The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the IncarnationAnonymous
Religion
The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation
Anonymous
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America; Marie de l'Incarnation, mère, 1599-1672
After a tedious and in many ways trying voyage of three months, the 'St.
Joseph' touched at Tadoussac, where to their great joy, the Sisters met
several Indians. Never having seen white people before, the poor savages
were lost in astonishment, but how did their wonder redouble when they
learned that these ladies were "great captains' daughters," as they would
themselves have expressed it, who had quitted, home, country, and all the
comforts of civilized life, for no other purpose than to come and teach
them and their children how to escape eternal fire, and ensure
everlasting happiness! They could not comprehend the strange tidings, and
to discover if possible the real object of the new-comers, they followed
along the shore as the ship resumed its way to Quebec, keeping a close
and watchful eye on its movements.
The missioners spent their first night in Canada at the Isle of Orleans,
which they reached on the evening of the 31st of July. As they landed,
the sun had just set in all the splendour which his setting is wont to
wear in Canada. The sky was literally glowing with gorgeous colours of
every hue, intermingled with ethereal gold, as if in descending to his
rest, the mighty monarch had left a fold of his mantle of glory floating
on the western heavens, to symbolize that brighter mantle of celestial
light which soon would envelop the benighted race whom those devoted
missioners had come so far to seek and to help to save. The island was
uninhabited, so three wigwams were constructed in Indian fashion, one for
the Nuns, one for the Jesuits and a third for the sailors. Unable to
contain their holy joy, the Sisters entoned a canticle of thanksgiving,
and for the first time since their creation, those venerable woods re-
echoed with songs of praise to the one true God and His adorable
Incarnate Son.
On the following day, August the 1st, 1639, the missioners reached
Quebec. Their first act on landing was to kneel and reverently press
their lips to the soil of the adopted country which was to be to them
thenceforth in place of home and fatherland. They were received with the
greatest enthusiasm. The moment they stepped on shore, a salute was fired
from Fort St. Louis. They were met at the landing-place by the whole
population headed by the Governor-General, Monsieur de Montmagny, and the
Jesuit Fathers of the colony, and after mutual salutations, were escorted
to the church, where the holy Sacrifice was offered with all the
solemnity that circumstances permitted, the ceremony concluding with the
Te Deum. After having been hospitably entertained by the Governor, the
Sisters of the two communities proceeded to their destined dwellings. As
a mark of the general joy, the day was inscribed in the red letter
calendar and work totally suspended.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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