9}

IX.

CONVENTS AND HOSPITALS--VILLE-MARIE--MARTYRED
MISSIONARIES--VICTORIOUS IROQUOIS--HAPLESS HURONS.

(1635-1652.)

A scene that was witnessed on the heights of Quebec on a fine June
morning, two hundred and eighty-three years ago, illustrated the spirit
that animated the founders of Canada. At the foot of a cross knelt the
Governor, Charles Hault de Montmagny, Knight of Malta, who had come to
take the place of his great predecessor, Samuel Champlain, whose
remains were buried close by, if indeed this very cross did not
indicate the spot. Jesuits in their black robes, soldiers in their gay
uniforms, officials and inhabitants from the little town below, all
followed the example of Montmagny, whose first words were, according to
Father Le Jeune, the historian of those days: "Behold the first cross
that I have seen in this country, let us worship the crucified Saviour
in his image." Then, this act of devotion accomplished, the procession
entered the {130} little church dedicated by Champlain to Notre Dame de
la Recouvrance, where the priests solemnly chanted the _Te Deum_ and
offered up prayers for the King of France.

The Church was first, the State second. After the service the new
governor entered the fort of St. Louis, only a few steps from the
sacred building, received the keys amid salutes of cannon and musketry,
and was officially installed as head of the civil and military
government of Canada, at this time controlled by the Company of the
Hundred Associates. Then he was called upon to act as god-father for a
dying Indian who desired baptism. In the smoky cabin packed with
Indians Montmagny stood by the earnest Jesuit and named the Algonquin
Joseph. "I leave you to think," says Father Le Jeune, "how greatly
astonished were these people to see so much crimson, so many handsomely
dressed persons beneath their bark roofs."

[Illustration: Marie Guyard (Mere Marie de l'Incarnation).]

During the period of which I am now writing we see the beginnings of
the most famous educational and religious institutions of the country.
The Hotel Dieu was founded in 1639, by the Soeurs Hospitalieres from
the convent of St. Augustine, in Dieppe, through the benefactions of
the Duchess d'Aiguillon, the niece of Cardinal Richelieu. Rich,
fascinating, and beautiful women contributed not only their fortunes
but their lives to the service of the Church. Marie Madeleine de
Chauvigny, who belonged to a noble family i