THE HUGUENOT COLONY IN CANADA 113 



the preaching of two of Calvin's most zealous and fiery 

 disciples. The spread of the new doctrines was rapid, 

 as the simpler religion appealed to the common people. 

 A strange thing happened which aided in this quick cawfnis°m on 

 growth of the Protestant movement. A number of monks ^^^ seaboard 

 in central France, hearing of Luther, left their monas- 

 teries and crossed into Germany to learn directly from 

 the Reformer himself. As a result, they returned to 

 France and began to preach against Eome in the same 

 vein that Luther did in Germany. They were soon 

 compelled to hide, and a number of them found refuge 

 in Saiutonge, among the seamen. The persecution that 

 brought several of these reformed monks to the stake 

 did not check the belief of the people in their doctrines, 

 and again the blood of the martyrs became the seed of 

 the church. By 1550 a large proportion of the people 

 of this province had become Protestants, and La 

 Rochelle, the capital town of the province, was the 

 stronghold of Protestantism. To show how thorough 

 the change was, it is said that when the Edict of Nantes 

 was proclaimed in 1598 the Eoman mass had not been 

 said openly at La Rochelle for nearly forty years, while 

 in many other Huguenot towns the Roman Catholic wor- 

 ship had practically disappeared, so predominantly 

 Protestant were the people. 



It was a Protestant population, therefore, that wel- co°onists* 

 comed the colonization idea, not only for commercial 

 reasons, but because experience had taught them how 

 insecure they were in France. Even the new Edict of 

 Henry could not guarantee continued possession of their 

 religious liberties. The edict had inflamed the Roman 

 Catholics, and it was plain that j^ersecution would again 

 break out the moment opportunity could be found. The 

 day foreseen by the wise Coligny might dawn on any 

 morrow, when the Protestants of France would need a 

 place of refuge for themselves and their children. 



