CCHA, Historical Studies, 53(1986) 81-95 La Croix de Montréal (1893-1895): A Link to the French Radical Right1 by Phyllis M. SENESE University of Victoria In the late nineteenth century, newspapers in Quebec appeared and disappeared with regularity; some that were announced never saw the light of day. Without the considerable, and reliable, funding of party patronage or outright ownership, it was a rare newspaper that survived. Few special interest groups could sustain the financial commitment necessary to publish a paper for very long, if at all. Advertising had not yet evolved into the major source of newspaper revenue that it was later to become. In this journalistic jungle, dominated by the rivalries and resources of the party press, it is surprising that any small paper prospered. La Croix de Montréal was one such little paper that managed to get into print. While it could scarcely be said to have prospered, it does deserve to be rescued from obscurity and benign neglect. La Croix de Montréal defined its mission as one of regenerating Catholicism in Quebec and of shaping the future leaders of the province. Lionel Groulx observed that both Tardivel's La Vérité and La Croix de Montréal influenced him and his generation of students in the 1890s. A close look at Groulx, his work and that of many of his contemporaries reveals a continuity on a number of issues from La Croix de Montréal. This newspaper, its ideas, attitudes and preoccupations, was a link between three generations of Catholic activists.2 La Croix de Montréal, a militant Catholic newspaper in the ultra- montane tradition of Bourget and Laflèche,3appeared between 30 May, 1893 1 While lengthy quotations have been translated into English, I have retained in French certain expressions which would lose too much in translation. The research for this paper was greatly facilitated by the hard work of three students – Joanne Eby, Elsbeth Heaman and Donald Fyson. My thanks goes to Joyce Gutensohn who has typed this paper through all its transformations. 2 This paper is a preliminary report on a major project in progress which focuses on La Croix de Montréal in order to trace the links between three generations of militant Catholics in Quebec and the consequences of their ties to like-minded Catholics in France. 3 The term “ultramontane” has been used in Quebec historiography to describe generally those conservative Catholics with a definite nationalist bent who followed the prescriptions of Msgr. Bourget, later expanded by Msgr. Lafléche and — 81 — and 31 May, 1895. From 28 July, 1894 until it ceased publication it was retitled La Croix du Canada in an unsuccessful effort to attract a wider readership and boost its paid subscriptions. While its editors occasionally tinkered with type size and column widths, the basic format of the paper was always four pages. Initially, the paper was published on Tuesdays and Fridays. It was a daily from 28 July, 1894 to 16 February, 1895, when it resumed twice-weekly publication as its fortunes failed. The content of the paper was eclectic, running the gamut from reprinting papal encyclicals and apostolic letters to hard news coverage of the Sino-Japanese conflict in the summer of 1894, the Pullman strike in the United States, the daily politics of France, the educational crisis in Manitoba. It contained brief news items from virtually every corner of the globe and columns of local news on every conceivable topic. Suitable novels were serialized in its pages, poetry of a pious or nationalistic character was a regular feature, as were recipes, lists of saints’ days, market prices, stock quotations, train and boat schedules, occasional sports stories and help- or job-wanted listings. Advertisements for a wide range of businesses eventually filled two full pages. While La Croix de Montréal vowed to shun sensationalism, it was not above retelling some lurid tale of violence or personal tragedy if it could be linked, even tenuously, to repugnant and degenerate practices such as over-indulgence in liquor, drugs, dancing or – worst of all – reading novels. La Croix de Montréal was modelled directly and explicitly on the Assumptionist paper La Croix, based in Paris, which had been launched in 1883. The Paris paper was a highly successful promoter of a militant Catholicism whose chief interest was in reigniting Catholic zeal among the masses in France. It was an enthusiastic proponent of the view that a vigorous Catholic press – la bonne presse –- was essential to combat the spread of odious ideas. Its cause was given a tremendous boost in the 1890s when Leo XIII called for the expansion of an independent Catholic press. La Croix in Paris also drew inspiration from Pius IX’s observation that the greatest danger to Catholicism in France was the “enemy within” – those popularized by Jules-Paul Tardivel, to struggle against liberalism in religion and in politics. The term has a broad compass and often lacks precision in its application. To underscore the link to La Croix in Paris, I will use the term “Catholic militants,” a term used in the historiography of French Catholicism, which more accurately portrays the Montreal and Paris groups. For a discussion of the problem of defining ultramontanism in the context of Quebec, see: Philippe Sylvain, “Quelques aspects de l’ultramontanisme canadien-français,” Revue d’histoire de l’ Amérique française [RHAF], septembre 1971, pp. 239-244; Jean-Paul Bernard, “"Définition du libéralisme et de l’ultramontanisme comme idéologies,” Ibid, pp. 244-246; René Hardy, “Libéralisme catholique et ultramontanisme au Québec: éléments de définitions,” Ibid, pp. 247-251. — 82 — Catholics who behaved with indifference to the fate of the Church in France.4 The Assumptionists were in the vanguard of religious revival in France after 1870. The shock of the loss to Prussia in the war that year and the catastrophe of the Commune generated a new militancy among many Catholics who saw in defeat God’s retribution for France’s revolutionary past. As Louis Veuillot put it, “We believe that it is not by revenge against the Prussians that France will regain its glory, but by revenge against its sin.”5 A wave of popular piety led by the Assumptionists, with the revival of pilgrimages and the fund-raising to build Sacré Coeur on Montmartre which they promoted, placed the order in the forefront of the new militancy.6 The key to the Assumptionists’ success was recognizing the importance of organization and of new printing technologies to propagate its message in a France that was becoming increasingly literate. Rather than stress the formulation of right ideas, the Assumptionists in the 1870s and 1880s were convinced that if the right enthusiasms were encouraged, right ideas would follow. In a time of mass pilgrimages and renewed devotions enthusiasm was everything. In 1872 the Assumptionists had begun publication of Le Pèlerin, devoted to pilgrimage news, miracles and popular piety; it had become, by 1879, the first illustrated weekly magazine in France and enjoyed enormous success. Le Pèlerin alone could do little to draw the masses of Catholics into militant action on behalf of the Church, but it did point the way to a broader enterprise. To secure their objectives, the Assumptionists launched La Croix in Paris in 1883 for “Catholics who need to know the news every day.”7 Before long it would grow to become one of the most important dailies published in France. By 1889, however, La Croix in Paris had added new elements to its message of Catholic militancy, elements which would increase its immediate popularity but lead ultimately to its demise. In the national elections that year 4 A brief summary of the history of La Croix (Paris) can be found in Judson Mather, “The Assumptionist Response to Secularization, 1870-1900,” in Robert J. Bezucha, ed., Modern European Social History (Lexington, Mass., 1972), pp. 59-89. A detailed study of several aspects of the paper that pertain to this discussion is Pierre Sorlin, “La Croix” et les Juifs (1880-1899): contribution de l’antisémitisme contemporain (Paris, 1967). Michel Guy’s Vincent de Paul Bailly: fondateur de “La Croix”:cinquante ans de lutte religieuse (Paris, 1955) adds valuable information. A short history of the paper appeared in La Croix de Montréal, 29 mai, 1894, pp. 1-2. 5 Louis Veuillot, cited in Mather, p. 62. 6 Eugene Jarry aptly has described the Assumptionists as “the last of the papal Zouaves”: L’Orientation politique de La Croix 1895 and 1900,” La Documentation Catholique, 23 août, 1954, p. 1059. Thomas A. Kselman in Miracles and Prophecies in Nineteenth Century France (New Brunswick, N.J., 1983) details the revival of pilgrimages and popular piety which set the stage for the Assumptionists’ success. 7 La Croix (Paris), cited in Mather, p. 66. — 83 — La Croix issued an election manifesto that clearly went beyond a preoccupation with devotions to embrace nationalism and antisemitism: No more thieves. No more laicizers. No more persecutors. No more Freemasons. No more Jews. No more Prussians. No more foreigners to govern France. Nothing but honest men. Nothing but Catholics. Nothing but Frenchmen.8 This shift to a much broader attack on what it perceived as the enemies of Catholic values was accompanied by a phenomenal growth in La Croix’s financial resources, printing facilities, staff and distribution. Circulation was boosted after 1889 by establishing a network of subscription committees throughout the country that numbered over 1,800 by 18,93. Through this organizational device copies of the paper were sent in bulk to local committees which undertook their distribution and solicited new subscrip- tions. This network gave La Croix a personal contact with its readers that other papers lacked and provided it with a constituency that it could draw on to support its activities.