Discover the epic of Montreal through its founders
"THEIR CRAZY ENDEAVOUR, SECULAR AND MYSTICAL, FOREIGN TO ANY QUEST FOR GOLD OR SILVER, HAS STAMPED WITH AN UNUSUAL FOOTPRINT, SOMEWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD, THE BIRTH OF THIS COUNTRY IN AMERICA."
Excerpt from a lecture given by Louise Harel, along with the moderator and historian Eric Bedard, February 3, 2015. The subject: Jeanne Mance, Marguerite Bourgeoys and Marie Guyart. Périfmédia was there; watch our video…
We are sorry but this video is only available in French.
February 2 is a very important date for the history of the city of Montreal.
It is on February 2, 1630, that Jérôme Le Royer, after having been consecrated to Joseph, Mary and Jesus, was inspired to found an order of hospitaliers, who would devote themselves to serving the sick under the special protection of Joseph. It was the first step towards the project of Ville-Marie.
The title given to this vast land of America is not without significance. The desire for a New Heaven and a New Earth in the Bible (Ap. 21: 1) thrusts humanity from within towards its happy ending. A New World? Isn't all hope allowed?
Here is the context in which find Jeanne Mance before her departure to Canada:
Imagine that you are in the XVIIth century. You were 16 years old when your health declined and became fragilized, and since then you have had to be careful to properly balance your activities. You are now 34 years old, and despite your health condition, you went through the Thirty Years War, during which you learned nursing, your mother died when you were 20 and you are the second oldest in a family of 12 children. So along with the eldest of the family, you must look after your younger brothers and sisters.
In writing his "Histoire de Montréal", Sulpician priest Dollier de Casson reveals important details on the life of Jeanne Mance, prior to her personal involvement with the missions of New France. Without that document, little would be known about those details of her life. It is not surprising to realize that her biographers refer to the first thirty-four years of her life as the “secret years”. Her death, in 1673, was not heralded and no one bothered to write her story.
In my previous blog (Mademoiselle Mance in Langres) we covered Jeanne Mance’s life in Langres. Let’s take a look at her life in Paris.
In 1640, five years after the death of her father, Jeanne became aware, through her cousin Nicolas, chaplain of the Holy Chapel in Paris, that nuns as well as society women were drawn to missionary work in New France. According to Dollier de Casson, it is around that time that Jeanne Mance felt drawn to missionary work in New France. The “real motive” of her true calling was growing roots deeper and deeper in a heart readied by a selfless life.
I recently went to visit the museum of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph at Montreal's Hotel Dieu Hospital. Their history sparked my attention on various aspects. Among those, it was Jeanne Mance who asked them to come to Canada to care for the sick. Following my visit and my research, I venture to make these comments.
Sister Payer, religious hospitaller of Saint-Joseph and founder of Hotel-Dieu hospital museum, highlights the more important moments in the life of Jeanne Mance. We are sorry but this video is only available in French.
Christian Rioux and Lysiane Gagnon both stated in articles published in June 2012 that Maisonneuve’s accomplishments were somewhat diminished when Montreal’s City counsel flanked him with Jeanne Mance as cofoundress of Ville-Marie. I personally think that their analysis lacks historical correctness. Indeed, in which way does the recognition of Jeanne Mance as cofoundress tarnish Maisonneuve’s image?
… uncommon and communicative, that of Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve. But it came to fruition in a very visible way: the cross that dominates Mount-Royal. It was erected in recognition of God's ointervention during a flash flood, in December 1642, that almost destroyed the colony that had been established only a few months earlier.
As heirs to a such a rich past, I find important we know that Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was a man of unusual breadth, with qualities that made him an outstanding Governor of the nascent city.
The history of Montreal is unique in the motives that animated its founders. They exposed them in a document entitled "Les véritables motifs de Messieurs et Dames de la Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal" (The true motives of the Gentlemen and Ladies of the Society of Our Lady of Montreal). The Memoirs of the Historical Society of Montreal published in 1880 reissued in full the text "Les Véritables Motifs" (The True Motives) as published in 1643.
Commemorative plaque at the site of the current Pointe-à-Callière Museum, Archaeological Site and history of Montreal.
In the wake of the official recognition of Jeanne Mance as cofounder of Montreal, are we likely to see such title attributed to Marguerite Bourgeoys, whose contribution helped save Ville-Marie, in the early days of the colony?
Such is the suggestion made by certain Web sites, amongst those that of the diocese of Edmunston, of the Vatican, of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, as well as Saint Joseph’s Oratory.
Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656, 14 years after the founding of Montreal. The young colony was therefore in full growth and the Iroquois wars were frequent.
Kateri is the Algonquin Amerindian… She is the daughter of "Flower of the Meadows", a Christian Algonquin captured at Three Rivers by the Iroquois Nation who was integrated into the Mohawk tribe. "Flower of the Meadows" will marry the chief of the tribe and will keep alive an indefectible faith, unwavering until the last day. Carried away by the smallpox epidemic, she left this world and her little girl of 4 years old that she will always protect since young Kateri inherited her deep faith.
Mircea Eliade, religious historian of Romanian descent, studied religious experiences around the world. Erudite scholar, he is considered one of the founders of the modern history of religions. He reflected on a great number of nations in order to study their religious structures. He concludes that by studying the history of religions, one can discover the deep-seated unity of mankind.
Kateri, Catherine in French, is the name she received at her baptism, at the age of 20, in honor of Catherine of Siena. At birth her mother gave her the name Clarté-du-Ciel (Uasheshkun). We know that at the age of 4, smallpox left permanent marks on her face and made her almost blind. She wore a shawl over her head and had to use it to protect her eyes from the sun. She then received the name of Tekakwitha. This word means "one who walks hesitantly," or also "she who has to remove the things in front of her and who needs to walk slowly and gropingly."
At the moment of Ville-Marie's foundation, what is the status of the situation between French and the Amerindians on the island of Montreal and its surrounding areas? Since the primary objective of the founders is to evangelize the Amerindians, what will be the initial approach with those principally concerned?
The Relations, Official journal of the Jesuits, says that when Jacques Cartier arrived in 1534, he saw an imposing Indian village named Hochelaga, who warmly welcomed these "original Europeans".
Imagine that everything is burning. You have lost all of your belongings. Your dependency on the events and on the charity of others is absolute: it is a question of life or death. This was the case of the Christian Hurons fleeing from the Georgian Bay to Quebec at the time of the Iroquois attack in 1650. Almost 300 Hurons established their camp near Quebec's first inhabitants and benefited from an unconditional welcome from the Hospitallers, Jesuits and Ursulines communities who provided them with food and clothing.
Only a few years before 1656, the year of Kateri Tekakwitha's birth, the following events took place in Ossernenon and captured our attention. What happened out there is worth keeping and deserves to be recalled for memory. These facts are crucial and somehow paved the way for Kateri's particular vocation. As I have previously mentioned, she is heir to a Franco-amerindian Church that was subject to very harsh conditions.
Quebec, Manicouagan, Hushuai, Matapédia, Tadoussac, Guanahani, Chicoutimi, Arthabaska, Natasquan, Magog… such as the artist Chloé Sainte-Marie sings it out. It sounds Amerindian, is it not? It is clear that the Amerindian language left its mark throughout Quebec. Those words ringing in our ears do not recall the ancestral presence of the First Nations anymore, as it was at the origin of the foundation. Did you know that many places, here in Canada, are named after some of the Amerindian nations previously living in these locations?
"Crazy endeavour", uttered settlers in Quebec when they saw in August 1641 two ships from Larochelle, carrying Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance with fifty hard to come but dedicated recruits.
Crazy endeavour that wanted to establish, on the island of Montreal, a mission to witness to the Gospel, and to establish a Franco-Amerindian Church, but were there any other reasons that lead to believe that Jerome Le Royer's project went beyond human understanding?