Early explorers, though in search of mineral wealth and human cargo; knew that in order to obtain the all-important Papal Authority, they would also have to look for souls to save When Cartier reported that there was a multitude of heathens just begging for spiritual enlightment, all of the Religious sects began to jockey for position. Not since the Crusades, had there been such an interest in religious conversion.
The Recollects arrived in New France in 1615, followed by the Jesuits in 1625; though they had already landed in Acadia more than a decade before. In 1639, the Ursulines arrived to develop Quebec, and by 1657; all groups were involved in a variety of activities, ranging from converting the native peoples, to teaching the children of the first colonists and their descendants. They also cared for the sick and the needy, established missions, instructed young women in domestic and agricultural chores and young men in farming and navigation. In short, all the skills necessary to ensure the continuity of French Canada.
But behind all of this was the politics of religion, administered from home, and French Canadians were often at the mercy of who happened to be wielding the most power at the time.
But first a brief history of the Religious Wars in France, that began with the Reformation, hit it's peak with the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and ended (though only temporarily), with the Edict of Nantes.
The French Queen, Catherine de Medici was becoming concerned that Paris was infested with Huguenots, so she masterminded a plan with her son Charles. First they arranged a marriage between Margaret of Valois, the queen's daughter and the Huguenot, Henry of Navarre. The idea was to lure the military leader of the Huguenots, Gaspard Coligny, to Paris so that he could be assassinated.
Along with Coligny, there were to be many Hugenots attending the ceremony, which took place on the 18th of August 1572; but the celebrations went on for days. Then, in the early hours of the 24th, (St. Bartholomew's Day), the bell of the Palace of Justice rang, which was the signal to the conspirators to begin the attack. The Huguenots were surprised in their sleep, resulting in a mass slaughter.
The head of the slain Coligny was sent to Pope Gregory XIII; who was overjoyed and he and his cardinals held a special thanksgiving mass. He then ordered salvos (simultaneous discharge of artillary) to be fired from the Castel St. Angelo and had a medal struck to commemorate the occasion, the design of which had the profile of Gregory XIII on one side and a representation of an angel of God slaughtering the protestants on the other. And as if that wasn't enough, he also commissioned the painter Giorgio Vasari to paint scenes of the slaughter on the walls of Sala Regia in the Vatican.
The Religious Wars in France saw a reprieve when Henry of Navarre converted to the Roman Catholic faith and signed the Edict of Nantes, in 1593, which assured freedom of religion.
The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John, came into existence about 1080 when a hospital for pilgrims was established by Brother Gerard in Jerusalem, and dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Backed by wealthy merchants, the hospital’s administrators were recognized by the Pope as an Order of the Church. Initially they were dedicated to the care of the poor and sick but were soon playing a major role in the defence of the Christian settlements, turning into armed guards, and fighting monks; participating alongside the Crusaders and holding fortresses as well as hospices across the Holy Land.
In 1206 the first Statutes of the Order were issued, which divided the members between priests or chaplains, knights and sergeants (the fighting men were commoners). The Mastership however, was restricted to knights in 1262. Driven from Palestine with the rest of the Catholics in 1291, the Hospitallers of St John took over the island of Rhodes, off the coast of Asia Minor, which became their base for naval operations against Muslim shipping. By 1301, the Order had organized itself in Provence, Auvergne, France, Spain, Italy, England and Germany, ruling from Rhodes until 1522, when they were given the island of Malta.
The Hospitallers owned a large number of estates, which had been given to them over time and allowed lay people to live on these estates, sharing some of the spiritual life of the Order. Other houses were set aside as convents and monasteries.
My own G-g-g-g-g-g-g-grandfather' Jacques Bourgeois, was raised in one of their monasteries, and was under the protection of the Knights of Malta until he reached the legal age of 21. Since their membership was restricted to the nobility, and Jacques was an illegitimate child, it can be assumed that his 'unnamed father' was either a nobleman or member of the clergy. Jacques' sister had married Germain Doucet Sieur de Laverdure, who was a Knight in Order and arrived in Acadia with Isaac de Razilly, in 1632.
Since many of these 'Knights' and 'Knight Commanders' had invested heavily in the Religious Wars in France, they were now looking for a cash cow, and hoped that New France, with it's abudance of natural resources, would be it. Cha-ching
Some noblemen, who had never paid taxes, now had to do so; though most of the new tax incentives fell to the already hard hit peasant class. Richelieu then hired a small army of tax gatherers, who worked on commission and were instructed to collect the tax with whatever means they had to; and since they only got paid when the peasants antied up, those means were often brutal.
This gave rise to a group of renegades, who became known as the "barefoot boys", who in retaliation, went after the tax collectors, usually slitting their throats.
However, Richelieu's plans were on a much broader scale. By putting the emphasis on settlement, he hoped to generate a market for French goods, necessary in the building and furnishing of homes; create a militia from the settlers who could police trade and guard against invasion; and provide jobs for out of work French tradesmen and labourers; who would in turn become his market for French export and soldiers for the militia. A win, win, win! Or at least it looked good on paper.
The first thing he did was revoke all previous monopolies and launch a new enterprise; The Company of One Hundred Associates, which was formed in 1627. In return for the monopoly of the fur trade, this syndicate would assume the obligation of financing a migration to Canada of 200 colonists per year. The only stipulation was that that they all be Roman Catholic, so who better to turn to than the Order of St. John of Malta, to recruit wealthy Catholic investors.
But the Hugenots would get their revenge. Led by the Kirke Brothers, they pirated four ships with 400 Catholic settlers, in 1628; and the following year, sacked the Kebec Habitation and took possession of the area for the King of England. It would be several years before the French could make another attempt to create the proposed 'Ideal Colony'.
By the 1620s they had already achieved renown for their educational and missionary work, by displaying flexibility in both dogma and methods; while still holding onto their military origin. These 'Followers of Jesus', had a fanatical conception of duty and self-sacrifice, revealed in their Relations, which were annual reports of terrible suffering and ghoulish martytdom that circulated among pious members of the French gentry and aristocracy from 1632 to 1673.
These reports generated sympathy for missionary work in New France, and the gruesome details of martyrdom boosted recruitment by encouraging a longing for such treatment in persons enamoured with the idea of achieving their own salvation through suffering. The typical recruit was a son of a wealthy merchant or nobleman seeking an escape from the temptations of immoral living. Such persons welcomed a trial of their acquired strength of character. As one described his own feelings, "people like us do not fear death. Why should we? We believe in God ...and we are assured of eternal happiness in Heaven after our death."
And what better place to achieve this strength of character than Canada? Faced with the relative ease of converting the sedentary Huron-Canadians or the challenges of winning over nomadic groups, like the Montagnais-Canadians; who without agriculture, were in a constant pursuit of food; many chose the latter to 'achieve their own salvation through suffering.
And suffer they did. In his first week among the Montagnais-Canadians, one missionary, Father Le Jeune, found himself overcome by a violent fever. "Being cured," he said he "tried to follow them during the winter, and ...was ill the greater part of the time." He concluded in 1634 that "not much ought to be hoped for from the savages as long as they are wanderers; you will instruct them today, tomorrow hunger snatches your hearers away, forcing them to go and seek their food in the rivers and woods." According to Father Garnier, writing in 1636: "the country of the Huron is the sancta sanctorum. It is of all the country where we are, the field where our fathers hope to establish the most beautiful mission because they are a stable nation and not vagabonds like most of the others."
At the time, the government of France was preoccupied with European wars, leaving an opening for the Roman Catholic Church to fill the void. However, they realized that the only way to achieve a Roman Catholic colony, was to not only restrict settlement to Catholics, but to also convert the large population of Canadians, already there.
In 1639, two women's orders, the Ursulines and the Hospitalieres de la Misericorde de Jesus de I' Ordre de Saint Augustin, arrived to establish convents for the instruction of women. But an even more significant reinforcement was the contingent sent by the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement; funded by Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency, Princess De Conde; and under the command of Paul de Chomedy, Sieur de Maisonneuve, who was responsible for recruiting Marguerite Bourgeoys.
In 1642, he arrived with fourty faithful followers to establish a mission on the Island of Montreal, which was then referred to by the Jesuit missionaries as the 'Gates of Hell'. This location would prove to be ideal, and though the original interest was evangelical, it turned out to be a great commercial success as well; shifting from merely bringing Christianity to the Canadian people, to building a truly religious society of newcomers in the New World.
