190 VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. [1636. 



senists, — a suspicion strengthened by his opposi- 

 tion to certain priests, who, to secure the faithful 

 in their allegiance, justified them in lives of licen- 

 tiousness.^ Yet Olier's catholicity was past attaint- 

 ment, and in his horror of Jansenists he yielded to 

 the Jesuits alone. 



He was praying in the ancient church of St. 

 Germain des Pres, when, like Dauversiere, he 

 thought he heard a voice from Heaven, saying that 

 he was destined to be a light to the Gentiles. It 

 is recorded as a mystic coincidence attending this 

 mkacle, that the choir was at that very time 

 chanting the words. Lumen ad revelationem Gen- 

 tium;^ and it seems to have occurred neither to 

 Olier nor to his biographer, that, falling on the ear 

 of the rapt worshipper, they might have uncon- 

 sciously suggested the supposed revelation. But 

 there was a further mu^acle. An inward voice told 

 Olier that he was to form a society of priests, and 

 establish them on the island called Montreal, in 

 Canada, for the propagation of the True Faith ; 

 and writers old and recent assert, that, while both 

 he and Dauversiere were totally ignorant of Ca- 

 nadian geography, they suddenly found themselves 

 in possession, they knew not how, of the most 

 exact details concerning Montreal, its size, shape, 

 situation, soil, climate, and productions. 



The annual volumes of the Jesuit Relations^ 

 issuing from the renowned press of Cramoisy, were 



1 FaiUon, Vie de M. Olier, II. 188. 



2 M€moires Autographes de M. Oliei', cited by Faillon, in Histoire de la 

 Colonic FranqaisCy I. 384. 



