A Brief History of Evangelization in the Canadian Annette Gagliano

A Brief History of Evangelization in the Canadian Catholic Church Annette Gagliano

Catholicism in Canada evolved over a period of four hundred years, from the development of missions in the seventeenth century to the aggiornamento of the Second

Vatican Council in the twentieth. During this time, Canada transformed from what King

Louis XIV once described as a few acres of ice and snow, to a multicultural country with a firmly rooted Catholic Church. Thanks to unwavering evangelization efforts over the centuries, Catholicism is currently the largest religious denomination in Canada. 1 This paper will present a synthesis of the development of Catholicism since the seventeenth century. The complex history of Catholicism’s spread throughout the Dominion of Canada will be outlined through the creation of seventeenth century missionary settlements, followed by a description of the dispersion of the Word of God to the Canadian West two centuries later. These events may be directly linked to the culminating role of the Second

Vatican Council in 1965 in which the presence and tradition of the Catholic Church in

Canada was solidified for future generations.

The Establishment of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century

In 1608, de Champlain founded Quebec, effectively inaugurating Catholicism in Canada. French colonists and clergy from religious orders immigrated to Canada and arranged themselves in a ‘ribbon settlement’ formation, according to the Metropolitan

Thesis by Dr. J.M.S. Careless of the University of Toronto. 2 Thus, the missionaries

1 T. Allan Smith, “Catholicism,” The Canadian Encyclopedia , http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001465.

2 James Maurice Stockford Careless, Careless at Work: Selected Canadian Historical Studies. (Toronto: Dundurn Press, Ltd., 1990). 150.

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A Brief History of Evangelization in the Canadian Catholic Church Annette Gagliano positioned their churches next to the thin line of fur trading posts along the St. Laurence

River for accessibility purposes. Missions developed in Canada as a way of proclaiming the

Gospel, and hence to instigate Catholicism. French Jesuits and the Recollect Fathers, who abandoned their former lifestyles and adopted the traditions and language of the Natives, initiated the first missions. 3 In 1622, the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide , more commonly known today as the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, was founded in order to help build missions since the Roman Curia ended the task of spreading Christianity to mission countries. 4 The Society was successful, and in 1639 the Jesuits created Ste. Marie among the Hurons both as a key foundation in the initiation of missions and as a way of exposing the Natives to European culture. Ten percent of Natives in Canada converted to

Christianity, including the Huron, Teondechoren, and Iroquois . 5

In 1642, the Société de Notre-Dame, under the leadership of Paul de Chomedey and Sieur de Maisonneuve, accompanied most notably by Jeanne Mance and Marguerite Bourgeoys, established Ville Marie, now known as . 6 Ville Marie was located at the confluence of the Ottawa, St. Maurice, St. Laurence and Richelieu rivers, and served as a nucleus for

French colonizers to evangelize the First Nations. In 1713, the Recollect Fathers established a mission at Louisbourg in Acadia that focused on healthcare and education. 7

3 Terence Fay, A History of Canadian Catholics , (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s, 2002), 5-8.

4 Ibid., 7.

5 Ibid., 12.

6 Françoise Deroy-Pineau, “The Angel of Ville-Marie: Jeanne Mance,” Canada’s Christian Heritage, http://www.ccheritage.ca/biographies/jeannemance.

7 .J.B. Johnston, Life and Religion at Louisbourg , (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s, 1996), 11, 33. 21

A Brief History of Evangelization in the Canadian Catholic Church Annette Gagliano

Thus, the early missions in Canada helped to create an evangelical centre, and it was only a matter of time before Christianity spread to the rest of Canada.

Nineteenth Century Evangelization of the Canadian West

In 1820, the appointment of thirty-three-year-old Joseph Provencher as vicar general of Quebec for the Northwest missions initiated the spread of Christianity into the

Canadian west- a region that was at the time unaffected by the religion and missionary presence.8 Provencher initiated the evangelization of the Canadian West by creating a parish at -Boniface, situated in the Hudson’s Bay Territory around Red River. He sent several diocesan priests, such as Modest Demers, Jean-Baptiste Thibault and Louis

LaFlèche, to the Métis and Native settlements to help with the evangelization. 9 In 1844 and

1845, the Grey Nuns of the Sisters of Charity of Montreal arrived in the Northwest as a response to Provencher’s request. At Saint-Boniface, the Sisters established a convent and two schools, one for boys and the other for girls. 10 In 1845, the Oblate Fathers sent Pierre

Aubert and twenty-one-year-old subdeacan, Alexandre-Antonin Taché, to assist with the success of evangelization efforts. In 1853, Taché succeeded Provencher as bishop, and with the help of the Grey Nuns, several other Catholic parishes, hospitals and schools were established around the chain-link settlement in the Northwest. 11 After the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway up to Winnipeg in 1885, immigration to the Prairies- as well as the spread of the Word of God- increased. Thus, the nineteenth century marked a great

8 J. Wishart, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains , (Nebraska: Centre for Great Plains Studies, 2004), 755.

9 Fay, A History of Canadian Catholics , 91.

10 Estelle Mitchell, The Grey uns of Montreal and the Red River Settlement , 29-31.

11 Fay, A History of Canadian Catholics, 93. 22

A Brief History of Evangelization in the Canadian Catholic Church Annette Gagliano time of evangelization in Canada, most notably in the Canadian West. The Catholic faith had spread throughout Canada, but now its existence had to be entrenched.

The Twentieth Century’s Second Vatican Council and Canadian Catholics

Canada underwent several transformations after World War II. In the 1950s and

1960s, the Quiet Revolution in Quebec instigated the increased power of the state over what had previously been under Church control. 12 During the 1970s, Trudeau’s Liberal government was working towards making Canada an official multicultural society. 13 Thus, in order to adjust to changes that could potentially result in the instability of the Catholic

Church, John XXIII assembled the Second Vatican Council in 1962. Eighty cardinals and bishops travelled to Rome to represent Canada in the Second Vatican Council conferences; one such representative was Cardinal Léger of Montreal, who promoted subjectivity and advised the Council that the Pope’s infallibility must not be overused.14 As the council drew to a close in 1965 under the leadership of Pope Paul VI, many important changes had been made. For example, the role that the laity played in the Church was emphasized in council documents such as Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes , and subjectivity, as opposed to objectivity, was promoted. 15 However, this was penultimate.

The final transformation occurred once the Catholic Church altered itself from one firmly rooted in Greco-Latin influences to a more universal Church that focused on the good of all

12 Ibid., 279.

13 Bliss, “Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Canada’s Fighting Prime Minister,” The Canadian Experience , http://www.cdnexperience.ca/read-the-series/21-pierre-elliott-trudeau-canada%E2%80%99s-fighting-prime- minister.

14 Fay, A History of Canadian Catholics , 285.

15 Remi J. De Roo, “Proclaiming A Prophetic Vision: Blessed John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council,” CCHA Historical Studies, 1999, 7-20. 23

A Brief History of Evangelization in the Canadian Catholic Church Annette Gagliano people. From a Canadian perspective, the Second Vatican Council helped ‘Canadianize’ practices of the Catholic Church, ultimately presenting it in a new light. Catholics worked towards a more altruistic world, which interestingly encouraged further dispersal of the

Word of God around the globe.

The Catholic Church in Canada evolved tremendously from the start of the seventeenth century to the end of the twentieth and continues to do so. During the centuries highlighted in this synthesis, the creation of missions and scholarship spread

Catholicism from sea to sea and progressed into the meeting of a Vatican Council whereby the Catholic faith became firmly embedded in Canadian culture.

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A Brief History of Evangelization in the Canadian Catholic Church Annette Gagliano

Works Cited

Bliss, Michael. “Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Canada’s Fighting Prime Minister,” The Canadian Experience , http://www.cdnexperience.ca/read-the-series/21-pierre- elliott-trudeau-canada%E2%80%99s-fighting-prime-minister/

Careless, James Maurice Stockford. Careless at Work: Selected Canadian Historical Studies . Toronto: Dundurn Press Ltd., 1990.

Daly, Bernard. “Canadian Voices Resounded at Vatican II.” The Catholic Register , 11 October 1999.

De Roo, Remi J., “Proclaiming a Prophetic Vision : Blessed John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council,” CCHA Historical Studies , 75(2009), 7-20.

Deroy-Pineau, Françoise. “The Angel of Ville-Marie: Jeanne Mance,” Canada’s Christian Heritage, http://www.ccheritage.ca/biographies/jeannemance.

Fay, Terence J. A History of Canadian Catholics: Gallicanism, Romanism, and Canadianism . Montreal: McGill-Queen’s, 2002.

Johnston, A.B.J. Life and Religion at Louisbourg , 1713-1758. Montreal: MGill-Queen’s University Press, 1996.

Mitchell, Estelle, The Grey Nuns of Montreal and the Red River Settlement, 1844-1984. Private publication, n.d.

Smith, T. Allan. “Catholicism,” The Canadian Encyclopedia . http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ART A0001465

Wishart, David J., ed. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains . Nebraska: Centre for Great Plains Studies, 2004.

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