ents, the most serious in its
consequences, was the Ruthenian issue. It was a case of providing for
the spiritual wants of over a quarter of a million souls. The dearth
of priests, the difference of rite, the difficulty of language, and the
great number of Ruthenians, created for the Church an almost
insurmountable barrier which nothing short of a miracle could
otherthrow [Transcriber's note: overthrow?]. This sudden and large
influx of Catholics belonging to the Greek rite, into a Country where
the Latin Church alone prevailed, constitutes a fact that has never
been seen before in the history of the Church. Thousands and thousands
of these Greek Catholics were scattered through the prairies; roaming
flocks without shepherds, a prey to ravening wolves. Heresy, schism,
atheism, socialism and anarchy openly joined hands to rob these poor
people of the only treasure they had brought with them from the
old-land,--their Catholic Faith. Presbyterian ministers were seen to
celebrate among them "bogus masses"; schismatic emissaries tried to
bribe them with "Moscovite money"; fake bishops were imposing
sacrilegious hands on out-laws and perverts; traitors from among their
ranks, like Judas, bartered away their faith for a few pieces of
silver; a subsidized press,--"The Canadian Farmer" and "The Ranok"--was
ever at work, playing on their patriotism and exploiting their racial
feelings, to cover with ridicule their faith and pious traditions. The
public school became in the hands of the enemy the most powerful
weapon. Government itself, through its various officials, often went
out of its way to thwart the efforts of our missionaries.

It is not without poignant emotion that we have followed, at close
range, this struggle for the mastery of the Ruthenian soul. We hardly
know which we should admire the more, the faithfulness of the
simple-minded Ruthenian, or the devotedness of the few missionaries
who, for the last fifteen years, have lived, worked and died among
them. We all remember that cry of distress, that demand for help which
came from Archbishop Langevin in favor of his Ruthenian children. It
broke upon the land as a clarion call and its voice was heard in the
first Plenary Council of Quebec. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate--the
pioneer missionaries of the West, the Basilians, the Redemptorists, and
a few French-Canadian secular priests, were the first to answer the
call. They divided among themselves that imme