Fran?ois de Laval.—His Position and Character.—Arrival of Argenson.—The Quarrel.
We are touching1 delicate ground. To many excellent Catholics of our own day Laval is an object of veneration2. The Catholic university of Quebec glories in bearing his name, and certain modern ecclesiastical writers rarely mention him in terms less reverent3 than “the virtuous4 prelate,” or “the holy prelate.” Nor are some of his contemporaries less emphatic5 in eulogy6. Mother Juchereau de Saint-Denis, Superior of the H?tel Dieu, wrote immediately after his death: “He began in his tenderest years the study of perfection, and we have reason to think that he reached it, since every virtue7 which Saint Paul demands in a bishop8 was seen and admired in him;” and on his first arrival in Canada, Mother Marie de l’Incarnation, Superior of the Ursulines, wrote to her son that the choice of such a prelate was not of man, but of God. “will not,” she adds, “say that he is a saint, but I may say with truth that he lives like a saint and an apostle.” And she describes his austerity of life; how he had but two servants, a gardener—whom he lent on occasion to his needy9 neighbors—and a valet; how he lived in a small hired house, saying that he would not have one of his own if he could build it for only five sous; and how, in his table, furniture, and bed, he showed the spirit of poverty, even, as she thinks, to excess. His servant, a lay brother named Houssart, testified, after his death, that he slept on a hard bed, and would not suffer it to be changed even when it became full of fleas10; and, what is more to the purpose, that he gave fifteen hundred or two thousand francs to the poor every year. * Houssart also gives the following specimen11 of his austerities: “I have seen him keep cooked meat five, six, seven, or eight days in the heat of summer, and when it was all mouldy and wormy he washed it in warm water and ate it, and told me that it was very good.” The old servant was so impressed by these and other proofs of his master’s sanctity, that “I determined,” he says, “to keep every thing I could that had belonged to his holy person, and after his death to soak bits of linen12 in his blood when his body was opened, and take a few bones and cartilages from his breast, cut off his hair, and keep his clothes, and such things, to serve as most precious relics13.” These pious14 cares were not in vain, for the relics proved greatly in demand.
* Lettre du Frère Houssart, ancien serviteur de Mg'r de
Laval a M. Tremblay, 1 Sept., 1708. This letter is printed,
Vol. I. (Quebec, 1848.)
Several portraits of Laval are extant. A drooping16 nose of portentous17 size; a well-formed forehead; a brow strongly arched; a bright, clear eye; scanty18 hair, half hidden by a black skullcap; thin lips, compressed and rigid19, betraying a spirit not easy to move or convince; features of that indescribable cast which marks the priestly type: such is Laval, as he looks grimly down on us from the dingy20 canvas of two centuries ago.
0057
La Tour and the Governor
He is one of those concerning whom Protestants and Catholics, at least ultramontane Catholics, will never agree in judgment22. The task of eulogizing him may safely be left to those of his own way of thinking. It is for us to regard him from the standpoint of secular23 history. And, first, let us credit him with sincerity24. He believed firmly that the princes and rulers of this world ought to be subject to guidance and control at the hands of the Pope, the vicar of Christ on earth. But he himself was the Pope’s vicar, and, so far as the bounds of Canada extended, the Holy Father had clothed him with his own authority. The glory of God demanded that this authority should suffer no abatement25, and he, Laval, would be guilty before Heaven if he did not uphold the supremacy26 of the church over the powers both of earth and of hell.
Of the faults which he owed to nature, the principal seems to have been an arbitrary and domineering temper. He was one of those who by nature lean always to the side of authority; and in the English Revolution he would inevitably27 have stood for the Stuarts; or, in the American Revolution, for the Crown. But being above all things a Catholic and a priest, he was drawn by a constitutional necessity to the ultramontane party, or the party of centralization. He fought lustily, in his way, against the natural man; and humility28 was the virtue to the culture of which he gave his chief attention, but soil and climate were not favorable. His life was one long assertion of the authority of the church, and this authority was lodged29 in himself. In his stubborn fight for ecclesiastical ascendancy30, he was aided by the impulses of a nature that loved to rule, and could not endure to yield. His principles and his instinct of domination were acting31 in perfect unison32, and his conscience was the handmaid of his fault. Austerities and mortifications, playing at beggar, sleeping in beds full of fleas, or performing prodigies33 of gratuitous34 dirtiness in hospitals, however fatal to self-respect, could avail little against influences working so powerfully and so insidiously35 to stimulate36 the most subtle of human vices37. The history of the Roman church is full of Lavals.
The Jesuits, adepts38 in human nature, had made a sagacious choice when they put forward this conscientious39, zealous41, dogged, and pugnacious42 priest to fight their battles. Nor were they ill pleased that, for the present, he was not Bishop of Canada, but only vicar apostolic; for, such being the case, they could have him recalled if, on trial, they did not like him, while an unacceptable bishop would be an evil past remedy.
Canada was entering; a state of transition. Hitherto ecclesiastical influence had been all in all. The Jesuits, by far the most educated and able body of men in the colony, had controlled it, not alone in things spiritual, but virtually in things temporal also; and the governor may be said to have been little else than a chief of police, under the direction of the missionaries43. The early governors were themselves deeply imbued44 with the missionary45 spirit. Champlain was earnest above all things for converting the Indians; Montmagny was half-monk46, for he was a Knight47 of Malta; Aillebout was so insanely pious, that he lived with his wife like monk and nun48. A change was at hand. From a mission and a trading station, Canada was soon to become, in the true sense, a colony; and civil government had begun to assert itself on the banks of the St. Lawrence. The epoch49 of the martyrs50 and apostles was passing away, and the man of the sword and the man of the gown—the soldier and the legist—were threatening to supplant51 the paternal52 sway of priests; or, as Laval might have said, the hosts of this world were beleaguering53 the sanctuary54, and he was called of Heaven to defend it. His true antagonist55, though three thousand miles away, was the great minister Colbert, as purely56 a statesman as the vicar apostolic was purely a priest. Laval, no doubt, could see behind the statesman’s back another adversary57, the devil.
Argenson was governor when the crozier and the sword began to clash, which is merely another way of saying that he was governor when Laval arrived. He seems to have been a man of education, moderation, and sense, and lie was also an earnest Catholic; but if Laval had his duties to God, so had Argenson his duties to the king, of whose authority he was the representative and guardian58. If the first collisions seem trivial, they were no less the symptoms of a grave antagonism59. Argenson could have purchased peace only by becoming an agent of the church.
The vicar apostolic, or, as he was usually styled, the bishop, being, it may be remembered, titular60 Bishop of Petr?a in Arabia, presently fell into a quarrel with the governor touching the relative position of their seats in church,—a point which, by the way, was a subject of contention61 for many years, and under several successive governors. This time the case was referred to the ex-governor, Aillebout, and a temporary settlement took place. * A few weeks after, on the fête of Saint Francis Xavier, when the Jesuits were accustomed to ask the dignitaries of the colony to dine in their refectory after mass, a fresh difficulty arose,—Should the governor or the bishop have the higher seat at table? The question defied solution; so the fathers invited neither of them. **
Again, on Christmas, at the midnight mass, the deacon offered incense62 to the bishop, and then, in obedience63 to an order from him, sent a subordinate to offer it to the governor, instead of offering it himself. Laval further insisted that the priests of the choir64 should receive incense before the governor
* Lalemant, in Journal des Jesuites, Sept., 1659.
** Ibid., Dec., 1659.
received it. Argenson resisted, and a bitter quarrel ensued. *
The late governor, Aillebout, had been churchwarden ex officio; ** and in this pious community the office was esteemed65 as an addition to his honors. Argenson had thus far held the same position; but Laval declared that he should hold it no longer. Argenson, to whom the bishop had not spoken on the subject, came soon after to a meeting of the wardens66, and, being challenged, denied Laval’s right to dismiss him. A dispute ensued, in which the bishop, according to his Jesuit friends, used language not very respectful to the representative of royalty67. ***
On occasion of the “solemn catechism,” the bishop insisted that the children should salute68 him before saluting69 the governor. Argenson hearing of this, declined to come. A compromise was contrived70. It was agreed that when the rival dignitaries entered, the children should be busied in some manual exercise which should prevent their saluting either. Nevertheless, two boys, “enticed and set on by their parents,” saluted71 the governor first, to the great indignation of Laval. They were whipped on the next day for breach72 of orders. ****
Next there was a sharp quarrel about a sentence pronounced by Laval against a heretic, to which the governor, good Catholic as he was, took
* Lalemant, in Journal des Jésuites, Dec., 1659; Lettre
d’Argenson MM. de la Compagnie de St. Sulpice.
** Livre des Délibérations de la Fabrique de Québec.
*** Journal des Jésuites, Nov., 1660
**** Ibid., Feb., 1661.
exception. * Palm Sunday came, and there could be no procession and no distribution of branches, because the governor and the bishop could not agree on points of precedence. ** On the day of the Fête Dieu, however, there was a grand procession, which stopped from time to time at temporary altars, or reposoirs, placed at intervals73 along its course. One of these was in the fort, where the soldiers were drawn, up, waiting the arrival of the procession. Laval demanded that they should take off their hats. Argenson assented74, and the soldiers stood uncovered. Laval now insisted that they should kneel. The governor replied that it was their duty as soldiers to stand; whereupon the bishop refused to stop at the altar, and ordered the procession to move on. ***
The above incidents are set down in the private journal of the superior of the Jesuits, which was not meant for the public eye. The bishop, it will be seen, was, by the showing of his friends, in most cases the aggressor. The disputes in question, though of a nature to provoke a smile on irreverent lips, were by no means so puerile75 as they appear. It is difficult in a modern democratic society to conceive the substantial importance of the signs and symbols of dignity and authority, at a time and among a people where they were adjusted with the most scrupulous76 precision, and accepted by all classes as exponents77 of relative degrees in the social and political scale. Whether
* Journal des Jésuites, Feb., 1661.
** Ibid., Avril, 1661.
*** Ibid., Juin, 1661.
the bishop or the governor should sit in the higher seat at table thus became a political question, for it defined to the popular understanding the position of church and state in their relations to government
Hence it is not surprising to find a memorial, drawn up apparently78 by Argenson, and addressed to the council of state, asking for instructions when and how a governor—lieutenant-general for the king—ought to receive incense, holy water, and consecrated79 bread; whether the said bread should be offered him with sound of drum and fife; what should be the position of his seat at church; and what place he should hold in various religious ceremonies; whether in feasts, assemblies, ceremonies, and councils of a purely civil character, he or the bishop was to hold the first place; and, finally, if the bishop could excommunicate the inhabitants or others for acts of a civil and political character, when the said acts were pronounced lawful80 by the governor.
The reply to the memorial denies to the bishop the power of excommunication in civil matters, assigns to him the second place in meetings and ceremonies of a civil character, and is very reticent81 as to the rest. *
Argenson had a brother, a counsellor of state, and a fast friend of the Jesuits. Laval was in correspondence with him, and, apparently sure of sympathy, wrote to him touching his relations with the governor. “Your brother,” he begins,
* Advis et Résolutions demandés sur la Nouvelle France.
“received me on my arrival with extraordinary kindness;” but he proceeds to say that, perceiving with sorrow that he entertained a groundless distrust of those good servants of God, the Jesuit fathers, he, the bishop, thought it his duty to give him in private a candid82 warning which ought to have done good, but which, to his surprise, the governor had taken amiss, and had conceived, in consequence, a prejudice against his monitor. *
Argenson, on his part, writes to the same brother, at about the same time. “The Bishop of Petr?a is so stiff in opinion, and so often transported by his zeal40 beyond the rights of his position, that he makes no difficulty in encroaching on the functions of others; and this with so much heat that he will listen to nobody. A few days ago he carried off a servant girl of one of the inhabitants here, and placed her by his own authority in the Ursuline convent, on the sole pretext83 that he wanted to have her instructed, thus depriving her master of her services, though he had been at great expense in bringing her from France. This inhabitant is M. Denis, who, not knowing who had carried her off, came to me with a petition to get her out of the convent. I kept the petition three days without answering it, to prevent the affair from being noised abroad. The Reverend Father Lalemant, with whom I communicated on the subject, and who greatly blamed the Bishop of Petr?a, did all in his power to have the girl given up quietly, but
* Lettre de Laval à M. d’Argenson, frère du Gouverneur, 20
Oct, 1659.
without the least success, so that I was forced to answer the petition, and permit M. Denis to take his servant wherever he should find her; and, if I had not used means to bring about an accommodation, and if M. Denis, on the refusal which was made him to give her up, had brought the matter into court, I should have been compelled to take measures which would have caused great scandal, and all from the self-will of the Bishop of Petr?a, who says that a bishop can do what he likes, and threatens nothing but excommunication.” *
In another letter he speaks in the same strain of this redundancy of zeal on the part of the bishop, which often, he says, takes the shape of obstinacy84 and encroachment85 on the rights of others. “It is greatly to be wished,” he observes, “that the Bishop of Petr?a would give his confidence to the Reverend Father Lalemant instead of Father Ragueneau;” ** and he praises Lalemant as a person of excellent sense. “It would be well,” he adds, “if the rest of their community were of the same mind; for in that case they would not mix themselves up with various matters in the way they do, and would leave the government to those to whom God has given it in charge.”***
One of Laval’s modern admirers, the worthy86 Abbé Ferland, after confessing that his zeal may now and then have savored87 of excess, adds in his defence, that a vigorous hand was needed to
* “—Qui dict quun Evesque peult ce qu’il veult et ne
menace que dexcommunication.” Lettre d’Argenson a son
Frère, 1659.
** Lettre d’Argenson à son Frère, 21 Oct., 1659.
*** Ibid., 7 July, 1660.
compel the infant colony to enter “the good path;” meaning, of course, the straitest path of Roman Catholic orthodoxy. We may hereafter see more of this stringent88 system of colonial education, its success, and the results that followed.
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1
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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reverent
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| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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eulogy
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| n.颂词；颂扬 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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fleas
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| n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求） | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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omissions
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| n.省略( omission的名词复数 )；删节；遗漏；略去或漏掉的事（或人） | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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abatement
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| n.减(免)税，打折扣，冲销 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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ascendancy
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| n.统治权，支配力量 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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prodigies
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| n.奇才，天才（尤指神童）( prodigy的名词复数 ) | |
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gratuitous
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| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
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insidiously
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| 潜在地，隐伏地，阴险地 | |
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stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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adepts
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| n.专家，能手( adept的名词复数 ) | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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pugnacious
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| adj.好斗的 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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supplant
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| vt.排挤；取代 | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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beleaguering
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| v.围攻( beleaguer的现在分词 )；困扰；骚扰 | |
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sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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titular
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| adj.名义上的，有名无实的；n.只有名义（或头衔）的人 | |
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contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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wardens
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| n.看守人( warden的名词复数 )；管理员；监察员；监察官 | |
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67
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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74
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
puerile
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| adj.幼稚的，儿童的 | |
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76
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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exponents
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| n.倡导者( exponent的名词复数 )；说明者；指数；能手 | |
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78
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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79
consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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80
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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81
reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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82
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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83
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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84
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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85
encroachment
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| n.侵入，蚕食 | |
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86
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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87
savored
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| v.意味，带有…的性质( savor的过去式和过去分词 )；给…加调味品；使有风味；品尝 | |
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88
stringent
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| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
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