Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/599

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MONTI


543


MONTMIRAIL


dedicate the month of October to the Queen of the Holy Rosary in order to obtain through her interces- sion the grace that God may console and defend His Church in her sufferings, and for nineteen years he published an encyclical on this subject. By the de- cree of the Congregation of Rites (20 Aug., 1885; 26 Aug., 1886; 2 Sept., 1887) he ordained that every year during the entire month of October, including the first and second of November, in every cathedral and paro- chial church, and in all other churches and chapels which are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, five decades of the Rosary and the Litany of Loreto are to be recited, in the morning during Mass or in the afternoon whilst the Blessed Sacrament ise.\posed, and by the encyclical letter of 15 August, 1889, a prayer in honour of St. Joseph was added. Indulgences (S. C. Indulg., 23 July, 1898): (a) seven years and seven quarantines every day for the public or private recita- tion of five decades; (b) plenary indulgence on the feast of the Holy Rosary or during the octave for those who during the entire octave recite daily five decades and fulfil the other usual conditions; (c) plen- ary indulgence on any other day of the month for those who, after the octave of the feast, recite for at least ten days five decades ("Raccolta", 354; Albers, "Bluethenkranze", III, 730 sq.). Also in October there are devotions in honour of St. Francis of Assisi (feast, 4 Oct.) ; indulgences, three hundred days each day by assisting at the public devotions in honour of St. Francis in a church or public oratory; plenary in- dulgence on the feast of St. Francis or during the oc- tave (11 June, 1883, for ten years; 29 Feb., 1904, in pcrpciuum; "Acta Minorum", 1904, 106). Any other month may be selected instead of October. (8) No- I'ember, the Holy Souls in Purgatory (2 Nov., Com- niem. of all the Faithful Departed); indulgences, seven years and seven quarantines each day; plenary indulgence on any day of month under the usual con- ditions (Leo XIII, 17 Jan., 1888). Popular devotion has also selected other mysteries and has dedicated January to the Holy Childhood and the hidden life of Jesus according to the Gospel of the first Sunday after Epiphany; March, to the Holy Family, on account of the feast of St. Joseph and the Annunciation (25 March) ; August, to the Maternal Heart of Mary (feast on the Sunday after twenty-second of August) ; October, to the Holy Angels (feast, 2 Oct.); Decem- ber, to the Immaculate Conception (feast, 8 Dec.) or to the Holy Child in the stable at Bethlehem (25 Dec). These practices, however, are not formally approved by the Church, nor enriched with indulg- ences.

These devotions, of course, vary with conditions in different countries. Though there is a wide variety, constantly changing, the prayers more commonly used are the litanies of the Holy Name, Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin, the indulgenced pray- ers of the Raccolta, the rosary of the Dominicans. For the May and June devotions, a short sermon or instruction usually follows, with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament concluding the services.

Beringer, Die Ablasse (13th ed., Paderborn, 1906) ; Schweig- BOFER, Ablass-Brevier (Munich. 1907).

Fkederick G. Holweck.

Monti di Pietib. See Montes Pietatis.

Montmagny, Ch.\kles Hhadlt de, second French Governor of Canada, b. in France towards the end of the si.xteenth century, of Charles Huault and Antoi- nette du Drac; d. in the Antilles after 1651. Edu- cated by the Jesuits, he joined the Order of Malta in 1622, and fought against the Mo.slems and the cor- sairs of Africa. Appointed to replace Champlain before the announcement of the latter's death, he reached Quebec on 15 June, 1636. He rebuilt Fort St-Louis, and traced the plan of the city, giving to its four primitive streets the names they still bear in hon-


our of King Louis, of the queen-mother, and the pa- tron saints of Paris, and of his order. With him had come several noble families destined to contribute to the coimtry's development and renown. During his administration were liuilt. the Ji'suit College (fountled 1635), the Ursuhnenumast cry, and Il.>tcl-Dieu (1639). Isle Jesus, lying parallel to ^lontreal, was first called by the Jesuit Lejeune Isle Monlmagny in his honour. From the outset, he was ardent for the conversion of the aborigines. In 1636 was begun the reduction of Sillery, where Montmagny strove to have the Indians instructed. When Maisonneuve, in the autumn of 1641, came with forty colonists to found Montreal, Montmagny kei)t them for the winter, and in the spring personally escorted them to their destination. He built Fort Richelieu (now Sorel) at the mouth of the river of the same name, where he victoriously re- pulsed the onslaught of 700 Iroquois. At the expira- tion of a third term of office, he was replaced by Daillebout (1648), and departed sincerely regretted by all and leaving behind him an undying reputation for prudence and wisdom. He had efficaciously aided in the progress of the colony by the concession of twenty large domains to the enterprising heads of as many noble families. Shortly after his return to France, he was sent to St. Christopher in the Antilles, a posses- sion of his order, where he died. He lies buried in the church of Basseterre. Parkman accuses him of being a tool in the hands of the Jesuits, but his refusal to develop actively their missions in the region of the Great Lakes, to the detriment of the interests of Que- bec, gives ample proof of his independent government. Awed by his imposing stature and dignity, the aborig- ines called him Onon/Ziio or "High Miiuntain" (atrans- lation of his name, Montmagny, Muns magnus). He was withal mild, courteous, and affectionate, winning the attachment of both Indians and whites. He was charitable and sincerely pious, free alike from bigotry and dissimulation.

Fehland, Couts d'Histoire du Canada (Quebec, 1882); Roy, L'Ordre de Malle en Amerique (Quebec, 1S8S); Idem in Nau- velle France (March, April, 190G); Alexis in Nouvelle France (Oct., Nov., Dec, 1908).

Lionel Lindsay.

Montmirail (Monte-Mirabili), John de, son of Andrew. Lortl of Montmirail and Ferto-Gaucher, and Hildiarde d'Oisy, b. in 1165; d. 29 Sept., 1217. He was trained in piety by his mother, and well instructed in the secular sciences. Whilst yoimg he embraced a military career, and was presented at the Royal Court, where he formed a lasting friendship with Philip Augustus, later King of France. The dissipations of court life led him to neglect the training of his youth; even his marriage with a most estimable lady, Helvide de Dampierre, failed to effect a change for the better. However, in his thirtieth year he met Jobert, Prior of St-Etienne de Montmirail, whose words of counsel proved sufficient to cause his conversion; and he turned to God with generosity and fidelity. He built an hospital for the sick of all kinds, but the ob- jects of his predilection were the lepers, and those hopelessly afflicted. He loved the poor as brothers, and provided for them. He was severe on himself, wearing a coarse hair-shirt, passing frequently entire nights in prayer. Not satisfied with a life of holiness in the world, nor with that of a recluse, which he tried for a while, he entered the Cistercian monastery of Longpont, after having distributed among.st the ])Oor all his possessions not needed by his wife and family; and he gave himself wholly to prayer and penance, so much so that he had to be reprimanded for going to e.\cess. He had to bear every kind of insult from hia former friends; even members of his own family abused him for having abandoned honour and wealth for poverty and subjecttion. But none of these things could weaken I hi' fervor with which he sought perfec- tion. Innumerable miracles were wrought at liis