The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-11

is told Oft to receive visitors and dis
pense to them the hospitality of the
monastery.
The monks have proved themselves
to be great pioneers and agriculture
lists. Twelve years ago they came to
the prlmeval forest; now they have
large tracts of land in cultivation. By
an arrangement with the Government
of Quebec they devoted themselves to
the colonization Of the vast area of
unsettled country in the midst Of
which their monastery is situated No
backwoodsmen were ever more sue
cessful. Many settlers have taken
up lands, and large village stands
where few years ago was virgin
forest.
The Province of Quebec is the only
part of the British Empire where the
Roman Catholic Church is still estab-
lished by law AS the great majority
of the inhabitants belong to that faith,
there is no agitation for disesta blis1l-
ment. Yet it is the only established
church on the American continent
north of Guatemala.
Every man in Quebec who does not
declare himself to be no longer a
member of the Roman Catholic COM
munion is legally bound to pay 1.-THE
one twenty-sixth of his cereal crops,
besides contributions for church build
ing. This obligation is, of course, not
enforced in the cities; but the farmer
has to pay. If he stops growing grain
he does not escape, although he is no
longer legally liable.
The bishop DEGREES that he shall paw
certain percentage of his hay and
tobacco, Or perhaps couple of loads
of wood per family; and householder
with no farm will probably be called
on for So in cash. These levies are
paid with as great regularity as the
1.-THE enforcible by law. In Mon
treal many educated French Cana
dams have lost their religious belief.
but they seldom outwardly break with
the Church. In the country parts the
people are as mistaken in their faith
as they were i'll the days of the "coure-
urs de bois," the pioneers of French
| Canada.
The cure is still the unquestioned
authority III all matters of faith and
| morals. On Sunday morning the
whole parish drives to church in bug
gles or farm wagons with extempor-
lied plank seats, or in s1eighs, accord
ing to the season of the year. After
mass is over, the congregation holds
meeting outside the church, kind
of informal parish council at which
the events of their little world are dis
cussed, or an auction held for the
| a OH ,f %IA L
angue delivered at election time.
| Thrice day-morning, noon and
evening-the Ange1us rings out from
the church steeple; and the habitant
working on his farm, bares his head
and whispers the prayer that his
mother taught him.
In the spring he carries handful
of grain to be blessed in church, and
then takes it home and mixes it with
the rest of his seed corn to insure a
good crop. He marches in procession
around the parish, with the sacrament
in the midst, when the potato-beetle
IS ravaging his crops or drouth is
parching the earth.
But if you would see French Cana
dian piety in its moments of supreme
exaltation, you must visit the miracle
shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre, a few
miles from Quebec. 1t is the Lourdes
of the American continent. There vor
will see thousands of pilgrims arriy.
ing daily, focking from all parts Of
canada, and even from the United