. On the contrary, it gives 
 us a clear idea of the strength of Margaret's character. 
 Could any one detect the least hint of complaint in 
 this brief description of a journey the hardships of 
 which seem so terrible to the spoilt traveller of to-day ? 
 
 As soon as the coach reached Paris, Margaret 
 Bourgeoys hastened to the grand old church of Notre 
 Dame, there to beg Our Lady's blessing on her enter- 
 prise. Kneeling before her statue, she renewed the 
 * Vie de la Mere Bourgeoys, 1818, p. 104 
 
ii4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 consecration made by the members of the Montreal 
 Company many years before, offering the Island of 
 Montreal to be Mary's especial kingdom, and ask- 
 ing her to bless the labors of the Congregation de 
 Notre Dame. Already past the prime of life, sim- 
 ply, almost poorly dressed, worn by toil and priva- 
 tion, pale and wan after a long journey, that pray- 
 ing woman would perhaps have failed to arrest a 
 careless glance. Had we been with her in the dim 
 Cathedral, we might have scorned her lowly aspect, 
 little dreaming that she had crossed the ocean to 
 come to the brilliant court of Louis XIV., still less 
 that many future generations would bless her as the 
 benefactress of a whole continent. Yet, so it was. 
 And, moreover, God, so blessed her endeavors that 
 almost without human aid, each stage of this strange 
 journey was fully successful. 
 
 That first night in Paris was spent in a shabby 
 house with a poor woman of the Saint Sulpice quar- 
 ter. Early next morning Margaret was kneeling 
 before the tabernacle. A priest issued from the 
 sacristy, bearing the Blessed Sacrament to some help- 
 less invalid, and escorted by a few faithful followers. 
 She joined the little procession, praying fervently as 
 she walked close behind her beloved Master. The 
 priest's way led to the very door of the Seminary. 
 As the procession stopped, Margaret heard a small 
 group of men talking earnestly. One of them, a 
 priest, said that he had in his keeping a sum of money 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 115 
 
 due to a person whose whereabouts were unknown 
 to him. So far, his remarks had fallen upon unheed- 
 ing ears, but his next words caught her attention 
 with startling distinctness. "I must remit this 
 money," the priest went on, "to a certain Margaret 
 Bourgeoys, but where I am to find her is a mystery 
 to me." Drawing nearer, Sister Bourgeoys told him 
 she had overheard his conversation, and that she her- 
 self was the very person he was seeking. A few 
 words of explanation made the state of things per- 
 fectly clear, and the money was handed to its right- 
 ful owner. 
 
 Her letters had been left at the Seminary, and 
 she now resolved to seek out Father Perrot's relatives 
 and M. de Maisonneuve, as she had letters for them 
 also. The cure's family, unfavorably impressed by 
 their visitor's poverty, received her rather coldly. 
 When Father Perrot's letter had been read, however, 
 their feelings towards one whom he regarded as a 
 saint changed completely. They pressed her to share 
 their mid-day meal, waited upon her and loaded her 
 with kindness, while treating her with a deep respect 
 that gave the humble nun more pain than pleasure, 
 and impelled her to decline an urgent invitation to 
 lodge at their house. 
 
 From M. Perrot's house she went to M. de Maison- 
 neuve 's quarters, in the Fosse's St. Victor. After a 
 brief delay, the door was opened by de Maisonneuve 
 himself. As he stood there looking out into the 
 
n6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 gathering darkness, seeking to recognize his visitor, 
 the traces of age and sorrow were visible in his care- 
 worn face. But, when his eyes fell on Sister Bour- 
 geoys, a great joy leaped into them, he greeted her 
 warmly, led her into his study, and questioned her 
 eagerly about Montreal, its welfare, its inhabitants, 
 without a trace of bitterness or resentment towards 
 those who had driven him far from his cherished 
 colony into a life of inactive retirement. Finally, 
 having ascertained that Margaret had no definite 
 place of abode, he told her, joyously, that Providence 
 had prepared one for her. A short time before, he 
 had built in his garden a small log-cabin like those 
 used in Canada, intending to lodge any Canadian 
 who might chance to visit him. Margaret readily 
 accepted his offer, and that very day took possession 
 of what was to be her little home during her stay in 
 Paris. Maisonneuve took charge of all Sister Bour- 
 geoys' business and proved a kind and helpful friend 
 during her stay in France. 
 
 A few days after her arrival Sister Bourgeoys had 
 another remarkable proof of Our Lady's protection. 
 She was traversing the streets of Paris on one of the 
 many expeditions necessitated by her quest for letters- 
 patent. Her purse was very light, and funds were 
 absolutely necessary. Still, the sharpest eye could 
 have detected no sign of worry to mar the serenity 
 of her expression. Suddenly, hurried steps sounded 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 117 
 
 on the pavement behind her, and a stranger, over- 
 taking her, asked in breathless tones: "Would she 
 be pleased to tell him if she knew a person, just 
 out from Canada, named Margaret Bourgeoys?" "I 
 am Margaret Bourgeoys," she answered, "what do 
 you desire me to do for you ? " "If you are the person 
 I am seeking, this belongs to you," returned the man, 
 placing in her hands a sum of money. At first Mar- 
 garet refused the unexpected gift, but the stranger 
 having explained that he was the man to whom she 
 had lent 130 livres in his hour of need at Ville-Marie, 
 she thanked God who sent this help in so singular 
 a manner and at so opportune a moment. 
 
 Unfortunately, Sister Bourgeoys' Memoirs give no 
 further details of her doings in Paris. This is a 
 cause of great regret to her children; for, how much 
 light these pages might throw on her character and how 
 many beautiful lessons might be gathered from them. 
 However, we do know that the members of the Mon- 
 treal Company, mostly learned and saintly men, took 
 a deep interest in her and helped her by word and 
 deed. Her request came to the ears of the King who 
 was favorably impressed and inclined to grant her peti- 
 tion without hesitation. But six months dragged on, 
 and yet nothing was accomplished. Then Colbert, 
 the former intendant of Mazarin's household, "a man 
 whose energies matched his talents and who had 
 preserved his rectitude in the midst of corruption,"* 
 * Parkman, The Old Regime in Canada, p. 222. 
 
n8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 took the case into consideration. The penetrating 
 genius of one "who sought to drive France into paths 
 of prosperity by the energy of an imperial will," * 
 saw what Margaret Bourgeoys' institute was destined 
 to do for one of France's richest colonies by forming 
 for Louis XIV., loyal and intelligent subjects. The 
 Minister of Finance received Margaret courteously, 
 his dark eyes looking at her keenly, yet not unkindly, 
 from under his heavy black eyebrows and care-lined 
 forehead. Having listened attentively to her petition, 
 he promised to obtain the king's approval for the 
 Congregation de Notre Dame. The promise was 
 faithfully kept. 
 
 May had come, the most beautiful month of 
 Spring, so fair, and balmy in "la douce France." 
 Louis XIV. with his court was at Dunkerque. This 
 fortified sea-port, a mere speck on the map of Europe, 
 has a history that might well be envied by many a 
 larger town. Built by Baldwin of Flanders on the 
 sandhills that surrounded a churchf erected in 690 
 by St. Eligius, it passed by inheritance to Charles V. 
 of Spain and subsequently experienced a bewilder- 
 ing succession of French and English conquests, for 
 no sooner was it clutched by one rival than it was 
 snatched away by the other. In 1662 Louis XIV. 
 bought it from England. Some years later, it was 
 
 * Parkman. The Old Regime in Canada. 
 f Hence its name, "Dun-kerque, (in English, Dunkirk) 
 Eglise des dunes," kirk or church of the sandhills. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 119 
 
 made still more illustrious by one of its sons, Jean 
 Bart, the fisherboy, who was raised by his valor to 
 be the equal of the haughty nobles of the French 
 navy. 
 
 But if Dunkerque naturally suggests these his- 
 torical reminiscences, the date 1671 evokes others of 
 a different nature. While Margaret Bourgeoys was 
 journeying in her native land, in the midst of fatigue 
 and privations, seeking only to assure the future of 
 her Community, a girl of twenty-three, another Mar- 
 garet, also a daughter of France was entering upon 
 the humble life of a Visitation nun. Then seemingly 
 but an ordinary novice, she was one day to be known 
 and loved throughout the Catholic world, from all 
 parts of which pilgrims were to come and pray at her 
 grave in the now famous, but once insignificant little 
 town of Paray-le-Monial the cradle of devotion 
 to the Sacred Heart, of which Blessed Margaret 
 Mary was first the disciple and later the ardent 
 apostle. 
 
 To return to Margaret Bourgeoys. She is no 
 longer in Paris, but in Dunkerque itself, whither she 
 has followed the king. Into the brilliant assemblage 
 of youth, wealth and beauty, amid the throng of 
 courtiers with leonine wigs, gay in silks and velvets 
 and costly lace, came the lowly, pure-hearted nun 
 in her travel-stained garments, coarse of texture and 
 sombre of hue. She had no thought of self, no curi- 
 osity nor admiration for the strange, dazzling world 
 
120 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 into which duty led her unconscious of all around 
 she passed among the extravagant splendors of the 
 court of him whom all Europe called "The King.' 1 
 If glances of idle curiosity 01 arrogant contempt 
 followed her as she went; if words of scornful raillery 
 flew from lip to lip as she passed groups of frivolous 
 chatterers, they fell, harmless, on unseeing eyes and 
 unheeding ears, never so much as reaching the heart 
 they were powerless to hurt. 
 
 Colbert's influence made itself felt at last. Louis 
 granted his royal approbation and signed the letters- 
 patent in May, 1671. Not content with this proof 
 of his esteem for Sister Bourgeoys, the Minister 
 caused them to be immediately registered in the 
 Parliament of Paris and then wrote to Talon urging 
 him to favor the Congregation de Notre Dame as 
 an institute that would contribute powerfully to the 
 spread of religion in Canada. When the great Min- 
 ister gave the example his inferiors were not slow to 
 follow suit. In the different offices Margaret met 
 with nothing but respect and kindness, and the 
 secretary who drew up the letters-patent would not 
 even accept the usual fee. 
 
 These letters, a priceless treasure to the religious 
 of her Community, speak most highly of Margaret 
 Bourgeoys and her work. It is a joy for all who 
 love the Congregation de Notre Dame and its saintly 
 Foundress to read the approval of the "roi soleil" in 
 the brightest days of the "grand siecle." Too long 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 121 
 
 to be quoted in full, we transcribe a part of this 
 precious document as it appears in the original, bear- 
 ing the seal and autograph of Louis XIV. 
 
 "Our beloved Margaret Bourgeoys, a native of 
 our town of Troves in the province of Champagne, 
 has most humbly represented that much time has 
 elapsed since God inspired her with the desire to 
 advance the Catholic Faith by the education of per- 
 sons of her own sex, both French and Indian, in New 
 France, whither she repaired for this purpose as early 
 as the year 1653. Having settled in the Island of 
 Montreal with several other maidens, she has there 
 followed the calling of a school mistress, teaching 
 young girls gratuitously all the trades by which they 
 are enabled to earn their livelihood; and with such 
 success, by the continual grace of Divine Providence 
 that neither the aforesaid petitioner nor her Commu- 
 nity is in any manner a burden to the country, having 
 built at her own expense, in the aforesaid Island of 
 Montreal, two buildings suitable for her work, and 
 caused several concessions of land to be cultivated 
 and a farm-house to be erected with all things neces- 
 sary thereto. The establishment thus formed has 
 since been approved by His Lordship, the Bishop of 
 Petrea, Vicar Apostolic; by the Soeur de Courcelle, 
 our Lieutenant-general in Canada, and by the Sieur 
 de Talon, Intendant of Justice, Police and Finance, as 
 well as by the resolutions of an assembly held by 
 the inhabitants of the aforesaid place; by reason of 
 
122 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 M 
 
 which the aforesaid petitioner has been advised, for 
 the common good of the aforesaid Island, to request 
 us to grant her our letters of confirmation for the 
 aforesaid establishment, under the title of "Congre- 
 gation de Notre Dame. 
 
 " -We do confirm by these presents, signed 
 by our own hand, the establishment of the aforesaid 
 Congregation de Notre Dame in the aforesaid Island 
 of Montreal under the jurisdiction of the Ordinary, 
 nor shall they be exposed to molestation under any 
 pretext whatever."* 
 
 One of the two objects of Margaret Bourgeoys' 
 journey had, by the grace of God and the visible 
 protection of the Blessed Virgin, been most success- 
 fully attained; the second, and, in some respects, the 
 more difficult, she now turned to with her usual 
 strength and unswerving singleness of purpose. We 
 know nothing of her journey ings in search of novices. 
 But, with her wise old biographer, f we may follow 
 her in imagination, as we would fain have done in 
 fact, in her search through the towns of France, but 
 more especially in her own birth-place, Troyes. "We 
 should have seen her," he says, "often on foot, some- 
 times burdened with her scant wardrobe; or else in 
 public conveyances, always more disagreeable to 
 
 * Archives quoted by by M. Faillon; vie de M. Bourgeoys 
 
 Vol. I, p. 221. 
 
 t Author of Life published in 1818 M. 1'Abbe Montgolfier 
 P.S.S. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 123 
 
 her than the hardest and most fatiguing high roads, 
 because of the indiscreet and licentious company 
 sometimes met therein; though, by her simple and 
 modest demeanor, her words of apostolic unction 
 and zeal, and by a thousand edifying practices, she 
 knew full well how to inspire respect in the most 
 dissolute, and to convert these journeys, perilous 
 to one of ordinary virtue, into missions both useful 
 to her neighbor and sanctifying to herself. While, 
 through a spirit of poverty, humility and mortifica- 
 tion, virtues she possessed in an eminent degree, 
 she refused herself every satisfaction, she was liberal 
 and generous to excess when the glory of God or the 
 exercise of charity were in question; perfectly poor 
 and possessing nothing, the fruit of her labors was 
 a fund for the destitute. Providence, there- 
 fore, never failed her when in pressing necessity." 
 
 The loving Master Whose example was ever be- 
 fore her eyes, as, she went from town to town in 
 search of laborers for the vineyard, rewarded Sister 
 Bourgeoys by giving light and strength to six girls 
 who left all to walk in her apostolic footsteps. Some 
 years later the following names appeared in a list 
 with those of the former sisters as belonging to her 
 Community; there is no doubt, that those who bear 
 these names followed Margaret in 1672: Elizabeth 
 de la Bertache, Madeleine de Constantin, Tkerese 
 Soumillard, Perrette Laurent, Genevieve Durosoy, 
 Marguerite Soumillard. 
 
i2 4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Several belonged to noble families; but on enter- 
 ing the little Community they wished to give up for- 
 ever not home and country alone, but also rank and 
 name. For this reason they were known henceforth 
 only by their Christian names. This example was 
 not lost on their successors; to this day Margaret 
 Bourgeoys' daughters relinquish their own name to 
 assume that of some saint or some mystery. 
 
 Margaret's work in France was done. She had 
 been away from her convent two whole years and 
 was eager to lead her charges to their home. Before 
 leaving Paris, however, she saw the members of the 
 Montreal Company, several of whom had helped 
 her in various ways during her stay in France. One 
 of these, Pierre Chevrier, Baron de Fancamp, form- 
 erly Seigneur and proprietor of the Island of Mon- 
 treal, offered to pay her passage home. Sister Bour- 
 geoys refused, adding, however, that she would be 
 grateful for the gift of a statue to be placed in the 
 chapel she hoped to build. De Fancamp promised 
 to give her one, and Margaret took leave of him. The 
 time fixed for her departure had almost come, and 
 Baron de Fancamp had found no suitable statue. 
 Two friends of his, Denis le Pretre and Louis, his 
 brother, came to his relief in this perplexity. They 
 wished to contribute towards spreading devotion 
 to Our Lady in Canada, especially in her town of 
 Ville-Marie, and therefore placed in de Fancamp 's 
 hands a little image of the Blessed Virgin, which he 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 125 
 
 in turn gave to Sister Bourgeoys. It was made of 
 wood taken from the old oak tree in which a shepherd 
 had discovered the miraculous statue of Notre 
 Dame de Montaigu, in Belgium. Pierre Chevrier 
 joyfully received the timely gift and his joy was 
 deepened into gratitude by his sudden recovery from 
 a serious illness after praying for relief before it. 
 When Margaret returned for the promised offering, 
 he gave her not the statue only, but also a beautiful 
 niche of gilded wood and a sum of money for the 
 Ville-Marie chapel. With deep veneration Marga- 
 ret received the lovely statue, a little gem of some 
 eight inches in height exquisitely carved out of dark 
 brown wood. 
 
 Bearing her treasure, and accompanied by eleven 
 young girls, of whom six were to be her co-laborers, 
 she left Paris, returning this time by way of Normandy, 
 the first home of the early colonists who peopled 
 the broad Canadian lands across the sea. A boat 
 brought the twelve down the historic Seine to a dingy 
 old town with narrow streets and projecting gables, 
 lying at the foot of picturesque hills that closed 
 around it on three sides. It seems a stray bit of the 
 Middle Ages, and as such, Rouen, the birthplace of 
 Corneille, the scene of Jeanne d'Arc's cruel death, 
 is loved by travellers and antiquarians. When Mar- 
 garet threaded its dim old streets and prayed in its 
 grand Gothic churches, Corneille was an old man of 
 sixty-six, whose sun had set, whose glory had waned 
 
126 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 and whose lonely poverty-stricken old age was be- 
 ginning with the'publication of his last feeble tragedies. 
 
 Margaret and her followers were obliged to spend 
 a whole month in Rouen, waiting for news of their 
 ship's departure. Apart from its churches, there 
 was little there to interest those whose minds were 
 more occupied with things of heaven than with those 
 of earth, so the thirty days seemed very long and dull. 
 Besides, the prolonged stay in a strange place without 
 any friends to help them was a serious drain on 
 their slender resources. One day, Madeliene Senecal, 
 who was the bursar, said to Sister Bourgeoys: "Sis- 
 ter, we have just enough money for this week, and 
 no more. What shall we do afterwards?" "You 
 distrust Providence," the latter replied rather coldly, 
 "has It ever failed us in our time of need ? " "Mean- 
 while," returned Madeliene, laughingly, "we must 
 dine." "Enough my daughter," Margaret said to 
 her, "God will provide." She was right. Before 
 the end of the week came Louis Frin, de Maison- 
 neuve's trusted servant, bringing for each of the 
 band an order for 200 livres, and also a daily pension 
 to be paid regularly until their arrival in Quebec. 
 This opportune relief was due, it is supposed, to 
 Colbert's generosity. 
 
 There was no more anxiety about lack of funds 
 but the monotony of waiting wearied the young girls. 
 The ship was to sail from Havre de Grace, a busy 
 seaport of Normandy, fifty-four miles from Rouen. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 127 
 
 For some time it had borne the name of its founder, 
 Francis L, being known as Franciscopolis ; but the 
 nearness of an ancient chapel dedicated to Our Lady 
 of Grace caused its later title, " Havre de Grace," to 
 supersede the former. In our own day, Le Havre 
 is a well built, airy town, the fourth or fifth of France 
 in commercial importance, with a yearly average of 
 sixteen thousand vessels moving at its perfectly 
 equipped docks. Thither Margaret led her charges, 
 hoping the change of scene would relieve the tedium 
 of the long delay. Reaching Havre, after a short 
 trip by water, they saw their ship load amid the bustle 
 and confusion incident to the preparation of an ocean 
 voyage. At first the sight was a novel and interest- 
 ing one, but, after a fortnight in the small sea-port, 
 all interest was lost, and the pious travellers found a 
 welcome relief in prayer. 
 
 Margaret tells us that "in the two journeys made 
 to bring out young girls, whenever there happened 
 to be places of devotion on our route, we always re- 
 newed there our resolution of seeking perfection." One 
 of these existed not far from Havre de Grace, and Mar- 
 garet suggested to her sisters that they make a pil- 
 grimage there to obtain a speedy departure and a 
 safe journey. They gladly agreed, and a day was 
 chosen for the pilgrimage to the shrine of Notre Dame 
 des Neiges, to whom, as we already know, Margaret 
 had a special devotion. Although the distance was 
 no trifling one, the Sisters determined to walk the 
 
128 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 six miles without breaking their fast, in order to 
 receive Holy Communion at the shrine. In the early 
 morning the travellers set out, with the song of birds 
 and the glorious music of the in-coming waves filling 
 their ears, and the fresh beauty of dew-bathed scenery 
 and swelling ocean before their eyes. The sun wa 
 already high overhead when they reached the chapel 
 of Notre Dame des Neiges, and of the two priests 
 who lived nearby, one had said his Mass several 
 hours earlier, and the other was ill in bed. But 
 when Sister Bourgeoys told of their desire for Mass 
 and Communion, the former was moved to compas- 
 sion and trusting to Our Lady's power went to seek 
 his friend. The latter determined to make a great 
 effort. Rising with difficulty, he managed to dress 
 and go down to the chapel. When he began the 
 Mass, his strength returned in a wonderful manner, 
 arid he was able to say it to the end and give all the 
 pilgrims Holy Communion."* 
 
 A few days later, on the 2d of July, 1672, every- 
 thing being ready at last, the ship weighed anchor 
 and set sail. To Margaret's joy, there was a priest on 
 board, Father Lefebre, who was going to the Montreal 
 Seminary. The passengers numbered forty-five, 
 forming a ship's company which resembled a commu- 
 nity of which Sister Bourgeoys might be called the 
 Superior. Several times a day, when Margaret or 
 her companions recited prayers, men and women, 
 
 * Vie de la Sceur Bourgtoys, 1818, p. 109. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS, 129 
 
 sailors and passengers, met before the graceful ora- 
 tory in which had been placed the priceless statue 
 of Notre Dame de Bonsecours. 
 
 Margaret's greatest wish was to reach Quebec 
 on the feast of the Assumption, that she might bear 
 to land on that day the cherished statue; thus Mary 
 herself would in a special manner, take possession 
 of a country already consecrated to her. To this 
 end, she had urged her daughters to make a novena 
 and to promise, should they reach Canada on the 
 1 5th of August, to hear three Masses on that day 
 and on the three succeeding ones. Their prayers 
 were heard. Not only was the crossing calm and 
 prosperous, but it was also one of the shortest that 
 had yet been made from France to Canada. For, 
 having left Havre de Grace on the Feast of the Visi- 
 tation, they landed at Quebec on the eve of the As- 
 sumption, forty-three days later. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 EVIL TIDINGS A JOYOUS WELCOME POVERTY 
 INDEED A GLANCE AT CANADIAN HISTORY 
 THE ANNUAL FAIR. 
 
 ON leaving the ship Sister Bourgeoys was eagerly 
 welcomed by friends and acquaintances. 
 Among them was one of those melancholy 
 souls who find a peculiar pleasure in giving bad news 
 and watching its effect on the poor victim. With great 
 apparent reluctance, this officious news-monger, com- 
 ing up to Sister Bourgeoys, informed her that the 
 Montreal Community was in a state of decadence 
 and its very existence in imminent danger. Not a 
 quiver passed over the nun's serene face and there 
 was no tremor in her quiet voice as she replied, 
 " Blessed be God! He Who allows it to fall can raise 
 it up once more whenever He sees fit." 
 
 Having heard these tidings, Margaret longed the 
 more to enter her convent again and comfort her 
 daughters by sharing their trials. A few days after 
 the ship's arrival, the novices with their Superior took 
 their places in the small craft which carried passen- 
 gers from Quebec to Montreal, 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 131 
 
 If there had been joy in Quebec because of her 
 return, much greater was the rejoicing of the Ville- 
 Marie population when its beloved adviser, teacher 
 and mother, came to resume her labors. All were 
 eager to look upon her kind face again, to hear her 
 gentle words of sympathy, to press the hands that 
 had so fondly tended the sick and so steadily worked 
 for the poor. Mary's loving subjects of Ville-Marie 
 always celebrated her feasts with great joy, and this 
 glorious solemnity of her Assumption seemed all the 
 happier because Sister Bourgeoys had come in time 
 to keep it with them. 
 
 Dollier de Casson, a soldier-priest and historian, 
 writes: "What I consider truly worthy of admiration 
 is that this good Sister Bourgeoys should have made 
 as she has just done, a journey of two years' dura- 
 tion to France, during which without friends or money, 
 she has subsisted, obtained her commission from 
 the Court and returned with twelve or thirteen girls, 
 of whom but few had wherewith to pay their passage. 
 All this is admirable, and shows the hand of God on 
 this holy nun and on her Institute."* 
 
 Touching was the meeting between Sister Bour- 
 geoys and her daughters! They waited at the thresh- 
 old to greet her, and fell on their knees at her feet, 
 but she tenderly raised them up and pressed them, 
 one by one, to her motherly heart. Then, turning 
 to the six novices, she welcomed them joyously to 
 
 * Histoire de Montreal, 
 
132 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 their new home. She did not rest until she had re- 
 visited the convent from cellar to garret, speaking to 
 each of the little pupils who smiled a welcome up 
 into her responsive face, and resuming the burden 
 of her duties just as though it had not been laid 
 aside for four and twenty months. Order, cleanliness, 
 industry, she found everywhere as she had left them, 
 but another guest had entered, one whom she saw 
 with joy and received into her heart as the sweetest 
 friend; and this was none other than the "Lady 
 Poverty" so dear to the Saint of Assisi. Poor as 
 the convent had been when she left, it was far poorer 
 now. What might then have been called simplicity, 
 was now little more than abject poverty. So much 
 so that, when the bell summoned the Community to 
 the midday meal, the scanty fare consisted of dry 
 bread and a morsel of salt meat scarcely less dry. 
 To Margaret, this seemed the most delicious meal 
 she had ever tasted, for poverty had prepared it 
 and flavored it, and poverty she loved as the 
 blessing and safeguard of religious life. 
 
 When Sister Bourgeoys bade Genevieve Durosoy 
 go to prepare supper for the Community, the novice 
 objected, saying: "What do you wish me to prepare, 
 Mother? I see nothing in the larder." "Why do 
 you distrust Providence ?" the saintly Foundress re- 
 turned, " go nevertheless to your post, and God will 
 provide." Once more this heroic confidence was 
 fully justified. In the afternoon, a large number 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 133 
 
 of citizens came to see Sister Bourgeoys and welcome 
 the novices from their Mother Country. Before the 
 supper-bell had rung, their gifts had replenished the 
 empty larder. He who cares for the birdling in its 
 nest did not forget the faithful servants whom volun- 
 tary poverty had left in utter dependence upon His 
 aid. 
 
 It were perhaps well to leave Margaret Bourgeoys 
 and her daughters to the joy of reunion and to the 
 labors now pursued with more vigor than ever before 
 while we cast a cursory glance over the most striking 
 events of Canadian History since her departure for 
 Europe in 1670 down to 1676. In August of the 
 former year, M. Talon, the zealous and efficient 
 Intendant, returned from a visit to France, bringing 
 with him many settlers, five Recollet brothers and the 
 new Governor of Ville- Marie, M. Perrot. The latter 
 carried letters -royal granted in the name of Father 
 de Bretonvilliers, then Superior of Saint Sulpice. An 
 important event in the history of the Church in 
 Canada was the holy death of Mother Mary of the 
 Incarnation, foundress of the Quebec Ursulines, often 
 surnamed "the Canadian St. Teresa." Her un- 
 wearied labors only ceased when her ardent soul 
 went to its reward in 1672. In a preceding chapter, 
 we noted that Margaret Bourgeoys had, on arrival 
 in Canada, been very friendly with the Ursulines 
 who had even urged her to join their Community. 
 
134 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Venerable Mother of the Incarnation was therefore 
 well known to her. 
 
 Towards the close of the same year, 1672, one of 
 Canada's greatest governors came out to represent 
 Louis XIV. in New France. "Frontenac," writes 
 Father Charlevoix, "was gifted with a quick, inven- 
 tive, firm and polished mind. He was inclined to 
 the most unjust prejudices and capable of carrying 
 them to great lengths. His talents were equalled by 
 his personal bravery." Unfortunately for Montreal, 
 the passionate Governor embroiled himself with the 
 new authorities in that Island, thus troubling the 
 peace of the little Community. Soon, however, 
 Frontenac was recalled, and concord reigned once 
 more. 
 
 In 1673, Margaret lost a true friend by the death 
 of Jeanne Mance, foundress of the Hotel-Dieu. 
 
 In 1674, Quebec was raised to the rank of a 
 bishopric. Two years later, M. de Maisonneuve, 
 the noble Christian soldier to whom Montreal owes 
 its existence and preservation, died in Paris, at peace 
 with God and man. 
 
 A glance at the civil condition of Canada would 
 show it to be still far from peaceful. The Iroquois 
 were ever to be feared and their evil doings formed 
 the theme of many a terrified settler's piteous tale. 
 The population had rapidly increased; forts had 
 risen up or been strengthened; the king's paternal 
 interest in his greatest colony had resulted in increase 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 135 
 
 of trade, commerce and prosperity. An interesting 
 custom of the period is thus described by an American 
 historian: "To induce the Indians to come to the 
 colonists, in order that the fur trade might be con- 
 trolled by the government, a great annual fair was 
 established, by the order of king, at Montreal. 
 Thither every summer a host of savages came down 
 from the lakes in their bark canoes. A place was 
 assigned them at a little distance from the town. 
 They landed, drew up their canoes in a line up the 
 bank, took out their packs of beaver-skins, set up 
 their wigwams, slung their kettles, and encamped 
 for the night. On the next day there was a grand 
 council on the common, between St. Paul Street and 
 the river. Speeches were made amid a solemn smok- 
 ing of pipes. The Governor was usually present, 
 seated in an armchair, while the visitors formed a 
 ring around him, ranged in the order of their tribe. 
 On the next day the trade began in the same place. 
 Merchants of high and low degree brought up their 
 goods from Quebec, and every inhabitant of Montreal 
 of any substance, sought a share in the profit. Their 
 booths were set up along the palisades of the town, 
 and each had an interpreter to whom he usually 
 promised a certain portion of his gains. The scene 
 abounded in those contrasts which mark the whole 
 course of French Canadian history. Here was a 
 throng of Indians armed with bows and arrows, war- 
 clubs, or the cheap guns of the trade, some of them 
 
i 3 6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 completely naked, except for the feathers on their 
 heads and the paint on their faces; French bush- 
 rangers tricked out with savage finery; merchants 
 and habitants in their coarse and plain attire and the 
 grave priests of St. Sulpice robed in black." * 
 
 Of Montreal itself this description is given by 
 the same graphic writer when treating of the years 
 1665-1672: "As you approached Montreal, the for- 
 tified mill, built by the Sulpicians at Pointe-aux 
 Trembles, towered above the woods; and soon after, 
 the newly-built chapel of the Infant Jesus. More 
 settlements followed, till at length the great fortified 
 mill in Montreal rose in sight; then the long row of 
 compact wooden houses, the Hotel-Dieu, and the 
 rough masonry of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice." f 
 
 - The Sulpicians, feudal owners of Montreal, 
 surrounded the island with a border of fiefs, large 
 and small, granted partly to officers and partly to 
 humble settlers, bold, hardy and practiced in wood- 
 craft. Thus, a line of sentinels was posted around 
 the entire shore, ready to give the alarm whenever 
 an enemy appeared." It is interesting to note how 
 almost ludicrously small were the payments (known 
 as cens el rente) made by these tenants to their priestly 
 landlords. "A common charge at Montreal was 
 half a sou and half a pint of wheat for each arpent." ** 
 
 * Parkman, The Old Regime in Canada, p. 353. 
 t Ibid, p. 290. 
 
 ** Arpent: An old French measure of about an acre. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 137 
 
 The rate usually fluctuated in the early time be- 
 tween half a sou and two sous Later in the his- 
 tory of the colony grants were at a somewhat higher 
 rate." * And no wonder. 
 
 So much for the outward aspect. Writing at the 
 same period Pere Charlevoix has this to say of the 
 moral aspect: "The Island of Montreal resembled 
 a religious community, because from the beginning 
 none but people of exemplary conduct were allowed 
 to settle there. Moreover, they were continually ex- 
 posed to the predatory inroads of the Iroquois, and 
 like the Israelites on their return from the Babylo- 
 nian captivity, they were obliged, while building 
 their rude structures and clearing their lands, almost 
 constantly to have their tools in one hand and their 
 weapons in the other, to defend themselves against 
 an enemy that waged war only by surprise." | 
 
 * Parkman, The Old Rtgime in Canada, p. 49 
 f Charlevoix, Hist&ire du Canada. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 NOTRE DAME DE BONSECOURS THE TASK RE- 
 SUMED PRELIMINARIES - - How THE FIRST 
 CHURCH WAS BUILT A RENEWAL OF FERVOR 
 A BACKWARD GLANCE. 
 
 WE have not forgotten Sister Bourgeoys' desire 
 to build a chapel in Our Lady's honor, nor 
 the precious statue she had brought out 
 from France for the yet unbuilt church. 
 
 The statue had been placed in the rude structure 
 erected before her departure, and its presence there 
 drew a larger and more fervent crowd of worshippers 
 to what was already a favored shrine. In the be- 
 ginning of June, 1673, Margaret Bourgeoys had 
 borne it in her own hands to the little shrine of 
 Notre Dame de Bonsecours, where it remained until 
 the new church was completed. It had been re- 
 moved from the private oratory of the Congregation 
 de Notre Dame at Father Perrot's request, on the plea 
 that more of his parishioners would be enabled to 
 pray before it in the public chapel. 
 
 The remembrance of Our Lady's wondrous favors 
 dwelt ever in Mother Bourgeoys' heart, feeding there 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 
 
 139 
 
 a burning desire to make some return to this Heav- 
 enly Benefactress by spreading and strengthening 
 Mary's worship in the New World. We have seen 
 the partial realization of this design, a chapel begun, 
 the work interrupted and finally laid aside for a time 
 in obedience to Father de Queylus' wishes. But now, 
 at last, it was near its accomplishment. The citizens 
 of Ville- Marie were all eager to see the long-projected 
 chapel whose erection had been decided upon by the 
 Montreal Company, and foretold by Father Olier, * 
 but they could offer Margaret no aid because their 
 resources were already severely taxed by the building 
 of a large parish church. 
 
 The priests of Saint Sulpice to whom Margaret 
 had confided the execution of this project, obtained 
 the necessary permission from the episcopal authorities. 
 In the month of August, Father Perrot, or perhaps 
 Dollier de Casson, wrote to M. Dudouyt, the Vicar- 
 General, begging permission to build. On the 24th 
 of the same month this answer was received: "I am 
 most happy to see that you promote devotion to 
 the Blessed Virgin so zealously. I approve the pro- 
 ject of building a little chapel near the town of Mon- 
 treal where the Blessed Virgin may be honored. Ac- 
 cording to Pere Pijart's verbal explanation, the site 
 chosen is very near the town; if it were a little further, 
 this would contribute to the devotion of the people 
 who would there make their pilgrimages. You will 
 
 * Histoire de Bonsecours par l'Abb J. M. Leleu, p. 22. 
 
140 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 kindly consider this, and let me know your opinion." 
 The distance from the town to the shrine was in- 
 deed trifling; perhaps a quarter of a mile separated it 
 from St. Jean Baptiste Street where stood the last 
 houses of the settlement. However, the site chosen 
 was protected by St. Mary's Fort, and besides, the 
 task of keeping the road in passable condition, after 
 the winter snowstorms especially, would have proved 
 too difficult had the church been placed further out 
 in the open country. Already the colonists were 
 in the habit of going there regularly; it was easy of 
 access to the priests who said Mass and to the nuns, 
 who cared for the altar; for all these reasons it was 
 decided to retain the original site.* 
 
 The Assumption was chosen by Margaret Bour- 
 geoys as the titular feast of the new chapel. As the 
 greatest day of a saint's life is that on which death 
 breaks his chain, allowing him to "enter into the 
 joy of his Lord," so it is the most glorious feast of 
 her whose years of exile on earth, after the Ascension, 
 were a long martyrdom, a slow pining away of the 
 Immaculate Heart so inseparably united to the 
 Heart of Jesus. This feast, the one about which she 
 most loved to speak to her daughters, was in Marga- 
 ret's eyes the greatest and clearest manifestation of 
 Our Lady's power and glory; hence she chose it 
 in preference to all others. This choice was ratified 
 
 * For these and subsequent details see Histoirt de N. D. de 
 Bonsecours it Montreal par 1'Abbe" Leleu, pp. 10-24 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 141 
 
 on the 4th of November, 1674, by M. Hestry de Ber- 
 nieres, Vicar-General of Quebec, during the bishop's 
 protracted absence. 
 
 The following year a part of the necessary funds 
 was at hand. M. de Fancamp's gift of 300 livres, 
 being profitably invested, had doubled its value; 
 other gifts have been made until more than 2,000 
 livres were in Sister Bourgeoys' hands. Besides, the 
 nuns themselves had worked and saved and stinted 
 enough to contribute 100 louis, and Father Souart 
 gave the land upon which the chapel was to be erected. 
 On June 29, 1675, feast of the two great princes of 
 the church, Peter and Paul, immediately after solemn 
 vespers, a procession of the clergy passed out of the 
 town and paused on the chosen spot. A cross was 
 set up where the altar would one day stand, and then 
 clergy and people retraced their steps. The follow- 
 ing day, the entire population of Ville-Marie gathered 
 outside the town to witness the solemn laying of the 
 corner-stone. The one which had been there since 
 1657, was now removed and a larger one, laid in the 
 name of Pierre Chevrier, Baron de Fancamp, took 
 its place. Under it were deposited a medal of the 
 Blessed Virgin and a leaden tablet bearing the in- 
 scription : 
 
 D.O.M. 
 
 Beatae . Maria . Virgin! , 
 Sub . Titulo . Assumptions. 
 
142 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The priests of the Seminary, the church wardens 
 and four Congregation nuns, Margaret Bourgeoys, 
 Anne Hioux, Elizabeth de la Bertache, and Margaret 
 Prudhomme, signed the legal report of the memora- 
 ble ceremony. 
 
 No sooner was the first stone laid than the work 
 of building began. Sister Bourgeoys' zeal kindled 
 the hearts of those around her; with unwearied energy 
 the builders toiled, aided by the colonists and by the 
 nuns themselves. It seemed like a picture from the 
 Ages of Faith to see a whole town intent upon the 
 erection of a church and all its inhabitants eager to 
 lend their aid. The teachers were happy, even after 
 a long day spent among restless children in a crowded 
 class, to offer their assistance to the laborers. Sister 
 Bourgeoys' spirit seemed to have passed into their 
 hearts and to have given unwonted strength to their 
 hands. She tells us how they helped the workmen 
 and how one among them was rewarded for this 
 labor of love: " Sister Soumillard suffered from a 
 most painful abscess in the head, which prevented 
 her stooping; she was obliged to kneel in order to 
 sweep her room. Heedless of her infirmity, however, 
 on one occasion, she served the masons during two 
 or three hours. From that time and for an entire 
 year she felt not the slightest pain in her head. 
 Nor was this the only cure which manifested the power 
 of Mary in this favored shrine. We might here 
 quote what Louis Veuillot says in his Ptlerinages en 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURCEOYS. 143 
 
 Suisse: "Ah! sweet Mother of Christians, Queen of 
 Angels and of all that is holy in Heaven, will our 
 curiosity ask of thee why it has pleased thee to open 
 in one place more than another the inexhaustible 
 treasure of thy benefits? No, thou lovest us to im- 
 plore thee. Thou provest it by a thousand graces 
 poured forth upon all our sufferings; that we should 
 know r this, is enough." 
 
 Prayer and toil wrought wonders; a church of 
 solid stone rose where the poor shed had been. Soon, 
 though the young colony could not afford a giant 
 bell, it received one whose value was doubled by the 
 associations connected with it. "The metal of this 
 bell, which weighed a little under one hundred 
 pounds, was that of a broken canon which I had 
 obtained from M. de Maisonneuve; Father Souart 
 paid for the casting." So writes Sister Bourgeoys. 
 Truly it was meet that the bell of a church destined to 
 be the colony's safeguard against both spiritual and 
 temporal foes, should be made of a cannon once used 
 in Iroquois w r arfare yet more meet that the memory 
 of Ville-Marie's gallant Founder should be thus re- 
 called each time it woke the echoes of the surround- 
 ing forest! 
 
 The long desired fane stood at last without Ville- 
 Marie. Its cross in air, its bell swinging in the turret, 
 its miraculous statue looking down with maternal 
 grace and tenderness upon the kneeling pilgrims. 
 
144 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 No sooner was it completed than the Congregation 
 de Notre Dame gave to the parish the sum set aside 
 for its erection; this gift was accompanied by one 
 stipulation, that the chapel should always be attached 
 to the Notre Dame parish. Soon after Sister Bour- 
 geoys, in her own name and in that of her companions, 
 addressed a petition to the Bishop of Quebec asking 
 him to sanction this connection, "that the oratory 
 may never, on any account, be separated from the 
 parish, nor occupied nor possessed by any others, 
 but the priests of the Seminary. In this wise the 
 designs of the benefactors will be executed together 
 with those of the sisters of the Congregation." 
 
 The latter asked another favor of the Bishop; 
 that they might continue to care for the chapel and 
 to receive the alms given to complete the interior. 
 "They offer to do this," said they, "to render to 
 the Blessed Virgin, their Mother, all the honor and 
 service of which they are capable." Mgr. de Laval 
 granted these requests in a pastoral dated Nov. 6, 
 1678, but this date lies beyond the limits of the pres- 
 ent chapter. 
 
 Thus was begun, continued and completed through 
 Margaret Bourgeoys' patient waiting and earnest 
 endeavors, this church, dedicated to our Lady, and 
 the first stone church built on the Island of Montreal. 
 It immediately attracted crowds of pilgrims, and its 
 presence renewed the faith and fervor of a whole 
 population. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 145 
 
 An eye witness writes of it: "Mass is said there 
 every day, and even several times a day, to satisfy 
 the people's great devotion to Our Lady of Good 
 Help. People go there in procession in times of 
 public need and calamity, and these pilgrimages are 
 productive of blessed results. Each evening, the 
 pious people wend their way thither, few are the good 
 Catholics from all parts of Canada who do not make 
 promises and offerings to this chapel in their dangers 
 or necessities. I mention these facts to show that 
 the birth of this devotion is due to the zeal of Sister 
 Bourgeoys for the honor of the Mother of God. Un- 
 able by herself to accomplish these results, success 
 ever attended her undertakings, she is able 
 to achieve every work by which God may be glorified ; 
 spiritual and temporal affairs always prosper in her 
 hands, because it is the love of our Lord that inspires 
 and enlightens her."* 
 
 The quaint old church of Bonsecours, so dear to 
 all Montrealers, stands in a now rather dingy part of 
 the town. The building stood on the top of the 
 river's bank, a little below the ridge on which Notre 
 Dame Street now stretches its narrow length. From 
 the door could be seen the great river, flowing by in 
 its majestic calm, and directly opposite, the thick, 
 verdant foliage that marks St. Helen's Island. 
 
 *Sceur Morin, Annales de l'H6tel-Dieu St. Joseph. 
 
146 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 As the years go by we shall see how often Our 
 Lady of Good Help showed the power of her inter- 
 cession and verified to the full, her gracious title 
 during some of the most troublous hours of Ville- 
 Marie's existence. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AFTER TWENTY YEARS THE PRAYER OF FAITH 
 THE SHIPS DELAYED OTHER MARVELS 
 A BEAUTIFUL LIFE. 
 
 TWENTY-THREE years have gone by since Mar- 
 garet Bourgeoys set her steadfast feet on 
 the rude path to which a divine vocation had 
 long been calling her. Her Community has been 
 founded, her school opened, her influence recognized 
 in Ville-Marie and its environs; twice she has revisited 
 her native land and brought back helpers for her work. 
 Already, some of her pupils have grown up, and, as 
 wives and mothers, are instilling into other hearts 
 the noble lessons taught them by one who is, even 
 now, their refuge in every trouble and perplexity. 
 Almost a quarter of a century has elapsed since 
 the Congregation de Notre Dame began, in lowliness 
 and poverty, an existence that is still humble and 
 poor. We said, in a preceding chapter, that the 
 little Community prospered, that new houses were 
 opened and many useful foundations kept up ; yet, 
 even now, there are times when the prayer, "Give us 
 
148 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 this day our daily bread, " has to be offered up with 
 an urgency born of a need unknown to our easy 
 lives. 
 
 Margaret Bourgeoys came back from France to a 
 very poor home, and we know how scanty was her 
 first meal after her arrival. More than once after 
 wards, the same dreary perspective of privation and 
 want stared her in the face, and, each time, her strong 
 faith sprang up to meet the emergency and won from 
 Heaven the needed help. Once (in a year of scarcity 
 amounting to famine) there was hardly any flour 
 in the convent. The sister whose duty it was to 
 bake and cook for the Community, was looking with 
 despondent face and attitude at the small measure 
 that would have to furnish bread for the household. 
 At last, she turned away, saying: "What is the use 
 of trying? I can not make enough bread with so 
 little flour." But Sister Bourgeoys, who chanced 
 to enter the room, said gently: "Come, Sister, trust 
 in our Father's goodness. Begin kneading this 
 flour, and He will bless your effort." There was 
 that in the Superior's face and voice which changed 
 the nun's discouragement to confidence. She set 
 to work, and to her astonishment, made as much 
 bread with the one little measure as she usually did 
 with five. 
 
 Another time the convent was dependent for the 
 supplies on the provisions to be brought in by the 
 hourly expected ships. An adverse wind was blowing 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 149 
 
 so strongly as to keep back any vessel that might 
 attempt to reach the shore. Weather prophets held 
 out no hope of a change of wind before one whole 
 day or even longer. Hours passed, and still the 
 wind blew steadily away from the land. Four o'clock 
 came, and there seemed no hope .of getting flour in 
 time for supper. Sister Bourgeoys divining, with 
 ready sympathy, how worried and anxious was the 
 Sister in charge of the baking, sent one of the other 
 nuns to comfort her and bid her seek Our Lady's 
 aid, and if the Mother prayed, would not the Son 
 do again what had drawn from the timid disciples 
 the wondering cry: "Who is this, that both wind 
 and sea obey Him?" Relieved and encouraged, 
 the docile Sister fell on her knees, and breathed a 
 fervent prayer to the Mother of God. No sooner 
 had the petition, impelled by the might of simple 
 faith, winged its way straight to Mary's heart, than 
 the wind wavered and the surface of the river was 
 tormented by opposing forces. A moment more, 
 and puffs of cool air blew in the faces of the watchers 
 at the water's edge. Soon the ships came into view, 
 flying before the favorable breeze. Nearer they 
 came and nearer, until at last they anchored within 
 the harbor. So swiftly did they come and so promptly 
 were they unloaded that the convent's store of flour 
 arrived in good time for the waiting Sister to prepare 
 the evening meal. 
 
i5o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 For a long time (whether before or after these in- 
 cidents is not noted by Mother Bourgeoys' historian) 
 the nuns daily witnessed another marvel. Whatever 
 amount of grain was stored up in the granary, it ever 
 seemed to increase as it was taken out. How could 
 it be that more grain was withdrawn than had been 
 gathered in? When this question was whispered by 
 one Sister to another, the only answer was: "Our 
 Mother often goes there to pray in secret." And the 
 reply sufficed; for what has not been promised to 
 the prayer of faith? "If you have faith as a grain 
 of mustard seed," said our Lord Himself, "you shall 
 say to this mountain ; remove from hence to yonder 
 place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be im- 
 possible to you." (Matt. XVII. 19.) 
 
 However, the nuns one day conceived a great de- 
 sire to find out just how many measures were added 
 to their supply of grain by the Superior's prayers. 
 For this purpose, they planned to weigh the quantity 
 that was put in, and then weigh it again when it 
 was taken out. Hearing of their project, Margaret 
 gently checked them, saying: "This curiosity might 
 displease Our Heavenly Father, and serve only to 
 put an end to His favors in our behalf." 
 
 The author of the " Eloge Hislorique de la Sosur 
 Marguerite Bourgeoyi", relates that one year, wheat 
 being excessively dear in Montreal, the Sister Burser 
 had purchased one month's supply only, yet it lasted 
 four times that length of time. The good religious 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 151 
 
 attributed this wonder to Sister Bourgeoys' holiness, 
 and strengthened her assertion by declaring that 
 Margaret went daily to pray beside the little heap 
 of precious grain. 
 
 The same winter, says Father Ransonnet, one of her 
 biographers, from whom we borrow several other 
 incidents proving not only Margaret Bourgeoys' 
 strong and childlike faith, but also the fatherly solici- 
 tude with which God cared for the Community, a 
 barrel of wine out of which so much had been drawn 
 that it could easily be tilted, supplied not only the 
 needs of the Community, but likewise those of the 
 Hospital, and this during three months. This marvel 
 was attributed to a blessing invoked by Sister Bour- 
 geoys upon the sole remaining cask of the (in those 
 days) indispensable wine. As if to prove that God 
 gave miraculous assistance only when human aid 
 was not forthcoming, the cask ceased to flow as soon 
 as ships came in with fresh supplies of wine for the 
 settlement. 
 
 "A trustworthy person," adds the same author, 
 and one who dwelt with the Sisters of the Congre- 
 gation from the foundation of the order, testified to 
 having seen a like prodigy: "One year, when wine 
 failed through the country, the Congregation supplied 
 therewith the Seminary for Mass and the Hospital 
 for the sick. The same person informed us that 
 one day there being no bread for dinner, Sister Bour- 
 geoys, through fidelity to rule, caused the bell for 
 
152 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Particular Examen to be rung at the usual hour, 
 and that, during this exercise, which takes place 
 immediately before dinner, some one came to the 
 house and brought to the nuns the bread of which 
 they stood in need."* 
 
 We might cull many more examples of this kind 
 from biographies of our heroine, but these will suffice. 
 The power of her prayers, as manifested by such 
 striking incidents naturally suggests the query: 
 "What was it that made these prayers so pleasing 
 to God? What but the holiness and beauty of her 
 soul and of her life?" Let us see what writers tell us 
 of her virtues, and then we shall wonder less at 
 graces obtained through her petitions. 
 
 "Let me," writes M. Sausseret, "Let me say a few 
 words of her private virtues, which far more than 
 words, gave her power over the souls she led to holi- 
 ness. Always bearing in her body, like the Apostle, 
 the mortification of Jesus Christ, she partook only 
 of the coarsest food, ate very little, drank only water, 
 and that but once a day and in very small quantities. 
 She slept on the floor or on the earth, with a block 
 of wood for her pillow. In winter she never drew 
 near the fire. Her prayer was so continual, that one 
 of her directors called her " the little Saint Genevieve 
 of Canada." . . . "The mere sight of her inspired 
 
 humility," say the Annals of the Hotel-Dieu. "We 
 i 
 
 * Eloge Historique de la S<eur Bourgeoys, 1' Abbe Sausseret . 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURCEOYS. 153 
 
 have known her," says the author of the work en- 
 titled Premier EtaUissement de la Foi dans la Nou- 
 velle France, "we have known her full of the spirit 
 of God, of wisdom, of experience, with an invin- 
 cible constancy in presence of all the obstacles that 
 impeded her purpose." "I do not believe," says 
 Rev. Father Bouvard, Superior to the Jesuits in 
 Quebec, "that I ever saw a woman as virtuous as 
 Sister Bourgeoys, so much have I remarked in her 
 of magnanimity, faith, confidence in God, devotion , 
 zeal, humility, and mortification." 
 
 Perhaps mortification is, after charity, the most 
 striking of her virtues. The recital of her penances 
 makes us shrink in dismay; yet, if we be too cow- 
 ardly, to imitate what the Saints have done, can we 
 not, at least, summon up enough courage to look upon 
 and admire that which is so far above our poor at- 
 tainments? From John the Baptist to Aloysius 
 Gonzaga, and from Francis of Assissi to Rose of 
 Lima, all God's greatest saints, far from being con- 
 tent with resignation to inevitable sufferings, have 
 loved pain dna sought after it for love of Jesus Cru- 
 cified. Margaret was, like them, ingenious in devising 
 methods of mortifying her senses. She allowed her- 
 self little time for sleep and always devoted two hours 
 to meditation, remaining the while in most uncom- 
 fortable positions. The discipline often lacerated a 
 body already worn by fatigue and hardship, and a 
 cap lined with pin points wounded her weary head 
 
i 5 4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 night and day. Her daughters, having discovered 
 these practices, implored her to temper her austerities 
 that she might be the longer spared to her Commu- 
 nity. She responded by an instruction on the duty 
 of Christian mortification. Her words were at once 
 so forcible and so touching that instead of continu- 
 ing their futile pleading, the religious were inspired 
 with an ardent desire to walk in their saintly mother's 
 footsteps. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MGR. DE LAVAL VISITS VILLE- MARIE EPISCO- 
 PAL APPROBATION SOMETHING LACKING MAR- 
 GARET RESOLVES TO MAKE A THIRD VISIT TO 
 FRANCE THE FIRST SUPERIOR OF OUR LADY'S 
 CONGREGATION IN QUEBEC THE CROSSING 
 MARGARET'S NARRATIVE A DISAPPOINTMENT 
 THE RULE OUTLINED THE RETURN A 
 THRILLING MOMENT SAVED! QUEBEC AGAIN. 
 
 WHEN two years of probation had gone by Mar- 
 garet thought her novices sufficiently pre- 
 pared for admission into the Community. 
 She wrote to the Vicar-General at Quebec, asking if it 
 were better to admit them without further delay or to 
 await the Bishop's return. "You are free to do 
 either," answered Mr. Bernidres, "but it were more 
 proper to delay until His Lordship's arrival. As he 
 has written to me about you and your Community, 
 for which he manifests great affection, it were well 
 that he should personally arrange everything and 
 make known his own intentions. I trust all will 
 
156 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 succeed for the glory of God, the good of souls and 
 your own consolation. I, on my part, shall contrib- 
 ute to this success as far as in me lies." 
 
 Months went by with their daily round of labors, 
 trials and consolations, and at last Mgr. de Laval 
 returned to his diocese. Shortly after, in June, 1676, 
 he went up to Ville- Marie. His first visits were 10 
 the different foundations of the Congregation de 
 Notre Dame. Before leaving, he presided at an 
 impressive ceremony; the postulants who had already 
 proved their worthiness by years of fidelity, knelt at 
 the Pastor's feet, and asked admittance into the Com- 
 munity. He received their promises, and, after 
 a few words of fatherly counsel and encouragement, 
 blessed them with a special and solemn benediction. 
 
 Then, the Foundress herself came to crave a boon. 
 She begged the Bishop to confirm her Institute by an 
 authentic act and to approve the rules already ob- 
 served by its members. 
 
 Soon after reaching Quebec, Mgr. de Laval ad- 
 dressed to the faithful of his diocese a pastoral letter 
 recalling that the Congregation de Notre Dame had 
 been approved by him in 1669 and later confirmed 
 by royal letters. He concluded thus : ' ' Knowing 
 that one of the greatest benefits we can confer on the 
 church in Canada and the most efficacious means of 
 increasing piety in Christian families, is the instruction 
 and sound education of children; knowing, more- 
 over, the aid Our Lord has given, up to the present, 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 157 
 
 to Sister Bourgeoys and her companions for the 
 direction of schools in which we have seen them at 
 work; and wishing to favor their ?eal and to contrib- 
 ute with all our strength to the execution of their 
 pious project: We have approved the Institute 
 founded by Sister Bourgeoys and by the young girls 
 who have joined her, or who will do so in the 
 future; allowing them to live in Community as secu- 
 lar members of the Congregation de Notre Dame, 
 observing the rules which we shall prescribe later; 
 and to continue discharging the functions of school 
 teachers, as well in the Island of Montreal as in the 
 other places to which we and our successors may 
 think fit to send them." 
 
 Henceforth, approved and confirmed both by 
 ecclesiastical and civil authority, the Community's 
 existence was assured and it began to assume a 
 more regular form. 
 
 Historians date from this epoch the adoption of 
 the religious habit now so familiar in all parts of 
 Canada and the United States. The costume chosen 
 by Margaret Bourgeoys on account of its simplicity 
 and usefulness, has but slightly varied since the time 
 when our saintly heroine wore it and made it a wel- 
 come sight to all in poverty, sickness or sorrow. 
 
 As to the rules of the Institute, time and delibera- 
 tion were necessary before they could be examined 
 and approved. This approbation was therefore 
 postponed until some later period, None knew how 
 
158 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 long the delay was to be, a delay which may be attrib- 
 uted to Mgr. de Laval's departure for Europe and 
 his prolonged stay in his native land. 
 
 With her eyes ever on the future and her heart 
 full of solicitude for her companions and for the 
 souls they were destined to guide, Margaret earnestly 
 desired to see her rule definitely drawn up and con- 
 firmed. Until this was accomplished, much would 
 be lacking in the Community's formation, and its 
 future stability and usefulness would be greatly en- 
 dangered. She who had given it life could not think 
 without anxiety of its possible fate, should it be pre- 
 maturely deprived of her guidance. To hasten the 
 fulfilment of her desires, she resolved to abridge the 
 tedious delay by going to Mgr. de Laval instead of 
 waiting for his return to Canada. 
 
 Apart from this powerful motive, others also im- 
 pelled her to undertake the long journey with its 
 double crossing of the stormy ocean. Her sensitive 
 conscience was troubled and perplexed; she longed 
 for guidance to strengthen and comfort her; this she 
 thought could be best found in Paris, where lived so 
 many holy and enlightened priests. There also could 
 be consulted founders and members of orders similar 
 to her own, and such advice would prove invaluable 
 in the hard task of compiling rules for her Community. 
 
 With this three-fold object in view, Sister Bour- 
 geoys began the necessary preparations for her jour- 
 ney. Her first care was to secure the welfare of the 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 159 
 
 Community. Advice and encouragement she gave 
 with wise foresight and maternal tenderness but 
 this was not all. So deep was her humility that she 
 considered herself incapable of leading her daughters 
 in the path of perfection, and like many of the saints 
 whose lives we read, could not bear to hold an office 
 of which she deemed herself unworthy. 
 
 The nuns being gathered together in expectant 
 silence, Margaret solemnly resigned her authority as 
 Superior and proposed that another and a worthier 
 be elected in her stead. There was one moment's 
 hush of surprise, then, moved by a common impulse, 
 all fell upon their knees and with one voice, cried 
 out: "We choose the Mother of God to be our first 
 Superior, our teacher, our foundress, our Mother for 
 time and for eternity! " Then, rising up, they turned 
 to Margaret, who with tear-dimmed eyes had wit- 
 nessed this touching tribute to her beloved Patroness, 
 and begged her to rule them as Our Lady's repre- 
 sentative and under Our Lady's protection. So 
 urgent an appeal could not be rejected. Margaret 
 knelt before the Blessed Virgin's statue, and, as the 
 other nuns followed her example, she fervently re- 
 cited the following prayer: 
 
 "O most holy Virgin, behold the little band con- 
 secrated to God's service under thy care. Its mem- 
 bers hope to imitate thee as dutiful children follow 
 in the footsteps of their mother and their mistress; 
 they look upon thee as their beloved teacher and their 
 
160 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 first Superior, trusting that God will ratify their elec- 
 tion and give thee this little Community, truly thy 
 work, to be thy special domain. We have nothing 
 worthy of being offered to God; but we hope to ob- 
 tain, through thee, the graces necessary for our salva- 
 tion and for the perfection of our state. Thou know- 
 est our needs and what we should ask of thee far 
 better than we do ourselves; refuse not thine assist- 
 ance. Help us by thy powerful intercession to obtain 
 the light and grace of the Holy Ghost that we may 
 be fitted to educate the pupils committed to our care. 
 Above all, we ask of thee, O, Our Lady and Mother, 
 that all the maidens who enter this Community as 
 well as all who contribute to their spiritual advance- 
 ment, may be numbered among the elect, that we 
 may, together with thee, praise our God in the ever- 
 blessed eternity. Amen." 
 
 From that hour Our Dear Lady herself became 
 the true Superior of the Community " Regina Con- 
 gregationis," as her daughters lovingly named her. 
 
 For this reason and in virtue of this election, Sister 
 Bourgeoys no longer considered herself precisely a 
 Superior, but rather as owing submission to the Blessed 
 Virgin and acting under the guidance of her who pre- 
 sides over the government of the Congregation de 
 Notre Dame. 
 
 Leaving her daughters safe in Mary's keeping, 
 Margaret said the last loving farewell and, escorted 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 161 
 
 by the crowd of her friends and protegees, passed 
 down the narrow street to the wharf. 
 
 A few days after her arrival in Quebec, Margaret 
 received from Father Remy, Superior of the Congrega- 
 tion, a set of rules recently drawn up and for which 
 he wished her to obtain the Bishop's approbation. 
 We have her acknowledgment, simple and sincere 
 as her writings ever are: "Rev. Sir and very dear 
 Father, I have received the package containing 
 the letters, rules, etc. I thank God for the excellent 
 care the Bishop takes of our little Community, and I 
 thank Him also because He enlightens all concerned 
 in the writing of our rule; for, being led in this man- 
 ner, I have no doubt but that all is in accordance 
 with the Holy Will of God and that the Blessed 
 Virgin grants us her assistance on this occasion as 
 ever before." 
 
 Several weeks elapsed. The gloom of November 
 had overspread the sky, turned the blue river to a 
 dull brown and imparted to the misty air a penetrat- 
 ing chill, when the out-going ship moved away from 
 Quebec, bearing our heroine for the third and last 
 time back to her native land. She was not travel- 
 ling alone; what she had once done for Jeanne 
 Mance she was now doing for Madame Perrot, the 
 wife of the Governor of Montreal. That lady, being 
 advised to return to France for the good of her health, 
 had need of a companion for the journey, so Sister 
 Bourgeoys offered to go with her. 
 
1 62 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 On arriving at La Rochelle after an uneventful 
 crossing, Madame Perrot was obliged to part from 
 Margaret. The latter, after mentioning the manner 
 of her last crossing, says in her Memoirs: " However, 
 on reaching La Rochelle, I left Madame Perrot, and 
 that I might get to Paris without expense, I hired 
 a seat in a waggoner's cart." Before leaving, she 
 experienced a most blessed relief from the spiritual 
 troubles which had oppressed her soul. "Being at 
 La Rochelle," she tells us, "I spoke of my uneasiness 
 to a Capuchin who soon quieted my mind." 
 
 It were well to recall what was said of Margaret's 
 former journey from La Rochelle to Paris; the single 
 place in a primitive conveyance, the solitary and 
 often scanty meals, the nights spent in i*ude inns, the 
 long hours of tedious driving. Nine years had worked 
 no wonders, while on the contrary, weakened by 
 their added toil and austerity, Margaret was now 
 less fitted to bear so much fatigue, her strength gave 
 way, and, on reaching Madame de Bellevue's house 
 in Paris, she took to her bed and was ill for several 
 days. 
 
 We may now resume the narrative in her own 
 simple words: "When Monsieur de Tourmenie, 
 who looked after our affairs, heard of my arrival 
 and of my illness, he sent a sedan chair, with two 
 bearers, to take me to his house, where he had pre- 
 pared a comfortable room for me. There, during 
 the fortnight and more that my illness lasted, I was 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 163 
 
 treated as though I were his own sister. Being 
 restored to perfect health, I went to stay with the 
 Daughters of the Cross, Saint Antoine Street.* A 
 few days later, having heard that he was in Paris, I 
 went to greet Mgr. de Laval, and made known to 
 him the motive of my journey. He told me I had 
 acted unwisely in undertaking it, and that he did not 
 deem it expedient for me to take out young girls to 
 help us in Montreal." What then had she gained 
 by this the most painful and wearisome of her three 
 long journeys? Fatigue, illness, a stern rebuke and 
 a cold refusal of her requests was it for this she 
 had recrossed the ocean in spite of every hardship? 
 Even had it been only for these, she would have re 
 joiced; but, she had also gained advantages whose 
 value we are more competent to understand. Her 
 peace of mind had been restored, her delicate con- 
 science set at rest. Then she had conversed with 
 many saintly souls whose advice was of incalculable 
 value not only for her own spiritual advancemem, 
 but also for the definite formation of her Community. 
 She visited orders whose aim was similar to ner own, 
 examined their rule, viewed the result of their labors, 
 discerned what mipht be taken from encn as best 
 suited the life and mission of the Ville-Marie Com- 
 munity. 
 
 * This order had been founded by Madame de Villeneuve, 
 under the direction of St. Francis de Sales. Its members 
 taught in country schools and deserved their name by their 
 many trials. 
 
1 64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 One of her biographers, outlines the rule that 
 gradually shaped itself in our heroine's mind. "She 
 took for a foundation the rule of Saint Augustin, 
 interpreted by maxims and constitutions drawn, for 
 the most part, from the instructions addressed to 
 Christian Virgins by St. Ambrose and other Doctors 
 of the Church; the maxims and counsels of the Gos- 
 pel, and all that common-sense prescribed as being 
 wisest and most reasonable. She prescribes love of si- 
 lence and retirement, cordiality with the other religious, 
 assiduity at work and prayer, and the frequent re- 
 ception of the sacraments ; all this under the direction 
 of the pastors of the parishes, with whom they should 
 share the glory and the merit of instructing and 
 edifying the people." Such, long years before, had 
 been Father Gendret's project. 
 
 Notwithstanding his apparent severity, Mgr. de 
 Laval took an active interest in Mother Bourgeoys' 
 labors. We are told that she applied for informa- 
 tion to the Filles de Sainte Genevieve, founded by 
 Madame de Miramion. The latter agreed to read 
 and if necessary to revise Margaret's rule; but after 
 an interview with Mgr. de Laval, she failed to carry 
 out her promise. However, the Bishop himself saw 
 the Daughters of the Cross and the "Filles de Sainte 
 Genevieve." We gather this from a letter written 
 by Sceur Charly, C. N. D., to Madame de Maintenon 
 in 1710: "Mgr. de Laval, wishing to give us appro- 
 priate rules, consulted the Daughters of the Cross 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 165 
 
 and Madame de Miramion and took from them their 
 principal regulations in order to keep what would 
 best suit us." * 
 
 In Paris, Sister Bourgeoys met Father Tronson, 
 then Superior of Saint Sulpice. He conceived for the 
 lowly and zealous nun a deep, respectful friendship, 
 of which his subsequent letters give a most conclu- 
 sive proof. Louis Frin, Maisonneuve's devoted com- 
 panion, freed from his faithful service only by his 
 Master's death, followed Margaret to Montreal. 
 There, out of gratitude to the first Governor of Ville- 
 Marie, he was kindly received by the Congregation 
 Nuns. 
 
 Once more, and for the last time, Sister Bourgeoys 
 was called upon to take charge of several young 
 girls whom the Seminary was sending out to the colony. 
 At the time the travellers embarked for Canada, the 
 English had, for the fifth time, taken possession of 
 that country, and war was thus declared between 
 England and France. This added a new element of 
 danger to an already perilous crossing. However, 
 
 * Mr. Faillon tells us that he did even more. It seems he 
 asked Madame de Miramion to write her opinion of the rules 
 Margaret Bourgeoys had submitted to her. At least, he 
 gathers this from a letter addressed by Mr. Glandelet to 
 Sceur Charly, in which he mentioned a paper containing re- 
 marks upon this rule, being Madame de Miramion's reply to 
 Mgr. de Laval's request. (Vie de la Sceur Bourgeoys. Faillon, 
 p. 261. (Note Vol. i.) 
 
1 66 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the ship was under Our Lady's special patronage, 
 and She manifested the efficacy of Her protection in 
 a remarkable manner. 
 
 Perhaps one-half of the voyage had been accom- 
 plished when the Captain descried four English men- 
 of-war flying before the wind at a speed that must soon 
 bring them near enough to open fire upon his own 
 small vessel. The little ship was unarmed, devoid of 
 all natural safeguards, so it is not surprising that he 
 should have cried out in despair: "Sister Bourgeoys, 
 we are lost! Pray, and make your companions pray, 
 that God may deliver us!" The girls themselves 
 were paralyzed by fear, and clung, sobbing and moan- 
 ing to Margaret's hands and skirts, screaming: 
 "Sister, we shall be captured! Oh! what will be- 
 come of us?" But Sister Bourgeoys, tranquil and 
 untroubled, answered gayly: "If we are captured, 
 we shall go to England, where we shall find God 
 just as surely as everywhere else!" Her quiet forti- 
 tude and smiling face brought sudden shame to the 
 panic-stricken crew, and their ebbing courage quickly 
 returned. 
 
 All knelt around the frail form that hid so strong 
 a soul, and prayed fervently to the God of Mercy. 
 As it was Sunday, a priest, who was on his way to 
 Canada, prepared to say Mass, quietly vesting while 
 the enemy's vessels, driven by a favorable wind, drew 
 rapidly nearer. However, within two hours, they 
 had vanished as though by magic, and at the end of 
 
I VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 167 
 
 Mass, a Te Deum was joyfully sung to thank God 
 who had delivered the helpless band from a well- 
 armed foe. 
 
 The Captain, touched by Sister Bourgeoys' courage 
 and kindness, repeatedly, but always vainly, urged 
 her to take her place at his own table. Wishing to 
 give her some proof of his respect, he daily sent her 
 the daintiest dishes. This attention afforded her an 
 opportunity of giving pleasure to the poorer 
 passengers. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A DIGRESSION CATHERINE TEGAKWITHA A 
 WONDERFUL GRACE A VISIT TO HER UNCLE'S 
 LODGE THE YOUNG NEOPHYTE BAPTISM 
 FLIGHT LIFE AT CAUGHNAWAGA A TRIP TO 
 VILLE-MARIE THE FIRST INDIAN VIRGIN A 
 LINGERING DEATH THE CROWN is WON. 
 
 BEFORE taking up the tale of a work that ab- 
 sorbed much of Mother Bourgeoys' time and 
 attention about this date 1676-1677 we 
 might pause to study a beautiful life that was drawing 
 to its gentle close near Montreal at that very period. 
 In it may be traced Margaret's potent influence; 
 moreover, it will serve as an introduction to her labors 
 among the Iroquois of the Mountain Mission, fellow- 
 countrymen of her whose exquisite story should be 
 familiar to every American girl. 
 
 In the Mohawk Valley, in the center of what is now 
 the State of New York, south of the St. Lawrence and 
 of Lake Ontario, dwelt the fierce tribes of the law- 
 less Five Nations. The first of these, the Agniers 
 or Mohawks, had a little "bourgade" or "castle" 
 called Gandahouague*. It was here, in 1656, that 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 169 
 
 Tegakwitha was born, of an Iroquois father and an 
 Algonquin mother the former, a pagan, the latter, 
 a Christian. Both died during her infancy. The 
 poor mother, unable to have her baptized, was more- 
 over obliged to leave her in the care of a pagan uncle 
 and aunt. 
 
 An attack of smallpox left the orphan's sight very 
 weak. To her delicate health may be ascribed a 
 strange taste for solitude, given by Providence to 
 keep her stainless in the midst of many evil sights 
 and sounds. Two other , uncommon traits were: a 
 great liking for domestic employment (her name 
 means "who puts things in order") and a strong 
 repugnance to the pleasures of the chase. 
 
 Tegakwitha was growing into womanhood when 
 three Jesuit missionaries, Peres Fre*min, Bruyas and 
 Pierron, passing through the village, were received 
 into her uncle's lodge. The girl waited upon them, 
 and felt mysteriously drawn to them, while they, in 
 turn, were attracted by her modest and graceful 
 demeanor. During the next few days, Tegakwitha 's 
 soft dark eyes followed the priests with wistful in- 
 tentness, noting their zeal, charity and fervor. At 
 last, she made known to them her desire to be a 
 Christian, and they began to instruct her. They 
 were, however, obliged to go on their way before the 
 time came for her baptism. 
 
 In the meantime she was sought in marriage by 
 eligible braves, but resisted all their advances with 
 
170 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 an inexplicable aversion. Her determination re- 
 sisted the most pressing appeals. Then Pere Jacques 
 de Lamberville came to visit the village, and her 
 longing for baptism ardently revived. One day, 
 while nearly all the tribe was toiling at the maize 
 harvest, the priest went from wigwam to wigwam, 
 visiting the sick, the aged and the infirm. Among 
 his patients was Tegakwitha, whom a wounded foot 
 had kept a willing prisoner. Soon he learned her 
 story. The Jesuit's unerring glance read Tegak- 
 witha 's soul, and he promised to baptize her, after 
 preliminary trial and instruction. This lasted through 
 the ensuing winter, Tegakwitha's sole preoccupation 
 being to prepare holily for so great a gift. At last, 
 on Easter Sunday, 1676, she became a Christian, and 
 the name of Catherine was written in the Book of 
 Life. 
 
 The ardent convert had heard of the mission at 
 La Prairie de la Madeleine, and fearing that bad ex- 
 ample might tell in the long run, yearned to find a 
 home among Christian fellow-countrymen. At La 
 Prairie lived her adopted sister, married to a fervent 
 Christian. The latter, at his wife's request, went with 
 a friend to fetch Catherine Tegakwitha. 
 
 Stealing unperceived from her native village, the 
 slender dark-eyed daughter of the Mohawks joined 
 the two men in hunter's garb, and started northward 
 through the forest, Her uncle, perceiving her 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 171 
 
 absence, followed hotly in pursuit ; but, whan he over- 
 took the two men, his niece was safely concealed 
 close by. 
 
 Thinking his suspicion misplaced, he retraced his 
 saddened steps. Like shadows, the three dusky 
 forms threaded the dim forest aisles or sat motion- 
 less in the small birch canoe as it glided smoothly 
 over blue waters between verdant shores and glorious 
 cloud-kissed mountain peaks. At night, wrapped 
 in their coarse blankets, they slept, in chill starlight 
 or intense darkness, under the flickering shadow of 
 murmuring leaves, their sole protection against 
 autumn wind and rain. Slowly and painfully they 
 thus traversed the long miles that stretch between 
 Gandahouague and La Prairie, on the south shore of 
 the Saint Lawrence. October frost had turned the 
 leaves to glowing red and mellow gold when La 
 Prairie was reached. 
 
 Catherine, with her sister and brother-in-law, dwelt 
 with a holy Christian woman, Anastasie, who pre- 
 pared her for her First Communion. From that 
 great day, she drew ever nearer to her God. Her 
 happiest moments were spent in a leafy oratory in 
 the woods. There, during prayer and meditation, 
 God infused into her soul the sublime lessons of 
 supernatural knowledge. More than ever, her life 
 was given to prayer and mortification. " Sometimes, 
 during the livelong night, she would remain, a loving 
 
1 72 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 watcher, before the Blessed Sacrament, wrapped in 
 prayer and adoration." 
 
 She converted a woman named Therese, who, with 
 Anastasie, became her dearest earthly friend. Be- 
 fore obtaining her release from earth, she was to 
 undergo a fiery trial. Relatives, friends, her con- 
 fessor himself, strove with almost cruel persistence to 
 overcome her unchanging repulsion for marriage. . . . 
 All was vain. 
 
 Worn out by austerity, she fell ill; but her hour 
 had not yet come. On her recovery, she went on a 
 visit to Montreal. There, we are told, she beheld 
 for the first time, women vowed to the religious life. 
 Some tell us it was the hospital nuns she saw; but 
 as they were cloistered, it seems far more probable, as 
 M. Faillon declares, that she met Margaret and her 
 daughters. She may have seen them in church, or 
 passed them in the street, casting but one look at 
 the serene faces and sombre garb. We like to believe 
 it was our own heroine she saw, and that the great 
 soul looking through Margaret's clear eyes had stirred 
 that other pure and child-like spirit. However it 
 be, the sight of the Ville-Marie nuns inspired Catherine 
 to make a vow of perpetual chastity. This her con- 
 fessor allowed her to do, and so she was the first of 
 her nation to become the spouse of Christ. 
 
 Soon after, a deadly languor stole over her en- 
 feebled frame, and she lay down upon the couch of 
 forest leaves from which she was never more to rise. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 173 
 
 Often she would lie for hours, even days, utterly 
 alone, while the other Indians toiled in field or forest; 
 and her sole refreshment was the supply of maize and 
 water left beside her by Therese. It is wonderful 
 to see how brightly the light of Divine grace illumi- 
 nated the mind of this poor Indian girl, who, with so 
 few of the advantages and blessings given to us 
 Catholics of to-day, has left so fair a record. All 
 through that lonely solitude of her illness, she was 
 perfectly happy, enjoying the opportunity thus given 
 her for prayer and meditation. Little by little, her 
 strength failed. On Holy Wednesday, 1678, after 
 receiving the last Sacraments, her soul passed into 
 the eternal embrace of its only Love. 
 
 Pere Charlevoix tells us of the roseate glow that 
 showed through her thin cheek, and adds: "Nothing 
 could be more beautiful, but with that beauty which 
 the love of virtue inspires. The people were never 
 weary of gazing on her. ..." 
 
 They buried her on a point of land jutting out into 
 the river, at the foot of a large mission cross beneath 
 whose outstretched arms she had been wont to spend 
 long hours in prayer. 
 
 Signal favors were obtained by her intercession 
 and at her tomb. Now, her precious bones are kept 
 in the church at Caughnawaga, where the anniver- 
 sary of the death of "la bonne Catherine" is kept 
 each year with great devotion. 
 
174 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Let us conclude this perhaps too lengthy digression 
 with the beautiful words that terminate what has 
 been to us an inspiration, a remarkable article in the 
 Catholic World of April, 1886 : "Two hundred years 
 and more have rolled by since the Lily of the Mo- 
 hawks was laid to rest by the seething waters of the 
 Sault St. Louis. Along the margin of the noble St. 
 Lawrence, have arisen other shrines where God has 
 been pleased to perform special miracles. In the 
 solemn courts of Rome, an investigation has been 
 lately held which resulted in the proclaiming Venera- 
 ble the adopted daughter of Canada, the saintly Mar- 
 garet Bourgeoys; but she for whom the honors of 
 the altar are now solicited was in very truth, a child 
 of the soil, a chosen soul whom her Heavenly Spouse 
 led in the paths of perfection making 'perfect in a 
 short space, that she might endure as an example 
 and an ornament to the country which, recognizing 
 her great virtue and feeling the need of a special in- 
 tercessor in heaven, has risen up to call her blessed." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A SPARK KINDLED ZEAL FOR THE CONVERSION 
 OF INDIANS FUTILE ENDEAVORS CHRISTIAN 
 SETTLEMENTS THR MOUNTAIN MISSION EDU- 
 CATION OF INDIAN CHILDREN THE MISSION 
 CONFIDED TO MOTHER BOURGEOYS DIFFICULTY 
 AND SUCCESS SOME BEAUTIFUL CONVERSIONS 
 SoeuR BARBIER AT THE MOUNTAIN MISSION. 
 
 DE MAISONNEUVE had kindled in the hearts 
 of the nuns of Troyes a flame of apostolic zeal 
 for the Montreal mission. These generous 
 souls dreamed of devoting themselves to missionary toil 
 among dusky Indians, as we dream of rest or pleas- 
 ure. They saw, gleaming afar as a reward for which 
 they scarce dared hope, the martyr's crown. They 
 begged Our Lady to let them serve her in this distant 
 portion of the Master's vineyard. The prayer was 
 not granted in the way they had desired, but Mary's 
 chosen instrument was indeed as truly a member of 
 their Community as she could be without entering 
 their cloister; and, in fulfilling Margaret's desires, 
 Our Lady fulfilled those of her holy friends. For 
 Margaret thought chiefly of the savage tribes of 
 
176 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Canada, when, with heart full of half-envious admira- 
 tion for the Jesuit martyrs whose story had thrilled 
 her but four years earlier, she set sail for the wilds 
 of New France. 
 
 Yet we have seen her years and her strength spent 
 in laboring, not among savages, but among her own 
 fellow-countrymen; only two or three little Indian 
 girls having been snatched by her from the darkness 
 of their forefather's unholy creed. Has the flame of 
 her zeal burned itself out, or has her wonted energy 
 failed her? Ah no! from her arrival to this day, 
 her prayers and her yearnings have risen up before 
 God's throne in favor of those unfortunate souls. 
 Duty keeps her at Ville-Marie the time has not 
 yet come for her work among the Indians. 
 
 Attempts to attract Indians to Ville-Marie, and 
 induce them to take up their abode among the hu- 
 manizing influences of a Christian town, has not been 
 lacking. Apparently regardless of the danger to 
 life or property, the colonists allowed redskins to 
 enter and quit the town at will, vainly hoping thus 
 to cultivate in them a taste for religion and civiliza- 
 tion. Few, if any, there availed themselves of the 
 oft-recurring opportunity. Their love for a free and 
 roving life, their fiercely independent nature, and the 
 unlimited facilities for gratifying the lust of battle and 
 bloodshed afforded by the numerous international 
 or inter-tribal wars of the period all these kept them 
 from living in a permanent Christian settlement. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 177 
 
 This state of things continued until 1673. Then, 
 having received permission in 1688, from Mgr. de 
 Laval to labor among the Indian tribes, the Sulpicians 
 founded a mission on the shores of Lake Ontario. 
 
 Ten arduous years of almost fruitless endeavor 
 convinced the missionaries that the attempt was a 
 failure. The only way to make a lasting impres- 
 sion was to form Christian villages, and draw the 
 Indians nearer to the French. Acting upon this 
 principle, the Jesuits had formed a settlement at La 
 Prairie, near Ville-Marie. A little later, some Iro- 
 quois and other Indians expressed a wish to settle 
 in the Island of Montreal, and in 1676, the Sulpi- 
 cians began a similar one, called the Mountain Mis- 
 sion, on the slope of Mount Royal where the Montreal 
 College now stands. 
 
 Speaking of this foundation, Margaret Bourgeoys, 
 in her autograph letters, says it was the "first place 
 in this Island where the Indians came for instruc- 
 tion." Quarrels having arisen among the chiefs at 
 La Prairie, some of the Indians came from there to 
 join those at the Mountain, and the former settlement 
 was transferred to Sault St. Louis, now Caughnawaga. 
 When the Mission opened, there were about one hun- 
 dred and twenty Iroquois, of whom perhaps half were 
 baptized. Before long the number increased until 
 the presence of the Christian Indians became a safe- 
 guard to the colony, a protection against the attacks 
 of their infidel brethren. 
 
178 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 No sooner had Father Tronson heard of the Moun- 
 tain Mission than he wrote to Father Bailly, who was 
 in charge of it, urging him to do all in his power to win 
 the children's hearts. "M. Colbert," he continued, 
 "heartily approves of your plan for the establishment 
 of small Indian schools; he is convinced that nothing 
 more useful could be done. It is a work to which 
 every energy must be applied, and to which you must 
 contribute all that the state of the house allows. 
 Therefore, spare nothing for the instruction of those 
 children. ... I dined with M. Colbert a few days 
 ago, and he lent his gracious attention to what I told 
 him about our affairs." Father Tronson advised the 
 priests of the Seminary to take charge of the boys, 
 while the Sisters of the Congregation taught the girls. 
 M. de Belmont, then only a deacon who had given 
 up all earthly possessions to devote himself to the 
 Mountain Mission, was named in 1680 to direct the 
 boys' school.* 
 
 Upon his arrival, M. de Belmont erected a chapel 
 which he dedicated to Notre Dame des Neiges, pa- 
 troness of the little village. This village consisted at 
 first of a few huts built of bark and placed at regular 
 
 * Some authors have supposed that the Mission began as 
 early as 1657, but this appears impossible, when we recollect 
 that, for twenty years or more, settlers scarcely dared quit the 
 town for fear of the Iroquois who tracked them to their very 
 doorsteps! Moreover, the first registrations of the Mountain 
 Mission date from 1688, and note that all previous baptisms 
 had been set down in the Ville-Marie register; the latter, before 
 1677, makes no mention of the aforesaid Mission. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 179 
 
 intervals. In these huts the two nuns sent by Mother 
 Bourgeoys lived and taught. The priests fared no 
 better. As the converts became more numerous, it 
 was soon deemed necessary to add to the number of 
 missionaries, and the little cabins erected for them 
 were enlarged by the addition of a shed, previously 
 used as a stable. 
 
 The pagan Iroquois threatened the Christians. To 
 protect the imperilled Mission village from its savage 
 enemies, M. de Belmont had a wooden fort built, 
 closely surrounded by strong stakes. This was done in 
 
 1685. There is a letter from Father de Tronson, dated 
 
 1686, which refers to these improvements in a tone 
 suggestive of rather ironical banter: "I should have 
 been pleased to see the plan of your village and of 
 your fort, with its four bastions, protecting the chapel. 
 You did well to lengthen your building. Moreover, 
 your donkey must be of a very good family since his 
 apartment, added to your house, serves now as the 
 refectory and recreation hall for the Community." * 
 As time went on, the fortifications were strengthened, 
 so that, however numerous or determined, the uncon- 
 verted Iroquois never succeeded in forcing their way 
 into the Mission village. 
 
 Until this date little had been successfully done 
 for the education of Indian children. The govern- 
 ment had placed a few girls in the Ursuline Convent 
 in Quebec, but even the devotion and care of the 
 
 * Faillon, Vie de la Sceur Bourgeoys, p. 304. 
 
i8o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 nuns were not always fruitful. In 1662, that ardent 
 and enlightened apostle, Ven. Mother Mary of the 
 Incarnation, writes from out the depths of her sad- 
 dened heart: "Drink is the ruin of our poor Christian 
 Indians. Men and women, even boys and girls, 
 are addicted to this habit, and they soon fall easy 
 victims to the vice of drunkenness which leads them 
 to the commission of the most frightful deeds of vio- 
 lence and excesses of every kind. We have demon- 
 strated to our Indian day scholars the evils to which 
 they are subjecting themselves by following their 
 parents' example. Since then they have not set foot 
 in our convent." Even the boarders did not always 
 give satisfaction. At least, in 1683, M. de Meulles, who 
 seems to have been unduly prejudiced, wrote to M. de 
 Seignelay: "Nothing is more useless than to place 
 Indians with the Ursulines, because the austerity 
 of the religious life is most uncongenial to the savage 
 mind. Therefore it is true than no sooner have 
 the Indian girls left these religious than they 
 pass from one extreme to the other." * The 
 severe judgment pronounced by the Intendant 
 must not lead our readers to disparage the wonderful 
 conquests of grace achieved by Venerable Mary of the 
 Incarnation and by her daughters in Quebec and its 
 environs. None who have read her admirable life can 
 fail to admire her whom a grateful posterity salutes 
 with a title than which none can be more glorious, 
 * Faillon, Vie de la S&ur Bourgays, p. 285. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 181 
 
 "The St. Teresa of Canada." However, M. de 
 Seignelay, son of Colbert and his successor as Ministre 
 de la Marine, convinced that a cloistered life was 
 unsuited to these children, resolved to confide to 
 Mother Bourgeoys all those of the Mountain Mission, 
 and informed M. de Meulles, the following year, that 
 the King did not wish them to be sent to Quebec. To 
 enable Mother Bourgeoys to take charge of them, he 
 obtained from his royal master not only the 300 livres 
 requested by the Intendant, but also a new gratuity of 
 2,000 livres, of which 1,000 was to purchase wool and 
 thread that the children might be taught to spin, to 
 knit and to sew, and i ,000 livres for the needs of the 
 seamstresses who would be their teachers. Later, he 
 sent out three women to teach the Indian girls to 
 knit, and three others to instruct them in spinning 
 and lace-making. The afore-mentioned sums of 
 money were to be handed over to Mother Bourgeoys 
 to be used as she saw fit. 
 
 In 1683, two Congregation nuns were sent to teach 
 the Indians at Sault St. Louis, but the Mission did 
 not succeed and had to be relinquished. 
 
 The King's full approval and prompt support, far 
 from elating Mother Bourgeoys, made her tremble 
 at the thought of assuming so heavy a responsibility 
 in addition to her other cares. Into her hands was 
 to be committed the care of all the Indian girls of the 
 Mission, to her would each one of these souls look 
 for its sorely-needed measure of light and faith, of 
 
i8a THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 knowledge and civilization. Then again, all her 
 efforts might end in failure, and those little ones, raised 
 for a while from the mire of ignorance and crime, 
 might fall again, and sink yet more deeply than be- 
 fore. This at least was what some short-sighted 
 people repeatedly told her, among others the pros- 
 perous merchant LeBer. The failure of the Saint 
 Louis Mission may also have contributed towards 
 her hesitation in undertaking the Mountain Mission. 
 To hasten her acquiescence, Father de Tronson wrote 
 to M. de Belmont on March 26, 1686: "None here 
 would agree with Monsieur LeBer, nor would this 
 proposition be approved of at Court. It is desired 
 that Indian girls as well as boys be Frenchified; and 
 that is possible only if they are made to attend school 
 or subjected to the influence of the home life of the 
 convent. It seems to me that by taking them at an 
 earlier age, keeping them for a shorter time and less 
 closely confined, the evils he mentions might be reme- 
 died, and Sister Bourgeoys will, if she listens to your 
 reasoning, no longer be alarmed." 
 
 Not only the magnitude of the proposed task, but 
 a deep rooted and entirely sincere conviction of her 
 own weakness and unworthiness made Margaret hesi- 
 tate. However, the spirit of the Apostles shone too 
 brightly in her soul not to be the unfailing guide of all 
 her actions. Mother Bourgeoys beheld in this new 
 Mission a clear answer to the ardent petitions of the 
 nuns of Troyes, as well as a proof that the prayers so 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 183 
 
 often offered for the Iroquois by Jeanne Mance and 
 the first settlers had been graciously heard and were 
 now bearing fruit. How often had the hardy pioneers 
 knelt before the Mountain Cross in supplication, to 
 obtain the conversion of the Indians and as Margaret 
 tells, "to see them come with submission to be in- 
 structed. It is, in fact," she continues, "the first 
 place to which they came to be instructed by the 
 Sisters of the Congregation." In this may be traced 
 some connection with the picture given to Maison- 
 neuve, before his departure, by his sister, a religious 
 of the Congregation of Troyes, around which was 
 written in letters of gold: 
 
 Mother of God on thy true heart we call, 
 Grant us a dwelling in thy Montreal. 
 One of the first mentions of her labors appears in 
 a letter from Monsieur de Chesneau, M. de Meulles' 
 predecessor, to the Minister of Finance and bearing 
 the date of November 13, 1681: "In the Mountain 
 Mission and that of Sault de la Prairie de la Made- 
 leine, (Sault St. Louis) in those of Sillery and Lorette, 
 the only Indian villages we have, boys are now being 
 taught to read and write. In the Mountain Mission 
 of Montreal the Congregation nuns apply them- 
 selves to the instruction of little girls and make them 
 do needle work." His successor writes two years 
 later: "The priests of St. Sulpice have formed two 
 classes in which are taught the little Indians of the 
 Mountain. In one there are only boys, whom they 
 
i*t THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 themselves teach. Two Sisters of the Congregation 
 are in charge of the second, where the little girls are. 
 They are careful to teach them the truths of the 
 Faith, to make them sing in church, to show them 
 how to read, write, speak French, and all that is 
 necessary for girls." It was, no doubt, his warm 
 appreciation which led, as we have seen, to Marga- 
 ret's being placed in charge of all the Indian girls. 
 
 One of Mother Bourgeoys' first endeavors was 
 to instil into her pupils love of work and habits of 
 industry, both thoroughly alien to the Indian nature, 
 ease-loving and impatient of all restraint. Her next 
 care was to instruct them in the rudiments of civilza- 
 tion together with the first notions of religion, of 
 reading and writing. 
 
 While writing or reading these things, how little 
 we realize all that the words imply! Let us stop 
 one moment to look more closely at the life of the 
 Mountain Mission. The village itself was barely 
 worthy of the name a few bark-built huts of irregu- 
 lar shapes, or perhaps mere Indian wigwams, * 
 as they are usually represented. One of the nuns' 
 huts served as a dwelling-place; around its smoke- 
 blackened walls were pinned a few religious pictures 
 its sole ornament. The second one was the school, 
 with crucifix, statue, rough table and a few rude 
 benches. Into it were led the first red-skinned pupils. 
 
 * paillon, Vie de la Sceur Bourgeoys, p. 279. 
 

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 iHUpyi 
 
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 PlIU 1 :! 
 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOVRGEOYS 185 
 
 In the beginning they were dirty, half-clothed, rest- 
 less, shrinking in sullen timidity from the gentle 
 teacher's advances, their bright eyes peeping through 
 unkempt locks of coarse black hair and roving from 
 side to side like those of some caged wild thing. 
 Little by little, love and patience won the day, and 
 a wonderful change took place. The matted hair 
 was combed and tied, the frowsy blanket, their sole 
 garment, was exchanged for neat dresses, often cut 
 and sewed by the nuns' skilful hands. The idle 
 fingers, after the first awkward attempts, learned to 
 hold the needle and to ply it quickly and well. Soon 
 they took pleasure in spinning wool and knitting 
 stockings. Then they learned the meaning of the 
 strange black marks on the white pages of the teacher's 
 book, and how to copy the characters traced by her 
 pen. They learned to love God, their Father, and 
 the Mother whose statue smiled down so sweetly 
 upon them, and to follow a rule other than their own 
 passionate, wayward will. 
 
 Only constant repetition and unwearied patience, 
 seconded by secret prayers and sufferings, enabled 
 the two nuns thus verily to "renew the face of the 
 earth" and "instruct the hearts" of their pupils, 
 whose number grew day by day. 
 
 The good seed was falling where the soil was new 
 and rich and bore within itself all the unweakened 
 vigor of primitive nature; it put forth flower and 
 ruit with beautiful luxuriance. All this gave grea 
 
1 86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 r? 
 
 joy to the brave workers. What music in their ears 
 was the first prayer that fell from their pupils' lips, 
 and what happiness to mark their first efforts at self- 
 control and self-denial! Very soon, some of the 
 Indians gave such proofs of good-will and intelligence 
 that Mother Bourgeoys decided to have them trained 
 to help, at least by example, in teaching their com- 
 panions. They were sent as boarders to Ville-Marie, 
 that, being removed from evil influences, their train- 
 ing might be attended with less danger and tempta- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1685, Mgr. de St. Vallier visited the Mountain 
 Mission and gave this account of its success: "The 
 daughters of the Congregation, now spread over the 
 different parts of Canada, have in the Mountain 
 Mission a school consisting of about forty Indian 
 girls, whom they clothe and bring up 'a la franfaise.' 
 They are also taught the mysteries of Faith, manual 
 labor, the hymns and prayers of the Church, not only 
 in their own tongue but also in ours, that they may 
 be brought little by little to our manners and cus- 
 toms. There are some of those girls who, for several 
 years, have conceived the desire of giving themselves 
 to God with the Congregation nuns, whose rules 
 and observances they follow. But it has not been 
 thought expedient to let them contract vows, and it 
 will be allowed only after long and careful trial." * 
 
 * Faillon, Vie de la Sceur Bourgeoys, (Paris, Poussielgue, 
 Rusand, Perisse jreres, 1853, p. p. 291, 292. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 187 
 
 "The inhabitants of this village are Hurons and Iro- 
 quois, not mere converts, but fervent Christians who 
 have been gathered together and trained by the 
 zealous care of the Sulpicians. Life there is that 
 of the cloister, and all virtues are practised according 
 to the rules of highest evangelical perfection. There 
 is always somebody praying in the chapel; no one 
 ever speaks there, and some to punish themselves 
 for a slight fault, stand like humble penitents at the 
 door. They strive most earnestly to preserve their 
 innocence unsullied and to be always and every- 
 where recollected. When they have spoken to God 
 with childlike confidence, they make the huts and 
 fields ring with pious hymns, while they are engaged 
 in work or in household duties. When they meet, 
 they excite each other to virtue by holy conversations, 
 and are ever most charitable among themselves." 
 M. Faillon, after reproducing Mgr. de St. Vallier's 
 enthusiastic report, adds that the Bishop's impression 
 had been slightly partial and superficial. ... "If 
 many Indians were as he has depicted them, it is 
 certain that all did not give the same consolation 
 to their missionaries, and that, among those of the 
 Mountain in particular, some there were who grieved 
 them by their propensity to drunkenness and their 
 relapses into this vice." 
 
 Perhaps the fairest blossoms that bloomed in the 
 Mountain Mission were two Indian maidens, Marie 
 Barbe Attontinon and Marie Therese Gannensagouas. 
 
1 88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 The former was born in the village of Onnontague. 
 Mother Bourgeoys writes of her: "She was baptized 
 at the Mountain and came to our house to enter the 
 Community. She was received, took the habit, and 
 made the promises as they were then made. She 
 remained with us twelve years and died a holy death, 
 aged about thirty-five." Gannensagouas came from 
 Tsonnonthonan and was one of the first pupils of the 
 Mountain Mission, where she received Baptism on 
 the 28th of June, 1681, at the age of fourteen. After 
 four years' sojourn in the Iroquois village, and after 
 her reception in the Community, she became a teacher 
 in the same school. M. Belmont says of her: "The 
 virtues that shone most brightly in her soul were 
 modesty, silence and mortification. As a teacher, 
 she did every duty with admirable perfection, until 
 the age of twenty-seven." Then, having attained 
 the limit of her years, she was stricken by a lingering 
 illness. As its mortal vesture wasted gradually 
 away, the angelic soul seemed to grow ever stronger 
 and more holy. 
 
 In 1685, while the mission was still in its infancy, 
 Marie Barbier, who had been six or seven years in 
 the Community, was sent as teacher to the Mountain 
 school. She was an ardent soul, in whom Mother 
 Bourgeoys' virtues were reflected as in a mirror, 
 especially our heroine's love of suffering and poverty. 
 When she came into the poor hut that was to be her 
 home, the first impression was one of fear and 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 189 
 
 disappointment. "Every thing was spotlessly clean 
 and nothing was lacking in the hut. I looked 
 around," she tells us, '"with saddened heart,' saying 
 nothing, save to God. To Him I made this prayer: 
 'My God, this is not the place Thou hast chosen for 
 me, I should be too comfortable here dost Thou 
 will to destroy me ? Rather would I die than live 
 in such comfort !' I slept here but one night, the 
 Community having changed its plans and decided 
 to send me to the Isle of Orleans. Sister Anne, who 
 was to be my companion, came up to the Mission to 
 get me. On entering the hut, she said to me : ' Sis- 
 ter, God does not want you here. You must suffer 
 all sorts of privations. The hut, which I see so well 
 adorned, makes my heart bleed for you. We must 
 all suffer in this life, and suffering is what God asks 
 of you/ These words were in perfect harmony with 
 the attraction of my soul. The companion who was 
 to have been with me at the Mountain was grieved 
 at the unexpected change. She advised me to re- 
 quest to be left there, but I replied that I wished to 
 obey, and that it would be a great mercy if God 
 willed me to die of fatigue and privation at the Isle 
 of Orleans. I therefore returned to the Community, 
 and embarked two days later." Such are the mys- 
 terious instincts of sanctity. 
 
 When speaking of Gannensagouas we would fain 
 have related the touching story of her grandfather, 
 Francois Thoronhiongo, who had been baptized by 
 
i QO THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Pere de Brebeuf, the glorious martyr. It is told by 
 M. Faillon, but would for us be too lengthy a 
 digression. 
 
 One brief anecdote will give some idea of the dear 
 old Indian's simplicity and fervor. One day, as he 
 sat mending the bark door of a hut, he suddenly re- 
 membered that he had made three stitches with his 
 awl before offering his work to God. He cried, re- 
 morsefully: "Ah, wretch that I am, there are three 
 stitches lost! I forgot to offer them to the Master 
 of my life!" 
 
MGR. FRANCOIS DE MONTMORENCY LAVAL 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 RESUMING THE NARRATIVE FIRST CANADIAN 
 POSTULANTS TERRIBLE TRIAL PROVIDENCE 
 CARES FOR ITS OWN MGR. DE LAVAL'S PRO- 
 POSAL CONFIDENCE AGAIN REWARDED CON- 
 VENT REBUILT INFLUX OF NOVICES WHAT 
 MARGARET REQUIRED OF HER DAUGHTERS. . . . 
 
 LEAVING the Mountain Mission, we must now go 
 back a few years and take up our story at 
 the close of Margaret Bourgeoys' last trip 
 to France. 
 
 Not long after her arrival in Montreal, there came 
 to the convent a young postulant, the first Canadian 
 girl to enter the Community. God now showed that 
 Margaret's failure had been one only in appearance, 
 for the time had come when the Order was to recruit 
 its members, not in far-off France, but in the New 
 World. We have already learned that this first pos- 
 tulant was Marie Barbier, one of our heroine's first 
 pupils, who had passed from childhood to woman- 
 hood under Margaret's watchful care. A year later, 
 six more Canadians followed Sister Barbier 's exam- 
 ple. We find their names in the register: Marie 
 
192 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Denis, Madeleine Bourboult, Marie Charly, (after- 
 wards Jeanne LeBer's closest friend), Francoise 
 Lemoyne, Catherine Bony, Catherine Charly. Like 
 their predecessor, they had all been trained by Mar- 
 garet Bourgeoys from their earliest years. In 
 giving to their work their youthful strength and in- 
 tellect, they were but allowing her to reap the harvest 
 patiently sown by her own hand through years of 
 hardship and danger. 
 
 The Community now consisted of eighteen mem- 
 bers. Its winter had been long and drear. The seed 
 hidden in the virgin soil of Ville-Marie took many 
 years to ripen and expand. Slowly it pushed its 
 tender green shoot through the cold earth, then the 
 first leaves came out one by one. At last, it burst into 
 foliage and grew to be a great tree; and its branches 
 sheltered innumerable souls, who, soaring above all 
 earthly things, lived but to praise and glorify God. 
 Three years went by, and years of labor they were, 
 both among the children of the colonists and among 
 those of the Indian tribes. 
 
 In 1683, during the night from the 6th to the yth 
 of December, a terrible misfortune befell the Commu- 
 nity. The midnight darkness was suddenly illumined 
 by a fierce, red light, and angry flames shed their 
 lurid reflection upon the snow-covered ground. There 
 were cries and prayers and wild hurrying to and fro; 
 but the hungry fire did its work, and under the eyes 
 of Mother Bourgeoys and her nuns the convent 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 193 
 
 gradually became a mass of charred ruins. Calm 
 and collected, the Superior saw her only shelter con- 
 sumed. Silently she accepted the sacrifice and bowed 
 her head under the hand of God. A worse trial was 
 in store. Suddenly, while smoke and flames were at 
 their worst, a cry went up: "Two of our Sisters are 
 missing!" None can venture into the seething mass 
 of fire nor face the blinding smoke. Margaret sinks 
 to her knees, and gazes, in heart-broken anguish, 
 at the burning building in which two of her spiritual 
 daughters, one of them her own niece, are enduring 
 all the tortures of a fiery death. All through the 
 tragic hours of that terrible night, not a murmur fell 
 from her white lips, and nothing but resignation 
 looked out of her weary eyes. Yet none felt so keenly 
 all that this misfortune meant to the Community, 
 and she mourned the death of her nuns even more 
 for its sake than for the pain inflicted on her own 
 loving heart. 
 
 Another cause of grief was her conviction that she 
 was to blame for the accident. She says: "It was 
 a just punishment for my weakness when, led by a 
 spirit opposed to the poverty, humility and mortifi- 
 cation in which we should live, I consented to the 
 erection of this large house. It was built to preserve 
 us from some slight inconveniences in our first lodging, 
 with which we should have been satisfied." The 
 loss of the house itself she did not mourn. On the 
 contrary: "The fire gave me more pleasure than 
 
194 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 regret because of the reasons that led to the building 
 of this large house." 
 
 We are not told where the survivors lodged after 
 their home was consumed. Perhaps they were re- 
 ceived by the Hotel-Dieu nuns, or found a temporary 
 refuge in the Ouvroir, a house used by the pupils 
 of their industrial school and known as "La Provi- 
 dence." However this may be, the following days 
 were very trying, filled with many privations and 
 great fatigue. 
 
 The whole town was stirred by the sad event. 
 Sympathy for Mother Bourgeoys and her daughters 
 was as widespread as it was sincere. We find it 
 mentioned in the writings of the day. Father Tronson 
 wrote from France: "The destruction of the Congre- 
 gation Convent and, above all, the loss of the two nuns, 
 has filled us with compassion." Mgr. de Laval says 
 to Father de Casson: "I have been deeply moved by 
 this accident and particularly by the death of Sisters 
 Genevieve and Marguerite, who perished in the 
 flames. They were indeed ripe for Heaven, yet still 
 very necessary to the Community. God's judgments 
 differ widely from those of men, therefore must we 
 adore the secret designs of His Providence, and 
 humbly submit. I am writing a hasty word to Sister 
 Marguerite Bourgeoys." The death of the two noble 
 women, Sisters Durosoy and Soumillard, who perished 
 in the burning of the convent seemed to indicate in a 
 mysterious way God's will that Mother Bourgeoys 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 195 
 
 should still retain the office of Superior of the Com- 
 munity. On her return from France she had reiterated 
 her desire to be relieved of her charge, and her sisters 
 had begun to consider the selection of her successor. 
 But as the two members of the Community, whom 
 the fire had claimed for its victims, were thought to 
 be the most suitable to succeed the venerable foun- 
 dress, their untimely death put an end for a time to 
 all talk of electing a new superior. 
 
 The Congregation was reduced to such dire poverty 
 that Mgr. de Laval considered it impossible, humanly 
 speaking, for it to recover from the effects of its loss. 
 He settled at last upon what to him seemed the only 
 means of enabling its members to continue their 
 fruitful labors in Ville- Marie admittance into the 
 Ursuline order. This, of course, would mean the 
 adoption of the rules followed by a cloistered order 
 and would be in direct contradiction to the aim of 
 Margaret's foundation. Taken up with his own 
 views, and sincerely anxious to help Sister Bourgeoys 
 in her need, Mgr. de Laval did not stop to consider 
 this fact. The Ursulines wrote to Ville- Marie ex- 
 pressing their willingness to open a convent there. 
 Obedience to authority was one of Mother Bourgeoys' 
 most striking virtues. At a word from M. de Queylus 
 she had interrupted a cherished task the building 
 of a church in Our Lady's honor. . . . Will she now 
 set aside the end towards which she has tended so 
 faithfully and so strenuously? No; then it was her 
 
196 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 own desires she was sacrificing; but now to remove 
 the distinctive traits of her Community would be 
 to oppose God's will and relinquish a sacred mission. 
 Strengthened by this conviction, Margaret, with all 
 due respect joined to unwavering firmness, set forth 
 her reasons for declining to consider the Bishop's 
 proposal. The good she purposed to achieve was 
 not compatible with the restrictions imposed on a 
 cloistered order. To join such an order were to act 
 in opposition to what seemed God-sent inspirations. 
 Besides, Our Blessed Lady, to whom the Congrega- 
 tion was especially consecrated, had given other 
 proofs of her approval. Again, apart from the in- 
 struction of young girls, Margaret aimed at saving 
 many Christian maidens whose poverty would other- 
 wise debar them from consecrating themselves to 
 God in other religious orders, all of which exacted a 
 dower. Her intention had ever been to throw open 
 her doors to all fitted for religious life. So little did 
 she care for money that she would gladly seek out 
 and take into her arms any girl, however destitute 
 of earthly goods, if she only possessed good- will and a 
 true vocation. 
 
 Mgr. de Laval, who had ever felt the greatest ad- 
 miration for Mother Bourgeoys, appreciated the 
 strength of her arguments, and desisted from his 
 efforts. He was then thinking of resigning his arduous 
 duties, and could but imitate our heroine's simple 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 197 
 
 reliance on God, leaving the impoverished Commu- 
 nity in the hands of an all-wise Providence. 
 
 This child-like confidence (Jid not lead Mother 
 Bourgeoys to fold her hands and idly wait for God's 
 hour. Rather did she pray as if God alone were 
 to do everything, then work as if her unaided efforts 
 were the only resources at her disposal. 
 
 No sooner was her home burned down than she 
 set about erecting another for God's work could 
 not wait, must not be neglected. Though she still 
 looked upon the building of the larger convent as an 
 unwarranted luxury, she realized that it must be 
 replaced by one even better fitted to receive all her 
 companions and a still greater number of pupils. 
 It really seemed as though God had allowed the 
 disaster to compel the Congregation to erect a yet 
 larger convent in a more appropriate locality. The 
 parish church had been built in the upper town 
 where the Seminary had opened thoroughfares. 
 Since then the people had, in great part, forsaken 
 their first quarters by the riverside, and moved up to 
 the higher level. The Sulpicians decided to erect a 
 new Seminary there; so, being obliged to build, 
 Mother Bourgeoys, in accordance with the wishes 
 of the sisterhood, settled upon this new situation for 
 the new convent. This was all the more feasible 
 since they already had there some land, part of 
 which was used as a garden. By the addition of a 
 few acres, which the Seminary would willingly give, 
 
igS THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the property of the Congregation would adjoin that 
 of the Hotel-Dieu. 
 
 However, Margaret's hands were empty; how re- 
 build? As the Marquis de Denonville wrote to the 
 Minister in 1684: "The Congregation nuns, who do 
 so much good in the colony under Sister Bourgeoys' 
 guidance, were burnt out last year. They lost every- 
 thing. It would be necessary for them to rebuild, 
 but they have not a penny to begin with." M.Tron- 
 son had supposed that the news of the accident would 
 draw from the French Court some large compensa- 
 tion, but the King gave only five hundred livres. 
 Never had so small a gift been bestowed in like cir- 
 cumstances upon any institution.* 
 
 Now, at last, our heroine's confidence will surely 
 give way. If so, her discouragement showed itself 
 in a strange manner. She drew up a paper, duly- 
 signed by each of the nuns, by which she hoped to 
 draw down God's blessing on an enterprise the suc- 
 cess of which she committed to Him alone. "We 
 have written a document," says she, "in which we 
 declared to God that we asked this re-establishment 
 of our convent, only to prove more faithful than in 
 the past to the practise of Christian perfection." 
 The nuns' solemn pledge was made in all earnestness 
 and sincerity. God did not fail to ratify it by doing 
 His share fully and swiftly. Hearts were stirred to 
 
 * Faillon, Vie de la Yen Mere Bourgeoys, Vol. n. p. 352. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 199 
 
 sympathy, not passive merely, but active and gen- 
 erous. Before long there were enough funds to 
 build a stone house larger and more solid than the 
 former one, and more convenient both for the nuns 
 and their pupils. 
 
 Mother Juchereau, in her "Histoire de 1'Hotel 
 Dieu de Quebec," pays this tribute to the Congre- 
 gation nuns: "They were so full of confidence in 
 God, they began to build with only forty sous in 
 their possession. Their hope was not confounded, 
 for, though their funds were small, Providence 
 helped them so powerfully that they have established 
 one of the most flourishing communities in Canada. 
 The odor of its virtues spreads throughout the land." 
 Soeur Morin adds: "After their second house, a 
 stone one, had been destroyed by fire, the Congre- 
 gation nuns built a third convent on the site they 
 still occupy; their house touches our enclosure, 
 making us neighbors; the house is large and spa- 
 cious, and one of the best built in town." Mgr. de 
 Saint Vallier, having seen the nuns some time after 
 the fire, remarks: "How they subsisted since the 
 accident which befell them three or four years ago is 
 truly a marvel. Their entire house was burned in 
 one night, they saved neither their furniture nor their 
 wardrobe, happy enough in this that they were them- 
 selves rescued; even then, two of their number 
 perished in the flames. The courage of the sur- 
 vivors bore them up in their extreme poverty. Though 
 
200 THE LI WE AND TIMES OF 
 
 they numbered over thirty, Providence cared for all 
 their most pressing wants. It almost seems as though 
 this calamity served only to make them holier and 
 more useful to their neighbor, for there is not one 
 good work which, since that time, they have failed to 
 undertake." 
 
 After such a catastrophe it would have seemed only 
 natural that young girls should hesitate to face un- 
 told hardship in an impoverished Community. Yet 
 drawn by a clearly supernatural attraction, they 
 flocked to Mother Bourgeoys for admission. Within 
 two years more than forty posulants were received. 
 So does God carve victories out of defeats and pros- 
 perity out of adversity. Margaret herself expresses 
 something of wondering admiration when, alluding 
 to this rapid increase of membership in her commun 
 ity, she writes: " Yet I never promised them ought 
 save poverty and simplicity." When giving the holy 
 habit to a novice, it was her wont to repeat: "My 
 dear sister, be ever lowly, humble and poor," and to 
 all the would-be nuns her most frequent admonition 
 was: "Any one who seeks admission into this Com- 
 munity must make up her mind to quit all worldly 
 principles. She must forsake self as well, overcoming 
 temper, bad habits, and natural inclinations. She 
 must rid herself of undue attachment to parents, 
 friends, and all that uselessly absorbs the mind. To 
 her I say that she may be set to the meanest tasks, 
 may be sent on mission with a companion specially 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 201 
 
 charged to contradict her in everything, even so far as 
 to silence her that a little girl may speak, sparing her 
 no humiliation or mortification. Once admitted, let 
 her fear to prove unfaithful to God, to Whom she has 
 given herself. Let her obey those to whom she is 
 subject promptly in all things. She must be poor of 
 heart. Her words, gestures, gait must show neither 
 levity nor giddiness, but she must behave everywhere 
 with modesty, recollection and piety. She must mort- 
 ify her senses, avoid useless conversations, and ever 
 strive to walk in the presence of God." Such was 
 the bright ideal Mother Bourgeoys set before the 
 eyes of her children, and of which she was herself 
 a living embodiment. 
 
 Side by side with her advice concerning personal 
 sanctification, we may place that which tended to 
 instruct the religious in their duty to their pupils: 
 "The Sisters of the Congregation should be skilled 
 in needlework of every description, that they may 
 teach children to avoid idleness, the source of all 
 vice, by which virtue is constantly endangered. It 
 is therefore necessary to make the children work, 
 both in the day-schools and in the boarding-schools." 
 Elsewhere she adds: "The Blessed Virgin received 
 both kings and shepherds with equal affection; like 
 her, the Sisters of the Congregation must not favor 
 rich children more than poor ones, but cherish both 
 with equal charity. If they have any preference, it 
 should be for the most destitute; the Blessed Virgin 
 
202 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 being present with her Son at the marriage-feast of 
 Cana only because the people were poor and in need 
 of assistance." 
 
 Poverty, as we have seen, was no obstacle to the 
 admission of a novice, but we must not suppose that 
 applicants were indiscriminately welcome. Though 
 unmoved by name, wealth or talent, Margaret re- 
 quired that postulants should have not only the will 
 to become perfect, but also the requisite aptitudes. 
 What she sought is set forth in a beautiful prayer, 
 still daily recited by her daughters: 
 
 "My Mother, I ask of Thee, for our Community, 
 neither the wealth, honors, nor pleasures of this life. 
 I pray thee only to obtain that God be therein faith- 
 fully served; and that there be received none of those 
 proud and presumptuous spirits whose hearts are of 
 the world, who are addicted to back-biting or scoffing 
 and who strive not to practise the maxims which Our 
 Lord, Thy Divine Son, has taught, which He has 
 sealed with His blood and which thou, O most holy 
 Virgin, didst so exactly observe." 
 
 Under this wise, firm and loving guidance, the 
 young girls of all classes learned to love God and 
 their neighbor. Daughters of nobles, merchants, 
 artisans, habitants, Indians, even; whether of gentle 
 or lowly birth, rich or poor all were received with 
 equal tenderness, bound together by charity and hu- 
 mility, and led by Margaret Bourgeoys to the higher 
 life. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 203 
 
 In November, 1684, not a year after the great fire, 
 M. de Denonville visited Montreal. He was much 
 impressed by. the Congregation and wrote as follows 
 to the Minister of Marine, recommending one of the 
 most useful foundations: "At Ville- Marie in the 
 Island of Montreal I found the Sisters of the Congre- 
 gation under Sister Bourgeoys' direction. Their 
 presence is a great advantage to the entire colony. 
 Moreover, I saw an establishment of Daughters of 
 Providence, who work in common. These so-called 
 Daughters of Providence, all grown-up girls to 
 the number of twenty, are trained and formed to 
 work by this sister. They might begin some manu- 
 facture there, if you would offer them some slight 
 gratuity." 
 
 Such was the life of the Community at Ville-Marie. 
 We have seen its solicitude extended to the red- 
 skinned children of the forest, it is now time to watch 
 it spreading over the colony and sending out mission- 
 aries to scatter the good seed far and wide. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A BIT OF HISTORY CANADIAN MISSIONS AN 
 ELOQUENT PLEA POVERTY OF FIRST HOUSES 
 MARGARET'S PARTING WORDS THE CONGRE- 
 GATION'S PATRONAL FEAST THE ISLE OF 
 ORLEANS TRANSFORMED WORDS OF PRAISE 
 THE "HOPITAL GENERAL" A HEROIC UNDER- 
 TAKING - - SPIRITUAL TRIALS - - THE QUEBEC 
 FOUNDATIONS AGAIN PROVIDENCE INTERFERES 
 ONCE MORE NEW MISSIONS ESTABLISHED. 
 
 WE have left the Mountain Mission, have seen 
 the Ville-Marie Convent rise again from its 
 ashes; now before following the Congrega- 
 tion in its apostolic journeys, we might ask: What 
 was the state of Canada in those latter years of the 
 seventeenth century?* 
 
 * In describing the latter years of our heroine's life , it has been 
 almost impossible to observe, with strict accuracy, the chrono- 
 logical order. Events follow each other rapidly, and at times 
 so many occur simultaneously, that the attempt leads only 
 to greater confusion. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 205 
 
 In 1688, the French in Canada and Acadia num- 
 bered about 12,000. Warfare against the Iroquois 
 was being carried on with great vigor by the French, 
 especially under de Denonville. He drew down 
 everlasting disgrace upon his name by treacherously 
 seizing the principal chiefs, by him convoked, under 
 various pretexts, at Cataraqui, now Kingston, and 
 despatching them to France to work in the galleys. 
 This dastardly act exasperated an already blood- 
 thirsty foe. 
 
 On the fifth of August, 1689, the Iroquois made a 
 a savage descent on the unsuspecting inhabitants of 
 Lachine a prosperous village on the outskirts of 
 Montreal. At midnight, the Indian war-whoop 
 mingled with the piercing shrieks of the women and 
 children, while the glare of burning homesteads 
 turned the sky to a vivid red that seemed to reflect 
 itself upon the blood-stained earth. The cruel re- 
 taliation was not left unpunished. Under gallant 
 de Frontenac and prudent de Callieres the Iroquois 
 tribes were routed in divers encounters, then finally 
 reconciled with the French and with their Indian 
 foes. 
 
 At the same time a great international conflict was 
 disturbing the country; the Anglo-French struggle 
 known as King William's War, lasted from 1685 to 
 1697. When the state of a country at war, with its 
 unsettled, terrorized condition, is taken into account, 
 we cannot but feel greater admiration for the noble 
 
2o6 THE LIFE AtfD TIMES OF 
 
 women, who calm and fearless, pursued their mission- 
 ary labors with undiminished zeal. 
 
 A word has been said about Margaret's solicitude 
 for the conversion of the Indian children. We must 
 not suppose her great heart became any the less 
 zealous for the children of the French. One after 
 the other, she sent her daughters to open convents 
 throughout the colony. When, in later years, a 
 mistaken and over-zealous desire to lighten the labors 
 of the Community led some authorities to urge objec- 
 tions against its missionary undertakings, she drew 
 from her apostolic heart these almost inspired words: 
 "We are asked," she wrote, "why we open missions 
 which expose us to many sufferings, nay, even to 
 capture and to death at the hands of the Iroquois. 
 Here is our answer: The apostles went forth into 
 every quarter of the globe to preach Jesus Christ; 
 like them we feel urged to make Him known in every 
 part of this country to which we may be sent. If the 
 Apostles gave labor, life, all they could possess in 
 this world to make God known, why should not the 
 Daughters of the Congregation sacrifice health, satis- 
 faction, rest, life itself, for the religious and the 
 moral education of girls ? Our Lord asked His Apos- 
 tles whether they could drink of His chalice, and the 
 Daughters of this Community are asked whether they 
 can embrace poverty and contempt. In order to 
 teach freely, they must be content with little, deprive 
 themselves of all, and live everywhere in poverty. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 207 
 
 Like the Apostles, they must work even at night, 
 to earn their living and be a burden to none. This 
 Community must be an image of the Apostolic Col- 
 lege; but the latter I would compare to a star in the 
 firmament, and the former to a snowflake that falls 
 in the shape of a star and melts at the least touch of 
 heat. Therefore, to preserve and increase God's 
 grace within our Community, it is necessary to make 
 Divine Wisdom pass before human prudence." 
 Sublime as are these words in their humility and ab- 
 negation, we shall find them fully realized in her who 
 wrote them, and in those of whom she wrote. 
 
 Margaret herself tells us that, in the first missions, 
 the nuns had no beds, sheets or mattresses; they 
 lacked many needed utensils, and lived as the poor- 
 est of the poor. The good they did was the abun- 
 dant fruitage of utter self-denial and well-nigh un- 
 limited privation. The secret of the fortitude that 
 made them bear all with joyous courage lay in their 
 purity of intention. God and souls, that was the 
 dual love which bore them up, for "love feels no 
 burden, regards not labors . . . when weary it is not 
 tired, when straightened it is not constrained, when 
 frightened it is not disturbed." (Imit. Book III., ch V.) 
 
 Margaret fostered in their hearts the love which 
 works such wonders and the remembrance of her 
 parting words must have been a constant stimulus 
 for the often sorely-tried missionaries: "Think, my 
 dear sisters, that in your missions you are going forth 
 
2o8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 to gather up the spilled drops of the Blood of Jesus 
 Christ. Oh! how happy would be each sister sent 
 on mission if she reflected that she goes thither bv 
 God's command and in His company; if she reflected 
 that by her labors she can and should prove her 
 gratitude towards Him from Whom she has received 
 all things! Ah> then will she find nothing hard or 
 annoying! On the contrary, her desire will be to 
 want all things, to be despised by all, to suffer every 
 torment, even to die in ignominy." 
 
 These words shed a bright light upon the spirit 
 and aim of Our Lady's Congregation, and on the 
 wisdom of her who so strenuously opposed its being 
 incorporated or transformed into a cloistered order. 
 We may have been tempted to ask, as her contem- 
 poraries did, why she did not enter one of the many 
 already existing in the Church? A community of 
 uncloistered women was almost unknown at thib 
 time; such had not as yet been required. Different 
 ages have different needs and what Vincent of Paul, 
 through his uncloistered Sisters of Charity was doing 
 in France for the poor, Margaret Bourgeoys was to 
 achieve in the New World for the education of child- 
 hood. Her ideal was to imitate Our Lady's life of 
 Apostolic zeal, not only in the care of the Infant 
 Church after her Son's Ascension, but specially when 
 she visited her cousin Elizabeth. Like her, Marga- 
 ret's ambition was to carry Jesus to the hearts and 
 homes in which He had no place. Listen to her 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 209 
 
 own words: "Our Lady's visit to Saint Elizabeth 
 was the immediate occasion of a great miracle; the 
 liberation of John the Baptist from the bonds of 
 original sin, his sanetification and that of his whole 
 family. This is the model to be placed before the 
 Sisters' eyes when they go on mission with the inten- 
 tion of contributing to the sanetification of children." 
 
 In this again we discover why the mystery of the 
 Visitation was chosen to be the patronal feast of 
 Margaret Bourgeoys' Community. That solemn 
 celebration recalls to each missionary the ideal to 
 which tend her daily labors and gives her fresh 
 strength to face trial and fatigue. 
 
 From principles we return to facts. Annals of 
 the first missions are few and slender, because of the 
 disturbed state of the country, and because of the 
 successive fires which have consumed some of the 
 Community's most interesting records. Enough re- 
 mains to show us that as early as 1676 several mis- 
 sions had already been opened outside of Montreal. 
 In one of Mgr. de Laval's letters he speaks of Mother 
 Bourgeoys' labors "in Montreal and elsewhere." 
 This probably refers to the schools opened in the 
 parishes of Champlain and Batiscan, mentioned by 
 M. de Meulles in 1683, and which were closed later 
 on. 
 
 Having now gained a general idea of what the nuns 
 had to do and suffer, more minute study of one 
 foundation will throw a clearer light upon all. In 1865 
 
2io THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 the parish of the Holy Family in the Isle of Orleans 
 was under the care of a Sulpician, Father Lamy. 
 He had found it in a very sad state. The parishioners 
 were almost devoid of faith and but little richer in 
 morality. The young people especially were light 
 and frivolous. The pastor sought a remedy for the 
 spiritual miseries of his straying flock and finally de- 
 termined that, if the girls were carefully educated, 
 things would change for the better. It was an excel- 
 lent field of labor for Margaret Bourgeoys' daughters. 
 Father Lamy appealed to Mgr. de Saint- Vallier, who 
 wrote to the Foundress. As we have already seen, 
 Sister Anne and Sister Barbier were immediately 
 named for the arduous task. "Before leaving for 
 the Isle of Orleans," writes Sister Barbier, "I made 
 a general confession as though I had been at the point 
 of death." 
 
 Even had they cared to do so their poverty would 
 not have allowed them to make elaborate prepara- 
 tions for the journey, a long and hard one in those 
 primitive days. They took with them but one thin 
 blanket and very little linen, yet the Indian summer 
 was over and winter was near at hand. "We nearly 
 froze to death," writes Sister Barbier, from whose 
 Memoirs all these and subsequent details have been 
 drawn. Other trials met them on their way. "We 
 were laughed to scorn and humiliated in every way. 
 Some^asked us where were our beds and our belong- 
 ings; others said we were dying of hunger at home, 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 211 
 
 and had been sent out to seek our fortune elsewhere." 
 Arriving at the Isle of Orleans did not end their 
 troubles. They had to lodge with a good widow 
 whose house was filled with servants and children, 
 and the nuns were, in consequence, subjected to 
 many annoyances. "We suffered much during the 
 first winter, and would have died of cold but for 
 God's special protection." A still greater hardship 
 was their distance from the church. In bad weather 
 they often came home drenched, covered with icicles 
 yet afraid to draw near the fire, surrounded as it ever 
 was by the people of the house. 
 
 On one of these occasions, as they were returning 
 from Mass, Sister Barbier was almost lost in the snow. 
 The sharp north wind was scattering the light snow- 
 flakes and piling up chilly mounds by the roadside, 
 when she slipped deep down into the ditch. "My 
 companion," she writes, "was far ahead, and I was 
 worn out. I could not pull myself out from the ditch 
 for I was growing weaker and the snow was cover- 
 ing me more thickly every moment. Then I asked 
 the Infant Jesus to help me, if He willed to prolong 
 my life for His glory and to give me more time for 
 penance." She was nearly buried out of sight, when 
 some passers-by came to her rescue, leaving her 
 however, stretched numb and stiff by the roadside. 
 With great difficulty she made her painful way back 
 to the house. Privation and exposure were followed 
 by bodily infirmities, yet the unfailing patience and 
 
212 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 joyous resignation of the two missionaries never fal- 
 tered. They were ready to bear all for God and 
 souls, nor did they suffer in vain. A change came 
 over the parish. The young girls, at first inclined to 
 scoff at the two nuns, were completely won over. A 
 sodality was founded for the older ones. Its meetings 
 were held before Mass, the nuns speaking to its mem- 
 bers of faith and duty, then leading them to church 
 in procession. Before very long, piety and virtue 
 flourished in the Island. Some of the sodalists were 
 led to yet higher things, and entered the Congrega- 
 tion to do for others what had been done for them. 
 
 That the Isle of Orleans was not the only place 
 transformed by the labors of the Congregation nuns, 
 may be seen in contemporary writings. In 1683, 
 de Meulles writes to Seignelay: " You cannot imagine 
 how much good has been done in Canada by the 
 Sisters of the Congregation. Everywhere, they teach 
 girls with the greatest care. If their work could be 
 still further extended, they would do a world of good. 
 This sort of life is truly admirable, better far than if 
 the Community had been cloistered. They are most 
 prudent, and can be sent everywhere, thus instructing 
 girls who would otherwise remain in utter ignorance." 
 Let us hear Mgr. de Saint- Vallier : " Besides the classes 
 opened by the Congregation for the young girls of 
 Montreal, and the boarding-school in which French 
 and Indian girls are trained in piety, many excellent 
 school teachers have come forth from the convent. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 213 
 
 They have settled in various other parts of the colony 
 where they teach children catechism and give useful 
 and touching conferences to the older girls. There 
 is not a good work which they have not successfully 
 undertaken." "In forming the Institute so useful 
 to the whole colony," writes Mother Juchereau in 
 the Annals of the Hotel-Dieu de Quebec, "Sister 
 Bourgeoys and her companions have raised up one 
 of the most flourishing communities in Canada, one 
 whose perfume of holiness fills the country, and which 
 does much good in the parishes where their missions 
 are conducted with edifying care, fervor and regu- 
 larity." 
 
 Meanwhile, the fame of the Congregation in differ- 
 ent parishes reached the Bishop of Quebec, and he 
 wished to have them in his own diocese. He had 
 been specially impressed by the daughters of Provi- 
 dence, and asked to have a similar institution in 
 Quebec. On the i3th of November, 1686, he bought 
 a house with yard and garden as the initial step of 
 the foundation. Sister Barbier was chosen Supe- 
 rior of the new house and Sister St. Ange was named 
 to help her. God's blessing fell upon the good work 
 and it prospered amazingly. Every day something 
 was done to honor Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and so 
 devotion to the Holy Family spread rapidly among 
 the young girls of the town. In 1688 free schools 
 were opened for the smaller girls. Then Mgr. de 
 Saint Vallier sought to execute a project that appealed 
 
2i 4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 powerfully to his charitable soul, the foundation of 
 a home where the poor might be usefully employed. 
 In 1689 he wrote to Mother Bourgeoys of the pro- 
 jected institution. 
 
 This led to perhaps the most touching incident 
 of our heroine's later life. It was early spring and 
 the warm breezes of April had partially thawed the 
 ice-bound Canadian rivers. It was too early for 
 navigation to be resumed, yet too late for any vehicle 
 to venture upon the shifting ice. Mother Bourgeoys 
 was sixty-nine years old, enfeebled by her arduous 
 labors and many austerities. Yet, regardless of all 
 this, she set out alone and on foot to travel 180 miles, 
 all the way from Montreal to Quebec.* We cannot 
 even picture to ourselves what the hardships of the 
 strange journey must have been that aged 
 woman now knee-deep in the soft snow, now drag- 
 ging herself on hands and knees over the uncertain 
 and treacherous ice, now wading through death-cold 
 water. Her courage faltered not, and the journey's 
 end was reached safely. On her arrival, she learned 
 from the Bishop his desire to substitute the so-called 
 "General Hospital" for the successful " Providence." 
 
 Though convinced that such a work lay beyond 
 the sphere of her Community, Margaret's marvel- 
 lous spirit of obedience forbade any remark or ob- 
 jection. She undertook the hardest work to favor 
 
 * We are told that her journeys in winter were always made on 
 foot. In summer, she travelled by boat; these voyages gave her 
 an opportunity for doing good to souls by word and example. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 215 
 
 the Bishop's design, carrying heavy pieces of furni- 
 ture from Lower Town to Upper. To those who 
 know, from experience, the hills of Quebec, their 
 length and steepness, this seems well-nigh incredi- 
 ble. Moreover, after devoting to this work the first 
 four days of Holy Week, Mother Bourgeoys spent 
 the night from Holy Thursday to Good Friday on her 
 knees, absorbed and motionless, before the Blessed 
 Sacrament. Her Lord and Master then poured into 
 her soul unspeakable graces and strength to undergo 
 yet greater trials for His sake. 
 
 At the Mountain Mission in 1691 died the first 
 Indian nun, Marie Barbe Attontinon. She was buried 
 on the 29th of November in that part of the Ville- 
 Marie church reserved for the burial of the Congrega- 
 tion nuns. 
 
 As years went by, it became more and more evi- 
 dent that God had chosen Margaret Bourgeoys above 
 all others to be the spiritual mother and chief teacher 
 of the girls of Ville-Marie. We have seen how the nuns 
 of Troyes sought in vain to cross the ocean. Later, 
 the Ursulines made several attempts to gain a foot- 
 ing in Montreal, but by seemingly Providential inter- 
 position they achieved no more success than the 
 Visitation nuns who later made a similar attempt. 
 Hers and hers alone was to be the glorious mission 
 of forming the wives, mothers and teachers of Ville- 
 Marie, a colony chosen to preserve and spread the 
 Catholic Faith in North America, 
 
216 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 To fit her yet more fully for that mission, God led 
 her through a fiery trial. As when a dark cloud, 
 passing suddenly over the sun, changes the scene 
 of radiant brightness to one of utter gloom, so, one 
 day a shadow fell upon Mother Bourgeoys' soul. 
 God's light seemed to shine no more in a mind now 
 troubled and perplexed; the sweet unction of His 
 grace no longer consoled the heart now heavy and 
 well-nigh hopeless. Her very humility became a 
 torment, for it made her feel worthy of God's most 
 terrible chastisements. When a poor, deluded mem- 
 ber of her Community came to give an account of 
 some pretended vision in which she had been told 
 that Mother Bourgeoys was nothing more than a 
 reprobate, the latter was, at first, unmoved. But 
 in January, 1690, when the same Sister Tardy re- 
 iterated her imaginary story of revelations concern- 
 ing her superior, an awful terror seized Margaret's 
 soul in its icy clutch. "For fifty months," she tells 
 us, "I remained in this state of suffering which it is 
 hard to depict." As far as we can see, the evil spirits 
 were working to remove Mother Bourgeoys from a 
 post in which she was doing more good than they 
 could counteract. Their attempt was partially suc- 
 cessful. Impelled by a conviction that she was un- 
 worthy to command, she urgently begged to be re- 
 lieved of her responsibility as Superior. Her petition 
 was finally granted. Sister Anne, who had helped 
 to found the Mission at the Isle of Orleans, was finally 
 
MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 217 
 
 summoned to Montreal to succeed her. The newly 
 elected Superior was then ill in Quebec, but it was 
 hoped her health would be restored on her return to 
 Ville-Marie. However, she had scarcely arrived 
 there when on the 2nd of September, 1690, she went 
 to her reward. In the light of past events this seemed 
 a clear sign of God's will, and the idea of electing a 
 new Superior was again relinquished. 
 
 Mgr. de Saint- Vallier, having visited the Congrega- 
 tion during the same month, Mother Bourgeoys gave 
 him an account of all her trials and implored him to 
 accept her resignation. The Bishop thought fit to 
 reject her ardent prayer, and though inwardly crushed 
 and desolate, she had to persevere in the discharge of 
 her appointed duties, each year more manifold. 
 However, Sister Tardy, and those who had encour- 
 aged her in her strange hallucination, having gone 
 to tell their tale in France, were detained there. 
 By his wisdom and firmness, Father Tronson restored 
 peace to the troubled Communities of Ville-Marie. 
 
 We must now return to the Quebec foundations, 
 and see how they fared after Mother Bourgeoys' 
 return to Montreal. Sister Anne Hioux, afterwards 
 chosen to be Superior in Margaret's place, had been 
 called to Quebec from the Isle of Orleans, and Sister 
 Barbier was sent to take her place. Thus were the 
 Congregation nuns chosen by God to found the 
 General Hospital, where so many destitute have been 
 sheltered and cared for spiritually and temporally. 
 
2i8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 They directed it until 1692, when the Bishop re- 
 solved to confide it to cloistered nuns and named 
 the Hospitalieres de St. Joseph to replace them. 
 
 In removing the Congregation nuns from the Hos- 
 pital the Bishop did not deprive Quebec of their 
 services, but rather turned their undivided activity 
 into a more congenial channel. 
 
 Mgr. de Saint- Vallier had given the Congregation 
 nuns a house with the understanding that they might 
 sell it if they wished. As this house was not suitable, 
 they left it and bought another, into which they 
 moved. But this change of abode led to many diffi- 
 culties. The former proprietor of this second house 
 claimed a legal right to seize it. Driven out of their 
 new home, they found no better lodging than a 
 miserable stable. "I rejoice," wrote Mother Bour- 
 geoys, "I rejoice to hear that you are to dwell in a 
 stable; but at the same time I am sorry to hear of 
 the discontent evinced by certain persons of our 
 acquaintance. For I have a great desire to remain 
 in union with all, God having commanded us to 
 love our neighbor. For this reason I was in no 
 hurry to have the said contract registered." How- 
 ever, the Sulpicians bought a house for the Congre- 
 gation nearer the Cathedral, in the Upper Town, 
 where the Ursulines were already teaching. Mother 
 Bourgeoys' charity was alarmed lest her daughters' 
 proximity might prove an annoyance to the Ursu- 
 lines. Besides, she felt there was much good to be 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 219 
 
 done among the poorer population of the Lower 
 Town. She resolved to go herself to set things right. 
 She reached Quebec on the 8th of May, 1692. 
 
 The house donated to them by the Bishop had been 
 sold, but the owner of the Upper Town house in- 
 sisted on being paid before the money due for the 
 one they sold had been received. Delay exasperated 
 him, and he brought suit against the nuns. Having 
 heard that the plaintiff declared he should never 
 forgive the Congregation, Margaret was sorely trou- 
 bled. As she told her sisters later: "I want at all 
 costs not merely to remain in charity with my neigh- 
 bor, but to keep my neighbor in the charity he owes 
 me. Ready to concede everything, I went to throw 
 myself at the Blessed Virgin's feet in the Jesuit 
 church. I could only repeat: 'Holy Virgin, I can 
 do no more.' As I came out of the church, a person 
 to whom I had never revealed our troubles, offered me 
 a sum of money exactly equal to that demanded of us. 
 Thus was this affair settled by the aid of Providence." 
 
 Besides the missions at Orleans and Quebec, 
 Mother Bourgeoys subsequently opened one at 
 Chateau Richer, one at Lachine and another at 
 Pointe-aux-Trembles. After Ville-Marie the two 
 latter are the oldest parishes in the Island of Mon- 
 treal. * In each of these schools, two nuns were 
 sent to teach. The good they did can never be ade- 
 quately known or appreciated. 
 
 * Faillon. Vol. i. p. 341. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 QUIET RESTORED THE BURDEN LAID DOWN 
 SISTER BARBIER'S ELECTION CHANGES AT THE 
 MOUNTAIN MISSION APPROBATION OF RULES 
 RENEWED EFFORTS OF MGR. DE ST. VALLIER 
 THE HOTEL-DIEU FIRE THE DIVINE GUEST 
 OF THE TABERNACLE -- A TOUCHING PROCES- 
 SION. 
 
 WHEN the troubles alluded to in the last 
 chapter had been ended and peace reigned 
 once more, Margaret, for the fourth or 
 fifth time, asked to give up her Superiorship. She 
 was then seventy-three years old. At last, the 
 Bishop consented. She thus tells the story of her 
 resignation: "His Lordship, to whom three years 
 earlier, I had given my reasons, asked me again 
 why I desired to resign. I replied that perhaps 
 God would give me a few years of life, and that I 
 could then share with a new Superior all the knowl- 
 edge gained from an experience of forty years and 
 more. This met with his approval.'* Therefore, 
 in September, 1693, the lowly Foundress laid down 
 a burden that had weighed too heavily upon her 
 shoulders and bowed her head beneath the authority 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 221 
 
 of one whom she herself had guided along the 
 hidden way of perfection. The words she wrote 
 on that occasion bear witness to her marvellous 
 humility. "I must henceforth be spoken of as noth- 
 ing more than a poor wretch who, having been un- 
 faithful to the duty so lovingly confided to me, de- 
 serves great chastisements, all the greater because 
 of the pain my tepidity has inflicted upon you. I 
 request you to forgive me and to pray for me. Strive 
 to repair the harm done as soon as possible. It is 
 necessary to change superiors without delay." 
 
 Several days elapsed before the election took place. 
 Margaret here showed the rule of conduct to be fol- 
 lowed by a Superior during the interim between her 
 resignation and the election of her successor. Mother 
 Bourgeoys' choice fell upon Sister Barbier. While 
 in no way seeking to use undue compulsion, she al- 
 lowed her desire to be known, and used her influence 
 in favor of the devoted missionary. At Sister Bar- 
 bier's election she tells us that "joy spread through- 
 out the house," and great was her happiness at the 
 fulfillment of her wishes. From Margaret's soul 
 the shadows lifted at last, allowing God's sweet, 
 consoling light to shine with all its peaceful radiance. 
 She had drunk of the chalice of her Lord even to 
 the bitter dregs, she had been drawn very near to 
 the thorn-encircled Heart, and now, consolation 
 flowed in. 
 
 In 1694, various changes occurred at the Mountain 
 Mission. We have seen that it had been surrounded 
 
222 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 with wooden palisades. One day, owing to the im- 
 prudence of a drunken Iroquois, a fire broke out 
 that soon devoured not the palisades and the fort 
 alone, but the village church as well. Father de Bel- 
 mont, at his own expense, erected a stone fort of 
 which there still remain relics in the shape of two 
 old gray towers that stand as memorials of far-off 
 and troublous times, amid the green trees of a great 
 garden lying without the Grand Seminary. Of the 
 two conical towers darkened by the snows and rains 
 of centuries, one, we are told, was given to the nuns 
 for a dwelling-place and the other for a school. 
 Could those battered old walls but speak, they could 
 tell many a touching tale, describe many a heart- 
 stirring scene, paint for us the face and aspect, 
 reproduce in their living tones the beautiful teach- 
 ings, of her whose name and memory they so unen- 
 duringly commemorate our own dear Margaret 
 Bourgeoys. But no; they stand, silent and gloomy, 
 with round loop-holes, like eyes death-closed and 
 sightless, filled with solid masonry. Generations of 
 bright school-boys' faces, now mouldering in the grave 
 or wrinkled by age, have looked up at them with 
 curious eyes their impassive stone has never yet 
 yielded up the least of its secrets. 
 
 About the same time Gannensagouas came to 
 the end of her long and wearing illness. She died 
 a sa mt ly death on the feast of St. Catherine, that 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 223 
 
 wise and gracious virgin-martyr, so confidently in- 
 voked in Our Lady's Congregation by both teachers 
 and pupils. At first, her body was laid beneath the 
 church; but some years later it was transferred to 
 one of the above mentioned towers, now used as a 
 chapel. There the following inscription may be 
 read over her tomb: 
 
 "Here lie the mortal remains of 
 Marie-The'rese Gannensagouas 
 
 of the 
 
 Congregation de Notre Dame. 
 
 Having labored thirteen years as school-teacher at 
 
 the Mountain Mission, she died with a reputation 
 
 for great sanctity, aged 28 years, on the 25th of 
 
 November, 1695." 
 
 It is now fully time to speak of one of our revered 
 heroine's last and greatest labors the obtaining 
 of ecclesiastical approbation for her rules. Twenty 
 years had gone by since Margaret's Community had 
 been approved by royal letters, and twice that time 
 had elapsed since her labors in Canada had first 
 been undertaken yet that Community still followed 
 a merely temporary rule. It was, as we have already 
 said, looked upon somewhat suspiciously because 
 uncloistered the novelty of its manner of life 
 aroused strange prejudices in the people of that 
 period. Besides Mgr. de Saint. Vallier, Bishop of 
 Quebec, had one fixed idea, one favorite project: 
 
224 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP 
 
 the incorporation of the Ursuline and Congrega- 
 tion nuns into one community. Various reasons 
 were alleged in favor of this step, but Mother Bour- 
 geoys had an answer ready for each. 
 
 At length, Mgr. de Saint Vallier thought to gain his 
 end by urging her to adopt the cloistered life and to 
 exact from each novice a dower amounting to 2,000 
 francs. This would have resulted in the complete 
 transformation of the Community. Old age had 
 enfeebled Mother Bourgeoys, and she felt that her 
 end could not be very far off. To leave her daugh- 
 ters in their present unsettled state might mean the 
 destruction of her life-work. Would not her Com- 
 munity be either merged into that of the Ursulines, 
 or at least, deprived, in great measure, of its spirit 
 and of its aim? Pursued by this fear, she wrote to 
 Father Tronson, asking him for a rule. He replied, 
 in 1694: "I admire your Congregation so deeply, 
 my dear Sister, that I shall willingly do whatever 
 lies in my power to bring about what you desire for 
 it. You are right to wish for permanent rules." 
 
 Mgr. de Saint Vallier made another vigorous at- 
 tempt to achieve his purpose. He drew up a list of 
 rules into which he introduced many of the practices 
 observed by the Ursulines, hoping thus to bring Mar- 
 garet's daughters by degrees, to a perfect assimila- 
 tion of the former's spirit. This done, he went up 
 to Montreal in May, 1694, determined to force his 
 regulations upon the Congregation nuns. The 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 225 
 
 latter were pained and surprised at the many new 
 and uncongenial practices imposed upon them, 
 practices which would prove a great hindrance to 
 the accomplishment of their special duties. How- 
 ever, they asked, with all due respect, for permis- 
 sion to confer among themselves upon the advisa- 
 bility of accepting the new items of the proposed 
 rule. The submissive request provoked the Bishop, 
 and he threatened to oblige them to submit without 
 delay. Their pleading at length softened him, and 
 he yielded so far as to promise to consult Father 
 Tronson. 
 
 During a visit which he soon afterwards made to 
 France, the Bishop spoke of the matter to the Su- 
 perior of St. Sulpice, who, in turn, consulted the 
 Director of the Seminary, then wrote to the Congre- 
 gation nuns, asking them what displeased them most 
 in the proposed rule. Sister Barbier, then Superior, 
 Mother Bourgeoys, Sisters Charly, Lemoyne and 
 Gariepy, her fellow-officers, wrote a collective letter 
 setting forth their views upon the subject. They 
 begged, especially, to be freed from the obligation 
 of claiming a dower as they wished to receive not 
 only rich girls, but all who felt the Divine call to 
 labor in the Community. As we have already seen, 
 they eloquently pleaded to continue their mission- 
 ary toils in imitation of Our Lord's Apostles. Be- 
 sides this, Mother Bourgeoys herself wrote to Father 
 Tronson insisting on the exclusion of several points 
 
226 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 of the new rule, which seemed opposed to the spirit 
 of her Institute. This letter bears the date October 
 
 3i I<5 95- 
 
 An important event had occurred in February of 
 the same year. For more than three years, the 
 members of the Congregation had cherished the idea 
 of building a chapel in which they could reserve 
 the Blessed Sacrament. Until then, they had had 
 but a small oratory near the nuns' rooms. This, 
 they had considered too mean a dwelling-place for 
 the Lord of Heaven and Earth. In 1692, with Dol- 
 lier de Casson's approbation, Margaret decided to 
 have a church built in the Convent grounds. Jeanne 
 LeBer, whose wonderful story we shall tell later, 
 gladly offered to share the expenses, while her brother, 
 Pierre LeBer, promised to furnish all the stone re- 
 quired. The work began the following year, 1693, 
 and in two years the church was completed. Even 
 this, however, was not soon enough for the nuns 
 who longed to have the Blessed Sacrament under 
 their own roof. Towards the end of February, 1695, 
 they began a novena, beseeching Our Lord to hasten 
 the hour of His advent in their midst. Before its 
 close, their prayer was answered in a way which 
 almost made them regret the urgency that brought 
 so swift and unexpected a reply. 
 
 During the night of the 24th of February, a lurid 
 flame leaped up in the steeple of the Hotel-Dieu 
 Church. Fiercely it blazed, until the pealing of 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 227 
 
 alarm-bells roused the towns-people and brought 
 them, half-dressed, into the ruddily-illumined streets. 
 As the tumult of a terrified crowd rilled the air, and 
 the red signal of destruction spread over the sky, a 
 panic seized on many hearts. Each man looked on 
 the white face of his neighbor, ghastly in the fire's 
 glare, and there read the same question: "Will the 
 town be saved?" Then it was that Dollier de 
 Casson, followed by the priests of the Seminary, 
 came to the place of danger, bearing the Blessed 
 Sacrament. A passionate prayer went up, "Lord, 
 save us, have mercy on us!" 
 
 The wind veered suddenly, and carried the roar- 
 ing flame away from the town. At that manifesta- 
 tion of Divine clemency, a mighty shout of thanks- 
 giving rent the air. But the maddened element 
 had to find some fuel. A moment later, the hospital 
 itself, was a mass of flames, and smoke. Pere Deny, 
 a|Recollet, went fearlessly into the burning church, 
 took out the Blessed Sacrament, and carried it, at 
 first, to the house of a certain merchant named 
 Arnaud. At dawn of day, the Congregation nuns 
 gladly welcomed the Divine Guest, who was never 
 more to leave them. As Sister Morin says, while 
 grieving for their Sisters' misfortune, they could not 
 but rejoice at seeing their prayer so promptly an- 
 swered. Shortly afterwards, a priest sent by Dollier 
 de Casson brought to the Congregation the thirty 
 Hotel-Dieujiuns. Every kindness was lavished upon 
 
228 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 them; sisterly sympathy and helpfulness did all 
 that could be done to welcome them and make their 
 sojourn happy. The sick inmates of the hospital, 
 to the number of thirty-six, were housed at the 
 Seminary until quarters could be prepared for them 
 at the Congregation. 
 
 Three days later, a touching procession made its 
 way to the Church of Bonsecours. Bereft of all 
 earthly goods, the Hotel-Dieu nuns went to implore 
 Our Lady's aid, and those of the Congregation ac- 
 companied them to plead their cause. Slowly, in 
 silence and prayer, each Sceur Hospitaliere, walking 
 by the side of a Congregation nun, they passed along 
 the streets of Ville-Marie, and together knelt at the 
 Blessed Virgin's feet. 
 
 During nine months the two communities dwelt 
 under one roof, united by bonds of friendship that 
 long years have failed to sever, each going about its 
 own duties, and striving by different means to attain 
 the self-same end. Thus they have proved faithful 
 to the agreement here transcribed: "Spiritual union 
 with the Nuns of the Hotel-Dieu before they left 
 the Congregation^to return to the Hospital. True 
 to our intention"/ of keeping the Commandments 
 which God in His mercy has given us from the crea- 
 tion of the World, of which this is the first: 'Thou 
 shalt love the Lord, thy God, with thy whole heart, 
 thy whole soul, with all thy strength,' we implore the 
 Divine and Infinite Majesty to increase our love. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEQYS. 229 
 
 We protest that we have and will have body and 
 soul, memory and will only to use them for the ac- 
 complishment of His Holy Will in time and eternity. 
 The second commandment is like to this: 'Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;' later on, God said 
 by his Apostle that we should 'love one another, 
 being one body in Christ and every one members 
 of another.' (Rom. XII. 5). To obey this second, 
 commandment, we, Sisters of the Congregation and 
 of the Hotel-Dieu, being by a special Providence, 
 together under one roof, desire to form a spiritual 
 alliance, thereby to draw down God's blessing upon 
 the works of the communities His mercy has con- 
 fided to us for the relief of the sick and the instruc- 
 tion of girls. 
 
 Relying on the divine goodness, we wish to form 
 but one heart and one soul, jointly participating in 
 the good it may please God to do through us. By 
 this same grace, we hope to keep far from us all that 
 could, however slightly, disturb our union; bearing 
 with each other in all difficulties we may meet with, 
 whatever may arise to interrupt this union. We 
 therefore implore the Blessed Virgin's aid that she 
 may be our Protectress, and obtain for us the grace 
 to be faithful until death. Amen." 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 JEANNE LEBER CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH GAIN 
 FROM Loss A SECOND CATHERINE OF SIENNA- 
 TWO GLIMPSES OF THE RECLUSE JEANNE AND 
 THE CONGREGATION WORK AND PRAYER A 
 DANGER AVERTED JEANNE LEBER AND MAR- 
 GARET BOURGEOYS FROM A CELL TO PARADISE. 
 
 A LIFE of Margaret Bourgeoys would be sadly 
 incomplete without a sketch of one who 
 received from her so much spiritual aid and 
 gave in return such generous assistance. Rarely, if 
 ever, has any town possessed at once so many grand 
 and saintly souls as those that flourished in the pure 
 atmosphere of Ville-Marie during the latter part of 
 the seventeenth century. Many familiar faces have 
 already passed before us our own noble heroine, 
 knightly de Maisonneuve, devoted Jeanne Mance, 
 gallant Bollard, the fervent converts of the Mountain 
 Mission but there is still another saintly life that 
 claims our wondering admiration. 
 
 On the 4th of January, 1662, a child was born to 
 Jacques LeBer, one of the wealthiest merchants 
 and most upright Christians of Ville-Marie. The 
 
JEANNE LEBER, RECLUSE. 
 BORN AT VILLE-MARIE JAN. 4, 1662; DIED OCT. 3, 1714. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS, 231 
 
 child was blessed not in her parents only, but in her 
 sponsors as well, for de Maisonneuve was chosen 
 to be her godfather and Jeanne Mance her god- 
 mother. When baptized in the parish church by 
 Father Gabriel Souart, she was called Jeanne, thus 
 bearing her own mother Jeanne Lemoyne's name, 
 as well as that of the foundress of the Hotel-Dieu. 
 
 All that a Christian mother could do to foster 
 purity and holiness in her child was done by Madame 
 LeBer, and her efforts were not fruitless. With the 
 first dawn of reason, the little one turned to God. 
 Each day, even as a mere child, she was brought 
 to see the Hotel-Dieu nuns, and astonished them 
 by her eagerness to learn about Our Lord, and 
 especially about the mysteries of the Holy Child- 
 hood. Like the other children of Ville-Marie she 
 became a pupil in Mother Bourgeoys' school, and 
 then first formed her deep attachment for the Con- 
 gregation of Our Lady. Jeanne was eight years 
 old when Margaret Bourgeoys went to France to 
 seek letters-patent. For two years the colony was 
 deprived of her presence, and it was during this inter- 
 val that Madame LeBer decided to part from her 
 little daughter, placing her with the Ursulines of 
 Quebec. 
 
 As a pupil, she was remarkable for her submission 
 to her teachers, her gentleness to her companions, 
 her constant self-denial and an almost excessive 
 
232 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 horror of vanity and ostentation. Pleasing in ap- 
 pearance, winning in manner, quick of apprehen- 
 sion, skilful in needlework, she was withal modest 
 and retiring, anxious to hide from others all that 
 could win their praise, and loving to be alone with 
 God. She had a special devotion to Our Lady, and, 
 was eager to show it in every way, feeling, she said, 
 that such devotion should be the peculiar charac- 
 teristic of all the inhabitants of Ville-Marie, Mary's 
 especial kingdom. After the Blessed Virgin, she 
 loved and invoked the Holy Angels, in particular, 
 St. Michael and her Guardian Angel, to whom she 
 turned for aid in every difficulty. 
 
 In 1677, her education being completed, she re- 
 turned to her father's house in Ville-Marie, only to 
 continue there her convent life with its regular, 
 prayerful habits. She rose early, went to the first 
 Mass, and never failed to make her daily medita- 
 tion, spiritual reading and visit to the Blessed Sacra- 
 ment. The time not given to prayer was given to 
 work. Respect for her parents' wishes obliged her 
 to wear pretty and costly dresses. But far from 
 caring for them, she never put them on without 
 hiding under the soft fabrics some painful instru- 
 ment of penance. Though so unpityingly stern to 
 self, to others her manner was ever gracious and 
 her sweet gravity could change in season to bright- 
 ness and gayety. Her best friends were the Hotel- 
 Dieu and Congregation nuns, whom she saw 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 233 
 
 frequently. The very name " Congregation of Our 
 Lady" attracted her like a magnet, and the beautiful 
 selfless lives of the religious filled her with admira- 
 tion. 
 
 One especially, a soul still endowed with all youth's 
 ardor and charm drew her by that sweetly irresisti- 
 ble attraction, that mysterious sympathy, placed by 
 their Creator in kindred hearts; binding them so 
 closely, that death itself, far from severing the inter- 
 woven cords, gives to the fruit of a brief moment's 
 intercourse the duration of eternity. Next to Mar- 
 garet Bourgeoys herself, this nun, Marie Charly by 
 name, became Jeanne LeBer's closest friend. They 
 loved to speak together of God and heaven, and 
 found in their mutual affection a new motive and a 
 powerful incentive to love and serve their Divine 
 Master. Such intercourse is sometimes too sweet 
 for earth. Its withdrawal was to mark one of the 
 decisive moments of Jeanne's life. 
 
 Worn out before the time by labor, austerity, and 
 burning aspirations, the young religious was stricken 
 down by a fatal illness. Obedience, patience, gen- 
 tleness, angelic joy shed their radiance around her 
 dying hour. In the depths of her broken yet sub- 
 missive heart Jeanne secretly resolved to give her- 
 self at once and forever to that Spouse whose wel- 
 coming love already lighted up the wan face of her 
 beloved friend. 
 
 Scarcely had the lifeless body of that friend been 
 
234 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 laid to rest in the lowly grave of a Congregation nun, 
 when Jeanne made a vow of chastity. She was 
 allowed to take it for five years only. With her 
 parents' consent, she then entered on a life so extra- 
 ordinary that we require a strong faith in the wonder- 
 ful mysteries of grace not only to admire, but even 
 to forbear condemning, its seeming rigor. With the 
 permission of her confessor, she macerated her body 
 with cruel disciplines, wore a hair shirt or belt, rose 
 at half past four, spent her days in prayer, needle- 
 work and meditation, quitting her cell only to go to 
 Mass and visit the Blessed Sacrament. At midnight 
 she rose to spend an hour in prayer. 
 
 Two years after Jeanne's reclusion, Madame Le- 
 Ber fell ill and died on the 8th of November, 1682. 
 All through her mother's illness Jeanne quitted not 
 her cell. Let us not hastily accuse her of hardness 
 or indifference God alone could reveal to us the 
 struggle that went on in her heart and the pangs 
 that rent it, for, as we have seen, hers was not a cold 
 or unfeeling nature. When Madame LeBer lay 
 stiff and cold in death, her daughter came silently 
 into the chamber of sorrow, knelt by the motionless 
 form, took the icy hand and covered it with her 
 kisses and her tears. Silently still, she returned to 
 her cell, and poured forth her prayers before the 
 Lord, the sole witness of her secret anguish. 
 
 Ten years went by, and she was seen but once. 
 Her gallant young soldier-brother, Jean LeBer du 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 235 
 
 Chesne, had been wounded in battle at Prairie de 
 la Madeleine, and was brought home to die. After 
 his death Margaret Bourgeoys and Sister Barbier 
 came, as was their wont, to comfort the living and 
 prepare the dead for burial. Then only, Jeanne 
 came forth from her cell, gave them in silence what- 
 ever they needed for their charitable work, knelt in 
 prayer by her brother's body, and went back to her 
 solitude without uttering a word or betraying her 
 grief by any outward sign. 
 
 Soon after, as we saw in the last chapter, the 
 Congregation nuns decided to build a church. 
 Jeanne LeBer promised to give the required 
 funds, if she were received as one of the sisterhood 
 and allowed a cell behind the altar. Her propo- 
 sals were joyfully accepted. She wished the church 
 to be, as far as possible, a reproduction of the Holy 
 House of Nazareth, oblong in shape, with the altar 
 placed in the most spacious part, between the doors 
 opening right or left. Her apartment, behind the 
 altar, was to be about ten or twelve feet in depth, 
 consisting of three stories. The first was to be a 
 vestry, the second and third reserved for her use. 
 Only a thin partition separated her own room from 
 the Blessed Sacrament, and her bed was placed in 
 line with the Tabernacle. 
 
 On the 5th of August was celebrated the cere- 
 mony of her reclusion. Prior to this act, the agree- 
 ment between Jeanne LeBer and the Congregation 
 
236 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 was drawn up by a notary named Bosset, and may 
 still be seen in the Prothonotary's office in Montreal. 
 It is signed by Sister Barbier, by several other Con- 
 gregation nuns, and by Dollier de Casson. 
 
 The feast of Our Lady of the Snows fell on a 
 Friday, that 5th of August, 1695. Solemn vespers 
 were chanted in the Parish Church after which a 
 procession was formed, headed by the clergy. It 
 made its way to M. LeBer's house, where Jeanne 
 was absorbed in prayer. She wore a woollen gown 
 of light grey, confined to the waist by a black belt. 
 Quitting forever the home of her childhood, break- 
 ing asunder the last and closest ties that bound her 
 to earth, she followed the clergy, accompanied by 
 her father and several other relatives. It was a 
 striking scene. Along the crowded street they 
 passed: the recluse, clad in penitential garb, with 
 downcast eyes, quiet bearing and firm step; and 
 the white-haired man, bowed down by age and 
 sorrow, who seemed like Abraham or Jeptha, to be 
 leading the victim to sacrifice. Scarce had the pro- 
 cession reached the church before Jacques LeBer, 
 no longer master of his anguish, turned back, and 
 went to hide his grief in the now deserted home. 
 
 Dollier de Casson blessed the cell, and as she knelt 
 before him, exhorted Jeanne LeBer to persevere 
 therein, like Magdalen in the grotto. He then led 
 her to the threshold, and she passed calmly into her 
 new abode, closing and fastening the door while 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 237 
 
 the choir chanted the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 The following morning, feast of the Transfigura- 
 tion, Dollier de Casson celebrated Mass for the first 
 time in the Congregation church. Among the faith- 
 ful knelt M. LeBer, strong in his heroic resigna- 
 tion. 
 
 Then began a hidden life that was a perpetual 
 homage to Jesus in the Eucharist. Jeanne's days, 
 as of old, were devoted to various exercises, each 
 of which was faithfully performed at its appointed 
 time. From three to five hours were daily given to 
 mental prayer; Holy Communion, she received four 
 times a week; she rose at four from Easter to All 
 Saints, and half an hour later the rest of the year. 
 Between her spiritual duties she worked for herself 
 and for the poor, or embroidered beautiful and costly 
 vestments, some of which are carefully treasured 
 at Notre Dame church and at the Mother House 
 of the Congregation. The nuns were allowed to 
 seek her advice in their spiritual difficulties, and she 
 always answered them with unfailing wisdom and 
 gentleness. The most awful part of this death-like 
 existence is that for twenty years she was deprived 
 of spiritual consolations, and followed her rule from 
 item to item with darkened mind and desolate heart. 
 
 She had been living thus for several years, when 
 Jacques LeBer's last illness began. Faithful to 
 her reclusion, she sought only in spirit the bedside 
 of her beloved father, and only in spirit did she take 
 
238 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 leave of him forever. She prayed for him ardently, 
 and strength was given her to make this her last 
 and greatest sacrifice. 
 
 Each night, as formerly, she rose to watch be- 
 fore her Lord; and as the nuns were then asleep, 
 she would pass into the dim chapel, and lie prostrate 
 on the altar step in seraphic prayer. Her every act 
 was made in union with Our Lady, with whose dis- 
 positions and intentions Jeanne sought to identify 
 her own. 
 
 In 1711 the English threatened to invade Canada. 
 A great army marched on Ville- Marie by land, 
 while a strong fleet sailed for Quebec. Montreal 
 was panic-stricken. Anne Baroy, Jeanne LeBer's 
 cousin, and attendant, brought her the awful tidings, 
 and told of the towns-people's terror. The recluse 
 listened, reflected for a moment, then said in a tone 
 of deep conviction: "Fear nothing, Our Lady will 
 guard the country." 
 
 Then she gave her a picture of the Blessed Virgin 
 on which she had written the following prayer, still 
 daily recited in every Congregation chapel of North 
 America : 
 
 "Queen of Angels, our Sovereign Lady and our 
 very dear Mother, we, thy daughters, confide to thy 
 care all our houses and all our possessions. We 
 trust thou wilt not suffer thy enemies to molest us, 
 for we are under thy protection, and we place un- 
 bounded confidence in thee. Amen." 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 239 
 
 This, Sister LeBer bade her cousin fasten to the 
 barn-door. Numberless citizens came to beg for 
 copies of the same prayer, their trust in Jeanne's 
 intercession being unlimited. 
 
 The Baron de Longueuil, at that time Governor 
 of Montreal, was setting forth to surprise the English 
 at Chambly. His trust was in the Blessed Virgin's 
 aid, and as a certain pledge of victory he decided 
 to carry a banner bearing Our Lady's image on one 
 side and a prayer written by Sister LeBer on the 
 other. 
 
 Jeanne herself made the banner. On one side 
 was a picture of the Immaculate Conception, painted 
 by her brother, and on the opposite side was traced 
 the following inscription: "Our enemies rely on 
 the power of their arms, and we on the powerful 
 intercession of her whom we revere and invoke as 
 the Queen of Angels. She is as terrible as an army 
 in battle array. She will help us to vanquish our 
 enemies." Father de Belmont publicly blessed the 
 banner and solemnly placed it in the Baron's loyal 
 hands. 
 
 Anne Barroy, while giving news of the great 
 event, said to Sister LeBer: "If the English have a 
 favorable wind, their fleet will be at Quebec on such 
 a date, and the fate of the colony will be sealed." 
 After a brief silence, the recluse made reply: "Sister, 
 your fears will not be realized, the Blessed Virgin 
 
240 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 will watch over this country. She is our guardian 
 why should any danger appall us ? " 
 
 Subsequent events verified her prediction, and the 
 manner of the enemy's humiliation was clearly an 
 answer to prayer, in particular to that of one who 
 might be considered an intercessory victim for the 
 entire colony. A sudden and violent south wind 
 sprang up as the English ships neared Quebec, and 
 seven of the largest vessels were dashed to pieces 
 on the rocks hard by Isle aux Oeufs. The efforts 
 of valiant defenders were unnecessary. Heaven 
 took the battle into its own hands, and its artillery 
 shook and roared and blazed away over the black 
 waters into which English ships and English soldiers 
 were sinking to their awful doom. ''And the might 
 of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, hath melted 
 like snow in the glance of the Lord." 
 
 The land forces that had set out for Montreal 
 turned back in dismay on hearing of the terrific 
 catastrophe from which two sailors only escaped 
 to tell the tale; for Admiral Walker, lacking forti- 
 tude to endure disgrace, had fired the shattered rem- 
 nants of his once powerful fleet. 
 
 These historical details have led us away from 
 what is of greater interest to us: Sister LeBer's con- 
 nection with the Congregation de Notre Dame. She 
 admired Mother Bourgeoys most deeply and never 
 wearied of praising her virtues. Whenever the Sis- 
 ters came to consult her, she held up the example 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 241 
 
 of their Foundress as the surest model of fidelity to 
 all that is required of a true Congregation nun. 
 Mother Bourgeoys' opinion of Jeanne may be gath- 
 ered from her writings. In one place she says: "I 
 was delighted when Miss LeBer entered our house 
 to imitate Magdalen's retirement. She never quits 
 her cell, and seldom speaks to any one. Her food 
 is conveyed to her through a small aperture. A 
 little grating allows her to see the Tabernacle and 
 receive Holy Communion." Referring to the pres- 
 ence of the Hotel- Dieu nuns in 1695, Margaret 
 writes elsewhere: "Since Miss LeBer has entered 
 here to dwell in retirement, I have seen the three 
 classes of women left by Our Divine Lord to minis- 
 ter to the wants of His Church. . . . These three 
 orders are now united under one roof; Miss LeBer 
 having been called to represent Magdalen, who 
 dwelt in a grotto as St. John the Baptist had dwelt 
 in the wilderness. The Hospital nuns have been 
 here some time and remind us of Martha's busy 
 though cloistered life. The nuns of the Congre*ga- 
 tion de Notre Dame represent the Blessed Virgin, 
 their Mother, Superioress and Foundress. She alone 
 embraces all the different callings of the Church and 
 protects all religious orders. This Holy Mother is 
 pleased to unite the three classes of women within 
 her house to teach us that a bond of universal charity 
 should join us to all who are devoted to God's ser- 
 vice under her holy protection." 
 
243 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 To prove her affection for Our Lady's Congrega- 
 tion, Sister LeBer was not content to offer for it 
 all her prayers and penances, she also gave over to 
 it large sums of money to help in the education of 
 poor children. At her death she bequeathed to it 
 her whole fortune. One large amount she gave 
 specially for the foundation of the perpetual adora- 
 tion of the Blessed Sacrament in the Congregation 
 chapel. Thus Jesus in the Eucharist would never 
 be quite alone one nun would ever be at His 
 feet to represent all her sisters. This practice has 
 been faithfully observed down to this day. 
 
 One night, in 1714, while making her nightly 
 vigil before the altar Jeanne LeBer contracted a 
 severe cold, which soon developed into pleurisy. 
 For the first time since her reclusion, sheets and a 
 mattress were placed on her miserable bed. Weak 
 and suffering, but never uttering a complaint or a 
 request, she lay, with serene countenance waiting 
 for death. Ever thoughtful of the Eucharistic Lord 
 who was, as she had said, the magnet that had 
 drawn her to her cell and kept her there, she daily 
 sent a nun to take her place before Him. On the 
 third of October, she joyously expired, the bliss of 
 Heaven already shining upon her face. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE RULE AGAIN MGR. DE ST. VALUER YIELDS 
 AT LAST THE FIRST PROFESSION SOEUR DU 
 SAINT-SACREMENT - ELECTIONS - - "Now, O 
 LORD, DISMISS THY SERVANT " A FINAL ACT 
 or HUMILITY " HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD." 
 
 THE story of the Hotel- Dieu fire and Jeanne 
 LeBer's reclusion has interrupted the account 
 of various events relating to the approbation 
 of Mother Bourgeoys' rule. The aged Foundress, 
 having written to Father Tronson, received the fol- 
 lowing answer in 1696: "My dear Sister, your two 
 letters written last year, have revealed to me the guiding 
 care of Providence over you and the grace Our Lord 
 has given you in choosing you to found the Congrega- 
 tion of Our Lady. We cannot fail to admire this 
 institute, which edifies men and glorifies God. We 
 have learned its fruits and the blessing God has 
 bestowed upon it, through the information we yearly 
 receive. Therefore, we shall be happy to seize every 
 opportunity to increase its fervor and ever preserve 
 in it the same spirit. 
 
 "I gladly spoke to His Lordship about the Rule 
 he has prescribed. I explained your objections which 
 
244 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 seemed very reasonable, and I think he will consider 
 them. At least he admits that he did not want 
 to oblige you to make solemn vows, since that would 
 completely alter your institute; and if you are not 
 satisfied on every other point as well, the fault will 
 not be mine. " 
 
 Mgr. de Saint Vallier yielded at last. He revised 
 the rule he had at first suggested, arranging it in 
 accordance with the Foundress' views and desires, 
 at least as regards essentials. And, although there 
 remained a few articles that were not altogether 
 suitable, the rule, nevertheless, was solemnly accepted 
 and signed by the whole Community on the 24th of 
 June, 1698. These are the terms of the agreement: 
 "We do accept, with all respect and submission, the 
 rules given to us by His Lordship of Quebec; and, 
 after having read and examined them several times, 
 we are convinced they will contribute to the good 
 of our community and we are resolved to practise 
 them with all possible fidelity. In proof of which, 
 we have duly signed, at Montreal, the 24th of June, 
 1698." 
 
 This act bears the signatures of Sister Barbier, 
 Superior; Sister St. Ange, Assistant; Margaret 
 Lemoyne, Novice Mistress; Margaret Bourgeoys 
 and twenty-five other members of the Community. 
 
 The next day the nuns pronounced their vows 
 in accordance with the new regulations. Mgr. de 
 Saint Vallier, accompanied by Dollier de Casson, and 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 245 
 
 M. Glandelet, Vicars-Generals, by M. M. de Valens, 
 Geoffrey, Meriel, Priat, and Villemola, priests of 
 St. Sulpice, assisted at the impressive ceremony. 
 On that midsummer day, more than two hundred 
 years ago, took place the first and most solemn of 
 the long chain of religious professions celebrated 
 at the Congregation de Notre Dame. Those who 
 listened to Mgr. de Saint Vallier's exhortations and 
 made their vows in his presence were the forerunners 
 of the almost innumerable daughters of Margaret 
 Bourgeoys who have since made the same vows, 
 worn the same costume, and undertaken the same 
 noble work. As the buds of Spring unfailingly 
 come forth to replace the withered leaves of Autumn, 
 so, as age and death rob each class-room of its de- 
 voted teacher, another comes gladly forward to 
 take her place and still the great work goes on , 
 just as Mother Bourgeoys had dreamed and planned, 
 prayed and labored that it might be done. Only 
 the Angels, if God allowed even their keen eyes to 
 pierce the mists of futurity, as they hung in breath- 
 less adoration over the altar of sacrifice, or bowed 
 down before each living tabernacle, saw the full 
 scope and meaning of that first profession. After 
 the eloquent sermon the nuns, to the number of 
 twenty-five, knelt at the altar-rail, and one by one, 
 while the Bishop stood before them uplifting the 
 consecrated Host, slowly uttered the vows that made 
 them the chosen spouses of Christ. Each then 
 
246 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 received the name by which she was to be known. 
 Margaret, because of her tender devotion to the 
 Holy Eucharist, chose that of Sceur du Saint-Sacre- 
 ment, and Sister Barbier became Sceur de L'Assomp- 
 tion. 
 
 As the rule, besides simple vows, mentions perpet- 
 ual vows, to be made some time after profession, 
 Mgr. de Saint Vallier decreed that eight days after the 
 first ceremony a similar one should be celebrated. 
 During the interval, like the Apostles awaiting in 
 prayer and recollection the coming of the Holy 
 Ghost, the nuns made a solemn retreat, during 
 which they elected the officers who were to direct 
 the Community for a period of six years. Sceur 
 Marguerite Lemoyne, now known as Sceur du Saint- 
 Esprit, was named Superior; Sceur de L'Assomp- 
 tion, Assistant; Sceur Catherine Charly, afterwards 
 Catherine du Saint-Sacrement, Mistress of Novices; 
 the other appointments remaining as before. 
 
 On the first of July, the nuns passed once more 
 from the community to the chapel, chanting that 
 most beautiful of psalms "Laetatus sum," which 
 awoke in their souls an even deeper thrill of joy than 
 it does in ours, since their feet were already standing 
 in the ante-chamber of the Heavenly Jerusalem. 
 
 The Bishop preached, said Mass and received 
 the nuns' vows as on a former occasion, save that 
 those vows, instead of being temporary, were now 
 made for life. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 247 
 
 Like the aged Simeon, Margaret Bourgeoys, could 
 now chant her Nunc Dimittis the work God had 
 given her to perform was at last achieved and she 
 had given to the church another religious order; she 
 had prepared a great army of laborers to gather in 
 the harvests of her Lord. The trials, interior strug- 
 gles and painful uncertainty of her youth, the labors, 
 sufferings and privations of her maturity, the spirit- 
 ual desolation of her old age how little and 
 trifling they seemed in comparison with the great 
 joy that flooded her soul, as bowing low before the 
 tabernacle she could breathe forth her "Consumma- 
 tum est!" Truly might she say, "My task is done; 
 my mission is accomplished, Blessed be Thy Holy 
 Name, who hast upheld and guided me from the 
 dawn of my youth even unto the sunset of my years." 
 
 When she rose from her long thanksgiving, it 
 was to humble herself more perfectly before all. 
 In the presence of the assembled Community she 
 knelt at the Bishop's feet, and urgently craved, as 
 a much desired grace, that she might spend the rest 
 of her life in holy obedience and be forever excluded 
 from any post of authority. Deeply touched, Mgr. 
 de Saint Vallier granted the humble request on one 
 condition: she must, as long as she lived, take an 
 active interest in the Community's elections. 
 
 During Mgr. de Saint Vallier 's stay in Montreal the 
 Congregation asked and received several spiritual 
 
24 8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 privileges. The first was the permission to cele- 
 brate, each year, the feast of the Visitation by having 
 High Mass, and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 
 all the day through, and to have solemn Benediction 
 on the seven principal feasts of Our Lady. 
 
 The Bishop's next act was to make the nuns in 
 the different Missions sharers in their sister's happi- 
 ness. He returned to Quebec, taking with him a 
 copy of the various acts signed by the sisterhood at 
 Ville-Marie. On the fourth of August, the nuns from 
 Orleans, Chateau Richer and Quebec, were con- 
 voked and duly accepted the new Rule. The next 
 day they pronounced their vows in the chapel of 
 the Seminary. 
 
 Mother Bourgeoys tells us that during four years, 
 probably until 1697, she lived almost constantly 
 in the infirmary. Age, suffering and toil had en- 
 feebled her frame, so her daughters strove to spare 
 her any fatigue or responsibility. With Sceur 
 Crolo, who could no longer follow the regular exer- 
 cises of the Community, she spent her days in soli- 
 tude, prayer and needlework. "I slept and took 
 my meals there with Sister Crolo . . . and rarely 
 went to church, for Mass was then said in the house. 
 I did not go out, nor speak to any of the sisters . . . 
 all this, as I was told, because of my great age." 
 
 The time for doing heroic deeds and achieving 
 brilliant actions was past, and she who had awakened 
 such admiration by her energy and ability, was now 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 249 
 
 to give a no less wonderful example of the hidden 
 virtues of private life. Apart from the dispensa- 
 tions forced upon her by her superiors, she followed 
 the rule in its minutest details with wonderful fidelity. 
 Her every thought, affection and desire centred 
 in God, she gave day by day the most beautiful ex- 
 ample of sincere humility and self-forgetful charity. 
 All she had done for God was in her own eyes less 
 than nothing, and she considered herself the most 
 unworthy of the Community. She was always happy 
 to help others, and the most humiliating labors 
 were those she loved to perform. 
 
 Thus the years sped by, and she in whose heart 
 had been conceived the first idea of Our Lady's 
 Congregation, she who had given it life and being, 
 who had brought it safely out of every trial into its 
 full strength and activity, now lived under its roof 
 as the lowliest and most obedient of all its members. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE LAST ACHIEVEMENT A SPIRITUAL LEGACY 
 MARGARET'S SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL OUR LADY 
 THE PERFECT EXEMPLAR MARGARET'S TEACH- 
 INGS THE TRANSCRIPT OF HER OWN LIFE A 
 MOTHER'S PRAYER. 
 
 FAITHFUL to the divine guidance, Margaret Bour- 
 geoys had completed her life-work, and on going 
 to her Master, she would leave others behind to 
 continue it from generation to generation. But she 
 thought she had still another duty to perform. As 
 she drew nearer to God, He appeared to her ever 
 more and more worthy of love, and all the devotion 
 of her heart seemed unworthy of Him. The slightest 
 infidelity to His grace was, in her eyes, a grievous 
 offence. Her own austerities never relaxed, but, as 
 her Community developed, some modifications had 
 to be introduced into its original mode of existence. 
 These were imposed by legitimate authority because 
 few constitutions could bear the double burden of 
 constant work and great austerity. Yet, though 
 each change was reasonable and necessary, each 
 was an added anxiety and a new pain for Mother 
 Bourgeoys. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 251 
 
 "For a long time," she tells us, "it had seemed 
 to me that God required greater perfection of this 
 community. During the night from the third to 
 the fourth of July, 1697, my soul was importuned by 
 an urgent thought. I was impressed with the con- 
 viction that I was to be the Jonah of our Lady's 
 Congregation, to warn this house of its infidelities 
 at the risk of being cast into the sea. Being power- 
 fully urged, I offered myself with my whole heart to 
 do God's Will, and was relieved and satisfied. I was 
 then content with the resolve to seek advice as to 
 what I should do. But the' fifth of October, at night, 
 the same thought returned with all its original in- 
 tensity. I determined to do what I could to be 
 faithful to grace. I revealed the facts to Father Caille, 
 our Superior, and to Father de Valens. They bade me 
 speak to our own Superioress. . . . Some days later, 
 fearful of proving unfaithful, I resolved with their 
 advice to set down in writing whatever seemed 
 necessary. I have therefore taken up my pen, in 
 the hope that if I do my best, God in His mercy, 
 will deliver me from the chastisement deserved by 
 my infidelity, whereas I had so often promised to 
 do His Will at the first sign vouchsafed me." 
 
 Then follows the narrative in a style clear, strong 
 and simple, of the graces received during her child- 
 hood, of her vocation and its trials, her arrival in 
 Canada, her labors there, her various journeys to 
 
252 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 France and their results. Thus, at the age of seventy- 
 eight, while seeking solely to glorify God, she wrote 
 the story of her own life with its marvels of faithful 
 correspondence to grace. What an undertaking for 
 one so old, and so broken by toil and penance! 
 Even the mere manual labor required might well 
 arouse our wondering admiration, but how much 
 more the strength and lucidity of a mind that could 
 apply itself to such a task and accomplish it so well! 
 It was not merely to be a grateful record of God's 
 gifts, but also a sort of spiritual testament for her 
 daughters' guidance and for that of the souls confided 
 to their care. Wonderful privileges had been con- 
 ferred that she might lead souls to holiness. Mar- 
 garet now set forth the pure ideal of that holiness and 
 the rules by which it might be attained. Thus when 
 her body would be cold in death and her soul re- 
 joicing before God's throne, the spirit of her sanc- 
 tity would survive in those who would drink deep of 
 the wisdom stored up in her writings. And what 
 was that spirit if her maxims are to be considered a 
 faithful transcript of it? Purely and solely the spirit 
 of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of humility, obedience, 
 mortification, charity and zeal for souls. Expressed 
 in clear and direct language, bearing the stamp of 
 sound sense and breathing the most tender devotion 
 to Our Lady, these writings are still treasured and 
 consulted by the members of her Community. So 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 253 
 
 are her teachings kept alive from year to year, mould- 
 ing and guiding those who call her, with reverent 
 love, their Foundress and their Mother. 
 
 Wise and prudent, yet full of tenderness and piety, 
 these maxims of Ven. Mother Bourgeoys would be 
 well worth quoting in their entirety; it is indeed 
 hard to choose out of that treasury what best gives 
 us an idea of the whole. 
 
 The very soul of her Community, its distinctive 
 and characteristic virtue, was to be charity, as it had 
 been from childhood the guiding principle of her 
 own life. In the practice of that highest form of 
 charity, zeal for souls, Our Lady was to be ever 
 its model, in union with whom all its works were 
 to be performed and all its intentions supernatural- 
 ized. She dwells on the necessity of joining purity 
 of intention with prompt outward obedience to rule. 
 Of her favorite virtue she speaks these beautiful 
 words: u Our Lady's charity is like a limpid stream 
 that has its source in the Eternal Fountains, quenches 
 the thirst of all, can never be drained, and ever flows 
 back to its Source. It is therefore by Mary that we 
 should go to God, as it was by her that the Eternal 
 Father has given us His Son. Now, we go to Mary 
 by observing, as far as our weakness permits, the 
 great precept of charity as she herself observed it. * 
 To imitate the Blessed Virgin, it is necessary that 
 above all else, we observe the double commandment 
 
 * Vie de la S<xur Bourgeoys ,1818, p. 235 
 
254 THE LIFE AMD TIMES OP 
 
 of charity to God and to our neighbor. It must 
 fill the first place, it must be the beginning, the 
 progress and the end of our actions. We must ob- 
 serve it in all things, faithfully and joyously, striving 
 to make it clearly understood in the community 
 and in the schools. Like the Jews of old, but in a 
 more spiritual sense, we must wear it written on our 
 brow, in our hands, on our dress, in our houses, and 
 on the threshold of our doors, being assured that 
 if fidelity to this law leads to life, transgression of it 
 leads inevitably to perdition." * 
 
 About a year before her death, she wrote to a 
 confidential friend: "My most ardent desire has ever 
 been, and still is, that the great precept of love of 
 God above all and love of our neighbor for God's 
 sake, may be imprinted in all hearts. Ah! could I 
 but engrave it on my own and on those of my sis- 
 ters, it would be the fulfilment of all my desires. I 
 wish that this supreme subject be made prominent 
 in the instructions given at the Community and in 
 the missions." Nor can we forbear quoting a most 
 beautiful comparison, in which both thought and 
 figure are alike admirable: "To reach this love of 
 union with God we must cleanse our souls by per- 
 fect contrition. The Sanctuary Lamp gives a clear 
 idea of this union. When the oil is clarified and the 
 wick well prepared, the flame draws the oil even to 
 the last drop. The oil is a figure of the soul; the 
 
 * Vie de la Soeur Bourgeoys, 1818, p. 235. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 25$ 
 
 wick of the body, there remaining a small residue 
 of ashes to mark the resurrection at the end of the 
 world, and the flame is a figure of the Holy Spirit. 
 If the oil be not clean, it will give no light. If the 
 wick be soiled the flame finds no means of drawing 
 up the oil. In like manner, the fire of the Holy 
 Ghost, not finding our souls prepared nor our bodies 
 purified, cannot enkindle in them His Divine Love, 
 that unitive love for God of which I have spoken." 
 Her words in praise of humility are not less elo- 
 quent. In her eyes it was a fault to murmur at an 
 unjust reproach, to receive an insult reluctantly or 
 to shrink from a humiliating task. She often re- 
 peats: "To remain humble, it were well for us to 
 reflect often on the greatness and on the humilia- 
 tions of the Blessed Virgin. Her privileges and her 
 virtues raised her above all other creatures, and 
 far from preferring herself to anyone, she considered 
 herself the very least. We are therefore very blind and 
 very guilty when we dare to prefer ourselves to another 
 or to glory in our poor talents, whether strength 
 or skill, wit or science, for our self-conceit often 
 deceives us, and we are anything but what we deem 
 ourselves to be. Even had God given us rare 
 talents, from Him alone have we received them. 
 We are only the more bound to recognize His bounty 
 and to humble ourselves, both on account of our 
 pride and of our failure to profit by these gifts. 
 For we must still be convinced that often those 
 
256 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 least pleasing exteriorly are interiorly most agreea- 
 ble to God, and that moreover, to punish our self- 
 exultation, and self-love, He often withdraws alto- 
 gether advantages which served but to feed our in- 
 ordinate vanity." * 
 
 Mortification is one of the virtues she urges most 
 strongly. After referring to the inevitable modifi- 
 cations gradually introduced into the primitive ob- 
 servances of the order, she says: "They tell me 
 that I must care for my health, have a comfortable 
 bed and good food, endeavoring thus to ward off 
 sickness and infirmities. At the same time I 
 hear another voice, more powerful and more ancient; 
 it speaks to me through the pages of approved books 
 or the words and teachings of Our Lord as well as 
 through my own experience. "Why should I dis- 
 trust Providence, which has so happily guided me 
 for more than fifty years ? For by its aspirations did 
 I begin, not an austere life in the desert, but a life 
 lowly and simple, suitable to the condition of a poor 
 girl." 
 
 God's wisdom is made manifest in the trials of 
 His servant. While Mother Bourgeoys accepted 
 for others a necessary change, her own life was to 
 be a perfect model of fervor and mortification, 
 silently preaching the necessity of self-denial and de- 
 tachment from all earthly things. Her light was to 
 
 *Vie de la Sceeur Bourgeoys, 1818, p. 225. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 257 
 
 shine out, clear and unwavering before her daugh- 
 ters' eyes, guiding them surely along the Way of 
 the Cross. And what to her was a great sorrow, 
 became to others a great advantage, since she was 
 led to pour out her soul in writings which else had 
 never come down to us with their beautiful message 
 of divine charity. 
 
 One by one, she thus takes up the virtues and 
 duties of the religious life, sets them forth in all 
 their beauty, gives clear rules for fidelity therein, 
 and never for one moment loses sight of the life 
 and example of the Blessed Virgin. To Mother 
 Bourgeoys' influence may be ascribed not only the 
 wonderful work done by her daughters for the sanc- 
 tification of Christian homes in crowded town or 
 lonely country, but also the wide-spread and fer- 
 vent devotion to Our Lady which has always ex- 
 isted throughout Canada. She left that devotion 
 in its fulness to her own daughters and like the rare 
 ability in preparing children for the sacraments which 
 is the recognized special gift of the Sisters of the 
 Congregation, the legacy has been faithfully cher- 
 ished. In token of Mary's reign over the Congre- 
 gation, and of its claim to be her very own, Marga- 
 ret ordained that everything belonging to it, houses, 
 doors, furniture, etc., should be marked with Our 
 Lady's monogram. When criticised for not 
 giving to her daughters the safeguard of a cloister, 
 she seized the opportunity to pay a wonderful tribute 
 
258 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 to the power of Mary's protection: "True it is that 
 the cloister is a protection for women; but could 
 we find a more potent guardian than the mother to 
 whom the Eternal Father confided the Sacred Hu- 
 manity of the Eternal Word?" 
 
 One thing must be borne in mind, while consider- 
 ing Mother Bourgeoys' counsels and maxims. How- 
 ever perfect in form and expression, they are not 
 mere productions of her gifted intellect, but verily a 
 transcript of her own virtues. What she so urgently 
 recommends to others, she first practised with won- 
 derful perfection. The humility, charity, mortifi- 
 cation, zeal, devotion to Our Lady and all the other 
 virtues of which she treats shone first and brightest 
 within her own soul. The truth of this assertion 
 needs not to be lengthily proved a backward glance 
 at her life and her actions suffices to demonstrate it. 
 
 Before closing this chapter, let us hear Margaret's 
 prayer for those to whom she addressed her part- 
 ing exhortations: "Most Holy Virgin, my sweet 
 mother, suffer not the enemy to boast that he hath 
 made a breach in thy little company. Let me rather 
 ask of thee, what Moses asked for the Jews: 'O 
 Lord God, destroy not thy people and Thy inheri- 
 tance. . . . Lest the people of the land say: The 
 Lord brought them out, that He might kill them 
 in the wilderness.' (Deut. IX. 26-28.) I acknowl- 
 edge that I have done not ten actions, nay, not even 
 one, as I ought. Yet if thou dost pray for one of 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 259 
 
 thy servants and for those to whom I have bound 
 myself in thy service, thou wilt surely be heard. 
 Do then in favor of thy daughters, what thou hast 
 done for so many wretches. I implore for them that 
 all may be numbered with the elect." Turning to 
 God the Father, she asks the same grace for her 
 community and all its benefactors and concludes 
 with these words: "This request seems right and 
 just. If it be rejected my lack of needed virtues 
 will be the sole cause. Vouchsafe to give them to 
 me by the love Thou bearest to men, Thou Who 
 hast given Thy only Son to redeem us, and by the 
 grace of Thy Holy Spirit which I humbly ask of 
 Thee. 
 
 "O Holy Virgin, I unite my unworthy petitions 
 to the love with which Thou dost readily obtain 
 all things. My good Angel, join thy prayers to mine, 
 that so we may all together praise the Author of 
 our being in the blessedness of eternity. Amen." * 
 
 * Vie de la ScBur M. Bourgeoys, p. 77. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE REWARD AT HAND THE CROWNING SACRI- 
 FICE IN ILLNESS AS IN HEALTH LAST COUN- 
 SELS THE HOUR DRAWS NEAR GOD CLAIMS 
 His OWN A RAY OF GLORY. 
 
 MARGARET had already overstepped the scrip- 
 tural limit assigned to the life of man, after 
 which it is, according to the Psalmist, 
 nothing but misery and suffering. As she felt her 
 hour approaching, her desire to behold and possess 
 her God grew daily more ardent. In 1699 she was 
 seized by a severe illness which seemed the certain 
 forerunner of dissolution. 
 
 When the nuns saw their beloved Foundress going 
 from them, their hearts were wrung with grief. 
 Then better than ever before they appreciated the 
 treasure which was theirs. Must they then lose for- 
 ever her whose care over them had been so wisely 
 solicitous, whose tender sympathy had been unfail- 
 ing, whose holy example was their most powerful 
 stimulus in the upward path, and whose voice knew 
 so well how to counsel, comfort, and inflame ? Under 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 261 
 
 the stress of their grief they turned to prayer as the 
 only means of averting so sad a calamity. 
 
 Before long a marked improvement took place 
 in Mother Bourgeoys' condition. She began to 
 rally, though her daughters felt it could be only for 
 a time. As she saw her strength returning, at least 
 in part, Margaret gently reproved them for deferring 
 in their love the hour for which she longed. Their 
 tender ministrations and ardent prayers had indeed 
 brought her back from the brink of the grave. For 
 another year she continued to be their example and 
 their comfort. 
 
 On the 3ist of December, the household was 
 weighed down by that heaviness of suspense which 
 ever lies upon the home where death is hovering 
 over some beloved form. Sister Catherine Charly, 
 who, as Novice Mistress, was admirably fitted for 
 the duties of her most important post, was entering 
 the Valley of Shadows. Her painful illness had 
 been gradually increasing and during the dark hours 
 of the night a sudden and violent paroxysm warned 
 the watchers that the end was near. Instantly star- 
 tled and anguish-stricken, leaving one of their num- 
 ber to attend to the patient, they hurried through 
 the silent house, to warn the Community. Each 
 Sister was summoned to pray for the departing 
 soul and to witness the solemn yet comforting spec- 
 tacle of a death precious in the sight of God. 
 One of the messengers knocked at Mother 
 
2 6 2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 Bourgeoys' door and coming to her bed-side, warned 
 her of Sister Charly's approaching end. Margaret 
 breathed a long, deep sigh. Then, clasping her thin 
 and toil-worn hands in a pleading gesture, she raised 
 her dim but still beautiful dark eyes, and uttered 
 this prayer: "Lord, why dost Thou not take me 
 who am so useless, rather than this poor Sister who 
 could still do so much for Thee?" Beautiful prayer! 
 Love of God for whom she pined, love of her Com- 
 munity which she could not bear to see deprived of 
 a useful member, love of her suffering sister, whom 
 she yearned to restore to health and strength all 
 these lent ardor to the supplications of one who con- 
 sidered her life of less value than that of the least 
 of the other nuns. 
 
 The victim has been offered, the sacrifice is ac- 
 cepted. Margaret's life of unselfishness could not 
 be more fitly closed than by the sublimest sacrifice 
 one human being can make for another. "Greater 
 love than this no man hath, that a man lay down 
 his life for his friends." (John XV. 13.) At that very 
 moment, Sister Charly grew calmer, her strength 
 returned by degrees, and before many hours all 
 danger was past. 
 
 The next day's sun had not sunk in the west 
 before a burning fever took possession of Mother 
 Bourgeoys and racking pain tortured her frail body. 
 For twelve long days, she gave a living example of 
 how sickness may be made an instrument of grace 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 263 
 
 and holiness. A time of trial to weak souls, when 
 vigilance and mortification are either relaxed or 
 set aside, when faults abound and graces are squan- 
 dered, it is, for the strong and perfect, the best season 
 for storing vast treasures of merit. 
 
 Such it was for our heroine. The fortitude which 
 had upborne her in so many trying moments did 
 not fail her now. Submissive to God's Will and 
 obedient to her superiors, she endured with patient 
 sweetness pangs that often wrung from her involun- 
 tary cries of distress and accepted without protest 
 all the irksome remedies prescribed for her relief. 
 Never a murmur or complaint passed her lips, 
 never a quiver of irritation or peevishness ruffled 
 the serenity of her countenance. When the pain 
 was at its high tide, she would, like Job, bless the 
 name of the Lord, and, when too weak to sing His 
 praises, she called upon her Sisters to do it for her. 
 Then would the infirmary seem truly like the ante- 
 chamber of Heaven, as its walls re-echoed hymns of 
 joy and thanksgiving. Sweeter far in the ear of 
 God were the throbbings of the faithful heart that 
 counted it a privilege to suffer for Him even to the 
 end. 
 
 The infirmarian noticed that, not satisfied with 
 the constant pains of illness, Mother Bourgeoys 
 sought to add to them voluntary mortifications, re- 
 maining for a long time in a constrained position 
 and denying herself the slightest alleviation. She 
 
264 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 gently reproved her, and the dying religious instantly 
 desisted, joyously exchanging bodily penance for 
 the harder and more meritorious renunciation of 
 her own will. 
 
 In the midst of her sufferings, though her heart 
 already lived more in heaven than on earth, Mar- 
 garet was still a careful and devoted Mother. When 
 the grief-stricken sisters gathered around her, she 
 forgot weariness and pain, and expended the last 
 remnant of her failing strength, speaking to them 
 words of counsel and encouragement. She especially 
 urged them never to give up the Sodality of Our 
 Lady of Victory, founded in the early days of the 
 Community when its only home was a stable. Her 
 keen eyes gauged all the good to be accomplished 
 by such a foundation, and she desired to ensure its 
 stability* Knowing how rapidly the number of 
 pupils had already increased and how inadequate 
 was the accommodation provided for them, she, 
 with all her usual clear-sighted prudence, advised 
 her daughters to seize the first favorable opportu- 
 nity to enlarge their classes and the rooms set aside 
 for nuns and resident pupils. 
 
 When she began to speak of spiritual things a new 
 light shone in her eyes and a new strength came into 
 her voice. Fidelity to duty, to charity, to penance 
 
 * Circumstances obliged the Congregation though very 
 reluctantly, to relinquish the direction of this old and useful 
 sodality. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 265 
 
 and prayer; fidelity to rule, which is the bulwark 
 of religious life, the safeguard of its virtues, the surest 
 and safest way to perfection such was the theme 
 of her most pleading, most inspired exhortations. 
 Straight from the heart came the burning words, 
 and they went deep into the inmost souls of her 
 hearers. When her voice died away into silence, 
 the very sight of her patient suffering and unbroken 
 union with God taught the same lessons with equal 
 force. 
 
 Then came the day when Mother Bourgeoys was 
 to receive the solemn rites by which Holy Church 
 prepares all her children, from pope to beggar, 
 from saint to criminal, for the dread passage to 
 eternity. The heart-broken community knelt around 
 her bed like children around that of a dying parent. 
 Tears flowed fast as they joined their prayers to 
 those of the priest, while the blessed oil touched the 
 pure and mortified senses of the holy nun, removing 
 whatever stains human frailty might have left there 
 during the course of even such a life as hers had 
 been. With what celestial joy she then, for the last 
 time, beheld the God of Heaven coming to her 
 under the Eucharistic veil, and received into her 
 heart Him who was so soon to judge and reward her! 
 
 The 1 2th of January, 1700, also the twelfth day 
 of Margaret's illness, was to be the saddest ever 
 known in Our Lady's Congregation. In the morn- 
 ing her more labored breathing and the drops of 
 
266 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 sweat that beaded her cold brow, showed that her 
 agony had begun. It lasted, like her Lord's three 
 long hours! Then perfect peace fell upon her like 
 a ray of light celestial ; a slight tremor passed through 
 her limbs, her pale lips parted softly, one long gen- 
 tle sigh passed through them and with that breath 
 her soul left its earthly dwelling and returned to 
 its Creator. Many and rare had been the talents 
 confided to her, and she had not buried them. Not 
 alone pure and intact did she return them to the 
 Giver, but fostered, expanded, multiplied by unswerv- 
 ing fidelity to grace and heroic generosity in sacrifice. 
 
 Scarce had death stilled the beatings of her loving 
 heart when her countenance became transfigured. 
 The wanness of austerity and disease, the lines 
 traced by time and care, the alteration wrought 
 by physical pain all were suddenly removed as 
 when the artist effaces some unsightly detail from 
 the freshly covered canvas. A wonderful serenity, 
 a divine effulgence shone out upon that still face, 
 and the orphaned Community stayed its tears to 
 rejoice at the glory of which this seemed a pale re- 
 flection. It had lost a wise and loving mother, but 
 had it not gained instead a powerful Advocate, a 
 devoted Protectress, who could, more potently than 
 ever, plead for it before God's throne? 
 
 Then it was that Sister Charly, now well and 
 strong, begged to take her benefactress' name, and 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 267 
 
 be called henceforth Sceur Catherine du St. Sacre- 
 ment; the very fact of bearing Mother Bourgeoys' 
 name being a powerful incentive to give to God 
 worthy proofs of her gratitude. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 A PEOPLE'S GRATITUDE THE LAST TRIBUTE 
 GLORIFIED BY GOD AND MAN MARGARET 
 BOURGEOYS' INSTITUTE A PARTING GLANCE 
 HEROINE AND APOSTLE HER CHILDREN'S 
 PRAYER. 
 
 WHEN Margaret Bourgeoys' mortal remains had 
 been prepared for burial, they were placed 
 in the Congregation church. The news of 
 her death spread rapidly throughout the town and its 
 environs. Deep and true was the grief that fell on every 
 heart, for few there were who had not, directly or 
 indirectly, derived some advantage from Mother 
 Bourgeoys' presence. Her influence, her teaching, the 
 labors of her daughters by her inspired and guided, the 
 very sight of her wonderful virtues all these gave 
 her a claim to the love, admiration and gratitude 
 of her fellow-men. 
 
 They were not slow to recognize their indebted- 
 ness. Crowds flocked to the church to look upon 
 her face, to pray beside her coffin, or, if they might 
 be so privileged, to touch her hands or even her 
 dress with beads, medals, etc. which would ever 
 after be cherished as relics. Several apparently 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURCEOYS. 269 
 
 miraculous cures were effected, which we shall not 
 here detail. * 
 
 While throngs passed in and out of the taper-lit 
 church, bearing away the memory of that beautiful 
 marble-like countenance, so radiant in its perfect 
 peace, preparations were being made for the ob- 
 sequies. For awhile it remained uncertain whether 
 the Seminary or the Congregation would possess 
 our heroine's remains. It was decided after some 
 discussion that her body should rest in the Parish 
 church, and her heart should be left with those it 
 had cherished so fondly. There would it ever preach 
 a silent lesson of virtue and fidelity. 
 
 The funeral took place in the Parish church on 
 the 1 3th of January. Never before had so mag- 
 nificent a ceremony been celebrated there. Every 
 class of society was represented in the densely 
 crowded church. Poor and rich, from the lowliest 
 Indian convert to the Governor General of Canada,f 
 each and all came to pay the last tribute of love and 
 respect. One of the priests present at the memora- 
 ble function, writes to a friend the same day: " Never 
 were there so many priests and religious in the 
 Ville-Marie church as came there this morning to 
 assist at Mother Bourgeoys' funeral. The multi- 
 tude of people was extraordinary. Were the saints 
 
 * Vie de la Sceur M . Bourgeoys, 1818, p. 169. 
 t Then Mr. le Chevalier de Callieres. 
 
270 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 canonized as readily as of old, tomorrow priests 
 would say the Mass of St. Margaret of Canada." * 
 
 Dollier de Casson, Vicar- General of the Diocese 
 and Superior of the Seminary, who had known 
 Mother Bourgeoys intimately and honored her 
 greatly, pronounced the funeral oration. The aged 
 priest, bent under the weight of four score years of 
 life and labor, paid a heartfelt tribute to Margaret's 
 rare virtues and exhorted her daughters of Our 
 Lady's Congregation to keep her spirit alive within 
 them, whether as individuals or as a religious com- 
 munity. 
 
 When the soul-stirring notes of the grand litur- 
 gical prayers for the departed had died away into 
 silence, the venerable body was borne to the entrance 
 of a chapel commonly called "Chapelle de la Sainte 
 Vierge," where the nuns had their place of burial. 
 The last impressive ceremony was performed by Rev. 
 Rene* de Breslay, P. S. S., grand-nephew of Mgr. 
 Rene* de Breslay, who was Bishop of Troyes when 
 Margaret was baptized in 1620. Dollier de Casson 
 had ordered the following epitaph to be engraved 
 on a tablet of steel placed on the coffin: 
 
 "Here lies Sister Margaret Bourgeoys, Teacher, 
 Foundress and First Superior of the Congre*- 
 gation de Notre Dame established in the 
 
 * FaiUon, Vie de la Sceur M. Bourgeoys, Vol. u. p. 86. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 271 
 
 Island of Montreal for the instruction of 
 girls in town or country, deceased on the 
 1 2th of January, 1700. 
 
 Pray for the 'repose of her soul!" 
 
 On the thirtieth day after Margaret's death, an- 
 other solemn ceremony took place this time in 
 the Congregation church. Mother Bourgeoys' heart, 
 embalmed and placed in a leaden box, had been, 
 since the time of her demise, an object of venera- 
 tion, to nuns and people. It was now to be laid 
 in a permanent resting-place. A solemn Requiem 
 Mass was chanted, M. de Belmont delivering an 
 eloquent panegyric* and once again priests and 
 people flocked to the ceremony. At the endj.of 
 Mass the heart-shaped box, which had been placed 
 under a white veil in the nave of the church, was 
 solemnly carried by Father de Belmont to a niche pre- 
 pared for it. After incensing and blessing the shrine, 
 he placed the box within it, and closed the open- 
 ing with a leaden slab, over which lay a copper tablet 
 bearing the following lines: 
 
 " Beneath this stone is hid a heart 
 To flesh a foe, from earth apart, 
 Its treasure sole, the virgin band 
 Its zeal had gathered in this land." 
 
 * This beautiful discourse may be read in Faillon's Vie de 
 la Saeur Bourgeoys, Vol. n., p. 88. 
 
272 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 When the clergy had withdrawn, Mother Bour- 
 geoys' portrait was hung over the shrine. Things 
 remained thus until the nth of April, 1768, when, 
 a fire having consumed both church and convent 
 during the night, all feared that the precious relic 
 was lost forever. The following day it was seen 
 that, though the flames had died out all around, 
 they were still burning in the hollow of the stone 
 niche, and blood seemed to be trickling down the 
 wall. The sisters in astonishment sent news of the 
 marvellous occurrence to the Seminary, and Father 
 Favard, the convent chaplain, came himself to see 
 if their statements were accurate. Gathering up 
 the blood-soaked ashes, he placed them in a silver 
 box which has been kept to this day.* 
 
 When Margaret Bourgeoys had passed away, 
 France and Canada united in praising her. In the 
 writings of the period may be found the most elo- 
 quent tributes, especially in the letters of condolence 
 written to the Congregation. Among them may 
 be mentioned those from Mgr. de Laval, Mgr. de 
 Saint-Vallier, M. Demaizerets, Superior of the Quebec 
 Seminary; Rev. Father Bouvard, Superior of the 
 Jesuits; and many others. All express respect and 
 admiration for her who so truly realized the type 
 of the perfect woman as set forth in the inspired 
 words of Holy Writ. 
 
 * Vie de la Sceur Marguerite Bourgeoys, 1818, p. 173. 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 273 
 
 God himself glorified his handmaid by the num- 
 berless favors, spiritual and temporal, obtained 
 through Mother Bourgeoys' intercession. Novenas 
 in her honor have been productive of the most ex- 
 traordinary graces, for she is honored and invoked 
 throughout North America by her daughters, and 
 by the pupils trained in their houses. 
 
 When several remarkable cures had followed the 
 application of dust from Mother Bourgeoys' grave, 
 confidence in her intercession became still more 
 general. Great were the rejoicings when on the 
 7th of December, 1878, a decree of the Sacred Con- 
 gregation of Rites declared Margaret Bourgeoys 
 Venerable. This event occurred in the opening 
 year of the glorious pontificate of Leo XIII. It is 
 the cherished hope of Mother Bourgeoys' daughters 
 and clients, as of all Canadians and Catholics, that 
 his successor will soon exalt our heroine's life, name 
 and mission by granting her the crowning honors 
 of beatification and canonization. How joyfully 
 and confidently will they then invoke the beloved 
 name of "Saint Margaret of Canada!" 
 
 Under the patronage of Mary, its Queen, and of 
 its saintly Foundress, the Congregation de Notre 
 Dame has spread and flourished in a truly remarka- 
 ble way. Trials have not been lacking to prove its 
 strength and add to its merits. Again and again 
 has fire spent all its fury on different houses. In 
 
274 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 1683, 1768 and 1893, disastrous conflagrations de- 
 stroyed the successive Mother-Houses, and many of 
 the most valuable historical records. The opening 
 years of the twentieth century find Ven. Mother 
 Bourgeoys' Institute full of life, strength and activity. 
 Its Constitutions have been definitely approved by 
 the Holy See. It numbers 127 establishments scat- 
 tered through twenty-one dioceses, 1400 religious, 
 and 32,000 pupils. 
 
 We have, step by step, followed Margaret Bour- 
 geoys from Troyes to Ville-Marie, and even to the 
 perfect accomplishment of her life-work. A stranger 
 no longer, she is to us now as one whom we have 
 met and loved, and with whom we have dwelt a 
 brief space in the very intimacy of her thoughts 
 and feelings. The time has come to leave her, but 
 that hour of intercourse will surely, with God's 
 blessing, leave behind it an uplifting and stimu- 
 lating influence. 
 
 "Our heroine" we have called Margaret Bour- 
 geoys more than once, and a heroine we have found 
 her to be on more than one occasion. Yet, when 
 we look deep down into her soul, the word " apostle " 
 seems to become her even better The true apostle's 
 generosity consists not only in spending for others 
 time, and care, and health; these are but external 
 things. It consists hi giving what is the best part 
 of self, and will live forever; mind and heart. The 
 former gifts Margaret gave lavishly, nor did she 
 
VENERABLE MARGARET BOURGEOYS. 275 
 
 selfishly withhold the riches of her rare intelligence 
 and warm heart, since by spending both, she became 
 a teacher, an educator, a benefactress for all time 
 to her adopted country. The most correct picture 
 we can bear in mind of this noble religious is that 
 of a truly "womanly" woman, true and loyal and 
 kind, who loved God with all her heart, and who 
 loved the poor, the weak and the ignorant with a 
 tender, active love, in God and for God. 
 
 JANUARY 12, 1906. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 .% 
 
 O JESUS, Lover of souls and Source of all holiness, 
 we pray Thee to glorify Thy servant, Margaret 
 Bourgeoys, that hearing her proclaimed 
 Blessed by thy Vicar on earth, the hearts of her 
 daughters, overflowing with joy, may pour forth their 
 tribute of gratitude to Heaven. Thus, their hopes 
 being realized, they will repeat the hymn of praise first 
 sung by Thy Holy Mother : ' ' My soul doth magnify 
 the Lord because He hath regarded the lowliness of 
 His handmaid and He hath done in her great things." 
 Amen.