Documents
in Quebec History
Last
revised: 23 August 2000 | Controversy
Surrounding the Use of the French Language at the Eucharistic Congress of Montreal
[1910]
Mgr
Bourne’s Speech at the Eucharistic Congress of Montreal (1910) My
Lord Cardinal Legate, Your Eminences, My
Lords, Reverend Fathers, Ladies
and Gentlemen. It
is hardly an exaggeration to say that at the present time the eyes of the whole
world are turned towards Canada. At least it is certainly true that at home in
England men of every position are thinking of Canada as they never did before.
To some it is the land wherein they trust to realise hopes of a prosperity which
their own country is unable to afford them. Others are preoccupied with questions
of Imperial Federation or relations of commerce. The thoughtful cannot forget
the possibility that some day the long Pacific coast enclosing the fertile regions
of British Columbia may call for defence against invasion from the Asiatic East.
It is indeed by a special disposition of Divine Providence that His Grace the
Archbishop of Montreal has invited the Eucharistic Congress to meet in this city,
thereby concontrating [sic - concentrating] upon Canada the attention of the whole
Catholic world at such a moment, when the Dominion is beginning to play a part
in the world's history so great that it is impossible either to forecast its extent
or unduly to magnify its future. As
members of this Congress, longing with our whole hearts to establish the kingdom
of God upon earth, His Holy Catholic Church, we may well ask ourselves what part
is the Church to have in this rapid growth of a great people. There is in the
answer to this question a problem and an opportunity so tremendous .that the Church
has rarely, if ever, in her long history had to face the like. The solution of
that problem and the grasping of this opportunity will affect not only the people
of Canada but the Church throughout the world. The
early history of Canada is part of the history of the Catholic Church. The first
settlers came speaking one language and having but one voice in matters of religious
belief, and the growth of the commonwealth was concurrent with that of the Christian
Faith, enshrined in the Catholic Church. Canada owes a debt to the Catholic Church
which even those who are most opposed to her teachings will hardly venture to
contest. And on the other hand the power and influence of the Catholic Church
throughout all the earlier history of the Colony were due largely to the fact
that the whole influence of the language and literature of the country was on
the side of the Catholic Church. The French tongue, with which all progress in
every department of life was identified, gave forth but one note when it expounded
to the people the mysteries of religion, whether they were preached to those who
had come from their ancestral home in France, or had in turn to be translated
to the various races to whom the land once belonged. Now
the circumstances have vastly altered. With slow increase at first, and now with
an incalculable rapidity, another language is gaining for itself a paramount importance
in the ordinary things of life. It would indeed be a matter of extreme regret
were the French language, so long the one exponent of religion, culture and progress
in this land, ever to lose any portion of the consideration and cultivation which
it now enjoys in Canada. But I no one can close his eyes to the fact that in the
many cities now steadily growing into importance throughout the Western Provinces
of the Dominion, the inhabitants for the most part speak English as their mother
tongue, and that the children of the colonists who come from countries where English
is not spoken will none the less speak English in their turn. And
this reflection takes us to the very root of the problem and shows forth all its
complexity. For, alas, whereas the French tongue was in the old days synonimous
[sic] with unity in religious belief, for more than three hundred years the English
language has been the organ of contention, disunion, and dissension wherever the
truths of Christianity are concerned. And all the while, if the mighty nation
that Canada is destined to become in the future is to be won for and held to the
Catholic Church, this can only be done by making known to a great part of the
Canadian people in succeeding generations, the mysteries of our faith through
the medium of our English speech. In other words, the future of the Church in
this Country, an its consequent re-action upon the older countries in Europe,
will depend to an enormous degree upon the extent to which the power, influence,
and prestige of the English language and literature can be definitely placed upon
the side of the Catholic Church. The
various non-Catholic religious organisations are fully alive to these new conditions.
Not a new settler comes to this country from England but he is met at his .place
of landing, and every effort is made to keep him in touch with the religious influences
that he has known at home. In every growing township places of worship, are set
up at once, as I have recently seen with my own eyes, to perpetuate the divided
teaching which is being uttered all over the world wherever the English language
is spoken. Large sums of money are being contributed I and strenuous personal
efforts are being made, all with the same object. Years to come will show if once
again, to our shame and sorrow, our English speech is to be the organ of religious
division; or if, by a great mercy of God in this nation of Canada, with its long
and glorious Catholic traditions, the Church is able to give to the Canadian people,
set forth in the English tongue, that unity of religious belief which she alone
has power to impart. My
venerated brethren, the Archbishops and Bishops of Canada, will forgive me for
touching upon topics which they know better far than I can do, and for alluding
to problems to which they are keenly alive. I do so only that those who, like
myself, are privileged to be the guests of this great Dominion may realise something
of the importance of these issues which, I firmly believe, will affect for weal
or woe not only the Catholic dwellers in British North America but the whole Church
of God throughout the world; and that they may be the object of our sympathy and
of our thoughts and prayers. And,
if I may, I should like to make a suggestion whereby all may be united in prayer
that the influence of the English language may at last, in spite of all the harm
that it has wrought in religious matters in days bone by, be brought by God to
be a mighty force for the support and spread of religious unity and truth. In
1897 the late, Holy Father Leo XIII of happy memory, instituted the Archconfraternity
of Our .Lady of Compassion to promote prayers for the return of England and Wales
to the fold of the one true Church of Jesus-Christ. He committed the direction
of this Archconfraternity to the Company of St. Sulpice, and I am now glad to
bear public testimony of my gratitude to the Fathers of that venerable Company
for the self-sacrificing zeal with which they have carried on this work. Later
the scope of the Archconfraternity was enlarged to include Scotland. But the United
Kingdom, important though it be, is only a part of the English speaking world,
and I would like to profit by this, the second great International Catholic Congress
held beneath the British Flag, to propose that he Holy See be petitioned to make
the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Compassion still more universal in its scope,
so that from the whole world prayer may go up before the Throne of God that all
the English-speaking nations without exception may be brought to the unity of
the Catholic Faith and restored to allegiance to the Apostolic See. It is only
by bringing the English tongue to render service to the cause of truth that Canada
can be made in the full sense a Catholic nation; and the spectacle of a united
Canada, enunciating in French and English alike the same religious truths, would
be for the whole Church of God a power of irresistible force. I trust that my
proposal will not appear to you too bold, and that it will meet with your generous
and whole-hearted acceptance. I make it with the full concurrence of their Eminences
the Cardinals of Baltimore and Armagh, and of the Superior General of St. Sulpice.
Let me sum up what
I mean. God has allowed the English tongue to be widely spread over the civilised
world, and it has acquired an influence which is ever growing. Until the English
language, English habits of thought, English literature - in a word the entire
English mentality is brought into the service of the Catholic Church, the saving
work of the Church is impeded and hampered. Each English-speaking nation can help
in this great work : England, Ireland, .Scotland, the mighty United States of
America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the British Possessions of India.
But the Dominion of Canada can at the present moment, owing to her long and deeply
rooted Catholic traditions and to the magnificent opportunities now presented
to her, render the greatest service of them all. And in accomplishing her part
of the work the Catholic Church in Canada will not only advance her own sacred
cause, but at the same time she will bring renewed courage to English-speaking
Catholics all the world over, and become a source of ever increasing and unfailing
strength to the Universal Church. It is an opportunity now given which may never
come again. Humanly speaking, if it be lost, the loss will be immeasurable and
irretrievable. I
may seem to have wandered from the purpose of a Eucharistic Congress which is
to glorify and to promote devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist. Let me recall to
you how on the opening day of the Eucharistic Congress His Eminence the Cardinal
Legate reminded us that from the beginning the Blessed Sacrement [sic] took possession
of this land of Canada. That empire of our Divine Master spread from place to
place as He designed to take possession of the humble tabernacles set up in every
village that clustered upon its soil. But it will not be complete until close
to every group of homesteads in the great West a tabernacle has been set up in
which fervent worshippers can come to adore in perfect unity of faith their Lord
and King. And the day, to which we all look forward with so much earnestness,
cannot dawn until the doctrines of the Catholic Church have been made known to
every child of the Canadian nation in his own mother tongue, and are accepted
and expressed. by him in the language that he learnt from his mother’s lips. Source:
Henri BOURASSA, Religion, Langue, Nationalité, Montreal, Le Devoir, 1910,
30p., pp. 18-23 |