1608-1663.] RELIGIOUS ZEAL OF CANADA. 51 



say, " is worth more than the conquest of an em- 

 pire ; " ^ and to forward the work of conversion, 

 he brought with him four Franciscan monks from 

 France. At a later period, the task of coloniza- 

 tion would have been abandoned, but for the hope 

 of casting the pure light of the faith over the 

 gloomy wastes of heathendom.^ All France was 

 filled with the zeal of proselytism. Men and wo- 

 men of exalted rank lent their countenance to the 

 holy work. From many an altar daily petitions 

 were offered for the well-being of the mission ; 

 and in the Holy House of Mont-Martre, a nun lay 

 prostrate day and night before the shrine, praying 

 for the conversion of Canada.^ In one convent, 

 thirty nuns offered themselves for the labors of the 

 wdlderness ; and priests flocked in crowds to the 

 colony.^ The powers of darkness took alarm ; and 

 when a ship, freighted with the apostles of the 

 faith, was tempest-tost upon her voyage, the storm 

 was ascribed to the malice of demons, trembling 

 for the safety of their ancient empire. 



The general enthusiasm was not without its 

 fruits. The Church could pay back with usury all 

 that she received of aid and encouragement from 

 the temporal power ; and the ambition of Riche- 

 lieu could not have devised a more efficient 

 enginery for the accomplishment of its schemes, 



1 Charlevoix, Nouv. France, I. 197. 



2 Charlevoix, I. 198. 



3 A. D. 1635. Rchtion cles Hurons, 1636, p. 2. 



* " Vivre en la Nouvelle France c'est a vray dire vivre dans le sein 

 de Dieu." Such are the extravagant words of Le Jeune, in his report of 

 the year 1636. 



