Diocèse

RITUEL// DU DIOCESE // DE QUEBEC // PUBLIÉ PAR L’ORDRE // DE MONSEIGNEUR // DE SAINT-VALIER // EVEQUE DE QUEBEC. // A PARIS // Chez SIMON LANGLOIS rue Saint Etienne // des Grès au bon Pasteur. // M. DCC.III // AVEC PRIVILEGE DU ROY. <br><br>Bound with <br>Statuts // ordonnances // et // lettres pastorales // de Monseigneur // de Saint-Valier // evêque de Quebec. // Pour le règlement de son Diocèse. // A Paris // Chez Simon Langlois ruë Saint Etienne // des Grès // au bon Pasteur. // M.DCC.III. // Avec privïlege du Roy. <br>

1703 · B7089 — Paris: Chez Simon Langlois c 1703. near fine with text clean and crisp. . Edition: First Edition. Binding: Contemporary full paper boards expertly rebacked; raised spine with five 5 bands black ink title on vellum label on two; central black fleur de lis design on four. Notes: Provenance: Upper pasted endpaper with owner’s armorial bookplate: “Watkin Williams Esq of Penbedw // in the County of Denbighâ€. Concerning this name Archaeologia Cambrensis states: “1789. Watkin Williams Esq. of Penbedw in the county of Denbigh but owner of property in the parishes of Mallwyd and Llan-y-mowddwy in the county of Merioneth M.P. first for Montgomeryshire and afterwards during nearly thirty years for the Flint contributary boroughs was appointed lieutenant and custos rotulorum for Merionethshire.†Final free endpaper watermarked. <br>This edition of this Canadiana publication is unique in that we are not able to locate another copy of the same anywhere. The second last paragraph of the introduction to the priests clergy and missionaries in this edition states that this publication encloses at the end of the first part or 'Rituel' a second part entitled 'les Statuts Ordonnances & Mandemens.' instructions prepared at various times by the Church for the conduct of all including those entrusted to the clergy that these instructions may not be ignored. The recipient are advised that they are restatements of instructions previously given to be read often just as such given in the Ritual itself; they are to be followed with precisions including all the rules contained not to be lost sight of observed faithfully in all works and ones conduct. The inclusion of this paragraph is unlike the introduction of another edition published at the same time and same location but not including this paragraph or the 'Statuts.'. <br>The present work describing festivals sacraments statutes and ordinances for the use by priests in Quebec is extremely rare and was immediately followed by a second edition published the same year: Gagnon reports that in a copy of the second edition of 1703 now at the Laval University library and previously owned by Abbé Plante a note says that the first edition “would have been almost completely destroyed by the sinking of the ship …carrying it to Canada and for this reason a second edition was immediately made.†<br>On the “privilege†included as the final leaf in our first edition example it is stated that the work was registered on March 30 1703 and completed for print for the first time on March 31 1703; <br><br>Saint-Valier was a supporter of the Counter Reformation. His initial intent in the New World was to engage in the conversion of the indigenous residents. He introduced Jesuits and Recollects in an attempt to evangelize New France. Many of these missions Illinois Louisiana and Mississippi resulted in conflicts between Bishop Saint-Vallier the Jesuits and the seminary of Quebec.<br><br>His various construction projects reflect a desire to restore and renew the authority in the Catholic Church as the main institution of administrative organization. In 1697 Saint-Valier built a palace in Quebec for his clergy and as a place of hospitality. During the same year he also established a nuns monastery in Trois-Rivières Saint-Vallier’s zeal for religious activities and establishments stretched from Quebec Montreal Acadia and Louisiana. His way of life embodied that of the ideals of the Council of Trent.<br><br>The Diocese of Quebec was vast and its population diverse and widespread. It included the whole of French North America or what was called New France divided in seven colonies: Newfoundland Acadia ÃŽle Royale Louisiana Illinois Upper Country and Canada inhabited by Indigenous people and the European settlers. During the tenure of Saint-Vallier immigration from France was mostly over; the European colonists were farmers fishermen sailors merchants and ‘coureurs des bois’ overseen by a small elite of aristocratic leaders but a great demographic explosion occurred between 1685 and 1730 the white population in New France jumping from c. 12000 inhabitants to c. 41500.<br><br>During the same time the number of Amerindian fell from c. 163500 to c. 61500. That loss mainly in the tribes of Louisiana was attributed to warfare and diseases brought to the valley of the Mississippi. The number of Aboriginals compared to white settlers is one reason for the presence of so many religious orders in New France. The missions and conversions to Christianity were deemed very important.<br><br>Priests of the Missions Étrangères of Paris the Jesuits the Recollets and the Sulpicians often worked in collaboration with the nuns from different orders like the Congrégation de Notre-Dame or the Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus at l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec. The arrival of Saint-Vallier and his strong views on what should be the duties of the priests created a shock wave in the orders especially for the Seminary of Quebec newly founded by his predecessor Bishop Laval. … Saint-Vallier's tenure as bishop was defined by interminable quarrels with governmental and religious institutions in French North America. … his active leadership style brought him into conflict with various groups who perceived him as at times domineering and micromanaging.<br>While subject to much criticism Saint-Vallier was also admired in his diocese for his dedication and self-sacrifice. Rather than staying in Quebec or Montreal he tirelessly traveled the back-country. The founding of the Hôpital Général and installation of Jesuits and Recollets at Montreal were also to his credit.<br><br>There was a very strong suspicion in the colonies and in France that the Bishop of Quebec was in fact a follower of Jansenism. . In the beginning of the 18th century the Bishop wrote 3 books; the Ritual the Catechism and the ‘Statuts et ordonnances’ – two of which are bound in the present volume. <br>…the Superior of the jesuite order decided to attack Saint-Vallier’s authority by writing a long critic of those three books seeing them as a "lapse into Arianism Pelagianism Jansenism Lutheranism and Calvinism". Father Bouvart based his accusations on different passages of the works of the Bishop … who eventually appealed to the Sorbonne to have his works rehabilitated. The doctors of the Faculty of Theology declared the Ritual and the Catechism perfectly orthodox and censured the critic of Bouvart. Nevertheless Saint-Vallier decided to re-edit in 1713 the Ritual so as to cast away all doubts about his pretended Jansenist ideas. This book remained in use in the parishes until the middle of the 19th century. The present work is the unedited original and first edition of his ritual and statuts. <br><br>The disputes with the religious orders of New France the government and the merchants gave way to a more peaceful period that lasted until his death. Austere throughout his life he became more and more humble in his way of living and turned toward contemplation and simple duties. .He also took very seriously his duties of Bishop and developed parishes in the farthest corners of the diocese.<br><br> Size: Octavo 213 x133mm. Illustration: Text in French; with some text in Latin<br>Achevé d'imprimer pour la premiere fois ce 31 mars 1703. Relié avec le Rituel du même. <br><br>Illustrated with two printer's devices representing the arms of the archdiocese of Quebec; various head and tail pieces incl. vignettes; in-text music notes on Qiiii-Si; Ggii-iiii. References: Philéas Gagnon: Essai de bibliographie canadienne: Inventaire d'une bibliothèque . Volume 1: 3138 & 3139 p.437; Archaeologia Cambrensis Volume 1 p.142. Pages: Ff. 2 bl. ill. title bl. author to priests on the use of the book 4 Fetes Observe’es 4 604 table 2 errata 3 bl.; ill. title bl. letter 3 8-146 table 2 privilege 2 bl.2; In leaf collation: bl. v A-Z8 Aa-Nn8 Oo-Rr4 iiiff. table; a1 a3-a8 e8 i8 o8 u8 aa8 ee8 ii2 oo8 uu8 aaa1 ii bl. Category: Book Canada; Book Religious Christianity; Chez Simon Langlois, hardcover