At the same time Montreal was visited again by the Abbé de Queylus. He
arrived at Quebec, incognito, on the third day of August. Since his
absence he had not been idle in pushing the ecclesiastical position
of Montreal, for on calling on the vicar apostolic, he astonished him
by communicating to him the results of his visit to Rome, viz., the
apostolic Bull of the Dateria, creating Montreal into an independent
parish, and a mandate from the archbishop of Rouen charging the
bishop of Petrea to preside at the installation of M. de Queylus as
the canonical "parochus." Finally the vicar general reminded M. de
Queylus of the _lettre de cachet_ of February 27, 1660, forbidding
his return. Queylus retorted by quoting a contradictory "_lettre de
cachet_" annulling it. The vicar general refused to accept the Bull of
the Dateria on the ground that it was obtained surreptitiously, and he
cancelled the jurisdiction of Rouen as incompatible with his own as
vicar apostolic. On August 4th he forbade Queylus to go to Montreal
under penalty of disobedience. This he communicated to d'Argenson,
but the night of the 5th or 6th of August saw de Queylus making for
Montreal furtively by canoe, with no obstacle placed in his way by the
sympathetic governor. M. de Queylus had large landed property interests
in Montreal, in fact he was one of the largest proprietors and one
of its chief mainstays. It was therefore argued that he could not, as
a private individual, be stayed from attending to his business there.
On the 6th, Laval issued the ecclesiastical suspension of de Queylus
unless he returned to Quebec. Meanwhile the abbé remained at Montreal
and no doubt received Laval on his official visit of August 21st,
already mentioned. On August 29th he grieved with his brethren over
the massacre of his fellow Sulpician, M. Lemaître, and he performed
several important business transactions as "Superior of Ecclesiastics
Associated for the Conversion of the Savages."
In the meantime Laval had written to Rome exposing his case. He
looked upon the peculiar pretensions for ecclesiastical monopoly of
Montreal and the presence of Queylus, as injurious to the interests
of the church in Canada, as menacing its unity and fostering schism.
Accordingly prevailing in this view, his protests brought letters
demanding the return to France of M. de Queylus, which took place
October 22d, from Quebec, the new Governor d'Avaugour being intrusted
with its execution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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