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This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmA au taux da rAduction indiquA ei-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X 1 • J 12X 16X aox 24X 28X 32X Th« copy film«d h«r« has b««n r«produe«d thank* to th« ganaroaity of: Naw Brunswick MuMum Saint John L'axamplaira fllm4 fut raproduH grica i la g4niroait6 da: Nmw Bniniwick Musaum Saint John Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality poaaibia conaMaring tha condition and lagibillty of tha original copy and in kaaping with tiM filming contract apaeificationa. Laa imagaa auhrantaa ont 4t* raproduitaa avac la plua grand coin, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattatA da l'axamplaira film*, at an conformiti avac laa conditiona du eontrat da fllmaga. Original copiaa in printad papar covar* ara flimad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or iliuatratad impraa- tion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara filmad baginning on tha firat paga with a printad or iliuatratad impraa- •ion, and anding on tlia laat paga with a printad or iliuatratad impraaaion. Laa axamplairaa originaux dont la couvartura an papiar aat imprimte sont filmte an comman9ant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la damiAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraaaion ou dliluatration, soit par ia sacond plat. Mion la caa. Toua laa autras axamplairas originaux sont filmte an commandant par la pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta dimpraaalon ou d'illuatration at an tarminant par la damiira paga qui comporta una taila amprainta. Tha laat raeordad frama on aach microficha •liaii contain tha symbol —^(moaning "CON- TINUED"). or tha symbol ▼ (moaning "END"), whicliavar appliaa. Un daa symbolaa suivanta apparaftra sur la damlAra imaga da chaqua microficha, salon la caa: la aymboia — *• signifia "A SUiVRE", la aymboia ▼ signifia "FIN". Mapa, piataa, cfiarta. ate., may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratioa. Thoaa too iarga to ba antiraly inciudad in ona axpoaura ara filmad baginning in tfia uppar laft iMnd comar, laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa m raquirad. Tha following diagrama iliustrata tha mathod: l.aa cartaa, planchaa, tabiaaux. ate, pauvant Atra filmia i daa taux da rMuction diff Grants. I^raqua la documant aat trap grand pour itra raproduit an un saul clicti4, ii aat film* A partir da I'angia supMaur gaucha, da gauciia A droita, at da haut m* bw, an pranant la nombra d'imagaa nicassaira. Laa diagrammaa suivants iilustrant la mithoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Il )ers lad lad the )eer they ible to fl md renc md Tl is ds Jsta jisci lec phoi ind rela Spei rro' CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. 161 CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. BY REV. E. C. CUMMING8. Read before the Maine IliBtorical Society, January 25, 1894. If, instead of staying at Saint Sauveur, the mem- Wbers of Madame de Guerchville's missionary expedition lad sailed on to Pentagolit, had discovered the route to ladesquit, wherever that may have been, and escaped the irruption of Argal, still their situation would have )een exposed and isolated, and it seems unlikely that they c uld have held their ground for any consider- ible time. It required a larger current of colonization |to float the treasure of the church in a savage realm ; and this larger current found its way up the St. Law- rence, and on to the vast group of mediterranean lakes, md so to the boundless prairies of the West. The next Jesuit relation is for the year 1626, and Is dated at Quebec, August first. Here were already Sstablished the Recollects Fathers. These were Fran- jiscans of the strict observance, and much esteemed )y Henry iv, Louis xiii, and Louis xiv. Their name lecollects, as it is given in the Catholic dictionary, was [shosen to signify their detachment from creatures, ind their spiritual recollection in the divine life. The relation for 1626 is by Father Charles Lalement, and Speaks of five as making up the company that broke fround again in New France. They arrived at the end ':'.;^frM'^ i 162 MAINE niSTORICAL SOCIETY. I i ^ of June, 1625, and employed the months of July and August in writing letters, and making themselves acquainted with the country. They appear to have been at first the guests of the R^collets Fathers, as the relation speaks of their desire to relieve these Fathers of the inconvenience they had occasioned them. So, after much consideration of different places and mature advice, on the first of September, they planted the holy cross in the place they had chosen, with all possible solemnity. The Reverend R^colleta Fathers and all the prominent French colonists gave their assistance, and after dinner they all set them- selves to work. The relation proceeds: — "We have since steadily continued, we five, to uproot the trees and to spade the ground as long as the weather per- mitted." But even during these labors their minds were intent upon the great purpose of acquiring the language of the country. From this time onward the importance of the Jesuit Fathers to French enterprise in America, as well as the importance of French enterprise in America to the Jesuit Fathers, was clearly recognized. The mission- ary teaching was an essential element in the aspira- tions of French colonists. Serious and able men like Champlain wore fast friends and faithful coadjutors of the missionaries, while the best minds of whatever calling, interested in the destinies of New Fran;je, were bent upon winning the friendship and cooperation of the native tribes, and upon making those tribes capable of enjoying with them the advantages and duties ol a Christian civilization. It was but a little CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. 163 of July and themselves pear to have Fathers, as elieve these occasioned ferent places tember, thev r had chosen, nd R^collets olonists gave ill set them- — " We have )ot the trees weather per- their minds acquiring the of the Jesuit ja, as well us merica to the The mission- n the aspira- able men like coadjutors of of whatever Fran je, were !Ooperation of those tribes vantages and as but a little Iwhile before many of the Indians became acquainted kwith the Fathers, and would ask for news of Father iLaleraent or Father Masse or Father Brebeuf, pro- pouncing their names with great propriety. In the relation for 1633, by Father LeJeune, there |are notices of a very interesting character, setting forth the wise and considerate treatment of the sav- lages on the part of Cham plain. He appeals to the Ipractical proofs of friendliness on his own part and on )ehalf of his nation ; and when the Indian orator, with m eloquence that surprised his cultivated listeners, set forth his desire that his people should not ally them- selves with the English, but should hold on in their friendship with the French, the orator's great fear ras that some one might be killed in this commerce )f Indians and French, since not all the world is rea- sonable or soberly advised, and then his people would )e lost. But the thing he desired was that the French should come to their good lands, build a small house, ind then a larger one with proper defenses, and then )ne larger still, and that they should all go in and out faithful friends. Champlain concluded the confer- ince by telling them that, when that house should be )uilt, the sons of the French would marry their daugh- ters, end they would all be but one peopl.e. On another occasion [1633, page 36], Champlain "took care to say the best things of the Jesuit Fathers, assuring the Indians present that the Fathers were joing into their country to see them as a proof of low much affection the French had for them. 164 MAINE niSTORICAL SOCIETT. If. If ' i These are our Fathers, lie said to them — we love them more than we love our children or ourselves. Great account is made of them in France. It is not hunger or poverty that brings them into this country. They do not come to look at your goods or your furs. You see Louis Amantacba here of your own nntion, who knows them, and who knows well tliat I say what ig true ; if you love the Frem-h, as you say you do, love these Fathers, honor them, they will teach you the way to heaven. This is what has made them leave their country and tlieir frii-nds and all comforts and conveniences — to teach you, and especially to teach your children a knowledge so great and necessary. To such words as these two chiefs replied in turn with the strongest expressions of confidence and good will. One of them said that when the French were no longor here, the earth was no more the eartii, the river was no more the river, the sky was no more the sky ; but at the return of the Sieur de Champlain, everything came back to its proper state, the earth was again the earth, the river became once more the river, and the sky appeared the sky. The other chief confessed how much the savages were all subject to fears on account of their enemies; but he added that the Sieur de Champlain inspired fear by his very looks ; that in war with one glance of his eye he struck terror into the hearts of the enemy. Therefore the young men must remember what had been said to them, and never pretend that these things had not been talked over in full council. He called their at- tention, that henceforth they might render obedience. The conclusion of the council was the assurance on the part of Father Brebeuf in their own language that the Fathers were going with them to live and die, m' I CAPrCIlIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT rENTAOOET. 105 »liod in turn ce and good French were e earth, the no more the Champlain, e, the earth ce more the i other chief II subject to J added that by his very lye he struck herefore the een said to ngs had not led their at- r obedience, issurance on mguage that ive and die, ^hat the savages were their brothers, that they were )f the same nation with the savages ; and, if the Tathers could not stay in all their villages, it was not )ecause they did not love the whole nation, but be- 5ause being so few they could not dwell in so many )laces at once ; yet thoy hoped for more of the breth- ren to come. Great satisfaction was expressed by the latives; and the Fathers were asked to open their learts as to what they wanted: "Will you live in our sabins ? or would you prefer to have a cabin apart ? " I" I should choose to have one apart " said the Father. ?* Very well," they replied, " we will all make our jabins around you." [1633, pages 36, 37.] I gather these typical representations, almost in the rery language of Father LeJeune's relation, that we lay see what was the large humanity and keen )ractical judgment that governed the conduct of the Fesuit Fathers twenty years after the destruction of Jaint Sauveur. They were indeed too few for an irmy of occupation, but for a corps of observation they were not too many ; and, they were of unoqualed intelligence, courage, initiative and devotion. A spirit- ual enterprise of equal difficulty and danger under- taken by men of a similar intellectual training and soldierly discipline can hardly be found in the history of mankind. In reading their relations we see how the current of events got its direction ; and are at the source whence all the historians of New France have drawn both matter and inspiration. But no history at second hand has such correlation of facts, such clearness of outline and vividness of coloring, such 166 MAINE HISTORICAL SOOIETT. N pervading and particular demonstration of reality, as have these faithful and detailed reports. They appear to have been as special a matter of official duty as the dispatches of any commander in ordinary warfare. Indeed, so full of picturesque charm as well as of historical significance are these relations with re- spect both to the Jesuits themselves and the native to whom they ministered, that I am not content to leave them without presenting at least two somewhat complete illustrations : — one a picture of what I may call a diplomatic conference with chiefs representing their people, the other a smaller sketch of the Jesuit method of primary instruction. [163G, pages 60, 61, 62.] The chief of the Tadoussac savages being at Quebec with an escort of his people, who were going to war, desired to speak in council to monsieur the governor, to monsieur the general, in a word to the French. Tiie chief of the savages at Quebec was present. The assembly was held in the store of the company, where I found myself by order of monsieur the governor. Each party being seated, the French on one side, the savages on the other, the chief of Tadoussac began his oration (d haranguer). He was clothed in the French manner, in a very handsome dress under a scarlet overcoat. As he was about to speak he took off his hat, and bowed (,/?< une reverence) with much propriety after the French manner {aaaez gentiment d, la Franfoiae), then ad- dressing himstir to the chiefs, especially to Monsieur du Plessis, whom hb ciilled his younger brother, — " You see," said he, " that I am French; you know, my brother, that my nation holds me for such ; they thmk that I have the happiness of being loved by the chieftains, and that I am their relative ; as to myself you know that I have the heart of a Frenchman. I have always loved you ; ought I to have any doubt of your reciprocal affec- tion? Tell me, I pray you, if I may count upon your friendship, CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAOOET. Ifi7 lifl you are assured of mine ? " Having said that, he waited to bear the reply. Wht-n they had assured hira of their friendship, le proceeded : " My compatriots press me strongly to test the credit which I have with you. They believe that you are my Iriends, but they would see it by proofs. What word shall I take to them yonder, where I am going to find them ? You enow that it is the mark of friendH to succor those whom they llove in time of need. The succor which you shall give us in lour wars shall be the faithful testimony of your friendship. four denial of help will cover my face with confusion." Such [very nearly was the discourse of this barbarian, which astonished lonsicur our governor. The other chief, taking up the word, said : ** When the weather lis bad we go into our houses, we take our coverings, we shut our Idoors to protect ourselves from the discomforts of the air; now Ibehold us in a season of war very distressing, we have not force [enough to protect us from our enemies, we seek your aid, do not [refuse it ; your friend conjures you ; if you do not lend him a ihand, you will see him disappear in the onslaught of his enemies ; lyou will seek him with eyes and mouth, demanding where is isuch an one, who loved us so much, and whom we love ? Learn- ling of his disaster, you will be sad, and your heart will say to lyou, ' If we had given him succor, our eyes would still have [pleasure in seeing him, and our heart in loving him, and now, [behold, we are in bitterness ; ' now it depends upon you to save lyourselves from this anguish, and to give yourselves the con- Itentment of seeing him return from the fight full of life and of fglory." I add nothing to the discourse of this savage, he touched [upon all these reasons and many others, which he drew out {gravely in his own language. An old mau, all hoary, spoke afterwards in the ancient manner. iThese good people had caused to be thrown down at the feet of lour chieftains a package of beaver skins, according to a custom [they have of making [)resefit8 when they wish to obtain anything. [It was from this the old man began : " When we visit the peoples who are our neighbors and allies, we make them presents, which i speak while we are silent. Those who receive these presents, i I 168 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ,.l MV^ Hi ., A turn'mjj to tlielr younj» people tiddresH thorn In this mjinncr: •Couriifjo, young men, make your generosity to hoNCon. Behold tliese beautiful roheH, which await you on your return from war; remember thoHO who have made these giftH, and kill many u( their eneinieH.' " " You see liere a good custom " naid this old man. *• You ought to observe it as well as we." From this point the subject was taken up in the way of reply, to wit, th.at, though they should fill the house with beavers, war was not to be undertaken for the sake of their i)re8ent8 ; that we bring succor to our friends not for the hope of any reconipense, but for the sake of their friendship; that, for the rest, men were not brought over for them as wo did not know they were at war; thiit those they were looking at did not all hear arms, and that those who loTe arms were not content that the siivages had not as yet allied themselves with the French by any marriage, and that it was plainly to bo seen that they were not willing to be the siime people with us, as they gave their children this way and that way to the nations their allies, and not to the French. Tlie chief of Tadoussac replied that the method of m.iking a strong alliance w.is to give proof of our courage and good will; for, saitl he, "your young men returning from war after the massacre of our enemies will have no trouble in obtaining some of our daughters in marritige." " As for the children," said ho, "where does one see .anything else than little savages in the houses of the French? One sees boys there; one sees girls there. "What m^re do you w;int ? I believes that one of these days our wives will be demanded of us. You ask us continu.ally for our children, and you do not give us yours. I know of rio family among us, which li.as in its keeping any French child." Alonsicur the governor, hearing this reply, said to me, I do not know th.at a Roman senator could have answered more to the point on the subject proposed. I agreed with him that in France they made our savages much more thick headed {massifs) than they are. But we put an end to tliis assembly. It was replied that the Late Monsieur de Champlain of good memory had succored them in war, and even for that they had not allied themselves with us; ii) CArrCIIIN ANT) .TESriT PATnEnS AT I'ENTAOOKT. !(»{) they were given to undurHtand that their cljildrcn wore wanted only for the purpose of inMtrueting them, and that wo might one day he the same peopUs with tliem ; lliat wo iiad no need other- wise to hiirdtMi ourselves with the chililron ; that if wo did not give them imy of ours, it was for ihe reason of tlieir demanding Bo great recompense, tiiougli liaving nothing with which to nourish them, while we supported and instructed theirs at no expense to them. Tliis truth brought them to a dead stand. As to what concerned the war it was showii them tliat neither a large nundter nor a small number of Frenchmen could be furnished to them. As to giving them a large number they saw plainly that the thing couht not bo done, since the vessels could not be deprived of their men ; and as for a small nundur, our Frenchmen would not go with them for the re.ison, as tin y said, that the savages did not know how to obey and to hold the foot firm in war, at the first fancy tliey fly away like birds, which makes it necessary for the French being but a smidl number to take to fliglit also, a thing of which they are very much ashamed ; for among us those who run arc mocked at. Brave soldiers such as wo are will concpier or die. They were satislied with these reasons, and the council ended. It is not to be presumed that all sa^aj^ea were equally candid, but this is a good example of French humanity and French adroitness in dealing with them. They did not undertake to convey their teaching apart from the actual public and social emergencies in connection with which personal duty becomes press- ing, and moral incidcation is felt to be appropriate. Equally vivid and interesting is the desciiption of their method with cliildren, in laying up in their memories and imaginations the types of language and ritual, through which they might the more etl'octually reach a spiritual appreciation of the facts and doctrines of Christianity. This matter is presented iu the rela- ^ Ltr.i 170 MAINE niSTORIOAL SOCIETY. . ?i?M tion for 1637, chapter vii. Arrived at the chapel the boys were placed on one side and the girls on the other, while the French boys and girls were placed at the side of the little savages, that they might aid by their example the process of initiating the untamed children in the actions required. The little girls were beyond comparison more tractable than the boys, and immensely fond of the little French girls, and ambi- tious of imitating thair ways. The relation says : — Before beginning their instruction I made them kneel with me ; we began by the sign of the cross, pronouncing these words, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, first in Latin, then in Savage ; I said a little prayer in their lan- guage, to ask the aid of the Holy Spirit and grace to believe in God ; they all said it with me. That done each took his place. Very often the grown-up savages presented themselves with the little ones. They did as a rule what they saw me do. When each one was seatedv I pronounced quietly the Pater, or the Credo, which I have put into a sort of measure that we may be able to chant it. They followed me word for word, learning it readily by heart. When we had learned some couplet or stanza, we chanted it, in which they took great delight ; the oldest even chanted with them. After the chanting I made them repeat after me certain questions and answers concerning our faith, which they retained remarkably well, and gave me a good ac- count of afterwards, reply? ng to all my questions without stum- bling, though at times I put them in a new form. Then I made them a little discourse either on some article of the creed, or about the last things, or else refuting, perhaps ridiculing, their foolish belief. In conclusion they all knelt to ask of our Lord grace to remember what had been taught them, his light to en- able them to believe in him, and strength to obey him, together with his protection against the malice of the devil. In this way the explication of our catechism was gone through with, after which we had them warm themselves, and often set out for them h' CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. 171 some little repast, before and after which they prayed to God in the manner of Christians. It may easily be imagined with what breadth and ingenuity such primitive and formal lessons would be expanded and adjusted to the growing demands of the young learners. And this general method we may take to have been that of all the Jesuit missions. The relation for 1635 is signed not only by the writer, Father Paul LeJeune, Superior of the Resi- dence at Quebec, but also by fourteen other Fathers and four lay brethren. From the general cast of the communication I infer that these nineteen constituted the whole force of Jesuit missionaries in New France at that time, from Lake Huron to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But what especially concerns my present purpose is that two names are here of persons whom we met twenty-two years back. They were both at Saint Sauveur ; one, Father Ennemond Masse, having come over with Father Biard in 1611, and the other, Father Claude Quantin, having arrived with Captain de la Saussaye, 1613. Men of experience and reso- lution such as these two must have acquired, would not forget a name so important as Pentagoet in the story of their first missionary adventure, no matter to what "fresh woods and pastures new" their subse- quent work might have led them. Besides, the wan- dering habits of the native tribes, and their habitual alertness for attack or defense, served the purpose of postal arrangements as well as of written or printed communications. From +he valley of the Kennebec, the Penobscot, the St. uohn, messengers came to the ^ 172 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. SK* ^ 1 i;) ^w\u i ^ •'■?!^ valley of the St. Lawrence ; and in " the Residence of our Lady of the Angels," so the humble g^athering place of the Fathers near Quebec was called, what messenger would be accounted an angel of God, if not one from Acadia asking for missionaries to repair the desolations of twenty years or more since those parts had begun to catch the light of a new era ? Had Father Masse and Father Quantin forgotten Acadia ? The Jesuit Fathers were indomitable explorers, not only in their personal journey ings, but also by investigations about tribes and regions beyond their journeyings through intercourse with savages who claimed to speak advisedly with regard to them. Thus remoter peoples were always reporting themselves, probably with more or less of exaggeration, through those who came in contact with the missionaries ; so that their verifiable geography and ethnography were always gathering a penumbra out of the vast unknown to enlarge their faith and hope respecting the future conquests of the kingdom of God. Chapter x, in the relation of New France for 1640, gives a kind of general census {denombrement) of certain tribes having their borders in part on the banks of the great river St. Lawrence. The writer, Father LeJeune, begins with the Esquimaux, on the north coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, very bar- barous and great enemies of the Europeans ; but there are reports of other little tribes on the same coast. Then he comes to Tadoussac, Quebec, Three Rivers, always mentioning tribes farther off with whom the P^ .- if i CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. 173 nearer tribes have commerce. Tie arrives at the Ot- tawa river and goes on with his reckoning of nations as far as the Hurons " at the entrance of the Sweet Sea ;" six nations between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, then called La Riviere des Prairies. He makes a turn to hike Nipissing, and then back to " the Sweet Sea," which is nothing else than a vast lake, on to other Sweet Seas, and sums up with — " here are the nations which border upon these great lakes, or these seas, on the coast of the North." Further on through these great lakes, further details of tribes; and he has been told this year that an Algonquin, journeying beyond these peoples, had arrived at nations exceedingly populous. " I saw them," said the reporter, " assembled as in a fair to buy and sell, in such multitudes that one could not count them." " He gave an idea," adds the Father, " of cities in Europe. I do not know how much truth there is in the story." Later comes a similar review of the southern shore of the St. Lawrence. Farther up than the rapids of St. Louis, now the La Chine rapids, are found he says, " fine nations to the south, all comparatively settled and very numerous." I could make my page quite Homeric by giving a list of twenty-nine of these nations taken from a Huron map which Father Paul Rayfueneau had furnished to Father Le Jeune. "Be- hold here," adds the Father, '* a beautiful field for laborers in the Gospel, and already well planted here and there with the cross." But this is not all ; we are led down by Cape Breton 174 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. %'4 I 1 '% . I-!; to the Atlantic coast, or, as the writer calls it, the Sea of Acadia, and the j^reat rivers of Maine ; the Eteche- mins, the people of Pentagoet, the Abenakis and others come in for considerate mention, though they are small communities. And so we are brought to what pertains more especially to our local history. On the twenty-seventh of March, 1632, Isaac de Razilly, a man distinguished in his country's service, a relative of Cardinal Richelieu, and high in his favor, entered into an agreement with the Company of New France with reference to a renewal of French enter- prise in Acadia after the treaty of iSaint-Germain-en- Laye, by which Acadia was restored to France ; England having laid claim to it especially after the operations of Captain Argal, on the ground of its discovery by Cabot, and the whole of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and the Gasp^ peninsula having been granted by King James i, to Sir William Alexander, in 1621. Razilly was to receive from the Cardinal a vessel called L'esperance en Dieii, duly armed and provided. He was to receive also ready money, in consideration of which he was to put the Company of New France in possession of Port Royal without any further charges. He engaged also to fit out an armed pinnace of at least one hundred tons, and to carry out to Acadia three Capuchin friars and such a company of men as the Company of New France should judge to be proper. This is the earliest, almost the only mention that I find of the Capuchins in America outside the Jesuit relations. It is made by Hannay, History of 4^1 m ^1 ;M CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. 175 Acadia, page 126. Similar slight reference to them, not always by name, may be found in other works ; but this announces their modest entrance upon the scene, under the auspices of Richelieu, in the follow- ing of Razilly and his lieutenant Charles de Menou, Seigneur d' Aulnay de Charnisay. It is undoubtedly to the settlement of the latter at Pentagoet that is due a little hospice of the Capuchin Fathers, subse- quently estfiblished in that place, according to the Abb<3 Maurault, about 1640. The Capuchin father is a familiar figure to sojourn- ers in Rome, with his coarse snuff-brown frock and " rope that goes all round " — bare for much of the 3? ear as to his head and feet, only the feet protected with san- dals, and the head, when the hair and beard need to be reinforced in extreme weather, availing itself of a hood or cowl {capuchon) from which the name of the order is taken. The reason is that early in the six- teenth century a Franciscan with a tendency to strict observance found out, as he thought, that the whole company of Franciscans were wearing cowls not so long, nor so peaked, as St. Francis had worn, and in- sisted, in the interest of outside orthodoxy, upon bring- ing the cowl back to its original shape. Under his leadership, therefore, a distinct order was instituted called Capuchins (Cowlists). This scrupulosity about a thing seemingly indifferent did not hinder the Capuchins from having in their company men of every Christian virtue, distinguished scholars and great preachers. So the Fathers of Pentagoet were likely to be zealous missionaries under their reformed habit •;-'^i i1 . li^ 176 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. I ' W " ir i m. and quaint name without so much as a thought of the length and peakedness of their hoods. Assuming tiiat the Capuchin Fathers came to Pen- tagoijt in the d' Auhiay following, at what date did they depart ? We know that the English took pos- session of the whole province of Acadia in 1654, and held it to the year 1667, when it was restored to the French by the treaty of Breda. This English con- quest together with the fierce irruptions of the Iro- quois was very discouraging to the missionaries and to their savage followers. I have not come upon any record of a summary and sudden withdrawal of forces as tile immediate consequence of English supremacy ; but there can be no doubt that withdrawal in due time took place, and that with it there was a considerable immigration of the Abenakis to the more secure regions of the St. Lawrence and to settlements established under Jesuit auspices. The statement of the Abb^ Maurault, \_Hlstoire des Abenakis, page 165] that " it was while the English were enjoying this conquest that the Jesuit Fathers and the Capuchin Fathers left Acadia, is amply justified. This would make it not incredible that the Capuchins had even fifteen years in their hospice at Pentagoet. But on what day they embarked from France, with what outfit and what promises of support, on what day they landed at Pentagoet, how many of them and their names, whether their hospice was a life-saving station for wrecked mariners and stray hunters, what animals or boats they had, what records they kept of service and hospitality, whether they learned the Abenaki speech, \P\ I" ' CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. 177 ne to Pen- t date did took pos- 1654, and red to the nglish con- of the Iro- maries and 3 upon any I of forces iipremacy ; in due time ^nsidcrable ire re] that "it > conquest ill hers left ike it not een years ' day they and what anded at r names, ation for tiimals or rvice and ^i speech, gathered to the French settlement a native society, |hat reports they made and to whom, how they passed leir day, who of them died and were buried, what )oks, hymns, prayers, they used, did they cultivate le ground, did flowers grow in their gardens, did they laintain the courage of their convictions under the Pressure of their exile ? On these and a hundred Ither questions there is silence like that of Houdon's Irand statue of St. Bruno in Rome, at which Pope Element xiv used to gaze in rapt attention, and by id by say: "he would speak, if it were not for- bidden by the rule of his order." The rule of their order, however, did not forbid le Capuchins from holding correspondence with the Tesuits, and it is through the Jesuits that this obscure Ipisode appears lighted up with a brief radiance of luman and Christian fellowship. It is a bright picture '|Which Father Lalement gives in his relation for 1647, *!l>f Father Dreuilletes' Mission of the Assumption to the country of the Abenaquis : — The savage, his guide, seeing himself upon the shores of the )ea of Acadia, took (conduiait) the Father in his little bark lanoe as far as Pentago3t, where he found a little hospice of 3apuchin Fathers, who embraced him with the love and charity rhich any one may count upon from their goodness. The Rev- erend Father Ignatius, of Paris, made him all the Welcome [»ossible. After having refreshed himself for some time with |hese good Fathers he reembarks in his canoe and makes his l^eturn passage through the English settlements which he had nsited on his way. The Sieur Chaste furnished him with ibundant provisions for his voyage, and gave him letters to the English who were in command at Kinibeki, in which he testified that le had remarked nothing in the Father that was not most praise- VoL. V. 12 •I; 178 MAINE HISTORICAL 80CIETT. I worthy, that lie was moved by no commercial considerations, that the savages would bear witness that he was thinking only of their instruction, and was come to secure their salvation at the risk of bis own life — in a word that he (the Sieur Chaste) ad- mired the Father's courage. Father Dreuilletes' labors in the Mission of the Assumption were intermittent. His assistance was needed elsewhere ; and, after any visit to the Kennebec of such duration as to prove not only the crying need but the hopeful efficiency of his efforts, he was by and by recalled to Quebec to the great sorrow of his savage disciples. There was too, apparently, a cer- tain missionary courtesy of the Jesuit Fathers and the Capuchin Fathers, like that which now prevails among our foreign missionaries, which required a considerate respect on the part of one order for the field of opera- tions occupied by the other. The Jesuits had for a while hoped, it seems, that the Capuchin Fathers might be able to render such Christian ministrations to the Abenakis of the Kennebec as well as to those of the Penobscot, as would leave them wholly to their work in Canada. It is a matter of interest, therefore, that in the relation for the year 1651, we have a letter from the Superior of the missions of the Reverend Capuchin Fathers in Acadia, the Reverend Father Cosrae de Mante, dated in the year 1648, from what place we are not told. The letter is held to have been very encouraging to the Jesuit visitations on the Kennebec, and was in these words : — We conjure your Reverences by the sacred charity (dilection) of Jesus and Mary, for the salvation of those poor souls that call CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAOOET, 179 consideration!, is thinking only salvation at the eur Chaste) ad. ission of the ssistance was the Kennebec B crying need J, he was by sorrow of his rently, a cer- thers and the [•evails among a considerate field of opera- its had for a chin Fathers ministrations as to those of oily to their 3st, therefore, have a letter he Reverend jrend Father i, from what leld to have itionson the rity (dilection) ' Bouls that call l>u to the south, to give them all the help your courageous and ^defatigable benevolence (charite) can afford them ; and even if your way to the Kennebec you should meet with some of our ^der {dea ndatrea) that you would do us the pleasure of making lown to them your wants ; nnd that, if you do not meet any of 3m, you will continue, if it seem good to you, your holy in- ructions to these poor and neglected barbarians to the utmost ^hich your service of love will permit. The Capuchin Fathers probably had not the intel- Bctual aptitudes and soldierly discipline of their Jesuit rethren ; were less fitted to hold their ground in the rduous struggle with barbarism, and through the try- ig vicissitudes of French and English competition, ^nce gone these ghostly forms did not revisit the |limpses of the moon on the Pentagoet shores. We )nor their brief memorial, and bid them farewell. The Jesuit Fathers, with their base of operations on ;^he St. Lawrence, could hold on in hope of better lllmes. Acadia had always been a discouraging field 'W^ reason of the quarrels of the French leaders with jUlne another, together with the growing strength and ;^^gressiveness of the English. The visits of Father :||)reuilletes on the Kennebec, though repeated and patiently protracted, were little more than missionary rcursions ; while the interesting diplomatic episode, which the Father was commissioned to negotiate 'i0n alliance between the colonies of New England and ^iifew France together with the Abenakis, against the lijhroquois, resulted in bitter disappointment to the fri'rench and Abenakis ; the men of Plymouth and Mas- '^ iachusetts Bay having, after due deliberation, appar- wtntly concluded that it was more to their advantage •;! f- t I'l ; I '■*■ 180 MAINE HISTORICAL 80CIETT. to take the chance of using the Iroquois against their French and Abenaki neighbors, than to take the chance of using their French and Abenaki neighbors against the Iroquois. With the retirement of the missionaries, there was, as has been already intimated, a gradual withdrawal of the native population to the St. Lawrence valley, and, in 1683, the gathering of important settlements under Jesuit auspices. Here the Abenakis, tired of war and wandering, were offered at least a temporary repose. They were permitted again to see their teachers. From among the Jesuit Fathers two brothers, James and Vincent Bigot, were chosen to have charge of these Abenaki settlements. They strengthened the things that re- mained, always listening to catch any news from the Kennebec and Penobscot waters. After the treaty of Breda, 1667, affairs in Acadia assumed gradually a more collected and consistent character. The volume of colonial life was increased, the ambitious conflicts of lordly adventurers were ar- rested, and the progress of the new society began to show an order of its own. At this period comes in the remarkable and familiar career of the Baron de Saint-Castin. According to the Abbe Maurault, himself a missionary to the Abenakis from 1847 to 1866, and possibly still longer, who studied their history and even their genealogies with a dutiful attention, leaving the results of his labors in his Histoire des Abenakis — the marriage of European adventurers of every sort with native women CArUCHlN AND JESUIT FATHKHS AT PENTAOOET. 181 was for a tirao very common, and not unknown even BO late as 1700. The baron married a cliief's daugh- [ter, * in view, doubtless, of the advantages which such I an alliance would be likely to secure, namely, domes- tic comfort, social ascendency, freedom of trade, and I resources of defense or offense. At any rate, all these [advantages he appears to have realized in an eminent [degree. His fort and trading-house, his French and [Indian following, established at Pentagoet, became a source of confidence or alarm according to the inter- [ests that were fostered or menaced from this center of [intelligence and force. Here Saint-Castin resided from a little after 1676 till 1708, when he went back I to inherit his patrimony in France, leaving his eldest son to follow up his new-world initiative, and to enjoy, [if he could, a similar favor of fortune. He died in !1722. Towards 1689, the Jesuit Fathers, encouraged by j their wonderful success with the Abenakis in Canada, I resolved to undertake new missions in Acadia, that [now for thirty years had been left to darkness and [ignorance. Father Vincent Bigot was sent to Penta- igoet, accompanied by his brother, Father James Bigot, Iwho left for some time his mission of Saint Francois |de Sales, on the river Chaudi^re. These two missionaries gathered a great number of [Abenakis in the fort of the Bfiron de Saint-Castin. [They built there, it is said, a church, sixty feet long Iby thirty feet broad, and a house for the residence of |the missionary. It is to be noted also that in this very ' 9oe roforonoo to the Isauo of this raavrlajjo In Father Rasles' letter to hit lepUovT : Culluctions of &Iatae Ulatorical Society. Series 11, Vol. 4, p. 185. 182 MAINK HISTORICAL 80CIETT. ¥■' i| k If .1 I year Father Rasles arrived in Quebec ; and, this new missionary, after two yeara with the Abenakis in Canada and two more with the Illinois, wae recalled from the far west, and passed the remainder ol his davs with the Abenakis of the Kennebec. The mission of Pontagoet had not the continuous ministrations of a man like Father Rasles; and the light there seems to have retired mysteriously instead of going out in massacre and martyrdom. Father James liigot returned to his mission in Canada after only a short residence in Pentagoet Father Vincent Bigot succeeded him for two years, and went back to replace his brother in Canada, the latter then leaving for ITrance. His successors in Pentagoet were the Fathers de la Chasse, Bineteau, M. Thury, a secular priest, and others, in turn. In 1701, I am following the dates of the Ahh6 Maurault, page 382, Father Vincent Bigot returned to Acadia, and there wrote an account of the progress of Christianity with the sava- ges at Pentagoet. This relation was kindly lent me by Bishop Healy about a year ago. To the best of my recollection it is chiefly occupied with the pious dispositions, the spiritual exercises, the religious devo- tion and the Christian endeavors, of the Abenakis of Pentagoet ; the virtues called forth in the hard school of a restricted and distempered life. They fell in no respect below their brethren in Canada in the fervor of their piety. Father Rasles' appreciation of his dis- ciples, though somewhat more restrained, is in the same general tone. A narrow study in an obscure period is much like !f ■■■■•■■iN^rsr- -nrrii wrtiHiiiii ■.!S4Th-*t! t^n/t TrracvawMT'.-jar-Mw-H CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHEHH AT PENTAOOET. 183 blazing one's way through untrodden woods. Some- thing like a path solicits the explorer now thin way and then another way; but he must cliooseone direction. So innumerable questions may solicit the historical explorer; but he does well who can hold on his way in the direction of v ne inquiry. The main inquiry to which I am brought at last is this : — when and under what motive did the Indian Pentagoet in the neighbor- hood of Castine pass up the Penobscot and renew itself in the neighborhood of Oldtown ? For, accord- ing to all appearances, such a passage and renewal in 1723 had taken place. Up to a certain time, not to be definitely settled, everything points to Pentagoet by the bay — nothing to an Indian community on the river above navigation. Father Rasles, however, writing in 1722, speaks of three villages on three rivers, of which his own is one. And the Abb^ Fer- land, in his excellent " Cours d* Histoire du Canada^' after rehearsing the destruction of Old Point and the death of Father Rasle, gives this very significant paragraph, Volume ii, page 422. This attack of the English, in which, while peace with France was unbroken, they massacred a Frencli Jesuit, in no small measure prostrated the settlement of Narantchuak. It was one of five which the Abcnakis possessed ; there were two on the St. Lawrence, one at St. Francis, and the other at Becanc-our; not a few Abenaki families had been transferred thither, diiven back by the English, who took possession of their lands. Narantohuak was on the river Kinib6ki, Panaommski on the river Pcntagouet, and Medockeck on the river Saint Joan. From each of these settlements there was easy communication by its river with Quebec in the space of a few days. This circumstance rendered their position very important to Canada, fot which they formed 184 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 11'' one of the most powerful defenses. M. de Vaudreuil pressed it upon the court not to fail in protecting them from the encroach- ments of the English, who were making their advance towards Canada by seizing upon the lands of these savages. Thus the three Indian settlements on as many rivers — the Kennebec, the Penobscot and the St. John, were more than missionary stations ; they were picket posts of the French forces of whatever sort contending with the English in America. And the man who never slept at his post was the missionary. Besides, Pa- naouamski in particular is of interest to us, because the name meets us, as we shall presently see, in another connection. Is it not likely that, after the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, when the French pretensions in Acadia were surrendered, Castine became too conspicuous and im- portant in the wars and commerce of England to be much longer attractive or even tenable for the Abe- nakis and the Jesuit mission ; and that, therefore, the whole settlement was retired to a forest seclusion' up river not unlike that of Old Point on the Kennebec ? The space and time between the flourishing settlement under the elder Saiiit-Castin and the destruction of a deserted village on the Penobscot by Coionel West- brook is to me "without form and void." But in this deserted village, if anywhere, the retreat of the Penta- goet mission is to be found. I may add that in con- nection with Colonel Westbrook's expedition, there is a sufficiently striking example of how errors creep into history. When the Abbe Maurault came to this expedition, his i: CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. 185 original sources of information would appear to have failed him, since he refers to Bancroft alone as his authority. Bancroft refers to Williamson and to Col- onel Westbrook's letter, which Williamson faithfully gives. It is instructive to follow these three testimo- nies. Bancroft says : — After five days' march through the woods, Westbrooke, with his company, came upon tlie Indian settlement, that was prob- ably above Bangor, at Old Town. He found a fort, seventy yards long and fifty in breadth, well protected by stockades fourteen feet high, inclosing twenty-three houses regularly built. On the south side, near at hand, was the chapel, sixty feet long, and thirty wide, well and handsomely furnished within and without ; and south of this stood the " friiirs dwelling-house." The invaders arrived there on the ninth of March, at six in the evening. That night they set fire to the village and by sunrise next morning every building was in ashes. [Hist. Vol. in, p. 336, nineteenth edition.] Unfortunately Mr. Bancroft omitted in this par- agraph to note the very important negative ele- ment of the story, that not an inhabitant was in the village when Westbrook found it. And this sin of omission on his part may account for, and partly excuse, the Abbe Maurault's sin of commission. To the Abbe's historic sense, inhabitants constituted a chief element of the situation ; and what was he to infer but a destruction more bloody and complete than that at Norridgowock in August of the following vear ? As to the arrival of Westbrook, the desciip- tion of the village and the church, he is in literal accord with his authority. But whore his authority is silent he feels called upon to speak the more boldly, 186 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. P ( whether from inference or rumor, and here is what he says : — Westbrooke did not attack the village at once. lie halted, and waited till the savagea were buried in sleep, in order to secure the greater success in his scheme of destruction. In the middle of the night he threw his force with impetuosity upon the fort. The soldiers overthrew tlie palisades and hurled themselves upon the dwellings. They killed without pity all the savages whom they found, men women and children, old and infirm; then they set fire to the village and the church, after having secured a rich booty. The next morning the fort was nothing but a heap of ashes. [Ilistoire des AbenakU, pages 402, 403]. This is indeed a tragic construction for a conscien- tious writer, who really has studied his subject. Let us therefore appeal to the sole scrap of original evidence which the transaction affords, namely the official report of Colonel Westbrook himself. I omit the first part relating to the voyage to the Penobscot, and the efforts to find and reach the fort, and come to the summing up of the affair : — We left a guard of forty men on tlie left side of the river to facilitate our return, and arrived at the fort by six of the clock in the evening. It appeared to have been deserted in the autumn preceding, when the enemy carried away every article and thing, except a few papers. The fort was seventy yards in length and fifty in breadth, walled with stockades fourteen feet in height, and enclosed twenty-three "well finished wigwams," or as another calls them, "houses built regular." On the south side was their chapel in compass sixty feet by thirty, h.andsoniely and well finished, both within and on the outside. A little farther south was the dwelling house of the priest, which was very commodious. We set fire to them all, and by sunrise next morn- t«*is5sra>i«!aMm.-3»orw»^ CAPUCHIN AND JESUIT FATHERS AT PENTAGOET. 187 ing they were in ashes. [Williamson's History of Maine, Vol. ii, page 121.] Ten or twelve years later [says the Abb6 Maurault] Saint. Castin, on his return from France, gathered around him the remnants of the Abnakis dispersed in Acadia, and reestablished in neaMy the same locality the village of Pentagoet. This village exists to-day. It is that of Old Town on the Penobscot river. The village still has a Catholic Missionary. lllUtoire dea Abe- nakis, page 403.] I take this statement, so far as it relates to Saint- Castin, to be largely inferential. There is very little, if anything, to support it in the intelligent res^earches of the late Honorable John E. Godfrey, of Bangor, concerning " The Ancient Penobscot," and " Castine the Younger," who as the eldest son inherited some- thing of his father's authority and influence with the Abenakia, and held a commission also in the French service. [Maine Historical Society's Collections, Vol. VII.] It is in this connection that Panaouamske meets us, not only as a name for the region of the Pen- obscot in general, but also as the designation of a settlement, which Mr. Godfrey supposes to have been either at the head of the tide, or at Oldtown. And it is from Panaouamske, July 8, 1728, between five and six years after VVestbrook's expedition, that a letter is dated, written by Father Lauverjait to Father de la Chasse, in which a bitter complaint is made ngainst M. de Saint-Castin and his younger brother, for im- moral behavior, recklessness of religion, and lack of patriotic zeal for the French interest. It is quite evident that the prophetic foul of Saint-Caf-tin had (4 188 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 1^) assured him that other interests than those of France were to prevail in the Penobscot country. Accord- ingly in 1731 he sent a communication to the Marquis de Beauharnois, successor of the Marquis de Vaudrueil in the governorship of New France, to the effect that the English, in the words of Mr. Godfrey, "were making considerable establi^hments in the neighbor- hood of the Indian territory, and probably would render themselves masters of it by force." After 1731 Mr. Godfrey is unable to find anything further relat- ing to the Saint-Castins. It is true, however, that all indications point to the Indian Oldtown of to-day as the genuine memorial, if not an authentic survival, of the Pentagoet of the Capuchin and Jesuit Fathers. t^. ranee ;cord- Lvquis Irueil ; that were ;hbor- 1731 relatr o the lorial, f the