{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_6486/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_6486","id":"gutenberg_6486","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6486","summary":null,"tags":["Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France)","Category: Biographies","Category: History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Indians of North America","Marie de l'Incarnation, m\u00e8re, 1599-1672"],"text":"Produced by Anne Soulard, Juliet Sutherland\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.\n\nThis file was produced from images generously made available by the\nCanadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE VENERABLE MOTHER MARY OF THE INCARNATION\n\nBY A RELIGIOUS OF THE URSULINE COMMUNITY\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nThe materials for the following Biography have been gathered principally\nfrom \"The Life of the Mother Mary of the Incarnation\" by her son, and\nfrom \"The History of the Ursuline Monastery at Quebec,\" by a member of\nthat community, the former published in 1677; the latter in 1863.\n\nThe Life of the Venerable Mother by her son, is founded partly on her own\ncommunications regarding the graces with which she had been favoured, and\npartly on her correspondence with himself extending over the thirty years\nwhich she passed in Canada. With the genuine information thus received,\nhe intersperses, under the name of \"Additions,\" further details which had\neither come under his personal observation, or been gleaned from\nperfectly reliable sources. His work is therefore a sure and invaluable\nguide to the biographer.\n\nThe accounts of her inner life referred to, were written by the Venerable\nMother at two different epochs, and each time in obedience to an\nimperative command from her confessors. The first written in 1633, the\n34th year of her age, fell into the possession of the Ursulines of St.\nDenis, near Paris, who on hearing that Dom Claude Martin was engaged in\nwriting his holy Mother's life, obligingly sent him the precious\ndocument. The second, written in 1654, was forwarded to him from Canada.\n\nThe Annals of the Quebec Ursulines also afford rich material to the\nhistorian of the Mother of the Incarnation, their pages containing\nconstant references to and quotations from her letters both spiritual and\nhistorical, as well as from the Annual Reports of the Jesuit Missioners,\nand other contemporary documents of the highest authenticity and the\ndeepest interest.\n\nThe historical statements in the introductory chapter, rest chiefly oh\nthe authority of the Abb\u00e9 Ferland in his \"Cours d'Histoire du Canada,\"\n1861, and of Bancroft in his \"History of the United States,\" 1841. The\nhistorical facts incidentally introduced in the course of the work can be\nverified by reference to the Abb\u00e9 Ferland or any other Canadian\nhistorian, or to the Letters of the Mother of the Incarnation.\n\nIt only remains to be noticed that the words \"saint,\" \"saintly,\" and\nothers of similar import are used throughout solely in their popular\nacceptation, and not with any intention of anticipating the decision of\nthe Church regarding the sanctity of the Venerable Mother Mary of the\nIncarnation or of any other of God's servants mentioned in these pages.\n\nIn like manner, the record of miraculous occurrences, visions, and other\nextraordinary supernatural favours, is understood to rest as yet only on\nhuman authority, and therefore to claim no more than the degree of\ncredibility which attaches to any well authenticated human statement.\n\n_April 30th_ 1880.\n\n208th Anniversary of the death of the Venerable Mother of the\nIncarnation.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.\nA Glance at Canada, as it was in the days of the Venerable Mother Mary of\nthe Incarnation.\n\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE VENERABLE MOTHER.\nFIRST PERIOD, 1599 TO 1631.\nHER LIFE IN THE WORLD\n\nCHAPTER I.\nHer infancy, childhood and youth--Early call to union with God.--Charity\nto the poor.--Purity of soul--Inclination for the Religious Life.\n\nCHAPTER II.\nHer married life.--Rule of life.--Love of prayer--Perfect fulfilment of\nduty.--Patience under trial--Zeal for her household.--Influence.--Death\nof her Husband.\n\nCHAPTER III.\nHer First year of Widowhood.--Life of solitude in the World.--Vision of\nthe application of the Precious Blood to her soul.--Increased purity of\nconscience.--Charity to the sick poor.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\nShe quits her solitude.--New evidence of her purity of soul.--Humiliation\nand dependence in her Sister's house.\n\nCHAPTER V.\nShe is called to a high degree of Divine Union.--New invitation to the\nperfection of Interior Purity.--Infused knowledge of the nature of the\nworks of God.--Austerities.--Love of contempt.--Active life.--Makes the\nvows of poverty and obedience.--Heavenly favour.--Temptations.\n\nCHAPTER VI.\nSupernatural favours.--Lights on the mystery of the Incarnation.--Vision\nof the Most Adorable Trinity.--Submission to her Director.--Temptations\nrenewed.--Lights on the Divine attributes.\n\nCHAPTER VII.\nSecond Vision of the Most Adorable Trinity.--She is elevated to a sublime\ndegree of Divine Union.\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\nShe resolves to embrace the Religious Life.--Decides finally on the\nUrsuline Order.--Temptations.--Disappearance of her son.--His return.--\nEnters the Convent.\n\nCHAPTER IX.\nSaint Angela, Foundress of the Ursulines.--Her Early sanctity.--Zeal for\nthe instruction of the ignorant.--Lays the foundation of her great work\nat Dezenzano--Vision of the Mysterious Ladder.--Removes to Brescia.--Goes\nto the Holy Land.--To Rome.--To Cremona.--Returns to Brescia.--Founds her\nOrder.--Her holy Death.--Parting Counsels.--Prediction of the stability\nof her work.--Diffusion of the Order.--Archconfraternity of St. Angela.\n\n\nSECOND PERIOD, 1631 TO 1639.\nTHE VENERABLE MOTHER'S RELIGIOUS LIFE IN FRANCE.\n\nCHAPTER I.\nHer Novitiate.--Holy joy.--Virtue tested.--Love of common life.--\nHumility.--Obedience.--Trials from her son.--Offers herself as a victim\nfor his salvation.--Third Vision of the Adorable Trinity.--Receives the\nHoly Habit.\n\nCHAPTER II.\nSupernatural favours.--Infused knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and of\nthe Latin language.--Facility for imparting Spiritual Instruction.--\nTemptations.--Loses her Director.--Interior desolation.--Fidelity.--\nConsolation.--Profession.--Renewed Trials.--Reassuring direction.--New\ndifficulties about her son.\n\nCHAPTER III.\nShe is named Assistant-Mistress of Novices.--Prophetic Vision of her\nvocation to Canada.--Spiritual maxims and instructions.--Spirit of\nsilence.--Forms many Saints.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\nIncrease of zeal for the salvation of souls.--Divinely directed to pray\nfor their conversion through the Heart of Jesus.--Her vocation for Canada\nis revealed to her.\n\nCHAPTER V.\nMadame de la Peltrie.--Early Piety.--Charity.--Desire for the Religious\nState.--Obliged to marry.--Loses her Husband.--Zeal for Souls.--Is\ninspired to devote herself to the Canadian Mission.--Her vocation\nconfirmed in a dangerous illness.--Opposition.--Death of her Father.--\nServices of Monsieur de Berni\u00e8res.--Goes to Paris.\n\nCHAPTER VI.\nThe Mother of the Incarnation declares her vocation for Canada.--\nContradictions and Humiliations.--Her confidence in God.--Esteem for her\nvocation.--Submission to the Divine Will.\n\nCHAPTER VII.\nMadame de la Peltrie invites the Mother of the Incarnation to accompany\nher to Canada.--The Venerable Mother's answer.--Madame de la Peltrie at\nTours.--The Mothers of the Incarnation and St. Bernard selected for the\nMission.--Opposition from relatives.--The Venerable Mother's vision of\nthe trials awaiting her.--Monsieur de Berni\u00e8res.--Farewell Letter.\n\n\nTHIRD PERIOD, 1639 TO 1672.\nTHE VENERABLE MOTHER'S LIFE IN CANADA.\n\nCHAPTER I.\nEmbarkation.--Alarm from a Spanish Fleet.--Danger from an Iceberg.--\nArrival at Tadoussac.--First night in Canada.--Reception at Quebec.--\nVisit to Sillery.--The \"Louvre.\"\n\nCHAPTER II.\nThe Mother of the Incarnation recognises Canada to be the country shown\nher in her prophetic vision.--Opening of the Schools.--Study of the\nIndian languages.--Small-pox among the Pupils.--Arrival of two Sisters\nfrom Paris.--Union of Congregations.-Building of new Convent.\n\nCHAPTER III\nWork at the \"Louvre.\"--Progress of the Pupils.--Piety.--Lively Faith in\nthe Real Presence.--Refinement of feeling.--Zeal.--Teresa the Huron.--\nAgnes.--Little Truants.--Banquets at the \"Louvre,\"\n\nCHAPTER IV.\nRenewed Trials of the Venerable Mother.--Madame de la Peltrie removes to\nMontreal.--Great Poverty of the Ursulines.--Apprehensions.--The Venerable\nMother's confidence in God.--Fidelity to grace.--Exactitude to duty.--\nActive Life.--First Elections.--Removal to the New Monastery.--Return of\nMadame de la Peltrie.\n\nCHAPTER V.\nThe Mother of the Incarnation a victim for the Conversion of her son and\nher niece.--Conversion of both, followed by the cessation of her interior\nsufferings.--Arrival of new subjects from France.--Mother St. Athanasius\nSuperior.--First Profession at Quebec.--Destruction of the Hurons.--\nCharity of the Ursulines to the Survivors.\n\nCHAPTER VI.\nThe Monastery consumed.--Charity of the Hospital Sisters.--Sympathy of\nthe Hurons.--Serenity of the Venerable Mother.--Lodgings in Madame de la\nPeltrie's House.--Poverty.--Monastery Rebuilt.--A Pretty Picture.--\nRemoval to the New Monastery.\n\nCHAPTER VII.\nEarly Life of Mother St. Joseph.--Her zeal for the Indians.--Virtues.--\nLast Illness.--Happy Death.--Apparitions after Death.\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\nThe Seminary Re-opened.--The good work partially checked.--Genevi\u00e8ve and\nCatherine.--Appointment of Bishop Laval.--Threatened Invasion of the\nIroquois.--Heroism of Daulac and his Companions.\n\nCHAPTER IX.\nTrade in Intoxicating Liquors.--Awful Manifestation of Divine Anger.--\nRepentance.--Prosperity.--The Marquis of Tracy Viceroy.--Expedition\nagainst the Iroquois.--Advancement of the Colony.\n\nCHAPTER X.\nNew Sisters from France.--Illness of Mother of the Incarnation.--She is\nRe-elected Superior.--Lingers for Eight Years.--Illness and Death of\nMadame de la Peltrie.\n\nCHAPTER XI.\nLast Illness of the Mother of the Incarnation.--Her Blessed Death.--\nUniversal regret for her loss.--Her Virtues.\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\nEvening Devotion of the Mother of the Incarnation in honour of the Sacred\nHeart of Jesus.\n\nEvening Devotion of the Venerable Mother in honour of the Immaculate\nHeart of Mary.\n\nA few Parting Words on the Old Monastery of Quebec.\n\n\n\n\nA GLANCE AT CANADA IN THE DAYS OF THE VENERABLE MOTHER MARY OF THE\nINCARNATION.\n\n\nEarly in the sixteenth century, reports of the progress of discovery in\nAmerica began to make their way to France, and, as a natural result, to\narouse emulation. For no one had the stirring tales a greater charm than\nfor the reigning Sovereign, Francis I., whose spirit of rivalry, thirst\nof glory, and love of adventure, they were especially calculated to\nstimulate. It would have been as repugnant to the nature, as it was\ninconsistent with the policy of the ambitious monarch, to permit the\nKings of Spain [Footnote: In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the\nislands of the Western Hemisphere, and took possession in the name of the\nSpanish Sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella. At his third voyage, in 1498,\nhe added to the first discovery, that of the Continent of South America.]\nand Portugal [Footnote: in 1500, Alvarez de Cabral, a Portuguese\nnavigator, took possession of Brazil for his royal master, Emmanuel, King\nof Portugal. Amerigo Vespucci had discovered its coast in 1498.] to\nmonopolize the glory and the advantages anticipated from possession of\nthe western world; such an idea was not to be for a moment entertained.\nIf their banners waved over its Southern Continent, that was no reason,\nhe argued, why France should not unfurl her fair white lilies in the\nNorthern. [Footnote: The mainland of North America was discovered in 1497\nby the celebrated Italian adventurers, John Cabot and his sons, under a\ncommission from Henry VII of England, who, however, did not avail of the\ndiscovery.] \"I should like,\" he exclaimed with characteristic impetuosity\nand originality, \"I should like to see the clause in Adam's will which\nauthorizes these, my royal cousins, to divide the New World between\nthem!\" As there seemed, however, little chance of his being permitted to\nadjust the rival claims by a reference to our first father's last\ntestament, he resolved, as a more practical solution of difficulties, to\ntake the law into his own hands, and by getting possession of a share of\nthe spoils to secure at least nine points of it in his favour.\n\nIn justice to his Most Christian Majesty, it must be admitted that\nalthough self-interested considerations had no doubt a large part in his\ndecision, other and worthier views influenced him. perhaps even more\nstrongly. If his proud title of eldest son of the Church was to be more\nthan an empty name, it devolved on him, he felt, to take prompt measures\nfor introducing Christianity into some part of the newly discovered\nidolatrous West. Spain and Portugal had anticipated him in one direction,\nit was true, but the world of Canada still presented a vast field for his\nzeal in another. The existence of that barbarous, heathen land was now an\nascertained fact, What nobler use could he make of his royal resources\nthan to introduce into it the two-fold light of faith and civilization?\nNone, assuredly. Over far-off Canada, therefore, he determined that,\nfortune favouring, the banner of the Lily should ere long float.\n\nAnd, truly, it was well worth the seeking, that fair, too long neglected\ngem in Nature's coronet, the distant land over the Western sea.\nCultivation has no doubt done much for the Canada of Francis I., still\neven in the undeveloped beauty of those remote days, its natural features\nwere strikingly fine. Prominent then, as now, was the noble river flowing\nthrough its midst--its own beautiful St. Lawrence, \"the river of Canada,\"\nas the French sometimes styled it by pre-eminence; a recognised monarch\n[Footnote: \"The St. Lawrence has a course of nearly three thousand miles,\nand varies in breadth from one mile to ninety miles. It annually\ndischarges to the ocean about 4,277,880 _millions of tons_ of fresh\nwater, of which 2,112,120 millions of tons may be reckoned melted snow--\nthe quantity discharged before the thaw comes on being 4,512 millions of\ntons per day for 240 days, and the quantity after the thaw begins being\n25,560 millions per day for 125 days, the depths and velocity when in and\nout of flood being duly considered.\"--_Martin's British Colonies_.]\nin the world of waters, embracing in its wide-spread dominion, rapids and\ncataracts, and tributary streams, with vast lakes like seas, and a little\nworld of islands like fairy realms, [Footnote: Among others, the Thousand\nIslands, happily described as \"picturesque combinations of wood, rock,\nand water, such as imagination is apt to attach to the happy islands in\nthe Vision of Mirza.\"] the whole enclosed within romantic shores, worthy\nto form the framing of so magnificent a picture.\n\nThen, as now, the valley of the St. Lawrence was rich in every variety of\nnatural beauty, but with this difference, that at the arrival of the\nFrench the superb panorama was more or less enveloped in an apparently\ninterminable forest, to which the predominance of the pine imparted in\nsome places an air of solemnity, and even gloom. Since then, the axe has\ndone its work in the inhabited portions, opening up a landscape of\nsingular loveliness in some parts; of stern, wild grandeur in others;\nnevertheless, enough of the lordly old woods still remains, to justify\ntheir claim to a place among the characteristics of Canadian scenery.\nLovely in their summer garb of many-hued green, relieved by a carpeting\nof myriads of flowering plants, they are glorious beyond telling, when\nafter a few frosty nights at the close of autumn, they assume every\nimaginable variety of shade, from glowing scarlet and soft violet, to\nrich brown and bright yellow.\n\nChamplain, the founder of Quebec, describes the Canada of his day as\nbeautiful, agreeable, and fertile; producing grain of every kind;\nabounding in valuable trees; yielding wild fruits of pleasant flavour,\nand well-stocked with fish and game. Later observation was to add to the\ncatalogue of its natural riches, mines of iron, lead and copper. The\nearly colonists, too, have recorded that the river banks were covered\nwith a profusion of vines so productive, that it seemed difficult to\ntrace all their luxuriance to the unaided hand of nature.\n\nAs a partial counterpoise to its many advantages, Canada is exposed to\nextremes of temperature, alternating between heat nearly tropical, and\ncold approaching polar. Owing to the clearing of the forests, and other\ncauses, the winter is now somewhat less harsh than in the days of the\nfirst settlers; it is, however, still a very severe one. And yet, even\nunder its stern reign, Canada is not without natural charms,--its giant\nriver fast bound in icy chains; every stream, and lake and rivulet in the\nland a sheet of sparkling crystal; every trunk, and branch, and twig\nglittering in the sun as if sprinkled with diamond dust; every valley,\nhill and woodland, every mountain slope and far-stretching plain wrapped\nin a soft mantle of spotless snow.\n\nYet, with all its gifts and resources, Canada had reposed for long ages\nin lonely grandeur. The chronicles of the Old World told of many a\ngeneration gone by. They traced the rise and fall of many empires, and\nthe succession of many dynasties. They recorded the advance of art and\nscience. They contained long lists of names inscribed, some in the annals\nof human greatness, some on the pages of the Book of Life. They spoke of\nthe glorious triumphs of the Church, and enumerated the nations gathered\nwithin her fold, and still, on that fair land of the West, no step had\ntrodden but that of the Red Man; on its broad, deep river no boat had\never bounded but his own light canoe; through its length and breadth no\nDeity's name had resounded, save that of some senseless pagan idol. Truly\nit was time, as Francis I. concluded, that the ray of faith and\ncivilization should beam on it at last.\n\nIn 1523, he sent out his first expedition, under the command of\nVerrazani, a Florentine, who, sailing along the coast from 28 degrees to\n50 degrees north latitude, formally took possession of the whole region\nin the name of his royal patron, and called it \"La Nouvelle France.\" But\nwhile France was thus adding to her glory in the New World, her arms\nreceived a severe check in the Old. When Verrazani returned in 1525, he\nfound the nation mourning the disastrous results of the battle of Pavia,\nand too much absorbed by grave interests at home, to be disposed to\nconcern itself about lesser ones abroad. Deprived of the support of his\nroyal protector, then a prisoner at Madrid, he could neither utilize nor\nfollow up his first observations, and for ten years more we hear nothing\nof Canada, except that mariners from France, and other European nations,\ncarried on a successful fishery on its coasts, where as many as fifty\nships from Europe might sometimes be seen together. The French called the\ncountry the newly found lands, an appellation which survives in that of\nthe largest island. It is stated on the authority of certain old\nchroniclers, that the islands off the mainland had been known more than a\ncentury before the era of Columbus and Cabot to sailors from the Basque\nProvinces, who named them \"Bacallos,\" their term for cod-fish. The name\n\"Canada\" seems to have been vaguely applied at this period sometimes to a\npart, sometimes to the whole of the region watered by the St. Lawrence.\nOne derivation of it supposes the arrival of the French to have been\npreceded by a visit from the Spaniards, who, searching for precious\nmetals, and finding none, expressed their disappointment by the frequent\nrepetition of the words \"aca nada,\" \"nothing here.\" According to a more\nprobable etymology, the term may be traced to the Iroquois word \"Kanata,\"\na village, or assembly of huts, which word the early European discoverers\nmistook for the name of the country.\n\nNothing daunted by the failure of his first attempt at colonisation,\nFrancis authorized a new expedition in 1534, and intrusted the command of\nit to Jacques Cartier, a well-known navigator of St. Malo. In addition to\nhis experience as a seaman, Cartier possessed a profoundly religious\nspirit, and in risking the long voyage, with its certain dangers and\nuncertain, success, he seems to have been wholly influenced by zeal for\nthe conversion of the savages. He has given us an insight into his ideas\nin his own quaint style: \"Considering,\" he says, \"the varied benefits of\nGod to man, I note among others how the sun pours his genial rays on\nevery part of the globe in succession, excluding none from their\nbeneficent influence, and my simple mode of reasoning leads me to infer\nthat our great Creator intends for all his creatures a share in the\nillumination of faith, no less than in the cheering light of the orb of\nday. The sun comes to us from the East, as did our holy faith; may we not\nconclude, that as he passes thence to the West, the beams of the Gospel\nare meant to follow in his track, and pour their brightness in that\ndirection too.\"\n\nCartier set sail on the 20th of April, 1534; reached Newfoundland in\nsafety on the 10th of May, and sailing along the coast as far as the Bay\nof Gasp\u00e9, planted near its entrance a lofty cross bearing a shield with\nthe lilies of France, and a suitable inscription. The chief result of\nthis first voyage was the discovery of the great river of Canada, and the\nopening of communication with the natives. The season being somewhat too\nadvanced for farther exploration, Cartier returned to France in the month\nof August, accompanied by two young Indians, destined as a future\ninterpreter to their countrymen.\n\nRe-entering the river on the 10th of August of the following year, he\nnamed it the St. Lawrence, in honour of the saint whose feast the Church\ncelebrates on that day. The island at its mouth, now called Anticosti, he\nnamed the isle of the Assumption. He finally anchored off Stadacona,\nwhere Quebec now stands, and on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed\nVirgin in the next month, the Holy Sacrifice was for the first time\noffered on the Canadian shores. Cartier next visited the Indian\nsettlement of Hochelaga, situated on an island formed by the St. Lawrence\nand a branch of the Ottawa. The discovery of this vaunted hamlet, with\nits picturesque surroundings, had been among the most cherished of his\nday dreams, nor was the reality unworthy of the dream. From the summit of\nan isolated mountain at the extremity of the island; his view embraced in\nfront a wide expanse of fertile land; around him stretched forests of\noak, with here and there a waving field of silken-tufted Indian corn; at\nhis feet lay the hamlet, built in the form of a circle, and fortified in\nIndian fashion by three graduated rows of palisades, and to crown the\nwhole, girding the island like a broad silver belt, as far as the eye\ncould reach, shone the sunlit river. Enchanted with the beauty of the\nscene, and delighted too with the courteous greeting of the savages,\ntheir simplicity, their generosity and their ardour for instruction, he\nbreathed a prayer, that a land so fair and a people so gentle might be\nmarked ere long as the heritage of France,--above all, as a portion of\nthe Kingdom of God. In his enthusiasm, he called the mountain on which he\nstood, Mount Royal, whence the name \"Montreal.\" [Footnote: Nearly three\ncenturies and a half have gone by since Jacques Cartier surveyed\nHochelaga and its environs for the first time from the heights of Mount\nRoyal. Could he view the same locality from the same stand point to-day,\nhow great would be his wonder at its transformation! The mountain itself\nis now covered, both base and acclivities, with flourishing corn fields,\nfruitful orchards, and handsome residences, above which, to the very\nsummit, trees grow in luxuriant variety. On the site of the Indian hamlet\nof the olden time, is a large, wealthy city; its streets and squares\nadorned with remarkably fine buildings; its busy ways thronged with an\nactive, industrious, thriving population; its port crowded with shipping\nand bordered with commodious quays; its vast river spanned by the great\ntubular bridge, and traversed through its length and breadth by vessels\nof every build. The environs are in keeping with the city, combining\nnatural beauty with the refinements of art and the improvements of\nindustry. Nestling among rich woodlands, are gay villages, rural churches\nand pleasant villas, while thickly interspersed through fertile, well\ncultivated grounds, are pretty cottages, substantial farms and happy\npeasant homes. The living picture acquires additional animation from the\nconstant movement of long rows of railway carriages, ever sending up\nlight streams of transparent vapour which curl among the bright foliage,\nwith a grace of their own, then fade away heavenwards. Could Jacques\nCartier see it all, he might well wonder at time's changes!] At Stadacona\nwhere he spent the winter, he had the consolation of instructing the\nnatives in the holy faith, by the aid of the two Indian youths, who, as\nalready noticed, had accompanied him to France on his first return\nvoyage, and spent the interval between that and his second expedition in\nlearning the French tongue. So eager were these simple people to receive\nthe truth, that he had to promise to take measures for their admission to\nthe Sacrament of regeneration at his nest voyage.\n\nThe extreme rigour of this first winter rendered it a season of terrible\nsuffering to the French; sickness, broke out amongst them and death\nthinned their ranks. Cartier had therefore no alternative but to conduct\nthe discouraged survivors back to France early in spring. He determined\nto bring with him also some specimens of the natives whom he wished to\npresent to the King. The practice of the time seemed to give a tacit\nsanction to the act, but it is much to be regretted that in carrying out\nhis object, Cartier should have had recourse to stratagem. Donacona, one\nof the chiefs, was decoyed on board the French ship, with nine other\nsavages, and borne away from his home in the wilds, which poor though it\nmight be, was more precious to him than all the grandeur of the French\nKing's capital. To pacify his people, he promised them before sailing\naway, that he would return after twelve moons, but save in dreams, he saw\nhis beloved woods no more. With the exception of one little girl, all the\nexiles died in France, where, however, they were well treated, and had\nthe happiness of being instructed in the faith and received into the\nChurch.\n\nOn returning to Canada for the third time in 1540, Cartier found it\ndifficult to resume his former intercourse with the natives, whom the\ndisappearance of their chief had rendered distrustful and suspicious.\nBesides, he occupied only a subordinate position in this new expedition,\nthe principal direction of which had been committed to the Lord of\nRoberval. The division of authority seems to have worked badly. Cartier\nhad spent a year of inactivity in Canada before the Viceroy was prepared\nto join him, so seeing no prospect of success, he left for France, just\nas Roberval reached Canada.  Without the co-operation of his lieutenant,\nthe leader could accomplish little; his expedition may indeed be said to\nhave resulted only in corroborating the reality of the discoveries\nreported by the navigator of St. Malo. The purport of Cartier's fourth\nand last voyage, was to bring back to France the miserable remnant of the\nadventurers who had accompanied Roberval.\n\nThough an apparent disappointment, the failure of the first attempt to\ncolonize Canada was in reality a blessing. A few persons of good position\nhad, it is true, joined Roberval's expedition, but it is equally certain\nthat a considerable proportion of his recruits had been drawn from among\nthe convicts of the French jails. Had the colony been then established,\nthe mixture of such an element must have tainted its very source, and\nexercised an utterly demoralizing influence on its future. But God had\ndesigns of special mercy on Canada, so the day of her visitation was\ndeferred, only that it might rise at a later period with a steadier, a\nclearer, and a more enduring light. Although Jacques Cartier failed in\nhis immediate object, he succeeded in exploring a considerable part of\nthe country, and as the first to open a way for missionaries to the\nhitherto unknown region, his claim to the gratitude of Catholic hearts\nshould ever be recognised. He died at his peaceful home of Limoilou in\nBrittany, leaving the wilds of the West once more in undisputed\npossession of the native tribes.\n\nDuring the next sixty years, the French took no active steps for the\ncolonization of Canada. Their attempts under Henry II and Charles IX, to\nform settlements in Brazil and Florida, seem to have diverted their\nattention from New France, but they never quite forgot it, nor utterly\nrelinquished the hope of one day founding a State on the St. Lawrence.\nMerchants from Dieppe and St. Malo continued to visit its shores, and\nfrom time to time, slight, ineffectual attempts at settlement were made.\nIt was not, however, until 1608, that an expedition of any importance was\norganized. Monsieur des Monts, a Calvinist of wealth and rank, then\nreceived from Henry IV, the authority necessary for the purpose, and as\nan indemnity for consequent expenses, he also obtained the monopoly of\nthe fur trade for one year. A company of merchants was immediately\nformed, and the command of the expedition given to the illustrious Samuel\nChamplain. Quebec, the Stadacona of Cartier, was decided on as the most\nadvantageous site for the projected settlement, the destined cradle of\nthe Canadian nation. There accordingly, Champlain unfurled the white\nBanner on the 3rd of July, 1608. In the Algonquin tongue, \"Kebec\"\nsignifies a strait, the St. Lawrence flowing at this point in a narrow\nchannel between two high banks. The intended capital [Footnote: Quebec is\nnow considered the military capital of Canada, Montreal ranking as the\ncommercial metropolis, and Ottawa as the legislative.] of Canada could\nnot have been more judiciously located. It possesses a magnificent\nharbour, navigable for the largest vessels, and capable of containing the\nmost numerous fleet. The great river at its base forms a commodious\nhighway of communication with the very heart of the continent, while in\nconsequence of the narrowing of the waters in its immediate vicinity, the\ncitadel commands the passage. Quebec is thus the key of the great valley\nof the St. Lawrence, \"the advanced guard,\" as the Abb\u00e9 Ferland calls it\nin his History of Canada, of the vast French empire, which, according to\nthe project of Louis XIV., was to extend from the Straits of Belle Isle\nto the Gulf of Mexico. The colony was not, however, to be established on\na firm basis, until it had passed through much tribulation. Its early\nannals were to record an ordeal of trials, sickness, privation, hardship,\ndestitution, alarms from the terrible Iroquois, molestation from the\nEnglish, and finally, all but total extinction. They were to tell how the\ngrowth of the young nation had been checked, and its very existence\nthreatened, by the bad faith of self-interested companies; worse than\nall, how, destined as it was for a bright star in the firmament of the\nChurch, and a beacon light to the benighted heathen, its grand end had\nbeen temporarily frustrated by the frequent appointment of Calvinists for\nits patrons, and a mingling of the same sectarians among its small\npopulation. Then the page of triumph would come, and on it would be\ninscribed, how, like its own flower-enamelled meadows, bursting into\nbloom and beauty from beneath their pall of snow, Canada had emerged from\nits long moral winter, neither paralysed by the chill, nor depressed by\nthe gloom, but glowing to its inmost heart with warm young life, and\nthrobbing in every pulse with irrepressible energy and vigour.\n\nHappily for the result of the undertaking Champlain, its guiding spirit,\nwas eminently qualified for his position. Wise, as energetic;\npersevering, as enterprising; brave in reverse, as unassuming in.\nsuccess, he laid his plans with consummate prudence and carried them out\nwith unwavering constancy. Disinterested, honourable and patriotic, he\nsuffered no secret view of personal advantage to narrow his mind or mar\nhis usefulness. Looking on his work as the work of God, and therefore\nbelieving implicitly in its final success, he threw his whole heart into\nit, devoting to it time, talents, wealth and life, and pursuing it with\na courage that never quailed and a heroism of self-sacrifice that never\nfaltered. Profoundly religious, his great aim was to establish it on the\nsolid foundation of faith and piety. For this end, he looked carefully\nfrom the beginning to the moral elements of the little society, and as\nfar as his control extended, admitted among the early colonists only\npersons of irreproachable character. As soon as affairs appeared\nsufficiently promising, he invited missioners to the spiritually\ndestitute land. Four Franciscans answered the appeal, and on the 25th of\nJune; 1615, to the great joy of the Catholic inhabitants, Mass was\ncelebrated in Quebec for the first time since the days of Cartier and\nRoberval. In 1624, St. Joseph was solemnly chosen Patron of Canada, which\nfrom its birth has claimed devotion to the Holy Family and to St. Anne,\nas its devotion by excellence. The following year, the Recollet Fathers\nwere joined by a little band of Jesuits, who came to fertilize the soil\nwith martyrs' blood and win for themselves the martyrs' palm. Their\narrival gradually prepared the way for the realization of the pious\ngovernor's first and dearest wish, the establishment of missions\nthroughout the country. On these we shall touch in a future page.\n\nIndefatigable in his zeal for the colony, Champlain made frequent voyages\nto France in its interests, undeterred by the inconveniences and even\npositive dangers then often attendant on travelling, and although he was\nsubjected to constant petty annoyances from the selfishness and parsimony\nof the Company, the jealousy and rivalry of the traders, and the coolness\nand indifference of noble patrons, he never relaxed in his exertions,\nbecause ever sustained by trust in God and faith in his work. At great\npersonal risk, and with incredible fatigue, he explored the country in\nall directions, observing, and afterwards describing its physical\nfeatures, as well as the character and customs of the savages. From time\nto time, we even find him in arms against the dreaded Iroquois, but\nnotwithstanding his superhuman efforts, the colony could make but little\nprogress while its destinies remained in the hands of mercenary agents,\nwho were utterly regardless of its interests, and intent only on\nenriching themselves at its cost. After Quebec had been founded fourteen\nyears, it still contained only fifty-five inhabitants, and its growth in\nall other respects had been proportionally tardy. Hope, however, began to\nbrighten, when in 1627, the Canada Company was superseded by that of the\nHundred Partners, with Richelieu at its head. This association was to\nhold Canada, as a feudal seigniory under the King, and with the right of\nsoil, was to possess a monopoly of trade. In return for these privileges,\nit contracted the obligation of amply supplying the country with\ncolonists, including a sufficient number of artisans and labourers. It\nwas also bound to provide for the support of a specified number of\nmissioners, and in general, to promote the welfare of the colony.\nUnfortunately, five years elapsed before it was ready to enter on the\ngovernment of the province, which meantime was brought to the very verge\nof ruin, partly by famine, and partly by foreign invasion.\n\nMuch about the time of the transfer of Canada to the new Company, the\nHuguenots raised the standard of civil war in France, and being aided by\nEngland and Holland, their revolt soon assumed a formidable aspect. To\ncomplicate the difficulties of the mother country, a band of French\nCalvinists in the service of England determined to seize the favourable\nopportunity of invading her possessions in America. These were headed by\nSir David Kerkt and his brothers, who procured the command of a small\nfleet of English vessels, and after devastating the coasts in the\nvicinity of Quebec, sent a summons to the Governor to surrender the town\nitself. Not having received supplies from France for three years, its\nresources were nearly exhausted, nevertheless, as Champlain. was in.\nhourly expectation of succour, he bravely determined to resist the\nsummons and maintain his ground to the last. Before long, the people were\nreduced to a daily allowance of five ounces of bread; a little later,\nthey were compelled to subsist on roots and herbs, yet still, even after\nhearing that the vessels containing the much needed supplies had been\nintercepted by the English, the resolute Commander never faltered. He\nencouraged his companions in misfortune by word and example; exhorted\nthem, to patience; cheerfully shared their privations, and strained every\nnerve to improve their condition. But although they struggled through the\ntrying winter and spring, it was but too evident that without relief they\ncould not hold out much longer; when therefore the last hope was blighted\nby the wreck of two ships laden with provisions, the Governor,\nrecognising the inutility of further resistance, accepted the only\nalternative left him, and at the second demand, surrendered the heroic\nlittle town, which amidst almost incredible difficulties had withstood\nthe invaders an entire year. It was on the 20th of July, 1629, that the\nEnglish took possession, and the following month, Champlain and his\npeople embarked for England, whence, according to the terms of surrender,\nthey were to be conveyed to France. One French family alone consented to\nremain in Quebec, and that only until after the next harvest. Thus it\nwould seem as if a single step had brought us from Canada's cradle to her\ngrave, for in what light can we look on those vessels bearing Champlain\nand the colonists from her shores, but as the tomb of the hopes lately so\nbright and buoyant? It happened however that when Kerkt seized Quebec, he\nwas ignorant of the triumph of Richelieu at La Rochelle; unconscious\ntherefore that the French Calvinist party was utterly crushed, and the\nlong protracted civil war at an end. On landing at Plymouth in the\nfollowing October, he learned to his dismay that peace had been concluded\nbetween England and France two months before the seizure of Quebec, the\nrestitution of which had now become, simply an obligation of justice. But\nalthough its restoration was at once decided on, the measure was, not\ncarried out until 1632, when by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, France\nsecured a formal recognition of her right to Canada, including Nova,\nScotia and Cape Breton Island, or as they were then called, Acadia and\nIsle Royal. As it was evident that the interests of the country could not\nbe in better hands than those of the great and good Champlain, happily\nfor its future destiny, the government of the province was once more\nconfided to him.\n\nIt was hard to have to begin his work anew, but he set about repairing\nthe wreck around him with all his old energy and devotedness. While\nintent as ever on the material interests of the colony, those of religion\nwere still his first concern. Fortunately, there was no longer a dominant\nCalvinist party in the country, to thwart his zealous projects, and\nmolest the Catholics in the discharge of their duty to God. The era of\nCalvinist rule had passed; that of Catholic triumph had dawned. One of\nthe Governor's first acts was to build a church which was dedicated to\nour Blessed Lady in honour of her Immaculate Conception. The facility\nthus afforded for the practice of religion was eagerly availed of by the\nnew band of exclusively Catholic colonists. All approached the Sacraments\nat fixed intervals; morning and evening prayers were said in common in\nprivate families; the precepts of God and the Church were strictly\nobserved. Stimulated by good example some who had been careless about\nreligion in France devoted themselves earnestly to it in Canada. So\nadmirable was the order which Champlain established that some years later\na missionary wrote:--\"Murder, robbery, usury, injustice, and similar\ncrimes are heard of here only once a year, when, on the arrival of the\nships from France, a newspaper account of them accidentally finds its way\namong us.\" And, again, \"Our churches are too small to contain the\ncongregation; we have the consolation of seeing them filled to\noverflowing. By the grace of God, virtue walks here with head erect; it\nis in honour; vice alone in disrepute.\" The infant Church of Canada\nseemed, indeed, to have revived the golden age of the Church of the\nApostles. Under the direction of the Governor, the Fort was in some\nrespects not unlike a monastery. The soldiers approached the Sacraments\nregularly; instructive books were read aloud at meals; duty was\npunctually discharged, and the well spent day was closed by night prayers\nsaid in common, and presided over by the Governor. He it was who\nintroduced the custom, ever since religiously observed, of ringing the\nAngelus three times a day. He watched so carefully over the public and\nprivate interests of both French and Indians, that all looked on him as a\nfather, and although continually appealed to for decisions between rival\nclaimants, his integrity was never called in question. Uniting in his own\nperson the functions and the authority of Governor, Legislator, and\nJudge, his power was necessarily great, but never was he known to abuse\nit. It was his maxim that the salvation of one single soul is of more\nimportance than the subjugation of an Empire, and that the only object\nwhich kings should have in view in the conquest of idolatrous nations, is\nto lay them as trophies at the feet of their Saviour Jesus Christ. This\nmaxim is the key-note to his life; its practical influence was manifested\nin his zeal for the conversion of the Indians, and for the diffusion of a\nsolidly religious spirit among the French population, and assuredly it is\nnot the least of his claims to the gratitude of posterity, that the\nCanada of his formation has ever clung to her faith with so tenacious a\ngrasp, that still she wears as her crown of highest honour, and proclaims\nas her proudest boast, the glorious title of Catholic Canada. The writers\nof his time are unanimous in ascribing to Champlain all the\nqualifications suited to the founder of a colony, and when, after a\nconnection of thirty-two years with the country, he was summoned to his\nreward, on the 25th of December, 1635, he was followed to the grave, as\nwell he might be, by the heartfelt regret of the whole colony, who looked\non his death as the greatest of all calamities. After his demise, his\nwidow founded the Ursuline Convent at Meaux, and there made her religious\nprofession. During her residence in Canada, she had endeared herself both\nto French and Indians by her unvarying kindness and affability. Seeing\ntheir faces reflected in a small mirror which, according to the fashion\nof the day, she wore at her girdle, the poor savages were much delighted\nto find that she carried them all, as they said, in her heart. She\nlearned the Algonquin tongue that she might teach the children their\nCatechism, and to the end of life retained a lively interest in the\nCanadian Mission.\n\nChamplain was succeeded in the government of Quebec by Monsieur Charles\nde Montmagny, a man distinguished alike for courage, ability, piety, and\nzeal. His first act on landing was to kneel at the foot of a cross\nerected on the road to the town, and there invoke the blessing and\nprotection of heaven on the colony intrusted to his charge; thence he\nproceeded to the church to assist at the _Te Deum_. His second act\non the same morning was to visit an Indian wigwam, and stand sponsor for\nan invalid who desired baptism, the greatest honour and sweetest\nconsolation, he said, which he could have desired at his arrival in New\nFrance. His great aim from the beginning was to walk in the steps of his\npredecessor, and thus develop and consolidate the work so happily\ncommenced. He maintained the moral and religious tone of society, by\nfollowing up Champlain's plan of excluding disreputable and vicious\ncharacters. One of his first concerns was to build a Seminary for the\neducation of the Huron youth, an object which he knew to have been very\ndear to the heart of the late Governor. He also constructed a stone fort,\nstrengthened the fortifications at Three Rivers, and traced a correct\nplan of the city, which as yet, it must be owned, existed only among the\nvisions of hope. The Quebec of the Mother of the Incarnation was, indeed,\nwidely different from that for which in after years, England and France\ncontended, and Wolfe and Montcalm bled and died. At the time of which we\nwrite, it consisted of little more than a few rudely-constructed huts,\nand contained scarcely two hundred and fifty inhabitants, but we have\ndwelt thus long on its origin and early history because of its connection\nwith the life and labours of the Venerable Mother, which give interest to\nevery least detail concerning it. We have now reached the date of its\nannals when Heaven was pleased to bless it with her presence; but before\nentering on her biography, a glance at the Indian portion of the\npopulation will be necessary to the completion of our little sketch of\nCanada as it was in her days.\n\nAll the tribes dispersed over the territory comprised in the basin of the\nSt. Lawrence, were at this period divided into two groups, the Algonquin\nand Huron-Iroquois, classified according to their respective languages.\nTo each of these mother tongues belonged dialects more or less numerous,\naccording to the sub-divisions of the tribes who spoke them. The\nAlgonquins were scattered under various names over perhaps more than a\nhalf of the territory south of the St. Lawrence and east of the\nMississippi. Several branches of the same widely-extended family were\nalso to be found wandering in Canada to the north of the St. Lawrence.\nThe five confederate tribes of the Hurons inhabited the peninsula\nincluded between Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario. The Iroquois stretched\nfrom the borders of Vermont to Western New York, and from the lakes, to\nthe head waters of the Ohio, Susquehanna, and Delaware. They, too, formed\na confederation of five tribes, and are commonly known as the Five\nNations. The Hurons and the Iroquois are said to have received their\nnames from the French--the former in allusion to the French word _hure_,\na head of hair, these savages being distinguished by a singular mode of\ndressing theirs; the latter from their frequent repetition of the word\n\"_hiro_,\" \"I have said it,\" the ordinary termination of the warriors'\nharangues.\n\nWhen the early missionaries began to study the Indian dialects, they were\nmuch astonished to find them characterized by remarkable richness and\nvariety of expression, as well as regularity of construction.\nNotwithstanding gradual alterations, they still retain much of their\ntraditionary character, being, in fact, less liable to change than\nwritten language, because of the ridicule with which the Indian visits\nany attempt at innovation on the point. One peculiarity of the American\ntongues is their singular power of extending the primitive signification\nof words by the addition of new syllables to the original term. Taking\nthe verb for his starting point, the Indian is enabled, by prefixing,\ninserting, and adding syllables, to form at last some word which will not\nonly express the action in question, but include at once, subject,\nobject, time, place, and modifying circumstances. If he is shown an\narticle with which he is unacquainted, he will ask its use, and then\nadding word to word at pleasure, he will at last give it a name\ncomprising perhaps an entire definition. For sake of sound, the chain of\nwords is sometimes linked by syllables of no particular significance.\nStrictly speaking, the Indian tongues consist only of the verb, which may\nbe said to absorb all the other parts of speech. Declensions, articles,\nand cases are deficient; the adjective has a verbal termination; the idea\nexpressed by the noun takes a verbal form; every thing is conjugated,\nnothing declined. The conjugation changes with every slight variation in\nthe action spoken of. For instance, the same word will not express two\nsimilar actions performed, the one on the water, the other on the land;\nor two similar actions, the one referring to a living; the other to an\ninanimate object; there must be a separate conjugation for each. The\nforms of the verb thus vary to infinity, and hence arose the immense\ndifficulty to the missioners of learning the languages.\n\nA second peculiarity of the Indian dialects, is the abundant use which\nthey allow of figurative language, a result of their total want of terms\nexpressive of abstract, and purely spiritual ideas. To clothe these in\nwords, they must have recourse to figures, chiefly metaphor and allegory,\nhence arises so much of what an American writer calls \"the picturesque\nbrilliancy\" of the savage tongues. To express the term \"prosperity,\" for\nexample, the Indian will employ the image of a bright sun, a cloudless\nsky, or a calm river. \"To make peace,\" will be \"to smooth the forest\npath, to level the mountain,\" or \"to bury the tomahawk.\" \"To console the\nbereaved by the offering of presents,\" will be \"to cover the graves of\nthe departed.\" Unconsciously, the Indian habitually speaks poetry. He\nknows nothing of written characters, so his method of writing is by\nhieroglyphics, or rude pictures traced on a stone or a piece of bark. In\nthe Huron and Iroquois, the words are almost entirely composed of vowels,\nboth languages being deficient in consonants, and totally wanting in\nlabials. The Algonquin is also deficient in several letters, among others\nthe consonants _f, l, v, x, z_. In the Indian tongues, many of the\nsounds are merely guttural, and produced without any movement of the\nlips. _Ou_, as sounded in _you_, is of this description; to distinguish\nit from the articulated sounds, the early missioners marked it by the\nfigure 8.\n\nThe religion of the native tribes of North America was a species of\npantheism. They believed that in every visible object dwelt good or evil\nspirits, who exercised a certain influence over human events, and they\ntried to propitiate them by sacrifices and prayers. Faith in dreams\nconstituted the foundation of almost all their superstitions. The dream\nwas to them an irrevocable decree which it was never allowable to slight.\nIt, therefore, formed the starting point of their deliberations, and the\nbasis of their decisions. Rather than reject the warning of a dream, they\nwould have consigned to the flames or the waves the produce of a\nsuccessful hunting or fishing expedition, or of a rich harvest. The most\nintelligent held as a theory that dreams are the speech of the soul,\nwhich through them manifests her innate desires, these desires remaining\nfor ever unknown, unless thus revealed. To carry out the dream was,\ntherefore, to satisfy the soul's cravings; to slight it was to excite her\ndesires afresh.\n\nThey believed that after death the soul wandered for a time in the\nvicinity of the body which it had quitted, and then departed on a long\njourney to a village in the direction of the setting sun. The country of\nthe dead differed but little in their imagination, from the land of the\nliving, and accordingly, looking on death merely as a passage from one\nregion to another nearly similar, they met the summons with indifference.\nThe deceased warrior was placed outside his wigwam in a sitting posture,\nto show that although life was over, the principle of existence still\nsurvived, and in that position he was buried, together with his pipe,\nmanitou, tomahawk, quiver, and bent bow, and a supply of maize and\nvenison for his travels to the paradise of his ancestors. The mourning\nfor near relatives lasted two years.\n\nAmong the Huron-Iroquois and Algonquins, liberty was uncontrolled. Each\nhamlet was independent; so was the head of each family in the hamlet; so\nwas each child in the family. This mass of independent wills could be\nruled only by persuasion and promises of reward, and of these the chief\nwas lavish. Sometimes there were many. rulers, or \"captains,\" as they\nwere called, in one hamlet, especially the larger ones; sometimes the\ngovernment of the village was committed to a single chief. Among the\nprincipal tribes, the latter office was in general hereditary, though\noccasionally conferred by election. Public affairs were discussed in\ncouncil with great formality, and votes taken by straws or small reeds,\nthe majority theoretically deciding the question, but the conclusion was\nnot carried out unless all agreed. The rebellious were generally won over\nby presents or flattery.\n\nThe savage tribes were divided into several great familes, each\ndistinguished by the name of some animal chosen by the chief as his\n_totum_ or distinctive mark. Among the Iroquois, for instance, the\nhighest family was that of the Tortoise; the second of the Beaver, and\nthe third of the Wolf. In battle, the _totum_ was borne as the\nstandard. The criminal code was not elaborate, yet it sufficed to\nmaintain order in the small republics. Murder, robbery treason and\nsorcery were the crimes understood to entail its penalties. Instead of\nbeing punished by death, murder was expiated by a very large number of\npresents, to provide which, not only the assassin, but every family in\nthe village was laid under contribution. The punishment of the criminal\nwas thus multiplied by the reproaches and sarcasms of all the unwilling\nsharers in the atonement. Among the Algonquins, stealing was of rare\noccurrence; the Hurons, on the contrary, prided themselves on their feats\nin that line. They stole for the mere pleasure of stealing, and so\naccomplished were they in the art, that they could purloin an article\nunder the very eye of the owner, using the foot for the purpose, quite as\ndexterously as the hand. If the thief could be identified, the person\nrobbed might despoil him of everything he possessed, supposing always he\nwas not strong enough to defend himself. If he belonged to another\nvillage, goods to the value of those lost might be taken from any one in\nhis village, and kept until the robber had made restitution. Traitors and\nsorcerers, as objects of special dread, were always liable to heavy\npenalties.\n\nAccording to the savage code of honour, war was the only road to glory;\nit was in consequence frequent, and once begun, lasted for years,\nnational hatred descending as a legacy from generation to generation.\nStealth and cunning entered largely into the tactics of the Indians; to\nlie in ambush was their delight; to surprise the enemy, their grand\ntriumph. The assailants advanced in single file, the last carefully\nstrewing leaves on the footprints of those who had preceded. When they\nhad discovered the enemy, they crept on all-fours until near enough for\nthe attack, then suddenly bounding up, and yelling fearfully, they rushed\nforward to the onslaught. If the enemy were on his guard, they withdrew\nnoiselessly; if retreat were impossible, they fought with desperation.\nThe number of foes overcome, was marked by that of the scalps hanging as\ntrophies of bloody triumph from the girdles of the savage victors. Their\narms were a species of javelin, a bow and arrow, the latter tipped with a\nsharp bone or flint, and the dreaded tomahawk or head-breaker. But more\nimportant to the warrior than all besides was his manitou, or the symbol\nof his familiar spirit,--some fantastic object represented in a dream,\nor selected according to his peculiar taste; a bird's head, it might have\nbeen, a beaver's tooth, or the knot of a tree; whatever, it was, the\nwarrior would as little have thought of going to battle without arms, as\nwithout it. They treated their prisoners with great cruelty, partly it is\nsaid from the superstitious belief that the manes of their fallen\ncompanions were soothed by the sufferings of the captives. The prisoners\nwho were not sacrificed, were adopted into the tribes in place of the\nslain, and treated thenceforth as members of the family.\n\nThe savages of North America were well formed and finely proportioned.\nThey considered painting the face and tattooing the person, so great an\naddition to their personal charms, that jealous of the adornment, they\ndenied it to the women. The skins of beasts formed their ordinary attire;\ntheir shoes were of the same material, but prepared for the purpose by a\nparticular process. The women were likewise clad in skins, which on\nfestive occasions they ornamented elaborately. They often displayed much\ntaste and skill in embroidering ornamental works on bark or skin.\n\nThe dwelling was the wigwam, easily constructed and easily removed. Long\npoles fixed in the ground and bent inwards at the upper end, were covered\noutside with bark, and inside with mats; a loose skin was attached for\nthe door, an opening left at the top for the chimney, and the house was\nbuilt. In the larger hamlets, such as that of Hochelaga, described by\nCartier, the dwellings ran along a sort of gallery, sometimes nearly two\nhundred feet long and thirty wide; in these several families could be\naccommodated. A raised platform was introduced into some, as a kind of\nupper story, serving for sleeping apartments.\n\nBefore the arrival of the Europeans, the savages were subject to but few\nmaladies, and these they cured by natural remedies, the indigenous\nmedicinal plants, abstemious diet, and vapour baths of their own\ninvention forming the basis of all prescriptions. Of persons skilled in\nthe medical art, there was no scarcity, every cabin generally containing\nseveral. But not always satisfied with natural remedies, the patients had\nfrequent recourse to the juggler or \"medicine man,\" to discover the\nmagical source of their illness, and avert evil consequences. The\nmedicine man was likewise consulted on the issue of future events, and\nhis mysterious predictions were received as so many oracles, his wondrous\nspells looked on as so many talismans.\n\nThe husband's duty was to hunt and fish, leaving his venison at the cabin\ndoor, and his fish at the water's edge, to be thence removed by his wife.\nHe had also to construct and repair the canoe, and provide wood and bark\nfor building the hut,--that was all. Most of his time was passed in\nlistless lounging, or in games of hazard at which he often staked his\nwhole possessions. His wife was mistress of the wigwam, and on her it\ndevolved to draw the water, hew the wood, dress the food, prepare the\nground to receive the grain, sow and gather in the harvest, weave the\nmats, make the rude garments of the family, and in their frequent\njourneys, to bear the house on her shoulders, not figuratively, but very\nliterally. Her lord was supposed to carry nothing but his arms; if\nparticularly condescending, he might of his own accord deviate from the\nrule without compromise of dignity.\n\nAmong the North American Indians in general, woman was considered a being\nof an inferior order, created only to obey the caprices of man, yet by a\nstrange contradiction, the children belonged to the mother, and\nrecognising only her authority, looked on their father merely in the\nlight of a guest permitted to occupy a place in the cabin. In return, the\nsquaw loved her offspring with passionate fondness, not manifested\nperhaps by demonstrative caresses, but not on that account the less\ntender, vigilant, or enduring. At home or abroad, she never parted from\nher nursling. When she travelled, she lifted her black-eyed babe to her\nshoulders, gaily-decked cradle and all, and so they journeyed on happily\ntogether, her great love divesting the burden of all weight. When she\nworked in the fields, she laid it at her feet among the sweet wild\nflowers, or she swung it from the bough of some pleasant shady tree close\nby, but never under any circumstances did she entrust it to other care\nthan her own. Parental love indeed often degenerated into weakness among\nthe Indians, and proved one of the great obstacles to the formation of\nschools by the missionaries. Unable to bear separation from their little\nones, the parents soon recalled them home. As the children grew, they\nwere left to do pretty much as they pleased. They received no moral\ninstruction, but in order to excite their emulation, they were duly\ninitiated in the illustrious deeds of their ancestors, in whose footsteps\nthey were supposed to follow. For the correction of their faults, the\nmother employed prayers and tears, but never threats or punishment;\nthese, their independent spirits would not have brooked. The severest\nchastisement ever inflicted was a dash of cold water in the face. The\nnaturally unexcitable temperament of the Indians served as an antidote to\nthe defects of their rearing. Reason early taught them the necessity of\nself-control, and so it happened, that at the age when the character is\nformed, they presented a strange combination of good and bad qualities.\n\nFirst among the virtues of the savages was fortitude. Fitted by their\nstern nature and their early habits to support privation and pain, they\nwould exhibit the very stoicism of endurance under the extreme of both.\nWithout a word of complaint they would bear the pangs of hunger for ten\nor fifteen days, sometimes in compliance with a superstition, but very\nfrequently from necessity too. They would glory in dying without a groan\namidst inconceivable agonies. They seemed insensible to cold, heat,\nfatigue, sickness, and every other species of physical suffering. To\ninure themselves early to the torture of fire, boys and girls of ten and\ntwelve would place a live coal on their joined arms, the palm of courage\nbeing, of course, for the one who bore the pain longest without letting\nthe coal fall.\n\nHospitality they exercised in the style of the patriarchs. By day and by\nnight, the guest, whether stranger or friend, was welcome to the best\nplace in the wigwam, and to the choicest portion of the family stores. If\na stranger, he was visited by all the notabilities of the village, and at\nthe subsequent entertainments given in his honour, was treated with\nmarked distinction. The Indians were ever ready to divide their\npossessions with those in greater need, and especially prompt to relieve\nthe widow and the orphan. \"Their life is so void of care,\" remarked an\nold writer, \"and they are so loving also, that they make use of those\nthings which they enjoy as common goods, and are therein so\ncompassionate, that rather than one should starve, all would starve.\"\nWith a courtesy of which they might have been supposed incapable, they\npaid visits of condolence, as a matter of course, to all in affliction.\nWhen they offered their sympathy on the occasion of death, the departed\nwas never named, lest so direct an allusion might wound the sensitive\nfeelings of the bereaved; he was spoken of only as \"the one who has left\nus.\" They were remarkable for their reverence for the sepulchres of their\nkindred, and would travel miles to visit some tomb in the woods, where,\naccording to their traditions, the bones of their ancestors had been\ndeposited. When the graves were within reach, it was a practice of some\nof the tribes to keep them in the neatest order, the grass closely mown,\nand the weeds and brambles carefully removed. The Hurons honoured their\ndead by a special festival, celebrated every ten or twelve years at some\nhamlet decided on in general council. On this occasion, each family\nbrought to the place appointed the bones of the relatives who had died\nsince the last celebration. These remains of mortality had been\npreviously washed, then wrapped in beaver skins ornamented with shell\nwork or embroidery. A common grave was ready to receive them, and on its\npreparation, no pains had been spared. It was lined throughout with rich\nfurs, and partially filled with various presents, including articles both\nof ornament and of use. The venerated remains were respectfully laid on\nthese; then followed, layer after layer, another supply of presents, a\nstore of provisions, and finally, a covering of bark, the whole\nsurmounted by a mound of earth. Over all a roof was raised, to protect\nthe precious deposit from the cold and snow of winter, and the rain and\nheat of summer.\n\nSo greatly did the Indians prize domestic peace and harmony, that to\nmaintain it in their little communities, they often carried forbearance\nand self-control to the last extreme.\n\nSo many good qualities combined assuredly prove the accuracy of the\nremark of Washington Irving that \"although there seems but little soil in\nthe Indian's heart for the growth of the kindly virtues, if we would\npenetrate through the proud stoicism and habitual taciturnity which hide\nhis character from casual observers, we should find him linked to his\nfellow-men of civilized life by more of those sympathies and affections\nthan are usually ascribed to him.\" Much in the same spirit, Father Smet\nwrites--\"The Indians are in general little known in the civilized world.\nPeople judge by those whom they see on the frontiers, the mere wrecks and\nremnants of once powerful tribes. Among these the 'fire-water' and the\ndegrading vices of the whites have wrought sad ruin. The farther one\npenetrates into the desert, the better he finds the aborigines, and the\nmore worthy and desirous to receive religious instruction.\"\n\nAmong the evil impulses of the Red Man's nature, pride and revenge were\npredominant. Fostered and strengthened by indulgence, as well as by the\npeculiar nature of early training, these passions finally acquired so\ngreat a dominion, that to gratify either, the savages would have\nsacrificed all they held most dear. They were fond of praise too, and\nalthough they declared themselves indifferent to general opinion, their\nconstant fear of provoking an unfavourable one, rendered them, in truth,\nits slaves. In their dealings with the whites, they were often found\nfalse, treacherous, and regardless of promises and treaties, although in\ndomestic intercourse they were not in general deceitful. In extenuation,\nit must be remembered that from their earliest years, they were not only\ninitiated in stratagem by the necessity of self-defence, but taught to\nlook on every exhibition of craft and cunning as a triumph of skill and a\nworthy subject of admiration. And again, it is but too true that the\nexample of the more enlightened Europeans was not always calculated to\ninspire them with respect for truth. Another ground of accusation against\nthe Indians was their barbarity to the vanquished. This originated partly\nin policy and superstition, but from the era of European aggression,\nsavage cruelty needed no other stimulus than the desire of revenge.\n\nIn the long journeys of the Indians, whether for war or the chase, the\nsun, moon, and stars answered the purpose of time-piece and compass.\nDistant periods they calculated by the solar year, but for short\nintervals they reckoned by lunations. They had observed and even given\nnames to the principal constellations. Among the Iroquois, the Pleiades\nwere called the \"Dancers;\" the Milky Way, \"the Path of Souls;\" the Great\nBear had a name corresponding with that which we give it; the Polar Star\nwas designated as \"the star that never sets;\" it served to guide them in\ntheir long marches through the forests and across the great prairies of\nthe west. When the sky was clouded, they were led through the woods by\ncertain infallible signs--indeed by a species of instinct--besides which,\ntheir memory of places was so wonderful that, after once visiting any\nlocality, they ever after retained a perfectly distinct recollection of\nit. They preferred water to land travelling, possessing thorough command\nof their light bark canoe, which they could direct with ease and security\namidst the most formidable rapids. If they came to an absolutely\nimpassable spot, they raised the slight vessel on their shoulders and\ncarried it until they reached the next navigable point.\n\nChristianity produced a wonderful change in these wild children of the\nwoods, developing all that was good in their nature, correcting what was\nevil, and softening down much of what was harsh, but when the Mother of\nthe Incarnation arrived in Canada, it had made but little progress. As\nearly as 1615, it is true, P\u00e8re Caron, a Recollet, had penetrated to the\nHuron land, and, during the succeeding years, he and his religious\nbrethren had laboured at intervals for the conversion of its inhabitants,\nbut although their zeal was ardent, their success had been only very\npartial. Unlike the tribes of whom Jacques Cartier speaks, these\nmanifested so strong an opposition to the dogmas of the Catholic faith,\nthat it was evident many years must elapse before they would be disposed\nto embrace it. Although the most intelligent of all the North American\ntribes, and the most susceptible of ordinary instruction, the Hurons\nappeared absolutely inaccessible to religious teaching.\n\nThe plan of the missioners in the northern continent was to try and gain\naccess to some Indian village, and, this point attained, to build a cabin\nand as soon as opportunity offered, announce the Word of God to all who\nwould receive it. Gradually a little congregation was formed around them,\nbut the tie between the converts and their heathen relatives was not\nsevered, both continuing to associate; neither was the original name of\nthe village changed; it merely received in addition that of the\nparticularly saint who had been chosen as its patron. In South America,\non the contrary, it was the practice of the missioners to prepare\nsettlements, or \"reductions,\" as they were called, to which they\nattracted their neophytes, whom they induced to live in community.\n\nIn the year 1634, the three Jesuit Fathers, Br\u00e9boeuf, Daniel, and Davost,\nsucceeded in establishing themselves in the village of Ihonhatiria, in\nthe land of the Hurons, and there, in a very poor little chapel dedicated\nto St. Joseph, they planted the seed of that interesting portion of the\nearly Canadian Church, the Huron Mission. In a year after, they were\njoined by P\u00e8re Jogues. When the Venerable Mother arrived, five years had\npassed over that precious seed, and it had given scarcely a sign of life,\nnor did it for long afterwards. The efforts of the Fathers were\neverywhere thwarted--prejudice, superstition, ignorance, and vice all\nrose in arms against them. They were accounted sorcerers; the breaking\nout of the dreaded small-pox was attributed to their magic arts, and they\nonce owed their escape from a sentence of death only to the intervention\nof a friendly Indian. But the blood of a martyr was to fertilize the seed\nof Christianity in the New World, as in primitive times it had so often\ndone in the Old. P\u00e8re Jogues was seized by the Iroquois, and after\nenduring torments which only the ingenuity of savage barbarity could have\ninvented, he wonderfully escaped alive from their hands. In 1646 he was\nsent to found a mission in the heart of the Iroquois land itself--a\nmission which was to be dedicated to, and appropriately named after, the\nholy Martyrs. \"I shall go,\" he said, on receiving the order; \"I shall go,\nbut I shall not return.\" The words were prophetic; his own blood was the\nfirst to water the mission of the holy martyrs, and, as might have been\nanticipated, its eloquent voice pierced the heavens. It had scarcely sent\nup its pleadings, when the work of conversion among the Hurons began in\nearnest. Missionary stations multiplied rapidly. The Christianized\nvillages of St. Joseph, St. Louis, St. Ignatius, and St. John smiled in\nthe desert like green spots amidst the barren sands. At the central\nstation of St. Mary's alone, three thousand Indians received hospitality\nin the course of one year. Undeterred by the certainty of privation and\nsuffering, new missioners continued to swell the ranks and aid the work.\nWith indefatigable zeal and unwearied patience, they catechised,\nexhorted, consoled, encouraged. The morning hours, from four until eight,\nwere reserved for their private devotions; the remainder of the day\nbelonged to the neophytes. Like St. Francis Xavier, P\u00e8re Br\u00e9boeuf would\nwalk through the villages and their environs, ringing a bell to summon\nthe warriors to a conference. Seated round the good Father under the\npleasant shade of their own ancient forest trees, they would drink in his\nwords and joyfully accept his doctrines. \"When I escaped some particular\ndanger,\" a brave would remark, \"I said to myself, 'A powerful spirit\nwatches over me.' Now I know that my Protector was the great God of whom\nyou tell us.\" The first desire and aim of the converts was to bring as\nmany of their nation as possible to the faith; and so wondrously rapid\nwas its diffusion, that within two years after the martyrdom of P\u00e8re\nJogues, the whole Huron nation was converted.\n\nThe harvest had taken long to ripen, but in compensation it was so rich,\nthat only the golden garners seemed fit to receive it, and to these,\naccordingly, the Almighty Master of the vineyard was pleased speedily to\ntransfer it. The Iroquois had long maintained a deadly enmity to the\nHurons, and frequent bloodshed had necessarily been its consequence; but,\nno longer satisfied with partial vengeance, they resolved in the year\n1648 on carrying on a war of absolute extermination into the Huron\nterritory itself. They chose for their incursion the season when all the\nHuron warriors were absent on the chase, and no one left in the hamlets\nbut women, children, and aged men. The village of St. Joseph, with its\nvenerable pastor, Father Daniel, at once fell a prey to their terrible\nfury. The following year the villages of St. Louis and St. Ignatius\nshared the same fate, and all the inhabitants, men, women, and children,\nwere slain. Fathers Br\u00e9boeuf and Lalemant were included in the general\nmassacre, but their deaths were marked by an exceptional refinement of\nbarbarity. In explanation of the bitter hatred of the Iroquois to the\nFrench, we learn that about a year after his arrival in Canada, Champlain\nhad provoked their hostility by entering into an alliance with the\nAlgonquins and Hurons, their traditional foes. The step was taken in\nchoice of the lesser of two evils, for unless conciliated, it seemed but\nnatural to expect that the Algonquins, as the nearest neighbours, would\nprove the most dangerous enemies. Wise as may have been the motive, the\nact led to disastrous results.\n\nAfter the almost total annihilation of their nation, a part of the\nsurviving Hurons descended the St. Lawrence to Quebec, in the environs of\nwhich their posterity is still to be seen; another portion was adopted\ninto the nation of the conquerors on equal terms, and the rest dispersed.\nMany of those admitted into the enemy's tribe were Christians, and not\nonly did they preserve their faith in exile, but they were the happy\nmeans of drawing to it many of their new allies. Several years after,\nmissioners were amazed and charmed at finding a little band of fervent\nChristians in the very centre of heathen vice and barbarism. The exiled\nHurons who sought an asylum in Quebec were located in the Isle of\nOrleans, to which they gave the name of St. Mary's, in memory of their\nold and still dearly-cherished home. Our limits do not permit us to dwell\non the heroism of the missioners in the daily, hourly sacrifices of their\ncrucified lives, ending for very many among them in death by a cruel\nmartyrdom. The record fills one among the many beautiful pages in the\nannals of the sons of St. Ignatius. Commenting on their glorious work,\nthe historian, Bancroft, remarks that \"the history of their labours is\nconnected with the origin of every celebrated town within the limits of\nFrench Canada. Not a cape was turned,\" he says, \"not a river entered, but\na Jesuit led the way.\" This, however, is but secondary merit; their true\nglory is in having led the way to heaven for innumerable souls who will\nfor ever bless their charity, and sing praise to Him who inspired it.\n\nBefore the arrival of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation,\nmissions for the converted Indians had sprung up under their direction in\nand about Quebec and along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The most remarkable\nof the former was that called St. Joseph of Sillery, in honour of the\npatron of Canada, to whom it was dedicated, and of Monsieur de Sillery,\n[Footnote: After having been Ambassador for France at the Spanish and\nPapal Courts, Monsieur de Sillery was appointed Prime Minister of Louis\nXIII. He finally renounced the world, and embraced the ecclesiastical\nstate.] its munificent founder. A few savage families lived happily in\nthis peaceful hamlet, fervently discharging their duty as Christians, and\ninsensibly falling into the spirit and usages of civilized life. These\nconverts were chiefly from among the Algonquins proper, and the kindred\ntribe of the Montagnais. As the desire for the conversion of the Indians\nstrengthened, so did the conviction that the work must begin with the\nsystematic religious training of the children. Thanks to the zeal and\ncharity of the lamented Champlain, a step had been taken in this\ndirection for the benefit of the Indian boys;--that a similar advantage\nmight be extended to the girls, had long been the prayer of all who\nsighed for the coming of the Kingdom of God among the heathens of Canada.\nAnd God heard the prayer, and in his own time He sent His mercy and His\nblessing to the heathen land in the person of the Venerable Mother Mary\nof the Incarnation, whose wondrous call, and faithful co-operation will\nengage our attention in the following pages, a tribute of filial love and\nreverence to her saintly memory.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LIFE OF THE VENERABLE MOTHER MARY OF THE INCARNATION\n\n\n\n\nFIRST PERIOD, 1599-1631.\n\nHER LIFE IN THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nHER BIRTH, PARENTAGE, INFANCY, CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.\n\n\nThe world of nature is no doubt very beautiful in itself, and very\nwonderful in its works, yet infinitely surpassing it, both in intrinsic\nloveliness and in magnificence of production, is the world of grace. It\nis in that world that the saints are formed, and compared with the\ngrandeur of the work of grace in the sanctification of a soul, all the\nsplendours of this material universe fade to nothing. When grace forms a\nsaint, it restores the beauty, and renews the purity which were the dowry\nof the soul before the fall. For this end, it has to transform man from a\nterrestrial into a heavenly being, elevating what is low in his fallen\nnature, correcting what is evil, spiritualizing what is earthly,\nimproving what is good;--re-forming, re-moulding, and in a manner re-\ncreating.\n\nConsidering the subjects on which divine grace has to act, and the\nopposition which it has to encounter, this, its work in the saints, may\nwell be called the most wonderful of all works, and its triumph the\ngrandest of all triumphs. Unseen and unheeded though it may be, that\ndivine work is ever silently but surely and steadily progressing in the\nspiritual world over which grace rules. We can see it in its development,\nif not in its actual operation, and if so minded, can estimate its\nmagnitude by examining its results in the annals of the saints.\n\nThose annals are of a singularly diversified character. They comprise the\nhistory of once rebellious souls won by the sweet attractions of grace\nfrom every part of the empire of Satan, and by a strange contrast, they\nat the same time record that of faithful souls, who, upheld by its\nstrength, never swerved from their allegiance to God. They tell of\nsaintly penitents, dating their first correspondence with its\ninspirations from the eleventh hour, and of docile hearts, obedient from\nearliest childhood to its voice. They show us, side by side, profaned\ntemples re-consecrated, and holy sanctuaries never sullied; scentless\nflowers restored to fragrance, and garlands of purity from which not a\nblossom or even a leaf had ever fallen. In different ways both manifest\nthe magnificence of the riches of divine grace. In different ways, both\nprove that whether grace changes a sinner into a saint, or preserves a\nsaint from sin, it is pre-eminently the worker of wonders. If the\ncatalogue of holy penitents forms a dazzling page in its record, so does\nthat of the privileged few who never lost their baptismal innocence.\nWhile the one is traced in characters of mercy, the other is written in\nletters of light. While the one reveals the grandeur, and the other the\nsweetness of the work of grace, both concur in proclaiming the triumph of\nits omnipotence.\n\nIn obdurate wills subdued, the conquests of grace are often hard to win.\nIn the docile souls of the early sanctified, its task is easy. Into\nthese, its inspirations sink as the soft dew into good soil; and with the\nsame result. Finding in them no impediment to its action, no check to its\nliberality, it is free to pour out the wealth of its exhaustless\ntreasury, and so it leads them from virtue to virtue, from height to\nheight, even to the sublimity of perfection and the consummation of\ndivine union, when, resplendent with heavenly light, and dazzling with\ninterior beauty, they excite the admiration, nay, perhaps even the wonder\nof the angels.\n\nTo this bright page of the annals of the work of grace belongs the name\nof the Mother Mary of the Incarnation, whose history is about to engage\nus.\n\nAs we follow the progress of the great work of God in her soul, noting,\non the one hand, the rich abundance of heavenly inspiration, and, on the\nother, the perfection of her fidelity, let us not be satisfied with\nsimply admiring the one, but let us set ourselves in earnest to imitate\nthe other, according to our measure and degree.\n\nShe was born in the historic city of Tours on the 28th of October 1599.\nWith the very gift of life itself, she received an accompanying\nprotecting grace in the blessing of good, religious parents. Her father,\nFlorence Guyart, was noted among his fellow-citizens for piety,\nintegrity, and uprightness, but although richly endowed with the\ntreasures of virtue, he was but indifferently provided with those of\nfortune, his business as a silk-mercer supplying him barely with a\ncompetency. Her mother, Jeanne Michelet, was of the noble house of Babou\nde la Bourdaisi\u00e8re, to which France was once indebted for some of her\neminent ecclesiastics and statesmen, but at the period of the birth of\nher holy child, she ranked--like the royally descended Virgin of Juda at\nthe birth of Christ--only among other obscure individuals of the middle\nclass.\n\nThe predestined infant received baptism on the day after her birth, in\nthe church of St. Saturninus, and with it the name of Mary, a happy\npresage, as one of her biographers remarks, of her life-long, most tender\ndevotion to the Blessed Virgin, as well as of the singular favours which\nthat generous Mother reserved for her well-loved child. It was her\nhappiness to be surrounded from earliest infancy with none but holy\ninfluences, and to breathe from her very cradle an atmosphere of purity.\nThe first words which she heard, the first she tried to lisp, were the\nsweet names of Jesus and Mary. The first bent she received was an\ninclination to virtue; the first and only examples she witnessed were\nexamples of piety. Thus passed the years preceding the dawn of reason,\nher beautiful soul expanding under the combined action of the baptismal\ngrace, and of favourable external influences, like a bud of rich promise\nin the bright spring sunshine; then the clouds of infancy cleared away,\nand the light of reason shone. Her good mother seized the all-important\nmoment to direct the child's opening mind to the knowledge of God, and\nher fresh, pure heart to His love, a grace for which the Venerable Mother\nreturned Him very earnest thanks in after life, remarking that early\nimpressions of religion are a most precious favour, and a strong\npredisposition to future sanctity. Truly it was a picture to delight the\nangels, that Christian mother so carefully directing the first feeble\nsteps of her little child along the road that leads to God, and that\ndocile child eagerly watching the guardian hand, and steadily treading\nthe path to which it pointed,--the sure and blessed path of holiness,\nfrom which throughout life's long journey, she was never even once to\nswerve.\n\nThe crowning grace of this privileged infancy was, however, yet to come.\nOur Lord, whose Spirit breatheth where He will, had chosen that little\nchild to be in an especial manner all His own, and He desired to secure\npossession of her soul while yet it looked so lovely, all glistening with\nthe baptismal dew in the morning light of its young purity. But as the\ngift of the heart, to be acceptable, must be voluntary, her concurrence\nin His designs of mercy had to be asked. Neither, however, to visible or\ninvisible guardian angel would He intrust the invitation, which, to crown\nHis infinite condescension, was to come from Himself in person. She has\nleft us a touchingly simple description of the extraordinary favour\nreferred to, which she always looked on as the first link in the chain of\nher vocation to the mystic life, and prized accordingly.\n\n\"I was only about seven years old,\" she says, \"when one night in sleep, I\nseemed to myself to be in the courtyard of a country school with one of\nmy young companions. My eyes were fixed on the heavens, when suddenly I\nsaw them opened, and our Lord Jesus Christ descending towards me through\nthe air. As His most adorable Majesty drew near, I felt my heart all on\nfire with His love, and eagerly stretched out my arms to Him. The most\nlovely above the sons of men, beautiful and attractive beyond\ndescription, lovingly embraced me, and then He asked, 'Wilt thou be\nmine?' I answered, 'yes,' and having thus received my consent, He re-\nascended in our sight to heaven. When I awoke, my soul was so ravished\nwith joy at this unspeakable favour, that in my childish simplicity, I\ndetailed the wonderful particulars to all who would listen to me. The\nsweet words of our Blessed Lord remained ever indelibly engraven on my\nmemory, and so completely did they absorb my attention, that although I\nsaw His sacred Humanity, I afterwards retained no distinct impression\nconcerning it.\"\n\nIt was an important crisis in the child's spiritual life, that heavenly\nvision, for on its results depended the bent and colouring of her future\ncareer. By her ready compliance with the invitation of divine grace, she\nsubjected her whole will unreservedly and for ever to the dominion of her\nLord, and thus left Him free to carry out His yet unrevealed designs for\nher personal sanctification, and the salvation of innumerable souls bound\nup with hers. Henceforth, His divine inspirations would find no\nimpediment to their action in the docile heart of that little child.\n\nAccording to St. Bernard, the embrace of God means His Holy Spirit. To\nembrace a soul, and to give her His Spirit, are then in God identical\nacts. By the embrace noted in the vision, the Holy Ghost took possession\nof the heart of His chosen Spouse in quality of her Director, and\nalthough unacquainted as yet with the secrets, and even the name of the\ninterior life, she found herself guided along its paths by that divine\nMaster, as steadily and securely as if she had been led by a visible\nhand. In her doubts, she consulted Him with great simplicity, and never\nfailed to receive the light which she needed for her practical direction;\nlight so clear and vivid, that it sometimes carried with it the force\nalmost of demonstration. This supernatural guidance, commenced thus\nearly, and continued through life, may be ranked among the most eminent\nof her great spiritual privileges. But although the first, it was not the\nonly favour conferred on her by our Lord at His most gracious visit.\nOther precious, practical effects of that visit were to disengage her\nheart from the amusements in general so eagerly sought by children of her\nage; to confirm her desire of virtue; to develop her love of retirement\nand prayer; to intensify her hatred of sin, and strengthen her resolution\nto guard with jealous care the holy treasure of her baptismal innocence.\nThe embrace vouchsafed her by our Lord, so embalmed her soul with\nsweetness, so inflamed her heart with love, that she ceased not\nthenceforth to \"run after Him in the odour of His perfumes,\" and so\nreadily did her thoughts and affections turn to Him, their Centre, that\nit would seem as if in vanishing from her sight in the vision just\nreferred to, He had taken both back to heaven with Himself. Her delight\nwas to resort to the most solitary places and the least frequented\nchurches, that she might enjoy with less interruption the sweets of\ncommunion with Him. Struck by the humble and respectful attitudes of\npious persons whom she met in the church, and believing that God must\ncertainly grant the petitions of those who prayed with so much reverence,\nshe at once set about imitating them; and no doubt, even indifferent\nobservers must have been impressed by the sight of a child between nine\nand ten years of age spending long hours on her knees before the\ntabernacle, her little hands devoutly joined, her soul absorbed as if in\necstasy, and her very countenance wearing a seraphic expression. She\nspoke of her childish wants, with simple confidence to our Lord and His\nBlessed Mother, and every day she asked that dear Mother that she might\nsee her at least before death. From constant association with Him who is\nthe joy of the angels, and the sweetness of the saints, her naturally\nbright disposition grew the brighter, and her engaging amiability and\nartless courtesy, the more striking and attractive.\n\nShe early manifested a singular reverence and love for religious\ninstruction. Having heard that God speaks through the preachers of His\nword, she conceived so profound a veneration for their office and their\nperson, that when she met one of them in the street, she would have\nfollowed him to kiss the traces of his steps, had she not been restrained\nby the fear of observation. Without understanding much of what was said\nin sermons, she still loved to listen to them, and on her return home,\nwould repeat what she had retained, adding her own simple ideas and\nreflections. As she grew older, and therefore better able to take in\ntheir meaning, her heart, she says, seemed to her like a vessel into\nwhich the word of God poured in the manner of a liquid into a vase. Like\nthe brimming vase, her soul so overflowed with heavenly emotions, that\nunable to contain their abundance, she was constrained to give them vent\nin prayer, or in humble efforts to impart some of her treasures to other\nsouls. This early inclination for receiving and communicating religious\ninstruction, was a pre-disposition for the grand work which the future\nreserved for her, and when, after the lapse of many years, her destiny\nhad associated her with the generous missionaries who bore the knowledge\nof the name of Christ to infidel lands, she recalled the aspirations of\nchildhood's days, in which, as she says, her heart had followed the\nministers of the Gospel to the scenes of their labours, and her mind had\nbeen more engrossed by their noble deeds, than by the events actually\npassing around her.\n\nDaily more intent on excluding from the solitude of her soul every\ndistracting thought and care thus the better to dispose it for the\npermanent abode of the divine Guest who will have the heart to Himself,\nshe withdrew more and more from all intercourse with creatures, except\nthat required by charity and courtesy. Seeing in the recreative reading\nprovided for her by her parents, an obstacle to recollection and a waste\nof time, she totally laid it aside, substituting for books of mere\namusement, those which treated of spiritual subjects.\n\nAs she advanced in years, the love of God which inflamed her soul sought\na vent not only in her almost uninterrupted communications with the\ndivine Object of her affections, but in exterior active works of charity\ntowards her neighbour. The tabernacle and the poor were the two magnets\nthat attracted her heart, and next to the hours spent before the altar,\nnone yielded her such pure delight as those passed among the lowly,\nsuffering members of her dear Saviour. She found no company so congenial\nas theirs; no occupation so agreeable as the humble services which their\ndesolate condition required. She fed, clothed and consoled them, and even\nsometimes partook of their poor fare, reserving for her own share their\nremnants and refuse. She would have been glad to suffer in their stead,\nand says, that but for the uprightness of her intention, she might\nsometimes have erred by excess of liberality towards them.\n\nGoing one day, as usual, on a mission of charity, she inadvertently\npassed too near a cart which some workmen were in the act of loading. Not\nseeing her, they raised the vehicle so suddenly, that her sleeve was\ncaught in the shaft, and after being lifted into the air, she was dashed\nback violently to the ground. The terrified spectators concluded that she\nmust have been killed, but she had not received the least injury, a\nfavour for which, as the Almighty revealed to her, she was indebted to\nher love for the poor.\n\nAfter some years, we hear of the first notable imperfection of her\nchildhood and youth, and nothing perhaps gives a more accurate idea of\nher innocence, than the gravity which that imperfection assumed in her\nestimation. The singular degree of supernatural light vouchsafed her, the\nsublimity of interior purity to which she was called, and the height of\nthe virtue to which she had already attained, explain the reproaches of\nthe Holy Spirit, and her own keen remorse for an infidelity which appears\ntrivial to us because of our want of enlightenment in the ways of God.\n\nIn her childish recreations, it had been her favourite amusement to copy\nthe devotional practices which she had witnessed at Church; to kneel, to\nprostrate, to clasp her hands, to raise her eyes to heaven, to strike her\nbreast; in short, to repeat as a pastime what she had seen done at\nprayer. In ordinary children, a fancy for such diversions is often\nconsidered a happy presage of a future vocation to the ecclesiastical or\nreligious state, but in her enlightened eyes, these childish follies\nseemed inconsistent with the gravity and reserve becoming one so favoured\nas she had been. Viewed in this aspect, they appeared to her, not as sins\ncertainly, but as imperfections; light vapours, it is true, but vapours\nstill, and therefore capable of intercepting to some extent the rays of\nthe eternal Sun of justice. It was not until her sixteenth year that her\nearly pastimes struck her as reprehensible, and then, with the new light,\nthere came a second to the effect, that although deliberate sin alone\nforms necessary matter for confession, an imperfection like that recorded\nmight lawfully find a place in the self-accusations of one, destined as\nshe was, for an exceptional degree of purity of soul. No positive duty\nhowever, required the sacrifice of natural feeling involved in the latter\ncourse, therefore she hesitated for awhile to adopt it, thus for the\nfirst time balancing the repugnances of nature against the inspirations\nof grace. But the Spouse of souls will admit no reservation in those whom\nHe has chosen to be all His own, and we learn from herself, that by this\ninfidelity, she interrupted for a time the fulness of the flow of divine\nliberality in her regard, and checked the freedom and rapidity of her\nprogress to God. To all but herself, however, that progress was very\napparent, furnishing matter of wonder and admiration, no less than of\nedification.\n\nOnly two convents existed at that period in the city of Tours; one of\nCarmelites, quite recently founded; the other of Benedictines, governed\njust then by a near relative of her mother's. This latter monastery she\nfrequently visited, and as might have been expected, the oftener she\nbreathed its atmosphere of peace and prayer, the more she longed to make\nit the place of her rest for ever. Her inclination for the religious life\ngradually settled into a desire so strong and irrepressible, that even\nbefore she had reached her sixteenth year, with its renewed call to\nperfection, she had confided her wishes to her mother. While rejoicing at\nthe intelligence, and giving the project every reasonable encouragement,\nthat good mother suggested, that although the step was undeniably a holy\nand a happy one, it was very important too, consequently, that it would\nhe better to delay it until time and reflection had more fully manifested\nits wisdom. Had the youthful Mary been at that time under regular\nspiritual direction, there can be no doubt that she would have been\nadvised to follow her attraction for the cloister, but she knew nothing\nwhatever about direction, imagining that spiritual communications even to\na confessor were limited to the accusation of sins at confession. Being\nvery timid, she did not venture to press the matter, so her mother,\nhearing nothing more of it, naturally concluded that her inclination for\nreligion had been the result of some passing fit of fervour, or perhaps\nonly a childish fancy, forgotten as soon as formed, an idea apparently so\nmuch the more reasonable, as her natural gaiety of character seemed to\ndispose her rather for the world than for a convent. The seeming mistake\nwas in reality a step to the development of the particular designs of God\nover His faithful servant, for although His general design is alike in\nall the saints, the especial destiny of each varies, and while the great\noutline of sanctity is universally the same, there are minute shades of\ndifference in the characteristic virtues of individuals. The saints form\nthe beautiful garden of the Church, redolent of every variety of sweetest\nfragrance, and enamelled with every shade of fairest tinting. The day was\nto come, when the Mother of the Incarnation would be bound to her Lord by\nthe vows of religion, but before becoming a guide for His consecrated\nSpouses, she was to pass through married life and widowhood, that she\nmight first furnish an example of perfection in both conditions, and thus\nserve as a model for woman in every state. Her ultimate destiny involved\na species of apostolate among the savages of Canada, and for this, the\nnovitiate awaiting her in the world would prove a more effectual\npreparation, than would the novitiate of the cloister. There she would\nhave ample opportunities of practically learning the lesson of the cross,\nand at the same time of consolidating the virtues which were to be the\ndistinguishing characteristics of her sanctity. Her zeal and charity\nwould find a wider field, and her gentle patience reap a richer harvest,\nher union with God would be strengthened, while tested, by exposure to\nthe distracting cares of life, and her purity of soul would shine out\nwith brighter lustre amidst hitherto unknown difficulties and dangers.\nAnd so, when in after years, the voice of the Spouse would bid her arise,\nand leave her home and country, and follow Him to the distant land which\nHe would show her, she would be prepared to answer, \"My heart, O Lord, is\nready; my heart is ready and my work is done!\"\n\nThe first page of the history of her life,-which we are about to close,\nhas not been without its practical teaching. It is the page of the young;\nhappy those who study well the record! They will discover, that \"it is\ngood for a man when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.\" (Lam. iii.\n27). They will learn to admire the heavenly beauty of a pure soul, and\nfascinated by its unearthly charms, they will resolve to close their own\nhearts against sin, excluding even the smallest, as a security against\nthe entrance of the greater. They will learn to appreciate the happiness\nof knowing and loving our Lord, like the blessed child who found her\nsweetest joy before the altar, and they will surely ask her to beg for\nthem a share in her love of Jesus and her spirit of prayer, courageously\nchecking the propensity for idle talking and still idler reading which,\nare so great an obstacle to recollection. Studying her love of\nretirement, they will pray for grace to resist worldly influences, and\nfollowing her to the miserable homes of the destitute, they will aspire\nto become, like her, angels of comfort to the desolate and sorrowing.\nThus will their childhood and youth be saintly, as, were those of the\nmodel now presented to them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nHER MARRIED LIFE, WITH ITS TRIALS AND VIRTUES.\n\n\nMary Guyart was just entering on her seventeenth year, when her parents\nproposed to her a matrimonial alliance apparently calculated to insure\nher happiness. Such an engagement was utterly repugnant to her\ninclinations; it was inconsistent with the high hopes she had cherished\nof consecrating herself wholly to God in religion; its duties and\nsolicitudes seemed a decided obstacle to the cultivation of that spirit\nof prayer and recollection which had become as her life-breath. Drawn\ndaily more and more forcibly to an interior life in God, she shrank with\nher whole soul from a position which must necessarily immerse her in he\ndistracting occupations and harassing cares of the world. But accustomed\nto look on her parents as the representatives of God, and therefore\nseeing only His will in the impending project, she submitted with the\nrespectful docility habitual to her, and none but the interior witness\nof. the sacrifice to obedience, could have suspected the cost at which it\nwas offered. She simply assured her mother of her readiness to obey,\nadding the, almost prophetic promise, that if God should bless her with a\nson, she would dedicate him to the Divine service, and that if He should\never restore her own liberty, she would consecrate it also to Him alone.\n\nHer only object now became to prepare so fervently for the holy sacrament\nof marriage, that she might receive with it the abundant supply of grace\nneeded for the due fulfilment of the difficult and responsible\nobligations soon to be hers.\n\nFew indeed have ever brought to it more admirable dispositions than did\nthat reluctant, yet in one sense, willing bride, therefore it followed,\nthat although the absence of pomp and show may have divested the\nceremonial of all charm for worldlings, the perfection: of her interior\npreparation rendered it one of rare beauty in the eyes of heaven. She\nwore no costly attire, it is true, but in compensation, her soul was\narrayed in that fairest of garments, her white baptismal robe, free still\nfrom spot or wrinkle, as on the day when it was first assumed. She\ndisplayed no sparkling gems, but many a virtue shone instead with a\nglorious light, before whose lustre that of flashing diamond and gilded\ncoronet fades away, and as she thus stood before the altar in all the\nfreshness of her innocence and the radiance of her spiritual beauty, must\nshe not have won the smiles. of angels? Must she not have attracted the\ncomplacency of the angels' Lord?\n\nThe duties of her new state came to her marked with the sign of the\ncross, nevertheless she set about them with an energy and devotedness\nwhich clearly manifested the singleness of her views, the purity of her\nmotives, and the enlightened character of her piety. Knowing that\nperfection is in the accomplishment of God's will, and believing that as\nlong as she faithfully complied with the duties of her condition in life,\nshe should walk in the sure, straight path of obedience to that holy\nwill, she took immediate measures for the discharge of its fourfold\nobligations to God, her husband, her servants and herself. The spirit of\nprayer conferred on her at the early visit of our Lord, had been ever\nsince developing itself more and more strongly, and her first precaution\nin arranging her role of life, was that no worldly interests should ever\nbe permitted to interfere with her spiritual exercises, whence alone she\ncould derive strength to fulfil her daily duties and courage to bear her\ndaily crosses. Yet she never allowed them to encroach on domestic\narrangements, her well-regulated piety having taught her, that when these\nlatter required the sacrifice of her love of prayer and solitude she was\ndoing God's will more perfectly in substituting active work for the\nenjoyment of immediate communion with Himself. Prolonged meditations,\nholy Mass, the sacraments and the word of God,--these were the four\nsources whence she drew the waters of grace to refresh and invigorate her\nsoul. The holy Communion was above all, her joy and her life. As she\nherself tells us, it replenished her with sweetness, enlivened her faith,\nfortified her inclination for virtue, strengthened her confidence in God,\nintensified her love of her neighbour, and supported her under the weight\nof the cross. In one of her letters of after years, she remarks that a\nsingle communion well made, is sufficient to sanctify a soul, since it\nunites, her to the Saint of Saints, adding, that the reason why it does\nnot produce this result, is, that the soul after having given herself to\nour Lord, in return for His having given Himself to her, too soon revokes\nthe offering in practice, nature shrinking from the total renunciation of\nself which the divine Sanctifier requires as a preliminary to His action.\nIt was not so, her son remarks, with the holy Mother. Bringing to the\nheavenly Banquet a disengaged heart, an almost annihilated will, and an\nentire abandonment to the Spirit of God, she not only co-operated with,\nbut facilitated the operation of the sacramental grace, which meeting in\nher no obstacle to its freedom of action, bore her with marvellous\nrapidity along the path of solid virtue. Of such Communions it was, that\nshe says, \"The more frequently I received the sacraments, the more\nardently I desired to receive them, because the more clearly I saw that\nthey were to me the source of all spiritual blessings.\"\n\nThe love and reverence for God's word which she had manifested from\nearliest childhood, had but gained strength with years. To listen to it\nwas still her delight, as it had been in her young days. She loved it for\nits own sake, irrespectively of the manner in which it might be\nannounced, looking on every preacher as a herald of the great King,\ncharged with the divine message of salvation. She says that her assiduity\nin attending sermons was rewarded by a great abundance of light and love,\nan increase of attraction and facility for prayer, and a renewal of\nfervour in the practice of the virtues of her state. With the enlarged\nexperience of the spiritual life acquired at a later date, she recognised\nthat He who never tries His creatures beyond their strength, had imparted\nto her in these benedictions of His sweetness, the particular graces\nneeded to support her under the crosses with which it had been His will\nto surround her in the troubled days of her married life.\n\nHer veneration for the preachers of God's word extended to all the\nceremonies of Divine worship. Enchanted with their beauty and grandeur,\nand at the same time supernaturally enlightened to understand their\nmysterious signification, she was filled with gratitude to her eternal\nBenefactor for the signal favour of having been born of Catholic parents,\nand thus made a child of the one true Church long before she could\nappreciate, or even comprehend the blessing. She was always eager to be\namong the first to enter the church, that securing a place where no part\nof the sublime ceremonial could escape her, she might be free to meditate\non, and enter into the spirit of all.\n\nThe uprightness of her motives, and the holiness of her dispositions in\nentering the marriage state, ought, we naturally imagine, to have secured\nher at least the average amount of its happiness. But for the\npurification of her soul and the perfecting of her virtue, God permitted\nthat her garland of bridal flowers should soon be turned into a wreath of\nthorns, and thorns all the sharper, that they were pointed by the hand to\nwhich she might have expected to look as her shield against trouble. It\nis difficult to explain this singular phase of her diversified career.\nHer husband is represented as eminently endowed with the richest gifts of\nmind and person; he fully appreciated the value of the treasure which he\npossessed in her, and did ample justice to her admirable qualities,\nimpressed most of all, perhaps, by the calm patience which no annoyance\ncould ruffle; the steady love which no trial could shake; the Christian\nheroism which gathered new courage from each new shock;--yet it is\nnevertheless quite certain that the bitter sufferings of her married life\noriginated, though unintentionally, with him. They rendered her duty in\nhis regard all the more arduous, yet it was not on that account the less\nperfectly fulfilled. In uniting her destiny with his, she believed that\nshe was carrying out an arrangement of the admirable providence of God;\nhence from the first moment of their union, she looked on him as holding\nto her the place of God. In thus adopting the supernatural principles of\nfaith as the guide of all her relations towards him, she cut off the\nthousand sources of trouble and temptation which are sure to arise\nwhenever nature, and not grace, holds rule,--so it happened, that among\nthe sorrows of her wedded life, domestic disunion, at least, never found\na place, and it followed too, that her spiritualized affection stood\ntests, which purely human love would not have borne. She was never known\nto fail in the respect or obedience due to her husband; her constant\nstudy was to promote his comfort; her unceasing aim not only to defer to,\nbut even to anticipate his slightest wishes, and all was done with the\nwinning sweetness and rare prudence which were among her characteristics.\n\nNature had indeed dealt bountifully with her, and grace developing,\nrefining and spiritualizing the gifts of nature, had produced one of\nthose dispositions, which, to include all praise in a single word, are\nsometimes termed angelic. Her temper was sweet and gentle, but it was a\ngentleness as much removed from languid apathy and insensibility, as from\nimpulsive quickness and impetuosity. It was the serenity of a soul which,\npossessing God, is happy in Him, and has no desire beyond Him, and it\nexcluded neither firmness in decision, nor courage and resolution in\ndifficulty, nor promptitude and energy in action. Her nature was so\nplacid and docile, that we never hear, even in her childhood, of the\nleast of those ebullitions of anger or manifestations of self-will, usual\nin ordinary children. It was so enduring and forgiving, that while\ninoffensive herself, she was incapable of taking offence, and absolutely\ninaccessible to resentment. It was so kind and tender, that sympathy for\nthe troubles of others, especially the poor, was among the very first of\nthe features which her childish disposition revealed, and which, like all\nher great qualities, strengthened with time. There was nothing rigid in\nher piety, repulsive in her manner, austere in her ideas, or contracted\nin her mind. She served the Lord with joy, and so, her interior peace was\nreflected in an external cheerfulness, tempered ever by a sweet, modest\ngravity that imparted dignity to her demeanour and commanded universal\nrespect. Her heart's history might be epitomized in one word,--self-\nsacrifice,--and truly it was the quality of which she had most need. Her\ncharity has drawn an impenetrable veil over the precise nature, as well\nas the painful details of the trials which lasted all through her short\nunion with Mr. Martin. Alluding to them in later life, in one of her\nconfidential letters to her son, she says \"The only comfort of my married\nlife was that I was able to consecrate you to God before your birth, and\nthat your father, who possessed a good heart, and had the fear of God,\nnot only sanctioned, but even approved of my devotions. Regarding certain\noccurrences with which you are acquainted, and which are to be imputed to\ninadvertence, he regretted them most heartily, and often asked my pardon\nfor them with tears,\"--tears, she might have added, not only of self-\nreproach, but of admiration for the meek endurance of the gentle\nsufferer.\n\nTo the perfect fulfilment of her duty to her husband, she added the exact\ndischarge of her obligations to her household. Mr. Martin was at the head\nof a silk manufactory which gave employment to a number of workmen, and\nthese at once became the objects of the zeal and charity of their good\nmistress. Her first aim was to secure influence over them, that she might\ngain their hearts, and then bring their hearts so won, to God. For this\nend, she attended to their wants as carefully as if they had been her own\nchildren, devoting her chief solicitude to the concerns of the soul.\nDreading beyond all evils, an offence against the God whom she loved\nsupremely, she induced them to go regularly to confession, that its\nprotecting grace might be their preservative from sin. To animate them to\nvirtue, she gave them occasional exhortations, repeating the instructions\nwhich she had heard in sermons, and adding her own reflections; but\nprudent in her zeal, she took care not to intrude her lessons at\nunseasonable times, generally selecting for them the hours of meals, and\nby this means at once feeding the souls of her hearers with the word of\nGod, and cutting off frivolous, or perhaps sinful topics.\n\nA living model of the virtues which she inculcated, she encouraged her\ndependents even more by example than by precept, to love and serve God\nfaithfully. Always calm and self-possessed, affable and kind, she\npractically illustrated the beauty of peace and union. Patient and self-\ncontrolled, she taught the heroism of Christian endurance. As solicitous\nfor the interests and as intent on the happiness of others, as if her own\nheart had not been wrung with anguish, and oppressed with care, she\nexemplified the unselfishness of true charity. Enlightened and judicious\nin her views, orderly and systematic in her arrangements, active and\nenergetic in the practical details of business, she taught by her\nconduct, more forcibly than by any words, that \"piety is good for all\nthings.\" It need not be added that she won the love of her domestics, who\nlooking on her more as a gentle mother than as a mistress, sympathized in\nher sorrows as if they had been personal, and manifested on all occasions\ntheir compassion for her afflictions, their admiration of her fortitude,\nand their reverence for her person. Knowing that well-ordered charity\nbegins at home, she took care never to devote herself so entirely to the\nsalvation of others, as to neglect her own soul. In order to secure time\nfor the requirements of both, she avoided unnecessary visits and idle\namusements, and having fully complied with her domestic duties, she\nretired to her oratory, there to find in prayer and spiritual reading\nrepose from past fatigues, and courage for new labours.\n\nThus passed her first probation in the world. The death of her husband\nbrought it to a close at the end of only two years, but they were years\nso rich in every virtue of her condition, that the married woman who\nwould lead a sanctified and useful life, is sure of attaining the holy\nend by following her example.  She was indeed the model of a faultless\nwife; so assiduous in prayer, that it would seem as if she considered\nprayer her only obligation; so devoted at the same time to the interests\nof all connected with her, that it would appear as if her domestic\nresponsibilities were her absorbing concern, and through all, so utterly\nforgetful of self, that chance observers could never have suspected how\nthose cheerfully discharged duties involved the living sacrifice of her\nbleeding heart.\n\nIn this second page of the life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the\nIncarnation, we read a continuance of the work of grace in her soul. We\nmeet the same virtues with which the opening page has made us familiar,\nbut now expanded on a wider sphere, and strengthened by severer\nconflicts, and still, at every step, we note for our own instruction the\naction of the Spirit of God, and her docile correspondence, the two\nnecessary and inseparable agents in the sanctification of man. In the\nbiography which he has left us of his saintly mother, her son\nparticularly directs attention to the solidity of the foundation which\nshe prepared for the edifice of her future holiness. Guided by the Divine\nDirector, who since early childhood had undertaken the formation of her\nsoul, she adopted as the four fundamental principles of her spiritual\nlife, fidelity to the duty of prayer, careful avoidance of every\ndeliberate sin, the frequent reception of the holy sacraments, and\npunctual attendance at divine service, as well as at sermons, and all\npublic observances and ceremonies of the Church. By thus steadying the\nfoundation, she ensured the permanent stability of the building, and by\nsimilar means only will any one else secure the same end. Prayer and the\nsacraments purify the soul; purity of soul prepares for union with God;\nunion with the Church at once forms and cements the bonds of union with\nGod. Sanctity, as so often observed, is primarily the work of grace, but\ngrace will come to us only through the appointed channels. If we cut off\nthe channel, we cut off also the supply, deprived of which, far from\nadvancing in the ways of God, we shall but languish and lose ground.\n\"Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.\"\n(Ps. cxxvi. 1).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nWIDOWHOOD.--LIFE OF SOLITUDE AND PRAYER.\n\n\nThe young wife was but nineteen when a new scene in life's great drama\nwas opened before her by the death of her husband. Although, through\nGod's permission, he had caused her very bitter sorrows, her naturally\nwarm heart was not the less grieved at the separation. She had fully\nappreciated his good qualities; had found excuses in her charity for his\nshortcomings, and had loved him with sincere affection, but as she had\nseen and accepted an arrangement of the divine will in the formation of\nthe marriage tie, so did she recognise and adore a dispensation of the\nsame Almighty will in the. breaking of the bond, and this one\nconsideration sufficed to reconcile her to the trial, and to give rest to\nher soul. At the period of her widowhood, her prospects were no doubt\ncheerless enough. Her pecuniary affairs had been left in a state of great\nembarrassment; she had an infant of six months old to provide for, and as\nshe remarks, her comparative youth and inexperience seemed to unfit her\nfor a struggle with the difficulties of her position, but here, as ever,\nher beautiful trust in God supported her, and with a firm, filial\nreliance on His promise to be with those who are in tribulation, she took\nup her new crosses with resignation and abandonment so perfect, that\nneither loss of fortune, nor anticipation of absolute poverty, nor\nanxiety for the fate of her little child could disturb her serenity or\nshake her confidence.\n\nThe virtue and amiability which she had evinced during her first\nmatrimonial engagement, soon procured her new and far more advantageous\noffers, while the capacity and integrity which had marked her business\ntransactions, led to very promising proposals for re-embarking in\ncommerce. Prudence seemed in favour of acceptance; natural inclination\nwas opposed to it. In weighing the question, however, it was not to\nnatural inclination that she appealed for a decision; this never had been\nher guide, nor should it now. If it were, the remembrance of the miseries\nof her married life would have been quite sufficient reason to deter her\nfrom risking a repetition of them, but faith had taught her to see in\nthose past crosses, only valuable opportunities of practising virtue and\nacquiring merit, therefore she gave the apprehension of their renewal no\nplace in her deliberations. The interior attraction which sweetly but\nirresistibly urged her to devote herself all to God,--this it was which\ndetermined her to embrace a life of entire seclusion in the world, as\nsoon as her affairs should be arranged. In forming her plans, she can\nscarcely have refrained from casting a wistful glance at the attractive\nsolitude of the cloister, but knowing that its entrance was for the\npresent closed to her by her duty to her child, she resigned herself to\nwait for the promised land, until she should first have crossed the\nintervening desert. Referring to this period in one of her after letters\nto her son, she speaks of the transports of her gratitude at finding\nherself free to follow her call to solitude, where without distraction or\ndivision she could think of and love her Lord, while she watched over the\nbabe whom He had committed to her keeping. The death of her mother-in-\nlaw, in about a month after that of her husband, removed the last\nobstacle to the accomplishment of her project.\n\nConnected with the early months of her widowhood, is a wondrous\nsupernatural favour, granted her as if to confirm her late determination,\nand mark it with a sensible sign of heaven's approval. We shall record it\nin the words best suited to so sublime a subject,--her own. \"On the eve,\"\nshe says, \"of the feast of the Incarnation, 1620, I was on my way to\nbusiness, which I recommended to God by my ordinary aspiration, 'In thee,\nO Lord, I have hoped; let me never be confounded!'--when suddenly, my\nprogress was unaccountably arrested, and while I stood motionless in\nbody, the action of my mind was equally suspended, all recollection of\nthe affairs I was engaged in vanishing instantaneously from my memory.\nThen the eyes of my soul were wondrously opened in one moment, and all\nthe sins, faults and imperfections of my life revealed to me in general\nand in particular, with indescribable distinctness. At the same time, I\nsaw myself plunged in a bath of blood, and I knew that it was the blood\nof the Son of God which had been shed for the very sins now so clearly\nrepresented to me. If the Almighty in His great goodness had not\nsustained me, I think I should have died of terror, so horrible did even\nthe smallest sin appear. Oh! what words can express the emotion of the\nsoul at seeing the Lord of infinite goodness and incomprehensible\nsanctity insulted by a worm of the earth, and a Man-God shedding His most\nadorable blood to reconcile sinners to His Father! Above all, who can\ndescribe her feelings at finding herself personally stained with sin, and\nrecognising that the Incarnate God would have done for the expiation of\nher individual guilt, what He has done for the atonement of the\ntransgressions of all men in general! At that moment, my heart seemed\nwholly changed into love for Him who had shown me this signal mercy, and\nit was filled at the same time with indescribable, and even unimaginable\nsorrow for having offended Him. This feeling of loving sorrow was so\noverpowering, that I would willingly have thrown myself into flames, if\nthus I could have appeased it, and strangest of all, its force was full\nof gentleness. It sweetly bound my soul by its very charms, and led her\non a willing captive. A strong interior impulse urged me to confess my\nsins, and on returning to my usual condition, I found myself standing\nopposite the little church of the Feuillants who had lately established\nthemselves at Tours. I entered, and seeing one of the Fathers standing in\nthe middle of the chapel as if he had been expecting my arrival, I on the\nspot confessed the sins which had just been discovered to me, too intent\non making reparation to Him whom I had offended, to notice that I might\neasily have been overheard by a lady who had entered the church in the\nmeantime. When I had finished, the Father gently told me to return the\nnext day to his confessional, and I left without observing at the moment\nthat I had not received absolution. This omission was supplied at my\nrenewed confession next morning. During the first year that I remained\nunder the direction of this Father, I confined myself entirely to the\naccusation of my sins, thinking that nothing else should be introduced at\nconfession, but having heard a pious girl say that it was not right to\npractise corporal austerities without permission from the confessor, I\napplied for it to mine, and he then regulated the amount of these, as\nwell as the number of my confessions and communions. I returned home,\nchanged into another creature, and that so completely, that I no longer\nrecognised myself. I discovered with unmistakable clearness the ignorance\nunder cover of which I had hitherto thought myself very innocent, my\nconduct very harmless, and my whole spiritual condition blameless. After\nour Lord had opened my eyes, I saw myself as I was, and I had to own that\nmy justice was but iniquity.\"\n\nShe always looked on this heavenly favour as one of the greatest she had\never received, and its date as synonymous with that of her perfect\nconversion to God. \"It would be difficult,\" says her son, \"to lead a more\nexemplary life than hers had been; by the word conversion, we are not\nthen to understand, a transition from a state of sin to a state of grace,\nbut a resolute determination to bid adieu wholly to the world, that she\nmight give herself all to God and live only by His love.\" To mark her\nentire separation from the world, she assumed a peculiarly grave style of\ndress, dismissed her servants, gave up her house, and returned to her\nfather's, where free from all care arid responsibility, she found herself\nas she desired, alone with God alone. She chose an apartment in the upper\nstory as the most retired, and between this and the adjoining oratory,\nshe passed most of her time in prayer. She was never to be seen except at\nchurch or at home; paid no visits and received very few; spoke but\nrarely, and then concisely. She took her frugal meals at her father's\ntable, then retired to her solitude, as she says herself, \"like the dove\nto its nest.\" It was at this time, that in addition to her other most\nsevere austerities, she gave up the use of linen, substituting serge.\nKnowing the danger of inaction, she occupied the intervals between prayer\nin embroidery, choosing this employment because it left the mind free to\nconverse with her Lord. But although her life was thus hidden in God, it\nwas no part of her piety to forget the interests of her neighbour. In her\npresent straitened circumstances, she could no longer open her hand in\nalms as had been her wont in better days, but the sick poor retained\ntheir old place in her heart, and among these she still could always find\nample exercise for her charity. Accordingly, she sought out the most\nrevolting cases of disease, and made appointments with the sufferers to\nmeet her at her home, where kneeling before them while they sat, she\nwashed and dressed their loathsome sores, contriving to stoop closely\nover their ulcerated limbs, so that nature might be crucified in every\nsense, and crushed in every feeling. And as the soul's interests are more\nprecious far than those of the miserable body, so was it her chief\nconcern to instruct the ignorant, to encourage the weak, to rouse the\nsinful to repentance, and animate the good to higher virtue. Thus passed\nthe first year of her widowhood: at its close, the tenor of her life was\naltered, that in a new sphere, she might have the opportunity o\u00a3\npractising new virtues.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nPURITY OF SOUL.--LIFE OF HUMILIATION IN HER SISTER'S HOUSE.\n\n\nIt would seem as if the holy widow had now attained the very position for\nwhich her heart had so long sighed, a life of close and constant\ncommunion with God, and, at the same time, of active charity to her\nneighbour,--a life combining every facility for her own sanctification,\nwith abundant opportunities of promoting the salvation of other souls\nalso. But scarcely had she realized its advantages and tasted its\nsweetness, when at the end of one short year, she was called on to\nrelinquish it, by a married sister, who, knowing her talent for business,\nbegged her assistance in the management of a large commercial\nestablishment of her own. The proposal was naturally most distasteful,\nbut seeing in it a road to the suffering and humiliation for which her\nsoul thirsted, as well as an opportunity of practising her favourite\ncharity, she made the sacrifice in her spirit of habitual self-\nimmolation, only stipulating for freedom in her spiritual exercises, and\npermission, to return home every evening. Our Lord was pleased to mark\nHis approval of her decision, and to reward her generosity, by raising\nher to a higher degree of prayer.\n\nThis partial return to the world suggested the idea that she might now\nperhaps be induced to accede to the unanimous wish of her friends, and\nengage once more in married life. The subject was therefore before long\nrenewed, and one day she was so hard pressed with a variety of arguments\nconnected with the interests of her son, that she paused a little to\nconsider whether the opinions of so many wise and disinterested advisers\nought not to weigh somewhat against her own lights. The hesitation was\nonly momentary, and yet on reflection, it seemed to her to have involved\nso serious an infidelity, that in subsequent general confessions of the\ngreatest sins of her life, she ranked this first, as the one most\ndeserving of her regret, and the possible cause of her severe interior\nsufferings. She knew that in its own nature, the fault in question was\ninconsiderable, but she understood equally well that its attendant\ncircumstances gave it a certain degree of gravity for her, whom the\nAlmighty had so favoured. Short as her hesitation had been, it appeared\nlike disloyalty to Him whom she had promised to take for her only Spouse\nshould the bonds of her earthly union be ever broken, and that with her\ncapability of appreciating the sublimity of a vocation to a life with God\nalone, she should have deliberated for an instant between His invitation\nand that of the world, seemed to her a fitting subject of life-long\nsorrow and self-condemnation. The infidelity to grace was aggravated in\nher estimation by its accompanying ingratitude, and this in itself was a\nreproach, keenly painful to a heart so tender and loving as hers.\n\nHere again, we are struck with wonder and admiration at her purity of\nconscience, and here again we breathe a prayer for light to see ourselves\nas God sees us; for grace to understand the malice of sin as the saints\nunderstand it. It is because their hearts are so pure, that the spiritual\nvision of the saints is so refined. \"Blessed are the clean of heart, for\nthey see God\" and in the light of that eternal Sun of Justice, they\ndiscern minutest stains, invisible to souls obscured by the clouds of\nsin, or dimmed by the mists of self-love. Again, it is because the hearts\nof the saints are so pure, that their love of God is so sensitive.\n\"Blessed are the clean of heart,\" for they see the Divine attractions as\nclearly as is given to man in his mortality, and seeing them thus\nclearly, every slight infidelity to a God so beautiful and so good,\nassumes importance in their eyes, and excites a corresponding sorrow. The\nyoung widow's momentary irresolution left her only the more firmly\ndetermined to renounce the world at once and for ever, and in order to\nrender that resolution irrevocable, she bound herself to, God by a vow of\nperpetual chastity, being then twenty-one years of age. About this time\nshe was placed under the spiritual care of the Reverend Father Dom\nRaymond of St. Bernard, and to this enlightened master she was first\nindebted for the great blessing of regular direction in the paths of the\ninterior life.\n\nHer position in her sister's house was unaccountably strange. She had\nbeen invited there, because her clear intellect, sound judgment, and\nnatural aptitude for business promised to render her an invaluable\nassistant in the management of a large concern, and yet, instead of being\nat once placed in her own sphere at the head of the family, she was\npermitted without question or remonstrance to establish her quarters in\nthe kitchen, as if considered suited only for menial work;--treated\nmeantime in the most imperious manner, not only by the master and\nmistress of the house, but by the very servants; looked down on by all,\nas if she had been not even a stranger or a hireling, but an outcast. The\nSpirit of God inspired her, she says, to conceal her natural abilities,\nthat she might pass for an ignorant woman, fit only to wait on the\nservants, and this lowly condition had such powerful charms for her\nhumble heart, that she actually feared excess in her attachment to it. In\nproposing this apprehension as a conscientious doubt to her director, her\ngreat fear was that he would oblige her to emerge from her abject\nposition, and assume her rightful place in the family.\n\nHer insatiable desire of crosses and humiliations was not satisfied even\nwith the ingratitude of her brother and sister, nor with the insolent\nbehaviour of the domestics; she sought for new sufferings, and among\nothers, contrived to burn herself while employed in cooking. She attended\nthe servants in sickness, reserving the whole care of them to herself,\nand voluntarily rendering them the lowest services. Among other instances\nof the kind, she at one time dressed the infected wound of a workman\nwhose foot had been nearly severed in two by a terrible accident, and\nwhose deplorable condition rendered him absolutely unapproachable to all\nbut herself. Although gangrene threatened, and amputation seemed\ninevitable, she persevered in her work of mercy and self-denial, until\nshe bad effected a cure. Her brother and sister, she looked on as her\nbest benefactors, accepting their unkindness as the greatest of favours,\nand obeying their directions with scrupulous exactitude, and this life\nshe led, and this death to self she practised, not for a week, or a\nmonth, but for three or four successive years. Oh! how richly traced in\nheaven's own colouring, must have been the daily record of those years\nkept by her faithful guardian spirit! How mighty the change wrought in\nher spiritual condition, as one after another they passed away, each\nleaving behind an accumulation of grace made fruitful; each marked by\nnew, and always more wondrous supernatural favours! It is not, however,\nby her supernatural favours that we are to estimate her sanctity, but by\nher practice of solid virtue, nor are we to forget that if by an\nexceptional vocation, she was led into the higher paths of the mystic\nlife, she walked long, steadily and to the end in the common road, to\nwhich, as Christians, we are called no less than she was. Nevertheless,\nthat singular favours should have been granted her, is exactly what we\nshould have been, led to expect from our acquaintance with the history of\nthe saints, which has taught us that it is ever God's way to be liberal\nwith His creatures, in proportion as they are liberal with him. There had\nbeen no rapine in the holocaust of this, His faithful servant. She had\nnever refused Him one gift He craved; withheld one sacrifice He asked;\nwas He to be outdone in generosity? Oh, far from it! In presence of the\nmagnificence of His gifts to her chosen soul, we have but to bow down as\nwe bend before the sun when its ray dazzles us. The reverential wonder\nwhich they inspire, is, after all, but a homage to the great Giver, and\nif while we admire and venerate her exceptional privileges, we at the\nsame time study and try to copy the imitable portions of her example, we\nshall reap profit from both passages of her life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nPREPARATION FOR A HIGHER DEGREE OF DIVINE. UNION.--ACTIVE LIFE.--INTERIOR\nTRIALS.\n\n\nWe cannot have studied the lives of the saints without observing, that\nwhile infinitely generous of His graces to all His faithful servants,\ntheir almighty Lord from time to time chooses certain individuals among\nthem as recipients of a more than ordinary measure of His liberality. We\nread of a privileged few, to whom He is lavish of what may be termed\nexceptional marks of His love. These chosen souls, He inundates with\ncelestial gifts,--revealing glimpses of His glory and beauty,\ntransforming them into Himself, so as in a manner to divinize them, and\neven sometimes imparting visible external marks of their sublime\nspiritual exaltation. It would seem as if He desired to manifest to men\nin their persons, the immensity of His goodness, the infinitude of His\ncondescension, and the magnificence of His riches. They are the specially\nfavoured among the favoured: they form a class apart, in which God,\nwonderful in all His saints, is wonderful surpassingly.\n\nIn that exceptional class, suited as it would seem to us rather for\nangels than for mortals, a place was destined in the divine designs for\nthe subject of our history, Marie Guyart, but before those all-gracious\ndesigns could be realized, certain preliminaries were needed. To the\nthoroughly purified soul alone it belongs to fly without impediment to\nGod, as the needle flies to the magnet, and admirable, nay wonderful as\nwas the interior purity to which this-singularly favoured being had\nattained; it had yet to undergo further processes of refinement before\nshe should be disposed for the privilege awaiting her. Our Lord continued\ntherefore to draw her more and more forcibly to the perfection of the\nvirtue, revealing to her in the meantime, that when it had reached the\nrequired degree, a great, but as yet unspecified grace would be her\nreward. To stimulate her zeal, He gave her a vision, of a soul free from\neven the slightest shadow of defect, and the sight was one so entrancing,\nso enrapturing, that she said, if men could only see it, they would\nwillingly renounce all things for the bare enjoyment of the glorious\nspectacle. Charmed with the celestial beauty of such a soul, and\nthirsting ever more to share its happy privilege of flying to God without\nhindrance or delay, she was carefully on her guard against the most\ntrivial imperfection, and when betrayed into one, never desisted, until\nby sighs and prayers she had obtained forgiveness, which she knew by the\ncessation of reproach of conscience.\n\nThe sanctity of God was represented to her under the semblance of a vast\nsea, with whose limpid waters no defilement however small was allowed to\nmingle, all such being instantaneously rejected. Overwhelmed at--sight of\nthe disproportion between the purity of the human, soul, and the holiness\nof the great God with whom she aspires to be united, she could only\nexclaim again and again, in the depths of her self-annihilation, \"O\nPurity! O Purity! Hide, absorb me in Thee, O mighty Ocean of Purity!\" At\nanother time, the same Divine attribute was shown her as a spotless\nmirror, reflected on which, the least of her infidelities seemed\nmagnified into a mountain. The profound impression of the Sanctity of God\nthus imparted, so greatly increased her delicacy of conscience, that she\nreproached herself for her smallest failure, as if it had been a fault of\nmagnitude. She says that her union with God was never interrupted by\nnecessary conversation, even though it might have lasted the whole day,\nbut that if she spoke a useless word, or yielded to a distracting\nthought, she at once found the interior bond weakened, and received a\nreproach from conscience. Once, after she had committed an imperfection,\nan interior voice whispered to her, \"If an artist had painted a fine\npicture, would he be well pleased to see it soiled and stained?\" Another\ntime, the same interior monitor asked, \"If you had a costly pearl or\ndiamond, would you like to have it thrown into the mud?\" The words seemed\nto give her a new insight into the sanctity of God, and they filled her\nwith unutterable confusion. So profoundly did the love of interior purity\nstrike root in her innocent soul, that she accepted, and even desired the\nmost vigorous punishment for the slightest fault, never admitting the\nidea that there could be a disproportion.\n\nHer view of the divine presence had now become so habitual, that by a\nmarvellous privilege, it was never interrupted. If duty obliged her to\nspeak with her neighbour, her communication with God was not in\nconsequence suspended. If she wrote, her mind was equally intent on her\nsubject and on her Lord, and as often as she paused to renew the ink in\nher pen, her heart profited of the momentary interruption, to say a\nloving word to Him. If the whole world had been present, she says,\nnothing in it could have distracted her soul. She had received an infused\nknowledge of the nature of the works of God, their relations with their\nMaker, and the end of their creation; all therefore served to unite her\nto, instead of distracting her attention from Him.\n\nTo make reparation to the outraged sanctity of God, and to honour the\nPassion of her Lord, as well as with the specific intention of disposing\nher soul for the yet unrevealed favour awaiting her, she redoubled the\nausterities already so rigorous. She allowed herself only as much sleep\nas was necessary for existence, taking that on the ground, with no\ncovering but a hair-cloth. After a while, the bare floor appeared too\nluxurious a couch, so she spread a hair-cloth over it, and on that she\nstretched her weary limbs for a short part of the night. This\nmortification she looked on as the severest she had ever endured, the\nweight of the body and the hardness of the boards combining to press the\nsharp surface into the flesh, so that constant pain permitted only short\nand broken sleep. A considerable portion of the night was divided between\nprayer and corporal mortifications. She was familiar with instruments of\npenance of every kind, and used them with an unsparing hand. Ingenious in\ndevising means of crucifying her senses, she mixed wormwood with her\nfood, and between meals, kept the bitter herb a long time in her mouth,\nuntil forbidden, through regard for her health, to continue so mortifying\na practice. She succeeded however in so completely destroying the sense\nof taste, as to be finally unable to distinguish one description of food\nfrom another. Many years after she went to Canada, this fact was\ndecidedly ascertained by an unmistakable test. Yet she says she was never\nill, but on the contrary, always vigorous, always cheerful, always ready\nfor new mortifications, and so impressed with their value, that she would\nhave counted the day lost, on which she had suffered nothing. In daily\nCommunion, she renewed the strength so severely taxed by her appalling\nausterities and her fatiguing labours for her neighbour.\n\nThat humiliation of mind might keep pace with subjection of the flesh,\nshe one day brought her director a written confession of the sins and\nimperfections of her whole life with her name affixed, beseeching him\nafter he had read, to attach it to the church door, that all might know\nthe extent of her infidelity to God. Repeated rebuffs from her confessor\nserved only to manifest the sincerity of her humility; she received them\nwith her habitual love of contempt, and although the paper was burned,\ninstead of being exhibited as she desired, her fidelity to inspiration\nwas rewarded by a new flood of graces. Among the rest, she learned by\nrevelation the exact nature of the celestial favour previously promised\nonly in general terms, our Lord condescending to intimate to her\nexplicitly, that she was destined for that highest degree of divine\nunion, accorded, as we have just seen, only to a privileged few even of\nthe saints. Although the wondrous promise was not to be realized for the\npresent, the prospect of its accomplishment at a future day, filled her\nwith holy joy, nerving her at the same time to new efforts for the\nremoval of every obstacle to the consummation of her hopes.\n\nAfter she had spent three or four years in the house of her brother-in-\nlaw in the manner already noticed, Divine Providence permitted that he\nshould open his eyes to her capabilities and his own injustice. By a\ntardy concession to her merits, he asked her at last, to undertake the\nmanagement of his affairs, foreseeing that they could not but prosper in\nher hands. Besides holding the rank of an artillery officer, he was\ncharged with the commissariat of the whole kingdom, and under favour of\nthese two appointments, he embarked in a variety of enterprises which\nobliged him to maintain a very large establishment; including numerous\nservants and vehicles. His charitable sister, in undertaking her new\nduties, still retained the old, from which her heart refused to part,\nbecause of their attendant humiliations. She got through all, and\nsatisfied everybody; meantime so perfectly maintaining her union with\nGod, that she seemed like one of those celestial Spirits of whom our Lord\ndeclared that \"they ever behold the face of the Father in heaven.\" She\ntells us that she spent the greater part of the day in a stable which\nserved as a store, and that sometimes she was still on the quay at\nmidnight, sending off, or receiving goods; that her ordinary companions\nwere carters, porters and other workmen; that she had to look after fifty\nor sixty horses; that during the frequent absences of her brother and\nsister, she had their personal affairs to attend to in addition to the\nrest, and still, that as this multiplicity of occupations had been\nundertaken only from a motive of charity, God permitted that instead of\nproving an obstacle to the spirit of recollection, it tended on the\ncontrary to nourish and strengthen it. She says that when she found\nherself so overwhelmed with business as scarcely to know where to begin,\nshe besought our Lord's help, reminding Him that without it, all must\nremain undone, and the appeal was never made in vain. Looking back in\nlater life to this period, she remarks that the trials and hardships\nwhich she had to encounter during her residence with her brother-in-law,\nwere especially arranged by Divine Providence as a most suitable\npreparation for her future work in Canada.\n\nSighing for the consummation of the divine union promised her, and ever\nseeking for some new gem with which to adorn her soul, she resolved to\nbind herself by vow to the evangelical counsels, adopting as an\nobligation, what had hitherto been only a voluntary practice, and thus in\na manner anticipating the time when she should realize the dearest wish\nof her heart, by consecrating herself to God in religion. Her vow of\nobedience regarded her director, her sister, and her brother-in-law, and\nin its connection with the two last, was attended with difficulties known\nonly to God. As to poverty, she possessed nothing but what was given her\nby her sister, contenting herself with bare necessaries. The interests of\nher son, she abandoned to divine Providence, aspiring with her whole\nheart to that perfect poverty of spirit which desires but God, and is\ncontent with Him alone. In recompense of this new proof of love, her\ngenerous Master granted her the precious gift of His own divine peace,\nand to enhance the treasure, He brought it to her Himself, as on another\nmemorable occasion, He had brought it to His apostles. It was not that\nher soul had hitherto been a stranger to God's peace; on the contrary, in\nwriting many years later of the favour now conferred, she says she had\nnot supposed it possible to enjoy here below a more perfect interior\npeace than she habitually possessed, but that after our Lord had\nwhispered to her heart, \"Peace be to this house,\"--so profound, so\nimperturbable, so transcendent a peace was imparted, that she never for a\nmoment lost it, although her multiplied afflictions might well have\nshaken it, had it not been steadily anchored on loving conformity to the\nwill of Him who had established His empire in her soul.\n\nThe gold of her virtue had been well tried in the crucible of\ntribulation, but as yet, it had not been subjected to the fiery ordeal of\ntemptation; through this, for its more entire refinement it was now to\npass. All at once her ordinary enjoyment of her spiritual exercises was\nsucceeded by utter disinclination. The sweetness and patience which had\nscarcely cost her an effort in her intercourse with her neighbour, gave\nplace to a sensitiveness and irritability which would have caused her\nmany faults if she had not been closely and constantly on her guard. Her\nchildlike submission to her director appear intolerable yoke; her\ndependence on her sister a positive degradation. The humiliations so\nfreely embraced, and so long and dearly prized, seemed in her altered\nviews, inconsistent with self-respect. The corporal penances hitherto\nlightened and sweetened by the unction of Divine love, now assumed their\nworst sharpness, and excited her strongest repugnance. Importunate\nscruples were added to temptation, and while thus violently assailed on\nmany sides, she seemed not to receive light or comfort from any. Her only\nsupport in these terrible interior trials was in the remembrance of God's\npromise \"to be with those who are in tribulation\" (Ps. xc. 15), and\ntruly He was with hers in hers, and by His almighty grace brought her so\ntriumphantly through them, that amidst her complicated sufferings, she\nnever failed in her fidelity to her Lord; never omitted the smallest duty\nor fell into the slightest impatience. He who does not permit His\ncreatures to be tried beyond their strength, granted her relief when she\nleast expected it. In the restored light, she clearly saw that the object\nof the tempter had been to lure her from the path of perfection to which\nGod had called her, and on which, as we have seen, she had already made\ngigantic strides; and she discovered with equal distinctness that the\nordeal through which she had passed was a necessary preparation for the\nhigher graces to come. By her example on this occasion, as well as by her\nsubsequent instructions, she teaches that however strong may be the\npressure of temptation, however impenetrable the darkness of aridity, the\nafflicted soul should not omit any of her accustomed exercises, whether\nof obligation or of mere devotion, or lose her trust in that divine grace\nwhich never deserts her in her conflicts, but powerfully, though perhaps\nimperceptibly supports her in every difficulty.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nSUPERNATURAL FAVOURS--VISION OF THE MOST ADORABLE TRINITY.--RENEWED\nINTERIOR TRIALS.--NEW HEAVENLY FAVOURS.\n\n\nAs the released torrent rushes on with increased impetuosity after a\ntemporary restraint, so did the emancipated soul of the holy Mother bound\nto God with ten-fold ardour, now that the pressure of temptation, and the\ndarkness of doubt had been removed. As a reward for her fidelity in her\nlate trials, our Blessed Lord one day showed her His Heart and her own so\nentirely united, so completely fused, that they seemed to form but one.\nAfter this grace, her love of God appeared to change its character, and\nto become altogether divine. Her heart was no longer her own, for it had\nbeen made the possession of the Heart of Jesus. Absorbed in transports\nand ecstasies of holy love, she grieved that even the short time which\nshe allowed to sleep, should interrupt the recollection of the only\nDesired of her soul: She aspired with ever increasing ardour to the\nmystic union so long promised and so long delayed. It was to be, as it\nwere, the culminating point of the Divine favours;--meantime she was\npermitted, if not to reach the summit, at least to ascend to mysterious\nheights on the holy mountain, and there behold wonders not destined for\nsight of mortal eyes;--wonders which she herself confesses to be\ninexplicable by human words. Miraculously strengthened to bear the\noverwhelming flood of splendour, her soul was elevated even, to the\nvision, of the most august and adorable Trinity. She saw the relations\nbetween the Three Divine Persons; their unity, their distinction, their\noperations within and outside themselves. She saw their operations also\nin the nine choirs of angels, and understood how the human soul is\ncreated to the image of God. It took but a moment, she says, to receive\nthe impression of all these wonders, whereas the effort to describe them\nrequires time, for human language cannot express in a word, what the mind\ncan grasp in an instant. The ecstasy lasted five hours, at the end of\nwhich she found herself still kneeling exactly in the spot of the church\nwhere it had commenced. She describes herself during that time as\nabsolutely lost in those unfathomable splendours; capable only of\npassively receiving the impression of the purely intellectual vision\nunfolded to her with indescribable clearness and singleness of view.\nWriting of this great favour towards the end of life, she says that it\nwas then as vividly present to her in all its circumstances as at the\ntime of its occurrence, adding in her own simple way, that \"great things\nlike this are never forgotten.\" It has been observed that the terms in\nwhich she speaks of the most abstruse mysteries of faith, are too clear,\ntop precise, too strictly in accordance with the teaching of theology, to\nhave come within the natural lights of a woman of ordinary education;\ntherefore while the style of the narrative has excited the admiration of\nthe learned, it has left them without a doubt as to the Divine source of\nher inspiration. For a long time after the vision, her soul was so\ncompletely concentrated in the most adorable Trinity, that she had no\npower to detach her thoughts from the ineffable mystery.\n\nWe might anticipate that the wonderful favour just recorded, would be the\nlast prelude to the elevation of God's chosen servant to the promised\nhigh degree of Divine union, but such is the incomprehensible purity of\nthe all-holy God, that even after so many delays, so many trials, so much\nfidelity, so much love and devotedness, He did not yet find her\nsufficiently free from the dust of the earth, sufficiently disengaged\nfrom every creature, sufficiently detached even from His own sensible\ngifts, to be worthy of that mysterious union which requires the purity of\nan angel. The work of preparation was accordingly to go on; the arduous\nwork of self-annihilation, of interior crucifixion, of total sacrifice of\nevery feeling, and absolute death to every inclination. Our Lord showed\nher her soul as it would appear when adorned with the required degree of\nholiness, and she confessed that He did her but justice in still\ndeferring the hour for which she sighed.\n\nIt is the remark of her son in the Life of his holy Mother, that\ntemptation is among the most efficacious means employed by the Almighty\nfor the purification of His creatures, for as in that state, the soul is\npursued by a vivid and constant apprehension of committing sin, she lives\nin an habitual hatred of, and watchfulness against it, which are but too\napt to relax when the presence of evil is less apparent, and the\nnecessity for combating it less urgent. Through this grievous, suffering,\nthe servant of God had once more to pass. It appeared to her, she said as\nif she had suddenly fallen from paradise into purgatory. She found\nherself not only deprived of all consolation, but filled with alarm at\nthe remembrance of past favours, which seemed to her to have been unreal\nand delusive. The thought of God was, as usual, ever present to her mind,\nbut it brought no comfort, for with it came an afflicting doubt of the\nsincerity of her love for Him. Far down in the depths of her soul, it is\ntrue, reposed the solid peace founded on submission to His will, but it\nwas a matter of difficulty to realize the existence of that submission.\nNature had once more asserted its sensitiveness to humiliation and\ncontradiction. In short, so profound was her anguish of soul that she\ncould scarcely support herself. This sore affliction, lasted for some\nmonths, then gradually abated, and as it did, she learned to realize the\nsweet use of sorrow. Trial, seconded by her own fidelity, had done its\nwork. Faith had triumphed over sense. Like \"a two-edged sword reaching\nunto the division of the soul and the spirit\" (Heb. iv. 12), it had cut\naway the last remnant of natural life, and left behind only the\nsupernatural.  Long disengaged in mind and heart from all things on\nearth, she was now so detached even from the consolations of heaven, so\nsingly centred in God alone, that she could rejoice in her spiritual\npoverty, and thank the Lord for seeming to have withdrawn, the favours\nwhich in her humility, she considered exposed to defilement in passing\nthrough her heart. The Almighty who delights in manifesting Himself to\nthe humble, was pleased to reward her fidelity by a lively impression of\nHis adorable attributes, and a clear knowledge of the mysteries contained\nin the first chapter of St. John. \"During a holy week,\" she says, \"our\nLord granted me new lights regarding His Divine attributes. I\ncontemplated the Unity of God, and in the Unity, I beheld His Eternity\nwithout beginning or end; His immense Greatness; His adorable Infinitude;\nand in an ecstasy of admiration, I could only exclaim, 'Goodness! O\nImmensity! O Eternity!' I understood how all things have their origin in\nGod, from whom emanates whatever is beautiful and good, and I cried, 'O\nmore than Good! more than Beautiful! more than Adorable! Thou art God!\nThou art the great God!' Sinking into the very depths of my lowliness,\nfeeling in His mighty presence as if I had been the veriest worm, still I\ncould not refrain from telling Him of my love; still I could not but\nrejoice that my God is so great; still I exulted that He is All, and that\nI am nothing, for if I had been anything, then He would not have been\nAll. O Breadth! O Length! O height! O  Depth! immense, adorable,\nincomprehensible to all but Thyself! my Centre! my Beginning! my End! my\nBeatitude! my All!\" Unable to satisfy her desire to die,--if that were\npossible, in order to render homage to the perfections of her God, she\nsubstituted the slow martyrdom of still more rigorous austerities than\nshe had yet practised, and, after this new sacrifice, her mind, she\nsays, was so filled with light as to be in a manner dazzled, and as it\nwere blinded by the grandeur of the Majesty of the Most High. Thus\npurified by trial, sanctified by grace, adorned with virtue, resplendent\nwith Divine love, elevated above earth and self and all their influences,\nher happy soul presented no farther, obstacle to the designs of her all-\ngracious Lord: it was ready for the ardently, desired union with Him,--\nand now, at last, the promise so long made, and the expectations so long\ncherished, were about to be realized.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nSECOND VISION OF THE MOST ADORABLE TRINITY.--REALIZATION OF THE DIVINE\nPROMISE.\n\n\nA second vision of the most august Trinity was granted to Marie Guyart,\njust two years after she had been favoured with the first. She was then\nin her twenty-seventh year, and seven years had elapsed since the\nmemorable vision of the application of the precious blood of Jesus to her\nsoul. In this second vision, the will was more strongly affected than the\nintellect; the heart absolutely consumed with the burning fire of love;\nthe mind, as before, inundated with floods of light. This grace gave, as\nit were, the finishing touch to the beauty of her soul, seeming to supply\nwhat had hitherto been wanting to its perfection. While her spirit was\nabsorbed, and in a manner annihilated in the contemplation of the three\nmost adorable Persons of the Trinity, the Eternal Word, according to His\npromise, united her to Himself in close, mysterious bonds which there are\nno human words to describe. [Footnote: The lives of St. Francis of\nAssisium, St. Teresa, St Catherine of Sienna, St. Gertrude, and some\nother saints furnish instances of supernatural favours similar to that\nnow granted to the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation.] \"He that is\njoined to the Lord, is one spirit\" (1 Cor. v. 17).\n\nOften had she sighed for this hour, and with the Spouse in the Canticles\nbesought the Lord to show her His face, and to let her hear His voice--\nthat face so comely, and that voice so sweet. Now at last, possession had\nreplaced hope, so now she might entone the canticle of triumph, \"I found\nhim whom my soul loveth: I hold him: and I will not let him go. My\nbeloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies. Till the\n\"glorious dawn of eternity\" break, and the shadows of time retire,\"\n(Cant. iii. 4, ii., 17.) \"when I shall see Him as He is, face to face,\nand know Him even as I am known\" (l Cor, xiii. 12). She seemed to have\npassed into a new state of being. Ardent as her love of God had been\nbefore, it now rose to heights hitherto unknown. Her whole soul appeared\nto be transformed into love. Her life became one unbroken act, one\nuninterrupted hymn of ecstatic love. In the busy streets, in distracting\nbusiness, amidst household cares and duties, at all times and in all\nplaces, she gave vent to her irrepressible transports in the sweet song\nof ceaseless praise, silently entoned within her own heart, and audible\nonly to her heavenly Spouse and His angels. Even in sleep, she could\nscarcely be said to discontinue it, for while she slept, her heart\nwatched, and at each interruption to her short repose, it resumed the\nstrain, returning to the actual exercise of love with the first moment of\nfull awakening consciousness. Sometimes fearing that her emotions might\nbetray themselves exteriorly, she relieved their uncontrollable\nimpetuosity by committing them to writing, afterwards burning these\neffusions. A few of them, however, by chance escaped destruction, and\nhave happily reached us. From these, as well as from the account of her\nmanner of prayer written at the command of one of her confessors, we\nlearn something of the holy ardour which consumed her. \"O Love!\" she\ncried, \"how sweet Thou art! how captivating are Thy charms! how light Thy\nbonds! Sometimes Thou woundest, sometimes Thou enslavest, but still art\nThou ever sweet. As I am all Thine, so art Thou all mine, mine for ever,\nO my most desirable Life! And what do I desire of Thee, O my All? I\ndesire Thy love, and Thy love alone. O Love! O great Love! Thou art all,\nand I am nothing, but it is enough that the mighty All should love the\npoor nothing, and that the miserable nothing should love the great All! O\ngreat God! mayest Thou be blessed by every tongue and love by every\nheart!\"\n\nThe impossibility of satisfying her holy eagerness to be inseparably\nunited to her God, caused her inexplicable suffering. It was death to her\nthat she could not die. \"I long, O Lord,\" she would say, \"to be free from\nthe prison of the body, that I may fly to Thee, and behold Thee in all\nThy beauty and Divine attractions. O Love! when shall I embrace Thee!\nWhen shall I see Thee without cloud or veil! Knowest Thou not that I love\nbut Thee? Come then, that I may expire in Thy sacred arms. To a soul\nwhich loves Thee, it is a martyrdom to be separated from Thee, and\nmeantime to see Thee offended by so many of The creatures who are\ninsensible to Thy goodness, and indifferent to Thyself. Oh! take me from\nthis scene of sin and misery where there is nothing but sorrow and\naffliction of spirit.  My heart sighs for Thy eternal mansions; for Thy\nincomparable beauty; for the consummation of that blissful union, of\nwhose sweetness Thou grantest us a foretaste here below. While the\nsensible sweetness lasts, we are happy in Thee, our Treasure, our Life,\nour Love, but no sooner are we left to ourselves, than we feel once more\nthe full force of our poverty and misery.  Who will grant to my soul to\nburst its prison bars and ascend to Thee! May I be all Thine, as Thou art\nall mine! O Sacred Heart of Jesus! be Thou the Altar of sacrifice on\nwhich my heart shall be immolated! O Furnace of charity! enkindle in it\nthat celestial flame in which I desire to be consumed. Can it rest on an\nAltar of fire and not be set on fire?\" But notwithstanding her desire to\nbe dissolved, that she might be with Christ, she loved her Lord's will\ntoo purely to wish for death or life except in conformity to it,\ntherefore she offered herself to bear the burden of existence until the\nday of judgment, if God could be thus more glorified,--satisfied if\nmeantime she accomplished nothing more than to teach some simple soul to\nknow and love our Blessed Lady. Her chief relief and support was still,\nas ever, in daily Communion, which uniting her really, though invisibly\nto her Lord and Treasure, consoled her in some degree for the delay to\nthe eternal union for which she languished. She says of this most\nadorable Sacrament, \"that it is a fathomless and shoreless abyss of\ngrace, and that eternity's light alone will reveal the ineffable wonders\nwhich God discovered to her soul at the time of her sacramental union\nwith him.\"\n\nWe know from the testimony of the saints who have endured the martyrdom\nof Divine love, that the greatest of its pains proceeds from the\ninability of the soul to lore God with an ardour proportioned either to\nher own desire to love Him, or to the extent of His claims on her love.\nThis suffering the Venerable Mother experienced in its fullest intensity.\nFrom, her insatiable desire of a more perfect love, sprang a fixed\nimpression of her utter powerlessness to do any thing for, or give any\nthing to the great and generous God who had given her Himself, and with\nHimself all things. \"Thou hast made me for Thyself, O God!\" she would\nsay; \"for Thyself who art Love; why then should I not speak of love? But\nalas! what can I say of it? I cannot speak of it on earth. The saints who\nsee Thee in heaven, silently adore Thee, and their silence speaks. Why, O\nLord, cannot we burn like them with silent love? If Thou art their love,\nThou art also ours. They see Thee as Thou art, and in this are more\nfavoured than we on earth, but when we are released from this prison, we\nshall behold Thee like them; we shall praise, embrace, possess Thee like\nthem; we shall be absorbed in Thee as they are,--in Thee who art my Love,\nmy only Love, my great and glorious God, my mercy and my All!\" While her\nsoul was thus rapt in a continual ecstasy of love, her bodily strength\nwasted away under the action of the consuming fire. In one of the many\nphases of the martyrdom of love which it was her privilege to pass\nthrough, it pleased her Lord that the body should suffer more than the\nsoul, enduring in its turn a real agony, and that so violent, that she\nsays she must have died if it had lasted a few days.\n\nWhile these miracles of grace were being wrought in the soul of this\nadmirable woman, no external sign gave indications of the work going on\nwithin, for she took care to enfold her treasures under the mantle of\nhumility. Always devoted, laborious and active, she seemed altogether\nintent on her harassing duties, yet, multiplied and fatiguing as these\nwere, she found time to attend to the spiritual interests of her\nbrother's numerous workmen, sometimes calling them round her to teach\nthem the Christian doctrine, sometimes profiting of conversation at table\nto speak to them of God and the concerns of their souls. Reverencing her\nas a saint, they submitted to her like docile children, gave her an\naccount of their conduct, adopted her advice, bore her reproofs, and\ncarried obedience so far as to rise from bed to say their night prayers,\nif by accident she discovered that any one had retired without complying\nwith the duty. Solicitous for their temporal, as for their eternal\nwelfare, she interceded for them with her brother-in-law when they had\nincurred his displeasure, and attended them in sickness with truly\nmaternal devotedness. Although her close attention to the presence of God\nnever interfered with the fulfilment of her duties, it incapacitated her\nfrom following up the thread of any conversation unconnected with them.\nHer brother-in-law perceiving this, sometimes amused himself by asking\nher a question referring to something that had been said, but her\nconfusion on these occasions was so evident, that in order not to\nincrease it, the subject was quickly changed.\n\nFinally, these vehement transports and exhausting languishings of divine\nlove were succeeded by a profound and permanent calm. Her soul sweetly\nreposed in God, its Centre--that Centre was within herself, and there she\nenjoyed a peace surpassing all understanding. In the account written by\nher confessor's command of the special favours she had received from God,\nshe observes in reference to this highest degree of divine union, that\n\"the soul elevated to it, enjoys as far as possible here below, the\nfelicity of the blessed. Storms,\" she says, \"may sweep over her inferior\npart, but they do not reach the interior temple where the Spouse reigns,\nand she rests tranquilly in His presence. It is alike to her whether she\nis immersed in embarrassing cares, or buried in most profound solitude.\nAmidst the turmoil of life and the distraction of business, she is alone\nwith God in her heart, enjoying His sweet company, conversing with Him\nfamiliarly, transformed as it were into a paradise, of which His smile is\nthe light and the bliss. Vainly would she endeavour to explain what\npasses in that interior heaven, for the subject is too sublime to come\nwithin the reach of weak, defective human language. She is so elevated\nabove the world, that all its combined splendours appear to her but as a\ncontemptible atom of dust. Thus does the Almighty 'raise the needy from\nthe earth, to place them with the princes of his people,' and in doing\nso, He only exalts His own glory, and shows forth His magnificence.\"\n\nThe intimate union with God, here described, became henceforth the\nVenerable Mother's habitual condition. It must however be noted that she\ndoes not speak of this privileged state as excluding temptation and\nsuffering, but only says, that violent and frequent as may be their\nassaults, they do not disturb the inner region of the soul where God has\nestablished His Kingdom in peace. The superior part remains tranquil,\nalthough the inferior may be troubled and agitated, just as the ocean\ndepths repose in peaceful calm while its surface is lashed by the angry\ntempest. By noticing this distinction, it will become easy to reconcile\nthe apparently contradictory statements which attribute to the Mother of\nthe Incarnation uninterrupted interior peace, with intense and almost\ncontinuous interior suffering.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nENTRANCE TO THE URSULINE NOVITIATE AT TOURS.\n\n\nFrom her early years, the desires of the Venerable Mother had turned to\nthe cloister, as we have already seen. Her engagement in married life had\nseemed at first to oppose an insuperable obstacle to their fulfilment,\nbut God who had destined her for religion, removed the impediment,\nleaving her free by the death of her husband to follow her first impulse,\nas soon as duty should allow her to separate from her little son. That\ntime had now come; the child had attained his twelfth year, and could\ndispense with her immediate care. So far, she had faithfully fulfilled\nher obligations towards him, watching over his infancy and childhood with\ntender solicitude, training him in the ways of God as she had been\ntrained herself; forming his tender heart to piety, and giving his first\nhabits the right bent. The impression of her holy instructions and\nexample was never effaced, and when in advanced years he referred to the\nperiod of their early companionship, it was in terms of most profound\nveneration for her virtues, and boundless admiration of her truly\ncelestial life.\n\nLike the storm-tost mariner nearing the haven, or the weary traveller\napproaching home, she sighed with redoubled ardour for the end of her\npilgrimage, now that the end was 'nigh. It was but natural. Lovely as the\ntabernacles of the Lord had looked in the distance, their beauty was\nimmeasurably magnified by the closer view. If then she had felt even in\nthe days of her exile, that those are blessed who dwell in the house of\nGod, can we wonder that she should have absolutely longed. and fainted\nfor His courts, now that their portals were about to be thrown open for\nher admission? But although the hour of emancipation had come, she was\nyet ignorant of the particular Order to which God called her. The perusal\nof the works of St. Teresa had inspired her with a strong attraction for\nthe Carmelites, whose particular profession of prayer and recollection\nexactly harmonized with her own inclination and practice. On the other\nhand, the General of the Feuillants, anxious to secure so precious a\ntreasure for his own Order, offered in the most flattering manner to\nreceive her, promising to relieve her of all future anxiety regarding the\neducation of her son. This latter condition was of such vital importance,\nthat the proposal filled her with joy and gratitude. Besides, to the\nCarmelite spirit of prayer and solitude, the Feuillantine Sisters added\nthe practice of great austerities, thus presenting a two-fold attraction\nto the holy widow. Yet it was not to either of these Orders that God\ncalled her, nor was it indeed to a purely contemplative life that her own\nthoughts had originally turned. On the contrary, her earliest inclination\nhad been for the Ursulines, although strangely enough, she had no\nacquaintance whatever with them, and could not even have told where they\nwere to be found. She merely knew in a general way, that the special\nobject of their institute is the salvation of souls, and that its mixed\nlife of action and prayer closely resembles the public life of our Lord\non earth. These two considerations had always strongly influenced her in\nits favour, nevertheless, the more austere Orders had not lost their\ncharms, so, as God had not yet clearly manifested His will, she waited\ncalmly until circumstances should reveal it beyond a doubt. At length\nDivine Providence interposed. About this very period, it happened that\nthe Ursulines established themselves at Tours, and as if to facilitate\nher introduction to them, it further chanced that after a short time they\nremoved from the house they had first inhabited, to one quite near the\nresidence of her brother. Some secret attraction seemed to draw her in\nthe direction of the new convent, which she never passed without\nexperiencing an indescribable emotion, and a strong impulse to linger\nround the precincts. In this monastery there lived a saintly religious,\nwho had been led to exalted virtue through much the same paths as those\nwhich she had herself trodden. These two souls, alike privileged by\ngrace, were destined as mutual helps to perfection, and for the\nfurtherance of this great design, the wondrous providence of God had so\narranged events, that without premeditation on either side, both should\nbe associated in community life. Their acquaintance originated in a visit\nwhich the holy widow had occasion to pay at the convent. At the first\ninterview, each felt that she was understood by the other, yet although,\ntheir intimacy soon ripened into a saintly friendship, Marie Guy art\ncould never prevail on herself to speak of her perplexities to Mother\nFrancis of St. Bernard, wishing as ever to leave herself altogether in\nthe hands of God. Meantime Mother St. Bernard was elected Superior of the\nnew monastery, and no sooner had she taken office than she felt inspired\nto make overtures to her friend to join the community. Having obtained\nthe necessary permissions, she sent for her, and in a few kind words\noffered her a place among the sisters. The generous proposal did not take\nthe holy woman by surprise, for as she was entering the house, a strong\npresentiment had seized her as to the direct purport of the visit. Full\nof joy and thankfulness, she humbly expressed her gratitude, and asked\nleave, before replying, to consult God and her director. The latter was a\nman eminently versed, as already noticed, in the science of guiding\nsouls. The better to try her vocation, he received the application with\napparent coldness, and seemed for a while to have given up all idea of\nher quitting the world, so her state of indecision continued. But one\nday, while she was in prayer, all doubts as to her future course were\nsuddenly and completely removed. Her temporary inclination for the more\naustere Orders instantaneously vanished, giving place to an ardent, fixed\ndesire to join the Ursulines, and that as speedily as could be\naccomplished. Her director recognised the voice of God in the urgent\ninspiration, and exhorted her to obey it without hesitation or delay.\n\nBut it was not to be expected that Satan would relinquish the prize\nwithout yet another struggle. The career of the future Ursuline was to\nbring great glory to God through the salvation of many souls; clearly,\nthen, his interest demanded a last strong effort to deter her from the\nlife to which her Master called her. The artifice employed was so much\nthe more dangerous, as it wore the semblance of good. The tempter\nrepresented her flight from the world as a violation of her duty to her\nlittle son, suggesting that so unnatural a neglect of her sacred maternal\nobligations could not but compromise her own salvation, as. well as the\nhighest and dearest interests of her child. To the stratagems of Satan\nwere added the persuasive entreaties of some of her friends, and the\nviolent opposition of others. The two-fold conflict was a hard one, but,\naided by divine grace, she conquered nature once again, as she had so\noften done before, and God was pleased to reward her fidelity by so\neffectually changing the views of her sister and her brother-in-law, that\nin the end they not only consented to her departure, but even promised to\ntake care of her child.\n\nOne more ordeal remained, and it was, indeed, a severe one. She had not\nyet acquainted her son with her intention, but he seemed to have an\ninstinctive presentiment of some event of more than ordinary consequence\nto him. He noticed that he had all at once become a general object of\nsilent sympathy. The compassion which he read on every face communicated\nits saddening influence to his little heart; the low tone in which people\nspoke in his presence, excited his suspicions. Oppressed by the sense of\nsome painful mystery, he took refuge at first in solitude and tears, and\nbefore, long, unable to bear up against the weight of melancholy, he made\nup his mind to go away altogether from the scene of his troubles. A\nfortnight before the time appointed for his mother's entrance to the\nconvent, he managed to escape unobserved from the school where he was\nthen a boarder. The discovery of his flight, seemed a signal for general\ncensure of his mother. The world declared that she alone was to be blamed\nfor the disaster--she alone to be held accountable for its consequences.\nIt was difficult to bear, and that, too, at a time when her whole soul\nwas rent with anguish, when every feeling of nature re-echoed, while\nevery instinct of grace obliged her to resist the mighty pleadings of\nmaternal love. The terrible interior combat was immeasurably aggravated\nby her efforts to maintain external composure. In her great sorrow she\nturned for comfort to her friend at the Ursulines, and had scarcely\nconcluded her sad account when her director, Dom Raymond, happened also\nto call at the monastery. From the habitual charity of this good\nreligious, she naturally expected his especial sympathy at this trying\nmoment. Great, then, was her dismay to find that far from attempting to\nassuage, he seemed determined, on the contrary, to irritate the wound.\nWell convinced by experience of the solidity of her virtue, he seized the\npresent apparently inopportune occasion of testing it anew. Assuming\ngreat sternness of voice and manner, he told her it was easy to see that\nher virtue was only superficial, since she manifested so great a want of\nsubmission to God's will, and of faith in His providence, adding that her\nexcessive attachment to a creature clearly indicated the ascendancy which\nnature still retained over her. Kneeling before her censor, the humble\nmother listened to the harsh reproof in profound silence, but a sigh\nescaped her, and this Dom Raymond declared to be a distinct confirmation\nof his late assertions, ordering her to depart at once from the house of\nGod, which was not meant to harbour souls so imperfect as she was. She\nimmediately rose, and, with a low inclination to her director, left the\nconvent. Perfectly amazed at the heroism of her virtue, the Reverend\nFather and the Mother Superior returned thanks to God for having\npermitted them to witness so wonderful an example, and, without informing\nher of it, sent messengers at their own expense to seek her son, those\nwhom she had herself employed not having discovered any trace of him.\n\nBy a singular coincidence, the flight of her boy occurred during the\noctave of the Epiphany, when the Church reads the history of the loss of\nJesus in the temple, and it also happened that he, like the Divine Child,\nwas twelve years of age at the time of his disappearance. These\ncircumstances greatly consoled the poor mother in her bereavement: she\nunited her desolation with that of the Mother of Sorrows, and hoped that,\nlike her, she would recover her son at the end of three days, and so it\nactually happened. Precisely at that time he was brought back by a person\nwho had accidentally met him at Blois. He then owned that he had planned\nto go to Paris, where he hoped to be received by a partner of his\nuncle's, resident in that city. The child's return removed the last\nobstacle to her departure; and now the day was fixed irrevocably,\nnotwithstanding the renewed entreaties of her relatives; notwithstanding\nthe tears of her father; notwithstanding the agony of her own soul at the\nparting from her only child whom she loved most tenderly. She recalled\nthe declaration of our Lord that \"he who loves father or mother, son or\ndaughter more than Him is not worthy of Him\" (St. Matt. x. 37), and the\nwords inspired her with invincible courage. No sooner was her final\ndecision taken than uncertainty and perplexity vanished utterly.\n\nFor the preceding ten years it had been her aim indirectly to prepare the\nlittle Claude for the separation which she knew must one day come.\nBelieving that the less she had accustomed him to external demonstrations\nof affection, the less also he would miss her presence and feel her loss,\nshe had made it a rule from the time he was two years old, never to\nfondle or embrace him, carrying self-denial in this particular so far as\nto discourage even his, own childish caresses and endearments. Yet though\ngrave, he found her ever kind and gentle; though reserved, sweet-tempered\nand inaccessible to caprice; though undemonstrative, solidly devoted to\nhis interests and tenderly alive to his wants; so it happened after all\nthat he loved her fondly, and all the more so, perhaps, that unknown to\nhimself, his love was founded on reverence.\n\nHow shall the mother summon courage to bid him adieu? Where find words to\nsay that although he should ever dwell in her heart, her home and his\ncould be one no longer? That, already deprived by death of one parent, he\nwas now by her own voluntary act to lose the second too? Poor mother!\ngreat is thy sorrow, yet not as that of another Martyr-Mother, whose\nstory of anguish thou knowest well. It was at the foot of the cross that\nshe bade adieu to her Son; there, too, must thou bravely stand by her\nside to say farewell to thine. The virtue of the cross will strengthen\nthee as it strengthened her; and when thy sacrifice is accomplished, thou\nwilt find a balm for thy wounded heart by uniting it to the broken heart\nof Jesus on the cross, and of Mary standing in its shade.\n\nSummoning the boy to her side, she said, \"My son, I have a great secret\nto tell you. I have hitherto concealed it, because you were not old\nenough to understand its importance, but now that you are becoming more\nsensible, and that I am on the point of taking the step to which this\ngreat secret refers, I can no longer hesitate to confide it to you. When\nyour father was taken from us, God immediately inspired me with the\nresolution of forsaking the world and embracing the religious life. I\ncould not carry out this intention at once, for you were too young to\ndispense with my care, but now that this is no longer the case, I must\nfollow the call of God without farther delay. I might have gone away\nwithout forewarning you, for when salvation is in question, as in the\npresent instance, God's command must absolutely be obeyed, but to spare\nyou a painful shock, I determined to tell you my plans, and ask your\nconsent to their accomplishment. God wishes this parting, my son, and if\nwe love Him we must wish it too. If this separation afflicts you, think\nof the great honour which the Almighty does me in calling me to His\nservice. Remember too what a happiness it will be for you to know\nhenceforth that your mother is occupied day and night in praying for your\nsalvation. This being so, will you not give me leave to obey God, who\ncommands me to go away?\"\n\nAwed and bewildered by the solemnity of the address, the child could only\nsay, \"But I shall never see you again?\"\n\n\"Not so, my son,\" replied the courageous mother; \"on the contrary, you\nwill see me whenever you like; I am only going to the Ursulines, who you\nknow live quite close, and you can come to me there as often as you\nplease.\"\n\n\"In that case,\" he said, \"I am satisfied.\"\n\nAn oppressive weight seemed to have been taken from the mother's heart;\nnow she could breathe freely. \"I should have found it very hard to part\nfrom you, my child,\" she said, \"if you had refused, because I do not like\nto give you pain, but as you are contented, I shall leave you tranquilly\nin the hands of God. I bequeath to you no worldly wealth, for as the Lord\nis my inheritance, so do I desire that He should be yours. If you fear\nand love Him, you will be rich enough. I entrust you to a heavenly Mother\nwho will amply make up to you for my loss, for her power to serve you is\nfar greater than mine. Love that dear Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; be\nfaithful to her; call on her as your Mother; turn to her in all your\nwants, reminding her that you are her child, and that she is bound to\ntake care of your interests, and be sure that she will never forsake you.\nI have placed you in the charge of my sister, who has promised me to love\nyou and watch over you. Show her always the same affection and respect as\nyou have shown me. Serve God faithfully; keep his commandments; love Him,\nand He will love you and provide for you in whatever position you may be\nplaced. Adieu, my son.\" Then she directed him to kneel at her feet, and\nrepressing every appearance of emotion, calmly made the sign of the cross\non his forehead, and gave him her solemn blessing. It was the last caress\nand the last farewell of this heroic woman to her only child; henceforth\nhe was to be the child of providence, and she was to be as if his mother\nno more. God, jealous of her undivided love, would admit no rival in her\nheart; over that, He designed to reign sole Sovereign.\n\nThis most painful scene over, the remaining trials seemed easy to bear.\nShe bade adieu to her weeping relatives, and even to her aged father,\nwithout betraying a symptom of the agony which rent her soul, and then,\non the 25th of January, the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, in the\nyear 1631, she left her sister's house, accompanied by numerous friends.\nThe little procession was headed by her niece whom she had asked to\nprecede her with a crucifix, the standard which she had ever so\nfaithfully followed, and to which she was now proving the truth of her\nallegiance by the severing of every human tie, and the sacrifice of every\nhuman feeling. At her side walked her little son, silent and tearful, but\nquiet and resigned. She alone of the whole party manifested no agitation;\nher step was firm; her demeanour calm, her countenance beaming as if with\nlight from heaven. Yet the superhuman victory was not achieved without\nmortal anguish; every tear of the weeping child at her side made her\nheart bleed afresh; every sob seemed to lacerate her soul, but she says,\nin alluding afterwards to her emotions on the occasion, \"Much as I loved\nmy son, I loved my God far more.\"\n\nAt the door of the monastery, she smilingly repeated her farewell to the\nchild and the rest of the party, and a moment after, was joyfully and\nlovingly welcomed by the Mother Superior of the Ursuline Convent.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nSAINT ANGELA AND THE URSULINES.\n\n\nIt was in the sixteenth century that the Ursuline Order took its rise.\nThe epoch was one peculiarly disastrous in the Church's history. Luther's\nheresy was working evil on a gigantic scale. It had spread from nation to\nnation with the rapidity of a pestilential contagion, blighting with its\ndeadly venom all it touched, and everywhere marking its progress by a\nwide track of spiritual ruin and desolation, as well as of political\nanarchy and social disorganization. Each new success of its unholy work,\nnecessarily inflicted a new pang on the heart of the sorrowing Spouse of\nChrist. Day after day, she had to weep afresh over some new profanation\nof her sanctuaries, some new desertion of her faithless children, some\naggravated treason against her God. Nor was it only the ravages of heresy\nthat she had to lament, but perhaps still more, the disloyalty of too\nmany among her still nominal adherents. While a vast number of her\ndisciples revolted openly against her authority, others who recognised it\nin words, rejected it in practice. Where the light of faith had not been\nutterly extinguished, the fire of charity had but too often cooled. The\nlower classes were ignorant, the better instructed careless; both more or\nless indifferent. Worse than all, the very guardians of the fold had in\ntoo many instances proved false to their sacred trust, so intent on the\nadvancement of their own worldly interests, as to concern themselves very\nlittle for the protection of their perishing flocks. The ever spreading\ntorrent of corruption and infidelity, looked, as though in its fully\ngathered strength, it might one day inundate the world. Where could an\nefficacious barrier be found to its farther progress? The question was a\nmomentous one, involving the honour even of Him who had given His life-\nblood to purchase the very souls of whom Satan was thus making an easy\nprey. All unknown to each other, two faithful children of the mourning\nMother were just then occupied in studying the grand problem, and both\nsucceeded in discovering the solution. Yet a few years, and they would\ngive the world the practical result of their researches in the\ninstitution of their respective Orders, the Jesuits and the Ursulines.\nWith the latter, the name of the Mother Mary of the Incarnation is so\nclosely interwoven, that a few words on the rise and progress of the\nOrder, naturally find a place in her biography.\n\nSaint Angela Merici, the Foundress of the Ursulines, was born on the 2lst\nof March, 1474, therefore was considerably advanced in life when Luther\ntook up arms against the Church. Dezenzano, her birth-place, stands on\nthe south-west bank of the picturesque Lago di Garda in the Venetian\nStates, about seventeen miles from Brescia. It is ever the saints whom\nGod employs to do His work, and in the present instance, neither the work\nnor the instrument was to be an exception to the rule. Angela entered on\nthe path of sanctity almost at the same time as on the path of life, and\nas she advanced in years, kept ever redoubling her pace, until at last\nshe may be said to have flown, rather than walked along the blessed way.\nFrom her earliest days she evinced a dread of sin, a love of prayer and\nsolitude, and an inclination for the severities of penance, very unusual\nin children. Ever cherishing a supreme, absorbing desire to live for God\nalone, she perpetually added fuel to the heavenly fire by frequent\ncommunion, prolonged prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and similar\nholy practices, unhappily at that time but little observed. After her\nadmission to the Third Order of St. Francis, she placed so little limit\nto her austerities, that she might with strict truth have been called a\nliving victim of perpetual penance. Her life became one almost unbroken\nfast, and she was often known to pass a week at a time without any other\nfood than the heavenly manna of daily communion. To such perfection did\nshe carry her spirit of poverty, that after making the simple vow in the\nThird Order, she would live only on alms, taking her rest on a mat or a\nbundle of faggots, with a stone for her pillow. Thus, as years went on,\nher ever increasing beauty of Soul, seemed even more than her remarkable\nexternal attractions, to give literal significance to her name,--Angela,\nthe Angel.\n\nBut her personal sanctification, although her first, was not her only\naim. God had called her to work for other souls as well as her own, and\nher apostolic vocation began early to assert itself. The deplorable decay\nof faith and piety among nominal Christians of her day, weighed heavily\non her heart. Not content with simply lamenting the growing evil, she\nlonged for the power to check it. But how could she? How could a feeble\nwoman arrest an impetuous torrent? Again and again she asked herself the\nquestion, and again and again, clearer than the heaven's light, came the\nanswer;--if the vices of the adult generation were traceable in a great\ndegree to the want of early Christian training--as who could doubt?--was\nit not manifest that the only check to the transmission of its\nirreligious spirit, was the careful education of the young? Yes; let the\nignorant be taught, and little by little God's work would be done.\nSuccess might at first be small, but it would be certain. Each mind\nenlightened, would be a heart converted, and even one was worth labouring\nfor. The single child trained to piety, would at a future day become a\nreligious mother, capable of imparting to her own family the holy\nimpressions which she had herself received; the circle of good would go\non extending for ever, and only God could see its final limits. Thus\nAngela reasoned, and without delay she determined to carry out her\nconclusions.\n\nIt was about her twenty-first year that she began her labour of zeal and\nlove, by assembling the little children of Dezenzano for catechism, and\ninstructing a vast number of adults in the Christian doctrine. Her\nassistants were four in number, and like herself members of the Third\nOrder of St. Francis. It was but a diminutive plant that sprang at first\nfrom the seed then deposited in the garden of God, but the blessing of\nthe Most High rested on the feeble seedling, and in that divine sunshine\nit throve and grew, until at last it expanded into a great tree, of which\nthe historian Time can tell no tale, save that although ages and storms\nhave passed over it, its heart is fresh, its growth is steady, and its\nroots are firm to-day, as in the early years, when sown by the hand, and\nfostered by the care of Angela, it gave its young promise of luxuriance\nand stability. Though she did not live to witness the full realization of\nthat promise, she was permitted to foresee its accomplishment in a\ncelestial vision granted her much about the period of the opening of her\napostolate at Dezenzano. One day, while praying with great earnestness\nfor Divine guidance, a high ladder, like that shown to Jacob, suddenly\nappeared before her. One end of it rested on the ground, the other\ntouched the heavens. Down this ladder, a resplendent band of virgins\nslowly descended, moving two and two with perfectly regularity, and\naccompanied by angels. Their number was very great; their garments were\nrich; their crowns were studded with gems of wondrous beauty, and they\nsang a sweet canticle, to which their angelic guardians responded in\nchoir. Overwhelmed with astonishment, she looked and listened, utterly\nunable to comprehend the mystery. At last she recognised in the\nprocession a beloved companion recently deceased, who told her to take\ncourage, for that she was the instrument chosen by the Almighty to\nestablish at Brescia a society of virgins similar to those she then\nbeheld. The revelation was too convincing to leave room for doubt, yet so\nprofound was the saint's humility, so deep her sense of her own\nunworthiness and incapacity, that she permitted full forty year to pass\nwithout taking any decided measures for its accomplishment. The vision,\nhowever, served to add new fire to her zeal for the Divine honour, and to\nintensify her already ardent love for her neighbour. She became\nabsolutely indefatigable in her efforts for the diffusion of religious\ninstruction, the reconciliation of enemies, the consolation of the\nafflicted, and the conversion of sinners, sparing neither time, fatigue,\nnor even frequent journeys in furtherance of these and similar objects of\ncharity; working among the poor from preference, but never refusing her\nhelp to those also of the better class who sought it. But holy and\nprofitable as was the work at Dezenzano, she knew all along that it was\nonly preparatory to the greater work at Brescia. \"Take courage, Angela,\"\nsaid the prophecy, \"for thou shall found a company of virgins such as\nthese at Brescia.\" The prediction was explicit as to her future destiny,\nbut vague as to the period of fulfilment. To that there might be still,\nas there had already been, a long delay, but she believed that in His own\ntime, the Almighty would provide for its accomplishment, and for that\ntime she waited tranquilly, devoting herself meanwhile to her humble\nlabours at Dezenzano as entirely as if she had not known full well that\nDezenzano was not her ultimate destination. And in His own time God did\ninterpose. By means apparently the most simple and natural, his ever-\nwatchful Providence prepared the way at last for her removal to Brescia,\nusing as its instruments, two distinguished inhabitants of that city,\nwhose names her historians have handed down to us, Jerom Patengola and\nhis virtuous consort Catherine. It happened that this pious couple had\nsome years before become acquainted with Saint Angela, in one of their\nannual visits to their large estates near Dezenzano, and finding the\nintimacy highly conducive to their spiritual interests, they had\ncultivated it assiduously. In 1516, it pleased God to deprive them in\nrapid succession of their only children, two daughters, in whom their\nhearts and earthly hopes were centred. In the excess of their anguish,\nthey turned for comfort to their saintly friend, beseeching her to come\nto them without delay. They had been kind benefactors to her little\nsociety, gratitude therefore, as well as charity, pleaded their cause\nwith her sisters and her spiritual advisers, who all agreed that such\nclaims were irresistible. Looking on the decision as a manifestation of\nthe Divine will, she accordingly left Dezenzano where for twenty years\nshe had pursued her mission of love, and proceeded to Brescia, the city\nof the promise, having first secured that the work at Dezenzano should be\ncontinued by her sisters whom she intended to rejoin as soon as possible.\n\nHer visit to Brescia proved a source not only of immense consolation to\nher sorrowing friends, but of spiritual benefit to the whole city. To win\nall to God by prayer, instruction, and example, was still as ever, the\naim of her life. Attracted by the reputation of her sanctity, as well as\nof her natural abilities and supernatural enlightenment, persons of every\nrank came to her for advice, and all withdrew benefited by her counsels,\nfilled with admiration of her wisdom, and edified by her equally striking\ncharity, sweetness and humility. It was about this period that she\nreceived an infused knowledge of Latin, which she could understand, speak\nand translate without having learned it; also of the holy Scriptures, on\nthe most difficult passages of which she could comment with wonderful\nease and unction.\n\nHer original intention had been, as we have seen, to return to Dezenzano,\nas soon as her work of charity in Brescia was completed; she had not\nhowever been long in the latter city, when she became convinced that God\nwilled her to remain there. The memorable vision of bygone years had\nassuredly never at any time faded from her memory; it must on the\ncontrary have formed the constant subject of her communications with God,\nbut after her removal to Brescia, it pursued her with an almost painful\npersistence. Not once only, but continuously, uninterruptedly, it stood\nbefore her in all the distinctness of its first vivid colouring, and all\nthe minuteness of its smallest details, so that whatever her occupations,\nalone or conversing with others, in the church and in her room, at all\ntimes and in all places, she seemed ever to see the mysterious ladder\nwith its glorious throng of gem-crowned virgins and dazzling angels; she\nseemed ever to hear the words of the yet unrealized promise, \"Take\ncourage, Angela, for thou shalt found a company of virgins like to these\nat Brescia.\" Concluding at last that this almost importunate voice from\nthe past, must be intended as a warning to guide her movements in the\npresent, she prayed with all the earnestness of her soul that the\nAlmighty would manifest His designs, and enable her by His grace to carry\nthem out most perfectly. In answer to her prayer she clearly understood\nthat God willed her to remain at Brescia, and she accordingly established\nherself in a retired lodging in the town, there to continue her career of\nzeal and usefulness;--but many years more were to elapse before the\nfoundation of her Order.\n\nPilgrimages to consecrated spots seem to have been one of her favourite\npractices of piety. Two years after her arrival at Brescia, she made one\nto the tomb of the Venerable Mother Hosanna Andreassi, a religious of the\nOrder of St. Dominick; who had lately died at Mantua in the odour of\nsanctity. Six years later, in 1524, her ardent love of our Divine\nRedeemer prompted her to undertake a journey of devotion to the Holy\nLand. On the way, God was pleased to test her love of the cross by a most\nsevere affliction. Just as the vessel touched the port of Canea in the\nisland of Candia, which she was the first to discern, she was in one\ninstant struck with total blindness, to the inexpressible sorrow and\nconsternation of her companions. The trial was a peculiarly painful one,\nand it served to display the heroism of her virtue in a clearer light\nthan ever. She accepted it in the spirit of the saints, and refusing the\nkind offers of her friends to accompany her back to Italy, she completed\nthe journey to Palestine, now attended with so much additional\ndifficulty. In the Holy Land, she redoubled her habitual most rigorous\nfasts and other austerities, and as if to compensate for being denied a\nsight of the blessed places which she had come so far to see, she poured\nout her heart's love over them with a seraphic fervour which sensibly\naffected the spectators. On her journey homewards, her patient submission\nwas rewarded by the recovery of her sight at the very place where she had\nlost it. This favour was granted her while she prayed with great devotion\nbefore a celebrated image of the Crucifixion, exposed to public\nveneration in one of the churches of the town. After a narrow escape from\nshipwreck, she reached Venice, and so strong was the impression of her\nsanctity produced in that city by the reports of her companion pilgrims,\nthat she was earnestly entreated to fix her abode there, and take charge\nof some of its institutions of charity. Tempting as was the offer, she\nresolutely declined it, for she knew that God's will called her to\nBrescia, where after an absence of six months, she returned, to the great\njoy of the inhabitants.\n\nBut before again settling down to her old manner of life in this home of\nher adoption, she had yet another journey of devotion to accomplish. Next\nto the consecrated land of Palestine, Catholic Rome had ever presented\nthe strongest attractions to her faith and piety. She longed to pray at\nthe shrine of the Princes of the Apostles; to kiss the soil, bedewed with\ntheir blood, and as a faithful daughter of the Church, to kneel at the\nfeet of God's visible representative, and beg his blessing on her\nprojected work. The publication of the great Jubilee of 1525, by Pope\nClement VII., supplied a fitting opportunity of carrying out her pious\nwishes. In company with one of the numerous bands of pilgrims who\nthronged the ways, she proceeded to the holy City, and here, not only had\nshe the consolation of receiving the benediction of his Holiness, but she\nwas honoured by an invitation from him to remain permanently at Rome, and\naccept the superintendence of some of the public institutions for the\nsick poor. This offer she humbly declined like that at Venice, and for\nthe same reasons, and returning once more to Brescia, resumed her life of\nretirement, mortification and charity. At the end of nearly four years,\nshe was unexpectedly compelled to leave the city once again. The Duchy of\nMilan was at this time passing through a severe political crisis. It had\nlong been the theatre of a disastrous struggle originating in the\npretensions of the French Kings, Louis XII. and Francis I., to the\nreversion of its crown, and as a portion of the Duchy, Brescia had been\nmore or less involved in the troubles of the times. In 1529, the date\nwhich we have reached, the war had lasted for many years, and with varied\nsuccess; Louis and Francis had each in turn won and lost the prize. One\nDuke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, had died a prisoner in France; another,\nMaximilian, had resigned his claim; a third, Francis, had fled from his\ndominions. In 1525, Francis I. of France had been totally defeated at\nPavia by the confederate princes, at the head of whom was the Emperor\nCharles V., but this event had not pacified the distracted country, as\nmight have been hoped. The victorious imperial troops continued to\noverrun the north of Italy, and serious apprehensions were entertained,\nthat in the flush of success, they would lay siege to Brescia. Rather\nthan risk a renewal of the horrors of the first siege in 1512, many of\nthe inhabitants determined to abandon the city without delay. Among\nothers, Angela was induced to accompany a family of her acquaintance to\nthe neighbouring town of Cremona. Here she was visited as usual by\nnumbers of persons of all conditions seeking advice or consolation, and\namong others by the fugitive Duke of Milan, Francis Sforza, who in his\nreverses had sought an asylum at Brescia, and thence followed the\nrefugees to Cremona. He had already met the saint during his stay at\nBrescia, and her gentle counsels had materially helped him to meet his\nafflictions in the spirit of Christian resignation. Angela was happily\ninstrumental to many signal conversions at Cremona, but her active career\nwas suddenly arrested by an illness which brought her apparently to the\ngates of death. There seemed little human probability that so utterly\nexhausted a frame could resist so violent a malady, but she had yet a\nwork to do, and ardently as she sighed for her heavenly country, her\nexile was to be prolonged until that work had been accomplished. Contrary\nto expectation, she recovered under circumstances deemed miraculous, and\nin thanksgiving for her wondrous restoration, made a pilgrimage in\ncompany with other devout persons to a renowned sanctuary of our Blessed\nLady in the environs. On the conclusion of peace in 1530, she returned to\nBrescia after six months' absence.\n\nAlthough in her humility and self-distrust she still shrank as much as\never from the responsibility of founding a religious Order, she could not\nconceal from herself that the time had come, when, for various reasons,\ndecisive measures should no longer be deferred. Urged onwards by the\ncounsels of her director, as well as by the voice of inspiration, she\ntherefore determined at last to take the definite, though only\npreparatory step, of assembling a few companions whom she could gradually\ninitiate in her views and form to the intended institute. Accordingly,\nabout the end of the year 1533, she proposed to twelve pious ladies of\nthe town to associate themselves with her in a life of prayer and good\nworks, to which they readily agreed. She then explained to them the\nnature and object of the future foundation in which they would one day be\nexpected to co-operate with her, at the same time suggesting the\nnecessity of a certain course of preliminary training under her personal\ndirection. With one accord they placed themselves wholly at the disposal\nof the saintly Mother, who devoted herself with all the ardour of her\nzeal to imbue them thoroughly with the true spirit of the holy state to\nwhich they aspired. She allowed them to reside with their families as\nbefore, but required that they should assemble every day in a common\noratory for prayer and instruction, and employ their time in the\nparticular works of charity appointed at the daily meetings. These were\nheld at first in a room given to the saint by the Canons of the Church of\nSt. Afra; it adjoined the church, which enabled her to spend a\nconsiderable portion of the night in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.\nBeing soon found too small for a general oratory, a more commodious one\nwas substituted through the generosity of a pious widow.\n\nFor two years more, no farther progress was made. Angela was sixty-one,\nand the prophetic vision of full forty years before, was but a vision\nstill. When would it become a reality? Soon now, for our Lord Himself was\nabout to interpose, and by mingled reproach and reproof, to conquer the\nirresolution of His humble servant. Condescending to appear to her in\nperson, He reprimanded her for her hesitation, thus at once overwhelming\nher with regret and confusion, and dispelling every lingering shadow of\ndoubt as to His designs. A moment's hesitation after this would have\nseemed too long; she commenced her preparations at once, and on the feast\nof St. Catherine, November 25th, 1535, just one year after the\nestablishment of the Society of Jesus, she inaugurated the infant\ninstitute at Brescia. On the same day, she was joined by fifteen\nadditional members, making with the original twelve, the twenty-seven\npillars on which the edifice was to rest, she being herself the\nfoundation stone. Too humble to attach her own name to the Congregation,\nshe decided on. giving it that of the Holy Virgin and Martyr St. Ursula,\nwho had previously appeared to her in a celestial vision, and encouraged\nher to carry out her inspiration.\n\nIn the design of Saint Angela, the life of the Ursuline was to be a union\nof prayer and action. She was to employ nearly as much time in the\nfunctions of Mary as if belonging to the contemplative orders, and to\ndevote herself besides to the instruction of the ignorant, and first, and\nbefore all, to the education of the young. With these, the duties forming\nher specific end, she was to combine the special practices now attached\nto the Sisters of Charity.\n\nConsidering the spiritual apathy then so generally prevalent, it was not\nto be expected that persons needing instruction would go far to seek it,\ntherefore, to adapt her work to the exigencies of the ages Saint Angela\ndecided that instead of retiring within convent walls, the members of the\nSociety should continue to live in their own homes, whence they could\nmore easily go in pursuit of the ignorant, and where too they would have\nwider opportunities of, doing good by the silent influence of example.\n\"In these critical times,\" said the holy Foundress, \"let us place models\nof virtue in the midst of the corrupt world itself, and oppose living\nbarriers to the ravages of heresy and the inroads of vice.\" The Sisters\nwere to continue to meet at their oratory for spiritual exercises,\nconferences, and necessary business arrangements; their dress was to be\ndark in colour and plain in texture, but no particular form was made\nobligatory. Foreseeing the social changes which time would effect, St.\nAngela with her characteristic prudence empowered the Sisters to modify\nthe manner of life now adopted, as future circumstances might render it\ndesirable. She arranged in detail the internal organization of the\nSociety, and her regulations bore ample evidence to her wisdom,\nintelligence and heavenly enlightenment. The Rule drawn up by the holy\nFoundress, and accepted by the Sisters, received the unqualified approval\nof the Bishop of Brescia, and on the 18th of March, 1537, she was\nunanimously elected first Superior of the Society, notwithstanding her\nearnest petition to be allowed to labour until death in the lowest rank,\nwhich she said was the only one suited to her. It is a tradition among\nthe Ursulines, that on the eve of the election, the glorious St. Ursula\nagain appeared to her during one of her frequent ecstasies, and consoled\nher by the assurance that she had taken the institution under her special\npatronage, that it was agreeable to God, and that it would be perpetuated\nfrom age to age, even to the end of the world. In little more than a\nmonth after its foundation, the number of the members had increased from\ntwenty-seven to seventy-two, all filled with the spirit of their holy\nMother; all inflamed with liveliest zeal for the glory of God and the\nsalvation of their neighbour. They were to be seen teaching the ignorant,\nrelieving the poor, visiting the prisons and hospitals, and diffusing all\naround the good odour of Jesus Christ, and so great was the veneration\nwhich the Society inspired, that it was usually designated as _the holy\nCompany_. Far from opposing, the authorities both civil and\necclesiastical favoured its progress, and the highest dignitaries of the\ncity gladly assisted at the spiritual instructions given on certain days\nin the oratory of Saint Angela and her Sisters.\n\nThe first great aim of the new Superior was to train her fervent novices\nto perfection, inspiring them with thorough detachment from the world, an\nardent desire of God's glory, and a tender charity for their neighbour.\nHer second object was to procure the solemn approbation of the Holy See\nfor the Society; but this she did not live to receive, having survived\nthe foundation only three years. In the spring of 1539 she gradually sank\ninto a state of utter physical exhaustion, which she correctly\ninterpreted as a certain, though not, perhaps, an immediate, forerunner\nof dissolution. She lingered until the commencement of the following\nyear, when, increased debility warning her that the end could not be far\ndistant, she summoned the leading members of the Society to receive her\nlast counsels. Happily the golden words had been previously committed to\nwriting, and thus the treasure has descended to her spiritual daughters\nof all generations. She concluded her impressive advice to the\nDirectresses by making them the bearers of her final farewell to all the\nSisters. \"Tell them,\" she said, \"that I shall ever be in the midst of\nthem, and that I shall know them better, and help them more\nefficaciously, after my departure, than when on earth. Tell them not to\ngrieve at our temporary separation, but to look forward to our meeting in\nheaven, where Jesus reigns. Let them raise their hearts and hopes to that\nblessed home, high above this passing world, seeking their Treasure and\ntheir Friend in Jesus alone, who sits at the right hand of the Father in\nthe kingdom of eternal peace.\" Her \"Last Testament,\" as it was called,\nwas addressed to the Sisters in general, and reserved by her own\ndirection to be read to them after her death. As a compendium of her\nlessons of holiness, and an effusion of her sweet spirit of charity, it\nmay well be considered a legacy worthy of such a Mother. It concludes by\nthe consoling declaration that \"the Society is assuredly the work of the\nhand of the Most High, who will never abandon that work while time\nendures.\"\n\nAnd now the earthly task of the dying saint was accomplished. After\nlingering yet a few days among her sorrowing children, she received the\nlast rites of the Church in presence of the whole Ursuline family,\nnumbering one hundred and fifty members, and, after the solemn ceremony,\nexhorted them to charity, obedience, humility, observance of rule and\nlove of God. \"O Jesus!\" she said in conclusion, \"bless this company of\nvirgins irrevocably consecrated to Thy service. Grant that as they\nincrease in numbers, they may also grow in grace, in fervour and in\nwisdom before Thee and before Thy servants.\" At her own desire she had\nbeen clothed in the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis, and that she\nmight die in the practice of her beloved poverty, she had herself\nremoved, tradition says, from the poor bed she had occupied in her\nillness, to the rush mat on the ground which had formed her ordinary\nresting-place in health. Her dying words were fervent acts of the\ntheological virtues, but she seemed to dwell, by preference, on the act\nof charity, returning to it continually. \"Yes, my God, I love Thee!\" she\nsaid. \"Why cannot I love Thee infinitely? Holy Virgin! Blessed Spirits:\nlend me your hearts to love Jesus. How long shall I be banished from Thy\npresence, O Lord? Who will give me wings to fly to Thee, the only Object\nof my love? Break the chains of my captivity. Receive the soul which\nlanguishes for Thee; which can no longer live without Thee.\" Then, with\nJesus on the cross, she exclaimed, \"Father, into Thy hands I commend my\nspirit!\" They were her last words, no sooner spoken than she gave up her\nsoul to God--\"peacefully,\" says her historian, \"as a child composing\nitself to sleep in its mother's arms.\" She died on the 27th of January,\n1540, at half-past nine in the evening, aged sixty-six or sixty-seven.\n\nHer precious remains repose in the Church of St. Afra, at Brescia, and\nare in a state of wonderful preservation. They are clothed in the brown\nhabit of St. Francis, with its white cord. The apartment in which she\nbreathed her last has been kept with religious veneration in exactly the\nsame condition as when she occupied it during life, except for the\nintroduction of a few engravings representing the principal events of her\nhistory. On the wall, opposite the window, is an inscription, in gilt\nletters, to the following effect:--\"This poor room was the resort of the\nmost learned theologians and the most gifted ecclesiastics, who departed\nfrom their conferences with St. Angela, amazed at the lights which she\nhad communicated to them.\" Her portrait, preserved at Brescia, and said\nto be a true likeness, is of great beauty; it was taken after death. Her\nstatue at St. Peter's occupies the first niche on the upper row at the\nleft of the Confession of St. Peter. Although of colossal dimensions, its\nelevated position apparently reduces it to life-size. It is a common\ntribute of love and veneration from all her children throughout the\nworld. The name of Angela was enrolled on the catalogue of the saints in\n1807 by Pope Pius VII. In the foregoing outline of her history, no\nattempt has been made to portray the beauty of that inner life, which is\nto the saint what the perfume is to the rose. Many elaborate works have\nalready done justice to the subject, which does not enter into a passing\nnotice like the present, intended only to trace to its origin the Order\nillustrated by the virtues of the Mother of the Incarnation, as well as\nof its holy Foundress.\n\nOn the 9th of June, 1544, Pope Paul III. granted a Bull approving and\nconfirming the Institution of St. Angela, but, as already noticed, she\nhad then been called to her reward. After her death, the institute spread\nrapidly through many towns of Italy. Among the first to adopt it was\nDezenzano, the scene of her early labours. In Milan, especially, it found\nan efficacious patron and protector in the great St. Charles Borromeo, to\nwhose zeal it is immensely indebted. In 1568 he introduced it into his\ndiocese, where it spread so wonderfully that, in the capital alone, it\ncounted eighteen houses and six hundred sisters.\n\nWe have seen that the saintly Foundress gave an anticipated sanction, for\nsuch modifications of the primitive Rule as might be found necessary in\nthe practical development of the great work which she had lived to\nestablish, but not to perfect. The first modification was introduced by\nSt. Charles. Anxious to consolidate a work whose utility to the Church he\nclearly foresaw, he procured from Pope Gregory XIII. a Bull renewing and\nratifying the first approval of the Rule, authorizing Ursulines to make\nthe three simple vows after a probation of one or two years, and\npermitting them to live in community. He also organized the schools, and\nintroduced a mitigated form of cloister, the Sisters not being allowed to\nleave the house without a particular permission. This branch of the\nSociety is known as the Congregation of Milan.\n\nBut although the Ursuline Order took its rise in Italy, its perfect\ndevelopment is to be sought in France, a country connected with the name\nof its glorious Patroness, St. Ursula, as Italy is identified with that\nof its blessed Foundress, St. Angela. It was to the French shores that\nthe royal maiden was steering her course when she and her retinue fell\ninto the hands of the savage Huns, and, in defending the crown of their\nvirginity, won, in addition, the diadem of martyrs. Here, then, we\nnaturally expect to find a numerous company rallying round the standard\nof St. Ursula and St. Angela; nor are we disappointed. Before the great\nRevolution, France numbered fully three hundred and sixty houses of the\nOrder; many of those then suppressed, have not been restored, yet she\nstill counts at least one hundred and thirty, and it is her especial\nboast that, while in other lands the Ursuline has lived and laboured for\nher Master's cause, here she has not only lived and laboured, but died a\nmartyr's death for it.\n\nThe first house of French Ursulines was established at Avignon in 1594 by\ntwo ladies named De Bermond. This branch of the Society, known as the\nCongregation of Avignon, adopted the Rules of the Congregation of Milan,\nand quickly spread through other parts of Provence. A few years later,\nthe Institute of St. Angela was introduced into Paris by Madame Acarie,\nnow venerated as the saintly Carmelite, Blessed Mary of the Incarnation.\nThough not the second foundation in order of date, the Paris house\noccupies a prominent position in the annals of the Ursulines, as their\nfirst monastery. As we have already more than once observed, the Sisters\nwere not originally cloistered, bound by vows or monastic observances, or\neven irrevocably consecrated to their manner of life, but the time was\ncome when by the adoption of these essential obligations, the Society, as\nSt. Angela herself had called it, would receive its full development by\nbeing converted into a regular monastic Order. This alteration in the\nform, changed nothing in the substance of the Saint's original\ninstitution. Whether a member of a simple confraternity, or of a\nreligious order in the restricted meaning of the word, the Ursuline was\nat all times equally bound to devote her life to the instruction of the\nyoung, and to work out her own sanctification by the practice of the\nevangelical counsels. The instrument of the great work in question was\nMadame St. Beuve, a pious and wealthy widow, who at the request of her\nrelative, Madame Acarie, consented to accept the title and\nresponsibilities of Foundress of the house at Paris, on the express\nunderstanding that it should in due time be formed into a monastery. In\nthis object she finally succeeded to her entire satisfaction. The\nreigning Pontiff, Paul V., approved the design, and on the 16th of June,\n1612, issued a Bull converting the Congregation into a Monastery, under\nthe patronage of St. Ursula and the rule of St. Augustine. His Holiness,\nmoreover, ordained that for the greater stability of the order, the\nreligious should add to the three ordinary solemn vows, a fourth of the\ninstruction of the young. The Bull of Pope Paul V. was confirmed in 1626\nby Urban VIII. The convent in Paris, so interesting to Ursulines from its\nassociations, \"le grand couvent de St. Jacques,\" as it was called from\nits locality, was among those destroyed in the first Revolution, but, by\nan inscrutable permission of Divine Providence, it is not among those\nrestored. Still, even in its ruins, it not only lives in the hearts of\nUrsulines, but may be said actually to survive in its numerous\nfoundations and their offshoots. Between its establishment in 1612, and\nthe death of its venerated Foundress in 1630, eleven houses of the\nCongregation had sprung up in the north of France. Its subsequent\ndiffusion was equally satisfactory.\n\nCongregations of Ursulines were established at Bordeaux and Lyons, under\nthe respective dates 1605 and 1611, and, within a few years after their\nfoundation, were erected into Monastic Orders by Pope Paul V.; from\nthese, numerous filiations have also sprung. There are other\nCongregations of Ursulines, but the three named are the most numerous.\nAlthough the spirit and the essential end of Ursulines are in all cases\nthe same, the various Congregations differ more or less on certain\npoints, and each retains the name which distinguishes it from the others.\n\nNotwithstanding the suppression of numbers of its houses, the Order of\nSt. Angela now registers about three hundred, the greater portion in\nEurope, some in Oceanica, and a large number in America. The history of\nthe Mother of the Incarnation will shortly introduce us to the first in\nthe New World. Of late years, the old tree seems to have renewed its\nvitality, so vigorously is it putting forth fresh branches. In Belgium\nalone, thirty houses have been founded by one priest in our own times;\nand although, unhappily, the work of suppression has been steady in\nGermany, the dispossessed communities have not perished, but only removed\nto other countries.\n\nThe increase of devotion to St. Angela keeps pace in our day with the\nextension of her Order. Pope Pius IX., of revered and cherished memory,\ngave a considerable impetus to this devotion, by raising the saint's\nfestival to a higher ritual rank, permitting the universal celebration of\nher office, and proclaiming her the \"Patroness of Christian mothers, and\nthe Protectress of young girls.\" The establishment of the arch-\nconfraternity which bears her name, has greatly contributed to the same\nend. It was commenced at Blois in 1863 by the Abb\u00e9 Richaudeau, a zealous\npatron of the Order, and is widely spread wherever Ursulines are to be\nfound. Its objects are the honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the triumph\nof the Church, the deliverance of the suffering souls in purgatory, and\nthe extension of the work of St. Angela by word and example, or the\napostolate of woman. It is enriched with indulgences, and the holy\nsacrifice of the Mass is offered on the first Tuesday of every month for\nthe associates.\n\nDuring the three and a half centuries of its existence, the Ursuline\nOrder is calculated to have given to the Church more than one hundred\nthousand religious, by whom multitudes of young girls of every grade have\nbeen trained to piety. Only the angels have kept the record of the\nmultitude of saints whom it has given to heaven, some bearing the palm\nbranches of victorious martyrs, all clad in virgin robes, and swelling\nthe celestial canticle which only the Spouses of the Lamb are privileged\nto sing.\n\n\n\n\nSECOND PERIOD, 1631-1639.\n\nHER RELIGIOUS LIFE IN FRANCE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nSISTER MARY OF THE INCARNATION, AN URSULINE NOVICE.--VIRTUES AND TRIALS\nOF HER NOVITIATE.--THIRD VISION OF THE BLESSED TRINITY.--HER CLOTHING.\n\n\nMarie Guyart was in her thirty-first year when she commenced her career\nas an Ursuline. Even without her own testimony, we could easily have\nunderstood, that after her long and severe probation. in the world, the\nnovitiate of religion must have appeared to her like a very heaven of\npeace. She compared her entrance into the sanctuary to the opening of the\ngate of a terrestrial paradise, and dwelt with holy joy on the happiness\nof having exchanged a life of embarrassment, responsibility, and care,\nfor the blessed condition of a simple novice, whose only affair is to\nsanctify her soul by the observance of her rule.\n\nIt was not long before her superiors had an opportunity of testing her\nvirtue, and satisfying themselves that it was genuine. She had been for\nyears accustomed, as we have seen, to the severest rigours of corporal\nmortification, but, having now embraced community life, in which\nsingularities even in devotion are inadmissible, it had become necessary\nto restrict her penances to those in ordinary practice. To persons\nunacquainted with her spirit, the question may naturally have occurred,\nwhether it would cost her much thus to alter the whole tenor of her\nexternal life, and submit unconditionally to the rule in the matter of\nausterities, as of all else. But those who knew her well could have\npredicted, that as attachment to her own will and judgment had never\nmingled, however slightly, with her penitential works, she would renounce\nthem, in compliance with the Divine will, as readily as she had embraced\nthem from the same motive--and so it was.\n\nKnowing that the sacrifice of obedience is more acceptable to God than\nthe sacrifice of victims, she at once submitted, not only without a\nremonstrance or a hesitation, but even without a thought or a feeling\ncontrary to the will of her superiors, thus early establishing her\nreligious perfection on the solid virtues of humility and obedience, its\nonly secure foundation. A great love for common life became henceforth\none of the marked characteristics of her spirit as a religious, and,\nexcept either by the actual direction, or with the immediate sanction of\nauthority, she never to the end of life departed from its rules. In her\nlater instructions, she remarks, that in good works of our own selection,\nthere is generally a mingling of the human spirit, and, therefore, a\nproportionate deficiency of the Spirit of God, whereas in the observance\nof the established ordinances of religious life, there is no room for the\nintrusion of the human spirit, seeing that the will is not free to choose\nbetween them, but must simply submit to each and all without distinction.\n\nAlthough in every respect so superior to her sister novices, she took her\nplace among them with a sweet, child-like simplicity that charmed and\nedified all who witnessed it. Forgetting her age, her talents, her\nexperience, her profound knowledge of the spiritual life, and her\nextraordinary communications with God, she conversed with, and\naccommodated herself to the youngest sisters as if she had really been\nthe least, and the most ignorant of them all. It was her delight to apply\nto them for information regarding the practices and ceremonies of\nreligion; she was always pleased and grateful when they taught her\nsomething new, and ever ready to admit her ignorance and apologise for\nher mistakes. It was but natural that her mature years and her reputation\nfor sanctity should have elicited a certain degree of deference from her\nyouthful companions, but nothing confused her more than any external\nmanifestation of the feeling. The more her sisters would have\ndistinguished her, the more she tried to pass unnoticed in the crowd, and\nfar from considering herself an example to the others, she was never\ntired of admiring their spirit of self-denial and exactitude to regular\nobservance, which she looked on as a lesson to herself. She made it her\nespecial study to carry out even the least direction public or private,\nof her mistress of novices, the perfection of the accompanying interior\nspirit elevating these trivial acts to the height of sublime virtue.\nWhile her external life exhibited in every feature a living model of that\nbeautiful work of grace, a perfect novice, her heart was filled with so\ndeep a joy, that it almost seemed to her as if no trouble could reach her\nmore; no storm ever break on the peaceful haven to which the hand of God\nhad at last guided her. But it was not so; the cross was her portion, and\neven now, its shadow flung itself across the sunbeams.\n\nIt happened that after giving her up so bravely, her little son repented\nof his heroism, instigated to rebellion by various persons who persuaded\nhim that he had done a very foolish thing in permitting his mother to\nbecome a nun, and that he ought to go boldly to the monastery, and demand\nher restoration, an advice which he was not slow to adopt. The new\nbuilding being at that time in progress, his plan was much facilitated,\nfor the doors were left open for the workmen, and thus he easily managed\nto enter the otherwise inaccessible inclosure, making his way, now to the\nchoir, now to the refectory, now to the parlour grate, and everywhere\nannouncing his presence by the plaintive cry, \"Give me back my mother!\nGive me back my mother!\" She tried to appease his childish grief by\nlittle presents given her for the purpose, but the tempest was allayed\nfor the moment, only to burst out afresh with renewed vigour. Once a\nrelative of hers wrote some pathetic verses on the desolate condition of\nthe forsaken child, and gave them to him to present to his mother; she\nread them with exterior composure, but every word pierced her heart. His\ncompanions, who loved and pitied him, determined at last to take the law\ninto their own hands. \"It is because you have no mother,\" they said,\n\"that you are deprived of the indulgences and gratifications which we\nenjoy, but come with us to the convent, and we shall make such a terrible\nnoise, that they will be forced to give you back yours. We shall insist\non getting her, even if we have to break down the doors.\" Forthwith the\nself-constituted champions formed in battle array, and armed, some with\nsticks and some with stones, they proceeded to besiege the monastery, if\nnot strictly according to the rules of war, at least with resolute hearts\ndetermined never to yield until the fortress had surrendered. Many of the\nspectators laughed as the belligerents passed along; many more looked\ngrave and applauded the children's spirit. Great was the clamour when the\nlittle army reached the monastery, but the inmates were not left long in\nignorance of the object of the invasion, for high above the din and\nuproar rose the familiar cry of a now well-known voice, \"Give me back my\nmother!\" For once, that much tried mother's courage almost faltered.\nImmovable in her own resolution to make her sacrifice to God at the\nexpense of every feeling of nature, she feared that the forbearance of\nthe sisters must be by this time exhausted, and that rather than submit\nto continual disturbance from her son, they would recommend her to return\nto the world, and resume the care of him, which she says would have been\nvery reasonable on their part, but an inexpressible trial to her. We are\nnot told by what arguments the doughty warriors were induced to abandon\nthe siege; all we know is that the fortress surrendered neither itself\nnor its saintly inmate, whom our Lord Himself soon after consoled and\nfortified by an interior assurance that notwithstanding all obstacles,\nshe would make her religions profession in this house.\n\nHer troubles about the child were not yet, however, at an end. Before her\nentrance to the convent he had been remarkably good and docile, but now,\nso completely had his temper been soured by the irritating remarks of\ninjudicious advisers, that he had grown idle, self-willed and absolutely\nreckless. This was the worst pang of all; she dreaded more than any other\nmisfortune, that of his offending God; the news of his death would have\nbeen a light sorrow in comparison. To avert this greatest of evils, she\noffered herself as a victim to the Almighty, consenting to endure any\nsuffering it might please Him to inflict, provided only her boy were\npreserved from sin. The contract was ratified in heaven, and it bore its\nfruits on earth; fruits of sorrow to the mother, of future sanctification\nto the son. Some time after, at the request of the Archbishop of Tours\nthe Jesuits agreed to take charge of the child, and removed him to their\nCollege at Rennes. Those who had most severely censured his mother, now\naltered their opinion, and declared that in the step she had taken, she\nhad but obeyed the voice of God.\n\nAbout two months after her entrance to the novitiate, Marie Guyart was\nadmitted to another of those supernatural communications, which the\nAlmighty seemed to delight in imparting to her pure and humble soul. It\nwas a third vision of the most adorable Trinity, differing from the two\npreceding in this, that while in the first, she had been illuminated as\nto the nature of the mystery and in the second, closely united in heart\nto the Word, in this, her soul was chosen as the abode and possession of\nthe three Divine Persons, in highest fulfilment of the promise of Christ,\n\"If any man love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,\nand we will come to him, and will make our abode with him\" (St. John xiv.\n23). It was the greatest favour she had yet received, as our Lord was\npleased to signify to her. While it elevated her to new heights of love\nfor a God of such infinite condescension, it lowered her, as did all\nsimilar graces to deeper depths of self-contempt and interior\nannihilation, with an increased desire to prove her love for her Divine\nBenefactor by suffering for Him ever more and more. A few days after this\necstasy, she received the holy habit, and with it, the now well-known and\nwidely revered name of Mary of the Incarnation.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nINFUSED KNOWLEDGE OF SCRIPTURE.--INTERIOR SUFFERINGS.--RELIGIOUS\nPROFESSION.--NEW TRIALS FROM HER SON.\n\n\nSo great was the joy of the fervent novice at finding herself clad in the\nlivery of her Divine Master, that she tells us she at first sometimes\ninstinctively touched her veil to make sure that her happiness was no\ndelusive dream. Proportioned to her gratitude, was her fidelity to her\nheavenly Spouse. The only change observable in her after she had received\nthe habit, was a daily progress in the perfection of which she was\ndestined to be so bright a model to religious persons. Her virtues she\ncould not conceal for they betrayed themselves by their own sweet\nfragrance. Neither could her humility altogether hide certain\nsupernatural privileges, granted her perhaps as much for the benefit and\ncomfort of others, as for her own advantage. Among these were an infused\nknowledge of Holy Scripture, the capability of understanding it in Latin\nwithout previous study of the language, and a singular facility for\nspeaking on spiritual subjects. So familiar was she with the Scripture,\nthat its words of life seemed to occur to her quite naturally on all\noccasions. Whether her object was to lighten the burden of the suffering,\nor to brighten the joy of the happy, she was never at a loss for some\nappropriate sentence whereby to recall the thought of Him who is the only\ntrue Comforter of our sorrows, as well as the only unfailing Source of\nour bliss. It was in prayer, not by study, that she acquired her truly\nwonderful acquaintance with the Sacred Writings. In the fulness of the\nlight imparted by the Divine Instructor, she was enabled to penetrate so\nfar beyond the literal meaning, alone apparent to ordinary readers of the\ninspired words, that she sometimes feared lest the abundance of knowledge\nshould lead to curious speculations of the understanding, and that her\nunion with God in simplicity of soul, might in consequence be even\nslightly impeded,--but the dread of such a danger was necessarily a\nsecurity against it. She had a very particular devotion to the Divine\nOffice, and in her trials of interior desolation, sometimes found in the\nchanting of the Psalms, a relief and consolation which no other exercise\ncould impart. Very truly might she have exclaimed with the Psalmist, \"How\nsweet are Thy words to my palate! more than honey to my mouth. O how have\nI loved Thy law, O Lord!\" (cxviii. 103, 97).\n\nA sister novice once asked her to explain the passage of the Canticles,\n\"Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth,\" which she had happened to\nmeet in her prayer-book. Their mistress was present, and to mortify her,\nas she declared, ordered her to take a chair and proceed. No sooner had\nshe commenced, as desired, than her subject transported her as it were\nout of herself. A torrent of sacred eloquence flowed from her heart to\nher lips. She spoke with a fluency than amazed her hearers, and at the\nsame time, with an unction that penetrated, and a charm that fascinated\nthem. Suddenly she stopped, as if the remainder of the effusion were\nmeant to be reserved for the ear of her Lord alone. Her sisters dared not\ninterrupt the colloquy, which only the angels were privileged to hear.\n\nBut this ray from Thabor, served as usual but to light her back to her\nordinary abiding place on Calvary. Again her soul was plunged into an\napparently fathomless abyss of desolation, and inundated as by a deluge\nof temptations; temptations to despair and blasphemy; temptations to\npride and vanity; temptations against faith, against charity, against\nobedience, and against the angelic virtue,--sometimes assailing her one\nby one, sometimes overwhelming her all at once. She was in constant\napprehension of having consented to the enemy's most extravagant and most\nimpious suggestions. The passing comfort which she derived from her\ndirector's counsels, was counteracted by the after dread of having\ndeceived him. Even this, her only sensible succour, was taken from her\nwhen she seemed to need it most, Dom Raymond of St. Bernard, who had\nhelped her through so many difficulties; being appointed Superior of his\nOrder, and obliged in consequence to change his residence. The spiritual\nguide into whose hands she nest fell, increased her perplexities by\nassuring her that she had hitherto been ill-advised, and pronouncing her\nheavenly favours delusions. Finally, as the climax to her trials, she\nseemed to have lost trust in the superintendence of Providence, that\nstrong anchor of the troubled soul. It was the most painful form in which\ndespair had yet assailed her, and as an apparent encroachment on one of\nthe attributes of God, the supreme Object of her love, it caused her\nintense affliction.\n\nIf she could but have bathed her soul in the dew of Divine consolation at\nprayer, how much it would have refreshed her!  But she seemed to feel\nonly a loathing for the things of God; meditation, in particular, had\nbecome her torture, for it appeared as if there especially, the torrent\nof temptation was let loose. Her understanding was obscured, her memory\nfor spiritual things weakened, her imagination troubled, her heart sad.\nFrom the constant strain on. her mind, and the unceasing struggle to do\nviolence to nature, she contracted an habitual headache which added to\nthe difficulty of her external duties, yet through all her multiplied\ntroubles, she never lost either the view of God's presence, or her\ninterior peace; she never formed a desire for the diminution of her\ncrosses, nor ever omitted any observance of rule, and so admirable was\nher self-control, that only the Mother Superior and her director were\naware of her state of mental anguish. Her one only aim was to maintain\nher patience; to avoid every deliberate imperfection, and to conform to\nthe will of God even without the sensible support of knowing that she did\nso. The terrible interior trial lasted for more than two years almost\nwithout intermission, and then the Divine Consoler of the afflicted came\nHimself to her aid. As she prayed before the Blessed Sacrament with\nentire abandonment of her will to the will of God, she seemed interiorly\nto hear the words, \"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy\" (Ps. cxxv.\n5). She had never before, she says, understood the whole import of those\nwords, although in the daily habit of repeating them in choir, bat now\nthey struck her with their full force, revealing to her for the first\ntime, hitherto hidden springs of encouragement and consolation.\n\nThe cross was not removed, it is true, but a great increase of esteem and\nlove for it was imparted to her. Thus strengthened, she embraced it with\nher whole heart, satisfied to bear it to the last moment of existence, if\nthus she could at last attain the eternal joy to which those blessed\nwords pointed, as to a star of hope illumining the close of life's long\npath of tears. The cross was not removed, but it was so far lightened by\nher love for it, that in her renewed courage she could say with heart, as\nwith lips, \"Thy yoke, O Lord, is sweet, and Thy burden light!\" \"I am not\ntired of suffering, my God! I am not tired of suffering!\"\n\nAs the time for pronouncing her vows drew near, she fully expected that\nher sisters would reject her, on account of her numerous imaginary\ndisqualifications, but conscious only of possessing in her a treasure of\nvirtue, and a precious gift from heaven, they gladly admitted her to holy\nProfession on the 25th of January, 1633: she was then in the thirty-third\nyear of her age. On the eve, her interior sufferings vanished as if by\nmagic, giving place to indescribable raptures of Divine love and heavenly\nsweetness. After the ceremony, she retired to her cell to give vent\nunobserved to the ecstasies of her joy and gratitude, and there it was\nrevealed to her, that henceforth she must incessantly fly in God's\npresence on the six wings of her three vows, and of the virtues of faith,\nhope and love. This respite from the cross is compared by one of the\nwriters of her life, to the clearing of the sky between two storms; it\nlasted but eight days, and then the tempest burst forth afresh and with\nredoubled violence. She might perhaps have doubted the reality of her\nvanished joy, had it not left a substantial trace in her renewed ardour\nfor the cross, and her heightened aspiration after the perfection of\nutter detachment from self and every creature.\n\nThe sermons of the following Lent were preached in the cathedral of Tours\nby a Jesuit of great eminence, Father George de la Haye, with whose\nsaintly and enlightened spirit the Ursulines were well acquainted, from\nhis frequent exhortations to themselves. Full of compassion, for the\nprolonged sufferings of Sister Mary of the Incarnation, the Mother\nSuperior was inspired by her own charity to procure her an opportunity of\nconferring with this experienced director. Before forming a conclusive\njudgment on her state, he required to see a written account of the graces\nshe had received through life, and of the manner of her correspondence\nwith them. The humble servant of God consented to prepare it, on\ncondition that she should at the same time be allowed to write a\nconfession of all her sins and imperfections. Such was the origin of the\nfirst account of her life by herself, so frequently referred to in these\npages. After mature consideration of the document, and fervent prayer for\nthe light of heaven, the Father assured her unhesitatingly that her\nmethod of prayer had been inspired by God, and that she had all along\nbeen guided by His Spirit alone, a decision which filled her soul with\nindescribable peace. Shortly afterwards, her interior trials were\ninstantaneously and totally removed.\n\n Summing up the advantages of these at a later period, she says that they\nare a source of self-knowledge and a stimulus to self-correction;--that\nin the abundance of spiritual consolation, the soul is carried on by an\nardour which she mistakes for virtue, whereas, when the inferior part is\ndeprived of all sensible succour, she discovers that she is full of human\nlife and feeling, which she must begin at last in real earnest to mortify\nand crush. Viewing interior suffering in this light, she conceived so\ngreat a love for it, that if permitted to choose between spiritual\nenjoyment, and her multiplied most bitter crosses, she tells us she would\nhave selected the cross.\n\nShortly before her Profession, she had the great grief of hearing that in\nconsequence of her son's recent insubordination, his removal from the\ncollege at Rennes had become inevitable. One of his aunts accordingly\nbrought him back to Tours, where removed from the influence which had led\nhim astray, he quickly reformed. To complete his mother's obligations to\nFather de la Haye, that good religious charged himself with the boy's\nfuture education, and with that object took him to Orleans, where under\nhis own immediate direction the child continued his studies up to the\nclass of rhetoric. This he was sent to follow at Tours in a Jesuit\ncollege lately founded, and then Father de la Haye recalled him once more\nto Orleans for the completion of his course of philosophy.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nMOTHER MARY OF THE INCARNATION IS APPOINTED ASSISTANT MISTRESS OF\nNOVICES--PROPHETIC VISION OF HER VOCATION TO CANADA--SPIRITUAL MAXIMS AND\nINSTRUCTIONS.\n\n\nIn the second year after her profession, Mother Mary of the Incarnation\nwas appointed assistant Mistress of novices, a striking proof of the high\nestimation in which she was held by her superiors. Much about the same\ntime, she had the remarkable vision of her vocation for Canada, which she\nthus describes. \"One night, after conversing familiarly with our Lord; as\nusual, before falling asleep, I seemed as in a dream to see a strange\nlady in a secular dress standing near me. Her presence surprised me\nextremely, as I could not imagine how she had come to my room. Taking her\nby the hand, I led her from the house in great haste, through a very\nrugged, fatiguing road, without knowing in the least where it was that I\nwanted to conduct her, or of course the way to our destination. We\nadvanced steadily through multiplied obstacles, until at last we came to\nan inclosed space, at the entrance of which stood a venerable looking man\nclothed in white, and resembling the ordinary representations of the\nApostles. He was the guardian of the place, and motioned to us to enter,\nsignifying by a gesture that we had no alternative but to pass through,\nthis being the only road on our way. It was an enchanting spot; the\npavement appeared to be composed of squares of white marble or alabaster,\nunited by richly coloured bands of brilliant red; its only roof was the\ncanopy of heaven; its greatest ornament and charm the stillness which\nreigned around. To the left, at some distance, was a beautiful little\nwhite marble church, with a seat on the top occupied by the Blessed\nVirgin holding her Divine Infant. From the eminence on which we stood, we\ncould see a vast region beneath, thickly interspersed with mountains and\nvalleys, and covered with a heavy mist in every part except one, the site\nof a small church. The Mother of God was gazing fixedly at this desolate\nland to which there was access only through one rough narrow path; she\nlooked as immovable as the marble on which she was seated. I relinquished\nthe hand of my companion to hasten to her, stretching out my arms eagerly\ntowards her. Her back was to me, but I could see that as I approached,\nshe bent to her Divine Child, to whom, without speaking, she communicated\nsomething important. I felt as if she were directing his attention to\nthis poor, forsaken country and to me, and I longed to attract her\nnotice. Then with ravishing grace, she turned to me, and sweetly smiling,\nembraced me in silence. A second and a third time, she repeated the same\nmovements, filling my soul at each new embrace with an unction which no\nwords can describe. She looked about sixteen years of age. I could never\ndepict the enchanting beauty and sweetness of her countenance. My\ncompanion was standing at the distance of two or three steps, as if\npreparing to descend to the forlorn-looking land, and from where she\nstood, she had a side view of the Blessed Virgin. I awoke with an\nimpression of extraordinary peace which lasted some days, but the vision\nwas yet a mystery whose meaning I could not divine.\"\n\nA grand work of zeal lay before the Mother, but until it should please\nGod to reveal His future designs, her aim was to acquit herself perfectly\nof the duties assigned her by providence in the present moment. The most\nimportant of these was to form the novices to religious life by\nconferences on its spirit and its obligations, and at the same time to\nprepare them for the special function of the Ursuline institute, by\ninstructions on the Christian doctrine. She had a natural facility for\nexpressing her thoughts on every subject, but when spiritual things were\nher theme, she surpassed herself, her abundant and most appropriate\nquotations from Scripture adding immeasurably to the weight of her words.\nHer talent for writing on pious subjects equalled her facility for\nspeaking of them. It was while second Mistress of novices, that she\ncomposed her catechism, one of the most complete works of its kind,\ncombining, with admirable dogmatic instructions, equally valuable\npractical lessons of conduct.\n\nHabitually, the Mother of the Incarnation spoke little, and when obliged\nto break silence, never used many words. This habit which she had\ncontracted in the world, she retained all her life, perfecting it more\nand more as she advanced in sanctity. Her words, though few in number,\nwere comprehensive in meaning, as may be seen in the following specimens\nof the maxims which she most frequently inculcated.\n\n\"A soul,\" she said, \"which would follow her call to the perfection of the\nspiritual life, must prepare first to pass, gradually through spiritual\ndeath with all its varied and prolonged agonies. Those who have not\nendured the ordeal, can scarcely calculate the degree of interior\ncrucifixion, or, the amount of self-abandonment required.\"\n\n\"Many desire, and would gladly accept the gift of prayer, but few aim at,\nand labour for the spirit of humility and self-abnegation, without which\nthere can be no true spirit of prayer or recollection. Devotion\nunsustained by mortification is of a doubtful character.\"\n\n\"Mortification and prayer cannot be separated. They have a close\nconnection, and are a mutual support.\"\n\n\"The gift of prayer and fervent devotion is not for the great talker; it\nis impossible that the heart and lips should be uselessly occupied with\ncreatures, and at the same time employed with God.\"\n\n\"Interior purity is an essential condition for Divine union. As the sea\ncasts out corrupted matter, so God, the infinite Ocean of perfection,\nrejects souls dead in sin, uniting Himself only to those who live by\ngrace and resemble Him in purity.\"\n\n\"There is no greater obstacle to the progress of the soul than curious\nspeculations in prayer, and the desire to know more than God intends. We\nmay exceed in the desire of knowledge, but never in the desire of love.\"\n\n\"The most sublime life is that which combines the external practice of\nthe virtues of the Gospel, with interior familiarity with God.\"\n\n\"We make God our debtor, if I may say so, when we cast ourselves into His\narms with child-like confidence. We should lose ourselves lovingly in\nHim, for although it is true that we are nothing, while He is all, we\nshall for that reason be more easily and more happily lost in Him.\"\n\n\"The Eternal Father has made known to a certain soul that whatever she\nasks of Him through the most Sacred Heart of His Son, He will grant her.\"\n\nEvery day we must begin anew to love God, persuaded that the day before\nwe did not love Him truly; seeing only defects in the past, and work to\ndo in the present and future.\"\n\n\"I cannot imagine,\" she would sometimes say, \"how a soul can seek her\npleasure in intercourse with creatures, when she can at all times\nconverse with the ever-present Creator. I wonder,\" she remarked on other\noccasions, \"how, having God for our Father, we are not always perfectly\ncontented. The reason is that we are too much occupied about ourselves.\"\n\n\"Even to the end of life the holiest souls experience the assaults, of\ncorrupt nature, which furnish a constant occasion of interior\nhumiliation.\"\n\n\"The practical experience of our weakness is the true teacher of contempt\nof self and compassion for others.\"\n\n\"The nearer the soul approaches to God, the more clearly she sees her\nnothingness.\"\n\n\"I cannot understand,\" she said, \"how a religious soul who desires to\nlove God and to be loved by Him, can fail in obedience or find a\ndifficulty in it, knowing as she does that it is the certain means of\nfulfilling the will of God.\"\n\n\"There is no shorter road to the perfection of the interior life, than\nthe universal retrenchment of all reflections, not only on annoying\nsubjects, but even on such as do not lead to God and the practice of\nvirtue.\"\n\n\"The effect of over-eagerness to finish one action, in order to hasten to\nanother, is that both are done imperfectly.\"\n\n\"Our afflictions are not chance accidents, but graces from God, to detach\nus from creatures, and unite us to Himself.\"\n\n\"It seems strange that we rebel against trials, since everything that God\nsends is good and desirable?\"\n\n\"Resignation in suffering is a mark that the soul is near to God and His\nmercies.\"\n\n\"Peace reigns in the heart, which, through holy self-hatred, endeavours\nto destroy the very last vestiges of corrupt nature.\"\n\nShe had a hatred of all vices, but especially of deceit, and was\naccustomed to say that \"when the mouth opens to a falsehood, the heart\ncloses to God.\"\n\nAnother of her sayings was, that her temptations had been to her useful\npractical lessons, teaching her how to govern others, by having taught\nher first to command herself. She often inculcated that \"to suffer and\npray is the only means by which, in the present life, we can honour the\nChurch Triumphant, and help the Churches Militant and Suffering.\"\n\nFrom these few examples we can form an idea at least of the solidity of\nher lessons, which she never intruded, always maintaining a strict\nreserve unless pressed to speak by charity or obedience. Not only the\nnovices, but even many of the elder religious delighted in listening to\nher spiritual instructions. Among other matters, she explained the Psalms\nand the Canticle of Canticles in a style at once so sublime and so clear,\nthat both beginners and proficients derived profit from her words. Among\nthe numerous novices formed to the interior life by her example and\ncounsels, some became eminent for holiness. As her son remarks, the\nbeauty of the copies is the highest tribute to the perfection of the\noriginal, and the solid virtue of the disciples, the best proof of the\nexcellence of the teacher.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nINCREASED ZEAL OF THE MOTHER OF THE INCARNATION.--REVELATION OF THE\nDEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, AND OF HER CALL TO THE CANADIAN\nMISSION.\n\n\nFrom her first years, zeal for the salvation of souls had been a special\ncharacteristic of the Mother Mary of the Incarnation. Her early delight\nhad been, as we know, to travel in spirit over infidel lands with the\nholy missioners, and unite in heart and intention with their labours. Now\nthat the dream of her childhood was about to become a grand reality, the\nholy fire acquired a ten-fold vehemence, as if her Divine Master would\nthus predispose her for the revelation of His designs. She seemed\nactually to burn with desire that the only Object of her love should be\nknown and adored by every creature, and, unable to endure the thought of\nthe triumph of Satan over Jesus, she gathered the poor perishing souls of\nall unbelievers into her heart, and, presenting them to the Eternal\nFather, reminded Him that He had promised the dominion of the nations to\nHis Son, who ought no longer to be deprived of the inheritance purchased\nat the dear price of His own most precious blood. \"The zeal of God's\nhouse absolutely consuming her\" (Ps. lxviii. 101), she continued to\ntraverse heathen lands in spirit, praying for a voice strong enough to\nproclaim to the extremity of the earth that her heavenly Spouse is worthy\nof the love and homage of every human heart. The worst torments of the\nmartyrs would have seemed light to her if by them she could have gained\nthese straying souls to her Lord. She besought God to inflict on her the\nlast excess of pain, and that until the Day of Judgment, if thus she\ncould extend the Kingdom of Christ. She might literally have said with\nthe Psalmist, \"My zeal hath made me pine away\" (Ps. cxviii. 139), for,\nthe inflamed ardour of her soul reacting on her bodily strength, she was\nreduced to such great exhaustion, that it was feared she would have died.\nStill the prayer seemed unheeded, though still it went on redoubling in\nearnestness, until at last the Eternal Father made known to her that if\nshe would obtain her petition, she must present it through the Heart of\nHis Divine Son. Thus was the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus made\nknown to the Mother Mary of the Incarnation long before it was revealed\nto the world through another of its fervent clients. All through her\nremaining life, she cherished a most ardent devotion to that ever-\nadorable Heart. She offered nothing to God, she asked nothing of Him,\nexcept through it. She made it her refuge in difficulty and her\nconsolation in suffering; her repose in weariness, her treasure in\npoverty, her all, for love of which she despised herself and renounced\nall things created.\n\nAt the time of her vision, her director had remarked that the country\nshown her might perhaps have been Canada, which was then exciting some\nattention. It was a new light; she had never before heard of Canada;\nneither had she for a moment imagined that God intended her to labour for\nsouls otherwise than by the interior practices of zeal and charity to\nwhich she was accustomed. All doubt was removed when, in a repetition of\nthe vision, God revealed to her that it was indeed Canada which she had\nseen, distinctly telling her at the same time that she was the instrument\nchosen to build a house there for Jesus and Mary. Now, at last, she knew\nher destiny. \"Oh, my great God!\" she exclaimed, \"Thou art omnipotent, and\nI am all weakness; if Thou wilt assist me I am ready. Do in me and by me\nThy most adorable will.\"\n\nIn every phase of her vocation to Canada, we are struck by the visible\nintervention of the wonder-working, ever-watchful Providence of God. Thus\nit happened that at this very crisis, she received for the first time a\n\"Report\" of the affairs of the Church in the infant colony. It was the\none for 1635, the year following the regular establishment of the Huron\nMission, and was sent her by Father Poncet, a Jesuit. Without having the\nleast idea that their destinations were similar, he informed her of his\nown vocation for that mission, sent her a miniature pilgrim's staff which\nhe had brought from Loretto, and invited her to join the great work. As\nshe knew that the good Father was absolutely ignorant of her spiritual\nstate, the whole affair greatly surprised her. How would her wonder have\nincreased had she been aware that the same Report of 1635 was to be the\nmeans under God of deciding another vocation, on which hung the success\nof the Ursuline Mission to Canada! She could answer the Father's\ninvitation only in general terms, unwilling, on the one hand, to speak of\nthe supernatural revelation granted her, and ignorant, on the other, of\nthe means by which the Almighty intended to execute His will in her\nregard. The enterprise was one demanding not only superhuman courage, but\nalso pecuniary resources; in proportion as the Mother of the Incarnation\nabounded in the one, so was she destitute of the other, but her future\nwas in the hands of Him to whom it is as easy to dispense the treasures\nof earth, as the riches of heaven. While she tranquilly abandoned\nherself as a passive instrument to His designs, His Almighty Providence\nwas employed in preparing for her a co-operatrix endowed at once with the\nzeal and the wealth, each indispensable in its way,--Madame de la\nPeltrie, to whom the next chapter will introduce us.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nMADAME DE LA PELTRIE, FOUNDRESS OF THE URSULINES IN CANADA.\n\n\nMarie Madeleine de Chauvigny, better known as Madame de la Peltrie, was\nborn in 1603, at Alen\u00e7on, a town in Normandy. Through both her parents\nshe claimed connection with the noblest families of the province, and\nfrom both also she derived a far more precious inheritance than exalted\nbirth, the imperishable heritage of piety. The virtues which reflected so\nbright a lustre on her name, both in her own land and in the New World,\nwere, under God, the fruit of their teaching; but it must be owned that\nher natural docility and amiability of disposition rendered her early\ntraining an easy task. Compassion for the poor seemed so identified with\nher nature, that she could not see a want without trying, according to\nher opportunity, to relieve it, and when the power to do this failed, she\nendeavoured to make up for the disappointment by an ever-ready and most\ntender sympathy. She seemed to have no taste for the toys and sports of\nchildren, preferring for her recreation the exercises of devotion, which\nshe had learned by observing them in others. In admiration of her early\npiety, her parents loved to fancy that heaven must surely have some\nsingularly blessed destiny in store for her.\n\nUnder her mother's guidance, she received an education suitable to her\nhigh social position and brilliant prospects, and when she had attained\nher seventeenth year, she was informed that being of course intended for\nmarried life, she would do well to accept a very excellent proposal which\nhad just offered. Most cordially despising the world with its pomps and\nvanities, and desiring with her whole heart to have no spouse but a\nHeavenly One, she was utterly overcome by the announcement. She had never\nhad a thought but of consecrating herself to God in religion, and had\nrefrained from speaking of her intentions merely because she believed\nthat the favourable time for doing so had not yet arrived. In the present\nunexpected disappointment of her dearest hopes, she fancied that if she\nwere but once secure within the walls of a convent, her parents might\nnot, perhaps, carry their authority so far as to oblige her to leave it;\naccordingly she went in all haste to a neighbouring abbey and asked\nadmittance for a few days to make a retreat. This step exceedingly\nirritated her father, who at once insisted on her return home, and, as no\npersuasion could induce him to alter his determination respecting her\nfuture destiny, her spiritual guides finally decided that the will of God\nin her regard was manifested by that of her parents, and that no\nalternative remained but to submit. After much prayer for the light of\nheaven, she consented to espouse the husband of their selection.\n\nMonsieur de la Peltrie, her partner, was in every respect worthy of her,\nand their union was one of such unbroken peace, that he often expressed a\nhope of living long, in order to benefit by her holy influence, and to\nenjoy the Christian happiness of which she was to him the ministering\nangel. But God had decreed otherwise; five years after their marriage he\ndied in the very vigour of manhood. Their only child had passed at once\nfrom earth to heaven.\n\nHer worldly ties thus broken at the early age of twenty-two, the young\nwidow deliberated how she could most profitably dispose of herself and\nher possessions for the glory of God. A hundred and a hundred times a day\nshe repeated, \"Do with me, O Lord! as it shall please Thee; my heart, my\nlife, my riches, all are Thine!\" She had not lost her first inclination\nfor the religious life, but the doubt arose whether, with her great\nwealth, she might not, perhaps, promote the Divine honour more\neffectually in the world than in a life of voluntary poverty. An ardent\nzeal for the salvation of souls lighted up her heart, and, like the\nMother of the Incarnation, she flew in thought to the homes of the\nheathens, there to aid, at least by her prayers and desires, the labours\nof the missionaries. She panted to lend active succour to the work, bat\ncould not yet see how this was to be brought about. Meantime the\nProvidence of God was working out her destiny in its own sweet and\nwondrous way. After years of incertitude and indecision, she accidentally\nmet with one of the Reports of the progress of the Canadian Mission. It\nwas a copy of the same which had been sent to the Mother of the\nIncarnation by Father Poncet, bearing, as may be remembered, the date\n1635. In burning accents of holy zeal, the writer asked whether no\nChristian heroine could be found willing te co-operate with the designs\nof Jesus by devoting herself to teach the Indian children the name of\ntheir unknown God, and the value of the precious blood which had redeemed\nthem. The stirring appeal was an instantaneous answer to the doubts of\nyears; it revealed her vocation as plainly as if an angel's voice had\nspoken. In a moment she saw that God destined her for the Canadian\nMission, and with equal promptitude she resolved to obey the call. Soon\nafter this first inspiration, God was pleased to confirm her resolution,\nby distinctly revealing to her that it was His will she should go to\nCanada, and there labour for the conversion of the Indian girls,\npromising that He would bestow great graces on her in recompense. \"O\nLord!\" she exclaimed, \"surely favours like these are not for a worthless,\nsinful creature as I.\" And out Lord answered, \"You speak truly; but the\nmore unworthy the object of My favours, the more is My liberality exalted\nin bestowing them. I desire to employ you as the instrument of My mercies\nto Canada, and, notwithstanding all obstacles, you will go there, and\nthere, too, you will end your days.\" Unmistakably as the project appeared\nto be marked with the will of God, she would take ho measures for its\nexecution until competent judges had examined it in all its bearings,\npronounced it the work of the Holy Spirit, and decided that she ought to\ncarry it out without delay. Her vocation received its final confirmation\nin a dangerous illness which brought her to the very verge of the tomb.\nWhen the last hope had vanished, and her soul seemed on the very point of\nhearing the great summons to eternity, she felt inspired to vow that if\nher life were spared, she would build a church in Canada in honour of St.\nJoseph, and devote herself and her wealth, under his patronage, to the\nservice of young Indian females. No sooner had she made the promise than\nshe fell into a sweet refreshing sleep, from which she awoke in restored\nhealth. The amazement of the physicians was something wonderful. \"What\nhas become of your illness, Madam?\" they asked. \"It seems to have gone to\nCanada.\" Greatly surprised at the remark, she smilingly answered, \"Yes,\nsir, as you say, it is gone to Canada.\"\n\nThus miraculously snatched from the arms of death, she thought only of\nfulfilling her vow as quickly as possible, but nearly four years were to\npass before she could realize her pious wishes. As might have been\nexpected, the enemy of all good set every engine at work to frustrate the\ndesign. Her father insisted that she should marry again, and after\nexhausting arguments and entreaties, he had recourse to threats,\ndeclaring that he would disinherit her if she persevered in opposing his\nwashes, and that if she persisted in going to Canada, it would cost him\nhis life. As time passed, obstacles seemed only to multiply, and her\nperplexity in consequence to increase, but before matters had finally\ncome to a crisis, it pleased God to call her father out of life after a\nsevere but short illness. This event, in removing one difficulty, created\nanother. Some of her relatives who had long had designs on her property,\neagerly seized the opportunity of securing the prize. With this object,\nthey declared her incompetent to manage her own affairs, in consequence\nof her extravagance, as they termed her liberality to the poor and to the\nChurch. They had recourse to law proceedings to prove the statement, and\nactually managed to procure a verdict in their favour. Just when her case\nseemed hopeless, she was extricated from the difficulty by following the\nadvice of a kind friend, Monsieur de Berni\u00e8res. At his suggestion she\nappealed to the Parliament of Rouen, and obtained a reversal of the first\ndecision, with a full recognition of her rights. This great victory she\nattributed to the intercession of St. Joseph, in whose hands she had\nplaced her cause, at the same time renewing her vow to build a church in\nCanada under his invocation, and devote her remaining life to the service\nof the Indians.\n\nHer affairs no longer requiring her presence at home, she proceeded to\nParis to complete her preparations for the voyage. She profited of the\nopportunity to submit her plans to two of the great lights of the age,\nP\u00e8re Condren, General of the Oratorians, and St. Vincent of Paul, who\nboth consoled her by the assurance that her vocation was genuine, and her\nwork the work of God. Even here her relatives continued to disquiet her.\nUnwilling to relinquish their prey, some of them actually followed her to\nthe capital with the intention of seizing her person, and so closely did\nthey watch her movements, that, to baffle pursuit, she had to disguise\nherself in the dress of her maid when obliged to go out on business. Once\nmore she had recourse to Monsieur de Berni\u00e8res, and at his appearance,\nthe conspirators dispersed.\n\nThis good friend of Madame de la Peltrie and the Ursulines, was the scion\nof an illustrious house in Normandy, and resided at Caen where he\noccupied a high official position. Fearing that the distraction of\nworldly business might divert his attention from the one thing necessary,\nhe had early assembled around him a little community of ecclesiastics and\npious laymen, who, united by the bonds of faith, charity, and prayer,\nserved as mutual helps in the pursuit of a common end--Christian\nperfection This association, called \"The Hermitage,\" once numbered among\nits members Monseigneur de Laval, the first Bishop of Canada. A faithful\npicture of the angelic soul of Monsieur de Berni\u00e8res can be found in his\nown work entitled \"The Interior Christian,\" which is in fact the history\nof his inner life written by the direction of his confessor. His ardent\nzeal for the Divine honour inspired him with the liveliest interest in\nthe Canadian mission, to which he continued until death a devoted and\nefficient friend. To Madame de la Peltrie in particular, he preyed\nhimself an invaluable assistant just at the time when she most needed\ncounsel and support. Her contradictions were not yet at an end; one\nindeed seemed removed only to stake way for another. So it ever is with\nthe work of God, for the. sign by which that work conquers is the sign of\nthe cross. It was now the month of November, 1638. On applying for a\npassage to Canada for the following spring, she was told that all the\nvessels for the ensuing season would be fully freighted, so that no\nalternative remained but to defer her departure for another year. Nothing\ndaunted, she declared that if necessary, she would charter a vessel at\nher own expense, and when the time of departure came, so she actually\ndid.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nDEVELOPMENT OF THE MOTHER OF THE INCARNATION'S VOCATION FOR CANADA.\n\n\nWhile the Almighty was thus slowly preparing the way for the\naccomplishment of his designs, the Mother Mary of the Incarnation was\nstill calmly awaiting the manifestation of His will, in utter\nunconsciousness of the progress of events. At the date to which we have\nbrought the history of Madame de la Peltrie, more than two years had\npassed since she and the Venerable Mother almost simultaneously learned\nby Divine revelation, that the Canadian mission was to be the scene of\ntheir future labours. Having followed the progress of the destined\nFoundress' vocation during those years, we shall now retrace our steps to\nconsider the development of the Venerable Mother's in the same interval.\n\nThe great work in prospect was to be the work of God alone, and nothing\nof the creature was to be permitted to mingle with it, therefore, before\nthe time for carrying it into effect arrived, the Almighty signified to\nhis faithful servant, that even in the execution of the command which He\nhad himself imposed, her own will was to have no share. As once He had\nassumed the dominion of her heart, He on this occasion assumed the\ndominion of her will,--the heart of the soul,--not depriving her of the\nfaculty, but uniting it so closely to His own will, that hers became\nabsolutely absorbed and lost in His. It was, she says, as if while she\nendeavoured to bend His will to hers, by her ardent prayers for the\nextension of the Kingdom of His Son, He on the contrary triumphed over\nhers so completely, that now she could will only as He willed.\nThenceforth, she waited in silence and peace for the further\nmanifestation of His designs, and deeply as she prized her vocation, she\nconstantly prayed that if He willed her to work for Him in another sphere\nand another way, He would raise insuperable obstacles to her ever going\nto Canada. The secret of her future destiny she buried in her heart,\nuntil at the end of a year, the Almighty Himself commanded her to divulge\nit. When she did so, the communication entailed on her only mortification\nand humiliation. Her director rebuked her for indulging silly fancies;\nthe Mother Superior asserted that if God granted her request, it would be\nonly as a punishment for her presumption; others, whose judgment she\nequally deferred to, pronounced the project visionary and delusive, yet\nher great courage never failed, for it was founded on a perfect\nconfidence that in His own time, God would do His own work, using her as\nhis instrument, all unworthy though she was. In two letters, she fully\nexplained her position to her former spiritual guide, Dom Raymond of St.\nBernard, who like herself, aspired at this time to the Canadian mission,\nthough as the event proved, unsuccessfully. In one of these, she says,\n\"God is stronger than man; He commands the winds and calms the waves. If\nHe will have us in New France, He will surely conduct us thither in\ndefiance of all the obstacles which look like mountains in human eyes,\nbut before Him are only as straws and spiders' webs. When I consider my\ngreat misery, I cannot help feeling that it may in the end divert His\nchoice to some worthier instrument, but if such should be His will, I\nbless Him in anticipation for the selection; whatever it may be, coming\nfrom Him, it must necessarily be all-wise.\" The humility, the trust in\nGod, the total absence of all attachment to her own will and judgment\nwhich marked her communications, convinced this enlightened director that\nher vocation was genuine, and he therefore promised to promote its\nsuccess to the best of his power. As God had decreed that she should\nconcur in the great enterprise by something more than mere passive\nacquiescence, He again inspired and even urged her to repeat the\ninformation which by His order she had already given on the subject to\nher Superiors. This time, she addressed herself to Father de la Haye, who\napproved of the undertaking, encouraged her to pursue it, and expressed a\nhope that the time of its accomplishment was near at hand. An important\nlink was added to the chain of Providence by the communication just\nreferred to. Father de la Haye confided it to Father Poncet, who was a\ngood deal concerned in the affairs of the Canadian mission, and thus was\nthe Mother's cause placed in the direct road of success. Some time more\nwas, however, to pass, before the mysterious chain of Providence should\nbe perfected.\n\nAlthough careful to avoid unnecessary allusion to her own especial\nvocation, she spoke in such glowing terms of the happiness of labouring\nfor the salvation Of the infidels, that she effectually communicated her\napostolic spirit to her community, who all joined her in prayer and works\nof penance for the conversion of heathen nations. The reputation of her\nzeal had even reached New France, whence she received urgent petitions\nfrom the missioners to hasten, to the aid of their dear converts. These\nappeals, some of them traced on bark by saintly men who soon were to\nwater with their blood, the land blessed by their labours, she kissed\nreverentially and bedewed with her tears.\n\nAll her letters from Canada were not, however, of this description. Soon\nafter the revelation of her vocation, she received two from Father le\nJeune, mortifying enough to have discouraged any soul less humble than\nhers. As Superior of the missions in New France, he thought it advisable\nto try her spirit before she was permitted to follow her call;\naccordingly, he twice addressed her in the most humbling terms, dwelling\nparticularly on her intolerable presumption in aspiring to functions far\nabove her capacity, and aiming at a position in every way beyond her\nsphere. She read and re-read the painful words with singular\nsatisfaction, and in showing them to her director, she merely said, \"Is\nhe not a good Father to treat me so? If I ever fall under his authority,\nI am sure of finding a true friend in him.\" When she learned later that\nhe was using his best efforts to procure nuns for Canada, and that he\nespecially desired to secure her services, she understood even better\nthan before, that sharp as were the arrows, they had indeed been guided\nby a friendly hand.\n\nLest self-love or natural ardour should imperceptibly mingle with her\ndesire for the Canadian mission, she represented herself its most\nalarming features, the danger of perishing of cold or hunger; the chance\nof being led into captivity and perhaps cruelly tortured by the savages;\nthe immeasurable privations, the hardships, disappointments and varied\nsufferings which without any doubt would he her daily portion, yet the\nterrible anticipation rather strengthened than diminished her love for\nher great vocation. \"No creature,\" she said in a letter to her confessor,\n\"could be worthy of one so exalted. It is so grand, so sublime, so\nglorious, that only God's gratuitous goodness could inspire Him to bestow\nit. Gladly,\" she continued, \"would I purchase it at the price of a\nthousand lives if that were possible. Reflecting that 'Christ died for\nall' (2 Cor. v. 15), I grieve to think that all do not yet live for Him,\nand although confounded at my own presumption, I feel pressed by the\ndesire to bring unbelievers to the knowledge and love of Him who is the\ntrue Life.\"\n\nShe continued to pray that she might be enabled at last to execute the\ncommand imposed on her of building a house in Canada for Jesus and Mary,\nadding a petition that it might be also in honour of St. Joseph, whom she\nfirmly believed to be the guardian of that country shown her in the\nvision. There seemed, however, little present prospect of her\naccomplishing her task, for, independently of other obstacles, more than\none promise of the necessary pecuniary aid had ended in disappointment.\nNothing then remained but to submit to the arrangements of Divine\nProvidence, and this she did so perfectly, that it was difficult to\ndecide whether most to admire her readiness to go to Canada, or her equal\nwillingness to give up the idea. \"An enterprise undertaken for God,\nshould be renounced for God,\" she said, \"when He withholds the means of\ncarrying it into execution.\" But the thought of Canada continued to be as\nusual ever present to her heart, and although there seemed no human\nlikelihood of her going there, she could not divest herself of a strong\npresentiment that the time of departure was approaching.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nMADAME DE LA PELTRIE AT TOURS.--SELECTION OF THE MISSIONERS.--DEPARTURE\nFOR PARIS.--THENCE FOR DIEPPE.\n\n\nWe left Madame de la Peltrie in Paris, preparing for her departure. All\nher arrangements were made at last, except one, but that was all-\nimportant. The projected work could not go on without the help of\nreligious Sisters, and none had been engaged; where were they to be\nsought? Many voices were raised in favour of the Ursulines of Paris, but\nGod had chosen His own instrument, and in His own way He would manifest\nthe selection. Father Poncet was known to be closely connected with the\naffairs of the mission, so he was appealed to for advice. His answer was\nprompt and satisfactory. \"The Mother of the Incarnation had a marked\nvocation for New France; she possessed all needful qualifications, would\nfly to the ends of earth at the call of God, was to be found at the\nUrsuline Convent of at Tours.\" Following up the welcome hint, Madame de\nla Peltrie wrote at once to the Mother Superior of that monastery to\nsecure the co-operation of so invaluable an assistant, and the letter was\naccompanied by one from Father Poncet. It is easy to imagine the effect\nof these letters on the two persons most concerned. Recognising in them\nthe almost visible trace of the hand of Providence, the Mother Superior\ncould only bow down and adore: equally lost in admiration of the wondrous\nways of God, the Mother of the Incarnation could but exclaim, \"Lord, here\nI am; send me!\"\n\nThinking herself called on to second this manifest intervention of\nProvidence, the Mother resolved to communicate personally to Madame de la\nPeltrie her wishes and sentiments on the subject of the mission. This\nletter gives so beautiful an insight to her mind that a few sentences\nfrom it will probably be read with interest and pleasure:--\n\n\"Can it be true, Madam,\" she asks, \"that our Divine Master really calls\nyou to the terrestrial paradise of New France? Are you, indeed, happily\nchosen to spread in that far-off region the heavenly flame of His love?\nIcicles abound there, it is true; brambles and thorns grow in profusion;\nbut the fire of His Holy Spirit can dissolve the one and consume the\nother. His almighty power can strengthen weak creatures to endure all\ntrials, and sacrifice all enjoyments for the salvation of God's children.\nO favoured spouse of Jesus! yours is the blessed certainty that you love\nHim truly, since you are about to give the strongest proof of love by\nrenouncing self and all things for His dear sake . . . . Since in His\ninfinite goodness He has granted me sentiments like your own, I feel that\nour hearts are now one in the Heart of Jesus, and that, so united, they\nembrace all the heathen children of Canada, whom, as we hope, it will\nsoon be our privilege to impress with the love of their infinitely\namiable God. Some years have passed since our Lord inspired me with the\ndesire of labouring for their salvation. Hitherto I could only tranquilly\nwait until it should please His Providence to summon me to my work; now\nit seems as if the welcome call had come at last through you. Will you,\nthen, accept me as the companion of your voyage and a co-operatrix in\nyour future labours? As I could explain myself more fully and\nsatisfactorily in a personal interview, I venture to promise that if you\ncan give me the opportunity, our Lord will indemnify you Himself for the\nfatigue of the journey. You will meet here many affectionate sisters\nready to welcome you as a messenger from heaven, and I, although the most\nunworthy of all, presume to ask a share in your prayers.\" This letter, so\nfull of the spirit of God, confirmed Madame de la Peltrie's first\nfavourable impression of the writer, and strengthened her desire to\nsecure her as the foundation stone of her projected edifice.\n\nThe interview so humbly requested was cordially granted. Accompanied by\nMonsieur de Berni\u00e8res, the Angel Raphael of her travels, Madame de la\nPeltrie arrived at the Convent of Tours on the 19th of February, 1639,\nhaving previously communicated the object of her visit to the Archbishop,\nand received his unqualified sanction. She was met by the whole community\nand conducted with due ceremonial to the choir, where the _Veni Creator_\nand the _Te Deum_ were chanted. At first sight, the Mother Mary of the\nIncarnation recognised in Madame de la Peltrie the well-remembered\nfeatures of the lady who had been represented in her vision as her\ncompanion to the unknown land; and their hearts were drawn towards each\nother irresistibly and for ever. The prayer of the Forty Hours was\noffered to obtain the direction of Heaven in the choice of the\nmissioners, and on its conclusion, the selection commenced. The will of\nGod had been so clearly marked in regard of the Mother of the\nIncarnation, that much deliberation would, in her case, have been\nsuperfluous. The Mother Superior must have felt that in acceding to the\nrequest of Madame de la Peltrie by granting her this rich treasure, she\nwas but concurring in a Divine appointment, which she was not at liberty\nto oppose. The sanction of human authority was now formally. attached to\nthe Venerable Mother's call to Canada; in addition to the stamp of\nheavenly revelation which it had so long borne, so she was free at last\nto enter on the course which stretched before her. clear, direct and\nwell-defined, and while her soul magnified the Lord, and her spirit\nexulted in God, her generous heart breathed the one aspiration, that she\nmight prove her gratitude for His mercies by pursuing that blessed course\neven to its final term, with a love that would never cool and a fidelity\nthat would never tire.\n\nAs it was understood that one Sister was to accompany the Mother of the\nIncarnation, many were the candidates who volunteered their services; it\nwas remarkable, however, that the one whom God had chosen was the only\none who kept aloof. Sister St. Bernard was full of holy ardour for the\nsalvation of souls, especially the Indians--an ardour fanned by the\nperusal of the yearly Reports of the progress of the faith in Canada--but\nher humility persuading her that youth and other disqualifications\nunfitted her for the great work, she dared not present herself to Madame\nde la Peltrie. She would not even enter her apartment with the others,\nbut hovered about outside, offering herself to God as a perpetual\nholocaust for the conversion of the savages, and promising St. Joseph\nthat if he obtained for her the favour of joining the missioners, she\nwould change her present name for his, as a mark of her undying\ngratitude. Her private petition to the Mother Superior to be sent on the\nMission had been rejected; the Mother Mary of the Incarnation, Madame de\nla Peltrie, and Monsieur de Berni\u00e8res had all begged for her, and been\nlikewise refused. Yet, when the community assembled to decide the\nquestion, it was singular that some difficulty or objection arose about\nevery candidate except herself. This circumstance appearing to the Mother\nSuperior an indication of the will of God, she feared to persist in her\nfirst indention, much as she regretted the loss of a subject whom she\nlooked on as a future pillar of the house. Sister St. Bernard's parents\nthreatened opposition, but He who holds in His hands the hearts of men,\nsoon changed theirs so completely, that they gave her not only the\ndesired permission, but their full approval and cordial benediction. Full\nof joy and gratitude, she changed her name as she had promised, and\nhenceforth we know her as Mother St. Joseph. In the world she had been\ncalled Marie de la Troche, and her family was one of the highest in\nAnjou.\n\nThe aged Archbishop at once ratified the selection of the community, and\nwarmly blessed the two candidates for the Mission, or, as he called them,\nthe two foundation stones of the temple about to be erected in the New\nWorld for the glory of God. He prayed that the monastery at Quebec might\nbe a home of grace, peace and benediction; that the efforts of hell might\nnever prevail against it; and that the Lord might dwell there as the\nFather and Spouse not only of these its first inmates, but of all who\nshould join or succeed them to the end of ages. He then appointed the\nMother of the Incarnation Superior.\n\nWhen all the preliminaries seemed satisfactorily concluded, it was found\nthat an intimate friend of Madame de la Peltrie's had, at the last\nmoment, revoked a promise to accompany her, alarmed, it would seem, at\nthe perils of the voyage and the anticipated hardships of life in Canada.\nThe circumstance was embarrassing, as little time now remained to seek a\nsubstitute, but the difficulty was removed in a manner as satisfactory as\nit was unexpected. There was just then in Tours a young person of\nrespectable position and great piety, who, for the previous six years,\nhad been determined on consecrating herself to the service of God and her\nneighbour in religion, but had deferred the execution of her design,\nmerely because uncertainty as to the particular Order she was destined\nfor. By the arrangement of Providence, her confessor, a Jesuit, happened\nlikewise to be at Tours precisely at the moment of the nuns' perplexity,\nand, hearing of it, he suggested to them that the lady in question would\nvery probably answer their purpose. She was at once presented to the\nmissioners, and, on being asked by Madame de la Peltrie, whether she\nwould consent to go to Canada as her personal companion, she promptly\nreplied that her intention had been to become a nun, but that, since the\nAlmighty was pleased to offer her so glorious an opportunity of\nsacrificing her life for Him, she would accept it with joy and gratitude.\nHer family name of Charlotte Barre she exchanged later for that of Mother\nSt. Ignatius, under which we know her as the first sister professed at\nthe Ursuline Convent of Quebec.\n\nAnother attempt was still to be made by the enemy of souls to frustrate\nthe design of the Mother of the Incarnation, and her natural affections\nwere again the arms which he tried to turn against her. Intensely grieved\nat the news of her intended departure, her sister employed every\nimaginable argument to prevent it, and, finding all else fail, appealed\nonce more to her love for her son. She declared that if his mother\nforsook him, so would every one else, beginning with herself. Threats\nproducing no impression, she went to the length of actually revoking the\nsmall pension which she had agreed to settle on the boy, as a kind of\ncompensation to his mother for her services. But all was in vain: nothing\ncould shake her courageous soul. One last effort remained: it was to\napprise Claude Martin of his mother's intention, and inform him at the\nsame time, that she was to pass through Orleans, where he was then\nstudying, so that if he pleased he could have an opportunity of seeing\nher and working on her feelings. The hint was not lost on him, as we\nshall presently see.\n\nOn the 22nd of February, 1639, Mother Mary of the Incarnation bade a last\nfarewell to the convent at Tours. It is easy to picture the grief of the\nSisters at losing the beloved Mother whose example had been to all a\nperpetual stimulus to perfection, and whose counsels had encouraged so\nmany to tread bravely the narrow path that leads to sanctity. The regret\nof the pupils for their saintly teacher, was the highest tribute to the\ngentleness and charity which, had so greatly endeared her to them. As to\nherself, she seems all through to have had a presentiment that she was in\nthe monastery only as a deposit, to be one day reclaimed by the Heavenly\nMaster. Her only ties were those which bound her to Himself; when,\ntherefore, He demanded His own, her disengaged soul was free to hasten on\nthe wings of love, even to the farthest boundaries of the globe.\n\nBefore her departure, she had a vision in which the church of her adopted\ncountry was represented to her as formed, not of stones, like ordinary\nbuildings, but of human beings, fastened each to a cross. She was shown\nher destined place among the crucified, and made to understand the weight\nof her especial cross. She saw, not only in general, but in detail, all\nthe afflictions that awaited her;--the agonies of interior desolation,\nthe bitterness of external trials--all were vividly depicted; and it was\nintimated to her that henceforth she must serve the Lord at her own cost,\nand prove her gratitude for great favours, by great generosity in self-\nsacrifice. It was not long before she entered on the dolorous way which\nwas to be henceforward her path here below. Faithful to his aunt's\ndirections, her son watched for her arrival in Orleans, and at once\npresented himself before her. Feigning ignorance of her project, he\ninquired with well-assumed surprise, where she could possibly be\ntravelling.\n\n\"To Paris,\" she replied.\n\n\"But are you not going farther?\" he continued.\n\n\"Probably to Normandy,\" she said.\n\nSeeing that she tried to avoid an explanation, he produced his aunt's\nletter, with the enclosed deed revoking his pension. She read the letter,\nevery word of which must have been a torture, picturing as it did in\nglowing colours the isolation, the neglect, the actual destitution which\nawaited her boy, and raising her eyes to heaven, she exclaimed, \"Oh! how\nmany artifices Satan uses to oppose the designs of God!\" Then, with the\nmingled tenderness of a mother and heroism of a saint, she asked, \"My\nson, during the eight years which have elapsed since I left you to\nconsecrate myself to God, have you wanted anything?\"\n\n\"No, mother,\" he replied.\n\n\"Well, then,\" she said, \"the past ought to be to you a security for the\nfuture. Prove yourself the worthy child of God, the best of Fathers; keep\nHis commandments, trust in His Providence, and you will find that He\nnever disappoints those who fear Him. If I bid you adieu for the second\ntime, it is again to obey His voice. If you really love me, you will\nrejoice that I have been chosen to labour for His honour among the\ninfidels.\" She continued for some time thus to speak to him in the\nlanguage of faith and love. As she raised his thoughts to heaven, his\nbetter feelings prevailed, and when she concluded, he knelt at her feet\nin tears and asked her blessing. He arose quite changed, burned the\nexciting letters, and, in the simplicity of his heart, offered to God the\nsacrifice of that holy mother whose loss he understood better now than at\ntheir first separation. That sacrifice was to him the source of immense\ngraces and a fruitful seed of future sanctification.\n\nFive days after leaving Tours, the missioners arrived in Paris, and were\nat first lodged near the house of the professed Jesuits, whence they\nafterwards removed to the Ursuline house of St. Jacques, where, as the\nVenerable Mother remarks, \"they found themselves once more in their\nelement.\" To their great joy, they succeeded in obtaining permission for\none of the religious of this monastery to accompany them to Canada, but\ntheir satisfaction was of short duration, for the Archbishop soon\nrecalled the permission, and could not be induced to renew it.\n\nA still more severe disappointment awaited the Mother of the Incarnation\nbefore her departure. Her son, the object of so much solicitude, the\ncause of so much sorrow, had just gladdened her heart by most\nunexpectedly expressing a desire to become a Jesuit. To leave him in the\nnovitiate of a religious house, cut off from the troubles and temptations\nof the world, and with nothing to divert him from the concerns of his\nsalvation, would have been the very crown and climax of her happiness--\nbut the way of the cross was to be hers. The Father appointed to examine\nthe young candidate thought him disqualified for religion; anxious,\nhowever, to soften the pain of an absolute refusal, he suggested that\nthere might be a better chance at a future period, when the novitiate was\nless crowded. An ever-ruling Providence had destined the youth for\nanother Order, and when God's time came, the disqualifications complained\nof had disappeared; the present trial was, however, none the less painful\nto his mother.\n\nBefore leaving Paris, the missioners had the honour of two interviews\nwith the Queen, Anne of Austria, who then expressed and ever after\nmanifested the liveliest interest in their great work. At Dieppe, the\nport of embarkation, they were lovingly received by their Ursuline\nsisters, who granted them not only hospitality, but the richer gift of\none of their own religious, Mother Cecilia of the Cross. And now the hour\nof departure had come. Their indefatigable benefactor, Monsieur de\nBerni\u00e8res, who had never lost sight of them, continued to the last moment\nto watch over their interests. His zeal would have prompted him to\naccompany them to Canada, but it was thought he could assist them more\neffectually by remaining in France to look after Madame de la Peltrie's\nproperty. After their departure, he returned to Caen, where he resumed\nhis ordinary life of prayer, retirement, and good works. He carefully\nmanaged Madame de la Peltrie's estate of Haranvilliers, collected the\nrents, sent out regular supplies of provisions and other necessaries to\nCanada, and proved himself in every respect the visible guardian angel of\nthe Ursuline Mission. In these charitable offices he persevered for\ntwenty years from the period of which we now write, and then his holy\nlife was crowned by a saintly death. On the 8th of May, 1659, he retired\nto his oratory for evening meditation, as was his wont. His servant\nentering at the appointed hour, found him absorbed in prayer, and left\nhim, as requested, to continue his devotions. Returning after some time,\nhe noticed that his master still knelt in the very same spot and attitude\nas he had left him. He approached and spoke, but there was no answer: the\nhands were clasped, the eyes raised to heaven, the happy soul had flown\nto God!\n\nResuming the interrupted order of our history, we meet the Mother of the\nIncarnation for the last time on the shores of France. Her final adieu\nwas addressed to the Mother Superior of Tours. If this letter breathes a\nsigh, it is rather one of longing for the land of her exile, than of\nregret for the land of her birth. \"It is time for our last farewell,\" she\nwrites, \"for now our Lord summons us to follow wherever it shall please\nHim to lead. To-day the vessel will enter port, and as soon after as the\nwind is favourable, we shall set sail. You can understand how long each\nmoment of delay appears to one who desires to give her life for her God.\nO dear Mother! how powerful is the Divine Master of our hearts. If you\ncould see the effects of His interior operations on our Canadian band,\nyou would bless His goodness a thousand times. Every soul is on fire with\nlove, and, at the same time, annihilated in its own unworthiness and\nabjection.... Madame de la Ville aux Clercs has presented us with some\nrich ornaments for our future church in Canada; she is, then, our first\nbenefactress next to you, most dear Mother, who will always rank before\nall others, since, not to speak of other gifts, you have bestowed\nourselves.\" Such was her leave-taking of her country, which she was never\nto see again; of her home, which henceforth would know her no more for\never. \"The earth with its fulness is the Lord's\" (Ps. xxiii. 1),\ntherefore all parts of it were alike to her, since in all she could find\nher God; in all she could unite her heart to the loving heart of Jesus in\nHis own Sacrement; from all she could see in the distance the heavenly\nhome where her heart and hopes reposed, for there dwelt her Treasure. Yet\na little while, and the golden gates must open to her, for had she not\nour Lord's own promise, that they who renounce all things for His sake\nshall have everlasting life in exchange? Meantime, while waiting for the\nvision of the beauty of her God, she would find as much happiness as she\nlooked for on earth, in labouring and suffering to promote His honour and\nextend His reign.\n\n\n\n\nTHIRD PERIOD, 1639-1672.\n\nLIFE IN CANADA.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nEMBARKATION.--VOYAGE.--ARRIVAL IN QUEBEC.--FIRST DWELLING.\n\n\nIt was on the 4th of May, 1639, that the 'St. Joseph' set sail from\nDieppe. The coincidences were cheering: with St. Joseph for pilot, the\nsweet Star of the Sea for beacon light, and the Mother of St. Augustine\nfor protectress, the good ship might fairly have been expected to weather\nall storms and brave all perils. It was accompanied by some other\nvessels, bound like itself for the Western World. Many a guardian angel\nmust have rejoiced at the departure of that little fleet, bearing God's\nmessengers of salvation to nations seated in darkness and enveloped in\nthe shades of death. On board the 'St. Joseph,' as the safest and most\ncommodious of the ships, was the Ursuline colony, five in number,\nincluding the Foundress with her secular companion, and three Hospital\nSisters from Dieppe, who were going to establish a house of the H\u00f4tel\nDieu at Quebec, under the auspices of the Duchess d'Aiguillon, a niece to\nCardinal Richelieu. Father Vimont, a Jesuit, took passage in this ship;\nFathers Poncet and Chaumonot each in one of the others, thus the better\nto ensure spiritual aid for the whole crew.\n\nIt was with joy in her heart, and thanksgiving on her lips, that the\nVenerable Mother turned her face towards the great goal of her earthly\nhopes, the savage land, where, as she said, she would have the chance of\nrisking her life for love of Him who had bestowed it. The first movement\nof the vessel in that direction seemed to her like a step towards the\nbliss of heaven and, under the sheltering wings of Providence, she felt\nas tranquil on the treacherous waters as a child reposing at peace in its\nmother's arms.\n\nIt was not long before the travellers had an opportunity of realizing how\nsecurely grounded are the hopes which rest in God. Scarcely had they lost\nsight of the French shore, when they came in view of a Spanish fleet,\nevidently bearing towards them. The only means of escape was by sailing\nclose to the English coast. Thanks to Divine Providence, the plan\nsucceeded, but as it involved a deviation from their direct course, their\nprogress was, in consequence, so much retarded, that they did not clear\nthe Channel until the 20th of May.\n\nThe cabin assigned to the Sisters in the 'St. Joseph' was transformed\ninto a miniature monastery, where the conventual exercises were daily\ngone through with admirable fervour and regularity. Meditation, Mass, and\nHoly Communion, sanctified the early hours, and at stated intervals the\nOffice was recited in choir by the Ursulines on one side, and the\nHospital Sisters on the other, Father Vimont presiding. Although the\nvoyage was very long and tempestuous, the Holy Sacrifice was omitted only\non thirteen days of exceptional storm.\n\n\"They that go down to the sea in ships, doing business in the great\nwaters; these have seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the\ndeep\" (Ps. cvi. 23, 24). It was the Feast of the Holy Trinity. The last\nsounds of the morning Office had just arisen from the Sisters' little\nsanctuary, when with the dying echo of the song of praise mingled a cry\nof terror from the watch on-deck. In the dense fog of the preceding\nnight, the ship had drifted alarmingly close to an iceberg, but of this\nperil the crew, of course, remained unconscious while the fog continued.\nAt last the mist yielded to the sun's rays, and then the awful spectacle\nbroke on them in all its horrors. The iceberg was of enormous dimensions.\nIt looked, the Venerable Mother tells us, like a fortified city floating\non the deep; its frowning towers and battlements relieved here and there\nby tall graceful spars, which imagination could easily have transformed\ninto spires and pinnacles of churches and turrets. On it came proudly\nthrough the waters, as if impatient to crush the frail vessel that lay in\nits path, utterly helpless and all but hopeless. Even the elements seemed\nto have conspired for the destruction of that devoted ship; no friendly\nbreeze arose to send it bounding beyond the reach of danger; the winds\nwere hushed, and in the struggle for life, its chances were as nothing.\nDeath seemed so inevitable and so near, that Father Vimont gave a general\nabsolution, and all prepared as best they could to meet the fate from\nwhich there appeared no escape. But where, meantime, was the heavenly\nStar, to whose guidance they had confided themselves so lovingly and so\nimplicitly? Temporarily hidden, for the trial of their faith and trust,\nbut ready to shine out with renewed brightness as soon as both should\nhave been sufficiently proved. Just as the last faint hope was vanishing,\nFather Vimont made a vow in the name of the ship's company to perform a\nspecified act of devotion in honour of the Mother of God, if she would\ndeign to take compassion, on them in this extremity of distress. Swifter\nthan thought, the prayer for mercy reached the throne of Heaven's Queen,\nand with equal rapidity came the answer. As a last chance, the captain\nissued orders, to turn the helm in a particular direction; the steersman,\nmisunderstanding, turned it in the opposite, and, wonderful to say, the\napparent mistake saved the ship. Obeying the new impulse, it was borne to\none side of the dreaded iceberg, and, when once out of its direct path,\nthe imminence of the danger was over. As it floated past the enormous,\nmoving mountain, the rescued crew could vividly realize the peril which\nthey had escaped, and estimate as it deserved the extent of their debt of\ngratitude to the Heavenly Mother who had befriended them so effectually\nin the hour of their extreme need.\n\nAfter a tedious and in many ways trying voyage of three months, the 'St.\nJoseph' touched at Tadoussac, where to their great joy, the Sisters met\nseveral Indians. Never having seen white people before, the poor savages\nwere lost in astonishment, but how did their wonder redouble when they\nlearned that these ladies were \"great captains' daughters,\" as they would\nthemselves have expressed it, who had quitted, home, country, and all the\ncomforts of civilized life, for no other purpose than to come and teach\nthem and their children how to escape eternal fire, and ensure\neverlasting happiness! They could not comprehend the strange tidings, and\nto discover if possible the real object of the new-comers, they followed\nalong the shore as the ship resumed its way to Quebec, keeping a close\nand watchful eye on its movements.\n\nThe missioners spent their first night in Canada at the Isle of Orleans,\nwhich they reached on the evening of the 31st of July. As they landed,\nthe sun had just set in all the splendour which his setting is wont to\nwear in Canada. The sky was literally glowing with gorgeous colours of\nevery hue, intermingled with ethereal gold, as if in descending to his\nrest, the mighty monarch had left a fold of his mantle of glory floating\non the western heavens, to symbolize that brighter mantle of celestial\nlight which soon would envelop the benighted race whom those devoted\nmissioners had come so far to seek and to help to save. The island was\nuninhabited, so three wigwams were constructed in Indian fashion, one for\nthe Nuns, one for the Jesuits and a third for the sailors. Unable to\ncontain their holy joy, the Sisters entoned a canticle of thanksgiving,\nand for the first time since their creation, those venerable woods re-\nechoed with songs of praise to the one true God and His adorable\nIncarnate Son.\n\nOn the following day, August the 1st, 1639, the missioners reached\nQuebec. Their first act on landing was to kneel and reverently press\ntheir lips to the soil of the adopted country which was to be to them\nthenceforth in place of home and fatherland. They were received with the\ngreatest enthusiasm. The moment they stepped on shore, a salute was fired\nfrom Fort St. Louis. They were met at the landing-place by the whole\npopulation headed by the Governor-General, Monsieur de Montmagny, and the\nJesuit Fathers of the colony, and after mutual salutations, were escorted\nto the church, where the holy Sacrifice was offered with all the\nsolemnity that circumstances permitted, the ceremony concluding with the\nTe Deum. After having been hospitably entertained by the Governor, the\nSisters of the two communities proceeded to their destined dwellings. As\na mark of the general joy, the day was inscribed in the red letter\ncalendar and work totally suspended.\n\nThe next day, the Jesuits conducted the Sisters to the mission at\nSillery, already noticed in the introductory chapter as formed on the\nmodel of the Reductions of Paraguay. It would need a skilful artist to\npaint that beautiful scene; on the one hand, the heavenly joy of the\nMother of the Incarnation and her companions, at sight of the Indian\nchildren, for whose spiritual and temporal welfare their hearts had so\nlong yearned with more than mother's love; on the other, the amazement of\nthe little ones at finding themselves the objects of so much unwonted\nsolicitude. Utterly bewildered, they at first received the Sisters'\ncaresses with the characteristic caution and reserve of their nation, but\nthe language of kindness is easily understood, and very soon the children\nhad rightly interpreted their visitors' affectionate advances. Attracted\nby their gentleness, their affability, their unmistakable\ndisinterestedness, they followed them step by step through the hamlet,\ngaining confidence every moment. With the whole savage population for\nescort, the Sisters proceeded to the little church, which was the chief\nornament, as well as the great treasure of the village, and there the\nIndians all joined in a hymn which the Jesuit Fathers had composed for\nthem in their own language. The strain was simple, the temple humble, the\ncongregation illiterate and poorly clad, yet who shall say that\ncolonnaded aisle or fretted dome of proud cathedral ever resounded with\nmusic sweeter in the ear of heaven, than was that unpretending hymn of\nthe despised Indians! Who would not envy the emotions of the Venerable\nMother and her fervent Sisters, as they knelt in the lowly church among\nthe poor savages in the hamlet of Sillery! This visit over, the Ursulines\nand Hospitaliers separated, each community repairing to its appointed\nhome. The Ursulines were located in the Lower Town, at the foot of the\nmountain road, not far from the spot occupied later by the Church of Our\nLady of Victories. The Hospital Sisters were lodged near Fort St. Louis.\n\nThe abode assigned to the Ursulines until a monastery could be built for\nthem, contained only two apartments, the larger of which, sixteen feet\nsquare, served at once as choir, parlour, refectory and common dormitory;\nthe second was reserved for the school-room. A little shed near the house\nwas fitted up as a chapel, and although so very poor as forcibly to\nrecall the stable of Bethlehem, it was precious to them beyond words to\ntell, for there the adorable Sacrifice was henceforth daily offered, and\nthere too at all times dwelt quite close to them in the Sacrament of His\nlove, the Divine Spouse for whose sake they had renounced themselves and\nall things here below. A wooden palisade round the dwelling supplied the\nplace of cloister walls. In this most miserable abode they spent three\nyears, amidst unimaginable privations and inconveniences, exposed to\nextreme cold in winter, and overpowering heat in summer; breathing the\nair vitiated by a crowd of Indians, whose uncleanly habits are\nproverbial, and whose very clothes exhaled a sickening odour. When the\nchildren presented themselves at the school for the first time, their\nattire was scanty, and of the coarsest materials. They wore a mass of\ntangled hair, guiltless since first it began to grow, of all acquaintance\nwith scissors, brush or comb, and they were covered all over with a\ngreasy substance, which to judge from the care employed in laying it on,\nmust have been deemed an indispensable finishing touch to the juvenile\nIndian's toilet. To bring that untidy hair into order, and to remove that\npersonal adornment, unsightly in appearance, as unattractive in aroma,\nbecame a question of privilege. The Foundress claimed it as her right,\nbecause as she said, she was fit for nothing else, but others thought\nthemselves entitled to the honour too, so finally a compromise was agreed\non, and all had their turn. The children's uncivilized ways must no doubt\nhave at first occasioned many a mortification to the Sisters; for\ninstance, the Mother of the Incarnation tells us that they daily found\nsome disgusting mixture in their food, a bunch of hair, a handful of\ncinders, or even an old shoe being no uncommon addition to the ordinary\ningredients, yet so completely did grace triumph over nature in these\nChristian heroines, that unsavoury as was the seasoning of their soup,\nand countless as were the discomforts of their position, they enjoyed\nindescribable happiness in their poverty, and preferred their humble\nlodging with its uncouth inmates, to the grandest mansion without them.\nTheir dwelling, they called the \"Louvre\", and in their poor pupils, the\neye of faith enabled them to discern ornaments more costly, more precious\nand more prized than all the splendour which art can devise and wealth\npurchase for the embellishment of regal palaces, for what is the value of\na palace, compared with that of a soul?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nOPENING OF SCHOOLS.--MODIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTIONS.--COMMENCEMENT OF\nTHE NEW MONASTERY.\n\n\nThe Mother of the Incarnation at once recognised in her adopted country,\nthat which had been represented to her in her prophetic vision: the lofty\nmountains, the vast forests, the boundless plains, the general aspect and\nthe minute details, all were the same, except that the mist was less\nheavy. She was in the land to which God Himself had called her, as in the\nolden days He had called the patriarch to the land of promise, and in her\nsacrifice, as in that of Abraham, a great result was involved; to her\nobedience, as to his, a magnificent reward was attached. Not only was she\nto bring a blessing to Canada in her own person, elevating it by her\nlessons and embalming it with her virtues; she was moreover to found a\ncommunity of Ursulines, who inheriting her spirit, would perpetuate her\nlabours and immortalize her zeal. She was to erect an edifice to the\nLord, in which His name should be taught and His praises sung, not for\nthe years of her own life only, but through ages to come, and by\ngenerations yet unborn. She was to inaugurate the work of education, for\nwhich her natural capabilities so eminently fitted her, and which under\nGod was to be the efficient instrument in her own hands for the present\nimprovement of the colony; in those of her future spiritual children for\nthe development of the work so happily begun. That work was very great,\nbut it must be owned too that its instrument was very perfect.\n\nWithout delay the little community entered on its special function, the\ninstruction of youth, opening schools on a limited scale both for Indians\nand French. Before they could begin to teach the former, it was of course\nnecessary to learn their languages. In order the more readily to\naccomplish the difficult task, they agreed to divide the study, the\nMothers of the Incarnation and Cecilia of the Cross applying themselves\nto the Algonquin, the Mother St. Joseph to the Huron, and under the\ndirection of Father le Jeune, so rapid was their progress, that in two\nmonths they were judged capable of catechising their young charge. Later\nin life, the Venerable Mother learned the Huron.\n\nThe charity and fortitude of the Mothers was very soon put to a severe\ntest. Towards the end of August, the small-pox broke out among the\nsavages, with whom it is usually fatal. After spreading with frightful\nrapidity through the hamlet of Sillery, it showed itself at the Ursuline\nConvent in Quebec, which was soon transformed into an hospital. Some of\nthe children contracted the disease three different times, and four died\nof it. Through the protection of heaven, their devoted nurses escaped\nunder circumstances which rendered their preservation almost miraculous.\nNight and day they watched their beloved patients, inhaling only the\nplague-tainted air of the small, overcrowded room, and having continually\nto step across the infected beds, which for want of space were laid\nclosely together along the floor. During the six months which the malady\nlasted, these heroines of charity seemed to vie with each other in the\nperformance of the most bumbling and revolting offices, the Foundress\nsetting the example of self-abnegation and devotedness. Their sole\napprehension all through, was lest the panic-stricken savages might\nremove their children from the monastery, and thus deprive them of the\nspiritual blessings in store, an idea being prevalent among the\nunconverted Indians, that the small-pox was a consequence of receiving\nbaptism, and of associating with the French. Fortunately the fear proved\ngroundless, for the little ones were afterwards confided in larger\nnumbers than ever, to the care of their tender, self-sacrificing Ursuline\nmothers. When at last the contagion disappeared, the wardrobe of the\ncharitable Sisters was found not to have been the least of the sufferers\nin the cause, every available article of clothing having been converted\ninto bandages for the sores of the poor patients.\n\nThe accounts from Canada might naturally have been expected rather to\ncheck than to encourage vocations for the Ursuline mission, but on the\ncontrary, each letter from the Mother of the Incarnation to her Sisters\nof Paris and Tours, served only to stimulate a holy emulation to share in\nher sacrifices. \"To enter,\" she says, \"into the true spirit of a\nmissioner to Canada, the soul must die to all things created; on this\npoint, the Almighty Master is inexorable. Interior death is no doubt the\nsure road to life in God, but who can describe what it costs nature thus\nto die!\" Notwithstanding the Venerable Mother's forewarnings, the Mother\nSuperior of the Paris convent prevailed on the Archbishop to allow two of\nthe Sisters to follow their call to Canada. The privileged two were the\nMother St. Athanasius and St. Clare, who in the world had borne the names\nof Margaret de Fl\u00e9celles and Anne le Bugle. On the 7th of July, 1640,\nthey landed at Quebec to the great joy of their expectant Sisters. This\naddition to the original number necessitated the immediate building of a\nmonastery, which want of means had hitherto retarded.\n\nIt has been already noticed in our rapid sketch of the Ursuline Order,\nthat, while its spirit and end are everywhere uniform, the great family\nhaving but one heart and one soul in God, the particular rules and\npractices of the different Congregations vary on some points. As these\nseparate Congregations are never intermingled, no confusion or\ninconvenience can possibly arise from difference of usages, but in the\ninstance of the Quebec Ursulines, the case was altered. The Mothers of\nthe Incarnation and St. Joseph were of the Congregation of Bordeaux,\nwhich does not make the vow of the instruction of youth; the rest of the\nSisters belonged to that of Paris, which does. Again, there were some\npoints of difference in the costume of the two Congregations. As they\nwere henceforth to form but one community, it was evident to all that\ndiversity in any particular, would, for many reasons, be inadmissible.\nBut, if uniformity of life was indispensable, much tact and prudence were\nneeded in the adoption of the means best calculated to establish it.\nHappily, the Mother of the Incarnation excelled in these great gifts,\nand, best of all, she possessed in an eminent degree that heavenly wisdom\nderived from her habitual communication with the Divine Source of light.\nShe held many consultations with her Sisters, evincing in all her\nsuggestions the practical good sense, mature experience, and gentle\nmoderation so conspicuous in her. As the little assembly had no object at\nheart but the glory of God, their deliberations were quickly and happily\nclosed. In the decisions adopted, the natural feelings of both parties\nseem to have been respectfully and tenderly considered. It was arranged\nfirst, that the vow of instruction should be taken by all, but under the\ncondition that it should bind the Sisters of the Congregation of Bordeaux\nonly during their stay in Canada; secondly, that the costume of the\nCongregation of Bordeaux should be substituted for that of Paris. Some\nother necessary modifications of the rules were agreed on. with equal\nunanimity. The decision was referred for approval to the Communities of\nParis and Tours, to whom it gave the most unqualified satisfaction. The\nparticular rules then accepted were observed until 1647, when, at the,\nrequest of the Community, Father Lalemant drew up others equally in\naccordance with the engagements of the Sisters, but better adapted to\ntheir new country. These continued in force until 1682, when, at the\nrecommendation of Bishop Laval, the Ursulines of Quebec were affiliated\nto those of the Congregation of Paris.\n\nUniformity of observance being thus established, the fervent Sisters\npursued their work with redoubled zeal, exhibiting in their daily\npractice the virtues of the ancient solitaries; sustained in the hourly\ntrials of their mortified lives by that heavenly love which sweetens\nsuffering, and encouraged in their difficulties by the example of a\nSuperior who never asserted her authority except to claim for herself the\nlargest share of the common hardships, seeming to think that the first\nplace in rank, entitled her also to the place nearest her crucified Lord.\nIt was a common saying of these generous lovers of the cross; that if\nthey had anything to complain of in Canada, it was that they had not\nenough to suffer. \"You say,\" wrote the Mother of the Incarnation, some\nyears later, \"that my actual experiences of Canada are something very\ndifferent from my anticipations. You are right in the remark, but not in\nthe sense which you attach to it. My life of labour and privation is so\nfull of consolation, that I now thoroughly realize how sweet is the yoke\nand how light the burden of the Lord. The happiness which I experience\nwhen I teach a poor savage to know God, is a solace in pain and a\nrefreshment in weariness.\" Canada, with all its sharp, thorns, she called\nher paradise, and the company of her uncouth little Indian pupils, she\nprized a thousand times beyond that of the greatest and highest of\nearthly queens.\n\nIn the spring of 1641 the foundation stone of the monastery was laid by\nMadame de la Peltrie in the present Upper Town of Quebec, and there, at\nthe close of nearly two centuries and a half, the Ursuline Convent still\nstands. At the period we speak of, the ground was not even cleared; the\nwoodman's axe was the first implement needed in the construction of the\nnew monastery; tradesmen were few, wages high, and the poverty of the\ncountry extreme. But at the time of the Venerable Mother's prophetic\nvision, more than once referred to, our Lord had told her to go to\nCanada, and there build a house for Jesus and Mary. He who had given the\ncommand would, she knew, supply the means for its execution, so with\nboundless trust in His providence, she confidently undertook her task,\nalthough to human prudence it might have seemed hopeless.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nWORK AT THE \"LOUVRE.\"--PIETY, ZEAL, AND PROGRESS OF THE PUPILS.--LITTLE\nTRUANTS.--BANQUETS.\n\n\nMeantime, the work of zeal and love went on actively at the \"Louvre.\"\nBesides the \"seminarists,\" or resident pupils, who were always as\nnumerous as space admitted, and the day scholars, who included all\nchildren old enough to be taught, adults of both sexes received daily\ninstruction--the women in the school-room, the men at the parlour\ngrating--all manifesting equal eagerness to hear the word of God; all\nafterwards showing in their altered lives the miraculously transforming\npower of Divine grace. So great was the desire of the seminarists to\nlearn, that they would ask their mistresses, to punish them if they\nfailed in diligence; and when any one bad committed a fault, she, of her\nown accord, begged pardon on her knees. The piety of these poor children\nof the wilds was truly admirable, and especially so was the ardour with\nwhich they received the doctrine of the Heal Presence of Jesus in His\nAdorable Sacrament. \"I never saw livelier joy,\" wrote the Mother St.\nJoseph, \"than in three of our pupils, each aged twelve, when told that\nthey were to be admitted to the Holy Table at Easter. They listened, as\nif entranced, to the instructions on the Most Blessed Eucharist, and\nseemed to possess a comprehension of the Mystery of Love quite beyond\ntheir years. They begged to be allowed to fast on the eve of their first\nCommunion, a practice which they afterwards observed every time they\ncommunicated. One day, while a Jesuit Father was speaking to them of\ntheir approaching happiness, a little child of six ventured to present\nher baby pleadings to be allowed to join them. The Father told her she\nwas too young. \"Oh, Father!\" she said, \"do not send me away because I am\ntoo young; you will see that I shall soon be as old and as tall as my\ncompanions.\" She was allowed to assist at the instructions, which she\nunderstood and retained so as to surprise all who questioned her;\nnevertheless, she had to resign herself to wait yet longer for the much-\ndesired day. Her mother, coming soon after to see her, the child\nundertook to instruct her in the holy truths of faith by the help of\npictures. Having taught her to pray, she proceeded to initiate her in the\nmysteries of a lesson in reading, pointing out the letters in a book. To\nplease her dear child, the good Mother repeated the sounds one by one as\nif she had been saying a lesson. \"When our child returns to us,\" she said\nto the Mothers, \"she will prepare her father and me for Baptism, which we\nare very desirous to receive.\" \"The sentiments of our pupils on the Holy\nCommunion,\" wrote Madame de la Peltrie, \"are most edifying. When asked\nwhy they desire so much to receive it, they tell us that it is because\nJesus Himself will enter their souls, to purify and adorn them. The\ncountenance of my god-daughter, Mary, sometimes actually beams with joy,\nand, if questioned as to its cause, she is sure to answer, \"I am soon to\nmake my first Communion.\" The Indian pupils were sometimes heard\ndiscussing what each, considered the greatest favour she had received\nfrom God. The answer from one would be, \"That He has made me a\nChristian;\" from another, \"That He became man to rescue me from hell.\" On\none of these occasions, a little voice was heard to say, \"The greatest\nfavour that Jesus does us, is to give Himself for our food in the Holy\nEucharist.\" The speaker, though only nine years of age, had made her\nfirst Communion a year and a half before. The Mother of the Incarnation,\nwho mentions the circumstance, adds the reflection, \"Are not such\nsentiments admirable in children born in the very bosom of barbarism and\ninfidelity?\" If a pupil saw a companion commit a fault, she checked her\nby the simple words, \"Take care, or your guardian angel will go away.\"\n\nIn proportion as the souls of these poor children opened to the softening\ninfluence of religion, so did the hitherto latent qualities of their\nbetter nature manifest themselves more clearly. In the genial atmosphere\nof charity, their hearts expanded as flowers in sunshine, developing a\ndepth, a constancy, and a delicacy of feeling which none would have\nsuspected to underlie manners so cold, and characters apparently so\napathetic. They learned fully to appreciate, and sought only how best\nthey might return the tenderness of their devoted Mothers, and, as\naffection is a ready teacher, they were not slow to discover that the\nbest proof of their gratitude would be found in strict compliance with\nthe wishes of their instructresses; hence the docility to directions, the\nsubmission to reproof, the respect for school regulations, exemplified in\nthe daily lives of the seminarists, and all the more to be admired that\nsuch practices were foreign to their habits and repugnant to their\nnature. Madame de la Peltrie writes that they showed her the deference\nand love of fond children, as well as a degree of refinement which, she\nsays, she would never have expected from savages. In her temporary charge\nof them during the nuns' annual retreat, she found no difficulty in\nenforcing silence; it was enough for them to know that their dear Mothers\nwere spending the week with God; the mere fear of even slightly\ndisturbing them, proved a sufficient restraint. If the Foundress\noccasionally happened to be absent for a short time on some errand of\nmercy, they were inconsolable until her return, which they greeted with\njoyous acclamations. Once they were told that the Mother of the\nIncarnation was ill, and would die if they made a noise. At the sound of\nthe word _die_, they burst into tears, and, with a consideration\nwhich would have done honour to more polished natures, they kept\nperfectly still, afraid, as it seemed, to move, or almost to breathe,\nlest dreaded death should come and claim their first, best earthly\nfriend. As early as 1641, the Venerable Mother described the converts in\ngeneral as transformed beings--barbarians no longer, but fervent\nChristians, animated, by a truly heavenly spirit. She, too, remarks, that\nin refinement of feeling, they might have competed with many a favoured\nchild of civilization, and so charmed was she with the beautiful\nsimplicity of their piety, that she declares she would rather have\nlistened to their unstudied eloquence, than to the finished oratory of\nthe first speaker in Europe.\n\nA remarkable characteristic of the converts, both adult and young, was\ntheir ardour for the propagation of the faith among their countrymen; not\nonly, then, had the Mothers the consolation of seeing the fruit of their\nlabours among their immediate pupils, but that also of knowing that\nthrough the zeal of these, the heavenly word would be borne far and wide\nover the pagan land. So impressed were the Jesuit Fathers with the value\nof this kind of apostolate, that they were wont to say, \"One converted\nIndian, who leads a truly Christian life, can do more good among the\ninfidels than three missioners.\" This spirit of zeal early manifested\nitself among the seminarists at the convent. It was admirable to hear the\nmore grown teaching the less advanced the Christian doctrine, repeating\nthe questions which had been asked to themselves at catechism, and\nexciting the interest of the new-comers by explaining the subject of a\npious picture, or relating an attractive history. Even some of the very\nyoung ones had their own little mission of charity. One interesting child\nin particular, was to be seen surrounded by a class of tiny ones younger\nthan herself, whom she assiduously catechised, teaching them especially\nhow to prepare for confession, and exhorting them above all things never\nto conceal a sin. To the zeal of a Huron girl named Teresa, the first\nUrsuline pupil of that nation, many of her countrymen were indebted for\ntheir conversion. Though only about thirteen years of age, she spoke to\nthem of God with an earnestness and a force that they could not resist.\nOne of the converts, wishing to test her, feigned to have given up the\nidea of receiving baptism nearly on the eve of the day fixed for its\nadministration. Inexpressibly grieved, she reproached him for his\ninconstancy in the strongest terms, but, finding that her eloquence\nseemed to produce no impression, she hastened, all in tears, to the\nMother of the Incarnation, beseeching her to use her influence with the\nsupposed apostate. \"Oh!\" she exclaimed in the vehemence of her\nindignation, \"if I could only have broken the grating which divided us, I\nwould have beaten him well!\" The astonished Mother soon learned the\ntruth, but it was difficult to undeceive the sorely-afflicted Teresa.\n\nNot seeing the Mothers during the eight days of their annual retreat, the\nsavages concluded that they concealed themselves to pray. On one of these\noccasions Teresa determined to imitate them, so she hid behind the\npalisade, and spent the day in prayer. When discovered at last by one of\nher companions, and asked what she was doing, she replied, \"I hide like\nthe Mothers to pray for you, for myself, for the French, and for the\nIndians.\" \"She is so constant in her faith, so well instructed, so\nfervent,\" said one of her own race, \"that it would seem as if she had not\nbeen born a Huron. When she comes home she will be looked up to by the\nwhole tribe. Her teacher must surely be one of the wisest persons in all\nFrance.\" On her way back to her own country, she was seized by the\nIroquois, together with Father Jogues and some of her relatives, and in\nher captivity not only retained her faith, but professed it with the\nheroism of a martyr. Deeply concerned at her fate, the Ursulines\ninterested all the authorities in her behalf, and, thanks to the\nexertions of her good Mothers, her deliverance was stipulated for in the\narrangement of the articles of peace at the general meeting in 1645.\n\nBesides religious and moral training, the seminarists received a simple\nelementary education, comprising chiefly reading, writing, and\nneedlework. Before long, two of the more grown were able to write their\nown language so well as to venture on letters to an absent Jesuit Father.\nGreat was the delight of their parents when shown the mysterious\nproductions. They took them reverently into their hands, turned them\ncautiously in every direction, and begged to hear the contents again and\nagain, equally charmed and surprised to find that the paper could speak,\nand in their own language too. It was always a matter of wonder to them\nto hear that a few characters traced on paper could convey thought to the\nremotest distance.\n\nAnother object of intense amazement was the first clock brought by the\nmissioners to the country of the Hurons. They called it 'The Captain of\nthe Day,' and many were the inquiries each time they came, how often he\nhad spoken since their last visit. Lest they should lose the benefit of\nany of his remarks, they sometimes waited hour after hour to hear him\nspeak again. They were puzzled about his food, but never at a loss to\ninterpret the stroke which announced the hour of the good Fathers' frugal\nmeal, in which they fully calculated on sharing.\n\nThe Indians are fond of music, so to attract the adults, the Mothers of\nIncarnation and St. Joseph taught their little pupils to sing hymns, and\nmany a grave chief listened with delight to the simple lay, returning the\ncompliment by a performance in Indian measure. A record has been\npreserved of a certain old-fashioned stringed instrument in the convent\nwhich greatly charmed the audience. Among the early pupils was a child of\ntwelve, whose disposition was so gentle that she received the name of\nAgnes, and whose ear was naturally so attuned to all sweet sounds, that\nshe was considered capable of being taught to accompany her own warble on\nthe said wonderful instrument. When her parents removed her in due time\nfrom school, still she sang God's praises among the echoes of the woods--\nnot only sang herself, but taught to others the hymns she had learned in\nher Ursuline home--gathering a little choir about her in the heart of the\nsilent wilderness, and making it her holy joy thus to promote piety among\nher companions. The predestined child desired to consecrate herself to\nGod in religion, but her Heavenly Father accepted the wish, and called\nher to Himself at the age of fifteen.\n\nBut if the labours of the first Mothers were very richly repaid by the\npupils in general, it must be owned that their forbearance was often\nseverely tried by some among them, known as the vagrants of the woods.\nThe wild, free life of the forest had charms for these, for which all the\ncomforts of civilization could not compensate. Like caged birds, they\nwould flutter against the bars, and, at the first opportunity, break\nthrough them, to fly back to their cabins and independence. Once a young\nAlgonquin was thus attacked by home-sickness; the Mothers did their best\nto comfort and encourage her, but all in vain. The melancholy mood grew\ndeeper and darker--so dark at last, that, unable to bear the restraint\nany longer, the truant jumped through the window, leaped the cloister\npalisade, and fled in the direction of the woods. In a few minutes she\nlooked back, expecting to see a persuer, but, finding that her flight had\ncaused no concern, she began already to repent of it. Her reception at\nhome was rather cool, and when, a few days after, she proposed to her\nmother to return to the monastery, the readily accorded permission was\naccompanied by a significant hint not to leave again without being sent.\nWith a light heart, she presented herself at the convent door; but, alas!\nit would not open. Her place, the portress told her, had been given to\nanother pupil. Vain were her entreaties, her tears and her sobs, for the\nMother of the Incarnation had decided on strict measures with the little\nwanderers, who, by their restlessness, disturbed the peace and order of\nthe house. But nothing like perseverance! Poor Catherine watched for the\narrival of the day pupils, and so effectually did she excite their\ncompassion by her tale of woe, that they agreed to let her fall into the\nranks. When the door unclosed for their admission, she rushed to the feet\nof the Mother of the Incarnation, confessed her fault, and asked pardon.\nTouched by her penitence and promises the good Mother relented; Catherine\nwas restored to favour, and never again did she deserve a reproof or even\na reproach.\n\nAnother child, aged eight, stole away from the monastery, and spent the\nwinter with her parents at some distance from Quebec. When they returned\nto the town in spring, she applied for re-admission, but the request was\nrefused. She persisted, but so did the Mothers too. At last she bethought\nherself that by joining the procession on the festival of Corpus Christi,\nshe would be entitled to accompany her parents to the feast at the\nconvent, which was always understood to follow the devotions, and she\ncalculated that once there, it would be easy to keep her ground.\nAccordingly, she took her place among the guests, but when the time came\nfor retiring, instead of joining them, she threw herself on her knees at\nthe door and repeated her petition. Another refusal--but, determined to\nsucceed, she crouched outside the door. Night came, and with it came\nrain, and still the repentant culprit kept her post, so the kind-hearted\nMothers were constrained to admit her, and she eventually became an\nexample of virtue to the school.\n\nThe banquets at the \"Louvre,\" to which we have alluded, were conducted\nafter a very original fashion; the bill of fare was restricted to one\ndish, and this, as the receipt shows, could be prepared with little\nexpenditure of culinary skill, yet it fully satisfied the simple guests.\nIt was composed of bread, maize or pea-flour, and black plums, all boiled\ntogether; and, as the savages relish unctuous food, a few melted tallow\ncandles and some rich pork were added for seasoning. On this dainty dish,\nas many as sixty or eighty Indians were occasionally regaled at a time,\nin what they considered splendid style. The Indians have no fixed hours\nfor meals. Hunger is the signal for beginning; the disappearance of the\nprovisions that for concluding. The latter point is one of strict\netiquette.\n\nIt would seem as if even the ingenuity of charity had left nothing undone\nfor the gratification of the poor savages, but it was not so. One day\nthat Father Lalemant visited the school-room, the children gathered round\nhim with an air of mystery and importance, as if burdened with some\nweighty secret. \"Look at our clothes, Father,\" they said; \"you can see\nthat they are faded and worn, and, as our Mothers do not give us new\nones, we cannot look as smart as the French girls, which makes us\nsorrowful.\" Much amused, the Father reported the complaint of the little\nones to the Venerable Mother. Without showing the least surprise at it,\nor reminding the children of all her generosity, she at once provided\neach with a new red dress, adding new shoes and stockings, and assisting\nto prepare the finery with her own hands, lest, as she said, any\nimpression of sadness might connect itself with the memory of their first\ninstruction in the faith, and the Divine seed be thus hindered from\nstriking deep root and producing rich fruit.\n\nMadame de la Peltrie had provided for the maintenance of six seminarists,\nbut this number had gradually swelled to eighteen, all of whom were not\nonly supported but likewise clothed from the common fund. The adult\nIndians who crowded to the monastery for instruction, also expected and\ninvariably received hospitality, which was, moreover, occasionally\nextended to the families of the pupils. The pecuniary resources of the\nconvent were wholly inadequate to meet so many claims on its charity, and\nat the same time, defray its own moderate expenditure. But the self-\ndenying Mothers struggled bravely through their poverty, and by the\ngenerous aid of benefactors in France, they managed not only to continue\ntheir alms to the adults and to retain their seminarists, but by degrees\nconsiderably to increase the number of these last.\n\nAmong the first pupils were some of very tender age, little ones of six\nand less. One of these was brought to the Mother of the Incarnation, all\ncovered with small-pox. Young as she was, she had attended her parents\nthrough the terrible malady, and after the death of both, had contracted\nit herself. She recovered, and proved her gratitude to her devoted friend\nby showing herself so perfect a model of obedience, that she would even\nanticipate orders, running to put herself in the way if she thought there\nwas a chance of her being employed. Another would begin her baby prayers\nof her own accord the moment she awoke, say her rosary during Mass, and\nrecreate herself by singing little hymns. A third, of scarcely four,\nparalysed in all her limbs, gave ample exercise to the patience of the\nkind mothers. Once her mistress had to rise four times in one night to\nsoothe the poor little sufferer. Next day, a companion remarked,\n\"Charity,\" for so the child was called, \"Charity, you gave a great deal\nof trouble to your mistress last night.\" \"I know I did,\" coolly replied\nCharity, \"but my dear mistress is very good, and what she did for me was\njust what she would have done for the Child Jesus, if He had been in my\nplace.\" Ah, wise little one! you have found out the secret--\"Whatever you\ndid. to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me \"(St. Matt. xxv.\n40). In the eye of faith, the untutored Indian was as exalted, because as\nmuch the representative of God, as the lady of noble birth or even royal\nlineage; so, each object of loving care in that house of charity might\nequally have said of every act of every Sister, \"What she did for me, is\nwhat she would have done for the Child Jesus in my place.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nNEW TRIALS.--MADAMS BE LA PELTRIE IN MONTREAL.--ACTIVE LIFE OF THE MOTHER\nOF THE INCARNATION.--FIRST ELECTIONS.--REMOVAL TO THE NEW MONASTERY.--\nRETURN OF MADAME DE LA PELTRIE.\n\n\nWhile the Mother of the Incarnation was thus spending her days in the\npractice of the heroic charity and austere penance which possessed equal\nattractions for her, pursuing the work of zeal which of all others she\nloved best, and living in the heart of what was, perhaps the most fervent\nportion of God's Church in those days, it would appear to us as if,\nthough still on earth, she had partially anticipated heaven; but heaven,\neven on earth was not to be yet, for the measure of her merits, and,\ntherefore, of her sufferings, was not filled up. As we have already more\nthan once remarked, the Almighty had called her to a sublime degree of\npurity of soul; to the end of life, therefore, He would furnish her with\nopportunities of advancing in the virtue which here below can never\nattain its last perfection, some alloy of the love of self mingling to\nthe end with the love of God, even in the holiest. As the virtue is one\nwhich thrives best under the cross, He would re-conduct her to her well-\nknown place on Calvary, and subject her once more to the salutary action\nof interior tribulation. She felt again as if suddenly deprived of all\nthe Divine gifts and favours, and reduced to the very extreme of\nspiritual indigence. Her natural talents and capabilities seemed\nparalysed; desolation overwhelmed her, temptations to anger, antipathy\nand even despair pressed on her. The last, especially, became so\nimportunate, that she seemed to herself sometimes on the very brink of\nthe dread abyss, and might have echoed the words of the Psalmist, \"The\nsorrows of death have compassed me, and the perils of hell have found me\"\n(Ps. cxiv. 3). Not only had the Almighty apparently withdrawn His gifts,\nbut, hardest of all to bear, He had concealed Himself. Now and again a\nray of heavenly consolation beamed on her afflicted soul, but, like the\nlightning's flash on the angry sky, it illumined for a moment, only to be\nfollowed by deeper darkness. To her internal agonies were added external\ntrials of various kinds, including most painful contradictions and\nhumiliations. Support from creatures there was none, and even the\nsympathy of friendship was denied her. She seemed to have lost confidence\nin her holiest advisers, while, by the permission of God, she herself\nbecame to others a subject of temptations to aversion. Oppressed with the\nsense of her utter unworthiness, and brought down to the lowest depth of\ninterior abjection, she dared scarcely look at or address her Sisters.\nShe was alone in her agony, like the Divine Sufferer in the garden, and,\nin the spirit of utter annihilation of self, and entire abandonment to\nGod, her desolate heart re-echoed the sublime cry of His agony, \"Father,\nnot my will but Thine be done.\"\n\nIt is her own teaching, that the nearer the soul approaches to God, the\nmore distinctly also she discerns her sinfulness and misery; the more\nclearly she sees the many hitherto unsuspected windings and lurking-\nplaces of corrupt nature; the better, consequently, she understands how\nnumerous still are the impediments which must be removed before she can\nfully and freely expand her wings and take her flight to her Lord. Of\nthis truth she had now renewed personal experience. In the high degree of\nDivine union to which she had attained, she saw her imperfections in a\nclearer light than ever, and the view filled her with confusion and\ncompunction. That by the help of Divine grace, she had through life been\npreserved from every sin of deliberation, was the opinion of competent\njudges, well acquainted with her soul's history. The imperfections which\nshe so bitterly deplored were, then, only an occasional infidelity to the\ngrace which had called her from early years to perfect detachment from\ncreatures and from self, or, at most, they were but the faults of\nfrailty, ignorance, surprise and inadvertence, from which even the saints\nare not exempt in this life; but, viewed as they now were in their closer\ncontrast with the sanctity of God, they assumed a more serious aspect\nthan ever before. Her habitual horror of the very slightest faults was\nintensified; her ordinary almost incredible care to avoid them,\nincreased. Inflamed with a holy zeal for the vindication of the rights of\nDivine justice, as  well with an insatiable ardour for the triumph of\nGod's pure love in her soul, she humbly bowed beneath the hand that\ncrucified her, confessing herself deserving of all chastisement, and,\npraying that the last remnant of the love of self might be exterminated\nfrom her heart at any cost of suffering and humiliation. 'O merciful\nLord!' she cried, send me a thousand torments, and as many deaths as I\nrespirations, rather than permit that I should offend Thee.' Looking on\nher slow interior martyrdom as the instrument in God's hand for the\npurification of her soul, she would not have exchanged its pangs for\nimaginable joys united. Greatly as her trials on this occasion must have\npromoted her personal sanctification, a second important result was\ninvolved in them. In the generosity of her charity, she had offered\nherself to suffer for the sins of two persons whose conversion she  most\nardently desired; while, therefore, the Almighty 'proved her as gold in\nthe furnace, that she might found worthy of Himself' He at the same time\n'received her as a victim of a holocaust', that through her sufferings\nother souls might be made worthy of Him too (Wisdom iii. 5,6). But if He\naccepted the oblation, and rewarded the sacrifice, it was not until the\nvictim had been entirely immolated.\n\nAs if to crown the tribulations of the Venerable Mother, it was while her\ninterior trials were at their height, that Madame de la Peltrie, the main\npillar of the Ursuline foundation, resolved to remove to Montreal, where\na new settlement was about to be established as a check to the incursions\nof the Iroquois. Monsieur de Maisonneuve, the destined founder, was\naccompanied by a troop of colonists, brave and chivalrous as himself;\nalso by Mademoiselle Mance, whose particular mission was to open a\nconvent of Hospital Sisters at Ville Marie, as the projected city was to\nbe called. The season being too far advanced for the commencement of\noperations, the party passed the winter at Sillery, where Madame de la\nPeltrie made acquaintance with Mademoiselle Mance. The intended\nfoundation naturally formed an ordinary topic of conversation during the\nlong evenings, and so strongly was Madame de la Peltrie's interest in it\nexcited, that in the end, she resolved to give it her personal co-\noperation. Not being bound to the Ursulines by vow or formal engagement\nof any kind, she was of course at perfect liberty to withdraw from them,\nbut the parting from one so dear was very painful to all, especially the\nmuch tried Mother. The amiable Foundress had gained the affection and\nesteem both of the Sisters and the pupils, cheerfully sharing the labours\nand privations of the one, and devoting herself in the self-sacrificing\nspirit of true charity to the care of the others: all loved and regretted\nher, nevertheless she departed, impelled by the desire to accomplish what\nshe considered a more useful work. In her zeal for souls, she would have\nflown, not merely to Montreal, but to the world's end, and when it\nappeared to her that by going, she could extend her sphere of good, and\nthereby more largely promote the glory of God, no hesitation was\nadmitted. She was accompanied by Charlotte Barr\u00e9. On the 17th of May,\n1642, the colonists landed on the Isle of Montreal.\n\nBesides the trial to their feelings, the separation from their Foundress\nwas a source of serious pecuniary embarrassment to the Ursulines. If\nbefore, they had been poor, they were now reduced to absolute\ndestitution. Madame de la Peltrie having found it necessary to remove her\nfurniture, they retained only a few articles which they had brought from\nFrance, among the rest, three beds for their fourteen pupils. \"The\nchildren have to sleep on boards,\" wrote the Mother of the Incarnation;\n\"we do what we can to soften the hard couches, and as a substitute for\nbed clothes, we borrow skins from the stores, the only alternative left\nus in our poverty.\" But it was not the extreme indigence around her that\nafflicted the Venerable Mother; the example of her Lord and Saviour had\non the contrary rendered this precious in her eyes and dear to her heart\nIf her soul was rent, it was chiefly by the dread of having to dismiss\nher beloved pupils back to their native wilds. In one single year, fifty\nIndian children had been taught, and more than seven hundred adults of\nboth sexes had received spiritual and corporal aid. Was this magnificent\nharvest to be thus prematurely blighted?\n\nMonsieur de Berni\u00e8res had formally announced the necessity of dismissing\nthe pupils and discontinuing the new building, adding, that if Madame de\nla Peltrie persisted in her present intention, the Sisters would have no\nalternative but to return to France, unless indeed some other charitable\nperson would undertake the responsibility of providing for them. But\ngloomy as were the prospects of the little community, the Mother of the\nIncarnation never wavered in her trust in God. She resolved to retain her\nscholars, to distribute her accustomed alms, and to continue the\nbuilding, writing as usual to Monsieur de Berni\u00e8res for supplies for the\nhouse, and inclosing him the bills for the workmen's wages. Who that\nwitnessed her calm, brave fortitude, could have suspected how immensely\nthe weight of the visible cross was aggravated by that of the invisible?\nYet it is certain that the external was but a faint image of the\ninternal. Still, beneath their united pressure, she discharged her\nmultiplied exterior duties with a punctuality, an energy and a presence\nof mind which proved the extent of her disengagement from self, while by\nher exactitude to the least of the conventual observances, she continued\nto sustain her claim to the title of a living rule. Acting on her own\nmaxim, that fidelity in small things is the guardian of fidelity in\ngreater, she knew no distinction between lesser and more important\nregulations; in her view, all were of equal consequence. She took her\nshare of the menial duties, which for the first years weighed heavily on\nthe community in consequence of their having no lay Sisters. No\nindisposition or infirmity, no pressure of business or excess of fatigue\ncould induce her to deviate in one iota from the practices of common\nlife. Ever active and indefatigable, she might be seen, now teaching and\ntending her dear Indian children, now directing the building of the new\nconvent, now superintending the domestic details of the monastery, and\nall the time fulfilling to the least particular the duties of her\nresponsible office as Superior. She was the last to retire to rest at\nnight, the first to appear in the morning, and ever to be found either in\ncommunion with God, or engaged in the active occupations of her charge.\n\nIt was at this period that she commenced correspondence with several\nreligious communities, and numerous pious seculars in France, in order to\nengage their interest for the Indians. The number of her letters is\nsomething wonderful, especially during her first twelve years in Canada,\nand the alms which she thus procured, supplied the most pressing wants of\nthe institution. \"This is but my second letter,\" she says in one place,\n\"since the arrival of the ships; they leave in a fortnight, and I have to\nanswer two hundred.\" In another, she remarks, \"My hand is so tired that I\ncan scarcely hold the pen, but so it is that we must pass our time, while\nwaiting for the eternity which will never pass.\" The words, \"Short\nlabour, eternal rest,\" formed her ordinary motto. Besides her letters on\nbusiness to persons of all conditions, she maintained a constant\ncorrespondence with her son and her niece from the time of their joining,\nthe one the Benedictine, and the other the Ursuline Order. These last,\nlike all her spiritual letters, are replete with solid maxims of\npractical piety, and manifest a knowledge of the secrets of the interior\nlife which could have been acquired only in her close and habitual\ncommunications with God. While going through this almost incredible\namount of work, she never lost her calm self-possession and firm control\nover natural feeling. More than twenty times in one morning, it has\nhappened her to be interrupted at an occupation, and never by look or\nword was she known to betray annoyance or impatience.\n\nThe first elections at the Quebec Convent took place on the 12th of June,\n1642, when the Mother of the Incarnation resumed the burden which for the\nprevious three years she had borne by the appointment of the Archbishop\nof Tours. On the twenty-first of the following November, the feast of the\nPresentation of the Blessed Virgin, the little community bade adieu to\nthe miserable dwelling which had sheltered them for three years, and\nbecome endeared as the scene of their first labours and their first\nsuccesses in Canada. The new building was in so unfinished a state as to\nbe barely habitable; consequently the first winter was one of extreme\nsuffering from cold. Stoves were a luxury unknown for many a year, and to\npreserve themselves from being frozen at night, the poor Mothers had to\nsleep in something like wooden chests. Notwithstanding its many\ninconveniences, the new convent excited the unbounded admiration of the\nIndians, especially the children, who were overjoyed at the prospect of\ninhabiting so splendid a \"Cabin.\"\n\nAfter the Venerable Mother had borne her weight of mental anguish for\nthree years, the Almighty was pleased to alleviate it, propitiated as it\nwould seem by a new self-imposed and very heroic act of humiliation.\nExternally too, prospects brightened. After spending eighteen months in\nMontreal, Madame de la Peltrie resolved to return to Quebec. Her zeal for\nthe conversion of the savages urging her to attempt even impossibilities,\nshe had for a time entertained serious thoughts of penetrating to the\ncountry of the yet pagan Hurons, but a Jesuit Father just returned from\nthose missions, dissuaded her from an undertaking so far above her\nstrength. In compensation, she provided for the permanent support of an\nadditional missions in that district. While at Montreal, she wrote to the\nMother of the Incarnation to explain that her great inducement in going\nthere, had been the hope of establishing a convent of Ursulines in the\ntown, a new proof that her holy ardour for the salvation of souls was\nworthy of all praise. During this visit, she stood sponsor at the\nbaptismal font for an Algonquin Chief.\n\nIt is easier to imagine than to describe the joy with which her return\nwas greeted by the Sisters, the pupils, and most of all, the Mother on\nwhom had fallen the heaviest portion of the burden entailed by her\nabsence. Now, no future parting need be dreaded. To the last breath of\nlife she would cling to the friends whose difficulties and troubles she\nhad so generously shared from the first, and among the most precious of\nher legacies to the Ursulines would be ranked the example of her zeal,\nher charity, her humility, and her admirable self-abnegation. Without\nassuming the obligations of a religious, she conformed in all respects to\nthe rule and discipline of the house, and so remarkable was her\npunctuality, that the signal for regular observance was never given with\ngreater exactitude, than when it happened to be her turn to ring the\nbell.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE MOTHER OF THE INCARNATION A VICTIM FOR HER SON AND HER NIECE.--\nCONVERSION OF BOTH.--MOTHER ST. ATHANASIUS ELECTED MOTHER SUPERIOR.\n\n\nThe mental sufferings of the Mother of the Incarnation had abated at the\nend of three years, but they were very far from having wholly ceased.\nThey were to be traced in part, as we have seen, to that heroic act of\nself-immolation by which she had offered herself as a victim to Divine\njustice for the salvation of two erring souls very dear to her heart, and\nuntil grace should have fully triumphed over both, her martyrdom was not\nto terminate. These objects of her holy solicitude were her son, and one\nof her nieces.\n\nThe former, as may be remembered, had applied for admission to the Jesuit\nnovitiate, much about the time of the Venerable Mother's departure for\nCanada, and not being considered suitable for the Order, had been\nrejected. The disappointment preyed on him for a while, but hope soon\nsucceeded to despondency. If the cloister was closed, the world, he\nargued, was open to him. Why not then seek in the latter, the happiness\nwhich he had vainly dreamed of finding in the former? Why not choose one\namong the many paths to distinction which untried life held out so\ntemptingly, and take his chance of success as others had done before him?\nLured onwards by ambition, he resolved to settle in Paris, naturally\nsupposing that the Queen's well-known veneration for his saintly Mother,\nwould secure him her favour. The Duchess d'Aiguillon at once offered him\nher patronage, and the difficulties of the first start being thus happily\nremoved, he seemed free to select his road to fortune.\n\nAnd was he then really destined for nothing better than the slavery of\nthe world? Could it be true that that worthless world was one day to\nboast of having thrown its shackles round the heart of the son of Marie\nGuyart? She had consecrated his soul to God before his eyes had opened to\nthe light; she had taught him his first prayer; she had given him his\nfirst impression of piety; she had instilled his first lesson, that it\nwere better far to die a thousand deaths if that were possible, than live\nto commit one mortal sin. Had the remembrance of her teaching utterly\nvanished, and the last trace of her maternal influence quite faded away?\nNo, that could not be. The mother, who like her, has rightly understood\nthe words maternal influence, and early taken care to establish her own,\nwill hold the key to her child's heart while ever his heart throbs. Vast\nintervals may separate that mother and child; oceans and years may lie\nbetween them, and still the mother's words will retain their grasp of her\nboy's soul, starting from its depths in the hour of temptation, to awaken\nthe sweet echo of early lessons, and revive the memory of that last\npromise at parting, to be true to God, to conscience and the maternal\nteaching.\n\nAnd if perchance the child should have forgotten the maxims and rejected\nthe control of the mother, still can her influence reach his heart\nthrough the sure channel of her prayers and tears. The Christian mother's\nprayers fall on the soul of her prodigal child like genial sunshine on\nthe drooping plant; her tears like cool dew on the parched earth--they\nrevive, they warm, they soften. He cannot resist them, for they come\nladen with the heavenly grace which they have been the blessed means of\nwinning from the all-merciful Heart of Jesus. This it was Claude Martin's\nhappiness to experience. While he thought only of plunging into the\nvortex of the world, the Mother of the Incarnation prayed, and wept, and\nsuffered without intermission to obtain his entire conversion. \"It could\nnot be that a child of those tears should perish.\" [Footnote: Words of a\nBishop to St. Monica, with reference to St. Augustine.] As may be\nanticipated, his rebellious heart was finally won to God, wholly and for\never.\n\nThe circumstances of his conversion are singular. It happened one day\nthat, weary of the noise and bustle of the great city, he retired to his\nquiet room, to study. Before long he was disturbed by a knocking at the\ndoor, but, although he opened it promptly, he could see nobody. He\nresumed his study only to be a second and a third time similarly\ninterrupted, and with a similar result. The occurrence was so strange,\nthat he could explain it to himself only as the wondrous action of the\nhand of God. The voice of grace spoke to his heart, even more distinctly\nthan the sound at the door had spoken to his ear. Without one moment's\nhesitation, he flew to Dom Raymond of St. Bernard, his mother's former\ndirector, and told him of the mysterious incident which, in an instant\nhad dispelled his dreams of ambition, subdued his will, and changed him\ninto a new being, and he concluded the strange communication by\nbeseeching the Father in earnest terms, to guide him to the road to which\nGod called. The unexpected news of the next day, was, that Claude Martin\nhad suddenly renounced his very brilliant prospects in the world to join\nthe Order of St. Benedict.\n\nThe joy and gratitude of his holy mother at the blessed tidings may be\nimagined. \"It would be difficult, my very dear son,\" she writes, \"to\nexpress the consolation which your letter afforded me. Impressed with the\ndangers to which you were exposed, I have suffered much on your account,\nespecially during the past year, still I have ever been sustained by the\nfirm hope that our all-good God would never utterly forsake the son from\nwhom I had parted for His dear sake alone, and now I find that His mercy\nto you has not only realized, but surpassed my expectations. The world\noffered you some advantages, it is true, but how immeasurably inferior to\nthe blessing which God has bestowed! You are now enrolled in the army of\nthe Almighty King; take, then, well to heart the words of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, 'No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit\nfor the Kingdom of God' (St. Luke ix. 62). The happiness in store for you\nis infinitely beyond any which this world could give. 'Count then all\nthings here below to be but loss that you may gain Christ' (Phil. in. 8).\nThe example of your holy Father St. Benedict inculcates this generosity\nof spirit; imitate it faithfully, that so I may have the consolation of\nsoon hearing that my uninterrupted prayers of many years for your\nsanctification have at last found acceptance with God. I never pass a day\nwithout offering you as a sacrifice to Him on the Heart of His well-\nbeloved Son, desiring and supplicating that you may be consumed as a\nperfect holocaust on that Divine Altar. If any one were to tell me that\nyou had died a martyr's death, I think I should expire with joy; but be\nfaithful to grace, die constantly to self, imitate the many eminent\nservants of God sanctified in your Order, and not only will the Almighty\nmake you a great saint, but He will grant you the reward of a martyr too.\nIf He should mercifully bring you to your religious profession, let me\nknow the joyful tidings. Tell me also the particulars of your call to\nreligion, and the manner of your correspondence with it. In a word, let\nme have the consolation of participating fully in your spiritual\ntreasures. Pray for me very often. I meet you many times a day in God,\nand speak of you unceasingly to Jesus and Mary.\"\n\nThe novice embraced the cross of religion with holy ardour, and bore it\nwith persevering fidelity. Cordially despising the world which had well\nnigh betrayed him, he renounced it thoroughly, and directed all the\naffections of his heart to God alone. Looking on religious perfection as\nthe only object worthy of his ambition, he pursued the one great end with\na fervour and an earnestness which ensured his rapid progress. His\nsuccess in his vocation, and the diminution of his mother's trials, all\nalong kept such equal pace, that she might safely have judged of the one\nby the other. Hence, when obscurity again enveloped her soul, she\ninferred that some obstacle to his profession had arisen, and so the\nevent proved. The difficulty being happily removed, he was permitted to\nseal the irrevocable act of his consecration to God by the solemn vows.\nAfter his promotion to the priesthood, he was appointed to some of the\nprincipal offices of his Order, and his humility taking the alarm, he\nwrote to his mother of his regret at being compelled to emerge from his\ndear solitude. \"Do not say, my son,\" she replied, \"that you prefer an\nobscure life to a higher sphere of action. Love the duties of the latter,\nnot because they are more important in the eyes of men, but because they\nare in the order of God's will for you. It is well that you should be\nimpressed with your nothingness, for on that foundation it is that the\nAlmighty will erect the edifice of your perfection; but content yourself\nwherever He places you--there for you is sanctity. Whether your position\nis a high one or a low, be humble, and you will be happy.\" After having\nrendered important services to his Order, and contributed to the\nreformation of several abbeys, Dom Claude Martin died in the odour of\nsanctity at Marmoutier, on the 9th of August, 1696, aged seventy-seven.\nHe survived his holy mother over twenty years, and after her death wrote\nthe history of her life, employing principally as material her own\nrelation of a portion of God's wondrous dealings with her, and her\nvoluminous correspondence with himself.[Footnote: This history, with that\nof P\u00e8re Charlevoix, forms the foundation of all the existing biographies\nof the Venerable Mother. Dom Claude Martin likewise published two volumes\nof her letters, the one the spiritual, the other the historical; her\nexplanation of the Christian Doctrine (\"Grand Cat\u00e9chisme,\") and her\nRetreats. For recent reprints of all we are indebted to the Abb\u00e9\nRichaudeau, a distinguished ecclesiastic of Blois. The Ursulines of\nQuebec possess, and prize as treasures, different articles once belonging\nto the son of their saintly Mother; among others, a silver reliquiary\ncontaining a precious particle of the true Cross.]\n\nThe Venerable Mother's work of zeal, though far advanced, was not\ncompleted. She had happily obtained the conversion of her son; when she\nhad suffered more, she would be rewarded by that of her niece also, but\nnot until then would her self-imposed task of charity be perfected. The\nniece alluded to had been from her birth a special object of her holy\naunt's interest. The idol of her mother, no pains had been spared for the\ncultivation of her mind and the formation of her character; yet,\nnotwithstanding all, she bade fair to turn out a frivolous worldling,\nunless arrested by Almighty grace. She was but fifteen when introduced to\nthe gay circles of fashion, in which her personal attractions and\nbrilliant accomplishments particularly fitted her to shine. Flattered at\nfinding herself the object of general attention, she accepted the homage\nwithout pausing to weigh its sincerity, too dazzled by the glare of the\nworld, too dizzy from the excitement of pleasure to be capable of\ndiscerning the serpent lurking among the flowers. A rude shock was to\nawaken her from her short, sweet dream.\n\nAmong the many claimants for her hand, one had resolved to secure the\nprize by stratagem, as he evidently could not hope to win it by\npersuasion. Accordingly, one day as she was going to Mass, he had her\nwaylaid, forced into a carriage, and rapidly driven to his country seat,\nhoping much from the eloquence of a lady of his acquaintance whom he had\nengaged to meet her there and advocate his cause. Her mother very soon\nreleased her from her embarrassing position, but her difficulties were\nnot yet over. On the death of that dear protectress, which occurred soon\nafter, her unprincipled persecutor returned to the charge, although the\nlaw had taken cognizance of his first offence, and subjected him to well-\nmerited penalties. The more effectually to gain his ends, he had recourse\non this occasion to the intervention of the Duke of Orleans, whom he\nsucceeded in persuading that the rich and beautiful heiress was his\naffianced bride, representing that the separation was as painful to her\nas to him, and earnestly begging an order for her restoration. Her\nguardian, clearly seeing that a convent alone could afford her a safe\nasylum, advised her to take refuge in one until the storm should have\nblown over. As this seemed the best thing to be done, she decided on\napplying for a temporary lodging at her dear aunt's old home, the\nUrsuline Monastery, in her native city of Tours. But even to this\nsecluded abode persecution followed her, and at last thoroughly wearied\nout, she formed the dangerous resolution of embracing the religious\nstate, rather to free herself from importunity, than with any wish to\nconsecrate her life to God. No wonder that with her heart, and hopes and\nthoughts in the world, she should have been unable to appreciate, or even\nto discover the hidden happiness of her quiet cloistered home. No wonder\nthat the days should have seemed long the observances wearisome, the\nduties monotonous, and uninteresting. But, oh! the wondrous power of\nprayer which draws down grace from heaven to refresh the soul, as the\nmountains attract the moisture-laden clouds to fertilize the earth!\nSeparated in person from the object of her holy affection, but closely\nunited to her in God, the Mother of the Incarnation prayed without\nceasing that grace might do its admirable work in her, through its own\nunsearchable ways. She prayed that the bitter lesson which life had early\ntaught, might bear its abundant fruits; that the desolate child might\nseek a balm in the Blood, and a home in the Heart of Jesus; and that\nhaving learned by experience how different are the servitude of God and\nthat of the world, she might cling to the one and loathe the other\nevermore and the petition was fully granted.\n\nWhen the time came for assuming the religious habit, the novice might\nwell have doubted her own identity, so strangely and utterly was she\nchanged. Illusion had vanished, and truth had triumphed In laying aside\nthe secular dress, she seemed to be, in a moment mysteriously divested of\nthe spirit of the world. Its imaginary attractions ceased to tempt, now\nthat she could see them in their false colouring; its deceitful promises\nceased to allure, now that she could correctly interpret their hollowness\nand insincerity. And if her ideas of the world were changed, so likewise\nwere her views of the religious life. Deeply appreciating the immense\nfavour which God had conferred on her in calling her to it, she devoted\nherself heart and soul to all its duties, embracing its penitential\nrigours with holy eagerness, and making it her great aim to hide her good\nworks from all but God. She pronounced her vows with a joy that was more\nof heaven than earth, and would be named 'Mary of the Incarnation;' that\nhearing herself called by the name of her aunt, she might be perpetually\nstimulated to imitate her virtues. She had the advantage of a constant\ncorrespondence with Her, and after a most holy life, went to rejoin her\nin the blessed home to which the saintly Mother had long preceded her. In\na letter of October, 1671, we meet the following words, the last ever\naddressed by the Venerable Mother to the beloved niece whom she had been\nthe first to offer to God at her birth, and for whose salvation she had\nendured so much:--\"Oh! how ardently I desire that you may become a saint,\nat the cost of any suffering or sacrifice to myself! As my farewell,\npermit me to say to you in the words of our Lord, 'He that humbleth\nhimself shall be exalted.'\"\n\nAfter having borne her heavy interior crosses for seven years, with only\npartial and temporary alleviation, the Mother of the Incarnation was\ninspired to apply for relief to the Blessed Virgin. It was on the Feast\nof the Assumption, 1647. Hardly had the petition been presented, when it\nwas granted. Suddenly she felt, she says, as if divested of a leaden\ngarment, which had long oppressed her with its crushing weight, and on\nthe arrival of the next vessel from Europe, she learned that the period\nof her emancipation from suffering exactly coincided with that of her\nniece's clothing in the convent at Tours. Her soul, she writes,\noverflowed with a peace which it would be impossible to describe in human\nlanguage. Capable of understanding the advantages of tribulation, she\nblessed God with the Psalmist, that He had humbled her; that He had led\nher through the thorny ways of the cross, to a higher experimental\nknowledge of the sacred maxims of the Gospel, in which she found strength\nand support for her soul, not only under the pressure of spiritual trial,\nbut amidst the multiplied difficulties and embarrassments which her\narduous external duties entailed.\n\nIn order not to interrupt the history of the conversion of her niece,\nchronological order has been slightly anticipated. Retracing our steps a\nshort distance, we meet some new names intermingled with those already so\nwell known to us. The evergrowing eagerness both of French and Indians\nfor instruction, and the continual increase in the number of applicants\nfor it, had rendered more help indispensable. The harvest was greater\nthan the few labourers could reap, so they appealed once more to France,\nwhich sent them Mother Anne of the Seraphim, from Ploermel in Brittany,\nin 1643, and the Mothers Anne of St. Cecilia, and Anne of our Lady from\nTours, the year following. The two first returned to France, the one\nafter thirteen, the other after eleven years in Canada.\n\nIn 1645, we find the Venerable Mother relieved from the burden of\nSuperiority, which consistently with the Constitutions of the Ursuline\nOrder cannot be borne by the same individual for more than six\nconsecutive years. This high position had been a heavy cross to her, not\nonly on account of the responsibilities which it entailed, but also\nbecause its arduous duties left her comparatively little time for the\noccupation which she prized beyond all others, the instruction of the\nIndians. She was succeeded by Mother St. Athanasius, the two continuing\nalternately to govern the community until death deprived them of the\nVenerable Mother.\n\nThe same year, according to the example of St. Teresa, she made a vow\nallowable only under very exceptional circumstances, to do, say, and\nthink in all things whatever she considered most perfect, and most\nconducive to the glory of God, and so naturalized had she become by long\nhabit to the practice of every virtue, that this vow never caused her an\nuneasiness. \"Although I am but a poor sinful creature,\" she said, \"God\nassists me to avoid every voluntary imperfection inconsistent with my\npromise. If involuntary faults mingle with the observance of it, I trust\nin His goodness to forgive them.\" She had at this time acquired that high\ndegree of the habit of virtue, in which its acts are performed not only\nwithout pain, but with pleasure.\n\nThe first novice professed in Quebec was Charlotte Barr\u00e9 of St. Ignatius,\nthe former companion of Madame de la Peltrie. She made her solemn vows on\nthe 21st of November, 1648, and a few days after, her example was\nfollowed by Sister Catherine of St. Ursula, the first Canadian lay\nsister. Henceforth the little community continued gradually but steadily\nto increase in numbers.\n\nFrom the first opening of the schools, the advantages of education had\nbeen extended to the French as well as to the Indians. Even in the small\ntenement which had served as a temporary convent, there were two French\nboarders; at the period now under consideration the number had increased\nto eighteen or twenty. That of the seminarists had amounted to eighty.\n\nThe year 1649 at which we have arrived, brings us to a tear-stained page\nin the annals of the infant Church of Canada. By a reference to the\nintroductory chapter, it will be seen that this was the date of the\nmassacre of the concerted Hurons and their saintly pastors, by the savage\nIroquois. The sad event afflicted every heart in the colony, but perhaps\nmost of all, the hearts of the Venerable Mother and of the Mother St.\nJoseph. The survivors, who numbered only four or five hundred, took\nrefuge in Quebec, where they were received with extreme kindness. Some\nwere located on a portion of the Isle of Orleans belonging to the\nUrsulines, and generously transferred by them to the unhappy fugitives.\nTo relieve their distress, the religious deprived themselves of a good\npart of the food and clothing which they could very badly spare. The\nMother of the Incarnation admitted many of their daughters into the\nseminary, and undertook, though in her fiftieth year, to learn the Huron\ntongue, that she might be enabled to impart the blessing of spiritual\ninstruction to the exiles. Her teacher was Father Bressani, who had\nalmost miraculously escaped from the hands of the Iroquois, after having\nundergone the ordinary course of torture prescribed by savage cruelty.\nShe and the Mother St. Joseph divided the charge of teaching these new\npupils, who besides ample instruction, received also generous alms. It\nwas at this time that bread was first seen to multiply in the hands of\nthe Venerable Mother: with only two or three loaves to divide among fifty\nor sixty persons, it was found that every one had a sufficient share. She\nperceived the prodigy herself and said quite simply, as she went on\ndividing the loaves, \"I think our good God is multiplying this bread for\nHis poor necessitous creatures.\" Even before this special demand on her\ncharity, she had arranged that whatever might be their own distress, no\nIndian should ever be refused an alms at the monastery, and for this\npurpose, a supply of Indian meal porridge was always kept in readiness.\nOnce, when she was Superior, a poor woman not satisfied with all she had\nalready got, represented her great want of a pair of shoes in addition.\nWithout the least discomposure at the unreasonable importunity, the\ncharitable Mother took off her own and presented them to her, reserving\nfor herself a very poor, slight pair, quite insufficient to protect her\nfrom the cold. The time was fast approaching, when she who had been ever\nready to give her strength and life, and all else that she possessed for\nthe relief of others, was to be reduced to the last degree of want, and\nleft without even a shelter for her head!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE CONFLAGRATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.--REBUILDING OF THE MONASTERY.\n\n\nThe Ursulines had inhabited their new monastery seven years before it\ncould be considered finished, a delay easily explained by their great\npoverty. They were absolutely dependent for their support on remittances\nfrom France, and these, besides being sent only once a year, were liable\nto many casualties on the way. When the annual arrival of the vessels was\nunusually retarded, the inconveniences to the colony in general, and to\nthe Nuns in particular, can be better imagined than described. What then\nmust have been the distress of the Sisters, when as happened more than\nonce, a ship was wrecked, or seized by pirates, so that they were obliged\nto wait another year for the very necessaries of life! Then, when the\nremittances did arrive, charity had so many claims on them, and so many\ngood reasons to urge in support of those claims, that but little remained\nto carry on the building.\n\nAt the cost of many and many a sacrifice, it had been completed at last,\nwhen on the memorable evening of December the 29th, 1650, the lay Sister\nin charge of the bakery, fearing that the bitter frost would injure her\ncarefully prepared dough, thought to make all safe by placing a pan of\nhot coals in the bread trough, which she then carefully closed. To\ncomplete her imprudence, she forgot to remove the live coals as she had\nintended, before retiring to rest. The consequences may be anticipated.\nTowards midnight, the kneading trough ignited; the fire spread from the\nbakery to the cellars in which the year's provisions were stored, and\nthence along the whole lower story. The crackling of the flames, and the\nsuffocation of the smoke providentially gave the alarm in time to save\nthe lives, but the lives alone of all the inmates. Amidst the general\nterror and confusion, the Mother of the Incarnation retained her usual\ncalm presence of mind. Seeing that any attempt to preserve the house\nwould be vain, she directed her efforts to collect a few articles of\nclothing, but finding even this useless, she satisfied herself with\nsecuring some papers of great importance to the community. While engaged\nin the hazardous service, she was literally surrounded by flames. The\nfire raged fiercely in the story under her; it ran with fearful rapidity\nalong the roof above her; the church bell under which she had to pass was\npouring down a stream of melted metal, and still she escaped unhurt,\nthough nearly suffocated.\n\nMeantime, the rescued household were assembled under the ash tree, so\nclosely connected by tradition with her loved and venerated memory. All\nwere there except one, but that one was the most precious o any. Had she\nperished,--she, the soul, the living model, the cherished Mother of the\ncommunity? Each longed, but none dared to ask the question. Almost\nbreathless from anxiety, yet hoping against hope, the little crowd stood\nsilently awaiting the issue. Happily their fears were soon dissipated;\ngood angels had folded their wings round the venerated Mother and\nscreened her from the flames. Yes, it was she whom they saw advancing.\nEven if she had not been distinctly visible in the strong, clear light of\nthe blazing house, they would have recognised her by that air of quiet\nself-possession which nothing could disturb; that sweet serenity which\nnothing could ruffle. But what a sight for the tender-hearted Mother! All\nthe children both French and Indian were standing on the snow,\nbarefooted, very scantily clad, shivering and trembling, and pressed\nclose together for greater warmth. Madame de la Peltrie, so frail; so\ndelicately nurtured, so sensitive to cold, sharing their sufferings;\nworst of all, the Mother Sister Joseph in her failing health, pierced\nthrough by the biting air, and looking as if she would expire\nmomentarily. It was a scene well calculated to display the virtue of the\nMother of the Incarnation, which never shone out more brightly. The\nheroism of her resignation seemed even to pass into the hearts of her\ncompanions in affliction, who falling on their knees, returned thanks to\nGod in the spirit of the martyrs for having been thought worthy of so\nbitter a trial. The spectators wondered, but the Mother afterwards\nexplained the mystery; \"He,\" she said, \"who tried, strengthened and\nconsoled us too.\" The night was calm, but intensely cold; the sky\nbrilliantly studded with stars. Showers of sparks poured from the burning\nbuilding on the neighbouring forest, on the fort, and on the adjoining\nhouses, menacing the town with destruction. But for a light breeze which\nprovidentially arose at the moment, and turned the course of the flames,\nit must have been consumed. Every effort had been made to arrest the\nconflagration; the Jesuit Fathers in particular, bad been vigorous and\nuntiring, but when discovered, the fire had progressed too far to be\nchecked. At imminent peril, the Blessed Sacrament and some of the sacred\nvestments were saved. In less than two hours, nothing remained of the\nmonastery but the blackened walls. Clothing, provisions, furniture, all\nthe earthly possessions of the Ursulines were gone.\n\nWith great kindness, the principal citizens offered hospitality to the\nchildren, while the Superior of the Jesuits conducted the Nuns to the\nconvent of the Hospital Sisters, who opened not alone their doors, but\ntheir hearts to their desolate visitors, clothing them from their own\nwardrobes, placing the whole house at their disposal, and retaining them\nfor over three weeks as their prized and honoured guests. The day after\nthe calamity, the Governor came to offer his condolence; but sweeter than\nall to the hearts of the sufferers, was a deputation, and an address of\nsympathy from the Hurons. Time was, when to use their own expression, the\ngrateful chiefs would have covered the ashes of the monastery with\npresents, but alas! of their vanished glory nought remained but two\nwampum belts. [Footnote: Wampum. Small shells of various colours formerly\nused by the North American Indiana as money, and strung like beads into\nbroad ornamental belts.] Such as they were, it was decided in solemn\ncouncil that they should be presented to the bereaved Sisters.\nAccordingly the deputation arrived, and the Grand Chief delivered the\noration, too long to be entirely inserted, but too beautiful in its\nsimple language and genuine feeling, to be entirely omitted. \"Holy\nVirgins,\" he said; \"you see before you the miserable remnant of a once\nflourishing, now extinct nation. The little left to us, we owe to you.\nAlas! the misfortune which has befallen you, renews our own woes, and re-\nopens the source of our only partially dried tears. When we saw the\nbeautiful house of Jesus consumed in a moment before our eyes, the sad\nsight reminded us of the day when our own homes and hamlets were\ndelivered up a prey to the flames, and our country reduced to a heap of\nruins. Holy Virgins, you are then sharers in the misery of the poor\nHurons, for whose melancholy fate you showed such tender pity. You too\nare left without house, home, provisions or help, except the help of that\nheaven to which your eyes are ever turned. If you belonged to our people,\nwe should try to console you by two presents, one intended to dry your\ntears, the other to add new strength to your fortitude; but we have not\nseen you shed one tear over your misfortune; neither we know have you\nburied your courage under the wreck of your fallen house. Surely it must\nbe that your hearts are too fixed on the treasures of heaven, to value\nthose of earth.\"\n\n\"One thing we fear, that when your friends in France hear of your\ndistress, they will pray you so earnestly to return to them, that you\nwill be unable to resist their entreaties, so we shall be in danger of\nlosing you, and with you, the chance of instruction for our children.\nHave courage, holy Virgins, and prove that your love for the poor Indians\nis a heavenly love, stronger than that which binds you to your relatives.\nWe offer you these two wampum belts, the one to attach you inviolably to\nour country; the other to found anew a house for Jesus, where you can\npray, and teach our children to do so too.\"\n\n\"We know you could not die happily, if at the last hour you had to\nreproach yourselves with having loved your friends so much as to give up\nfor their sakes the souls once dear to you in God, and destined to be\nyour eternal crown in heaven.\"\n\nIt cannot be doubted that the sympathy of the Hurons must have been very\ngratifying to the Mothers, and have tended to cement the already strong\ntie which bound them to Canada. But the tie was a Divine one, formed by,\nand wholly dependent on the will of God. \"If the Almighty decreed that we\nshould return to France,\" the Mother of the Incarnation wrote to her son,\n\"I should go back with the same tranquillity as I came out. To go, or to\nstay, is a matter of indifference, provided only God be glorified.\" In\ndescribing the events of the terrible night of the 29th December, she\ntells him that looking on the disaster as the punishment of her sins, she\naccepted it with perfect equanimity, only wishing that the chastisement\nwere confined to herself, since she alone deserved it, and beseeching God\nto spare her innocent Sisters. She says that amidst the horrors of the\nconflagration, she enjoyed most profound interior peace, undisturbed by a\nsingle emotion of regret, sadness, or uneasiness. That closely united in\nheart with the will of Him who had permitted the blow, she desired that\nit might be accepted by all in the spirit of the saints both of the Old\nand New law, who with humble and contrite hearts blessed God under the\nheaviest afflictions and severest temporal losses.\n\nThis imperturbable tranquillity was founded on her perfect confidence in\nGod. Tracing all human events to His ordinance or permission, she\nsometimes wondered how it was that men should try to reject His hand when\nit sends adversity, and submit to it willingly only when it bestows\nprosperity, both being equally His gifts. The calmness of soul thus\nsolidly grounded, must necessarily have been very steady but in addition,\nthe Mother of the Incarnation had, as we know, received from God Himself\na special gift of His own Divine peace.\n\nUnwilling to burden the charitable Hospital-Sisters longer, the Ursulines\nresolved at the end of three weeks, to take up their abode in a small\nhouse which Madame de la Peltrie had built for herself within their\nenclosure, and afterwards generously given them as a school for the\nIndians. Its dimensions were thirty feet by twenty, and it contained two\nrooms. Here, it was decided that thirteen Sisters and some boarders\nshould live as best they could, and as the exclusion of converts seeking\ninstruction was not to be dreamt or, the house was made to contain a\ngrated parlour in addition to a chapel, school, refectory, kitchen and\ndormitory. It had need of an infirmary too, for in that abode of poverty,\na well-beloved Sister was slowly wearing her life away, amidst\ninconceivable sufferings and privations.  It was then only the end of\nJanuary, so that many months were still to elapse before help should come\nfrom France, but far from losing courage, the heroic Mothers rejoiced at\nfinding themselves reduced to such utter indigence, as to be compelled to\naccept alms even from the poor, and so it happened that notwithstanding\ntheir own want, the poorest of their neighbours would bring them\npresents, one of a hen, another of a few eggs, a third of some trifling\narticle of clothing. In their generous charity, the people, not only\nshared with them all they could spare conveniently, but moreover\nencroached on absolute necessaries. To complete the distress of the\nSisters, the vessels were delayed, and when they did come, they brought\nbut the usual supplies of provisions and clothing, the news of the\ndisaster not having reached in time to secure an additional quantity. But\nGod had not abandoned His own. The Ursulines possessed a small farm,\nwhich from want of cultivation, had hitherto yielded them no profit.\nDeeply touched by their extreme poverty, their chaplain, Rev. M. Vignal,\nresolved to take it in hands, and not satisfied with merely\nsuperintending, he worked, with the labourers, and more actively than\nany. The Almighty blessed the charity, and the land produced an abundant\ncrop of wheat, barley and peas, which proved a valuable resource to the\nSisters. This good priest was massacred by the Iroquois in 1661.\n\nMeantime it had become evident to all interested in the success of the\nNuns, that if they were to remain in Canada, they would have to rebuild\nthe convent. They had originally been of opinion, that with some\nadditions, Madame de la Peltrie's house might be made to afford them\nsufficient accommodation, but on mature consideration, they determined to\nadopt the advice of their friends, and to trust to Providence for the\nmeans of carrying it out. They were offered a loan free of interest for\nsix years, by the principal citizens headed by the Jesuits of the colony\nand the Governor, M. d'Ailleboust. The good Fathers who had already\nassisted them most liberally, promised the services of their lay brothers\nand workmen to help on the building. All this was encouraging. The snow\nhad hardly melted away when the Nuns began to clear the rubbish from the\nfoundations, and on the 19th of May, 1651, Madame de la Peltrie laid the\nfirst stone of the second monastery precisely on the site previously\noccupied by the first. The burden of care and responsibility again fell\non the Venerable Mother, who as before, was charged with the\nsuperintendence of the work. While we wait for the completion of the new\nbuilding, let us see how the Mothers contrived to carry on school work in\nthe interim. The glance will show us a pretty picture traced by the pen\nof one of their present descendants at the convent of Quebec, in her\ninteresting History of the Monastery.\n\nThe number of pupils instead of diminishing, has increased, however in-\ndoor accommodation is scant as ever, so if we would assist at a lesson,\nwe must be content with an academy of a primitive kind, and yet, after\nall, it is one which may well satisfy the most fastidious taste. For\nroof, it has the canopy of deep blue heaven; for study halls, the lordly\nforest; for carpet, a fairy web of wild flowers. Here and there, the sun\nis glancing through the dense foliage, and tinging his resting spots with\ngold. The ancient trees are looking glorious in their bright, spring\nclothing; the soft breeze is singing its gentlest notes among the leaves;\nall looks so fresh, so peaceful and so attractive in the sweet, cool\nshade, that we do not wonder to hear of numerous candidates for admission\nto the extemporized academy. In after times, traditionary honours will\nattach to some of those venerable trees; one in particular will be so\noften commemorated, that people will learn at last to look on it in the\nlight of an old friend. Here it is; the well-known ash tree, [Footnote:\nThis veteran of the wilderness remained standing until the 19th of June,\n1850, when bending under age and honours, it fell to the ground. The wood\nhas been carefully preserved for the sake of dear and old associations,\nand is used in making ornamental crosses, and similar small devotional\narticles, as memorials of the Mother Mary of the Incarnation.] under\nwhich, whenever she can quit her more pressing duties, we are sure to\nfind the Mother Mary of the Incarnation surrounded by her dear Indian\nchildren, to whom she speaks with heavenly unction of \"Him who made all\nthings.\" How their dark eyes glisten, and their little hearts swell,\nwhile they catch each word of life as it falls from her lips to find an\necho in their souls! A few steps farther is the famous walnut tree, and\nhere we meet a group of French pupils receiving the lessons of Mother St.\nAthanasius. At a future day, many of these will be found in the ranks of\nthe Ursuline or Hospital-Sisters; many more faithfully discharging their\nresponsible duties as heads of families, presiding over Christian\nhouseholds, and training their children to virtue by word and example.\nFarther still, in the shadow of some ancient monarch of the woods, are\nbark huts occupied by the Neophytes, whom we find participating not only\nin the heavenly bread of God's word, but also in the small resources of\ntheir impoverished teachers. Many of these too, will do the work of\napostles in a humble way among their own tribes. To crown the scene of\nbeauty, the walls of the new monastery are visible in the distance, and\nlike the olive branch in the deluge, they speak o\u00a3 hope.\n\nHappily the hope was realized, and far more speedily too, than humanly\nspeaking could have been anticipated. Exactly one year after the first\nstone had been laid, the new monastery was ready to receive its inmates.\nSo triumphantly successful a termination to the arduous work, was due in\ngreat part to the extraordinary natural energy of the Mother of the\nIncarnation, but still more, to the intervention of her celestial\nAssistant, the Help of Christians and Queen of heaven. On the 8th of the\nSeptember preceding the destruction of the first monastery, the community\nhad formally placed itself under the immediate patronage of that glorious\nQueen, choosing her with solemn ceremonial for its first and chief\nSuperior. That she had graciously condescended to accept the charge, was\nclearly manifested by the fidelity with which she discharged the trust\nattaching to it. The marvellous rapidity which marked the erection of the\nnew building, the preservation of the workmen from the slightest accident\nduring its progress, and the almost total freedom of the community from\ndebt at its completion, form a series of favours unhesitatingly ascribed\nby the Venerable Mother and the Sisters to the manifest protection of\ntheir \"First Superior,\" the \"Virgin most powerful, most merciful and most\nfaithful.\"\n\nThe personal devotion of the Mother of the Incarnation to our Blessed\nLady, dating from her earliest years, had grown with her growth, and\nstrengthened with her strength. Her childhood's prayer had been that,\neven in this life, she might be permitted to see her dear Heavenly\nMother, and, if the petition was not granted literally, it may at least\nbe said to have been at this time answered substantially. She did not see\nthe Blessed Virgin, she says, with her corporal eyes, but, from the\ncommencement to the completion of the building, she had her as constantly\nand as vividly present to mind and heart, as if she did. She felt her\never by her side, and in her company encountered hardships and dangers\nwithout fear. Long accustomed to recur to her in the emergencies of life,\nshe transferred to her, if we may say so, the whole responsibility of the\npresent undertaking, referring to her and consulting her as its first and\nchief Directress. No wonder, then, that it should have been crowned with\nextraordinary success. \"It was never known in any age, that those who had\nrecourse to Mary were abandoned by her\" (St. Bernard). The Venerable\nMother, who from the dawn of reason had loved her and trusted in her,\ncould not surely be the one to inaugurate a new experience! So far from\nit, that some years after the present date, we find her writing, in\nallusion to the favours of her heavenly Protectress, \"Our Blessed Mother\nassists us in all our wants, and guards us as the apple of her eye. In\nher own sweet way, she watches over our interests, and relieves us in our\nembarrassments. We are indebted to her for having many times passed\nsafely through overwhelming difficulties, and, among other benefits, for\nthe rebuilding of our monastery after it had been totally destroyed by\nfire. What can I fear while shielded by protection at once so loving and\nso powerful?\"\n\nOn the 19th of May, 1652, the Ursulines took possession of their second\nmonastery. The great reputation which their schools enjoyed rendered the\nevent one of general interest to all classes. Pleased at the opportunity\nof testifying their respect for the devoted Mothers, the inhabitants of\nQuebec determined to make the occasion one of great solemnity.\nAccordingly, the whole population, ecclesiastic and lay, assembled near\nthe house of Madame de la Peltrie; and thence accompanied the Nuns to\ntheir new residence. The Most Adorable Sacrament was borne at the head of\nthe long procession to the convent chapel; the Forty Hours' prayer was at\nonce commenced, and on each of the three days of its continuance,\nprocessions again went out from each of the churches in Quebec to the\nUrsuline chapel, the chant of the Litanies resounding all along the way.\nWell might the Mother of the Incarnation say that Divine Providence shows\nitself a good Mother to those who place their whole reliance on its aid.\n\nAbout thirty years later, the second monastery, like the first, was\nconsumed by fire, yet not wholly destroyed. The walls raised by the\nMother of the Incarnation under the protection of the Queen of Heaven,\nwithstood the flames, and after the lapse of more than two centuries,\nthey are still standing. They form the central portion of the edifice yet\nknown at this remote day as the Ursuline Convent of Quebec.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nLAST ILLNESS AND HAPPY DEATH OF MOTHER ST. JOSEPH.\n\n\nIn the procession to the new convent, one familiar face was missing:\nMother St. Joseph, the first companion of the Mother of the Incarnation,\nwas also the first of the little band called home to heaven. Her death\nand life were so consistent, that the one who knew her best, summed up\nher panegyric in two words--\"She lived a saint, and she died one.\" She\nseemed, indeed, to have been specially privileged by Divine grace from\nher very infancy, manifesting in early childhood an instinctive love of\nthe beautiful virtue of the angels, and a singular attraction to the poor\nand afflicted. When only nine years of age she was sent, at her own\nrequest, to the Ursuline Convent at Tours, where she made her first\nCommunion with extraordinary fervour. From the period of His first\nsacramental visit to her soul, our Blessed Lord continued to draw her\nirresistibly to Himself. Docile to His Divine call, she obtained the\nreluctant permission of her fond parents to consecrate herself wholly to\nHim, and at the early age of fourteen, exchanged her brilliant prospects\nas heiress of two noble houses, for the poverty, seclusion, and\nmortification of the religious life. Her choice fell on the monastery\nwhere she had been educated, and here it was her happiness to be placed\nunder the guidance of the Mother of the Incarnation, at that time in\ncharge of the novices. After the usual probation, she received the habit,\nand with it the name of St. Bernard, and in due time completed her first\nsacrifice by holy profession. She continued to edify her sisters by the\nexample of virtues suited rather to a soul far advanced in religious\nperfection, than to one just touching the mysterious threshold; and, as\nhers was one of those gifted natures pleasing both to God and man, she\ncharmed and delighted her companions by her amiability and cheerfulness,\nas much as she edified them by her sanctity. Her great fear was, lest the\nattention and consideration by which she was surrounded, should prove any\nobstacle to her progress in perfection.\n\nSome time after her profession she had a mysterious vision, in which the\nworld was represented to her under the symbol of a vast enclosure,\nabounding in all the delights which here below are wont to fascinate and\ncaptivate the hearts of men. She noticed that all who permitted\nthemselves to be attracted too closely by the false glare were at once\nhopelessly entangled, as if a net had been cast around them, and among\nthe unhappy victims she even recognised an acquaintance of her own. What\nterrified her most was, that having herself taken a few steps forward,\nand then, in great alarm, attempted to retreat, she found all means of\negress closed, so that there appeared no alternative but to advance. As\nshe was on the point of giving herself up for lost, she was attracted by\nthe sight of a band of young persons arrayed in the costume of Canadian\nsavages, the foremost of whom bore a banner inscribed with unknown\ncharacters, and she seemed to hear them say, \"Fear not, Mary, for through\nus you will be saved.\" Then they formed into two lines, leaving a passage\nbetween them, through which she effected her escape in safety. It was not\nuntil her subsequent appointment to the Canadian Mission, that she\nunderstood the connection between this supernatural warning and her own\ndestiny; but, although the vision remained for a time unexplained, it\nserved as a strong stimulus to her already ardent zeal for the salvation\nof souls, especially those of the savages. We have already noticed how\nmanifest was the hand of God in her appointment as the companion of the\nMother of the Incarnation to Canada, and we are, therefore, quite\nprepared to hear of great fruit from her labours in that country. The\nAlmighty seemed, indeed, to have endowed her with some singular\nattraction for the Indians, young and old. So great was their veneration\nfor her, and, in consequence, so irresistible her influence over them,\nthat the name of \"Mary Joseph, the Holy Virgin,\" soon became a household\nword among the Hurons and Algonquins. Charity rendered her an eloquent\npleader, and many and generous were the donations which at her prayer\nfound their way from her old home in France, to the wigwams of her dear\nsavages. To the end of life, her greatest earthly joy was to find herself\nsurrounded by her beloved converts, forty or fifty of whom--men, women,\nand children--might constantly be seen gathered round her, listening to\nher words with rapt attention. If subsequent exhaustion had not revealed\nhow much the effort had cost her, it might have been thought, when her\nsufferings became acute towards the end of life, that she had forgotten\nthem in the pleasure of instructing her poor people. When the destruction\nof the monastery had reduced the inmates to utter destitution, her\nparents employed every argument to induce her to return to France. The\nMothers at Tours joined in the request, but her invariable answer was,\nthat she would rather share the coarse, scanty fare of the savages to the\nend of her life, or even die a thousand deaths, if that could be, than\nprove herself thus unfaithful to her vocation and ungenerous to her God.\n\nFidelity to her calling had been the watchword of her existence, and now\nthat her time of merit had nearly run, no close observer could fail to\nsee that this undeviating fidelity had produced rich fruits. To analyse\nher character as a religious, would be simply to attribute to her every\nvirtue which, belongs to a perfect one. Our Lord once showed her her soul\nunder the figure of a very beautiful and strongly-fortified castle, and\nHe warned her to watch cautiously over its external approaches, promising\nthat He would guard the interior of the edifice. In compliance with this\ndirection, she resolved to surround the mystic castle with the deep\ntrenches of humility, and so well did she succeed, that unfeigned\ncontempt of self breathed at last in every act and thought of her life,\ninspiring a love and desire of humiliation which secured for those who\ntried her, the warmest gratitude of her heart, and the most devoted of\nher services. Not satisfied with mediocrity in any virtue, she carried\nmortification to an absorbing love of the cross; charity, to the\nsacrifice of every natural feeling; obedience, to child-like submission,\nspiritualized by faith; reverence for the rule, to most minute observance\nof its least prescription. She also attained an eminent degree of prayer\nand union with God.\n\nFor more than four years before her happy death, she had to endure the\ntwo-fold martyrdom of anguish of soul and great physical suffering. Yet\nwhile the wearing fever of prolonged consumption slowly undermined her\nlife, so wonderfully did her great courage sustain her, that she seldom\nkept her bed, or relinquished her work. If sometimes compelled to yield\nto exhaustion and pain, she received the attention of her Sisters with so\nmuch humility and gratitude, that all felt it a happiness to render her\nany service. Far from complaining, she was confused when others showed\ncompassion for her, and in return for their offers of kind offices, was\nalways ready to remark that they themselves required indulgence more than\nshe did. She learned at last to rejoice in the sufferings which she\nlooked on as precious pledges of the love of her Divine Spouse, and that\nshe should lose no part of her treasure, she desired to suffer without\nconsolation or relief, indemnifying herself by practices of voluntary\nmortification for the occasional alleviations forced on her by charity.\nTowards the end, dropsy was added to her complicated maladies, and so,\nfor the last two months, she was compelled to yield to the claims of\nutterly worn-out nature. Let us visit her in the humble lodging where\nthose two closing months of life were passed, and we shall feel\nconstrained to own, that the scene before us is one very grand and\nbeautiful in the eyes of faith, whatever may be its aspect in those of\nthe world.\n\nShe whose still young life is thus gradually ebbing away, might be now\nenjoying in her luxurious home all the comforts which wealth can\npurchase, but because she preferred the poverty of Jesus Christ to the\ntreasures of earth, she is surrounded in lieu of them by unmistakable\ntraces of abject indigence. Her bed of death is formed of one of the\nnarrow wooden shelves which run in tiers all round the small apartment as\na substitute for bedsteads, the highest reached by a ladder. Adjoining\nthis common dormitory is the chapel, and as the one serves as a passage\nto the other, she is perpetually disturbed by the noise of the heavy\nwooden shoes, which since the conflagration, the whole family have been\nobliged to adopt for want of leather. Her wearying cough is irritated by\nthe constant smoke of the ill-contrived chimney; her oppressed breathing\nadditionally impeded by the closeness of the overcrowded room; her rest\ninterrupted by the voices of the pupils, the ringing of the bells, the\nchanting of the Office, and the various other sounds inevitable under\nexisting circumstances. Far from murmuring, she will assure us that she\nis amused rather than inconvenienced by these unwanted surroundings of a\nsick room, and that she considers herself specially favoured in the\nopportunity which her position affords of assisting at the holy Mass,\njoining in the Office, hearing the sermons, and thus in some manner\nkeeping up to the end the observances of common life.\n\nFor her final and more entire purification from the dross of earth, her\nall-merciful Father permitted that she should be afflicted with\ndesolation of soul, such as with all her experience of it, she had never\nknown before. To interior anguish was added the intensity of bodily pain,\nyet in her sharpest pangs, even when the surgeon's knife gashed her\nflesh, piercing to the bone, no sound betrayed her agonies, save once, a\ngentle invocation of the name of Jesus: for this impulse of nature as she\nconsidered it, she reproached herself as for a want of patience, and\nbegged pardon as if it were a cause of disedification. Her sufferings\nreached their height in Holy week, and this coincidence she looked on as\na particular privilege, thanking our Lord for thus associating her to His\ncross. To her visitors, she spoke only of the happiness of heaven, the\nriches of religious poverty, and the fidelity with which those who have\nembraced it, should cling to it for ever. \"Tell all our friends in\nFrance,\" she said to her Sisters, \"that I rejoice in death at having left\nthem for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and assure them that I feel\nmyself infinitely privileged in having been called to this savage land.\"\nOur Lord did not permit His faithful servant to die in utter bereavement\nof spirit. For the three days before her end, she enjoyed a foretaste of\nparadise; her interior pains vanished; her physical tortures were\nalleviated. \"I know,\" she said to her director, Father Lalemant, \"that\nour good God has promised a hundred-fold in this world, and eternal bliss\nin the next to those who renounce all things for His love. As to the\nhundred-fold, I have had it; eternal happiness I hope through His\ninfinite mercy soon to enjoy.\" She renewed her vows, asked pardon of the\nassistants, and returned thanks to the Rev. Father Ragueneau, Superior of\nthe Missions, for his charity to their community especially since the\nconflagration. She also expressed her gratitude to the physician, for\nwhom she promised to pray in heaven, and most of all to the Mother of the\nIncarnation, who had watched and tended her night and day with untiring\ncare and love. She retained perfect consciousness during her long agony\nof twenty-four hours, and about eight o'clock on the evening of the\nThursday in Easter week, April the 4th, 1652, her happy soul returned to\nthe God who all through life had been the only Object of her love. The\nMother of the Incarnation remarks, that the beauty of her countenance\nafter death, appeared to her Sisters like a reflection of the glory of\nwhich she was already in possession; while the heavenly peace and unction\nwhich at the same time filled their own hearts, seemed to say, that over\nthose remains no tears should be shed, but tears of holy joy and\ngratitude. The impulse of each was to invoke her intercession, of which\nall very quickly experienced the power and efficacy. She was but thirty-\nsix years of age, yet considering the frailty of her health, the wonder\nwas that she had been able so long to resist the rigour of the climate\nand the privations attending the foundation of the monastery. Her remains\nwere followed by the whole population both French and Indian, to their\ntemporary resting-place in the garden of the convent, whence twelve years\nlater they were transferred to the vault in the new church, which by that\ntime was ready to receive the precious and venerated deposit.\n\nAs a mark of their respect and affection, the Hurons residing on the Isle\nof Orleans had a solemn service celebrated for her on the morning, of her\ninterment. The tradition of Quebec speaks touchingly of the gratitude of\nthese poor children of the wilderness towards their dear Mother St.\nJoseph, recording that they continually came to inquire for her in her\nillness, and brought her presents of every thing delicate which they\ncould procure by the chase. \"Here, Mother,\" they would say to the Mother\nof the Incarnation, \"give these birds to Mary the holy virgin, that she\nmay eat, and live to instruct us again.\"\n\nThe Almighty was pleased quickly to reveal the glory of His servant, as\nmany trustworthy witnesses bore evidence. Among the first of these was a\nlay Sister at Tours, named Elizabeth, from whom Mother St Joseph had\nreceived maternal care in her childhood. Almost at the hour of her\ndecease, the Mother appeared to this Sister, bidding her prepare for the\ngreat journey to eternity, on which she would soon be called to enter.\nWithout the loss of a moment, the Sister informed the Superior that the\nMother St. Joseph was dead, and had come to forewarn her of her own\napproaching end. In effect, she was summoned away in a few days, and\nlater accounts from Canada fully corroborated the truth of the Sister's\nvision.\n\nThe Rev. Father Paul Ragueneau, Superior of the Missions at Quebec,\ntestifies that about an hour after her venerated remains had been laid in\nthe grave, Mother St. Joseph appeared in vision to a person bound on some\nerrand of charity. Her air, he says, was full of majesty; her countenance\nresplendent with glory; rays of light seemed to pass from her eyes to his\nheart, as if she would thus have shown her desire to impart a share of\nher happiness to him. The effect of the vision was to fill his soul with\nDivine love and heavenly consolation in such abundance, that he felt as\nif without supernatural support, he must have died. On his return from\nhis journey of charity, the Mother appeared to him again in the same\nglory as before, and revealed to him admirable secrets, which the Mother\nof the Incarnation who records the above fact, has not seen fit to\ndisclose. Of the veracity of this witness also, there can be no doubt.\n\nThe same person having the next day to cross the frozen river, and not\nknowing that the ice was too thin to bear his weight, walked on for some\ndistance unconscious of danger. Suddenly he heard a warning voice bidding\nhim stop; then he looked round only to see himself surrounded on all\nsides by water. The slight sheet of ice on which he stood, had no depth\nor solidity; it was a mere superficial crust floating on the surface of\nthe terrible abyss. In an agony of terror, he recommended himself to the\ncare of her who had arrested him on the way to destruction, then retraced\nhis steps, and on reaching the river bank, perceived that he had actually\nwalked for a considerable distance on water, as if it had been dry land.\nHis first act was to relate the wonder to the Mother of the Incarnation,\nassuring her that he attributed his marvellous escape to the charity of\nMother St. Joseph.\n\nThe love which this good Mother while on earth had shown for her\nneighbour, was assuredly not diminished in heaven, where charity is made\nperfect. That it survived the grave, was manifested in at least one\nsingular instance, which occurred some years after the present date of\nour history. Among the captives whom Governor Tracy compelled the\nIroquois to set free in 1666, was a young French girl named Anne\nBaillargeon, who had been made prisoner at the age of nine. So\nnaturalized had she become to life in the woods, that when her companions\nin misfortune were about to return to their families she refused to\naccompany them, and lest she should be constrained to do so, she\nconcealed herself in the forest at the moment of their departure. Just as\nshe was exulting at the supposed success of her stratagem, a lady wearing\nthe religious dress suddenly stood before her, and in a tone which\nadmitted of no reply, commanded her to rejoin the French, threatening her\nat the same time with punishment if she hesitated. Having no other\nalternative, she reluctantly obeyed. When she arrived in Quebec, the\nGovernor confided her to the care of the Ursulines. The moment she\nentered the house and saw the portrait of Mother St. Joseph, she\nexclaimed, \"Ah, there she is! There is the person who spoke to me in the\nwoods, even the dress is exactly the same.\" The exclamation convinced the\nwitnesses of the strange scene that it was indeed Mother St. Joseph who\nhad acted the part of guardian angel to the truant, and conducted her to\nthe haven of safety.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHREATENED INVASION OF THE IROQUOIS.--HEROES OF VILLE MARIE.\n\n\nIn eighteen months after the destruction of the first monastery, the\nUrsulines were enabled to re-open schools for the French, and a seminary\nfor the Indians, and so great was the increase of applicants for\nadmission, especially to the latter, that the Mother of the Incarnation\ntells us she was obliged to her great regret to refuse many, who went\naway with tears in their eyes, leaving her, as she beautifully expresses\nit, with tears in her heart. The children who could not be accommodated\nin the school, were taught in the parlour, and a little later, bark\ncabins were again constructed in the neighbourhood of the old ash tree\nfor the reception of the Huron girls, eighty of whom at a time might\ndaily be seen receiving not only spiritual instruction, but also a\nplentiful meal of the never-failing Indian meal porridge. The seminarists\nresumed possession of the now vacant house of Madame de la Peltrie.\n\nThe progress of God's work was partially checked about this time by the\ngrowing passion of the Indians for intoxicating drinks, and their\nincreased facility for procuring them. The sad example of the parents was\nbeginning to react on the children, and when the religious attempted to\nremonstrate with such of these as came only for occasional instruction,\nthe refractory young ones took to flight \"It is their nature,\" the Mother\nof the Incarnation says, \"to be easily led away by bad example, unless\nthoroughly confirmed in habits of virtue.\" The awful calamities which we\nshall meet later, led to a much-needed reformation. Among the resident\nIndian pupils, happily removed from the contagion of evil example, the\nlabours of the zealous Mothers continued as ever to produce abundant\nfruit. Of the large number instructed by the Ursulines, it is true that\nonly a comparatively small proportion were formed to European habits. \"A\nFrenchman would more easily become a savage,\" remarks the Mother of the\nIncarnation, \"than a savage a Frenchman.\" None of the Canadian tribes\never advanced beyond a sort of semi-civilization, and almost all passed\naway without attaining even this. But they made good Christians none the\nless--perhaps all the more--for if life in the woods debarred them from\nthe advantages of civilized society, it secured them also from the\ndangers of its corrupting influence.\n\nAmong the contrasts which the seminary of this period presented were a\nwidow advanced in years, and a little child only seven. Genevi\u00e8ve, the\nwidow, was an Algonquin by birth, and though certainly not a candidate\nfor school, she had so effectually worked on the charity of the Mothers,\nthat they found it impossible to refuse her request for admittance. Her\nfervour was most remarkable. She followed the nuns to every choir\nobservance of the day, spending the time in reciting  rosary after rosary\nfor various, intentions, among others, the conversion of the Algonquins.\nShe was never tired of praying, or of listening to instructions on the\nmysteries of our holy faith. She was especially delighted with the choir\nceremonies, of which she asked minute explanations, giving it as her\nopinion that they must be representations of what the angels and saints\nare doing in heaven. Her life-long grief was that her children had died\nwithout baptism. In the end, she left Quebec for Three Rivers, where an\nopportunity offered of doing practical good among the female converts of\nher own nation. Her little contemporary went to join the angels, and pray\nfor her benefactresses in heaven. \"Catherine is going to see Jesus and\nher Mother Mary,\" she would smilingly say to her companions when they\ncame to visit her; \"she is very happy, and she will pray for you.\" And so\nshe was inconceivably happy to die in the house of Jesus and Mary, and in\nthe arms of Madame de la Peltrie, who watched her with a mother's love,\nand charged her with many a message for the angels, those especially of\nthe Mothers and the Indians. Her sufferings were very great, but her\npatience was equal to them. After death, she was attired in white and\nlaid in the church, where the savages came in crowds to pray around her\nbier. She was the last pupil to whom the venerated Foundress rendered the\nfinal services.\n\nNo Bishop had yet been appointed to govern the Church of Canada, ardently\nas it desired, and frequently as it had implored the blessing. At last,\nin 1659, the privilege was granted, to the universal joy of the colony.\nThe first ruler of the infant Church was Monseigneur de Laval, who bore\nat first the title of Vicar Apostolic only. Of him it may, in truth, be\nsaid, that he was a man according to God's own heart, insensible to human\nrespect, indefatigable in labour, detached from the world, dead to self,\npoor in spirit, a model of humility, and a consoling angel of charity.\nOne of his first acts on the day of landing was to stand sponsor for a\nHuron infant; another, to administer the last sacred rites to a dying\nyouth of the same nation. This was a worthy commencement of an episcopate\ndestined to prove so fruitful in works of holiness and of general\nutility. The arrival of a vessel infected with fever, soon afforded him\nample opportunity of signalizing his love for his neighbour. Of the two\nhundred persons whom it contained, nearly all had been attacked by the\nmalady; eight had died on the passage; many more had been carried off\nafter landing. The contagion spread through the town, and the hospital\nwas quickly filled. The good Pastor was at all times to be found in the\nmidst of his suffering people, ministering not only to their spiritual,\nbut even to their corporal necessities. He who could trace his pedigree\nthrough a line of ancestors of the noble house of Montmorency, deemed it\nnot a degradation, but an honour, to make the beds of the poor patients\nin the plague-stricken hospital at Quebec. No argument could induce him\nto think of his own safety, for he had learned from the lessons and the\nexample of his Divine Master, that the good shepherd must be ready to lay\ndown his life, if needful, for his flock. In his establishment, and in\nhis personal habits, he was a model of evangelical poverty, but where the\nrights of the Church and the dignity of his charge were concerned, he\nunderstood perfectly how to maintain both, and his desire and aim were\never to surround the ceremonial of religion with all the pomp and majesty\nattainable in a country only as yet in its infancy.\n\nThe late panic had scarcely subsided, when it was succeeded by another\nyet more terrible. In the spring of 1660, the inhabitants of the town\nwere one day dispersed through the adjoining fields, peacefully engaged\nin agricultural pursuits, when suddenly the thrilling news arrived that\ntwelve hundred Iroquois had assembled in the neighbourhood of Montreal,\nwith the intention of utterly annihilating the colony. Their plan, it was\nsaid, was to begin with the capital, as the residence of the Governor,\nfor they argued that the head once destroyed, the members would soon\nfollow. It would be vain to attempt a description of the universal\nconsternation occasioned by this intelligence. The first impulse of the\ntrembling people was to try to propitiate heaven by public prayer;\naccordingly, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, and devotions in honour\nof the Blessed Virgin were commenced. The Bishop, alarmed for the safety\nof the Nuns, removed the two communities from their own homes to lodgings\nnear the Jesuits. The remaining inhabitants either fortified their\ndwellings or abandoned them for others more securely located. Meantime\nthe monastery was placed in a state of siege; redoubts were raised; the\nwindows walled half-way, and well supplied with loop-holes. Every\naperture was carefully closed, and no entrance to the monastery left open\nexcept one narrow door, through which only a single person could pass at\na time. Twenty-four men were placed on guard in the house, and, more\nformidable to the enemy than any soldiers, twelve enormous dogs were\nstationed on the outside. Woe to the Iroquois who should glide serpent-\nlike through the tall grass, or lie in ambush in the shade of the\nbrushwood! The sagacious animals would quickly detect his place of\nconcealment, fly at him in a bound, and tear him to pieces without\nceremony, a fact so well known to the hostile savages, that they feared\nthe dogs of the French more than their warriors or their cannon.\n\nUndismayed by the danger, the Mother of the Incarnation obtained\npermission to remain in the monastery with three other Sisters, to\nprevent disorder and see that the soldiers wanted for nothing. The first\nnight passed over in safety, but to the inhabitants in general, it was\none of mortal agony. The next morning after Mass, seeing that all was\nquiet, the Ursulines and their pupils returned to the convent. In the\nevening, they again sought their refuge of the night before, and so\nthings went on for some weeks. It was a time of cruel suspense. Every\nsound was transformed by over-heated imagination into a signal of attack;\nevery shadow into the form of some stealthy Iroquois; every breath of the\nnight breeze into the echo of an enemy's approaching step. The vast,\nsilent solitudes surrounding the town in every direction, the wild aspect\nof the unreclaimed land, the gloomy appearance of the thickly wooded\nforest seemingly formed expressly to conceal a foe, all combined to\nimpress the mind with that painful suspicion of unseen danger, which to\nmany is more torturing than actual peril. Through all the agitation and\nalarm, the Mother of the Incarnation retained her accustomed self-\npossession, and by the calmness of her demeanour, encouraged the timid\nand desponding. During the five weeks' general excitement, she says that\nshe experienced no fear, though she owns that she endured extreme\nfatigue. Sleep, either by day or night, was indeed a stranger to Quebec\nfor the whole of that most trying period. As time passed on, and no enemy\nappeared, courage began to revive, but the dream of hope was soon\ndispelled. Once more the people were startled by the dread announcement,\n\"The Iroquois are coming! They are close at hand!\" While the imminence of\nthe danger froze the life-blood in many a heart, it seemed, however, only\nto nerve the arms of the defenders of the town. In a half-an-hour every\nman was at his post, prepared to defend it to the last, and surrender it\nonly with life. Some were even heard to wish in their enthusiasm, that\nthe alarm might this time prove well founded. Notwithstanding the panic,\nconfidence in God's providence had not deserted the inhabitants.\n\"Mother,\" said one of the workmen to the Mother of the Incarnation, \"do\nnot imagine that the Almighty will permit the enemy to surprise us. No;\nHe will hear the powerful prayers of the Blessed Virgin on our behalf,\nand send some friendly Huron to put us on our guard in time. The Mother\nof God has never refused us this favour, nor will she now.\" The very next\nday proved the accuracy of the prediction. Two Huron prisoners who had\nmiraculously escaped from the hands of the Iroquois, brought the almost\nincredible news that the enemy had precipitately retreated, humbled and\nconfounded at the unexpected resistance which they had encountered. It\nwas indeed true that the colony was saved, but equally so, that its\nSafety had been dearly purchased.\n\nThe continual ravages of the Iroquois had hitherto been a standing\nobstacle to the progress of the young nation. Wherever they appeared,\nutter devastation followed, and as no precaution could prevent, and no\nforesight anticipate their incursions, life itself was felt by the\ninhabitants to hang merely on a thread. At length, sixteen of the\ncolonists headed by an officer named Daulac, [Footnote: Sometimes written\nDolard, and Daulard.] resolved to confront the long dreaded foe, and\nconquer or die in the cause of faith and country, The determination was a\nbold one, and it was carried out with an unflinching spirit. Before\nsetting out on their expedition, the Christian warriors approached the\nsacraments, and in presence of the holy altar promised never to\nsurrender, and never to desert each other. They took leave of their\nfriends as if assured of not meeting them on earth again, and having been\njoined by forty Hurons and six Algonquins with their respective Chiefs,\nthey intrenched themselves on the first of May behind a half-ruined\npalisade at Saut-des-Chaudi\u00e8res, on the Ottawa river. There for eight\ndays they resisted an army of seven hundred Iroquois, enduring meantime\nthe aggravating tortures of hunger, want of sleep, and worst of all,\nconsuming thirst. Through, the loop-holes of their little fort, they\nfired with unerring precision at the Iroquois, decimating them rapidly,\nwhile sustaining but trifling loss themselves. Even after the defection\nof twenty-four of the Hurons who were lured over to the enemy by\ndeceitful promises, the small garrison still counted thirty-five\nundaunted hearts, and but for a sad accident, might have maintained its\nground much longer. When the Iroquois bad advanced sufficiently near the\nfort to render the attempt practicable, Daulac determined to attach a\nfuse to a barrel of gunpowder, and fling it into the midst of them.\nUnfortunately the missile caught in a branch, and was thrown back into\nthe fort, exploding with disastrous consequences to the besieged. The\nsavages taking advantage of the confusion, forced their way into the\nfort;--one more desperate struggle,--then all was over. Only four\nFrenchmen and four Hurons fell alive into the bands of the Iroquois, who,\nterrified at a victory which had cost them so dearly, returned to their\nvillages as fast as possible, not daring to carry out the projected\ninvasion of a country of heroes such as these. Of the prisoners, some\nwere put to a cruel death; two of the Hurons escaped as we have noticed,\nand were the first to bring to Quebec and Montreal the news of the death\nof Daulac and his brave companions.\n\nIn 1663, on his return from his first voyage to France, Monseigneur de\nLaval founded the seminary of Quebec, which he named the Holy Family of\nthe Foreign Missions. Like all great works, the beginnings of the\ninstitution were small, yet it was destined to exercise a vast and\nsalutary influence over Canada, and at a later day to acquire wide renown\nas the famed Laval University.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTRADE IN INTOXICATING DRINKS.--AWFUL VISITATION OF DIVINE ANGER.--\nREPENTANCE.--NEW ERA OF PROSPERITY.--THE MARQUIS OF TRACY VICEROY.\n\n\nIf association with Europeans had been in some respects a blessing to the\nIndians, it must be owned that in others it had proved very much the\nreverse. Among the numerous emigrants to Canada, were necessarily a large\nproportion of self-interested fortune seekers, who in order to secure a\nlucrative traffic with the natives, availed largely of their well-known\npropensity for strong drinks. The severest regulations, and the utmost\nvigilance of the authorities, though successful for a time, were\npowerless to repress the destructive trade permanently. After a short\ninterruption, it was renewed, now clandestinely, now more openly, but as\nit seemed irrepressibly.\n\nThe savage in a state of intoxication becomes an ungovernable maniac, who\nin the violence of his fury will rush into any excess and commit any\ncrime. At the epoch which our history has now reached, the terrible vice\nthreatened to demoralize the entire country, and to destroy the fruit of\nall the efforts made to convert the savages. Writing to her son on the\nsubject, the Mother of the Incarnation says, \"We have at present to\ncontend with an evil far more calamitous in its results, than even the\nhostility of the Iroquois. It is unhappily but too true, that this\ncountry now harbours Frenchmen, who for their own selfish ends\ndeliberately risk the spiritual ruin of the Indians, giving them in\nexchange for their beaver skins, those intoxicating liquors which are the\nabsolute destruction of men, women, and even children.\" \"To satisfy this\ninsane craving for drink,\" Father Lalemant adds, \"the savage will reduce\nhimself to beggary; nay, will sell his own children. My ink is not dark\nenough,\" he continues, \"to describe in their true colours, the calamities\nthus entailed on this infant church; the gall of the dragon would be more\nappropriate for the purpose. Suffice it to say, that in one month, we\nlose the fruit of our labours of ten or twenty years.\"\n\nAfter every means of persuasion had been exhausted, a sentence of\nexcommunication was at last pronounced against all who persevered in\ntrading in the prohibited article, but not even the thunders of the\nChurch could intimidate the hardened transgressors, and so the evil\ncontinued undiminished. Profoundly afflicted at so daring an insult to\nthe Most High, and so fatal an interruption to the work of grace among\nthe Indians, all the servants of God in Canada united in earnest prayer\nfor the repentance of the sinful, but from no heart did the petition for\nmercy ascend more fervently or more continuously, than from that of the\nMother of the Incarnation, who not content with simply imploring the\nconversion of the people, offered herself as a victim for their\ntransgressions, consenting to assume the responsibility of their crimes,\nand to endure the punishment which they merited. The prayer of charity\nwas heard, but if the Almighty condescended to arouse His people to a\nsense of their iniquity, it was not without a very awful manifestation of\nHis power.\n\nDuring the autumn of 1662, such extraordinary signs had from time to time\nbeen seen in the air, that the more thoughtful were impressed with a\nvague fear of impending calamities, while even the least serious were not\naltogether unmoved. These horrors, however, were but faint foreshadowings\nof those to come. The evening of Shrove Monday, February the 5th, 1663,\nwas calm and serene; no eye however keen, no ear however sensitive could\nhave detected sight or sound indicative of the approaching catastrophe.\nForgetful of past warnings, and undisturbed by present misgivings, the\nunreflecting crowd plunged into the exciting pleasures of gay carnival.\nAbout half-past five o'clock, the town was alarmed by a distant rumbling,\nsuch as might be produced by the rapid passage of a number of carriages\nover a stone pavement. This unnatural sound was followed by another, and\na louder, which seemed to combine the crackling of flames, the rattling\nof hailstones, the muttering of thunder and the dashing of the waves on\nthe sea shore. Clouds of thick dust obscured the air; the earth trembled,\nrose, fell, undulated like the billows of the ocean, and burst open in\ninnumerable places. The trees of the old forest swayed back and forwards\nlike reeds in a hurricane, and were uprooted by hundreds. Entire forests\nwere in some instances swallowed by the yawning abyss, so that only the\ntops of a few trees could be seen. Mountains were torn from their beds;\nrocks were rent, and enormous blocks of stone rolled into the valleys,\ncrushing all before them. The houses were shaken to the foundation, and\ntottered as though they would have fallen; the walls were split asunder,\nthe floors gave way, the doors opened or closed violently, without being\ntouched. The church bells, set in motion by the swaying of the belfries,\ntolled mournfully to the accompaniment of the wild cries of terrified\nanimals and the shrill screams of equally frightened children. The\nconvulsion of the water was not less fearful than that of the land. The\nice, five or six feet in depth, burst with a crash like the roar of\ncannon; huge blocks were shot up into the air, and fell again to the\nearth, shivered into powder, while from the openings, clouds of smoke or\njets of mud and sand were projected to a great height. The fish darted in\nterror from the turbulent waters, and it was noticed that one species,\nabandoning its usual haunts, made its way to a lake where it had never\nbeen seen before. The springs were either choked, or impregnated with\nsulphur. The waters of some of the rivers became red, others yellow; the\nSt. Lawrence as far as Tadoussac appeared white.\n\nStunned by the suddenness of the calamity, and utterly unable to\ncomprehend it, some thought that a fire had broken out, and ran for help;\nothers that the Indians had made an incursion, and flew to arms, but soon\nthe momentarily increasing violence of the shocks led to the universal\nconclusion that the end of the world had come. The consternation both of\nFrench and Indians can hardly be imagined. The general impulse was to\nhasten to the churches, and prepare to appear before the judgment seat of\nGod, and truly wonderful were the conversions which ensued: a missioner\nafterwards told the Mother of the Incarnation, that he had himself heard\neight hundred general confessions at that period of panic. After a half-\nan-hour, the oscillations of the earth became fainter, without however\nwholly ceasing, but about eight o'clock there was a second shock so\nsevere, that the Sisters who were at the time standing in their stalls\nchanting the Office, were all thrown to the ground. The earthquake\ncontinued at intervals for a full year, the first five months in its\noriginal force, the remainder of the period with less violence. Sometimes\nthe motion of the earth was like the pitching of a large vessel dragging\nheavily at its anchors; at others, it was hurried and irregular, creating\nsudden, and occasionally very violent jerks, but in general it was merely\ntremulous. During all that time, men lived in constant dread of immediate\ndeath, and actually withered away from fear. The Lent was spent by the\nSisters in redoubled austerities, and increasing prayers to appease the\nanger of God. \"Every evening,\" the Mother of the Incarnation wrote to her\nson, \"we disposed ourselves to be engulphed in the yawning earth before\nmorning, and when a new day dawned, we prepared to stand in God's\npresence before its close.\"\n\nAfter the fearful convulsion of nature had at last ceased, its terrible\ntraces were but too distinctly visible over the entire country. In some\nparts, mountains had disappeared, swallowed by the gaping earth, or\nprecipitated into adjacent rivers, leaving vast chasms in the places\nwhich they had occupied; in others, new ones had suddenly arisen. Lakes\nwere to be seen in localities previously occupied by forests. A new\nisland had sprung up in the St. Lawrence; volcanic craters had burst\nopen; some rivers had been turned from, their course, others totally\nlost. A rocky mountainous district of three hundred miles in extent, had\nbeen levelled as if some mighty harrow had passed over it. The earthquake\nseems to have extended more than six hundred miles in length, and about\nthree hundred in breadth; thus one hundred and eighty thousand square\nmiles of land were convulsed at the same moment. A most singular\ncircumstance connected with the awful visitation is, that not a single\nindividual perished, or was even slightly injured.\n\nAt last, Almighty wrath was appeased; salutary fear of the Divine\njudgments had done its work, and so the avenging angel was permitted to\nsheathe his fiery sword. The restored serenity of nature seemed\nemblematic of the recovered peace of the people, who, in their\nreconciliation with God, and their resolution of amendment, had adopted\nthe most effectual security against a repetition of the late disasters.\nTheir return to duty seemed the signal of a new era of benediction.\n\nIn 1663, the Marquis of Tracy was nominated Viceroy, and as no\narrangement could possibly have been more advantageous to Canada at that\nparticular crisis, the news of his appointment was received with an\nenthusiasm equalled only by that which at a later period greeted his\narrival. He had for many years occupied a very high position in the\nFrench army, and had been equally distinguished through life for courage\nin danger, and prudence in negotiation. His commission obliging him in\nthe first place to re-establish the authority of France in Cayenne, which\nhad leagued with the Dutch, and then, to restore order in the French\nAntilles, he did not land at Quebec until the 30th of June, 1665. If he\nhad chosen the season expressly with a view to first favourable\nimpressions, the selection could not have been more judicious. Nature was\nthen looking her loveliest. On the old time-honoured rock stood the\nlittle capital, in the first flush of its youth, like clinging childhood\nbeside protecting age. Scattered over the height were the houses of the\nFrench, intermingled with religious edifices of sufficiently imposing\nappearance, the whole crowned by the romantically-situated Castle of St.\nLouis. Here and there a solitary Indian wigwam nestled among the trees;\nthe glorious river, flashed and sparkled in the morning light; the grand\nold woods towered in the background, looking like links between the past,\nwith its solemn memories, and the present, with its hopes so bright and\nfair. With all its variety of picturesque contrasts, Quebec must\ncertainly have presented a striking scene on that lovely summer's day\nwhen the Marquis of Tracy saw it for the first time.\n\nCharmed with the country, and profoundly interested in the inhabitants,\nhe entered on his functions with an ardour and energy which augured well\nfor his success. His sole ambition from the very first was to promote the\nhappiness of the people over whom he was called to rule, and whom he\nloved with the tenderness of a father. The poorest savages were as much\nthe objects of his paternal solicitude, as the highest dignitaries among\nthe French. He listened to their harangues with the kindest interest, and\naccepted their little presents with the most amiable condescension. The\nKing had assigned four companies of the regiment of Carignan for his\nbodyguard, and, to the colonists unaccustomed to the sight of regular\ntroops, they formed a splendid spectacle. As to the Indians, they had\nnever even imagined anything so grand.\n\nOne of the first objects of the Viceroy was the effectual repression of\nthe audacious Iroquois, who, though sorely humbled by the glorious feat\nof the heroes of Ville Marie, continued to disturb the colony to the\nutmost extent of their power, and still proved an insuperable obstacle to\nits steady progress. The. harvest could not be gathered in safety; life\nwas yet insecure, and there were times of particular alarm, when the more\ntimid entertained serious notions of returning permanently to France.\nThere was, however, strong reason to hope that as consternation had once\nbeen created in the ranks of the savages by a mere handful of resolute\nchampions, they would now be thoroughly and effectually intimidated by a\nforce comprising not only all the brave spirits of the colony, but also\nthe brilliant guard of the Marquis of Tracy. A resolution was accordingly\ntaken to proceed from defensive to aggressive measures, and attack the\nenemy in the heart of his own territory. The expedition was unavoidably\ndelayed until September, 1666. The pious commander chose the feast of the\nExaltation of the Holy Cross for the day of its departure, and the brave\nwarriors secured the protection of the God of Armies by approaching the\nHoly Sacraments. Although advanced in years, the Viceroy would take the\npersonal direction of his troops in this most perilous and arduous\njourney of four hundred and fifty miles, carrying on his shoulders, like\nthe meanest soldier, his arms, provisions, and baggage. The savages were\npanic-stricken at the sight of so large an army; the brilliant uniforms,\nthe colours, the martial music, above all the rolling of the drums,\ninspired them with such extreme terror that they fled without striking a\nblow. Their four large villages at once fell a prey to the invaders, who\nreduced them to ashes, in order to compel the owners to sue for peace.\nThe enormous quantity of Indian meal found in these hamlets would have\nsufficed to support the colony for two years if it could have been\nremoved. Besides abundance of provisions, the cabins contained a variety\nof articles of furniture scarcely to have been looked for, in the huts of\nsavages. The next day, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered on the\nspot in thanksgiving for the bloodless victory, the ceremonial closing by\na solemn, _Te Deum_. From the departure of the army until the news\nof its triumph, the Forty Hours' prayer had been continued without\nintermission at the Ursuline monastery, and in private families as well\nas in the public churches, unceasing supplications had been offered to\nGod for the success of the French arms. Dreading the annihilation of\ntheir tribe, the Iroquois were only too happy to sue for peace, and\nwillingly gave up several of their families as hostages. [Footnote: The\nrestoration of Anne Baillargeon, already noticed in our little sketch of\nMother St. Joseph, belongs to this period.] At their own request, three\nJesuits were sent to reside among them, and then each day witnessed some\nnew conversions. Their famous chief, Garakonti\u00e9, was baptized and\nconfirmed in the cathedral of Quebec by Monseigneur Laval, whom he humbly\nthanked after the ceremony for having opened to him the doors of the\nChurch and of Paradise. Finding the surroundings of their pagan homes a\ngreat obstacle to the practice of their holy faith, the new Christians\ndetermined to establish themselves among the French, where they could\nserve God in peace. To meet their wishes, the Jesuits prepared a\nresidence for them on the rich prairie of the Madeleine, situated on the\nsouth bank of the St. Lawrence, nearly opposite Montreal. The\nindispensable condition of admission was a solemn promise to avoid\nintemperance. This mission of St. Francis Xavier-du-Sault was afterwards\ncelebrated for the number and fervour of its converts, and became the\nnucleus of the Iroquois colony, destined later on to play an important\npart in the affairs of the Canadian nation.\n\nAfter having given a decided and permanent impulse to the prosperity of\nthe country, and in all respects faithfully fulfilled his mission, the\nMarquis of Tracy was honourably recalled to France, but he never lost his\ninterest in the welfare of Canada. His departure was regretted by all\nparties in the colony, and not least by the Ursulines, to whom he had\nshown himself a devoted and efficient friend. \"This young church will\nsustain an indescribable loss in him,\" wrote the Mother of the\nIncarnation. \"Had it nothing else to be grateful for, his example alone\nwas a priceless blessing. He has been seen to spend six consecutive hours\nin the church, where his very appearance was in itself a striking lesson.\nHe is truly a model of piety and virtue, and so greatly is he beloved\nthat his influence is irresistible.\" Fortunately for Canada, he left\nafter him two men thoroughly imbued with his own spirit--Monsieur de\nCourcelles, the Governor, and the celebrated Intendant, Talon, under\nwhose joint administration the country made more progress than since its\nfirst colonization. Thus it happened that from. its founder, Champlain,\nonwards, Canada had hitherto been greatly blessed in its rulers.\n\nBefore we close this chapter, we shall take a glance at Quebec as it was\nin 1670, three years after the departure of the Marquis of Tracy, when we\nshall find it much altered since we saw it first at the arrival of the\nMother of the Incarnation. Its scanty population has swelled to upwards\nof four thousand. The scattered huts which constituted the town, have\nbeen replaced by comfortable dwellings. Churches and convents have sprung\nup. Manufactures of serge and of hempen cloth have been introduced. A\nmarket, a brewery, and a tannery have been opened. The ground has been\nconsiderably cleared, and the agricultural resources of the country have\nbeen developed; three-fourths of the inhabitants can now live on the\nproduce of the land, merely at the cost of their own labour. Commercial\nrelations have been, established with France and the West Indian islands.\nThe cod fishery of Newfoundland promises to become a source of immense\nrevenue. Mines of lead, slate, and coal have been discovered near\nMontreal. Money, once so so scarce, has become abundant since the arrival\nof the Marquis of Tracy and his suite. [Footnote: It is interesting to\nrenew the glance something about two hundred years later, and note time's\nwork. The Quebec of today consists of an upper and a lower town. The\nformer, standing on that side of Cape Diamond which slopes towards the\nriver St. Charles, contains the principal public buildings, the dwellings\nof the wealthy, and the best shops; the latter, extending for two or\nthree miles on a narrow strip of land between the St. Lawrence and the\ncliffs, is densely crowded with stores, merchants' offices, warehouses\nand inns. The communication between the two is by a winding street and\nsteep flights of steps, at the top of which is a fortified gate. No scene\ncan be more imposing than Quebec and its surroundings, as it first breaks\non a traveller sailing up the river. Nothing of the city is visible until\nthe spectator has reached a line between the west coast of the Isle of\nOrleans and Point Levi, and then all the beauties of the magnificent\nscene burst suddenly on his view. The Isle of Orleans is fertile, well\ncultivated, and in the centre well wooded. Point Levi is a large,\npicturesque village, with brightly-painted cottages, and a romantic\nlittle church. From these, the eye turns to the abrupt promontory, three\nhundred and fifty feet in height, crested by the city and battlements of\nQuebec. The impregnable citadel, the dense mass of buildings, the bright\ntinned steeples o\u00a3 the churches and roofs of the houses, the fleets of\nships at the quays, the vessels on the stocks or being launched, the\nsteamers plying in every direction, the multitude of boats of every\nshape, the Indian wigwams at Point Levi, the vast rafts floating down the\nSt. Lawrence with their cargo of timber from the forests of the Ottawa;\nfarther on, the cataract of Montmorenci tumbling into the St. Lawrence\nover a ledge of rock two hundred and twenty feet in height; the houses,\nchurches and woods of Beauport and Charlesbourg; the high grounds, spire,\nand homesteads of St. Joseph; the miles of richly cultivated country,\nterminating in a ridge of mountains--all form a picture which once seen\ncan never be forgotten. The vast, grand landscape is, in fact, one of the\nmost striking in the Old World or the New.--_Chiefly from Martin's\nBritish Colonies_.] \"Merchants will now find this country a high road\nto fortune,\" says the Mother of the Incarnation, from whose letters we\nhave borrowed the above details. \"As for us,\" adds the saintly Mother,\n\"_our fortune is made_; we are the portion of Jesus Christ, and\nJesus Christ is ours; the only wealth we covet is the possession of\nHimself, and this we can secure by observing our holy rule, and\nfaithfully accomplishing His blessed will. Ask His Divine Majesty to give\nus grace to do so.\"\n\nCheering as was the Venerable Mother's account of Canada, all, however,\nwas not sunshine. At one time we hear of a fearful storm, attended by\nimmense loss of property; at another, of a pestilential fever brought to\nthe town by foreign vessels. One winter was so rigorous, that many of the\nSisters made up their minds to be frozen; a later one was, if possible,\nstill more severe. \"During the last thirty-one years,\" remarks the\nMother, \"we certainly have had time to forget the comforts of our old\nhomes in France.\" She might have added, with perfect truth, that their\ngenerous spirits were as indifferent to the privations of the new home,\nas they were detached from the luxuries of the old.\n\nIt was in the year of which we write, 1670, that Quebec was elevated to\nthe dignity of a Bishopric.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nLINGERING ILLNESS OF THE MOTHER OF THE INCARNATION.--LAST ILLNESS AND\nDEATH OF MADAME DE LA PELTRIE.\n\n\nIn 1670, the original little community of three, had multiplied to\ntwenty, but if its numbers had increased, so had its work. Once more,\nthen, it became necessary to call on France for help, and once more the\nappeal was cordially responded to by two Sisters from the convent at\nParis, and two from that of Bourges, who arrived in the spring of the\nnext year. Of the three first pillars of the edifice, one had\ndisappeared; the two remaining were, alas! soon to follow. Dom Claude\nMartin prefaces his notice of the long illness which preceded the death\nof his saintly Mother by the remark, that no cross is more holy or more\nmeritorious than that which God Himself imposes. Crosses of our own\nchoice he says, are, no doubt, agreeable to Him, when borne with love and\npatience, but there is danger that self-will may mingle with them and\ndiminish their value; and again, they are not likely to be always\njudiciously chosen. But there is nothing to fear in crosses of\nProvidence; they bear the stamp of the will of God alone; and, as He\nnever permits His creatures to be tempted beyond their strength, He\neither sends light trials suitable to their weakness, or with the,\nheavier ones, strength in proportion. Sickness being among the precious\ncrosses of Providence, it was not to be expected that the Mother of the\nIncarnation should have been exempted from it, and thus deprived of the\nopportunity of increasing her patience and fortifying her other virtues.\nAs far back as 1664, she had received her remote summons to her eternal\nhome. A complication of violent maladies then brought her apparently so\nnear death, that she received the last sacraments amidst the sighs and\ntears of her loving children. The news of her illness plunged the whole\ncity into mourning; each family felt as if it were about to lose a\nmother, and day and night heaven was besieged by one uninterrupted\nsupplication that she might be spared yet longer. Finding that remedies\nonly aggravated her excruciating sufferings, the physicians determined at\nlast to leave her in the hands of God, whose will it seemed to be that\nthe remainder of her life should be passed on the cross. That life of\ncrucifixion was destined to endure eight weary years, from the first date\nof her illness, before the dawn of the eternal day should at last dispel\nthe long night of pain and sorrow. \"I cannot shake off the effects of my\nsevere sickness,\" she wrote to Her son, \"and I still find them very\ntrying, although nature has now become familiarized with suffering. But I\nam happy under my cross, because the cross was the chosen portion of\nJesus. Viewed in the light of God, my trials are so welcome, that my only\napprehension, is lest I should constrain our Lord to chastise my\ninfidelities by removing, or at least, diminishing them. Some say that it\nis excess of work which has undermined my health, but I maintain with\nmore truth, that my illness is a precious pledge of the love of my God,\nfor which I heartily thank Him.\" She was perfectly indifferent as to the\nresult of her malady, desiring, as she said, neither life nor death, but\nonly the God of life and death. During six of these years of lingering\nmalady, she bore the weight of authority for the third time, her\nDirector, who understood the blessing of her government to the community,\nhaving opposed her request for permission to resign it. That she could\neven exist in the state of exhaustion and emaciation to which she was\nreduced, seemed a miracle, yet she fulfilled all the duties of each day\nmost punctually; she allowed herself no additional rest, rising as usual\nsummer and winter at four o'clock; she assisted at all the observances,\napplied unremittingly to the functions of her charge; wrote an amazing\nnumber of letters, and when fatigue or weakness incapacitated her from\nmore laborious business, she occupied her leisure in painting or\nembroidery, for both of which she had an exquisite taste. The fruit of\nher beautiful work in this way went to adorn altars and churches. Burning\nwith zeal for the salvation of the Indians, and wishing in a manner to\nprolong her apostolate among them after death, she devoted herself\nuntiringly to the preparation of the younger Sisters destined to succeed\nher in the charge of instructing them. In the winter mornings, she\nassembled them round her to teach them the Indian dialects, and knowing\nfrom experience the difficulty of committing the vocabularies to memory,\nshe determined to leave them as much help from manuscripts as possible.\nAccordingly, between the commencement of the Lent of 1668, and the feast\nof the following Ascension, she accomplished the writing of a large\nvolume of sacred history in Algonquin, and a dictionary and catechism in\nIroquois. The preceding year she had written a voluminous Algonquin\ndictionary.\n\nFour or five years before her end, she wrote to her son, \"When you\nreceive the news of my demise, I beg you to get as many Masses as\npossible said for me by the Reverend Fathers of your holy Congregation.\nTo all appearance, I have not, it is true, any immediate prospect of\ndeath, but at my age, the end cannot be far off. My infirmities, too, are\na perpetual warning to keep myself ever prepared to render an account of\nmy life, especially of the misuse of great graces, for which I shall\nsuffer long in the fire of Purgatory, unless powerfully succoured by the\nsuffrages of the Church. I am very fortunate in being able to calculate\non your help and that of your good Fathers, hoping that through your\nunited sacrifices I shall the sooner behold Him whom my heart and soul\nlong to bless and praise for ever. Oh! how happy shall we be when this\nhas become our sole employment! It is now forty years since by an immense\nfavour God called me to praise Him on earth, as the angels and saints\npraise Him in heaven. This favour has been the source of great and\nmagnificent graces to my soul, but there can be no doubt that, owing to\nmy imperfections and distractions, something of my own spirit has mingled\nwith those Divine praises, hence I continually say, \"Who can understand\nsin? From my secret sins, cleanse me, O Lord\" (Ps. xviii 13). I have not\nonly numerous external defects, but a vast number besides of hidden and\ninternal, for all of which I shall be rigorously punished, unless you\nobtain my pardon through the Holy Sacrifice. The purity which God\nrequires of a soul elevated to a close and constant union with his\nAdorable Majesty, is infinitely precious, and it is the high standard at\nwhich I estimate it, which renders me fearful, but underlying the fear is\na peace profound beyond words to describe. Pray that this peace may be\nsolid, because in the spiritual life, there is much false peace. I have\nboundless confidence in the adorable Blood of our Divine Saviour,\nbequeathed by Him as a rich and permanent legacy to His Church.\"\n\nBut after all, the Mother of the Incarnation was not to be the next of\nthe three foundation-stones removed to the Heavenly Jerusalem. In the\ndesigns of God, Madame de la Peltrie was to precede her; the interval\nbetween both deaths, however, was to be very short, so that the hearts\nunited in life, should not be long divided after its close. Five months\nonly before the Mother of the Incarnation, the gentle, pious Foundress\nwas called away, after a violent and short attack of pleurisy. The main\npoints of her history, both before and after her vocation to the foreign\nmission, are already known to us; the hidden virtues of her obscure life\nin Canada are less easily discerned. Humility and zeal for God's glory\nseem to have been the characteristics of her sanctity. The meanest\noffices were those for which alone she felt herself qualified, and which,\ntherefore, she was not only ever ready to embrace, but to plead for.\nDuring eighteen years, she had charge of the general clothing, and the\nonly drawback to her enjoyment of the duty was that the articles she\ncould provide were not as good as she would have wished. For herself were\nreserved the old patched garments too bad for anyone else. The last place\nin the choir and refectory was the one which she selected. She could not\nbear to be addressed as the Foundress, saying that she was a worthless\ncreature who did nothing but offend God. Never was she heard to speak of\nherself, except to depreciate her own merit. She followed the common rule\nwith regard to food and rising, except, indeed, that she often\nanticipated the hour of the latter, early as it was. Although she had\nreceived the gift of uninterrupted prayer, and could speak admirably to\nseculars who applied to her for advice, among the religious she never\ntouched on spiritual subjects, fearing to appear better than she believed\nherself to be. Frail and weakly as her health was, she practised\nausterities which would have tried persons of robust constitution,\nredoubling them whenever she heard that some particular soul was in\nunusual danger, and therefore required unusual help. Honouring our Lord\nin the indigent, she was never so pleased as when she could clothe and\nconsole the poor. Of her love for the Indian pupils, we have more than\nonce had occasion to speak, but it would be difficult to do it justice.\nShe seemed to feel that she never could do enough not only to serve, but\neven to please and gratify her dear children. It was her delight to see\nherself surrounded by them, to receive and return their caresses, to head\ntheir processions, lead them on pious pilgrimages, and even give them\nlittle excursions for amusement. The means of carrying out her projects\nof charity often failed, but the charity never, so it was often said that\nif her pecuniary resources were only as large as her heart, all the\nIndian children, and their parents too, would be well provided for.\nInseparably united in heart to Jesus in His most adorable Sacrament, she\nfound her sweetest earthly happiness in Holy Communion, and made it her\npractice to procure as many Masses as possible for the convent, assisting\nat them all with the respect and fervour of an angel. Her great devotion\nto the Blessed Sacrament inspired her with a desire to build a church\nadjoining the monastery, in which she happily succeeded. The foundation-\nstone was laid in 1656, and two years and a half later the sacred edifice\nwas completed.\n\nHer death sickness lasted but seven days, yet short as was the interval,\nit sufficed to exhibit her virtues in all their lustre. In death, even\nmore if possible than in life, she showed herself humble, affable,\npatient, obedient, mortified, united to God, and resigned to His holy\nwill. In death too, she clung with all her old love to the evangelical\npoverty which had long had irresistible charms for her, for the sake of\nHim who became poor, that we might be enriched. Seeing near her bed a few\ndelicacies which the hand of affection had provided, she had them\nimmediately removed, saying that dainties were inconsistent with poverty.\nIt would indeed have been difficult to detect anything incompatible with\npoverty in the humble room, where lay expiring the once envied heiress of\nlarge possessions. A poor bed, two straw chairs and a wooden table\nconstituted all the furniture; a picture of the Crucifixion, the only\nornament. When asked if she regretted life, she answered that the day of\nher death was more precious to her than all the years of her existence\nunited. The day which proved her last, happened to be Wednesday, a\ncoincidence which filled her heart with joy. \"Oh! how happy I should be,\"\nshe said, \"if God called me on this day, dedicated to St. Joseph!\" Every\nhour seemed to her like a year, so vehement was her desire to be\ndissolved and to be with Christ. She continually asked how soon she might\nexpect the blissful moment which would unite her to her Sovereign Good\nfor ever, and she begged the loving Sisters who surrounded her bed,\nconstantly to whisper to her the words of the Psalmist, \"I rejoiced at\nthe things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.\"\n(Ps. cxxi.1.) She gently expired at eight o'clock on the evening of\nNovember the 12th, 1671, aged sixty-eight years, thirty-two of which she\nhad passed in Canada. Her interment was attended by all persons of\nposition in the city and its environs. Considering herself unworthy to\ninhabit the monastery which she had founded, she had begged as an alms a\nlast resting-place in the vault destined for the religious. Contrary to\nher intentions, her remains were inclosed in a leaden coffin. By her own\ndirections, her heart was buried under the altar step of the Jesuits'\nChurch, that it might crumble into its original dust at the feet of the\nGod of the Tabernacle, a holocaust of His love.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nLAST ILLNESS AND HAPPY DEATH OF THE VENERABLE MOTHER MARY OF THE\nINCARNATION.\n\n\nIn the middle of the January following the death of the venerated\nFoundress, the Mother of the Incarnation relapsed into violent illness.\nHer previous symptoms re-appeared, with the addition of indescribably\npainful tumors in both sides. Unable to rest in any position, consumed\nwith fever, tortured in every nerve, not a sigh, or moan, or movement\nbetrayed her agonies, and yet, at that moment, the hand of God pressed\nheavily on her soul as well as on her body. That she might resemble Him\nto the end, her crucified Lord presented her once more with the bitter\ncup of interior dereliction which she had so often before shared with\nHim, again despoiling the inferior part of the soul of those heavenly\nconsolations which would so greatly have lightened the pressure of\nphysical suffering. \"It is hard,\" the \"Imitation of Christ\" says, \"to\nwant all comfort, human and Divine,\" but the Venerable Mother was well\nfamiliarized with the privation, of both. In the purity of her love, she\nsought only the accomplishment of the will of her God. \"With Christ I am\nnailed to the cross,\" she said in a holy transport, and none understood\nbetter than she, that it is good to be with Christ even on the cross. The\nphysicians having declared the malady hopeless on the fifth day; she\nreceived the last sacraments, made her profession of faith, and then\nasked pardon, first of the Father Superior and of her director, then of\nthe Mother Superior and community, thanking them for their charity and\nexpressing her regret at the trouble which her long illness had\noccasioned them. Hearing shortly after, that the grand-daughter of an\nAlgonquin Chief had just joined the seminary, she expressed a wish to see\nthe child, and after affectionately caressing her, she once more\nimpressively exhorted her dear Sisters ever cordially to cherish her\n\"joys,\" as she called the Indians. All the pupils, both French and\nsavage, were repeatedly brought to receive her blessing.\n\nOverwhelmed with the deepest grief, the religious redoubled their prayers\nand mortifications, beseeching that their precious Mother might be left\nto them even a little longer. She could not understand their desire to\nprolong a life which she deemed useless, but her director, Father\nLalemant, comprehending her value to the community far better than she\ndid herself, and compassionating the affliction of her children,\ncommanded her to join in their prayers for her restoration. The order\nstartled her, but at once raising her eyes and hands to heaven, she said,\n\"I think I shall die of this illness, however if God wills that I should\nlive longer, I am resigned.\" \"That is all well, Mother,\" replied the\ninexorable Father, \"but it is not enough; you must take our side of the\nquestion, and do your best to preserve yourself to the community, which\nstill has need of you.\" The direction was too explicit to admit of\nappeal; preferring obedience to sacrifice, as had even been her practice,\nshe said, almost in the words of her own St. Martin of Tours, \"My Lord\nand my God! if Thou seest that I am still necessary to this little\ncommunity, I refuse not pain or labour: may Thy will be done!\" A change\nfor the better was at once apparent, and so wonderfully rapid was the\nimprovement, that at his next visit, the physician who had pronounced her\nrecovery hopeless, declared her out of danger. She assisted at the solemn\nTe Deum which was offered in the choir in thanksgiving for her\nrestoration, and with her usual sweet affability received the\ncongratulations of her now happy daughters, as well as of her numerous\nfriends Presents of the most delicate food were sent from every quarter\nto tempt her appetite; she tried to partake of it through condescension,\nbut since the commencement of her illness eight years before, her palate\nhad retained a bitterness which imparted the flavour of gall to every\nspecies of nourishment, and necessarily created a loathing for it.\n\nHer convalescence continued during the Lent; she was able to join in the\nceremonies of Palm Sunday, and on Good Friday, to assist at the Passion\nand the Adoration of the Cross, but that evening, she felt compelled to\ntell the Mother Superior that she was suffering excessively from the\ntumors in both sides. They proved to be abscesses, which on the next day\nhad to be laid open to the bone. She bore this, and subsequent torturing\noperations as if she had been deprived of all sense of feeling. Once she\nslightly shuddered, and then she accused herself of impatience, and asked\nforgiveness. The humility, meekness, and charity always so striking in\nher seemed to have gained an increase under this new test, but it was\nbecause she had laid up an abundant store of them in the days of her\nstrength, that they did not fail in the hour of nature's weakness, when,\nabove all, is proved the truth of the maxim, that it is the moment of\ntrial which shows what we really are. When, long years before, she had\noffered herself to God as His Victim, it was with the full comprehension\nthat the title implied a life of suffering and sacrifice; now that the\nhour of immolation had come, she renewed the oblation, content to bear\nher excruciating pains to the day of judgment, if only God could be thus\nhonoured, and the salvation of souls promoted. Some of the Sisters having\nasked her to share her merits with them, she replied with a smile, \"All\nbelongs to the savages; I have no longer anything of my own.\" The holy\nCommunion, which she received every alternate day, continued to be her\nsupport in death, as it had been in life. By the end of the week, it was\napparent that her strength was declining, and her life fast passing away.\nWhen informed that all chance of recovery was at an end, her countenance\nbeamed with celestial joy, and from that moment until her last, her\nexistence was one almost uninterrupted ecstasy. Although constantly\nabsorbed in God, she replied sweetly and amiably to all who spoke to her,\nbut at the same time in as few words as possible. The Mother St.\nAthanasius, who never left her, asked if she had any commission for her\nson. She seemed affected at the question, and begged the Mother to let\nhim know that she would bear him to heaven in her heart and pray for his\nperfect sanctification. On the morning of the 30th of April, feeling that\nthe last hour was near, she wished to bid a final adieu to her dear\nlittle Indians. She blessed them with all the love of her great heart,\nand then spoke a few impressive words to them in their own language on\nthe beauty of our holy mysteries and the happiness of serving God. At\nmid-day, she entered into her agony, if that could be called an agony,\nwhere there was no struggle. Although she lost her speech and hearing, it\nwas easy to see that her soul was intimately united to God. Her trembling\nhand still tried to lift the crucifix to her lips, and when her confessor\nwould have rendered her this service, he found it so impossible to\ndisengage the beloved image from her grasp, that he had to substitute\nanother. A few minutes before six in the evening, she opened her eyes and\nlooked at her dear Sisters, as if to take a last farewell of them, then\nclosed them for ever to earth. At six o'clock, two faint sighs were\nheard,--so faint, that but for the breathless stillness of the room they\nmust have been inaudible, but the hearing of affection is acute, and\nevery heart present caught the feeble echo, and interpreted it correctly.\nDeath had come at last, but death in a form so fair, that even angels\nmight have envied it, if angels could die. In its flight to God, her pure\nsoul seemed to have left a lingering ray of glory flitting round the\ncalm, still features, which shone as if illumined with heaven's own\nlight, and almost dazzled the beholders by their seraphic beauty. All the\nSisters witnessed and attested the prodigy; tradition has faithfully\nhanded it down even to our own day, and still, as each revolving year\nbrings round the 30th of April, a solemn Te Deum resounds through the\nUrsuline Church at Quebec, as a thanksgiving to God for the exceptional\nprivileges attending the blessed death of the Mother Mary of the\nIncarnation.\n\nTo say that grief for her loss was universal, would be more than\nsuperfluous. Throughout the country, she had for many a year been known,\nconsulted, prized, revered, beloved: now that the Mother was taken from\namidst her children, no wonder that the children were lonely and that\nthey mourned their desolation. It would be impossible to describe the\nfeelings of the savages; as soon as the news of her death reached Sillery\nand Loretto, they came crowding round the monastery to pray for her whom\nthey had loved so well and with so much reason. \"Our Mother is dead !\" It\nwas all they said, and all they had to say. Sorrow like theirs was too\ndeep for words, and to show that they felt it so, they followed up the\npathetic exclamation by a gesture indicating that they would speak no\nmore. The Sisters, overcome by their child-like grief, tried to\nadminister to them the comfort of which they were themselves so much in\nneed, and then both went their respective ways to await in prayers and\ntears the sad, solemn hour which was to hide from them for ever, the\nobject of their reverence and love.\n\nFrom early dawn on the day of the interment, the convent church was\nfilled to overflowing with a reverential crowd, all eager to pay the last\nhonours to the venerated servant of God. Bishop Laval being then in\nFrance, the obsequies were performed by Monsieur de Berni\u00e8res, Vicar-\nGeneral of the diocese, Father Superior of the monastery, and nephew to\nthe kind friend of the same name who had so efficiently promoted the\nsuccess of the Ursuline foundation at Quebec. The funeral oration was\npreached by Father Lalemant, who better than any one else could do\njustice to his subject, and then the cherished and revered Mother of\nCanada was laid to her rest, in the vault destined as the place of\nsepulture of the community.\n\nUnwilling to lose all trace of her dear familiar features, the\nauthorities both civil and religious joined in requesting that while\nthere was yet time, her likeness might be secured. Accordingly, the day\nafter the interment the coffin was uncovered, and an artist sent by the\nGovernor succeeded in taking a remarkably correct one. This portrait was\nunfortunately consumed in the second conflagration of the monastery in\n1686. That which now hangs in the community room of the Ursuline convent,\nQuebec, was sent from France.\n\nThe Mother of the Incarnation was tall, and the dignity of her deportment\nwas so striking, that while she was in the world, persons were often seen\nto stand and look at her as she proceeded unconsciously through the\nstreets on her missions of devotion or charity. The gravity of her\ndemeanour was tempered by the modesty of her address, and the courteous\naffability of her manner. Her features were regular, but their chief\nattraction lay in their expression, which seemed like a revelation of the\ninvisible beauty of her soul. The irresistible sweetness of her glance\nappeared to leave a trace of heaven wherever it fell, and although her\nhabitual interior union with God communicated something of an unearthly\nair to her exterior, no one ever felt restrained or ill at ease in her\ncompany. Her constitution was strong, and thereby fitted for the life of\nunceasing labour to which God called her. She possessed mental qualities\nof a high order, had great natural abilities, and was what the world\nwould call a clever woman of business, but best of all, she was a saint.\nFrom the hour, when at seven years of age she consecrated her young soul\nto God, until that when at seventy-two, she surrendered it into His\nhands, her one sole aim had been to adorn it with every virtue, so that\nit might become ever more and more pleasing in the eyes of His Divine\nMajesty, and so well did she succeed in this her holy object, that the\nhistory of her life, is in fact the history of her virtues; in studying\nthe one, we have at the same time been making acquaintance with the\nother. Much however as we have learned of those resplendent virtues, we\nfain would pause a moment longer on them before relinquishing her sweet\ncompany, just as we love to linger over a beautiful sunset, and even\nafter the great orb has disappeared, still to watch the traces of his\ndeparting glory resting on the golden clouds.\n\nAs the virtues of the Mother of the Incarnation have passed in review\nbefore us in the course of her history, the same thought may perhaps have\noccurred to us, as to her son, Dom Claude Martin, that where all were so\nadmirable, it would be difficult to say which was the most worthy of\nspecial notice. She was raised up, we know, to glorify God both in her\nown person and in that of her neighbour; in her own, by her individual\nsanctification,--in that of her neighbour by leading many souls to\nheaven. For the fulfilment of this two-fold destiny, it is evident that\nshe had need of a deep ground-work of humility, with a vast fund of\ncharity and self-abnegation; accordingly we find her possessed of these\nvirtues in such perfection, that remarkable as she was for every other,\nwe may perhaps consider her greatest of all in these. In the exalted\ndegree of union with Himself by which the Almighty recompensed her\ngenerosity, we adore His own immense, gratuitous liberality;--in the\nheroism with which, aided by Divine grace, she died to every human\nfeeling, we admire the grandeur of her own utter detachment from self,\nand the beauty of her thoroughly spiritualized nature.\n\nHer humility, she had early established on the fundamental principles,\nthat God is all, and the creature nothing. From these two truths, as from\ntwo great fountain heads, came the one absorbing desire of her life, that\nthe All should engulph the nothing; that God should be exalted and she\nherself annihilated; hence, there was no height to which she would not\nhave soared to promote honour to God, and no depth to which she would not\nhave descended to procure her own abasement. The generosity of her\nhumility inspired her equally to undertake great things for her Divine\nMaster, when His service required them, and to remain contentedly in\ninaction when this was more agreeable to Him. Far from attaching any\nimportance to the benefits which she had conferred on the monastery, she\nlooked on herself as useless, sincerely believing that she was tolerated\nin the house of God only through charity. \"I know nothing,\" she wrote; \"I\ndo nothing in comparison with my Sisters; although I teach others, I am\nthe most ignorant of all.\" That these were no mere empty words was proved\nby her insatiable thirst for humiliation, to which her humble soul was\ndrawn by the consideration of God's greatness and her own nothingness, as\na stone to its centre by its natural weight. In reading of the success\nwhich crowned her labours, and the universal love and reverence which her\ngreat qualities inspired, we are tempted to imagine, that whatever may\nhave been her interior crosses, she must at least have been a stranger to\nthe mortifications which come to us from others. But it was not so. She\nloved humiliation in her heart of hearts, as the appropriate homage of\nthe nothing to the All, and God loved her too much to spare it, therefore\nall through life, in youth as in mature age, in Canada as in France, in\nreligion as in the world, it followed her like a shadow. \"I am destined\nfor the cross,\" she wrote to one of the Mothers at Tours; \"trials are my\nlot, and in them is my peace; help me to return thanks to Him who\nprovides for me so generously.\" She was contradicted and slighted; she\nwas suspected, misjudged and misrepresented, sometimes to test her\nvirtue, sometimes from more questionable motives, but the possibility\nthat she could he wronged or unjustly depreciated, never for a moment\nseemed to occur to her. Considering herself the last, the lowest, the\nmost sinful of God's creatures, she confessed that any amount of\nhumiliation was inadequate to her deserts, while at the same time firmly\nimpressed that the unfavourable opinions expressed of her were the\ncorrect ones, she was incapable of resentment. The Sisters who knew how\ndiscourteously she was often treated, once asked her how she bad been\nable to restrain her irritation under some particular insult; \"I have\nguarded against that,\" she replied, \"by forgetting all about it.\" \"You\nadmired our Mother's humility under her last annoyance,\" one Sister\nremarked to another; \"yet this was a trivial one compared with those to\nwhich she is accustomed; still nobody ever hears her speak of them.\"\nNevertheless she owned that the persecutions which she endured thus\nsilently, were more trying than even her terrible temptations, for that\nwhile the one caused her only personal suffering, the other checked the\nwork of God. Her imperturbable equanimity under humiliations sometimes\nled to a doubt of her having noticed them at all; she had, and that very\nclearly too, but because she loved the contempt which she believed her\ndue, she received each new evidence of it with an interior joy, and an\nexterior calmness, which deceived superficial observers. While incapable\nof taking offence herself, if she thought that she had inadvertently\ngiven even apparent cause of it to others, she never hesitated to ask\npardon in the most humble manner even of the youngest Sister. No trace of\nself-reliance or self-esteem was ever seen in her. She was always ready\nto receive the suggestions and profit of the opinions even of those far\ninferior to her in every respect. It is recorded that when, consummated\nin virtue and experience, she was nearing the end of life, a novice who\nwas at work with her, took the liberty of remarking that she was doing\nhers wrong. \"Show me, my child, how it should be done,\" the humble Mother\ngently answered, and while the novice had the simplicity to teach her\nmistress, the mistress had the humility to take the directions, although\nshe knew them to be incorrect, saying that it matters little whether a\npiece of work be done in one way or in another, but very much that we\npractise child-like humility, so as to deserve a place among the little\nones of whom our Lord declared is the kingdom of heaven. Sinking ever\nlower and deeper into her nothingness, she found there a resting-place\nfor her soul, a security against illusion, a safeguard for her virtue,\nand an antidote for self-complacent thoughts, if by a rare chance,\nimagination ever suggested one.\n\nThe extraordinary graces with which God favoured her, far from exalting,\nserved only to lower her in her own estimation. She fully recognised the\nmagnificence of those graces, but wholly separating the great Giver from\nthe lowly recipient, she viewed them in Him, not in herself; they were\nHis always, hers never, and provided they redounded to His glory, she\nasked no more. \"I am overwhelmed with astonishment,\" she writes, \"that a\nGod who is loved purely by myriads of millions of souls, should cast His\neyes on me, the last of His creatures, and condescend to grant me a share\nin His love.\" And again, \"If a soul is beautiful, good, or holy, it is\nwith the beauty, the goodness and the holiness of God. Knowing that these\nattributes belong wholly to Him, she desires that He alone should have\nthe honour of them, wishing no honour or praise for herself from any\ncreature. Her only fear is lest vain complacency should open the door of\nthe inner temple to the enemy, who would soon despoil her of her gifts.\"\n\"Tremble for me,\" she said to her son, \"when you hear of the favours\nwhich the Almighty has conferred on me, for He has placed His treasures\nin the very frailest of earthen vessels: the vessel may at any moment be\nbroken and the contents lost.\" This humble distrust of human weakness\nnever left her heart. \"O my great God!\" she would say, \"grant me\nhumility, and help me to serve Thee as Thou commandest, in fear and\ntrembling.\" \"I am now near my end,\" she wrote two years before her death,\n\"and I have yet done nothing worthy of a soul soon to appear before God.\nOur Lord has ever led me by the spirit of love and confidence, never by\nthat of fear, but when I consider that through the frailty of my fallen\nnature, I may at any moment lose the Divine friendship, I am seized with\ndread, and overwhelmed with humiliation. I could not exist if I retained\nthis apprehension of separation from God,--that all-good God from whom I\nhave received more graces and favours than there are grains of sand in\nthe ocean bed. But my firm confidence in His mercy dispels alarm, and\nrejecting doubts and fears, I cast myself trustingly into His arms, there\nto repose in peace.\" Her superior intelligence and eminent virtue would\nhave rendered her a very desirable acquisition to the Jansenists, who\nused their best efforts to allure her to their ranks, but her humility\nwas her safeguard, and to manifest her horror of their innovations, she\nwould not even reply to their letters.\n\nFlowing from her humility was her spirit of obedience, a virtue of which\nshe so clearly recognised the imperative necessity for all who aim at\nperfection, that she would do nothing but under its guidance. Even the\nrevelations with which God had favoured her, she never thought of acting\non, until she had submitted them to the examination of her director, and\nso persuaded was she that this course was in accordance with the\nestablished order of Providence, that she would have thought herself\ndeluded had she acted otherwise. She was perfectly free from the least\nattachment to her own lights, natural and supernatural, and never had a\ndifficulty in subjecting her conduct and judgment to the guidance of\nsuperiors; this she esteemed a most special grace. It may be remembered\nthat in the years of her servitude in her brother-in-law's house, she\nmade a vow of obedience to him and her sister. Knowing nothing of it,\nthey were lost in astonishment at her wonderful submission, which they\ncould only attribute to her affection for themselves, and consequent zeal\nfor their interests. After she entered religion, obedience was still\namong her favourite virtues; she almost flew to execute the most trivial\norder of superiors, or rather she recognised none as trivial, viewing all\nas emanating from God. In the position of Superior which she held for\neighteen years, she still found means of exercising her beloved virtue,\nand when in the intervals, she resumed her place among the Sisters, her\nsubmission to the new Superior was that of a simple child. Obedience had\nbecome so natural to her from habit, that she was a stranger even to a\nrepugnance to obey. She strongly inculcated the importance of obedience\nto spiritual direction, saying that it is the source of that true\nsimplicity which forms the saints.\n\nA soul so humble could not but be meek, and so it was notorious, that\nalthough while she was engaged in the world her business had been of a\nmost harassing kind, and that in Canada her varied duties brought her\ninto continual contact with persons of all classes and all humours, she\nwas never seen out of patience. Even when most severely pressed at the\ntime of her great interior trials by temptations to antipathy and\nirritability, the closest observer could scarcely ever have detected that\nvanquished nature had made an effort to rebel. If perchance an almost\nimperceptible reflection of her pains of soul ever passed over her\naccustomed sweetness of demeanour, she reproached herself for it as for a\nfault. After her death, when her virtues formed the favourite topic of\nconversation in her bereaved community, one who had known her for thirty\nyears, observed that \"the Mother of the Incarnation always showed the\ncourage of the lion in confronting difficulties and dangers, and the\ngentleness of the lamb in her intercourse with her neighbour.\" And this\nlatter remark applied not only to the meekness which is easily maintained\nbecause it is not tried, but much more to that which bears the test of\nsharp and continuous contradictions, and is never found to fail. A person\nwho had occasioned her very great annoyance, finally pronounced as his\nconclusive opinion, that her patience was made of iron. She was, indeed,\nso thoroughly inured to mortifications, that injuries had ceased to be\ninjuries, and enemies were enemies no more. Those who had treated her\nworst, might, for that reason, count securely on special evidences of her\nsweetness and kindness. For the sake of peace, she was ever ready to\nyield her judgment, when this could be doue without compromise of duty.\n\nIt once happened that in an important matter submitted to the decision of\nthe community, she held a different opinion from most of the Sisters.\nFinding herself in the minority, she at once yielded the point without a\nremonstrance or even a remark. A Sister who took her view of the case, a\nlittle disappointed at such ready acquiescence, observed, \"Well, Mother,\none would thank that you had made a vow to obey those people, and do just\nas they wish.\" \"No,\" replied the Mother, with her own gentle smile, \"I\nhave not vowed to obey them or consult their wishes, but I have promised\nto please God, and for His love to do all in my power to maintain peace\nwith my neighbour.\" Perfect, however, as was the meekness of the\nVenerable Mother, her firmness could equal it when occasion required, and\nnever, perhaps, were the two qualities more admirably balanced in any\ncharacter than in hers.\n\nCompassion for all in want or trouble seemed like an instinct of her\nnature. It showed itself, as we have seen, from her earliest childhood,\nand gained strength with every breath of her life. To see her fellow-\ncreatures in distress, and not make an effort to relieve them, was at all\ntimes an impossibility to her kind heart. Known in the world as the\nmother and advocate of the poor, in religion she maintained, and, if\npossible, strengthened her claim to the beautiful title. She would have\nconsidered that a lost day on which she had not exercised the works of\nmercy, so during her prolonged tenure of authority as Superior, it was\nremarked that she never passed one without giving alms of one kind or\nanother. Among the distressed French families whom she thus relieved were\npersons of respectable condition, who she knew would have shrunk from\nmanifesting their poverty, therefore she took care to spare them the\nnecessity of an appeal for charity, managing also to have her gifts\nconveyed so cautiously, that they should be unable to trace them to their\nsource, or to consider them in the light of alms. When nothing more\nremained to her for the destitute, she called on the resources of the\nrich, and when these, too, were exhausted, she had recourse to God, who\nnever failed to send her help in her emergencies.\n\nIf she was the refuge of the French in their wants, still more was she\nthe resource of the Indians, to whom her generous heart and her\nhospitable monastery were ever open. Vain would be the attempt to tell of\nall she did and all she endured to procure means of providing for them in\ntheir necessities, and helping them through their difficulties. But if\ntheir temporal welfare was a subject of deepest concern to her,\ninfinitely more lively was her zeal for their spiritual interests; to\nthese she had devoted her labours; to these she had consecrated her\nenergies and her life; for these were her first, her last, her ceaseless\nprayers. So well did she succeed in communicating her own ardour to the\nrest of the community, that from the very commencement of the house the\nSisters bound themselves to receive the Holy Communion and recite the\nRosary once every month in honour of the Immaculate Conception of the\nBlessed Virgin Mary, observing a fast on the eve of the festival, all in\norder to obtain the conversion of the savages. This beautiful devotion is\nperpetuated in the monastery to the present day.\n\nAnother practice of the first Mothers was to draw by lot the names of the\ndifferent Indian tribes, each offering her prayers, labours, and merits\nfor the conversion of that which had fallen to her. The Venerable Mother\nhad her particular nation like the rest, but her great heart embraced all\nothers at the same time, for nothing less than all could satisfy zeal\nwhich, like hers, embraced the universe. As her history has shown us, her\nwhole life in Canada was but one prolonged act of charity to the forlorn\nrace, and when that life was about to close, she bequeathed her love for\nthem to her community, as the most precious legacy she had to bestow.\n\nAs well-ordered charity begins at home, her Sisters were naturally the\nfirst objects of hers. From the commencement of her religious career, her\ndelight had been to oblige and serve them at the cost of any amount of\npersonal fatigue or inconvenience, and, when Superior, it was her\npractice to do a considerable portion of their work in addition to her\nown, thus to procure them a little more rest. That all might be enabled\nto retire sooner after their weary day, she took for her especial charge\nto remain up the last at night, and see all the fires extinguished--no\neasy task when wood was the only fuel, the huge, red-hot logs requiring\nmuch time and caution in the cooling. She has been known to leave herself\nwithout bed-clothes in the intense cold of winter nights, that she might\nadd a little to the comfort of her shivering novices, her own chilled\nframe meantime depending for warmth, as P\u00e8re Charlevoix remarks, \"only on\nthe fire of her love;\" and this was but one small instance of the\ncompassionate charity which she was ever practising.\n\nShe had peculiar tact in reconciling enemies, and a wondrous gift for\nconsoling the afflicted, especially those tried by temptations and\ninterior pains. Many were the sufferers who came to her sorrowful and\ndiscouraged, and left her presence consoled and strengthened. Once a\nperson under great trial sought her help, but experienced insuperable\ndifficulty in communicating the subject of her pains. \"Let us pray, my\nchild,\" the Mother said, \"that God may enlighten me.\" Leaning her head on\nher hand, she prayed for the space of a _Pater_ and _Ave_; then\nlooking up gently, she asked, \"What hesitation could you have had in\ntelling me such and such a thing?\"--specifying the causes of trouble.\n\"Should you not have known me better?\" Having directed the person what\ncourse to pursue, and exhorted her to courage, fidelity, and abandonment\nto God, she foretold her that her troubles were not at an end, but\nconsoled her by the assurance that they would tend to the Divine honour.\nThe wise counsels not only imparted immediate peace to the suffering\nsoul, but, moreover, helped to sustain her through the remainder of the\nconflict, which, as the event proved, was not yet over. The good Mother\nwas ever at the command of all who sought her help, ready at all times to\nlay aside her most pressing occupations the moment any one expressed a\ndesire to speak to her, giving her visitors ample opportunity of\nunburdening their minds fully, and dismissing all satisfied and consoled.\nShe could not endure to hear an unkind remark, and so perfect was her own\npractice of charity in speech, that she was never known to utter a word\nto the disadvantage of any one, even those who had treated her worst.\nSuch was the tenderness of her compassion for the erring, that, as she\nwas accustomed to say, she would have wished to hide them in her heart.\n\nShe was so easily pleased, that the charge of assisting her in her\ndifferent occupations, was quite an envied post. A Sister, who for\nseveral years had had the care of preparing her colors for her paintings,\nand her materials for gilding and similar works, declared that during all\nthat time she had never heard a word from her lips but of encouragement,\ngentleness, and affection. The kind Mother took delight in teaching her\nwhat she knew, and then, with the liveliest interest, would show the\nSister's attempts to all who entered, remarking how good they were, and\nhow sure the pupil would be to advance if she only had courage. \"How can\nyou praise such work, dear Mother?\" somebody one day asked in reference\nto another's Sister's production; \"you who are so good a judge, and,\ntherefore, must have seen its defects.\" \"It was done to the best of the\nSister's ability,\" the Mother answered, \"so it was well done for her, and\nin that sense deserving of praise.\" Although always recollected in God,\nshe liked to see her Sisters gay at recreation, and that she might be no\nrestraint on their innocent mirth, was herself invariably cheerful. The\ninstances on record of her charity to her neighbour, both before and\nafter she entered religion, are much too numerous for insertion in these\npages, but we cannot have perused her history, without discerning that\nthe beautiful spirit of fraternal love influenced her whole life,\nmanifesting itself in a ceaseless effort to relieve the wants, console\nthe sorrows, promote the temporal happiness, and, above all, advance the\nspiritual interests of all within her reach, as well as by her prayers\nand desires, of those beyond it.\n\nCharity and patience like those of the Mother Mary of the Incarnation can\nflourish only in souls whence inordinate self-love has been banished;\ndetachment from self is, in fact, their essence and their life. It was\nbecause that of the Venerable Mother was so deeply grounded, that her\nlove of her neighbour was proof against all trials. Disengagement from\nself is synonymous with sacrifice of self, and of this she was unsparing.\nFor her greater merit, and our instruction and encouragement, the\nAlmighty permitted that during several successive years she should feel\nthe revolt of her passions, and experience all that is painful to nature\nin the effort to subdue them. The perfect control over them which\nresulted in her admirable meekness and forbearance was the reward of her\nfidelity in the hour of the conflict. If her passions were brought so\nthoroughly under subjection to reason and faith, that they seemed at last\nto have lost their power, the grand conquest was the work of\nmortification. Knowing that Christ would live in her in the plenitude of\nHis Spirit, only when her natural life had been destroyed, she sought\nopportunities of self-crucifixion, as men in general seek chances of\ngratification and enjoyment. Every feeling, every faculty, every sense,\nwas fastened to the cross. To her interior mortification there was no\nlimit; to her exterior, only that imposed by obedience, and as long as\nher austerities involved no singularity, obedience imposed but little\nrestraint on them.\n\nWhile apparently leading an ordinary life, she contrived that no part of\nher frame should be without its particular suffering, managing to\ntransform into new acts of penance, the very refreshment of food and\nsleep. Her joy was in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which not\nonly the external, but also the inner world was crucified to her. At any\nmoment of her existence, as well as on her dying bed, she might have\ntruly said, \"With Christ I am nailed to the cross;\" and with equal truth\nshe might have added, \"God forbid that I should glory save in that\nprecious and well-loved cross.\"\n\nThe earnestness with which she sought the entire crucifixion of nature,\nappears in the rules which she laid down for her particular guidance\nafter having made her vow to do in all things what she believed most\nperfect. By these she bound herself to make no excuse when unjustly\naccused; to watch so carefully over mind and heart, that no complaint\nshould escape her under any provocation; never to speak a word to her own\nadvantage, and to be always ready to applaud what was commendable in\nothers; to show special sweetness to those for whom nature felt least\ninclined; to embrace with loving resignation all trials from God and from\ncreatures; to repress every emotion of self-love, and every reflection on\nsubjects calculated to arouse its sensibilities. These rules, founded on\nthe maxims of the Gospel, formed the guide of her life.\n\nHer virtues were solid, because her humility, their foundation, was\nprofound, and because her humility was profound, God exalted her to a\ndegree of purity of soul, and a consequent height of union with Himself,\nrarely attained here below. During the whole of her life in France, she\nwas accustomed, as we know, to wonderful supernatural communications, but\nfrom the time of her going to Canada, all such favours as could attract\nthe eyes of men were withdrawn, the Almighty having then intimated His\nwill that her perfection should henceforth consist in the practices of\nordinary life. But although visible extraordinary favours were suspended,\nit was not so with the invisible work of Divine grace; that went on ever\nadvancing towards its consummation. From the age of twenty, she had\npossessed the wondrous privilege of uninterrupted union with God. It was\nher habitual permanent condition; neither suffering of mind, nor\ninfirmity of health, nor pressure of business, nor weight of care could\ndivert her from it for a moment. Distractions might flit through, and\neven trouble her imagination, but they never reached the inner soul,\nwhich through all, maintained an uninterrupted view of the Divine\npresence. Her constant application to spiritual things never interfered\nwith the perfect fulfilment of her external duties, while on the other\nhand, the most dissipating exterior occupations never for one instant\ndisturbed her interior recollection. Never were the spirit of Martha and\nof Mary more admirably or more perfectly combined. If prayer is an\nelevation of the soul to God, it may be said without any exaggeration,\nthat her whole life was spent in this heavenly exercise. At the time of\nactual prayer, she appeared like a seraph of love, her very aspect\nsufficing to excite devotion in the coldest heart. This was an opinion\noften expressed by the pupils, who delighted in observing her at prayer,\nand sometimes managed even to approach near enough to kiss her feet or\nher habit unperceived. It is not given to us to speak of the sublimity of\nher prayer, especially towards the end of life. As it became more and\nmore simplified, it were perhaps best described as one unbroken sigh of\nlove. \"My God! my great God! my Life! my Love! my Glory! This,\" she\nwrote, \"is my prayer; these words nourish my soul, not only at the time\nof actual prayer, but all through the day, from the moment of rising, to\nthat of retiring to rest. Imperfect as I am, I feel habitually lost in my\nGod, to whom I have been so many years united by indescribably intimate\nbonds. I see His amiability, His grandeur, His majesty, His power,\nwithout previous reasoning, or research. I can find no words to express\nwhat I would say to Him, yet the silence of simple faith is eloquent. But\nalthough my soul is ever absorbed in my God, it never loses sight of its\nown misery; the abyss of His greatness engulphs the abyss of its\nnothingness.\" Not satisfied with all the love of the angels and saints,\nshe desired that her heart could burn even with infinite love, that so\nshe might love her God adequately. She prayed our Lord to place her heart\non His, that on that altar of fire it might be made a perfect holocaust\nof love. \"I ask of Him,\" she said, \"no earthly riches, treasures or joys,\nbut only that I may die of His love.\" Under the severest temporal losses,\neven in the midst of privations and positive want, she felt, she said, as\nif needing nothing, for then especially she belonged to God, and God\nbelonged to her, and possessing Him, she had nothing to desire. She had\nindeed reached that blessed state in which the soul exists more in the\nGod whom she loves, than in the body which she animates. [Footnote: Words\nquoted by Gerson from St. Augustine and St Bernard.] Yet elevated as she\nwas to sublimest heights of supernatural contemplation, she never failed\ncarefully to prepare a subject of ordinary meditation, true to the end,\nto her love of common practices, and her esteem of common ways, from\nwhich, as we have so often remarked, she never swerved but in obedience\nto the irresistible attraction of the Holy Spirit, and she ever\nmaintained that the most exalted spiritual state is that distinguished,\nnot by raptures and ecstasies, but by the perfect practice of the maxims\nof the Gospel, and the closest interior union with Jesus. Her piety was\nsolid and practical, and in one of her letters to her son, we find the\nremark that she never could content herself with a devotion of mere\nsentiment and imagination. Our Lord, she said, assumed our nature, that\nHe might become our Model. In every condition, we can imitate Him by the\npractice of His maxims, which not only discover to us what we have to\nretrench and correct in our lives and conduct, but also guide us to the\nmeans of accomplishing that difficult work of self-correction. Devotion\nthat is not practical, seemed to her, she said, like an edifice built on\nmoving sand.\n\nShe had a lively confidence in the Sacred Heart of our Lord, and always\nconcluded the spiritual exercises of each day by recommending to the\nEternal Father through Its infinite merits, the Church of Canada, the\npreachers of the Gospel, and her friends. Her evening prayers to the\nSacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, are generally known and widely\ncirculated not only in Canada, but in many other countries also,\nespecially among Ursulines. For the benefit of those who may not be\nacquainted with them, we shall insert them at the end of the volume. She\nhad a very particular devotion also to the ever adorable Trinity, and to\nthe most precious Blood. Of her love for the Blessed Sacrament of the\naltar, it would be superfluous to speak. Her sentiments on the holy\nCommunion may be epitomized in the one word, that \"she wished her life\ncould be one perpetual Communion.\" She was accustomed to say that she\nfound in communion strength and support for her soul under all the trials\nand difficulties of life, and so sensibly did she experience its blessed\neffects, that it almost seemed as if for her the veil of the sacrament\nhad been removed, and the hidden wonders of the mystery of love made\nmanifest.\n\nAmong the saints, after their glorious Queen, she honoured St. Joseph and\nSt. Francis of Paula. St. Joseph she had loved from childhood on account\nof his connection with our Lord and His Blessed Mother; her devotion had\nreceived a new impulse from the time when he was shown to her in her\nvision as the Patron of Canada. Her veneration for St. Francis of Paula\noriginated in the family traditions, which told how when the saint came\nto France at the prayer of Louis XI, one of his escort from Italy was her\ngreat-grandfather, who in the fervour of his simple faith, frequently\ntook his children to visit God's servant and receive his blessing. She\nloved to allude to the circumstance and no wonder, for there can be no\ndoubt that a large share of that holy blessing had descended to herself,\nand many were the spiritual helps which she received from the saint in\nher progress through her pilgrimage. She had also a special devotion to\nthe holy Angels.\n\nThe history of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation, has spoken\nfor itself, it is therefore as unnecessary as it would be easy to\nmultiply testimonies to her merits, both from contemporary and more\nrecent writers, still, as it would be doing her an injustice to omit them\naltogether, we shall insert a very few among the large number at hand.\nBishop Laval who knew her well, writes, \"She was adorned with every virtue\nin an exalted degree, and eminently endowed in particular, with the gift\nof prayer and union with God. She was perfectly dead to self, living and\nacting only by the Spirit of Jesus. The Almighty having chosen her for\nthe great work of founding the Ursuline Order in Canada, He granted her\nthe plenitude of the spirit of that holy institute. She was an admirable\nSuperior, an excellent guide for novices, and equally qualified for every\nother position in her community. Her life, externally ordinary, was\ninteriorly divine, so that she was deservedly looked on by her Sisters as\na living rule.\" The eulogy of P\u00e8re Charlevoix is equally strong. After\ncalling her \"the Teresa of New France,\" he says, \"History presents few\nwomen who can be compared with her, as none will deny who attentively\nstudy her life and writings. Such,\" he continues, \"was the opinion of the\nmost enlightened individuals of the age in which she lived; her most\neloquent panegyrists were those who knew her best.\"\n\nThe Mother Cecilia of the Holy Cross, who had never been separated from\nher since they left Dieppe together on their way to Canada, declared that\nin the thirty-three years of their close companionship, she had never\nseen her transgress against meekness, patience, humility, charity,\nobedience or poverty, or omit an opportunity of practising these great\nreligious virtues.\n\nTo Dom Claude Martin, Madame de la Peltrie wrote after her return from\nher expedition to Montreal, \"I esteem myself happy and honoured in the\nprivilege of living under the roof with the Mother of the Incarnation. If\nI survive her, I shall give you many particulars of her life which will\ncall forth your gratitude to God. She is truly a chosen soul, precious in\nthe eyes of the Lord. What I particularly admire in her, is her fidelity\nto the duties of common life, and the love which she evinces for those\nwho treat her ill. She lives in great detachment from all but God;\nperfect abandonment to Providence; unalterable peace, and a constant\ninterior recollection truly admirable. How happy I should be if I\npossessed the tenth part of her virtues!\"\n\nAnnouncing her decease to the monasteries of the Order in France, her\nSuperior says, among other things, \"Her death was the echo of her holy\nlife, passed as it was in the continual practice of the most heroic\nvirtues. Though Superior for eighteen years at different times, she was\nthe most submissive in the house to the one who occupied the place in the\nintervals. Her exactitude to rule was perfect. Her humility persuaded her\nthat she was unworthy to associate with her Sisters, whose every act of\nvirtue she observed with admiration. Her zeal for the glory of God, far\nfrom having diminished with time, became at last a consuming fire. Her\npatience both in life and death was truly admirable.\"...\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe tradition of her holiness passed from generation to generation, not\nonly of the inmates of the monastery, but of the inhabitants of Quebec\ngenerally. Years served but to confirm the impression of her merits, and\nat last that impression took the form of one earnest, unanimous desire\nand prayer, that our holy Mother the Church would deign to gladden the\nheart of every Catholic in Canada, by admitting the Mother Mary of the\nIncarnation to a share in the public veneration which she allows to her\ncanonized saints. Numerous postulatory letters to this effect were\naddressed to his late Holiness of saintly and venerated memory, Pope Pius\nIX, who after the usual delay, permitted the preliminary steps towards\nthe Beatification. The cause was introduced on the 15th of September,\n1877, when the Mother Mary of the Incarnation was honoured with the title\nof Venerable, the prelude, as we humbly trust, to one more glorious and\nexalted still. Among the postulatory letters is one which cannot be read\nwithout very particular interest. It bears the signature of the Huron\nGrand Chief, followed by that of the principal chiefs and warriors of the\ntribe.\n\n\"MOST HOLY FATHER,--The greatest of Fathers after Him who is in heaven,\nwe are the least of your children, but you are the representative of Him\nwho said, 'Suffer little children to come to me,' so we approach with\nconfidence to prostrate at your feet.\n\n\"Most Holy Father,--We the chiefs and warriors of the Huron tribe, humbly\npresent you a perfume of rich fragrance, composed of the virtues of the\nReverend Mother Mary of the Incarnation. Deign, Holy Father, to offer it\nto God, that passing through your hands, it may more surely find\nacceptance in His sight.\n\n\"The Mother of the Incarnation called us from our forests, that she might\nteach us to know and adore the true Master of life. She took our hearts\nin her hand and placed them before the Eternal, as a basket of fruit of\nher own culling.\n\n\"Through her instructions we have learned meekness; wolves and bears have\nfawned on her; the angry roar of fury has been changed into the hymn of\npraise.\n\n\"Our mothers kissed the traces of her footsteps, and then signed our\nforeheads with the blessed dust, fruitful for eternity. With her own\nhands she impressed the sign of faith on our hearts, and it has never\nsince been effaced. Thanks to her, we are able to read the books which\nrecall her benefits. We ourselves could fill many books with testimonies\nof our respectful gratitude.\n\n\"She loved us with a human as well as a spiritual affection, so she is\ntwice our mother.\n\n\"It is through her teaching, and for her sake, that we have renounced our\nnative wilds, and come to live among our more civilized brethren. The\nBear, the Wolf, the Goat, the Beaver and the Tortoise [Footnote:\nAppellations of the five principal families of the tribe.] will be\nhenceforth chained to the sanctuary, and their occupation will be to\ncelebrate the praises of the Master of life.\n\n\"Many moons have passed since that first dawning of the true light. Our\nonce flourishing nation is on the eve of extinction, but,\n\n\"Most Holy Father, we beseech you to receive with the last prayer and\nlast sigh of the Hurons, the assurance of their profound reverence for\nthe Mother Mary of the Incarnation.\n\n\"The bones of our fathers will exult in their tombs, if your voice\nproclaims the eternal happiness of the Mother to whom we are indebted for\nour faith.\n\n\"She found among our women, virgins worthy of admittance to the\nsanctuary, and among our warriors, missioners and martyrs who will weave\na crown for her in heaven. There remains to us only one drop of Huron\nblood, but if that could enrich the immortal crown of the Mother of the\nIncarnation, we would willingly bid it flow.\n\n\"Prostrate at your feet, Most Holy Father, we implore your benediction.\"\n\nThen follow the sixteen signatures of the Grand Chief and his fellow\npetitioners.\n\nThe day on which the touching appeal of the Hurons shall be responded to,\nwill gladden many a heart besides theirs.\n\nMeantime, O Mother! we thank the Lord for the magnificent grace bestowed\non thee, and for thy fidelity in corresponding with them. We thank Him\nfor having given us in thee so glorious a model of religious perfection,\nand we pray that thy example may ever guide and thy spirit ever animate\nus. We beseech thee to watch from heaven over the Order which on earth\nthou didst love so well and adorn so brightly, and to obtain that no\nUrsuline may ever show herself unworthy of her exalted and cherished\ntitle of a daughter of St. Angela, and of the Venerable Mother Mary of\nthe Incarnation.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\nOn the 30th of April, 1833, more than a century and a half after the\nsaintly death of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation, her\nprecious remains were removed with due solemnity from the vault where\nthey had long lain, to a place of greater honour in the choir of the\nUrsuline monastery. On the occasion of this translation, the vault was\ndiscovered to be quite full of water, and when the Venerable Mother's\ncoffin was opened before being consigned to its new resting-place, it was\nseen by many witnesses to be also filled with the same clear crystal\nfluid. The circumstance was easily explained by the gradual filtration of\nwater into the vault, whence it had penetrated into the leaden case\nthrough small openings in the soldering. But although the presence of the\nwater could be thus simply accounted for, contact with the remains of\nGod's holy servant had given it a manifest claim to special reverence; it\nwas therefore cautiously drawn off, and has since been so carefully\npreserved, that although very generously shared with numerous petitioners\nfor it, the supply is not yet quite exhausted. One sealed bottle of this\nwater is kept for the admiration of posterity. The Almighty has been\npleased to glorify Himself in His faithful servant, by permitting that it\nshould become the instrument of many wonderful cures. [Footnote: In the\nHistory of the Ursuline Monastery of Quebec, published in 1866, the\nwriter says: \"Some years ago, a woman of the neighbourhood informed me\nthat her daughter had been cured of a very serious affection of the eyes\nat the close of a Novena to the Venerable Mother, on each day of which,\nthe water of the tomb had been applied to the diseased part. 'I have a\nlittle of the water left,' she added, 'and I would not give it up for any\nconsideration. I have eight children dependent for support on my work; if\none of them fell sick, what should I do? I could not fee a doctor, so my\nonly resource is in the water.' Imagining that she attached the idea of\nsome medicinal property to it, we hastened to assure her that it was only\nordinary water, which derived its efficacy from the prayers of the Mother\nof the Incarnation, whom she had so fervently invoked. 'No, no,' she\nexclaimed, cutting short the explanation; 'it is not ordinary water; if\nit were, it would corrupt and diminish, but instead of that, it seems to\nme to increase. It is extraordinary water,' she said; 'it is holy water.'\nWe left her under her agreeable impression,\" adds the narrator, \"thinking\nthat the prodigy had perhaps been permitted in recompense of her simple\nfaith and confidence in our holy Mother.\"] We are not, however, to\nsuppose that reliance on the prayers of the Mother of the Incarnation\ndates only from its discovery; confidence in her intercession has, on the\ncontrary, ever kept pace with veneration for her memory, and this, we\nknow, has never varied except to increase.\n\nNo account has reached us of the favours obtained through the mediation\nof the Venerable Mother, previous to the discovery of the water: whether\nan earlier record may have at one time existed, and been afterwards\ndestroyed by fire or otherwise, is uncertain. Even of the favours\nreceived since 1833, no regular register was kept until 1867. In that\nyear, Monseigneur Baillargeon, Archbishop of Quebec, appointed a\ncommission to examine and test, according to canonical forms, all facts\ntending to demonstrate the sanctity of the Mother of the Incarnation. It\nthen became matter of universal regret that so little publicity had been\ngiven to the prodigies wrought through her intercession: it would seem as\nif men's minds had become so familiarized with them from the frequency of\ntheir recurrence, that no one had hitherto thought of attracting general\nattention to them. On the occasion alluded to, however, the witnesses of\nthe most recent were examined, and on their testimony, a considerable\nnumber were proved.\n\nWe extract a few from the long catalogue, for the honour of Him who is\nglorious in His saints, premising that we do not apply the epithet\n\"miraculous,\" in its strict sense, to the occurrences about to be\nrelated, the Church having in her wisdom reserved to herself the right to\npronounce definitively on miracles. We merely state facts certified by\nwitnesses of unimpeachable character, leaving to the superior tribunal to\ndecide as to their supernatural origin.\n\nMiss Margaret Mary Gowan had completely lost the use of an arm for nearly\na year previous to the opening of the tomb of the Mother of the\nIncarnation in 1833, and was cured after making a Novena to the Venerable\nMother, and using the water of the tomb. She was then a boarder at the\nUrsulines, and is now a Sister of Charity in Quebec. This fact, adds the\nconvent annalist, inspired great confidence in the efficacy of the water\nwhich we had just collected from the tomb with religious veneration.\n\nA child of nine years of age, named Mary Adela Brunette, who had always\nbeen remarkable for delicate health, was seized on the evening of\nDecember 31, 1853, with pain in the eyes so violent as to deprive her of\nsleep. A few days later, a film was observed on both eyes, which it\ngradually overspread, the pain meantime retaining its first intensity.\nThe child had not only to be confined to a room whence all light had been\nexcluded, but moreover to wear a thick bandage across her eyes. So great\nwere her sufferings, that her father often said he would infinitely\nrather see her dead, than witness them. For six months she had the best\nmedical advice, but remedies seemed only to aggravate pain. To open her\neyes, appeared an impossibility.\n\nTowards the end of July, 1854, a friend proposed to the child's parents\nto pray for her cure through the intercession of the Venerable Mother of\nthe Incarnation. The suggestion was at once adopted, the parents and\nseveral neighbouring families arranging to meet daily at the house of the\nlittle girl's uncle, a man remarkable for piety. The invalid was\nconducted thither on the first day with extreme difficulty, precautions\nhaving been taken to render her eyes absolutely inaccessible to the\nfaintest ray of light. The next day, she asked to walk without support,\ntaking care, however, to cling closely to her mother's side. Soon she\ncould endure the light sufficiently to guide herself, was able to\ndistinguish objects, and expressed surprise at some slight alterations\nwhich had been made in the house during the seven months of her illness.\nOn the ninth day, one of her eyes was quite clear. Meantime, some of the\nwater of the tomb had been procured; it was applied during a second\nNovena, and the result was the child's perfect restoration. She was not\nonly free from pain, but able to bear the strongest sun-light.\n\nThe above particulars were given at Quebec, on the 3rd of June, 1862, by\nthe young girl herself, and confirmed by her mother. She had then had no\nreturn of disease of the eyes; her general health was excellent, and her\nstrength equal to any demand on it. She was so convinced of having been\ncured through heavenly intervention, that she preserved as a precious\nrelic, the empty phial which had once contained the water of the tomb.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the 22nd of December, 1862, Dr. Landry, an eminent physician residing\nat Quebec, gave the following testimony, renewed in presence of several\necclesiastics, in 1867:--\n\n\"In September, 1859, my daughter had an extremely violent attack of tic-\ndouloureux in the left side of the face. The paroxysms recurred every two\nor three days, and lasted sometimes an hour, sometimes two or more. In\nNovember, the malady assumed a still more severe character, the paroxysms\nsometimes recurring twice in one day. Towards the end of December, the\ndisease yielded to persevering medical treatment.\n\n\"On the 1st of February, 1860, the child entered the Ursuline Convent at\nQuebec, and the next day had a return of the malady, which continued\nwithout notable interruption until March 24th, the eve of the\nAnnunciation. In this last stage of her illness, the attacks of pain were\nvery frequent and very violent, numbering as many as four in a day.\n\n\"On the 16th of March, nine days before the feast of the Annunciation,\none of the Sisters recommended her to beg the intercession of the Mother\nof the Incarnation in a Novena, in which the community and the pupils\nwould unite. The paroxysms were violent, and of daily occurrence up to\nthe second last day of the Novena, when the attack was comparatively\nlight. This proved the last. From that moment she has had no return of\nthe pain which for the previous six months had made her life a torture.\nThis wonderful cure which has now lasted eight years, I can attribute\nonly to the charitable and powerful intercession of the Venerable Mother\nMary of the Incarnation.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAbridged TESTIMONY of the same DR. LANDRY, in 1862, relatively to the\nrecovery of Mother St. Angela, an Ursuline Religious at Quebec.\n\n\"In 1859, my professional services were required by Mother Saint Angela,\nwhose delicacy had been of long standing. She was suffering from a\ncomplication of diseases, and at the period referred to, was reduced to\nextreme exhaustion. The remedies resorted to, produced some slight\nimprovement, but it proved only temporary, for, from the middle of\nFebruary, 1862, her infirmities were so much aggravated, that she was\nobliged to keep her bed altogether. I had always looked on her as an\nincurable invalid, destined to wear out her life in broken health and\nconstant suffering.\n\n\"At the beginning of May, of the same year, she told me that she felt\nbetter, and a few days later, declared to me by order of her Superior,\nthat she was restored to health.\n\n\"I did not meet my former patient from that time, until the present date,\nNovember, 1862, when wishing to assure myself of her actual condition\nbefore writing the above report, I asked to see her. She had an\nappearance of strength which I had never before observed in her, and\nalthough retaining some slight traces of her former maladies, was now\nable, she assured me, to fulfil all her duties, and to partake of the\nordinary fare of the community with good appetite. Her movements, once\nevincing extreme debility, were marked by the activity and animation of a\nhealthy young person. Her recovery was too prompt, too complete, and too\npermanent, to admit of my attributing it to the remedies which I had\nprescribed.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe following is the account of the same wonderful cure given by Mother\nSt. Anne, Assistant of the monastery, and a person of great experience in\nthe care of the sick:--\n\n\"The ill health of Mother St. Angela was of many years' standing, but\nfrom 1848 to 1862, her sufferings and consequent weakness had so\nconsiderably increased, that she had at last been compelled to give up\nall the regular observances of the community, as well as the duties of\nher particular charge.\n\n\"As that of a confirmed invalid, her case seemed to the chaplain of the\nmonastery, one peculiarly suited to manifest the power of the prayers of\nthe Mother of the Incarnation. Accordingly, to the general surprise, he\nsuggested that a Novena should be offered to the Venerable Mother for the\npatient's recovery. The pupils especially were amazed when asked to join.\n'Our Mistress general, whom we have not seen for three months!' they\nexclaimed; 'as well ask for the resurrection of the dead! Why, she is but\nhalf-alive, and not young either!' To induce them to unite, they had to\nbe reminded of the omnipotence of the Most High, to whom it is as easy to\nrepair His works, as it was to create them;--reminded, too, that the\nworse the case, the greater would be the wonder of the cure, should it\nplease God to grant it. Still, several remained incredulous, and though\nall prayed, many felt but little confidence.\n\n\"On the 22nd of April, a solemn Novena was commenced, and it terminated\non the 30th, the anniversary of the death of the holy Mother. After Mass,\nthe Mother Superior proceeded to visit the invalid, who had communicated\nin bed at an early hour, and unwilling to believe that she had not been\ncured, told her to rise. Mother St. Angela attempted to do so, but even\nwith assistance, could not stand, and had no resource but to return to\nbed. 'You see, Mother,' she said, 'our good God wills me to remain in my\npresent state. I had a great desire that my recovery should redound to\nthe honour of the Mother of the Incarnation, but God's will be done! Let\nus think no more of recovery.' 'That is not my view of the subject,'\nreplied the Mother Superior, as if suddenly inspired. 'You must begin\nanother Novena to-morrow, asking our Venerable Mother to obtain for you\nat least sufficient health to fulfil the duties of your charge, and at\nthe close of this Novena, you will _assist at Mass, and communicate in\nthe choir._' In all simplicity, the invalid commenced a second Novena\non the 1st of May, again joined by all the Sisters and boarders. On the\nvery first day, she felt well enough to resume the recitation of the\nOffice. Appetite, sleep and strength rapidly returned; on the seventh\nday, she went down to the confessional, and on the ninth, heard Mass, and\nreceived Holy Communion in the choir, as she had been ordered. She\nimmediately commenced a Novena of thanksgiving at the tomb of the Mother\nof the Incarnation, and before its close, had resumed all the regular\nobservances, including very early rising, the fasts and abstinences\nprescribed by rule, and the chanting of the Divine Office. Surprised and\noverjoyed, the pupils entoned a triumphant 'Magnificat' for the recovery\nof their 'resuscitated Mother,' as they called her.\" During the two years\nwhich had elapsed since the cure, when the above statement was written,\nMother St. Angela had had no necessity to omit a single community\nexercise, from four o'clock in the morning to nine at night. So perfect\nwas her recovery, that she said her previous illness seemed to her only\nlike a dream, adding that she felt no inconvenience from duties which had\nfatigued her when she was young and healthy, but was on the contrary\nready to recommence them when completed. She called her restoration, a\nreal resurrection, almost a transformation.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the summer of 1862, Madame Joseph Latourneau of Quebec, was laid\nprostrate by a complication of maladies. Towards the middle of July, the\ndanger became so imminent, that on taking leave of her one evening, the\nphysician begged her husband to let him know in the morning whether she\nwas still alive. There seemed so little hope of her passing the night,\nthat several friends had assembled to assist, as they supposed, at her\nlast moments. One of these visitors brought a little of the water of the\ntomb, and inquired of the invalid whether she had confidence in it. \"Oh,\nyes!\" she replied; \"great confidence! Have I a chance of getting any of\nit? I am sure the holy Mother will cure me.\"--And in afterwards relating\nthe circumstance, she said, \"I began to weep, without knowing why, and\nfelt an internal conviction, that I should be restored.\" She derived\nimmediate benefit from the water, passed a better night, and the next\nday, the doctor pronounced her out of danger. During her convalescence,\nshe kept a picture of the Venerable Mother continually before her,\nconvinced, as well as the rest of her family, that she owed her\nrestoration to health to the intercession of this powerful Advocate.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMadame Joseph B\u00e9langer of Quebec gives the following details of a favour\nobtained through the same channel:--\n\nA thick eruption had gathered over the upper part of her baby's lace,\nspreading gradually to the eyelids and closing the eyes, and still the\nphysicians feared to venture remedies. Seeing that the disease threatened\nthe mouth and ears, the mother became greatly alarmed. Her sister who had\nreceived a signal favour from the Venerable Mother, pressed her to use\nthe water of the tomb with faith, telling her that she still possessed a\nfew drops of it, and assuring her that the child would thus be restored,\nas she had been herself. The water was accordingly applied lightly and\nsparingly to the parts affected, and to the joy and admiration of the\nspectators, the malady appeared at once to change its character. After\nthe third or fourth application, all traces of it had vanished, \"as if by\nmagic,\" said the grateful mother. This event occurred in 1862. When the\nabove details were furnished, the little girl was about six years of age,\nand up to that period had not shown the least tendency to a renewal of\nthe disease of her infancy.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOctober 31, 1862.--First Testimony to the cure of Sister Mary of Jesus, a\nSister of Charity residing at Cacouma, one hundred and twenty miles from\nQuebec,--addressed to the Mother Superior of the Ursulines at Quebec.\n\n\"REVEREND MOTHER,--A thousand thanks for the small phial of water which\nyou were kind enough to send me. As I wrote you, Sister Mary of Jesus was\nextremely ill on Friday; that evening she appeared so near death, that\nthe prayers of the agonizing were said for her. She was unable to swallow\nthe water, but no sooner had her lips been moistened with it, than she\nseemed to revive. The next day the physician found her out of danger to\nhis great surprise. Join us in returning thanks to God and His faithful\nservant for this great favour.\n\n\"Sister MARY DE BON SECOURS, Assistant.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSecond Testimony, again addressed to the Mother Superior at Quebec:--\n\n\"For the information of all interested in the case, and for the glory of\nGod in His saints, I declare and certify the following:--\n\n\"On the 31st of October, 1862, I administered the last sacraments to\nSister Mary of Jesus, a Sister of Charity near Quebec, first because from\nmy own observation, I considered her death inevitable, unless averted by\nmiraculous interposition, and secondly, because the attending physician\nhad assured me that he saw no chance of saving her life. To my certain\nknowledge, the Mother Superior of the convent exhorted Sister Mary of\nJesus to ask for her cure through the intercession of the Mother of the\nIncarnation, in whom she had herself great confidence, after which, the\napparently dying sister took a few drops of the water, spent a good\nnight, and the next day, was so much better, that both, in the house and\nin the environs, her recovery was declared a miracle, attributable to the\nprayers of the Mother of the Incarnation. In faith of which, I have\nsigned the present declaration on the 21st of May, 1867.\n\"J. C. CLOUTIER, P.P. of Cacouma.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nElias Desharnais, a labourer at Stanfold had given himself a severe hurt,\nwhile engaged in mowing; the result was a long fit of illness, followed\nby utter incapacity for all laborious exertion. Two years after this\naccident, he was thrown from his horse, and so violently trampled, that\nhe was taken up by the passers-by, senseless and apparently lifeless. For\nforty-eight hours, he remained unconscious, and during the seven or eight\nsucceeding days, frequently relapsed into insensibility. After a time, he\nwas able to walk, but he gained no strength, and every attempt to resume\nhis work so aggravated his sufferings, that after each trial he was\nconstrained to keep his bed for weeks. He had been in this infirm\ncondition six years, when his sister informed him of a remarkable cure\njust wrought at the Ursuline Convent, Quebec, where she was herself a lay\nSister, advising him also to apply for relief to their Benefactress, the\nMother of the Incarnation. A first Novena not having produced any\nsensible improvement, the good religious sent him some of the water of\nthe tomb, urging him to make a second Novena, and to endeavour to\napproach the Holy Communion at its conclusion. He made the Novena;\napplied the water to the stomach, the seat of suffering, and on the ninth\nday approached the holy table. His faith and hope were not frustrated.\nFrom that moment, every trace of his infirmity vanished, he went at once\nto his work, and having experienced no inconvenience from his first\nefforts, undertook and accomplished in person the heaviest part of the\nagricultural labours of the season,--mowing, reaping, saving the hay,\nstoring the grain, &c. Two of his brothers having removed from home about\nthis time, a double share of work devolved on him.' He laboured as\nvigorously and as unceasingly since, as he had done previously to his\naccident. Such is the testimony which he himself gave at the Ursuline\nConvent, on the 12th of November, 1866, having travelled from Stanfold to\nQuebec, for no other purpose than to make the statement, and declaring\nthat he looked on the expense and fatigue of the journey as of little\nconsequence, compared with the happiness of having thus slightly\ntestified his gratitude to his heavenly Benefactress.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n1864.--Madame Elz\u00e9ar Vincent, a resident in Quebec, aged thirty, had\nsuffered for seven weeks from pain in the knee. The inflammation\nspreading to the thigh, she was compelled to keep her bed and became\nquite incapable of moving. Miss Bilodeau, a former pupil of the Laval\nNormal school, having procured some of the water of the tomb for the\npatient, they both joined in a Novena to the Mother of the Incarnation.\nThe first application of the water was followed by sensible relief. On\nthe third day, the invalid was well, and able to resume her household\nduties.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the 21st of October, 1867, Madame Chateauvert, of the suburb St.\nLouis, Quebec, declared that she believed herself indebted to the\nintercession of the Mother of the Incarnation for the preservation of her\nlittle girl, aged six weeks, during three of which she had suffered from\nviolent convulsions. The same malady had already deprived Madame\nChateauvert of four of her children, and the danger in the present case\nseemed all the more imminent, as the convulsions had set in earlier than\nwith the other little ones. Towards the middle of July, 1867, the attack\nwas so violent that the infant remained insensible for three hours. The\nwater of the tomb was then applied to her temples; she immediately\nrevived and from this first day of the Novena, had no return of the\nconvulsions, but has enjoyed good health.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the 20th of February, 1867, Mrs. Isaac Fullerton of Quebec presented\nherself at the Ursuline monastery to give the following account of her\nwonderful cure. She stated that for seven weeks, she had completely lost\nthe use of her right hand, which was so swollen, especially in the finger\njoints, that she could neither open nor close it. The pain extended\nthrough the arm and shoulder. In addition, she had suffered all through\nthe winter from an almost intolerable ear ache. Having heard of the water\nof the tomb, she sent for some: she also procured, a copy of the prayer\n[Footnote: See end of Volume.] \"By the Heart of my Jesus,\" and began a\nNovena. At the first application of the water, she found her hand\nbecoming supple, and made her husband observe the improvement. On the\nninth day of the Novena, her arm and shoulder were perfectly free from\nthe least pain or stiffness. But the ear ache had not yielded, and on the\n9th of February, the day before her deposition, it had been very severe:\na tumour had even formed during the preceding days on the upper part of\nthe right ear. In the evening, her husband asked her why she did not try\nthe water of the tomb, which would no doubt prove as efficacious in this\nease, as it had done in the previous. The idea had not occurred to her\nbefore, and finding that a little remained in the phial she applied it to\nthe ear. A momentary sensation of great heat all through the head was\nfollowed by total relief from suffering. \"God be praised!\" she exclaimed,\n\"I am cured; I have no pain!\" Her husband echoed her exclamation of\nsurprise and joy, when on examining the ear, he found that even the\ntumour had disappeared. \"I am now perfectly well,\" concluded Mrs.\nFullerton; \"entirely free from suffering, and with heartfelt gratitude I\ndeclare that it is to the prayer of the Mother of the Incarnation I am\nindebted for my cure.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMiss Bilodeau, a teacher at Rivi\u00e8re Noire in the parish of St. Agapetus,\nmade the following declaration on the 29th of August, 1867:--\n\n\"Towards the end of last May, a child of twelve, named Mary C\u00f4t\u00e9, was\nbrought to my school, with a request that I would prepare her for first\ncommunion and confirmation. She was conducted by her aunt, and walked\nwith difficulty; her eyes appeared in a sad condition. I was informed\nthat she had been blind since an attack of small-pox five years before,\nand that during that period she had endured a martyrdom, especially in\nwinter, when the inflammation increased. Hoping that the disease was not\nas inveterate as it appeared, I begged her aunt to take her to the\nchapel, and help her to distinguish the altar and tabernacle, that she\nmight the better understand future instructions on these subject, for I\nhad been told that she had never even entered a church, her parents\nliving at a considerable distance from the parish church, and not having\na vehicle. Accordingly, she was led to the church, but on her return, I\nwas assured she had discerned nothing, not even the conspicuous white\nstatue of our Blessed Lady. I then examined her eyes more closely. I\nfound the lids livid and bluish; close to the lashes, red and inflamed.\nIn the eye itself, pupil, iris and cornea were alike undistinguishable;\nall that could be seen was a mass of red, white and black spots,\nfrightful to behold. Both eyes were in the same condition. Dr. Morin had\ndeclared the case incurable; the parish priest of Gasp\u00e9, and two\nTrappiste Fathers who happened to pass that way, had expressed the same\nopinion, the last observing that only a miracle could restore sight so\nthoroughly diseased. 'Well,' I said to the child, 'I know a servant of\nGod who can obtain this favour, if you pray to her very fervently.' I\ngave her a little of the water of the tomb, telling her to put a drop of\nit into her eyes every day, and to say daily also, three Paters, Aves,\nand Glorias, with the invocation 'Venerable Mother of the Incarnation,\nobtain my cure!' The first days of the Novena, her sufferings increased\nso much that she could scarcely support them. I told her not to be\ndiscouraged in consequence, for that this increase of pain proved the\nintervention of the Venerable Mother, and should only stimulate her to\nredouble her prayers, which she did. On the third or fourth day, she was\ntaken to Mass by her aunt, and although in great pain, prayed with\nrenewed ardour, asking the Mother of the Incarnation to let her see at\nleast the statue of our Blessed Lady. Towards the end of Mass, she felt\nsuddenly inspired to raise her eyes, and saw something white: it was the\nstatue. As she afterwards said, the longer she looked at it, the clearer\nher vision became. In an ecstasy of delight and amazement, she began to\ndescribe to her aunt every thing she saw round the statue and on the\naltar. On leaving the church, she was subjected to various tests, which\nonly resulted in rendering the miracle more manifest. Her eyes were free\nfrom pain and looked perfectly clear, except for a slight discoloration\nof the left, which however did not interfere with the vision, and soon\ndisappeared. This event occurred on the 8th or 9th of June.\" On the 23rd\nof the following August, Miss Bilodeau gave the above details. Dr. Morin,\nto whom she presented the child, at once recognised his former patient,\nbut could not comprehend the wonderful change visible in her. After a\nclose examination, he declared that only a miracle could have wrought it.\nThe next day he gave the following testimony: \"I the undersigned, can\ncertify on oath, that five years ago, I examined Mary C\u00f4t\u00e9's eyes, and\nfound that the small-pox had produced opacity of the cornea of both, or\nthe disease called _leucoma_. I pronounced the case incurable, and\nrefused in consequence to prescribe medical treatment. I certify that I\nre-examined the same little girl on the 4th of September, 1867, and that\nI cannot explain the cure of her eyes by natural causes.\n\"CHARLES MORIN, M.D.\"\n\nMary C\u00f4t\u00e9 and her mother confirmed the above testimony at a later period.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCURE of MARGARET FOLEY, affected for four years and a half with deafness,\n30th of April, 1868.\n\nMargaret Foley was in her fourteenth year, when in September 1867, she\nwas presented at the Ursuline day school to receive instruction for first\ncommunion. She had already been sent to three other schools for the same\npurpose, but her deafness had in each case proved an insuperable obstacle\nto the success of her teachers. It soon became apparent to her new\ninstructresses, that the present trial must end like the preceding in\ntotal failure, therefore they recommended Mrs. Foley to withdraw her\ndaughter.\n\nWhen the immediate preparation for first communion was about to commence\njust before the Lent of 1868, some of the pupils mentioned Margaret\nFoley, and in the hope that her hearing might have somewhat improved in\nthe interval, her mistresses sent for her, but unfortunately, they found\nno change in her state. Before the loss of her hearing, she had learned\nto read imperfectly, consequently she knew something of the text of her\ncatechism, but nothing more. When the period of first communion drew\nnear, one of her mistresses, not knowing what to do, proposed a Novena to\nthe Mother of the Incarnation. Just nine days were to elapse before that\nof the first Communion, which by a happy coincidence occurred this year\non the 30th of April, the anniversary of the death of the saintly Mother.\nSome of the water of the tomb was given to the little girl, with\ndirections to put a drop of it every day into her ears. The nuns and\npupils joined in the Novena, and all declared that it would indeed be a\nmiracle if the poor child should recover her hearing. On Friday, April\n24th, the day of the examination of the first communicants, Margaret\nprayed with renewed fervour before a picture of the Venerable Mother,\nwhich some one had given her. Her afflicted mother expected only the\nusual disappointment, and awaited with a sad heart her return from the\nconvent. Suddenly she heard her bounding up the stairs; then saw her rush\ninto the room, kissing her picture in transports of joy which admitted\nbut of one explanation. She had heard the priest quite distinctly, she\nassured her mother, and hoped to be admitted to the heavenly Banquet. The\nexcitement of her companions, and the gratitude of her teachers can be\nbetter imagined than described. On the 30th of April, the last day of the\nNovena, she made her first communion. She was visited by several of the\nsisters, those especially who had had personal communication with her\nduring the period of her infirmity, and all recognised the wonderful\nnature of the cure. Mrs. Foley declared that for four years and a half,\nshe had been able to communicate with her only by signs.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the 10th of January, 1870, Cl\u00e9ment Chaill\u00e9 of Cap Sant\u00e9 declared that\nhis mother, aged seventy-three, had in the preceding August been cured of\na cancerous tumour in the nose, which, having resisted all remedies,\ndisappeared on the application of the water of the tomb.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the 15th of March, 1877, Miss Fortier, a pupil of the Laval Normal\nSchool, Quebec, deposed that her brother Emilius Fortier, eighteen years\nof age, and subject for two years to epileptic fits, had been cured the\npreceding September by a Novena to the Venerable Mother, and the use of\nthe miraculous water. The young man, who had been compelled to give up\nhis college course on account of his terrible malady, was then so\ncompletely cured, that his father had written to re-engage his place for\nthe next year.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOur limits will not permit us to dwell at greater length on the bodily\ncures effected through the intercession of the Mother of the Incarnation:\nthe number is so great, that even an imperfect list would fill many\npages. The same may be said of the favours obtained through her prayers\nin the spiritual and moral order, on which, in like manner, we shall\ntouch but lightly. The following are but a few among the many instances\nof such, which might be recorded:--\n\nDeploring the decline of practical piety in the parish where she resided,\na school teacher of remarkable virtue determined as the first step to\nimprovement, to introduce devotion to the Mother of the Incarnation. For\nthis purpose, she began by circulating copies of the Venerable Mother's\nprayers to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, to which we have so often\nalluded. She besought the holy Mother to interest herself in the great\nwork of the reformation of the people, and as a preliminary, to give some\nstriking manifestation of the power of her intercession with God: The\nprayer was heard; the impression produced by a few wonderful cures, led\nto conversions, and before long, a missionary bore public testimony to\nthe marked change which had taken place in the locality since the\nintroduction of devotion to the Mother of the Incarnation.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA young person charged with a school composed of children of both sexes,\nfound herself constantly surrounded with difficulties of all kinds, but\nit was her invariable habit to place her troubles in the hands of the\nMother of the Incarnation, and she found abundant reason to congratulate\nherself on having adopted the plan. Whether she had to contend with\nannoyances from parents, and insubordination from pupils, or whether she\nhad to solve scientific questions beyond her capacity, her powerful\nPatroness brought her safely through every embarrassment. She had become\nso accustomed to her charitable intervention, that she counted on it as a\nmatter of course. We shall cite but one instance. A grown lad one day\nasked the solution of a very difficult problem in arithmetic, required\nfor the following day. Now the poor teacher's arithmetic was one of her\nweak points; she had never seen the rules on which the given question\nbore, and had not the remotest idea how to set about her task, so as\nusual, she had recourse to her unfailing refuge, the Mother of the\nIncarnation, representing to her that without her assistance, she must\ninfallibly lose her reputation as a teacher, and as a consequence, her\nmoral influence over her pupils. Having finished the day's duties, she\nretired tranquilly to rest, quite convinced that by some means or\nanother, her difficulties would be removed. When she awoke on the\nfollowing morning, the answer to the problem was as clearly traced on her\nmind, as if it had been written on paper before her eyes. She had but to\ncopy the formula on a slate, as she would have copied from a text book on\nthe subject, and then she was ready to meet, and to satisfy her\nquestioner.\n\nThere have been instances of visible protection accorded by the Venerable\nMother to persons wearing her picture or one of her relics;--instances of\nthe conversion of the victims of intemperance, and of other obdurate\nsinners for whom her prayers had been invoked;--instances of disunited\nfamilies reconciled, pecuniary embarrassments relieved, and temporal\naffairs brought to a happy issue by being recommended to her charity.\n\nNor is it only in Quebec, or even in the New World, that the fruits of\nher intercession have been experienced; on the contrary, wherever\nappealed to, the result has been the same.\n\n\"Among the great number of applicants to the Mother of the Incarnation,\"\nsays a letter from Three Rivers, \"all, it is true, do not obtain the\ncures they pray for, but the good Mother never fails to procure them\nsomething better. I do not recollect,\" continues the writer, \"having ever\nmet a single person who had recourse to her intercession and was not\nsatisfied with the result. Some come to tell us joyfully, that they have\nreceived the favours they petitioned for; others recognise that it is for\ntheir advantage to suffer, since the Mother has not obtained their\nrecovery. Those who have received only partial relief, are contented with\nit and seem to desire no more.\"\n\nIn whatever other light the preceding facts are viewed, they must at\nleast be looked on as so many \"heavenly messengers\" assuring us of the\nlove and protection of our saintly Mother, and as such, must necessarily\nconfirm our confidence in her power, and intensify our gratitude for her\nfavours.\n\n\"Sing to the lord a new canticle: let His praise be in the church of the\nsaints.\"--(Ps. cxlix l.)\n\n\n\n\nEVENING PRAYER OF THE VENERABLE MOTHER MARY OF THE INCARNATION, IN HONOUR\nOF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS.\n\n\nBy the Heart of my Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, I\napproach Thee, O Eternal Father. By this Divine Heart, I adore Thee, for\nthose who do not adore Thee; I love Thee for all who do not love Thee; I\nacknowledge Thee as my God, for all the wilfully blind, who through\ncontempt refuse to acknowledge Thee. By this Divine Heart, I desire to\npay Thee the homage which all Thy creatures owe Thee. In spirit I go\nround the wide world, in search of the souls redeemed by the precious\nblood of Jesus. I present them all to Thee through Him, and by His merits\nI ask for their conversion. O Eternal Father! wilt Thou permit them to\nremain in ignorance of my Jesus? Wilt Thou suffer that they should not\nlive for Him who died for all? Thou seest, O heavenly Father! that they\nlive not yet; grant them then life, by this Divine Heart. Through this\nadorable Heart, I present Thee all who labour for the extension of the\nGospel, that by its merits, they may be replenished with Thy Holy Spirit.\n\nOn it, as on a Divine Altar, I present to Thee especially...........\n\nThou knowest, O Incarnate Word, my adorable Saviour! that all that I\nwould ask Thy Father by Thy Divine Heart, by Thy Holy Soul. I ask it of\nThee, when I ask it of Him, because Thou art in Thy Father, and Thy\nFather is in Thee. Deign together to hear my prayer, and to make the\nsouls whom I present to Thee, one with Thee. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nEVENING PRAYER OF THE VENERABLE MOTHER MARY OF THE INCARNATION IN HONOUR\nOF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY.\n\n\nO Divine Spouse of my soul! what return shall I make Thee for Thine\nexcessive charity towards me? I give Thee thanks through Thy Blessed\nMother. I offer Thee her Immaculate Heart, as I offer Thy Sacred Heart to\nThy Father. Suffer me to love Thee by that holy Heart which loved Thee so\ntenderly; to offer Thee that body which served Thee, that virginal\nSanctuary which Thou didst deign to inhabit. I offer it in thanksgiving\nfor Thy benefits; I offer it for the amendment of my life, for the\nsanctification of my soul, and to obtain the grace of final perseverance\nin Thy service and love.\n\n(_Name particular intentions. _)\n\nI thank Thee, my Jesus, that Thou wert pleased to choose this most Holy\nVirgin for Thy Mother. I thank Thee for having granted her the graces\nsuited to this great dignity, and for having deigned to give her to us\nfor our Mother. I adore the instant of Thine Incarnation, and venerate\neach moment Thou didst spend as a Wanderer on earth. I thank Thee for the\nexample of Thy Divine virtues; the merit of Thy labours and the effusion\nof Thy precious Blood. I wish to have neither life nor movement but in\nunion with Thine. Purify my impure and imperfect life, by the purity and\nperfection of Thy Divine life, and by the holy life of Thy Immaculate\nMother. Amen.\n\n\n\n\nA SLIGHT SKETCH OF THE OLD MONASTERY OF QUEBEC\n\nFOUNDED BY THE VENERABLE MOTHER OF THE INCARNATION AND MADAME DE LA\nPELTRIE, AND GRAPHICALLY DESCRIBED IN THE HISTORY OF THE URSULINES.\n\n\nThe Ursuline Convent of Quebec, built two hundred and forty years ago,\nand since then, twice rebuilt and vastly enlarged, occupies an area of\nsix acres in the centre of the Upper Town. It is situated on a commanding\neminence, almost entirely surrounded by gardens; its secluded inhabitants\ncan, therefore, freely enjoy, from their upper apartments, the views of\nunrivalled beauty which encompass the city.\n\nTo give the reader some idea of the ever increasing prosperity of this\nfavoured establishment, we shall here insert the statistics of its\ncloistered population within the last eighty years. At the beginning of\nthe present century, the community was composed of 40 professed members--\n27 of the Choir, and l3 Lay Sisters; added to these were 6 or 7 Novices.\nThe boarders and half-boarders amounted together to upwards of 60, and\nwere united under the same teachers for the study of both the French and\nEnglish languages. This arrangement was, indeed, a matter of necessity,\nas there were at the time but two young novices to direct the English\nclasses, Rev. Mother M. Louise McLoughlin of St. Henry, afterwards one of\nthe most efficient Superiors of the house, and Rev. Mother M. Doherty of\nSt. Augustine, who died Mistress of the Novices in 1813.\n\nFrom the date of the foundation, the day-school pupils had been far more\nnumerous than the boarders, steadily increasing with the progress of the\ncity. At the commencement of the century, two hundred children attended,\nalthough no little \"Exiles of Erin\" had yet augmented their scores. As\nthe Irish element, however, began to intermingle with the population of\nQuebec, very many of these children made their way to the Ursulines for\nreligious instruction, and soon their numbers increased so amazingly,\nthat in 1824 a day school was opened for them by their zealous teachers,\nunder the auspices and with the aid of the great and good Bishop Plessis,\nwho so dearly loved his adopted Irish flock. From this period especially,\nthe number of French and Irish day pupils augmented very considerably,\nusually amounting to upwards of 350. For their accommodation, the house\nformerly occupied by the Foundress was rebuilt and enlarged in 1836.\n\nIn 1825 the community was composed of 46 professed Religious, from whom\n130 boarders and half-boarders received their education. Here the\nprogress of the institution continues very striking, for in 1855 the\ncommunity included 56 professed Religious, 38 of whom were Choir Sisters,\n18 Lay Sisters, and 10 Novices. At the same date the boarding-school\ncontained 230 pupils, including half-boarders. At the present time,\n(June, 1880,) the community numbers 62 professed Choir Nuns and 24 Lay\nSisters, with 6 white-veiled Novices and 5 Postulants--in all, 97\nmembers. During this last mentioned period, the Boarders' Academy has\ngreatly increased, amounting at times to upwards of 370.\n\nThe Normal School Boarders' or Young Teachers' Academy, founded in 1857\nby the munificence of the Canadian Government, under the auspices of the\nRight Rev. Archbishop and the clergy, included at first but 40 pupils.\nThese also having increased in due proportion with the rest of the\nestablishment, now number 60 young students, under the direction of Rev.\nP. Lagac\u00e9, fourth Principal. They receive instruction from their own\nProfessors as well as from the Nuns, and constantly attend the day\nschool, to learn from the Mistresses there engaged the difficult art of\nteaching.\n\nThe vast alterations and improvements in the original buildings were\neffected at various periods and, necessarily, at great expense. Under the\ndirection of Rev. Mother St. Henry, twenty-second Superior, the spacious\nclasses of St. Ursula were erected in 1830. In 1836, under the direction\nof Rev. Father Maguire, third Resident Chaplain, the large wing facing\nParlor Street was built to accommodate the increasing number of pupils.\nWhile Mother St. Gabriel, twenty-fifth Superior, held office, the fine\nbuilding of Notre Dame de Grace was constructed. A few years later, Rev.\nMother Isabella McDonnell of St. Andrew still further enlarged the\nConvent buildings by the addition of another wing containing the\nboarders' parlour, reception hall, and music rooms. Later again, in 1873,\nRev. Mother St. Mary, being twenty-seventh Superior, the beautiful north\nwing, dedicated to the Venerable Mother of the Incarnation, was built,\nand various other improvements also effected with success. Rev. Mother G.\nVan Felson of St. George, twenty-eighth Superior, laboured with the skill\nof an artist to embellish the chapel and various other departments.\n\nSince the foundation of the house, 29 Superiors have governed it with\nwisdom and ability. Of this number, five were French ladies, one English,\none Scotch, and one Irish, the present Superior, Rev. Mother E. Tims of\nSt. Catherine, being a native of the Isle of Saints; the others were all\nnatives of Canada.\n\nDuring the last 240 years, 319 professed Religious have successively\nenjoyed in the old cloister the blessings of a life dedicated to the\nservice of God and the welfare of society. Among these a great many\nsurvived to very old age, a favour which seems also to be granted to the\nResident Chaplains. Rev. Father Lemoine, the present Chaplain, who has\nalready spent a quarter of a century in the Institution, is, like his\nworthy predecessor, Rev. Father Maguire, entitled to all praise and\ngratitude for his untiring devotedness lo its prosperity. A lasting proof\nof this will be found in the \"History of the Ursulines of Quebec,\"\npublished under his direction in the years 1863-66, and in which his\nintelligent aid was so generously given to the annalists.\n\nBY AN URSULINE OF QUEBEC.","title":"The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":97687}