The Roman Catholic Church

THE Roman Catholic Church was first in the field in its Mission work, in what is now the Province of New Brunswick. One of the objects in the settlement of Acadia in which Cham-plain was greatly interested, was the conversion of the savages to the Christian religion. Among the persons who came out with Chainplain in 1604, was Aubrey, a priest from Paris, but we heard nothing more of him afterwards, and it is possible that he may have died during their first disastrous winter on St. Croix Island. The first baptism which is recorded in Acadia, was that of the Indian Chief, Membertou, which took place on the 24th of June, 1610. The Priest on that occasion being Josse Flesche. During the same year, Father Pierre Biard and Father Enemond Masse, were sent out to Acadia by Marquis De Guercheville, who had become interested in the country and proposed to found a settlement. Father Masse went to the mouth of the Saint John River and took up his abode with Louis Membertou and his family, living in the Indian fashion, for the purpose of extending his knowledge of the Micmac language. In 1619, a Mission of the Recollets, Monks of the Order of St. Francis, was founded at Miscou, and in 1623, one of these Fathers, Bernardin, perished in the woods while on his way from Miscou to the River Saint John, where the heads of the Mission resided. Some interesting particulars of the Missions in Acadia were contained in a letter written by Father Ignace to the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, in 1656. This Father in his letter, made some extraordinary statements, possibly the result of wrong information. He appears to have been much attached to D'Aulnay, whom he praises very highly, and it was he, who, on the 24th May, 1650, when D'Aulnay was found drowned on the shores of the Basin of Port Royal, conveyed his body to the Fort, and on the following day conducted his funeral. All this is told by Ignace, in a letter written on the 5th of August, 1663, three years and three months after the event it relates.

In this letter to the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation, he names Father Leonard of Charters, Capuchin, Superior of the Mission, who was stationed at Port Royal. This Father was a witness to the marriage contract of LaTour and Madam D'Aulnay, made on the 24th February, 1653. Father Ignace states that the English put him to death when they took Port Royal in 1654. This is an incredible story, and is directly contradicted by the fact that Father Leonard signed the Capitulation as Vice-prefect on behalf of the Mission.

One of the terms of this Capitulation was Liberty of Conscience and the Reverend Capuchins Missionaries were allowed to remain in their new house or take passage to France as tliey should elect. According to Father Ignace, there were at Port Royal in 1654, Father Yvo of Paris, Brother John of Troyes and Brother Francis Mary of Paris. Father Ignace says that when the English took Port Royal in 1654, they banished these missionaries. He also states that these two brothers, John and Francis Mary, were then residing at Port Royal to assist the Missionaries and the Seminary for Abenaki Converts.

At Fort St. Peter, in the district of Penobscot, was Father Bernardin de Crepy. Father Ignace says that the English took him to England in 1654.

At St. Peters Settlement, were Canceau, Father Augustin de Pontoise, Brother Felix of Rheims, Brother Elzear of St. Florentin. Ignace states that in 1655, these priests were compelled, under stress of destitution, to return to France. He also states that Brother Elzear spent nine or ten full years at Pentagoet, was familiar with the Abenaki language, and had made converts.

Ignace also states that Father Balthazar of Paris, laboured at Nepisiquit from 1648 to 1654 in which latter year he returned to France, to warn the Fathers of the Province of Paris that more help was needed for the Mission. He returned to Acadia with another Missionary in 1656. He also states that Balthazar had converted more Abenaki than all the other Missionaries, as many as twenty families.

At Port Royal Father Ignace states that LeBorgne in 1652 was imprisoned for five months and then banished from Port Royal, Father Cosma de Montes, and Gabriel de Joinville, two Capuchin

Missionaries, also Madame de Brice d' Anserre, an elderly lady who was Directress of the Seminary for the Abenaquis, and in particular of the daughters of the late Viceroy D'Aulnay. They seem to have been imprisoned on board his ships.

In consequence of this, two other Missionaries, Father Pascal d'Annerre, and Brother Ignatius of Paris, Brother Dedacus of Liesse, and Brother Felix of Troyes withdrew from the district, being unwilling to hold any communication with those impious and sacriligious Christians ; and also with the intention of vindicating in France the innocence of the oppressed.

Ignace also states that Brother Dedacus of Liesse had been fifteen years in the Mission. This would put his arrival about the year 1637.

It is much to be regretted that there is not sufficient data available, to make a complete record of the Missionaries who labored in Acadia from 1604 to the time when Acadia became an English possession. In 1688, two Brothers of the name of Bigot, Vincent and James, were Missionaries among the Abenaki at Penobsquit. In 1687, Petit was Rector of Port Royal, and in 1690, Father Trouve was also stationed at Port Royal. In 1696, Father Simon was Missionary at Aukpaque, the Indian settlement above the Nashwaak, and brought 36 warriors of his mission to assist in the defence of Fort Nashwaak against the attacks of the English under Colonel Church. At this time, Father Thury was Missionary at Penobsquit. The latter died in 1699. Father Mandoux was Priest at Port Royal at the beginning of the 18th century and afterwards Father Felix Pain. In 1736, there was a small settlement of French on the St. John River and their Missionary Priest was Jean Pierre Danilo.

An interesting discovery was made at Meductic in 1890 by Mr. A. R. Hay of Lower Woodstock. He found a tablet of black slate which had formed part of the old Indian Chapel. It contained an inscription from which we learn that the Church was erected in 1717, and that Jean Louard, a member of the Society of Jesus, was Superintendent of the Mission at Meductic at that time. The most notable Priest in connection with the history of Acadia was La Loutre, who took up his residence latterly in Fort Beausejour. This Fort was taken by the English in 1755, and LaLoutre was carried off to England. It would have been better for his reputation, if La Loutre had been less addicted to politics. When the Fort was captured, he escaped in disguise and arrived at Quebec, after a fatiguing journey through the wilderness. He was not well received by the Governor, and was bitterly reproached by his Bishop for his unclerical conduct. In August he embarked for France, but the vessel was captured by the English and he was kept a prisoner in Elizabeth Castle in the Island of Jersey until the end of the war in 1763. We have no record of the names of the Priests who ministered to the Acadians who lived at Saint Annes and on the North Shore after the deportation of 1755.

Wherever there was a settlement formed, a Priest was sure to be in evidence, but as the people were poor, it was some time before suitable buildings could be erected. It is stated that the first Roman

Catholic Clergyman to hold a service in Saint John,, after the arrival of the Loyalists, was the Reverend Charles French. This was in 1813, and the place was City Hall, Market Square. The Roman Catholics began to build a Chapel about this time, and St. Malachi's was opened on the corner of Sydney and Leinster Streets, by Father French on the 1st of October, 1815.

Among the Priests who succeeded him in that place were Father McQuade and Fathers Macmahon, Carrol and Dunphy. As the Roman Catholics of the City increased in numbers and means, the Diocese of St. John was founded, and Bishop Connolly took measures for the erection of the stately Cathedral on Waterloo Street.

At present there are two Dioceses in the Province of New Brunswick, St. John and Chatham, with two Bishops, and upwards of 120 clergymen. At the last census, taken in 1901, the Roman Catholic population of New Brunswick numbered 125,698, and they predominated in the Counties of Gloucester, Kent and Madawaska, and were more numerous than the adherents of any other church in Northumberland, St. John and Westmorland.