Further, The Excavations Which, At The Request Of Pere
Sachez, Dr. Larue And Others, Hon.
Mr. Joly, with a good will which
cannot be too highly praised, has ordered to be made, have already
laid bare the foundations of a well outlined building upon the very
site where tradition locates the chapel and where the bones have been
found.
"As it was stated at the time of the finding of the skeletons that one
of them was supposed to be that of a nun of the Hotel Dieu, Mr. Bedard
applied to the authorities of that institution for information on the
subject and received an answer from the records which conclusively
proves that the nun in question was buried in the vault of the
Jesuits' Church and not in their Chapel."
Though a considerable sum had been granted to foster Jesuit establishments
at Quebec by a young French nobleman, Rene de Rohault, son of the Marquis
de Gamache, as early as 1626, it was on the 18th March, 1637, only, that
the ground to build on, "twelve arpents of land, in the vicinity of Fort
St. Louis" were granted to the Jesuit Fathers. In the early times, we find
this famous seat of learning playing a prominent part in all public
pageants; its annual examinations and distribution of prizes called
together the elite of Quebec society. The leading pupils had, in
poetry and in verse, congratulated Governor d'Argenson on his arrival in
1658. On the 2nd July, 1666, a public examination on logic brought out,
with great advantage, two most promising youths, the famous Louis Jolliet,
who later on joined Father Marquette in his discovery of the Mississippi,
and a Three Rivers youth, Pierre de Francheville, who intended to enter
Holy Orders. The learned Intendant Talon was an examiner; he was remarked
for the erudition his Latin questions displayed. Memory likes to revert to
the times when the illustrious Bossuet was undergoing his Latin
examinations at Navarre, with the Great Conde as his examiner; France's
first sacred orator confronted by her most illustrious general.
How many thrilling memories were recalled by this grim old structure?
"Under its venerable roof, oft had met the pioneer missionaries of New
France, the band of martyrs, the geographers, discoverers, savants
and historians of this learned order: Dolbeau, de Quen, Druilletes,
Daniel, de la Brosse, de Crepieul, de Carheil, Breboeuf, Lallemant,
Jogues, de Noue, Raimbeault, Albanel, Chaumonot, Dablon, Menard, LeJeune,
Masse, Vimont, Ragueneau, Charlevoix, [58] and crowds of others." Here
they assembled to receive from the General of the Jesuits their orders, to
compare notes, mayhap to discuss the news of the death or of the success
of some of their indefatigable explorers of the great West; how the "good
word" had been fearlessly carried to the distant shores of Lake Huron, to
the bayous and perfumed groves of Florida, or to the trackless and
frozen regions of Hudson's Bay.
Later on, when France had suppressed the order of the Jesuits, and when
her lily banner had disappeared from our midst, the College and its
grounds were appropriated to other uses - alas!
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