The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval Part 9

There were attributed to Mgr. de Laval, according to Latour and Brother Houssart, and a witness who would have more weight, M. de Glandelet, a priest of the seminary of Quebec, whose account was unhappily lost, a great number of miraculous cures. Our purpose is not to narrate them; we have desired to repeat only the wonders of his life in order to offer a pattern and encouragement to all who walk in his steps, and in order to pay the debt of grat.i.tude which we owe to the princ.i.p.al founder of the Catholic Church in our country.

The body of Mgr. de Laval lay in state for three days in the chapel of the seminary, and there was an immense concourse of the people about his mortuary bed, rather to invoke him than to pray for his soul. His countenance remained so beautiful that one would have thought him asleep; that imposing brow so often venerated in the ceremonies of the Church preserved all its majesty. But alas! that aristocratic hand, which had blessed so many generations, was no longer to raise the pastoral ring over the brows of bowing wors.h.i.+ppers; that eloquent mouth which had for half a century preached the gospel was to open no more; those eyes with look so humble but so straightforward were closed forever! "He is regretted by all as if death had carried him off in the flower of his age," says a chronicle of the time, "it is because virtue does not grow old." The obsequies of the prelate were celebrated with a pomp still unfamiliar in the colony; the body, clad in the pontifical ornaments, was carried on the shoulders of priests through the different religious edifices of Quebec before being interred. All the churches of the country celebrated solemn services for the repose of the soul of the first Bishop of New France. Placed in a leaden coffin, the revered remains were sepulchred in the vaults of the cathedral, but the heart of Mgr. de Laval was piously kept in the chapel of the seminary, and later, in 1752, was transported into the new chapel of this house. The funeral orations were p.r.o.nounced, which recalled with eloquence and talent the services rendered by the venerable deceased to the Church, to France and to Canada. One was delivered by M. de la Colombiere, archdeacon and grand vicar of the diocese of Quebec; the other by M. de Belmont, grand vicar and superior of St. Sulpice at Montreal.

Those who had the good fortune to be present in the month of May, 1878, at the disinterment of the remains of the revered pontiff and at their removal to the chapel of the seminary where, according to his intentions, they repose to-day, will recall still with emotion the pomp which was displayed on this solemn occasion, and the fervent joy which was manifested among all cla.s.ses of society. An imposing procession conveyed them, as at the time of the seminary obsequies, to the Ursulines; from the convent of the Ursulines to the Jesuit Fathers', next to the Congregation of St. Patrick, to the Hotel-Dieu, and finally to the cathedral, where a solemn service was sung in the presence of the apostolic legate, Mgr. Conroy. The Bishop of Sherbrooke, M. Antoine Racine, p.r.o.nounced the eulogy of the first prelate of the colony.

The remains of Mgr. de Laval rested then in peace under the choir of the chapel of the seminary behind the princ.i.p.al altar. On December 16th, 1901, the vault was opened by order of the commission entrusted by the Holy See with the conduct of the apostolic investigation into the virtues and miracles _in specie_ of the founder of the Church in Canada.

The revered remains, which were found in a perfect state of preservation, were replaced in three coffins, one of gla.s.s, the second of oak, and the third of lead, and lowered into the vault. The opening was closed by a brick wall, well cemented, concealed between two iron gates. There they rest until, if it please G.o.d to hear the prayers of the Catholic population of our country, they may be placed upon the altars. This examination of the remains of the venerable prelate was the last act in his apostolic ordeal, for we are aware with what precaution the Church surrounds herself and with what prudence she scrutinizes the most minute details before giving a decision in the matter of canonization. The doc.u.ments in the case of Mgr. de Laval have been sent to the secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites at Rome; and from there will come to us, let us hope, the great news of the canonization of the first Bishop of New France.

Sleep your sleep, revered prelate, worthy son of crusaders and n.o.ble successor of the apostles. Long and laborious was your task, and you have well merited your repose beneath the flagstones of your seminary.

Long will the sons of future generations go there to spell out your name,--the name of an admirable pastor, and, as the Church will tell us doubtless before long, of a saint.