OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF QUEBEC

Thcfollowing pages, descriptive of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Right Reverend and venerable Father Cazeau, cannot be more suitably introduced than by the following biographical sketch, which appeared in the Montreal ‘“ Evening Post ” of the 15th December 1879 : —

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Charles Felix Cazeau was born in Quebec on the 24th December, 1807. His father died when he was only two vears cf age. On his mother, therefore, devolved the duty of providing for and educating her children, whom we believe to have been five (1) in number. Of the success attending her energetic exertionsto attain those cnds, no further proof need be given than to state the fact that every one of the five ha ve filled res pectable positions in society.

The young Charles Felix began his studies in a college(2) which had been established in the suburbs of St. Roch, by the Rt. Rev. Joseph Octave Plessis, Bishop of Quebec. The late Archbishop Baïllargeon was at that time a professor in the same college. After epending some time in this new institution, Charles Felix Cazeau entered Nicolet College, where he made his classical

(15 Four,

( 2 ) For some time he was attending an English school. When leaving for the College, he thought it his duty to thank his master. He accordingiy did so, displaying, on that occasion, allthe eloquence of his grateful heart, for which he was véry justiy complimented.— In after vears, Mr. Cazeau was heard to say: 1 have always felt indebted to my first English master, (Mr. Reid). Without the knowledge he so zealously transmittes to me, I would have been deprived, during epidemical diseases, of the consolation of comforting the sick and the: aflicted. that were strangers to the Freuch language,

course, À few years ag0, at the celebration of the centenary of Ni colet College, Mer. Cazeau was one of the many eminent men who met within its walls to celebrate the occasion with their former fellow-students. In 1825, Mr. Cazeau returned to Quebec and was appointed, while yet in the 17th year of his age, to the important office of Under-Secretary of the Diocese. Shortly afterwards, on the 2nd of October of the same year, that eminent Prelate, Mer Plessis, who had always taken a lively interest in the promising young student, admitted him to the first degree in Holy Orders.Mgr Cazeau continued to fill the office to which he had been appointed, and at the same time pursued his theological studies at the Seminary of Quebec, up to the 3rd January, 1830, when he was promoted to the order of priesthood. The friend and protector of the young ccclesiastic had, ere this, gone to receive his eternal reward, and was succeeded by Mgr Panet. Mgr Panet had made a just estimate of the young priest’s valuable

q ualities, for immediately aïter his ordination, and when he was,

only twenty-tWo years of age, he promoted him to the very important and responsible office of Secretary of the Diocese, giving him, at the same time, charge of the chapel of the Uongregation in the city. The increasing duties of Diocesan Secretary, added to the multitude of acts ofcharity to which Mgr. Cazeau had detoté.

himself, requiring his whole time, he resigned his parochial charbè A

of the chapel of the Congregation in April, 1849.

Où the death of Mgr Panet, in the year 1833, Mgr Tur-

geon was called to the Episcopai chair. Like his predecessors LA 4 us ° is office, Bishop furgeon knew how to appreciate the character

and abilities of the Diocesan Secretary. Sbortly after his consecra- .

tion, this esteemed prelate preferred Mer Cazeau to the dignity of Vicar-General. This position he has filled under three successive Archbishops, and still continues to exercise the duties of that high office. \

In 1856, in spite of all the labors and responsibilivies attached to his office of Vicar-General, the Very Rev. Mr. Cazeau, prompted and sustained by his zeal and unbounded charity, took upou himself the duties 6f Roman Catholic chaplain to the forces

at Quebec, as well as that of Director of the newly organized com-.

muuity of the Good Shepherd in that eity. Thiske did in order

to permit the Rev. Mr. Kerland, who was tien fulfiling those. . duties, to visië Burope i the interests of the Canadian people, Ié .

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then became quite à familiar scene to the good people of Quebec . to witness the Vicar-General cautioning a soldier whom he supposed to have entered on the downward path, or stooping to remonstrate with those who had already fallen to encourage their return to righteousness.

On his retura from Europe the Abbe Ferland reassumed the duties of chaplain to the Catholic soldiers, V. G. Cazeau became the permanent directomof the Asylum of the Good Shepherd, and continues, to this day, to discharge the charitable dutiesof that office.

À tew years ago, during the visit of the present Archbishop

of Quebec to Rome, the Very Rev. Mr. Cazeau was charged with the administratorship of the arch-diocese.

The merits of the administrator were known in Rome, and, as a proof of his high appreciation of the Very Rev. Mr. Cazeau’s character and services, His Holiness Pope Pius IX, created him a domestic Prelate of the Papal household, and conferred upon him the title of Mnosignor.

Thus, for over 54 years has this devoted servant of God held office in the most ancient Catholie diocese in the New World, and, notwithstanding his humility and his aversion to celebrity, has he been raised to the dignity of a Prince of the Church, while his fame as a philanthropist is world-wide.

Having thus briefly sketched some of the principal points in the career of our noble and distinguished friend, it is but meet to mention some of the facts for which tie [rish race, particularly the Irish in Canada, have reason to love and to honor Monsignor Charles Felix Cazeau./During the cholera season of 1832, Mgr Cazeau, who had been ordaincd a priest but two years before, distinguished himself as the friend and the consoler of the afflicted, among whom were many of our fellow-countrymen,

Day and night he was at their bedside ministering to their wants, and obtaining for their physical relief and comfort al] the assistance in is power. Were the scene never so loathsome and so pitiful he was there. His great, generous heart throbbed with sympathy for the unfortunate sufferer ; tears of pity gushed from his eyes, but his noble Christian soul sustained him, and gave him strength to overcome the weaker impulses of his tender heart, and to proceed on his holy mission.

In that séourge the Irish racé wete not alone the victims, and

our rev: friend's holy labors were distributed indiscriminately amongst all nationalities. TE __ Fifteen years pass away. The young priest of 1830 has now bad seventeen years’ experience in his sacred duties. His abilities as diocesan secretary are now fully appreciated by his ecclesiastical superior, to whom his constant presence has become a necessity. He has the chapel of the Congregatior to administer to, and consequent]y it cannot be expected that he should attend to anything else. e That conclusion seems to be quite natural, but in the bosom of the St. Lawrence, a few miles below the ancient city of Champlain, there is a portion of land known under the pecul'ar name of Grosse Isle. Although intended by nature to be a quiet, salubrious spot of land, that speck on the broad river is gaining a ghastly notoriety. The sound of its name falls on the Irish ear, like the tolling of the funeral bell.

Beyond the Atlantic, famine has thinned the ranks of the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle. Moving spectres now take the places of the bliche and merry Irish lads and lasses on the fair grounds, along the streets and in the thoroughfares, in the field, in the bog, on the mountain and along the sea-shore. The crops have failed in Ireland, and there is no food for the people in 1847. One alternative is left—emigrate ! It is hard to leave home, the birthplace of our ancestors, but how remain in a land that offers nothing but a grave to its children ? Thousands gather up the remnants of their once modest fortunes, and join the ranks of the famine stricken to flock to the scaports and go on board the ships that are to take them to a land of plenty. The holds of ill-conditioned, ill-ventilated vessels are packed with living humau freight. Disease is fostered in the floating hotbeds of contagion. Weeks and weeks those sluggish saïling vessels are tossing lazily among the billows of the Atlantic and their course is marked by the [rish corpses strewn upon the ocean. Thousands of the more rubust reach land, In order to prevent the contagion from overtaking the hsalthy population of the cities and surrounding country, a quarantine is established, Where the emigrant is to purify himself after leaving the floating pest-kolds in which he has crossed the sea. The island, the name of which [ have mentioned, is chosen for that purpose.

Fathers, in whose breast à gleam of hope entérs o5 reaching

land, carry their dying offspring in their fevered arms and place them on the long-looked for shore in the hopes of seeing them regain their fast ebbing vitality. Mothers clutch their infants to their fever parched bosoms and totter with them along the dizzy gangway. Husbands assist their partners, on whose cheeks the rosy hue of health has given place to the hectic glow of fever, to reach the promised land. Let us not dwell on the harrowing scenes but cast & veil over the agonizing incidents that take place here.

One fuature alonein this terrible drama can we look back upon with feelings of relief and gratitude. Brave, generous hearts have been found on these shores to supply, as far as lay in their power, the physical wants of the multitudes of sufferers, while the French Canadian priesthood and Sisters of Charity (1) have come forward eagetly, to minister to the spiritual welfare of our famishing tellow-countrymen. Some of these heroes of charity were falling daily, martyrs to their heroic devotedness, but their places were apeedily filled by heroic volunteers.

The angel of death spared some of the victims. and à large proportion of these were children of tender age, whose natural protectors and guardians had left them orphans, strangers in a strange land. What was to become of those little helpless ones ? Ah ! there were noble, generous hearts amongst the representatives of the several nationalities then inhabiting Canada, and they came forward in the time of need. They took those orphans into their families and they cared for them.

But standing out in lofty preeminence above them all, there was in particular a man of noble figure, of high scholarly attain ments, of refined manners, the welcome guest in the highest sociai circles, a man born to take rank among the Princes of the Church, who came to the rescue. He stooped down to take the little forlorn Jrish orphans by the hand, and to seek and find for them homes where kind hearts and willing hands would minister to cheir wants and give them a Christian education. He was beloved and honored by his people and into their charge he entrusted seven hundred of Ireland’s fatherless and motherless children.

He looked after them with the solicitude of a kind foster-

Memo.— There wcre Sisters of Charity in Montreai, but none in Quebec in those days.— ft is stated in,the noles to the Appendix that laywomen were engaged.

father; he followed them in their career, and when assitance was required he furnished it, even to the extent of depriving himself of the strict requirements of one in his position.

He ïs loved and honored by every lrish heart in Canada. His name is revered by all who know it, and it forms a bond f union between the Irish and French Canadian elements in this Province, 4 bond that never will be broken. That name is, Father, and now Monsignor, CHARLES F£Lix CAzEAU.