p. 16 | The French Work in Canada

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 3, 1912

The French Work in Canada

History

CANADA was first discovered by Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, in 1534. In 1604, seventy years later, three ship-loads of colonists, both Catholic and Protestant, with their respective ministers, came over from France under the approval and by the help of King Henry IV. But after his untimely death by the knife of the assassin, the Jesuits took the upper hand in the colony, and compelled the Protestants to leave.

What Might Have Been

Garneau, a French Canadian historian, laments the fact that the French kings did not take hold of the scheme of the Huguenot admiral Coligny of allowing the French Protestants to come over to America, where they could have worshiped God according to the dictates of their consciences. Had Louis XIV done that instead of exterminating them, and finally forcing half a million to seek refuge in England, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, there is no telling what might have happened. America, settled in Canada and in Louisiana by the French Huguenots, and in New England by the Puritans, might have become a half-French, half-English Protestant republic, or two sister republics, giving the example of liberty and the light of Protestantism to all the world. The French Revolution might have been avoided. Instead of that, France, weakened by that awful drain, and by its Continental wars and internal corruptions, could give no protection to the Canadian settlers; and it seems to have been fortunate enough for these to have fallen under the English flag. Thus they avoided both the reaction of the French Revolution and the worst fruits of Catholic intolerance and ignorance.

Popular Education

What is the educational situation of the French Catholics? The leading element in the shaping of character is their clergy. From the very first, the influence of the Catholic clergy over the people has been absorbing, imperious, unquestioned; any lack of education, therefore, must be laid at their door. This is done by the French Canadian historian just quoted, who states that the educational work has ever been entirely in the hands of the clergy, and that it has been sadly neglected. While the printing-press was introduced at Cambridge, Mass., in 1638, eighteen years after the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock, it

was not established in Canada until 1764, one hundred fifty-six years after the founding of Quebec. Although in Massachusetts a complete system of compulsory primary education was decided upon from the start, it was never adopted in Quebec, and does not exist to-day. In fact, the high clergy is fighting this reformation now with all its might. La Vigie and Le Saliel, two Quebec papers that advocated it, have recently been obliged to suspend their publications. Le Pays, a progressive French paper in Montreal, was for the same offense given a last warning by Archbishop Bruchesi three weeks ago.

Popular Religion

In Montreal and elsewhere one meets stately Catholic churches, convents, and nunneries at almost every step. On Sundays they are crowded with worshipers. In fact, in order to give every one a chance to attend mass, it is held in every church from four to six times on Sunday morning. On the average, I should say that each of the thirty or forty churches in Montreal welcomes about eight thousand worshipers each Sunday.

In one church on Mount Royal Avenue, mass is being said all day and all night every day in the year. Into another one on St. Catherine Street, you see a steady flow of people going to invoke the Virgin Mary, who is represented by an image of marvelous beauty.

The other day while at Quebec, I visited St. Anne de Beaupré, the famous place of pilgrimage in Canada. At the entrance of the main church, four pillars reaching to the ceiling are made up of old crutches, trusses, and lame people's shoes of every size and description. These, with many old spectacles, have been left there by people who claim to have been healed by invoking Saint Anne, the supposed mother of the Virgin Mary. The place is crowded with booths where beads, scapularies, and all kinds of superstitious articles are sold. In a chapel on the mountain slope is a staircase like the one Luther climbed on his knees at the Lateran church in Rome. I have seen people climbing it, and kissing the thirty-two steps as they went up. Trains filled with pilgrims from the city and country are going to Saint Anne all summer long.

What can be the Christianity held by people thus taught? You will not wonder if I say that they know next to nothing about the Bible, and are not permitted to read it. A young French Canadian told me that when he went to the leading bookstore in Montreal to buy a Bible, he was told that he must first secure a license from the archbishop. "I shall send to France for one if you will not sell it to me," said the young man. The bookseller then telephoned to the archbishop, who gave the required permission. The other day this same young man had a conversation with a Jesuit priest who made an appointment with him to talk over things with the Bible in hand, but at the hour appointed the priest refused to discuss any Bible subject whatever.

The sale and distribution of the Scriptures should be an important part of our work. A young man to whom I have given a Bible, reads it with delight, but hides it lest the Catholic sisters or priests take it from him. The other day on the train a French Canadian said to me, "Why do our priests refuse us the privilege of reading the Bible?" "It is a hard question to answer," I said, hoping he would answer it himself; and he did. "I have my own ideas," he continued; "I think it is because it condemns many of the things they teach us." This was an important confession, and shows that these people do more thinking than we believe, and that many may be nearer the truth than we think.

Signs of Discontent

Evidence of the above may lie in the signs of discontent that are beginning to appear among these dear people. In Montreal a few hundred of them have joined the Freemasons; a club of infidels and one of socialists are showing a great deal of activity in spreading their anti-christian ideas. Many follow the rigid rules of the church, obeys its demands for money, and bow under the humiliation of the confessional with feelings of discouragement, impatience, and disgust, which, however, they carefully conceal within their own breasts.

Of late several events have brought deep humiliation to the high clergy in our metropolis. As you all know, the archbishop ventured to annul the marriage of two French Canadians on the plea that it was performed by a Protestant minister. This bold attempt to place the papal decree Ne temere above the civil law was met by a crushing defeat which must have been keenly felt by the proud princes of the church. And now comes the suit of Mrs. Morin, daughter of the late Father Chiniquy, against the editor of La Croix, who was fined three thousand dollars for insulting the memory of Father Chiniquy's wife by saying an ex-priest can never be lawfully married.

All this must be looked upon by the hierarchy with some degree of alarm, and must give them serious reasons to fear that they are losing ground, and lead them to make extraordinary efforts to keep their positions. The only resources of the church seem to be more formalism and glittering exhibitions, more pomp and superstition. Four years ago a pompous gathering celebrated the third centennial of the founding of Quebec. Two years ago Montreal witnessed the gorgeous and spectacular festivities of the Eucharistic Congress. This year in Quebec we have just seen a great French Catholic congress held.

The Quebec Congress

This congress, decided upon over a year ago, lasted one week. Whatever its real object may have been, its promoters, the French high clergy, have endeavored with all their might to make it serve the cause of Catholicism. The statement was made that the continuation of our race and language in the Dominion is conditioned principally on the maintenance of Catholicism. In every speech, the thought was brought out and emphasized that French Canadianism and Roman Catholicism are one and the same thing. The whole congress was evidently in the hands of the clergy.

To an outsider this congress seemed more like a grandiloquent, self-complacent, self-congratulatory gathering than anything else. Of all the brilliant speeches, only one pointed out the dire need of giving the French Canadians a better education. The speaker, Senator Poirier, of New Brunswick, made some severe statements, entirely dispensing with the complimentary phrases that made up a good portion of most of the speeches, comparing them with the prayer of the Pharisee. He said the French Canadians had buried the ten talents lent them by the Lord; and he made a contrast between highly educated Germany, a Protestant country, and Catholic Portugal, with its seventy-five per cent of illiterates. I need not tell you that this speech elicited very little enthusiasm.

The Work to Be Done

Such is, as far as I can see from the acquaintance of a few months, the moral and intellectual situation of this people, to whom we owe the great debt of giving the message. We owe it to them because they are our brethren in Adam; we owe it to them because they are our neighbors; we owe it to them because Jesus, the Son of God, has given his life to save them, and therefore expects them to share in the benefits of his great sacrifice.

A beginning has been made in Montreal and elsewhere. As a result of our work during the past winter and spring, several among the rich and poor have been led to study our positions. The most encouraging cases are those where the doors were opened by nursing the sick. My wife, as an ex-nurse, has found some interesting opportunities of practising her art; and I have had a remarkable experience which has opened quite a door for future work. In conclusion, let me make two remarks:—

1. We can not expect to see stanch Catholics, as a rule, embrace the message as quickly as Protestants. There will be exceptions, and these are the cases of people whom the Lord has been drawing and whose eyes have been opened. But it is impossible to expect people who are yet sincere Catholics at heart, who believe in the infallibility of the church and the Pope, who worship the sacrament, and invoke the Virgin Mary and all the saints,—it is impossible to expect that these people (and I am visiting several of them) will sit right down to study a book which they are forbidden to read or to have in their houses, and that in the presence of a heretic. A high wall of prejudice must be broken down first, and weeks or months of hard, careful work may be necessary for this. But when this is done, half the battle has been fought; when they are willing, in the face of the opposition on the part of their priest and neighbors, to study the Bible, then there remains little doubt as to the result.

2. It follows from this that the first methods to follow are those that serve best in opening the doors of the people's hearts. And we are told clearly and repeatedly by the spirit of prophecy that the great entering wedge of the message is the medical missionary work. We are told also that this work must be united with the evangelistic work, and that workers representing this branch must unite their efforts with the laborers representing the gospel work; and facts have abundantly demonstrated the truthfulness of this instruction.

To most of us the work of reaching the Catholics may look like an impossibility, like the great mountain before Zerubbabel. But we have the promise that it will become a plain. How?—"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."

J. VUILLEUMIER.

Baltimore, Md.

THE readers of the REVIEW will be glad to know of the victories for the cause of truth in Baltimore. We have closed our tent effort, but the services will be continued each Sunday evening in the Wabrook Hall.

Last Sunday we held a baptismal service at Gwynn Oak Park Lake, between two thousand and three thousand persons being present. Ten followed their Lord in this solemn ordinance. These, with others on previous baptism, will join the church next Sabbath. There is a splendid interest, and we expect others will soon follow in the same good way.

F. W. PAAP.