Les
Québécois, le clergé catholique et l'affaire des écoles du Manitoba / Quebecers,
the Catholic Clergy and the Manitoba School Question, 1890-1916
Letter
of Laurier to Abbé Proulx [September
9, 1896] [Note from the editor:
In the fall of 1896, three separate delegations were sent by the Liberals
to Rome to put their case to the Pope against clerical interference in the political
affairs of Canada, specifically against the Liberal party in Quebec. Eventually,
they presented the Holy See with the Laurier-Greenway compromise and requested
that a legate be sent by the Vatican to investigate and report on the situation
in Canada. These delegations were to result in the coming of Mgr. Merry del Val
in 1897. The delegations were made of:
Abbé Jean-Baptiste Proulx, parish priest of St. Lin, the birthplace of Laurier,
and former professor at the Séminaire de Ste-Thérèse, a classical college well-known
for its liberalism and its openness to new ideas and vice-rector of the Montreal
branch of Laval University. Abbé Proulx had intervened previously on behalf of
the Liberal party and was a personal friend of Laurier. Gustave Drolet was a former
zouave, a member of the delegation of Quebec zouaves sent to Italy in 1869-1870
to protect the Papal States against the threat of the Italian republican revolutionaries
bent on unifying Italy. One of the main forces opposing Italian unification had
been the Papacy. As a former zouave, and an unquestionable Christian, Drolet was
particularly appreciated in Rome. The last envoy was Charles Fitzpatrick, whom
we have discussed in another document, and who received an private audience with
the pope. In the first document, the
reference to Mgr. Laflèche's intervention is to the sermon he made during the
electoral campaign of 1896. This sermon caused quite a stir at the time. Large
extracts from this sermon are printed, in French, elsewhere at the site. The
first letter reproduced here was one to establish the credentials of abbé Proulx,
and thus was shown to a variety of people in Rome. The second was more private
in nature and gave important instructions to Proulx as to his conduct in Rome.] MY
DEAR M. PROULX: The attitude taken during
the recent elections by Mgr. Laflèche and some other members of the episcopate,
was, in my opinion, a great mistake. It seems to me certain that this violent
intervention of the ecclesiastical authorities in the electoral arena cannot but
have harmful consequences for the position that Catholics hold in the Confederation,
and that it is equally likely to trouble the consciences of the faithful. It
may seem unseemly on my part to speak thus. I persist, however, in believing that
the attitude which my political friends and I have taken in the question which
was then submitted to the electors was much more in conformity with the ideas
frequently expressed by his Holiness Leo XIII than the attitude of Mgr. Laflèche
and of those who acted with him. It is
not, I think, presumptuous to believe that if the question is submitted to the
pontifical, authorities at Rome, we may expect a statement of doctrine which would
have the effect of bringing regrettable abuses to an end, maintaining peace and
harmony in our country and reassuring the consciences of Catholics. As
you are about to sail for Rome, you will render a great service to the Catholics
of this country who unfortunately have incurred the disfavour of cetain members
of the episcopate, because of their political opinions and for no other reason,
if you would state their case and represent to the pontifical authorities that
all they seek in this country is to exercise their duties as citizens in accord
with the recognized principles of the British Constitution, principles recognized
equally by his Holiness Leo XIII. [second
letter to the same person, on the same date] I
am sending you herewith a private letter not intended for publicity, but which
may however be shown as a credential. Mr. Drolet will leave shortly for Rome.
My colleagues in the House of Commons are sending him as their advocate and interpreter
to state their case officially, before the pontifical authorities. I would like
you to keep in touch with him, in order to inform him as to all useful steps that
should be taken to attain the end in view. In
a short time I shall send you a memorandum relative to the settlement of the school
question, but the first thing to do is to make the pontifical authorities understand
that we are Catholics and that we wish to remain Catholics but that in a constitutional
country such as ours the attitude taken by Mgr. Laflèche and certain other members
of the episcopate, if approved at Rome, would place us in a position of inferiority
such that a Catholic could never become prime minister nor even form part of a
government like the Canadian, in which Protestants are necessarily in a majority,
since the Protestants are in a majority in the country. I
must repeat to you also what I have said already, that while disapproving the
conduct of members of the episcopacy, to which I have just referred, it is not
the intention of any of us to expose them to the slightest humiliation. If you
consider it advisable that a delegate should be appointed for Canada, you will
please inform me. I need not say to you that the selection of such a delegate
would be of very great importance. Accept
my best wishes for your voyage. Source
: Oscar Douglas Skelton, Life and Letters of Wilfrid Laurier. Vol. 2, Toronto,
Oxford University Press, 1921, 576p., pp. 33-35. ©
2000 Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College |