The Seminary Chapel And Ursulines
Church, After The Destruction By Shot And Shell, In 1759, Of The Large
Roman Catholic Cathedral, Were Used For A Time As Parish Churches.
From
beneath the chief altar of the Jesuits' Church was removed, on the 14th
May, 1807, the small leaden box containing the heart of the founder of the
Ursulines' Convent, Madame de la Peltrie, previously deposited there in
accordance with the terms of her last will.
You can see that the pick-axe and mattock of the "bande noire" who
robbed our city walls of their stones, and demolished the Jesuits' College
and city gates, were busily employed long before 1871.
THE JESUITS' BARRACKS.
There are few, we will venture to say, who, in their daily walk up or down
Fabrique Street, do not miss this hoary and familiar land mark, the
Jesuits' College. When its removal was recently decreed, for a long time
it resisted the united assaults of hammer and pick-axe, and yielded,
finally, to the terrific power of dynamite alone.
The Jesuits' College, older than Harvard College, at Boston, takes one
back to the dawn of Canadian history. Concerning the venerable
institution, we translate the following from the French of Mr. T. B.
Bedard. It appeared originally in the Journal de Quebec: -
"The recent discovery of human bones at the Jesuit Barracks has
excited the curiosity of the public in general, and especially of
antiquarians and all interested in historical research. Naturally, the
question presents itself - who were the individuals interred where
these bones were found, and what was this place of sepulture? An
attentive study of the subject leads me to believe that the remains of
the three skeletons discovered, with two skulls only, are those of
Brother Jean Liegeois, Pere du Quen, and Pere Francois du Peron,
deceased at Chambly, and whose mortal remains were sent to Quebec for
interment. The spot where the bones were found must have been the site
of the chapel built at the same time as the other portions of the
Jesuits' College. But inasmuch as the demolition of this more than
venerable edifice approaches completion, a sketch of the history of
its construction may not be amiss.
"Let us preface by saying, with the learned Abbes Laverdiere and
Casgrain, that the residence or the Convent of Notre Dame de la
Recouvrance, burnt together with the chapel of the same name in 1640,
should not be confounded with the College (turned later on into
barracks), the foundations of which were not laid until several years
afterwards. The Chapel of Notre Dame de la Recouvrance and the
Jesuits' house attached thereto, were situated upon the ground upon
which the Anglican Cathedral now stands. In the conflagration of 1640,
chapel and residence were destroyed; the registers of Civil Status
burnt, and the Jesuits lost all their effects. 'We had gathered
together in that house,' writes Father Lejeune, 'as in a little store,
all the maintenance and support of our other residences and of our
missions.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 99 of 451
Words from 51745 to 52248
of 236821
