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'apon A 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 "*> '?^ K/' V S Photograph id h'j Mvenioi.i, f^iiil/f, /rom UH Engraving after Jama. J Published bj- O. & 0. K. Duabnrals. CATHOLIC lildllOP OF (jUEBEO. • / J hi BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE o> JOSEPH-OCTAVE PLESSIS BISHOP OF QUEBEC BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OP . t ti"^ 'fl m BISHOP OF QUEBEC TRANSLATED BY T. B. FRENCH FROM THE ORIGINAL BY L'ABBfi FERLAND, rrBLlSHED IN THB. FOYER CANADIEN <( U E B E C G. & G. E. DESBAUATS 4t I: 'I 1864. :«■ v Entered accordiug to Act of the Provincial Legis- lature » iu the year one Ihoiisand eight hundred and sixty- four, by G. & G. E. Desbarats, in the Office of the Registrar of the Province of Canada. Printed by 6. & G. E, Desbarats, Quebec. ^7^7? / PREFACE BV THE TRANSLATOR. -<*e(j3- 1.1 The great educational efforls of the Seminaries and Colleges of Lower Canada for the last lialf century, are abundantly testified, at the present moment, by the number and activity of their old pupils presenting themselves in the periodicals of tlic day, as candidatea for literary fame. History, biography, poetry, fiction, and even the fine arts, have each now in Lower Canada their shrine, with devotees, whose offerings are characterized by no mean talent. Their fellow countrymen seem to welcome this dawn of a new epoch in their literary history with a national pride and gratitude, and to accord their efforts a hearty encouragement. " Le Foyer Canadien^^ or "The Canadian Heartli," and " Les Soirees Canadiennes " or " Canadian Evenings," are the two most popular serials, in which the old people are hastening, as it were, to deposit the traditions handed down to them, — as well as their own interesting reminiscences of the habits, i !■ VI customs and old lyrics of their forefathers, — to preserve them for the future use of the historian. While the younger generation are contributing through the same channels, their songs, based on more classic models, and their stories of every day life, often full of practical and enlightened instruction. • But added to these sources of literary supply, are to be found contributions from men of the highest literary pretensions, and upon subjects of such general interest and usefulness, as to call for a translation for the purpose of diffusion beyond the limits of Lower Canada. The Abbe Ferland, f professor of history in the University of Laval, a learned and popular writer of much ability, has, during the last year, given a series of articles to " Le Foyer CanadieUy'^ constituting collectively a memoir of Monseigneur Plessis, Bishop of Quebec. This brief but interesting memoir, as translated in the following pages, shows that Monseigneur Plessis was one of those gifted men, who combined with transcendant talent those eminent virtues to which men in all ages have universally agreed to accord their homage. Mgr. Plessis would have been great in any walk of life — whether as an administrator, a soldier, a lawyer or a divine. * Jean llivard, by A. G.-Lajoie. t The Abbe is now engaged upon an elaborate history of Canada, VII Everything timi falls from his pen or his lips bear* the stamp of gcnins ; nothing could bo more tenderly eloquent than his letter of consolation to the burnt out Ursuline Nuns of Three Rivers, — nothing more inspiriting than his addresses to the Militia, — nothing more masterly and conclusive than the logic and equity displayed in his memorial presented to the British Government on the civil and religious rights of liis fellow countrymen. A life of Mgr. Plessis is a record of the most stirring and important events in the history of Canada. It was long a question after the cession of the Province by France to England, whether the cruel persecutions practised in Ireland should be repeated on their co-religionists of " New France." At the very period that men illustrious as statesmen and warriors were sent to govern conquered India, with instructions to respect the obscene and inhuman rites of the Hindoo, — the destinies of Canada were at times committed to men whose blind audacity led them to believe that they could suppress both the language and religion of the descendants of the most polished and sensitive Irace known to civilization ; a language which every Court in Europe had sub- stituted for its own, a religion that had been illustrated by the unrivalled discourses of Bossuet, Bourdaloue and Massillon ; discourses so free from Vlll polemics, so impregnated with sublime truths, that no instructed infidel could read without emotion, and no sincere cliriBtian of whatever sect without veneration. The small oligarchy of that day, formed of men holding patented oiHces of the Crown and irrespon- sible to the people, seriously proposed to renew, in Canada, the tyranny of the 1st Charles : to confiscate the property of the subject, in order that they might govern the colony without resorting to the will of th« people as expressed by their representatives. Against this injustice Mgr. Plessis opposed himself with the whole force of his powerful and active mind. Strange as it may sound to the protestant ear in Canada, taught to believe that toleration is confined to the narrowest sectarian limits, Mgr. Plessis, through his whole life struggle, was the great champion of constitutional freedom — of toleration and of civil and religious liberty. Throughout this memoir, he is constantly found to be enunciating those great constitutional axioms which have formed the prin- ciples of every leading Reformer, from Hampden down to Sir James Mcintosh, Lord Holland and Joseph Hume ; and it was by the aid and advocacy of these last named statesmen that the liberties of the Canadians were ultimately assured. He warred against the principle of making the interests of the multitude subservient to the benefit IX ht of llie few. He preached and practised the Htaunchcst loyalty and good faith to the Crown ; but exacted loyalty and good faith in return — he spurned all bribes, though often reduced to the narrowest straits. Instead of being obnoxious to the old charge made against the catholic system, of keeping the people in ignorance, he was untiring in his cflbrts to extend a most liberal education to the masses. " Yes, enlarge your scale, aim at a more extended education," theSc were his instructions to his clergy. Witii indomitable o^urage, perseverance and an irreproachable life, it is not difticult to understand how such a man would unite the interests and wield the whole strength of his fellow countrymen, thwart his opponents at every turn, and sink to rest crowned with success and victory. T. 13. F. I -<«^>^^ liii CONTENTS. raEFACE. FIRST I'ART. TAGES. I. Birth of J. 0. Plessis — His parentage— Infancy and first studies — Father Lucette and his rod < . 3 II. Studies at the College of Montreal — Work at the forge — The little seminary of Quebec — The vacation and happy journey home of the scliolars 7 III. Vocation — Enters the Ecclesiastical State— Professor- ship — He is named Secretary of the Diocese— His Priesthood. 12 IV. M. Plessis is named Cure of Quebec 16 V. Death of M. Briand — M. Plessis pronounces his funeral oration 21 J, ( I II I - nized in Public Acts — Departure of Sir George Prevost — Sir Gordon Drummond — Journeys of the Bishop of Quebec into Nova Scotia and Upper Canada — He is named Legislative Councillor 70 VIII. Rules of life— Daily occupations — Correspondence— Portrait — Relations with his Clergy— Friends— His tendency to mirthfulness 80 IX. Pupils of the Great Seminary — Young priests — General respect for the Bishop of Quebec — Episcopal visits— College of St. Hyacinth — Church and college of the suburb of St. Roch 90 X. Project of dividing the diocese of Quebec — Mr. Alexander MacDonell — Nova Scotia erected into an apostolical vicariate— Upper Canada and New Bruns- xni W PACES. wick subjected to auxiliarj Bishops — North-West Territory — Letter from Lord Selkirk — Departure of MM. Frorenoher and Dumoulin for Red River — Establishment of a mission — Mgr. Plessis decides upon going to Europe — Motives of his voyage — Property of the Seminary of Montreal — M. Lartigue. 96 THIRD PART. I. Arrival of Mgr. Plessis at Liverpool— He learne that he has been named Archbishop — Sir John Sher- brooke— London — Bishop Poynter — Three memorials presented to Lord Bathurst — Cirencester — Visit to Lord Bathurst — Arrangements for the division of the diocese of Quebec 107 IL Calais — England and France— MM. Desjardins — Paris— Cardinal Fesch — Savoy Priests— Piedmont — Turin — Mezzofante —Prayer of the Hurons at Lorette . 1 18 III. Rome — the Pope and the Cardinals — Bulls of Mes- sieurs Lartigue and Provencher — departure from Rome — ^Turin — Count Joseph de Maistre — Abb6 Gazel — Lyons — from Roanne to Orleans— Messas — Paris — M. Mermet — Departure 128 IV. Perplexities of M. Lartigue — George IV. — Departure for America — Arrival at New- York — Philadelphia — Baltimore- Presentation, atMontrea1,ofM. Lartigue— Letter of M. Emery — Triumphal arrival at Quebec — Te Deum and thanksgivings 140 V. Anxieties caused by the new divisions of the Diocese — M. Lariigue's hesitations — Decision of the Court of Rome — Consecration of Mgrs. Lartigue, MacDonell, McEachern, Provencher — Mgr. Lartigue retires to the H6te!-Dieu of Montreal — Mandement of Mgr. Plessis— Queftec (raze//e— Difficulties raised by Mgr. Lartigue 148 XIV PAGES. VI. Charily of Mgr. PJessis towards the Irish emigrants- School law of 1801— Letter of an old cure—Fruitless attempts to obtain a more equitable school law — Letters to Mgr. Poynter and to the Colonial Secre- tary—Reply to Lord Bathurst — The question of subsidies— Second visit to the district of Gaspe— Continued disputes in the district of Montreal — Mandement — Abolition of the /c7e rfu socerrfoc?. ... 158 VII. Intrigues for uniting Upper and Lower Canada — Letter to Sir John Sherbrooke — Protest of Cana- dians — Messrs. Papineau and Neilson deputed to England— Felicitations and advice of Mgr. Plesais to M. Papineau — Success of the Canadians — Patriotism of Mgr. Plessis — Absence of Mgr. MacDonell — Infirmities — M. Doucet -Thought of death— Sickness and death — General consternation — Funeral — Praises and regrets of the Sovereign Pontiff and Cardinals, of Mgr. Poynter, of Lord Dalhousie 166 -s$o?= BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF MONSEIGNEUR JOSEPH OCTAVE PLESSIS, BISHOP Of Qi;£l5EC. FIRST PART. I Joseph Octave Plessis was bom at Montreal, on the 3rd March, 1763, about the time that Canada was defi- nitely ceded to England by the French. His parents, respectable artizans, had preserved the old type of simplicity, of honesty and of attach- ment to religious duties, which distinguished the old French families of the middle class, in the Colony of la Nouvelle France. Loyal, virtuous and clever in his calling, Joseph Plessis-Belair, father of the future Bishop, had acquired a certain ease, by his industry, and by the order he maintained in his house. His ancestors arrived in this Country about the beginning of the 18th century, and fixed their residence in the immediate neighbourhood of Montreal, at a place now known by the name of the Tanneries of Belair. Louise Menard, the wife of Louis Plessis, was one of those christian women that make the happiness of a family, and whose lessons and example, leave such a salutary influence in the hearts of their children. ): m The Gallic blood, which ran in the veins of young Plessis, had also a small mixture of British blood ; for one of his grandmothers, of the name of French, was born in New England. When very young, she was carried ofT with two of her sisters by the Iroquois of the Sault-Saint-Louis. Two of the poor captives were placed and raised in families at Montreal, and were married to Canadians : the third, adopted by an Iroquois chief, took the language, the costume and the habits of the Iroquois women of her village, but she would never consent to marry, either with an Indian or a Frenchman, f Raised in the bosom of such a christian family as that of Joseph Plessis, young Joseph Octave, could receive nothing but examples of order, regularity and virtue. Every evening the children and the appren- tices were gathered round the elders of the house, joining in prayer, reciting their beads and listening to a lecture of piety. The apprentices, always selected for their character and morals, were treated as children f Mgr. Plcs-sis relates that he went sometimes to say Mass at the village where his Aunt lived. From the Sacristry, he could see the Indians as they entered the Chapel before the service, ranging themselves, the men on one side and the women on the other. It was difficult to perceive their features which were partly covered. But he could always recognize his Aunt, whose tall figure and European walk, distinguished her from her companions. The late Mr. Dnveluy, formerly old cure of Lotbiniere, was a grandson of one of the ladies who bore the name of French. In fact, a great number of Canadian families, reckoned among their ancestors, the daughters of English families captured by Indians domiciled near Montreal and at Saint- Fran