CCHA, Report, 19 (1952), 49-59
Antoine Gaulin
(1674-1770)
An Apostle of Early Acadie
by
THE REV. RICHARD V. BANNON, M.A.
Almost akin to folklore and the shadowy
legends of the ancient forest is the story that tells of a flourishing Micmac
Christian community that existed over two hundred years ago on the shore of
Antigonish Harbor in eastern Nova Scotia. Intriguing, to say the least, is that
part of the legend which speaks of a chapel on an island in that harbor,
beneath which was a mysterious crypt from which a subterranean passage wound
deeply to some hidden spot on the wooded shore. Fancy may evoke the picture of
peaceful canoes led by the Christian chimes to that island shrine, or in more
troublous days dark-skinned Christians creeping warily to Mass through their
hidden catacombs. History itself goes to the extent of relating that the early
English settlers who arrived in his vicinity in 1784 noticed the weather-worn
ruins of a small chapel not far from Town Point about five miles from the
present town of Antigonish. Beneath it was some sort of underground passage in
which they found several religious images. Concerning the fate of this native
Catholic community history is silent, but, according to a local legend, when
the Indians learned that their enemies the English were coming, they made a
hasty attempt at destroying their chapel, concealed the bell in the harbor, and
rushed the French missionary by canoe up the harbor, along the river, (which
was much deeper in those days), until they reached the interior lake country.
Thence in the same manner they brought him to the south shore of the province
from which, according to the story, he effected his escape. Might not this have
been the famous Abbe LeLoutre or the saintly Father Maillard, for this district
was well known to both?
The years marking the end of the
seventeenth century and the opening of the eighteenth are interesting ones in
the history of Acadie. England and France were then engaged at their sporadic
territorial squabbles. Wars, honored, in grim humour, by the names of our
illustrious sovereigns, raged intermittently. King William’s War saw Port Royal
pass into English hands in 1690, and the peace of Ryswick in 1697 saw it pass
back. During Queen Anne’s War Port Royal returned to the English in 1710, and
the peace of Utrecht in 1713 consolidated this acquisition along with such
additions as Newfoundland and all Acadie – France retaining only Cape Breton,
and Isle St. Jean (Prince Edward Island). The war which bears the name of good
King George and its corresponding peace of Aix-la-Chapelle coming some years
later need not concern us here. No doubt in comparison with our modern warfare
these so-called wars were insignificant affairs, yet they were cruel and bloody
enough in their limited scope and were sufficient to prevent progress for many
years. In a word, despite temporary lulls our undeveloped country was
practically in a state of open or tacit warfare throughout these years.
Passing from things political to those
ecclesiastical it must be admitted that a fair supply of fact and detail
relative to Church affairs is available. Just prior to the period touched upon
in this sketch Msgr. St. Vallier of Quebec had visited Acadie1 and the picture he
leaves us of the Church there in 1686 is a pleasant one indeed. We have noted
that Port Royal was captured by the English in 1690, and our next witness
speaks in less laudatory terms. In fact Sister Chanson, of the Congregation of
the Daughters of the Cross, writing in 1701 gives us a sorry scene to be
contrasted with that of St. Vallier. She says: “Our Church is in frightful
poverty, its only covering is straw, the walls are of logs, and instead of
glass for the windows we have paper. There is no bell, and the people are
called to church by the beating of a drum... There is no crucifix, no pictures,
no censer, no vases for wine and water, no finger towels; there is no drawer in
which to keep the two or three sets of old vestments, and a couple of much used
albs. But what is still more deplorable the Holy Sacrament is kept in a small
wooden box, composed of four boards nailed together. This is the Tabernacle in
which the God of Heaven and earth resides. The English carried off a suitable
Tabernacle that was here, also the sacred vessels and the rest. In a word,
everything is wanting.”2 If such was the state of affairs at Port
Royal, an important and central mission, how must things have been in the
lesser ones? Yet despite the raids, the pillaging, the general unsettled and
dangerous state of the times the spirit of the missionaries of the Church was
unbroken, and more than one Catholic priest of those days exulted as a giant in
beginning his arduous way. Notable among these brave pioneers of Catholicism
was Father Antoine Gaulin, secular priest from the Seminary of Quebec.
Antoine Gaulin, the central figure of this
account, was of Canadian birth, being born on the Isle of Orleans, not far from
the city of Quebec, April 17th, 1674. At an early age he was sent to the Quebec
Seminary where he remained first as a student and later as an ecclesiastic
until December 1697 when he was ordained priest. Occupying the episcopal see of
Quebec at this time was the able and energetic Bishop St. Vallier, who reposed
an especial confidence in his own seminary priests, not only in parochial
charges but in missionary work as well. Accordingly after allowing the young
priest a few month’s experience in local parish work, he sent him to the
mission field of old Acadie, a territory embracing not only the present
Maritime Provinces of Canada, but also an appreciable portion of the State of
Maine. Father Gaulin arrived in Acadie in 1698, and was first stationed at
Pentagoet an Indian mission on the Penobscot River, not far from the present
Bangor, Maine. The young Father Gaulin did not rush blindly into his new duties
but spent some weeks of preparation for his extensive charge with the Jesuit
Father Bigot at another Indian mission on the Kennebec River.
Although residing at Pentagoet, it must be
remembered that Gaulin’s missionary work was by no means confined to this
Penobscot settlement alone, for from time to time he was obliged to traverse
the primeval forests of Acadie, going even as far as the Island of Cape Breton.
Although Abbe Gaulin had for some time an assistant in the person of a young
seminary priest, Philippe Rageot, he appears generally as a solitary figure, a
lone apostle of the ancient woods.
Antoine Gaulin’s life is the story of
incessant labor amid unending and all but insurmountable difficulties. The
scene of his apostolate was a wooded wilderness, his flock the wandering Micmac
savages, and he was exposed on all sides to unjust accusations and calumnies.
Under English rule he would be looked upon as a secret agent in the pay of
France; under the French regime he would be regarded as favoring the English.
The student of history is grateful to Parkman for his sound and sympathetic
treatment of many of the French missionaries, yet I feel he is somewhat misleading
when he points out that Gaulin received a “gratification” of fifteen hundred livres besides an annual
allowance of five hundred.3 To the rapid reader it would appear that our
missioner was an opulent and over-paid churchman. We must remark in passing
that the livre was not a pound, but a silver coin worth about nineteen cents. The
illusion is further dispelled in the light of certain letters and documents
that fortunately have been preserved.4
The Seminary of Quebec had at this time in
Paris one of its officials the Abbe Tremblay whose duty it was to attend to the
temporal needs of the seminary mission priests. Much of the correspondence
between Gaulin and Tremblay is useful in forming a fairer view of the financial
status of the early Micmac missionary. The purchasing power of money in a
sparsely settled colony must have been considerably below par. The historian
Casgrain5 states that the
yearly allowance to each missionary was barely three or four hundred livres each year, and
that this sum was almost always inadequate to their needs. Consequently we are
not surprised to find a letter from Gaulin to Tremblay, (written September
1701), in which he complains of his limited resources. He is not receiving all
his allowance, his assistant has received nothing, they have no income, they lack
means of sustenance and are obliged at times to live on clams and mussels
(coquillages). He admits that De Brouillan, governor of Acadie, has been good
to him. The latter, on his part, in a memorandum of October 6th, 1701 speaks in
praise of M. Gaulin, missionary at Pentagoet. In another letter to Tremblay of
November 28th, 1702, Gaulin again describes his difficulties. He speaks of the
debts and expenses incurred by two long missionary journeys among the Indians.
One mission is almost two hundred leagues from his base at Pentagoet. As he
cannot depend upon his salary arriving in time he has been forced to borrow
money. Father Maudoux, pastor of Port Royal has lent him sixty livres; Sister Chanson
has lent him two hundred francs. He asks, strangely enough, not for money but
for lard, olive oil, vinegar, wine, soap and gun-powder! Again he begs for
smaller breviaries as they are always on the march, and large books are
inconvenient to carry. He cannot afford a watch, but is content to use the sun
as his time-piece (letter undated). In another letter we see him so discouraged
that he fears he will have to forsake his missions: “But after all we are not
angels, we must eat, drink, and clothe ourselves. I know, Monsieur, that it is
not your fault; but I speak freely to you, that you may have the goodness to
present our needs to Monsignor.” Referring in 1708 to some money to be
apportioned among the clergy Governor DeSubercase has this to say of Gaulin:
“Father Gaulin, missionary of the Micmac Indians has been given a hundred écus.
[This coin was then equivalent to three francs.]... Father Gaulin has more need
for three hundred écus than the other priests have for one hundred, because he
has neither dues (dime) nor income and he is subject to considerable expenditure
in the frequent journeys he must make to the different parts of his mission. In
justice we should establish a fund for him of at least a hundred pistoles. [About five
hundred dollars.]6
This continual penury of resources Gaulin
voices again some years later in his lengthy epistle to Msgr. D’Aguesseau,
Chancellor of France, a document to which we shall refer later.7) Here he speaks of
the expenses incurred by attempting to build a permanent church for his
Indians. He had spent almost all his available money in preparing materials and
labor for this, but the ever smoldering war had broken out into destructive
flame. The English came and took everything. The loss amounted to seven
thousand livres, and Gaulin was obliged to sell whatever patrimony he had in Quebec.
But the trials of our intrepid missionary
were not exclusively of such an external character as those mentioned above.
Heavier crosses than those he had to bear, and bear them he did. In no idle
spirit of adulation does the historian Casgrain compare his life of hazards and
privations with that of the Apostle of the Gentiles: “In journeying often, in
peril of waters, in peril of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils
from the gentiles, in ' perils in the city, in perils in the sea, in perils
from false brethern” (2 Cor. XI. 26).8
The French missionary frequently found
himself in direct opposition to the French traders and to the French civil
officials, for occasionally men appeared who were willing and anxious to enrich
themselves at the expense of public morality. Apparently of this type was M. De
Villieu, once an officer in the French forces, then an agent in the French
trading company of Chedabouctou (Guysborough, N.S.). Governor De Villebon died
in Acadie July 5th, 1700, and was succeeded by M. De Brouillan, the friend of
Gaulin who, however, did not arrive until June 1701. In the meantime it would
seem that De Villieu was a sort of military commandant, and did just about as
he pleased. This man is said to have tarnished the high repute he had won for
himself in the military expeditions against the Yankees by his subsequent greed,
and the illicit means he used in his transactions. He soon found that he had
Father Gaulin to deal with, as the latter had condemned his dishonest and
immoral proceedings, and above all his liquor traffic with the Indians. De
Villieu replied by various accusations against the priest but these are
carefully refuted in a letter which Gaulin wrote to Tremblay, October 24th,
1701. The Gaulin-Villieu difference went before higher authorities, but the
official court despatches declare in favor of the missionary, and indicate the
high esteem in which Father Gaulin was held by his superiors both lay and
clerical. The Abbe Tremblay proved a stout champion for Gaulin on this
occasion, and besides urged that Messrs. Gaulin and Rageot be given a more
substantial allowance. In fact in June 1703 he obtained from the Bishop of
Quebec the promise of an additional “pension”each year for these missionaries
to cover the expenses of their long journeys. However, this allowance was to be
a sum not exceeding two hundred livres. Incidentally M. De Villieu soon fell upon evil
days, and in 1702 we find him at Port Royal, broken in health, apparently
forgotten by his influential friends, a disgruntled and disillusioned man.
We now come to a rather obscure and
involved topic which must be touched upon even in such a brief survey as this.
It appears that there existed at this time a feeling of friction between the
Seminary priests engaged at missionary work and the Jesuits similarly employed.
By letters patent of May 1698 Bishop St. Vallier deprived the Jesuits of their
Illinois mission on the Mississippi and sent there priests from the Seminary of
Foreign Missions. This proceeding was strongly opposed by the Jesuits who did
not consent to it until 1701.9 Occasional misunderstandings
and traits of bitterness are at times evident in the western, the Louisiana,
and the Acadian missions. Yet it would be well not to place too much stress on
this friction, as there is also evidence that in some instances secular and
regular priests worked together in a sympathy and harmony that is truly
edifying.10
Now, the Jesuits were anxious to have the
Pentagoet mission where Antoine Gaulin was stationed. In one of his letters he
complains of the attitude of the Society in this matter, stating that the
Indians are opposed to a change of pastors and that they are desirous of
retaining the priests they already have. Furthermore he feels that it would be
a shame to forsake a mission which is so well established, and whose natives
are so well disposed... Again it should be considered that this mission was not
founded by the Jesuits but by the Abbe Thury, a seminary priest sent to that
place by Laval in 1687. On the other hand, however, it is evident that the
territory originally assigned to Gaulin and his assistant was much too
extensive for two men, however great their zeal. A glance at the western
section of a map of old Acadie will show that the Jesuits were not unreasonable
in their demands. We observe, roughly speaking, three parallel rivers flowing
into the ocean from the Abenaki and the Malecite Indian Country. On the most
westerly of these, the Kennebec, the Jesuits were well established, on the next
the Penobscot was Gaulin’s mission, and on the third, the St. John, the Jesuits
had, about this time, succeeded the Recollets. Hence in the interests of
solidarity it would seem a logical step for the Society to attend to that
central mission.
Whoever may have been in the right, by a
letter from Tremblay to Bishop St. Vallier of January 20th, 1706 we learn that
Gaulin consented to cede his Penobscot mission to the Jesuits. Previous to
this, on October 24th, 1704 he had been made vicar-general for all Acadie with
added jurisdiction over the French colony of Plaisance, Newfoundland. He spent
some months in the latter post in 1705, and says that he was kindly received by
M. De Subercase, governor of that section. Having been relieved of the New
Brunswick territory, Gaulin flung himself with his accustomed energy into the
mission field of what is today Nova Scotia. Unfortunately it is impossible to
follow him throughout his numerous voyages and visitations, and we must often
be content with slight references to his name in the pages of Acadian history.
At times, indeed, he emerges in bold relief only to disappear again into the
silent shades of the Micmac forest.
The early years of the eighteenth century
were crucial ones for Acadie, and the fate of that country swayed dubiously in
the balance. In 1706 Governor De Brouillan was succeeded by M. De Subercase,
the most brilliant of the French governors of Acadie, and the last. It is said
that he might have kept Acadie for the French had he not been practically
abandoned by the King and court. Stationed at Port Royal he had in 1707
repulsed a powerful English expedition from Boston. In 1710 after a siege of
nineteen days he was forced to surrender his weakened stronghold to the English,
but his resistance was so heroic that Colonel Nicholson gave him the most
honorable terms of surrender. Port Royal was now named Annapolis Royal in honor
of Queen Anne, and Colonel Vetch was left there as governor with a garrison of
almost five hundred men. The Acadians in the vicinity of the fort (banlieue),
assured of full liberty in the practice of their religion, took an oath of
allegiance to England. These are accused of infidelity to that oath, but it
must be remembered that in 1711 their pastor Father Justinien Durand was
arrested and sent in custody to Boston. By this and other misguided actions
Vetch rendered himself very unpopular with the Acadians, while his attempts to
conciliate the Indians went for naught. Despite Vetch’s assertion that many
missionaries were at large in Acadie, Father Gaulin was the only priest at this
time, and Indian and Acadian alike looked to him as their champion.11
On one notable occasion the English
garrison organized a punitive expedition against some of the Acadians who had
not yet made their formal submission, but as the Indians got wind of the plans,
a very sanguinary engagement took place about twelve miles from Annapolis. The
affair quickly developed into a massacre, and not an Englishman escaped. The
results of this ambush are well presented by Beamish Murdock in his History
of Nova Scotia:
“This action so raised the courage of the
French inhabitants and Indians, that they sent to inform the missionary,
Gaulin, of it. He was thirty leagues away at the time, laboring in secret to
collect a party to surprize the Fort at Annapolis, which he projected to
attempt in concert with the sieur de St. Castin, who held the commission of
lieutenant under the marquis Vaudreuil.12 On receipt of this
intelligence, Gaulin went at once to Port Royal (Annapolis) with more than two
hundred men. Gaulin notified the inhabitants and the Indians to repair to his
assistance, and directed them to fit out a vessel to transport provisions for
the siege. He also sent off a small vessel to Placentia,13 to request
ammunition for this enterprize from M. Costabelle, the governor of the place.
All the inhabitants withdrew out of cannon shot from the fort, and they also
transported their cattle up the river. Those of the banlieue intimated to the
governor that he had violated the articles of capitulation, and that they were
thereby freed from the oaths they had taken not to bear arms; after which they
joined their compatriots in blockading the fort. The investment was such that
the garrison could not come out to work or appear on the ramparts. The inhabitants
relieved each other weekly by companies, in keeping up the blockade or
investment. Gaulin himself proceeded to Placentia to obtain succors of
ammunition, etc., and an officer of experience to take command of the siege.”14
But all was to no avail, and Port Royal was
fated to remain an English possession. Although Gaulin reached Newfoundland
safely and obtained the required supplies, the vessel bearing them fell into
the hands of the English, and he himself escaped capture only by being in
another ship. After this he resumed his Micmac mission work and we hear but
little of him for a time.
Some of his letters are preserved, written
about 1713. In 1714 his name
is mentioned on the parish register of Port Royal, and in the same year he was
present at a meeting there. In 1715 when the Indians had captured the crew of
an English vessel, Father Gaulin made an effort to protect them.15 This took place on
the shore of St. George’s Bay, an arm of water that makes the northern limit of
what is now Antigonish County, N.S.
The mention of this particular locality
suggests a short inquiry into Father Gaulin’s report to Msgr. D’Agusseau, already
referred to. This account must have been written in 1726, as Gaulin states that
he had been sent to these missions twenty-eight years ago. Its author goes into
details regarding the Micmac Indians, their morals, racial traits, customs, and
especially their Christianity. It is a pleasing picture, marred only by the
remembrance that their contact with the white man has not always been for the
best; disease and drink have wrought havoc among what was once a noble and
powerful tribe.
Interesting indeed is the recital of his
plans and efforts for locating these wandering aborigines into something like a
permanent settlement. It is almost a platitude to say that where the Cross
goes, civilization goes with it, yet in Gaulin’s work among the savages the old
adage becomes anew a reality. Governor De Subercase (in a letter written
December 1708) speaks of Gaulin’s intention of gathering the Micmacs into a
permanent village. He had thought about Chedabouctou, but as this was somewhat
removed from the best hunting ground, as well as being too exposed to the
English, it was necessary to seek another spot. It was then suggested that be
settle his natives “on a small river called Sainte Marie which is twenty
leagues west of Canso.” Casgrain16 wonders if this would be
Shubenacadie where LeLoutre later had an Indian mission. Yet if “west” could be
taken as “north-west” we should have Antigonish, and, in view of the report we
are now considering, I believe this would be the safer conjecture. A part of
this report reads:
“When they [i.e. the Micmacs] will at last
he united in a single village as they wish, they can grow grain and catch fish
sufficiently to live comfort. ably, and for that reason they chose the River of
Arthigoniesche to set up a village there. This river crosses a part of Acadie
four leagues from the Strait of Canso [passage de Fronsac] which separates
Acadie from Cape Breton [Isle Royale]; boats of forty and fifty tonnage can
enter there by taking advantage of the tide. The entrance, [i.e. of Antigonish
Harbor; to the casual observer it presents the appearance of a large river], is
however difficult enough on account of the sand bars; the tide comes up about
two leagues, after which the water is fresh, and divides into several branches,
and makes eight or ten leagues of land quite suitable for cultivation if
cleared... The land is very level and there is not a single stone in it, and it
yields all sorts of herbs, which inclines one to believe that grain will grow
there perfectly. The little corn that the Indians have been growing there for
some time, and peas, beans, cabbages grow there very well. If these poor
people, who are not accustomed to clear the land, had some help from the French
to cut down the largest trees, and had implements enough to plough the land, in
a short time they would be able to make a living throughout the year. This
would facilitate their education, and at the same time make it possible for the
missionaries to live amongst them without being a charge to anyone.”
He further states that he considered the
surest means to make this settlement a permanent one was to build a church
there, at which a resident priest could stay. His first attempt at
accomplishing this was balked when all his materials of construction fell into
the hands of the English; unfortunately the workmen too had been paid in
advance! Yet recently he has been able to achieve his ambition, and the little
church is now built. (This would date its completion at about 1724.) He states
that this little chapel lacks many of the most necessary appurtenances for
divine service, yet must answer the spiritual wants of a hundred and twenty
families which have already gathered there. The report as a whole is an
eloquent plea in behalf of the Micmac Indians of Acadie, and is a lasting
memorial to the indefatigable seminary priest who did so much in the interest
of religion and civilization.
In 1724 the captious and intolerant
Governor Armstrong appeared on the scene, and his unhappy regime ended only
with his suicide in 1739. A decree of his council in 1725 declares that,
“Gaulin’s insolence to this Government is unpardonable.” Loyal to France as
long as this loyalty could be consistent with his higher obligations as a
priest of God, Gaulin fought the good fight of a patriot, but when he knew that
resistance to England was unavailing he petitioned for pardon and good standing
in the face of English authority. The governor and council resolved October
11th, 1726 that on begging pardon, taking the oath of allegiance, promising not
to meddle with government affairs, but confine himself to his religious
functions and giving sufficient security for his behavior he might remain as a
missionary in the province.17 Yet additional difficulties were to arise.
Gaulin was willing to make whatever promises or apologies the governor demanded
but was unable to furnish the required security. Armstrong was acting under
pressure as he wanted somehow to placate the Indians and French inhabitants,
but be could not refrain from such phrases as: “that old mischievous incendiary
Gaulin.” The Council however advised that the priest he placed as curé of Mines
until further orders. The following month a certain Mr. Adams made an affidavit
declaring: “that old fellow Gaulin spoke slightfully of the government and
disrespectfully of the order,” and the cantankerous Armstrong described it as
“intolerable insolence.” It was all a misunderstanding; Adams had mistaken the
priest’s meaning, and Gaulin denied the charges made against him. At any event
the Governor and council decided that it would be unsafe procedure either to
imprison him or banish him from the province so our old missionary was set at
liberty and permitted to continue his work.
Father Gaulin was faithful to the trust be
had. No longer did he foster an anti-English sentiment among the natives. As a
matter of fact in 1727 he was suspected by the French “of assisting the Indians
in making peace with the English, and although he was an old man, broken with
years of service as a missionary the report seriously irritated Maurepas.”18 During the years
1731-1732 his name is signed to the baptismal register of Port Royal. But his
ecclesiastical authorities at last recognized that his best efforts had been
made in the mission field, and he was recalled to the old Seminaire de Quebec
which had sent him forth. The noble patriarch of the Acadian missions at last
bade farewell to his faithful flock, and returned to Quebec where he passed to
his well earned reward at the Hotel Dieu, March 6th, 1740.
Gaulin’s little mission chapel by the River
of Arthigoneishe was in ruins before the end of the century which saw its
completion, yet the true structure he had reared was of no such perishable
material. Micmac Indian mission work was of the utmost importance in the
preservation and development of the Catholic faith in Nova Scotia. Gaulin himself
was at best merely tolerated by the English authorities, and Abbe LeLoutre who
followed him was a hunted man. The next missionary Father Maillard was latterly
paid by the government, as the Indians repeatedly refused to apostatize, and
would accept no clergyman but a Catholic priest. Maillard was able likewise to
administer the Sacraments to Catholics other than the natives. After his death
in 1762 some Protestant ministers unsuccessfully attempted to evangelize the
Indians. “But a stranger they follow not but fly from him, because they know
not the voice of strangers” (John X – 5). Once more the government bowed to the
inevitable and sent for another Catholic missionary. Father Bailly arrived in
1765, and was also on government salary. He again was able to attend, although
often surreptitiously, to the spiritual wants of the Irish and French
Catholics. Bigotry of course was still rampant, but progress along the lines of
religious freedom was rapid, and Catholicism made steady strides. Hence it is
evident that Indian mission work paved the way for the subsequent triumph of
Catholicism and was doubtless one of the most potent forces which at last, in
1827, brought about Catholic emancipation in Nova Scotia, an event which
anticipated by at least two years the Catholic Emancipation Bill in the mother
country.19
FATHER GAULIN’S
CHAPEL
Calm are the waves that pulse in
George’s Bay,
Tranquil the tides of eastland
Acadie,
Silent the little harbours dream
alway,
And hold another Micmac mystery.
Vain is the quest to find the holy
isle,
Though you may tread the
wood-enwoven shore
Where Gaulin, victor over war and
wile,
Had built his silvan shrine in days
of yore.
Two hundred winters’ snow and sleet,
and rain
With jealous time’s effacing enmity
Have stolen all from Gaulin’s humble
fane,
But what it had of immortality.
Not his the ruins of a wasted land,
No faded legend of the wilderness;
A Cross-crowned multitude our
churches stand –
The heritage of everlastingness!
R. V. B.
1St. Vallier was
then vicar-general of Bishop Laval whom he succeeded as Bishop of Quebec in
1688.
2Cited in O'Brien, Memoirs
of Bishop Burke, p. 50.
3Parkman, A
Half-Century of Conflict, vol. I, p. 196.
4Much of the
valuable Gaulin correspondence may be found in Casgrain, Les sulpiciens et
les prêtres des missions étrangères en Acadie.
5Casgrain, op.
cit., p. 224.
6Ibid., p. 265.
7Relation de la
Mission du P. Antoine Gaulin dans le pays des Mikmaks. Archives Nationales. K.
1232.
8Casgrain, op.
cit., p. 232.
9The Jesuit
Relations (Thwaite’ edition), vol. LXIV, p. 278.
10Cf. letter and
journal of Jacques Gravier, S.J., in Jesuit Relations, vol. LXV.
11Casgrain, op.
cit., p. 276.
12Neither Casgrain
in Les
Sulpiciens nor Savary in County of Annapolis mentions this particular phase
of the affair.
13The French colony
Plaisance in Newfoundland.
14Beamish Murdoch, History
of Nova Scotia, vol. I, pp. 323 ff.
15J. S. McLennan, Louisburg,
p. 36.
16Casgrain, op.
cit., p. 266.
17Murdock, op.
cit., p. 438; Akins, Nova Scotia Archives, pp. 68, 69.
18 McLennan, op. cit.,
p. 66. Maurepas was the French minister of Marine.
19Cf. How Nova
Scotia Emancipated Catholics by Sister Francis d’Assisi in Thought, December
1933.