JOLIET
496
JOLIETTE
times until the discovery of the two above-mentioned
manuscripts. The text has been studied and amended
by Natalis de Wailly (editions of 1868, Soci^te de
I'Histoire de France, of 1874, of 1881). The history
of St. Louis is rightly regarded as one of the master-
pieces of French Uterature in the Middle Ages; it
constitutes besides an inappreciable testimony con-
cerning the personality of one of the best sovereigns
who ever reigned. The figure of St. Louis is most
vividly portrayed in Joinville's book. Moreover, few
personal memoirs possess the same note of sincerity.
In depicting himself, Joinville discloses to us the
soul of a perfect knight of the thirteenth century; the
book is thus an important witness concerning French
society of the Middle Ages.
Natalis de Wailly, Prefaces to editions mentioned and articles in Bibliolhtque de I'Ecole des Charles (1857), 557-608 (1868), 329-478; (1872), 386-423; (1874), 217-248; Paris, Z,i telle de Joinville in Romania, XXIII, 508-524; Simonnet. Essai sur Vhistoire el la genealogie des Sires de Joinville (Langres, 1876); Delaborde, Recherches criliques sur les premiers sei- gneurs de Joinvillein Bib. Ecole des Charles (1890), 618-629. Joinville, I Homme et Vecrivain in Revue des Deux Mondes (1892), 602-636; Notice hislorique sur le Chdteau de Joinville (Haule-Mame) (joinville, 1891); Viollet, Les enseignements de St Louis h son fils in Bib. de I'Ec. des Charles (1874), 1-56. For tr. of Joinville see Bohn, Anliquarian Library, VI.
Louis Bkehier.
Joliet (or Jolliet), Louis, discoverer, the son of a wagon-maker, was born at Quebec, Canada, on 21 Sep- tember, 1645; d. in Canada, May, 1700. He gave great promise of scholarship, especially in mathe- matics, in the Jesuits' school at Quebec, and received minor orders in 1662. But, caught with the adven- turous spirit of the times, he early abandoned his studies and became a rover in the Canadian wilder- ness and a trader among the Indians. A fleeting glimpse is caught of Joliet searching for a copper mine on the borders of Lake Superior, in 1669; and again, in 1671 , he is seen standing by the side of Saint-Lusson as he plants the arms of France at Sault Sainte Marie. In 1672, upon the advice of the intendant. Talon, Joliet was dispatched by Governor Frontenac to ex- plore the grande riviere beyond the Lakes, which the Indians alleged flowed into the southern sea. In the order the French governor refers to Joliet as one "ex- perienced in these kinds of discoveries and who had been already very near the river ". In December of the same year Joliet reached the Straits of Mackinaw, where, with Fere Marquette, he spent the winter and the early spring in questioning the Indians and pre- paring maps for the journey.
In May of the following year, 1673, the historic quest began. With five voyageurs and two canoes, Joliet and Marquette in June reached the Fox River. A few leagues beyond, a short portage was foimd by which they reached the Wisconsin, down the tortuous course of which they glided until, on 17 June, the little party drifted into the great waters of the Missis- sippi. For a month they paddled southward, passing a great river from the west which the Indians assured them flowed into the Vermeille Sea — the Gulf of California — and, near it, a little village whose in- habitants, they were told, traded with the Indians on the Pacific coast. Joliet descended the river to 30° 40', christening rivers, plateaus, and elevations with Indian and French names which were destined to endure no longer than La Salle's great dream of the " Empire of New France ".
Having established beyond doubt the important fact that the great river emptied into the Gulf of Mex- ico, the expedition returned, arriving at Green Bay in September, after having padillcd 2500 miles. Here Marquette remained wliilc Joliet hurried to Quebec, where he arrived the middle of August, 1674, after having lost all his documents and maps by the upset- ting of his canoe in the Lachine Rapids. Whether or not Joliet was the first Frenchman to have gazed upon the Great River, the reports that he laid before the
governor and his establishment of the fact that the
Mississippi was a highway to the sea led to the imme-
diate formation of plans on the part of Canadian mer-
chants and officers for the settlement of the Mississippi
Valley, though Jolict's offer to plant a colony among
the Illinois was refused by the French Government.
Shortly after his return Joliet was married to Claire-
Frangoise Bissot. In 1680 he was granted the Island of
Anticosti, where he erected a fort, which was subse-
quently captured by the English in 1690, upon which
occasion his wife was taken prisoner. The restless
spirit of the explorer persevered in Joliet to the end, for
mention is made, within a few years of his death, of ex-
tensive wanderings in Labrador. In 1693 he was ap-
pointed royal hydrographer, and, on 30 April, 1697,
he was granted the seigniory of Joliet, south of Quebec,
which is still in the possession of his descendants. He
died in Canada in Slay, 1700, one of the first native
Americans to have achieved historical distinction.
Map drawn by Joliet in the Fox River valley on the eve of the Mississippi exi>edition in Shea, Discovery and Exploralions of the Mississippi Valley (New York, 1852). Maps, drawn from memory, as presented to Governor Frontenac, on his return, are now in the Archives de la Marine, Paris. For question aa to priority of discovery between Marquette, Joliet, and La Salle, see Mcmoire de Nicolas Perrot, vol. Ill of the Bibliolheca Ameri- cana (Paris and Leipzig, 1864); Parkman, La Salle (1869); Margrt, Memoires el Documenls (Paris, 1876-86); and Shea, Bursling of Pierre Margry's La Salle Bubble (New York, 1879). For general bibliograpliy, consult Winsor, Narrative and Crit- ical History of America (Boston, 1884-7).
Jabvis Keiley.
Joliette, Diocese of (Joliettensis), created by Pius X, 27 January, 1904, by division of the Arch- diocese of Montreal, comprises three counties, Joli- ette, Berthier, and Montcalm, with four parishes of L'Assomption County. It forms a rectangle 105 miles long by about 45 wide.
(i) Religious Organization. — The total population is 63,500 souls, of whom 1200 are non-Catholics. This population is divided into thirty-eight canonically erected parishes and four with resident priests. Ac- cording to its need each parish has one or another of the following associations or confraternities: the Third Order of St. Francis; the League of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for men and children ; the Congrega- tion of the Most Blessed Virgin, for men, youths and young women; the Confraternities of Mount Carmel; of the Holy Rosary; of the Bona Mors; of the Holy Angels; the Association for Daily Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament; the Association of the Way of the Cross; the Society of St. Vincent de Paul; and the Temperance Society. The last-named, es- tablished in each parish, gives good results. Fre- quent communion is observed in the diocese, and the faithful generally acquit themselves well of their religious duties. There are four vicariates-forane. Ecclesiastical conferences are held twice yearly in each vicariate. The bishop is assisted by a chapter com- posed of eight titular canons, a vicar-general, and archdeacon for parochial affairs, a procurator for the administration of episcopal revenue, an assistant procurator for diocesan works, and a chancellor for matrimonial affairs and the duties of a secretary. There are 115 priests in the diocese, 104 of whom are secular and 11 religious. The religious in all number 134 men and 390 women. The religious institutions of men are those of the Clerics of St. Viateur (novi- tiate at Joliette), Brothers of the Sacred Heart, Broth- ers of Christian Instruction, and Brothers of St Gabriel. The nuns are Sisters of Charity of Provi- dence, Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, Sisters of St. Anne, Sisters of the Holy ( 'loss and of the Seven Dolours, Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Josus and Mary, and Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood.
(2) Edwxitional Instilulinns. — The diocese con- tains 1 -seminary, 3 commercial colleges, 3 commercial academies, 21 boarding-schools for young women, 5
