Linen, Clothing, And All The Other Necessaries For Twenty-
Seven Persons Whom We Had Among The Hurons, Were All Ready To Be
Conveyed By Water Into That Distant Country.' After This Disaster, The
Jesuits Were Sheltered For Some Time At The Hotel Dieu.
In 1637 the
Fathers of the Company of Jesus in Canada set forth to the Company of
New France
That they wished to build a college and a seminary for the
instruction of Indian youths, the Hurons dwelling 200 leagues from
Quebec having sent them six, with the promise of a larger number, and
also for the education of the country, and that, for this purpose,
they sought a grant of land. The Company of New France awarded them
twelve acres of ground in Quebec to build a seminary, church,
residence, &c. This grant was made at a meeting of the Directors of
the Company, at the hotel of the celebrated Fouquet, on the 18th
March, 1637. It was not, however, until the spring of 1647 that the
work of digging the foundations of the College was begun - the first
stone being laid on the 12th June. 'The same day,' says the Journal
des Jesuites, 'was laid the first stone of the foundations of the
offices of the main-building of the Quebec house. In 1648, we
completed the half of the large main-building, in 1649, our building
was completed as regards the exterior masonry and the roof; but the
interior had not yet been touched.' In July, 1650, the foundations of
the chapel were commenced, and on the 18th October, 1651, it was
sufficiently advanced to allow the pupils of the college to receive
therein Governor de Lauzon. 'The scholars,' says again the Journal
des Jesuites, 'received Monsieur the Governor in our new chapel,
latina oratione et versibus gallicis, &c., &c. The Indians
(scholars) danced, when mass was first celebrated in the chapel.' On
the 29th May, 1655, a great misfortune befell the good Fathers. The
brother known as Jean Liegeois was treacherously assassinated. He was
their business man; several times he had crossed over from Canada to
France in their interests; he was also their architect, and had
superintended the building of the residences at their various
missions, as well as the erection of the college. On the day in
question, while engaged in the fields near Sillery, seven or eight
Agniers (Iroquois) suddenly surrounded him, captured him without
resistance, and, put a bullet through his heart, and, adds the
Journal des Jesuites, one of them scalped him, while another
chopped off his head, which they loft upon the spot. On the following
day the Algonquins found his body and brought it to Sillery, whence it
was conveyed in a boat to Quebec, where it was exposed in the chapel,
and, on the 31st May, after the usual offices, 'it was interred at the
lower end of the chapel; that is to say, in one of the two sides where
the altar of the Congregation des Messieurs is now located.' To
understand these last words, it is necessary to explain that nearly
two years later, on the 14th February, 1657, Father Poncet founded
this congregation; and it was M. de Lauzon-Charny, Master of the Woods
and Forests of New France, son of Governor de Lauzon, who was elected
Prefect of the first members of the body to the number of twelve.
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