United States or Sri Lanka ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
M. de Laval returned to Canada the following year. The Sisters were all of the same grade, no distinctions having been made; all wore a uniform dress, similar to that ordinarily worn by pious women of the middle class. The color was black, being the same in every respect as Sister Bourgeois herself wore on her first arrival at Ville-Marie, and which the Sisters continue to wear to this day.
In 1652 Montreal was founded under the name of Ville-Marie by Paul Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, and a number of other religious enthusiasts. In 1659, the Abbé de Montigny, better known to Canadians as Monseigneur de Laval, the first Roman Catholic bishop, arrived in the colony and assumed charge of ecclesiastical affairs under the titular name of Bishop of Petraea.
These ladies had already taken steps to establish themselves at Ville-Marie, and there are still extant a few letters written on the subject. But M. d'Olier, superior of the Seminary, who knew better than any one, the merits of Sister Bourgeois, did not give them much hope of establishing a new mission.
They set sail soon after, and arrived safely at Quebec on the 13th of August, the same year. She sent her band of heroines direct to Ville-Marie, for which they had so often sighed during their journeyings, and the very name of which animated their zeal and fervor, but she herself was detained at Quebec for some time.
They were required to take with them all the provisions, clothing, furniture, and mechanical or other tools necessary for the first two years, and were to take possession of the isle in the name of Mary, whom they were to regard as their mother and mistress. With the King's permission they were to build a city in her honor, which was to be called Ville-Marie.
On the statement of the latter that they were going on an embassy to Ville-Marie, he feigns surprise, and is astonished that the French governor-general should have sent him to attack men who were going to treat with him.
Although her strength and courage never flagged, she evidently required assistance, which Almighty God provided in His own mysterious and adorable manner, as will soon be related. Sister Bourgeois had now lived four years in Ville-Marie, during which time she had practised the most heroic virtues.
On their arrival at Ville-Marie, Jean Mance received them with every mark of esteem and affection that Christian charity could inspire.
Mance, and celebrated the first great mass on the island. Father Vimont, as he performed this holy rite of his Church, addressed the new colonists with words which foreshadowed the success of the Roman Catholic Church in the greatest Canadian city, which was first named Ville-Marie.
A lady of Ville-Marie, who for many years had suffered excruciating internal pains, without being able to obtain relief from the most skilful physicians, was perfectly cured on the application of a piece of linen saturated with the blood of Sister Bourgeois' heart, on the day of the embalming.
Word Of The Day