To This End He Was Led By The Public Executioner, With
A Cord Around His Neck, Bareheaded And Barefooted, Wearing
Only a long
shirt, and having a placard on his breast and back on which was
inscribed the legend "Desecrator
Of holy things" (Profanateur des
choses saintes), in front of the parish church in Montreal, and
being placed on his knees, he made the amende honorable to God,
to the King and to Justice, and declared in a loud and intelligible
voice that he had rashly and wickedly desecrated the sacred image of
Jesus Christ, and had profaned the words of Holy Scripture. He was
then brought to all the cross-roads of the town, where he was scourged
by the public executioner, and afterwards lodged in prison to await
the sailing of the vessel which was to convey him to France, where he
was to undergo the remainder of his sentence. The Bishop of Quebec,
(whose vast diocese then included all of North America) immediately
wrote a letter to Montreal, inviting the people to make reparation by
penances and public prayers for the outrage committed, and ordering a
public procession from the parish church to that of Notre Dame de
Bonsecours, where the veneration of the cross took place. He then
obtained the crucifix from the magistrates, and forwarded it to the
reverend ladies of the Hotel Dieu in Quebec, accompanied by a letter
in which he directed that it should be placed in their chapel, and
that on a certain day the veneration of it should be made in
reparation of the insult offered the Saviour of the world in his
sacred image on the cross. The nuns placed it in a reliquary, and to
this day it occupies a prominent position on the high altar. In virtue
of a brief of His Holiness the Pope, dated the 15th December, 1782, a
plenary indulgence was granted to any one who, having fulfilled the
usual conditions, should visit the Hotel Dieu chapel on the first
Friday in March of each year. By an indult of the Supreme Pontiff,
dated 21st March, 1802, this indulgence was transferred to the first
Friday of October, when the veneration of the relic takes place
annually.
The cross is of some sort of dark wood, about five or six inches long,
bearing a brass figure of our Saviour, with the inscription I. N. R.
I. (Jesus Nazarene Rex Judaeorum) overhead and the skull and
cross-bones beneath. Attached to it is the certificate of authenticity
and the seal of the Bishop, Monseigneur de Pontbriand. In accordance
with this arrangement, public service was held in the chapel of the
hospital yesterday. The crucifix, enclosed in a gorgeous reliquary and
surrounded with a number of lighted tapers, flowers and other
ornaments, was placed on one of the lateral altars. Solemn mass was
sung at eight o'clock by the Rev. Mr. Rheaume, of the Seminary, the
musical portion being rendered in a most impressive manner by the
reverend mothers, to organ accompaniment.
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