Section II., 1908. [ 3 ] Trans. R. S. C. 



I. — An Ursuline Epic. 

 By Lt.-Col. William Wood, Author of " The Fight for Canada." 



(Read May 26, 190S). 

 I. 



In the heart of Quebec is an oblong block of houses, about a quarter 

 of a mile long and half as broad. The streets on three sides of it bear 

 the names of St. Ursula, St. Louis and St. Ann. But saints' names 

 alone are nothing unusual in Quebec. It is only the crooked little street 

 cutting off the fourth corner that shows you the sole point of contact 

 between a convent and the outside world. This oblong is the property 

 of the Ursulines ; the houses in it all face outward ; behind them stands 

 the convent wall ; and within the wall the cloisters and a garden of some 

 seven acres. 



You wonder what the nuns think and talk about during their few 

 spare moments in that little inward-dwelling world apart, when they 

 never leave the precincts and never read a paper. But since before Con- 

 federation they have had one topic of absorbing interest to their whole 

 community. And now they are on the very tiptoe of expectation for the 

 first rumour of decisive news from Kome, about the long-sought beatifi- 

 cation of their first and greatest superior. La Mère Marie de l'Incarna- 

 tion. They explain how many, many difficulties they have had to over- 

 come; how dishearteningly slow their progress was for so many years, 

 because they did not know the proper method of procedure; and how 

 often tihey had to begin over and over again. At last, the assessors ap- 

 pointed by the Court of Eome appeared to put the nuns through the final 

 cross-examination. One sister, who had made a special study of La Mère 

 Marie's life, can tell you how she occupied the witness box for thirteen 

 days, and that it is the hardest thing in the worM to get the very best of 

 women made a saint. But now even Rome itself must be satisfied ; and 

 the Holy Father will soon proclaim a saint tliroughout both worlds. 

 Yes; the Ursulines have something to talk about, after all! 



But why should La Mère Marie become a saint; and what did she 

 really do for Canada? The following pages are an attempt to answer 

 this question from French and French- Canadian sources and a Eoman 

 Catholic point of view. It is, in fact, her eulogy. There is no devil's 

 advocate to plead against her ; no outside public in the jury ; no doubt- 

 ing critic on the bench. But the well-attested evidence in her favour is 

 so strong that it would be worth stating for its own sake ; while, quite 

 apart from every question of the beatific life, she claims attention from 



