CHAPTER IV THE CHURCH AND STATE IN THE FRENCH PERIOD THE foregoing chapters have laid the sociological basis for explaining in some measure at least why it was that ecclesiastical control became so dominant in Quebec. They have made plain, to some extent at all events, that the situation, natural resources, population factors, occupations, language, social organization, psychological characteristics of the inhabitants, religious and educational institutions, of the region now included in the Province of Quebec were all conducive to the production of a remarkably homogeneous population and a well-developed mental and moral solidarity. It remains to trace in further detail the historical development of ecclesiastical control, and to show somewhat fully the precise ways in which the demographic and social factors heretofore considered reacted in that process up to the time of the Constitutional Act (1791). The evolution of ecclesiastical control in Quebec, historically considered, falls naturally into two main periods; first the years from the settlement of the region down to the conquest by the British, and second the years from the conquest to the passing of the Constitutional Act. In both periods interest centres largely in the relation of Church and State. In both periods the power of the church was greatly increased in the process of adjusting the relationships of the church and state. The factors involved in the two periods, however, differed materially. In the first period there was but one religious faith to be taken into consideration; in the second the Church of England entered 99] 99 to complicate matters. In the first period the governmental officials were personally of the Roman Catholic faith and there was comparatively little reason for religious antagonism. In the second period not only were the governmental officials Protestant but the policies of the government itself were often opposed to what the Roman Catholic church considered its best interests. The officials were naturally somewhat more sympathetic with the aims of the Church of England than they were with those of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Nevertheless in both periods the underlying demographic and social conditions remained relatively uniform. In the main it was these conditions which determined the outcome. Neither the personal characteristics of the rulers nor the change of political allegiance were sufficient at any time to overcome altogether the power of the Roman Catholic church. In fact the development of ecclesiastical control by the Roman Catholic church in the second period was more consistent than in the first, inasmuch as that control for some eighty years previous to the conquest showed a marked decline. It is the purpose of this and the following chapters to trace the record of this evolution in detail. The present chapter will deal with the French period; the following one with the English period down to and including the Constitutional Act, as it affected both the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, and the final chapter will include the summary and conclusion. The foundation for the dominance of the church in Quebec was laid by two important preliminary facts-first, the religious motive in the exploration and colonization of New France, and, second, the faithful work of the Récollets. 1 The planting of the cross on the Gaspé Coast by Jacques Cartier was as significant for establishing the right of the Roman Catholic faith as the right of the French King. Cartier's purpose, in this initial |