Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Duquesne Studies Spiritan Series Spiritan Collection 1-1-1962 Knaves or Knights? A History of the Spiritan Missionaries in Acadia and North America 1732-1839 Henry J. Koren C.S.Sp. Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-dsss Recommended Citation Koren, H. J. (1962). Knaves or Knights? A History of the Spiritan Missionaries in Acadia and North America 1732-1839. Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-dsss/3 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Spiritan Collection at Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Duquesne Studies Spiritan Series by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. Spiritan Collection Duquesne University The Gumberg Library Congregation of the Holy Spirit USA Eastern Province SPtRITAN ARCHIVES U.S.A. g_ / / Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/duquesnestudiess04henr DUQUESNE STUDIES Spiritan Series 4 KNAVES OR KNIGHTS? : DUQUESNE STUDIES Spiritan Series Volume One— Henry J. Koren. C S.Sp., THE SPIRI- TAN S. A History of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost. XXIX and 641 pages. Illustrated. Price: paper $5.75, cloth $6.50. ,,lt is a pleasure to meet profound scholarship and interesting writing united. " The American Ecclesias- tical Review. Volume Two— Adrian L. van Kaam, C.S.Sp., A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES. The Life-Story of the Venerable Francis Lihermann. XI and 312 pages. Illustrated Price: paper $4.00, cloth $4.75. ,,A splendid example or contemporary hagiography at its best." America. Volume Three — Claude Francis Poullart des Places, C.S.Sp.. SPIRITUAL WRITINGS. XV and 297 pages. Original French text and English translation. Price $5.00 paper, $5,75. cloth. Volume Four—Henry J. Koren, C.S Sp , KNAVES OR KNIGHTS? A History of the Spiritan Mission- aries in Acadia and North America, 1735-1839. XII and 211 pages. Illustrated. Price: cloth $4.75. In preparation Francis Libermann, Spiritual Writings Commentary on the Gospel ofSaintJohn Spiritual Letters DUQUESNE STUDIES comprises the following series; Philosophical Series — Spiritan Series — Philological Series — Psychological Series (in preparation) Twenty percentdiscounton continuation orders for all series. Periodical Publications of Duquesne University Press: Annuale Mediaevale. $4.00 per year. The Duquesne Science Counselor. $3.00 per year. Duquesne Review. A Journal of the Social Sciences. $2.25 per year. Duquesne Hispanic Review. $3.00 per year, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 62-8764 (g) 1962, by Duquesne University Editions ..Spiritus" Printed in tne Netherlands DUQUESNE STUDIES Spiritan Series 4 KNAVES OR KNIGHTS? A History of the Spiritan Missionaries in Acadia and North America, 1732 - 1839 by Henry J. Koren. C.S.Sp.. S.T.D. Duquesne University Press Pittsburgh. Pa. 1Q62 Editions E. Nauwelaerts Editions Spiritus Louvain. Belgium Rhenen U.. Netherlands This Book is Dedicated to the Memory of FATHER PETER MAILLARD, 1710-1762, PRIEST, SCHOLAR, AND "APOSTLE OF THE MICMACS' on the Occasion of the Second Centenary of his Death in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and to HIS FELLOW SPIRITAN MISSIONARIES vxw^ IV TABLE OF CONTENT Preface VIII Bibliographical Abbreviations XI Chapter One — Introduction 1. The Seminary and the Congregation of the Holy Ghost 1 Foundation and Purpose 1 Organizational Development 3 2. The Origin of the Spiritan Missions in North America 7 3. Areas of Labor in North America .... 8 4. The Plans of the Abbot of Isle Dieu ... 10 Personnel Problems of the Foreign Missions Society 11 The Seminary of Quebec 12 The Removal of the Recollects ... 14 The Suppression of the Jesuits ... 18 Chapter Two — Acadian and Indian Missions, 1735^-1772 1. Introduction 21 2. Father Maillard, the Apostle of the Micmacs 26 Linguistic Achievements 26 Conflict with the Recollects 31 Chaplain of Braves on the Warpath . 32 3. John Le Loutre, the Father of the Acadians 35 First Labors 35 Warfare and Capture 37 The Murder of "Captain" How ... 44 New Hopes 49 The Judas of Acadia 52 The Fall of Beausejour. Last Imprisonment of Le Loutre 55 V 4. The "Grand Derangement" 57 The Capture and Deportation of Priests from Nova Scotia 57 The Chaplain of Hunted Men: Father Le Guerne 61 The Fall of Louisbourg. Surrender of Father Maillard 68 Father Manach Falls into a Trap .... 74 The Treacherous Capture and Deportation of Father Cocquart 76 5. After the Deportation 78 The "Apostasy" and Death of Father Maillard 78 The Disappearance of Father Cocquart . 83 Le Loutre and the Acadian Deportees . 85 Knave or Knight? 89 Chapter Three — The Miquelon Islands, 1765-1793 1. First Settlement 100 2. Deportation and Return 103 3. The French Revolution 104 Chapter Four — The Maritime Provinces and Magdalen Islands, 1772—1819 1. Father Joseph Bourg 108 Indian Threats and Their Results .... 108 Two Little Deportees 110 "In Journeyings Often" 112 Father Bourg Averts Indian Revolt . 113 Emancipation of the Catholics in Halifax . 116 Conflicts in Chaleurs Bay. Death of Father Bourg 118 2. Father Le Jamtel at Cape Breton and Father Allain at the Magdalen Islands 122 Chapter Five — The Quebec Region, 1732—1835 1. The Seminary of Quebec 127 2. Father Rene Allenou de la Ville-Angevin . 130 VI A Contemporary of Father Poullart des Places, Founder of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost 130 Conflict Between Bishop de Pontbriand and Father Allenou 133 3. Other Spiritans in the Quebec Region ... 138 Chapter Six ~ The United States, 1794—1839 1. Introduction: First Spiritans in the States . 142 2. Their Early Labors in Guiana 144 3. The French Revolution in Guiana 147 Father Moranville Becomes President of the Revolutionary Assembly 147, Deportation of Herard, Duhamel and Other Spiritans 149 Moranville's Escape from Cayenne . 150 4. "The Good Moranville" in Baltimore . 151 First Years 1795—1805 .... 151 The Pastor of St. Patrick's Church 153 Last Illness and Death .... 160 5. Father Herard in the Virgin Islands . 160 Sad Conditions of the Church . 160 The Schism of Father Desbonchamps 163 The Schism of the Fugitive Trappist, Fa- ther Jeremiah Flynn 165 6. Last Years of Fathers Duhamel and Herard . 177 Epilogue . 180 Appendix: List of Spiritan Priests in North Ame- rica, 1732-1839 . 182 Bibliography 184 Index of Names 205 Index of Subject Matter 209 VH PREFACE The purpose of this work is to present in a scholarly, documented, but readable fashion, the story of the Spir- itans in North America during a period which largely coincides with the gradual conquest of the French col- onies on this continent and, somewhat later, with the after-effects of the French Revolution. Although church history often has a reputation for dull reading, we flatter ourselves with the perhaps idle thought that the story here presented! for the first time to the English-speaking worloVwill not confirm this notion. It is said that when the Chinese want to curse an enemy, they do so by paying him an apparent compli- ment: "May you have an interesting history." Although I cannot guarantee the authenticity of this saying, it may usefully serve here to introduce this work. Because several Spiritan priests played a prominent role in the desperate and protracted struggle between Catholic France and Protestant England for the undisputed pos- session of the New World's northern continent, the Chinese curse fell upon them with unremitting regularity, to; an extent that a few of them have remained very controversial figures, decried by some as utterly depraved knaves and exalted by others as shining knights. It is this controversy which has given rise to the title of this book. It would be folly to think this work will end forever two centuries of disagreement. No historical study, unless it is one concerned with an arid subject long forgotten which touches no sensitive chords of sympathy or aver- sion, ever does. It may happen in the case of some long- forgotten struggle between two nations which both have long since disappeared from the scene of history; but it could never be so of such as the titanic battle between Catholic France and Protestant England for the posses- sion of the New World. One need only compare Emile Lauvriere's monumental work, La tragedie d'un peuple with the Acadian chapters of volumes five and six of Lawrence Henry Gipson's massive opus, The British Empire Before the American Revolution, to become con- vinced of this truth. VIII Thus the title of this book, Knaves or Knights, ends with a question mark. Yet, after examining all available evidence, it appears that their knightly character far outshines the many dark deeds attributed to these "rascally priests," a judgment shared, incidentally, by an increasing number of contemporary historians who now have full access to extant records of the time. Wherever the importance of the subject matter de- manded it (and especially in the chapter covering the Acadian struggle) we have used original sources. In matters of less moment and where no primary sources were available we have often relied upon the works of authoritative historians and specialists. The extensive studies of Albert David, C.S.Sp., proved particularly useful, although they did not adequately cover the whole period described in this book. The publication of this new book offered an opportu- nity also to correct a few minor errors concerning the period covered here which had crept into the first volume of the Spiritan Series^) It is hardly necessary to point out that the pages con- cerned with Acadia should not be viewed as an attempt to stir up ancient animosities among our Canadian neigh- bors. The author is convinced that the subsequent history of this great country reveals a doubly curious paradox: after the British conquest of Canada, the loyal allegiance of its Catholic people contributed mightily to saving the country for the British during the American War of Independence and, on the other hand, this conquest saved the Canadian Catholics from all the evils which befell their fellow religionists in France from the Revolution of 1792 to the persecutions of Combes in the beginning of the present century.