fore, were obliged to traverse this extensive country, 'to visit the different families one after the other, at distances sometimes of two or three hundred miles, and to administer the sacraments and offer up the holy sacrifice in each habitation, for even if a congregation could have been assembled there was no church for their meeting. Matters were still worse with regard to the Indians. Wandering in the woods at the extreme end of the state of Maine, not less than two hundred miles from Boston, they could not be benefited unless the missionaries absented themselves for several months from the central part of their mission. These difficulties, however, were far from discouraging the holy men. Privation, labour, and fatigue are the portion and the happiness of an apostle. A much more serious obstacle was in their path.

The whole country, and Boston in particular, inhabited by English colonies who had carried thither all the prejudices of their father land, was filled, as we have already mentioned, with a multitude of sects, all disagreeing among themselves in doctrine, but all united upon one single point-hatred to the Catholic faith. The ministers of these various denominations never ceased declaiming against it, never ceased exhibiting it to the people as an impure mass of idolatries, and corrupt and despicable individuals, as the new Babylon cursed in the Apocalypse, as the enemy of God and man. Its doctrines were depicted as a hideous collection of impiety, absurdity, and error, its priests as vile impostors, to be avoided like a pestilence. These denunciations, so often repeated, had found credence and taken root among all ranks of society, so that every where the name of Catholic

¥

was held in execration, a priest was regarded with horror, and the small number of the faithful who lived in that section, were objects of contempt or dislike, the more so that being almost all exiled Irishmen, they were poor, and in consequence destitute of consideration.

With such hostile feelings pervading the country, how establish there a Catholic church? No hope could be cherished of assistance from persons so prejudiced, still less of inducing them to open their ears to the missionaries. Nothing could be expected but contradiction and impediments. The effort had already been made without success by Mr. Thayer, a man of fervent piety; and who could seem better fitted for the work? Once a Presbyterian clergyman, he had been converted at Rome, and subsequently became a priest, and a teacher of the Catholic faith in the same place in which he had previously taught another doctrine, so that it seemed as if his example as well as his precepts ought to have produced the most salutary impressions; but he excited displeasure by some acts of excessive zeal, and a polemical challenge which he sent to the Protestant ministers so embittered the animosity against him, that Bishop Carrol deemed it requisite to transfer him to another place.

Instructed by this example, M. Matignon and M. de Cheverus saw that the greatest circumspection was necessary, and that the first thing to be accomplished was the removal of those odious prejudices, which, so long as they existed, would prove an insurmountable barrier to their endeavours. To that end nothing, they thought, would be so conducive as cha

rity in their proceedings, mildness in their discourse, and above all, the example of a truly apostolic lifethe best refutation of calumny. It was then that Boston beheld a new and touching spectacle-that of two men, models of every virtue, living together as brothers, without distinction of goods, without diversity of inclination, always anxious to yield to each other's views, to consult each other's wishes, forming in truth one heart and one soul, with the same desires, those of doing good, the same dispositions, those of virtue, the same love for all that is upright, honourable, and benevolent. There was, indeed, between these two admirable individuals the most delightful intercourse, the most affectionate friendship, which never, however, degenerated into familiarity. In their relations there was always something elevated and refined that harmonized with the nobleness of their sentiments, and the dignity of their character, and which even from a Protestant journal,* extorted the following remark: "Those who witnessed the manner in which they lived together, will never forget the refinement and elevation of their friendship; it surpassed those attachments which delight us in classical story, and equalled the lovely union of the son of Saul and the minstrel of Israel."

To this example of a union which religion alone could render so perfect, they joined that of a life of poverty and privation, endured with dignified patience, and devoted to prayer and ministerial avocations. They did good whenever an opportunity was afforded; they exhausted themselves in journeys and fatigue of every kind, travelling miles on foot

* Boston Monthly Magazine.

at all hours of the night and day and in all seasons, to carry consolation to the afflicted, succour to the indigent, words of reconciliation to divided families; in short, they sacrificed themselves completely for the welfare of others, and looked upon the sacrifice as nothing-clearly showing that they were prompted by no interested view, that they expected naught from the world, neither fortune nor glory, and that their whole hope was in heaven. Whoever accosted them, met with a kind and gracious reception; whoever asked a service of them, found them always willing and happy to oblige-wherever, in fine, they were encountered, they were recognised as men unlike all others, with sentiments more elevated, souls more philanthropic, hearts more generous, apostles in very truth, and men of God.

So attractive a spectacle could not fail to astonish the people of Boston, and cause them to ask themselves "Are these then the Catholics of whom we have heard so much ill; the Papists who have been painted to us in colours so dark?" The force of prejudice, however, was too strong to be immediately overcome. Much time was requisite to undeceive persons so imbued with error; and it was only at the expiration of a year, that a Protestant sought M. de Cheverus, and held this frank and remarkable language—“Sir," said he, “for this year past I have been studying you, following all your steps, watching all your actions; I did not believe that a minister of your religion could be a man of worth; I come to make reparation for the injustice, to declare that I esteem and venerate you as the most virtuous indidual I have ever known."

To this first testimony, others were soon added, not less remarkable. A Protestant journal* relates that a clergyman wishing to gain over to his opinions two men whose virtue and learning shed so great a lustre upon the city, called upon them one day for the purpose of convincing them of the error of their religion and the excellence of his own. Struck with the naïveté of the enterprise, they received him with great kindness, thanked him for his benevolent intentions, and after listening patiently to all that he had to say, answered him with so much clearness and force that he was completely silenced, and on his return to his friends, to whom he had communicated his design, remarked-"These men are so learned that there is no arguing with them; their lives are so pure and evangelical as to leave no room for reproach; and I am much afraid that the influence of so much virtue, joined to so much knowledge, will give us a great deal of trouble."

Some idea may be formed from this incident, of the revolution which the conduct of M. de Cheverus and M. Matignon had operated in men's minds. Contempt had been succeeded by esteem and even veneration. "In contemplating them," said the journal already cited, "who can doubt that human nature is permitted to approach perfection, "and assume a near and sweet resemblance to the MAN DIVINE. The pagan world was full of instances of lofty and virtuous conduct which dignified and exalted human nature. History and fable have preserved the fact. The hero, the seer, and the sage had existed before Christianity was known-but the

* Boston Monthly Magazine,