Page 30 - Michael 2024 March

u group moved into a beautiful stone monastery that tury of Louis XIV in just a few months.
was three storeys high, 30 meters long and 9 me- “Courage, holy daughters!”
ters wide: truly a marvel by local standards. But on
the night of December 31, 1650, a fire destroyed the Mother Marie’s apostolate with the adult Amer-
residence, which had been the fruit of immense sac- indians was also very intense. She admired the
rifice. simple faith of these neophytes, and being present
Undaunted, the foundress once again began to at their Baptism in the Ursuline chapel was one of
her greatest joys. When she was over forty, with the
build. She succeeded, relying on divine help, her help of the Jesuits, she began to study the Indian
own energy and ingenuity, and collected alms. Marie languages, mastering them to the point of writing a
of the Incarnation was truly an “active mystic”. She French-Algonquin dictionary and an Iroquois diction-
grew a garden, ran a farm and ordered wells to be ary and catechism. After the fire of 1650, the Hurons
dug. Governors, stewards and leading figures in the feared losing Marie of the Incarnation and her com-
colony consulted her about temporal affairs. She panions. Chief Taiearonk spoke to them in these
put her talents as a leader at the service of souls. moving words: “Courage, holy daughters, do not let
The Jesuits were her spiritual directors; she accom- yourselves be overcome by
panied them in spirit even the love of your parents, and
on their expeditions to the show today that the affec-
Indians, during which eight tion you have for the poor
of them, almost all of whom savages is a heavenly char-
the Ursuline knew personal- ity stronger than the bonds
ly, died as martyrs between of nature!”
1642 and 1649; they were
canonized in 1930. However, the hope of a
The Ursulines came to harmonious merging of the
peoples of Canada did not
Canada mainly to educate materialize. Generally speak-
girls. From the day after ing, the Indians had no taste
their arrival in Quebec City, for sedentary life or agricul-
they received all the young ture. They were vulnerable
French girls to teach them to the alcoholic beverages
piety and good morals. At that unscrupulous settlers
first, the Ursulines took in exchanged for furs; mission-
eighteen to twenty paying aries were obliged to keep
boarders. Over the years, them away from the cen-
the number of boarders ters of European settlement,
grew and the workload be- which had become a source
came heavy. “If it weren’t of scandal for them. The Iro-
for the Ursulines,” Mother Portrait of Mother Mary of the Incarnation, quois ransacked the Ursuline
Marie wrote, “the young attributed to Hugues Pommier, 1672 mission’s farms, and killed
girls would be in constant its servants and many of its
danger for their salvation”: left to their own devices dearest friends. In 1660, the monastery was placed
in the harsh world of the colonists, they were at risk under siege. Finally, in 1666, Governor Daniel de
of being perverted. Before she died, the foundress Courcelles made peace with the Iroquois.
had the consolation of giving the religious habit to
several Canadian-born girls who had come to con- In 1659, Most Rev. François de Montmorency-
tinue her work. Laval, vicar apostolic and later the first bishop of
Quebec (he was canonized in 2014), arrived in Que-
But Marie of the Incarnation always reserved her bec City. In 1660, the prelate visited the Ursulines
best for the little Amerindian girls. She welcomed and declared that he intended to make significant
them with open arms, and did her utmost to under- changes to the Constitutions of 1647, which had
stand them, catechize them and make them happy. been carefully drafted by Mother Marie with the
To all the nuns, she recommended that they offer help of the Jesuit Father Jérôme Lalemant. With her
“greetings and little words of affection” to the native twenty years’ experience in Canada behind her, the
pupils. She often called them “my heart’s delight” foundress felt that the proposed changes would be
and “the most beautiful jewels” in her crown. She detrimental to the spiritual and temporal good of the
admitted, however, that it was “almost impossible” Congregation. She therefore wrote to the bishop,
to get them to adopt the French culture and way of who had suggested that she take some time to re-
life; you cannot go from the wild life of children in flect: “The matter is already well thought out and our
the woods to the polished customs of the Great Cen-

30 MICHAEL March/April 2024 www.michaeljournal.org