[wood] an URSULINE EPIC 43 



Leen, even in the worst days of a hundred years ago. The present of a 

 little seed grain is thankfully recorded as likely to enable them to tide 

 over the next winter without losing their pupils. 



In 1761, there were 37 boarders, and English names appear for 

 the first time. Some years later the annals say : — " It has been a great 

 consolation to us, in the midst of so many difficulties and trials, to see 

 our classes always well filled, there being often as many as sixty boarders, 

 French and English. The latter are naturally very gentle and docile; 

 but it is sad not to be allowed to bring them up in our Holy Faith." 

 There are very few Anglo-Canadian families, of any social standing 

 during the first century of British rule, whose daughters did not get 

 at least some of their education from the Ursulines. And was not St. 

 Ursula herself the daughter of a Prince of Britain? 



1766 was a turning point in Ursuline history. The novitiate was 

 re-opened; Monseigneur Briand, the Ticar-General, arrived out after 

 being consecrated as fourth Bishop of Quebec: and the foundress of 

 their Order was beatified as St. Angela of Merici. " The happy event 

 was celebrated with as many outward demonstrations of joy as if the 

 whole country had still been under Catholic rule." The breach between 

 French and French-Canadian public life was already widening. In 

 ] 767, La Mère Marchand de St. Etienne writes to the Ursulines in Paris : 

 " The news we have had from France this year grieves us profoundly. 

 Although expatriated by the fate of war our hearts are as French as 

 ever, and this makes us doubây sensitive to the decline of that dear 

 motherland. I cannot help saying that it is as well to be in Canada, 

 where we enjoy the greatest tranquillity. We are not in the least molested 

 on the score of religion. We have a Governor, who, by his moderation 

 and benignitv, is the delight of every one, and a bishop who is the Joy 

 and consolation of his flock." This Juxtaposition of British commander- 

 in-chief and French-Canadian bishop speaks for itself. A little laiter 

 on La Mère de St. Tjouis de Gonzague writes : — " Religion is perfectly 

 free. People say it is not the same in Paris, where religious communities 

 suffer persecution. AVe are told that you were even obliged to celebrate 

 the beatification of our Blessed Mother Angela in secret. We have no 

 such difficulties here under British rule." 



In 1773 the Jesuits, hereditary friends of the Ui*sulines, were sup- 

 pressed in France. In 1774 the British Parliament passed the Quebec 

 Act, favouring French-Canadian rights and privileges. In 1775, an 

 army of American Revolutionists invaded Canada and besieged Quebec. 

 Bishop, clergy and nuns all saw the peril of intolerant assimilation star- 

 ing them grimly in the face; and all stood as firiuly British as they did 

 against the third American invasion, in the war of 1812. And in 1799, 



