shed only in 1678. The church of the old city of
Champlain was of stone, in the form of a Roman cross; its length was one
hundred feet, its width thirty-eight. It contained, besides the
principal altar, a chapel dedicated to St. Joseph, another to Ste. Anne,
and the chapel of the Holy Scapulary. Thrice enlarged, it gave place in
1755 to the present cathedral, for which the foundations of the older
church were used. When the prelate arrived in 1659, the holy offices
were already celebrated there, but the bishop hastened to end the work
which it still required. "There is here," he wrote to the Common Father
of the faithful, "a cathedral made of stone; it is large and splendid.
The divine service is celebrated in it according to the ceremony of
bishops; our priests, our seminarists, as well as ten or twelve
choir-boys, are regularly present there. On great festivals, the mass,
vespers and evensong are sung to music, with orchestral accompaniment,
and our organs mingle their harmonious voices with those of the
chanters. There are in the sacristy some very fine ornaments, eight
silver chandeliers, and all the chalices, pyxes, vases and censers are
either gilt or pure silver."

The Sulpicians as well as the Jesuits have always professed a peculiar
devotion to the Virgin Mary. It was the pious founder of St. Sulpice, M.
Olier, who suggested to the Company of Notre-Dame the idea of
consecrating to Mary the establishment of the Island of Montreal in
order that she might defend it as her property, and increase it as her
domain. They gladly yielded to this desire, and even adopted as the seal
of the company the figure of Our Lady; in addition they confirmed the
name of Ville-Marie, so happily given to this chosen soil.

It was the Jesuits who placed the church of Quebec under the patronage
of the Immaculate Conception, and gave it as second patron St. Louis,
King of France. This double choice could not but be agreeable to the
pious Bishop of Petraea. Learning, moreover, that the members of the
Society of Jesus renewed each year in Canada their vow to fast on the
eve of the festival of the Immaculate Conception, and to add to this
mortification several pious practices, with the view of obtaining from
Heaven the conversion of the savages, he approved this devotion, and
ordered that in future it should likewise be observed in his seminary.
He sanctioned other works of piety inspired or established by the Jesuit
Fathers; the _novena_