QUEBEC
595
QUEBEC
approval (1755). He aided the victims of the plague
in 1746, 1757, and 1758, enabled the Ursulines to re-
build their convent at Three Rivers, destroyed by fire
(1752), and retrieved a similar disaster fallen upon
the Quebec Hotel-Dieu (1755). In his pastoral let-
ters, he exhorted the clergy to grant to the king for
his wars a part of their tithes and encouraged Cana-
dians to do their duty to their country, recalling the
fate of the Acadians in 1755. During the siege of
Quebec, broken in health by work and cares, he retired
to a nearby parish and could see after the sun'ender,
his palace and the seminary, the churches of the
Jesuits and the Recollects greatly damaged by bullets
and shells, half of the city houses, the church of the
Lower-Town and the cathedral, which he had recently
(1744-9) rebuilt on a larger scale, entirely destroyed.
(7) Jean-Olivier Briand (q. v.), bishop from 1766
to 1784. One of the vicars-general charged with the
administration of the diocese during the vacancy, he
ruled the district of Quebec. The Canadians, by two
delegates, and the chapter, by an address, had en-
treated the King of England to maintain the Catholic
hierarchy. More successful than the Abbe Mont-
golfier, rejected by England, the Abbe Briand, elected
by the chapter in his place, was indirectly notified
that the Government would not oppose his consecra-
tion, which took place in Paris (1766). He had to
thwart the intentions of England of angUcizing her
new subjects in faith and language. Circumstances
besides seemed most unfavourable. The population,
42,000 in 17.39, was in 1760, 60,000; of 181 priests
only 138 remained. The Recollects and Jesuits were
forbidden to receive novices. The chapter, prevented
from filling its vacancies, soon died. Canonically
notified — or not (it may be doubted) — of the suppres-
sion of their order, the Jesuits were left, until the
death of the last. Father Casot (1800), in peaceful
possession of their estates, which were afterwards for-
feited to the Crown. In Louisiana they had been all
banished after 1763, with the e?vception of Father
Meurin, and their several chapels among the Illinois
destroyed, while the properties of the mission of the
Tamarois were sold for a farthing by the Abbe Forget-
Duverger, the last priest sent by the seminary. The
Recollects disappeared one by one. Father Berey, the
superior, who received an annuity of £500, dying in
1800, and the last priest of the order, in 1813. The
college of the Jesuits having been changed into mili-
tary stores and barracks, the hope of education rested
upon the seminary of Quebec, where classes opened in
1765. The loyalty of the bishop during the American
War of Independence greatly contributed to obtain
rehgious liberty for Canada. He could write in 1775:
' ' Religion is perfectly free. I can exercise my ministry
without any restriction." As a proof that he united
firmness with the respect of civil authority, it may
be remembered that he refused to take the Test Oath,
until the formula was made acceptable to a Catholic,
and once said to General Murray: "My head shall be
cut off before allowing you to appoint priests to any
parish." The Government granted him an annuity
of £250 besides £150 for the episcopal palace that he
had rebuilt and rented for public use. With three
thousand francs voted by the clergy of France in 1765,
it formed nearly all his revenue. Nevertheless, he
found means for frequent and abundant charities.
The number of parishes was about one hundred, more
than twenty-five having been erected since the Con-
quest. A pastoral letter of 1777 contains interesting
statistics: 46,.323 births and 24,731 burials from 17.59
to 1769, and 43,995 births with 26,127 burials from
1769 to 1777, giving a net increase of 39,460 for
the whole period between 1759 and 1777. From
1767 Bishop Briand regularly visited his diocese. He
ordained ninety priests. Having been allowed by
Rome, for fear of a vacancy, to choose and consecrate
a coadjutor with future succession, he consecrated in
1772 the Bishop of Dorylsea and gave him authority
in 1784.
(8) Louis-Philippe Mariauchau D'Esglis (q. v.) was the first Quebec bishop born in Canada. He was pastor of Saint-Pierre-d'Orleans and kept until his death his small parish. According to the Ursuline annals, in 1782 priests were very scarce and several parishes without pastors. Vacancies were quickly filled, whereas, in 1788-90, the number of parishes being 121, the census of 1790 numbers 146 priests, of whom 142 were in office. Returning Acadians settled in several of the maritime provinces and were served by Vicar-General Bourg and the Fathers Girouard, Le Roux, and Donat, of the congregation of the Holy Ghost, while the Irish and Scotch Catholics of the same region were attended by the Abbes Phelan and Jones, who resided at Halifax.
(9) Jean-Frangois Hubert (q. v.), consecrated Bishop of Almire and coadjutor of Quebec (1786),
filled the see from 1788 to 1797. Every year he spent
three months visiting the religious communities and a
part of his diocese. In 1795 he visited Baie-des-
Chaleurs. He ordained 53 priests and confirmed
45,148 people. The number of priests, in 1794, was
160 for a population of 160,000 Cathohcs. During
the French Revolution, 34 came from France. Nine
were sent to Acadia and four to Upper Canada. The
seminary of Montreal, on the verge of ruin, obtained re-
cruits, and kept possession of its estates, which, thanks
to the firmness of Bishops Plessis and Panet, were de-
clared, under Queen Victoria, its lawful property.
Bishop Hubert, to please Lord Dorchester, appointed
coadjutor the Abb^ Bailly de Messein, parish priest
of Pointe-aux-Trembles (Portneuf CO.), consecrated
Bishop of Capsa in 1789. A distinguished man in
some regards, successful missionary in Acadia (1767-
71), professor of the seminary (1772-7), and after-
wards (1778-82) private teacher of the governor's
children, he favoured the establishment of the mixed
university contemplated by some New England loyal-
ists settled in Canada, and which Bishop Hubert con-
sidered and firmly opposed as an anti-Catholic agency.
The coadjutor died in 1794, apologizing for his errors.
Another and different coadjutor was chosen, Pierre
Denault, to whom Bishop Hubert resigned his au-
thority in 1797.
(10) Pierre Denault (q. v.) was pastor of Longueuil and kept his parish even after his consecration as Bishop of Canathe (1795). The parishes of Lower Canada numbered then about one hundred and forty, some of which he visited every year. He also visited Upper Canada in ISOl and 1802, and created, for English-speaking Catholics, the parishes of St. An- drew and St. Raphael, which he entrusted to Rev.
