Produced by Anne Soulard, Juliet Sutherland
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
This file was produced from images generously made available by the
Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions.
The materials for the following Biography have been gathered principallyfrom "The Life of the Mother Mary of the Incarnation" by her son, andfrom "The History of the Ursuline Monastery at Quebec," by a member ofthat community, the former published in 1677; the latter in 1863.
The Life of the Venerable Mother by her son, is founded partly on her owncommunications regarding the graces with which she had been favoured, andpartly on her correspondence with himself extending over the thirty yearswhich she passed in Canada. With the genuine information thus received,he intersperses, under the name of "Additions," further details which hadeither come under his personal observation, or been gleaned fromperfectly reliable sources. His work is therefore a sure and invaluableguide to the biographer.
The accounts of her inner life referred to, were written by the VenerableMother at two different epochs, and each time in obedience to animperative command from her confessors. The first written in 1633, the34th year of her age, fell into the possession of the Ursulines of St.Denis, near Paris, who on hearing that Dom Claude Martin was engaged inwriting his holy Mother's life, obligingly sent him the preciousdocument. The second, written in 1654, was forwarded to him from Canada.
The Annals of the Quebec Ursulines also afford rich material to thehistorian of the Mother of the Incarnation, their pages containingconstant references to and quotations from her letters both spiritual andhistorical, as well as from the Annual Reports of the Jesuit Missioners,and other contemporary documents of the highest authenticity and thedeepest interest.
The historical statements in the introductory chapter, rest chiefly ohthe authority of the Abbé Ferland in his "Cours d'Histoire du Canada,"1861, and of Bancroft in his "History of the United States," 1841. Thehistorical facts incidentally introduced in the course of the work can beverified by reference to the Abbé Ferland or any other Canadianhistorian, or to the Letters of the Mother of the Incarnation.
It only remains to be noticed that the words "saint," "saintly," andothers of similar import are used throughout solely in their popularacceptation, and not with any intention of anticipating the decision ofthe Church regarding the sanctity of the Venerable Mother Mary of theIncarnation or of any other of God's servants mentioned in these pages.
In like manner, the record of miraculous occurrences, visions, and otherextraordinary supernatural favours, is understood to rest as yet only onhuman authority, and therefore to claim no more than the degree ofcredibility which attaches to any well authenticated human statement.
April 30th 1880.
208th Anniversary of the death of the Venerable Mother of theIncarnation.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.A Glance at Canada, as it was in the days of the Venerable Mother Mary ofthe Incarnation.