180 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [1620-38. 



rior of the convent which Madame de la Peltrie 

 was about to endow at Quebec.^ 



Yet it was from heaven itself that Marie de 

 rincarnation received her first "vocation" to Can- 

 ada. The miracle was m this wise. 



In, a dream she beheld a lady unknown to her. 

 She took her hand; and the two journeyed together 

 westward, towards the sea. They soon met one 

 of the Apostles, clothed all in white, who, with a 

 wave of his hand, directed them on their way. 

 They now entered on a scene of surpassing mag- 

 nificence. Beneath their feet was a pavement of 

 squares of white marble, spotted with vermilion, 

 and intersected with lines of vivid scarlet; and 

 all around stood monasteries of matchless architec- 

 ture. But the two travellers, without stopping to 

 admu'e, moved swiftly on till they beheld the Virgin 

 seated with her Infant Son on a small temple of 

 white marble, which served her as a throne. She 

 seemed about fifteen years of age, and was of a 

 " ravishing beauty." Her head was turned aside ; 

 she was gazing fiixedly on a wild waste of moun- 

 tains and valleys, half concealed in mist. Marie 

 de rincarnation approached with outstretched arms, 

 adoring. The vision bent towards her, and, smiling, 

 kissed her three times ; whereupon, in a rapture, 

 the dreamer awoke. ^ 



1 The combination of religious enthusiasm, however extravagant and 

 visionary, with a talent for business, is not- very rare. Nearly all the 

 founders of monastic Orders are examples of it. 



2 Marie de rincarnation recounts this dream at great length in her 

 letters; and Casgrain copies the whole, verbatim, as a revelation from 

 God; 



