The Rise of Ecclesiastical Control in Quebec (Volume 74, Nos. 1-3)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916. Excerpt: ... j CHAPTER IV i The Church And State 1n The French Per1od 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 rel...