%^ ' 
 
 A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 8EI iiiiEii jQ»pii \m \m\\. 
 
 Oblate of Mary Itnmaculafe, Doctor of Divhnti/, Founder 
 and SujHrior of the College of Ottawa. 
 
 DIED IN OTTAWA, 28th FEBRUARY, 1886, 
 AGED 58 YEARS. 
 
 OTTAWA : 
 pRiNTKD BY MacLran, RongR A Co., Wei.ungtox Street. 
 
 1880 
 
(«s) 
 
THIS MEMORIAL SKETCH 
 
 18 DEDICATED TO 
 H IS LO RDSHI P 
 
 The Rt. Rev. J. T. Duha/viel, D-D-, 
 
 BISHOP OF OTTAWA, 
 
 AND TO THE 
 
 STUDENTS OP THE COLLEGE. 
 
 Dolendum est quod nobis cito raptus 
 sit ; consolandum quod ad melioia 
 transient. {St. Ambroise.) 
 
A BIOGUAPIIICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF TUB LIKE OF I'lIK 
 
 REV. JOS, HENRY TABARET. 
 
 Our filial aft'ection would be, to a certain degree, satisfied, were we 
 able to offer to his many loving children and friends, a complete bio- 
 graphy of the Rev. Father Tabaret, whose loss we feel more keenly 
 from day to day, but at the present we have at our disposal neither 
 the time nor the _requisite notes ; besides, we are still too mucii 
 affected by his death, to give ourselves up to the work, as we should 
 do in order to feel we had done our best. Our own personal recol- 
 lections for the time being are sadly confused. 
 
 Our readers will kindly pardon us and find some compensation for 
 the present brief notice, in the assurance that in the near future an 
 abler pen, if not a warmer heart, will do ampler justice to the memory 
 of our much loved Father. 
 
 He whom all Canada was to levere under fhe name of Father 
 Tabaret, was born in the small city of St. Marcellin (Dept. of tho 
 Isere Dauphine) on 10th April, 1828. 
 
 He was christened Joseph Henry. His parents were richer in the 
 gifts of heaven than in the goods of this world. Theirs was a tho- 
 roughly christian family, whose chief glory lies in the fact that it 
 gave several distinguished priests to the church ot God. Two uncles 
 of the deceased left undying souvenirs of their virtues and their 
 aeal among the people of Valence. One of them, after several years 
 of parochial services as Parish Priest, spent the last years of his min- 
 istry in the honorable and onerous position of Vicar General. The 
 other uncle, after some years spent in fulfilling his duties as Canon 
 of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Valence, was made Chaplain of a 
 large community in the same city. 
 
 The blessings of these venerable relatives were breathed upon the 
 young Henry while he was yet in the cradle. A younger brother, 
 
6 
 
 named Philip, was also to devote his life to the ministry of the altar 
 of the Most High. 
 
 Needless to say, these pious influences, added to the careful train- 
 ing he received from his christian parents, contributed largely to 
 mould his heart and his mind to trace out his course in life. 
 
 One of his sisters became a nun, and still leads a life of heroic 
 self-immolation for the good of others in a convent in France. 
 Christiaa charity seemed contagious in this family — a cousin of his 
 founded and endowed an orphan asylum in the city of Romans. 
 This excellent woman is still the active principle of every work of 
 benevolence in the Parish of St. Nicholas. 
 
 In such a school, where labor, virtue and devotedness were so 
 practically taught, Joseph Henry, at an early age, resolved to walk 
 in the footsteps of his venerable uncles ; but to attain his noble end a 
 college education was required, and his parents were not able to 
 meet this expense. Providence came to their rescue in the person 
 of an aunt, who had been strongly and favorably impressed with the 
 cliaracter and appearance of her nephew. Thanks to her generous 
 aid, the youth set out for the College of Bourg du P4age. 
 
 What eft'ect was produced upon him by his sojourn in this house 
 cf study ? What impressions did he make on those with whom he 
 <lwelt there ? Let us learn from one who, undoubtedly, knew him 
 better than anyone else here below — his life long friend, the Rev. 
 Father Tortel — at present Superior of the House of Mary Immacu- 
 late, in Lowell, Mass. Father Tortel says : " In this school, number- 
 ing from one hundred and lifty to two hundred students, two-thirds 
 were frequent communicants. They received as often as two and 
 tliree times a week. The pious Henry was at home here j it was the 
 atmosphere his soul most relished ; he loved the place." This fact 
 goes far towards explaining why Father Tabaret was always solemnly 
 in earnest whenever he spoke on the subject of preparation for com- 
 munion. He wanted the pupils to be most exact in all that con- 
 cerns the reception of the sacraments, but he was no rigorist, and his 
 greatest joy was to see them receive often. This consolation was one 
 of those that marked liis last day on eai'th. The students had all 
 been to communion on the morning of that sorrowful day, in pre- 
 paration for the devotions of the month of St. Joseph. In his counsel 
 to the young men, who went to him for spiritual direction, he always 
 urged them to frequent communion as the surest safeguard in the 
 difficult path of virtue. It was during his sojourn at the College of 
 
Bourg that his after life dawned upon him. All his efforts, from the 
 moment the project had been settled in his mind, tended towards 
 realizing his high ideal. His worthy and venerable school-fellow is 
 still our informant. " We frequently, in our conversations, spoke of 
 the future ca.eer to be run by each of us. Rev. Father Dassy, an 
 Oblate, from the House of N. D. de I'Osier, preached a retreat at our 
 colleije, that made a deep impression upon both of us. We often, 
 after that, assured one another that we would become Obl»tes. As 
 for myself, said Henry, I have but one desire ; that is, to find a place 
 whore I may give myself up to the education of youth. How little 
 ^lid either of us then dream that Ottawa was the place marked out 
 hy God, in which this desire was to find its fulfilment." 
 
 It was a spiritual retreat that had revealed to him the par- 
 ticular state of life he was to choos<'. He was to be a religious 
 in the Order of Mary Immaculate. His college life had been 
 his training school for the great work of education he was to 
 adopt as his special mission. He felt the greatest veneration 
 for the worthy superior of the college where he had been so happy 
 This same master and this same college later on, when he would 
 be at the head of a house of studies, would suggest many good 
 points, which to this day characterize his work here in Ottawa. It 
 was always with evident delight that he reverted to those earlier 
 years of study ; he always spoke with enthusiasm of the venerable 
 Superior of his college, who, as he loved to repeat, " knew how to 
 win both the affection and the respect of the pupils by maintaining 
 Muthority and dignity." Did not the loving student learn this lesson 
 well from his teacher? 
 
 If Joseph Henry Tabaret loved hia masters, we know from an 
 ii.iquestionable source that he was warmly loved by them in return. 
 
 During the serious and fatal illness of his beloved superior, young 
 'Cabaret was chosen by the invalid as his bedside companion. His 
 discretion, his adroitness, and his devotedness, entitled him to this 
 «listinction. The death of this venerable Father came near inducing 
 the young man to change his mind, relatively to the order of which 
 lie had determined to become a member. The institution, whose 
 venerable founder had just died, had negotiated affiliation with the 
 Dominicans, and several of the young men studying there had joined 
 the third Order of St. Dominic. Joseph Henry had been received as 
 An aspirant, when some unforeseen difficulties occurred which 
 thwarted thia project and confirmed him in his first design. We 
 
8 
 
 cannot doubt that his early studies were serious and crowned with 
 brilliant results. The success of his labors amongst us speaks loudly 
 of the solid preliminary work that must have been done. Had we 
 not this convincing proof, his serious tasks, his habits of reflection, so 
 well known to us, would more than convince us that his early studies 
 liad been deep and eminently practical. At all events the summer 
 vacation of 1845 found him setting out for the novitiate of N. D. de 
 I'Osier. He was obeying the voice that had called him during that 
 retreat a few years before. His dear college friend had preceded 
 him here and was the warmest in welcoming him to this new home, 
 where ho was to perfect himself in the way of self-denial and of all 
 the higher Christian virtues. Each day the ardent novice discovered 
 new beauties in his vocation, and when the happy day of oblation 
 came it was an unreserved sacrifice that was offered up for the good 
 of his fellow-men. The liev. Father Vincens received his vows. 
 From this day to the very last Father Tabaret's love and labors 
 were given to his religious family; its joys were his joys, its sorrows 
 his sorrows. He had no personal interests; they were all for his 
 adopted community. To make that community loved more and 
 more by each of its members was the effort of his life. 
 
 The quiet life of his novitiate was broken by two events that 
 gave the young Brother Tabaret undisguised pleasure. They wer<; 
 marked down as memorable days. One was the reception extende< I 
 to the students and professors of his former school, who had eome 
 on a pilgrimage to the shrine of N. D. de I'Osier, to venerate a 
 miraculous statue of Our Lady. This meeting of old friends he 
 considered an event in his life. His wliole heart was in the courteous 
 hospitality he gave them. He did all the honors of the occasion, 
 and joined them in their acts of devotion performed at the shi-ine. It 
 was with real delight he pointed out to them the charms of his 
 beloved seclusion. 
 
 The other happy incident referred to was the election of Pius the 
 IXth to the Pontilical Throne. The young religious, who was to l»e 
 so strongly characterized by his love for the Church, entered heart 
 and soul in the rejoicings of the whole Catholic world. The Rev. 
 Father BurHn, his superior, at the time, gave the novices and 
 students in philosophy, a gn^at holiday in honor of the event, and 
 no one took a larger part in the celebration thereof thin Brother 
 Tabaret. 
 
 When the flret years of probation were over, he pronounced his 
 vows. The Rev. Father Vincens, by whose side he now sleeijs,. 
 
9 
 
 and whose tragic death he S(i bitterly deplored, received them. 
 After this decisive step had been taken, he bade farewell to the 
 peaceful sanctuary of N. D. de I'Osier, and proceeded to one of tho 
 other houses of the Order in the south of France. On his way he 
 stopped at the Trappist Monastery of Aiguebelle. To gratify his 
 piety, the Rev. Father Prior gave him a pledge of his right of 
 participation in all the communions ana g, 'vorks of the Order for 
 the rest of his life, with the further right of applying these merits to 
 his soul after death. 
 
 His new abode was to be the Scholastic House at Marseilles, tho 
 birthplace of the ( )rder, the Episcopal city of Mgr. de Vlazenod, the 
 venerable founder of the Oblates. The young novice had often been 
 there in spirit. He was overjoyed at the prospect of spending a few 
 years in this city, most deservedly dear to every member of the 
 congregation ; but scarcely had he arrived, when he was told he must 
 forego this consolation, owing to a marked change in his health. 
 The doctor feared a fatal pulmonary disease. He furthermore 
 received orders from his superiors that he must continue his 
 scholastic course of study privately, in some healthier locality. This 
 was done, partly at N. D. de Lumiere, and partly in his first religious 
 home at N. D. de I'Osier. During this period he had frequent 
 intercourse with one of the Fathers of his Order, who exercised a 
 remarkable influence over him. It was the Rev. I'^ather Charlea 
 Barret, a man of whom his community is justly proud, distinguishe<l 
 no less for his eminent virtues than for his brilliant and varied talents. 
 He directed the philosophical studies of Brother Tabaret, whose 
 health, notwithstanding the change, was improving but slowly. God'* 
 will was manifesting itself in favor of the removal to America. 
 
 In 1850, Mgr. Guigues, the fiist Bishop of Ottawa, was called to 
 France to take part in the General Chapter of tho Order of the 
 Oblates, of which he was a devoted and distinguished member. He 
 was also in search of recruits to labor in his new and struggling 
 diocese. The college he had just opened gave him great anxiety. 
 The venerable Mgr. de Mazenod, head of the Order, had learned in 
 his intimate communications with Brother Tabaret of his desire to 
 give himself up to the cause of education. It occurred to him he 
 was the right man to send out with Mgr. Guigues to Canada, but the 
 delicate health of the young religious was a serious obstacle. The 
 Council, very prudently, deterred the case to the attending physician. 
 The latter, on being called in for consultation, declared that the 
 >oung man's health was jeopardized by remaining where ho waa^ 
 
10 
 
 while a complete change, such as would be secured in the foreign 
 missions, offered a chance of improvement, but it was only a chance. 
 The Council hesitated no longer^ but permitted Brother Tabaret to 
 sail with Monseigneur Guigues. Before lea/ing he was raised to the 
 deaconship by the venerable and worthy founder of his Order. From 
 the moment of his landing in Quebec, he made himself a true citizen 
 of his new country, without in the least relinquishing his love for his 
 dear motherland, lie determined to make himself all things to all 
 men for Christ's sake. It has been truthfully said, were it not for 
 his name and his accent, no one would have been able to say to 
 which country he belonged, so nobly did he emulate the great 
 apostle of the nation a. He loved Ireland, which he visited at one 
 time, rather as a pilgrim than as a tourist. He was sincerely devoted 
 to all the interests of French Canadians. He respected all the 
 national elements that go to mike up the population of this country. 
 With all, and at all times, his aim was to be a Catholic missionary, 
 and such he truly was, in the fullest sense of the words. He was 
 ordained priest oa the 2l8t of December, 1850, by Mgr. Guigues, and 
 his first duties as such were performed at the mission of L'Orignal, 
 whither he went by order of his superior. This mission wap then 
 rather extensive. It includetl the parishes of St. Charles' Bay, Alfred, 
 Caledonia Springs, Vankleek Hill, East Ilawkesbury, Hawkesbury, 
 North Hawkosbury, Chatham, Grenville, the several concessions 
 depending on Grenville, Bonsecours (now known as Montebello), 
 and Papineauville. His spirit was equal to the task, always even 
 tempered, no matter how many difficulties there might be in the 
 way. Always ready at the first call of duty, always devoted to the 
 interests, spiritual and temporal, of his parishioners, he won the love 
 of his brothers in religion and the gratitude of the souls confided to 
 his care. His memory is still revered by those kind souls after a 
 lapse of 34 years. The priests now acting as pastors of the several 
 parishes of which he, at one time, was one of the administrators, 
 hear him often spoken of with love and respect. Father Tabaret 
 spent but two years in this active ministry, but short as the term of 
 labor was, it sufficed to give him the measure of the wants of the 
 Catholics in those sections, both French and Irish, and to inspire 
 him with the right idea of the direction he had to give the young 
 cierica, who, under his guidance, were to fit themselves to minister 
 to those people. His practical talents served him well in devising 
 the means best calculated to further the interest, moral and 
 juaterial, of these new parishes. 
 
11 
 
 As early as 1848, that is to say irom the date nf his episcopal 
 consecration, Mgr. Guigues had purposed to establish a classical 
 college in Ottawa. •' He had a double object in view," says Father 
 Tabaret in the few notes Ue has left us concerning the beginning of 
 his great work, "to secure ecclesiastical vocatio. s, and to give 
 society and religion able defenders." A wooden building on Church 
 street, opposite the Bishop's residence, was the first scene of 
 labor. The oi)ening took place on the 2r)th of October, 184H. Each 
 in turn the Rev. Fathers Chevalier, Mignault and G-audet had acted 
 as director. But in September of 1S')3, the Bishop of By town, 
 having erected the building now known as the Christian Brothers' 
 Pay School, at the corner of Sussex and Church streets, appointed 
 Father Tabaret superior of the institution. Since that time Father 
 Tabaret was so perfectly identified with his work that the history of 
 the work is the history of the man. We will endeavor to make a 
 rapid survey of the principal events of these thirty-three years of total 
 self-sacrifice and devotednoss. When Father Tabaret was appointed 
 superior of the college, the only professors were a few seminarians. 
 The students numbered but fifteen boarders and about forty day 
 scholars. "The finances were not in a promising condition," Father 
 Tabaret says in one of his notes. " From September, 1853, to August, 
 185G, the college had no other means of support than the small 
 revenue coming from the students. This would scarcely cover the 
 expenses of keeping one servant, of lighting and heating the house 
 and of procuring the most urgently needed books for the library." 
 In fact, out of the one hundred and fifty students frequenting the 
 college in 1856, over forty were gratuitously educated, and tlie terms 
 for the others were so low as to be out of all proportion to the wants 
 of the Institution. But FatherTabaret was not disheartened ; amidst 
 these trying circumstances he was patiently resigned to wait a 
 brighter turn of affairs, but this was not without causing him much 
 pain. The lack of professors compelled him to forget his own sutfer- 
 ings and to do the work of teacher and superior ; he gave himself out 
 with almost indiscreet generosity. So indefatigablo was he that 
 evening often found him so harassed and tinul as to make it iui- 
 possible for him to sit up in his arm chair. About that time he was 
 honored with the title of Senator of the Toronto University ; he will- 
 ingly accepted the honor, hoping to be thereby enabled to promote 
 the interests of Catholic education, but when ho saw there was little 
 chance of any real advantages accruing to the good work he had so 
 much at heart, he contented himself with an occasional attendance 
 at the meetings of the Senate, and with exercising a salutary but 
 
12 
 
 most disoreet intluence over this honorable hotly. In the meantime 
 the population of Ottawa was rapidly increasing; it had already 
 reached the number of 10,000 souls. Mgr. Guigues saw that the time 
 had come to open up a larger field for the combined works of the 
 college and the ecclesiastical seminary. An edifice, 84 feet by 40, was 
 erected on a site that had been kindly donated by Mr. J. T. Bessorer, 
 between Cumberland, Wilbrod, Waller and Theodore streets. The 
 work of construction, begun in 1855, was, by the month of August, 
 1856, well nigh finished. St. Joseph's church was erected the same 
 year, and by an agreement signed by Mgr. de Mazenod, the Superior 
 (reneral and founder of the Oblates, and Mgr. Guiguos, the college 
 and t)ie church were to be held as the property of the Order. 
 During the sumuier vacation of the saiiio year Father Tabaret caused 
 the furnituro and all the movable goods of the college to be trans- 
 ferred to the new building, and had everything ready to open in 
 September, 185G. 
 
 Tlie faculty consisted of Father Tabaret, President, Father Tru- 
 deau, recently deceased at Lowell, Mass., Father P. A. Soulerin and 
 Father Burtin. There were sixty eight student^*, fifteen of whom 
 were boarders, throe half boarders and fifty day scholars. Father 
 Tabaret speaks at length in his memoirs of the goodwill and 
 devotedness of his brothers in religion, and of the young clerics who 
 labored with him. He says nothing of himself; but what we could 
 readily surmise, having known him so well, we learn from one of 
 his zealous co-laborers, who tells us in a letter written recently : 
 " Father Tabaret was the first everywhere ; he was the life and soul 
 of the work. He often taught nine hours a day, looked after the 
 students in the intervals of class and study hours, directed the 
 studies and attended to the wants of his religious community. This 
 was superhuman labor, replete with all kinds of annoyances ; yet in 
 the midst of all these trials I do not remember ever to have hoard 
 him complain or show the least sign of discovu'agement. On the con- 
 trary ho took delight in cheering us and bidding us look forward to 
 the time when the college would have attained its fullest develop- 
 ment ; when the city, having grown also in wealth and population, 
 would be better able to appreciab^ the institution. My friends, you 
 now enjoy the realization of those hopes, but you must never forget 
 what they cost him whom you so justly mourn." 
 
 Although no increase was noticeable during the first two years in the 
 new abode. Father Tabaret was undaunted, and so sure was he of the 
 future prosperity <jf the college that "lo undertook a voyage to Franco 
 
13 
 
 in the month 'of July, 1858, to solicit from Mgr. de Mazenod some 
 Fathers to increase his staff of professors. He returned in October 
 of the same year, bringing with him the Rev. Fathers Tortel, his old 
 friend, Dedehant and Pian, with a young Irish gentleman whose 
 acquaintance he had made on the way. He was greatly cheered by 
 this successful issue of his voyage, and especially by the emphatic 
 assurance he received from the venerable superior that the work of 
 the college was indeed in perfect harmony with the works adopted 
 by the congregation as its own. Thus cheered Father Tabaret 
 resumed his laborious task with renewed ardor. In 1861, thanks to 
 the kindly efforts of the Hon. R. W. Scott, who was that year mem- 
 ber for Ottawa, an amendment to the Act of incorporation waj 
 granted to the college. The same year the wing facing on Cumber- 
 land street was completed and the organ put up in St. Joseph's 
 Church. In 1862 Father Tabaret was nominated Vicar-General and 
 one of the administrators of the diocese, to act as such during the 
 absence of Mgr. Guigues. The same year he was chosen as fiist 
 Superior of the Convent of the Grey Nuns. His noble humility made 
 him look upon thesa marks of favor on the part of the Bishop as a tes- 
 timonial of His Lordship's approbation of the work he was so anxious 
 to promote : the same humility l)l\n'ied him to his own personal 
 merit. Those additional responsibilities did not, in the least, dimin- 
 ish his interest nor his efforts for his first charge. 
 
 The largo share he took in Father McGrath's labors, in St. Patrick's 
 Piirish, and in various other sections of the diocese, was prompted 
 ohiotly by his great desire to advance the cause of Catholic education 
 In 1858 he chose to be called Joseph, instead of Henry, marking out 
 to himself the duty of filling the place of Joseph, relatively to the 
 worlc confided to his guardianship. Father Tortel tell us : " He saw 
 in his title, as head of the family, a strong motive for choosing St. 
 Joseph as his special patron. Thanks to his varied abilities, he 
 was, indeed, worthy to be entrusted with the interests of a rast 
 family. His attention was not confined to the moral and intellectual 
 a<lvancement of the college ; he was equally solicitous about all that 
 might enhance the beauty of the buildings and theii surroundings. 
 It was about that time he began setting out the trees, which he 
 cultivated with ao much care, and which, at the present day, are one 
 of the principal attractions of this part of the city. How distinctly 
 t!annot the old pupils, as well as the people in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the college, recall his daily morning inspection of 
 tliese well-loved trees, during the spring and autumn seasons I 
 
u 
 
 Certain it is that, after his students, there were no objects upon 
 which more loving looks were bestowed than his trees, none received 
 more assiduous, more tender care. In spite of Father Tabaret's 
 supreme hopes for tlie future,'iu spite of the energy with which the 
 present laborers devoted themselves, the development was tardy, in 
 i'act, the college was growing but slowly. 
 
 " During these long years of Avaiting," gays one of our Fathers, 
 " we were often on the point of giving up the aHempt, so many and 
 almost insurmountable were the obstacles that lay in our way. Our 
 devoted superior, in some of his moments of anguish, moved us to 
 tears; yet he was always foremost in resuming the project, and with 
 touching emotion, urged us to adoi-e the will of God. St. Joseph had 
 not been adopted in vain as the patron of our house. We were 
 often able to testify to his timely rescue. In some of our most 
 despondent moments, when we appealed to our celestial purveyors, 
 a change for the better occurred, which forced us tc acknowledgo, 
 on our knees, that our prayers had been heard." In the summer 
 of 1803, Father Tabaret sustained a great shock in the death of 
 the Rev. Father Vincens, the Visitor General, who was drowned at 
 the Desert. His sorrow was proportionate to the joy he had felt 
 in welcoming this kind Father to Canada. The few short notes lie 
 has left us referrint^ to the sad event, give but a slight idea of his 
 intense sorrjw. We quote only a few words to show how he 
 associated every event with the welfare of his work. He says: 
 "The Rev. dear Father Vincens, who was so interested in our 
 undertaking, was drowned in the Upper Gatineau, What a ter- 
 rible loss we have sustained I " 
 
 It is impossible, iji this very condensed b'ographical sketch, to fol- 
 low the beloved subject of our study, from year to year, as we would 
 like to do , to note with him the vicissitudes of the college as well as 
 the signs of the better timeg coming, but in order to show how uner- 
 ring were his provisions, our readers will bear with us while we quote 
 a few lines from his journal, relatively to the plan of studies he had 
 laid down, in which his great concern was to secure equally the 
 advantages of the Irish and of the French Canadian students, he con- 
 cludes thus: "This double element presents some difficulties, but 
 they are not insurmountable, otherwise one must needs conclude a 
 man can master but one language, and that all modern nations have 
 erred in adopting the study of languages, both living and dead, as 
 the great educational means. Have not all the best writers of every 
 
15 
 
 nation been conversant with several languages beside their own? 
 Granted, that a man loses somewhat with regard to his style by this 
 multiplicity of languages, does not the wider range of thought thus 
 afforded him more than comjiensate the loss. Has not some one said : 
 ' A man leads as many lives as he speaks languages ? ' 
 
 "At any rate can we question the absolute necessity of a thorough 
 acquaintance witli French and English in this part of Canada ? Next 
 year Ottawa will be made the Capital of the country. What chances 
 of official positions then for those who cannot speak English ? 
 
 " Besides, by thus bringing into closest contact from their very 
 youth, those who, later on, will have a voice in public matters, we 
 will contribute largely to the cementing of the union that ought to 
 hold together all Catholics, irrespective of national considerations; 
 petty susceptibilities will thus be stiHed that otherwise might alie- 
 nate from one another two peoples so well calculated to harmonize, 
 to understand each other ; we will help thereby those two nations 
 that both venerate the same Mother, and kneel side hy side at the 
 same altar, to know and respect each other." 
 
 These words of wisdom were written on the Avd and 6th of April, 
 18tit. A few days later he was called by his superiors to fill the 
 honorable post of Provincial for the Canadian section of his Order. 
 This promotion compelled him to leave the field in which, for the past 
 twelve years, says Father Tortel, he had sown broadcast the good 
 seed; the field in which he had so 'generously labored ; had borne, 
 without fainting, the heat and burden of the day ; the field whose 
 every furrow bore the mark of personal sacrifices, of (ceaseless com- 
 bat, of untired energy. • 
 
 We will not follow him in all the details of his now duties. W(^ 
 must mention, however, that he it was whose cordial encouragement 
 enabled the venerable Father Durooher to overcome the dilHeulties 
 attending the opening of our house of St. Sauveur, in Quebec. 
 Needless to say his feet as well as his heart often turnei towards hi.s 
 cherished college. Needless, also, is the assurance that when his term 
 of duties as Provincial expired, in 1807, he resumed his labors in 
 Ottawa, with a gladness equalled only by that which welcomed him 
 back. In the interval the college had been incorporated, under 
 the name of " University of Ottawa." Thanks to the efforts of Mgr. 
 Guigues, of the Rev. Fathers Ryan and Lavoio, and to the influencti 
 of some influential friends, the Parliament had unanimously 
 granted the charter by which the institut'on might assume a promi- 
 
16 
 
 nent place in ibis Dominion, as a Catholic educational centre. 
 Father Tabaret, with his wonted prudence, did not at once avail 
 himself of those privileges, but bided his time until he could use 
 them with more advantage. We may say that the whole of the 
 interval between the years 1867 and 1873 was spent in gradually 
 raising the institution from the college to the university. The 
 number of students, although not very large, was steadily increasing. 
 There were, as there had always been, ups and downs. Some of 
 these years were better, some worse, but the work was waxing 
 strong. The faculty was improving, both in numbers and in 
 learning. The reputation of the college was being secured. 
 
 Father Tabaret was equally determined upon the material enlarge- 
 ment of the college. The eastern wing was extended, another wing 
 added, which to-day forms the main part of the building. A beautiful 
 i'arm, situated on the picturesque banks of the Rideau, was purchased, 
 to serve as the country house and holiday resort. It is now the 
 Bcolastic house of the Province. Father Tabaret spent much time 
 and care in embellishing this spot, already so beautiful. He was 
 equally zealous in laying out and adorning the grounds adjacent to 
 the college. When all these external improvements were on the 
 liigh road to completion our indefatigable laborer, who never forgot 
 the main object in the pursuit of details, came forward with the 
 plan ot studies, with which our readers are already acquainted. 
 Everyone was surprised at the bold move of the superior. This plan 
 was nothing less than a real revolution in the system of Catholic 
 teaching Where was he going to find men willing and daring 
 enough to help him carry out this design ? How was he going to 
 get the conservative public to understand and accept the change? 
 Will he not have to register a complete failure ? To the few who 
 ventured to remonstrate he gave such decided assurances of success 
 that they ended by warmly sharing his views. He grandly ignored 
 those who persisted in auguring ill of the undertaking. He could 
 wait. And we know that before hia death he had twelve years' 
 experience of his work that not only confirmed him in his convic- 
 tions, but by far surpassed his most sanguine expectations. He had, 
 moreover, the pleasure of seeing nearly all who had most objected 
 to the system not only acknowledge its merits, but adopt it as far as 
 their circumstances would permit. 
 
 We are loath to break our narrative, but we feel bound to digress 
 now a little, in order to show Father Tabaret's outside action. We 
 have seen that he was named Vicar-General by Bishop Ouigues. This 
 
17 
 
 ■was not a mere nominal honor. He, during the whole time of his ap- 
 pointment, took the liveliest interest in all the affairs of the diocese. 
 
 The Grey Nuns can never forget the invaluable services he rendered 
 them in their efforts to attain a high standard of education. After 
 the Bishop, he was the principal worker in establishing the Sisters 
 of the Good Shepherd in Ottawa. IJe always gave them a large share 
 of his devotedness. He was one of the most zealous and enterprising 
 in the work of the colonization of the Ottawa valley ; and if we may 
 dare say it, the first Bishop of Ottawa had no more trusted, nor more 
 worthy counseller than Father Tabaret. There is not one of the 
 priests who knew him who would say otherwise than that he had 
 Jilways found in him a warm friend, and a kind father. 
 
 Father Tabaret mourned the death of Mgp. Guigues as a son mourns 
 ix dearly-loved father. Unlil the very last years ot his life there was 
 no subject of conversation to which he reverted with more feeling 
 than to the various incidents in the life of his first Bishop, of whom 
 we may truly say, he departed this life " lull of days and of good 
 works." A life-size bust of the Bishop has been reverently kept in 
 the room of the college that had been set apart for His Lordship's 
 use when he came amongst us. >or did Father Tabaret ever miss an 
 opportunity of recalling his memory. The same respect and devotion 
 ■was extended to the Bight Rev. Joseph Thomas Duhamel, who was 
 raised to the Episcopal Throne as successor of Mgr, Guigues. Father 
 Tabaret remembered that Mgr. Duhamel had been his pupil, he 
 could therefore love him as in the days of his boyhood ; but he never 
 forgot that the youth was now his Bishop, and to him was heartily 
 given all the veneration due to a successor of the Apostles. 
 
 The nomination occurred just at the time when Father Tabaret, 
 owing to fatigue and illness, was compelled to temporarily resign Iiis 
 <luties as Superior of Community, and to confine his attention to the 
 college proper. At no time, perhaps, could we better have sounded 
 the depths of his true religious worth. From the day of the change 
 of position, he was conspicuous as the most humble and obedient 
 subject. Full of thoughtful attentions for his superior, he seemed 
 to have but one aim, that was to be lost siglit of, that he might not 
 stand in the way of the new superior. These three years were not 
 by any means idle ones. His plan of studies was being tried. Both 
 professors and students were earnestly putting it into practice, and 
 Father Tabaret was the soul of the effort. H is days were spent in 
 the different class-rooms, taking notes of the work done ; always ready 
 
18 
 
 with the right word at the right time, to assist both teachers and 
 students. How often during that period did we hear him insist on 
 the importance of making a careful study of tlie character and 
 ai>titude of the young man ; on the necessity of finding out all that 
 might in any way contribute to the facilitating of the work of his 
 education ; whatever resources the young man possesses should bo 
 brought to act in his favor. He must be made to see this as well as 
 his teacher. ' Let all the lessons be directed to the heart you are 
 moulding, to the mind you are enlightening. Exhortations in 
 general do not suffice ; let private interviews make the youth 
 understand you are in earnest in his behalf. He pointed out the 
 necessity of constant intercourse with those we are educating j we 
 want to strengthen both their principles and their finer feelings. 
 Such were the counsels he never ceased to repeat, and we, who knew 
 how earnest he was, how nobly he practised what he enjoined, found 
 no difficulty in heeding his desires. Resistance was out of the 
 question, so delicately did he always present his views one could not 
 help adopting them. It was, indeed, during those three years, from 
 1874 to 1877, that Father Tabaret gave the college its characteristic 
 stamp, its peculiar tone. . 
 
 In the vacation of 1877, he resumed, with renewed vigor, the full 
 control of the Institution. The eight years which have since 
 elapsed, may be called the sumvier of his life, rather than its autumn. 
 His health, which had never been very robust, was at its best during 
 this period ; his energy was what it had always been ; his devotedness, 
 his religious spirit became from day to day more manifest. His great 
 heart seemed to grow with the hastening years, and to impart to his 
 labor all its ardor, all that was best calculated to insure success. 
 These last years were not without their bitter sorrow. God seemed 
 to be disengaging him from this life, by the surest of means j but the 
 trials were intermingled with unquestionable joys. 
 
 Thanks to his Lordship, Mgr. Duhamel, the Holy Father, Leo 
 XIII had deigned to give a personal approbation of the plan of 
 studies Father Tabaret had drawn out. Mgr. Duhamel testified, from 
 day to day, his interest in the success of the college. The higher 
 authorities of the Order, and his brothers in religion, showed 
 that they better understood and better appreciated his designs. The 
 best thinking men of the country assured him that they shared his 
 views. The confidence of parents was more and more marked* 
 The students were increasing in number from year to year. Finally 
 he had now at his command, a staff of professors, whom, for the 
 
19 
 
 most part, lie had trained himself, aud who gladly submitted to his 
 wise guidance. All this more than sufficed to convince him that his 
 work was well established, it might henceforth face the storms. He 
 was heedful of whatever might be interpreted as a sign of future 
 good to the college. As such, he looked upon the Alumni gathering 
 of 1879, in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its founding, 
 but what he tried not to see was that the old students had 
 really come together to congratulate their venerable Father Superior. 
 The honors of the doctorate, which were conferred upon him at the 
 time, by his pupil and bishop, proved to him beyond a doubt that 
 Mgr. Duhamel was truly solicitous for the welfare of the institution. 
 He rejoiced at his honors because they were the honors of the college. 
 Nor must we fail to put on the list of his latest joys, the opening of 
 the novitiate at Tewkesbury, Mass., which he had so often and so 
 ardently solicited. 
 
 When on account of the rapidly increasing prosperity of the 
 college, he heard that the higher authorities advised a further 
 extension of the buildings, his fatherly heart swelled with the joy of 
 a parent who beholds the child of his sorrows stepping out from the 
 bounds of childhood into perfect manhood. His pleasantest pastime 
 consisted in calculating how this immense house could be made 
 more commodious and more comfortable. He foresaw everything, 
 how this hall, this room, should be laid out and furnished ; to what 
 purpose such and such a part of the buildings might be adapted 
 under such and such circumstances. The extension of the main 
 building, now being constructed, was all laid out beforehand. Let 
 his ideas be carried out. Let his plans for the laboratory he had 
 purposed fitting up, be realised as well as the cabinets of natural 
 history and physics. Let the same good taste he has always shown, 
 be exercised in completing and furnishing the college, in extending 
 the library, and there will be no institution that can outrival the 
 College of Ottawa. 
 
 He was delighted to have the eminent apostolic delegate, Mgr. 
 Soaeulders, preside at the ceremony of laying the corner stone of 
 the new edifice. His faith told him that this special blessing would 
 ensure to his work that Catholic spirit to which he had always 
 attributed its existence and undeniable prosperity. 
 
 Let us not forget the trip to the North- West that the Rev. Father 
 Tabaret made in 1884, at the desire of the Superior General of the 
 Order of the Oblates and of Rev. Father SouUier, Visitor to Canada. 
 
 2i 
 
20 
 
 This trip left in his heart the best souvenirs, and His Lordship Mgr. 
 Grandin, the venerable Bishop of St. Albert, told us with tears in 
 his eyes, on the day of the funeral, that all the missionaries of his 
 diocese looked upon the deceased father as their best friend and 
 their most wise adviser. 
 
 Father Tabaret, like every other experienced educator, was in 
 lavor of games. He took real pleasure last summer in superintend- 
 ing the levelling aad sodding of an extensive piece of ground, whichi 
 thanks to a former student, the college had secured for athletic 
 sports. Three and four times a day he visited these grounds to 
 make sure that everything was being properly done. This year's 
 students can never forget the intense interest he took in their 
 games and the fatherly p leasure with which he heard them relate 
 their victories. May they never forget the lessons of manly energy 
 and Christian courage these achievements suggested him to give. 
 He knew how to draw a lesson from everything. 
 
 We must bring these few remarks to a close. Were we to let our 
 pen flow at the bidding of the crowding memories of this last year 
 we would overstep the limits we reluctantly imposed upon ourselves. 
 It is a noted fact that since the month of January Father Tabaret 
 had become communicative and demonstrative of his affection for his 
 brethren in religion far beyond his wont. He spoke freely of his hopes 
 and plans, of the diflBculties we would likely meet with, and of the 
 means to be used to overcome them. We were, in this too short period, 
 often witnesses of confidential disclosures that astonished without, 
 liowever, surprising us. Had he any presentiment of the end so near ? 
 Ten days before his death he went to Montreal to see the Bev. 
 Father Provincial, to whom he confided some important secrets. 
 (In the Retreat Sunday, 14 th February, we were all startled at hia 
 words. Ill the course of the ordinary exhortation he said : " To- 
 morrow I shall be no more. The work must go on, and it is your 
 duty to see that it does. Bear in mind that in union lies strength ^ 
 stand united." . ^ 
 
 These counsels, so similar to the last injunctions of the founder of 
 the Congregation of the Oblates, were coupled with most practical 
 and most fatherly advices. Yet not one of us thought our father's 
 death was so near. During the last days of February he seemed to 
 be quite unwell. We all thought, however, it was his ordinary com- 
 plaint. He observed that he had never felt so before, but as be was 
 remarkably improved on Saturday, 28th February, no one was 
 
21 
 
 alarmed. That same day he spent a long time in the confessional, 
 hearing his dear children. He had urged them in a most earnest 
 manner to prepare for the morrow's couimunion. 
 
 A friendly hand wrote the following account of his death in tlio 
 Canada of Monday morning's issue : " All the clouds were dispelled, 
 and for a long time Father Tabaret had not seemed so radiant. 
 With health and good spirits this, his last day on earth, was, though 
 not run out, to be well tilled. He arose at half past four, and at fivo 
 he had celebrated his mass in the college chapel. His spirit of faith, 
 always so marked, was particularly manifested while he was waiting 
 on His Lordship during the ordination service, which took place that 
 morning at the college. He showed no signs of the fatigue these cere- 
 monies always caused him. He breakfasted with the Bishop, and 
 was unusually cheerful all the morning. He went about the house, 
 taking a personal interest in a number of details. At ten he was 
 present at the students' high mass, after which he spoke to them 
 about the devotion to St. Joseph that should mark the month of 
 March, and notwithstanding the long time he had already spent in 
 the chapel, he lingered there for some time after the students' mass. 
 A quarter of an hour before dinner he again repaired to the chapel 
 with the community for the particular examination of conscience. 
 He seemed to be in his full vigor. But alas! who could have 
 believed it ? This day so well begun was not to end here on earth. 
 His noble, his beautiful soul, was giving out its brightest light, its 
 warmest fires. The last picture of him was to be the truest. We 
 were to see him on his last day as he had been all his lifetime. 
 
 He was at the table, entertaining in his own charming manner, a 
 priest who was our guest, when suddenly those nearest him noticed 
 that he was sinking in his chair. They rushed to his assistance, but 
 he was already unconscious. He was taken at once to his room. 
 Physicians were sent lor, and Drs. McDonnell, Prevost and St. Jean, 
 were at his side in a ie'.y moments. As soon as consciousness 
 returned he was observed praying earnestly, while his brethren in 
 attendance gave him absolution. He then begged to be placed in 
 his armchair ; he seemed somewhat relieved when a sudden convul- 
 sion told us all too plainly there was no hope. He was hastily 
 administered the sacrament of Extreme Unction, and in a few 
 moments, surrounded by the doctors, who were powerless to assist 
 him, and his afflicted religious family, equally powerless, who, with 
 broken sobs, were saying the prayers of the dying, his soul took its 
 flight. 
 
12 
 
 The Rev. Father Tabaret died, with his weapons in his hands, like 
 a soldier on the field of battle ; he bore away with him, in his 
 triumph, the love of his students; of his religious congregation, 
 whose ensign he had so nobly borne ; the respect of the whole cleri- 
 cal body and the admiration of all Ottawa. 
 
 A fortnight only before his death he said to us : My dear father, 
 some men are destined to start a work 5 as far as I am concerned my 
 " race is run 5 " some one else must com plete what has been begun. 
 
 The material work of the college will, with God's help, be com- 
 pleted by next year. There now remains but the chapel to be built. 
 It was Father Tabaret's great desire that it should be beautiful, and, 
 as far as we could make it, worthy of St. Joseph, its patron. Divine 
 Providence had, indeed, so far blessed our enterprise. We trust that, 
 our Father will, from his heavenly home, continue to preside over 
 this his cherished work, that his last desire will be fulfilled. St. 
 Joseph, whom he so well represented here below in our behalf, will 
 always be our special Protector. 
 
23 
 
 CHARA.CTERISTICS OF REV. FATHER TABARET. 
 
 After having ventured to portray the Rev. Father Tabaret in his 
 life and work, there yet remains a duty to be fullilled, a ditlicult 
 <luty, though it be replete with a sad comfort. It is to delineate the 
 dear Father with the tiner pencil of intimacy, to delineate him so 
 well that all those who have known him and loved him may say, at a 
 l^lance, it is he. 
 
 Our filial love would find, in this portrayal, a sort of relief, did we 
 feel in the least capable of giving satisfaction to those who wish a 
 true picture of their beloved Father and friend, too soon lost. 
 
 Father Tabaret may be said to have possessed, in an eminent 
 degree, a practical genms. At an early age he was assigned the 
 position of first i)residant of the college of Ottawa. 
 
 While strixggling to organize the work he had ample opportunities 
 to fall back on his innate powers. He was, in every sense of the 
 word, the founder of the institution with which his life was indent!- 
 fied. He did not set out blindly in his great undertaking, satisfied 
 with adopting the methods and syste ms of European colleges. No ; 
 he, with a boldness of decision that was f-trongly characteristic, 
 •'udeavored to bring his work into harmony with the needs of those 
 it was destined to benefit. Without adopting, as we have said, any 
 of the systems followed elsewhere, he selected judiciously from them 
 whatever he thought best suited to this particular institution. He 
 eaw that the English language would be absolutely necessary ia 
 
 < )ttawa He wanted the language perfectly taught in the college. 
 
 < )wing to the mixed religious and social elements in this country he 
 realized the obligation for every Catholic to whom educational 
 uilvantages were extended, to fit himself for daily intercourse with 
 non Catholics ; he must not only aim at equality with Protestar. ts in 
 knowledge and social polish, but he should be superior to them. 
 This was the tenor of his exhortations to his students; they should 
 not only aspire to the highest range in religious and philosophical 
 studios, but in all other branches ol knowledge as well. 
 
 Not later than a year ago he conceived the design of provitling the 
 city with an industrial school, hoping, by this means, as he said, that 
 
24 
 
 many of our young men would find ready employment in the vf.riou* 
 manufacturing houses that must, within a few years, be opened in 
 Canada. They would thus not only secure comfortable livings, bub 
 they could more assuredly claim their share of influence in the 
 country. 
 
 There were many obstacles on the road to the realization of thin 
 plan, but Father Tabaret was a man who was spurred on, rather than 
 deterred, by obstacles. He cherished this scheme up to the last, as 
 was strongly evidenced in the care and zeal with which, during the 
 last few weeks of his life, he superintended the fitting up of th» 
 chemical laboratory at the college. This was a partial fulfilment ot 
 his favorite scheme. Those who knew him well need not be told 
 that time and space were as nothing to him. This industrial school 
 would have been set afoot, even though ten years and more yvercr 
 required to complete the work. Had heaven spared him he would 
 surely have carried out his generous design. 
 
 He was a c;lose observer, he followeil the political anil social events : 
 frm day to day, he noted carefully thtj various symptoms of goo<i 
 and evil. He literally was awake to " the signs of the times." The 
 great American and Canadian questions were especially studied. 
 He made a practical use of thoso notes and observations, embody- 
 ing them in his lectures to the students on Political Economy. Hi-v 
 attention was constantly directed towards whatever in the great 
 current of events had the least bearing upon the church. Ho 
 entered warmly into all that might tend to her glorification. He 
 watched every good movement, speculating upon the results with 
 real enthusiasm ; on the other hand, whenever facts compelled hiiii 
 to acknowledge a disloyalty or a lack of zeal, he was visibly depressed. 
 He was very earnest in exhorting both professors and student-* 
 to study these matters. He knew how to draw profitable lessons 
 from an adverse as well as from a favorable turn of affairs. We havo 
 often heard him deplore tlie lack of unity, among Catholics at large, 
 as well as a lack of devotion to the great cause. 
 
 He was naturally wide-minded and greeted cordially every useful 
 work, every real progress, no matter from whom or whence it came. 
 No one can say that ho was ever in the least influenced by personal 
 or national considerations in settling any question laid before him . 
 Right was always right, an»l whoever he might be who labored for it, 
 he was sure of finding in Father Tabaret encouraging approbation. 
 
25 
 
 He read much, but his reading was confined to matters of the 
 highest religious and social import. During the last years of his life 
 he made an almost exclusive study of the foUomng works; 
 Monsieur Le Play's "Social Reform," Charles Perrin'g essays on 
 *' Riches and Society," the masterly work of the learned Benedictine 
 Dom Benoit, " La Cite Anti-chretienne du XIX Si^cle." The essence 
 ot these studies he communicated to the students in his course of 
 lectures. He found both in Canada and the United States suflScient 
 illustrations of the theories of these writers. He showed, however, 
 that things were not yet as bad as they might be. " The church 
 /*er«," said he, " has not yet felt the stings of the hydra, whose name 
 is Revolution, to-morrow she may ; it is our duty to show the timid 
 how the monster is to be encountered and overcome." 
 
 But far above these noble qualities of mind, controlling them, 
 and prompting them, soared his Christian spirit, Christian in all the 
 solemn meaning of the word. In his earlier years, it was held out to 
 him, as a reproach, that he leaned towards Liberalism. If he ever 
 had such tendencies, we fearlessly assert, during the last ten years 
 that we have known him, he unreservedly disavowed all that might, 
 in the least, be interpreted as favoring the so-callod Liberal 
 principles of our day. 
 
 The Papal Encyclical letters were always a real comfort to him. 
 " That is just what we wanted," have we often heard him exclaim^v 
 after a careful perusal of some of these authoritative missives ; he 
 often anticipated these warning voices from Rome, in the remarks 
 he made on the world at large. It was his unerring Christian sense 
 that prompted him in all his decisions and projects, nor was he ever 
 known to falter in the execution of these projects, or to change the 
 decisions which had been dispassionately but seriously nurtured in 
 the shadow of the Holy of Holies. The most provoking obstacles 
 found him inflexible and impassible when the time for action had 
 come. In the world of politics, Father Tabaret could have filled, 
 with distinction, the position of Prime Minister. He was a prime 
 minister to the manner born. 
 
 Such was the gifted man we have lost, the dead Father we mourn : 
 a peerless educator, still more remarkable for the unerring wisdom 
 of his views than for his lofty mental endowments, a model priest, 
 thoroughly conversant with all that was going on in the great outside 
 world, whether of political or social sigtiificauce. He possessed 
 the rare talent of availing himself of all that occurred to further the 
 most useful and Christian principled. ^ 
 
26 
 
 But all these features, admirable as they are, do not give us the 
 whole man. There are still finer lines to be drawn, which stamp 
 him indelibly as " a man upon whose like we shall not look again." 
 
 If his mind was broad, his heart was deep. We were all at home 
 there. And how did that great heart reveal itself ? Let those tell 
 who know. It is eaoh one's secret consolation to record the mani- 
 festations of his love. We will merely say here, he had a winning 
 smile none could resist. Iiet him look upon one with that kind 
 fatherly look he knew so well how to give, and nothing seemed too 
 difficult that he might ask. And how well he knew how to show his 
 pleasure at a generous response. One of the former students, in a 
 letter written a few days after our father's death, says: "When he 
 would come into our midst, the most refractory were subdued, not 
 by the majestic llgnity of his carriage, but actually won by the look 
 of kindness and mercy beaming on his countenance." This was his 
 ordinary expression when with his young charges. What a touching 
 sight it was to see him at some turn in the corridors, or in some 
 remote part of the play ground, take apart in a fatherly embrace, 
 some one of the younger students, inquire earnestly into the cause 
 of the isolation, cheer him with a few words coming straight from 
 his great, tender heart, soothe the child and send him " on his way 
 rejoicing." His room was always open to all. There have taken 
 place some never-to-be-forgotten interviews between him and his 
 children. They went to him with implicit confidence. How often 
 within these walls have resolutions been taken, at his suggestion, 
 that must have had lifelong effects. Nothing pained him more than 
 to meet a boy who seemed heartless and stubbornly rebellious. 
 More than once have we traced the marks of tears on his manly fac(> 
 at the thought of the pain to be inflicted on parents by the expul- 
 sion of a student. If Father Tabaret had a fault it was excessive 
 kindness. His ideal college was a home, and we may say ho was 
 the joy and the light thereof. His was a paternal heart if ever there 
 was one. However, his indulgence never degenerated into weak- 
 ness. It cost him much to resort to rigorous measures. He was 
 visibly saddened whenever he had to reproach or censure anyone. 
 He administered these admonitions, however, as often as necessary, 
 but always with that father's tone and manner that led the admon- 
 ished to shed tears of repentance and to refonn. The students 
 know well who suffered most on these occasions, nor w.is it often 
 that he was compelled to use thea*? painful means of correction. A 
 single word, a look, a gesture, wiis more than encnigh to recall the 
 
2n 
 
 wayward. Nor can we wonder at the outburst of sorrow from these 
 woU-loved sons when the awful tidings reached them of their father's 
 untimely death. How eloquent the tears shed in silence as they 
 lingered around all that was loft them of him whom to know was to 
 love, and to be the better for their loving. " He is dead, but he 
 speaketh still." 
 
 Were we writing for strangers, we would feel compelled to state 
 more facts ; but, as these few pages are to be perused by those who 
 enjoyed his acquaintance, some his intimacy, their memory will 
 more than supply all omissions. Let it be well known, however, 
 that his interests were not so centred in the college as to leave him 
 indifferent to the good being done by others, or to the wants of 
 many, outside the college, who claimed his sympathy, his guidance, 
 and at times his material aid. He was ready for all. If the sacred 
 seal of the cleansing tribunal could be broken, many pathetic tales 
 might be told. If he had let his "right hand know what his left 
 hand did," a long list of generous deeds might be drawn up in his 
 favor. 
 
 It is easy to infer how deeply religious his soul was, from the 
 revelations he unconsciously gave of his inner life. His piety was 
 manly, broad and earnest. It found readiest embodiment in self- 
 sacrifice and prayer. We were often moved at the simple faith with 
 which he deposited the crosses, inseparable from his position, at 
 the foot of the cross of Christ ; our crosses, indeed, seem very small 
 there. He had a child's faith in prayer. He could not understand 
 how any one, who prayed well, could murmur at suffering. No one 
 among us remembers ever to have hoard him speak of what he had to 
 endure, either morally or physically. His great pre-occupation was 
 to avoid giving pain to others ; in fact, at the very hour of his death, 
 ttiis is what seemed to trouble him most, that he was bringing 
 sorrow to his household. During the few moments of dreadful 
 illness, that took him from us, ho begged, as soon as consciousnefs 
 permitted him to realizt^ his condition, that he might be taken from 
 his bed-room to his study. "There he murmured, I will cause you 
 less trouble." These were almost his last words ; but what a revelation 
 they are, how powerfully they speak to us of the great care of his 
 life I 
 
 Complete disinterestedness was surely another of the prominent 
 features of our Father. Ho sincerely rejoiced in the triumphs of 
 others. It was with evident reluctance, au'J only when unavoidable^ 
 
he would speak of himself or of his family. His delicate regard for 
 others, those best can tell who have lived in closest intercourse 
 with him. He was always ready to step aside to bring others forward ; 
 his modesty was unfeigned ; no sign of personal regard could 
 ever be detected in his words or manner, yet he was keenly 
 sensitive. 
 
 The former students can never forget the confusion he experienced 
 when, on the occasion of the first Alunmni gathering, the honors of 
 the Doctorate were conferred upon him, and he was made the 
 recipient of congratulatory addresses accompanying the gift of a 
 fine oil painting of himself. To see him essaying to control his 
 emotion for the purpose of responding, one would have thought he 
 really were convinced there had been an error of names in the whole 
 affair. 
 
 Shall we venture to enumerate his virtues ? Let us rather be 
 satisfied with a mere mention of a few of the most noteworthy. 
 His discretion was proverbial. .He was the depository of many 
 secrets of importance, not only from his superiors but from those 
 who appealed to him in moments of trial and sorrow. Never 
 could any one have surmised what burdens he bore beside his own. 
 He considered a secret a sacred trust ; he was often subjected to 
 serious annoyances rather than betray in any manner what had been 
 confidentially communicated to him. Nothing shocked him more in 
 others than a lack of delicacy in these matters. In his moral lessons 
 to the young men under his chaige he insisted strenuously on the im- 
 portance of discretion. He was elo |uent indeed when he portrayed 
 for them the trustworthy man, he pointed out this virtue to his 
 eager listeners as the one best calculated to make life a success. 
 
 Another virtue no h^ss requisite in the perfect ruler is prudence. 
 Will any of his friends be surprised to hear us say Father Tabaret was 
 eminently prudent ? He did not compromise his great work by too 
 sanguine anticipations. Over wrought enthusiasm has sometimes 
 jeopardized the best aims. He was on his guard against this danger. 
 He was far*sighted ; he saw not only the results of his designs, but 
 he plainly saw as well the difficulties to be encountered in their 
 execution. Hence, at times, his slowness of action, or what those 
 who did not know him, termed slowness, was but prudent waiting. 
 
 In this rich crown of virtues let his gr )at charity shine forth as 
 the brightest gem. Filled with deferential regard for his superiors, 
 with fatherly kindness towards his inferiors, his charity towards 
 
29 
 
 all tended to heroism. He was skilled in finding excuses for the 
 faults of others, had no ear for evil reports, was slow to believe in 
 the wickedness of any one. It remains to be surmised if such a man 
 was sometimes deceived. We cannot testify to this, but what we 
 are sure of is that he never regretted having erred from too much 
 charity, rather than from too little. Is not this the precept of the 
 Divine Master ? 
 
 As we glance over this rapid sketch of our deceased Father's 
 character and virtues, we have to acknowledge the incompleteness of 
 the portrayal, but we trust that however imperfect our work may be, 
 it will be found of some comfort to those who mourn his loss. 
 
30 
 
 
 • ■ • . • EEV. FATUEll TABARET'S WOEK. 
 
 The tree is known by its fruit ; the workman by his work. Father 
 Tabaret leaves the College as hia work. , 
 
 In a few words we will endeavor to give an idea of the principles 
 on which this work rests. Our readers may judge for themselves. 
 The following is taken from an article that appeared in the Missions 
 of the Congregation of Oblaies of Mary Immaculate, published in 
 June, 1883, at the suggestion of the venerable deceased : 
 
 The College was starting out on its existence at the same time as 
 the new city. It grew with the city, and passed through all the 
 vicissitudes of a first undertaking. It needs must suffer the weak- 
 ness of infancy, and survive the troubled period of youth. The 
 students were few in number ; books, scientific apparatus, the loca- 
 tion of the college, all were unsatisfactory. Money, the only 
 remedy to these inconveniencies, was wanting. Nevertheless, the 
 college grew with the growth of the city, but not so its resources ; 
 scarcely had it mastered its first difficulties than a new danger 
 appeared. In the first place there were already several well- 
 endowed French colleges in the country, while the Eiiglish 
 Protestant colleges were thriving. Adverse circumstances made 
 it a difficult problem to maintain the new institution. The 
 Fathers must, without abandoning the idea of being of service 
 to the French Canadian element, endeavor to attract the 
 English-speaking Catholics and all those French Canadians who 
 intended fitting themselves for political and commercial pursuits, 
 which pursuits necessitated a thorough knowledge of the English 
 language. The Fathers thought that, by this means, they would 
 more surely attain the object they had in view, that of the greater 
 good of the population in whose .midst their work was centred — a 
 work aiming at extending the glory of God and of His Church. 
 The Fathers engaged in the college at that time were nearly all 
 French, or Canadians of French origin, and they had to deal with a 
 population composed of two very distinct elements, who, for divers 
 reasons, were rather unfavorable. 
 
31 
 
 The English speaking portion of the people were too much absorbed 
 in the work of settlement, to devote much time to'the question of clas- 
 sical education, and if they had willed to give it thought, they would 
 have raised the objection that English was not the mother tongue of 
 the majority of the Fathers. The French speaking people could easily 
 find what they wanted in the numerous colleges of Lower Canada; 
 where French is the official language, and where the method of 
 teaching is quite different from ours. The Fathers were not discour- 
 aged however. By intelligent and tireless efforts they succeeded 
 in proving the utility and the many advantages of their plans to the 
 ablest anH most influential men of the country. They began recruit- 
 ing their students at home first, and afterwards with most gratifying 
 results, in the United States. Since that time the college has 
 steadily progresserl from year to year. The students now come from 
 all parts of Canada and the United States, and the college to-day 
 enjoys an enviable reputation. All that was designed, however, has 
 not yet been realized, but, judging by what has been achieved, it is 
 Bafe to say that, before very long, the college will compare favorably 
 with the best institutions, not only in America but even in Europe. 
 If we were asked to account for this sudden success, for this change 
 in the opinion held ot the College of Ottawa, we would attribute it ta 
 three principal causes : First, to our method of teaching j secondly, 
 to our plan of studies, and, in third place, to our system of educa- 
 tion. It may be interesting to the Fathers belonging to the other 
 Provinces of Canada to see the principles upon which we base our 
 work. 
 
 ' ' METHOD OF TEACHING. ■ .. • , , m , 
 
 The most prominent feature of our age is a tendency to reason 
 so-called, on everything. Every one is convinced of the fact that false 
 philosophy has possession of the minds of men now as it had in the 
 18th century. It is in the name of reason that every thing is assailed 
 to-day : faith, tradition, the principles of natural law, in a word, 
 reason itself. Was not Joseph de Maistre right in saying "that 
 the syllogism makes known to us the man." In view of the 
 state of affairs our choice of a plan of teaching lay between the two- 
 disputed by the Catholic teaching body. We adopted the method 
 that is based upon reasoning. We aim at developing all the faculties 
 of the young student, thus fitting him to meet the enemy on his own 
 ground, on matters of faith and science, to contend with him face to 
 face, and fearlessly. But to attain this proficiency,* masters and 
 guides were required, they were on hand, some already skilled ia 
 
82 
 
 high art, others, men of "good will " and energy, ready to carry out 
 the ideas of their elder co-lahorers. The task grew easier from the 
 time it was decided that each professor would confine his attention 
 to the special branch he was best fitted to teach, instead of attempt- 
 ing to do equal justice to the seven or eight subject matters taught 
 in a form. By this means he must needs perfect himself in some 
 particular study. The last ten years' experience has more than 
 satisfied us that the move was in the right direction. Instead of 
 sending out young men whose highest qualifications consisted in quot* 
 ing a few lines from Shakespeare or from Corneille, or in declaiming 
 stilted imitations of O'Connell or Lacordaire, we have graduated from 
 the college, students, who can discern the " true inwardness " of an. 
 author or an orator ; who can distinguish the false from the true, 
 and clothe their own ideas in fitting style. So much for the literary 
 qualification. We may assert as much for their merit in every other 
 line of study. Thus — well equipped — those of our young men who 
 have sought to utilize their education have been rewarded with most 
 cheering success, some of those chosing professional careers gained 
 ready admittance to the various ecclesiastical seminaries of Mon* 
 treal, Baltimore, Boston, others to the medical schools of New York 
 and Montreal, to the law schools of Quebec, Toronto and Harvard, 
 while those who have turned to political, commercial or industrial 
 pursuits have been no less successful. They have found it a great 
 advantage to have been so well prepared for these avocations. Some 
 have already reaped well-merited honor. We have not the slightest 
 doubt that, if God continues to bless our efforts, the work will con- 
 tinue to develop, waxing stronger with each year's growth, until 
 whatever remains in the minds of the few who refuse to acknowledge 
 the merits of our system, will have completely given way before the 
 stubborn testimony of facts. 
 
 Let us now devote a few lines to the plan of studies. This is our 
 second power, and thank God, it is an irresistible power. 
 
 i ,. ■ , ■■■ . » '■•- 
 PLAN OF STDDIES. , 
 
 We have always regretted that, in most Catholic colleges, so 
 small a space is allowed the natural and practical sciences, especially 
 in this age of so-called learning. We would wish every educated 
 Catholic to be prepared to meet this proud and false boast with real 
 knowledge. He must know how to handle, as deftly as the loud- 
 voiced scientists of the day, the various instruments of scientific 
 demonstrations. In this age, ruled by gold, when success (?) is the 
 
33 
 
 "Sole aim of life, when the compass and square and the pick-axe are 
 the signs of power, it becomes the conscientious duty of Catholics 
 " to take in the situation," and concert measures to cope with the evil 
 of the age, meeting it with its own weapons. For this purpose our 
 colleges must need enlarge their programme of studies ; without, in 
 the least, discarding the classics, we must leave more room for the 
 practical sciences. This seems more urgent in America than else- 
 where. In a new country like Canada, it is often necessary to be 
 one's own architect, to do one's own civil engineering. Besides, 
 there are few, indeed, who can afford to lay aside all pre-occupations 
 about the future. Then, again, would it not be unpardonable for a 
 Catholic young man, to leave a classical college, for tho purpose of 
 taking bis place in this busy world, and, yet, be ignorant of all those 
 practical things that the young boys, and even young girls, learn in 
 the non-Catholic elementary schools ? We have, therefore,endeavored 
 in our plan, to show there is no incongruity in teaching simultaneously 
 the sciences and belles-lettres, only pre-conceived notions could hold 
 the contrary. Thanks to our venture, the student may read the 
 name of God on every leaf and flower, on every rock and crystal, in 
 the wave of solar light, in all the varied phenomena subjected to his 
 analysis, as plainly as in the inspired Book, or the works of the Holy 
 Fathers. These studies, by their very nature, are profitable unto 
 eternal life ; and, in the meantime, are eminently profitable in the 
 present life. By this means, a young man may the more readily 
 secure an advantageous position wherein his power of doing good i^ 
 vastly increased. 
 
 The opening of a commercial course was another of our innova- 
 tions. We had many laudable reasons for doing this. What is the 
 use of giving a boy a Latin or Greek grammar before he knows the 
 construction of his own language ? How can he make a compara- 
 tive study of foreign or dead languages unless he have a standard of 
 comparison ? Many of us remember too well the weary time spent 
 in an eighth, seventh or sixth classes, trying to find interest in gram, 
 matical formulas, all dull and dry as the categories of Aristotle- 
 Thanks to such injudicious systems, we think we can account for the 
 habits of idleness and the loss of time so much complained of in 
 some colleges. 
 
 Besides, it often happens that a student beginning a classic course 
 
 is not able to pursue it. Illness, reverse of fortune, the death of a 
 
 parent or a protector have caused some, who were surest of going to 
 
 the end of the course, to relinquish the hope. What will be the use, 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 to such a young man, of a few notions of Greek and Latin, a know- 
 ledge of Roman and Grecian exploits, if he be but poorly instructed 
 in his own language, especially if he be, as often happens, totally 
 ignorant ol the simplest arithmetical operations ? He cannot turn 
 to the great world of business, for there those only make any head- 
 way who know how to help themselves. Equally rejected by society 
 where they cut sorry figures, they have simply to go to increase the 
 numbers of those who depend on the " world's tender mercies," or eke 
 out a miserable existence in some office in the delightful position of 
 copyists, and all this, in spite of the energy and intelligence God had 
 given them I A thorough commercial course is the great safeguard 
 for such as these. Each year we have had special reasons to con- 
 gratulate ourselves upon the innovation. Even should the student, 
 later on, choose to enter the church, or any one of the learned pro- 
 fessions, he will have no reason to regret the time spent in acquiring 
 such practical knowledge. Every man in this age needs to be a thor- 
 ough business man. 
 
 We have been able, during the present scholastic year, to intro- 
 duce many improvements in the commercial department. We feel 
 assured many of our fathers would enjoy seeing our young bankers 
 and brokers of fourteen and fifteen years of age gravely at work. 
 They learn by this means the true value of money ; and the know- 
 ledge of its value goes far towards insuring the good use of it. 
 
 With such a course of commercial, literary asd scientific studies 
 by way of preparation, the abstract speculations of mental an<l 
 moral philosophy are more easily grasped, in fact are actually 
 attractive to the mind that has been fitted to appreciate them. The 
 lofty principles of social and political economy are more replete 
 with meaning to the young man who, by the solid preliminary 
 studies he has pursued, sees their applioation and their raiaon 
 d'Hre, than for him upon whom they are infiicted in the ordinary 
 "high and dry" manner. The previous practical study is what is 
 needed. We do not wish to judge rashly, but may we not venture 
 to ask if, for a certain number, theoretical treatises on law and 
 justice have not been " sealed books?" And for what other reason 
 than that they had no practical interpretation of these theories ? 
 And has not the price ton often paid for this lack of experience 
 been too great ? 
 
 It would be necessary to write a book in order to give a fully 
 developed analysis of our plan of studies. We feel no more like 
 
35 
 
 writing such a book, after four or five hours' daily teaching, 
 than our readers would feel like reading it. Let it suffice to 
 say that we have endeavored to follow out the suggestions of St. 
 Thomas Aquinas on "mental development," and by acting on our 
 own observations we feel proud to say that each year's results have 
 gone towards proving we were not mistaken. Those who would wish 
 to sec with their own eyes have only to come and do so. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 A mighty word, but still a mightier thing. Thanks to the books 
 of travel written by those who have visited the United States, 
 we see some smiling incredulously when they hear us speak of 
 education as a " mighty thing." But be pleased to wait ; in order to 
 count among " the well bred," does it suffise to be a mummy in an 
 arm chair ? To be a statue in some drawing room niche ? To be an 
 automaton well wound up, strutting along the street, bowing to 
 the right and left? If all this means being " well bred," we admit 
 such are not the fruits of our labors. Neither do we pretend to 
 educate our students up to the degree of moral sublimity (?) to >>e 
 burned to death at an assigned post, because the professor's voice 
 did not bid them come away. We would not ask our young men to 
 go so far as that, even if they were willing to do so. But there is 
 little likelihood of our ever having to check such devotedness, it is 
 not the spirit of the age. But if to be " well bred " means to respect 
 one's self, to give God His true place in all one does, to make 
 Him the beginning and the end of all the acts of scUf denial he pop 
 forms for the good, and even for the pleasure of his follow men, our 
 Catholic Canadians and Americans can vie with their European 
 friends. All this means our aim is to keep up all the energy 
 and the initiative of the young man, although we oblige him to 
 follow necessary rules, we try to be fathers rather tlian masters^ 
 but fathers without paternal weakness. We have the assurance 
 that all our efforts in this direction are not fruitless. It has often 
 happened that boys coming to us wild and seemingly unmanageable, 
 become quite altered after a few month's intercourse, and feel quite 
 at home with us, speaking to us with nil openheartedness almost 
 indiscreet. 
 
 Our former students, as a rule, love their Alma Mat>'r with the 
 warmest love. By means of the correspondence we carry on with 
 most of them, we are enabled to ascertain that they geni^rally escape 
 the first seductions of the world and the dangers of absolute liberty ; 
 
86 
 
 dangers to which those are exposed who have not ^e^^ P^^^f /;; 
 UfeLitis. Letitnotbeurgedeitherthatourmethodis calcula ed 
 tolessen the number of ecclesiastical and religious vocations ; on the 
 font ary, the calls to these higher states are frequent and nobly res- 
 rnde? o. Several have already gone to swell the ranks of those 
 whose ensign is Mary Immaculate, while many more yearly increase 
 the battalion of the secular clergy. 
 
 All too soon has the author of the system been taken from us. 
 But his work will last ; it will be what he said it would be-a pioneer 
 of Catholic education in Canada, he marked out the way, too 
 broad and too certain to permit any one to forsake it, and we are 
 willing to pledge ourselves as guarantee that the College of Ottawa 
 will afways deem itself, in honor bound, to carry out the traditions 
 of piety, of good morals, and of vigorous studies, which, thanks to its 
 devoted founder and first president, it may call its special notes. 
 
37 
 
 THE FINAL TRIBUTE. 
 
 Amid the tears of a vast assemblage of those wlio had known, 
 ^oved and respected hiro in life, the mortal remains of the late Rev. 
 Father J. H. Tabaret, O.M.I., D.D., President of the College of 
 Ostawa, were yesterday deposited in their final resting-place. 
 Seldom, indeed, in the history of the city of Ottawa, has there 
 been such a large gathering on a like occasion. Every class of 
 the community was represented around the bier of the dead priest, 
 and there was one universal sentiment pervading all — respect, deep 
 and profound, for his memory. The enormous mass of men and women, 
 who tilled every corner of the Basilica yesterday morning, was not a 
 congregation attracted by curiosity, nor one which came ;jro /brma, 
 t<i exhibit the outward signs of a grie'" which was far from real. It 
 was a congregation of hearts bowed down with grief, a congregation 
 of people who came, not to para<le their sorrow, but to relieve it by 
 paying the last tribute of respect to one whom they had held dear 
 in life and whose memory they reverenced in death. It was a con- 
 gregation of faces bearing the stamp of earnestness, of reality, of 
 truth. It meant that a king among men had departed, and that 
 they who had enthroned him in their hearts were gathered to pay 
 homage to his life an< I works among them. It was a congregation 
 of children who had lost a father, of strong men who had lost a 
 friend, of feeble women who hail lost a counsellor an<l a guardian. 
 As the emotional tones of their Bishop's voice echoed along the 
 aisles of the Basilica, quivering under the hitlaencct of the scalding 
 tears which filled his t-yes, the mighty congregation was strangely 
 moved, and not a man bad cause to be ashamed of his emotion. It 
 was genuine sorrow which flowed from every eye as Bishop Duhamel 
 spoke of the many virtues of his dead instructor and friend ; the grief 
 experienced by the preacher found an echo in the heart of every 
 liearer, and never had speaker a more sympathetic auilience. Simple 
 as tlie life of him whose name was on all lips and in every heart, the 
 funeral ceremonies were grand in their simplicity and imposing in 
 their grandeur. 
 
 .\r THE COM,E(iK., i 
 
 From an enrly hour y«'3terday morning the reception rooms at the 
 college were thronged with the alumni and the public, who came to 
 
38 
 
 take a last look at the well-knowa features of the dead president. 
 The body lay in state, surrounded by choice floral offerings from 
 many organizations, and not a few individuals. As th» hour for the 
 funeral ceremonies approached a De Profundis was sung over the 
 remains by his Lordship Bishop Grandin, and amid the sobs of the 
 students and professors who stood around, the lid of the casket was 
 closed, and the procession to the Basilica was formed, under the 
 direction of Rev. Father Balland. The casket was carried out of the 
 college and placed in the hearse by the following clergy and laity, 
 who officiated as pall-bearers : —Rev. Fathers Michel, P.P., Bucking- 
 ham ; Bourassa, P.P., Montebello ; J. J. Collins, P.P., Mount St, 
 Patrick ; H. Chaine, P.P., Arnprior ; J. Foley, P.P., Almonte ; George 
 Bouillon, P.P., and Whelan, P.P., Ottawa ; Hon. R. W. Scott, Mr. J. 
 J. Curran, M.P., Dr. Duhamel, M.P.P., Dr. P. St. Jean, Wm. Davis 
 and J. A. Pinard. 
 
 THE PROCESSIOX. 
 
 In a marvellously short time the immense procession was formed, 
 and started on its way to the Basilica in the following order: 
 
 The Seminarians. 
 The Scholastics, 0. M. I. ' 1? 
 
 His Lordship Bishop Grandin. 
 
 (= 
 
 The Hkause. 
 
 P 
 en 
 O 
 
 n 
 
 9 
 
 3 Boarors of the Insignia— J. Farrell, J. Gascon and Willi j Davis. o5 
 
 ^ Keveren I Father Provincial and the members of the 
 
 Provincial Administration. 
 
 The Faculty of the College. 
 
 The Rev. Fathers of the Order of Mary Immaculate. 
 
 The Rov. Gentlemen of the various Dioceses, 
 
 , The Alumni of the College, 
 
 Members of the City Council. 
 
 The General Public, 
 
 The route of the procession was through Cumberland and St. 
 Patrick streets to the Basilica. All the stores along the route were 
 closed, and large numbers of people lined the streets and stood with 
 uncovered heads as the hearse slowly passed. Arrived at the 
 Basilica the students filed into the galleries and the clergy entered 
 
39 
 
 the sanctuary, while His Lordship Bishop Duliamel met the body at 
 the doors. Then, while a solemn funeral march was being played 
 upon the organ, the casket was slowly borne up the aisle and 
 deposited upon a catafalque erected within the sanctuary. The 
 cathedral was heavily draped in deep mourning. Within a few 
 minutes after the procession arrived and the doors were thrown 
 open, the Basilica was crowded in every part and hundreds of people 
 stood in the aisles. It was indeed a notable gathering and one 
 which showed better than mere worJs can express the deep respect 
 in which Dr. Tabaret was held by the community at large. The 
 iollowing is a list of 
 
 THE CLEUGV PRESENT. 
 
 Rev. Father Antoine, 0. M. I., Provincial; Rev. P. J. Lefebvre, 
 O. M. I. ; Rev. P. Provost, Montreal ; Rev. Fathers F. Grenier, Quebec j . 
 J. Mangin, Scholasticate ; E. Cauvin, Superior, Hull. 
 
 From the College of Ottawa Rev. Fathers Pallier, Froc, Bennett, 
 
 P.alland, Gaudet, Gendreau, ]Nolin, Fileatre, Gladu, Paquette, Forget, 
 Guillet, Duhaut, Ferron, Vailiancourt, Marsan, Leyden, Griffin, Sex- 
 ton, F. Harnois, A. Marion, J. B. Granfils, F. Foiget, and others. 
 
 From the Scholasticate. — Rev. 1- athers J. Van Laar, P. Fayard and 
 J. Goyet. 
 
 Revs. A. Tortel, F. C. Bournigalle, Lowell; A. Daze, Montreal; J. 
 Poitras, Mattawan ; J. M. Pian, Maniwaki ; A. M. McDonald, King- 
 ston ; M. McCarthy, Brockville. 
 
 From the Diocese of Ottawa.— 3 . 0. Routhier, Vicar-General ; Geo. 
 Piouillon, L. N. Canipeau, R. Prud'homme, J. Sloan, J. Beauchamp, 
 A. M. Bourrassa, M. Whelaln, Ed. Stenson, F. Michel, S. Philippe, P. 
 McCartliey, P. Agnel, I. Champagne, J. B. Hauv^, 0. Cousineau, J. 
 Langlais, J. Caron, J. Guay, Franc(our, Chatelain, Roclion and Lom- 
 bard. 
 
 From the Diocesa of Montreal — Very Rev. Vicar-General Mar^- 
 clial, Kev. A. Turgeon, S.Y., Superior of the Ste. Mario College ; Rev. 
 A. Nantel, Superior of the Ste. Ther^se College ; Rev. E. Desjardins, 
 S.J., ,1. Singer, dS., C. Maillet, S.S., and Mar6chal, P.P. 
 
 From th« Apostolic- Vicariate of Pon/Zac— Revs. A. Chaine, H. S. 
 Marion, J. J. Collins, A. Rougier and P. McCormack. 
 
 Among tlie prominent laymen present were : Hon. J. A. Cbap- 
 leau, Secretary of State ; Hon. A. P. Caron, Minister of Militia j Hon. 
 
40 
 
 John Costigan, Minister of Inland Revenue ; Hon. Senators Scottr 
 'lYudel, Lacoste, Armand, Poirier[and Chaffers; and Messrs. Tasse^ 
 Curran, Royal, Vanasse, Daoust, Bourbeau, Duhamel, Bain and Dugas; 
 M.P.'s. The corporation was represented by Aldermen Desjardins, 
 Durocher, Germain, Laverdure and Heney, and many other promi- 
 nent citizens occupied seats in the Cathedral. 
 
 THE FCNKRAL SERVICE. 
 
 Thfe body having been deposited within the sanctuary, a solemn 
 requiem mass was celebrated by His trrace Archbishop Tach§, of 
 St. Boniface, who was assisted by the following clergy: — The Very Rev. 
 Vicar-General Mar^chal, of JMontreal, assistant priest ; and Eev. 
 Fathers Nilles, O.M.I., deacon, and J. Langevin, O.M.I., sub-deacons. 
 The choir was composed of the united choirs of the Basillica and St. 
 Joseph's Church, augmented by the brothers and students of the 
 college, the whole being under the direction of the Rev. Father 
 Chaborel. Mr. P. Boulay presided at the organ. After mass, a Libera 
 was sung by His Lordship Bishop Duhamel, who then ascended the 
 pulpit and delivered the funeral oration. 
 
 After the Bishop's eloquent and touching oration, the service was 
 concluded and the procession re-formed. It proceeded by way of 
 Sussex, Rideau, Waller and Wilbrod gtreets to St. Joseph's Church, 
 where Bishop Grandin chanted a Libera. The casket was then 
 lowered into the vault prepared to receive it, which is beneath the 
 centre of the sanctuary. The church was draped in black. After 
 the casket had been deposited it was viewed within the vault by a 
 large number of those who had followed the remains. 
 
 ' The funeral throughout was a striking demonstration of the esteem 
 in which Dr. Tabaret was generally held. All along tlie route taken 
 by the procession from the Basilica to St. Joseph's Church stores 
 were draped in black and closed as a mark of respect. 
 
41 
 
 FUNERAL ORATIOX. 
 
 DBLIVKRBD BY HIS LORDSHIl' MOK. DUHAMKL, BISHOP OP OTTAWA. 
 
 " Amicus noster dormit....mortuus est. 
 
 Our friend sloepeth He is dead. 
 
 (John xi, 11 14.) 
 My Lords, 
 
 Reverend and Dearly Beloved Brethern : 
 Our friend sleepeth in the Lord. Amicus noster dormit.. He 
 eleepeth there before us. ..he is dead. Mortuus est. These are the 
 words of saddest import which Jesus pronounced in speaking of 
 Lazarus, his friend. These are the words that fell from the lips of 
 the good Oblate Fathers, as I hastened to meet them at the very first 
 
 news of the calamity that had stricken them. Amicus noster. . , , 
 
 mortuus est. These are the first words that broke from my heart in 
 the presence of the mortal remains of him whom I hi ' ever called 
 Father, and who, for many years was to me a valued cou ]^or and 
 trusted friend. " And Jesus wept." (John xi, 35.) Let us com- 
 mingle our tears with those of the Master, it is the duty of friend- 
 ship, the homage of love. 
 
 Prematurely touched by the hand of God, our friend ha& 
 gone to rest suddenly, and sunk lorever into the silence of the 
 tomb. No longer in truth is he the same, to whom we were bound 
 by ties of esteem, of gratitude and of affection. For three day* 
 have we mourned over him, but, thanks to God, the gloom of our 
 the sorrow is not so dense as to shut out every ray of consolation. At 
 sight of these rare and well deserved honors decreed to his memory, 
 this funeral procession almost like unto a triumphal march, thi* 
 whole city moved and saddened ; in the presence of these honorable 
 senators, these representatives of the people, these bishops com© 
 from cfar, we feel that our sorrow is partaken of by many, aye, and 
 by all. This is indeed a first consolation. And have we not every 
 reason for holy and consoling hope ? Yes. If while adoring the will 
 of God, we deplore the stroke that has fallen on a life so grand, and 
 yet BO modest, our hope assuages the grief of this transitory but pain, 
 ful separation. 
 
42 
 
 What, my brethern, shall I say to give expression to your 
 sorrow, your tears, your memories? What, but these words: 
 He is there, he is dead: Mortuua est; but yet, however, He 
 speaketh to us : Vefunctus adhuc loquitur" (Heb. xi, 4). What, 
 my Lords, shall I say in gratitude for the honor and the conso- 
 lation of your presence? Who will inspire me to hold fitting 
 speech to you who belong to the same religious family, to 
 console you in this mournful moment when your congregation 
 most acutely feels its great loss ? You, who were his pupils, you ail 
 his friends, I give you praise for rendering so grand a homage to his 
 memory, and crowning his life and his death with such incomparable 
 glory; Father ! for the first time I have claim to apply to thee the 
 term glory. Never before did I use such a word to thee. Had I 
 done so, your paternal voice would have imposed siience on me. But 
 I cannot now be silent, I feel, indeed, that to do honor to him whom 
 we shall not see more till the day of resurrection, there is called for, 
 a voice, if not more authoritative, at least more chastened by reflec- 
 tion and preparation than mine. But I bear with me here the 
 devoted heart and the broken speech of filial attachment. I reckon 
 and rely on your indulgence. . . Your own memories of the dead 
 will supply that which will be wanting in my discourse. 1 will make 
 every effort to control my emotion and begin at once. 
 
 He whom we mourn was born on the 10th of April, 1828, of an 
 independent and respectable family, in the diocese of Valence, 
 Department of Isere, France. Two of his uncles were priests, the 
 one a canon and vicar general of Valence, the other chaplain of 
 a religious community. One of his brothers, a priest, died youn^ in 
 the same diocese. His devout parents made no delay in presenting 
 him to Holy Church for the regenerating sacrament of baptism. 
 His heavenly patrons were St. Henry, King of Germany and 
 Emperor of the West, and St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus Christ. 
 By a happy inspiration were these holy patrons selected for him* 
 ■who in time was to be king of a numerous youth, and father of a 
 great family. 
 
 I will say nothing of the infancy and 'boyhood of the young 
 Henry Joseph Tabaret, but that every day his intelligence acquired 
 breadth and strength with a surpassing rapidity, and that his early 
 studies were as solid as they were certainly brilliant. 
 
 Yet very young, in the very flower of adolescence, at the age 
 of seventeen, he resolves to make choice of the state of life he is to 
 
43 
 
 embrace, for already thoughtful and serious, he knows that life has 
 been given him to do the will of his Creator. Soon he arrives at a 
 decision, and like the Psalmist, declares : JUihi adhmrere bonum est. 
 From this moment and forever, he belongs not to himself but to God. 
 The religious life to him appearing worthy of a noble heart, he 
 resolves to embrace it. 
 
 Entering the novitiate of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate at Notre 
 Dame de L'Osier, he abandons all, like the Apostles of old, to follow 
 his Divine Master. In this holy retreat he convinces himself more 
 and more of the truth that the yoke of the Lord is sweet and His 
 l:>urden light, and he assumes both, to leave neither till at the per" 
 emptory call of God Himself. Happy days are these he spends in 
 the solitude of the novitiate, and often does he cry out with the 
 Psalmist : " Melior eat dies una in atriis tuis super millia in taber- 
 naculis peccatorum." (Psalm. Ixxxiii, 11.) He waxes stronger every 
 day in his vocation. Nothing will he suflTer to stand between him 
 and the movements of divine grace, and on the 14th day of Septem- 
 ber, 1846, he pronounces his vows in the presence of Father Vincens, 
 Superior of the mission of L'Osier. This worthy father is the same 
 who, having come to Canada in the quality of Visitor, also met with 
 a sudden death, and whose mortal remains lie in St. Joseph's Church, 
 where, too, on this day of sorrow, will be laid the body of the 
 lamented Father Tabaret. 
 
 Immediately after his novitiate young Tabaret made his philosophy 
 at Notre Dame do Lumidre, in the diocese of Avignon ; and thence 
 went to Marseilles to pursue his theological studies. His upright 
 mind, his thirst for knowledge, and his ceaseless assiduity, guaran- 
 teed success in these serious studies, and even at that time his 
 fellow students loved to consult him on difficult and intricate 
 points. 
 
 One of the most salient traits of his character manifested itself at 
 the Scholasticate of Marseilles -I mean his deference, and entire 
 submission to his superiors, happily accompanied with a remarkable 
 charity and discretion towards his brethren. This great character- 
 istic his superiors noted, and recognized at once that his superior 
 talent, his varied knowledge, and his great tact would make him a 
 truly precious subject. Already at that time Canada, where the 
 harvest was white and the laborers few, called forth for dispensers 
 of the word of truth and of the mysteries of God. This was particu- 
 larly the case in the diocese of Oitawii, whose first bishop was him- 
 
44 
 
 self jia Oblate. The youthful Brother Tabaret, as yet only in deacon's 
 orders, receives orders to leave for the far-off land. For him this is 
 the command of God. The voice of his superiors is the voice of 
 God, speaking into his soul, and saying : " Hearken and see, and 
 incline thine ear; and forget thy people and thy father's house." 
 (Psalm iv, 11.) Their voice is the voice of the God who, in the early 
 (lays of the human race, said to Abraham, destined to be father of a 
 great people, " Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred , 
 and out of thy father's house, and come into the land which I shall 
 show thee." (Gen. xii., 1.) Without a moment's hesitation he bids 
 farewell to his ancestral home and country. In this diocese he 
 arrived in the autumn of 1850. Thenceforth his country is Canada, 
 which he loved even as he had loved his beautiful France. Of this 
 love his works, more than his words, stand in noble testimony— even 
 as the Apostle St. John has expressed it: "Let us love not in word 
 nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth." (1 John, iii, 18.) 
 
 To make himself at once useful, he received, on the 21 st of Decem- 
 ber, 1850, at the hands of my venerated and ever to be lamented 
 predecessor, the sacred order of priesthood. Of Bishop Guigues, he 
 was a trusted counsellor, and became one of his Vicars-General. The 
 diocese of Ottawa, its clergy, its religious community, and many 
 of its faithful, the diocese of Ottawa alone enjoyed the blessings of 
 his rare and unwavering prudence in the exercise of the holy min- 
 istry. For about two years he devoted himself to the work of the 
 missions, and labored with zeal for the spiritual and temporal wel- 
 fare of those confided to his care. In this ministry he had experi- 
 ence of those difficulties which you, venerable clergy of the diocese 
 of Ottawa and of the Vicariate of Pontiac, have had to overcome. In 
 this ministry he acquired that practical knowledge and experience; 
 of which he gave us so often the benefit, either during our stay in 
 the seminary, or since we have had the care of souls, during pastoral 
 retreats, or in private spiritual communications. When he had in a 
 manner worthy all praise, for two years, fulfilled the burdensome 
 <Iuties of his missionary charge, he was called to the direction of the 
 College of Ottawa, and at the same time to the professorship of 
 theology for the young Levites destined for the priesthood. Of this 
 college, Mgr. Guigues had, from the first days of his episcopate; 
 understood the necessity. In fact, consecrated the 30th of July, he 
 laid the foundation of the first college edifice on the 20th of August 
 following, and the first entry of students was made in October of the 
 same year. This first institution of learning was a plain wooden 
 
45 
 
 building eighty feet long and three stories in height. Soon the need 
 of a more spacious building was keenly felt. Accordingly, in the 
 month of August, 1851, was begun the construction of a stone col- 
 lege on Sussex st., the very building now occupied by the devoted 
 Brothers of the Christian schools. On the 15th of September, 1852, 
 the pupils leaving the old entered with joy this new and commodious 
 building. Many of the Oblate Fathers had, for a brief period, filled 
 the responsible post of director of this youthful house of education, 
 whose beginnings gave much hope of success in the future. In 1853 
 Father Tabaret assumed the office and functions of superior, to hold 
 and exercise them for the rest of his life without other interruption 
 than that made necessary by his being appointed Provincial of the 
 Oblates in this country, an honor that the confidence and com- 
 mands of his superiors imposed on him. 
 
 Meantime the population of the city of Ottawa multiplied every 
 day, and it soon became necessary to commence on more extensive 
 grounds new buildings to make room for the ever increasing number 
 of students. 
 
 In 1856 my illustrious predecessor devoted his every energy to the 
 work of construction, but the Oblate Fathers, having entered into an 
 arrangement with this zealous prelate became, in the month of 
 August of that year, the proprietors of the grounds and of the 
 uncompleted works. The noble congregation of the Oblates of Mary 
 Immaculate, in taking definitive charge of the College of Ottawa, 
 sincerely desired to take upon itself, as its own special work, the 
 labors of ihis diocese and those of the whole country. 
 
 The success of the undertaking was thus assured, for the congre. 
 gation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate is ever faithful to its obli- 
 irations, and although it has done so much aheady for the country, 
 it never fails to win new laurels oy the devotedness of its mission, 
 aries, ever ready to face the greatest dangers, and meet death itself 
 in carrying to the remotest limits of our land the light of Divine 
 Faith. Ten years later the College of Ottawa was endowed with 
 university powers. Then it was that Father Tabaret, even before the 
 termination of his term of office as Provincial, reassumed his place 
 as Superior of the College, a place he lias just left for the home of 
 his eternal repose. 
 
 Having thus rapidly sketched the different phases in the life of ttm 
 truly superior man, let us pause a moment to reflect on the nobility 
 of his character and the greatness of the work he established. Of 
 
46 
 
 such reflection we all feel the neod, for everything was dear in 
 Father Tabaret, his person and his work. man of God, of his 
 model religions, of this enlightened director, of this priest after the 
 Master's own heart, we will ever preserve the memory. By reason 
 of the excellence of his exhalted nature, of the rectitude of his will 
 and his intelligence, he was fiist of all possessed in a remarkable 
 degree of the natural virtues, such as prudence, firmness, moder- 
 ation, integrity and generosity. 
 
 A man of lively faith, he, however, respected the claims of reason, 
 and in this regard thought as does Leo XIII who has written an 
 admirable encycUcal to show that faith and reason may and should 
 enter into alliance, faith aiding reason to raise itself to heights truly 
 sublime. Every noble effort of the human mind filled his heart with 
 joy, every useful and ingenious discovery received his plaudits. His 
 was a passion for the ti ue, the beautiful, and the good. His Christian 
 piety was wide in its range, but eminently practical, and had its best 
 realization in the discharge of well understood duty. This true piety 
 proceeded from the clear good sense of his faith and the rectitude of 
 his well balanced mind. From these two qualities sorang that 
 impartiality, that freedom from personal preferences, that equity 
 and justice, which lay at the foundation of his character. 
 
 But I must not lose sight of the fact that I have to divide my 
 eulogies between the workman and his work. "Every great idea," 
 says a wise man, " may be resumed in one word, every noble life is 
 typified in one work. Find this word, name this work, and of him 
 who conceived the one and reaUzed the other you have the most 
 beautiful panegyric," "What, then, was the thought, what the work 
 of this good religious whose memory shall of a truth never be for- 
 gotten by the hundreds of his pupils old and new that now crowd this 
 sanctuary. The word that expresses his great and absorbing idea is 
 education — the work of his noble life the College -or rather the 
 University of Ottawa. How he did love his college, to which he hail 
 consecrated bis talents, his heart and his life, from the very beginning 
 he sought to secure for this institution all the advantages of an 
 educational establishment of the first order, wherein the youth of 
 the land might be adequately prepared for the duties of the various 
 walks of life. His powerful mind widened his scope of view, multi- 
 plied and strengthened bis fund of knowledge. This indefatigable 
 superior studying more clearly and deeply the divers systems of 
 education, arrived at a more exact acquaintance with the actual 
 wants of the country. Of him may be said that which was affirmed 
 
47 
 
 of another : " Literature and human scioncos seemed to him to have 
 a gravity, a grandeur and a utility of a superior order. He had 
 grasped the Divine characteristics of their nature and of their 
 mission. For them his mind was imbued with that same esteem in 
 which Holy Church herself has ever held them." He well under- 
 stood that education, especially in the land and in the times in 
 which we live, should be essentially practical, since it has become 
 one of the first necessities of life. 
 
 Knowing what relation youth bears to church and to state, his 
 wish was to have it taught that which is juat, that which is good, that 
 which is praiseworthy ; his design to give society men of learning, 
 men of virtue, men, in a word, blessed with that self-control spoken 
 of in Genesis: "If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, 
 shall not sin forthwith be present at the door ? but the lust thereof 
 shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it*" (Gen . 
 iv, 7). No doubt had he concerning the necessity of that form of 
 education required in this age, when so many men seek the 
 rehabilitation of matter, when the pursuit of pleasure threatens to 
 absorb all others, and questions of natural well-being have oast sound 
 principles into the shade. See, said he, how cities become beautiful, 
 but man deteriorates. There must be prepared a generation, which, 
 while in a position to assure the progress of the country, must, at the 
 same time, be endowed with a virtue and moral force above mere 
 human knowledge. What he wished and worked for was to instruct 
 and strengthen our youth in virtue, to develop its intelligence for 
 the purpose of making its heart the seat of goodness and truth. 
 
 In 1874 he succeeded in surmounting the grave obstacles that 
 stood in the way of the realization of this vast plan of education that 
 he had conceived. His programme of studies, closely followed since 
 that time, has made the College of Ottawa a seat of learning in no 
 way inferior to any in the Dominion. The system that with good reason 
 he then adopted, I will term the university system — for under it each 
 professor has some branch of learning in his keeping, and thereby 
 bound to become a specialist. I had the advantage of explaining at 
 some length this system to our Holy Father Leo XIII, and this great 
 Pontifl that now rules with glory the Church of Christ was thereupon 
 pleased to express an ardent wish for the success of the College of 
 Ottawa. ,' ;■;;'■" ":': i:^.[L-'J..:r-:.r:.i. :■:'■-'. - 
 
 This work, in its entirety, is worthy our admiration, and our 
 approbation, for it realizes the grand ideas concerning the education 
 of youth of him whom we now lament. In fact, in the curriculum of 
 
43 
 
 this college, the object of his life-long solicitude, we find the elements 
 of the sciences, the various branches of a commercial course well 
 adapted to business exigencies; a classical course of a high order/ 
 and special course on the natural sciences, the necessity of which is 
 felt in this country, where we need not only notaries, lawyers and 
 physicians, but industrial operatives, engineers, chemists, mineral- 
 ogists, etc., etc., and crowning the whole structure is the course of 
 theology and ecclesiastical sciences. No fault is it of his that the 
 college has not yet been enabled to open courses of law and medicine. 
 Here in one establishment we have taught everything needed by 
 church and by state. Father Tabaret has in this institution realizad 
 liis design, for from it shall go forth citizens useful to the State, 
 Christian men submissive to the Church, ministers of religion capable 
 of instructing and edifying souls. No one, therefore, can be surprised 
 that Our Holy Father, Leo XIII, who loves to recompense those who 
 contribute to the diffusion of science, saw fit to confer on Father 
 Tabaret the title, honors and privileges of Doctor of Theology. Ho 
 had well merited this honor and this consolation, but it was not tho 
 only honor, not the only consolation that he enjoyed. The gratitude 
 of the old students of the college ever strongly encouraged him, and 
 for him there was something inexpressibly solemn and agreeable in 
 the spectacle every year offered by the numerous reunions of young 
 men sitting on the same benches, held captive by the same want and 
 desire, that of being instructed; for him it was a happiness of no 
 ordinary character to see every autumn a greaternumber of students 
 coming to seek the sequestered shelter of Catholic education. 
 To perpetuate and develop his work, he was happy in secur- 
 ing the aid of assistants animated with the same zeal and 
 the same devotedness. He prepared and organizoil a teaching body 
 that will never lower the standard of education. And here, for this 
 is the moment to say it, here let it be declared that he was admi- 
 rably seconded by his professors, generously aided by the entire 
 congregation, to such an extent that the work of Father Tabaret i« 
 not his so exclusively as not to be that of the Oblatos of Mary 
 Immaculate, and that it was his only because those devoted Fathers 
 had undertaken it. Enough, enough, our friend sleepeth in tho 
 liOrd. Amicus noster dormit. Death has stretched forth his arm 
 and arrested him in his career. Mortuua est. Why? Ah I I have 
 not the right to enquire into the impenetrable designs of Providence. 
 All that I have to say is this : " Precious in the sight of the Lord is 
 the death of his saints." (Psalm cxv, IT).) Aye, sudden as it was 
 
49 
 
 this death is precious, because this good Father expired in the arnn 
 of his brethren after receiving holy absolution and extreme unction, 
 for which he had consciousness enough in that supreme moment to 
 ask. " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." (Apoc. xiv, 13.) 
 Death in tho Tx»rd is the last and crowning blessing that can be 
 wi«hel for on eaith, for, as the sacred text has it: "From hence- 
 forth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors.'' 
 (Apoi , Jtiv, 13.) Well, indeed, may we claim that Father Tabaret 
 was worthy to hear this word of sovereign delight. Well may we 
 claim that he, an indefatigable servant of the jiaster, has won his 
 rest and refreshment, and having borne the burden of the day, has 
 entered into the bosom of Abraham. But it is for you, Reverend 
 Fathers, to prosecute his work to the end— for the Spirit of God hath 
 said : Opera enim illorum sequnlur illos — their works will follow 
 them. (Apoc. 13.) You have his work in hand, the work of his 
 heart, his life, and of his death. Now there is left me but one word 
 to say, the word of sadness and of sorrow, the last sad good bye. O, 
 Father I leave you now we must. In the name of all you loved, fare- 
 well ; in the name of Holy Church for which you labored, farewell j 
 in the name of the diocese of Ottawa, farewell; in the name of the 
 noble and generous congregation of the Oblates of the Immaculate 
 Mary, for which you were in Canada a veritable pillar, farewell j in the 
 name of the t-tudents of the College of Ottawa, present and past, 
 farewell ; in the name of all who have here gathered to render you a 
 parting homage, farewell. Farewell— farewell — not forever, but til 
 we meet above. 
 
60 
 
 MARKS OF SYMPATHY AND RESOLUTIONS OF 
 CONDOLENCE. 
 
 Before closing we may mention some proofs of the esteem and 
 respect in which Rev. Father Tabaret was held. 
 
 Among these testimonies of regret from important representative 
 persons, we have before us a copy of the letter to His Lordship the 
 Bishop of Ottawa fro a His Excellency the Governor General. This 
 letter speaks volumes for His Excellency's goodness of heart and for 
 the interest he takes in Canadian institutions. 
 
 Government House, March 1, 1886. 
 
 Mt Dear Lord Bishop, — I have just read in the morning paper the 
 
 sad news of Father Tabaret's death, and I cannot refrain from 
 
 expressing to you my sense of the great loss which the community 
 
 has sustained, and my sympathy with those who are mourning him. 
 
 It is a real calamity to the college, the success of which was so 
 closely identified with his enlightened guidance ; and the blow has 
 fallen with a suddenness which must render it, for the moment, 
 quite overwhelming. 
 
 If you have any opportunity of making known to the authorities 
 of the college my deep regret for their misfortune, and my regret for 
 the chief whom they have lost, I know you will be kind enough to 
 avail yourself of it. 
 
 I have the honor to be, my dear Lord Bishop, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 LANSDOWNE. 
 
 RKSOLUTIONS OF OONDOLENOU PASSED BY THE ORAUIJATBS OF OTTAW.i 
 
 COM.EUK. 
 
 Immediately after Rev. Father Tnbaret's death, the old pupils of 
 the college hastened to the side of the mortal remains of their 
 beloved father and passed the following resolutions : — 
 
 Whereas, it has pleased the Almighty Author of life and death, 
 whose ways are ever mysterious, to call to Himself the Very Kever 
 
51 
 
 end Joseph Tlenry Tabaret, O.MJ., D.D., President of the CoUeg*' of 
 Uttawa; 
 
 Avd whereas, as students, we learned to esteem and admire h'wi 
 for his scholarly attainment?, and for the virtues that «hone so 
 brightly in his unassuming life; and to reveie and love him for his 
 fatherly care and goodness of heart ; 
 
 And whereas, in subsequent years we ever found him a counsellor 
 and friend, n anifesting the same warm interest in our welfare 
 rejoicing with us in our successes, and sympathizing with us in our 
 reverses, thus increasing our affection and gratitude towarJs him ; 
 
 And whereas, while bowing in humble submission to the divine 
 will, we deplore the great loss we have sustained in his death, and 
 grieve with our Alma Mater in this our common bereavement and 
 affliction; 
 
 Resolved that, as a mark of our heartfelt sorrow and respect for 
 his memory, we wear the usual b.idge of mourning during one 
 month ; 
 
 And resrdved, that we, as an association, take part in the funeral 
 ceremonies on VVedne^iday next, and follow his remains to the grave ; 
 
 And resolued, that a copy of these resolutions be sent to the 
 Faculty of the ( oliege and to the papers for publication. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS PASSKD BY THR OTTAWA CITV COUNCIL. 
 
 At a meeting of the council of the corporation of the city of Ottawfi, 
 held on Monday, 1st March, 1886, it was 
 
 Moved by Aid. Heney, seconded by Aid. Durocher, 
 "That this council has heard with regret oF the sudden death of 
 the liev. Father Tabaret, for many years superior of the College of 
 Ottawa, and take this opportunity to testify to the great services 
 rendered by him in tho cause of education an<l to his maiy other 
 virtues." Carried unanimoaely. 
 
 Resolutions of condolence were also passed by the following 
 eocielies : — 
 
 Former students, now in the Montreal Seminary. 
 St. Patrick's Society of (Jttawa. 
 L'Union Saint Joaei)h d'Uttawa. 
 
59 
 
 L'Union Saint Joseph de Hull. 
 
 La Societe St. Pierie. 
 
 La Societe St Thomas. 
 
 Le Club Frontenac. 
 
 Ta >oci6te St. Jean Raptiste. 
 
 L'Institut Canadien Frangais. 
 
 The Board of Separate School Trustees. 
 
 Ever since Rey. Father Tabar^t's death the Faculty of the College 
 of Ottawa has been receiving letters of con lotence from all parts of 
 Canada and the United States. Among the eminent personages who 
 have given the deceased this toke:. of respect, and to his religious 
 family this proof of sympathy, we shall mention: 
 
 His Grace E. A. Tachereau, Archbishop of Quebec. 
 His Grace J. J. Lynch, Archbishop of l^oronto. 
 His Lordship Bisho{> Walsh of London. 
 HiB Lordship Bishop Whaddams of Ogdensburg. 
 His Lordship Bishop Fabreof Montreal. 
 His Lordship Bishop Lorrain, Vicar Apostolic of Pontiac. 
 Mgr. Raymond, formerly Superior of St Hyacinthe College. 
 The Superiors of all the Catholic Colleges of Quebec. 
 A great number of priests and of former students, and many dis- 
 tinguished citizens, botu of Canada and the United States. 
 
 These testimonies of regret are not the only ones the Faculty 
 had to record. Whilst the body of Rev. Father Tabaret was lying in 
 state, the entire city came hither. Around the remains was a pro^ 
 fusion of flowers offered by the friends of the Rev. Father and of 
 his iuBtitution. 
 
 A very rich cross with cushion, given by the former students of the 
 College of Ottawa. 
 A cross of flowers, three feet high, by the present students. 
 A cross and crown by the Sisteis of the Good Shepherd. 
 Two crowns by the Grey Nuns. 
 
 A crown by the Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady. 
 An anchor, » cross, and a crown by Mr. W. Davis and his sons. 
 A crown by Mr. J C. Roger. 
 A crown by Mr. P. H. Chabot. 
 A crown by Mrs. Ryan. , 
 
 A crown by Mrs. Dnfrerae. 
 
 Did not space forbid we would have wished to quote the news- 
 papers which have jmned in the common grief, or rather, aa many 
 
53 
 
 of them said, " national grief," caused by the death of Rev. Father 
 Tabaret. Suffice it to say that the press, both Protestant and Catho- 
 lic, has been unanimous in its eulogy of the deceased, and in the 
 sympathy expressed towards those who are to continue his work. 
 
 On the first of April, a "month's mind" was solemnly celebrated 
 in St. Joseph's Church, in presence of the faculty and students of 
 the college, of a large number of friends, and of the entire parish. 
 On that occasion. Rev. Father Whelan, parish priest of St. Patrick's, 
 Ottawa, pronounced the funeral oration of him whom he venerated 
 as a father, and who in return loved him as a son. 
 
 Resqulescat in Pace.