in work; besides, he was attacked by a disease of the heart, whose
onslaughts sometimes incapacitated him.

It would be misjudging the foresight of Mgr. de Laval to think that
before embarking for the mother country he had not sought out a priest
worthy to replace him. He appealed to two men whose judgment and
circumspection he esteemed, M. Dudouyt and Father Le Valois of the
Society of Jesus. He asked them to recommend a true servant of God,
virtuous and zealous above all. Father Le Valois indicated the Abbe Jean
Baptiste de la Croix de Saint-Vallier, the king's almoner, whose zeal
for the welfare of souls, whose charity, great piety, modesty and method
made him the admiration of all. The influence which his position and the
powerful relations of his family must gain for the Church in Canada
were an additional argument in his favour; the superior of St. Sulpice,
M. Tronson, who was also consulted, praised highly the talents and the
qualities of the young priest. "My Lord has shown great virtue in his
resignation," writes M. Dudouyt. "I know no occasion on which he has
shown so strongly his love for his Church; for he has done everything
that could be desired to procure a person capable of preserving and
perfecting the good work which he has begun here." If the Abbe de
Saint-Vallier had not been a man after God's own heart, he would not
have accepted a duty so honourable but so difficult. He was not unaware
of the difficulties which he would have to surmount, for Mgr. de Laval
explained them to him himself with the greatest frankness; and, what was
a still greater sacrifice, the king's almoner was to leave the most
brilliant court in the world for a very remote country, still in process
of organization. Nevertheless he accepted, and Laval had the
satisfaction of knowing that he was committing his charge into the hands
of a worthy successor.

It was now only a question of obtaining the consent of the king before
petitioning the sovereign pontiff for the canonical establishment of the
new episcopal authority. It was not without difficulty that it was
obtained, for the prince could not decide to accept the resignation of a
prelate who seemed to him indispensable to the interests of New France.
He finally understood that the decision of Mgr. de Laval was
irrevocable; as a mark of confidence and esteem he allowed him to choose
his successor.

At this period the misunderstanding created between the common father of
the f